national surname chiming

Chapter 26 Who dares to disapprove of Shen Gongzi's promotion

The work of grain collection and transportation can be done as long as the process is sorted out smoothly, technological innovation is deployed in place, and cost management is ensured.

The rest are all physical work, simple and repetitive work, there is nothing to repeat.

From October to December, during the three months, Shen Shuren kept copying his own working mode, transporting batches of military rations raised from the Su and Song prefectures to the front line in Hefei at a historically low logistics cost.

For the first two shipments of grain, he personally accompanied the ship to escort them.At the beginning of the third batch, after he became familiar with the relevant operations, he felt that he would not be able to learn anything new if he continued to carry on the escort, so he completely transferred to civilian work and handed over the work of escort to his subordinates and family members.

In the past few months, Shen Shuren has also made a huge profit of 10 taels in Susong Prefecture by promoting cotton mulberry picking top buds, flying shuttle looms, and mulberry fish ponds.

After all, there are quite a few super factory owners with tens of thousands of local looms in Suzhou. Frightened by the power and status of the Shen family and Xu Ge’s hometown, and the bottleneck of the downstream supply chain, many people have to succumb to buying Shen Shuren’s technical authorization. , Each machine earns a few taels of licensing fees, and the sum of all kinds of things can't be more than 10 taels.

At the beginning, Shen Tingyang only took 10 taels of cash to support his son's official career and investment in supporting facilities.Although the money was spent on the excavation and construction of the mulberry fishponds at various wharves, the money earned in the follow-up continued to fill up, and in the end, the money Shen Shuren could directly control was several times more.

By the time Shen Shuren's last batch of reserve military rations arrived in Hefei, Yang Sichang had already left Hefei and went to Wuchang to deploy the containment defense.

Shi Kefa and Huang Degong, the commander-in-chief, will be responsible for the defense and reception work in Hefei.

In the past three months, the troops under Shi and Huang's command also fought several battles with Gezuo's Fifth Battalion, and even won some small victories, but unfortunately they failed to achieve any results of encirclement and annihilation.

Every time the Gezuo [-]th Battalion left the Yinghuo Mountains (Dabie Mountains) and penetrated into the Hefei Plain, the depth of the maneuver was not too far, and they just grabbed it and left.

Even if the Ming army defeated the troops that came out to rob, the thieves would quickly disperse and flee back to Yinghuo Mountain. The Ming army was unable to enter the complex terrain to pursue them, so they had to give up.The battle in the Anlu theater has also dragged into a stalemate.

Shen Shuren's cousin, Zhang Huangyan, also took a little bit of hard work in the process of helping Shi Kefa with logistics.

The main reason is that corvee workers were organized along the way to build some port facilities and dock machinery, and provided some assistance.

In addition, when transporting grain with the strong men of Tongcheng, together with the food guards of Qianhu Zuo Zixiong of Feishui Sanitary Station, they repelled several grain grabbing troops under Lin Chengcheng and Liu Xiyao.

The organization of the bandits is very loose. The control of the five thieves of Gezuo over their subordinates is far less strict than that of the officers and soldiers, and it is more like a guerrilla fighting independently.

Those combat operations that tried to grab food were not under the unified command of Lin Chengcheng and others.It is completely the king of the mountain in each defense zone. Based on the detected information, he slapped his head and acted accordingly.

They often have fewer troops to use, and they don't have any friendly troops to cooperate with, which gave Zhang Huangyan the opportunity to make contributions.

Before Yang Sichang left, he took care of Shi Kefa, and wanted to keep an eye on Shen Shuren and Zhang Huangyan to see if they were talents worthy of promotion.

Shi Kefa also kept it in mind, recorded the credits of both of them top-notch, and played them in a timely manner, especially before the official inspection at the end of the year.

Although Shi Kefa didn't know what Shen Shuren did for Mr. Yang Ge so far to get such a big favor.

But Shi Kefa is very measured, and he is determined not to be curious about things that the leader does not allow to ask, and he just needs to implement them.Shen Shuren and Zhang Huangyan do have practical talents, which are worthy of his cultivation.

At the end of the twelfth month, Shi Kefa made some calculations himself, and estimated that the meritorious service Shen Shuren made in the past few months should be enough for him to be promoted from the eighth rank to the seventh rank.

