Emperor Kangxi: Yuyu Chengxiang

Chapter 33
Time flies fast, Jin Fu and Chen Huang spent three years in extreme busyness.Since he was ordered, the Ministry of Household Affairs allocated 250 million taels of silver every year, but he didn't dare to embezzle and make things difficult.In order to use this money wisely, Jin Fu, Chen Huang, and Feng Zhiren really worked hard, their brains were exhausted, and their legs were broken.Surveying embankment and earthworks in the daytime, charting and tabulating calculations at night, and every ten days a report is played directly in Kangxi, all of which are drafted by Chen Huang. The progress of embankment work will be supplemented together.Kangxi's decrees were sent directly to the Qingjiang River Supervision Office with Pegasus, without going through the ministry.With the joint efforts of the monarch and the ministers, there is less obstruction in the middle, and it immediately becomes the action of hundreds of thousands of river workers, and the efficiency of running errands has increased by three points.

The Governor's Mansion of Zhihe was moved to Qingjiang, which received unexpected results.The original river governor's yamen was located in Jining, which is very close to Yu Chenglong, an old man in Shandong.Yu Jackie claimed that he was well versed in water conservancy, intervening in river affairs twice a day, hindering everything.It happened that Jackie Chan was a well-known and upright official, with the title of Gongbao, and a senior scholar, and his tone of voice was strangely stiff, and everyone agreed with him, so all the governors of river affairs were headaches for him.The yamen moved to Qingjiang, which was close to the construction site and less troublesome. Ding Nuo, the governor of the south of the Yangtze River, was easy to do. Except for the official documents of the consultation committee, he did not interfere with the river affairs. Jin Fu and Chen Huang felt that everything went smoothly.

Seeing that the blocking project was gradually completed, after several careful surveys, Jin Fu and Chen Huang decided to clean up the water transportation, and built the Jiangdu water embankment after requesting an order.

"Finally, we have some clues." Chen Huang stood on the newly built embankment, and the soil was already half-dried by the spring breeze in March.His complexion was originally dark, but after several years of ups and downs, he looked even darker. His eyes narrowed by the river wind looked at a straight line of embankment from a distance, and he turned his head to Jin Fu who seemed to be preoccupied and said, "I will suffer no matter what." Now, this is the result, and the emperor won't beat us for the matter of grain supply."

Jin Fu nodded, his lowered lips were tense, and he didn't answer Chen Huang's words immediately, but turned around and asked Feng Zhiren behind him: "Have all the trees in Gudi arrived? There must be a method for how to plant them. This has been ordered repeatedly by the holy order, so you can't be careless." Feng Zhiren had a problem with tears in the wind, and when he heard Jin Fu's questioning, he gave a dry laugh, wiped away his tears and said, "The trees are all brought here, they are all black locusts, Yangliu, according to what Tianyi said is not suitable. Tianyi advocates planting locust trees and grasses, but these two things can’t be sold for a price. I went to Qingjiang Road to ask a few times, and Ding You went to the Taoist platform. Now he is a shake-head master sitting in the yamen My son. I asked several times, and they all said that there is no pick-up now, who has the time to dig up descendants and sell them?"

"Plant the bought trees outside the embankment first," Chen Huang said, "These tall trees must not be planted on the embankment—we will discuss it after the new inspector arrives."

"It's already here." Jin Fu burst out a few words through his teeth, "It's Yu Chenglong." Seeing the surprised faces of the two of them, he said again, "It's not Yu Gongbao from Shandong, but his cousin from the same branch. , also named Yu Jackie! I know this guy, not only is he just like his elder brother, he has the same style and style, even his temper seems to have come out of the same mold - he has come down as soon as he comes!" After speaking, he sighed, I don't know whether to praise Yu Chenglong or belittle him, I just smiled wryly: "I hope that this year's autumn news will be smaller, Yu Chenglong and us will be full of joy."

Chen Huang walked slowly behind Jin Fu and Feng Zhiren, and said in thought: "It's a pity that the Xiaojiadu dam has not been completed, otherwise, the autumn flood will be greater, and there is always a way to protect this dike." Pointing to the low depression around the old embankment, he said with a smile, "I have a new idea. When the autumn flood comes, I will open a breach here..."

"Wonderful!" Before Feng Zhiren could hear it clearly, Jin Fu suddenly clapped his hands and said excitedly, "Build embankments and pick up soil, this place has become a depression, once the yellow water is poured, it will be silted up, and more than ten thousand hectares of fertile land will be obtained immediately." Seeing that Jin Fu suddenly became happy, Feng Zhiren realized after thinking about it, and continued enthusiastically: "After silting, the terrain will increase, which will also have the effect of strengthening the embankment, and it will be easier to dig when repairing the embankment. Sandy?"

