NO.2 XueyanHu

This Huang Zonghan was said to be a very capable man, but his ethics and family management were criticized badly. After his arrival, it is said that he asked Chun Shou for a bribe of forty thousand tares of silver, but Chun Shou did not buy his account.

The canal was changing its ways. Since the sea ban had been opened, and river submerged and Hongyang annihilated, Jiangsu's Su, Song and Tai were adapted to sea transportation, and Zhejiang was a trial run. Chun Shou was not only the secretary of state, but also the acting governor, so he had to personally take care of the business.

Grain transport Cao, the original is to ship grain meaning. For many years, it was carried by rivers, first the Yellow River, then the canal, and the canal had many changes. It was not until the reign of Kangxi that Jin Fu and Jackie Chan, famous officials of river control, opened the "Middle River" successively. The canal lasted more than one thousand years and was finally completed.

Starting from Hangzhou in the south and reaching the capital in the north, this waterway runs through Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Hebei provinces, with a total length of more than 2,000 li. It brought 150 years of good fortune to the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, the situation of the Yellow River is getting worse and worse. In some places, the bottom of the river is covered with silt, which is higher than the ridge of people's roof. It is all restricted by two embankments. And the canal by the Yellow River tired, in the late years of Jiaqing, almost became a "terminal disease". So Daoguang early years have the discussion of shipping.

At the end of the reign of Jiaying, there was a man named Qi Yanhuai who wrote an article called The Discussion of the South Monks on Maritime Transportation, in which he asserted in a detailed and detailed way that "all should be well prepared in one move", but the local officials were not willing to change it easily. It was not until Tao Wenyi Gong of Anhua, Hunan Province, who was transferred to Jiangsu by the governor of Anhui Province, made innovations to eliminate the deep-rooted evils of salt and grain handling that Qi Yanhuai's proposal had a chance to be tested.

The experiment was presided over by Tao Shu himself, who set up a "General Bureau of Maritime Transportation" in Shanghai. He personally hired 1,000 "sand ships" specifically carrying Guanto beans and wheat, and dozens of sea ships named "Sanbuxiang", to transport more than 1.5 million stone rice to Tianjin in two separate times. The result was a great success, saving time and money, with minimal damage to rice quality. The shippers who carried the grain grain to the north and the beans to the back had always carried the grain grain to the south to "return to the air", and the sea ships to the north to "return to the air". Now they are earning more money for nothing, and the shippers who made contributions are "awarded to Ding Dai" as an official, which really makes everyone happy.

But in the second year, such good deeds were no longer done! River traffic has resumed. Because, I do not know how many people rely on this canal to exploit the people, they do not want to innovate!

The disadvantages of grain transportation are inseparable from the disadvantages of grain expropriation. The power and responsibility of grain expropriation belong to the prefectures and counties. The official seals of these seven products, especially called "great masters", were in charge of two important things: the name of punishment and the valley of money. Please "Shaoxing Master" also at least two: "penal master" and "Qian Gu Master". The county master's fame and fortune depend on these two men.

Qian Gu's skill lies not in his abacus, but in his ability to understand the situation and deal with several kinds of people. The first kind is book handling, which is handed down from generation to generation. Each person has a book in his hand. What is the allowance?

It's all written down in this book. It's a secret. The second is the "special people", they received food, have a special name, do official gentleman's family "class rice", "material rice", the two kinds of meters can not be more, the number of how much, otherwise there will be trouble. There is also a kind of "suit rice", which is to be careful of the food of the pettifogger who is not litigious for nothing. All in all, this word, the "special people" who are wicked, domineering and difficult to deal with, must be perfunctory, underweight, coarse beige, and still be accepted. Even virtual to "grain string" - food voucher, buy a quiet two words.

Some people take advantage of, of course, some people suffer losses, all kinds of exploitation and consumption, plus their own benefits, all out of the good small people, this is called "float", the most "black" place, "float" to more than half of the positive amount, the na stone meters, at least to pay a stone five. Therefore, there were so-called "contractors", who either colluded with officials or were able to abduct officials. It was much cheaper for a small household to entrust them to "pay" than to go to the grain cabinet to pay by themselves.

