Jingming

Chapter 266 The Rotten Canal

To the south of Dongchang Mansion where Linqing is located is Yanzhou Mansion.

Yanzhou Prefecture is so large that there are 23 counties in four prefectures under it.In Yanzhou Prefecture, there are not only counties like Qufu, but also Yanggu County, Yuncheng County, and Liangshanbo, which are quite famous in the later published "Water Margin".

In addition, there is Cao County in the southwest corner.

In one Yanzhou prefecture, there are three guards in Jining, Yizhou, and Yanzhou, two thousand-household offices in Tengxian County and Dongping, and twelve inspection departments.

However, Dongchang Mansion, which is much smaller than Yanzhou Mansion, also has Linqing, Dongchang, and Pingshan Sanwei, and something went wrong on the canal.

Now Yujia passes Liaocheng County, the prefecture of Dongchang Prefecture, and enters Yanggu County, followed by a long route passing through Liangshanbo and Weishan Lake.

Cui Yuan went directly to the Huai'an Mansion as an outpost, while Li Quanli, Liu Zhenyuan, Zhang Fujing, and Qi Yuanda tightened their nerves. The investigation range on both sides of the river in front of Yujia extended to twenty miles at any time, not letting go of any clues.

In Linqing City, the case investigation was handed over to the right servant of the Ministry of Criminal Justice who went south together, assisted by Zhang Fujing and Qi Jingtong, and Gao Zhong was also on his way from Jinan.

Qi Jingtong's participation can only be said that Cao Junshan always has to prove his loyalty.

And Linqing City has already started a round of investigation.

If we don't find out who is the organizer behind this as soon as possible, the emperor who is rushing to the south will only make Nan Zhili feel even more horrified.

Regardless of other sentiments, since Linqing City prepared to welcome the emperor and strengthened its guard, all the people who have left or entered the city have not been spared. Many officials under the Shandong Jiesi and Dongchang Mansion have been transferred to help investigate case.

At the same time, there are naturally Gao Zhong's subordinates under the command of Shandong Xingxing and other spies from other factories who have already communicated and acted.

The assassination case is unprecedented.

There is another line that has attracted much attention, and that is the "inaction teaching" mentioned by Zhu Houcong when he summoned Qi Yuanda.

This newly-appeared religion now has a lot of believers among the big and small gangs along the canal.Throughout the ages, too many rebellions have been related to these sects, large and small, even the rebel army at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty themselves could not get rid of this shadow.

Shopkeeper Wu already knew the "results" on the canal.

He regretted that he neither hurt Zhu Houcong, nor blew up the embankment of the canal, nor even surprised Zhu Houcong and made him stay in Shandong.

The suspicion caused by the inability to communicate effectively is the most stressful. If the emperor doubts the loyalty of Nanzhili, he will definitely take action.And under the tremendous pressure, there will be people in another center of Daming who worry about being implicated in the liquidation.

If the emperor dared to move forward even when someone stabbed him, the signal to Nanzhili would be different.

It is more pressure, but also an opportunity to show loyalty.On the contrary, if you jump out at this time, you have to weigh the emperor's credibility.

He decided to hang on.

The two nephews would not leave any clues of their identities, and the person who provided the gunpowder and the temporary refuge for the robbery on the river before would never show up at this time.

But once you get serious, you have the opportunity to make meritorious service, and you have the motivation to clear your doubts, and even the most distant clues can be uncovered.

The imperial driver is approaching Jining, and Qi Yuanda, who took the initiative to continue to check the river, sees him again.

The boat has traveled so far, and the water is already flowing south.On the left and right of the canal are the vast lakes such as Weishan, and the water flow on the canal is wide and gentle.

Zhu Houcong sat on the seat in the small hall on the boat, Huang Jin stood next to him, Yang Tan, Li Wei, and Yang Tingyi sat on the left and right sides, and the last seat was reserved for Qi Yuanda.

"Why don't you wait until night to anchor?"

Qi Yuanda stood up from his seat again when he heard the words, and said respectfully: "After hearing the results of the preliminary investigation at Linqing, it is unimaginable that the small iron house on the bank can be so concealed. After thinking about it, I really Think of some old news, don't dare to delay."

"speak."

