The husband's son-in-law

Rongzhou, Xinzhou, Mozhou, and Zhaozhou belonged to the Chief Secretary of Nanjun.The richest of the four prefectures is Mozhou, and the poorest is of course Zhaozhou. Gu Zhao heard from Mr. Chen that he has been in Zhaozhou for 31 years and has been the governor of Zhaozhou for 27 years. The adults never summoned for questioning.

It can be seen that Zhaozhou is the most disliked and neglected child by poor parents.

Wuzhou is the capital city of Nanjun Chief Secretary.Gu Zhao came down from Wannan that day, and the shortest way to Zhaozhou was through Wuzhou, which was indeed richer than Zhaozhou, but it might be inferior to Wannan Prefecture, and much better than Ningping Prefecture.

Between the two.

Because there are more plains in Wuzhou, less rain than in Zhaozhou, the climate is similar, and rice is popular. In some places, there are three crops and three crops a year, so there is no need to worry about rice grains. The production of sackcloth is like the sackcloth bag containing rice grain, and the sackcloth worn on finer bodies.

Although these tasks are cumbersome and arduous, people nowadays are tired from living, and in some places they are tired and still can't eat enough - such as Zhaozhou.Therefore, it is already considered stable and comfortable in Wuzhou.

In early August, the weather in Zhaozhou was still muggy.

Gu Zhao was riding a horse, wearing a cotton round-neck gown. This round-neck gown is more convenient for riding a horse. He wears trousers underneath, open on both sides, and the gown reaches just below his knees. He specially asked Zhou Zhou to shorten it for him. The cuffs are tied tightly, so it is convenient to get on and off the horse and do anything.

But it's still hot.

However, it was his first time to go to various prefectures and counties in the countryside, and he still couldn't directly bunt his upper body, and he would be laughed at by the county magistrate.Gu Zhao doesn't care about being laughed at by others, but you don't have to put on airs in the officialdom, and it's a newcomer who has just arrived, and after the people under him despise you, things will be difficult to handle afterwards.

It is not a lie that the new official took office three fires.Even if the new official wants to be a muddleheaded official, his momentum will be tense when he first arrives.

The entourage who followed were all wearing brown jackets, and Gu Zhao secretly envied them.

"How long is it?" Gu Zhao asked.

The yacha is a local, and he replied: "Looking back at my lord, it's almost time, there are still ten miles to go."

These local yamen servants can speak a bit of official language, so Gu Zhao took it with him, at least it is more convenient to communicate with the locals.

They have been away for almost three days, and it seems that they can arrive before dark.

Gu Zhao drove the horse, followed by everyone behind.

Even the official road is full of potholes. Fortunately, there is no need to go over the mountains. Among the five prefectures and counties, the only one that has to be detoured by mountains is the easternmost Minzhang Prefecture. Here, Gu Zhao intends to be the last one to go.

The five prefectures and counties of Zhaozhou, with thousands of villages, have a combined population not as large as that of the three prefectures and counties of Wannan Prefecture, less than 86. The total number of registered people is [-], but this data is already seven years ago Recorded, some places are too far away, deep mountain corners, such things are ignored.

But roughly the same, a state has less than one million people.

The city of Zhaozhou and the nearby villages have the largest number of people, about 40 to 7.Each prefecture and county has a population of about [-] to [-], and the smallest is Minzhang County, which has a population of only [-].

Gu Zhao asked the master why there are so few people.The master said that the chattering Gu Zhao couldn't understand what he was talking about, probably because of the complicated reasons in various aspects, and the adults will know when they go.

Ok.

The prefecture that Gu Zhao is going to now is called Bolin Prefecture, which borders Nanyi in the west, and borders Rongzhou and Xinzhou.The population is slightly larger, [-] to [-], because it is close to the other two prefectures, and it must be more convenient for customs clearance and delivery. It is three days away from Zhaozhou and Gu Zhao can ride a horse.

If you are an experienced rider, those two days are almost there.If you don't rest during the night, you will arrive in one day.

When it was getting dark, I also saw the city gate of Bolinfu County.

Before the city gate was closed, the Yacha stopped the soldiers who closed the city gate, and shouted in local dialect: "The new Zhaozhou Master Gu is behind, wait a while before closing the gate."

