Lu Ming

Standing beside Fang Zhifu was a middle-aged man named Luo Shizhi.

This person is one of the earliest dealers selected by Xiongdao in Jiading County.Since Luo Shizhi's elder brother is the current doctor of the Ministry of Industry, the products that the Luo family represents in Xiongdao are mainly some building materials: cement, wood, and glass.

In fact, before Lu Jinshen came to the door today, Luo Shizhi had already communicated with Fang Zhifu in this courtyard all morning.

And what was placed in front of Fang Yuegong at this moment was exactly what he was thinking about, a watercolor dam drawing.

In fact, the things on this picture have far exceeded what Fang Yuegong imagined in his dream.Because this is a large-format color map developed with digital photos, on which is an extremely majestic dam in the eyes of tomorrow.

Looking at the lifelike scenery of the Tainan Plain in the color picture, as well as the magnificent and long dam, the jasper-like reservoir, and the white dragon-like floodgate... Although Fang Yuegong has seen this picture for a long time, but At this moment, he was still unable to extricate himself, while rubbing his fingers on the picture, he muttered something.

"Fourth brother, the material used for this dam is the cement." Luo Shizhi began to explain the benefits of the cement dam to the Futai adults in detail.

After quietly listening to Luo Shizhi's introduction, Fang Yuegong nodded and said: "If this cement dam can really block a weir lake with a height of three to five feet as shown in the picture, then it can be used to build my Zhangxu seawall. It is enough."

"Hehe, the fourth elder brother seems to believe that seeing is believing." Luo Shizhi sat down at this moment, poured a cup of tea on the same charcoal stove, and after taking a sip, he said with confidence: "This matter is easy. Tomorrow, the fourth eldest brother can choose a boundary in the mansion, and ask master craftsmen to use the old method to build a section of seawall."

"As for my side, I also sent craftsmen to build ponds with cement and boulders, both of which have the same length and width."

When Fang Yuegong heard this, he immediately understood Luo Shizhi's meaning: "This is a good idea. Afterwards, order people to destroy the wall and see which one is more secure."

Chapter 401 Kidnapping the prefect

"Building walls in the mansion is just one of them. Since the fourth elder brother wants to believe what he sees, he might as well send a few people to Yizhou, and the truth will come to light."

Hearing this, Fang Yuegong asked with great interest, "Oh, what do you say?"

Luo Shizhi stood up and went to the table again, pointing to the big colored picture and said: "This is the real scene picture, the original dam is the same as the one in the picture. Although Yizhou Island has thousands of miles of fertile fields, it also has giant streams and evils. If you want to turn fertile soil into fertile fields, huge dams are indispensable."

Seeing Fang Yuegong nodding his head, Luo Shizhi continued: "Right now, a sister dam of this dam is being built. The fourth elder brother might as well send some craftsmen and cronies to go there to learn the craft and see the real thing. Kill two birds with one stone.”

Hearing this, Fang Yuegong stroked his beard and said, "That's the way to go, I'll select people right now."

"good!"

After thinking about it, Fang Yuegong explained: "It's not because of my brother's stinginess. It's just that the construction of the pond is related to a century-old plan, and my brother's official reputation has been staked, so this matter cannot be neglected in the slightest. I hope Brother Luo Xian will forgive me."

"Where did the fourth elder brother come from?" Luo Shizhi smiled and expressed his understanding: "My brother works in the Ministry of Industry and knows the engineering work best. He must not be sloppy at all, and a little carelessness can lead to catastrophe. Four Eldest brother's sincerity and fear is the attitude of doing things seriously."

"That's good, that's good."

Having said that, after Fang Yuegong felt the sincerity of the other party, he offered to take a look at the construction planning drawings brought by Luo Shizhi.

The reason why Luo Shi re-rolled out a blue planning map, and took out a ruler unique to Chuanzhong marked with units of measurement such as zhang, meter, li, and kilometer, and then explained it to the magistrate.

The dam body diagram drawn in three-view method is clear and clear at a glance. Fang Yuegong can see the benefits of this kind of drawing at a glance: "The craftsmen recruited by Mr. Cao are really clever, and this drawing is enough to show their skills!"

After learning how to use the measuring ruler, Fang Yuegong began to listen carefully to Luo Shizhi's talk about the drawings.