Qi Yuanda said seriously: "How important is the embankment of the canal? The Yellow River diverted its course and went south to seize the Huaihe River. There were many things that flooded and invaded the canal. The preservation of the canal has always been the most important thing, so the west bank of the canal has been overhauled every year. Your Majesty, this matter, They are all in the charge of the Hedao Yamen.”

Li Nai's eyes froze when he heard the words: the chief official is called the Hedao Yamen of the Governor of Hedao, and his resident is in Jining.

"In December of the 12th year of Zhengde, there was a breach in the Yellow River. At that time, Yin Gonghong of Yingtian Mansion was appointed as the right deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the prime minister of Hedao." Qi Yuanda continued, "Your Majesty, Queen of the Imperial Palace, Gong Hongjin, the right servant of the Ministry of Industry, He later became an official with the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry. He is currently Zhang Zheng, and he was originally a doctor of the Nanjing Ministry of War. Your Majesty, last year there were some disputes between the river and the cao. I can only say... I can only say that there are old grievances between the Zonghe and the Zongcao. "

Qi Yuanda's reminder made Yang Tan and others start to think.

After a while, Li Nai said, "The minister was Minister of the Ministry of Industry at the time, and Gong Hong invited him to become an official after the National Policy Conference set a three-year national policy of investigating floods and water conservancy."

Yang Tan also said: "Last year, the water transportation was shallow and the grain transportation was blocked for a while. The general water supplies were sparse and pushed the river course. The imperial court asked Zhang Zheng to take responsibility."

"More than that." Li Wei introduced to Zhu Houcong, "The post of Zonghe was originally set up at the beginning of the seventh year of Chenghua. Yuehuang Linggang rushed into the Jialu River, and it was decided to re-establish a special official because of the river course. However, Gong Hong served as this official from the 12th year of Zhengde to the 16th year of Zhengde, and then the general cao and the general river became the order. "

He didn't speak clearly, but Zhu Houcong understood what he meant.

After the temporarily dispatched officials become custom-made, huge interests are involved.What's more, this is the river governor who is related to the lifeblood of Daming?

However, on a canal, there is a governor of water transportation and a governor of rivers. It is also conceivable to imagine the power disputes.

The main responsibility of the governor of the river is to manage the dredging and renovation of the canal. Zhu Houcong began to recall in his mind the amount of money allocated by the imperial court to the Ministry of Industry every year to maintain the navigable conditions of the canal.

This is the benefit of engineering.

In addition, the governor of the river also has the power to partially control the military guards along the canal and the many special government offices on the canal, which can breed many benefits.

Zhu Houcong looked at Qi Yuanda: "You report this, implying that when the river yamen repaired the embankment, they had hookups with others and let others take advantage of it?"

Qi Yuan murmured: "I just think...the Hedao Yamen should be checked..."

Zhu Houcong frowned: "If you have evidence, tell it."

Qi Yuanda looked awkwardly at the elders Yang Tan and Li Na, as well as Yang Tingyi, elder brother of Yang Ge.

Afterwards, he could only say: "This minister, Cao Jun Shandong Chief, will pay 3000 taels of silver to the Hedao Yamen every year..."

Yang Tan could only open his mouth.

Regardless of the fact that the River Management Office is located in Jining and seems to only deal with the canal, that is because after the Yellow River seized the Huaihe River and entered the sea, the flooding of the Yellow River and the flooding of the canal were almost the same problem.

In fact, the governor of the river is still in charge of the Yellow River.

If the general of the Cao army donates so much money every year, what about the entire Cao army and other yamen along the Yellow River and canal?
In this regard, on average, the imperial court still needs to budget no less than 30 taels of silver for the river government to maintain the navigation capacity of the canal.

Zhu Houcong sighed: "The cao soldiers fled, and many of them became thieves; looting continued along the canal, I'm afraid I don't know how many yamen have colluded with them, and they can set up such shelters on the river embankment. The canal is really rotten and riddled with holes!"

Li Na's scalp was numb, and he stood up and pleaded guilty: "The minister is guilty."

"However, the flood in the river cannot be ignored." Zhu Houcong looked at him, "This dispute over the main canal and the main river, after I have personally inspected the canal and the Yellow River this time, there should be a regulation."

