Going down the Yangtze River, the boat always drives very fast.

From Nanjing back to Suzhou, in just two and a half days, more than 500 miles of waterway was completed.

Shen Shuren turned to Fang Yizhi, a generalist, and traveled with him to take up his post and coil for a few months, which can be regarded as an unexpected joy.

As soon as the fleet arrived at Liujiagang in Taicang, Shen Tingyang, who got the news in advance, personally went to the dock to pick up his son.

He hadn't seen his son for two and a half months, and he knew that his son was running for the interests of the family this time, running errands for Yang Ge, and he was very emotional in his heart.

Who would have thought that the guy who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun would be able to do it so cleanly when he went out to do business for the first time.

When Shen Shuren got off the boat, he naturally inevitably stepped forward to salute, and introduced Fang Yizhi's identity to his father.

After hearing that Fang Yizhi was the current science and technology solution yuan, Shen Tingyang immediately stood in awe, and was quite happy.

Although he has five or six grades of official status, he also knows that his catties and two catties are just a resume of a showman who buys prisoners and then donates officials. In terms of learning, one Xie Yuan is enough for him to look up.

"I have admired Fang Xie Yuan's talent for a long time, and Fang Xie Yuan is willing to fold and hand over the dog, which is really a blessing for my Shen family."

Fang Yizhi also hurriedly humbled himself: "I really don't dare to be, I have heard for a long time that the Shen family has practical talents, and the erudition and knowledge of the virtuous brothers, Fang Mou has also learned these days, and he has really benefited a lot." ”

Shen Shuren also explained in the middle, saying that Fang Yizhi has a wide range of interests and does not look at the eight shares of knowledge when making friends, and Shen Tingyang suddenly realized.

The Shen family has money, and naturally spares no effort to entertain guests, Fang Yizhi and others were asked to go back to the house to set up a banquet to wash the dust, and the sea and land fresh food was gathered. Although Fang Yizhi is an official eunuch, he is really dazzled.

During the banquet, Shen Tingyang asked about the business and asked his son to tell him what the responsibilities of the newly bought official position were, but he needed help from his family.

Shen Shuren also said: "...... This official position, under Cao Zhende, who is in charge of the river, is mostly to do some auxiliary work in previous years.

But this year, there was a thief rebellion in Nanzhili, and the duty of the river warden was changed to transport the grain and grass from Susongshu County to the Luzhou army. ”

Shen Tingyang himself is an official of the household department, and he has dealt with Cao Yun for many years, and when he heard his son say it, he felt that something was wrong.

He touched his beard and muttered, "Transporting Su Song's grain and grass to Luzhou?" Isn't that a quest for the near and far? Could it be that Jiangxi does not have to bear the apportionment of the imperial court at all this year? All the grain handed over by Jiangxi was transported to the front of the army?

Otherwise, as long as there is still more surplus grain in Jiangxi, it will be transported to Luzhou from there, and then Su Song's grain will be directly transported to the north, wouldn't it save a lot of trouble? ”

Shen Tingyang's plan is very much in line with geographical common sense. During the Ming Dynasty, the grain from Huguang and Jiangxi had to be transported to the north, and it had to be transported down the Yangtze River first, and then transported to Yangzhou and then across the river to the north, through the Hangou section of the canal to Huai'an by the Huai River.

After the reform of the Changyun Law during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, the final assembly and delivery points of the grain in the southern provinces were also located in Huai'an.

The cost of canal transportation from Huai'an further north will be uniformly levied by the imperial court in advance, and the governor of Caoyun will be responsible for the use and scheduling, and the profit and loss will be responsible for the imperial court. The freight before arriving in Huai'an should be borne directly by the local government.

Therefore, in Shen Tingyang's view, if the Anhui region needs military food, it will be transported directly from Jiangxi or Huguang to Anhui for local use, which is definitely less wasteful than requisitioning and transferring from Suzhou. The Suhu area can replace Jiangxi's grain quota from the north.

Fortunately, Shen Shuren obviously thought deeply about this problem along the way, and also investigated, and immediately answered this doubt:

"Father didn't know, Zhang Xianzhong's trend has been extremely rampant, this year the two lakes have been seriously damaged, many fertile fields have been in the occupied area, Yang Ge Lao has asked to defend himself with the grain of the two lakes, and will not transport the capital north.

