national surname chiming

Chapter 144 Dealing with the world's richest man is refreshing
With the full support of Fang Kongzhang, after returning to Wuchang, the constraints of Shen Shuren's continued implementation of civil administration and farming were basically eliminated.

His confidants, civil servants, and staff were not vegetarians either. The servants of the Shen family who were good at financial management and engineering also worked hard, and were placed by Shen Shuren in various positions with real power but no rank.Seed lending in winter, construction of water conservancy, piling up polders and deep digging of fishponds... are all proceeding in an orderly manner.

Tens of thousands of money and food are handed over every day, but under the management of the Shen family, the signs of corruption and profiteering are much better than when the local government in Wuchang and other places were autonomous.After all, the family of wealthy merchants is talented in accounting and auditing.

If all goes well, even if there is another flood and drought next year, Wuchang and Hanyang will be able to handle it relatively well. The increase in grain production brought about by the new polders is estimated to reach more than [-]% of the total grain output.

In addition, the subsidy for teaching people to raise tilapia and Qingjiang fish, and the increase in income from corn and potatoes is equivalent to [-]% to [-]% of the original total grain production (the area where corn is grown in the south is small, so the absolute value of the increase will not be too high) ,

It should not be a big problem for these two governments to ensure that the people have enough food and clothing, and then reorganize the displaced migrants into soldiers and serve in corvée. They can even save some food for future wars.

Around the turn of the 14th and 15th years of Chongzhen's reign, Wuchang Mansion was already an area with a lot of refugees from the north and south.In history, Zuo Liangyu was later able to claim to have an army of 80, mainly due to Wuchang's geographical location, the thoroughfare of nine provinces, and the water transportation hub where the Yangtze River and the Han River meet.

People in the north can't survive and have to go south, and when they get here, they will reunite and find a way out.If you can find a way to survive in Wuchang, you will generally not continue to travel further.

To be in power here, as long as there is enough food, you can pull up an army.Afterwards, the situation deteriorated further, and there were more and more refugees. Even if the army was not paid, as long as they were given food, many people would be willing to serve.

……

After arranging the agricultural and food work, in the last two months of this winter, Shen Shuren was finally free to deal with industry, military and diplomatic strategies.

After the whole territory of Wuchang is settled down and received properly, it is necessary to develop the Daye Iron Mountain, comprehensively increase the production capacity of the military industry, and supplement the supply of steel and coal upstream of the industrial chain.And the priority is still on building new guns and artillery.

With an industrial foundation and better and more sufficient steel, there are better guns.Otherwise, simply using smart and optimized design on the mechanical structure will be nothing but water without a source and a tree without roots.

What's more, Shen Shuren still has time. If you haven't changed, there are still two years and five months before Chongzhen's death.This winter and next year, we will first focus on the development of metallurgy, which can be regarded as sharpening the knife and chopping firewood.

However, before doing all these farming plans, Shen Shuren still has an external matter that must be dealt with first—this matter actually doesn’t take him much time, and he doesn’t need to keep an eye on it all the time, but he has to arrange it first, so that his subordinates can continue to follow up. Enter.

So, on the ninth day of November, a few days after returning to Wuchang, a subordinate who was urgently summoned by Shen Shuren rushed to Wuchang to visit him.

It was Zheng Chenggong who had been left by him at the junction of Huangzhou and Jiangxi, cutting the river to collect taxes.Zheng Chenggong has been an official for more than half a year, and he is still at the seventh rank now. This time, Shen Shuren just took the opportunity to give him some activities and try to find a way to get promoted.

Zheng Chenggong still respects Shen Shuren very much. After all, it was Shen Shuren who took him to Nanjing to enter the Guozijian at the beginning, and later took care of him all the way, and now he is the immediate boss, and still takes care of his future.

Therefore, if Shen Shuren wanted to do something, it was basically a matter of ordering a sentence, and it could help the Zheng family improve in the officialdom, and the conditions were easy to say.

Shen Shuren didn't want to be polite to him, and set up a drink in the Daotai yamen, and sat down to drink together as soon as they met.

After drinking for three rounds, I will cut to the chase:
"In the past half a year, we have collected lijin and thoroughly investigated Jiangfang. You have done a good job. I have read all the accounts. You really didn't come to be an official for money. I like dealing with wealthy families in this regard. Don't worry. Don't use fly camp dog dog.

In the past two months, I have reviewed all the records of your seizure of illegal merchant fleets, and you have done a good job. We need to continue to strengthen this aspect.Until the spring of next year, intercepting illegal merchant ships will be more important than checking taxes. "

"Don't worry, I'll do whatever my elder brother says." Zheng Chenggong was also unambiguous, and he agreed first, and then asked the reason, "However, can I ask why? If it's inconvenient, I won't ask."

Of course, there is no need for Shen Shuren to hide it, he confessed the whole truth:

"According to my investigation in the past two years, since Liu Xiyao, Lin Chengcheng and others occupied the Yinghuo Mountain area, their soldiers and horses cannot rely on the output of the mountain area to be self-sufficient. The Yinghuo Mountain area is barren, and there are many materials that cannot be obtained by the mountain area. produce.

Therefore, every winter, Gezuo Fifth Battalion needs to rely on the rivers in the north of the Yangtze River that originate from the Yinghuo Mountains and flow into the Yangtze River. They send small boats disguised as legal business travelers, and use the gold and silver property obtained from the previous looting to purchase necessary survival materials in Jiangxi. .

When you collect lijin in the future, you will mainly focus on these fleets that go to Jiangxi without goods, mainly carry precious money such as gold, silver brocade, etc., but return with a full load of cheap daily necessities.

