Lu Ming

Chapter 674 Changes ([-])

In the north of Hangzhou City, outside the Wulin Gate.

Before the Ming Dynasty, Wulinmen was called Yuhangmen.Because the north of the city is adjacent to the canal, the original Yuhang Gate was the gateway to the north of Hangzhou, commonly known as "North Water Pass", which was dedicated to controlling the passage of passing ships.

Although the name of the Wulin Gate in the Ming Dynasty has changed, its basic function has not changed. It is still a water gate for ships to enter and exit.

Since the Wulin Gate is close to the start of the canal, there are many large state-level granaries and a large number of private grain warehouses around it, which are used to store and transfer the grain provided by the southeastern provinces.

In this way, coupled with the large number of floating population that came along with the canal, the outside of Wulin Gate became a place where merchants gather, "sails are unloaded, and department stores are listed on the market."

In addition, as the beginning of the canal, this is also a gathering place for surrounding fishermen.Everyone at that time knew that besides the rice shops outside the Wulin Gate, there were also many fish boats.Along the river, there are many fish shops, and the sound of shouting and accounting can be heard across the river.

At this moment, Wu Fazheng, wearing an eternal green shirt representing the identity of a scholar, with his hands behind his back, was standing outside the pier, staring at a lively place, pondering endlessly.

Wu Fazheng arrived at the canal wharf early in the morning.

He came to meet Du Shaowei.

We made an appointment before to gather at the pier this morning, and then go to Shanghai Port for a few days together.

It would be after eight o'clock in the morning, and Du Shaowei had already met with Wu Fazheng.But Ji Xiang, who had agreed to go with him in advance, suddenly felt cold and had no choice but to recuperate at home.

Even so, the total number of tour groups on this trip has reached as many as six people Then, he also brought a personal maid to serve him along the way.

This is also what the title should mean.

Nowadays, a certain Cao's power is developing rapidly and has infinite power.Although he is still living in the southeast for the time being, anyone with a discerning eye (who has read a few history books) can see that this bureaucrat has the potential to swallow the world, and the Ming court is unfavorable and plagued by various diseases, so it cannot suppress the evildoer in the southeast.

In this situation, the ones who were pushed out by the major Tu tribes to be Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Jin were no longer some humble bastards and illegitimate sons.For example, Du Shaowei is the eldest son of the second wife in the family, and his father is a dignified scholar in the second list and a retired magistrate.

Therefore, there are no fools for the young master who is truly educated as an heir.Du Shaowei seemed to have had a good talk with Wu Fazheng before he proposed to go to Shanghai Port. In fact, this kind of inspection activity has long been an important inspection project established by the clan, and Young Master Du is just pushing the boat along the way.

In the tour group, Wu Fazheng still only brought the middle-aged male servant with him.As a landlord, Du Shaowei naturally couldn't keep Wu Fazheng, a foreigner, busy.So as soon as he arrived at the pier early in the morning, he directed his servants to move the boxes and luggage into the cabin.

The boat was hired by Du's family yesterday. It is a double-decker passenger boat, enough to hold all the guests.Young Master Du seems to have a lot of luggage, but it is actually necessary: ​​his family has a lot of close friends in Jiaxing, Shanghai and other places, and these are important contacts. When he is on a business trip, he naturally has to stop by and ask for information.

By the time I finished my work, it was already around ten o'clock in the morning.On this side, Young Master Du went out of the cabin to search, and found that Wu Xiucai was still on the pier, seemingly "watching the scenery", so he got off the boat, walked up to this friend who was two years older, and joked: "Brother Wu" hangs around 'Is there anything I can get from this place where the fish is sober?"

"My dear brother was joking."

Wu Fazheng came back to his senses, shook his head and smiled and explained: "Brother Yu also came here along the canal a few days ago. It's just that the trip was in a hurry that day, and he didn't see this 'palace view' in time, so he became suspicious."

"Oh?"

Du Shao heard the words, and followed the handle of the fan in Wu Fazheng's hand to look.The next moment, Du Shaowei was startled for a moment, and then a complicated expression appeared on his face: "This matter is a long story, let's take a closer look."

Speaking of outside the Wulin Gate, lively areas can be seen everywhere.However, the place that Wu Fazheng has been staring at for a long time is really a bit special-this is a temple, and the plaque on the door is three words: Caogong Temple.

Before staring at the bustling temple where vendors gathered in front of the gate, Wu Fazheng thought about it, but he couldn't find the story of a certain Cao surnamed prince in the Jiangnan area from the allusions.But the real scene in front of him was not fake. Wu Fazheng, who was taken aback by the answer that finally popped up in his mind, really had a feeling of "it's not that I don't understand, the world is changing fast".

Wu Fazheng's guess was correct.Mr. Du first told him exactly: This is the living temple built by the local people in Hangzhou for Cao.

Wu Fazheng was dumbfounded when he heard this.

From the perspective of sacrificial offerings, it's actually not a big deal.For thousands of years, almost every military general named in the history books has built more or less temples dedicated to incense among the people.

One of the elder brothers is naturally Guan Sheng, whose mansions are spread all over the country.Secondly, there are many temples for generals like Zhao Yun and Yang Jiajiang in various places.Unknown military generals like Liu Meng and Jiao Zan also had temples built in their hometowns to offer sacrifices.

What surprised Wu Fazheng was that it was not actually a sacrifice, but this "Caogong Temple", which seems to occupy a large area, is a living temple!

Stuff like Shengci is more difficult.Generally speaking, only a small number of civil officials who have built dikes and bridges and made great contributions to the cultural governance of a place have this treatment.For example, Fan Zhongyan who built the "Fan Gong Dike".