If he continues to work in the Yamen of Susong River Road, he will be promoted to the seventh-rank treasury envoy.

Zhang Huangyan's merits are not as conspicuous as Shen Shuren's. He can be promoted to the seventh rank at most, and he has to spend a little money to manage it. It is not bad to be promoted from the county's classic history to the county magistrate.

After Shi Kefa reported his achievements, he also privately wrote a letter to Shen Shuren, asking the Shen family to transport food to Hefei's confidant family to bring it back.

The letter was nothing more than words of encouragement, implying that he would work hard and continue to serve the country.

……

When Shen Shuren in Suzhou received Shi Kefa's reply, it was already halfway through the twelfth lunar month, and the Chinese New Year would be around soon.

The Shen family knew that the young master had a good performance in the official examination and that he might be promoted after the Beijing inspection at the end of the year, so they were also very happy, and everyone felt that they were honored.

Even Shen Shuren's new friends, Fang Yizhi and Xu Xilie, learned of the news when they came to visit and expressed their sincere congratulations.

"Brother Shen Xian is really a lucky star. His official career is prosperous. He can be promoted in just three or four months after entering the official position. It's not a half-level promotion. Brother Yu will be in high school after Chunwei, and he will be at the same level as Brother Yu at most when he comes out. Whether or not the Jinshi takes the test, it seems that it is not so valuable." Fang Yizhi laughed at himself.

Xu Xilie at the side felt it should be taken for granted: "Hey, I can't say that. Brother Shen's achievements are really convincing. His improved method of water transportation and loading and unloading has now been fully promoted to the Su and Song prefectures.

If it is extended to the whole of Nanzhili and the whole of Jiangnan in the future, how much labor can be saved for the court?The grain from our southern Zhili side can be transported to Huai'an as long as the Jiangyin is levied, but what about Jiangxi and Huguang?The lake camp will also be levied because of changes in the water regime of the channel and more frequent changes of large and small boats.

If it is also promoted in Huai'an, Linqing, Shandong, and Tongzhou, Beizhili, it will be easy to save hundreds of thousands of people's labor, and that is a huge expense.If you want me to say such a great contribution, it is not an exaggeration to go directly to the sixth rank, and the seventh rank is all stingy from the court! "

Among the three, it was Shen Shuren himself who felt the most unexpected and uncomfortable.He also didn't expect that back in the late Ming Dynasty, the promotion rate of officials could be increased so quickly, which seemed a bit unreasonable, like writing a novel.

But after calming down, he made his own calculations, and accepted this setting-official promotion was indeed slow in most of the Ming Dynasty, but the end of the Ming Dynasty was a special case, especially the last few years of Chongzhen.

Bandits and Tartars are too rampant, and officials and generals from all over the country have been killed and there are too many vacancies.

Take Wei Zaode, who will win the No. 13 Scholar in the Spring Festival after the next year, as an example. He was the No. 16 scholar in the Chongzhen [-]th year and became an official.And just three years later, by the end of the [-]th year of Chongzhen, this person had already become an official minister and entered the cabinet!

Turning to the last month before Chongzhen hanged himself, as the previous chief assistant was dismissed due to poor organization and combat, Wei Zaode became the chief assistant directly!

It's only been four years since a newcomer became an official to the chief assistant. Who would believe it in normal years?
Moreover, after the death of Chongzhen, the official positions of the Nanming court were actually random.As long as many people are willing to continue to be loyal to Nanming, whether it is Hongguang or Yongli, they will madly give officials and titles, because Daming's official titles are no longer valuable, and the main thing left is righteousness.

The actual power is taken back from the Tartars and thieves by those who want to be officials themselves by relying on real skills and hard power.

From this point of view, it was actually very cost-effective to cut into time travel in the last few years of the late Ming Dynasty, take the official route to get promoted quickly to obtain capital, and then cooperate with one's own wealth and someone with the strength to exchange the power of a false official.

The only thing to note is that no matter how promoted this promotion is, it cannot be finally promoted to the central officer of the capital. That would be the end, and he would be buried with Chongzhen just like Wei Zaode.

The most cost-effective promotion method is to become a local feudal official and commander-in-chief, but never enter the center.

