On April 8, in the Sanli Pavilion outside the east gate of Luoyang, local officials and gentry were seeing off Xia Yunyi, the lord of Futai. Although since this Xia Futai came to Henan Mansion, he has constantly beaten the local powerful families, causing the local gentry to lose a lot of benefits.

However, due to the drought of the past two years, these local gentry were a little reluctant to leave the mansion lord. After all, compared with other areas in Henan, Henan Province is the safest area. It is not that the drought in Henan Province is lighter than in other regions, nor that the people in Henan Province are more law-abiding than the people in other regions, but that the benefits that Xia Yunyi harvested from these powerful families were basically distributed to the people at the bottom of Henan Province.

Except for a very small number of gentry and landlords who could not see the situation clearly and valued money more than their own lives, the rest of the people lost some benefits, but they were able to exchange for a more stable social environment, which was barely acceptable, which is the so-called spending money to eliminate disasters.

And Xia Yunyi did not only cut benefits from the gentry, as the leader of the Youth Society and the talent valued by the emperor, Xia Yunyi also asked for a lot of resources from the capital to develop Luoyang's industrial and water conservancy construction. Although the gentry of Henan Province lost preferential treatment in land and labor, they gained additional income in the process of investing in industry and renovating fertile land, and their losses were not great in comparison.

If the current Ming Dynasty is a stable and prosperous situation, these gentry are naturally welcome to send Xia Yunyi away as soon as possible, if it weren't for the fact that the supporters behind this Xiafutai are too powerful, many gentry who claim to be powerful local families don't even mind teaching this Xiafutai, what is the social reality of a strong dragon not suppressing the snake.

However, the arrival of a series of natural disasters has made many Henan gentry realize that the world of Chengping has ended. Even if the Ming Dynasty could not survive these natural disasters, the troubled times of dynasty change might not appear. Henan, as the land of the Central Plains, is the most powerful battlefield for various forces to compete for in troubled times.

As long as you read a little history, you will know that once the troubled times come, Henan is a big slaughterhouse, and the local people have survived the troubled times, and one out of ten households is considered to have eyes. For example, today's Henan people, if you really want to talk about their origins, they were all Jianghuai people three hundred years ago, and they were all Huaiyou Army who followed Taizu's Northern Expedition back then.

Therefore, in such an age, an official who does not dare to offend the interests of the gentry, but cannot intimidate the commoners under his rule, is naturally inferior to an official like Xia Yunyi, who can forcefully force the gentry to make concessions, but can also maintain local social order.

Although the local gentry were reluctant to see them off, the local people spontaneously came to see them off, after all, it was the arrival of this adult that made the people near Luoyang barely able to make ends meet in such a year of great drought. Without Xia Yunyi's vigorous development of industry and the large number of steam pumps from the capital, the people inside and outside Luoyang City would probably fall into a situation of lack of food and clothing this year.

Niu Jinxing and the officials of Luoyang City didn't want Xia Yunyi to leave at this time, although Xia Yunyi was too serious and upright in his daily work, and he would not hesitate to question and investigate them if they made a slight mistake in the performance of their official duties, and always forced them to do things perfectly.

Xia Yunyi's character is naturally not liked by the officials under him, but he also has the advantage that he never pushes pressure and responsibility on his subordinates. It's like when he first came to Luoyang, he clashed with the local gentry and wanted these gentry to share the labor and other local expenses of Henan Province.

At the beginning, Xia Yunyi's situation was not advantageous, after all, these gentry and big families have been inherited in the local area for several generations, and their power is intertwined, and some people's in-laws can be connected with the court bosses. Therefore, there are warnings and intercessions for Xia Yunyi, from the local to the province, and even to the center of the court.

When the situation was the most delicate, even Niu Jinxing began to have reservations, but even at that time, Xia Yunyi did not shirk this pressure to his subordinates, and explained to outsiders that the officials below understood what he meant. Instead, as always, he took the responsibility on himself and asked his subordinates to act according to their orders.

If it weren't for the fact that the emperor sent a few officials who attacked Xia Yunyi the most fiercely, and replaced a group of officials in Henan Province, and asked Zhang Chongxiao to affirm to the Henan gentry on behalf of the emperor that the governance policy of Henan Mansion was in line with the direction of imperial court reform, it could be regarded as suppressing the counterattack of these gentry against Xia Yunyi.

When Xia Yunyi was there, these subordinate officials would naturally complain about the way he ruled too harshly. But when it was time to send this Shangguan away, they found that compared with Niu Jinxing, who succeeded Xia Yunyi, this old Shangguan would not dig a hole for his subordinates at least when he explained his affairs.

And Niu Venus, who has always been tactful, may not be able to do things, this one is not good, they do it, and they have to shoulder this responsibility themselves. As a result, Xia Yunyi has not yet gone on the road, and these subordinates have begun to miss this Shangguan.

After drinking three glasses of road wine, Niu Jinxing took an opportunity to walk aside alone with Xia Yunyi, and said to him quite preoccupiedly: "Gong Yu, if you go, I will have some six gods without a master." I shouldn't have said this while you're leaving, but this year's drought is worse than last year's.

In my opinion, in addition to the areas near Luoyang that can withstand this year, several other counties in Henan Province are a little difficult. If the surrounding victims run to Luoyang again, I am worried that Luoyang will eventually have problems as well. When you went to Beijing this time, Your Majesty personally named you to join the Drought Relief Committee.