Most of the surplus grain in Jiangxi also had to be supplied to the military needs of Anqing Prefecture to block the south of Huoshan. The military quartermasters of Luzhou Mansion and Fengyang Mansion in the further north can only rely on the south to directly subordinate.

This year, the apportionment in Suhu, Songjiang and other places has temporarily risen by several percent, and Suzhou has doubled, and finally it seems to have increased to 1.2 million stones. ”

Shen Tingyang also gasped when he heard this number. Suzhou's grain tax was the heaviest in the Ming Dynasty, and the quota in previous years was 590,000 stones, but considering the transportation loss and additional distribution, in fact, there were more than 800,000 stones to be transported to Huai'an for delivery.

At present, the total amount of grain and military rations is 1.2 million, and the actual collection will definitely exceed 1.5 million. Suzhou can't produce so much grain, in the final analysis, you still have to go to Zhejiang to buy it, or buy it in other grain-producing areas in Nanzhili.

More than half of the land in the three prefectures of Susong Lake is planted with cash crops such as sericulture and cotton, and they originally had to rely on the high prices of cash crops to sell silk and cotton cloth to buy grain.

However, there was another big drought in Zhejiang this year, and when Shen Shuren just crossed over, he heard that only summer grain was harvested normally in Zhejiang this year, and the output of autumn grain would be reduced by more than half, and the price of rice had risen from one or two or eight yuan in previous years to more than three taels. Even if the price of food continues to skyrocket, I am afraid that some poor people in Suzhou will have to starve to death.

In addition, according to the old system of the imperial court, Suzhou would levy an additional one and three cents of "silver across the river" and five coins of "silver transport" for every stone of grain transported by the imperial court.

The Caoyun silver was transported to Huai'an with the grain for delivery, and handed over to the Yamen, a subordinate of the governor of Caoyun, as the silver for Cao Ding and the army guarding the grain from Huai'an to Beijing. (The additional grain distributed above is for the people who carry the grain to eat on the road and the various losses of the rats and birds, and the silver is the money and management expenses for the people who carry the grain.) Money and food must be increased at the same time, not a two-choice relationship)

The "silver for crossing the river" is levied by the local government for its own use, and it is the salary and silver given to the soldiers of the local grain transportation guard station before the delivery to Jiangbei, and it also includes the cost of dock workers who change ships for loading and unloading in various places on the Yangtze River and the canal.

In fact, this money is definitely not enough, and there are various unspoken rules in the local area.

Moreover, from the year of Chenghua to Chongzhen, every few decades, the previous over-consumption apportionment items will be misappropriated by various interest groups that handle it, and then an additional item will be levied in the name of a clever project.

It's just that the "silver crossing the river" reported to the imperial court on the surface has always been one dollar and three cents, and it has not been touched for more than 100 years, and the rest is a local black box operation to distribute fertilizer.

Shen Shuren didn't know much about these things before, but Shen Tingyang had dealt with Cao Yun for ten years, and of course he would teach these details to his son without reservation.

What he said was upright, and he was not afraid of outsiders listening, so Fang Yizhi did not have to avoid being present.

After Shen Shuren heard this, he also had a doubt: "In this case, how does my father think Zhu Dadian will frame our father and son this time?" When I bought an official, I didn't save face for villains like Gong Dingyu and Hou Fangyu, and Zhu Guangshi was even more of an enemy's son.

It is said that in the end, I got this shortage, and it must be Zhu Dadian's other conspiracy. Could it be that he intends to make the child run short and unable to complete the task of transporting military rations? Blocking this year's Susong area to buy grain is expensive, can't you make it up?

This is unlikely, as a river officer, he only needs to work with the transportation army of the Changyun Guard Station to count the grain at the delivery of the water warehouse and ensure that the whole process is unhindered, as for how the local food comes from, it should be none of my business, right? ”

Although Shen Shuren didn't think of the opponent's conspiracy yet, he knew that the conspiracy must exist, and how could it be possible not to retaliate if he offended people so hard.

Shen Tingyang stroked his beard and thought for a long time: "It is really impossible to start from the source of food, even if there is a problem in those links, the guilt of the Suzhou prefect and the subordinate counties is far heavier than that of a person like you who is responsible for transportation." Zhang Xuezeng would not joke about his official position.

To make the person in charge of transporting grain to bear the blame, it is nothing more than a mistake in the two delivery links, such as shoddy in the local area, a shortage of catties and shortages, but you did not find it when you accepted it, and finally transported it to Luzhou Mansion, but it could not pass the acceptance of the garrison.

