Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 146 The Fat Sheep
Although there were many donors for this construction, the amount of money and food donated was not very large. Except for the 3 taels in the name of Zhou Hou and others, the rest donated a total of more than [-] taels of silver and more than a hundred shi of grain.

What Chongzhen valued was not how much money an individual donated, but the people's hearts. Of course, he was very satisfied with the result.

4 taels of silver is enough. Not only can two nursing homes that can accommodate thousands of people be built, but it can even provide enough money for several months of living supplies.

But some people still feel that this amount of money is not enough to help more helpless people.

Thus, Zheng Zhifeng, who had been in the capital all the time, made her debut.

They sold 5 taels of silver, and one person covered everyone's limelight.

It's because I don't know much about the officialdom. If others donate and lose, no matter how rich they are, they don't dare to exceed the Queen's contribution amount, right?

No, Zheng Laosi didn't care about this, and shocked the audience with his shots.

No way, money is willful.

As for those accusations overtly and secretly, they still say the same thing: I am a child at heart!
Chongzhen admired the reckless habits of the Zheng family.

Whether it's for fame or flattery, or if you really want to help those in need, what people give out is solid real money. Those who make irresponsible remarks, come here, how much did you donate?What?Didn't donate a penny?Then you hurry up and roll as far as you can!What qualifications do you have to point fingers?You're the kind of talkative guy who can find fault no matter what other people do!Then beep beep and be careful to catch you in and eat you in prison!
The Zheng family donated 10 taels last time, and he just sent the eunuch to send a pair of jade ruyis as a compliment, which is indeed a bit shabby.

This time, they are generous again, so I have to express myself, right?
What's the reward?

Let's add a title.

This thing is not expensive, and it also shows the court's recognition of the identity of the Zheng family.

Although the Zheng family is both chief soldier and general, none of them has a title. Anyone who understands it knows that this is fooling the layman. The chief soldier without rank is actually dispatched temporarily. .

Soon the imperial decree was sent to Zheng Zhifeng's mansion in the capital. In order to let him understand that this was the emperor's reward, the person who announced the decree from the Ministry of War specifically explained the difference between the titles to him.

Zheng Zhilong was promoted to a second-rank martial arts general.

Zheng Zhifeng Jin from the fourth grade Xuanwu Duwei.

Zheng Zhibao is a cavalry captain of Wude, the fifth rank of the Jin Dynasty.

After the explanation by the officials of the Ministry of War, Zheng Zhifeng finally understood that the Zheng family was finally recognized by the emperor, and the large sums of money these days were not in vain.

Along with the imperial decree came the two characters "loyalty" written by Chongzhen's imperial pen. The officials of the Ministry of War looked at the emperor's flamboyant handwriting enviously, congratulated Zheng Zhifeng, and told him meaningfully that he should be loyal to the court and be kind to others. It is the ardent expectation of the Holy Majesty for the Zheng family!It must be properly framed and hung on the front of the main hall without defacement.

After the officials of the Ministry of War left, Zheng Zhifeng immediately sent several soldiers to find a place to mount it, and then hurried to Tianjinwei, boarded the Zheng family's boat, and sent it back to his hometown for hanging.

The content of the emperor's handwriting is not complicated, what is important is an attitude, an affirmation of the Zheng family's donation of money and food.

In the past year in the capital, with Zheng Zhifeng's understanding of various aspects, he has seen the changes taking place inside and outside the capital.Coupled with the several great victories of the government and the army, Zheng Zhifeng, who was originally not optimistic about the Ming court, has unknowingly undergone a huge change in his thinking.

It turns out that the bandits are not too powerful to be destroyed; it turns out that Jiannu is not invincible; it turns out that the emperor is not as irritable and self-willed as in the legend; it turns out that there are capable ministers among the courtiers; What a hardship; it turns out that Ming Guozuo can continue down.

These phenomena made Zheng Zhifeng adjust his desire to come to the capital to speculate, and quickly moved closer to the imperial court through the strategic thinking of preparing to fall to the superior side at any time through research and judgment.

As for the money spent in the past year, it is nothing to the Zheng family with an annual income of tens of millions. As long as they can win unanimous praise from the government and the opposition, the Zheng family's interests in the coastal areas of Fujian can be maintained for a longer period of time.

Under the instruction of Chongzhen, two large stone tablets have been engraved by stonemasons first, engraved on them are the list of people who donated food to build the nursing home, and the amount of donations. When the nursing home is officially completed, it will be in the courtyard. When the gazebo is built, the stele will be placed under the pavilion for future generations to look up and pay homage to.

This move won the praise of almost everyone from Wen Tiren.This is something that has left a name in history. As long as the Ming Dynasty does not fall, the stele will be preserved forever.

The names of Zhou Hou and others will not appear on the stele, including the names of their own masters inscribed in various houses and houses. In that era, women were never valued.

On the Tongzhou Wharf of the Grand Canal in the southeast of the capital, several [-]-ship boats docked on the shore, and teams of Jinyiwei in blue armor with knives hanging from their waists were queuing up to board the boats one by one.Wearing a green embroidered suit, a black cloak, and a brown hat with a wide brim wrapped around his head, Liang Qi, a hundred households in Beizhen Fusi, stood with his back to the official ship and stared at the soldiers waiting to board.

This time, Liang Qi was ordered to lead a hundred Jinyi Tiqi to Huai'an Mansion, preparing to implement the plan to arrest Si Huai'an, the transshipment envoy of Huai'an and Huai'an.

Since Chongzhen has drawn a big cake for the officials, although it will not bring him a lot of financial pressure, but after all, it is spending money instead of income, so you have to find someone who is taken advantage of to pay the bill, right?The big fat sheep of Huai'an Salt Lifting Department are the best winners.