The little soldier checked the Yachai's badge suspiciously, then nodded and bowed.At this time, Gu Zhao and his party arrived on horseback, entered the prefecture and county, and first stayed at the county magistrate's mansion - in fact, it is reasonable to live in the yamen.

However, the yamen in the prefecture and county were in disrepair for a long time, and Gu Zhao was afraid that he would fall asleep, and the beams and tiles would fall and hit him.Went to the house of Bolin magistrate, the place was quite spacious, Gu Zhao had a single room, and the other nine people made do with two rooms.

The magistrate of Bolin County is also older, there is a man in his 40s or almost 50 years old. Although he is not from Bolin, he is from the county next door. He lit candles, saluted Mr. Gu first, and then slowly talked about the situation.

After finding the tone, I switched back to some official Chinese and some local dialect.

Gu Zhao could at least understand, he asked and answered soon, it was too late, so he asked the county magistrate to go back to sleep first, and to look around tomorrow.He told Zhou Zhou before that he would go back in ten days, and he was afraid that it would take him ten days to fully understand the situation in a prefecture, county, village and town.

Early the next morning, I had breakfast and started wandering around.Gu Zhao focused on asking: what crops to plant, how many times a year, are there any villagers in the mountains, are there many rainy seasons, are there mines——

ah?what mine.The county magistrate of Bolin was stunned, he asked the lord Zhi Zhi, but he answered in a hurry, he didn't understand very well, why didn't he have some polite words, he just asked these questions when he came up.

Gu Zhao changed the subject and asked: Have you ever planted a mountain where the fields do not grow rice?

Now, the magistrate of Bolin County understood it, and said yes, and there are several other places, "...the people here are pitiful, they can't grow anything, and they have to eat food all year round. They say that God punished them, there is nothing they can do about it." thing."

Gu Zhao didn't ask, so why didn't he move this matter away.The ancients sometimes thought differently.

If you want to get rich, build roads first.

The first thing Gu Zhao plans to do is to build roads, concrete roads.

The ingredients of cement are actually simple, limestone, clay, iron ore powder.Except that the iron ore powder at the back is hard to find - but it's not impossible to get it.Other materials, in fact, the calendar is very common.

Then it is to start firing according to the proportion.Gu Zhao thought, there is no need for the fine proportions of modern craftsmanship. After all, modern cement roads need to be resistant to construction, and all kinds of trucks and trucks are durable, while the current roads are trampled by ordinary people, pushing wooden wheeled carts, mule carts, and horse-drawn carts to death. One or two hundred catties is considered heavy.

And the first batch of road repairs should be carefully detailed.

When Gu Zhao looked at the information, he already had an idea in his mind. He must first follow the direction of the five prefectures and counties to Zhaozhou City. Zhaozhou City can be used as the center of a large-scale commercial city in the future. The five prefectures and counties have different development advantages. Send the goods to Zhaozhou City, and then turn on.

In fact, the crops in the prefectures and counties under Wuzhou's digestion are already somewhat saturated, and the markets are full. If you come to your own prefectures, how can you help Zhaozhou and other prefectures and counties to sell them?

What Gu Zhao wanted was to go to the Central Plains—Wannan, Tangzhou, and Shouzhou.

His family was on their way at that time, and the team of chariots and horses did not travel too fast. It took about a month and a half to travel from Wannan Prefecture—excluding the few days they lived in the village.It stands to reason that it is okay to put it in ancient times, it is not too far away, but there is one thing, the specialty products of the whole Zhaozhou are not suitable for long-distance transportation.

Take lychees as an example. The lychees produced in Zhaozhou are actually sweeter at best, full of juice, big in size, and have crystal-clear flesh. They are much, much better than those produced in Mozhou, but they are difficult to transport.

The Chief Secretary of Nanjun gives the Jingli Palace a gift every year-the lychee is exclusive to the royal family.

It was delivered with ice, fast horse all the way, the official road that the horse took, the post station changed the horse, and the horse was whipped, but it was sent to the palace. Two boxes of lychees can be picked out and one box is considered good. Most of the time, it is half a box, and the skin is slightly damaged. Those who dare not send it to the Holy One.

For such half a box of lychees, the emperor and empress will share some, the concubine who will be favored later will get a plate, and the minister who was valued in the previous dynasty will get a plate—very few.

