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Chapter 278 The Navy
After Li Chongjiu inspected the mill, he thought it was a convenient move for the people. However, when the local people asked about it, he was very dissatisfied with the construction of the mill.

Li Chongjiu asked several people that this was the case, and the generals were also puzzled. Now Li Chongjiu knew that even if he asked the local people, he couldn't get any results. He immediately returned to the county guard's mansion in the city and sent Wen Yanbo, Lin Dangfeng and others People call.

After Wen Yanbo was summoned by Li Chongjiu, he came very late.After Li Chongjiu asked the reason, Wen Yanbo was a little embarrassed, and then he revealed that Wen Yanbo had just entered Ji County, and he had many local gentry visit him within a day.The Wen family in Taiyuan was a prominent family since the Han Dynasty, and it was not far from Zhuo County, so several local gentry could be related in terms of in-laws. Therefore, when Wen Yanbo arrived in Ji County, many local gentry came to visit.

Wen Yanbo was treated like this as a subordinate, compared to Li Chongjiu, who was the sheriff of a county, but there were almost no visitors in his house.Li Chongjiu even went to Xue's mansion in person, but Xue Wanshu clearly showed his rejection before he even spoke, just like meeting a girl you like and telling you that you have a boyfriend before you confess your love.

Not only is this the case in the mansion, even the old officials of Zhuojun County, less than six or seven people came to the Yamen to respond, and most of them unfortunately took sick leave at the same time.

Li Chongjiu knew it well in his heart. When he was about to ask about Niantong, Lin Dangfeng hesitated, and told Li Chongjiu truthfully that it was built by several gentry families in Zhuojun County.

Li Chongjiu immediately asked about peeling and grinding, which is necessary for ordinary people and farmers. Where do ordinary people have animals such as horses, donkeys and mules in their homes, why don't the people build it themselves.

Lin Dangfeng replied that in the past, people from one village and one township wanted to establish a village in the township, but it cost a lot of money to build the mill, and the mountains, forests and rivers were all the property of the government, and there was no official uniform to allow those with no background How dare the people invade the river.Therefore, this industry can only be monopolized by the gentry.

Li Chongjiu immediately asked, although this milling industry is monopolized by the gentry, using the power of the state to facilitate their own selfishness, it is also a convenience for the people, why the people are so indignant.Lin Dangfeng said that it was fine for the gentry to monopolize the milling, but the harm of the milling was not limited to this. The river course could have irrigated farmland, but the gentry repaired the milling as a river dam, which greatly reduced the amount of irrigation for the farmland on both sides of the river.There are no complaints from the common people.

Wen Yanbo said, this is also a common thing. The Zhengbai Canal in Guannei could have irrigated more than 1 hectares of dense fields, but for the dignitaries, a mill was built on the canal, and the weir was used to contain the water, which greatly reduced the canal flow, and finally stopped irrigation. More than [-] hectares.The imperial court originally wanted to dismantle the mill, but was obstructed by these dignitaries, and finally had to give up halfway (Note [-]).

Wang Mahan, Yu Chigong and other generals were all furious when they heard the words, they all said angrily that they must eradicate all the gentry who profited from the common people.

Li Chongjiu was silent, and immediately let the generals go back to the mansion. Li Chongjiu had been busy for two days and two nights, and he was already exhausted. He closed his eyes and wrote down on a piece of paper, the four words, arsenal, granary, Yongji Canal, and gentry.

When Li Chongjiu woke up the next day, he was told that Zhou Bo, the old man of the silk weaving firm, and several veterans of the hemp weaving firm had visited.Li Chongjiu did not expect that this was the first batch of people who came to the mansion after he entered the city.

Now Li Chongjiu and the county hall met with Zhou Bo and several people.

This time Zhou Bo was still wearing silk and satin, the difference was that there were a few hemp stitches on the inconspicuous corners of his clothes, and the rest of the merchants also dressed up together, even wearing hemp clothes.

Seeing Li Chongjiu, Zhou Bo kowtowed respectfully and said, "See the envoy."

Li Chongjiu said with a smile: "There is no need to perform such a grand ceremony, please take your seat."

Several elders followed Zhou Bo, seeing that Li Chongjiu didn't care about their status as a businessman, and let him take the seat, his heart was as Zhou Bo said. prejudice.

At the moment everyone Zhou Bo said immediately: "I listened to the envoy's teachings yesterday, and today I am here to visit the mansion."

Hearing what the other party said, Li Chongjiu chatted in the room immediately, and immediately knew what he said.

These few are all big businessmen in Ji County.Everyone has several, or even a dozen large ships, which are dedicated to water transportation in the channel, and their net worth is also very rich.

Usually, these businessmen adhere to the principle of not revealing their wealth, and they hide some money. Throughout the ages in China, if a businessman has no power to protect himself, he is just a fat sheep raised by officials, which can be slaughtered and eaten at any time.Now that the current situation is changing, Ji County is changing, those local gentry tyrants are self-reliant and Li Chongjiu dare not do anything to them, and neglects them.

But at this time, the businessman didn't have an umbrella on his head, and he was most likely to be regarded as a fat sheep, so when he heard that Zhou Bo had such a connection, he came to the door together to ask for an interview, and to feel the connection of the new sheriff.

The two sides chatted very happily, and everyone was immediately happy to see that Li Chongjiu was not an old man like Luo Yi who also looked like a warlord.Of course, they were most concerned about the water transportation of the Yongji Canal. Li Chongjiu said that if they wanted to connect the Yongji Canal, they didn't need to capture Yongnu County. They only needed to prepare a navy and sweep down the river.

