In the early morning of the fifth day of the first lunar month of the first year of Wuding, Emperor Daqi's Xingluan left the imperial city of Dongdu and arrived at Zhaoyuan. Except for all the imperial guards, Dongfang Zhu, the chief eunuch of the Department of Ceremonies, Li Sanguang, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, Chen Xin, the magistrate of Wendeng County, and Qiu The county magistrate Lu Xiangsheng and others accompanied him for inspection.
Zhaoyuan is located in the northeast of Shandong and borders the Laizhou Bay of the Bohai Sea to the northwest. The territory is mostly mountainous and hilly, with rolling hills and crisscrossing ravines. The land that can be cultivated is extremely limited. It is a weak county under Dengzhou Prefecture (gold was not mined on a large scale at this time. There are many mountainous areas and limited grain production). Zhaoyuan County, built during the Hongwu period, has a circumference of just over two miles and a population of only 30,000. Among the states and counties under Dengzhou Prefecture, Zhaoyuan is at the bottom.
After Emperor Wu Ding ascended the throne, wars broke out frequently. In order to cope with the protracted war, the imperial army continued to engage in violence. The mass production of firearms, armor and swords led to a sudden increase in the demand for iron ore. After the loss of North Korea's iron ore, Zhaoyuan and Pingdu became important suppliers of Daqi's iron ore.
In addition, Zhaoyuan is also one of the main places of exile for prisoners from all over the world. In the past few months, no less than ten thousand rebels have been executed by the emperor's order, and thousands of criminals have been sent to the Zhaoyuan mines to become cheap miners. . As for the original local mine owners and tooth dealers, they were completely cleaned up, and most of the original miners were absorbed into the various units of the Guards.
Daqi soldiers and horses will soon leave the border to aid Liao Dynasty. Emperor Wu Ding chose Zhaoyuan as the first stop for his inspection after the New Year, which shows that he attaches great importance to this small town.
"Your Majesty."
"Enter!"
Dongfang Zhu gently knocked on the carriage door, and after getting the emperor's permission, he carefully poked half of his head in from the outside. He was indifferent to the extremely fragrant scene in the carriage, and looked at Emperor Wuding with a flattering smile on his face.
"Your Majesty, we are still two miles away from Wanghaimen. The magistrate of Zhaoyuan County and the chief registrar of their county are waiting for us out of the city. The Zhaoyuan garrison officers and civil affairs officers are also here."
Liu Zhaosun lowered his head and glanced at Daphne, who was lying in his arms. The slender beauty was fiddling with her messy blond hair. She pressed her lips together and looked at the tall and mighty Eastern Emperor with a smile. Maybe it was because the car was going too fast just now and the carriage was too fast. There were no shock absorbers installed and the boat was bumpy. She was a little tired.
"Let them wait at Wanghaimen..."
"According to the order."
Dongfang Zhu agreed and was about to retract his head when he heard Emperor Wu Ding suddenly ask:
"I can't remember the name of the magistrate of Zhaoyuan."
In just two months, the Qi army pacified the entire territory of Shandong. The emperor replaced all the chief officials of various states and counties, and carried out a major change in Shandong's officialdom. Unfortunately, the number of civil affairs officials in Qi was far from enough (they were also responsible for managing merchants and mines). In the newly occupied areas, at least half of the chief officials were not from the Kaiyuan system, but were appointed by Jinshi candidates recommended by the people. In the early years of the Qi Dynasty, due to the influence of the land tenure system and wartime economic policies, the selection and appointment of officials were mainly based on their origins, followed by ability and conduct (but those with poor abilities would be killed in the first wave). The main selection was for Jinshi candidates who came from poor families. Become an official - Of course, middle-class and wealthy households who voluntarily donate their property will also be accepted by the emperor.
In short, Liu Zhaosun was not familiar with these officials and did not even know the names of many of them. The newly appointed prefecture officials and county magistrates had almost no direct descendants of the emperor, except for Chen Xin, the magistrate of Wendeng County, and Lu Xiangsheng, the magistrate of Qiu County.
