Chapter 175 Dock
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"What? His Majesty the King is coming back?" Su Weier couldn't help being surprised when he overheard such information, this is a big event.
The city hall is a two-story attic. The lower part is the meeting room and work room of each hall, and the upper floor is the office of the mayor and the ministers. The halls are not far apart. It can be said that they are only separated by a wall. It's just a wall.
So, Su Weier's ear was pressed against the wall, and he could still hear the roar and reprimand of the Earl of Southampton in the city management hall next door, which further confirmed the correctness of what the director said.
For King Edward, Su Weier still has a lot of gratitude in his heart, but less fear.
In his mind, King Edward, like Henry VII, is a wise king who ruled England, and the development of England will definitely be strong in the future.
This is not only because Edward passed the exam to admit officials, but also made it possible for ordinary civilians like him to discuss with the nobles, cross classes in one fell swoop, and came to the upper class (of course, this is the main reason).
More importantly, Scotland, which could not be conquered by all the kings of England for hundreds of years, was conquered by Edward at this time, which had to make the people of England have full confidence in him, to be precise, the nobles and local gentlemen.
Su Weier entered through the back door cautiously, found a seat at random and sat down, but the director who was spitting all over the front didn't notice, and still talked with relish.
"You must put all your energy into cleaning up all the hooligans and **** for me in the next few days. It is said that when His Majesty comes back this time, he may review the achievements of the city government since its establishment. You must not give me shame..."
Looking at the chattering figure in front of him, Su Weier could only **** up his ears, with a serious expression on his face.
It wasn't just him, the 30 people around him also listened to this nonsense speech. There was no trace of impatience on their faces. Instead, they straightened their backs one by one, and some even showed expressions of enjoyment.
Among the dozens of people, most of them are employees of the original municipal government. Due to the small number of people, they can only be re-elected to contribute to the London City Government.
The same as Su Weier, there are only ten people who pass the exam and enter.
However, those old employees knew that they were all valued by His Majesty the King, and their future prospects were limitless, so they all cast friendly eyes on him, and Su Weier responded modestly one by one.
Ten minutes later, the strong and gentle-looking director finally finished his instruction before disbanding and let them start to act.
To be honest, the Port and Wharf Management Office of the municipal government is actually only playing a supervisory role, and there are not many things to pass on the orders of the municipal government.
The managers who actually do things are still the same, but the managers with more outstanding abilities are included in the municipal government. In fact, the situation remains the same.
The purpose of the establishment of the Port and Dock Office is nothing more than to clarify the division of responsibilities, manage and appoint and dismiss the tax officials and small officials of those ports.
So, Su Weier followed an old man who walked out of the port and went to inspect it together.
As the port with the largest throughput in England, the Port of London has a particularly large area, so more than 30 people can only be divided into two groups and patrol separately.
Broadly speaking, the scope of the Port of London includes from the north and south banks of the lower reaches of the Thames River to the mouth of the river and extends upstream through the Tilbury Port area, crossing the London Bridge, and until Teddington Pier, a distance of up to 80 kilometers belongs to port of london.
To put it bluntly, the distance from the Thames River estuary to London is within the management range of the Port of London. These include many docks for loading and unloading goods along the river, riverside wharfs and docks for repairing ships.
And Suwell was lucky to be assigned to patrol the nearest Teddington Wharf, without having to go dozens of kilometers away by boat.
Although the distance is short, Teddington Pier is no longer in the city of London. It is in the Tilbury Port area in the east of London, about five or six miles (8, 9 kilometers) away from the current city of London. Two people can only rent one carriage.
Sitting in the carriage, due to the overhaul of the road by the London City Government a while ago, the road was much smoother. Soon, the two arrived at Stington Pier.
The middle-aged man in his thirties who was with Su Weier was promoted from the port tax officer. He has a deep understanding of the port terminal, but is just like ordinary officials, stingy, greedy, and slippery.
"Mr. Bruce, we're here!" The carriage stopped slowly, and Suwell consciously paid the fare before gently reminding Bruce to close his eyes and rest.
"Oh! Is that right? It's here so soon. Come on, Suwell, I brought you some insight into Teddington Pier!" Bruce sighed as if he had just discovered it.
Su Weier on the side could only curse silently in his heart, with a calm face.
As they spoke, the two got out of the carriage, and as they walked, Bruce introduced the various rules of the pier.
Su Weier also listened with great interest, watching the shiploads of goods being unloaded by the dock workers with a disheveled face, and then the impatient cargo ship hurriedly docked. The cargo on the ship can only be unloaded after the tax is collected on board the ship.
The dock workers on the side also consciously waited for the tax collector to collect the tax, and then slowly boarded the ship to unload the goods under the assignment of a few strong and ruthless men.
All kinds of cargo ships were parked at the pier, and the sweaty dock workers walked slowly with heavy cargo on their backs, so that the pier was full of unpleasant sweat smell.
There are also various merchants with horse-drawn carts, donkey carts, and buddies, negotiating with merchants on board.
However, Su Weier noticed that various livestock feces, sewage, and garbage thrown by merchants on the pier were not uncommon. Mosquitoes crawled from time to time, and the floor tiles of the entire pier were already stained and black.
But the dock workers and tax officials turned a blind eye and didn't care at all. In other words, they were used to it.
Su Weier frowned, looking at the dirty environment, he felt a little difficult.
Just as he was about to be troubled, Bruce suddenly brought over two people, a man with a strong build and a tough face, and a man with a big belly, wearing a tax official's clothes, with a kind expression on his face.
"Suwell, this is Mr. Amos, the tax officer of the dock, and this is the leader of the dock workers—Gary." Bruce introduced Suwell with a smile on his face.
"Nice to meet you, Your Excellency Suwell!" The chubby tax officer squinted his eyes and greeted.
"Dear Mr. Su Weier, it is God's arrangement to meet you today!" Gary, who looked tough, suddenly looked like a cautious farmer, sycophant.
Suwell didn't know why Bruce introduced himself to these two people, but years of reading had given him a good sense of self-cultivation, and he still greeted them kindly and friendly.
Suddenly, the three of them seemed to be friends who had known each other for many years, and the atmosphere became lively.
And Bruce stood aside, smiling and watching, without saying a word.
Immediately, Sowell brought up the arrangement of the city government. Gary and Amos, the tax officer, repeatedly patted their chests, promising to complete the task of the city government, and they agreed very happily.
Finally, at the suggestion of the tax officer Amos, the four of them went to his house to have dinner together. Seeing that the matter was handled happily, Su Weier nodded and agreed.
(end of this chapter)