The three hundred and fortieth chapters beat into the shape you want
As an important town by the canal, Cangzhou has always been one of the densely populated cities, and the registered household population, according to Zhang Shou's statistics during his time in Changlu County Yamen, shows a smooth rising curve.
.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Hejian Prefecture had a population of 210,000, and Cangzhou had a population of 30,000. Obviously, this was the result of the chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. By the early years of Yingzong, Hejian Prefecture had a population of 370,000, and Cangzhou had a population of 60,000.
Compared with the population growth rate of the entire Hejian Prefecture, the population of Cangzhou is growing faster.
And 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 only barely exceeded 410,000. From this perspective, the population of Cangzhou is indeed
It has been growing steadily at a higher rate. Even though the change of throne once caused various chaos in the capital, it did not harm this important canal town.
By the way, in the 10th year of Yongchen, the year when Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying were born, the imperial court re-calculated the birth population. This was the first major event that the current emperor personally presided over and implemented - other exciting things that the young emperor was doing.
Of course, the various chaotic government orders that aroused dissatisfaction among the courtiers and eventually led to the clan thinking that they could cause chaos were not included among them.
Although the current population of Cangzhou has not yet been counted again, according to Zhang Shou's speculation, seventeen years have passed, because the current emperor is the emperor who has reigned the longest in these years, there have been no major changes in the court situation, and there have been occasional wars on the border.
, but most of them achieved good results, so the people of the world thrived and thrived. The entire population of Cangzhou, including the hidden households and black households, probably exceeded 100,000.
Of course, it is impossible for all of these 100,000 people to live together in Cangzhou City. The three counties under the jurisdiction of Cangzhou had a registered population of more than 20,000 in the ten years of Yongping, and now it has exceeded 30,000. In addition, the population is divided into various townships and villages.
With a large population, and Cangzhou is a plain area, the city of Cangzhou would be as big as the sky if it had 40,000 people.
If this were placed in an important city in the south, such as Suzhou Prefecture, which has a population of two million and a city population of more than 500,000, Cangzhou would naturally be an extremely small city. But in the north, a city of thirty or forty thousand people would already be
It's quite prosperous.
Therefore, Zhang Shou asked Ming Zhu Er, and the places to investigate were Shuishi Street and Washi Back Street - the former was based on his connections with Lao Xianyushu, and the latter was based on Lao Xi's ability to deal with the three religions and nine streams.
——He knew that although the two samples Zhu Er received had certain reference significance, he had to wait for Zhang Chen's results to come out before he could make a final judgment.
But even so, he still asked for specific figures, and Zhu Er was very happy to show his results.
"There are a lot of people living in the back streets of Wa City. There are 74 middle-aged men who are landless and jobless. Most of these people are alone because they cannot afford to support their families. There are 193 people who make a living by doing odd jobs.
People, including their wives, children, and family members, because almost all of them make a living doing odd jobs. Men work as dock laborers, and women work as washers..."
At this time, Zhu Er just wanted to get ahead of Zhang Chen, so he naturally spoke in an orderly manner, obviously having put a lot of effort into it.
After talking about the back streets of Wa City, he started to talk about Shuishi Street where Lao Xianyu’s shop is located: “And Shuishi Street is full of shops, and the thirty-two people who are landless and unemployed are mostly beggars who live nearby.
Some idle people in the market... By the way, my eldest brother just cleaned up a group of them before and even killed two of them..."
Just when Zhu Er was about to continue talking about this topic, he suddenly looked up as if aware. When he saw Zhu Tingfang standing at the door of the county government hall, looking down at him to usher people in, he suddenly realized that he should not mention the murder of his eldest brother.
This time, I immediately regretted it and shut up quickly. Sure enough, when Zhu Tingfang walked down the steps and walked towards them, he just said one straight sentence.
"Those who died are deserving of death. What are you trying to stir up trouble in front of Zhang Shou and Yingying?"
Only then did Zhu Ying know that her eldest brother had chosen to kill someone when they were not around. She was about to ask why, but she was directly grabbed by Zhang Shou. When she found that Zhang Shou calmly held her hand, her resentful expression suddenly changed.
It turned into a grievance. When did Zhang Shou need to mediate between her and her eldest brother? Her eldest brother underestimated her too much. She was not someone who screamed when she saw blood!
But Zhu Tingfang's next sentence finally brought a smile to Zhu Ying's face: "I saw that Cao Wu last night. Yingying, you have made a great contribution this time."
.”
