Hongwu Survival Guide

Chapter 54
It was still the time of breakfast when the smoke was everywhere, and a news spread all over Dinghai County. The Secretary of Yinghai ordered that all officials of Mingzhou who were in Dinghai must rush to the residence of Yinghai Envoy for a meeting.

meeting?
This is a new word that is easy to understand literally and unfamiliar.

However, thinking about the downfall at the wharf yesterday, no one dared to underestimate it, and some officials who were trying to please them rushed over early.

Tao Qian, the prefect of Mingzhou, was neither early nor late, and stepped into Zhu Yuan's mansion in the west of Dinghai County where Zhu Yuan was located.

When I entered the door, I happened to meet Xue Shu, the magistrate of Dinghai County.

Arriving in Dinghai ahead of time, Tao Qian also heard about Xue Shu's recent actions. Seeing that this colleague, who was only from the seventh rank because Dinghai was designated as a lower county, looked sullen and planned to go to justice generously, he just Yili greeted him with clasped hands, but didn't say anything.

Instead, he remembered the letter sent by Prime Minister Zuo, and the key message: Your Majesty was bewitched by sycophants, so homesickness should be handled with caution.

Tao Qian, the word homesickness.

Tao Qian's grandfather moved from the southwest to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and settled in Jinling.

After the red scarf Zhan Yingtian, Tao Qian, who failed to obtain any results in the Yuan Dynasty imperial examination several times in a row, voted for Zhu Yuanzhang. With his own knowledge and carefulness over the years, he was sent to serve as the current fourth-rank magistrate of Mingzhou at the end of last year.

Can get this position, can not do without the strong recommendation of the left prime minister.

Logically speaking, if Prime Minister Zuo gave hints, he should obey them wholeheartedly.However, thinking about the news from Jinling City, 62 heads were beheaded in one go because of that boy... Think about yesterday's simple knife, and the series of "I cut it off" in the imperial decree, Tao Qian Don't want to be No.60 three.

Fortunately, the envoy who descended from the sky chose the government office in Dinghai. Tao Qian planned to deal with it for a few days before returning to Fucheng.

For this whole matter, his idea is to not cooperate or obstruct, and to maintain a golden mean.

This counts as an explanation to Zuo Xiang and that person.

Therefore, regarding Xue Shu's actions, even if it was the other party's immediate superior, he would act as if he hadn't seen it in the past few days.

He was taken all the way to the innermost courtyard of the outer courtyard by two servants who were dressed in green clothes but had a strong temperament. Apart from the guards standing upright like javelins on both sides of the main hall, there were also many scribes coming and going.

Looking from the outside to the inside, the main hall of the hall is full of people, and the scene looks busy but quiet.

Because no one speaks.

Affected by the atmosphere, Tao Qian paused and looked up at the plaque hanging on the grand hall in front of him.

Ming Yuan Hall.

Tao Qian knew that the former owner of this mansion was a wealthy businessman attached to the Fang family. Now, like many of Fang Guozhen's subordinates, the whole family was dispatched to Haozhou, and all property and property were confiscated.

After a brief pause, seeing Xue Shu, who came in together, also stopped politely and waited, and looked over suspiciously, Tao Qian made a gesture of invitation, and stepped into the main hall first.

A very spacious lobby.

Five feet from east to west, more than two feet in depth from north to south, and the two rows on the left and right of the lobby can comfortably accommodate six grand master chairs.

In the lobby, according to the level of official status, there are standing and sitting.

However, the first thing that caught Tao Qian's attention was not Huagao, the commander of the first-rank navy who was sitting on the left side of the main seat holding a cup of tea, but the young boy in white fox fur who was incompatible with the whole house.

The boy pulled the chair on the right side of the main seat to a square table on the right in the middle of the lobby, and was lying on the side of the square table, drawing something with a special pen and various rulers.

Tao Qian knew that this was Zhu Yuan.

Hanlin Bachelor, Zhan Shi of the Prince's Mansion, Right Envoy of Taiyuan Hospital, Commander of Mingzhou Guards, Envoy of Yinghai, Envoy of Southeast Transshipment, Envoy of Southeast Press...

Thinking of this series of third-rank official positions, Tao Qian's heart would inevitably have ups and downs.

These years under the current leadership, he claims to be conscientious and hard-working, and he dare not slack off in the slightest. In more than ten years, he has only obtained a fourth-rank prefect of Mingzhou.