The seawall that crosses many plans: the height of the embankment is 6 meters, the width of the bottom of the embankment is 12 meters, and the width of the embankment is 3 meters. It is a trapezoidal seawall built with stone as the backbone and concrete as the adhesive.

The entire seawall is 6 kilometers long and is located in Fengxian District, Shanghai, which is the lowest-lying coastal area on the north coast of Hangzhou Bay, where dikes are often broken.

While listening to Luo Shizhi's explanation, Fang Yuegong kept taking a ruler to measure on the map, nodding his head again and again with an excited expression on his face - if this seawall is really as shown in the drawing, it will be much better than the seawall he planned up.

The seawall in history is not only far inferior to the one on the drawing in terms of length, width and height, but the total length is also far behind: 6 kilometers on the drawing, only 4.2 kilometers in history.

This 4.2 kilometers almost cost Fang Yuegong his life: after the completion of the seawall, he was falsely accused of "corrupting 3000 taels of silver" by a group of gentry and sent to prison.

Later, the common people who had benefited came forward one after another to the government to defend Lao Fang, and only then was he cleared of his crimes and was able to return to his post as an official.

So when Fang Yuegong heard Luo Shizhi listed the construction standards of the dam body, his face was really flushed, his heart fluttered, and he couldn't help being excited. Those who didn't know thought he was crazy.

Luo Shizhi finally added with a smile: "According to the picture, a red willow forest will be planted in front of the pond afterwards to resist the tide front, which is considered complete."

"Okay, okay, this picture is great, just follow this regulation, this pond can be built!"

After approving the engineering design plan on the drawings, Futai waved Luo Shizhi to sit down, and changed the tea for the guests with his own hands. Both the host and the guest rested happily for a while, drank a cup of tea, and then started the next round of dialogue .

The content of the next round of dialogue is more critical, which is the specific fund allocation plan for Tangdi.

Here, Luo Shizhi made a promise on what Lao Fang was most concerned about: the most costly materials for this stone pond, including all the stones and cement, will be borne by the master Xiong Dao, and the Songjiang government does not need to do this. Pay a penny.

"In this way, the Songjiang Mansion only needs to enlist laborers and raise some labor and food money?" Fang Yuegong couldn't believe it when he heard this.

"Yes." Luo Shizhi nodded, "Master Xiong has already opened a stone quarry near Hangzhou. If the fourth eldest brother breaks ground next year, one or two cement kilns can be built by then. In this way, the stone materials And cement can go down the Qiantang River, and it can be used in a timely manner.”

Hearing this, Fang Yuegong stood up and began to pace slowly in the room.At the same time, he pinched his fingers with his hands in his sleeves, and after a rough calculation, he couldn't help but feel a little confused: No matter how he calculates, according to the current stone price and the cement price Luo Shizhi told him just now, the construction of this road Haitang, the materials and silver alone must have exceeded 15 taels, and he wouldn't be surprised if it reached 20 taels.

However, in this way, the matter became a bit mysterious-Fang Yuegong knew Luo Shizhi's intention of coming, and it was nothing more than using the matter of building the pond in exchange for the help of the government government, and used it to fight against the land lease alliance.

It's just that Xiong Dao, or that General Cao's price was too expensive, which made Fang Yuegong feel extremely unreal, and extremely contrary to common sense: this is more than 15 real money!If the money is used to operate in the capital, one or two officials in the frontier can get the official position.

Or to be more blunt, even if it is the prefect of Songjiang, that's the way it is.Try harder at this position, it is shameless to be able to covet 15 taels of silver a year, which shows how exaggerated [-] taels is.

In the early years of Chongzhen, the total number of Jiebu in Yingtianxia was only 38 taels, but how much did the poor Fujian Jiebu have? 12 taels.

That is to say, with a single mouthful of the surname Xiong, he took out more than a poor province's Liaoshang tax amount to support Lao Fang's embankment-this price has far exceeded the return that Lao Fang can give.

After all, Lao Fang is only a magistrate. He can at most lean towards Xiong Dao's side within the scope of his authority, and he can't arrest that group of gentry. You must know that the energy of their partnership is much greater than that of Lao Fang. I will lose my job... This kind of work, to be honest, doesn't even cost 1 taels of silver.

