national surname chiming

Chapter 22 Zhu Dadian is also playing a big game

Down the Yangtze River, the boat always drives very fast.

From Nanjing back to Suzhou, in just two and a half days, the waterway of more than 500 miles was completed.

Shen Shuren abducted Fang Yizhi, a generalist, and went to work with him for several months, which was considered a pleasant surprise.

As soon as the fleet arrived in Liujiagang, Taicang, Shen Tingyang, who got the news in advance, went to the pier to pick up his son.

He hadn't seen his son for two and a half months, and he also knew that his son was running around for the benefit of the family this time, running errands for Mr. Yang Ge, and he was very moved.

Who would have thought that the guy who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun, could do it so cleanly when he went out to do business for the first time.

When Shen Shuren got off the boat, he naturally stepped forward to salute, and introduced Fang Yizhi's identity to his father.

After hearing that Fang Yizhi was the Jieyuan of Jinke, Shen Tingyang was immediately in awe and a little bit secretly pleased.

Although he has an official body of five or six ranks, he also knows that he is worthless. He is just a resume of a scholar who buys supervisors and then donates officials.In terms of learning, one solution is enough for him to look up to.

"I have admired Fang Jieyuan's talent for a long time, and Fang Jieyuan is willing to break the knot and make friends with Gouzi. It is really the luck of my Shen family."

Fang Yizhi also hurriedly humbled: "I really don't dare to do it. I have heard for a long time that all of the Shen family have practical talents, and Fang has learned a lot about the knowledgeable and knowledgeable younger brothers these days, and he has really benefited a lot."

Shen Shuren also explained in the middle, saying that Fang Yizhi had a wide range of interests and made friends without looking at stereotyped knowledge, Shen Tingyang suddenly understood.

The Shen family had plenty of money, so naturally they spared no effort in entertaining guests. Fang Yizhi and others were sent back to the house to hold a banquet to cleanse the dust.Although Fang Yizhi came from an official family, he was really dazzled.

During the banquet, Shen Tingyang asked about the business, and asked his son to talk about the duties of the newly bought official position, but he needed the help of his family.

Shen Shuren also said in detail: "...this official position is under Cao Zhende, who is in charge of the river. In the past, he was mostly doing some auxiliary work for water transportation.

But this year, riots broke out in southern Zhili, and the duties of the river channel officials were changed to transporting grain and grass from several counties in Susong to the front of the Luzhou army. "

Shen Tingyang himself is an official of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and has dealt with Water Transport for many years. Hearing what his son said, he felt something was wrong.

He stroked his beard and pondered: "Transport Su Song's grain and grass to Luzhou? Isn't that a long way to go? Doesn't Jiangxi have to bear the imperial court's water transportation apportionment at all this year? All the grain handed in by Jiangxi has been transported to the front of the army?
Otherwise, as long as there is a lot of surplus grain in Jiangxi, it can be transported to Luzhou from there, and then directly transport Su Song's grain to the north, wouldn't it save a lot of trouble? "

Shen Tingyang's plan is very consistent with geographical common sense.During the Ming Dynasty, grain from Huguang and Jiangxi had to be transported to the north by water, first down the Yangtze River, to Yangzhou, then to the north of the river, through the Hangou section of the canal to Huai'an by the Huaihe River.

After the reform of the Changyun Law during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, the final assembly and delivery points of grain in the southern provinces were also located in Huai'an.

For the canal transportation costs from Huai'an to the north, the imperial court will impose a unified quota in advance, and the governor of the canal transport will be responsible for the use and scheduling, and the imperial court will be responsible for the profit and loss.The freight to Huai'an must be directly borne by the local government.

Therefore, in Shen Tingyang's view, if the Anhui region needs military rations, it will definitely be less wasteful to transport them directly from Jiangxi or Huguang to Anhui for local use than to recruit them from Suzhou.The Suhu area can replace Jiangxi's northbound grain quota.

Fortunately, Shen Shuren obviously thought about this question deeply along the way, and even investigated it, and immediately answered this doubt:
"Father doesn't know that Zhang Xianzhong's power has become extremely rampant. This year, the two lakes have been severely damaged, and many good fields are already in the enemy-occupied areas. Elder Yang Ge has asked to use the food from the two lakes for self-defense, and he will not transport the capital to the north.

