Early the next morning, Wang Qiang sent someone to inform Zhang Xiaodong to speed up the trip and rush to Yanzhou to board the ship, and he hid in the room and Tian Jingming together to write a report to Chongzhen about what he learned along the way, as for the young scholar and others plotted to riot, they did not mention it, but at the end of the book, it was written that the hungry people gathered in the city, hungry and cold, and were very vulnerable to the rebellion instigated by the thieves.

Zhang Xiaodong rushed to Yanzhou with the team in the afternoon, and the local officials of Yanzhou went to the border to meet the Qincha as usual, but Zhang Xiaodong announced to the outside world that the Qincha Lord was unwell and did not meet with the local officials, and the emperor had an order to speed up the trip, so the Qincha did not stop in Yanzhou, but had to board the ship directly and set off. A local official had no choice but to escort the team to the dock, watching a large group of people get on the boat, and they couldn't tell which one was Lord Qincha, but the greeting post and Cheng Yi that should be sent were handed over to Zhang Xiaodong and asked him to transfer them to Lord Qincha. Wang Qiang and others took advantage of the chaos to get on the official ship, and then ordered the boat to sail. Because he was not worried about the situation in Yanzhou, he left two brocade guards before leaving and told them to pay attention to the local situation.

The official ship pulled anchor and set off, heading south along the canal. Without the harassment of local officials, Wang Qiang, Zhang Xiaodong, and Tian Jingming finally calmed down. That night, the three of them were drinking and chatting in the cabin of the main ship, Wang Qiang told Zhang Xiaodong about the private visit to Yanzhou Weifu, he pondered the situation he saw in Yanzhou, and couldn't help but ask worriedly: "Brother Zhang, Lao Tian, you said that there are so many victims gathered in this city, will there be a rebellion?" ”

Zhang Xiaodong shook his fat head and said: "No, now Yanzhou Mansion is giving porridge for relief, but if this ordinary person can survive, he will generally not rebel, and no one wants to bear the reputation of bandits." ”

"Not really, the Yanzhou government's relief is just a move in response to the situation, as soon as Qin cha leaves, the Bacheng Society will stop the relief, and how much food can be in the official treasury, even if you want to give relief, you can't afford it. Now that people have starved to death outside the city, as long as someone picks the head, they will coax it back, and the light people will work together to grab some landlords who have grain at home, and if it is serious, they can gather people to storm the yamen of the government and rob the granary of the government, and it will not be easy to clean up. ”

Wang Qiang analyzed the situation in Yanzhou in his heart, and felt that it was a little hanging, there was no grain in the warehouse of the government, and there were a few people who were secretly preparing to take the lead, it seemed that eighty percent of them had to rebel, and couldn't help but ask worriedly: "The batch of grain that the emperor ordered us to escort this time is estimated to be used for disaster relief, right?" ”

"It's not." Tian Jingming replied with a head in his head: "This batch of grain is to be transported to the front line of Gansu and Shaanxi and handed over to Hong Jingluo. Hong Jingluo with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses there to fight with Li Zicheng, I heard that a few days ago in Tongguan Li Zicheng was defeated, Li Zicheng's team dispersed, fled to Shangluo Mountain, Hong Jingluo is now organizing a large army to encircle and suppress Shangluo Mountain. ”

Wang Qiang knew that what Tian Jingming said about Hong Jingluo was referring to Hong Chengchou, the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Suppression of Bandits by the Governor of Gansu and Shaanxi, he asked suspiciously: "When there is a war in the Northwest, why do you have to transport military grain from the south, and there is no grain in the northern provinces?" ”

"Hey, the northern provinces were generally hit by drought last year, and many places were out of harvest, how can there be a front line of grain supply, although the granaries of the local government have some grain, but they have to be used for disaster relief and preparation for next year's spring sowing, besides, the grain in the grain depots in various places is only on the books, whether it is really difficult to say." Tian said shrewdly.

"Oh? How do you say that? Wang Qiang asked curiously.

Tian Jingming glanced at Zhang Xiaodong, saw that he didn't mind, and said with a smile: "What's so hard to understand about this." When the summer harvest came, the peasants came to pay the taxes and grain, and they made up for the shortfall in the scales as if they were collecting more grain. But this year, the grain harvest is out, and few people have paid food, so this deficit will naturally not be made up. "Tian is a shrewd and familiar old official, and he knows the disadvantages of this very well.

"Then shouldn't they show their stuff this year?" Wang Qiang asked.