……

After weighing the gains and losses in all aspects, Fang Fuzun's previously lively heart suddenly cooled down.

Because judging from his rich life experience, Luo Shizhi came here to play today. Although the method is brilliant, it is cement and colored pictures, but when it comes to money, the other party reveals his true colors——Da Ming There was no Lei Feng in the dynasty, something that could be done with 5000 taels of silver, but someone insisted on sending 15 taels, which is obviously fake.

"It's probably a sweet trick to trick the official into making a move, and then shirk the bastard afterwards... Good for you, Xiong, good for you, Cao Qiuba!"

After thinking everything through, Fang Fuzun immediately sat back on the chair, picked up his fingernails, and said with a half-smile: "In that case, let's settle the matter."

When Luo Shizhi heard the Taoist priest's decision, he immediately laughed: "The fourth eldest brother will be famous for a long time this time, but I am very envious, haha, haha."

After Fang Yuegong laughed dryly for a few times, he suddenly turned his face away, and said casually: "Just one thing, the matter of repairing the pond is now a waste of time, and that Mr. Xiong must not be short of money. Lord, why don't you advance a position of 3 to [-] taels of silver to the government office, so that my old Fang can take care of it first...I don't know what Brother Luo Xian wants?"

When Fang Dazhi said this, he was ready to wait for Luo Shizhi to open his mouth to evade, and then sent him out after a few insinuating words.

"However, those few patterns still need to be figured out, so they can be used in the future." Fang then thought cunningly.

However, the next moment Fang Zhifu was shocked.Luo Shizhi nodded without hesitation and said, "It should be like this. For such a big business, there is always a deposit. Master Xiong has already prepared 5 taels of silver, and it will be delivered tomorrow. The fourth elder brother is ready A good silver cellar will do.”

"Ah?!" Fang Yuegong was dumbfounded by the sudden scene.Blinking his small eyes and staring desperately at Luo Shizhi who was drinking tea with his head bowed for a long time, he felt that the other party didn't seem to be in hysteria, so Fang Yuegong couldn't believe it, and opened his mouth tremblingly and asked: "Brother Luo is serious. ?”

At this moment, Luo Shizhi was stunned to discover Lao Fang's face that lost his composure.After blinking his eyelids a few times, he couldn't help but raised his head and laughed loudly: "Haha, fourth eldest brother, I'm afraid you haven't dealt with Master Xiong before? Alas, the poor hero, but he was stumped by some stupid things, and he lost his love. ..."

After dropping his schoolbag for two sentences, Luo Shizhi held back his smile, stretched out five fingers, and said firmly to Fang Yuegong who looked forward to it: "5 taels of snowflakes are now in silver, and they will arrive tomorrow."

After a "crash", Fang Fuzun stood up abruptly, and said loudly to Luo Shizhi even more glumly: "Don't go, you and I will sleep on our feet tonight. If we don't see the money tomorrow, I'll make you a liar." crime!"

Luo Shizhi laughed again: "I don't want to be dignified in Songjiang Zhengtang, but today I changed my career to do that kidnapping. Are you ashamed or not?"

……

At noon the next day, when Fang Yuegong stood guard in front of the government office treasury, after counting the 5 taels of silver, he turned around on the spot and saluted Luo Shizhi: "Fang Yuegong knows his mistake, I have underestimated my virtuous brother and Master Luo, this side has made an apology, if you want to beat and punish, let your virtuous brother take action."

"The fourth elder brother is shrewd and capable, and he takes every step of the way, what is the crime?" Luo Shizhi helped the lord of the mansion at this time, and said with a smile: "Actually, Master Xiong has already confessed that the 5 taels of silver was lent to the fourth elder. Brother, it is used to pay wages to the peasants and to buy grain and rice. In this way, the fourth elder brother does not need to go to those mansions to beg for alms, and there will be less trouble afterward-taking the money of those blood-sucking insects, It’s okay to fail!”

Hearing this, Fang Yuegong sighed, and said with emotion: "It's really a big deal, it's Fang who is being a villain in vain. Another day, Fang will go to Master Xiong's mansion to thank him on behalf of the coastal people, and make a good friend. "

Speaking of this, Fang Yuegong's face became firm again: "My dear brother, please don't worry, and go back and tell Master Xiong that I will be Wen's subordinate today, and I will always help Master Xiong by causing some trouble for those blood-sucking bugs." A helping hand."