Chen Huang shook his head and smiled, "The most important thing is that you didn't expect it. Just imagine, once the breach is opened here, the water from the Yellow River entering the canal will slow down, and the water entering the canal will slow down, so that the water transportation will not be interrupted by the autumn flood, and the water transportation project can continue during the flood season— ——In the coming year, there will be so many good fields distributed to the people here, no matter how powerful Yu Chenglong is, he has to be reasonable, he is an upright official, how could he not be happy to see this benefit to the people?"

"Wonderful! You can count birds with one stone!" Before Jin Fu finished listening, he clapped his palms and laughed, "You Chen Tianyi, you are destined not to be an official, even if you are a fellow Jinshi, I will definitely recommend you to be the governor of the river!"

When it comes to fame, Chen Huang and Feng Zhiren are silent.Chen Huang looked at the majestic and majestic levee, and said after a while: "If it is beneficial to the national economy and the people's livelihood, to repay the favor of the emperor, and to strengthen the emperor's plans, his own honor and salary will be like the loess under his feet!" Kicked off the embankment and watched it roll over and over into the water.

The three of them stepped on the embankment and meandered north, and saw a middle-aged man standing with his hands behind his back, looking at the Yellow River at the intersection of the Yellow River, as if he was also surveying the water regime.Neither Feng Zhiren nor Chen Huang knew each other.Jin Fu saw it at a glance, took a few steps, cupped his fists, and said with a smile: "Oh, it's brother Zhenjia! Why, don't you know me? I'm Jin Fu! ——Zhiren, Tianyi, this is Yu Observe, come to watch the river when you arrive at the post!"

Yu Jackie!It was the county magistrate who borrowed food without authorization to help the victims, who was promoted to Daotai from Ningbo and returned!Chen Huang looked at him, thin and bony, with pale cheeks, a gray earthen cloth robe with no jacket over it, the pair of black earthen cloth shoes with double beams that "kicked dead cows" under his feet were covered with mud, and the braids and robe corners were covered with wind. Picking up Lao Gao is a bit of a fairy tale.Feng Zhiren only glanced at Yu Chenglong, and immediately felt a bone-chilling coldness and invisible huge pressure.

"Lord Jin," exchanged lightly with Jin Fu, and Yu Chenglong began to talk about business, "Can this embankment withstand the autumn floods? The river is too narrow, can't it? The day before yesterday, I read the emperor's edict and ordered to plant trees." Gudi. The sage lives in the ninth level, so he can still think about it in detail. As foreign officials, we have a group of Qing guests and aides around us, so we need to pay more attention to it."

Although Yu Chenglong spoke in a gentle tone, these few words were all teaching others. He was neither happy nor angry, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, as if he was expressing his contempt to the other party at any time.Jin Fu felt that it was more difficult to deal with than his brother, who was older than Jackie Chan.When the three of Jin Fu saw him like this, their self-esteem felt as if they had been stabbed by a knife, and the cheerful mood that had just been roused suddenly disappeared.Jin Fuqiang suppressed the unhappiness in his heart, looked at the sky with his hands behind his back, and then at the rushing Yellow River, and said with a chuckle: "Yu observe, this matter has been dealt with by the governor. There is a saying that 'the general will be out, and the king's life will be different. Shou', observe the beginning of getting off the car, without asking why, how do you know that I will not accept the emperor's order, and how do you know that I can't protect this section of the embankment?"

"My lord!" Yu Chenglong bowed courteously and raised his official voice, "It's not that the humble official has the audacity to intervene in the river affairs. You should know that the emperor ordered the humble official to guard this county, and the land of the people here will be kept for every thread, porridge and rice. The responsibility lies with me. There are no trees to reinforce the embankment, and the river is so narrow, which is contrary to common sense. If there is a breach, I am afraid that both adults and this Dao will be to blame!"

Seeing that Jin Fu's face was flushed, Feng Zhiren knew that he was going to have a fit, so he hurriedly smiled and said, "The two adults actually have the same thoughts. We were talking about planting trees to protect the embankment just now..."

"Please respect yourself, I'm talking back to Jin Shuai." Yu Chenglong had no expression on his face, and cut off Feng Zhiren's words coldly.Jin Fu sneered and said, "He's an employee of the river affairs department. What does it matter? This person works hard despite the wind and rain, and he is not an idler. The five-rank official of the court is not a foolish scholar who just wants to make a name for himself!" Yu Chenglong smiled faintly, and said, "In this case, he is a student Meng Lang. If this is true, it will be a blessing to the people of my county."

Yu Chenglong has always been dissatisfied because his elder brother had been stumped in the river engineering, and he became more and more angry when he saw Jin Fu defending his shortcomings.But Jin Fu's taste is much higher than his, so he suppressed his temper and said: "How dare you come here to make troubles in a lowly position? Just because it concerns the lives of a county, I dare not ask. Because last year's autumn floods, more than a dozen townships in our city were destroyed. , the matter of the hungry people has not been settled yet..."

(End of this chapter)