Zhang Xiaodong shook his fat head and said with a smile: "If you can't leak the stuffing, they will definitely find a way, for example, the emperor ordered to help the victims, okay, obviously only ten loads of grain were used, and he reported two hundred loads, whoever went to check it, it was to send someone to supervise, and it was a big deal to bribe, so they would open one eye and close one eye. ”

Wang Qiang thought of being deceived along the way, and couldn't help but smile bitterly. He playfully said to Zhang Xiaodong: "Your brother is so clear about this joint, does he often do this?" ”

Zhang Xiaodong glanced at Wang Qiang vigilantly, and said in his heart: "This kid is a person around the emperor, don't take my words at this time, turn back to the emperor and say a few words to me, then I won't be able to eat and leave." He hurriedly said clearly: "I have also heard of these things, your brother still doesn't know, I have always acted in accordance with the emperor's instructions, obeyed the law, and did not dare to have the grace of God." ”

Wang Qiang heard Zhang Xiaodong and himself playing officially, knowing that he was jealous of himself and suspicious, so he smiled and said: "Brother Zhang, Lao Tian, you are too careful, I'm just joking, here are the two of us, we don't have to worry about anything when we talk to each other, you can rest assured, what we say between us can't be passed on." I just want to learn more from you, and maybe I'll be able to use these tricks in the future. Along the way, the two of you and I can be said to be familiar at first sight, and treat them as if they were our own brothers, but we didn't carry anything behind your back. ”

Zhang Xiaodong smiled a little embarrassedly: "Brother, what you said is right, it's my brother who is too careful." He took a sip of wine, put down the wine glass, stood up and continued: "I'm not boasting, I have been an official for many years, I have never relied on lawsuits and embezzlement of grain to be greedy, I think my Zhang family has been a businessman for several generations, and the ancestral motto of the family is 'integrity and no deception'!" Therefore, not bullying the king and not bullying the township is the principle that Zhang has always followed. Zhang Xiaodong paced slowly around the cabin and talked eloquently: "If you are not greedy for money, then I spend money to donate to the official, why?" For self-preservation! You may not know how difficult it is to do business privately now, not to mention the normal tax collection of local government offices, the gentry, ruffians, battalion soldiers, and government servants can come to you to get a handful, and the government will send donations and remuneration for three days, nominally called 'happy loss', but in fact, it is a hard apportionment, which dares not to give, find an excuse to close your shop! Our ancestors have suffered this loss, so each generation of the Zhang family has to elect a person, everyone pays for him to buy an official, and if there is a person in the family who is an official, no one dares to make trouble, and the business will naturally be easy to do. ”

Wang Qiang listened and thought about it in his heart: The benefits he received along the way were probably from the local government's apportionment, and he couldn't help but feel a little blushing.

"The benefits of being an official are naturally not limited to these. As you know, I have the right to trade with foreign countries in the Yamen of the City Shipping Division, and there are many benefits in this. The spices, grains, medicinal herbs, and treasures that were shipped back from abroad were sold to local merchants at official prices, and the profits in the middle were several times the profits, and the money made in these businesses was much more than the income of a prefect by scratching a little, so why should I risk killing my head to be greedy for those small money. The annual grain and salary distributed by the imperial court to Suzhou is the largest among all the prefectures, but Suzhou has never been in arrears, so what does it depend on? It is because of my long-sleeved dancing in the city and the money and food that I have freed up, this time the gentry of Suzhou jointly sponsored me to be the prefect of Suzhou, not for anything else, because they know that I am not greedy for ink, can operate, and can benefit the ground in Suzhou. ”

Wang Qiang and Tian Jingming were convinced, Tian Jingming held the wine glass and said: "Master Zhang is really a person who is open, and I admire this business calculation." Here, I'll give you a drink. Wang Qiang felt the same way, and also picked up the wine glass, and the three of them drank it all.

