After formally receiving the imperial edict at the Meridian Gate, Yuzhu and Zhang Tingyu discussed it briefly and decided to set off south to Guangdong in three days.
When traveling south from Beijing to Guangdong, it is customary to take the Grand Canal first. After arriving in Hangzhou, you will then change ships from Hangzhou Bay and take the sea route to Guangdong.
In fact, some people have advocated for a long time to stop water transportation and switch to sea transportation...
However, water transportation involves the livelihood plans of millions of people on both sides of the canal.
Kangxi was worried that he would force these people to rebel and cause chaos in the south of the Yangtze River, so he vetoed the proposal to transport grain by sea.
This is the same logic as household-based production quotas. The production efficiency of an individual farmer is definitely far inferior to that of mechanized large farms in the United States.
However, the household responsibility system left a way out for farmers and maintained social stability to the greatest extent.
It is also an imperial envoy leaving the capital. Yuzhu is from the third-class Adahahafan of the third grade, which belongs to the category of imperial envoy ministers. When leaving the capital, he must ride in an eight-carry official sedan.
Zhang Tingyu was only a seventh-rank Hanlin Academy reviewer, and could only be an imperial official riding in a four-carrying official sedan.
As usual, when an imperial minister leaves the capital, an official from the Ministry of Rites will prepare a banquet to see him off at the reception pavilion ten miles east of the capital.
Today, the person who came to see Yuzhu off was Fushan, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites.
A long way away, in Fushan, we saw a large group of people approaching in a mighty manner.
I saw that in the lead of Yuzhu's team were eight officers, carrying huge gongs on all sides. They walked and struck the gongs, making nineteen sounds in a row.
According to the rules of the Qing dynasty, when a governor goes out, he should sound thirteen gongs, which is called the thirteen gongs.
When the imperial ministers travel, the gong will sound nineteen times to show the majesty of the imperial power.
Dense signs of avoidance and solemn warnings rushed towards me, followed by more than a dozen official title plates with jade pillars.
Among the official title plaques, the most eye-catching pair contains a few lines of gold characters: In the 45th year of Kangxi's reign, the first place in the Bingxu Enke Palace Examination was awarded the title of Jinshi.
This dynasty paid special attention to the imperial examinations to select scholars, so the official title plaques of the number one scholar at Yuzhudian were actually larger than the official title plaques of the imperial envoys who took the Guangdong Provincial Examination to examine the candidates.
In front of the eight-carriage sedan, a pair of golden melons representing the supreme imperial power opened the way, followed by a banner and golden festival, a pair of yellow dragon flags, a yellow umbrella cover, and a large black fan with an inscription on it.
At the end of the large procession, a group of about fifty officers, carrying red tassel guns on their shoulders and long knives on their waists, lined up neatly and marched solemnly.
This is the benefit that Yuzhu got after bargaining with the old emperor.
The sea near Guangdong Customs was full of pirates, and safety was indeed a problem. Yuzhu asked the old emperor for the seeds of more than fifty officers from the tax inspection camp, and asked them to follow him to Guangdong.
There were only about fifty tax collectors, and they were not serious officers and soldiers of the Green Camp. The old emperor was inevitably careless and agreed to Yuzhu.
In order to highlight the lustful heart and reduce the old emperor's vigilance.
Yuzhu deliberately entangled himself with the old emperor in a quarrel with each other until the "Qian Liang" event, which finally made Kangxi relent and agreed that he could take his two maidservants to the south.
Therefore, the Eighth Imperial Envoy carried a sedan chair followed by several carriages, in which Xingrui and Xingjiao were seated.
Yuzhu originally wanted to take Hanshuang with him, but Xiuyun said that Hanshuang was not a maidservant, and even if he took her to Guangdong, it would not be convenient.
Hey, this is obviously just an excuse!
Yuzhu knew it well, Xiuyun deliberately arranged for two Xings to accompany him south, just because he didn't want him to mess around outside and cause trouble.
