On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, near the Hanjiang River waterway at the mouth of the Danjiang River, more than a dozen dragon boats competed bravely in gongs, drums and screams.

The three brothers of the Wang family, as the controllers of the Mingyue Collection, together with the stewards of the Jinghu Wang family, the Hedong Sima family, the Gyeonggi Province Zhang family and other wealthy families, undertook the Dragon Boat Festival dragon boat race.

The best position, but it is not something that Wang San, who raises money and contributes, can sit.

The best positions were reserved for the economic officials of Xunyang Mansion and Shiyan Prefecture. The prefect of Xunyang and the prefect of Shiyan sat on the main seat, and they talked enthusiastically there, mainly talking about the complex war situation in the south of the Yangtze River.

The official system and military system of the Great Zhou Dynasty were extremely complex, and the military superintendents of the state capital belonged to the same level. There are places where the prefect has a higher status than the prefect, such as Nanyang, which has a higher status than most of the prefects on Jingnan Road. There are places where the prefect is higher than the prefect, such as Xiangzhou. There is also a Li Guojian who controls important mines and workshops, and the local government has very limited access to it.

Zhang Wanli, Xiong Chengwen, Deng Yushun, Hu Jixiang and others donated about 20% of the money and grain on behalf of Mingyuezhuang and the villages in the southern part of the Qinling Mountains, occupying a good place by the river.

The small and medium-sized merchants of Mingyueji, as well as the large local households with workshops on the side of the Han River, donated 30% of the money and grain, and the position they occupied was not bad.

According to the agreement reached secretly, the forbidden army stationed in Shiyan Prefecture won the first place, the dragon boat funded by the big merchants in Mingyueji won the second place, and the dragon boat of the young people in Mingyuezhuang won the third place.

Lord Zhizhou encouraged the dragon boat team members who won the top three in a few words, and distributed several cars of copper coins and cloths as prizes on the spot, which aroused an exclamation.

The prefect of Xunyang smiled and praised the merchants of Mingyueji, praised their noble character of paying taxes in accordance with the law, donating money to do good deeds, and encouraged the workshops on the side of the Han River to speed up production and reach a new high.

Squires and wealthy households, large and small merchants, large local households, powerful people in the mountains, and workshop owners, of course, these people are the ones who are doing the tricks, bowing and bowing, thanking the adults of Xunyang Mansion and Shiyan Prefecture for their care and maintenance.

Several painters who were engaged in life in Mingyue saw sweat on their faces, but they didn't have time to wipe it. According to the agreement, they want to paint all the pomp and circumstance of today, and many big people are waiting to use it.

The rapidly expanding Pear Blossom Class contracted half of Mingyueji's high-end cultural life. The class owner was very knowledgeable and took the initiative to send the best script writer, preparing to write the dragon boat race to the earth-shattering weeping ghosts and gods, and to write the righteous deeds of several adults to raise food and relief in a way that is rare in the world.

Shiyan Zhizhou got the news of Bianjing two days ago, and only confirmed yesterday that he had escaped punishment. He patiently and politely paid taxes by the river for more than half an hour, and then together with Lin Yangcheng, the prefect of Xunyang, he rushed to Xiangzhou on a fast boat to participate in a high-end party touted by literati and scholars.

The gentry, merchants, and workshop owners could not enter the eyes of the scholars. According to the rules, they will dine together at Mingyue Restaurant in Mingyue Ji, "by the way" to contact their feelings, enjoy the opera commentary performed by the pillars of the Huali Pantai, and then go home to continue the excitement.

The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival mainly include hanging calamus, eating zongzi, drinking realgar wine, taking medicinal baths, tying silk threads, hiding from the Dragon Boat Festival, flying kites, and jumping Zhongkui, and the customs in different places are very different.

The landless people who sell their labor to earn hard money in Mingyueji, the laborers who work in the workshops and mines, and the local farmers who work hard to reclaim the mountains on weekdays are the group of people with the lowest requirements. They don't have high-end gatherings to go to, they can't enjoy wine banquets and miscellaneous dramas, and they can't afford most of the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival.

