My life skills in Daming Liver

"Ru Lin!" Hai Rui took Su Ze's hand, and after Ma Ningyuan led the people away, he didn't ask why Su Ze appeared here, but asked directly:

"Ru Lin, you came at a good time. You are good at water conservancy. It has been raining continuously these days, and some embankments can no longer hold up."

Su Ze looked at Hai Rui. After two years in Chun'an, Hai Rui aged at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Hai Rui is only forty-six now, and Hu Zongxian, who is two years older than him, still looks like a middle-aged official, but Hai Rui is already thin and dark, like a bad old man.

In the two years since he came to Renchun'an County, Hai Rui has been busy everywhere, clearing the fields, inspecting water conservancy, and handling lawsuits, but it's just his day and night management, and the people under his rule are still in this situation.

Even Hai Rui was confused, why did the Ming Dynasty become like this?

Su Ze looked at the continuous rain, of course he knew why the river flooded.

Although water conservancy projects are said to have been accomplished in the present age and lasted through the ages, even projects like Dujiangyan require regular maintenance.

Cleaning up silt, dredging river sand, and re-strengthening dams, although the amount of these projects is not as large as the new ones, they still require manpower and material resources to maintain every year.

In the early years of the dynasty, the executive power of the government offices was often relatively strong, relatively clean and efficient, and the labor cost was not so high, and daily maintenance could still be done.

However, as the dynasty entered the middle and late stages, the human capital for maintenance became larger, and corruption became more serious.

For example, the desilting work could have been completed by only 20 people working by the river for a month. There was no problem with this work in the early days, as long as it was the turn of the corvees, they would naturally do it.

But until now, the people are not willing to serve corvee.

Big households have long used various methods, such as paying exemption money, to evade the obligation of corvee.

Originally, the rich people handed over the exemption money to the government, and then the government paid to recruit the poor to serve as corvee. This policy was originally good, and it could even play a role in wealth circulation and regulation.

But now the exemption money has already become a tax, a special tax paid by wealthy households who are unwilling to serve corvee.

After the government got the money, it was impossible to use the money to hire the common people. Instead, the amount of corvee that should have been recruited from the rich was apportioned to the poor.

The result is that in some places, people are forced to serve in corvée, and they can't go home all year round.

If there are no strong men in the family to farm the land, the land will be barren, the crops will be insufficient, and more people will find ways to escape corvee.

Even if enough people are recruited to serve in corvee, they often don't do things like repairing rivers.

Repairing rivers and dredging without seeing any results is a thankless task, and officials may not get any benefits in their lifetime.

The reason is very simple, the dredging is only to prevent the river from flooding when the river water soars, but it is not necessarily the case that the river water will soar during the term of office of an official?

Even if there is a situation, it is not necessarily a problem of not doing dredging, right? After all, there are too many problems of breaking the embankment.

Most officials are more willing to enlist labor to build roads, city walls, and government offices in prefectures and counties, or simply treat these civil servants as their own servants and let them do white labor for themselves.

And nature doesn't talk about politics with people. As more and more silt accumulates on the riverbed, the water level will become higher and higher, making it more difficult to clean up. It was just an ordinary rainstorm, which will cause the embankment to burst.

The later officials took over the mess, and they were also unwilling to wipe the ass of their predecessors. These problems can only be accumulated from generation to generation.

In fact, it's not just water conservancy projects. Which of the tricky things in a county is not like this?

The tricky lawsuits should be suppressed first, and maybe the county will be transferred one day.

Anyway, if you believe in the wisdom of future generations, you will be done if you believe it.

Hai Rui has already done a good job. He brought the hydrological map of Chun'an County. Su Ze quickly found several key areas, and then took Hai Rui to a place with few people and said:

"This Lord Mafu, I'm afraid he won't let it go."

Hai Rui frowned, and knew that what Su Ze said was right, he only heard Su Ze say:

"What I'm most afraid of is that he will destroy the dikes and flood the fields, and simply use natural disasters to force the people to change rice into mulberry."

Now even Hai Rui was startled, he looked at Su Ze, but Su Ze said:

"Men, I think Chun'an should organize a group training in the name of fighting against the Japanese. On the one hand, it will be used to rescue and strengthen the embankment, and on the other hand, it will also prevent villains from causing man-made disasters."

Hai Rui nodded, and said to Su Ze, "Military training and water conservancy are what you are good at, Ru Lin. I appointed you to organize training in Chun'an County."

