Han Shizu

After the banquet at Yellow Crane Tower, the old emperor stayed in Jiangxia for another two days.One day was spent observing this great commercial port in central China, with connections in all directions and boats connecting each other. The unprecedentedly prosperous business scene was not far from the old emperor's expectation, or even exceeded it.

One day was used to observe the people's sentiments. Half the day was spent in the fish shop in the city, which was covered in fishy smell. The other half was spent in the goods channel, watching the doorkeepers and tax collectors inspecting goods and collecting taxes, silently experiencing the Jiangxia city. The development of the city, feel the rhythm of its operation.

This was not a big city, but now it has been transformed to accommodate 10 people. How is this done?With the current productivity of Han society, the price of supply for every big city is huge. Jiangxia has no policy advantages, and everyone has to consider the cost. How did they overcome the difficulties and develop step by step until now.

After careful study, the root cause may be the progress of productivity. In the past few decades, the imperial court has done a lot in people's livelihood and achieved considerable results.Not to mention the construction of straight roads, roads extending in all directions and connecting major and medium-sized cities are one of the guarantees for the efficient operation of Dahan.

In terms of food and clothing, they have worked hard, continuously improving grain varieties, improving composting technology, large-scale production tools, large-scale use of animal power, large-scale introduction and planting of Champa rice, plundering of overseas resources, etc. All of them greatly improved the basic material level of the Han Dynasty.

As for cotton, it has gradually expanded from introduction, cultivation, development, and improvement to a major industry related to the national economy and people's livelihood. In addition to investing money, food, manpower, and land, the imperial court also spent decades protecting and waiting for its development to mature.

The vigorous promotion of cotton textile technology, without hesitation of generous rewards, has achieved remarkable results. From south to north, various textile machines that should not have appeared in this era have appeared. Although the old emperor did not understand this aspect, he still All you need to know is that these tools greatly improve the production efficiency of cotton yarn and cotton cloth.

The first two cotton farmers brought back from the Western Regions by Lu Duoxun have developed into two major cotton families in the Han Dynasty. Those who improved cotton spinning tools and technicians have also become cotton spinning aristocrats, all in recognition of their pioneering contributions in this industry.

For example, Zhou Renjun, who contributed improved textile technology to Danzhou, had a prosperous official career, rose through the ranks, and was promoted all the way. Now he is the chief envoy of Hedong Road. Needless to say what kind of place Hedong is.

These are all "Productivity Progress Awards" awarded by the old emperor.

Across the country, major water conservancy projects are being carried out, and various prefectures are encouraged to build reservoirs and dredge ditches according to local conditions. For example, in the Huanghuai area, some repair work is still being carried out intermittently. Dredging and sand removal, planting trees and embankments are "compulsory courses" every year. .

Farm offices specializing in agricultural and animal husbandry production techniques were set up in each county, and farmers were stationed in the villages to guide production. The specific effects are not mentioned for the time being, but they are all evidence that the imperial court has done something good.

It was also the first of its kind in history to set up agricultural and engineering subjects in the imperial examination, which fundamentally changed the political status of the two subjects, and they were no longer "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce" in name only.

However, regardless of whether one is born as a worker or peasant, or has studied agricultural and industrial knowledge and skills, when one becomes an official, one basically breaks away from the original class, and goes further and further away, and cannot really be regarded as the same as ordinary peasants and workers.After all, since ancient times, there have been only two kinds of people in the Middle Kingdom, the powerful and the others.

However, nominal progress is still progress. Some things, no matter what the facts are, should be done enough and vigorously publicized, no matter what the facts are. If they can be implemented in the system, they themselves have positive significance.

All in all, the Han Dynasty court still tried every means and effort to improve productivity, which greatly enriched the material foundation of the Han Dynasty.

Without these, just relying on a relaxed business environment and the circulation of goods, it would be a fool's errand to achieve the development of Dahan's cities and towns to what they are today.

As far as Ezhou, or Jiangxia is concerned, it is precisely because of a political era, when the country as a whole is in a high-spirited and upward trend, and because of the favorable location and people, that such a Yangtze River city has emerged.

Of course, Jiangxia is not all true, good and beautiful, there is also a lot of falsehood, evil and ugliness. The brighter the sunshine, the deeper the shadows. Prosperity is often also a hotbed of evil.The old emperor had neither the energy nor the inclination to understand the deeper situation, but what he could see was that ordinary people in Jiangxia lived busy and tense lives.