After a pause, he told Huang Jin: "I ordered Uncle Xiangcheng to take all Zhang Zheng and below first. With Qi Yuanda's words as proof, I will go to Jiading, Suzhou and ask Gong Hong. How was it repaired, how did the canal robbers set up hideouts on the embankment.”

"...Your Majesty, have you taken them all?" Yang Tan couldn't help being startled.

"It's almost winter, at least before spring and summer next year, the floods will not cause major troubles because of a little turmoil in the river yamen." Zhu Houcong said with a cold face, "The imperial court spends nearly 20 taels of silver every year to build water ships, 12 taels. How much is the Cao army’s annual food and salary? The 11 taels of labor in the Caohe River in Shandong Province is not enough, and more than [-] taels of labor labor is needed. When the construction of the river starts, the silver consumption is not a huge amount of one million?"

He paused and then said: "From the very beginning of my reign, I made a national policy of investigating floods and water conservancy. Since Yongle and now more than a hundred years, have you calculated how much money the imperial court has spent on this river? I have calculated it. If you count The corvée of the Shangqin faction earns an average of nearly 300 million taels of silver every year! The 300 million taels of silver are just for 400 million shi of grain and more than [-] taels of tax!"

Zhu Houcong looked at Yang Tan: "You are the Minister of the Household Department. The imperial court's expenses are stretched, and the river government is good. Cao Jun Shandong always takes 3000 taels of filial piety every year, but the river floods are more and more frequent. This is natural. , if the floods are not frequent, how can there be any reason to ask the court for money to repair the river? Therefore, even someone who digs a hole in the river embankment can turn a blind eye and turn a blind eye! No matter who dug it out and when, then The big one can hide two or three people's dens, can't we find out when we check the river embankment?"

Yang Tan was speechless, he was just worried that the river yamen would be in chaos and the water transportation would be blocked.

Can the imperial court not know about the situation below?
But if the capital cannot securely get the 400 million shi of grain every year, it will be a real mess.For this reason, no matter how much it cost, I could only endure it before.

Now that the emperor wants to expose this bad debt, what is the best way to deal with the future canal water transportation and the flooding of the two rivers?
Qi Yuanda heard that the emperor said so much, and it also included the construction cost of the water boat and the labor data of the water river, so he knew that the emperor didn't need him to remind the river yamen that there might be problems. His Majesty just waited for himself to provide evidence.

Cold sweat broke out in his heart: Fortunately, he made up his mind before arriving in Jining.

But next, there will be a big turmoil in the three major yamen of the canal between the Governor of Water Transport, the Governor of Rivers, and the Cao Army, which is inevitable.

The emperor obviously could no longer accept maintaining the canal's transshipment capacity at such a high cost.

But...the interests involved in this river are really too great!

……

The benefit of the canal is a matter of the future. Now that the emperor is assassinated, this is a major case first.

Although Li Quanli was a little shocked when he received the order, he quickly gathered his troops and went straight to the Hedao Yamen.

Zhang Zheng, a native of Lanxi County, Jinhua Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, was a Jinshi in the 15th year of Hongzhi.When he was a Jinshi, he became the head of the Ministry of Industry, and because he offended Liu Jin, he went to Fuzhou to serve as a general judge.After Liu Jin was put to death, he first served as a doctor in the Ministry of War in Nanjing, and then he was promoted step by step. During the process of Zhu Houcong ascending the throne and temporarily balancing the power of the court, he succeeded Gong Hong as the governor of the river.

Now because of an imperial decree, Li Quanli directly controls the officials of the Hedao Yamen below Zhang Zheng, waiting for investigation.

"I'm wronged..." After listening to Li Quanli's verbal instructions, Zhang Zheng was wronged, "The Linqing river section has been stable for many years. Since I took office, that section has always been surveyed by Linqing Prefecture. There are only a few people in the river course yamen, and many things are involved. It is the responsibility of the local..."

Li Quanli interrupted him: "Don't call me wrong. There is such a big trouble on the river, you don't want to plead guilty, but still cry out? It doesn't matter if it's you or Gong Hong's ineffectiveness. His Majesty has sent an order to Nanjing Eunuch Zhang. Go ask Gong Hong, Zhang Zonghe, Your Majesty will arrive in Jining tomorrow, why don't you think about what to say when you face the saint. Let me remind you that it's one thing not to do a good job in the Hedao Yamen's duties, and it involves assassination. In the case, it's another matter."