It can be seen that the cost of shipping fruit is too high.

In fact, Zhaozhou has a lot of treasures. There are all kinds of seafood, fish, shrimp, aquatic products and parallel imports along the coast, as well as pearls. The pearls are likely to be monopolized by the local gentry and rich.Gu Zhao didn't think about it. If he did it, it would be to improve people's livelihood.

Pearls are rare and valuable, but it is not possible for everyone to dig them and sell them. If there are too many things, they will not be expensive.

Eat the sea along the coast, eat the mountains with the mountains, and dry mushrooms and bamboo shoots in the mountains, this is all.Dried goods are easy to deliver, but in the mountains, when you go back and forth to prefectures and counties with a basket on your back, the common people sell them at a low price, and the merchants sell them, and most of the money is earned by the merchants.

Sugar cane, pineapple.Sugarcane can also be boiled into sugar bricks and sent to give away, but people in Wuzhou can also grow them. To save the convenience of the road, businessmen can go to Wuzhou to buy them nearby, so why come to Zhaozhou.

In short, Zhaozhou can’t develop. One is that there is a more convenient Wuzhou ahead, and Zhaozhou also has Wuzhou. The road is close and the mountains are not many, so it is convenient for transportation.The second is that the only thing in Zhaozhou is easy to break and rot, and it is not easy to transport.

If you want to solve it, you need to repair the road and find a way to extend the shelf life.

As for the food, it is enough for the people to eat for themselves.Gu Zhao does not develop food, the main food is heavy, the transportation cost is high, and the output is not as rich and prolific as the Central Plains.That's all.

... Zhaozhou also grows cotton, the output is small, and it is only for the people of a prefecture or village to wear jackets and quilts. Cotton likes to be dry. Although Zhaozhou has a long summer, it rains too much.

The three places that can grow cotton are Bolin, Rongguan and Wan'an.Gu Zhao didn't go to the specific situation, but found out in the written work report.

"Your Excellency, I don't know that we in Zhaozhou are relatively warm in winter, and one padded shirt is enough. Some hot-tempered men only need two single clothes to keep out the cold." The servant replied, the newcomer The Shangguan who came was from the north, and I heard that it snows heavily in the north, and people can freeze to death in winter.

They have never seen such a situation in Zhaozhou winter.

"Let's not talk about cotton, take me to see the mountain I just mentioned." Gu Zhao wanted to pick the original limestone factory.

Bolin County has two kinds of rice a year. The fruit grows pleasingly no matter what, but they can’t be sold for a price. Basically, no one grows them on a large area. When the fruit comes down, the air is full of pineapple and lychee smells. It's a pity that the people didn't eat it completely, and it rotted on the trees and in the field.

Rice is from April to July and from July to November.

If roads were to be built, corvees would be required, and the only way to catch up was the five months from December to April, the slack time for farming. How to build each section of the road and where to divide it into which villages and towns had to be carefully considered.It is the first time to build a road, so it has to be taught, and then passed on piece by piece.

From September to November, the cement plant can be built.

The time rush task is heavy.

In some places, rice cannot be grown twice a year, such as Rongguan and Jiting along the coast, where there is one species a year, and most of the time they go out to sea to salvage rice and seafood to fill their stomachs.The time for road construction in these two places is not urgent, and they are relatively wealthy.

First follow Bolin and Annan.

Gu Zhao took people to the place pointed out by the magistrate of Bolin County, but the horses couldn't get in. There was really no way, so he asked the two of them to watch the horses and walk up the mountain.

"Your Excellency has worked so hard. You should go to an official for such a job. Your Excellency will just wait here." Bolin Zhixian said.

Gu Zhao: "No, you don't know what I'm looking for." After saying that, he lifted his foot and walked away. Just two steps away, a branch scratched his robe. Gu Zhao lifted the robe and tied it around his waist, "Let's go."

This mountain is not tall and straight, and the mountains in the south are mostly round and beautiful. If it is really steep and steep, it will be impossible to farm, and the people will starve to death.There are terraced fields not far away. In mid-to-late August, the fields are lush and green. People wear linen clothes and straw hats, and work barefoot in the fields.

Gu Zhao took a look and found that the working people had their sleeves rolled up to their joints and their trousers rolled up to their knees.Some even went so far as to wear a double-breasted gown with short sleeves.

