national surname chiming

Chapter 98

After recruiting useful officials from Nanjing, recruiting military talents, and finding enough supporters for the Lijin Reform, it is almost mid-February.

Shen Shuren spent more than 20 days planning in Nanjing, and he could no longer delay, and had to return to Huangzhou as soon as possible to take up his post.

In Huangzhou, the spring plowing should have already started. The prefect Zhang Huangyan must be very busy, helping him, the magistrate, temporarily take over the work of persuading farmers to farm and improve technology.

Moreover, Shen Shuren knew that since the Lantern Festival, when he came to Nanjing to make arrangements, his father, Shen Tingyang, had personally escorted the first batch of grain this year to the north since late January.

Counting the days, you can reach Tianjin in [-] days by sea, and if you go to Shanhaiguan, it will take another three to five days.Therefore, Shen Tingyang should have arrived in the capital at the moment, and he can report to Chongzhen at any time to formally request the implementation of the Lijin Reform.

Therefore, the operation on Shen Shuren's side seems to be not a big crisis, but in fact it only allows victory and not defeat, otherwise his father's side will not be able to advance.

From Nanjing to Beijing, the overall situation is a big game, and no one can be left behind.

……

On February [-]th, west of Nanjing City, on the Yangtze River Wharf at the mouth of the Qinhuai River.

More than a dozen Dafu boats, each with a tonnage of at least [-] materials, and more large sand boats were moored there majestically, waiting to pick up important guests and set sail for a long voyage.

Of course the sand boat belonged to the Shen family, and the blessing boat was dispatched temporarily by the Zheng family within the last ten days, its energy can be seen.

Other low-level officials who needed to go to Huangzhou and Suizhou, such as Yan Yingyuan and Zhang Mingzhen, were also arranged by Shen Shuren to take up the post together.

In a restaurant next to the pier, many people came to see him off, and the scene was very grand.

Of course Wumei Village is here to see off Shen Shuren and Zheng Chenggong.

Zhang Guowei, Minister of the Nanjing Household Department, and Xu Shiqi, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, also came to talk to Shen Shuren to encourage each other.

Zhang Guowei looked very confident, saying that after the implementation of the Lijin Reform, the problem of military expenditures of the southeast pacifiers would definitely be resolved and the court would be relieved of its burden.

Shen Shuren said goodbye to them one by one.

In addition to socializing in the official circles here, in the private room upstairs, there were also many female visitors who came to see off the female family members that the Shen family wanted to take away.

The main reason is that Shen Shuren took Li Xiangjun away. With Li Xiangjun's previous name in the Nanqu circle, the other courtesans will inevitably bid farewell.Liu Rushi and Gu Mei are here, not to mention Bian Yujing.

Liu Rushi and Gu Mei are both experienced and experienced. Just looking at Li Xiangjun, Liu Rushi was a little surprised, pulled her aside secretly, and asked a few words casually:

"Sister Li, I remember you...have been redeemed by the Shen Futai for more than ten days, right?"

Li Xiangjun nodded shyly: "My sister really forgets things, so I don't need to ask."

Liu Rushi: "Look at your facial features, you should still be perfect, right? Or it was only in the last two or three days that he..."

Li Xiangjun blushed and lowered his head: "Indeed, there are secrets, so don't ask my sister, the son redeemed me, he has his own big things to do. Maybe I'm too busy with my daily affairs recently, I don't want to talk about them."

Liu Rushi didn't ask any more questions, but changed his mind, he guessed that Shen Shuren was playing some big conspiracy, so he better not ask about it.

After Liu Rushi and Gu Mei said goodbye to her, Bian Yujing came back reluctantly, and said a lot of private things between the sisters.

Li Xiangjun didn't feel too sad this time, he hugged his sister and whispered a surprise:
"Sister, don't be sad. We still have opportunities to get together in the future. I believe that the young master will not stay in Huangzhou for too long, and he will definitely be promoted. If I have the opportunity to return to Nanjing, I will catch up with you again."

Bian Yujing sighed: "We poor people, how can we have the opportunity to run around?"

Li Xiangjun smiled narrowly, took out a contract of sale from his arms, and waved it in front of Bian Yujing:

"Actually, when I was planning to pack up and set off yesterday, the young master found out with his conscience. He asked the servant to take 5000 taels of silver, and the helper also redeemed himself. It is a fulfillment of his promise. He said that he will not enslave you, and he will return you free. that is.

