In the Fengtian Palace.
Lu Chang, the Minister of Household Affairs, was reporting to Zhu Yuanzhang on a recent disaster relief situation in the Ming Dynasty.
"Your Majesty, the relief situation for the victims in various parts of the Ming Dynasty has been gradually implemented."
"The imperial court allocated 200,000 taels in the Yangzhou area and accommodated more than 100,000 people."
"Now, all the work in Yangzhou has begun to be implemented one by one. More than 100,000 acres of wasteland have been reclaimed, which is already one-tenth of the fertile land in Yangzhou at the beginning."
"It is expected that one-fifth or even more of the fertile land will be restored by the end of this year."
Lu Chang highlighted Yangzhou because Zhu Yuanzhang said that the restoration of production in the Ming Dynasty began in Yangzhou.
In other words, Yangzhou was the model area advertised by Zhu Yuanzhang.
As long as the Yangzhou region is recovering in an orderly manner, it means that production across the country is gradually recovering.
If Zhu Yuanzhang had never been to Yiwu, he would have thought that Yang Xian had done a really good job. He was able to achieve this step in less than three months.
Yang Xian can also be regarded as a capable minister.
But after seeing the prosperity of Shanghu County and the disaster relief work in Yiwu County, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that this was nothing.
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was silent, Lu Chang said again:
"Not only that, in order to encourage the people to work hard in farming, Mr. Yang even took the lead in plowing the land himself."
"In order to restore the fertile land as soon as possible, Mr. Yang didn't sleep for the past three days until he fainted from exhaustion."
"But that's it. Mr. Yang is still shouting slogans about farming, which makes the officials and people around him excited. Only then can production be resumed in a short time."
Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was finally slightly moved. Although Yang Xian's political achievements were average, Zhu Yuanzhang admired this desperate attitude very much.
Suddenly, Zhu Yuanzhang thought of Li Jin drinking in a brothel.
Compared with Yang Xian, Li Jin is simply a bastard and a heinous dog official.
One is tired and fainting on the ground, while the other is dancing in a brothel. There is a world of difference.
Although Li Jin's political achievements were more outstanding, Zhu Yuanzhang did not like Li Jin's work attitude.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang remembered that Li Jin should already be on his way to Beijing, and asked aloud:
"How's the disaster relief going in Yiwu?"
Lu Chang was stunned when he heard this. He praised Yang Xian to the sky, but the emperor didn't say a word?
Instead, he asked about Yiwu. What did this mean?
"Yiwu is almost stable now. After Li Yushi handed over the disaster relief matters, he is already on his way back to Beijing."
"It's just that Li Yushi also served as the magistrate of Shanghu County. If Li Yushi returns to Beijing, will the position of magistrate of Shanghu County remain pending?"
Lu Chang did not dare to hesitate and hurriedly reported to Zhu Yuanzhang everything that happened in Yiwu County.
Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, thought for a moment, and said:
"Shanghu County has a special location. Let us think about it carefully and wait until Li Yushi comes to Beijing."
When they heard that Zhu Yuanzhang brought the topic to Li Jin, everyone looked puzzled.
Li Jin? Who is this? Why have you never heard of it?
It seems that it has been mentioned a lot by Zhu Yuanzhang these days? How could he suddenly be favored by Zhu Yuanzhang?
Among them, Hu Weiyong was good at figuring out what was going on, and Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to attach great importance to Shanghu County.
If given the opportunity, Hu Weiyong felt that he should strive for the position of county magistrate.
Hu Weiyong was a member of the Huaixi Group, and he was also the first group of people to follow Zhu Yuanzhang.
It stands to reason that Hu Weiyong should have risen to prominence with the Huaixi Group long ago, but now he only has an official position with the rank of fourth-grade Guanglu doctor.
Zhu Yuanzhang valued Hu Weiyong very much at the beginning, thinking that he was smart, capable and an effective general.
After Zhu Yuanzhang wiped out Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng, he planned to take Prince Xiao Ming to Yingtian City, and Zhu Yuanzhang handed over this task to Hu Weiyong.
As a result, King Xiao Ming drowned halfway. This incident was naturally the masterpiece of Hu Weiyong.
Hu Weiyong believed that Zhu Yuanzhang did not want King Xiao Ming to go to Jinling alive, so he arranged for people to deliberately scuttle King Xiao Ming's ship on Taihu Lake.
The death of Xiao Ming Wang was created as an accident.
However, it is not possible for others to figure out Zhu Yuanzhang's psychology. Even if Hu Weiyong's guess was correct, Zhu Yuanzhang would not be able to show it.
Hu Weiyong was so smart that he thought he would be able to achieve great success, but he was not promoted for five years.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Hu Weiyong was a fourth-grade official.
Now in the fourth year of Hongwu, Hu Weiyong is still standing still without any promotion.
Hu Weiyong was unhappy and went to see his mentor Li Shanchang, but was scolded by Li Shanchang.
Why is it useless? It is tasteless to eat and a pity to throw away.
Hu Weiyong suddenly realized that this sentence was an allusion between Cao Cao and Yang Xiu.
Li Shanchang's meaning has been very clear, don't try to be smart, otherwise you will be the next Yang Xiu.
Hu Weiyong kept a low profile for four years.
Now, Hu Weiyong seems to have seen an opportunity again, and Shanghu County is his opportunity.
Although the magistrate of Shanghu County is only of the eighth rank, as long as Jian is in the emperor's heart, even the lowest rank will be quickly promoted by the emperor.
...
Prime Minister's Office.
After the morning court, Hu Weiyong went to Li Shanchang's residence in person to pay a visit to his mentor.
In these few years of tempering his talents, although Hu Weiyong was not very talented, he never neglected his relationship with Li Shanchang.
During holidays, Hu Weiyong is definitely the one who actively pays homage to Li Shanchang.
Li Shanchang also admired Hu Weiyong very much. He was smart and capable, and he also knew how to be filial to his teacher.
Although it seems to be in decline now, Li Shanchang, who is familiar with Zhu Yuanzhang's character, knows that these are just Zhu Yuanzhang's tempering of Hu Weiyong.
"Wei Yong pays homage to his mentor!"
When Hu Weiyong saw Li Shanchang, he paid homage directly to teachers and students, which gave Li Shanchang enough face.
After Li Shanchang helped Hu Weiyong up, he asked:
"You usually keep a low profile, why do you have time to come to my place today?"
Hu Weiyong laughed and said:
"Nothing can be hidden from my mentor. I wonder what my mentor thinks of Li Jin and Shanghu County?"
Li Shanchang glanced at Hu Weiyong, his eyes full of admiration.
He knew that he was a smart student, but he didn't expect that in this short period of time, he would be able to see the key to the problem.
"I'm not familiar with Li Jin. I just heard that he is from Fengyang, and he can be considered from Huaixi."
"I just got interested in Shanghu County and haven't started investigating yet. Are you interested in this?"
"I am dissatisfied with my teacher. I want to ask for the post of magistrate of Shanghu County. Can I ask my teacher to help me?"
Hu Weiyong doesn't hide anything. Now that he sees an opportunity, he must fight for it with all his strength.
He decided that Shanghu County was not an easy job. Instead of being unknown in the court, it was better to go to Shanghu County and give it a try.
Li Shanchang gently stroked his beard, took a serious look at Hu Weiyong, nodded and said:
"Well, since you have made up your mind, I will help you."
"Today I am going to ask the higher authority to allow you to serve as the magistrate of Shanghu County."