Su Ze said again: "I want the Qi Da who took the lead in fighting against the government just now."

"no problem!"

It has to be said that an upright official like Hai Rui is very prestigious among the people.

When he proposed that each village send out people to form a training group, the people of Chun'an responded one after another.

Su Ze quickly gathered a team of 80 people, and Su Ze took these people to patrol the rivers in Chun'an County overnight, and rescued and strengthened the weak dams.

Ma Ningyuan, the magistrate of Hangzhou, returned to Hangzhou Mansion, and the more he thought about it, the more angry he became. At this time, a master said to Ma Ningyuan:

"My lord, it's not enough to just persuade the people to change rice into mulberry."

The master's surname is Shao, and he is a well-known Shaoxing master. Ma Ningyuan relied on him to suppress the servants of the government government, and relied on him quite a bit.

Facing Master Shao, Ma Ningyuan sighed and said: "But Hu Butang doesn't support me, I can't mobilize the Zhejiang Guards and the New Army, and I can't force the conversion of rice to mulberry by relying on the government servants."

Master Shao said in a low voice: "You can't rely on Hu Butang, you can't rely on soldiers, what about relying on God?"

Ma Ningyuan woke up suddenly and stared at Master Shao.

Master Shao said: "If the river breaks its embankment and floods the fields, the people will change if they don't."

Ma Ning was stunned for a long time on the hike, and then he said the four words "destroying embankments and flooding fields".

Master Shao quickly covered his mouth and said: "This is a natural disaster, my lord can't say it!"

Ma Ningyuan hesitated completely.

He is a high-ranking man, and he is already a high-ranking man to be the magistrate of Hangzhou, but he still has an upward mind.

It's just that Hu Zongxian can't help if he goes further up, and Hu Zongxian is quite resistant to changing rice to mulberry, and he doesn't cooperate at all.

Hu Zongxian is already the governor of Zhejiang Province, the minister of the Ministry of war, and an important minister of the court. Of course, he can show his face and not support it.

But Ma Ning is far from it.

He is just the magistrate of Hangzhou, his qualifications are not deep, and his background is only a candidate. He was excluded by Jinshi officials. Except for Hai Rui, the rest of his staff are Jinshi magistrates. Rice for mulberry also did not go well.

If Ma Ningyuan wants to go further, he will naturally rely on the more core members of the strict party.

Ma Ningyuan held back for a long time and said: "The people are dull and short-sighted. They know that they can grow grain on one-third of an acre of land, and they can't appreciate the benefits of the court changing rice to mulberry."

"I wait for the shepherds of the imperial court to make choices for them and point them in the direction. When they are all planted with mulberry trees, they will know the benefits of the imperial court changing rice to mulberry!"

Ma Ningyuan looked at Master Shao and said, "You have a tight-lipped man."

Master Shao immediately said: "There are a few township party members under his command, who are reliable in their work and tight-lipped."

Ma Ningyuan was also unambiguous at this time. He said to Master Shao: "Go to the government office treasury, withdraw some money, and give them half of it first, and then send the other half after the matter is completed."

Ma Ningyuan said again: "You can't come forward in the name of the government office."

Master Shao immediately said: "Understood!"

The bureaucratic machine that seems to be perfectly fit, but it sounds old like a piece of junk when it is running. Everything in this world often goes against the original fantasy of the superior.

Although he took the money, Master Shao found those township gangsters, the always bold gangsters, but he hesitated in the face of the vain money.

The reason is naturally very simple, destroying dikes and flooding fields is a business of beheading.

Silver is naturally good, but with silver comes life.

"Master Shao, if this is the order of the master of the Futai, it is natural for us to destroy the embankment and flood the fields! But if the matter is revealed in empty words, no amount of our heads will be enough to cut off."

Master Shao said in a hurry: "How can it be revealed? Besides, this is something that Ma Zhifu clearly explained! This is all money taken from the government's treasury. If something really happens, you can still blame it on you." ?”

The crowd still looked the same, and the leader said:

"You have to have tokens."

"You and I are both township party members, do you still not believe me?"

The leader said: "We are the township party, not the magistrate. Besides, even the township party may not be reliable."

Master Shao has already booked a ticket with Ma Ningyuan, and he said:

"How about that?"

"If you want to leave any written evidence, there is no official seal of the yamen, but a private seal of the magistrate."

Master Shao thought about it, but felt that this request was not too much, anyway, he could use Ma Ningyuan's personal seal.