Look away.

Tao Qian quickly noticed the simple knife resting on the mahogany bracket under the landscape painting in the Zhongtang.

Cut first and then play!
At present, all the civil and military people in the hall, except Hua Gao, probably can't escape the "cut first and then play" of that knife.Even if it was Hua Gao, the young boy got ruthless and chopped it off. After all, the current will is ahead, and it is hard to say what will happen in the end.

Today is really...

How can this be so? !

The servant just glanced at him, and the servant led him to Huagao's lower head. Tao Qian first saluted Huagao, exchanged a few words of greeting, then glanced at the other side, but there was no movement, so he sat down without saying hello.

Then I noticed that the first row on the right, next to Tongzhi Changduan, the commander of the Mingzhou Guard of the third rank, was Xingji, the chief officer of the Mingzhou Branch of the Transshipment Salt Envoy Division of the Two Zhejiang Capitals, and Xingji, the Tongzhi of Salt Transport.

Although they are all Tongzhi, the Yanyun Tongzhi is one level lower than the Commanding Tongzhi. Like Tao Qian, they are all fourth grade.

Mingzhou is an important city for salt affairs.

Although at the same level, Xing Ji's position is to some extent more important than him as the magistrate of Mingzhou. Therefore, Xing Ji, who was born in Chuzhou, does not belong to Zuo Xiang's family, but a confidant appointed by His Majesty the Emperor.

However, at the wharf yesterday, some officials from Mingzhou Prefecture, Mingzhou Procuratorate, Mingzhou Wei and even subordinate states and counties came to welcome the two senior officials, but Xing Ji, a colleague of the Salt Transport Co., Ltd., did not show up.

Unexpectedly, the other party would appear here again today.

Thinking about whether Xing Ji is not a person like Xue Shu, after making the decision, he probably regretted it, or heard about the "dismissal" of the imperial decree announced in public on the pier yesterday, and came to make up for it?

Noticing Tao Qian's sizing up, Xing Ji with a square face arched his hands unnaturally, and then turned his eyes to his nose and nose to his heart.

Just as Tao Qian looked away, and was about to enter the old monk's samadhi, he heard someone speak loudly in a substandard Jinling accent, "I don't know who is the envoy of the sea, I have something to say."

Tao Qian looked over with everyone.

It was Xue Shu who spoke.

Tao Qian turned to the young man in fox fur who was drawing something at the square table.

Zhu Yuan raised his head and saw that it was a dignified green-robed official, but his demeanor was not polite at all, so he responded, "I am, what's wrong?"

Xue Shu turned to Zhu Yuan, withdrew his gesture of bowing his hands towards the main hall, and questioned: "Since you are a military envoy, why don't you wear an official uniform?"

Zhu Yuan smiled and said: "Well, I was sent to work as soon as I was established as a battalion sea envoy, and I don't have an official uniform yet."

Xue Shu was stunned for a moment, and continued to ask: "I heard that the Shangguan is still a scholar of the Imperial Academy, why doesn't he wear this official uniform?"

Zhu Yuan thought it was a troublemaker, so he simply lowered his head and continued to draw the last few strokes, while saying: "If you have nothing to do, be quiet, don't talk nonsense."

Everyone: "..."

This... nonsense? !

vulgar!

Then there was laughter.

Everyone looked, it turned out to be a naval captain who was supposed to be the first in the hall.

Yo!
Don't laugh, I don't know, there seems to be an official who is bigger than the Yinghai envoy here!
Xue Shu was reprimanded, his face paled in an instant, and he took out a booklet from his sleeve: "Your Majesty has appointed Xue Shu, the Magistrate of Hai County, to follow His Majesty's edict. This is the list of fishing households in our county. There are a total of 340 households with a population of six. There are 770 and 16 people, 790 and [-] and [-]-year-old males, and other fisherman's family members and children who have reached the age of [-]. They have not been collected for hundreds of years since the Tang Dynasty, and I am sorry that the officials cannot follow orders to record them."

Speaking of this, Xue Shu paused, and added: "Shangguan, due to His Majesty's reckless orders, nearly half of the fishermen in our county have fled to the far sea, and I can't find them."

After saying this, Xue Shu took a few steps forward, sent the roster to the square table, and took out another page of documents from his sleeve: "This is the resignation letter from a subordinate official, I am afraid that I will not be able to hold this position, and I only wish to return to my hometown to study. "

Xue Shu's voice fell, and the whole room was silent.