Most of the surplus grain in Jiangxi will also be supplied to the military supplies of Anqing Prefecture, blocking the south of Huoshan.The military supplies of Luzhou Prefecture and Fengyang Prefecture in the north can only rely on Zhili in the south.

This year, the apportionment in Suhu, Songjiang and other places has temporarily increased by several percent. In Suzhou, it has doubled, and it seems to be increased to 120 million shi in the end. "

Shen Tingyang also took a breath when he heard this number.The grain tax in Suzhou was originally the heaviest in the Ming Dynasty. In previous years, the quota was 59 shi. However, considering the transportation loss and additional distribution, in fact, more than 80 shi had to be transported to Huai'an for delivery.

Now the grain and military rations add up to 120 million, and the actual collection must exceed 150 million.Such a large amount of grain cannot be produced in Suzhou. In the final analysis, we still have to go to Zhejiang to buy it, or buy it in other grain-producing areas in Nanzhili.

More than half of the land in the three prefectures of Susong Lake is planted with cash crops such as sericulture and cotton. Originally, they had to rely on the high prices of cash crops to sell silk and cotton cloth to buy grain.

However, there was a severe drought in Zhejiang this year. When Shen Shuren first crossed over, he heard that Zhejiang only had a normal harvest of summer grain this year, and the production of autumn grain would be cut by more than half. of.Even if it's hard work, if food prices continue to soar, some poor people in Suzhou may starve to death.

In addition, according to the old system of the imperial court, for every stone of grain transported by the imperial court in Suzhou, one and three cents of "Guangjiang Silver" and five cents of "Water Transport Silver" were levied as a rule.

The water transport silver was transported to Huai'an together with the grain for delivery, and was handed over to the yamen under the governor of the water transport, as the payment for Cao Ding and the grain guards from Huai'an to Beijing. (The additional food distributed earlier is for the food transporters to eat on the way and for various losses caused by rats and sparrows, and the silver is the money and management expenses for the food transporters. Both money and food must be distributed at the same time, it is not a choice between the two Relationship)
The "Crossing the River Silver" is collected by the localities for their own use. It is the salary paid to the soldiers of the local grain transport guards before delivery to Jiangbei, and also includes the dock workers' fees for changing ships and loading and unloading in the Yangtze River and canals.

In fact, three cents of the money is definitely not enough, and there are various unspoken rules in the local government to apportion additional charges.

Moreover, from Chenghua to Chongzhen, every few decades, the previous excess consumption apportionment items will be embezzled and cleaned up by various interest groups, and then an additional item will be levied under a clever name.

It's just that the "Guojiang Bank" reported to the imperial court has always been one cent and three cents, and has not been moved for more than 100 years.

Shen Shuren didn't know much about these things before, but Shen Tingyang had dealt with Water Transport for ten years, so of course he would teach his son these details without reservation.

What he said were all upright truths, and he was not afraid of outsiders listening, so there was no need to avoid Fang Yizhi's presence.

After Shen Shuren listened, he also had a doubt: "Since that's the case, how does father think Zhu Dadian will frame our father and son this time? When I bought an official, I didn't save face for villains like Gong Dingzi and Hou Fangyu. Zhu Guangshi is even more of a son of enemies." .

Ordinarily, I got this vacancy in the end, it must be because of Zhu Dadian's other conspiracy.Could it be that he intends to make the boy short-lived and unable to complete the task of raising and transporting military rations?This year, it is very expensive to buy grain in Susong area, can't make up enough?
This is unlikely. As a river officer, I only need to count the grain at the delivery water warehouse with the Yunjun of the Changyun Guard Station to ensure that the whole process is safe. As for how the local grain comes from, it should not be my business. Bar? "

Although Shen Shuren hadn't thought of the opponent's conspiracy yet, he knew that there must be a conspiracy. He offended him so badly, how could he not retaliate.

Shen Tingyang stroked his beard and thought for a long time: "It is really impossible to start with the source of food. Even if there are problems in those links, the crimes of the prefect of Suzhou and the subordinate counties are far heavier than those in charge of transportation like you. Zhang Xuezeng He will make fun of his official position.

