After the banquet at the Yellow Crane Tower, the old emperor stayed in Jiangxia for another two days. One day was spent observing this major commercial port in central China. It was diversified in all directions and boats were connected. The unprecedentedly prosperous business scene was not far from the old emperor's expectation, and even
Still have 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 full of fishy smell. The other half was spent in the goods channel, together with the doorkeepers and tax collectors, observing them 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 is a huge city, and it can accommodate 100,000 people. How is this done? With the current productivity of Han society, the cost of supplying each big city is huge. Jiangxia has no policy advantage, and everyone from top to bottom
We have to consider the cost, how to overcome the difficulties and develop step by step to where we are today.
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, which extend in all directions and connect major cities.
The roads in the middle city are one of the guarantees for the efficient operation of the Han Dynasty.
In terms of food and clothing, they have worked hard, constantly improving grain types, improving composting technology, building production tools on a large scale, using animal power on a large scale, introducing and planting Champa rice on a large scale, plundering 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. They have improved cotton spinning tools and the technicians have 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, water conservancy projects are being overhauled, 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.
Also setting a precedent in history, the imperial examinations established agricultural and engineering subjects, which fundamentally changed the political status of the two, and they were no longer "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce" in name only.
However, no matter whether you are a worker or peasant, or you have studied agricultural and industrial knowledge and skills, when you become an official, you basically break away from the original class and move further and further away. You cannot really distinguish them from ordinary peasants and workers. After all, since ancient times, in
In the central country, there are only two kinds of people, 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, regardless of the facts. 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, it would be foolish to only rely on a relaxed business environment and the circulation of goods to achieve the current level of urban development in Han Dynasty.
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 situation, 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 shadow. Prosperity is often a hotbed of evil. The old emperor has neither the energy nor the heart to understand the deeper situation, but
What he could see were the ordinary people in Jiangxia, who were living 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 the duties of ordinary people and bear the responsibilities of ordinary people.
The hard work of ordinary people is part of the functioning of the entire society.
As a subordinate, if you only want to get the treatment of a master, it is unrealistic and can easily cause problems and affect social stability. Being able to give the subordinates a chance to become a master through hard work is already the greatest
It's fair.
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 situation that he was always concerned about, he did not take the time to see it. In short, it was better than that in Luoshan County. After all, he relied on
The river is big and the fish and rice are plentiful.
The next stop is of course Daozhi Jiangling. When you arrive at Jinghu North Road, you have to go to the capital to see it. And Fan Zhigu personally invites you. If you don't go, it will not look good, and it will easily cause an unnecessary political turmoil.
It affected Fan Zhigu's prestige and brought trouble to him in governing Hubei.
Even though 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 then Xiangzhou.
State, let’s ignore the rest for now.
In fact, Jiangling Prefecture has never worried that Ezhou could threaten its status. The only thing is that Ezhou is located in a remote area 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 heading 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 way to ride on the dragon boat. Ordinary river boats and pleasure boats were not safe. For the safety of the emperor, he
, selected a main ship from the Yangtze River Navy as the emperor's vehicle, and deployed a navy 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 2,000, and about 50 large and small ships. The only large ship only costs 1,000 yuan. It is used as the vehicle of the old emperor on his westward journey.
Before departure, the old emperor personally conducted a review of the Ezhou Navy. This 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 300 miles away from Jiangxia by land, and the waterway is much longer, with twists and turns. If you go upstream and rely on paddle sails as power, you can travel only 40 to 50 miles a day. Plus you stop and go along the way.
Look, it still took more than half a month to arrive in Jiangling, just in time to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in Jiangling.
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 the 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. On the next day, officers from the Wude Department were dispatched to clean up the two main naval divisions under the jurisdiction of Hubei Province. The goal was clear.
They acted quickly, and in order to take precautionary measures to suppress possible disturbances, Sergeant Ouchi also cooperated to board the ship and capture 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 came to dawn, there was thunder and thunder. There was basically no resistance. In fact, even without the cooperation of the internal army, it was impossible to carry the edict to arrest people.
Resistance, the reverence that people in the world have for the old emperor happens to be the most profound among the middle class.
As a result, half of the mid-level and senior officers of the navy in Jinghu North Road were arrested in this operation, almost in one fell swoop. Of course, the reason for making such a big fuss was because they were well-known in the navy. Not to mention the details, they were involved in smuggling.
This article 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, public security, and suppressing bandits has
level of participation.
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 the internal reports of the Jinghu North Navy and the investigation of Wude Division, the Navy did much more than that! For example, maliciously intercepting merchant ships and privately collecting boat tax, if it was just to collect tolls, that's all.
There are many cases where people seek wealth and kill people; even worse, they support water bandits and raise bandits to respect themselves.
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 navy. It has a long history. It can be traced back to the Gao family period in Nanping. It expanded on the basis of the original Jingnan Navy. Later, it also incorporated part of the Hunan Navy and the Jiangnan Navy that came later.
The Yangtze River Navy Division has developed over the years to form the current Yangtze River Navy Division. The Yangtze River Navy Division, together with other water system naval forces, constitutes the Great Han Inland River Navy Division.
As for the Inland River Navy, the biggest change is the decentralization of command power, division of lanes, divisions, and delegation to the command departments of various prefectures. While maintaining certain war functions, they are also responsible for public security, bandit suppression, anti-smuggling and other matters. The Privy Council
Over there, 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 eliminated. At the same time, actions were launched to clean up the officialdom of Jinghu North Road Division and Jiang Jiangling Mansion, focusing on the judiciary.
The three major departments of taxation and supervision captured more than 60 people at once. Among them, the highest-ranking ones were the deputy commander of Jinghu North Road, the commander of Hubei Navy, Wei Zhong, and the other was 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, his 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 led the navy to fight hard. In the great cause of unifying the world, Wei Lin
This achievement also established the position of the Wei family in Jinghu North Road. Wei Zhong is now the head of the Wei family and a high official in the Taoist Department.
The arrest of these two men was a major earthquake for Hubei officialdom, catching many people off guard. In the more than thirty years since its establishment, Jinghu North Road has also experienced changes in Han politics.
It has been affected by various battles, movements, and changes, but overall, it has gone through smoothly, and there has never been such a big purge as this time.
Many people were at a loss as to what to do. No one expected it, but everyone could see that the old emperor was going to be ruthless. He had arrested so many people and even his brother-in-law was imprisoned. It was no joke.
Therefore, with fear in their hearts, many people approached the Chief Envoy's Yamen and begged Fan Zhigu, hoping that Fan Zhigu 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 matter. After all, there was no sign 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.
His style of work is to act like a thunderbolt if he doesn't move.
After calming down, Fan Zhigu calmed down and did not panic like other Hubei bureaucrats. Hubei's shortcomings were not his fault. After all, he was just a chief minister who had been in office for less than two years and did not get the slightest hint beforehand.
It 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 Sun, Wei and other prominent families in Hubei. It is difficult to really pee in the same pot.