burning nations

Chapter 21
In the 39th year of Fengcheng Zhangwu, at the beginning of spring, Qi Qi bid farewell, Zhang Kuang saw him off, ten miles away from Zhangqiu, the two said goodbye.

Qi Qi went south, entered Yanzhou through Tingshan County, passed through Mount Tai, worshiped Dongyue at the foot of the mountain, climbed over the mountains, and arrived in Yanzhou City the next day, chartered a large boat to take the waterway, and arrived in Xuzhou that night, half a month later Follow the canal line into the Yangtze River and stay overnight in Yangzhou.

For half a month, Zhang Caizi pestered Qi Qi to tell stories. Qi Qi had a good stock of Qi Qi. He told the stories of the fortunes of the Xu family in Youzhou, the Gongsun family in Pingzhou, the Gongshan family in Weizhou, and the Wang family in Yunzhou, and the general talents of their descendants. The stories of Zhang Cai are all recorded in "Strange News and Views Record" one by one.

In Yangzhou, let Zhang Cai experience the extravagance of this important town in Huaidong and the top luxury city in the empire, and then set anchor early the next morning and set off on the Yangtze River.Crossing the Yangtze River, you can see thousands of flower boats on the river; passing through the Qinhuai River, famous prostitutes singing and dancing on the river; passing through the north and south of the Yangtze River, to Jiangzhou, there are boats on Poyang Lake, and the riverside and lake are full of shops and pedestrians. There are row upon row of houses stretching inward, making it impossible to find half of the farmland and young crops.Prosperous commerce, swaying cruise ships, and a large population are like a picture scroll, drawing a scene of prosperity.

Tonight we will spend the night in Jiangzhou, Qi Tong, the actual manager of the ship, ordered the ship to stop and dock, and sent his family to the private room of the hotel in the city, leaving a few people to watch the ship, and asked the old man Qi Qi to disembark and go ashore to Zhang Cai's cabin. She was about to look for it, when she turned her head and saw that she was standing stupidly at the bow of the boat.

"Hey Zhang Cai, I'm about to get off the boat." Qi Tong stepped forward to touch her, "You are so amazing, you are a northerner who doesn't get seasick? By the way, I never asked you, can you swim?"

Zhang Cai nodded, and said lightly: "I jumped into Jishui to catch fish when I was a child, and I can barely order it."

"Oh, that's fine. If you feel unwell, remember to tell me. I heard from grandpa that acclimatization is very dangerous." Qi Tong wondered, "What are you looking at? Watch it after you get off the boat, or you can watch it tonight." Is it enough to live on the boat?"

Zhang Cai pointed to the row upon row of houses, and then pointed to the dry and skinny old man who was tying the ropes on a cruise ship next to him. His dark face was set off by his patched clothes, and he hung a "closed" sign after seeing off the guests. Signboard, eat the black bread with dirty hands, pick up the fallen bread crumbs and put them in your mouth.

"You said this old man who punted a boat, can he have a house there?" Zhang Cai asked in frustration, "In Yunzhou and Songzhou, people still have land to farm anyway, but what about Jiangnan Road? Is there any land that the people can cultivate?"

Qi Tong spread his hands helplessly: "What kind of women are there? There is no way to do it. There are many people in the south of the Yangtze River, more than you can imagine. It is not enough for everyone to have a piece of land."

Zhang Cai said angrily: "There must be a way!"

Qi Tong paused, and said: "There are ways, such as developing handicraft industry, tourism, and commerce, to fill up the large surplus labor force. I heard that in Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Huzhou, factories are expanding and adding looms. Each loom needs two Three people use it, so many landless people enter the factory and use the produced cloth and silk in exchange for food to survive."

"Weaving," Zhang Cai said, "I know about weaving, I have done it before, but the addition of looms does not increase the number of silk, and it is nothing more than weaving for half a year. For food, I am afraid that there is cloth, silk and satin, but they cannot be exchanged for rations."

".Do you know Zhu Tao?" Qi Tong asked suddenly.

"Zhu Tao?" Zhang Cai shook his head in doubt.

"Then do you know Hua Shi Gang?"

Now Zhang Cai nods very positively!
Huashi Gangzhangcai has heard that this name is already a stinky street, and he has cursed in his heart that it is a "bad idea" put forward by a villain with "sores on the top of the head, pus on the soles of the feet, and a wicked family"!
As the name suggests, Huashigang collects strange and strange stones and cuts precious flowers and plants, such as Lingbi, Cixi, Wukang stones; Suhang Mingtai flower bamboo, miscellaneous trees, Haicuo; Fujian Tingquan strange flowers, lychee, longan, olive; Leiya coconut fruit ; Tanyue wood bamboo, asparagus. Shipped to the north and sold in places with prosperous commerce and wealth. Every ten boats is a gang, so it is called Huashigang.

"Huashi Gang started from the Jiangnan Road of the Empire. People say that wherever the Huashi fleet passed, the people gave money, grain, and civil service. What's more, bridges were demolished and cities were demolished to allow the fleet to pass, which caused the people in the south of the Yangtze River to boil."

Qi Tong shook his head: "Zhang Cai, you must have heard this in the marketplace."