After Dongfang Zhu became the eunuch, he put a lot of effort into studying Shandong's officialdom. He was well-read and knowledgeable, and he was very good at getting things done. Naturally, he knew the names and biographies of officials from various places by heart in case the emperor asked him. Inquire,
"Your Majesty, this man's name is Wen Shibao, named Jiazhi. He is from Nanchang, Jiangxi. He was a Jinshi in the 44th year of Wanli. He was the same year as the magistrate of Lu County."
"I understand. I'll ask Mr. Li to come over later. I have something to ask him."
After waving away the Eastern Blessing, Emperor Wu Ding fell into deep thought. This trip to Zhaoyuan was complicated and the schedule was very intensive. In addition to inspecting factories, mines and salt fields, he also had to teach the Portuguese missionary who was talking nonsense, his high priest, let this person A young man knows what to say and what not to say.
"Does His Majesty the Emperor think there is any difference between European women and Chinese women?"
The female assassin of the Brotherhood nestled in the emperor's arms and spoke blunt and broken plastic Chinese.
She is currently learning Yiyang Opera from Chen Yuanyuan, and is learning Shangqiu dialect from Henan Province from Yang Qing'er. The mixture of these accents makes her look neither fish nor fowl.
The emperor visited various states and counties, traveling thousands of miles along the way, and was tired of traveling and traveling. He was worried that the body and bones of the West Queen and the Concubine could not bear it, so he did not let Yang Qing'er and Chen Yuanyuan accompany him.
A few days before leaving, Daphne repeatedly asked the queen and the concubine to ask the two oriental women to intercede with the emperor so that they could go on tour with the emperor and take care of the saint's daily life. Yang Qing'er and Chen Yuanyuan knew that no matter what, this Portuguese No woman would pose any threat to her status, so she readily agreed to Daphne.
Along the way, the beauty of Europa acted very proactively in front of the emperor. Her blond hair and blue eyes were charming and graceful. Her beauty is full of girlish childishness.
Once, when Daphne leaned over to pour tea for the emperor, Liu Zhaosun clearly saw a black hair on the exposed back of the neck under the high-raised hair, stretching along the cervical spine to the back. This kind of wilderness that can only be seen in European women immediately ignited the emperor's manic heart... Some romance writers in later generations used Emperor Taizu's tour as the theme and created such works as "Haizhu Princess" and "Emperor Wuding incognito" Excellent works such as "Private Interview" and "All the Way East" are discussed later and will not be mentioned for now.
Liu Zhaosun listened and said perfunctorily: "Whether it is a woman from the Celestial Dynasty or a woman from Europe, after they go to bed, they are both wonderful and indescribable."
The translation of this sentence is that no matter east, west, north, south or center, it will be the same after turning off the lights.
"Your Majesty, why do you have to wait until after you go to bed?"
Only then did the emperor notice that his clothes were disheveled, and when he was about to straighten them out, the female assassin from the Brotherhood pounced on him again, and the carriage began to bump and sway.
Amid the dizzying swaying of the waves, Emperor Wu Ding once wondered whether Daphne's desire for survival was related to the exile of his fellow countryman Francisco.
The high priest was convicted for his words, which made the female assassin who left her hometown deeply feel the cruelty of the Eastern power struggle.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, can you... please spare him?"
"I...I pardon him."
~~~~~
The minister of the Ministry of Industry stood beside the emperor's carriage with an embarrassed look on his face and waited for half an hour. It was not until the carriage stopped swaying that Eunuch Dongfang came up and said, "Master Li, it's okay. We will take you to see the emperor."
The emperor's dragon robe looked a little messy, and a red-haired Yi woman next to him had a charming face. Li Sanguang didn't dare to raise his head and look more. The emperor coughed twice, and said:
"Li Shilang, I heard that Zhaoyuan only has three city gates and no west gate. You are well-informed. Can you tell me what's going on?"
Zhaoyuan County is not a small town and has only three city gates, namely Ququan Gate in the east, Tongxian Gate in the south and Wanghai Gate in the north.
