Ruan Yuan and others traveled all the way eastward, and soon met Xu Zhaochun in Tianjin. After handing over the seal of the Governor of Water Transport to him, the Ruan family sailed southward along with many water ships temporarily staying in Tianjin. By October, Ruan Yuan and his party finally arrived in Huai'an and stayed there.

Entered the headquarters of the Governor-General of Water Transport.

In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Huai'an was at the intersection of the canal and the Yellow River. All the watercraft from the six southern provinces had to go north from here, and the governor of Nanhe was stationed at Qingjiangpu, north of Huai'an City, above the canal.

There has always been a steady flow of ships, and tens of thousands of ships passing through the border have also attracted Huai'an merchants to gather, and there are many shops for Caobang to rest and eat. Moreover, Huai'an is located between the Huai salt production area and Yangzhou.

There are also many salt merchants coming and going in the city, which makes Huai'an's food, accommodation and clothing as luxurious as those in Yangzhou. Huai'an Fucheng is subordinate to Shanyang County. During the Yongzheng period, there were 160,000 Dingkou.

The population of Huai'an Prefecture has reached 1.63 million. "Huai'an Prefecture Annals" also says: The water and land rush together in all directions, and hundreds of workers live there, which is twice as many as the indigenous people. The prosperity of Huai'an at this time can be seen

A spot.

The Governor's Mansion of Water Transport is located to the north of Huai Tower in Zhengzhong Town, Huai'an Prefecture. It also has a long history. Since the Yuan Dynasty, it has been the seat of the Secretary of Su government and the Incorruptible Inspection Department. In the early Ming Dynasty, it was the Huai'an Guards. In the Wanli Dynasty, the Governor of Water Transport was moved here. It was not there until the Qing Dynasty.

Change. After a hundred years of expansion, in addition to the lobby, building, back hall and other main halls, the Governor's Office of Water Transport now also has more than 20 clerk's rooms and more than 30 military rooms. The atmosphere is as strict as that of the provincial governor's office. The Ruan family

When everyone saw the atmosphere of the Caodu Ministry Court, they naturally praised it again and again.

"I didn't expect that after three years, Master can leave the town again. The General Cao Ministry is looking at it, but it is the same as the Governor's Ministry." Kong Luhua said to Ruan Yuan.

"Yes, the Governor of Water Transport originally had the same official status as the governor, but the position is slightly different." Ruan Yuan also nodded and said with emotion: "It's been three years... Now that I've come to Huai'an.

, you must always be worthy of the position of Governor of Water Transport."

"Master, it's still the same...but now all the boats have gone back to the south of the Yangtze River. Even if Master wants to do something, now is not the time, right?"

"Why is it not the right time? Madam, I heard when I came here that there are ten canal ships in Jiangxi. They have been delayed for several months due to floods. Now they have arrived in Huai'an. I am thinking of temporarily leaving the canal grain in the granary here for the coming year.

Let's go north together. I'm going to take a look right now, maybe I can find some clues." It seems that Ruan Yuan has already made preparations for his appointment as governor of Cao this time.

"Haha, Master is really diligent."

Unexpectedly, Ruan Yuan's words turned out to be a prophecy. Two days later, when counting the grain, Ruan Yuan discovered the problem.

"Have all the grains transported by the ten grain ships here been counted?" Ruan Yuan asked his subordinate clerk. It turned out that on this day, Ruan Yuan personally came to the grain distribution hall on the other side of the canal and counted the grain together with the supervising clerk.

Ten ships were carrying grain, and there was a clerk on each side of Ruan Yuan who was cleaning up the accounts. There were still more than ten sailors and a flagman in front of the hall, waiting for the results of Ruan Yuan's cleaning.

"Back to Cao Shuai, all the grains here have been counted." The clerk on the left side of Ruan Yuan replied. The so-called "Cao Shuai" was just like "Zhong Cheng", which was a simple title for the governor of Cao Transport at that time.