The low-level people who have a little spare money grit their teeth to buy two catties of meat, buy a few silk threads for their wives and daughters, and go home with a jar of inferior realgar wine, which is enough to surprise their families.

Most of the people at the bottom are satisfied as long as they can eat a few zongzi and hang a few bunches of calamus at the door.

This year's Dragon Boat Festival doesn't seem to be the same.

Wang San raised money in Mingyue, and he even took out a large amount of money to stage miscellaneous plays, circuses, shadow puppet shows, and puppet shows in more than a dozen places along the Han River at the same time...... The small people got a little comfort in their numbness, and the bustle of the riverside seemed to make the hard life less tiring.

"Third brother, why do you have to pay so much money to let Xiaomin watch the play for nothing?" Wang Er frowned and asked, very painful.

On the left, Wang Da has hidden his armor and constantly scans around. He is a rough man and doesn't take money seriously, but he is also curious about Wang San's decision.

Wang San walked along the river, constantly greeting familiar merchants. In the past, the green and red leaders who were afraid of the three brothers of the Wang family like tigers also came to say hello, and Wang San was not embarrassed.

Walking past a food stall, Wang San said in a low voice:

"It was the owner of the village who wrote a letter in Jiangnan and reminded me."

"If our three brothers are poor people, and we see people from all over the mountains and seas, making a lot of money on the banks of Mingyueji and the Han River, can we have no complaints?"

"The owner of the village said well, the small people have grievances and jealousy, so we must let them be lively and lively from time to time, otherwise something big will happen sooner or later. In these days, there has been a marked increase in conflicts between the two sides of the Han River, which proves that the owner is right. ”

The reason why Li Xiang reminded Wang San to pay attention to the emotions of the vast number of small people was the experience gained from the endless conflicts in the Qinling Mountains.

Wang Da nodded as if he didn't understand, and then forced back a green-skinned gangster who was begging for a life in Mingyue with his eyes, he didn't want everyone to come over to greet the third brother: The third brother of my family is a golden nobleman, get out of the pickled goods!

Wang Er was still dissatisfied, but he didn't say anything anymore.

Wang San tidied up his robe by the river, wiped the sweat on his neck with a Gaochang cloth towel, and thought helplessly: The second brother still has an opinion on my secret attachment to Li Xiang, and I have to find an opportunity to let the two brothers go to Qinling to help in the war, so that the two brothers know Li Xiang's hidden forces!

Seeing Zhang Wanli and the others approaching, Wang San's eyes lit up, and he walked over with a smile.

The dragon boat race competition has ended, Zhang Wanli and others just passed by the small dock where the dragon boat docked, and chatted with the young people of Mingyuezhuang.

For the ranking, the Xiangzhou Dragon Boat Team is very angry, their level can definitely win the championship, but they can only hide it; The Suizhou Dragon Boat Team is very satisfied, because they are very poor, and Mingyueji gives a lot of compensation; The Nanyang dragon boat team came purely to join the scene, and the good dragon boat team stayed in Nanyang, and they were very clear about their positioning, so they were also more satisfied.

Under the subtle influence of Li Xiang and Gongzhong, the young people of Mingyuezhuang valued rules and fairness the most, and expressed their dissatisfaction in front of Zhang Wanli.

Zhang Wanli and Mingyue gathered a few polite words from the big shopkeeper of the Su family's firm, and when they turned around, they saw Xiong Chengwen and Deng Yushun frowning and silent, so they wiped their sweat with their sleeves and asked with a smile:

"Don't you think it's fair to make a deal in secret, decide a good ranking and then compete?"

Xiong Chengwen bowed his head and didn't speak, and the older Deng Yushun smiled ugly.

Zhang Wanli shook his head and pointed to a dozen dragon boats not far away:

"Is it fair to let go of your arms and row? Not every dragon boat can afford a good dragon boat and can feed the oarsmen. What is the fairness of rowing a hungry boat and a well-fed rowing boat? In comparison, isn't it better to let each dragon boat get a share of the money? ”

"Secret trading is only for this year. Mingyueji is not very important in Jingnan Road, and the local government is too busy these days, and the big names in Nanyang, Xiangyang and other places have not come, and Shiyan Zhizhou wants to save face, so there is this transaction. By next year, everyone will have to rely on their own abilities or their own financial resources, and there will be no fairness. ”

"You guys really should know more about all kinds of transactions like back-the-scenes."