Xingrui and Xingjiao were both Xiuyun's dowry girls and Yuzhu's legitimate maidservants, so it was appropriate to take them south together.
Behind Yuzhu's large team, Zhang Tingyu's team was much shabbier.
However, Zhang Tingyu is a very powerful person, so it is naturally impossible for him to show any strange emotions.
After Yuzhu got off the sedan, Tomiyama, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, led his staff to kneel down together and said loudly: "My right minister of the Ministry of Rites, I, Mr. Tomiyama, would like to express my sincere greetings to you."
"Holy greetings." Yuzhu represented the emperor. After receiving the ceremony, he bowed to the ground and said respectfully: "Jade pillar, of humble rank, pays homage to Lord Youtang."
The ministers of the six departments and the left and right ministers are all court officials. Among them, the minister is also called the minister of the ministry, the minister of the left is the master of the left hall, and the minister of the right is the master of the right hall.
If you use the wrong title in official circles, you will offend people.
Fushan saw that Yuzhu was very polite, and his original unfavorable opinion immediately eased a lot.
After all, a person who is lucky enough to be in the officialdom and is still so young will definitely arouse jealousy.
About half a quarter of an hour later, the courtesy was over. Fushan held the wine cup in his hand and handed it to Yuzhu. He said gently: "I wish you a safe journey and success!"
"By the good words of Mr. Youtang, I hope you will be safe in this humble position."
Yuzhu took the wine cup three times, first sprinkled it on the sky, then sprinkled it on the earth, and finally paid tribute to the king and father.
After the ceremony was completed, Yuzhu, Fushan and Zhang Tingyu raised their necks together, drank the wine in their cups, and said goodbye with smiles.
Because the imperial envoy was out of Beijing, the official ship pier in Tongzhou had already been under martial law early.
On the pier, five two-story official ships were parked.
After getting off the sedan, Yuzhu, wearing a yellow mandarin jacket, just appeared.
The parents and officials who came to see off the imperial envoy, the Prime Minister of Shuntian Prefecture, the Chief of the East Road Department of Shuntian Prefecture, the Tongzhou Magistrate and the Sanhe County Magistrate all knelt down to greet him.
"I respectfully send you your holy greetings."
"Sacred peace."
After performing the ceremony of worshiping the emperor, the jade pillar cupped his hands and greeted the Prime Minister of Shuntian Prefecture.
Yuzhu's official title is from the fourth rank, which is slightly lower than that of Shuntian Fucheng, who is the fourth rank. However, Yuzhu has the title of third rank, which falls into the category of Shangguan.
Tongzhi of the East Road Department, Zhengwupin, is an official responsible for catching thieves. His area of responsibility includes Tongzhou and Jizhou, and their respective counties.
Tongzhou Zhizhou is the Zhizhou of Zhili Prefecture, and it is also the fifth grade.
The official positions of these two people were slightly lower than that of Yuzhu, so they both bowed and saluted, and Yuzhu only had to return the salute.
What is special is that the magistrate of Sanhe County is only the seventh grade. The grade gap between him and Yuzhu is too big, so he must bow three times in salute.
If in the late Qing Dynasty, there was such a huge difference in grade, the seventh grade county magistrate would have to kneel down.
In the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty, there were many customary rituals. After the whole set of red tape was completed, a quarter of an hour had passed.
When the imperial envoy travels, the magistrate of Sanhe County, who is in charge of the Tongzhou official ship wharf, is the first person responsible.
The several high-rise ships on the pier are all necessary official ships for imperial envoys to travel.
Because it was summer, Yuzhu didn’t bring many boxes with him when traveling.
Xiuyun had never been to Guangdong and originally packed her thick fur and winter coats, but Yuzhu dissuaded her with a smile.
Are you kidding me? Even if it is the end of the Little Ice Age, the winter in Guangzhou cannot be too cold.
After everyone boarded the ship, greeted by the sound of cannons, firecrackers and gongs and drums, the imperial ship, flying the Yellow Dragon flag, untied its cables one by one and sailed eastward to Tianjin Wei.
