Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

As time enters May, the drought in Liaodong has gradually become apparent.

It was originally the season when the vegetation was growing wildly, but the crops in the fields looked listless and dejected.

Faced with this situation, the people could only work tirelessly to divert water from rivers and wells for irrigation.

But as the weather gets hotter, the water levels in rivers and wells continue to drop.

As time went by, Emperor Yanping was still gathering power in the court, and the drought in Liaodong became more and more serious.

And the irritability in Yang Zhengshan's heart became more and more intense.

The drought in Liaodong is gradually getting serious, and the drought in Chongshan Town is also showing signs. Although the drought in Chongshan Town is relatively mild, it has a great impact.

The eighth day of June.

Yang Zhengshan rode Hongyun and took ten personal followers, led by Yan Hua, deputy director of the Engineering Department, to the river bank in the northeast of Chongshanguan Pass.

"Master Hou! This is it!"

Yan Hua pointed to the river and said with a solemn expression.

Yang Zhengshan looked around and saw three medium-sized blessing boats parked in the river, and his expression became serious.

Yan Hua was originally a civil servant in Jizhou Zhizhou Yamen. He was proficient in river dredging and participated in many river management tasks in Jizhou.

Last year, Chongshan Town needed to dredge the Yinghe River, so he was hired from Jizhou, and he was in charge of the work of dredging the Yinghe River.

But now there are actually three ships stranded in the river. It's okay to be stranded. The key is to block the river so that the following ships cannot reach the dock north of Chongshanguan.

You must know that these ships carry food. What Yang Zhengshan values ​​most now is food. Now that the food cannot be transported to the dock, he naturally wants to come and see it in person.

"Why is this happening?" Yang Zhengshan said with an unhappy expression.

Yan Hua said bitterly: "The water level in the river has dropped too fast. This year's water level has dropped by nearly three feet compared to last year!"

During the river survey last year, he also participated in the entire process.

He knew where the river was shallower and where the river was deeper.

They deepened the shallower parts of the river.

According to the water level of Yinghe River in previous years, ships will never be stranded here.

However, the water level in Yinghe River dropped seriously this year, which they did not expect at all.

Yang Zhengshan frowned and asked: "If it is urgently dredged now, can ships still be allowed to sail in Yinghe Nei?"

The river was dredged just last year, and it took less than three months this year.

Mudd!

Yang Zhengshan really wants to curse!

Last year, he spent millions of taels of silver, more than 8,000 people, and more than half a year to dredge the river. As a result, at the critical moment, the river stopped growing.

When Yang Zhengshan thought about it, he felt anger rising in his heart.

Fortunately, he knew that this was not the problem of Yan Hua and others, so he did not take out his anger on Yan Hua.

"It can be dredged, it only takes two months, but we cannot guarantee whether the water level will drop. If the water level continues to drop, it will not be a problem with this section of the river, but with the entire river facing the river!" Yan Huashen Take a breath.

Yang Zhengshan knew that the water level of Yinghe River would continue to drop, because in the next two months, there would be no heavy rain in the central and eastern parts of Chongshan Town, and without rainwater replenishment, the only water sources for Yinghe River would be mountain springs on the mountains of Chongshan Town and water from melted snow mountains.

This means that even if this section of the river is dredged, ships will still not be able to navigate the river.

What's more troublesome than sailing is whether the river will stop flowing!

You must know that there are thousands of miles of farmland in Chongshan Town that need water from the river to irrigate.

If the Yangtze River is cut off, the harvest of thousands of miles of farmland may be lost.

"Will the Ying River stop flowing?" Yang Zhengshan asked the most worrying question in his heart.

Yan Hua shook his head slightly, "Probably not. According to Xianguan's investigation, the water source in the upper reaches of the Yinghe River has not decreased. At least the water flow to the west of Guining City has not decreased. It is just because the weather downstream is too hot, causing the water level downstream to drop! "

"So even if the water level continues to drop, the Yinghe River should not be completely cut off!"

"However, if water withdrawals from the river increase, the water level downstream may bottom out!"

The increase in water withdrawal is naturally for irrigating farmland.

When the weather is hot, the river water evaporates quickly, and the river water level will decrease. However, in fact, the main reason for the decrease in water level is the increase in water intake on both sides.

Yang Zhengshan felt a little relieved after hearing his explanation.

He could barely tolerate being unable to sail, but if the current was cut off, that would be a real big trouble.

"That's all, let's find a way to get the boats out of the river first, and seal the river to prevent big boats from entering the river again!"

Yang Zhengshan ordered.

"Well, I'll go and make arrangements right now!" Yan Hua responded.

Yang Zhengshan turned to the followers behind him and ordered: "Inform the Qianliang Department, the Commercial Department and the Tenglongwei Department that food transportation can no longer take the river route in the future. Let them take the land route!"

Grain procurement cannot be stopped. Not only must it not be stopped, the quantity purchased must also be increased.

Since the river route cannot be used, then take the land route.

The land transportation from Tenglongwei to Chongshanguan is only a little troublesome and the transportation cost will increase, but Yang Zhengshan can no longer care about this small profit.

The drought in Liaodong has emerged. Many grain merchants in Liaodong and Chongshan Town have predicted that the drought will be serious this year, and are vigorously purchasing grain and raising grain prices.

Natural disasters are only disasters for ordinary people. For officials, dignitaries and wealthy businessmen, natural disasters are a good opportunity for them to make a fortune.

When ordinary people can no longer make ends meet, they will take away the people's last wealth, such as fields, children, and even the people themselves, making them their slaves.

Back to the general's mansion, Ding Qiu came to Yang Zhengshan before he sat down.

