Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 363: Beat him up like he wanted
As an important town on the canal, Cangzhou has always been one of the most densely populated cities. According to the statistics of the registered population compiled by Zhang Shou during his time in the Changlu County Government, it shows a smoothly rising curve.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the population of Hejian Prefecture was 210,000 and the population of Cangzhou was 30,000. Obviously, this was the result of the chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. By the beginning of Emperor Yingzong's reign, the population of Hejian Prefecture was 370,000 and the population of Cangzhou was 60,000. Compared with the population growth rate of the entire Hejian Prefecture, the population of Cangzhou grew faster.
In the tenth year of Yongchen, when the world registered its population again, the population of Cangzhou was 80,000, while the population of Hejian Prefecture barely exceeded 410,000. From this perspective, the population of Cangzhou has indeed been growing steadily at a higher rate. Even though the change of the throne once caused various disturbances in the capital, it did not affect this important canal town.
By the way, in the tenth year of Yongchen, the year when Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying were born, the court re-counted the number of births. That was the first major event personally presided over and implemented by the current emperor. The various messy decrees that the young emperor had made that aroused dissatisfaction among court officials and eventually led the royal family to believe that they could stir up unrest were of course not included.
Although the population of Cangzhou has not been counted again, according to Zhang Shou's speculation, seventeen years have passed. Because the current emperor is the longest-reigning emperor in recent years, there have been no major changes in the government, and there have been occasional wars on the border, but most of them have achieved good results. Therefore, the people of the world have multiplied and the population of the entire Cangzhou, including hidden households, is likely to exceed 100,000.
Of course, it is impossible for all these 100,000 people to live together in Cangzhou city. The three counties under Cangzhou had a registered population of more than 20,000 in the 10th year of Yongping, and now it has exceeded 30,000 at least. In addition, many people have been diverted from various towns and villages, and Cangzhou is a plain area, so there can be a maximum of 40,000 people in Cangzhou city.
If it were placed in an important city in the south, such as Suzhou Prefecture, with a total population of two million and a city population of over half a million, Cangzhou would naturally be an extremely small city. But in the north, a city of thirty to forty thousand people is already considered prosperous.
Therefore, after Zhang Shou found out from Zhu Er that the places to be investigated were Shuishi Street and Washi Back Street - the former was to take advantage of his connections with Lao Xianyu, and the latter was to take advantage of Lao Xi's ability to deal with all kinds of people - he knew that although the two samples assigned to Zhu Er had certain reference significance, he had to wait for Zhang Chen's results to come out before making a final judgment.
But even so, he still asked for specific numbers, and Zhu Er was very happy to show his results.
"There are a lot of people living on the back street of Washi. There are 74 middle-aged men without land or jobs. Most of them are single because they cannot support their families. There are 193 people who make a living by doing odd jobs, including their wives and children, because they also make a living by doing odd jobs. Men work as dock laborers, and women do laundry..."
Zhu Er just wanted to get ahead of Zhang Chen at this moment, so he spoke in a natural and logical manner, and it was obvious that he had put in a lot of effort.
After talking about the back street of Washi, he started talking about Shuishi Street where the shop of Old Salted Fish was located: "Shuishi Street is full of shops. Thirty-two people without land and jobs are mostly beggars sleeping nearby, and some idle people in the market... Oh, by the way, my eldest brother just cleaned up a group of them with his ruthless hands, and killed two of them..."
Zhu Er was about to continue talking about this topic, but suddenly he looked up as if he had realized something. When he saw Zhu Tingfang standing at the entrance of the county government hall, looking down at him as he led people in, he immediately realized that he shouldn't have mentioned his elder brother's murder, and immediately regretted it and shut up. Sure enough, when Zhu Tingfang walked straight down the steps towards them, he said one sentence directly.
"Those who died deserved to die. You are stirring up trouble in front of Zhang Shou and Yingying!"
Zhu Ying realized that her elder brother had chosen to kill people when they were not around. She was about to ask why, but was grabbed by Zhang Shou. When she found that Zhang Shou held her hand calmly, her unhappy expression suddenly turned into aggrieved one. When did she need Zhang Shou to mediate between her and her elder brother? Her elder brother underestimated her too much. She was not the kind of person who would scream at the sight of blood!
But Zhu Tingfang's next words finally made Zhu Ying smile: "I saw Cao Wu yesterday evening. Yingying, you have made a great contribution this time."