Although there were no problems during the period from Linqing to here, Li Quanli didn't want the assassination case to be solved too slowly.

He is the commander of the escorting army of the Beijing camp, so if this incident happened, he could be regarded as incompetent.

Jin Yiwei sacrificed two people on the spot, and two more died of serious injuries later, but after all, they used their lives to eliminate hidden dangers for the emperor.

Li Quanli's division of labor is different here, and he is not as professional as Jin Yiwei, who has been reborn after listening to the emperor's many specific requirements, but he doesn't want the road ahead to be as exhausting as it is these days.

On the other side of Linqing Prefecture, as Zhang Zheng said, the Hedao Yamen neither has its own soldiers, nor does it have so many establishments.It is Linqing Prefecture's business to inspect the river, dispatch servants, and undertake some renovation projects.

Ever since the iron house had existed for a long time, it was difficult to get in after the embankment was built, and it shouldn't have been discovered for so long, Zhang Fujing decided to kill Linqing Zhizhou on the spot.

After temporarily acting as the magistrate of Qufu, he temporarily assumed the post of magistrate of Linqing again. As the governor of Shandong, he was called "digging three feet" in Linqing.

Zhang's decapitation was very powerful. In the vast files, the person in charge of the river renovation and inspection over the years and the reports at that time were found out, and then he was questioned by Zhang Fujing.

Asked one by one, Qi Fuguang, the head of the Qi family in Nanban, was heartbroken: "The villain is guilty. At that time, the young one took the brothers to take over the work of repairing the river embankment under management, but at that time, the Shandong president It is also necessary for small ones to transport food, this job is actually not done by small ones..."

"Say, who is it!"

"Small moves, small moves..."

When the clue pointed to a rich family in Linqing again, he was also heartbroken: "The timber business of Caomin, after Caomin took over this matter, it was investigated by the Fangzhou Yamen and Hedao Yamen, and it was the younger brother of the Qin rebel They did it, Caomin mainly sold a lot of wood..."

Zhang Fujing took Judge Qin and his younger brother again, this time it was even better, his younger brother was just a middleman, and someone else took over the job.

But when this group of people went to get it again, they found out that it was a small Cao Gang with another identity as a bandit.

The leader has already run away, and only caught some bitter water workers.

But Zhang Fujing still got some information after all: the leader of their gang left the city to deliver a batch of goods after going to Sitonglou for a banquet.

After an investigation, the timber dealer surnamed Fu was brought over again.

Zhang Fujing sternly asked: "Since you transferred your hands to that surnamed Qin, and you also had a banquet with that bandit leader, are you still calling for grievances?"

"It's shopkeeper Wu! It must be him, he invited the banquet! Caomin didn't even know that it was the job that the head of the Cao Gang did!" Fu Jimu Xing was full of grief and anger, "Just because everyone is from Fujian. Unexpectedly, he wanted to implicate us. Zhang Dutai, the shopkeeper Wu was born in the Wu family of Zhao'an, and the Wu family of Zhao'an came from the Pu family in Quanzhou! Later, when we got together, he even laughed at the grassroots, saying that Zhang Dutai was going to be in Shandong. Try out the new law, and the tank boats will no longer be usable in the future, how dare we rebel?"

Zhang Fujing's eyes narrowed slightly, and then a gleam of joy appeared.

"Old Qi, get someone!"

What has been separated for 300 years, outside the nine clans?
Pu's descendants are so courageous!

Taking advantage of His Majesty's southern tour, he also wanted to blow up the emperor to make the world more chaotic.

Is this asking for rebellion?This is a blatant attempt to seize the Zhu family!

Once the case was solved, the rebels' appeals were completely untenable.

The big assassination case on the canal was actually the same as the rebellion by the rebels, which means that it is not the water transport system or some people in Nanzhili want to make trouble, and everyone's spirit will be relaxed a lot.

When Qi Jingtong arrived, he only found a corpse that committed suicide.

Shopkeeper Wu did not spare his life to reveal more, but for the emperor, this was enough.

When Zhang Zheng was escorted to the imperial boat moored by the wharf outside the city of Jining, Linqing's fast horses also rushed here.

