Fang Yizhi heard that Shen Shuren was also planning to try his luck at the meeting, but he was quite surprised at first.

But after thinking about it, he can understand and support this maverick good friend. said that he could help him sharpen his gun and make up for the eight strands.

In Fang Yizhi's view, the Ming Dynasty has reached this point, and it will definitely not be able to save it if it hopes to find some corrupt Confucians to become officials.

The imperial examination should be eclectic in hiring hard-working talents! Shen Shuren and Gu Yanwu are among the representatives.

After the matter was decided, Fang Yizhi did not go back to Nanjing for the New Year, so he asked his relatives to bring a letter back to explain the situation, and prepared to spend the Lantern Festival in Suzhou, so he took a sea boat to the north to catch the exam.

His family members in Nanjing were a little worried and questioned his itinerary. It is said that the Bohai Sea will also freeze in winter, and the Lantern Festival will go north, and I am afraid that the sea surface of Tianjin has not thawed.

Fang Yizhi didn't think of this question at first, and after reading his family's reply, he went to ask Shen Shuren.

Shen Shuren also smiled: "Brother Fang, your family is also cautious. I didn't want to say much about this, it was also for official secrets, but now that the journey is about to start, Brother Fang is also his own person. ”

When Fang Yizhi heard this, he hurriedly humbled himself: "Since it is a confidential matter, don't say it, the foolish brother believes you." I'm ashamed to say that my second aunt is too careful. My grandfather was a Beijing official, and my aunt had lived in the north for many years and knew a lot about geography, but she returned to the south soon after her marriage and was widowed. ”

Fang Yizhi's three aunts, including her cousin, were all widows who died when they got married as teenagers, and they were quite famous at the time, and they were regarded as "cannibalistic feudal etiquette benchmarks".

The second aunt Fang Weiyi is also a famous female poet who is well-informed, and Fang Yizhi relied on her to teach her when she was a child.

Shen Shuren understood the concern of the Fang family's elders, so he explained: "Ling Gu doesn't know about this. The Bohai Sea freezes in winter, and it does last for more than two months, but it is mainly in the shallow places along the coast of Tianjin and Shandong. From western Liaoning to Shanhaiguan, it will not be frozen.

Last month, my father sent another letter to His Majesty, imploring further adjustment of the way of transporting grain to the north—not to transport all the grain to Tongzhou and then to the capital for storage as usual. Instead, a part of it was separated and transported directly to the front of the Shanhaiguan Army. ”

Shen Shuren explained, afraid that Fang Yizhi would not understand, so he took a chart and pointed out:

"Brother Fang, please look at the map, in addition to relying on the local tuntian self-sufficiency, a considerable part of the military rations of the garrisons in Shanhaiguan and western Liaoning are redistributed by the grain transported to the capital from the north.

When Cao Yun took the canal, the canal only went to Tongzhou, so there was no way, so he could only unload the goods in Tongzhou, and then go to the Bohai Sea coast, or even transport it to Shanhaiguan by land, which cost a huge amount.

After my father arranged for shipping, he went through the archives of the past years and found that one of the greatest advantages of sea transportation was that the cost of transporting grain to the northernmost part of the Grand Canal and further north would be greatly reduced. The money-saving effect of this piece is far more significant than the part that is transported to the capital!

His Majesty also felt justified after reading the recital, and it had been secretly approved. So this time, we went north with the grain ship, in fact, we did not go straight to Tianjin, but first went to Shanhaiguan to transport military food to Wu Sangui. Then return to the capital from Liaoxi.

If the climate is cold this year and the sea near Tianjin does not thaw for a long time, it will not take a few days to return to the capital by land from Shanhaiguan to catch the exam. ”

Fang Yizhi looked up along the map, and he was also convinced that the planning of the Shen family's father and son was indeed done well.

The biggest drawback of canal shipping is that it will come to an end when you arrive in Beijing. The cost of food supply at the border gates, which are further north than Beijing, is very huge.

Although sea freight cannot solve the transportation cost of inland border customs, it is very easy to go directly to Shanhaiguan.

Fang Yizhi thought about it, and couldn't help but sigh: "It's a pity! If Director Shen had presided over Caoyun ten or even twenty years earlier, all parts of the Liaoning West Pass would not have given up because of the difficulties in transshipment! In the land of Liaodong, it is difficult to take the land route, but the sea route is unimpeded. If the towns behind the enemy lines in Liaodong could always maintain containment, how could Jiannu be rampant all these years! ”

This is one of the evil consequences of the Ming Dynasty's emphasis on land and not on the sea!

……

After arranging the Lantern Festival, he went north to catch the exam and transported grain by the way, and the things that Chongzhen should have been busy with in the twelfth year were basically over.

Shen Shuren went to Cao Zhende's place, took a vacation through the regular process, and said that he wanted to take the exam, and Cao Zhende did not embarrass him.

On the day of the leave, it was the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month.

When he came out of the river yamen in Wu County, Shen Shuren felt a little empty in his heart, and all that was left was to go home to spend the Spring Festival in peace, and there was nothing else to do.

