After Ming Dynasty

Chapter 74
Lu Xi is stupid, and his concubine is even more stupid... Don't play around like this, I'm young and beautiful, so you won't be tempted?Even if you don't want to be tempted, I'm tempted, wash your hands, take care of you, you can do whatever you want.

She couldn't say anything, because Lu Xi knelt directly, "Young master Zhu, I understand that a man should not be powerless for a day, no matter who he is the magistrate, he must not lose the title of magistrate, Zhu Commander, if there is anything you want me to do, I will never turn back from my humble duty."

Zhu Yiyuan smiled slightly, what he wanted was this cleverness.

"Prefect Lu County, can you tell me about the situation in Yishui, how many fields and grains there are, and what should I do if I want to achieve great things?"

Zhu Yiyuan smiled and said, "It's not easy to be my county magistrate."

Lu Xi was startled, nodded his head and said: "I understand, Mr. Zhu is ambitious, so naturally he won't ask for a job... I have been a magistrate for more than ten years in a humble position, and I have traveled a lot in various counties in Shandong, and I still know it well." .”

It turned out that the magistrate of Lu County was not a Jinshi, but just donated a prison student, and waited for several years before he was replaced by a low-level county.With a background like his, naturally he can't get much money in the officialdom, but he is constantly manipulated by others, and he is transferred from county to county, where there is difficulty.

After all this tossing, Lu Xi had some unique insights.

If we talk about the Yimeng area in a narrow sense, it refers to the upper and middle reaches of the Yishui River, that is, the area of ​​Mengyin and Yishui, which has a large overlap with Linyi in later generations.

To the north are Yishan Mountain and Daxian Mountain, to the west is Mengshan Guishan Mountain, and the southeast extends to the Yellow Sea. It is a relatively independent terrain unit.

Here mountains and rivers are separated, the terrain is complex, the products are abundant, and it is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

From a broad perspective, places such as Xintai, Laiwu, and even Zichuan and Tai'an can all be included in the Yimeng area, which is roughly the hilly area of ​​​​Shandong.

There are many stone table-shaped peaks with flat tops in this place, which are called "Gu". The local people say that there are 72 Gu, of course, the most famous one is Mengliang Gu.

Purely in terms of terrain, this place is far inferior to the flat area in the north of Shandong Province, and it is not as good as the canal line... Nonsense, the Qing soldiers have occupied all the good places, and they will not be left to Zhu Yiyuan.

But Lu Xi also said that it is not that there is no opportunity for development.

Take the two sides of the Yishui River as an example. The soil layer is thick, which is very suitable to be opened up as fertile land. In addition, the hilly areas can be opened up to grow some miscellaneous grains, such as sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn introduced to Ming Dynasty since the end of Ming Dynasty. In these hilly areas A small amount has been planted.

Especially groundnut, after being introduced to Shandong, the yield is very good.

In some steeper areas, fruit trees can still be planted, and pears in Shandong are still very famous.

"Prefect Lu, according to your introduction, there is still a lot to do here?"

Lu Xi was stunned for a moment, but shook his head, "It looks good, but it's going to be very difficult to make things happen."

"Why?" Zhu Yiyuan asked.

"Because...the local rich and powerful families are so intertwined that they can't be moved at all."

Zhu Yiyuan said again: "I have also fought against local forces in Zichuan, Laiwu, and Xintai, and I am not invulnerable."

Lu Xi said sternly: "Young Master Zhu, you must not put the big gentry in those places in Yishui, they can't compare at all."

Zhu Yiyuan suddenly became curious, and asked Lu Xi for advice... The problem is still in the complex terrain here, separated by mountains and rivers, forming relatively closed villages.

These villages seldom interact with the outside world, and because of their backward economy, there are not many scholars.In the countryside of Yishui and other places, it is not the kind of rich and powerful families established by relying on fame and preferential treatment.It's another form, that is, pure clan power, the elders and big families in the village, they often pull up dozens or hundreds of people, fighting fiercely.

They competed with neighboring villages for water and land, and fought fiercely.

These people will also fight bandits, and they don't even care about officials.

If the tax collected is acceptable, everything is easy to say, but if it is not acceptable, they will attack the tax collectors and kill the government servants.This made officials dare not go to the countryside, and could only rely on big households to maintain local order.

It's such a mess and a mess, it's not easy to do anything.

"Young Master Zhu, when you first arrive as an official, you also want to make a difference, but you have more energy than you want, so you can only do nothing."

