When going down the Yangtze River, the boat always goes very fast.
It only took two and a half days to return to Suzhou from Nanjing, covering more than 500 miles of waterway.
Chen Shuren found Fang Yizhi, a generalist, traveling with him to take up his post, and stayed there for several months. It was an unexpected blessing.
As soon as the fleet arrived at Liujiagang, Taicang, Shen Tingyang, who had received the news in advance, went to the dock to pick up his son in person.
He had not seen his son for two and a half months, and he knew that his son was running for the benefit of the family this time, running errands for Mr. Yang Ge, and he felt very emotional.
Who would have thought that this guy who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun could do such a clean job on his first trip away from home.
When Shen Shuren got off the boat, he naturally stepped forward to salute and introduced Fang Yizhi's identity to his father.
When he heard that Fang Yizhi was the founder of Jinke Jieyuan, Shen Tingyang was immediately in awe and a little bit happy.
Although he was a fifth- and sixth-rank official, he also knew that his worth was just that of a scholar who bought prison students and then donated his official career. In terms of knowledge, a Jie Yuan was enough for him to look up to.
"I have admired Fang Jieyuan's talent for a long time, and it is really a blessing for my Shen family that Fang Jieyuan is willing to break up the knot and make friends with Quanzixia."
Fang Yizhi also quickly modestly said: "I really can't take it seriously. I have heard for a long time that all members of the Shen family have practical talents and are knowledgeable and knowledgeable in cultivating people and good brothers. Fang has also learned from it these days, and I have really benefited a lot."
Shen Shuren also explained in the middle, saying that Fang Yizhi had a wide range of interests and did not care about eight-legged learning when making friends. Shen Tingyang suddenly understood.
The Shen family had plenty of money, so they naturally spared no effort in entertaining the guests. Fang Yizhi and others were sent back to the house to hold a banquet to wash away the dust, and the seafood and land were all gathered together. Even though Fang Yizhi came from an official family, he was really dazzled by what he saw.
During the banquet, Shen Tingyang asked about business and asked his son to tell him about the responsibilities of the newly purchased official position and whether he needed help from his family.
Shen Shuren also said it in detail: "...this official position is for Cao Zhende, who is responsible for the river management. In previous years, he was mostly doing auxiliary work for water transportation.
But this year, rebellion broke out in southern Zhili, so the duties of the river officials were changed to transporting grain and grass from several counties in Susong to the front of the Luzhou army."
Shen Tingyang himself was an official in the Ministry of Revenue and had been dealing with water transport for many years. When his son told him, he felt something was wrong.
He stroked his beard and said in deep thought: "Transporting Su Song's grain and grass to Luzhou? Isn't that looking for something far away? Doesn't Jiangxi not have to bear the imperial water transportation allocation at all this year? All the grain turned over by Jiangxi has been transported to the front of the army?
Otherwise, as long as there is still a lot of surplus grain in Jiangxi, transporting it from there to Luzhou, and then transporting Su Song's grain directly to the north, wouldn't it save a lot of trouble?"
Shen Tingyang's plan is very consistent with geographical common sense. During the Ming Dynasty, if grain from Huguang and Jiangxi was to be transported to the north, it had to be transported down the Yangtze River first. After being transported to Yangzhou, it crossed the river and went north, passing through the Hangou section of the canal to Huai'an by the Huaihe River.
After the reform of the Changyun Law during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, the final gathering and delivery points for grain delivery in southern provinces were also located in Huai'an.
The cost of canal transportation from Huai'an to the north will be levied by the imperial court at a fixed amount in advance. The governor of water transportation will be responsible for the use and dispatch, and the profit and loss will be borne by the imperial court. The freight before reaching Huai'an will be directly borne by the local government.
Therefore, in Shen Tingyang's opinion, if the Anhui region needs military rations, transporting them directly from Jiangxi or Huguang to Anhui for local use will definitely be less wasteful than recruiting them from Suzhou. The Suhu area can replace Jiangxi's northbound grain quota.
Fortunately, Shen Shuren had obviously thought deeply about this issue along the way, investigated it, and immediately answered this question:
"What my father doesn't know is that Zhang Xianzhong's power has become extremely rampant. The two lakes have been severely damaged this year, and many fertile fields have been in occupied areas. Mr. Yang Ge has requested to use the food from the two lakes to defend himself and will not move to Beijing.
