The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is one of the world's longest, largest and oldest canals. It has been 1,794 kilometers from Beijing to the Qiantang River, and it has been excavated for more than 2,000 years. From the gradual rise of the Spring and Autumn Period, to the construction of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, and finally to the maturity of the Yuan Dynasty. In ancient times, transportation was inconvenient, and if large goods, especially a large amount of grain and other goods from the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, were to be transported to the capital by land, not only would it be delayed, but also a lot of manpower and material resources would be delayed. Although this canal has been dug for 2,000 years, it has been full of blood and tears, but it has also lived countless people!

Of course, these are not what Zhang Fan should be concerned about today, now he is sitting on the handsome position of the three-story treasure ship, and the other ships accompanying him are using this ship as the flagship. Although this ship is consistent with the pattern of the treasure ships recorded on Zheng He's charts in that year, in order to take care of the passage of other ships on the canal, it is no more than 30 zhang long and 12 zhang wide, and the size is smaller than that of the smallest treasure ships that went to sea. In a different way, this treasure ship has a lot less mast than the ones that go out to sea, after all, the ships in the canal do not only move by the wind, but they were also built so that those who wear them can have a clear view of the scenery on both sides.

Zhang Fan sat in the handsome seat, looking at the endless river in front of him, and was a little fluttering. He sits here for a while every day, and enjoys the feeling of sitting here, not that he is sassy or wants to show off anything, but sitting here really makes people feel like they are scolding.

However, this good mood does not last long, as long as Zhang Fan has the girl Yingyue by his side, he will always be uneasy.

"Brother Fan, go back quickly." Yingyue sat on the side, kept pulling Zhang Fan's sleeve and said, "It's summer now, and this person who is exposed to the sun is uncomfortable to death!" "The little girl has fair skin, so she naturally doesn't like the exposure of this sunshine.

Zhang Fan still wanted to sit for more meetings and ignored her, but the more he ignored her, the more energetic Yingyue became. Until the end......

"I said Yue'er, don't talk about it! What a robe, the sleeves of this robe are about to be ripped off by you! Zhang Fan raised his hand helplessly, looked at the sleeves that still had a few threads attached to it, and said.

"Who called Brother Fan, you ignore Yingyue!" Yingyue said aggrievedly, but there was a trace of grievance in her naughty eyes, which was clearly a bad smile that succeeded in her tricks.

Zhang Fan saw it, but he really couldn't say anything about her, and asked: "I said, Yue'er, if you don't like to be here, go back to the cabin by yourself, why do you have to pull me?" ”

"How's that going to work!" Yingyue looked like a matter of course and said, "I am now your 'personal maid', and I have to be with Brother Fan at all times." ”

"Is there a personal maid who forces the master?" Zhang Fan said helplessly in his heart, but he didn't dare to say it, for fear that Yingyue would think of some bad ideas.

Back in Zhang Fan's main cabin, as soon as he entered the door, Wang Meng sent a message. Although Yingyue is very naughty on weekdays, once Zhang Fan has something to do, she will never bother.

Zhang Fan looked at the message on the note in his hand, which was about Liaodong. As we all know, from Jiajing to the Wanli period, the Ming Dynasty produced two major generals, the so-called "Qi Jiguang in the southeast, Li Chengliang in the northeast".

This Li Chengliang's ancestor Li Yingzi was attached to the Ming court in North Korea and was named the commander of the Tieling Guard, and since then, the Li family has moved to Tieling. This Li Chengliang is also born heroic and resolute, and he is a great general. But because of his poor family, he took up his post at the age of 40. At the beginning, he was just a dangerous mountain general, but he was a man who made many military exploits, and in the first year of Longqing, he entered the deputy general army and assisted in guarding Liaoyang.

