"Boom——"

There was a loud noise, and the protruding rocks on the river suddenly fell into pieces.

People on both sides of the riverbank immediately started cheering.

Ning Yu, the magistrate of Wushan, wearing a cotton robe, stood on the shore, blowing the cold wind and looking out.

There was a cheering sound in his ears, which was extremely harsh and startled all the birds in the forest. The huge bombing sound caused the animals within dozens of miles to flee.

It is winter and the river is in the dry season, which is a rare good time.

As the county magistrate, building bridges and paving roads were all political achievements, and dredging waterways was exactly what he wanted to do.

Dismount your horse to cross here. The water is shallow and the ground is flat, so once you encounter a big ship, it will be difficult to cross. You can only dismount your horse and transport it by land, or hire a large number of trackers to pull it.

Serving as an official for one term brings benefit to one party.

Ning Yu didn't want to waste time, so he summoned nearly a thousand people on both sides of the river and even borrowed gunpowder from the army to blow up the stubborn rocks in the river.

Only in this way can we dig as quickly as possible.

In order to save manpower and material resources, the big rocks were poured with hot and cold water and then exploded with gunpowder.

Not to mention, in just three days, a hundred steps have been excavated.

The river has been widened by one foot and dug nearly ten feet deep. Although it is not worth mentioning for the Qutang Gorge, which is more than ten miles away, it is an important achievement for Xia Ma Ferry.

Once the ferry is dismounted and deepened, it will save a lot of energy for the ship.

After all, no matter how fast the Three Gorges is, there is water at least, but during the dry season, there is no way to cross the Xiama Ferry.

"Your Majesty, if Ma Du is really solved now, I'm afraid it won't be of much benefit to the imperial court..."

Seeing the corners of the magistrate's mouth rising crazily, the county magistrate couldn't help but say that he was about to get up, ready to extinguish his fiery heart.

"Oh? What should I say?"

Although she already felt disgusted with these assistant officials, Ning Yu continued to ask.

Decentness is easy to break but difficult to rebuild.

"Dismounting from the horse to cross the Qutang Gorge is also a difficult task. It is only flat, but for Guanyin Yanshui Village, it is the most important pass."

The county examiner said in a low voice: "Although it has benefited the people, it has put the navy in danger."

"Moreover, the surrounding villages all rely on trackers. Once they disappear, it will easily cause trouble..."

It's the old-fashioned livelihood issue again. Ning Yu has already made up his mind about this. He shook his head and said: "In addition to being a tracker, you can also farm. No matter how hard it is, you can still work."

"The imperial court has to transport money and grain from Sichuan and Chongqing, and Huguang and other supplies also have to come from east to west. What a big deal this is? Compared with the people's livelihood, it is nothing."

As he said that, Ning Yu suddenly turned around and said: "If there are people in Wushan County who are really in trouble, I will have to report it. It just so happens that Anxi and Northeast are short of people, and those overseas vassal countries are also short of people..."

"Your Majesty!" The county magistrate immediately lowered his head: "Obviously the imperial court's plans are important. You idiots with low knowledge, how can you know the county imperial court..."

Seeing his resignation, Ning Yu's eyes flashed with a smile.

As a chief officer, living in a mountainous area like Wushan is extremely pitiful, but at the same time very happy.

The pity is that the place is poor and it is difficult to advance in culture and education, so it is difficult to pass the examination.

Happiness is due to this terrain. The transition of businessmen and a little leakage of oil and water will make the people of Wushan full of food.

As a chief official, my daily filial piety is naturally generous.

Ning Yu sees this further.

Nowadays, with the implementation of mercantilist policies, the proportion of commercial taxes is getting higher and higher.

Money, food, population, prison, education, etc. can be collectively referred to as merit.

Once Xiama Ferry is expanded, more ships will pass by, and more fish will leak out.

No matter what happened, this river expansion operation made him look bad in front of Shangguan, and it was a positive and powerful contribution to the evaluation.

Looking at the hard-working civilian workers, Ning Yu felt a sense of accomplishment in her heart.

Here, after the county magistrate saw that his persuasion was fruitless, he could only turn around and leave.

Arrive at the county town and go to the restaurant on your own.

When I opened the door, I was greeted by the smell of rouge and gouache. Several women were naked and showed no fear of the cold.

Several large fire pots were burning brightly, and the bamboo charcoal placed there crackled occasionally, exuding a refreshing fragrance, which seemed to have a bit of bamboo flavor, driving away the disgusting dampness and coldness of the south.

