If it rains like this for a few days in the rich grain-producing land in the south of the Yangtze River, it will not only damage the business of Guanya Bureau, but also reduce the grain output in Suzhou and Hangzhou. There will be no food in Yingtian. When there are more disaster victims, Yingtian will also be Not stable.
He can't be an idle prince, so he can't just ignore it.
Zhu Bai thought for a while and asked Tu Yazhang: "How do you transport official food now?"
Tu Yazhang: "The official rations of our Ming Dynasty were transported by sea, river and land. The military rations in the north flowed from the river to Tongzhou or Liaodong, or from the river to Huai, Huang, and to Yan and Qin. The rest were transported by land to the Grand Canal. , and then transported to Yingtian by the canal. Sea transportation is military transportation, because it transports military supplies. The rest is civilian transportation, because it is taxes paid to Yingtian from various places."
Zhu Bai frowned: In other words, this section of Changsu and Hangzhou relies on private transportation.
When Lao Zhu set the capital in Yingtian, he also considered that it would be close to the wealthy areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and would be convenient for transporting grain. If water transportation is not feasible, then land transportation is available. Anyway, the state governments have to deal with it themselves, so they have not spent any effort to dredge the canal.
It must be unclogged, but it will definitely not work if the Bureau of Officials and Teeth Bureau comes to unclog it. He will not be taken advantage of.
Zhu Bai said: "Bring paper and pen."
He took the paper and pen, scrawled on a piece of paper, stamped his seal, put it in an envelope, and handed it to Fugui: "Have someone hurry up and send it to my father. Once I get my father's approval, I will come back." Waiting in Changzhou."
We will set off now, hurry up, and arrive at Yingtian in the evening.
Fugui was busy going out.
Zhu Bai said to Tu Yazhang: "I asked you to sort out the list. Have you sorted it out?"
Tu Ya Chang replied hurriedly: "Yes, yes, there are all kinds of directories."
------
Zhu Bai came out of the Guanya Bureau and went straight back to Changzhou Fuyamen.
When Magistrate Sun saw that Zhu Bai had finally returned, he hurriedly called for tea and snacks.
Zhu Bai smiled and said while eating snacks: "Master Sun, this time I am here to inspect. Firstly, I want to see the operation of the official dental bureau. Secondly, I also want to see how the county school is running on behalf of my father."
Magistrate Sun bowed hurriedly and sighed: "Oh, the state school has been opened a long time ago. The county magistrates only said that there is no money, so the county school has not been opened yet."
Zhu Bai nodded slightly: "It doesn't matter, let's call all the magistrates here, and I will hold a meeting for them."
Magistrate Sun was muttering in his heart, but he did not dare to disobey his order. He only said: "The fastest will not arrive until noon tomorrow."
Zhu Bai: "It doesn't matter."
Magistrate Sun hurriedly asked the Yamen servant to go down and inform.
Zhu Bai waited for him to come back and said, "I wonder how many big merchants there are in Changzhou?"
Magistrate Sun said: "There are quite a few."
Zhu Bai: "Call all the merchants who have an annual profit of more than two hundred taels and whose houses and fields exceed five acres. I want to have tea with them. Where can I find a good teahouse in Changzhou city, preferably close to the canal."
Magistrate Sun said: "The Mingxiang Building next to the Dongcheng Canal is relatively quiet."
Zhu Bai: "Okay, then Mingxiang Tower. See you at Mingxiang Tower tomorrow at noon."
Magistrate Sun had no choice but to go out again and ask the government officials to notify the big merchants. Then he sighed secretly: They say that this King of Hunan is a "little king of hell" and is very capable of tormenting people.
At this moment, he had only sat down for less than half a stick of incense when he came in, and he had already been tossing him in and out several times.
Zhu Bai waited for him to come in, smiled and said, "Master Sun, please remember to come tomorrow." Then he left.
Although a steady stream of news about Zhu Bai came back to the palace, Lao Zhu was still a little surprised when he received Zhu Bai's letter.
This guy can even rob bandits, so what else can he do to us?
He opened the letter and saw that Zhu Bai used those peach-character characters to talk about the blockage of the canal and the blockage of water transportation, and the easy waterlogging along the coast. He then proposed a solution and asked for Lao Zhu's consent.
According to Zhu Bai's past style, he should have told Zhu Biao about this in advance, and then instigated Zhu Biao to ask Lao Zhu for instructions.
This time, probably because it was urgent and because he was afraid that he was not in the palace and the message was wrong in the middle, Zhu Bai reported it directly to Lao Zhu for the first time.
Lao Zhu smiled: Boy, we did read you right. You didn't go out just to eat, drink and have fun, you went out to do important things.
Then he immediately replied to the letter and asked someone to escort the messenger back to Changzhou.
Zhu Bai stayed in his special room in Guanya Bureau at night.
The person he sent to Yingtian to deliver the letter has returned now.
Zhu Bai rewarded him with five taels of silver and told him to rest, and then unfolded Zhu Yuanzhang's reply.
It is an imperial edict of appointment.
Zhu Bai smiled: Lao Zhu is indeed the person who understands him best and is the wisest.
-----
The next day, Zhu Bai arrived at three o'clock.
He not only called Sun Yong but also Wang Qianhu. Then he found a large seat by the window, ordered a lot of snacks, and ate leisurely while waiting.
When those businessmen heard that King Xiang called them, they dared not to come.
At noon, more than a dozen people came, and they all stood by the door in a dignified manner, not daring to come out.
Zhu Bai asked Sun Yong: "Are you all here?"
Sun Yong looked at it and said, "It's all ready."
Zhu Bai raised his chin to Tu Yazhang: "Here, read your list."
Then Chief Tu Ya opened a book and began to call names.
A total of twenty-one were ordered, but there were only fifteen here.
Zhu Bai smiled at Sun Yong: "The prefect doesn't know enough about the merchants in Changzhou."
Sun Yong just wiped his sweat and said: "Yes, the lower official is incompetent."
For those few, it’s not that they don’t scream, it’s that they can’t scream.
And although these people are doing business, they are not registered merchants in their household registration, so it makes sense that they don't call them.
Zhu Bai silently took out his belt and said to Chief Tu Ya: "Come on, thank you very much. Chief Tu Ya will ask someone to invite the rest of the people on the list."
Another half of the incense stick time has passed, and the rest has expired.
Zhu Bai silently looked at the next few carefully and remembered them in his heart.
Sun Yong secretly complained in his heart: This little King of Hell could have come up with this list to call people from the beginning, but he had to let him do it.
After going back and forth, I found out his details and the details of the merchant.
Zhu Bai said with a smile: "Come on, come on, those who come later will sit on my left, and those who come first will sit on my right. Let's talk while drinking tea and eating snacks. Ask the waiters to bring more chairs. Everyone sit down."
The waiter ran down to move the chair and whispered: "It's really strange today. All the big families in the city are surrounding this child like a grandson, and the prefect is afraid to show his anger."
Many people heard about it and wanted to come and see what kind of child he was.
Fugui and the others had already guarded the entrance of the stairs to prevent anyone from coming up.
So spectators can only look downstairs.
Zhu Bai smiled: "Don't be nervous, everyone. I invite you here today because I want to ask for your opinions on the operation of the Guanya Bureau."
The wealthy businessmen all smiled apologetically: "Very good, very good. No objection."
"His Royal Highness is wise and powerful, and leads well."
In fact, I was secretly saying: Damn it, the Chief of the Tooth Bureau is standing next to me. How dare we say anything. Otherwise, there will be no need to do business in the future.
Besides, this is your Zhu family’s exclusive business, okay? Don’t we all just have to accept it?