To let the person in charge of transporting the grain bear the blame is nothing more than a mistake in the two delivery links, such as substituting inferior goods in the local area, and missing catty and short taels, but you didn't find it when you checked and accepted it. Unable to pass the garrison acceptance.

In addition, during the transportation, the freight is over-consumption.The pre-requisitioned part cannot make up for the people's husbands to eat all the way, or the ship is pitched and submerged, and the disease of rat larvae.

But it is very unlikely that this piece will frame our Shen family.Our Shen family has been in the sea for decades, and has been in the water transportation business since your great-grandfather's generation. We have rich experience in this area, and we can prevent losses and disasters before they happen.Even if there is a slight accidental loss, the Shen family cannot afford to make up for it at worst. "

After thinking about it, Shen Tingyang didn't think of how his political opponents would harm him. He had already listed all the common links that were prone to problems.

However, perhaps the authorities are obsessed, but the bystanders are clear.

Shen Shuren is not very professional in this area, and when he looked at it from the calm perspective of an outsider, he really saw some possibilities.

As a person of later generations, Shen Shuren must have richer financial knowledge than the ancients. Although he has never done accounting, he also knows the serious consequences of making mistakes in the accounts——

Accountants of later generations, if they made a mistake by a few dollars, would frantically recheck the bills again. Even if the value of labor hours and wages paid far exceeds these few dollars, it is impossible to make up for the deficit with their own money.Otherwise, it will be a serious problem if the tax authorities find out the false accounts.

The financial accounts of the Ming Dynasty are definitely not as strict as those of the later generations. As long as the results of such things as false accounts are good, they may not pay close attention to the process.But now Zhu Dadian is staring at them and trying to frame them. If something goes wrong, there must be a demon. Could it be...

Shen Shuren felt that he had caught a little inspiration, and pondered further in that direction, and really thought of a possibility.

He bit his lips cautiously, and said modestly in a probing tone: "Father, is it possible that Zhu Dadian's plan is bigger than me?"

Shen Tingyang saw his son's seriousness, and became serious: "How do you say this?"

Shen Shuren analyzed: "Look, father, when you return to your hometown this year, you have been authorized by His Majesty to carry out a pilot project of 'changing water transport to the sea'. The most important evidence for the success of this pilot project in the future is whether the accounts of the actual freight expenses after the grain is transported by sea It is cheaper to ship the grain of the same weight to the north.

That being the case, isn't Your Majesty afraid of his father's "giving some sweetness first, then closing the net"?

If my father deliberately lowered the cost during the pilot project this year, lost money to help the court undertake it, make the accounts beautiful, and make His Majesty feel that it is a good deal, and cook the matter of changing the water transport to the sea.

After the actual large-scale use, in the future, we will "slowly discover" the additional loss caused by large-scale application. Just like the old method of transporting water and silver every few decades, additional budget will be added by blunt knives... …

Therefore, His Majesty must be on guard against this, and will definitely check the accounts of the pilot period strictly, not only not allowing losses, but even forbidding money secretly.

As for our father and son family, I happened to be arranged by Zhu Dadian to be a food delivery officer, although it was to deliver military food to Mr. Yang Ge.I believe that by then my accounts will definitely be checked by Zhu Dadian with a magnifying glass repeatedly.

Not only are I not allowed to lose money, but our Shen family is also not allowed to post money. As long as the money is posted, he will report it and say that we have made false accounts.At that time, His Majesty will doubt the authenticity of the accounts of his father's part of water transportation and sea transportation! "

The speculation Shen Shuren said is of course impossible in modern society.Because Shen Tingyang and Shen Shuren are their own officials and in charge of their own affairs, they cannot be intertwined.

However, in the environment of the ancient rule of man, if an official's son made false accounts, it was very likely that the emperor would think that the family's family style was corrupt and fraudulent, so his father's accounts would probably not be trusted.

Even if this kind of association is illegal, you can't stop Chongzhen's brain from thinking about it.

Shen Tingyang shuddered after hearing this.That little thing about my son can't ruin his plan of "transforming water transport to the sea" that benefits the country and the people!

Shen Tingyang swallowed with difficulty: "Lin'er, you have to be careful, you can't be greedy, you can't lose money, and you can't have any overspending that shouldn't be on the account. We can’t even post the money ourselves! Otherwise, Zhu Dadian might catch him!”

(End of this chapter)