The land bordering Yuzhou and Tongzhou, along the Yujiang River.
After Zhang Jingrui left Xuandu, this was the first stop he arrived at. Since he wanted to build a large canal, he naturally had to divert water into it.
He has almost determined the location of the mouth of the canal, which is the starting point of the big river canal.
At this time, Zhang Jingrui was standing near an ancient river. He was accompanied by not only Han Ju, Wang Zhidong and others, but also the local county magistrate.
Having studied the terrain here clearly, Zhang Jingrui pointed not far away and said: "This ancient river is connected to the branch of the Yujiang River. At the branch, a large canal mouth will be built. I have given the detailed map of the canal mouth to Mr. Wang, but I gave my explanation a few days ago, why haven’t I seen the civilian husband yet?”
What he said was that he asked the local magistrate.
"This..." The latter hesitated for a moment and subconsciously looked at Han Ju.
Obviously, he would not listen to Zhang Jingrui, but to Han Ju.
When Han Ju saw this, he coughed and said, "Didn't you listen to Master Zhang? Why don't you go to the county to recruit?"
"Yes, yes, I will take care of it now." To Han Ju, the county magistrate nodded and bowed.
Of course Zhang Jingrui was aware of this problem, but he had nothing to say, as long as Han Ju and Wang Zhidong assisted him.
After walking around again, he also came to a hillside outside the village.
Standing here, you can see the set river route and nearby fields. But inadvertently, Zhang Jingrui discovered a dark red plant.
This plant is like a palm-sized tree, with roots and stems, but with a small rope wrapped around it.
Seeing this, he couldn't help but wonder: "This is..."
Seeing this, Han Ju casually explained: "This is winter red. It is a kind of herb unique to our country and is worth a small amount of money. The small rope on it means that someone has discovered it first. When it grows, villagers will come." If you take it and others steal it, it is an immoral act.”
"Oh? The folk customs here are so simple?" Zhang Jingrui said in disbelief.
"Hmph." Han Ju sneered: "Not only here, our country's customs are like this. People pay attention to credibility. Once this little rope is tied, other villagers will never take it. Unlike some places, the folk customs are aggressive and advocating Force, no etiquette at all.”
His insinuation made Zhang Jingrui laugh out loud.
That afternoon, Zhang Jingrui and a group of Xuanguo officials held a detailed discussion in the local county government.
At the scene, there were many people with very high official positions, and the county magistrate was not even qualified to come in.
Zhang Jingrui was the first to speak: "After the civilians are recruited, we can immediately start the work according to the detailed plan and clean up the canal mouth first. But before that, I would like to request an allocation of three million taels of silver from the Xuanguo court. I hope Mr. Han can submit it as soon as possible." , so as not to delay the construction period.”
"What did you say?" Han Ju frowned and said, "The construction hasn't started yet, and you're asking for three million taels?"
"This is just preparation for starting construction, and it is also the first batch of allocations. If we want to build a large canal, three million taels will definitely not be enough." Zhang Jingrui said truthfully.
"Hmph, it's easily three million taels. Although our treasury is full, we can't just give it to you casually." Han Ju said, "According to what Mr. Zhang said, I can't agree to it."
"How can we build fortifications without gold and silver?" Zhang Jingrui asked.
"It's just the mouth of the canal. There's no need to build such a big project, right? I've seen Mr. Zhang's detailed plans. I think everything can be kept simple," Han Ju said.
As he spoke, he looked at Wang Zhidong, "What do you think, Mr. Wang?"
"This..." Wang Zhidong hesitated.
But before he could speak, Zhang Jingrui already said: "The mouth of this canal is the most important place. Otherwise, if the fortifications are not perfect, once the embankment breaks, it will cause disaster to several counties!"
"Master Zhang, don't be alarmist. I think the dams we built before are in good condition. In my opinion, it's better to save some gold and silver and just repair them." Han Ju said.
"Absurd!" Regarding this matter, Zhang Jingrui stood up and said seriously: "This canal mouth must be built in strict accordance with my requirements!"
"Master Zhang, do you want to be arbitrary?" Han Ju's face also darkened.
Hearing this, Zhang Jingrui took a deep breath and then said: "In that case, I won't practice any more! Let everything be done according to your wishes!"
"What do you mean?" Han Ju suddenly became unhappy.
"It's not interesting." Zhang Jingrui said directly: "Since everyone has such an attitude, how can we help? This is simply an impossible task. I will resign to King Xuan tomorrow."
As soon as he finished speaking, he walked away.
Looking at his back, Han Ju was very angry on the spot. He stood up and said, "This, this, this! This is unreasonable! This Jingrui is simply too much!"
Wang Zhidong said quickly: "Oh, we all have different opinions. We can discuss it. Master Han directly rejected his opinion, which is really inappropriate."
Zhou Andao: "This Jingrui is quite stubborn. He insists on repairing this canal so carefully, which consumes a lot of manpower and financial resources."
"That's right. His words cost three million taels. How can I not doubt him?" Han Ju said.
"Okay, okay, let's discuss this matter again, and we can't really offend Zhang Jingrui to death." Wang Zhidong said to smooth things over.
The next day, Zhang Jingrui began to stay behind closed doors.
This made Han Ju very angry again.
A few days later, the first batch of civilians were recruited. After some discussion, the Xuanguo officials decided to build the canal mouth as usual, and there would be no major incident.
At the fortification site, hundreds of civilians have gathered, each carrying hoes, shovels and other tools. There are also local officers and soldiers responsible for supervising the work.
Everything is ready, just waiting for the official order.
But when Han Ju and others found Zhang Jingrui, the latter refused on the spot without leaving any room.
To put it simply, he is the main person in charge of this large river canal, and all fortifications require his signature.
If he doesn't sign, the following can't mess around, otherwise it will be started without permission.
Why is Zhang Jingrui like this? It's because he doesn't want to take the blame. Once he signs the contract and it's not repaired, he will be the first to be held accountable. Not only King Xuan, but also Xiao Yuan will have to cause big trouble for him!
What's more, all the officials of Xuanguo didn't listen to him, so this fortification was obviously impossible.
He simply wrote a letter to Xiao Yuan and King Xuan respectively, resigning on this matter.
And if he didn't sign, Han Ju would undoubtedly be furious, but there was nothing he could do.
This fortification was just dragged on.
A few days later, the letter reached King Xuan. At the court meeting hall, he learned that the construction had not started yet and that Zhang Jingrui had to resign. King Xuan was somewhat angry.
Yao Tingyu stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I heard that the fortifications have been postponed because of the differences between Master Zhang and Master Han. If this continues, it may be difficult to build the canal."
King Xuan frowned.
