Caoyun Governor's Palace, Donglin Book House.

The dignified governor's mansion, there is the so-called Donglin Book House, this can not but be said to be a joke, this qiē, are all from the Wanli period of the Caoyun Governor Li Sancai, when Li Sancai as the right to the imperial history of the capital, as the governor of Caoyun, its power is far from being compared with today's Zheng Xunrui, Li Sancai was regarded by Wei Zhongxian as the giant leader of the Donglin Party, and the relationship with the leader of the Donglin Party Gu Xiancheng is very good, when the Wanli Emperor selected the cabinet ministers, Gu Xiancheng once strongly recommended Li Sancai.

Li Sancai set up the Donglin Book House in the Caoyun Governor's Mansion, which was actually the study of the Governor-General, and later Emperor Chongzhen rehabilitated the Donglin Party, and at the request of the Southern Scholars and Merchants, the Donglin Book House of the Yamen of the Caoyun Governor's Mansion was restored again.

Zheng Xunrui has just taken office and has not yet taken these titles into account, but he also understands that the influence of the Donglin Party in Nanzhili is huge, and the ability is by no means ordinary, and the former Caoyun Governor Yang Yipeng is not used to the Donglin Party, but he does not dare to offend the Donglin Party.

Zheng Jinhong, Yang He, Wang Xiaoer and others were all waiting in the bookstore.

When Zheng Xunrui and Xu Wanghua walked into the bookstore, several people stood up.

The first to speak was Zheng Jinhong, who knew Zheng Xunrui's thoughts best.

"Young master, my subordinates are very uncomfortable when they see the words of Donglin Library."

Zheng Xunrui looked at Zheng Jinhong, smiled, and slowly spoke.

"Jin Hong, I understand what you mean, but it's good to hang the sign of this Donglin Book House for the time being, which can remind me all the time, pay attention to the influence of the Donglin Party in Nanzhili, the Donglin Party can call the wind and rain in Nanzhili, and even the Caoyun Governor's Mansion Yamen has a Donglin Book House, which makes me never be able to ignore them, and every time you come to the Yamen, you see this plaque. I can also understand the meaning, this is the best wake-up call, don't worry, just let it hang, it's not time to remove it. ”

After saying these words, Zheng Xunrui's expression became stern. Yang He and Wang Xiaoer are responsible for investigating Huai'an Fucheng and Caoyun and many other situations, today is to report the situation, from the beginning of September, until September 20, which lasted 20 days, Yang He and Wang Xiaoer, led 200 scouts, focusing on the investigation of Caoyun, from Hangzhou, Zhejiang to Xia Town, Shandong. This section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is 3,186 miles long, which is the most important section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

Yang He first began to report.

"The subordinates and General Wang and his entourage mainly investigated the situation of Caoyun and found problems in four major aspects, but the subordinates felt that the investigation time was not long, and they did not dare to say that all the investigation situations were correct."

Zheng Xunrui nodded. After all, this kind of reconnaissance is not a reconnaissance during the war. It's normal that some situations are not possible to get to the bottom of it.

"The first question is that there are many gangs in Caoyun, each of which forms large and small forces to benefit from Caoyun."

"From Hangzhou to Xiazhen, there are more than 100 gangs of all sizes, and they not only benefit from Caoyun. There are often fights and even infighting between each other because of the jurisdiction of water affairs, and among these gangs, the most famous is the so-called Ten Gangs. They were the Shanyin Gang, the Hangzhou Gang, the Suzhou Gang, the Wuxi Gang, the Changzhou Gang, the Gaoyou Gang, the Qinghe Gang, the Xuzhou Gang, the Suqian Gang, and the Xiazhen Gang, each of which controlled a section of water and made huge profits from it. ”

"The Caoyun gang obtains benefits through three means, which are called accumulation, showdown and submission, which are very responsible, and the subordinates and General Wang have been investigating for a long time, and they only know the approximate."

"The so-called accumulation is a model that summarizes inns, warehousing, trade, transportation, loans, etc., and each city is responsible for the accumulation of the gangs, and if those transport ships do not obey the arrangements of the gangs, do not think that they can be loaded and transported along the way."

"The so-called showdown is the daily expenses of the gang, which are all the responsibility of the Cao transport boats, and they must pay tribute every year, otherwise they will not be able to load the ships and transport the grain."

"The so-called submission of documents to the hall means that every gang of Cao Yun ships, every place, needs to pay a certain amount of silver, so that they can transport the Cao grain smoothly, otherwise they will be stuck by the gang and cannot be transported at all, once the Cao grain deteriorates, all the losses are the responsibility of the Cao Yun boat."

When Yang He said this, Xu Wanghua's face had already changed a little, and he had to worry about it specifically, and the heavy responsibility of how to rectify Cao Yun was on his shoulders.

"The second problem is that the collection of grain is a big problem."

