Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 79 Fengyang
For the sake of safety, the two brothers Chen Qishen and Chen Qizhi took the guards, first went east and then turned south, took a detour to Zhending and then went to Shandong. It took nearly two months before they arrived in Fengyang.

After finding an inn to rest and wash, the Chen family brothers went to Fuya with a letter from their family to pay a visit to their own dragon and phoenix.Chen Qiyu warmly received her two brothers in the second hall.He still knew a little bit about these two people. He knew that Chen Qishen had served as the county magistrate and had rich experience in handling official documents and political affairs.

Chen Qiyu took the letter and did not open it in a hurry, but first asked about his mother's recent situation. Hearing that his [-]-year-old mother hadn't heard about his imprisonment, Chen Qiyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was always afraid that his mother would be worried when she learned that she was imprisoned. She was afraid, but luckily the family kept it from her. When she heard that her mother was getting old and frail, and her health began to deteriorate, Chen Qiyu, who was nearly fifty years old, couldn't help crying.

After a long time, Chen Qiyu, who had calmed down, opened the letter. Chen Fengru's letter was nothing more than announcing good news and not worrying. wait.

The content of the letter from the younger brother Chen Qifan is quite detailed, explaining all the incidents that have happened in the family for more than a year, and even scolding Chen Qishen for his villainous behavior, greatly admiring Chen Qizhi's secret help, expressly hope that his brother will reuse him Ninth brother, you don't have to put too much effort into promoting Chen Qishen.

After Chen Qiyu read the letter, he was secretly disgusted with Chen Qishen in his heart, but his face remained calm. He smiled and chatted with the two of them, and sent someone to order a banquet from the best restaurant in Fengyang Mansion to Fuya Nei, and then Send the yamen servants to the inn to inform the guards and servants, move all the belongings to the inner house behind Fuya, and then arrange a place for everyone, and then give up.

Things in the future are formulaic. Although Chen Qiyu hates Chen Qishen's behavior, he still assigns him to handle various official documents. No matter what, my family should rest assured. As for the future, let's listen to his words and watch his actions.Chen Qizhi, as Chen Qiyu's personal entourage, followed him to visit gentry, meet with local officials and generals of the guards, and discuss various public and private matters. A smart person, it didn't take long for him to gradually become familiar with this set of things in the officialdom, and Chen Qiyu was very satisfied with him.

Chen Qiyu did not expect that after he had been in prison for more than two years, the situation in Ming Dynasty would become so complicated and dangerous. When they went to the place where the dragon flourished in the Ming Dynasty, they dug up the royal family's ancestral graves.

However, the performance of the officers and soldiers is getting worse and worse. From the initial few hundreds of officers and soldiers who can drive out thousands of rogues and fled in all directions, today they are repeatedly defeated by the rogues, which leads to fear of war and avoidance. What's worse, this situation is deteriorating almost every day, which makes Chen Qiyu deeply disturbed.

If I had wiped out the tens of thousands of gangsters in Chexiangxia, and then pursued them with the power of a big victory, the gangsters might have been wiped out long ago, and even if there were still some leftovers, it would not be a big deal to Daming. Threatened, I didn't expect that my momentary mistake would cause today's crisis, I really regret it.

While feeling ashamed, he was also very dissatisfied with Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng, especially Hong Hengjiu, who succeeded him as governor of the five provinces.

After looking through the Tang newspapers of the imperial court for the past two years against the map, Chen Qiyu was puzzled by Hong Chengchou's actions: Gao Yingxiang, the strongest among the thieves, was originally in Guanzhong, entrenched in the Jingyang and Sanyuan areas, but Hong Chengchou turned a blind eye with his [-] troops. Walking between Huayin and Weinan, Gao Yingxiang smashed the prefectures and counties under his nose, looting countless gold, silver, food and grass, but Hong Chengchou never dared to approach, probably because he was afraid of Gao Chuang's tens of thousands of cavalry, Hong Chengchou didn't dare to fight Gao Yingxiang at all. Confronted head-on, but waited for him to plunder before arriving after him. Chen Qiyu concluded that Hong Chengchou did not dare to rob him, and deliberately avoided Gao Chuang in the name of guerrilla warfare.

Chen Qiyu was also dissatisfied with Lu Xiangsheng's actions after Gao Chuang fled to Henan: when Gao Chuang attacked Runing and Shangcai, Lu Xiangsheng did the opposite and went between Ye County and Biyang; Still stationed in Xinyang, also adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards Gao Chuang; these actions only proved Lu Xiangsheng's mentality of fearing the enemy.