The third is the men on the ships. The fleet ships were all official ships, rated at more than 10,000, but there were only 6,000. They were stationed in different parts of the canal. This is the Ranger organization "green Gang" of the ceremony. The stewards and sailors in the gang are called Gang Ding, among which there are Tun Ding, Qi Ding and Jian Ding. Tining was the actual leader, and even the general manager and general manager who cared for the grain were under his command. Prefectures Yamen open silo Zheng grain, grain households pay, cao ship opened, acceptance loading, known as "exchange". It would have been a very smooth thing to collect grain and receive it at the same time, but then there would have been no tricks on board. Their first trick is "Look at beige." Since the governor of grain transport required to "plate grain" to count the grain when passing through Huai 'an, and when departing from Tongzhou to put the grain into the warehouse, the clerk of the warehouse should check the quality of the rice. If there was any discrepancy, the Cao ship was responsible for it. Therefore, they should check the beige color when receiving the grain. However, there is no standard for the quality of beige just by looking at it, so you can be picky. If you look at it from beginning to end, it is either that the beige is too miscellaneous, or that it is not dry enough to be accepted.

Generally speaking, within ten days of the opening of the warehouse, all the warehouses would be full. If they were not transported to the ship at this time, the subsequent grain households would have no warehouse to store rice in, and would be bound to stop collecting. It doesn't matter if the grain households wait for a day or two, and the people just complain. After a long time, if they lose their jobs when they are abandoned, and they have to stick up their money, they will naturally have to quarrel. This is called "making a racket", which is a very serious matter, and local officials will often be punished severely. If it is a corrupt official, this problem will not be able to stir up civil unrest, but also a fatal disaster.

Therefore, Qian Gu Shi Ye, will command the book to do and "see beige" flag Ding speak Jin head, if not down, and the committee, afraid of missing the deadline, urge the departure, those who help Ding don't ask for enough not enough, just set sail. At this time, the county can be bitter, must try to transport the grain rice, catch up all the way to make up, known as "with the help of exchange".

Fortunately, a compromise was reached, and the grain grain was agreed and a receipt called "Customs clearance" should be issued. At this time, Tining came forward and first discussed the "private expense", which was his personal "benefit". After the private expense was agreed, the "public expense" was discussed, which was the benefit of the whole help. These look at the extortion of beige, as well as Dingding private expenses, through the help of public expenses, natural wool out of the sheep, by the floating collection to pay.

After that, it was time to help Ding to be extorted. First of all, it was to "cross the Huai River" to submit documents to the court. As usual, there were all kinds of bad rules. Once this pass is over, along the passing gate across the dam, everywhere to send red envelopes, about a dozen silver for each boat. Finally, when they arrived at Tongzhou, they had a better arrangement. They had to submit the documents for four yamen, which had a special agent. Each ship had thirteen taels of silver, and twelve taels of silver were laid out in four yamen. When the corn rice landed and was put into the barn, the number of people holding out their hands for money was not clear. It would cost thirty to fifty taels. So help Ding extortion state county, nothing but disobedience.

Bangding's suffering was not only this, but also bullied along the way. In the canal, when encountering ships carrying copper and lead, as well as wooden row, we must be careful. These ships are famous in the canal for being reckless. If they hit and sank the cao ships, they could escape, but Bangding would have to lose everything they had to pay for them. It is not what the secular call "grass".

Once effective, but with a deep habit, used to change the South Cao sea, finally Xianfeng first year of the old story. This is for two reasons, the first is people, the second is ground.

This man was Lu Jianying, governor of Liangjiang. He was from Hubei Province. He was very capable and good at making friends. He is quite interested in stepping into Tao Shu, leaving a political achievement. Tao Shu salt change method, Huaibei travel great effect, and Huainan is still, Lu Jianying in Huainan after Tao unfinished work. Grain transport is also the case, he got the support of the Ministry of Finance Sun Ruizhen, ready to resume shipping.