But just after he praised his sister, Zhu Tingfang stopped smiling: "As for you kicking over a prefect's son, it's nothing, but you shouldn't just chase someone down the mountain like that, at least you should tie him up.
Come back to question him and let him sober up his head. He said something rude just because he couldn't agree with you. This kind of person should be severely punished and let his father take it back!"
Although Zhang Shou wanted to ignore this topic, he couldn't hold back what he said in the end: "This man talks nonsense and is indeed hateful, but can he really be punished?"
"Why not?" Zhu Tingfang raised his brows slightly, and then said calmly: "Anyone who insults the prince's son-in-law or the third-rank civil servant in the two capitals or above will be punished and his shackles will be removed in one month. Since he insulted the Duke of Zhao, then
This crime is applicable. You don’t have to say that those who don’t know are not guilty. If it were true that those who don’t know are not guilty, there would be no such provision in the law.”
One month of shackles? If it is so strictly enforced, then half of a young man’s life will definitely be lost, right? He is indeed an uncle who looks cold and cruel, but is actually a madman who protects his sister!
Zhang Shou couldn't help but shudder when he saw Zhu Er beside him. He secretly wanted to offend no one but Zhu Tingfang. Then he saw Zhu Ying's eyebrows dancing with joy, looking very happy that his eldest brother was protecting his younger brother. He decisively stopped such a move.
topic, Yin smiled and said: "We haven't seen each other for a few days. Let's talk about our farewells with eldest brother and Yingying first. Second brother and I will go back to the room to talk."
After he finished speaking, he dragged Zhu Er away. When he arrived at the door of his yard, seeing Zhu Er let out a long sigh of relief, he joked: "I really don't know how you got here when you were a child...
"
"How did you get here? Of course I was beaten here every day by my eldest brother." Zhu Er sighed, but he did not continue to talk about his feelings about the miserable world back then. He cheered up and continued his research report. Of course, he absolutely did not
He will forget to exaggerate his hard work, including his cross-dressing, including the fact that he was almost kicked out by a wary shrew.
In short, the process is very tortuous and the ending is very happy - although Zhu Er cannot really visit every household and understand more than ten or twenty households through the mouths of one or two households. This is the method he adopts most of the time, but Zhang Shou
Of course, I don't think this is laziness. Time is tight and the tasks are heavy. Zhu Er can achieve such results, and he is already very satisfied.
When the exchange between Zhang Shou and Zhu Er came to an end, Ah Liu's voice came from outside the door: "Master, just now, an envoy from the capital arrived. General Zhu asked you to come over."
Hearing that he was coming from the capital, Zhu Er immediately became energetic. When Zhang Shou went out, he followed him without hesitation, with his head held high and his chest high and energetic. He has been feeling that he is a hero recently. If it weren't for him and the old man
Xianyu "risked his own life" to rush into the palace, and then persuaded the eldest prince to come forward. After delaying the situation for a while, the eldest brother may not have enough time to arrive in time to suppress the situation.
Since he was a hero, how could he keep his voice down before the envoys from the capital came? Especially when he had a reputation of running away from home, he had to let someone go back and tell his father, lest he get beaten when he returned...
Zhang Shou was not surprised by the envoy from the capital - after all, some people Zhu Tingfang could deal with quickly, but some people Zhu Tingfang did not have the authority to deal with, or they needed to be treated with caution.
For example, take the eldest prince who was directly sent back to the capital by Zhu Tingfang, take the Changlu County magistrate Xu Cheng and a group of officials who are currently being held in the palace, and take the eight rioters including Xian Yunhe.
Even wider, the hundreds of people who were temporarily released by Zhu Tingfang and who occupied the palace together with Xian Yunhe and others. Once the court regrets, these people who have long been registered on the official roster may be trapped again at any time.
Jail.
When Zhang Shou hurriedly entered the lobby and saw the familiar figure, he was stunned. Not to mention him, Zhu Erna behind him was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped, and he blurted out: "Zu...
…Ancestor…Ancestor…Master Patriarch?”
Ge Yong, who has white hair and a white beard but still has a fairy-like spirit, couldn't help but smile: "Don't give me a seniority, I'm not that old yet!"
After finishing a witty remark that was like a cold joke, Ge Yong smiled and helped Zhang Shou, who came forward to salute, and patted the closed disciple twice on the shoulder: "This is the first time I go out to Beijing to do business, but I am still attracted by the Zhu family.
Da Lang dragged me along, but I didn't expect you to have some ideas. Even when I read your memorials, I found them fresh. So, this trip to Beijing was forced on me. "
Having said this, Mrs. Ge paused, thumped her waist and said, "Hey, if the emperor hadn't lent me a car, I wouldn't be able to travel hundreds of miles in three days with this old bone.