Cool.

Gu Zhaoyan watched for a long time, and the county magistrate of Bolin followed Mr. Gu's gaze, and immediately became anxious, and shouted loudly, saying, "Come and pay your respects to Mr. Gu, put down the sleeves of your clothes and sleeves—"

"The sun is so big, and working in the fields is sultry, so don't worry about wearing clothes." Gu Zhaoxian told the county magistrate.

The county magistrate immediately changed his attitude, bowed and said: "Master Gu is sympathetic to the people's feelings, it is really a blessing for the people."

Gu Zhao didn't answer, put on airs, and became a fellow acquaintance. He probably knew why Mr. Shi had a dark and solemn face all day long when he was in the Imperial Academy, so that others didn't dare to approach him for a conversation.

It's really annoying to be bureaucratic and sycophant. If you give me a look, the officials below will brag on the wind, and the time is wasted on it. It's better to keep a straight face and majesty, so that the officials below can't brag.

No, Gu Zhao didn't reply, and the county magistrate of Bolin shy away and stood aside.

The people working in the fields came over in a hurry, with their sleeves down, and their trouser legs smoothed out. Seeing these people dressed in different clothes, they were still trembling and didn't know what to do. The county magistrate of Bolin just started to reprimand him, but Gu Zhaoxian raised his hand to stop him. Seeing the terrified eyes of those in front of me, he said gently, "Don't be afraid, I'm not here to ask you anything, I just have something to ask you."

The people's eyes were full of panic, An Jia was confused.

Can't understand.

"Turn it over—" Gu Zhao pointed to the yamen servant in the prefecture, "What did I say, you ask it in local dialect."

The yamen servant stepped forward, wearing an official uniform with a knife on his waist, a few commoners didn't see it just now, but now they saw that they were making dumplings, and they all knelt in front of Gu Zhao, kowtowing.

Gu Zhao made it up, and the county magistrate of Bolin spoke in vernacular, but it was useless. These people knew that the person in front of them was an official, an official, and they were all afraid that their legs would be weak and they could not stand up.

"..." Seeing this, Gu Zhao was really powerless. In fact, he could understand it when he thought about it. When he was in Xiping Village, the magistrate of Ningping Prefecture came to the village. Anxious lest something might go wrong.

Stand up when asked to stand up, stooped and shrank aside, not daring to breathe.

Xiping Village belongs to the Central Plains, and the people have enough to eat and drink, and they have more or less money at home. Even so, the fear of officials and lords is deep in their bones, let alone the people of Zhaozhou who are far away in the backcountry.

Eating and drinking is not only longing for God, but also looking at the face and decrees of the superiors as officials.

"Stand up and answer, it doesn't matter what your business is." Gu Zhao said again.

Meng Jianyun went up, and with one hand, he lifted up those who were kneeling in the front row. When he really stood up, although his legs were weak and his waist bowed, it was better than just begging for mercy and kowtowing all the time. .

Gu Zhaoxian asked how many members of the family, how many acres of land, and how much was harvested.

"There are seven people in my family, six, seven—"

"How many people?" The county magistrate interrupted and asked.

The person who answered this time was so frightened that his legs became sieves, and Gu Zhao frowned when he saw that he was about to kneel down again.

"I, I have a brother in my family who is about to get married. There are six people in this family. There are seven acres of paddy fields, and five acres of hemp fields and cotton fields."

It is one thing to stipulate the law of fields in the Dali calendar, but it must be implemented in local conditions.This family's village is on a mountain. There are about [-] households in the village, but there is not much land for farming. One piece of terraced fields, one piece of terraced fields, are nearby for farming and working. Therefore, the rice allocated to each male is about two acres. If it is not enough, then the dry fields at the foot of the mountain, plant cotton beans and so on.

The girl brother has no paddy fields to divide, basically an acre and a half of dry land.

There is no way that the fields are in short supply.

"What about the harvest?"

"One mu of paddy field has about three stones a year."

Gu Zhaoxian thought about it a lot, but then he was wrong. Looking at the old man's reply, the meaning should be that there is three hundred catties of grain harvested twice a year, not the number of one harvest.

In Xiping Village, more than 500 catties of fertilizer can be used for one mu of paddy fields, and some are almost [-] catties.