Of course, this move was limited to rich and powerful families like Shen Shuren.

If his family did not have a family property of three or four million taels of silver, a hundred large ships, and tens of thousands of sailors and servants to help him, then he would have obtained the official title and would not be able to grasp actual power.

Both are indispensable.

……

In the discussion with his friends, after further clarifying the path he was going to take, Shen Shuren also saw more clearly the layout of the next step.

He suddenly felt that it seemed that he could consider it, add more fire, and speed up his promotion speed.

In the middle of winter, because the northern canals were frozen and the coastal areas of the Bohai Sea were also frozen, the yamen in charge of water transportation and river channels had been free and had nothing to worry about.

Shen Shuren realized that he might be idle in the next two months, and it would be fine to leave Suzhou for two months. A bold idea also popped up in his mind.

According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty", in the last two imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty, the weight of stereotyped articles was unprecedentedly reduced, while the weight of current policy theory was increased, which led to the fact that people like Wei Zaode who talked hotly could also become the number one scholar.

I have read the biography of Wei Zaode in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and I know directly the general idea of ​​the examination this year. With preparation in advance, maybe I can really get a vote?

Of course, my own stereotyped articles are really not good, that is, the level of a scholar.Since I was a student in the Imperial College, I have never practiced stereotyped essays.

So even if he knew most of the questions in advance, he didn't dare to hope for the first and second grades, but if he had a little way around and catered to the political opinions of the examiners above, it would not be hopeless for him to be a top three.

The most important thing is that in the three months since I made friends with Fang Yizhi, I have made more or less subtle improvements in terms of speech and diction.After all, Fang Yizhi is Jieyuan of Nanzhili, even if he just talked about culture, philosophy and technology with him every day, the progress is very comprehensive.

Anyway, in the following two months when the canal was frozen, civil servants like him would be idle, and it would not be a loss if they tried, and at most they would return without success.

So, after the three of them drank and chatted about the promotion, Shen Shuren switched the topic back to Fang Yizhi: "Brother Fang, the new year is approaching, do you want to go back to Tongcheng to reunite with your family for the New Year? Spring at the end of the month?"

When Fang Yizhi heard him mention his family, he was also depressed. He drank a large glass of wine and sighed: "When the Fifth Gezuo Battalion was raging in summer, the surrounding areas of Tongcheng were also destroyed. Some relatives in my family were separated. Some were killed by Lin Chengcheng and Liu Xiyao's bandits.

I am ashamed to say that those in my family are not as brave and resolute as Brother Cangshui, who dared to take the risk of going to Tongcheng to become an official, but two-thirds of my relatives left home to flee and live in Nanjing.

Even if I want to go back to celebrate the New Year, it’s only going back to Nanjing. I can’t go back to Tongcheng—so I’m not in a hurry. If I want to go back to Nanjing from here, five or six days is enough.

And I don't really want to go back. Now the army is in turmoil and the road is not safe.It may not be possible to travel from Nanjing to Beijing in a month and a half, and it is even more dangerous if there are some bandits on the road.I was wondering if I should go north ahead of time, leaving more room. If the situation is not right, I have to find another way to Beijing. "

Shen Shuren and Xu Xilie also fully understood what Fang Yizhi said.

Transportation was inconvenient for the ancients, and it was normal for wanderers to travel far and not go home during the Chinese New Year, especially in troubled times.

Shen Shuren rolled his eyes, and suddenly thought of a way to get the best of both worlds, and suggested: "Since Brother Fang doesn't need to go home for the New Year, but is only worried about the unsafe journey north to Beijing, I have a way——

It's better to take the sea route and follow my father's first batch of grain sea ships to go north after the Bohai Sea thaws in the next spring.After the grain is unloaded, you can go ashore in Tianjin and go straight to the capital.My father has traveled to the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea for more than ten years, and he is very familiar with the sea conditions. Even if there is no favorable wind, he can arrive in just over ten days. "

"Going by land and sea from Tianjin to the capital?" Fang Yizhi, a native of Huidi, had never been to sea in his life, so he was a little scared after hearing this.

But hearing that Shen Tingyang had been away for more than ten years, he felt a little relieved, and felt that he could really consider it.

(End of this chapter)