"Subcontracting layer by layer, squeezing hard." Zhu Houcong looked at him coldly, "Your river channel yamen regulates the river, this is how you do it. With ten taels of silver, can you do one tael of silver well? Zhang Zheng, Jiajing Yuan Over the past few years, your Hedao Yamen has asked for more than [-] taels of silver. How much have you swallowed? Your predecessor, you should have counted in the Hedao Yamen's case files. How much did he swallow after more than three years in the Hedao Yamen? "

Zhang Zheng wept bitterly: "The minister...is guilty..."

At any rate, it was found out that he had nothing to do with Assassin, it was just a loophole left by the supervisor of the river repair project in the river yamen, and it was before he took office.

Treat it as corruption, at least you won't be punished by the nine clans, right?
But the other few companies will like to mention Jiuzu Xiaoxiaole.

Yang Tingyi immediately asked to play: "The Wu family in Zhao'an is so bold, it can be seen that Pu Zitong has such great courage, and what he relies on is the opportunity to make trouble everywhere in Daming under the management of Pu's hundreds of years. Your Majesty's will, immediately Capture the remnants of the Pu family and torture the rest of the traitors!"

What Zhu Houcong wanted was to act with the most unavoidable crime in this era after conspiracy.

On the Yu Zhou, he just uttered a word coldly: "Quite!"

In Hengyang City, Pu Zitong also said after thinking for a while: "This statement makes sense."

He patted his chest with his new humerus and promised: "Don't worry, the governor, if Shuikou Mountain cannot be taken back, the general will definitely protect His Majesty and Queen Mother!"

On the other side of the Shuikou Shanzhai Fort, Pu Zitong filled in more than 1000 lives, but did not take it down.

At this moment, the Shuikou Shanzhai Fort was really stabilized by the imperial army, peeking at Leiyang from the southeast, and threatening the Leishui Camp in the south and southeast of Hengyang City from the north.

Pu Zitong has a general who has been with him for a longer time, but now that he is on three and a half sides, it is really impossible to arrange it.

Gu Shilong and Zhu Qi's general attack is imminent, and these generals must concentrate on defending the city in their respective departments.

But also make arrangements for retreat.

Now the safest way is to go out of the east gate, board the boat directly, and go to Leiyang along the Xiangshui River after the break between Huiyan Peak and Leishui Daying.

Yan Chunsheng, who was guarding the east of the city, gained Pu Zitong's approval step by step as a bandit with a distinct identity. Enter "Chenzhou.

After leaving, Yan Chunsheng called Cai Jia, the "pig-killer" general whom he had promoted when he was supervising the repair of the trenches in the west of the city.

The two exchanged glances, and Cai Jia nodded.

The folks are strong and brave, the matter of organizing the transshipment in the city is naturally left to him.

The people from Jining were rushing to Nanjing to ask Zhang Jin to go to Jiading to get Gong Hong.

Orders to arrest Pu's descendants were sent to Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian and other places.

There are more and more ships on the northeast side of the Xiangshui River in Hengyang City. They are adding shields to resist arrows and projectiles to cross the river. There is a large-scale earth mountain in the west of the city.

Pu Zitong has been up for several days and nights, but now he can't relax.

The most difficult moment is coming, and Guiyang Prefecture has also fallen. It is not clear whether the Fifth Army Battalion is going to attack Chenzhou, or whether it is going north to join the army at Shuikou Mountain to encircle the south.

"Don't worry, the governor, you will win!"

Standing on the east wall, Pu Zitong was relieved to hear Yan Chunsheng's very affirmative tone.

Although Zhan Huabi is gone, after all, he has another loyal and brave general with unparalleled arrow skills.

After nightfall, it is very quiet.

But Pu Zitong knew that today might be the last day of tranquility, but the defenders in the city couldn't relax a bit.

It is possible to cross the river and attack the city at night.It is more likely to bombard the tired defenders on the west side of the city.

"I'm going to the west of the city, the east of the city is up to you!"

Yan Chunsheng nodded, looked at his back and then looked up at the waning moon at the end of October.

In case the authorization to go straight to the palace is obtained, it can start.

I don't know if I can hit a non-lethal vital point of the heavily armored Pu Zitong in the middle of the night.

Difficult to do.

(End of this chapter)