As luck would have it, the canal went wrong and burst in the north of Fengxian County near Xuzhou. "The whole Hebei province began to flood Weishan, Zhaoyang and other lakes from Huashan and Qishan in Peixian County with water flowing out, and the canal locks, DAMS and dikes were flooded." On the one hand, the court allocated huge funds for rescue, on the other hand, it also strengthened its determination to use sea transportation.

It is hereby agreed that Lu Jianying, Governor of Liangjiang, Yang Wending, Governor of Jiangsu, and Chang Dachun, governor of Zhejiang, shall make joint plans for the maritime transport. Results It was decided that the rice of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Zhenjiang and Taicang in Jiangsu Province should be transported by sea in the second year of Xianfeng. Zhejiang is a trial, but there are repeated, not settled.

During this period, Chun Shou was transferred from Hunan Province to Zhejiang Province. At the beginning of the court, Huang Zonghan was in charge of a province of Zhejiang justice minister, generally known as the "department", such as Chun Shou arrived, he has been transferred. The next day, the Hong army from Guangxi to Hunan, Hubei tight, Qing Emperor Wenzong was good at "stealing" Chang Dachun, transferred to the governor of Hubei. The governor of Zhejiang was appointed by Chun Shou.

Chun Shou's luck is too bad. In this year's Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, the provincial capital, and the neighboring states and counties, since May, there had been little rainfall and drought, which caused two major disadvantages to him. The first was that he could not afford to collect money and grain; the second was that the shallow river was not conducive to boating and affected grain transport.

The sea transportation in Jiangsu was very smooth. In March, grain grains of 320,000 stone brown rice and 27,000 stone white rice were safely transported to the north from four provinces and one prefecture. The cao rice in Zhejiang, however, has not been shipped until September, which is an unprecedented phenomenon.

Before that, in May, when the Qianjiang River was suffering from a drought, for military purposes, the governors of each province made a small adjustment. Zhang Liang, governor of Yunnan, assigned Hunan Province to Huang Zonghan, governor of Gansu Province. He did not want to go to Yunnan, after some activities, quickly transferred to Zhejiang. But a year of kung fu, when I returned to Hangzhou, has not Xibi.

After the acting governor, Chun Shou, was handed over, he continued to serve as his treasurer. It is said that on the first day when he received Chun Shou, Huang Zonghan hinted that Chun Shou's "gauze hat" was in his hand. If he wanted to keep it, he should send forty thousand tatares of silver as soon as possible. Huang Zonghan dared to blackmail, because Chun Shou in the grain transport, has been delayed, if the boss will speak for him. An act of God can be justified, punishable, also minor. Otherwise, the delay in the "day thin right supply" will be severely punished.

Chun Shou ignored him, so Huang Zonghan thought of a very vicious way to "whole" people. He believed that this year's grain shipment was too late and the grain ships could not be "cleared" according to the time limit, which would affect the next year's grain shipment. On this reasonable statement on the whole longevity.

The heart has been calculated, the surface does not show, the Chun Shou please come to the hospital to talk about business, asked about the situation.

A mention of this above, Chun Shou himself first nervous, "back to the adult," he said, "this year, Zhejiang grain transport, very how to bear punishment!"

"Who will take the punishment?" Huang asked deliberately.

"The department, of course." They answered the governor and, as usual, called themselves "the Department." "It is not a matter of punishment." Huang Zonghan used this sentence as a foreshadowing, but he immediately put it aside, "Please tell me what the reason for the delay is." "Naturally because of the drought and shallow water, the river dry silt. It has been announced." "The drought will come after May. May I ask, according to the rule, when does this province sail, when does it 'cross the Huai River', and when does it 'return'?" Three questions in a row, the Chun Shou blocked dumb. As a rule, the fleet vessels from Jiangxi and Zhejiang were to sail only before the end of February. The rules change over time, but never before April. Now the autumn wind has begun to blow, and only half of the voyage is underway. How can I say?