Since it is too long and time-consuming to travel by land, the hundred Tiqi and their horses will go to Huai by boat.After all, the capital is nearly two thousand miles away from Huai'an, and the waterway is more convenient and labor-saving.

Because ships can sail day and night, but if you go by land, you need to camp at night.In this long journey, in addition to the food and grass carried by the ship, it is enough to replenish drinking water when the ship is docked for rest.

Traveling from the capital to Huai'an Mansion by land, even if the hundred riders drive non-stop during the day, considering the endurance of the war horses, it is not bad to walk a hundred miles a day.In this way, it will take at least more than ten days to arrive, and the horses and horses will have to rest for several days before they can recover.

On the boat, the boatmen take turns to steer the boat, sailing non-stop for [-] hours, each hour can reach [-] miles in the case of downwind, and up to [-] miles in the headwind, which saves nearly double the time compared with traveling by land. People and horses can get enough rest, and it only takes a few hours to recover after arriving.

Chen Qiyu spent more than a month traveling upstream by boat, inspecting the Huai'an section of the canal to the Linqing section in Shandong, and checked the Huai'an and Linqing Chaoguan in this section. Finally, he came to a conclusion: according to the sails of each wharf In view of the situation where the walls are like a forest and the goods are like a mountain, it is really unreasonable to get a total of less than 10 taels of silver per year due to so many checkpoints at these two big bill gates.

Chen Qiyu, who has lived in the officialdom for a long time, naturally knows that there will never be less taxes collected by the customs, but a considerable part has already been pocketed by the people in the customs.

This can be seen from his harvest along the way.

The section from Yangzhou to Linqing can be said to be the busiest section of the canal. All kinds of official ships, large and small tank boats, salt patrol boats, and merchant ships on the river come and go.

The ambassadors of the two major bills are only from the eighth rank, but each of them presented Chen Qiyu with a ceremony of 500 taels.

If Wen Tiren knew that a low-level official from the eighth rank would pay 500 taels of silver, which was more than the annual salary of him, the chief assistant of the dynasty, who had just had a salary increase, I don't know what he would think.

For the gift of the two, Chen Qiyu naturally accepted it with a smile.After being imprisoned in the imperial prison for nearly a year, his family spent a lot of money to ask for help in order to get him out of prison as soon as possible.

The family belongs to the Ministry of Household Affairs, so it is not under his jurisdiction at all. It is just to see that he has the potential to rise further, so he cooks a cold stove in advance and buys cooked noodles.

After returning to the Governor's Yamen in Huai'an, Chen Qiyu began to write a notebook, describing in detail his preliminary understanding of water transportation, as well as its pros and cons.Then, he also mentioned the matter of the bank pass in a vague way, hoping that the Holy Majesty would remove the power of the bank account from the Ministry of Households, and transfer its power to the Governor's Office of Water Transport, so that the Governor's Office can have absolute say in the management of the entire canal.

Chen Qiyu is naturally not satisfied with being an official in the local area all his life, even for such a high-ranking position as the Governor, his ultimate goal is to return to the capital to be in the court.

He knew what the emperor and the court needed most at the moment: suppressing thieves and suppressing slaves plus making money.

And his Governor of Water Transport is currently the best position to make money, both for the court and for himself.

Although he looked down on Hong Chengchou who succeeded him as governor of the five provinces in his heart, and firmly believed that if he returned to his original position, he would definitely do better than Hong Hengjiu, but now that the emperor has sent him to the south of the Yangtze River, it seems that he will not be able to do it for a while. Use him to level the thief.He knew the reason in his heart, and it was mainly because of the accident in Chexiangxia, the Holy Majesty had a grudge against him.

If one wants to get a seat as an important minister, only by doing a feat far surpassing that of the predecessors in the position of the Governor of Water Transport, will he win the trust and favor of the Holy Majesty again, and have the opportunity to achieve the goal of becoming a general.

The capital is the center of the Ming Dynasty, and the real important ministers are around the emperor. No matter how great the power of the local governor is, it is only on his own two acres of land, and it is difficult to speak after leaving his own territory.

The cabinet and the chief officials of the six ministries are the ones that attract the attention of the world. After arriving in the capital, local officials must pay a visit one by one, regardless of whether there is any hatred between them.Otherwise, people will take advantage of it and take the opportunity to say a few hints in front of the Holy One. This governor's position can be lost as soon as it is lost, and he is a good example.

If you want to make some political achievements, you must have absolute power.

The six banknotes on the canal must be in the hands of the governor's yamen.

As long as you master the dozens of stuck points in these six places, supplemented by iron-fisted rectification, the results will be immediate. The commercial tax paid to the court will definitely be doubled or even several times that of the current one. Who can stop me from returning to Beijing to take up a post? ?
There are thousands of ships of all kinds passing through the canal every day, and there are many ways to seek personal gain from them. As long as the big head is given to the court, who cares about getting some benefits yourself?The good thing of gaining both fame and fortune actually made this group of low-level officials so ugly. Is this how the sage books are read?
You can't take the big head yourself like the group of dying people in Chaoguan now, and only give the small profit to the court. This is really a way to kill.

I only need to make a little metaphor in the memorial, and I believe the Holy One will understand it. When the court is in urgent need of money, the fate of these people can be imagined.

While he was meditating, Chen Qizhi hurried into the study and said, "Brother, I have a hundred households in Fusi, Jinyiwei North Town, please see me!"

　If you have any suggestions or comments, please leave a message in the comment area. I don’t know how to reply to you here.

　　Thanks to the book friend 20181015100951121 for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)