But just after praising his sister, Zhu Tingfang put away his smile: "As for you kicking over a prefect's son, it's not a big deal, but you should never chase him down the mountain like that. At least you should tie him up and bring him back to question him, so that he can wake up. He actually spoke rudely just because he couldn't win the argument. Such a person should be severely punished and let his father come to take him back!"
Although Zhang Shou wanted to skip this topic, he couldn't hold back the words that came to his lips: "This person is really hateful for talking nonsense, but can he really be punished?"
"Why not?" Zhu Tingfang raised his eyebrows slightly, and then said calmly: "Anyone who insults the dukes, dukes, princes, and officials of the third rank or above in the two capitals will be punished and put in shackles for a month. Since he insulted the Duke of Zhao's mansion, this charge can be used. You don't have to say that ignorance is not a crime. If it were true, there would be no such article in the law."
Shackle for a month? If it is really enforced so strictly, then the young man will definitely lose half his life, right? It turns out that no one can be more cruel than the brother-in-law who looks cold on the outside but is actually a crazy protective sister!
Zhang Shou saw Zhu Er shuddering beside him. He secretly thought that he should not offend Zhu Tingfang. Then he saw Zhu Ying beaming with joy, looking very happy that her elder brother was protecting her. He decisively stopped the topic and said with a smile, "We haven't seen each other for a few days. Big brother and Yingying should talk about their farewells first. I will go back to my room to talk with my second brother."
After he finished speaking, he dragged Zhu Er away. When they reached the gate of his yard, he saw Zhu Er heaving a long sigh of relief. He joked, "I really don't know how you got through that when you were a kid..."
"How did you get here? Of course, I got beaten up by my big brother every day." Zhu Er sighed, but he didn't continue to talk about his miserable life back then. He pulled himself together and continued his research report. Of course, he would never forget to exaggerate his hard work, including his cross-dressing and the fact that he was almost beaten out by a vigilant woman.
In short, the process was tortuous, but the ending was happy. Although it was impossible for Zhu Er to visit every household , he would learn about a dozen or twenty households through the mouths of one or two families. This was the method he adopted most of the time, but Zhang Shou certainly did not think that this was laziness. The time was tight and the task was heavy. Zhu Er was very satisfied with the results.
When Zhang Shou and Zhu Er finished their conversation, Ah Liu's voice came from outside the door: "Master, just now, the envoy from the capital arrived. General Zhu wants you to come over."
Hearing that the person was from the capital, Zhu Er was immediately refreshed. When Zhang Shou went out, he followed without hesitation, and he was full of energy and head held high. He had been thinking that he was a hero recently. If he and Lao Xianyu had not "risked their lives" to rush into the palace, and then persuaded the eldest prince to come forward and delay the time, it might not be possible for his elder brother to arrive in time to suppress the situation.
Since he was a meritorious official, how could he be so weak in front of the envoy from the capital? Especially since he was known as a runaway, he had to have someone tell his father something to avoid being beaten when he returned...
Zhang Shou was not surprised by the envoy from the capital - after all, there were some people that Zhu Tingfang could deal with quickly and decisively, but there were some people that Zhu Tingfang had no power to deal with, or who needed to be treated with caution.
For example, the eldest prince who was sent back to Beijing by Zhu Tingfang, for example, the Changlu County Magistrate Xu Cheng and a group of officials who are now imprisoned in the temporary palace, and for example, Xian Yunhe and eight other rioters.
Even if the scope is expanded a little, the hundreds of people who were temporarily released by Zhu Tingfang and occupied the palace together with Xian Yunhe and others. Once the court regrets, these people who have already been registered on the official list may be imprisoned again at any time.
When Zhang Shou hurried into the hall and saw the familiar figure, he was stunned. Not to mention him, Zhu Er behind him was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped, blurting out: "Grandfather...Grandfather...Grandmaster?"
Ge Yong, who had white hair and a white beard but still looked like an immortal, couldn't help but smile: "Don't add seniority to me for no reason, I'm not that old!"
After saying a witty remark that sounded like a cold joke, Ge Yong smiled and helped Zhang Shou, who was about to salute, up. He patted his closed disciple on the shoulder twice and said, "This is the first time I go out of the capital to do business, and you are dragged along by Zhu Jia Dalang. I didn't expect you to have some ideas. Even I find your memorials interesting. So, I forced myself to get this mission out of the capital."
At this point, Grand Tutor Ge paused, pounded his waist and said, "Alas, if the emperor hadn't lent me a carriage, my old bones would have been broken after walking hundreds of miles in three days..."
