Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 647
In the early morning, when the sun has just risen, with the hazy dew hanging on the spacious streets, almost in the blink of an eye, the huge city of Beijing becomes lively.

"What about you, keep to the right, are you sideways?"

"Didn't see the middle line? You have long legs, do you want me to cut a part for you?"

The patrolman of the calligraphy shop stood swaggeringly in the middle of the road, his eyes were fierce, and his voice was louder than anyone else.

The yelling of the vendors became less and less, and they peeked at the patrolmen, politely.

Pedestrians avoid him, touch his waist knife with their eyes, and stand in awe.

Everything is so orderly.

"With these patrolmen in the capital, the city is much more peaceful."

Lifting the curtain of the car, and casually glanced at the street, a smile appeared on the corner of Yan Yingyuan's mouth, and then he put it down.

I saw that although he was sitting in the carriage, he was wearing official robes, a black gauze hat, and black leather boots, looking majestic.

On the opposite side of him, there is another person sitting, also wearing an official robe, but his butt is a sixth-rank egret, with a generous face, but his face is a bit ugly.

"Futai, if we go like this, I'm afraid we'll offend someone!"

The county magistrate of Daxing hesitated to speak, but finally spoke out.

"Offend people?" Yan Yingyuan said coldly: "Since you are an official in Gyeonggi, don't be afraid of offending people."

As he said that, he said meaningfully: "You should know, in Shuntian Mansion, at the feet of the emperor, how can you hide your words and deeds from the Holy Majesty?"

"You mean?"

The magistrate was overjoyed.

"If you do this well, it will be an opportunity for you to be promoted."

Yan Yingyuan patted this subordinate, very calm.

In other words, in the eyes of those nobles, the little sixth-rank magistrate is not worth mentioning at all.

But the prefect of Shuntian from the second rank is fearless.

From being an official to the current prefect of Shuntian, Yan Yingyuan naturally has his own considerations.

These days, he has been thinking about why the emperor trusted him so much and appointed him.

In the end, he came to the conclusion that the emperor needed a strong order to clean up the capital.

Therefore, recently he has become more and more harsh and unreasonable, and offended many nobles, but he has full confidence in his heart and is not afraid at all.

Back then, Hai Rui dared to blow up the house of Xu Jie, the former chief assistant, in Nanjing. It was because the whole cabinet wanted to implement a whip method.

And he is following the emperor's heart.

The carriage gurgled around, and in a short while, it arrived at the bank of the Hun River. There were more than a hundred servants from the government office and county office.

Lifting the curtain, Yan Yingyuan swaggered out of the carriage and trampled on the dirt.

The magistrate of Daxing County followed closely, looking at the muddy and slow-flowing Hunhe River, and said: "The Hunhe River flows down from the plateau, just like the Yellow River, and it also carries mud and sand, so it is also called the Little Yellow River."

"Its water is rushing, unscrupulous, and often breaks the embankment and changes the river course, so the people jokingly call it the Wuding River."

"Wuding River? It's appropriate—"

Yan Yingyuan looked at the wide river, and turned his head to see that there were many old river channels around it from time to time, forming many ponds, but the water was still turbid.

After taking a few more steps, he looked down at the sluggish river: "It seems that there is not much water left, and the name is not worthy of the name."

"The water is blocked."

The magistrate of Daxing sighed: "Upstream from here, there are dozens of water mills within a few hundred miles of the land boundary. The Hunhe River, which used to rush unscrupulously, is now short of water."

"There are more and more water mills, and the Hun River is almost dry. I heard that in Tianjin Mansion, children can play in the water."

Yan Yingyuan frowned, feeling displeased.

The husking of grain is done either by manpower or animal power, but stone milling using water power has been popular since the Han and Tang Dynasties.

After all grains are harvested, they need to be shelled. The common people have no choice but to pay high fees to shell and eat.

Just processing has a lot of benefits. With a water mill, you can harvest money effortlessly, with ease and stability.

In the Tang Dynasty, the water grinder was even the most valuable thing in dowry, more greedy than the land deed.

Logically speaking, water milling, a tool to improve production efficiency, should be advocated vigorously.

In fact, the more water mills exist, the river water is intercepted layer by layer, and the water flow becomes less and less, which in turn hurts agricultural production.

In order to use water power, the princes and nobles competed with the people for water, and did not hesitate to destroy the Zhengbai Canal, making the Guanzhong Canal in the Qin and Han Dynasties reduced to a decoration.

The first thing Tang Wuzong did after banning Buddhism was to demolish the temple water mills on the Guanzhong River to ensure the irrigation of Guanzhong agriculture.

"Come on, let's go and have a look!"

Yan Yingyuan naturally disliked this act of destroying agricultural production.

The source of water is in the north, and it is something more precious than food.

That's why he vigorously promoted windmill mills before, just to replace this kind of water mill and ensure agricultural production.

The carriage moved on again, and after a while, it came to the nearest water mill.

The fence, Zhuang Ding, and the noisy sound in the distance all swear by the existence of the water mill here.

"Whose farmland is this?"

"Xuan Guo Gongfu."

"Write it down and keep going—"

Yan Yingyuan didn't rush in to destroy the so-called water mill, but ordered people to record it and continue to move forward.

The further you go, the more you can feel the turbulence of the river and the vastness of its banks, and the number of manors is even more difficult to measure.

As for the water grinder, it was displayed generously, and the noise of each one completely covered up the sound of running water.

"Do you still remember?"

"no need."

Yan Yingyuan took a deep breath, his face full of solemnity.

Along the way, countless manors on both sides of the strait have been crushed, and their owners have included most of the court's nobles.

There are even many military farms.

That's right, in the entire Shuntian Mansion, only the Hunhe River is far away, and there is barren land nearby, and there are not many people fighting for water, so it is the most suitable.

But this time is different from the second year of Shaowu. After more than two years, Daxing County has become more and more prosperous, and the people have migrated more. After a while, the Hunhe River may not be enough.

"This is fighting for profit with the people!"

Yan Yingyuan sighed with emotion, shook his sleeves, resolutely boarded the carriage, and headed home.

The magistrate of Daxing was stunned, and then he got into the car with him.

"How many people are there in Daxing County today?"

"It's about [-], and the number has increased in recent months, and more land has been reclaimed, so the officials are anxious. In two years, the Hunhe River may not be enough."

"You really have a heart!"

Yan Yingyuan glanced at him and said approvingly: "Although he lacks courage, he still has a heart for the people."

"Hey! Futai is too famous."

"You register the water mill in Daxing County in detail, and send it to the government office for me."

Yan Yingyuan's eyes were far-reaching: "The entire Shuntian Mansion is crushed by water!"

(End of this chapter)