"What's going on with you?" Ruan Yuan listened to the clerk's words and immediately said angrily to the bannerman: "Li Qiyun, I think you have been a bannerman for seven years. How much grain should a tanker ship carry? In your mind

Isn't it clear? Look at this account. The shortage of grain on your ten grain ships is as much as 570 dan! Tell me, if the crime of shortage of grain and leakage of grain is proven true, what crime should you be guilty of?

!”

"Master Cao Shuai, it's all the villain's fault. It's the villain who deserves to die!" Li Qiyun had always heard that Ruan Yuan was good at calculations. When Ruan Yuan told him the number of losses in his fleet of ships, he didn't dare to argue anymore and just knelt down.

He fell to the ground and cried to Ruan Yuan: "Master Cao Shuai, little man... I have no choice but to make a living. Sir, I will strictly control my subordinates from now on, and I will never let the water transport be short of grain again."

Please forgive me, sir!"

"You have no choice? Then do you know what's going on with your shortage of grain?" Ruan Yuan showed no mercy, but continued to scold him: "I also know the old system of the Caobang, which transports four million dan a year, and a total of grain

There are ten thousand ships. From this point of view, each grain ship should carry 400 shi of rice. Your ten ships are short of more than 500 shi of rice. This is equivalent to saying that each ship has suffered a loss of one-eighth!

If all the Cao gangs do things like you, and the imperial government's annual grain tax is 500,000 dan less, how can the national treasury be replenished, and how can the country make up for the deficit?!"

"Sir, this... to be honest, even a small person wants to take care of these things. But... but a small person can't control it, right?" Li Qiyun looked at Ruan Yuan's stern voice and burst into tears, and said: "My lord, maybe this is the first time I have been appointed as the Cao Cao.

Shuai, adults don’t know these things yet. In fact, most of the sailors along the canal have had a short livelihood in recent years and cannot make ends meet. If... if they only rely on the current meager income, they can’t support themselves at all? So... so there are some private smugglers of grain below.

The villain can only turn a blind eye to the matter, sir... If the villain doesn't do this, the villain will not be able to keep his position as a flag officer, right?"

"Is this the reason why you are waiting to leak so much grain?" Ruan Yuan still refused to relax, and scolded the sailor Ding below: "One of your ships is short of fifty kilo meters. The rice is divided among you, and every day

Just five dan per person. These are high-quality grains. According to the market price, I can give you a discount of more than ten taels of silver! Your one-time grain transportation subsidy is four taels. This is the result of the emperor’s increase for you twice over the past ten years.

But the money you get for stealing grain is more than twice the amount of money you stipend! Even if you can't make ends meet on weekdays and need additional subsidies, you won't be able to use so much money! What's more, the court also has regulations. You can transport merchants after you go north.

The goods are sold south to subsidize expenses, but even so, don’t you think it’s enough?”

"Sir, this...the sailor's four taels of silver, to be honest, can't be distributed in full at all?" Li Qiyun continued to say to Ruan Yuan, "Your Excellency, you don't know. We, the Jiangxi Cao Gang, have never been able to pay out the full amount."

We have received enough subsidy money for water transportation, and the water ships pass through the Huaihe River on weekdays. Who among the masters from Caodu to Panliang Hall should not pay a helping fee? So... So even if we bring the goods south, there will be no need in Caobang.

The money earned is also concentrated to the gang leader. The gang leader pays the help fee, and the rest is evenly distributed to the sailors below. How much money is left in this hand? As for the amount of lost grain that the adults said, the villain has no idea.

If you know how to settle accounts, how can you remember it so clearly?"

"Is there any excessive request for help fees in the Panliang Hall?" Ruan Yuan asked the two scribes next to him.

"This... Mr. Cao Shuai, I have only heard about this, but... I have never seen it in person. I don't... never overcharge any help fees?" The clerk on the right also panicked at Ruan Yuan.

road.

"Hmph... if you could count the grains carefully, would these grain clerks still steal the grains so wantonly, and the grain distribution department would not know about it at all?" Ruan Yuan looked at the clerk's appearance, and most likely he had received money as a helper, but not as good as ordinary people.