He had just finished speaking when he saw Zhu Er running over to him to massage his waist, and Zhang Shou supported him with a smile. Touched by the filial piety of his disciples, he felt extremely proud and couldn't help but cough lightly.
"The springs that your spring winding machine produces are pretty good, but they're still not good enough for use in carriages. However, compared to the time when Emperor Taizu specially recruited a group of people to make steel and trained a group of skilled craftsmen to make springs by hand, it's much more convenient now."
Zhang Shou then realized that the mysterious spring on the emperor's carriage was probably due to the spring shock absorbers, which was why he lent it to Ge Yong, the imperial tutor. As for the springs made by his manual spring winding machine, to be honest, the strength and reliability were not enough to be used in a means of transportation such as a carriage - the reason was simple, the springs could not meet the load-bearing requirements of a carriage and could only be used on a loom.
These fragmentary thoughts just flashed through his mind, and then he couldn't help but laugh and said, "Teacher, let's put these irrelevant things aside for now. You should first tell me what kind of imperial decree you brought with you this time!"
"Hey, guess what?"
Zhang Shou was helpless in front of the childish teacher Ge. He glanced at Zhu Tingfang, who looked helpless, and Zhu Er, who looked bewildered, and said thoughtfully, "If it was just to deal with corrupt officials and so-called rioters, even if you volunteered, the emperor would not be willing to send you down... So, is it for the long-term stability of Cangzhou?"
"Hehe, you have good taste."
Ge Yong smiled happily, but the frivolous expression on his face disappeared, replaced by a serious look: "The memorial you sent to the capital before mentioned that there are many landless and jobless people in Cangzhou, and many of them are not registered in Cangzhou, but may live here through various channels. There are actually more landless and jobless people, so the emperor should pay more attention to it."
"Although the emperor does have other confidants, sending your father-in-law would be too conspicuous. Duke Qin, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, is busy, and the other people are all in their own positions, and their positions are too high to be moved. Why not send a capable censor? Those guys who are too arrogant may not get along with you. So after looking around and finding no suitable person, I volunteered, and he had no choice but to agree."
The old master had just gotten off the carriage after a bumpy ride and felt a little tired standing. Seeing Zhu Er was very flattering, he directly moved a chair over and asked him to sit down in the middle of the hall. He sat down without any hesitation and asked directly, "Zhang Shou, didn't you say that you wanted Zhang Chen and Zhu Erlang to investigate that situation? Come on, tell me about it."
Zhu Er was immediately grateful that he had returned just in time. He quickly cleared his throat and began his second report of the day.
Zhu Tingfang, who still had some prejudice against his brother, listened quietly at the side. Seeing that Zhu Er was so focused that he didn't even notice him and was just talking nonstop, he remembered that the man had been beaten since he was young and was like a naughty monkey with no stable character. He felt that the scene before him was both incredible and unusually harmonious.
Maybe, he actually always wanted a younger brother like this, so he wanted to beat Zhu Er into the way he wanted since he was a child?
However, Ge Yong did not have such a big prejudice against Zhu Er. Although he preferred to teach Zhu Ying rather than Zhu Er at the beginning, that was a decision he made after examining Zhu Er's qualifications and temperament, but now that the prodigal son has turned over a new leaf, he is of course happy to see it happen. Therefore, for Zhu Er's occasional words and deeds of showing pity, he not only did not get angry, but instead smiled and praised him.
After listening to Zhang Shou saying that Zhang Chen had not come back yet and was still traveling outside, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "These little guys who used to be a headache in the capital have become hardworking and willing to work hard under your leadership. If you tell others, they may not believe it... Well, although he hasn't come back yet, the current situation is already very obvious."
He took a deep breath and said, "If this is the case in Cangzhou, I think it will be even more so in Jiangnan. There are too many people and too little land, and too many people and too little work. If this continues, there will be chaos. Tell me, what should we do?"
Seeing that Teacher Ge was asking him the same question, Zhang Shou did not hesitate and said directly: "Internally, we need more industries that employ more people to work, but it is not enough to do so internally. Excuse me for being blunt, but I heard that since the early years of the Ming Dynasty, people have been sailing to Southeast Asia, first for trade, and later for development and settlement..."
"In that case, why not take a bigger step? By the way, teacher, have you heard of the good farmer I recommended to the emperor? In fact, I went to one of his plantations this time and had a good harvest."