In addition, it is the transportation that exceeds the cost of freight. The part that is levied in advance cannot be filled by the people all the way to eat, or the ship is bumped and sunk through the water, and the rat finch rice worm is diseased.

But if this piece wants to frame our Shen family, it is also unlikely. Our Shen family has been running the sea for decades, and has been in the water transportation business since your great-grandfather's generation, and we have rich experience in managing things in this area, and we can prevent loss and loss disasters before they occur. Even if there is a slight unexpected loss, it is a big deal that our Shen family will compensate for it by itself, and it is not that we can't afford it. ”

After thinking about it, Shen Tingyang didn't think about how his political enemies could harm him, and he had already listed the common links that were prone to problems.

However, perhaps it is the authorities who are fascinated and the bystanders are clear.

Shen Shuren is not very professional in this aspect, and when he looks at it from the calm perspective of an outsider, he really sees some possibilities.

As a person of later generations, Shen Shuren's financial knowledge must be richer than that of the ancients, although he has never done accounting, he also knows the serious consequences of accounting errors-

Later generations of accountants, if they make a mistake in accounting for a few dollars, they will also be very crazy to recheck the bills, even if the value of the labor time and wages paid is far more than these few dollars, it is impossible to pay for the deficit by themselves. Otherwise, if the tax authorities verify the false accounts, the problem will be serious.

The financial accounts of the Ming Dynasty are certainly not as strict as those of later generations, and as long as the result is good, the process may not be carefully examined. But now that Zhu Dadian is staring at them and wants to frame them, there must be a demon when things go wrong, will it be ......

Shen Shuren felt that he had caught a little inspiration, and he pondered deeply in that direction, and he really thought of a possibility.

He bit his lip cautiously, and said humbly in a probing tone: "Father, is it possible, Zhu Dadian has a big plot, and it is not just me who has to deal with it?" ”

Shen Tingyang saw that his son was speaking solemnly, and he also became serious: "How can you say this?" ”

Shen Shuren analyzed: "Father, you see, when you return to your hometown this year, you are authorized by His Majesty to pilot the 'Cao Yun to the sea', and whether this pilot will be successful in the future, the most important evidence is that after the Cao grain is shipped by sea, whether the account of the actual freight expenses is cheaper than the same weight of grain transported to the north.

In this case, isn't Your Majesty afraid that your father will 'give some sweetness first, and then close the net'?

If my father deliberately lowered the cost during the pilot this year, he would have lost money to help the imperial court undertake it, make the account beautiful, make His Majesty feel that it is cost-effective, and cook the raw rice into mature rice for the matter of changing the transportation to the sea.

After the actual large-scale use, in the future, we will 'slowly discover' the additional loss caused by large-scale application, and increase the budget for cutting meat with a blunt knife and crossing the river every few decades......

Therefore, Your Majesty must guard against this, and will definitely strictly check the accounts of the pilot period, not only will you not be allowed to lose, but you will not even be allowed to secretly post money.

And our father and son family, I also happened to be arranged by Zhu Dadian to be a grain transportation officer, although it was for Yang Ge to transport military rations. I believe that when the time comes, my accounts will definitely be stared at by Zhu Dadian repeatedly with a magnifying glass.

Not only is I not allowed to lose, but we are not allowed to post money to the Shen family, as long as the money is posted, he will report it, saying that we are making false accounts. When the time comes, His Majesty will have some doubts about the authenticity of the accounts of his father's Caoyun to the sea! ”

Shen Shuren's speculation is of course impossible in modern society. Because Shen Tingyang and Shen Shuren are each doing their own official and taking care of their own affairs, they can't mess with each other.

However, in the environment of ancient human rule, the son of an official made false accounts, which is likely to remind the emperor that the family's family education style is greedy and fraudulent, and most of his father's accounts cannot be trusted.

Even if this association is not legal, you can't stop Chongzhen's brain from having to associate it with it.

After hearing this, Shen Tingyang suddenly shuddered. The son's little thing can't ruin his plan of "changing the sea from Cao Yun" to benefit the country and the people!

Shen Tingyang swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty: "Lin'er, you have to be careful, if you transport grain to Yang Ge Lao, not only can you not be greedy, but you can't lose money, and you can't have any additional distribution and overconsumption that shouldn't be on the account, we can't post money ourselves!" Otherwise, it is possible to be caught by Zhu Dadian! ”