However, the old emperor would not be overly sympathetic. In his current concept, people are divided into three, six, and nine grades. In life, everyone has his own place. Since he is an ordinary person, he must abide by his duties and bear the responsibilities of ordinary people. The hard work of ordinary people is part of the functioning of the entire society.

As a servant, if you only want to be treated like a master, it is unrealistic and can easily cause problems and affect social stability.It is the greatest fairness to be able to give the subordinates a chance to become a master through hard work.

But this is something that the court is not doing very well at the moment. After all, the powerful are eager to take all the benefits into their own plates. How can they be willing to leave room for the subordinates? Of course, this belongs to the ruling class. conflicts with the ruled class.

After observing the market scene of Jiangxia, the old emperor ended his inspection here. As for the rural conditions that he was always concerned about, he did not take the time to see them.In short, it is better than the one in Luoshan County. After all, it relies on the big river and has plenty of food and fish.

The next stop is of course Daozhi Jiangling. When you get to Jinghu North Road, you have to go to the capital to see it. And with Fan Zhigu’s personal invitation, if you don’t go, it will not look good on your face, and it will easily cause an unnecessary political turmoil. It affected Fan Zhigu's prestige and brought trouble to him in governing Hubei.

Although Ezhou has developed well in recent years, and its rising momentum is as if it has wings, if we rank the states in Jinghu North Road, Jiangling Prefecture still occupies the first place, Ezhou barely comes in second, followed by Yuezhou, and Xiangzhou again. State, the rest will be ignored for the time being.

In fact, Jiangling Prefecture has never worried that Ezhou can threaten its status. The only thing is that Ezhou is remote in the east of Hubei Province. As long as the court does not adjust the construction zoning of Hubei Province, Ezhou will not be able to bear the burden no matter how well it develops. Perform the functions of the capital.

After staying in Ezhou for three days, we set off for Jiangling Mansion.Starting from Luoyang and going south, the old emperor was probably tired of the carriages and horses all the way, so this time he went west to Jiangling and chose to take a boat.There was no need to ride on the dragon boat, and ordinary river boats and cruise ships were not safe. To ensure the safety of the emperor, a main ship was selected from the Yangtze River Navy as the emperor's vehicle, and a navy was deployed to escort it upstream.

In Ezhou, there is also a river water division stationed all year round. The scale is not large, with a strength of just over [-], and about fifty large and small ships. The only large ship only costs [-] yuan, and is used as the car of the old emperor on his westward journey.

Before departure, the old emperor personally conducted a review of the Ezhou Navy. It was very different from the past. This was the first time the old emperor reviewed and lectured the local army since his tour. It was completely inconsistent with his style of conduct.

Jiangling is about three hundred miles away from Jiangxia by land, and the waterway is longer and more winding. If you go upstream, relying on oars and sails as power, you can go all out and travel only forty or fifty miles a day.In addition to stopping and looking along the way, it still took more than half a month to arrive in Gangneung, just in time to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in Gangneung.

The situation on the day of arrival was the same as in Ezhou, including a welcome ceremony, a meeting with the government officials, an interview with representatives of the people, and a gathering at Taibai Tower in Jiangling City that night. The king and his subjects all returned happily.

However, compared to the tenderness in Ezhou, here in Jiangling, the old emperor showed his fangs.The very next day, officers from the Wude Division were dispatched to clean up the two main naval forces under the jurisdiction of Hubei Province. The goal was clear and the action was swift. In order to have a complete plan to suppress possible disturbances, Sergeant Ouchi also cooperated and boarded the ship. Take people.

No one could have imagined that the night before there was singing and dancing, and the king and his ministers were enjoying themselves. After the night was over, there would be thunder and thunder.There is basically no resistance. In fact, even without the cooperation of the internal army, it is impossible to resist with an edict to arrest people. The people in the world have the most respect for the old emperor, and it is precisely the middle class that has the deepest respect.

As a result, half of the mid-level and senior officers of the navy in Jinghu North Road were arrested in this operation, almost all at once.Of course he was a famous person who made such a big noise. Not to mention the details, just participating in smuggling is already a capital crime!
Economic development, commodity circulation, and the wealth flowing in the golden waterway of the Yangtze River are enough to shake people's hearts.In the past thirty years, smuggling activities on the river have been rampant and serious, so serious that the navy responsible for patrolling, security, and bandit suppression has been involved.

Accepting bribes, approving notes, and turning a blind eye are even trivial matters. Treating a navy ship as a smuggling ship is not only a violation of political law, but also a violation of military law, and it will not be tolerated.