He hesitated to answer, and Huang Zonghan did not open his mouth, but forced him to speak. Chun Shou helpless, had to answer: "Adults also in Zhejiang, cao to help the accumulation of evils, what do not understand? There are many different ways of using the grain. For example, if you bring some private goods with you?"

Chun Shou's words are not finished, Futai will be a nail touched over: "The world is generally black crow, Cao Ding provinces are the same."

"This year is a little different, because we were instructed to discuss the shipping of the South grain grain, and the grain grain crew was reluctant to watch, which is one of the reasons for the delay."

"Wait and see what? Huang Zonghan asked aloud, "To discuss the handling of sea transportation is a matter for the new Cao next year. What is it to do with this year?"

Zhen Zhen has the word to ask, Chun Shou language jam, since the next year has this change of discussion, Cao Ding since can not help, so that drum not up, but as the department of the house, acting house, these places are the supervisor urge, otherwise it is dereliction of duty, so Chun shou without the same solution.

"What now? Huang Zonghan again said in a sad tone, "Everything must be done in a general way!"

'Yes, yes! Chun Shou quickly replied, "Si Li tried to urge, always in this month, will be able to ship all."

"A few months?" "To tell you the truth, I'm not quite sure about this.

In any case, the grain transport this year has been managed by the elder brother since the transfer of his predecessor. I will discuss what to do afterwards."

The first is to say that we do not know much about the situation of grain transport so far, and when we do, we will discuss it differently, leaving room for change. The second is the word "first-hand manager", which indicates the full responsibility. Chun Shou originally is "on the three flags" childe brother, these years in the outside experience. The habit of the hakama has been greatly reduced, and the risk of the people, but do not know, where to take notice of Huang Zonghan's deep meaning? Also only when the tone of Futai moderate, nothing serious, so repeatedly accepted, quit the hospital, hurriedly summoned his men, to discuss how to try to take the ship, can start as soon as possible, as long as a Zhejiang province, the responsibility is much lighter. So Chun Shou immediately called the governor grain road and other handling grain transport officials, one side announced the meaning of futai, one side exhausted hoses to everyone "each BingTianliang", be sure to in the shortest period, try to let the cao ship all out. Other things are OK, the trouble is that the lake belongs to eight gang, Zhejiang Huchuan prefecture is the southeast plaid area, rated grain grain 388,000 stone, the matter is very important, but these eight gang Cao ships, none of them can move. Chun Shou to see the situation is serious, had to personally go to Huzhou to supervise and urge.

Huzhou transport trough, there are tributaries of the canal, east along the south bank of Taihu Lake, into the Jiangsu Province border of the Grand Canal. This kind of communication is less than one hundred li long, but through Shuanglin, Nanxun two towns, for the best. The Yin Fu in Nanxun, known as "four lions and eight elephants", is well-known in China. Upon hearing this, they would do their best as hosts by donating to the class as usual. Although they were not as extravagant as the salt merchants and river workers, they were far from the ordinary noble families.

In a garden run by a famous artisan, he sat in a sumptuous feast with a mixture of water and land, and began the banquet as usual. All the rich families in Nanxun had their own opera troupe, all of which were exquisitingly dressed. At this time, they gathered the elite and played famous music, while Chun Shou was not happy, but had to be perfunctorily. But how could it have rained for three days and three nights, so that the canal was full, so that the stranded ship could take advantage of the west wind and sail eastward?

Thinking of the ship, Chun Shou could not sit still anyway. He apologized profusely to his master, pleading "ill health," and returned to the regulus.

There were already many people waiting in the shafts. These people are divided into three categories, one is the Cao gang in the "ling Yun Qian general", nominally is the escort military attache, according to the original tradition, mostly selected by the military officers, one is the temporary escort officer, most of the candidate states and counties, go the way to drill into this assignment, how many words "adjust", another is the real brain in each gang: "Jian Ding".