I only ask you for one thing, when allocating disaster relief materials, you have to give priority to our Henan Prefecture. Otherwise, once Henan Mansion is in chaos, we have worked hard in the past few years, but it will really be in vain..."

Xia Yunyi looked at the huge machine erected in the field in the distance outside the pavilion, although it was more than 3 miles away from here, he could still faintly hear the roar of the machine. For him, who grew up in Zhong Ming's Ding Food House, such a sound is completely disturbing noise compared to the joy of silk and bamboo.

It is no wonder that when he first decided to introduce steam pumps from the capital, the local gentry once described the machines as evil magic weapons that ruined the local feng shui, and even blamed them for the drought for years. But listening to the roar of these machines today is no less than hearing the best vocal music in the world.

Xia Yunyi didn't say a word about Niu Jinxing's request for a long time, and only after a long time did he retract his gaze, turned his head to look at his colleagues around him and said: "Juming, with all due respect, in such a year of great famine, there are many difficult places compared to Henan Mansion.

The imperial court took this year's drought relief work so seriously, not only promulgating policies that offended the local authorities, such as the coinage bill, but also recruiting soldiers for countless purposes in the hardest-hit areas, which shows how dangerous the situation has reached this year.

Not to mention that His Majesty is personally in charge of all affairs related to drought relief this time, I am only going to the capital to handle some trivial affairs for His Majesty, and the real decision should probably be made by His Majesty in consultation with the Cabinet and the Six Ministers, and I don't have the ability to take care of a specific place.

Even if I really have a little power, with the large-scale drought that Daming is currently facing, how can I care about Henan Mansion that can still survive at this time? Once other places are in chaos, can Henan Mansion still be able to stand alone?

In my opinion, it is more reliable to work hard to save yourself than to wait for the court to rescue. ”

Niu Jinxing suddenly became a little anxious, and he hurriedly said: "With the current situation of increasing drought everywhere, how can Henan Mansion strive to save itself?" Now that you have gone to the capital, we will naturally count on you, even if there is a glimmer of hope. ”

Xia Yunyi shook his head, stretched out his hand and pointed to the machine in the distance and said, "Luoyang's living road is there." After a long drought and no rain, the rivers near Luoyang have turned into streams, but the local groundwater is much more abundant than elsewhere.

Luoyang is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and five rivers surround the city, because of the topography, almost all the surrounding water veins flow to the bottom of the pot in Luoyang. Therefore, as long as there is an incentive to continue pumping groundwater, it is not impossible for the local area to overcome the current difficulties.

In my opinion, if Henan Province wants to survive this drought this year, it must focus on the following three points: first, there are enough steam engine spare parts and personnel to repair the steam engine, as long as the machine is not broken, the groundwater will be pumped up endlessly; The second is the smooth passage of the railway to Luoyang, the coal used by the steam engine and the grain from other places, there is nothing faster and more labor-saving than railway transportation, once the railway is interrupted, Luoyang will really have problems; The third is the distribution of water resources, we must not blindly accommodate the local gentry, once the people at the bottom are cornered, these machines erected in the field are the most difficult to protect, without these machines, everyone can only wait for death..."

Originally, Niu Jinxing, who had been up and down since he took office, listened to Xia Yunyi's suggestion at this moment, and suddenly felt brighter in his heart. He looked up at the machine in the distance, and couldn't help but add another one in his heart, it is also necessary to close the border of Henan Province, and not let too many people from other places pour in, then the local harvest and the subsidy of Luoyang granary should always be able to withstand this year's drought.

Just as the Luoyang gentry were sending Xia Yunyi to Beijing, in Pingyang, Shanxi, north of Luoyang, Zhao Sigong, a representative of the Shanxi Bank, was in Kangjia Village, east of Pingyang, trying to persuade Kang Siding, the head of the Kang family, to deposit the family's bank deposit into the Shanxi Bank.

The Kang family started as a grain merchant, made a fortune in the salt industry, and now is involved in the pawn and money business, and can be said to be an extremely famous rich man in Shanxi.

When Shanxi Bank was just established and entered Pingyang, Kang Siding openly came forward to run on Shanxi Bank in order to show his financial strength, and in the end, it was the local government that came forward to put pressure on him to stop.

Kang Siding did not give face to his fellow villagers in Shanxi, firstly, because he had strong financial resources, and secondly, he relied on his in-law relationship with the local gentry in Shanxi. In particular, it has a close relationship with the Jiangmen Jiang family.

Jiang's family has three general soldiers, the eldest brother Jiang Rang is the general soldier of Yulin, Shaanxi, the second brother Jiang Hao is the general of Zhenshuo Yin Datong, and the third brother Jiang Xuan is the deputy general soldier of Yanghe, Shanxi.

The Kang family is related to Jiang Xuan by marriage. Although Jiang Hao was once transferred from the post of Datong General Army, he finally took the path of Yuan Chonghuan and resumed this position, which can be described as a real tiger in Shanxi.

With the strength of the shareholders behind Shanxi Bank, they also had to come to the door to persuade them at this time, but Kang Siding is a real Shanxi character, and when it comes to money, he doesn't even care about his own life, let alone Zhao Sigong's persuasion.

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