If you want a navy, you need a boat. Li Chongjiu proposed this condition to test Zhou Bo and the others. He thought that these businessmen would make things difficult.Unexpectedly, everyone discussed for a while, and Zhou Bo immediately said: "Our Ji County is the end point of Yongji Canal. If the waterway is cut off all the way to the south, what's the use of having a boat. If you want a boat, just take it. Even people can be allocated to envoys.”

When Zhou Bo said so, all the businessmen also echoed.

Seeing the courage of these people, Li Chongjiu couldn't help but feel the courage of the businessmen of this era, and said immediately: "In this way, I will borrow ten boats from all the shopkeepers."

Everyone agreed one after another. Seeing this, Li Chongjiu went further and said: "Someone just arrived in Zhuo County and wants to select talents. I think Mr. Zhou Xing is very familiar with water transportation. I will let you be the water transportation in the county." How about Si Si Cao?"

"Secretary of Water Transportation?"

Li Chongjiu nodded and said: "The water transportation in Zhuo County is convenient. I want to establish a water transportation department to coordinate the water transportation in the entire county. It is better than the six Caos in the county."

Hearing what Li Chongjiu said, Zhou Bo was overjoyed immediately, but then said: "I love you, but a villain is just a merchant, how can he be worthy of being a court official?"

Li Chongjiu shook his head and said: "Don't ask where I come from, a hero. I was born in the city before, and now I am a county governor. You are a local in Zhuojun. You must help me manage this Zhuojun well."

Zhou Bo saw that Li Chongjiu's intentions were very difficult, so he didn't refuse immediately, and said: "In that case, I will immediately sell all the family businesses and concentrate on government affairs."

Hearing what Zhou Bo said, Li Chongjiu glanced at the other party, shook his head and said: "No need to do this, your Zhou family's business will continue to run, don't quit."

Zhou Bo was stunned when he heard this, and the merchants on the side looked at each other with envy. Everyone knew what Li Chongjiu's move meant.

For Zhou Bo, the power of the water transportation department is very strong, and on the other hand, the position of an official is like a talisman. Zhou Bo, who will be the secretary of the water transportation department in the future, doesn't have to worry about anyone coming to trouble the Zhou family. At the same time, he can also make trouble for other people.

After finishing all this, Zhou Bo and others resigned together, and then Li Chongjiu issued a second appointment, making Lin Dangfeng the county magistrate of Liangxiang County.

With the first article, Zhou Bo was appointed as the secretary of the water transportation department, and the appointment of the second article immediately aroused a turmoil in the circle of officials and scholars in Zhuo County.Who is Lin Dangfeng?Although it must be admitted that he is quite well-known in Zhuo County, no one should forget that this person is a businessman.

It is said that he had been in touch with Li Chongjiu for a long time, and worked hard to win Zhuojun for him, so Li Chongjiu was promoted as a county magistrate.But for his origin, it was too much.

For a while, all the scholars in Zhuo County were boiling, and the governor of a county did not pay attention to the thatched hut, but came to invite them to be officials, but promoted two businessmen.

Li Chongjiu silently paid attention to the direction of public opinion among the scholars in Zhuojun County. The next day, a scholar who claimed to be a madman in Zhuojun County came to the county guard's mansion and had some knowledge popularization with Li Chongjiu, accusing him of why he was going against the law. To be an official.

Li Chongjiu had no interest in this second person who came to the government purely to find trouble, so he was thrown out at once.

It has been several days since Li Chongjiu entered Ji County, and after a few days, Li Chongjiu understood the attitude of the entire Ji County officials and gentry toward him.This is already very obvious, that is, three no words, no cooperation, no objection, and no communication.

Li Chongjiu knew that there must be someone behind this to take the lead in this matter, guessing and guessing, it was only a few people.

Li Chongjiu remained calm, and immediately formed a [-]-strong navy with the captured county soldiers and some of his subordinates who were proficient in water. At this time, Zhou Bo's ten boats and [-] boatmen were also sent.

On the same day, Li Chongjiu ordered Sun Erniang to lead a thousand sailors to sail downstream overnight, and he also ordered Er Tuo to lead a thousand cavalry to attack by land at night.The waterway from Jixian County to Yongnu County is only a few tens of miles, and it goes straight down the river, and the navy will arrive in a few hours.

The army went ashore quietly and launched a night attack on Luo Yi's soldiers stationed at Shuiguan.When the water pass was closed, Luo Yi's army was also heavily guarded. Sun Erniang hadn't succeeded in attacking for a long time, until Ertuo's cavalry arrived, and both sides joined together, and finally wiped out all the hundreds of Luo Yi's garrison in the water pass.

After attacking Shuiguan at night, Sun Erniang took the goats and took away all the boats in the ship. She also set a big fire and burned Shuiguan and the wharf.

At dawn the next day, in Yongnu County, twenty miles away from Shuiguan, Luo Chengcai led [-] cavalry to come for reinforcements, but it was too late.

Sun Erniang led the fleet and returned triumphantly. Zhuo County was on the dock of Yongji Canal. Zhou Bo and others couldn't help being overjoyed when they saw Li Chongjiu's navy returning with a great victory.The Lu family and other gentry were expecting a good show, but when they learned that Li Chongjiu had broken Luo Yi's blockade of Ji County's waterways in just a few days, they were all shocked.

Note [-]: The incident of Zheng Baiqu can be found in Tongdian Shihuo [-]. In the Tang Dynasty, there were also princesses and Buddhist temples who fought to cover the matter of grinding, and finally brought the lawsuit to the court.

(End of this chapter)