Luo Shizhi didn't want to, but shook his head: "Fourth elder brother doesn't need to do this."

Chapter 402: Meeting in the Lake

Hearing that his proposal was rejected by Luo Shizhi, Fang Yuegong was really speechless.He can't even walk now, because he doesn't know why Xiong Dao paid such a high price.

Regarding this matter, Xiong Dao naturally would not tell the natives the truth - the people who traveled through the land now regard the people "under the rule" with the mentality of a shadow government.

Projects such as building roads and bridges are the basic responsibility of the government. If they don’t do it now, they will still do it in the future. Early investment and early profit will be made.Like education, the biggest beneficiary of any public project is always the government, not to mention the combination of the government and super capitalists.

After seeing Fang Fuzun confused, Luo Shizhi finally told him another reason Xiong Dao told him, to reassure him.

"Relocate?" Fang Yuegong finally heard this request.

"That's right, relocation!" Luo Shizhi explained with a smile: "To build the seawall requires a large number of civilian laborers. The fourth elder brother might as well postpone the collection of corvees, and gather those refugees and beggars on the spot, and use work as relief. This will solve the civil uprising In danger, living people have the same merit.”

At this point, Luo Shizhi finally showed his fox tail: "As for after the seawall is built, it will be a disaster to keep it in this life. Mud legs are used to causing trouble, so you might as well hand them over to Master Xiong and send them to Yizhou to open up wasteland. "

"How courageous!" Fang Yuegong said the price again after a big stone fell from his heart at this time: "Wrapping all the people under the government of this government to the land outside the land, what crime should the surname Xiong deserve!?"

"This...Xiong, as the governor, sent hundreds of thousands of hungry people to Yizhou last year. There are countless people alive. He is probably guilty."

"emmmmm", after Fang Yuegong heard this slap in the face of pretending to be stupid, he was a little stuck for a while, not knowing what to say.

"Fourth elder brother, Mr. Xiong gave you money like seawater to help you build sea ponds and leave a legacy. Helping this kind of good deed, which is rare in ages, is nothing more than to move some refugees to the border. Xiong Wencan knows that public and private are convenient, You are a government official as big as a sesame seed, why do you fill yourself with big cloves of garlic?"

"Uh..." Fang Yuegong was a little embarrassed at this moment.Cannibal's mouth is soft, and his hands are short. In fact, compared to the political costs he imagined, the effort of sending some refugees to settle down in the real world afterwards is too small for Fang Yuegong.

In fact, there has been a saying in all dynasties that "relocate people to real borders".Criminals, refugees and even son-in-law are the main occupations sent to the frontier.

Now that Mr. Cao has surrendered to the imperial court and has become a military general with a full set of official titles, the Yizhou he opened up by himself is also counted as the frontier of the imperial court to a certain extent.

Based on this theory, at least in terms of policy, the operator has a legal basis for sending some refugees who cannot survive to the frontier military guards.

So after Fang Yuegong was reminded by Luo Shizhi just now, he immediately realized the operation idea of ​​​​this matter: "Remove people and strengthen borders."

After reminiscing in his mind about Xiong Wencan's solution to the drought and starvation in the mansion newspaper last year, Fang Yuegong already had some calculations in his heart, and by the way, his words softened a lot: "Oh, as a parent in the same place, I can't bear to see The people were displaced, and the flesh and blood were separated."

"Joke, those people who went to Yizhou have a better life, better than waiting to die here." Luo Shizhi looked contemptuous at this moment: "There are already tens of 10 people in Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong working and farming in Yizhou. If life is difficult, wouldn't those muddy legs come back sooner?"

"Maybe it was detained and not allowed to go."

"Brother Si, you've got it wrong. People in Yizhou have never been allowed to come and go, but after those people arrive at the port, they will call for friends and friends when they come back, dragging their families and families. Once they go, they will never look back. Brother, if you don't believe me, wait for you." When my relatives come back, the truth will come to light.”

"Since that's the case, I can keep my words in mind." Fang Yuegong has now agreed with his mind, but his body is still resisting: "The 5 taels of silver will be used to help you support Mr. Xiong, don't look for me afterwards , I will not return it even after looking for it.”