From the late Jiajing period to the current Longqing period, the Tatar Han Dynasty invaded Liaodong many times, and three generals of the Ming Dynasty died in battle one after another in ten years. Now Li Chengliang is the governor of Liaodong, stationed in Guangning, recruiting athletes from all over the world to resist the invasion of the Mongols and Jurchen tribes, and inspiring the morale of the army. Now the Mongol infestation has disappeared, but the disturbance of the Jurchen tribes continues.

Zhang Fan didn't care about the battle situation, he believed in Li Chengliang's ability. He only cares about the situation of two people, one is Li Chengliang himself, and the other is Nurhachi. Thinking of the ten-year-old child with a tiger's head and pigtails on the back of his head, relying on a copy of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and thirteen pairs of broken armor left by his ancestors, he finally won the entire Qing Taizu of the world, Zhang Fan didn't know what to do with him. Now in Liaodong, the situation between the Jurchens and the Ming Dynasty is very bad. Nurhachi's maternal grandfather, Wang Gao, led the title of governor of Jianzhou Youweidu, commanded the Jianzhou Jurchens, and his son Ataibu have been trying in vain to expand their power. Li Chengliang suppressed in many ways, and the war was on the verge of breaking out. Jue Chang'an is the chief of the Zuowei branch department in Jianzhou, and he went out with his two sons to avoid trouble, but now he has returned to the ministry, but he can no longer stay out of the matter.

Now Jue Chang'an saw the situation and knew that there was Li Chengliang in Liaodong, and if there was a conflict, the Jianzhou Jurchen would cease to exist. He recommended himself to Li Chengliang and took the initiative to lobby Wang Gao, but Wang Gao did not agree, but was almost killed.

Zhang Fan's history is not very good, but he also learned a little in middle school, and he knows that the reason why Nurhachi raised troops is to avenge his father. Not long after, during the Liaodong War, Jue Chang'an and Takshi were mistakenly killed by the Ming army when they were serving as guides for the Ming army. Zhang Fan has no way to stop all this now, could he send someone to protect the three ancestors and grandchildren?

No, do you tell them you know they're going to die? Zhang Fan had no choice but to send people to Liaodong to protect them in secret. "Perhaps, I can find a way to recruit Nurhachi under my command, but what to do?" Zhang Fan thought in his heart. After a while, he thought of a way, but he was a little hesitant in his heart, after all, if he did this, it would really be against the peace of heaven, but Zhang Fan made up his mind. This may be his helplessness in his position as the commander of the Jinyi Guard, or a manifestation of ruthlessness. However, this matter is still early, and it will have to be discussed in the long run.

The various sections of the canal are quite long, and Zhang Fan's boat is large, but fortunately it is not yet the dry season of summer, otherwise it would be very difficult for such a large boat to travel. The ship went all the way, passing Tianjin, Hebei, and Shandong, and it took half a month to reach Jiangsu. On the way, he only stopped the ship to supply some things when needed, and with Zhang Fan's identity, the officials along the way tried their best to stutter, what was easy to use, and what was expensive to send. Zhang Fan did not refuse to come, all his subordinates, and then ordered someone to collect all the gifts in a cabin, and the person who gave the gifts was also registered, so he didn't ask anymore. He didn't necessarily have to trouble these people, he just wanted to be more careful.

The fleet entered Jiangsu after passing Xuzhou, and it took a few days to pass through Huaiyin and Huai'an before entering Huaishui. Zhang Fan looked west, where there was his home in his previous life, but now it is the color of a plain. sighed, maybe I will never see my parents in my previous life again.

After crossing the Huai River, on the second day, Zhang Fan arrived at the first stop of his trip, and it was also the most important and overwhelming stop - Yangzhou, a thousand-year-old city with his hometown in this life!

As soon as the ship arrived, there were already officials from Yangzhou Prefecture waiting here. The prefect Wang Dezhao and his subordinates waited for Zhang Fan to come up as soon as he got off the boat, and they were very stammered.

"Lord Zhang, this time on behalf of the Son of Heaven to inspect, the boat must be very tired, come to the pavilion to rest, I have already prepared water and wine." Wang Dezhao said very flatteringly, and a pair of small eyes narrowed even more so that there was only one slit left.