The people in the Panliang Hall only collected so much. Even so, thinking that within a year, Ruan Yuan still had to rely on these officials to count the grains, so Ruan Yuan still kept his words in his heart.

But by this time, Ruan Yuan had also seen that the canal transport, sailors, canal gangs, and Huai'an supervising canal officials all had shortcomings. The government officials were not spending enough, so he asked for "help fees" from the canal gangs.

The Cao gang paid the help fee, but their own expenses were short, so they deducted the sailors' allowance money. The sailors' allowance was insufficient, so they had to resell the Cao grain. If the Cao grain was short, they could only ask for extra "extra consumption" from the people who paid the grain. Cao officials and bannermen

The sailors colluded and turned a blind eye when faced with sailors stealing grain, and not all sailors were kind-hearted people. Most of the grain resellers stole grain and rice, which had already exceeded daily expenses. Therefore, water transportation has been around for many years.

It is not easy to break the situation in which both public and private sectors are trapped.

"That's all, Li Qiyun, this department also knows that if the governor punishes you severely like this, you will definitely be dissatisfied. After all, you are just replenishing the canal grain supply, and you are still thinking about the canal tax." Ruan Yuan also knew that if he just punished Li Qiyun severely,

If the sailors cannot fundamentally solve the water transportation problem, then there will be sailors taking desperate risks in the future, and more Li Qiyun will appear. So Ruan Yuan finally relaxed at this time, and said to Li Qiyun and other bannermen: "You five hundred

Seventy kilograms of rice, I've written it down here. I can give you three years to make up for the missing grain and rice. If you can't make up for it within three years, then don't blame me for being ruthless when the time comes.

, the headquarters can only fire you all at that time, and you will never be allowed to participate in water transportation! Also, the headquarters can find a way to solve the problem of you and other sailors being trapped, but this is not an excuse for you to steal and sell canal grain! You have returned to Jiangxi

, please go and tell your Cao Gang leader that next year when you transport grain to Huai'an, you don't have to pay any help fees, but if you have a shortage of Cao grain again next year, I will definitely punish you severely! Do you understand?"

"Thank you, sir, for being so kind. I will try my best to replenish the grain. Thank you, sir, for giving me this opportunity!" After hearing that Ruan Yuan was finally willing to be lenient, Li Qiyun immediately kowtowed to Ruan Yuan to show his gratitude. The sailors below also followed suit.

I bow down and thank Ruan Yuan for his kindness.

"Also, if I hear any rumors about you over there in Jiangxi, waiting for you to abuse and increase consumption, next year, I will punish you too severely!" Ruan Yuan added.

"Thank you, Master Ruan! I will never dare to do it again, I won't do it again!" Li Qiyun and others continued to thank Ruan Yuan.

But Ruan Yuan knows better than anyone else that this inventory of canal ships is just the beginning.

After returning to Huai'an Caoyuan, Ruan Yuan also rethought the method of rectifying the canal affairs. However, whether it was a matter of assistance or leakage of rice and grain, it required the help of capable people who were good at calculations to achieve success. He

I have heard the Cao officials explain the method of counting grain. Cao officials often use abacus to measure ships and inventory grain. It is very easy to change the numbers at any time. As long as the officials conspire with the sailors, they can easily deceive the superior officials. This section

But it’s also difficult to do.

Thinking that although Jiao Xun had retired to the countryside of Beihu, if he only came to Huai'an for business, Jiao Xun might be able to help him, so he also wrote to Jiao Xun first, thinking that he would go to Beihu to talk to Jiao Xun first, and then discuss the matter.

As expected, a few days later, Jiao Xun also wrote back and agreed to Ruan Yuannan's request to come down and see him.

At this time, Jiao Xun had lived in seclusion in Yangzhou for more than three years, and built a new first floor in his old place in Beihu, named "Diaoxian Tower", hoping to live in Beihu forever. Ruan Yuan also took a small boat and went south overnight. In just three days, he arrived
Chapter completed!