"It's easy to say, the port is collecting money recently, and the money is really too much to let go." Luo Shiyi smiled with a prepared face: "Is [-] enough, if it is not enough, I will send another [-] tomorrow!"

"Is this true!?"

"Plenty of real gold."

"And why...?"

"Master Xiong said that if the fourth elder brother is interested, it will not be a problem to send another 2 silver. After the elder brother receives the silver, he can start to manipulate the 'real side' matter. He only needs to send it to Yizhou [-] people, the money will be counted, and the rest will belong to the fourth elder brother."

"Bastard! In this way, isn't this official the magistrate of adult traffickers?"

"Isn't it better than begging for help from the magistrate? Seeing how poor you were yesterday, why do you still want to build the seawall?"

"Stay here, stay here, let me think about it again."

"What are you thinking about, such a good thing, there is nowhere to look for it with a lantern..."

……

At the same time that Xiongdao's silver bullet offensive hit Songjiang Mansion, the Land Deed Alliance also made adjustments according to the situation.

Regarding the Songjiang government office, the Land Deed Alliance immediately rejected Fang Yuegong's lion mouth.

The joke was just to send tolerance to harass Xiong Dao for a few days, so that he had no time to send people to burn the mulberry garden.For such a little work, Fang Yuegong dared to propose the condition of adding [-]% of silver per mu as a "sea pond donation", which is really out of his mind!

After scolding Fang Yuegong, the nine-headed guy from Hubei, for being cunning and lowly, for not being a human being, the Land Deed Alliance unanimously decided to give up the way of the Songjiang Mansion, rely on themselves, and tide over the difficulties.

The so-called self-reliance is actually very simple: From now on, the tenants of the manor must organize themselves to take care of their mulberry fields and fish ponds all night, so as not to be harmed by people sent by Xiongdao again.

This kind of action similar to patrol team also needs to pay resources.A large number of tenants guard and patrol day and night, whether it is fuel or grain, the owner always subsidizes the consumption.

Of course, these costs are nothing compared to the taxes paid by the Hubei guys.After all, this kind of high-intensity confrontation does not need to last for a long time, and everyone can afford it even if they grit their teeth.In addition, after the newly joined hawkish gentry Mr. Huang said that he had half a warehouse of old rotten rice to support everyone, the morale of the alliance suddenly rose again.

While doing a good job of defense, another envoy from the alliance also came to Sanshan Island.

Eight hundred miles away, Taihu Lake is adjacent to Wuxi in the north and Suzhou in the east, straddling the two provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Sanshan Island is located in Taihu Lake in the southwest of Suzhou. It is a large and two small mountain islands.

There are [-] to [-] islands in Taihu Lake, and Sanshan Island is located at the junction of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. It has always been the throat of the Suzhou, Shanghai and Hangzhou waterways.

Since it is such an important place, the residents of Sanshan Island are naturally inseparable from the bandits.In the Ariake area, there are 600 households with a population of more than 3000 permanent residents on Sanshan Island. Apart from fishing and planting tangerines, these people also join gangs and go out to make votes.

Historically, in Sanshan Island, there was one temple every 0.18 square kilometers on average.On the small island, there are more than ten temples, temples, and nunneries squeezed out. It can be seen how fierce the belief dispute is in the land of Gaoliang in Sanwu.

Today, in an abandoned nunnery on the main island of Sanshan, there is a meeting going on.

Dozens of Jianghu men in short brown clothes with short knives on their waists are standing in a circle around the Buddhist altar in the temple. Among the participants, there are three biggest gangsters in Taihu Lake, and the shopkeepers of three or five small gangs. and their cronies.

The conveners of this meeting were two literati in green robes and square scarves.

The leader of the two was a scholar named Mao Yi.This person was different from ordinary scholars, he was born with a big shoulder and a round waist, and his face was fleshy. He really didn't look like a scholar.

At this moment, Mao Xiucai was standing on the statue of Bodhisattva with one foot on the ground, raised his body, and talked to the bosses around him: "There are no more than 40. [-] taels of silver! As the old man said, this vote will not be split, and you will take it all yourself!"

When Mao Xiucai said this, he glanced around triumphantly: "Masters also said that after this incident is completed, all shopkeepers who have worked hard will increase the price of "shipping" by half in the future! Ha ha, why? So, is it generous enough?"