Shen Xi was not in a hurry to leave, but Tang Yin couldn't stay. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Tang Yin suffered after arriving in Wuzhou, and now he was frightened by the earthquake, and he couldn't help but complain more, especially now that he has to sleep in the tent every night, the weather is sunny and fine, if it rains, he will be soaked, and he will be extremely embarrassed, which is unbearable for the arrogant Tang Yin.

On this day, when Shen Xi was writing the recital of the imperial court in the study, Tang Yin directly broke in and shouted: "Is Shen Zhongcheng coming to Wuzhou Mansion to treat the disaster, or to suppress the bandits?" ”

Shen Xi still buried himself in writing official documents, and said: "Naturally, it is a bandit." ”

Tang Yin asked: "Since it is to suppress the bandits, why did Shen Zhongcheng stay here for a long time?" The people along the coast are still being harassed by bandits and living in the heat of the water...... What Shen Zhongcheng is doing now can be said to be prioritized! ”

Shen Xi raised his head and looked at Tang Yin with half-squinted eyes, thinking that the arrogant Tang Bohu would actually use the big reason to oppress people! Right now, I've only been delayed for two days because of the earthquake, and you're complaining so much, do you have to find you a wife and a beautiful concubine to come back to accompany you to be satisfied, and do things for me honestly, instead of always pulling me back?

"After the disaster subsides, this official will go to Guangzhou." Shen Xi said angrily, "It's not Brother Tang's turn to point fingers at the official's itinerary. ”

Tang Yin said: "When will the disaster subside?" ”

Shen Xi thought for a while and replied: "The short is ten days and a half months, and the long is menstrual months, Brother Tang is waiting with peace of mind." ”

Tang Yin left indignantly, and Shen Xi stared at his back and shook his head. Since inviting Tang Bohu back, Shen Xi found that he had invited an ancestor who ate white food to offer, and Tang Yin had not made any practical suggestions to him until now.

But in the end, he is a well-known talent, quite talented and insightful, Shen Xi can't sweep Tang Yin out of the house just because of a few whining words now, and even if he wants to drive Tang Yin away, he has to squeeze out his value first, such as painting dozens of paintings or something.

Shen Xi came up with a practical and effective disaster relief plan, and Cao Ju, the prefect of Wuzhou, was greatly impressed, and ran to the governor's yamen twice in three days to discuss disaster relief with Shen Xi.

Shen Xi never thought that he would be used as a tool for disaster relief and filling the deficit, which made him very unhappy, and asked, "Why didn't Governor Cao go to collect money and food from local gentry and merchants?" ”

It has always been a rule that once there is any natural or man-made disaster, the government will reach out to the local gentry and businessmen to ask for money, which is called donation, and whoever does not give money will be suppressed by the policy, and if you donate money, you will be given various good names, and even tree monuments to commemorate it, under the traditional moral norms, this kind of post-disaster fundraising is accepted by most gentry and businessmen.

But Shen Xi observed what Cao Ju had done recently, as if he didn't know that he could reach out to the local gentry to ask for money.

Due to war and natural disasters, Wuzhou City looks dilapidated, but after all, this is the throat of waterway traffic between Guangxi and Guangdong, located on the side of the Xun River, connecting the Yujiang River, the Qianjiang River, the Guijiang River, the Hejiang River, the Xijiang River after the confluence of several rivers can go directly to Foshan and Guangzhou, and there should be many businessmen and wealthy households in the city.

Cao Ju sighed: "Shen Zhongcheng may not know, the poor mountains and bad waters come out of the people, Wuzhou has been plagued by disasters in recent years, and the government has also called for donations, but the local gentry are hiding in the earthen fort, even the yacha can't knock on the door." The official could not force the donation, so he could only ask the feudal secretary for help......"

Shen Xi thought to himself, no wonder that a small part of this Wuzhou city was full of mud buildings with high walls, and it turned out that in addition to resisting bandits, it was also very effective against the government.

