Dengzhou Wei is located in the north of the political envoy of Chengxuan, Shandong, just south of the entrance of Bohai Bay, about 1,000 miles away from the capital.

If you go by land from the capital, even if you take a carriage, it is estimated that it will take more than ten days, but it is different by boat, if it is fast, it will be there in two days.

If this is said, it is estimated that no one will believe it, because the capital is not on the seaside, if you want to take a boat, you have to dare to travel more than 400 miles by land, plus the wind direction on the sea is not necessarily just right, let alone two days, five days can arrive is good, unless it is 800 miles of urgency, through the post station, continuous relay, and the transmission of official documents is almost the same.

However, it did take Yang Cong and his entourage a total of two days to arrive at the Dengzhou Acropolis, or Denglai Water City.

They set off early in the morning from the Yuyuan Pond in the west of the capital, rode fast horses all the way to the west, and arrived at the Tianjin Wei Wharf in the east of the capital that night, and then took the fast boat sent by Qi Jingtong, and early in the morning of the third day, they arrived at the Dengzhou Acropolis miraculously.

Zhang Juzheng looked at the majestic city that was approaching in front of him, and couldn't believe his eyes, more than a thousand miles, did he arrive so soon?

He asked a little incredulously, "Yuan Jing, is the Dengzhou Acropolis ahead?" ”

Qi Jiguang nodded excitedly and said: "Yes, yes, there is the Dengzhou Acropolis in front, I'm almost home, I'm almost home." ”

Oh my God, it's true!

Two days, more than a thousand miles, what kind of speed is this!

Zhang Juzheng looked at Qi Jiguang dumbfounded, and he didn't know what to say.

Anyway, why did Yang Cong rush so much, did he have something urgent to come to Dengzhouwei?

In fact, there was nothing urgent, he just sent Qi Jiguang back to participate in the hospital exam.

The main reason why he hurried so quickly was to let Zhang Juzheng and them have a long experience.

The so-called "reading 10,000 books is not as good as traveling 10,000 miles", to be well-informed in order to make a good article, when it comes to the meeting and the palace examination, everyone's level is actually about the same, at this time, it depends on who is more knowledgeable.

Especially in the palace exam, you will test a question, current affairs, that is, your response to the current current event.

The main thing that the emperor values is not how well you do your article, but whether the countermeasures you propose can solve the problem

Reading at home, where can I know how to solve many problems.

Therefore, at this time, everyone who reads knows that they have to go out to travel and increase their knowledge, so that they will not be blind during the palace examination, and Yang Cong will naturally not lock his disciples in the academy, close the door, and not let them go out.

Dengzhouwei is just the first stop of their trip, and next, he will send Hai Rui to Jinling City to participate in the township test.

This time, he brought all his disciples with him, and along the way, he didn't give lectures, nor did he ask his disciples to read books, most of the time, he was guiding his disciples to think.

For example, at this moment, as soon as he saw Zhang Juzheng asking a question, he asked with great interest: "Uncle, do you have any thoughts about rushing to Dengzhouwei so quickly?" ”

Feelings?

That's a lot to think about.

Zhang Juzheng thought for a while, and then said carefully: "Teacher, the student's biggest impression is one word, quickly, if everyone can go out in such a hurry, I don't know how much time can be saved." ”

Yang Cong nodded slightly, and then asked, "Is there anything else?" “

Zhang Juzheng thought about it carefully, and suddenly said excitedly: "The students think that in the future, the taxes, silver, grain, and other things in the southeastern provinces can be transported by sea, which not only saves time, but also saves manpower, and the imperial court can also save a lot of money." ”

This idea is indeed good, because at this time, the transportation of grain and other goods basically depends on manpower, and tens of thousands of stones of grain cannot be moved at every turn, and the loss in the process of transportation is quite amazing.

For example, the tax levied from Guangdong, that is, grain, has to be transported to the capital, how much is the loss?

This is very easy to calculate, the tax of a province is roughly calculated in 500,000 stones, a stone is about more than 100 catties, if you have a manpower cart, a car of ten stones will reach the sky, no matter how tired people can not be pushed, 500,000 stones, that is 50,000 cars, or 50,000 people, then, how long will it take for these 50,000 people to send these 500,000 stone grains to the capital?

Guangdong is more than 5,000 miles away from the capital, and it is not possible to go fast with a cart, and about 50 miles a day is almost the limit, that is to say, it will take at least 100 days for these 50,000 people to send these 500,000 stone grains to the capital.

At this time, due to the lack of oil and water, everyone can eat very much, and it is normal for a young and strong laborer to eat one stone of grain a month.

In other words, these 50,000 people will spend at least 150,000 stone grain to transport 500,000 stone grain to the capital, and that's it, not counting their wages and the loss on the way back, if you count them all, it is estimated that 500,000 stone grain is not enough!

This seems to be a bit fantastical, since 500,000 stone grains are not enough for the people to eat, then why do you still levy taxes, isn't this a waste of money and money, and a blind toss?

In fact, this is the truth, it is not a fantasy at all, all dynasties have to face such a problem, most of the other dynasties are to collect taxes to pay the local officials' money, the excess part, may be converted into gold and silver and other currency, or may find a nearby place to store.

The Ming method is better, that is, to set up two capitals in the north and south, and Nanjing is in charge of the taxes of the southern provinces, so that the collected grain does not need to be transported to the capital, at most it will be transported to the south of Zhili, and the distance will be saved by more than half.

Zhang Juzheng thought of this shipping in fact the Ming Dynasty also thought of it, the Ming Dynasty also transported food and other materials through the canal, however, due to the limited carrying capacity of the canal waterway, the ships of the Ming Dynasty were also quite limited, and the corruption of the management personnel of the Cao Yun has always been quite serious, so since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Cao Yun is basically a decoration, which is useless at all.

The reason why Zhang Juzheng was able to think of this was mainly because he regarded the collection of taxes as the top priority in governing the country, and this tax and grain was not only a matter of collection, but also how to transport it.

When Yang Cong heard this, he nodded slowly and said: "Well, your idea is good, at this time, the pirates and pirates along the coast of Daming have basically been wiped out, and you don't have to worry about safety by sea, but there is a problem you haven't thought of yet, think about it, what is the problem." ”

Zhang Juzheng thought about it carefully, and then he estimated: "Teacher, are you talking about who is in charge, or which yamen is in charge?" This is indeed a big problem, because there is too much food involved, and it is most prone to corruption, and this is how Caoyun is abolished. ”

Unexpectedly, Yang Cong shook his head and said: "No, this is secondary, the main problem is the sea ban, have you thought about it, the imperial court has stipulated that no sails are allowed to enter the sea, do you mean to let the sailor fleet be responsible for transporting grain, what about the problem of coastal defense, is the duty of the officers and soldiers of the sailor division to transport grain?" If you don't use the officers and men of the naval division, who do you let to transport, but civilians are not allowed to go to sea, even if you specially allow some people to go to sea to transport food, it will become a big loophole, and I don't know how many people will build ships and go to sea under this pretext, can you manage it? ”

Sea ban!

When Zhang Juzheng heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned, he really hadn't thought about this problem, he was from Huguang, far away from the sea, how could he consider the issue of the sea ban.

Yang Cong was stunned when he saw him, and then continued to ask, "Do you think the sea ban is good or bad?" ”