Also accompanying the woman were a few gentlemen who looked gentle but were actually debauched.

The leader was toying with the two women, selling off all the others. When he saw them approaching, he raised his round face:

"What? Is there any result?"

"No!" The county magistrate was not interested. He found a chair and sat down, close to the brazier, trying to dispel the chill in his body.

"go out--"

The round-faced man's face changed slightly and he said to several women.

Not daring to delay, the girls straightened their clothes and left in a hurry.

The people in the room were not dissatisfied, and the expressions on their faces were quite solemn:

"Is Ning Zixia so willing to work for Chu Shang?"

The county magistrate said casually: "It should be."

"After all, his father-in-law is from Chu!"

Several people looked ugly.

The round-faced man said in a deep voice: "Mother, I have to find a way to find the prefect."

"If Ma Ferry is expanded now, the ships of those Chu merchants will be able to sail more smoothly, which will be a great disadvantage to us."

The so-called Chu merchants are just geographically loose chambers of commerce that have developed in the past decade or so. Like Hui merchants and Shanxi merchants, they adhere to the principle of mutual help.

Because when facing competition from other chambers of commerce, if you don’t unite, you will have no choice but to be bullied, which will force local unity.

In this way, Chu merchants were formed in Huguang, Hunan, and Shu merchants were formed in Sichuan and Chongqing.

The reason why it is said to be loose is because both Shu merchants and Chu merchants had many groups of former Shaanxi merchants.

In the past, in order to avoid Li Zicheng's robbery, most Shaanxi merchants collectively went south and took refuge with the emperor, who was still a separatist force at that time.

As a result, in order to restore their vitality, they expanded aggressively in Huguang and Sichuan.

For example, Zigong well salt in Sichuan was occupied by Shaanxi merchants, and iron mines such as Huangmeiye in Hubei were also occupied.

As time went by, the top Shaanxi merchants moved with the emperor and arrived in Beijing from Nanjing, while the middle and lower merchants were unwilling to give up their profits and settled down.

Now a generation or two later, because of their interests, they combined with local merchants to form Shu merchants and Chu merchants.

In fact, Shaanxi merchants, as well as some Shanxi merchants and Hui merchants, gradually evolved into Beijing merchants due to their long-term settlement in Beijing.

Because of the Three Gorges, Shu merchants were naturally very defensive against the outside world and were very wary of Chu merchants, fearing that they would steal business from the west.

Sichuan's tung oil, tea, grain, brocade, salt, Tea Horse Road, etc. can all bring a lot of profits.

"It is convenient for Chu merchants, but this Ningzhi County is doing it for political achievements, even at the expense of the interests of our Shu merchants."

At this time, another person angrily said: "Why don't you show him some color?"

"Are you crazy?" The round-faced man suppressed his anger: "Even if I don't have a teacher, I still have the same year and fellow countrymen, and even if it's not good, I still have the support of Chu Shang."

"If you want to die, don't involve us!"

"We can only do it overtly or covertly." The round-faced man said solemnly: "Chu people, you really went too far -"

In order to win people's hearts, Ning Yu not only asked people to add less miscellaneous grains to the lunch meal, but also asked people to buy hundreds of kilograms of salted fish, which was included in almost every bowl of the common people.

For a moment, everyone was shocked, and then they were overjoyed.

Fish is not delicious, because if you want to cook it well, you have to spend oil and seasonings. How can ordinary people be willing to do so?

But salted fish is different, because salted fish is pickled in salt, which is extremely precious to ordinary people.

The importance of salt is self-evident, especially for working people. A piece of salted fish can be worth three bowls of rice.

Ning Yu was very satisfied with everyone's excitement. It was worth spending the court's money to win prestige and political achievements for herself.

Back at the county government office, Master Qian Gu came in a hurry: "Dong Weng, we don't have enough money and food."

"The county warehouse is short of food?"

Ning Yu frowned: "I remember that I had a lot of money and food."

"Did Ambassador Cang resell the grain?"

The imperial court levied taxes uniformly, but the allocated shares were kept by the county government.

For example, county magistrates of eighth rank and above, such as county magistrates and general magistrates, are basically transferred from the Ministry of Household Affairs to the local vassal treasury for allocation.

Because the imperial court is about money and grain, it distributes silver yuan and grain at the same time. Silver yuan can be distributed by banks all over the world.

As for grain, the imperial court set aside part of the money from the two taxes to allow the chief envoy to purchase grain and distribute it to local officials on his behalf.
To be continued...