Don't worry too much, Young Master saw that Mr. Meicun admired you before, but Mr. Meicun helped him with a lot of things this time, and he refused to take too much money in private.Although Mr. Plum Village didn't intend to do anything to you, but giving you back your freedom can be regarded as repaying the favor between you and Mr. Plum Village at the same time.Follow-up depends on your fate, just let nature take its course. "

Bian Yujing's eyes widened: "When did it happen? I don't know why, how could my mother agree?"

Li Xiangjun: "As for what happened last night, my mother is probably reluctant to part with it and wants to get along with her for a few days first. But I will definitely tell you so that you won't be tricked. Of course, mother is also reluctant to part with you, but the young master made such a big fuss last time. Hou Fangyu's reputation was ruined.

My mother is scared now, she is afraid that she will offend him and cause him to dig up the scandals of all his opponents, so she dare not hold a banquet to bid for redemption.As long as the son seems to want to redeem, it is reasonable to ask for a one-buy price, so my mother will admit it. "

Bian Yujing stared blankly at his contract of sale, confirmed that he was free, and was so moved that he shed tears: "Come and understand, he is indeed an upright person. He must be out of respect for his teacher, so he only dared to return I'm free, thanks."

In the end, she hugged Li Xiangjun tightly for a while, and watched Li Xiangjun and Chen Yuanyuan board the female family boat together.

……

It takes about seven or eight days for the fleet to sail against the current on the big river to complete the voyage of a thousand miles.

Set sail in the early morning of February [-]th, in order to avoid the exhaustion of the journey, and there are civil servants and female relatives in the fleet, when they encounter a suitable big port on the road, they will also stop at the port at night to rest.

For example, Wankou Port in Huaining County in Anqing Prefecture and Hukou Port in Jiujiang Prefecture.

On the night of February [-]th, the fleet arrived at Wankou Port.

Shen Shuren rested overnight, but early the next morning, a visitor came to him from Huaining County, and it turned out to be his old acquaintance, Fang Yizhi.

Shen Shuren was a little pleasantly surprised to see this unexpected guest, and hurried to the boat, and the two also had a chat.

Fang Yizhi solved the mystery straightforwardly: "Last month, I heard that you made a big fuss in Nanjing, which made Hou Fangyu so hard that even Mao Xiang felt a little ashamed of being involved.

In the past ten days, I have heard several groups of friends from Nanjing, and I feel that you are so unreasonable, so I know your itinerary, and let my family come to Wankou Port every day to inquire.

We are younger and younger, so I am not polite to you anymore. I have a family letter here, which my mother and aunt insisted on me writing, and sent it to my father together.I wanted to send a boat to send it myself, or talk to the post station.

But my mother insisted on worrying, thinking that I was troublesome, and asked me to find a colleague who went to Huguang to take it—I remember that after you returned, you officially became the magistrate, and you should also pay a visit to my father, right?Just be on the way. "

As he said that, Fang Yizhi handed Shen Shuren the family letter addressed to his father, Huguang Governor Fang Kongxuan.

The two are of the same age, of course such a trivial matter cannot be refused.Shen Shuren accepted the letter readily, and asked casually:
"Brother, isn't he an official in Tongcheng? You've come to Huaining a long way, right? How's the banditry in Anqing these days? The rest of Lin Cheng's tribe in the valleys of the Qianshan Mountain, have they been wiped out by Shi Futai?"

Fang Yizhi was speechless: "How could it be so fast! The ice and snow accumulated in the middle of winter have just thawed, and the roads in the mountains are muddy and difficult to walk. At least the troops will not be mobilized until early summer.

As for me, although I can't compare with Brother Xian, we are also the general judge of Anqing Mansion who was just promoted after the year, and have been transferred to Fuzhi to work here, so it is very convenient to block you. "

Shen Shuren was taken aback, and hurriedly congratulated, "Congratulations... The younger brother is too lazy to inquire, and he didn't know the news of my brother's meritorious service and promotion."