It seems that fertilizer also needs to be used.

This has to be handed over to the agricultural officer to do the work, because the summer is long and rainy, and in some places the water has soaked the rice, so more than 300 is the middle figure for two harvests a year.

"In the past, there was not enough to eat. If the mountain is planted, there will be no food..." The old man pointed to another mountain with a trembling finger.

Gu Zhao saw that the weeds on the mountain were actually lush, and he was a little unsure if it was limestone, but he didn't see so many stones.But I heard the old man say that there is no food to grow, and there is less than two hundred shi throughout the year, and the whole family can't eat enough.

Go check it out.

Those villagers did not dare to work in the fields because of the rules, so they went home one after another.

... Gu Zhao took people to a mountain that looked like limestone. There were some big rocks, just like stones, and there was no alkaline whitening on the surface. He grabbed a handful of soil, and there was no limestone when the soil was wet——

That's not right.

"My lord, is there something filthy here?" The magistrate of Bolin lost his mind and went to the ghost Xie Chong.

Gu Zhao didn't respond, "Go back to town first, buy firecrackers, buy more."

It would be too time-consuming to broadcast back to Linfu County. A few people in the town rode horses and arrived in half a day.The county magistrate of Bolin heard that he was buying firecrackers, and immediately felt that he had guessed right. There was really an evil spirit, which prevented the crops from growing in the field, so he asked his subordinates to do it. Hurry up.

Leaving aside the county magistrate's misunderstanding, Gu Zhao didn't explain, and Pao Zhan bought it back quickly.

When officials go down to the village, they don't have to worry about where to live. There are plenty of unused yards and villages provided by the squires in the town. They even sent a 'beautiful maid' to serve them that night. The bellyband left——

"Meng Jianyun get out of here." Gu Zhao got angry and shouted loudly, "Su Shiyi get out of here too."

Afterwards, the beautiful maid exclaimed, Su Shiyi covered his eyes and dared not look at it, but that boy Meng Jianyun was fearless, but his eyes were not lustful.

"Wrap her in clothes and take her out."

The beautiful servant girl cried, saying that the lord saw her body, looking for death and life, the master would definitely not be able to keep her, begging the lord to accept the servant girl, the servant girl served tea and water to warm the bed—or so.

There was no kindness or compassion in Gu Zhao's eyes.

"If you cry again, I'll take your master to the knife."

The beautiful maid fell silent for a moment and didn't even dare to cry.

"Take it out and hand it to the people in this village." Gu Zhao said coldly, Su Shiyi was almost scared out of courage, and didn't care about the difference between men and women, so he wrapped the other party's clothes and hurriedly took him out.

After a few words outside, it became quiet.

Gu Zhao asked: "You two can guard the door, how did you do it?"

Meng Jianyun knelt down and replied, "She's here to deliver tea." It meant how did he know that this person took off his clothes to do such a thing after delivering tea properly.After finishing speaking, he raised his head and quietly glanced at the Patriarch.

"Forget about today, go out and guard, and don't allow others to come in." Gu Zhao waved his hand to let go.

Su Shiyi escaped after a catastrophe, and when he came back after sending people off, his face was still frightened. Seeing Xiaomeng guarding the door, he walked over quietly, and asked in a low voice, "What did Mr. Gu say? Are you punished to stand?"

"Do you know what that woman is doing here?" Meng Jianyun looked directly at Su Shiyi with bright eyes.

Su Shiyi was startled, and immediately waved his hands again and again, saying: "I don't know, I really don't know, she was carrying a basket in her hand, and she said she was here to deliver pastries, and said that the master in the village arranged for it, so I dare not take it easy, I asked Asked if the county magistrate has it, she smiled and said it was in use."

"I let her in."

"Master Gu came back from the afternoon and took a bite of his meal, so he took the firecrackers and went into the house. I didn't think I must be hungry. The pastries are good for my stomach. The county magistrate has them, which means that the pastries are fine." Su Shiyi At that time, I felt that I was still clever.

How do you know what this is.

Mr. Gu married his cousin.

Although Meng Jianyun is clever, he is seldom doing nothing, and he is from the countryside. He has never seen such a situation today. He was scolded by the head of the family and felt that he was not good at doing things. It didn't take long to know the Tao.

