610 [Yangzhou, a city with a population of one million]
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Jiangsu Governor Zuo was also an old friend of the emperor, although the relationship was not so good at first.
Outside Yangzhou City, a speedboat arrived.
Before the ship could stop, an official jumped out and reported: "Uncle Fang, the emperor is driving and has arrived more than ten miles away. There is a navy ahead to clear the way. The small ones can't get through, but I guess there will be no mistakes."
"Thank you." Fei Yuanjian smiled and nodded.
The young master of the Fei family, who was domineering and domineering when he was young, has long since become calm and restrained. His knowledge is still not very good, and his articles are rough and simple, but he is very organized in his work. He is not a person like Huang Shunde who relies on qualifications and connections to get promoted.
The right chief envoy is named Han Chengxuan, who was originally the magistrate of Nanchang County in the Ming Dynasty. After he took office, he found that he was ignored by the rebels. Moreover, those rebels were good at governing the people, so they turned a blind eye and traveled around for fun. In the face of
There was a huge flood, and he worked with the rebels to fight against the flood. It wasn't until the whole province of Jiangxi fell that he took advantage of the situation and surrendered to King Zhao Tianwang.
"Brother Fei, who will tell you when you meet His Majesty?" Han Chengxuan asked.
Fei Yuanjian said: "I'll do it..."
Han Chengxuan said: "That's fine."
In fact, there is nothing else to do, but Yangzhou has too many people. Although people are immigrating to the north one after another, more and more residents are moving to the city. It is almost overcrowded, so we must either immigrate to the north in large numbers or build a new city quickly.
The old city of Yangzhou covers an area of 2 square kilometers. The new city built during the Jiajing period covers an area of 3 square kilometers.
This 5 square kilometers of urban area was no longer enough by the Chongzhen period. In the 11th year of Chongzhen's reign, Yang Xianming, the eunuch in charge of salt, planned to build an outer city, but gave up due to funding and war.
After the establishment of the New Dynasty of Datong, a total of more than 50,000 urban residents in Yangzhou immigrated to the north. However, there are still more than 500,000 local residents, more than 100,000 permanent residents and registered foreign residents, and a large number of floating populations that cannot be counted. These are all
Children under 12 years old are not counted.
Including children, the permanent population is estimated to be more than 800,000, and the floating population may be close to 1 million.
After waiting and waiting, the chariot finally arrived.
Both sides of the canal were densely packed with people, all running together to see the emperor.
Zhao Han stood on the deck and frowned, because the closer he got to Yangzhou City, the more short and simple shacks there were on both sides of the river, many of which were even built directly on the river embankment. Are the people of Yangzhou so poor?
"Your Majesty, the local officials are waiting at the dock. Do you want to invite an audience?"
"Call the chief ministers on the left and right to board the boat, and let the rest disperse. There are too many people on the shore. If I get off the boat, I will definitely clear the place and disturb the people."
Not long after, the fleet docked.
Fei Yuanjian and Han Chengxuan were brought to the ship and immediately bowed in greeting.
Zhao Han did not beat around the bush and asked directly: "Why are there so many simple shacks on the embankment along the river?"
Fei Yuanjian said: "I am about to inform Your Majesty that there are too many people in Yangzhou city, so we can only live in shacks outside the city. And farmers in nearby villages and towns are accustomed to doing odd jobs in the city. During the off-season, there are people everywhere inside and outside the city.
. Recently a factory opened outside the city, but no dormitories were built for the workers. The workers live in the shacks on the river embankment."
"Aren't there any charity houses built in Yangzhou City?" Zhao Han asked.
Han Chengxuan explained: "Your Majesty, there is no land to build houses in Yangzhou City. It was already full a hundred years ago."
There is a description of the streets and alleys in Yangzhou in the Ming Dynasty: the alleys are narrow and winding, each inch is densely packed, and there are fine houses and dense households... There are hundreds of people who twist around the left, right, front and back of the alley.
That is to say, the alleys in Yangzhou are narrow and winding, and the houses are densely built. Any open space is used for building houses. At least a hundred families live in the front, rear, left and right of an alley.
