Back to Daming to be a genius

Chapter 90 Returning to Shandong
(PS: The second update was delivered. The local rainstorm and power outage, so the update is late, please forgive me.)
There is a saying: Wrap a hundred thousand guan around your waist, ride a crane and leave Yangzhou.There is another saying: The golden wind on the two sleeves keeps righteousness, and the bright moon on the five lakes shines on the black heart. —— These two sentences are perfectly appropriate to describe the current situation of our Young Master Zhang.The imperial court asked Young Master Zhang to raise 50 taels to help the victims of disasters in Shandong. No one was very optimistic about Master Zhang’s offending errand, but our Young Master Zhang not only got more than 210 million taels of silver unexpectedly, but also gave it to himself and his entourage In the end, the officials and people in the south of the Yangtze River not only did not complain about Young Master Zhang’s extortion and extortion, but they praised Young Master Zhang for his knowledge of the past and present, his wisdom, and his compassionate heart. , He even praised Young Master Zhang for his method of earning money in a proper way, which opened up a new source of income for the Jiangnan government, and also brought production technology to the people in Jiangnan. What's even more outrageous is to praise Young Master Zhang for being a clean and honest official with a clean sleeve!It can be said to gain both fame and fortune, without delay.Even when Young Master Zhang returned to the capital and passed through Yangzhou, those Yangzhou salt merchants who were beaten up by Young Master Zhang and cried for their father and mother, organized themselves to meet the pier obediently, and respectfully asked Young Master Zhang to leave shoes to commemorate...

"Master Imperial Envoy, please keep your shoes!" Dozens of Yangzhou salt merchants kowtowed and knelt, and firecrackers blared. The two largest salt merchants, Wang Fuguang and Qiao Chengwang, knelt down, took off their shoes for Young Master Zhang, and held them high above their heads. , Keep it as a place to think about, to commemorate the "merit" of Young Master Zhang's "love" of Yangzhou salt merchants.But our young master Zhang was not at all pleased with this honor, but cursed in his stomach, "Fucking sun! That bastard invented this shoe-off ceremony? Isn't this forcing me to buy a new pair of shoes? "

"Crack, crack, crack" firecrackers rang again, amidst the praises of Yangzhou salt merchants and Yangzhou local officials, Master Zhang's official ship left the pier and sailed slowly to the north.Seeing the pier drifting away, Zhang Qingyun, who had been on tenterhooks for a long time, finally breathed a sigh of relief, and sat back on the chair relieved. Little Xing Yuan, who was held by Zhang Qingyun, asked curiously: "Sister Zhang, what's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing. I'm worried about someone. Fortunately, she didn't come." Zhang Qingyun shook her head and answered casually—needless to say, the person Zhang Qingyun was worried about was Yang Wan, the number one talented woman in the south of the Yangtze River. The last stop of the disaster relief lottery was Yangzhou , Yang Wan sang on stage and gathered popularity and did not leave. She was in Yangzhou at the moment. Of course, Zhang Qingyun was worried that she would appear suddenly, seduce Young Master Zhang to redeem her, and brought her to the capital.But at this moment, a melodious sound of flute came from afar, Zhang Qingyun followed the sound, and saw a small boat slowly approaching, Yang Wan, who was dressed in a light red gauze dress, was holding a jade flute, standing on the bow and playing against the wind .

The gauze was flying, and the untied long hair was fluttering in the wind, fluttering like a fairy descending to earth.The sound of the flute is elegant, filled with the air of ice springs, suddenly like waves advancing layer by layer, sometimes like snowflakes flying in bursts, sometimes like a whirlwind in a canyon, rushing upwards, sometimes like the Milky Way flowing quietly in the middle of the night, like a passionate girl standing under the moon , miss lover, almost intoxicating.Hearing the sound of the flute and seeing the pretty and charming appearance, the Wei family brothers who were reluctant and reluctant to leave Jiangnan ran to the stern together and shouted at Yang Wan, "Miss Yang, come and give us The two brothers are seeing you off? Thank you, thank you!" "Miss Yang, come back to the capital with us, we will redeem you and buy you a house in the capital!" Yang Wan just closed her eyes and tasted the flute, as if she didn't realize it. Keep playing.