Fortunately, Su Shiyi didn't know about it. If Su Shiyi knew about it, he would be a bad person.

Madam treated them so well, if she dared to do that kind of thing to the Patriarch outside without telling Madam, it would be really——Meng Jianyun's eyes were shining brightly, he couldn't deal with Master Zhuangzi, but he could make Su Shiyi suffer.

The two of them were speechless, and stood outside guarding the guard until late at night.This time, anyone who came was stopped outside. Zhuangzi's steward came to see him, begged for mercy, and said that he had done something stupid, and his master didn't know——

He was blocked by Meng Jianyun, and if he continued to quarrel, Su Shiyi would drive him away.

It was late at night when Gu Zhao was busy inside. When he opened the door, he saw Meng Jianyun and Su Shiyi still standing. Su Shiyi's face looked sleepy, but Meng Jianyun was energetic, with bright eyes like a night owl.

"It's over, go back to sleep." Gu Zhao drove the two of them back to sleep, as did he himself.

Before dawn on the second day, the magistrate of Bolin came first, anxious to say something but didn't know how to say it, Gu Zhao saw that the official's face was still a bit ashamed, so he opened his mouth to talk about business. After breakfast, go to the mountain yesterday.

Nowadays, it seems to be a normal thing for officials to stay overnight, and squires to send women to serve them.

If he also 'used' that beautiful maidservant last night, the magistrate of Bolin would definitely not be so ashamed and distressed to pay his respects, but would have smiled and flattered his horse, showing a bit of intimacy like "you and me in a pair of pants" .

It is said that a relationship that can be endured is a relationship that has been prostituted together.

That's because it breaks the law in modern times, and if it breaks the law together, it's an accomplice, and you won't talk nonsense, otherwise, if he is unlucky, you will be unlucky as well.This kind of mentality can actually be used nowadays.

For example, Mr. Chen can be an official in Zhaozhou for 31 years. In a place, no matter whether it is poor or rich, there are always local influences. gregarious.

If you send it to a woman, you will accept it, if you send it to filial piety, you will accept it if the matter is not serious.

Including several children in Master Chen's family, they were all born to concubines sent by local gentry.Although the root is not in Zhaozhou, he is still half of Zhaozhou people and has a close relationship.

If Gu Zhao wants to cater to the gregarious, he should accept all comers without hesitation—because at this time, giving money to the officials is not asking for a job, but to smooth things over. After you accept the money, the other party will feel at ease and feel that you are not a person. Got stabbed.

It's with them, it's a group.

Now, on the way out of the town to the mountains, the county magistrate Bolin was uneasy, his face was extremely exciting, and he didn't dare to take it lightly, and he was even more humble to flatter Mr. Gu until the detonators were planted and started to blow up the mountain.

"Go and explain to the village, don't be afraid of any loud noises." Gu Zhao told his subordinates.

The yacha ran for a while.

Gu Zhao was careful, he was far away from the village, so he shouldn't be able to blow it up, and the firepower of his self-made detonator was not that strong, so he didn't have any finer tools at hand, so let's make do.

After the yamen came back to talk and settled down, the villagers all moved to one end.

It's done, fry it.

Gu Zhao gave an order, ignited the primer, and flew down the hill.

There was only a loud bang, the soil on the mountain was splashed everywhere, and the eardrums were rumbling, and a big hole appeared in the corner of the mountain, don't worry, there were two or three more bangs——

Done.

Gu Zhao brushed off the dirt on his clothes, and was in a hurry to look up, when he turned his head, he saw the magistrate Bolin kneeling on the ground, stepping up to his knees and hugging his thighs, crying that he was wrong, that the maid should not be accepted ...

"You are a county magistrate. If you accept it, you will accept it. It's your private matter. I don't care about it. As long as it doesn't seize the women of the people, it will be fine. The only thing I can get rid of you is that the errands I have given are not done well, and the people are fish and meat. Running wild in the countryside—you know!" Gu Zhao said with a dark face.

If it wasn't inappropriate, he really wanted to kick this thigh hugger away.

Waiting to see if it's limestone!

"Know, know, the lower officials know, and dare not commit the crime again." Bolin county magistrate wiped his tears and said.

Master Gu exorcised evil spirits and made a scene, he was afraid that Master Gu would give him a bang too.