At this moment, it is the coldest time of the year, and the winter of the last year of Chongzhen is especially cold, and it snows heavily in Suzhou.

The roads are snowy, and there are no people riding horses or cars.

The Shen family is a family of water transport, and Shen Shuren naturally took a boat down the Liuhe River and returned to Taicang through Kunshan. There is a charcoal stove in the cabin, boiling hot water and warm wine, and a warm stew barbecue, which is very pleasant, which is in stark contrast to the bleak scene outside the ship.

The boat drove for half a day, passing by Kunshan in the afternoon, and stopped for a little rest.

Shen Shuren always felt that something was wrong in his heart, and when he stopped the boat, he remembered that he had promised Chen Yuanyuan that he would wait for him for half a year, and he would redeem her before the expiration of the silver for this charter.

If you don't redeem it this time, you will go to the capital to take the exam after the New Year, and you will be promoted, so I don't know when I will be able to return to Suzhou.

Shen Shuren immediately instructed his follower Shen Fu to prepare some silver, as well as some jewelry that was originally planned to be given to his stepmother and aunts during the Chinese New Year, and let a few capable and martial arts followers to go ashore to Lixiangyuan.

"Shen Gongzi is here! Sister Yuanyuan is Shen Gongzi here! ”

He didn't show up for nearly half a year, and as soon as he appeared, he immediately attracted the screams of the girls in the courtyard.

Shen Shuren also gave a few taels of silver to the girls who were smiling and flattering, and when they walked to the door of Chen Yuanyuan's boudoir, they had already scattered dozens of taels.

Anyway, I don't come often, and it's rare to have a good relationship once.

lest when he ransomes Chen Yuanyuan, someone will interfere with him, this kind of thing would rather offend the gentleman than the villain.

Shen Shuren's money was really not spent in vain, and after dozens of taels were scattered, a girl soon reported to him: "Shen Gongzi, Sister Yuanyuan was locked up by her mother for a while last month, and she didn't give her good meals to eat, all of which were left overnight."

At that time, you went to Luzhou to transport grain, and a few powerful guests came to listen to the music at night. Mom saw that you hadn't come to the round field for a long time, and she was not popular, so she wanted to force her to show her face more.

Sister Yuanyuan refused, and made it clear to the guest that her field was all taken over by you, and if she offended the guest, her mother punished her. ”

When Shen Shuren heard this, he immediately became angry. Although he wrapped Chen Yuanyuan up and hung it out at the beginning, he did not want to be slandered, that is, he hoped that Chen Yuanyuan would not be popular and his worth would fall, but this did not mean that he wanted to see Chen Yuanyuan suffer.

Since ancient times, the man wants to redeem a woman to get out, the more infatuated he is, the more he will be taken care of by the bustard, and it will not be finished if he does not squeeze your family wealth dry. And if the woman can be infatuated and find a way to cooperate with herself to make herself not popular, the situation will be much better.

Shen Shuren didn't have time to think about it, and immediately rushed into Chen Yuanyuan's room. When Chen Yuanyuan saw him, his reaction was still a little sluggish, as if he couldn't believe it, and he pounced for a long time, hugged him desperately for a long time, and tears poured down.

"Shen Lang, you are here, the slave family has been listening to you these days, but if you don't come again, the slave family is afraid that you will forget about others." Chen Yuanyuan cried for a while, and his emotions were vented, and then he felt that his legs were a little weak, and he slowly sat down on the ground.

Shen Shuren stopped her waist, didn't let her land, and hugged her to the bed domineeringly and snuggled up, then rolled up her skirt and helped her rub her calves.

"You haven't gotten up for too long, and your legs are numb. I have lost a lot of weight compared to half a year ago, and in the past six months, I have not found a new woman, but I do have lawsuits, studies, and official business, and there is no way. But I'll redeem you tonight. ”

Chen Yuanyuan's face is still slightly rounded, more like Xue Baochai's style, and the history books say that she is "beautiful and rich", that is, her face is full of lines. However, after half a year of loneliness, I have lost a lot of weight, and I have another charm than when I first met.

And Chen Yuanyuan's eyes when he looked at him were also a little obsessed, and he couldn't help but reach out and repeatedly stroke Shen Shuren's face, chest, and broad shoulders.

Shen Shuren's body was originally a little evil, but after more than half a year of running around and working hard, he lost at least 30 pounds than at the beginning, and his muscle content has also increased a lot.

Chen Yuanyuan fell in love with him, originally just thought that it was already commendable for a woman in Liyuan to be infatuated with her and beg for heat stroke at the expense of a lover. Now I found that the other party was much more handsome than before, and I was unexpectedly ecstatic.