Most of the surplus grain in Jiangxi must be supplied to the Anqing Prefecture for military supplies, blocking the south of Huoshan. The military supplies of Luzhou Prefecture and Fengyang Prefecture farther north can only rely on Zhili in the south.
This year, the apportionment in Suhu, Songjiang and other places has been temporarily increased by several percent, and it has been doubled here in Suzhou, and it seems to have been increased to 1.2 million shi in the end."
Shen Tingyang also took a breath after hearing this figure. Suzhou's grain tax was the heaviest in the Ming Dynasty. In previous years, the quota was 590,000 shi, but considering the transportation losses and extra taxes, it actually had to be transported to Huai'an. More than 800,000 stones were delivered.
Now the total amount of grain and military grain is 1.2 million, and the actual collection must be more than 1.5 million. Suzhou cannot produce so much grain. In the final analysis, we still have to buy it in Zhejiang, or in other grain-producing places in South Zhili District buy.
More than half of the land in the three prefectures of Susong Lake is planted with cash crops such as sericulture and cotton. Originally, they had to rely on the high prices of cash crops to sell silk and cotton cloth to buy food.
But there is another severe drought in Zhejiang this year. When Shenshu people first crossed over, they heard that Zhejiang only had a normal harvest of summer grain this year, and that autumn grain production would be reduced by more than half. The price of rice has risen from one to two or eight yuan in previous years to more than three to three taels. It is certain to rely on buying It won't work. Even if we force it together, if food prices continue to skyrocket, some poor people in Suzhou may starve to death.
In addition, according to the old system of the imperial court, Suzhou also levied an additional one-cent and three-cent "river-crossing silver" and five-cent "water transport silver" for every stone of grain transported by the imperial court.
The Cao Yun silver was transported to Huai'an along with the Cao grain for delivery, and was handed over to the Yamen under the Governor of Cao Yun. It was used as payment for Cao Ding and the grain guard troops from Huai'an to Beijing. (The additional grain sent earlier was for the grain transporters to eat on the way. and various losses of rats and birds, and the money is the money and management expenses paid to the people who transport the food. Both money and food must be paid at the same time, it is not a one-or-one relationship)
The "crossing the river silver" is collected by the local government for its own use. It is the salary paid to the soldiers at the local grain transport guard station before delivery to Jiangbei. It also includes the dock workers' fees for changing ships and loading and unloading in various parts of the Yangtze River and canals.
In fact, three cents of silver is definitely not enough, and there are various unspoken rules in the local government to allocate additional fees.
Moreover, from the Chenghua year to the Chongzhen period, every few decades, the previous over-consumption apportionment items would be misappropriated and corrupted by various interest groups, and then an additional levy would be added by clever designation.
It's just that the "Yin across the River" reported to the court was always one cent and three cents, and it hadn't been touched for more than a hundred years. The rest was a secret operation at the local level.
Shen Shuren didn't know much about these things at first, but Shen Tingyang had been dealing with water transport for ten years, so he would certainly teach his son these details without reservation.
What he said was fair and upright, and he was not afraid of outsiders listening, so there was no need to avoid Fang Yizhi's presence.
After hearing this, Chen Shuren also had a doubt: "In that case, how does father think Zhu Dadian will frame our father and son this time? When I bought an official position, I didn't save face for villains like Gong Dingzi and Hou Fangyu, especially Zhu Guangshi. The son of an enemy.
Ordinarily, when I got this job in the end, it must have been Zhu Dadian's other conspiracy. Could it be that he planned to let the child suffer a loss and fail to complete the task of raising and transporting military rations? It was too expensive to buy food in the Susong area this year, so he couldn't get it together?
This is unlikely. As a river officer, I only need to work with the transport troops from the Changyun Guard Station to count the grain at the delivery water warehouse to ensure that the whole process is smooth. As for how the local grain comes from, it should be none of my business. Bar?"
Although Chen Shuren has not thought about his opponent's conspiracy, he knows that the conspiracy must exist. If he offends someone so badly, how can he not take revenge?
Shen Tingyang stroked his beard and thought for a long time: "It is really impossible to deal with the source of food. Even if there is a problem in those links, the fault of the Suzhou prefect and the subordinate counties will be far heavier than that of someone like you who is responsible for transportation. Zhang Xuezeng would not joke about his official position.
To make the person responsible for transporting the grain take the blame, it is nothing more than a mistake in the two delivery links. For example, the local government passed it off as a good one, and there was a shortage of kilograms, but you didn't find it when you inspected the grain. Unable to pass garrison acceptance.
