Gao Qiqian said in a panic: "There are not too few old slaves. ”

Chongzhen said earnestly: "Gao Companion, at present, our Ming Dynasty has a lot of money, and I really can't give you more silver, and I haven't bought new clothes for two years." ”

"There are also King Ding and King Yong, they haven't bought new clothes for two years."

Speaking of this, Chongzhen said again: "I really can't wait to break a tael of silver into two halves." ”

"Long live Lord, you are really too harsh on yourself and His Royal Highness King Yongwang and King Ding." Gao Qiqian wiped his tears and said, "The old slave doesn't want the ten taels of silver, so let's use it to buy a new robe for you." ”

"Not really." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "As long as you don't think the reward is too small." ”

"It's not too little, it's really not too little." Gao Qiqian said in a loud voice, "Ten taels of silver is a lot." ”

"Ten taels of silver is indeed a lot." Chongzhen said, "The town soldiers, new troops, cavalry and Yiding who participated in this battle, they only have five taels of silver per person, oh, and a sheep per person!" ”

"And then there's the women who were captured by the rebels."

"If there are still relatives here, let them go back, if there are no relatives alive, then find a suitable marriage for them in the town soldiers in Xuzhou, and it can be regarded as a good home."

"This matter needs to be instructed to Xu Yingwei as soon as possible."

"The old slave commands." Gao Qiqian turned to leave.

But the mood has become completely different.

Gao Qi has a sense of mission for no reason.

What sense of mission? ZTE Daming's sense of mission.

……

At this time, he was in the town barracks outside the city.

Yang Ponu and a few town soldiers sat by the campfire and chatted while roasting the fire.

"Thief, this time it's a wasted run." Wang honestly said angrily, "These chaotic soldiers are too cowardly, and they let the new army clean up before we arrive." ”

"No, I guess I won't get the reward this time."

"Come on, you didn't fight a battle, and you still want to get a reward?"

"Don't think about the reward, I want to go back sooner now."

"Yes, yes, this is already past the shock, don't miss the farming time."

While he was talking, a Qinwang scholar came over: "Yang Ponu, what are you talking about?" ”

"Zhuang Xiucai, I didn't talk about anything." Yang Ponu and more than a dozen other town soldiers hurriedly got up to salute, and said, "Just chatting nonsense, they are all guessing when they will be able to go home." ”

Zhuang Xiucai said: "The Holy Lord has made an order, and you will be able to go home tomorrow." ”

"Will you be able to go home tomorrow?" Yang Ponu and the other town soldiers suddenly said with great joy, "Now there is no need to miss the agricultural time, we are worried that we will miss the agricultural time." ”

"I can't miss it." Zhuang Xiucai smiled and said, "The other reward has also been decided." ”

"Reward?" Yang Ponu and more than a dozen other town soldiers were really overjoyed at this time, "Do we also have a reward?" ”

"Both." Zhuang Xiucai said, "The saint said that all those who participate in this war, whether they are town soldiers, recruits or Yiding, whether they are generals or soldiers, will be rewarded with five taels of silver and a fat sheep!" ”

"Hooray!" Yang Ponu, Wang Laoshi and other town soldiers cheered after hearing this.

Zhuang Xiucai smiled and said to Wang Laoshi: "Wang Laoshi, you haven't married yet, have you?" ”

"Nope." Wang Laoshi scratched his head a little embarrassed, "The central people have said a few times, but it didn't work." ”

"Then come with me." Zhuang Xiucai turned around and left.

Wang was stunned and said, "Something? ”

"Something." Zhuang Xiucai smiled, "There are good things." ”

"A good thing?" Wang Laoshi hurriedly followed, "What's a good thing." ”

"Pick a daughter-in-law." Zhuang Xiucai said, "With your military exploits and qualifications, it is estimated that you can give priority to selection." ”

"Really picking a daughter-in-law?" Wang honestly said happily, "Then I have to pick a big and round buttocks, my mother said, big and round butts are easy to give birth to, and they specialize in giving birth to sons!" ”

Wang honestly followed happily.

……

The time came to the beginning of March of the nineteenth year of Chongzhen (1646).

Chongzhen appeared in Huarong County, the capital of Yuezhou, under the escort of 800 Yiding and a small number of new troops.

A group of more than 1,000 cyclists walked in the fields, looking up, only to see that both sides of the road were full of green wheat fields, and almost all the wheat seedlings had entered the heading stage.

The heading stage is followed by the grain-filling stage.

The grain filling period is soon followed by wheat ripening.

Since the Song Dynasty, wheat has begun to spread on a large scale in China, not only in Huguang, but even in Guangdong and Guangxi.

Because winter wheat has a unique advantage over rice.

That is, winter wheat can mature before entering the flood season, that is, planting winter wheat does not need to rely on the sky to eat, but can steadily harvest a season of wheat, and then sow rice, if you are lucky, you will harvest another season of rice, if you are unlucky, the rice is likely to be flooded.