Zhang Cai nodded: "This is the voice of the people."

Qi Tong chuckled, and then whispered in Zhang Cai's ear.

"Actually, I've heard this before. It's like bullshit. Don't get excited. To tell you the truth, those rumors in the market are deliberately spread by the Donglin party members, just to spread rumors to discredit Hua Shigang. The real situation in Jiangnan is exactly the opposite. .”

"The matter of Hua Shigang was handled by Zhu Tao alone. Zhu Tao is a member of the imperial party and a confidant of His Majesty. He was appointed to Jiangnan to make money for His Majesty. Jiangnan's affairs are very complicated, not just a few words We can make it clear, we will talk about it later.”

"The first step of Zhu Tao's coming to the south of the Yangtze River is to check taxes, and the second step is to clear the land, which involves both money and land. For this reason, the nobles in the south of the Yangtze River suffered heavy losses and fought with Zhu Tao. So Zhu Tao started to establish Huashi Gang, using reasonable Taking away the property of the nobles by legal means means that the rumors are full of money and labor. It’s not the common people who are moving, but the nobles!” Qi Tong said.

"In Hangzhou alone, Zhu Tao seized 3 mu of paddy fields from the local nobles, and returned them to the common people, exempted from tax for three years. The flowers and stones were transported to the north, in Runzhou, Yangzhou, Songzhou, Bianzhou, Luozhou, Weizhou, etc. State or even the Imperial Capital, making millions of profits."

"Hua Shigang's profits plus the money deducted from the nobles, and the crackdown on the nobles to suppress land annexation, not only the tax revenue in Jiangnan is higher than before, but there are also more self-cultivating farmers than before, and the people in Jiangnan even built a shrine for Zhu Tao."

After Zhang Cai heard it one by one, he said emotionally: "This Zhu Tao is a brave man and a good official."

"Good official? His official style is now a cruel official." Qi Tong said.

"Offending the nobles of the empire, Zhu Tao will not end well!"

These words make Zhang Cai silent.

"Zhang Cai, do you see that mountain in the distance?"

Zhang Cai looked along his fingertips, and there was indeed a mountain in the distance.

"That mountain is a tea field."

"Tea field?" Zhang Cai didn't understand.

"It's the place where tea is grown." Qi Tong simply explained, "As you said just now, there must be a way. Tea planting is a way that Zhu Tao came up with for the people in Jiangnan."

"In fact, there are not many plains in the south of the Yangtze River, but there are many low mountains. Zhu Tao encouraged the people to go up the mountains to reclaim land and grow tea. This did not rob farmland, but also increased self-cultivation farmers, bringing taxes and creating wealth."

Zhang Cai said earnestly: "Turning waste into treasure, rationally developing and utilizing it, this Zhu Tao and Zhu Gong is really a talent, a talent!"

"Okay, we've talked long enough, it's time to disembark."

Zhang Cai nodded, and quickly stepped off the boat. As soon as he stepped on land, he was attracted by the excitement.

"The old man has a lot of face." Zhang Cai said, "The governor of Jiangzhou came to greet him in person."

Qi Tong said with a touch of pride: "Who said that grandpa is the pride of the entire Jiangnan Road?"

"And Zhu Tao is in the south of the Yangtze River every day, and these people are begging to be at Grandpa's feet every day."

Qi Tong pursed his lips, Zhang Cai looked at it, and saw that the local nobles in Jiangzhou were powerful.

"So flattering"

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After the banquet, the drunk Qi Qi was carried back to the residence by Zhang Cai, and as soon as he touched the bed, Qi Qi became sober that he could no longer be sober.

Zhang Cai was surprised: "You are not drunk, are you pretending?"

Qi Qi laughed and said, "A little wine can still make this old man drunk? When this old man was the commander-in-chief, he used to eat wine on the bowl discussion forum."

"Then why are you pretending to be drunk? Keep drinking."

"If you're not drunk, how will the banquet end?" Qi Qi asked, "Girl, what did you guys talk about on the boat? It seemed pleasant."

Zhang Cai didn't hide it: "It was originally about people's livelihood, but it involved Zhu Tao."

I saw Qi Qi staring at him, looking at Zhang Cai with scrutiny.

"Girl, what do you think of Zhu Tao?"

Zhang Cai thought for a while and replied: "His behavior is cruel, but his heart is kind."

Qi Qi froze for a moment, and affirmed Zhang Cai's answer.

"Offending the nobles is too cruel, and it is rare to end well." After finishing speaking, Qi Qi warned again, "Zhang Cai, you must remember that the establishment of the empire cannot be achieved without the help of the nobles. The nobles are the foundation of the empire. The nobles can correct their mistakes, but they cannot be shaken. foundation."

"Then what does dad mean is that Zhu Tao did something wrong?"

"Zhu Tao did nothing wrong, but no one can keep him from what he has done!" Qi Qi said with certainty.

"Later generations will only record it like this: Zhu Tao, the cruel officials in the years of flattering Zhangwu, disregarding human lives, died in the years of flattering Zhangwu."

"Cool officials."

Back in the house, Zhang Cai muttered to himself, staring in the direction of the tea mountain.

(End of this chapter)