After a long time, Chen Yuanyuan said quietly:

"The slave family is fine, the slave family knows that Shen Lang is busy with business, I heard the sisters say that many of the guests who have come in recent days are rumoring that Shen Dian's good deeds of preparing military quarters, and even Su's parents praise you as a capable official. Hearing this, the slave family was also very happy. ”

While the two were talking, the door of the house was suddenly pushed open, and a middle-aged beautiful woman in her thirties entered the room with a flattering smile on her face, holding a fan and a silk handkerchief in her hand:

"Yo, isn't this Shen Gongzi, you haven't been here for almost half a year, what a rare guest. Although Yuanyuan has not combed the cage yet, and he can't leave guests overnight, but Shen Gongzi, you finally have a relationship with Yuanyuan, and you are still so infatuated, the old body can't bear to break you up......"

When Yuanyuan's adoptive mother Chen saw Shen Shuren, she had already bowed down and showed weakness, wanting to fool Shen Shuren over.

But how could Shen Shuren let her get her wish, his face turned cold at the moment, put Chen Yuanyuan on the bed safely, got up and forced over:

"We signed a contract, and we said that within half a year, as long as I don't come, we can't let Yuanyuan sing on stage. I've asked everything, so you'll be waiting to go to Kunshan County tomorrow. ”

Chen was also frightened and quite cramped, Rao is she is well-informed in this regard, and finally explained with a smile: "Shen Gongzi, the old body did not deliberately violate the contract, this is not to say that you will be rounded for half a year and let her show her face more on the literati collection, but you spent two thousand taels of silver, and as soon as you left, the old body thought that you didn't want her......"

Shen Shuren directly interrupted: "Whether I want it or not, it's my business." People who dare to provoke my lawsuit never end well—you should have heard that my family killed a maid who was fighting for a maid, and I went to Nanjing, unharmed, and entered the Guozijian and donated the official. Fight with our Shen family and think about the end clearly. ”

Speaking of which, the Chen family fully knows that the Shen family is powerful, and if he takes advantage of it, he may be able to find other patrons to support him, but this time, even the reason is on Shen Shuren's side, and if the other party is more serious, she will definitely not have a chance of winning.

Her expression immediately fell, and she wanted to get back to her roots, so she hurriedly said:

"Shen Gongzi atoned for his sins! The old body knows that it is wrong, and we don't dare to ask for 10,000 taels. You will give 5,000 taels, and you can take Yuanyuan away tonight, and we will clear the two! Anyway, Yuanyuan didn't really sing a song to anyone, and she refused, so you have nothing to lose. ”

Shen Shuren sneered, Chen's heart was furious, and he gritted his teeth and explained: "You gave Yuanyuan half a year's silver before, anyway, you didn't let her really sing a few times, it's a big deal, it's counted within these five thousand taels, you give another three thousand taels and take her away, right?" ”

After some runs, Shen Shuren also realized that it was better to give some money and go through formal procedures, so as not to have any more problems in the future. After pulling, he handed over 2,000 taels of silver, burned the deed of sale, wrote another paperwork, and took Chen Yuanyuan away.

……

After some formalities, it was already evening, and the snow was falling heavier, and it was not suitable to drive the night boat back to Taicang.

Chen Yuanyuan's cold little hands grabbed Shen Shuren, and walked by the Liuhe River against the snow, which was still a little unreal.

She was sold to Lixiangyuan at a very young age, trained by her adoptive mother Chen, and now she is free, and she is a little overwhelmed.

Although the weather was cold, she gasped greedily, as if the cold wind mixed with snow smelled better than the gentle and soft sweet fragrance in the pear fragrance courtyard.

"Shen Lang, shall we rest on the dock ship tonight?" She asked cautiously.

Shen Shuren tightened the girl's waist domineeringly: "Sleeping boat, you, you're not afraid of the cold?" ”

Chen Yuanyuan smiled coquettishly: "The Shen family's ship, how can it be cold?" Rich and noble families like you, there must be stoves burning in cars, let alone boats. As long as Shen Lang is willing to wrap himself in the slave family, it will not be cold even if he accompanies you to break the temple. ”

Shen Shuren smiled, he didn't want to sleep in the cabin with a charcoal basin at night for carbon monoxide poisoning, of course the accommodation had to be in a well-ventilated place.

"Let's go, go to Shen's embroidery village, how can I be willing to freeze you." Shen Shuren used an unquestionable tone to order the family to bring a carriage and horses and go to Dongjia Embroidery Village for the night.

Who let the Shen family have manors and villas in all counties in Suzhou.

Chen Yuanyuan's eyes flashed, and he was a little apprehensive, and only after getting into the car did he dare to ask: "Shen Family Embroidery Village...... But the original Dong family embroidery village? Sister Xiaobai should have been ransomed by Lang Jun a long time ago, right? She is good now, she must be very favored by Lang Jun. ”

Shen Shuren smiled openly:

"She's very hard-working and she's very disciplined. A few months ago, she pondered and tinkered every day, and with my order, she invented the shuttle, which made a lot of profits. I have rewarded her for regaining her freedom, but her family has long since been gone, and she has volunteered to continue with me as a guest.

She has never forgotten your kindness, knowing that you instructed me to redeem her, and insisted on refusing to have an affair with me before you were out of the sea of suffering. What's more, she still had her mother's filial piety before it expired, how could I force her to do such a dirty thing. ”