Meng Bozhen, the governor of Jinan, felt dizzy when he looked at the petition signed by all the wealthy gentry in Qingzhou. If what was stated in this petition was true, then this would be a shocking case. These wealthy households
He was very aware of the energy of the gentry, and they would never sit back and watch their interests being so blatantly violated.
"Sir, Master Feng is here." A government servant quickly walked up to Meng Bozhen and whispered.
"Oh? Mr. Feng is here, please invite him in."
Meng Bozhen closed the form and nodded to the Yamen servant to invite the person in.
After a while, Jinan Army Guard Feng Wenlu came up and cupped his hands and said: "Sir Meng, I wonder what the important matter is for you to recruit your subordinates?"
"It turns out that Feng Shoubei is here, please sit down." Meng Bozhen stood up and gestured with his hand to Feng Wenlu to sit down.
"Thank you, Sir!" Feng Wenlv sat down and looked directly at Meng Bozhen, waiting for his instructions.
Meng Bozhen silently handed the paper on the table to Feng Wenlu. After Feng Wenlu took the paper, he read it carefully. Slowly, his face became serious. For a long time, he let out a long breath full of embarrassment.
He said: "Sir, it is very difficult for us, Jinan Prefecture, to make the decision on this matter. Although Qingzhou is under the jurisdiction of our Jinan Prefecture, the guard station is an exception. According to the Ming Dynasty Law, the guard station is under the jurisdiction of the capital commander. We
If they have no right to punish him, what do these gentry in Qingzhou mean by handing this letter to Jinan?"
Meng Bozhen snorted coldly: "This matter is not simple. They are putting pressure on the court and building momentum. These wealthy gentry people usually always drag their feet and push back and push back when asked to do something."
Yes, but when I feel wronged in any way, I shout louder than anyone else, really thinking that the court is run by their family."
Feng Wenlu nodded repeatedly after hearing this. Isn't this the kind of virtue that these gentry usually have? They always take the lead when it comes to benefits. However, if they suffer any grievances, the world will be full of commotion. However, this matter has become a bit big.
, the gentry sued thousands of households in the guard station for not only setting up troops to rob grain, but also killing grain merchants to provide relief to the victims in order to win people over for their evil intentions. This label was a bit too harsh.
"Sir, having said that, Pang Gang was too courageous to kill grain merchants and raid grain depots without the court's order. This has caused public outrage. It doesn't seem to matter if we don't deal with it.
OK."
Meng Bozhen smiled bitterly and said: "Feng Shoubei, do you think that without the acquiescence of the Qingzhou magistrate and the commanding officer's yamen, he would dare to do such a shocking thing with a thousand households?"
"Hiss!" Feng Wenlv took a breath and said in disbelief: "Mr. Meng, are you saying that these things were ordered by the Qingzhou prefect and the commanding officer's yamen?"
"Huh, even if they didn't instigate it, they must have acquiesced, otherwise a small Qianhu'an would dare to commit such a heinous crime, killing a gentry without authorization and ransacking his house!" This year, Meng Bozhen, who is only in his fifties, became an official.
How could he hide this little thing and this little trick from him for decades?
"Sir, do we still care about this matter?" Feng Wenlv felt his head was spinning. He wanted to care about it. The guard station was under the direct jurisdiction of the commanding officer's office and the Ministry of War. If the court blamed them in the future, they would be more or less the same.
To take responsibility.
"Forget it, they are forced to have no choice but to suffer the consequences for others." Meng Bozhen sighed helplessly, "If we hadn't driven tens of thousands of refugees to Qingzhou, how could Qingzhou use such helpless means?
Well, if it weren’t for King Lu... let’s forget it.”
Having said this, Meng Bo waved his hand with waning interest, "Feng Shoubei, please go out of your way to write a memorial to the court and ask the court to make a decision."
"This..." Feng Wenlu hesitated for a moment and then asked cautiously: "Sir, how should I write this memorial properly?"
Feng Wenlu's question was very knowledgeable. In ancient times, how to write memorials was a major subject. In the hands of these literati who were good at writing, when something passed through their hands, as long as they were willing, it was clearly a matter.
A bad thing can be turned into a good thing after they polish it, and a good thing can have another meaning as long as they add some oil, salt, sauce and vinegar to it. A very simple example is that during the Anti-Japanese War of the Republic of China, a member of the Kuomintang
The senior general lost his city and territory and fled without a fight, and was sent to a military court. The people below asked Chairman Chiang for instructions on how to sentence him. Chairman Chiang, who was determined to kill others, said bitterly, "There are excusable circumstances and original sins cannot be forgiven."
, indicating that the military court should sentence the defeated general to death, but the person below accidentally typed "the crime is unforgivable and the circumstances are excusable" when sending the telegram. In this way, the meaning of the words is completely different.
So this lucky general saved his life.
In the eyes of the literati in ancient times, this kind of thing was simply one of their basic skills, and they could be mastered without any embarrassment. When Feng Wenlu said this, he was clearly asking if he wanted to put in a good word for the Wei Institute in Qingzhou.
Meng Bozhen pondered for a while and then sighed: "The Qingzhou Prefecture is protecting us from the disaster this time. It is difficult for them to resettle tens of thousands of refugees at once. If we hadn't forced them to panic, they wouldn't have come here.