Because of this, wheat is also cultivated in a large area in Huguang.

Looking at the green wheat field, Chongzhen couldn't help but feel in a good mood, and said casually: "New Year's lantern, February harrier, March wheat tube is called Blowing Xiao, this year's wheat is growing well, it is estimated to be a big harvest year." ”

Gao Qiqian continued very interestingly: "Long live Lord, the past two years have been pretty good, neither floods, nor droughts, nor locust plagues, it can be seen that our Ming Dynasty has come to operate, and Zhongxing can be expected!" ”

These words are really beautiful, even Chongzhen was happy when he heard it, and he couldn't help laughing.

Just when an old farmer came out of the wheat field with a hoe on his back, Chongzhen greeted directly: "Boss, boss? ”

"Old man." Gao Qiqian immediately stepped forward and shouted, "Long live the Lord is calling you, deaf?" ”

The old farmer looked at Gao Qiqian blankly, and he couldn't understand what Gao Qiqian said, because Gao Qiqian was talking about Hongwu Zhengyun adapted from Zhongyuan Yayin.

"What are you doing?" Chongzhen was furious.

Chongzhen's previous life was similar to Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, probably because he was born in the low-level people, so he hated the power of the privileged class.

Gao Qiqian was so frightened that he didn't dare to say more.

Chongzhen's previous life was actually half Hunanese, and he could speak a few words of Hunanese.

At that moment, Chongzhen turned over and dismounted, and asked in dialect: "Uncle, this wheat field belongs to your family?" ”

"Well, it's all from the little old family." Speaking of this wheat field, the old farmer's expression instantly became vivid, and he said happily, "This is all the kindness of today's Long Live Lord, and it has been distributed to the little old man more than 20 acres of land." ”

"Divide the field?" Chongzhen smiled and asked, "The master of the clan didn't make a difference?" ”

"Why don't you make a difference, Master Zhao said that tens of thousands of acres of official land belong to his family, but it's useless." The old farmer waved his hand and said, "I was suppressed by the soldier army of the Long Live Lord, and I cut off dozens of heads." ”

Chongzhen smiled and asked again: "The wheat is growing well, and it is estimated that a lot of wheat can be harvested." ”

Hearing this, the old farmer nodded again and again: "That's it, this year's little family is estimated to be able to harvest forty stone of wheat!" Even if there is no rice harvest in the next season, the whole family will not have to go hungry. ”

"How can there be no harvest of rice?" Chongzhen asked, "Didn't Yuezhou Mansion repair the lake embankment?" ”

"Repair is repair, but it's no different from not repairing." The old farmer waved his hand and said, "It's all from the lake, and they can't stand it at all, and they will definitely be washed away when the flood season comes." ”

Chongzhen's face collapsed when he heard this.

The bad habits of the Ming officialdom are really a big problem.

Zhang Kuangming asked for more than 800,000 taels of silver from the household department and distributed them to six prefectures around the lake or along the river, and each prefecture allocated almost 100,000 taels of silver, which was specially used to build water conservancy projects.

But it is clear that the silver in Yuezhou Mansion has been drifted away.

In this way, the official voice of Li Jiaozheng, the prefect of Yuezhou, is also false, and what he heard is false.

The old farmer said, "If you don't believe it, you can go to the lake and have a look, it's not far anyway." ”

Chongzhen had no interest in observing the people's feelings, and even took Zhu Cijiong, Wang Chengen, Gao Qiqian and Yiding off the road to Dongting Lake.

On the surface, the lake embankment is quite like a thing.

But when I got closer, I saw that the problem was coming.

One is that there is no stone masonry, and the other is that there is no wooden stake!

However, the earthen embankment was still rammed.

Such a lake embankment is not a problem for a short time, but the lake will slowly collapse after a long period of infiltration, and in fact, there are already lake embankments that have collapsed, although the area is very small.

Zhu Cijiong said: "Father, this is what you often call the tofu scum project." ”

Gao Qiqian also said: "Long live the lord, the old slave will take a team of Yiding to arrest the Yuezhou prefect, this dog official even dares to be greedy for the silver to repair the lake embankment, and he is tired of it." ”

Wang Chengen next to him couldn't help but sigh secretly.

The heart said that Gao Gonggong really remembered to eat and not to fight.

Sure enough, Chongzhen's face fell, and he asked, "Gao Companion, when did you enter the pavilion to pay respects?" ”

"Entering the cabinet to pay respects?" Gao Qiqian was stunned when he heard this, and said blankly, "Long live the lord, the old slave has not entered the cabinet." ”

"So you also know that you didn't enter the cabinet?" Chongzhen shouted with a dark face, "Then what right do you have to lead the troops to arrest the prefect of Yuezhou?" This is the power of the cabinet and the political envoy of Hu Guangbu! ”

"Uh......" Gao Qi suddenly stopped talking when he heard the words, and said the wrong thing again.

