Wang Shouren spent nearly half a year, footprints all over Taiwan and Malacca, in the two pieces of land newly occupied by the Ming Dynasty, Wang Shouren saw countless Han people who moved from the Central Plains to live there, everywhere was a vibrant scene, everyone had a sincere smile on their faces, compared with most of the poor and numb people in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Shouren felt that the people in these two places really came to life.

Taiwan is now mainly based on agriculture, immigrants will be assigned a field after arriving there, industrious people on their own fields to work hard, the sweet potatoes of the previous year and last year's corn have achieved a huge harvest here, making the entire Taiwan Province become a famous grain producing area in the south, the dried sweet potatoes and corn produced here have begun to be sold to all parts of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to sweet potato wine, vermicelli, corn flour and other secondary processed food, also began to become an important product of Taiwan Province.

Compared with the agriculture of Taiwan, Malacca is mainly commercial, and most people are engaged in business-related work, after all, it is a commercial port, and the income of the port accounts for more than eighty percent of the income of the whole Malacca. And here in Malacca, Wang Shouren really saw the scene Zhou Chong's mouth, the population engaged in agriculture here is less than 30% of the total population, and the remaining 70% are all engaged in industry and commerce, but the grain here can be self-sufficient, and the people here are richer than the people in Taiwan, so it can be seen that Zhou Chong's idea of feeding most of the people with industry and commerce is absolutely feasible.

Through a comprehensive investigation of Malacca and Taiwan, Wang Shouren also gained a lot, especially a deeper understanding of the relationship between industry and commerce and agriculture. At the same time, it also strengthened his determination to assist Zhou Zhong to complete the transformation of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course. Wang Shouren's encounters along the way are not all things that make him happy. In some places in Taiwan and Malacca, he found that most of the local officials were new to officialdom and did not have much experience in how to manage the people under their rule. The wanton exploitation of the people under his rule has made the people miserable, and if Wang Shouren had not dealt with those officials in time, I am afraid that it would not be long before the people revolted.

However, although Wang Shouren met some bad officials on the road, but in general, Taiwan and Malacca left a very rich and beautiful impression on him, especially those sea merchants who appeared in the port of Malacca, many of them spent a lot of money, Wang Shouren saw a merchant from the Lion Country to transport a box of pure rubies, which attracted many maritime merchants to compete. The maritime merchants present vied with each other to make quotations, and each time the price was increased by more than 1,000 taels. This made Wang Shouren also shocked by the wealth of these maritime merchants, after all, he, a high-ranking official from the second grade, added up to the annual income, which was not enough for others to increase the price of silver at one time.

Wang Shouren stayed in Malacca for more than a month, during this time, he has not identified himself, nor has he contacted the local government, but shuttled around Malacca as an ordinary person, during which he also found some official malfeasance, but in general, the government of Malacca is stronger than that of Taiwan, first, Malacca is small, and secondly, Zhou Zhong also attaches great importance to Malacca, so the local officials are very close to the rule of officials.

It wasn't until two days before Wang Shouren was about to leave Malacca that he went to visit the prefect of Malacca as an envoy, that is, the great talent Tang Yin Tang Bohu that he had already heard of, speaking of Wang Shouren's hometown is Yuyao, not far from Suzhou, Wang Shouren used to study in Yangzhou, he had a relationship with Tang Bohu, Wang Shouren was two years younger than Tang Bohu, and he admired Tang Bohu's talent and learning, so he has always been commensurate with Tang Brother.

What's even more coincidental is that Wang Shouren and Tang Bohu took the entrance examination in the capital in the same year, but it is a pity that Tang Bohu was implicated in the "examination case", not only lost his fame, but also could not participate in the imperial examination for the rest of his life. In contrast, Wang Shouren achieved the seventh place in the second class jinshi and has since stepped into the officialdom.

Speaking of which, Wang Shouren did not believe that Tang Bohu would cheat in the imperial examination, after all, with Tang Bohu's talent, it was easy to move in the imperial examination, but unfortunately he was soft-spoken at the time, and he was unable to help Tang Bohu at all, fortunately, Tang Bohu was later restored to his reputation by His Majesty, Wang Shouren was also relieved when he learned the news, and what is even more amazing is that now the two are officials in the same place, and they are reunited again in this overseas place.

It's just that when he sees Tang Bohu again, Wang Shouren almost can't recognize the other party, because what appears in front of him is no longer the suave talent he was back then, but a conscientious Ming official, and even the temperament of the whole person has changed a lot, which makes Wang Shouren almost not recognize it.