"Written, Yu Shun. I called you here urgently so that you can get to know more about the people in Mingyueji, the people on both sides of the Han River, and the local big families. The opportunity is rare, I will cheer up later, and I will return to Qinling in two days to work, and I should pay attention to diet and rest. ”

Xiong Chengwen and Deng Yushun were thoughtful, Hu Jixiang, who was only five years younger than Zhang Wanli, stroked his beard and carefully guessed the style of Zhang Wanli and others.

Deng Yushun nodded and talked about another thing, "I heard the team leader in Suizhou mention just now that the surroundings of Suizhou are unstable, and there seems to be some king, six and seven kings making trouble over there." ”

Xiong Chengwen was unimpressed by the rumors of the Wang Liuwang Qi incident, and said in a complicated tone: "The Yongle puppet dynasty was suddenly surrounded by an army of 200,000, and the terrible people in the court are well known. Suizhou has a place with little land and poor people and closed terrain, what kind of trouble can it make? ”

Zhang Wanli sighed, and said with a gloomy look in his eyes: "It is precisely because of the lack of land and the poverty of the people and the closed terrain that most of the combatable troops on Jingnan Road have been transferred to fight Fangla, that there is a risk of a big disaster. ”

"In that place in Suizhou, it has been too hard in the past few years, and the grain requisition not long ago...... Oh, what a wicked worker. ”

"In short, let the caravan in the village pay attention, and if the king, the sixth and the seventh king, become bigger, they will withdraw in time."

As soon as he finished saying the last word, Zhang Wanli saw Wang San coming over, so he went up to say hello with a smile.

The banks of the Han River were rejoicing for three days.

The happiest are the low-level people, who feast their eyes on the most popular circuses and miscellaneous plays. Children in tattered clothes also watched puppet shows and shadow puppet shows, enriching their childhood memories.

On the third day of the fifth month, Suizhou City, which is 600 miles away from Mingyueji, was attacked by Wang Liu, Wang Qi, and tens of thousands of mountain people who were struggling on the verge of death defected to Suizhou City, which opened a warehouse and released grain.

As soon as the Dragon Boat Festival passed, the Great Zhou added a rebel army, and Jiangnan also set off a major war again.

The Great Zhou Dynasty used the Yangtze River waterway and sea route to transport 2 million stone of grain and a large amount of materials to the Jiangyin-Changshu-Taicang line in a timely manner, and used small and medium-sized ships to directly transport a large amount of materials to Taihu Lake through the urgently dredged canal.

The great advantages of water transport are highlighted. The coastal area of Jiangnan East Road is densely populated with rivers, canals, and lakes, further enhancing the power of water transportation.

A hundred miles north of Hangzhou, Wu Fu's army had increased to nearly 40,000 people, most of whom were regular soldiers.

Relying on strong troops and dozens of strong camps in lakes, rivers, and transportation arteries, Wu Fu firmly blocked Han Shizhong, who was attacking again.

More than 100 miles to the east of Hangzhou, Wang Yu did not show any sympathy for the soldiers, and ordered tens of thousands of troops to attack in turn day and night, and finally broke through the lake fortress group near the southeast corner of Taihu Lake.

Wang Yu only rested for one day, and then his troops divided into two routes and marched south. One way attacked Nanxun Town, which was equivalent to the flank of Wu Fubu, and the other road directly forced Jiaxing City.

Two hundred and fifty miles northeast of Hangzhou, Yang Keshi led a large army to capture the Fangla military camp around Songjiang and stormed Songjiang City for five days.

Yang Keshi also sent Yao Pingzhong to lead the army to the southwest, pointing directly at Xitang Town, where Si Xingfang was entrenched, to cut off the connection between Jiaxing and Songjiang, and to break Shi Bao, Si Xingfang and Deng Yuanjue. Shi Bao was under great pressure and had already planned to retreat to Jiaxing City in advance.