During the trip south about a year ago, Yuzhu took the official ship of the Baron House. Although it also had the privilege of passage, how could an ordinary official ship compare to the official ship of the Imperial Envoy?
The large-scale ship with the yellow dragon flag on its bow, whether it was an official ship or a civilian ship, was ordered to dock by the government officers wherever it passed.
They had to wait for the imperial envoy's official ship to pass before they could continue their journey.
According to the rules, the official ships of imperial envoys must be hauled by civilian laborers from the government along the way.
There are also a certain number of people pulling fiber, no more, no less, exactly ninety people in a boat. Among them, thirty people work in groups, rotating every hour, and they are divided into three shifts.
Due to the concept of levying corvee labor, these men who pulled fiber not only had no wages, but also had to bring their own bedrolls, food, and money for daily life.
Nothing is more evil than autocratic imperial power!
Yuzhu stood on the bow of the boat with his hands behind his hands, silently looking at the trackers who were trudging forward with thick ropes on their shoulders. He couldn't help but secretly sigh, shouldn't such a great Qing Dynasty deserve to perish?
Although he is a modern soul, Yuzhu did not order the trackers to rest.
To put it bluntly, as long as the Qing Dynasty survives, how many trackers can Yuzhu help?
It is really unwise for a real man to show his disobedience before he has mastered the power!
In the cabin, Xingrui and Xingjiao were whispering, head to head.
"Xiao Jiaojiao, our girl specially ordered you to accompany your uncle to go south. You should understand what that means, right?" Xingrui asked Xingjiao with a smile.
Obviously knowing that Xingrui wanted to see her shy and blushing joke, how could Xingjiao do what she wanted?
Xingjiao deliberately sighed heavily and said, "Well, when I was guarding the door, I often heard someone shouting hoarse. Couldn't that person be you?"
"You, you damn girl, don't let me tear your bitch apart." Xingrui was so shy that she couldn't help but pinch Xingjiao's waist.
Yuzhu always treated the women around him very kindly, so Xingrui and Xingjiao dared to make a fuss.
When the two of them had had enough trouble and the noise gradually subsided, Yuzhu happened to turn around from the bow of the ship into the cabin.
Seeing the beautiful scene of two beautiful maids lying on the big bed with messy hair, Yuzhu was not a vegetarian, so he immediately closed the cabin door with his backhand.
After Yuzhu fell into a comfortable and sound sleep, Xingjiao quietly stood up, collected the large white silk handkerchief dyed red, and secretly put it into the brocade box that Xiuyun had prepared for her.
Even Xiuyun and Xingjiao are like sisters. Rules are rules and must be followed.
Xingjiao, who slept with her for the first time, was betrayed by Yuzhu and had to hand over the evidence of her chastity.
Yuzhu made the old emperor so upset that he insisted on the special treatment of bringing two maids. How could it be used as a decoration?
The official start date of the Guangdong Provincial Examination is as usual on the ninth, twelfth and fifteenth days of August, and is held in three sessions, each lasting three days.
If Yuzhu is enjoying himself on the road and delays the time of presiding over the provincial examination, something big will happen.
It is conceivable that the memorials of the officials impeaching Yuzhu will be piled up on the desk of the old emperor.
Therefore, along the way to Yuzhu, except for meeting the governor of Shandong in Dezhou, meeting the governor of Jiangsu in Yangzhou, and meeting the governor of Zhejiang in Hangzhou, there was no boring welcome or send-off.
After the imperial envoy's official ship arrived in Hangzhou, the local government had already prepared five large ships.
After Yuzhu and Zhang Tingyu boarded the ship respectively, they entered Fujian by sea and then entered Guangzhou Prefecture in Guangdong Province.
(PS: This chapter was really hard to write. I checked all kinds of information, and finally restored the reception and send-off of the imperial envoys when they left the capital. Alas, I am getting older, so let me expand a little. Old or young
Man, a certain family is so attentive, it’s worth a monthly ticket!)