He never thought that the plan of destroying dikes and flooding fields would fail, so he said: "In this way, I will issue 30% of the silver first, and give you a written receipt. After the matter is completed, take the note to exchange for the remaining silver, and then you will return to your hometown in Shaoxing. how?"

Now all the rascals said happily, "It's a deal!"

Master Shao said again: "Tomorrow night, the focus is on Chun'an County!"

"understand!"

Su Ze had been busy all night yesterday, and finally strengthened several embankments, but the rain still did not stop today. Su Ze went back to Chun'an County to freshen up briefly, and was ready to set off with the regiment.

At this moment, Su Ze saw a familiar figure, and his skills jumped again.

[Discover Lu Er, anti-surveillance skill +5, Lv5, 240/1000]

Su Ze immediately asked Fang Aizhu to come forward and "invite" Second Master Lu over.

"What a coincidence, Second Master Lu."

Lu Er had long suspected that Su Ze had discovered his identity as a detective of Jin Yiwei, and Su Ze had found him out several times.

But after monitoring Su Ze for a long time, Lu Er has feelings for Su Ze.

In terms of life and work, Su Ze can be said to be a real gentleman.

From his undisguised publication of various secret recipes for making money, to working hard for Jiangnan's anti-corruption, and now coming to Zhejiang to help the people, Lu Er is Jin Yiwei, but he also admires people like Su Ze.

Another incident also made Lu Er even more passive and sabotage.

Lu Bing died suddenly, and a bloody struggle for power and profit was launched within Jinyiwei.

Although Lu Bing is a Jinyiwei, he has a bottom line in his conduct and actions, and he still defends those who are loyal to the court.

But as the emperor got older and more suspicious, Lu Bing's performance of defending his foreign ministers seemed to the emperor to be colluding with foreign ministers.

A bloody cleansing began within Jinyiwei, and all Jinyiwei of Lu Bing's faction were purged out.

On the contrary, because Lu Er was far away in Nanjing, and he was given a secret mission, few people knew about it, but now he stayed away from the bloody slaughterhouse.

Lu Er's connections in Jinyiwei were all eliminated in the political struggle. At this time, he had already begun to appreciate Lu Bing. Could it be that Uncle Shi had expected it? That's why you arranged for yourself to leave Beijing?

Lu Er has long heard that Lu Bing's death is quite strange, but now he dare not think about it.

Think carefully!

Now that Lu Er is still following Su Ze, it's just a professional instinct. Could it be that he really sells pork on Hubu Street?

"What a coincidence, Second Master Lu."

Lu Er said embarrassingly: "I have a relative in Chun'an who invited me to come here for a sit-down. I didn't expect to meet Mr. Su."

Su Ze smiled slightly and said, "Then we are really destined, Second Master Lu, I have something to ask you."

Lu Er was stunned for a moment, and Su Ze said to himself: "My mentor asked me to inspect the Chun'an River embankment. I'm worried that there will be 'Japanese pirates' destroying the embankment. Can Second Master Lu bring some people to help take care of the river embankment? .”

Lu Er was stunned for a moment, originally wanted to refuse, but thought to himself, where did the Japanese pirates come from in Chun'an?

But seeing the look in Su Ze's eyes, he nodded and said, "Lu tries his best!"

Lu Er is Jin Yiwei, this matter is not a secret around Su Ze, Fang Aizhu said worriedly: "Can Master Lu handle it well?"

But Su Ze said: "He is a professional in this matter, this Second Master Lu is not an ordinary person."

Su Ze has a good eye for people, and Lu Er's business ability is really good.

When it was dawn, five heavily tied rogues were sent to the Chun'an county government office.

Qi Da stood beside Lu Er, looking at Lu Er with admiration.

"Master Zhixian, these five are 'Japanese pirates' who wanted to destroy the embankment at night!"

Hai Rui looked at the five people who were tied up, slapped the gavel and said, "Collude with Japanese bandits is an unforgivable crime!"

Frightened by Hai Rui, the five quickly said:

"We are not Japanese pirates, my lord! We are not Japanese pirates!"

Hai Rui already had a judgment, and he continued, "Since they are not Japanese pirates, why did they destroy the dikes and flood the fields!"

Now the five of them thought about it, but still gritted their teeth and said, "We are sent by Ma Zhifu!"

"Bold! How dare you slander the court officials!"

"My lord, we have evidence! It was Mr. Shao, a close friend of Ma Zhifu, who asked us to destroy embankments and flood fields in various counties!"