"Merry Tanhualang, why don't you go?" Zhang Qingyun glanced at Young Master Zhang who was standing next to him with his hands behind his back and his eyes closed, and hummed bitterly, "My friend is here to see you off, why don't you go say goodbye to her?" Or, why don’t you just take her back to the capital, since your house in Prime Minister Wen’s Hutong is so big, it’s not easy to live in her?”

"Qing Yun, you are very wrong about this." Young Master Zhang shook his head, closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the flute, and said with a smile: "There is actually no affair between Miss Yang Wan and me, Miss Yang Wan I came to see me off, firstly because I admired my talent and learning, and secondly, to fulfill her promise to play a hole flute for me. I have no other intentions. As for me, I don’t have much contact with her. Although I have some lust for her occasionally, It's more about sympathy for her background and situation, as well as appreciation for her talent, not a relationship between a man and a woman. After all, there are too few examples of love at first sight in this world."

"Really?" Zhang Qingyun squinted her eyes, admiring the rare serious expression on Young Master Zhang's face.Unexpectedly, Young Master Zhang's serious expression disappeared in the blink of an eye, and he immediately returned to his usual playful smile, and said with a smile: "Of course it's true——I have a beautiful woman like you by my side, why am I willing to leave you behind? Go and talk to me." Hook up with other women?"

"Bah! It's just you? In the next life!" Zhang Qingyun blushed and took a sip, pulled Xiao Xing Yuan up and left, angry on the surface, but really ashamed and happy in her heart.And Young Master Zhang stood there with his hands behind his back, until the end of the song, Young Master Zhang strode to the stern of the boat, smiled and said to Yang Wan on the boat: "Miss Yang, thank you for sending me the flute. After listening to the girl's song completely and attentively, the girl's talent in rhythm is indeed unparalleled in the world, and Xiaosheng admires it." After finishing speaking, Young Master Zhang bowed his hands to Yang Wan.

"Thank you Tanhualang for your compliment." Yang Wanying greeted her with a blessing and said: "Tanhualang, the journey is far away, and my slave can only be sent here. Please take care of Tanhualang in the future."

"Miss, please take care too. If we meet again by fate, Xiaosheng will definitely ask the girl about the rhythm again." Young Master Zhang cupped his hands again.Yang Wan smiled sweetly, took out something from her bosom, raised her hand and threw it to Young Master Zhang, and then told the boatman to turn around, and the light boat went back downstream.Young Master Zhang reached out to take the object thrown by Yang Wan, his hands were soft, and when he spread his hands again, a sachet embroidered with five-color silk threads appeared vividly, and inside the sachet, there was a strand of black silk.Young Master Zhang couldn't help sighing: "Oh, Qingsi, Qingsi? I really didn't expect that my young master's charm would be so great? What a good girl, maybe I ruined it just now. She made a crime, I made a crime !"

…………

The disaster was like a fire, and the huge grain transportation team did not dare to delay on the way. They have been rushing northward day and night. After more than ten days of day and night, the fleet led by Mr. Zhang finally arrived at the Mid-Autumn Festival on August [-]th. This day entered the territory of Shandong, and the land of Shandong at this moment is completely a piece of red land.The scorching sun is in the sky, and looking into the distance from the observation deck of the fleet, there is no green on both sides of the canal, let alone a little human smoke, and there is a bright red everywhere, which makes people dizzy, as if The whole earth is burning.No matter the fields or the hills are bare and barren, occasionally one or two dead trees can be seen, but there is no leaf on the trunk, and even the bark is missing. The naked trunk stands on the cracked ground. Above, it looks bleak.