"Master! Urgent letter from Kyoto!" Ding Qiu handed a letter to Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan's expression moved slightly, and he opened the letter and read it.

The letter was sent back by Wu Zheng. Now that the Yang family has a marquis' mansion in Kyoto, it is more convenient for Wu Zheng to inquire about the news in the court. He can almost find out what happened in the morning court every day, and even some things in the imperial city, he can find out a little bit.

Although the letter was delivered today, the content happened three days ago.

Three days ago, a memorial was sent to the emperor. It was made by Ning Dongsheng, the deputy envoy of Pingyuan. The content was to impeach Yang Zhengshan, the deputy governor of the Central Army Governor's Office, the general of Chongshan Town, and the Marquis of Jing'an.

The impeachment content was thousands of words long, and listed the crimes committed by Yang Zhengshan, from Yang Zhengshan's construction of salt fields in Tenglongwei and the development of maritime trade to Yang Zhengshan's opening of a glass workshop in Chongshan Town. The charges were abuse of power for personal gain, greed for money, and competing with the people for profits.

The memorial also mentioned that Yang Zhengshan instructed the General's Office of Chongshan Town to buy up grain in Liaodong, causing the price of grain in Liaodong to soar, causing public resentment. .

It also said that Yang Zhengshan was recruiting soldiers and horses with the intention of rebellion.

In a long and eloquent letter, he listed almost everything Yang Zhengshan had done over the years, and charged him with all the crimes. He also implicated all those who were close to him, such as Xie Yuan, Han Cheng, Wu Chongzhe, and Yu Tonghai. He was all-inclusive and bloody.

This was to kill Yang Zhengshan!

The content of Wu Zheng's letter was naturally not all the content in the memorial, but it summarized the content in the memorial in great detail.

When Yang Zhengshan finished reading it, his face suddenly became extremely gloomy.

He knew Ning Dongsheng. When he was promoted to the commander of Tenglong Guard, Ning Dongsheng was the inspector of Liaoyuan, and he had a close relationship with the Lan family of Tenglong Guard.

At that time, Yang Zhengshan took down the Lan family in front of Ning Dongsheng, which was not a face left for Ning Dongsheng.

Now Ning Dongsheng has been promoted to the deputy inspector of Pingyuan Province, but he did not expect that he would impeach Yang Zhengshan.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan has been impeached many times in recent years. When he was in Tenglongwei, the things he did were no secret, and they also violated the interests of many people. Many officials have impeached him.

But at that time, he had the support of Emperor Chengping, so he was naturally not afraid of anything.

This was the first time he was impeached after Emperor Yanping ascended the throne.

I don’t know what Emperor Yanping’s attitude towards him is!

Yang Zhengshan lowered his eyes slightly, pondered for a while, and said: "You immediately take people to Pingyuan to check what is behind the deputy envoy Ning Dongsheng!"

"Yes!" Ding Qiu responded.

Yang Zhengshan reminded again: "Be careful, Pingyuan may not be very peaceful during this period!"

Ding Qiu nodded, then clasped his fists and left.

After he left, Yang Zhengshan read the letter again, and then set it on fire.

Being able to find out the news in front of the emperor, this kind of thing must not be spread.

If Emperor Yanping knew about it, he would definitely not have a good result.

As for how Wu Zheng got this information, it was actually not as difficult as imagined.

The eunuchs in the palace also like silver, and Wu Zheng has been in Kyoto for seven or eight years, so it is easy to bribe some eunuchs in the palace.

As for the impeachment!

This matter can be big or small, mainly depending on Emperor Yanping's attitude towards Yang Zhengshan.

If Emperor Yanping hates Yang Zhengshan, then no matter what Yang Zhengshan does, Emperor Yanping will take him down sooner or later.

But if Emperor Yanping can trust Yang Zhengshan like Emperor Chengping, then these impeachments are just a pile of waste paper.

Yang Zhengshan is a little confused about Emperor Yanping's attitude.

It is obviously impossible to say how much Emperor Yanping trusts him, after all, he has only met Emperor Yanping once.

However, Emperor Yanping cannot be unaware of the marriage between the Yang family and the Yu family. Since Emperor Yanping did not stop it, he probably has no ill feelings towards Yang Zhengshan.

After all, the Yu family is a foreign relative, and if the foreign relative causes any trouble, the queen will also lose face.

And if the queen is embarrassed, Emperor Yanping probably won't feel good either.

As for the charges Ning Dongsheng mentioned, they were not really a problem. The only problem was the purchase of grains on a large scale.

The main reason for the soaring grain prices in Liaodong was the impact of the drought, and grain merchants were secretly raising grain prices.

Because the grain purchased by the General's Office rarely came from Liaodong, most of it came from Jiangnan, the Li Sheng Dynasty and the De Sheng Dynasty.

It was five or six years ago that Cui Hongtao of the Li Sheng Dynasty came to Tenglongwei to request to exchange gold and silver ore for grain. Now the Li Sheng Dynasty has no shortage of grain. Instead, Tenglongwei used various materials to exchange grain from the Li Sheng Dynasty.

As for the De Sheng Dynasty, it was isolated in the sea and various materials were in short supply, and many of Darong's products were very popular with the De Sheng Dynasty.

The De Sheng Dynasty was naturally very happy to exchange Darong's porcelain, silk, tea, etc. for the grain of the De Sheng Dynasty.

Yang Zhengshan could not explain the purchase of grains on a large scale to Emperor Yanping, so this became the most troublesome thing.

Yang Zhengshan thought about it and decided to wait for the reaction from the court first.

We can’t lose our composure now. The attitude of Emperor Yanping is still unclear. If we lose our composure, it will only cause more trouble.

However, we need to keep a close eye on the changes in the court.