Someone else glanced at the plain knife in the middle of the hall.

Are you so not afraid of death?
Zhu Yuan paused his depiction, looked at Xue Shu and said, "You have resigned, pleading for your life for the people, leaving your name in history. I will replace someone in your seat and catch those escaped fishermen back. Those who deserve to be beaten and killed Kill, the exile who should be exiled is also famous in history, but it is a pity that it is notorious. This is the logic, right?"

Xue Shu's expression changed, and he was silent for a while.

Zhu Yuan said: "Or, you can continue to stay where you are, and protect those escaped fishermen. Without your assistance, it's not easy for me to arrest people, right? Or, you just fancy your own reputation, In fact, you don’t care about the lives of those fishermen?”

After hearing Zhu Yuan's words, Xue Shu stepped forward without any hesitation, and put away the resignation letter.

Zhu Yuan glanced at the household register again, and said: "This time, fishermen who are good at handling boats must be recruited to transport food for the army of the Northern Expedition. Because the sea transportation is too dangerous, the result of my discussion with my ancestors is that those who are recruited will be exempted from fishing. Taxes and corvee for the whole family. If there is an accident, compensation will be given. However, I think this is not enough, so I plan to open some schools. As long as they are involved in shipping, their children will be given priority in school. In the future, they will be selected to enter Jinling Guozi School And Houhu Medical College, which is why I asked you to count children over the age of eight."

Hearing this, Xue Shu stepped forward again, put away the household register again and put it in his arms, then bowed to Zhu Yuan and said, "Meng Lang, my servant, please... make your atonement."

Zhu Yuan waved: "Go to the side and stand, don't block the middle."

Xue Shu's movements froze, but he still stood up and quietly retreated to the side.

Zhu Yuan drew a few last strokes and invited Yao Feng, the doctor in charge of the craftsman, to explain a few words to the completed drawing, and walked him through the hall again, saying: "The long table in the middle, two The chairs are ten feet long and six feet wide. Chairs... let's make more, first make a hundred, and use them for entertaining guests. The long tables on both sides of the lobby are three feet wide and one foot long. There are also east wing rooms, two bays, one There are two long tables on the left and one on the right, which are also one foot long and three feet wide. They were delivered before sunset, is there any problem?"

Yao Feng thought for a while and said, "My lord, before sunset...the paint won't be applied."

"You don't need to paint it, just smooth it out."

Yao Feng nodded: "Then it's fine to be an official."

"Go and order, come back quickly."

When Yao Feng left, Zhu Yuan returned to his seat on the right side of the middle hall. Just as he was about to pick up the cup, Hua Gao got up and snatched it: "It's cool, it's for heat."

From the weird gazes of everyone in the hall, from the commander of the first-rank navy who graciously exchanged hot tea for the third-rank envoy and carefully delivered it to someone, he signaled to Yao Feng to leave, and asked, "Just now, what's the matter?" what?"

Zhu Yuan gestured to the surroundings: "This is considered to be the Yamen of the Yinghai Division. I can make a few sets of tables and chairs, which can be used as both a conference room and an office. I don't have to run around, I can't move."

Hua Gao had never heard of new words such as 'meeting room' and 'office', but he probably understood, nodded and said: "Then my old Hua's naval governor's mansion is also set up in my own house, and we will be neighbors."

Huagao's house is next door to Zhu Yuan.

Ok.

Next door... Why does this word sound so dirty?

Hateful modern man.

Zhu Yuan didn't say much, just smiled and clapped his hands: "Everyone..." Just as he opened his mouth, he gestured to the table in front of him, and said to the servants on the periphery of the crowd: "...Here, move to Master Liu's side," he said and pointed Liu Lian: "Mr. Liu, you are in charge of the minutes of the meeting. It is still in vernacular. You are not allowed to use classical Chinese. Remember to write down the list of everyone present today. I will send a letter to my ancestors later. This meeting minutes will be sent to Jinling together."

The two servants stepped forward, carried the square table in front of Liu Lian, and helped spread the paper and pens.

Just now Zhu Yuan didn't care about his image, and Liu Lian didn't care either. He picked up the pen in a broken pot, stretched out the paper, and waited for writing.

Move the table and spread the paper here, but most of the people present are thinking about Zhu Yuan's words just now.

Send a letter to His Majesty the Emperor.