The old people met, Tang Bohu and Wang Shouren were naturally very happy, but after chatting about private matters, Wang Shouren told about his own experience in Malacca, as well as Tang Bohu's lack of governance, for Wang Shouren's words, Tang Bohu is also really taught, after all, Wang Shouren has been an official for many years, and he is indeed better than him in terms of officials, and secondly, this is originally the duty of the inspector, and now Wang Shouren pointed out his shortcomings in person, which is to give himself the opportunity to correct, if he doesn't say anything, Then the consequences will be even more serious.

That night, Wang Shouren and Tang Bohu put a few side dishes in the pavilion in the backyard of the prefect's yamen, plus a pot of wine, intending not to get drunk and not return. After all, "meeting old acquaintances in other places" is originally one of the four joys in life, not to mention that this is still Nanyang, which is thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty, plus the two of them understand each other's personalities, so they are open-minded and drink, and even some things that should not be said in the officialdom, they are also free to talk about it.

"Bo'an, I'm not afraid of your jokes when I say it, the reason why my brother was able to restore his fame this time is all due to the indirect help of the Governor, otherwise I will only be able to spend my life awake and dream of death!" Tang Bohu was already a little drunk at this time, coupled with the hot weather in Nanyang, I saw him tear off his clothes and say loudly with his chest crossed.

"Oh? What's the joke about this, although the Governor is much younger than you and me, but he is a person with great ambitions, after I talked with the Governor before, I feel that I have benefited a lot, Brother Tang can get the help of the Governor, if it is passed on to future generations, it is also a beautiful talk, how can it be a joke? Wang Shouren also felt that the weather in Nanyang was hot, so he also took off his robe at this time, and only wore a single coat and smiled.

"Hehe, I just said that the Governor indirectly helped me, but this matter must not be spread, otherwise not only will I have trouble with the Governor, but even His Majesty will not look good." Tang Bohu said, he told how he entered the palace to help Emperor Zhengde draw the Spring Palace, and the content of the Spring Palace map was Zhou Chong's "Golden Vase Plum", originally Tang Bohu had never mentioned it to others except for Zhou Chong, but today's arrival of Wang Shouren made him extremely happy, and he also knew that the Yuyao genius in front of him was a man with a thousand miles of mind, so he was not worried that Wang Shouren would spread the word about it.

After listening to Tang Bohu's tortuous experience of recovering his fame, Wang Shouren was also stunned, he was not surprised by the absurdity of Zhengde, but he really didn't expect that with a character like Zhou Chong, he would write such a beautiful novel, but then he thought that the most popular "Journey to the West" in the world now seems to be from Zhou Chong's hand, so it seems that Zhou Chong does have the ability to write a novel that makes Tang Bohu feel very amazing.

Thinking of this, Wang Shouren also shook his head with a wry smile, but although he felt that Zhou Chong's writing of such a fragrant novel was really a bit nonsense for Zhengde, he didn't take Zhou Chong lightly because of this, after all, everyone has a time when they are young and frivolous, such as Tang Bohu in front of him, who used to stay in Qinglou every night, and now he has become a qualified official?

Tang Bohu mentioned Zhou Chong, which made Wang Shouren also very interested, after he had a hurried chat with Zhou Chong before, he took someone to Taiwan on the third day, and there was no time to talk to Zhou Chong in detail, which made Wang Shouren often feel a little regretful. In addition, he is also very curious about Zhou Chong himself, Tang Bohu in front of him is also an old man under Zhou Chong, and he must know Zhou Chong very well, so he wants to hear what kind of person Zhou Chong is in Tang Bohu's eyes?

It's just that what Wang Shouren didn't expect was that he had just raised his question, only to see Tang Bohu, who was already a little drunk, suddenly sobered up, and said with a serious face: "Bo'an, I don't know how to describe the Governor's personality, I used to see the Governor vigorously develop the harbor and encourage industry and commerce, which made me very puzzled, after all, in my opinion, encouraging agriculture and mulberry is what officials should do." ”

When he said this, Tang Bohu paused for a moment and then said: "But then I found that my idea was too ridiculous, the profit of the seaport is countless times that of agriculture, not to mention anything else, this part of Malacca is less than one-thirtieth of Taiwan's government, but the invited tax is not less than that of Taiwan's government, so it can be seen that maritime trade and industry and commerce play a huge role, so since I took office, I have also been following the Governor's original instructions to vigorously develop Malacca's industry, commerce and maritime trade, and now you have seen the results. Seeing countless ships departing from the harbor every morning gives me the satisfaction of being immense! (To be continued......)