Tian Jingming perennial in the household department as an errand, deep understanding of the way of economy, although he is a person, but because he will not be speculative drilling, has not been able to get the opportunity to be promoted, nearly fifty years before becoming a household department of a cousin, Zhang Xiaodong's words scratched his itch, because of the wine, Tian Jingming's face showed a touch of camel red, he couldn't help but also stand up and said: "Master Zhang talked about the way of management, but also want to say. I have been responsible for the statistics of the accounts of the grain and salary of the provinces and counties of the country, and it can be said that since the time of the first emperor, the grain and salary of our dynasty have not been abundant, and I could not understand it before. Moreover, the imperial court has increased the field tax several times, why is the grain in the treasury getting less and less? I analyzed the statistics from each prefecture and county one by one, and found that there is still so much land, but there are fewer and fewer people who farm the land, and more and more people eat official food! According to the taxes of the imperial court today, the land with lower output in the north does not have such a large interest at all, and the harvest of the peasants who are busy working for a year is not enough to pay taxes, so they have to make the land wasted, and the peasants do not farm the land, so they become homeless, and some become bandits, become rogues, and there are many bandits, and the court has to increase troops and salaries in order to suppress bandits, and some of the displaced people have become officials and soldiers, and they have become people who eat official food. If the vicious circle continues, sooner or later, even the rich land of Jiangnan may be unable to afford it, and at that time, I am afraid that something unbearable will happen. Tian Jingming shook his head sadly as he said.

Wang Qiang said worriedly: "Then we went to Jiangnan to raise grain this time, is there any difficulty?" ”

Zhang Xiaodong said with a smile: "Suzhou and Hangzhou have always been the hometown of fishing and rice, and it is also the foundation of the imperial court tax. But brother, you can relax, brother, I know it in my heart. As soon as the drought in the north broke out last year, I estimated that the grain in the interior would be tight, so I bought a large amount of grain from outside in advance, some of which were in stock, and the local government also had some grain in stock, so I should be able to cope with it this time. ”

"You're talking about importing grain from abroad?" Wang Qiang asked.

"Yes, now the state implements a policy of banning the sea, and does not allow non-governmental foreign trade, but the Yamen of the Municipal Department has the right to trade with foreign countries that have good friends, and our silk, porcelain, and handicrafts can be sold at a very good price in Luzon and Shuqiu in the southeast, and the grain there is rich and cheap, and our shipload of goods can be exchanged for several ships of grain." Zhang Xiaodong said proudly.

Wang Qiang is not a person who cares about state affairs, but since he became Emperor Chongzhen's close attendant, he accompanied the emperor every day to meet people and do things, and he was affected, but he was just listening, and he didn't have any ideas. Listening to your words, it is better than reading ten years, I am so fucking happy to get to know you, come, come, I will toast you again. Wang Qiang hasn't drunk much, and today a few people were happy to talk about, drank two more glasses, and unconsciously got drunk, forgetting his identity, and taking out the tone of the Beijing gangsters.

Zhang Xiaodong and Tian Jingming saw Wang Qiang's foul words, knowing that Wang Qiang had drunk too much, they didn't mind, and hurriedly ordered someone to help Wang Qiang back to the sleeping warehouse to rest.

Wang Qiang lay on the bed, feeling dizzy, and the boat shook slightly like a cradle, and soon fell asleep. In a daze, Wang Qiang found himself standing on the city tower of the noon gate, and the people in the square below cheered, he rushed down and waved his hand and shouted: "Hello comrades! Did the comrades eat? Before the words fell, I saw that the people below suddenly all turned into ragged hungry people, holding sticks, holding rice bowls, and replied in unison: "I haven't eaten!" He was frightened and hurriedly ran into the palace, and met Emperor Chongzhen head-on, and was using a rope to put a rope around his neck, he turned around and ran to the harem, and suddenly plunged into Zhong Cui Palace, Zhong Cui Palace was pitch black, not even a person on duty, he hurriedly ran to the room, ran to the bed to dodge, but saw Zhang Wufu suddenly appeared in front of the bed, hey hey strange smile, Wang Qiang was frightened of a spirit, opened his eyes suddenly, it turned out to be Nan Ke a dream. Wang Qiang lay there thinking about the situation in the dream uncertainly, and he didn't know what this dream portended, and suddenly felt that something was wrong with stepping down, and touched it with his hand, it was slimy, and it turned out to be leaked in a dream. Wang Qiang hurriedly pulled the towel at the head of the bed and secretly wiped it clean in the quilt, changed his clothes, thinking of this matter, he can't be sloppy, his identity is still a eunuch after all. He tucked his towel in his sleeve and paced outside the cabin, and the two guards on duty at the door hurriedly bowed and saluted, and Wang Qiang nodded at them, and walked to the back deck as if he were walking. The sky was just dawning, the sun had not yet come out, and the boat was moving steadily on the canal, and the willows on both sides of the bank were slowly falling backwards. Wang Qiang pretended to lie on the guardrail on the side of the boat and watched the surrounding scenery, and threw the towel in his sleeve into the water.