It's a bad idea, Feng Shoubei, if you have time, you might as well put in a nice word for them."
Feng Wenlv sighed softly, "Okay, I'll go and draft the memorial now and polish it for them. If His Highness King Lu hadn't refused to open the warehouse to release grain, we wouldn't have taken this drastic step to drive away the refugees."
Qingzhou Mansion, it is true that I waited for this matter first, so I will go back and prepare now."
Meng Bozhen closed his eyes slightly and waved slightly. Feng Wenlu held his hand and retreated.
In late December of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Pang Gang took a dozen old carpenters by the nameless river at the foot of Mount Wei in Lingshan. They looked at the water flowing continuously in the river. Pang Gang smiled at the people around him.
A gray-haired old carpenter said: "Uncle Xu, you see there is such a river near Lingshanwei. It flows by us every year, but our fertile fields are abandoned because there is no water for irrigation. This is terrible.
It's such a pity. You know, if this water can be used, these fertile fields can be irrigated, which can feed tens of thousands of people."
The white-haired Uncle Xu looked at the rushing river and pondered for a moment before saying: "Sir, do you know why thousands of households in the past dynasties have never thought of diverting water to irrigate the area after this river has passed here for so many years?" He did not wait for Pang Gang.
He stroked his white beard and said, "That's because the river is originally located below and the water level is low. If you want to divert water to irrigate the area, you have to build a large water tanker, and the cost of building a large water tanker is unusual."
It is expensive, and the annual maintenance is also a big expense. It would be okay if there was a subsidy from the court, but now the court is too busy to take care of itself. How can it subsidize the health center? As a result, the wasteland here is becoming more and more unavailable because it cannot divert water to irrigate the canals.
A lot, and finally it became like this.”
Pang Gang asked curiously: "Old man, how much money does it cost to build a waterwheel like this that can draw water from the river?"
Old man Xu calculated for a while and said: "If you just build a waterwheel like that for filling wells, it will only cost more than ten taels of silver. But to build this kind of waterwheel that can draw water from the river, it must be larger than ordinary waterwheels."
The old waterwheel is much bigger, so it uses a lot more materials. The old man estimates that including the materials and labor costs, building one round of this waterwheel would probably cost one hundred and fifty taels of silver."
"What?" Others, even Pang Gang, were startled and asked quickly, "Old man, an ordinary large waterwheel only costs sixty taels of silver. Why do you charge so much for this waterwheel?"
Old man Xu said disdainfully: "Their waterwheels are just enlarged frames. The waterwheel the old man made was inherited from Prime Minister Zhuge's Kongming waterwheel. It can draw water from the river with such a low water level. Their waterwheel
Is it possible?"
"Uh!" Pang Gang was dumbfounded for a while. He was really not familiar with this thing. He immediately lost his right to speak when he met an expert.
"Then how many acres of land can such a water tanker irrigate in one day?"
Mr. Xu proudly said: "I am not boasting. This kind of large water tanker can irrigate at least hundreds of acres of farmland in a day. As long as you order fifty of these water tankers, it will be enough to irrigate these tens of thousands of acres of wasteland in half a month."
Irrigation arrives.”
Pang Gang shook his head and said: "Fifty water trucks are too few. We need at least a hundred water trucks. There will be many places where we will need water in the future."
At this point, Pang Gang gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, then you can bring someone to make a hundred waterwheels first."
"One hundred!" Even old man Xu was startled. "Are you sure you want to make one hundred waterwheels? That's fifteen thousand taels of silver." More than ten thousand taels of silver is not a small amount.
At that time, fifteen thousand taels of silver could feed a frontier army of one thousand men for a year.
However, at this time, Pang Gang had made a fortune since he plundered the Zheng Mansion in Qingzhou. With more than 300,000 taels of cash in hand, he waved his hand and said with great pride: "Since we are going to do this,
We will take one step at a time and let these water trucks line up along the river to irrigate the fields along the way, but I have my word first. If the water trucks do not do well, I will not give you any money."
When Old Man Xu heard this, he couldn't help but said proudly: "Don't worry, sir. If the water tanker made by Old Man cannot draw water, Old Man will not take any money."
After hearing this, Pang Gang nodded secretly. Anyone who has ability is proud. Seeing how arrogant this old man is, he must have some real ability.
Just do it. After Pang Gang agreed to the old man Xu's conditions, everyone finally started construction. This oldest agricultural irrigation tool in China is also called a crane. It is ten meters high and consists of a 5-meter-long rod with a diameter of 0.5
The 24-meter-long axle supports 24 wooden spokes, which spread out radially in all directions. The top of each spoke carries a scraper and a water bucket. The scraper scrapes water and the water bucket fills the water. The river water rushes in and slowly rotates with the force of the water.
Carrying a waterwheel weighing more than ten tons, each water bucket is filled with river water and is lifted up step by step. When reaching the top, the water bucket naturally tilts, pouring water into the aqueduct and flowing into the irrigated farmland. The shape of the waterwheel resembles an ancient wheel.
The diameter of the large wheel is about 20 meters, and the small one is more than 10 meters. It can lift water up to 15-18 meters. The center of the wheel is a thick axle, and there are twice as many horizontal boards as the wooden bucket. It can lift water in one day.
Irrigating 500 acres of farmland, I carried the most powerful irrigation tool in ancient times.