Moreover, the ships of this kind of fleet are often very small, not long-distance river ships, because the small rivers flowing out of Yingshan are generally shallow and turbulent, and large ships cannot pass through.So if you meet these characteristics, you should stop them all, first for three months, and make Lin grow up hungry and starve to death, so that I can make an forced landing.After the matter is completed, you will inevitably be promoted to the magistrate of a prefecture. In the future, if you make some contributions, you may even be promoted to the magistrate.

I won't hide it from you, I'm going to make great use of this credit, eat more than one fish, and let Zhang Tongzhi from Huangzhou be promoted to the magistrate, and Fang Tongzhi from Anqing's side also be promoted to the magistrate.They will respectively have the merits of land encirclement and pursuit, and final persuasion and integration.

However, Lin Chengcheng is not a big fish after all, and it is not enough to have two prefects, one prefect, or even three prefects for this little credit.

Fortunately, Mr. Yang Ge is very grateful to me now. Chen Xinjia and Chen Shangshu in the capital are also old disciples of Mr. Yang Ge, and he also owes my love.If more money is spent extrajudicially on this matter, it is still possible..."

Shen Shuren has also been short of money recently. He has been paid to be an official, and in addition to construction in the local area, he will also engage in industrial and military industries in the future. Money is indeed a little short.

There was a letter from my family, saying that in the past few months, there has been a new business with a large sum of money, but the initial investment is also relatively large, and it will not be possible to see a large amount of real money inflow until after the Chinese New Year.

Therefore, Shen Shuren still hopes to borrow more external resources for some gray expenditures with unclear accounts.

To put it bluntly, it is to send money to other courtiers to entrust relationships. It is best to use other people's money to do other people's affairs and bring some private goods with you.

Although Zheng Chenggong was young and hadn't been polluted by society much, Zheng's family has been sending large sums of money to the capital every year since they were recruited by Xiong Wencan in the second year of Chongzhen. Zheng Chenggong is not surprised.

At the moment, he is also very good at the road, and he said with ease: "I heard that the price of an eighth-rank official is 5000 taels, and the magistrate with real power is tens of thousands of taels, and the magistrate is probably 10,000+ taels. There must be a reason.

This time we are promoted due to meritorious service. Brother Zhang counts as 20, and Brother Fang also counts as [-]. I will give these two sums of money, [-] taels, can we get everything done? "

Shen Shuren heaved a sigh of relief, his face looked better, and the expression and tone of talking to Zheng Chenggong was as warm as that of his own brother:
"Enough is enough, you are still too young, this time I can only operate on the Tongzhi for you first. If there is a chance, push you to the Zhifu, then add another 10 taels.

If I have other credits in the future, when I become a governor, or even a governor, I will inevitably help you operate a military equipment.We are friends in need, poor and humble, and have a future as brothers, so naturally you are indispensable. "

Zheng Chenggong was also unambiguous, and had already started to directly ask the operation method: "Is the money going to be sent to Wuchang?"

Shen Shuren was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect that the other party would directly go to this place, as expected of the richest family in Ming Dynasty with an annual income of more than 1000 million taels, they threw out 20 taels without blinking their eyes.

"No, I will send 5 taels to Nanjing. Those around Shi Kefa and the Nanjing Ministry of War will also take care of it. In addition, after hearing that Yang Ge was seriously ill, His Majesty has ordered Zhou Yanru to recover. He is expected to enter Beijing at the end of the year." Yes. Let's take care of him while he is going north from Nanjing.

The remaining 15 taels can be placed in the capital, and given directly to Chen Shangshu—although the promotion is under the control of the Ministry of Officials, but we are also promoted due to military merits, and the Ministry of War needs to verify the merits first, so let Chen Xinjia help us It works. "

Shen Shuren is also very well-informed about the personnel changes of the top bosses in the court, so he knows which piers to visit.

Historically, Yang Sichang died in March of the 14th year of Chongzhen, and Zhou Yanru was revived by Chongzhen in April, and he did not enter Beijing until September.

Now Yang Sichang's accident happened only in June, so the emperor delayed Zhou Yanru's recovery by three months. It is estimated that he will not arrive in Beijing until the first month of next year.

Zhou Yanru can be regarded as a legend in the Chongzhen Dynasty. He served as the first assistant twice, and was criticized by Wen Tiren for six years in the middle. In the end, Wen Tiren died and he was able to come back.

Because Zhou is from Yixing County, Changzhou Prefecture, Southern Zhili Province, during the past few years he has been out of work, he has returned to his hometown in Changzhou or lived in Nanjing. Now he is called to go north from Nanjing.

Shen Shuren also thought that if he wanted to go back to Nanjing for activities during the Chinese New Year, he could pay a visit to the pier and get to know more forces in Beijing.

Now he has two major foreign aids, Chen Xinjia, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Jiang Dejing, Minister of the Ministry of Households. If he can build a good relationship with Zhou Yanru, who will soon be the chief assistant and minister of the Ministry of Officials, Chongzhen can also earn more court resources in the last two years.

When Zheng Chenggong heard that Big Brother Shen was capable of entertaining Zhou Yanru in Nanjing, he was even more willing to spend money. He directly said that no matter whether his magistrate could come down or not, he would add another 10 taels.

"...Then this matter is settled, no matter when the younger brother will be promoted, the money will be given first anyway, and the 30 two brothers will be spent first, and I will ask people to prepare 15 taels in each of the northern and southern capitals.

Let's not talk about outsiders, it's really not very honorable to spend money on things.But in this chaotic world, my eldest brother and I are both doing business. Only when we have power and position can we contribute to the country in a legitimate way. This is also for the sake of the world. "

(End of this chapter)