It’s almost gone…”
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Zhu Er running over to help him beat his back. Zhang Shou smiled and helped him. Feeling the filial piety of his disciples, he felt extremely proud and had to cough lightly.
"The springs wound by your spring winding machine are good, but they are still not suitable for use on carriages. However, compared to the time when Emperor Taizu had a group of people to make steel, he also supported a group of skilled craftsmen to make springs by hand.
, it’s much more convenient.”
Only then did Zhang Shou realize that the mysterious thing on the emperor's carriage was probably the spring shock absorber, so he lent it to Ge Yong, the emperor's master. As for the springs made by his manual spring winding machine, to be honest, the strength was as good as
The reliability cannot yet be used on vehicles such as horse-drawn carriages - the reason is simple: this spring cannot meet the load-bearing requirements of horse-drawn carriages and can only be used on looms.
These fragmentary thoughts were just spinning in his mind, and then he couldn't help but laugh and said: "Teacher, let's put these digressions aside for now. You'd better talk about it first, what exactly did you bring to the court this time?
Such a will!"
"Hey, guess what?"
Facing Mr. Ge who looked like an old child, Zhang Shou felt helpless. He glanced at Zhu Tingfang, who had a helpless expression on his face, and Zhu Er, who looked confused, and said thoughtfully: "If we just deal with corrupt officials,
And the so-called rioters, even if the teacher takes the initiative to ask for help, the emperor will probably not be willing to send you down... So, is it for the long-term peace and stability of Cangzhou?"
"Ahem, you have good taste."
Ge Yong smiled happily, but the unserious expression on his face disappeared immediately, replaced by a solemn one: "The memorial you sent to the capital before, mentioned that there are many people without land and jobs in Cangzhou.
The few people with household registration are not local to Cangzhou, but may have lived here through various channels. In fact, there are more people without land and industry, so the emperor pays more attention to it."
"Although the emperor does not have other confidants, sending your father-in-law here is too conspicuous. Qin Guogong, the governor of Shuntian, can't get away. The other few are like carrots and traps. Their positions are too high and they can't be moved. What kind of capable censor should be sent to the matter?
Well, those guys with higher eyes than top may not get along with you, so it seemed that there was no suitable person at the moment, so I volunteered, and he had no choice but to agree."
The old master had just gotten off the carriage after a bumpy ride. He felt a little tired from standing. When he saw Zhu Er was so stubborn, he just brought a chair over and asked him to sit down in the middle of the lobby. He really didn't want to.
He sat down politely and then asked directly: "Zhang Shou, didn't you say you asked Zhang Chen and Zhu Erlang to investigate the situation? Come on, come and let me hear it."
Zhu Er immediately felt very happy that he had come back just in time, and quickly cleared his throat to start his second report today.
Zhu Tingfang, who still had some prejudice against his younger brother, was listening quietly. Seeing that Zhu Er was so focused that he didn't see him at all and was just talking about it, he remembered that people have never been able to fight well since they were young, just like skinny monkeys.
With a definite look, I just felt that the scene in front of me was incredible, but also extremely harmonious.
Maybe, he has always wanted a younger brother like this, so he wanted to beat Zhu Er into what he wanted since he was a child?
But Ge Yong didn't have such a big prejudice against Zhu Er. Although he would rather teach Zhu Ying than Zhu Er at the beginning, it was a decision he made after examining Zhu Er's qualifications and temperament. But now that the prodigal son has turned back,
Of course he was also happy to see the results. Therefore, not only did he not get angry at Zhu Er's occasionally mischievous words and deeds, he instead praised him with a smile.
After listening, he heard Zhang Shou say that Zhang Chen hadn't come back yet and was still running around outside. He couldn't help laughing and said: "These little guys who used to be a headache in the capital have actually changed under your hands."
You have to endure hardships and work hard, and others may not believe it if you tell me...Well, although he hasn't come back yet, the current situation is already obvious."
He took a gentle breath and said in a deep voice: "It's like this in Cangzhou, and it must be even more like this in Jiangnan. There are more people and less land, more people and less work. If things go on like this, I'm afraid there will be trouble. Tell me, what should I do?"
Seeing Teacher Ge asking himself in turn, Zhang Shou did not hesitate too much and said bluntly: "Internally, we need more labor industries to accommodate more people working, but internally alone is not enough. With all due respect, I
I heard that since the early 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 got a good harvest.