In another special situation, due to some kind of pressure, we were forced to build a living ancestral hall. The project of Mr. Wei Zhongxian’s public health ancestral hall was vigorously launched in the whole country a few years ago. Remove it. This does not count.

Hearing Wu Fazheng's slightly surprised feeling, Mr. Du sighed and sighed while shaking the folding fan lightly.

Someone spent a lot of money to demolish the Wulinmenwai business house before, and then built a temple in this place where every inch of land was expensive. It really caused a storm in the city, especially among the gentry.

But at that time, the gentry, who were belatedly aware, counted their fingers and found out: Leaving aside the hidden dangers at the political level, in terms of merit alone, the Cao family can afford this ancestral hall!
You know, over the years, the Cao family has been repairing dams, opening workshops, building roads and bridges in various places, and using work as relief to absorb hungry people.The number of low-level poor people directly or indirectly rescued by it has already exceeded one million, even if it is only counted in the south of the Yangtze River!

The so-called moisturizing is silent.With enough effort, success will come when conditions are ripe.

Nowadays, many hungry people who were stuffed into the bilge and transported away in the past have long since changed, returning to their hometowns with red faces and "participating in local construction".

These people, who brought a large number of "industrial workers" from Shanghai and other places, were Cao's basic base in Jiangnan, the core area of ​​Ming Dynasty, and they were natural propaganda machines and "advanced class" with combat effectiveness.

People at the bottom only care about whether they can survive tomorrow, who cares who is sitting on your dragon chair!

In just a few steps, talk a few words.When the two of them strolled to the Cao Gong Temple, Du Shaowei, who had a sad face, had already transformed the complicated mentality of the gentry over the past few years to Wu Fazheng, and he understood that he didn't have to praise Cao's stinky feet, but he really didn't know. Before I knew it, the market was already unstable, so I had to make plans early!
In fact, for this ancestral hall, the people who traveled through time also looked confused at the beginning.

However, after investigation, it was found that there was no force behind the emergence of the Cao family's ancestral hall. It was indeed established by the people who benefited from the Cao family's spontaneous fundraising.

This is awesome!The first time they heard the confirmation news, the old lairs of the crossing people far away in the new area were also blown up.

The appearance of the Shengci greatly encouraged the entire time-traveling group—everyone's hard work over the years was not in vain, and "our great cause" received the hardest feedback.

Of course, the two native talents who were standing in front of the shrine gate didn't know about the internal mentality of the people and the resulting strategic confidence.Wu and Du are serving as the gentry reserve, their current mood is of course hot and sour, not good.

At this moment, as if to make a footnote to Du Shaowei's words, another convoy drove from the east and stopped in front of Cao Gongmiao.

This is a luxury convoy of four vehicles, consisting of Yishui's new four-wheeled glass-windowed carriage with two doors.

This kind of four-wheeled carriage with a spring chassis, which is popular nowadays, far surpasses the traditional two-wheeled carriage in terms of passability and comfort. However, the price is high, and the horses that pull the carriage are said to be shipped from Tianzhu, which cannot be afforded by wealthy families. Usually only a rental car is available.

What is different from the standard rental model is that today's four cars, the tall white horses pulling the carts have no variegated colors, and the interior and exterior decorations are inlaid with bamboo and decorated with jade, which is full of personal taste.Anyone with a discerning eye can tell that it is a private car.

The next moment, with a soft drink, the driver in silk lightly reined in the horse and parked it in the open space in front of the temple.Immediately afterwards, the rear door of the front car opened, and eight or nine servants with big arms and waists quickly got down.

When these people got out of the carriage, those who carried the burden, those who sold incense and paper money, and the idlers who kept their eyes open and wanted to get closer to the luxurious carriage, were all pushed aside.

After that, the servants opened the doors of the two cars with black lacquered glass windows in the middle, and the maids in gold belts and jade, and the old mother began to go to the field one after another.

The maids who got out of the car were holding all kinds of god-worshiping gift boxes in their hands, and the lids of the boxes were all opened.In addition to all kinds of occasional gifts, the most eye-catching thing is the box of incense candle silver. There are probably hundreds of taels of small silver ingots that are neatly made of filigree.

And the old lady who got out of the car turned around and hugged a four-year-old young man with a jade lock on his chest and a jade pendant on his waist from the car.

In the end, an elegant middle-aged lady surrounded by jewels and emerald greens, stepped gracefully on the steps, bent down on the servant girl's arm, and got out of the car.

"It's such a grand occasion, I don't know which female relatives."

Rao Wu Fazheng came from a wealthy family, but seeing the family's face, he shrunk his neck after all. He has not socialized with various models in Hangzhou recently, and has a clear understanding of the new carriage.

"Senior Huang's residence in Yushi Lane, this should be the eldest lady and the young master."

Du Shaowei is a native of Hangzhou. Looking at the glazed kerosene lanterns on the four corners of the carriage, he knew which gentry it was: "The major shareholder of Shanghai Meilin Canned Food Factory is as rich as an enemy."

"Oh"

Wu Fazheng was surprised, and asked casually: "This family of noble gentry also worships Duke Cao?"

"It's not that screwdriver who is ignorant and foolish!"

Young Master Du's expression was full of impatience: "It's all right to ask Mr. Cao to pay back his life. I don't know who made it far-fetched and just rumored that Mr. Cao has the ability to give birth, so it attracted a bunch of fools and fools to pay for it." Xiangqiuzi. Hmph, the atmosphere is smoky!"

Wu Fazheng was not interested when he heard this.After taking a deep look at the eye-catching signboard above the temple gate, he finally said calmly: "It's getting late, I'm afraid the boat is about to sail, let's go back to the cabin."

(End of this chapter)