"How did the drought become like this? How did the drought become like this?" Young Master Zhang, who didn't know much about meteorological knowledge, was heartbroken and said, "I passed by here when I went to the south of the Yangtze River. The disaster is not so serious? The newspaper also said that in early June At that time, there was a heavy rain in Shandong, which should have alleviated some of the disaster, but why does it seem that the disaster is worse than when we came?"

"The bad thing is the heavy rain." Song Xiance, the teacher hired by Young Master Zhang with a lot of money, sighed and explained: "The climate in the north is like this. After a long drought, a sudden heavy rain can alleviate some of the disaster, but Locust plagues are bound to come one after another. You can take a closer look at those dead trees. In fact, the leaves and bark of those dead trees were eaten by locusts. The little green that was moistened by the rain in the field was also eaten by locusts. .”

Reminded by Song Xiance, Young Master Zhang immediately remembered that when he was watching science programs in the 21st century, he seemed to have said that there would be locusts flooding after the severe drought and rain, but Young Master Zhang couldn't remember the specific scientific reasons.After sighing again, Young Master Zhang asked, "What about water conservancy? There are many big rivers in Shandong, so why doesn't water conservancy work at all? I remember that the old course of the Yellow River, the Daqing River, passed by Jinan. Why is there a disaster there?" But the most serious?"

"Master Zhang, since Li Hualong and Cao Shi hired Master Cao to manage the Yellow River in the 33rd year of Wanli, the imperial court has not allocated a tael of silver to manage the Yellow River for decades." said Liu Wuwei, the former Wuxi county magistrate who knew the most about water conservancy under the command of Young Master Zhang. He came out and clasped his hands and explained: "The water conservancy of the Yellow River has been in disrepair for a long time, so naturally it is impossible to divert water to irrigate the farmland. In addition, in order to ensure smooth water transportation, the imperial court allowed the water in the canal to flow out in the dry season, and kept the water in the flood and rainy seasons but not the river. , and never allow the canal to be silted up by sediment. Therefore, although the canal flows through Shandong, although it has brought benefits to Shandong, it has left the people with no river to discharge floods during floods, and no water to irrigate during droughts, which is why disasters and famines continue.”

Young Master Zhang kept his mouth shut. The canal was related to the transportation between the north and the south of Daming. Even if Young Master Zhang had a hundred guts, he would not dare to release water from the canal to irrigate the farmland in the disaster-stricken area.After pondering for a long time, Young Master Zhang asked Liu Wuwei: "Master Liu, this time you come to Beijing with me to report on your duties. If I recommend you as the governor of the river to manage the water conservancy of the Yellow River, do you dare to take over?"

Liu Wuwei cupped his hands and replied: "Thank you, my lord. If the imperial court really appoints lower officials to manage the Yellow River, as long as it can benefit the people, Liu Wuwei is naturally bound to do so. It's just that the job of river governance requires a lot of investment and it will be effective. If the imperial court does not allocate money, the lower officials will also be obliged to do so." Make bricks without straw."

Young Master Zhang stopped talking again, but he subconsciously thought of the more than 100 million taels of donations carried in his fleet—for the disaster situation in Shandong, Young Master Zhang only used 50 taels of grain to transport relief to the disaster-stricken area. The rest of the money, Young Master Zhang, was sent to Beijing intact to be handed over to the national treasury for Liaodong military pay, and to help Shaanxi and Henan disaster areas that were also severely affected by the Little Ice Age. Naturally, it would be great if a part of the Yellow River is governed—but the question is, will the imperial court, which is dealing with the Miao chaos in Guizhou and the war in Liaodong at the same time, agree?
Because Jinan, where the disaster was most severe, has no canals, the grain and grass escorted by the river army led by Master Zhang must first be transported by land to Dongchang, the hometown closest to Jinan. Master Zhang's grain transport fleet had to pass through Yanzhou Mansion in Shandong, which was also affected by the disaster, and distributed a batch of disaster relief food nearby.However, when there was only one day away from the Jining Wharf in Yanzhou Prefecture, Young Master Zhang had a whim, and called his staff and Jiangnan literati who volunteered to supervise the distribution of food to discuss, "Everyone, we will arrive at the Jining County Wharf tomorrow. , before this, I have entrusted the governor of the river channel, Mr. Guo Shangyou, to send troops to escort 20 shi of grain to the disaster-stricken area for emergency relief. Although I have already received the receipt from Shandong Governor Zhao Yanzhao for the 20 shi of grain , But how about the specific distribution situation, whether the food has been delivered to the victims, I really have no idea, so I want to go ashore in advance, and ride a fast horse to the place before the fleet arrives in Jining. Looking at the distribution of relief food, I wonder what you think?"