"In this way, there is Lord Lao's Governor's Mansion." Zhang Fan said, following him into the pavilion. Yingyue got off the boat with Zhang Fan, and everyone only thought she was Zhang Fan's maid and didn't ask. It's just that when Yingyue walked into the pavilion, she thought about the crowd of onlookers outside and looked at it. Zhang Fan and the officials of Yiying Yangzhou Mansion were talking "happily", but they didn't find it, but Wang Meng thought about the direction of Yingyue and looked at it and stopped asking.

The pavilion had long been guarded by the brocade guards brought by Zhang Fan, and water and wine had already been prepared on the stone table. Zhang Fan drank this cup of wine in the welcome of everyone. Just as I was about to speak, a few people came in.

Zhang Fan looked at these people, not like officials, but they were also dressed in brocade clothes, all of them were very noble, and he couldn't help but be a little puzzled, and looked at Wang Dezhao.

Wang Dezhao immediately explained Zhang Fan's confusion: "My lord, these are all wealthy local businessmen who came to catch the wind for the adults and pay tribute to the demeanor of the adults. ”

As soon as he said this, Zhang Fan understood. Now Hai Rui is carrying out the "rectification movement" here, although these wealthy businessmen in Yangzhou are not those who occupy a large area, but they are also in danger, and they must be planning to buy peace through their own roads. Thinking of this, Zhang Fan couldn't help but laugh, these people didn't know how much benefit they gave Wang Dezhao to stand here, and they didn't want to think about what their identity was, bribing the commander of Jinyiwei!

Zhang Fan was silent, and said something to these people in an official tone, and after drinking a glass of wine, he stopped being verbose. Suddenly, Zhang Fan thought of the purpose of his coming to Yangzhou, and asked Wang Dezhao: "Wang Zhifu, there is a big family in Yangzhou City that does jade business. ”

Wang Dezhao thought about it for a while, and hurriedly said: "My lord, I don't know how many big families in Yangzhou do jade business, I don't know which one the adults are talking about?" ”

"That family has the same surname as this official, and the contemporary head of the family is named Zhang Yufang." Zhang Fan said.

"Yes, this is the biggest one in my Yangzhou jade business." Wang Dezhao hurriedly said. He didn't expect that Zhang Fan and Zhang Yufang had anything to do with him, after all, Zhang Fan was born in the northwest, which was a well-known thing in the Manchu Dynasty.

"So, is he here?" Zhang Fan asked.

Wang Dezhao's face is difficult, this Zhang Yufang is quite hard-boned, since he took office, he doesn't buy his own account much, this time Hai Rui thoroughly investigated Haoqiang, Wang Dezhao also brushed his heart, and gave Zhang Jia an charge of colluding with Haoqiang, now Zhang Fan asked, how could he say. said: "This Zhang Yufang is quite arrogant, and he never buys the account of the government. It's not here now. He sued Zhang Yufang first, "My lord ...... with him."

"Hehe, this official has something to do with that Zhang Yufang." Zhang Fan could vaguely guess his thoughts, but he didn't say anything, but said, "That Zhang Yufang is the uncle of this official." ”

As soon as Wang Dezhao heard this, his face froze, but the heat of early summer in Jiangnan made him feel cold on his back. Wang Dezhao, who had only come back to his senses for a long time, immediately said flatteringly: "Forgive me for being inconsiderate, and I will send someone to invite me." With that, he was going to send someone to Zhang's house, and of course, he had to apologize.

Zhang Fan immediately stopped him and said: "The prefect doesn't have to be like this, the official wants to come to the door to see him in person, but the official has just arrived here, and there is a slight wind and dust, so it is quite polite to go like this." It's not too early today, but we'll talk about it tomorrow. ”

"Yes, yes." Wang Dezhao hurriedly responded. But I breathed a sigh of relief in my heart, and it seemed that there was still time to make some preparations.