"The grain is divided into three grades, after arriving in Beijing, according to the three kinds of fineness of the upper grade, the middle and the lower grade, the high-grade grain is called polished rice, the price of six taels of silver per stone, the medium grain is four taels of silver per stone, and the inferior grain is three taels of silver per stone."

"The collection of grain in various places is more or less fixed, but the problem that arises now is that when the government collects grain, some places do not levy grain, but instead levy silver, for example, a family should pay a stone of grain, it is according to the highest standard of milled rice, and ten taels of silver are levied, and the reason why ten taels of silver is levied is because there is a loss of grain, and these losses are all borne by the people.

"The annual collection of grain, may be the biggest problem, the collection of grain is divided into four categories, the first category is the rice, is the southern scholar class should pay the grain, the amount is very small, the second category is called Komi, is the people, prisoners and Xiucai and other meritorious people should pay, the amount is also not much, these two types of grain, according to the rules of the collection."

"The third category is collectively called lawsuits, and it is the grain that ruffians and lawsuits should pay, and they dare not overcharge either."

"When these three types of grain are collected, regardless of the quality, regardless of the amount, they will be collected in full."

"The fourth category is called floating income, which is aimed at ordinary people, and the amount of collection is different, the amount of one stone of grain is levied according to the amount of two stones, and the people dare not resist, so they can only pay honestly."

"More than eighty percent of the grain is borne by the people, so there is a big loophole in it."

When Yang He said this, Xu Wanghua's face turned a little pale, he knew very well that it was not a trivial matter to want to rectify Caoyun, because these shady scenes have formed a chain of interests, and there are too many people involved, and the power behind it is needless to say.

"The third question is the franchise of Cao Yun."

"The so-called franchise of Cao Yun means that the ships of Cao Yun are all controlled by gangs, and the aforementioned submission of documents has a lot to do with this franchise of Cao Yun."

"The cao transport ships are owned by the merchants, and after obtaining the consent of the governor's office, they can engage in cao transport affairs, and the size of the gang, that is, the actual strength is to control the number of cao transport ships, and the more cao transport ships that control zhì, the greater the power, for example, the Sanyin gang, which ranks first, because it occupies the most favorable terrain, so it is the most powerful."

"The number of each gang of Cao transport ships varies, as many as hundreds, and there are more than 30 small ships, and the large ones can carry 1,000 stone of grain, and the small ones can hold 400 stone of grain, according to the number of each gang of Cao transport ships and the amount of grain transported, a certain fee must be paid, which is calculated to be about 500 taels to 1,000 taels of silver, that is to say, each Cao Yun ship needs to bear at least more than 10 taels of silver for the cost of submitting documents, which has not yet calculated the cost of honoring the gang at each wharf."

When Yang He said this, Xu Wanghua couldn't help it a little and wanted to speak, but looking at Zheng Xunrui's calm expression, he couldn't help but didn't speak.

"The fourth problem is the dredging of the river."

"The imperial court has to allocate about one million taels of silver every year for dredging the river, but the subordinates have investigated this time, and heard that a large amount of silver has fallen into the pockets of others to repair the Grand Canal, and there is very little silver really used to repair the river. ……

After Yang He finished speaking, he asked Wang Xiaoer if he had anything to add, Wang Xiaoer shook his head, indicating that he had nothing to say.

Xu Wanghua finally spoke.

"My lord, my subordinates really didn't expect that Caoyun is so complicated, and it seems that it is not easy to rectify Caoyun."

Zheng Xunrui stood up, walked a few steps, and slowly spoke.

"Twenty days, Yang He and Wang Xiaoer can detect so many situations, it is very good, at the end of September, the Cao Yun will be started, the last batch of Cao grain this year, need to arrive in the capital, the Cao grain task is one million stones, thanks to the Beijing Household Department can afford it, set such a big Cao Yun task, probably the household has silver, Cao Yun has so many problems, must be solved, otherwise the task of one million Shi Cao Grain, how many people will be cornered, I think there are many strange things in this Cao Yun, Mr. Xu, get ready within two days, I want to see how many shady scenes there are here, and who are the people behind it. ”

Zheng Jinhong, Yang He, Wang Xiaoer and others are a little anxious, especially Yang He and Wang Xiaoer, who know the danger here, those gangs are very bold, and even think that they have control of Caoyun and can blackmail the government, if Zheng Xunrui is in danger, it will be troublesome.

"Young master, such a thing is still small to do."

Zheng Jinhong spoke first, and Zheng Xunrui waved his hand to stop Yang He, Wang Xiaoer and others who were about to speak.

"If you don't enter the tiger's den, I must figure out the reason and find the gap, otherwise the general action will eventually be self-inflicted, in case the Cao Yun ships unite and are unwilling to undertake the task of Cao Yun, then the Governor's Yamen will not be easy to explain, you must know that there are many people in the capital waiting to see the excitement."

After Zheng Xunrui said these words, everyone was silent, of course they understood what Zheng Xunrui was referring to. (To be continued......)