Generally speaking, Kaihai Day was relatively stable. No matter in the South City or the North City, there were no fights or troubles, nor was there any blackmail by the guards. Zhang Yanfang personally dressed up as a servant of an ordinary merchant and asked one of his own clan to pretend to be a servant.
As a merchant who came to buy goods, the two of them visited the northern and southern cities many times together and found no problems.
In the evening, Zhang Yanfang returned to his residence in Shibosi Yamen tiredly. His wife Zhang complained: "I don't know how you are qualified to be an official. Even when Emperor Taizu was the emperor, no official was so busy.
It’s not just that I’m busy for a while, but that I’m busy all the time.”
Zhang Yanfang shouted: "Shut up! You can talk about important matters of the imperial court!"
When Zhang heard what he said, she immediately stopped talking. Because Zhang Yanfang had been married for more than 20 years, he did not want to treat his wife like this, so he explained: "Now His Majesty has entrusted me with the important task of opening the sea.
How can we not try our best?"
Mrs. Zhang knew that although her husband had always been more pragmatic due to the pressure of life, he had actually had dreams such as "Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage"; now, although the emperor did not go to "Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage" to invite him, he was only of the sixth grade.
His officials were not considered highly valued, but they were very polite to him, so it was natural that he would do his best.
Madam Zhang gave Zhang Yanfang a basin of water to wash his feet. At this moment, a servant from the Shipping Department knocked on the door and said, "Mr. Zhang, I need to see you for something."
Mrs. Zhang put down the foot-washing water and went behind the screen. Zhang Yanfang said, "Come in."
The officer walked in and said, "Sir, there is a man who claims to be your old friend and wants to see you."
Zhang Yanfang asked: "Did he say who he was?"
The officer replied: "Not really."
Zhang Yanfang said: "Then you go back and tell him that no matter who he is, if he hides his head and shows his tail like this, I will not see him!"
The officer took out a letter and said, "Sir, this is his letter to you. He said that you will know after reading the letter."
Zhang Yanfang said, "Since there is a letter, why didn't you take it out early?" while taking the letter.
Zhang Yanfang opened the letter, glanced at it a few times, his expression immediately changed, and he said loudly: "Invite this person in quickly!"
Then he said, "I'd better go see him!" Then he quickly put on his shoes and ran to the front yard.
Zhang Yanfang ran to the front yard and saw that it was indeed the person in the letter. He said to all the officers: "Get down."
The officers really wanted to know who this person was who asked their superiors to come out to greet him in person, but Zhang Yanfang had already given the order and they did not dare to disobey, so they all withdrew.
After all these people had gone down, Zhang Yanfang smiled and said, "Brother Yang, why are you here?" This person turned out to be Yang Ren, the Minister of Household Affairs appointed by Yunxi.
Yang Ren also smiled and said: "Why can't I come to Shanghu County?" Then he said seriously: "After the official order to open the sea was issued, His Majesty was still not at ease, so he asked me to come and take a look."
"And His Majesty said that if everything goes well, Shanghu County will not be the only place open to the sea. In the future, a yamen will be established to have overall jurisdiction over all places open to the sea. To be honest, I will be in charge of this yamen
, so it’s a good idea to come to the land of the open sea now and save yourself from not knowing anything.”
Yunxi intends to set up more than just this municipal shipping department. Although he has not yet decided how many to establish, there must be at least one in Guangdong and Yongjian, and there must be at least one in Shandong, Beiping and Liaodong in the north.
"Thirdly, Shanghu County will be officially transferred to Tianfu, and Qingpu County will be established soon. Your Majesty also asked me to supervise this matter."
It turns out that although Shanghu County is to be placed under Yingtian Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture originally only had two counties, Shanghu County and Huating County. After putting Shanghu County under Yingtian Prefecture, it cannot be that one prefecture has only one county, right? It is better to put Songjiang Prefecture into one county.
The government was abolished.
Yunxi originally wanted to abolish Songjiang Prefecture and transfer Huating County to Changzhou Prefecture. However, the officials were not very supportive.
Yunxi was afraid of trouble. Since the auxiliary officials did not support it, and Yunxi actually only wanted to open up the sea, he simply separated Shanghu County and Puxi into a separate county and returned it to Tianfu; the rest of the places were separated and established
Qingpu County continues to belong to Songjiang Prefecture.
Zhang Yanfang was also busy with the establishment of Qingpu County a while ago, so he smiled and said, "Now that Brother Yang is here, I feel relieved."
Yang Ren said: "What? You want to blame everything on me? That's not possible. I am still the Minister of Hubu in the Ming Dynasty, not an official in the Ministry of Personnel, nor an official in Yingtian Mansion; and you are also serving as a superior.
As for the Magistrate of Shanghai, you still have to do your own affairs."
Zhang Yanfang shook his head and said, "I'm really busy! One side is the affairs of the county, the other side is the affairs of the Municipal Shipping Department. I'm so busy."
Yang Ren said: "I will help you with the affairs of the Municipal Shipping Department in the past few days. You can go and take care of the county affairs first."
Zhang Yanfang smiled and said, "Thank you so much, Brother Yang!"
The two took another sip of tea, and Yang Ren asked again: "Brother Zhang, this city's shipping company has launched the sea for the first time today. How is the situation?"
Zhang Yanfang said: "Today, I personally pretended to be a merchant's servant and followed them around the two cities in the north and south. I also sent officials from the city shipping department to go around. There was no trouble, and no officers were extorting merchants. Everything was fine.
."
Yang Ren said: "That's good. But we can't relax. Today is the day, no one dares to slack off, and merchants are careful not to violate the rules. If it takes a few days to open the sea, it will not be guaranteed."
Zhang Yanfang nodded and said: "I also know this truth, and I will not relax in the future."
Yang Ren said: "It's not enough if you can't relax yourself. How many eyes do you have alone? Can you keep an eye on the entire Shibo Department? You still have to make good use of the people below."
"You must pay attention to the people below. The black sheep submitted a letter to the court early to open a vacancy and go back."
"And I also want to inform you that the Municipal Shipping Department will be established in the future. The officials here are all experienced people. They will be promoted to other Municipal Shipping Departments, or even be promoted directly. Your Majesty always employs people.
It doesn’t matter where one comes from.”
"So if you train them well here, it will be beneficial to Ming Dynasty."
"And in the future, you will also become the chief officer of the Yamen in charge of all the city's shipping departments. The people below are all trustworthy people, so don't you also have peace of mind?"
Zhang Yanfang said: "I don't dare to dream of becoming such a high official. You are the Minister of Household Affairs, a third-rank official. The yamen you lead, the chief officer must be a fourth-rank official no matter what."
Yang Ren said: "So what? Although you wasted half your life, it's just that the late emperor didn't need you. You have great abilities."
"Now that the Holy One wants to use you, you can show off your talents and serve the country!"
Zhang Yanfang is also passionate. After hearing Yang Ren's words, he immediately said excitedly: "If Your Majesty treats me as a national soldier, I will repay him as a national soldier."