Zhu Yiyuan nodded, "Indeed, this is a tough nut to crack, but since it's here, it's inevitable to fight all kinds of gods and monsters. Luzhi County, I want to arrange people to enter the city first, and take inventory of the treasury. You can first Send this back to the county government, I will not occupy the county government."

Hearing this, Lu Xi became excited, "Young Master Zhu, I spent 3000 taels to redeem her body for the sake of being arty and straight-forward officials. , There are a few sisters who come out of the brothel with a conscience. From now on, the humble official will only do things for the son wholeheartedly. This woman, let her come from and go back to where."

This sentence terrified the concubine who kept her looks.

She was bought from Huai'an. If we go back, it will be hundreds of miles away. She is a weak woman, and she has such a good appearance. What if she meets someone bad?
And she finally climbed out of the brothel, so why not go back?
"My lord, the Bodhisattva who saves the suffering, the little girl was born in a miserable life, and her life is bumpy. I don't ask for anything else, I just hope that my lord will reward me with a way to survive."

This woman kowtowed to Zhu Yiyuan, crying so much that she was so pitiful.

She is very smart. Although Lu Xi is still the county magistrate, she obviously has the final say and has become Mr. Zhu.

"Since you said that, I can't refuse."

The woman was overjoyed, her face was full of smiles, and she was about to kowtow to thank, Zhu Yiyuan said again: "Nowadays there is a shortage of mending men in the army, earning money with your hands to support yourself is much better than being a concubine. "

what?
This woman is so stupid, let me do sewing and mending?
Isn't that what the old lady did?

And let me go to the army to do this... I want to serve you, Mr. Zhu!

Zhu Yiyuan didn't give her a chance to talk nonsense, he just waved his hands and asked someone to lead her down.

Looking at the concubine's back, Lu Xi felt a sense of joy... You deserve it, you ruthless woman, you deserve this end, Mr. Zhu is wise!
Lu Xi cooperated wholeheartedly with Zhu Yiyuan, and took out food, cloth, and weapons from the treasury... Zhu Yiyuan's old subordinates were very calm, but those who had just joined wanted to enter the city, Zhu Yiyuan considered the issue of discipline, and put them in the city. outside.

Then there were fights with each other because of the scramble for supplies.

A dozen were injured and others lost their lives.

Zhu Yiyuan also expected that it's no wonder that they can live in peace. When Zhu Yiyuan was preparing to deal with it, Zhao Yingyuan led the army and rushed to Yishui County.

When he arrived, he helped Zhu Yiyuan... After all, there were only a few hundred people in Zhu Yiyuan, so it was still too difficult to frighten more than 1000 people.

But this time, Zhao Yingyuan brought three thousand households in full, and others such as Song Lian, Zhao Shizhe, Zhang Lin, and many other people, both civil and military, all arrived.

Zhu Yiyuan's waist became stronger all of a sudden.

After the big guys greeted each other, Zhao Shizhe said: "Zhu Qianshi, I want to tell you a good thing, the imperial court sent someone here."

"The court? What court?" Zhu Yiyuan frowned.

Zhao Shizhe was startled, and subconsciously said: "Of course it is the Longwu court in Fuzhou."

Zhu Yiyuan frowned even more, he didn't continue to say anything, but asked: "Who sent you here, can you let me meet?"

Zhao Yingyuan nodded, "He is here to see you."

Sure enough, two men dressed as scribes came to see Zhu Yiyuan. One of them was Ye Tingxiu, Ye Tinglan's cousin, and Zhu Yiyuan's uncle, who had delicate features and handsome demeanor.

As for the other one, it was even more powerful.

His original name was Gu Jiang, and his courtesy name was Zhongqing.

The Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty, and it was obviously inappropriate to call him this name again. Therefore, after the fall of Yingtian, Gu Jiang changed his name to Gu Yanwu, a native of Zining, because he admired Wen Tianxiang's disciple Wang Yanwu.

That's right, it was Gu Yanwu, one of the great Confucian masters in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

These two came to read the will.

"As for Zhu Qian, you have won many battles, defeated the Tartars, and restored the Ming Dynasty. You are really the pillar of the country. Your Majesty is very pleased, and is going to entrust you with the affairs of Shandong." Ye Tingxiu said excitedly.

Zhu Yiyuan didn't answer this question, but said to himself: "Qiong Zhimi Universe, Master Qi Linju, Qiling Mengsong Style, Jiali Xie Mingtu. This is the lineage of the king of Tang Dynasty. It seems that my Yizi is better than Tang Dynasty. Wang Zhu Yujian is a generation older, what can my nephew do to ask my uncle?"

(End of this chapter)