After doing business and doing business to become bigger, first go back to your hometown to build a tulou, a big family all live in the tulou, close the door, ignore the outside of the door, and care about what natural and man-made disasters you have.

When the grain harvest came, find someone to go out of the city to collect the grain, and even the gate did not need to be opened, find someone to send the grain into the city, and hang it directly into the earth building with a rope.

After several generations of repair and reinforcement, this kind of tulou is impregnable, and even if it is an earthquake, no tulou has collapsed.

Shen Xi asked, "What about the Sun family in the north of the city?" ”

Cao Ju sighed and said, "This Sun family once colluded with local bandits, and secretly helped the bandits when the city was broken a few years ago. After the bandits were recruited by the imperial court, the Sun family's business became bigger in the surrounding area, but a few years ago, they somehow offended the people of the Guangdong Domain, and the head of the family was detained. Before, they also asked the official to intercede with him, but as a magistrate in Guangxi, why did the official go to negotiate with the Guangdong feudal division for his grandson's family? ”

Shen Xi nodded and said, "I see." ”

Cao Ju said: "I want to come to the Sun family and hope that Shen Zhongcheng will intercede for them, and the next official will persuade Shen Zhongcheng to say that this Sun family is a snob, and I heard that he has been to Yingtianfu for activities...... It's best not to bother! ”

Shen Xi nodded, but muttered in his heart, this Sun family is only a family of businessmen, and its power is not small, and it can actually extend its tentacles to Nanjing City to deal with those nobles and court officials. But since the Sun family has dignitaries and dignitaries to support them, why can't they even get a Guangdong political envoy, and let their "eldest master" be detained by the Guangdong political envoy and can't redeem it for more than half a year?

As soon as Shen Xi sent the Wuzhou prefect away, the Cangwu County Order came again.

In order to solve the trouble as soon as possible, Shen Xi listed the disaster relief funds very carefully, as long as the local government implemented the plan, it would not be long before the city and outside the city would settle down. However, Shen Xi could not wait for the disaster to completely subside, and after sending a copy of the local disaster to the imperial court, he sent a letter to the Guangxi political envoy Si Yamen of Guilin Prefecture, requesting that the grain be transferred to the disaster area as soon as possible, even if the task was successfully completed.

After that, Shen Xi began to prepare to leave for Guangzhou Mansion.

Shen Xi didn't care about the disaster situation in Wuzhou Mansion, just as Tang Yin said, his main task in the southeast was to exterminate the bandits, and everything else should be put aside for the time being.

Of course, the most important thing is that Shen Xi saw the female relatives around him living in tents in this poor countryside and suffering hardships, and he couldn't bear it, since everything that should be done was done, it was better to just set off early. He also wanted to go to Guangzhou Mansion to see how Hui Niang and Li Jin's business was prepared.

……

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From Wuzhou to Guangzhou, it is natural to take the waterway.

Wuzhou is adjacent to the Xun River, the Xun River is a section of the Xijiang River of the Pearl River water system, the upstream is formed by the confluence of the Yujiang River and the Qianjiang River, and flows directly into the Xijiang River, the main water system of the Pearl River, all the way to the southeast, you can reach Guangzhou.

There is no official ship in the Governor Yamen, but it can borrow a boat from the Wuzhou Governor's Office, two two-story building boats, and Cao Ju, the prefect of Wuzhou, specially sent twenty officials to escort them along the way.

Shen Xi did not have much belongings, so he took all the fine and soft with him, he was not ready to return to Wuzhou, and settled there after arriving in the capital of Guangzhou, and the future work of suppressing bandits was mainly carried out on the coastal line.

Departing on July 14, you can arrive on July 20 if the wind and water are smooth, and you could have visited the local state capital along the way, after all, the main water system of the Pearl River is a relatively prosperous place in Lingnan.

However, due to the earthquake, these years and disasters have continued, the various ethnic groups have deep grievances, coupled with the rampant bandits on the waterway, it is necessary to go ashore to stay at night, listen to the boatman on the official boat, the "water ghosts" on the Xijiang River are rampant.