After analyzing the situation, Chen Qiyu made a hypothesis: Li Zicheng and others who spread in northern Shaanxi are not many in number, and they can be dealt with by the governor of Shaanxi; People and horses are responsible for the Henan governor to deal with it; Governor Hong Chengchou and Wu Lu Xiangsheng, the prime minister of the five provinces, concentrated their forces and attacked Gao Chuang from the east and west sides with all their strength. Governors Fengyang, Huguang and Yingtian surrounded Gao Chuang from their respective lines of defense. In the hinterland of the Central Plains, it was severely damaged or wiped out in one fell swoop.

But time has passed, and the best opportunity has been missed. Now not only Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong and other forces are becoming stronger, but even Li Zicheng, who is far away in Yan'an, northern Shaanxi, has also taken the opportunity to grow stronger. Scorpion Kuai Tuo Yangkun, Zhang Miaoshou and others are also everywhere Wander around, capture weakly defended cities, and obtain personnel and material supplies.But if he is not in his position, he does not seek his own government. Now he is only the governor of Fengyang, and he has been given by the Holy Grace. His duty now is to make some achievements in the position of governor of Fengyang.

Before he took office in Fengyang, he specifically found out about the situation here in the same year when he was an official in the court, and inquired about Fengyang from various official channels that could be used. After synthesizing all kinds of information, Chen Qiyu came to a conclusion: Yang is a poor place. After the thieves burned the imperial tomb in the eighth year of Chongzhen, it became a furnace.

The land in Fengyang is barren, and it is listed as the lowest among all the prefectures in the north of the Yangtze River. There are nine famines in ten years; when there is a famine, the people are used to fleeing with their families and their mouths. Some people joked that nine out of ten beggars in Nanjing are Fengyang beggars. Although this is an exaggeration, it has become a custom for Fengyang people to flee famine and beg for work.

There is a large loss of population, but the taxes payable each year have not decreased. The accumulated amount over the years is astonishing, but the government is constantly urging them to collect. These taxes fall on the people who are still in the local area. Can only flee, which forms a vicious circle.

In the fourth year of Chongzhen reign, Qian Shisheng, the servant of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing, was ordered to pay homage to the imperial mausoleum, and reported to Chongzhen the decline of Fengyang: the land is barren, the houses are few, the hills are filled with mang, and it looks desolate.In the memorial, he hoped that Chongzhen could reduce Fengyang's burden and exempt Fengyang. Chongzhen was so busy at the time that he didn't care about the quality of the land, so he just kept Qian Shisheng's memorial.

After Chen Qiyu took office, after getting a general understanding of the situation in Fengyang, together with Li Qimei, the prefect of Fengyang, and Chen Liangmo, the censor of Fengyang, he called a meeting of local rich and wealthy gentry to discuss how to revitalize Fengyang. Reduce and exempt taxes in Fengyang; the most urgent task is to take advantage of the slack season in winter to build water conservancy, open up wasteland and open up land, buy cattle, mules and horses and other livestock, and strive to have a good harvest next summer; but the government has no money, so please be generous. To tide over the difficulties together; for those who donate a lot of money and food, the governor's office will write a book to the court, and give the donor a place in the Guozijian Supervisor as a commendation.

The gentry attending the meeting were either court officials who had returned home, or families whose families were officials in court. Although Fengyang is a poor place, these people still made a lot of wealth through various means. Taking advantage of natural and man-made disasters, the people In order to survive, forcing the people to sell their land at a low price is a common method used by the gentry, and then lease the land to the original owner at a rent of [-] per mu. hands.

As for the rich merchants who were summoned, they were also inextricably linked with the officialdom. From the chief officials at all levels, down to the scribes and yamen servants, they were all fed with their money. It can be said that in Fengyang this They are not afraid of anyone, so what about the Governor?No matter what the governor assigns, can't rely on the various people below to implement it?If the governor's order harms everyone's interests, using the most commonly used procrastination tactics can make adults burn out, and in the end they can only compromise.

But the Governor is only asking for donations today, which is also a must-have for every new official. Everyone always wants to give the Lord a face, so under the leadership of a senior gentry, you five hundred and I three hundred. The amount he wanted to donate was 3000 taels of silver and [-] shi of grain in the end. This was the greatest sincerity that Chen Qiyu could show because of his former governor of the five provinces.

(End of this chapter)