And today's meeting minutes, and... the list.

Yanyun Tongzhi Xing Ji let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, at the pier yesterday, a certain young adult didn't show up. Fortunately...he couldn't hold back, and rushed over overnight.

so far so good.

in the hall.

Zhu Yuan clapped his hands again to attract everyone's attention: "The name of the meeting: open up a sea grain road, transport grain and pay for the Northern Expedition by water."

After finishing speaking, I waited.

No one applauded.

The ancients are the ancients, and they don't understand the rules.

rude!
Zhu Yuan could only continue by himself: "Three things, first, about civilian husbands, second, about ships, third, about food. I have already understood these things before, and I called everyone here to gather ideas and improve plan, and avoid omissions.”

"Okay, let's talk about the folks first," Zhu Yuan said, "Your Majesty has ordered Wu Zhen, the deputy general of Zhengnan, to lead 2 people to Mingzhou, and there are also [-] local soldiers who command Zhang Cundao, but most of these people They are just ordinary soldiers, and most of them are not good at sailing boats, so it is necessary to recruit civilians who are good at sailing boats."

Speaking of this, Zhu Yuan expressed emotion again about Lao Zhu's transformation.

Hua Gao was born in Chaohu Navy.

Wu Zhen, from Dingyuan.

Zhang Cundao, the eldest son of Zhang Yi, one of the Four Eastern Zhejiang Gentlemen who are listed alongside Liu Ji, Song Lian, and Ye Chen.

Although the three of them are of different grades, after all the calculations, all forces are complete, and Huaixi Xungui's family is no longer the dominant one.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuan continued: "I have already discussed with you on the way here. In order to avoid maritime risks, I plan to transport grain to the north in batches, 20 shi each time, and transport as many times as I can this year. However, it is calculated based on the fact that six batches of grain can be delivered in the first and second half of the year, because it is impossible to return immediately after arriving in Shandong, and the escort and transportation after departure and arrival are not considered. , there must be guards and preparations, so add 3, and it will be [-]."

Having said that, Zhu Yuan paused again, and said: "General Wu and Commander Zhang can probably offer 1 people, and there is still a gap of 2 people."

This figure was not obtained by Zhu Yuan's brain.

The current grain-transporting ships basically load 500 shi of grain with 1000 materials, 20000 shi of grain with [-] materials, and so on.Of course, Zhu Yuan's previous five-thousand-material boat was more than enough to hold [-] shi of grain at a time.

Therefore, it is not a question of displacement, but a question of risk avoidance.

It is not impossible to forcibly stuff 1000 stones into a sea-going ship of [-] materials.

The problem is that the safety will be reduced, and once the ship sinks, the one-time loss will be even greater.In this era, the price of a ship is almost the same as that of a ship of food. If there is a loss, it is better to lose the ship than to lose the food.

Therefore, even if Zhu Yuan's boat was used to transport grain before, it could only hold 10000 stones at a time.

Let alone manpower.

To meet the most basic conditions, a sea-going ship with 15 materials requires 30 people, and a thousand materials requires 300 people.As for a certain 20 materials that are too large and inappropriate, [-] people are needed to ensure the basic operation.In short, how many people are needed to transport [-] shi of grain at a time is a fairly easy math problem.

The answer is 6000 people.

Calculated according to the round trip of the three batches sent out in half a year, that is 18000 people, rounded up, counted as [-].

However, this is not enough.

There are too many temporary problems that may be encountered in the transportation of grain by sea. It is not possible to only provide the most basic manpower. It is more secure to have a redundancy of [-] to [-]%.

What's more, the plan is to have a naval escort.

Not to mention the soldiers living on the grain ships, some warships do not plan to carry grain, but only transport troops, in order to ensure the convenience of movement in case of emergency.

Among them, the boating part requires another group of people.

Therefore, Zhu Yuan planned to collect [-] yuan.

As for other teams.

Lao Zhu transferred a total of 5000 people from the Southern Expedition Army, including the officers and soldiers of the coastal guards such as Mingzhou Guards.

In short, around the entire maritime grain road, from Mingzhou to Jiaozhou, the total planned manpower will not be less than [-].

Zhu Yuan already had a preliminary idea about these things. After speaking, he glanced at the crowd, and his eyes first fell on Fang Guozhen's eldest son, Fang Li: "Mr. Fang, you are responsible for raising 2 of these [-] people. Is there a problem?"

(End of this chapter)