The status of Jian Ding was a small soldier, which was a system evolved from the Ming Dynasty Wei Suo. Small soldier and two products big member of the Taiwan, do not know how different the identity? Normally, it is difficult to even see Chun Shou, but now they do not care about these officials! To try to let the cao ship start, not to find the pointed Ding to talk, to negotiate a practical way, so Chun Shou commanded, one.

When the shafts were borrowed from a rich man's two-room house, it was already night, and a burning oil lamp was lit in the open hall, illuminating the sad face of Chun Shou! He sat in the middle of the mahogany kang bed, on the "grand chair" of the pear-and-flower trees on both sides. The escorts of the alternate state and county were seated. The thousand and Tsim Ting had only standing room. In the heavy atmosphere of complete silence, Chun Shou opened his hoarse voice and said: "This year's grain grain, in the end can be shipped out, shipped out?"

They all looked at each other, each looking at the other's face. The one who was best qualified to answer was Tingding, but it was too important for them to do so.

"I beat my chest before the podium. In a month, I will sail all the ships. Looking at the facts now, I think I was out of line. Today we must first set a purpose, the ship can move is the way to move, not to move is the way not to move. Day after day, I'm going to lose my head."

It was a warning that the head would be cut off, and all were appalled. A candidate county, sitting in the grand chair on the left, leaned over and said: "You have to rely on your lordship to run the show, and then your men have to lose their lives to get the ships out. This year, the drought is shallow. Even if it is late, we can still say that if we do not go, we will be mistaken."

"Delay without error" was echoed by all who sat in the master's chair. Some of them had lived in the provincial capital for more than a decade, but had not made up a single shortage. They were so poor that they were left with only a stack of pawn tickets. They had finally sent an escort mission in the hope that the passage of the ship would help them to settle down at public expense. As to when the trip would reach Tongzhou, they did not have to worry that the punishment for the delay would not fall on them.

If the ship did not leave, they would not be able to return to the provincial capital, because if the ship did not leave, there would be no escort. Not only would everything be fine, but it would be worse than having to go on this assignment. Now go back to Hangzhou empty-handed, how to account for the creditors?

Chun Shou of course understand their intentions, but also know that these people are of little importance, neither out of what force, also can not bear what responsibility, so ignore their words, looking at the "leading thousands of total" standing behind them said: "they have what idea, speak out to discuss."

The idea of "leading the way" was similar to that of the candidate counties, except that they could not make any decisions and had to listen to what Tines told them to do, so one of the older men replied: "Your lordship!"

"What if I say no?"

No one agreed with his idea, but did not dare to reject it. But this silence was a clear sign of opposition.

One of them could not help saying, "Answer the grown-ups, or let them send one or two of them out and see what they have to say?"

"They" are the tips of the fingers. Chun Shou nodded and said to the tips, "I think you must have something to say."

'Yes! One of the "prominent" Dingding agreed, asking Ann: "Your Excellency please rest first. We'll work out a purpose and report back to your lordship."

"Good, good, you discuss." Chun Shou sat on the bed of the kang and rumbled on the hookah, while the Dingding of the eight gang retreated to the corridor and had a quiet discussion. For a long time there was no conclusion, because the situation of each gang was different, and their views were different, and there were many factors involved. It is generally accepted that the grain transport this year is a thankless affair, but there are opposing views on whether to leave or not. One side believes that the losses are already unavoidable, and that if we do not leave, we will save some work; the other side thinks that we carry a lot of private goods on the ship, and if we do not leave, we will have to pay a sum of money.

Talk to talk, uncertain, Chun Shou has sent someone to urge, had to leave the cloud decided to go and not go. But finally there is a bit of agreement "that is to go or not to go, each help can only once, not twice.

"If you do not leave, this year's grain will have to be paid at a different price. The Ministry of Household Affairs has set the price at two ounces of silver per stone. What is the current market price?" Chun Shou asked. "It depends on the quality of the rice." The pointy one who was supposed to answer replied, "It's always somewhere between seven and eight."

"How much grain is on board?" "That's 276,000 stones."