"Wonderful! The imperial envoy visits incognito, this is the best way to understand the real situation." Xu Hongzu, who volunteered to supervise the distribution of food relief, was the first to applaud, and said in agreement: "The grassroots traveled all over the country, and I have seen many local officials cleverly embezzle the food relief funds under the guise of swindling money. Private pockets, and how to deceive the top and bottom, and deceive the eyes and ears of the court. If the imperial envoy wants to know whether the relief food has been distributed to the victims, the only way to go is to go privately and go deep among the victims.”

"Yes, Mr. Imperial Envoy, we support you and are willing to go with you on a private visit." The remaining eleven Jiangnan literati who volunteered to supervise the distribution of disaster relief were all good people, and naturally they all applauded.Zhang Shitou, the confidant of Young Master Zhang, firmly opposed it, and shouted: "Master, you are going to go to Weifu for a private visit again, have you forgotten the lesson of being assassinated in Songjiang Mansion? No, it's too dangerous, I can't let you go! Besides, what will you do if you leave the grain ship?"

"It doesn't matter, the fleet can be temporarily entrusted to Eunuch Song and Brother Xiao." Young Master Zhang said with a smile to Song Jin and Xiao Chuan: "Eunuch Song, Brother Xiao, how about a hard day?"

"Don't worry, Tan Hualang, the fleet is guarded by three thousand soldiers from Hedao Yamen, our family will watch over it for you, and there will be no trouble." Song Jin agreed with a smile.Xiao Chuan also nodded in agreement, and said, "Brother Zhang, you can go to Weifu for a private visit, but you have to bring enough people to protect your safety."

"Thank you, brother Xiao, for your concern. Then I would like to ask Chen Jianhuang and second brother Chen to bring twenty masters from the East Factory and go with me pretending to be businessmen." Young Master Zhang nodded and said, "Xu Hongzu, Mr. Xu, Zhang Cai, Brother Zhang Nian, How about the two of you going with me too? Song Xiance, Zhang Shitou, you two also go with me, and the rest of you stay on the boat and keep it secret. The Hedao Yamen is located in Jining, and we must prevent them from revealing the news in advance."

"What about me?" Zhang Qingyun, who was dressed in men's clothes, asked darkly.Young Master Zhang replied with a wry smile: "Mr. Zhang, if you want to go, of course it's fine. How about it, you hold the sword of Shangfang for me-if I encounter corrupt officials this time, and they will be greedy for the food I have worked so hard to raise money to buy, Then don’t blame me for being rude.”

"It's not too bad." Zhang Qingyun snorted coldly, turned her face away and ignored Young Master Zhang.Over there, Song Jin asked again: "Tanhualang, where do you plan to go for a private visit? Where will we meet?"

Young Master Zhang looked at the map and made some calculations, and said, "Jining is where the Water Transport Yamen and the Yanzhou Prefect Yamen are located. I'm afraid the superficial work has already been done there. Even if I go to Weifu for a private visit, I can't find anything—go to Ziyang County! There is no canal there, and it is about 30 miles away from Jining. Even if Yanzhou prefect Sun Chaosu wants to do superficial work, he can’t do it there. I will meet."

(End of this chapter)