While he was talking, a team of officials hurriedly came on the official road ahead.

The leader was a scarlet-robed official, followed by a group of green robes and green robes.

When they arrived at the bottom of the lake embankment, they were stopped by Yiding and prevented them from continuing to approach.

Chongzhen snorted coldly and said, "Hu Guozhu, just let them come over." ”

Hu Guozhu then ordered Yiding to get out of the way and let the officials come to the lake embankment.

"Minister, Li Jiaozheng, the prefect of Yuezhou, led the government to meet the saint with the governor, the official and other colleagues."

After the scarlet-robed official, that is, Li Jiaozheng, the prefect of Yuezhou, finished speaking, more than a dozen officials bowed down at the same time: "Holy Ten Thousand Blessings Jin'an." ”

"Wan Fu Jin'an?" Chongzhen pointed to the lake embankment and sneered, "Lord Li, there is such a lake embankment in Yuezhou, and there is a prefect like you in the Ming Dynasty, how can I get ten thousand blessings and peace in Jin'an?" ”

Li Jiaozheng said fearlessly: "Back to the saint, the minister has done his best to repair the lake embankment. ”

"Did you do your best?" Chongzhen said, "Tell me, how did you try your best to repair the embankment?" ”

Li Jiaozheng said: "The lake embankment in the territory of Yuezhou Mansion stretches for six or seven hundred miles, and the 80,000 taels of silver allocated by the Yamen of the Domain Division is simply a drop in the bucket. ”

Li Jiaozheng's words made Chongzhen speechless.

After a long time, Chongzhen stretched out his hand and pointed to the embankment, and asked, "This is the embankment you spent 80,000 taels of silver to build?" That's what you said you did your best? ”

"Back to the saint, the cost of this lake embankment is not 80,000 taels."

Li Jiaozheng replied without being arrogant or humble: "It's 110,000 taels." ”

"And it's not easy to use 110,000 taels of silver to build the lake embankment like this."

"If you don't believe in it, you can go to see the embankment of Changde Mansion or Changsha Mansion."

"If the embankment of Changde Mansion or Changsha Mansion is stronger and stronger than Yuezhou Mansion, the minister will dispose of it."

"Oh yes?" Chongzhen said with a smile, "This is new, I have only heard that the silver allocated by the magistrate to the court has drifted layer by layer, and this is the first time I have heard that a magistrate has pasted silver upside down." ”

After saying this, Chongzhen asked again: "Where did the extra 30,000 taels come from?" ”

"Got it." Li Jiaozheng said, "The ministers went door to door to ask the gentry for it, because after repairing the embankment, the thousands of hectares of fertile land around the lake can be protected from flooding, so the gentry are willing to give up the money." ”

Chongzhen stared at Li Jiaozheng for a long time, and Li Jiaozheng also looked at Chongzhen with contempt.

At this point, Li Jiaozheng's image in Chongzhen's eyes overlapped with the official voice again.

In fact, along the way, the information Chongzhen got all said that Li Jiao was a good official and a capable official, and he had almost never heard of the bad side.

After a long time, Chongzhen asked again: "If it is said that according to the standards set by the Ministry of Industry, how much silver does it take to repair the embankment of Dongting Lake?" ”

Li Jiaozheng said: "At least 10 million!" ”

After saying this, Li Jiaozheng said again: "After the lake embankment is repaired, there will be no lake disasters for at least 50 years, and as long as the Yangtze River does not have a big flood that occurs once in 50 years or 100 years, all the provinces around the lake can have two harvests every year, wheat and rice, and only Yuezhou can collect more than 10 million stone of grain!" ”

When Chongzhen heard this, he couldn't help but be moved.

Food security cannot be overstated, there is no agricultural stability!

As the granary of the Ming Dynasty, the water conservancy project in Huguang cannot be overstated.

After pondering for a moment, Chongzhen suddenly said: "Li Jiaozheng, if I recommend to the cabinet that you serve as the imperial history of water control, and raise 20 million taels of silver for you to repair the Dongting Lake embankment, the Yangtze River embankment, the Xiangshui and the Yuanshui embankment, etc., and ask that you will not be flooded again within 50 years, how can you be confident?" ”

Hearing this, the left officials behind Li Jiaozheng were stunned.

How do you say this, I originally came to ask the Holy God for sin, but I ended up asking for this?

Li Jiaozheng said without thinking: "If 20 million taels can be fully allocated, and there is no one tael in between, then the minister can build the Dongting Lake embankment and the Yangtze River embankment to be impregnable, not to mention 50 years, it is a once-in-a-century flood, and it is enough to protect more than 90 million acres of Huguang Province." ”

"You don't have to worry about drifting." Chongzhen waved his hand.

"The silver for controlling the water is drawn from the royal silver number Wuchang branch, and does not handle the feudal division."