The "water ghosts" in the mouths of the boatmen are river thieves and water bandits.

Like pirates, they make a living by hijacking ships.

These people may be just fishermen along the river, or thieves, or they have their own jobs, such as workers at the wharves or farmers who farm the land, and they usually take advantage of the early morning or evening to come out and move, dressed as fishermen, and when they get close to the big boats, they suddenly rush up, kill people and rob goods, and some sneak attack those ships that sail at night or dock at the shore at night.

Because the river pirates are dressed similarly to fishermen and boatmen, and there are many boats on the Pearl River system, the government has no way to track them down, making the river bandits on the Xijiang River very rampant.

According to the boatmen, there were sometimes several hijackings a day, and the river pirates were more ruthless than the overland bandits, killing one or two people almost every time they got on board for the sake of power.

The thieves robbed the road by relying on a large number of people, while the water thieves robbed the ship with a lack of manpower, and they all relied on the good weapons and ruthlessness. Not only are there many cases of homicide, but there are also many cases of burning boats, ****, and kidnapping, and some ships are directly burned into empty shells.

There are many ethnic minorities in the Lingnan area, and if people are tied up in the cottage as slaves or coolies, living is equivalent to death, and the government has no way to trace them.

The official boat that Shen Xi and his entourage took was generally safe, after all, there were officials who accompanied the boat, but they were afraid that those vicious river pirates would even dare to hijack the official boat.

Like the overland carriage, it is usually necessary to find a dock to anchor before nightfall, and to rest at the post station on the shore, which is protected by the officers and soldiers of the local inspection department, and the post station is regarded as a pure land in this troubled world.

Along the way, Shen Xi was observing the situation along the river.

There are not many checkpoints set up by the imperial court on the Xijiang River, and even if there are official ships in some places to inspect the passing ships, they are basically to deal with official business. On the contrary, you can see checkpoints from time to time on the wharf where you are sleeping, and the local yamen and the inspection department will send soldiers to inspect them, and the merchants who pass by need to pay taxes, usually they can be released after paying money, and if they do not pay the money, they will be suspected of being robbers and will be seized.

The government pretends to be deaf and dumb on the issue of dealing with water bandits, but it has a lot of experience in how to exploit the people.

Naturally, official ships do not need to be inspected, and even if Shen Xi carries private goods on two ships, it is not within the jurisdiction of the local yamen and the inspection department.

When he arrives at the danger zone pointed out by the boatman, Shen Xi usually keeps a detailed record of his surroundings, and he is preparing to exterminate the bandits along the river, but after careful study, he finds that these river pirates are as elusive as Somali pirates, and unless the escort mode is adopted, there is nothing he can do about these outlaws.

Shen Xi asked the fishermen and boatmen along the way, and learned that these river thieves do not have a specific stronghold, many people may be fishing on weekdays, running boats to transport goods, if they are short of money, they will take risks, entangled together as river thieves, anyway, the cost of crime is very low, only a few people, a few knives, rowing a small boat can start work, and the profit is not expensive, a successful robbery, maybe there are dozens of hundreds of taels of silver income, do a vote to marry a wife and have children for half a lifetime.

The water bandits are very familiar with the hydrology and geographical environment along the Xijiang River, and they know where the environment is remote and the speed of the boat is slow, so they are very handy when they grab it, and they are even faster when they escape, and as long as they are not caught, they cannot be traced.

When you become a demon and enjoy a lifetime of glory and wealth, some people even have capital because of this, and become businessmen running boats along the Pearl River, and their business is getting bigger and bigger.

Shen Xi originally regarded the Pearl River system as a golden channel, and was ready to allow Hui Niang and Li Jin to use convenient shipping to do business, but now it seems that this is a place where danger and wealth coexist.

Even in the civilized society hundreds of years later, the absolute safety of ships on the rivers of many countries could not be guaranteed, let alone the Ming Dynasty, which ruled ineffectively and backward in the transportation industry.

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