In addition, the freight was excessive during transportation. The extra tax levied in advance could not make up for the food that the people had to eat along the way, or the ship was bumpy and sank in the water, and the rats, birds, rice and insect diseases were infested.
But it is impossible to frame our Shen family in this matter. Our Shen family has been running the sea for decades, and has been in the water transportation business since your great-grandfather's generation. We have rich management experience in this area, and we can prevent losses and disasters before they happen. Even if there are some accidental losses, our Shen family will have to pay for it ourselves, so it’s not something we can’t afford."
Shen Tingyang thought about it, but he couldn't figure out how his political opponents could harm him. He had already listed all the common problems that could cause problems.
However, it may be that the authorities are confused, but the onlookers are clear.
Shen Shuren was not very professional in this area, so looking at it from an outsider's calm perspective, he really saw some possibilities.
As a person from later generations, Shen Shuren must have richer financial knowledge than the ancients. Although he has never been an accountant, he also knows the serious consequences of accounting errors——
Accountants of later generations would go crazy and recheck the bills if they made a mistake of a few dollars in the accounting. Even if the value of the labor time and wages they paid far exceeded these few dollars, they would not be able to make up for the shortfall with their own money. Otherwise, if the tax authorities detect false accounts, the problem will become serious.
The financial accounts of the Ming Dynasty were definitely not as strict as those of later generations. As long as the results were good, they might not pay close attention to the process of false accounts. But now Zhu Dadian is staring at them and trying to frame them. If something goes wrong, there must be a monster, will it? will be……
Chen Shuren felt that he had caught some inspiration, and he thought deeply in that direction, and he really thought of a possibility.
He bit his lip carefully and said humbly in a probing tone: "Father, is it possible that Zhu Dadian has a big plan and wants to deal with more than just me?"
Shen Tingyang became serious when he saw his son speaking solemnly: "How do you say this?"
Chen Shuren analyzed: "Father, you see, when you return to your hometown this year, you are authorized by His Majesty to pilot the 'transformation of water transportation into sea'. The most important evidence of whether this pilot will be successful in the future is the account of the actual freight expenses after transporting grain by sea. Is it cheaper than transporting grain of the same weight north via the canal?
That being the case, isn't Your Majesty afraid that your father will "give you some sweetness first and then close the net"?
If my father deliberately lowered the cost during the pilot project this year, losing money to help the court undertake the project, and make the accounts look good so that His Majesty feels it is a good deal, the matter of converting water transportation to sea would be a matter of raw rice and cooked rice.
After it is actually used on a large scale, we will 'slowly discover' the additional losses caused by large-scale application in the future. Just like the long-term transportation method in the past, which added water transport silver and silver across the river every few decades, it will be a blunt knife to cut the flesh and increase the budget... …
Therefore, Your Majesty must be on guard against this and will definitely strictly check the accounts during the pilot period. Not only will you not be allowed to lose money, you will not even be allowed to make secret payments.
As for our father-son family, I happened to be assigned by Zhu Dadian to be the food transport officer, even though I was transporting military rations to Mr. Yang Ge. I believe that my accounts will definitely be looked at and checked by Zhu Dadian repeatedly with a magnifying glass.
Not only am I not allowed to lose money, but our Shen family is also not allowed to contribute money. As long as we contribute money, he will report it and say that we have made false accounts. At that time, His Majesty will have some doubts about the authenticity of the accounts of my father's water transportation and sea reform!"
The speculation mentioned by Shen Shuren is of course impossible in modern society. This is because Shen Tingyang and Shen Shuren are respective officials and are in charge of their own affairs, so they cannot be involved.
However, in the environment of ancient people's governance, if an official's son made false accounts, it would most likely remind the emperor that the family's tutoring style was corrupt and fraudulent, and his father's accounts would probably not be trusted.
Even if this association is illegal, you can't stop Chongzhen's brain from making this association.
After hearing this, Shen Tingyang suddenly shuddered. His son's little trivial matter could not ruin his plan of "converting water transportation to sea" that would benefit the country and the people!
Shen Tingyang swallowed hard: "Lin'er, you have to be careful. When you transport food to Mr. Yang Ge, not only can you not be greedy, you can't make losses, and you can't have any extra expenses that shouldn't be on the account. We can’t even pay for it ourselves! Otherwise, Zhu Dadian might get caught!”