Fang Yizhi curled his lips: "Are you embarrassing me? Now in Nanzhi and Huguang official circles, no one knows that you, Shen Shuren, have been promoted very quickly. My daily hard work is nothing, it's just a routine promotion."

If it was the Taiping Festival in previous years, the routine promotion would not have been promoted so fast.However, in the last years of Chongzhen and the last two sessions of Jinshi, especially those who were relatively young when they passed the exam, they were generally promoted faster than normal.

In history, because Wei Zaode won the number one scholar in Chongzhen for 13 years, four years later, two months before Chongzhen died, he became the chief assistant of the cabinet. He was an extremely human minister!Who let the veterans be dismissed too many and too quickly?

Fang Yizhi came from a serious academic background, with less meritorious service than Zhang Huangyan, but a much higher starting point than Zhang Huangyan. One is a Juren and the other is a Jinshi. In the end, the speed of promotion is almost the same, which is reasonable.

After listening to Shen Shuren, he poured him a few glasses of wine, and the two brothers drank three times, and said some words of encouragement to each other: "Then look forward to this year, our brothers will join hands to destroy Lin Cheng, and we are also at Shifutai Show your face.

At that time, don't be like the guards of other provinces and prefectures, who only know how to drive the thieves out and drive them into the mountains for beggar-thy-neighbor!The thieves in Yinghuo Mountain have not been suppressed cleanly for so many years, because of this! "

Fang Yizhi: "Don't worry, as long as you really work hard, Shi Futai will never be wise and protect yourself!"

……

At Wankou Port, we made some supplies and bid farewell to Fang Yizhi.Shen Shuren's fleet sailed for another five days and finally arrived in Huanggang County smoothly.

Zhang Huangyan was already hopeless, and he helped Shen Shuren handle the government affairs for two full months.Fortunately, there are few things to do in winter, and we can just proceed step by step, otherwise Zhang Huangyan would be really busy.

"You are so chic as a hands-off shopkeeper! You promised to return in early February, and it's already February [-]th! Spring plowing has started for half a month! When you come back, the busiest season of farming is over, and you're trying to persuade farmers !"

As soon as Zhang Huangyan met, he stepped forward and punched his cousin twice without waiting for his cousin to get off the trestle bridge to stand firm.

Shen Shuren had a rare playful smile: "You and I are both able-bodied and hardworking, I didn't dawdle in Nanjing, but this time I brought you a lot of helpers.

He also abducted the eldest son of the Zheng family here to serve as the investigator of the Yan Fa Road. By the way, the Zheng family also brought the elite lucky boats and Hongyi cannons to escort their young master!If a worker wants to do a good job, he must first sharpen his weapon. We have the cannons originally produced by the Hongyi people. It will not be much easier to deal with thieves this year. "

Zhang Huangyan was dazzled by what he heard, and there was too much information to accept for a while.

However, he only glanced at the pier for a while, and saw the female family members of the Shen family coming down beside him.In addition to Chen Yuanyuan, he also saw a stunning beauty who was a little familiar, but he probably didn't know him.

He immediately became angry: "You are really exhausted! We agreed to be busy with business in Nanjing, but we changed our concubine again!"

Shen Shuren smiled and said: "I'm afraid that my sister-in-law will be jealous. If you don't worry about being chewed by my sister-in-law, I will bring you one too. But I don't like to give away women. Next time I have a chance, you can do it yourself." I'll pay for whoever I like."

Shen Shuren also has principles in his life, that is, he can buy women, but he will never sell or give them away.

In ancient times, it was not illegal to buy someone, and it was impossible for him to go against the morals of the world.

But according to the legal common sense known to his later generations, those who trafficked women violated Article 240 of the "Criminal Law", and at most they could be shot.Anyone who buys and sells a woman violates Article 241, and the maximum sentence is three years (without considering concurrent punishment for other crimes).

Of course, the crime of buying is much less sinful than that of selling.

Therefore, his last sliver of conscience can only make him ensure that when others are selling, he can save people from suffering.But he absolutely cannot sell or give away (you can let the woman go by herself, but you can't give it away, and you can't directly transfer the woman's personal rights to other people's control).

Zhang Huangyan laughed angrily at his unreasonable words: "You bastard, you have a way of pretending to be a thief with me! Okay, anyway, you must find a way to compensate me, this matter is not over!"

(End of this chapter)