According to internal reports from the Jinghu North Navy and the investigation by Wude Division, the Navy did much more than that!For example, they maliciously intercepted merchant ships and privately collected boat taxes. If they only collected tolls, there were many cases where they sought wealth and killed people; what's more, they supported water bandits and raised the bandits' self-respect.
One by one, these items were placed in front of the old emperor. It is easy to imagine the violent shock caused. How could he resist the murderous intention and not vigorously rectify the Yangtze River Navy.

The Yangtze River Navy can be regarded as the essence of the Han Dynasty's inland river navy. It has a long history and can be traced back to the Gao family period in Nanping. It expanded on the basis of the original Jingnan Navy.Later, it merged with part of the Hunan Navy and the later Jiangnan Navy, and developed over the years to form the current Yangtze River Navy.The Yangtze River Navy, together with other water systems, formed the Dahan Inland River Navy.

As for the inland water division, the biggest change is the decentralization of command power, which is divided into lanes and sections and delegated to the command departments of various prefectures. While maintaining certain war functions, it is also responsible for public security, bandit suppression, anti-smuggling and other matters. The Privy Council Over there, the one under direct control is the navy.

But now it seems that the decentralization of naval power has become a breeding ground for corruption, making it easier for those people to collude with local forces.

The Hubei Navy is so rampant, unscrupulous, and corrupt. It is obvious that it cannot be just a collusion between some officers and soldiers. There must be a backer from above, there must be a combination of military and local forces, and there must be collusion between internal and external forces.

After an earth-shattering operation, half of the officers of the Hubei Navy were captured, and their combat effectiveness was basically wasted.At the same time, the action was launched to clean up the officialdom of Jinghu North Road Secretary and Jiang Jiangling Mansion, focusing on the three major systems of justice, taxation, and supervision, and captured more than [-] people at one time.Among them, the highest-ranking ones are Wei Zhong, the deputy capital commander of Jinghu North Road and the capital commander of Hubei Navy, and the other is Fu Zhaoshou, the prefect of Jiangling.

There is no need to elaborate on the identity of the latter. Just look at the surname and you will know that he is a relative of the emperor, the younger brother of Empress Fu, and the uncle of the prince.As for the former, the background is more complicated. He is the son of Wei Lin, the former commander of the Yangtze River Navy.

Although not that famous, the Wei family, like the Sun family, came from the same Nanping Gao family, was also a prominent family in Hubei, and was the top rentier in Jinghu North Road.

In the Han Dynasty, Wei Lin became famous almost at the same time as the Sun family. In the early years, whether it was to conquer Chu or conquer Shu, or later to march eastward to pacify the south of the Yangtze River, Wei Lin was seen leading the navy to fight hard. In the great cause of unifying the world, Wei Lin was This achievement also established Wei's position in Jinghu North Road.Wei Zhong is now the head of the Wei family and a Taoist official.

The arrest of these two men was a big earthquake for Hubei officialdom, catching many people off guard.Since its establishment, Jinghu North Road has also experienced political changes in the Han Dynasty in the more than thirty years since its establishment. Although it has been affected by various battles, movements, and changes, on the whole, it has been passed smoothly and has never been Like this time, a big purge.

Many people were at a loss as to what to do. No one expected it, but everyone could tell that the old emperor was going to be ruthless.Arresting so many people, including even my brother-in-law, is no joke.

Therefore, with fear in their hearts, many people went to the Chief Envoy's Yamen and begged Fan Zhigu, hoping that Fan Zhijun could come forward to lead them through the difficulties and save Hubei from this sudden official crisis.

In fact, even Fan Zhigu was shocked by this incident. After all, there were no signs beforehand, and no news leaked out. The king and his ministers were enjoying themselves in Taibai Tower the night before.However, if you think about it carefully, this is also in line with the old emperor's style. If you don't move, it will be enough, and if you move, it will be like thunder.

After calming down, Fan Zhigu felt at ease instead of panicking like other Hubei bureaucrats.Hubei's fault is not with him. After all, he is just a chief envoy who has been in office for less than two years. He did not get the slightest hint beforehand, which can be seen as a kind of protection for him, but also a test.

At the same time, he was only familiar with the situation in Hubei, and had just touched on some deep-level things. After weighing it in his mind, Fan Zhigu came to the conclusion that the old emperor used thunderous means to rectify the officialdom in Hubei, and that he, the chief envoy of Jinghu North Road, That's not necessarily a bad thing.

After all, he is an outsider and comes from a poor family. He is fundamentally different from the famous families in Hubei such as Sun and Wei. It is difficult to really pee in the same pot.