Li Sanguang followed Xu Xiake around the country in the past few years. He studied the customs of various places and was familiar with the art of Feng Shui. He immediately replied.
"Back to Your Majesty, there are actually four gates in Zhaoyuan. In the 21st year of Jiajing period, in order to facilitate the people's entry and exit, another gate was opened in the southeast direction, named Yunlu Gate."
"Oh?" Daphne stretched out her hand to pull on the dragon robe, but the emperor pushed her away, signaling not to cause trouble.
"According to the county dragon, turn left and Dui Geng enters the head. The Kan Yu family used the urgent pulse to lead the evil to be opened. The old city was built without the west gate."
In Feng Shui Yili, "dragon" refers to mountains. The so-called "Xian Long turns left and Dui Geng enters the head" probably means that the mountains coming from the west are moving too fast and are facing the city directly.
"If you open the west gate, you will face the mountain when you leave the city. This is a taboo in Feng Shui. Therefore, since the city was built in Zhaoyuan, there has been no west gate."
Liu Zhaosun was studying Feng Shui Yili recently. Hearing what Li Sanguang said, he suddenly became interested.
Li Sanguang continued to explain:
"Although the west gate is not open, it is still affected by the evil spirit. It is said that "folk customs are rough and tough and difficult to control." In the 35th year of Wanli, the magistrate Tian Jiuqiu ordered people to shovel the cliffs in the west of the city, store water and plant trees to soften them. Huagang, from then on the county's prison litigation decreased, and the literary style gradually flourished, and a group of Kejia scribes emerged. People at the time praised: "The good folk customs of Hushan have been cut off, and many dragons and waters have been attracted to Kejia." "
Emperor Wu Ding put his hands on his hands and laughed: "It's interesting, but this Feng Shui technique can resolve the evil spirits, but it cannot save the people."
The new wind was fierce, and the convoy drove slowly through the dilapidated post road. The scenery on both sides of the post road did not feel the approach of spring at all. The fields along the way cracked with cracks as thin as a finger. Only the farmland near the Dagu River still had some green seedlings.
In Shandong Province, only Wendeng County falls under Kaiyuan's sphere of influence, so it was developed earlier and was completely farmed according to Liaodong Tunbao standards. Construction of water conservancy projects, reclamation and fertilization are needed to prevent farming from being abandoned. The water conservancy projects in other states and counties have been abandoned for a long time. Last year, floods, droughts, locust plagues, and plagues hit us repeatedly. We also encountered continuous wars. Although the land was not harvested for thousands of miles, famine has indeed occurred in many states and counties. On the verge of collapse.
~~~~~
The magistrate of Zhaoyuan knelt in front of the carriage. Liu Zhaosun stared at the fat man with a big belly, wondering why he could grow so fat in the year of great disaster.
"Thanks to the favor of Emperor Wu, the 13 iron ore and gold mines in Zhaoyuan County have sufficient miners. All the mines are non-stop and can produce iron ore every day..."
"Wen Zhixian can rest assured that more people will be assigned to mine this year."
Wen Zhixian held up a thick stack of accounts, and Liu Zhaosun flipped through a few pages, which were densely filled with the specific daily mining numbers of each mine.
The emperor threw the accounts to Li Sanguang and asked Sanguang to review them carefully. Li Sanguang inherited Xu Xiake's true story of finding gold, finding gold, extracting copper and smelting iron. After losing his arm, he deeply understood the importance of his master Xu Xiake. With his own teachings and tireless study of the art of geomantic omen and feng shui, he became a master of his generation, able to rob tombs casually with a Luoyang shovel.
Li Sanguang had considerable experience in the water washing method and the burning stone method (note 1). He took the account book and immediately began to calculate the surplus ore of each mine based on the above ore output, and initially judged whether the mine owner was involved in corruption or deception. .
The emperor suddenly said:
"Is Francisco dead?"
Note: 1. Burn the ore with burning wood, and then pour cold water on it. The ore will expand and contract with heat and burst into pieces. Then grind it into powder and sift it with water in a bowl. This was the main method used by ancient people to mine gold.