The whole five square kilometers is so crowded, and there are many people living outside the city.
On the tenth day of Yangzhou, the Manchus massacred 800,000 people. There was no loophole in terms of population. Those who want to question must question it from other places.
Fei Yuanjian said: "Your Majesty, please immigrate 30,000 residents of Yangzhou City to the north at one time. Or, please allocate funds to build the outer city of Yangzhou. I have been applying for these two plans since last year, but the court has always refused.
approve."
Zhao Han nodded and said: "The imperial court focuses on immigration, focusing on the whole country. Provinces, prefectures, villages and towns all allocate quotas by area. It is normal for the Ministry of Household Affairs not to approve more immigrants from Yangzhou."
"Guo Shangshu is always rigid in his political affairs and doesn't know how to be flexible at all." Han Chengxuan couldn't help complaining.
Zhao Han smiled and said: "He was scared."
The current Minister of Household Affairs is Guo Shunyu, the son of a medicine merchant from Zhangshu Town. After the Linjiang Water Battle, seeing that the officers and soldiers were dying, the Guo family completely turned to the rebels and donated medicine, food and ships to the Datong Army. And Guo Shunyu
, also works under Zhao Han and is responsible for transporting supplies.
In the past two years, a major case broke out in Henan, where the transportation system collectively embezzled resettlement grain. Guo Shunyu was frightened because several of the officials in charge were his old subordinates.
From then on, Guo Shunyu was timid, doing everything in accordance with policies and systems, and did not use any flexibility at all. Anyway, he had to take away his own responsibilities first.
The advantages and disadvantages of doing this are obvious, but Zhao Han has no reason to punish him.
Zhao Han thought for a while: "In and around Yangzhou, 20,000 people will be immigrated to Hebei this year. Houses without regular livelihoods and overcrowded houses can be given priority for resettlement."
"According to the order!"
Fei Yuanjian and Han Chengxuan surrendered together.
Zhao Han really wanted to go to Yangzhou City for a stroll, but after thinking carefully, he decided to forget it. There were no horses in Yangzhou, and the city was very crowded. The security work could drive the guards crazy.
In fact, Yangzhou Shou Ma has reappeared, but not as crazy as before.
They specialize in buying little girls from Japan and Korea, and select the pretty ones for training. They can get married in three to five years, and the quality is definitely not as good as before, but they can still barely satisfy the tastes of wealthy businessmen.
Top-quality Yangzhou thin horses were bought by wealthy businessmen as gifts to high officials.
Nowadays, no one dares to give it away anymore. Once discovered, both the bribe giver and the bribe taker will be investigated and dealt with. As a result, the price has dropped significantly and the bribery attribute has been lost. Yangzhou thin horse has completely become a tool for businessmen to show off their wealth.
On the contrary, for Persian girls, the prices have been rising all the time.
Why can’t someone as noble as Gu Jianshan afford a Persian girl? Because it costs thousands of taels of silver, and the price of a top-notch Persian girl can even go up to over ten thousand. Gu Jianshan has the money to buy one, but what happens next?
Are you having trouble getting by? It’s like if you have a savings of 100,000, how about spending 50,000 to buy a pet dog?
Speaking of these, Zhao Han has always been curious, where did Chen Yuanyuan go?
After all, he is a historical celebrity, but now he has disappeared, as if he does not exist. It is not easy for Emperor Zhao to send someone to inquire about him.
The most likely possibility is that he was semi-forced to immigrate to the north, changed his name and married an honest man.
Chen Yuanyuan was originally an opera singer and a famous performer of Yiyang tune. If she were still in the south, Yiyang tune is now popular and she would still be famous far and wide.
Among the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai, three are now working as female officials in the palace, namely Li Xiangjun, Dong Xiaowan and Bian Yujing.
It's not that Zhao Han did it deliberately, but all three of them are talented. When the palace was recruiting female officers, there were a lot of applicants from Nanjing, and even more from Qinhuaihe. Talented girls were easily selected. After all, the status of lowly women had been abolished.
, and they are still young and have not yet officially engaged in the sex industry.
Dong Xiaowan, in particular, was asked to be dispatched by Pan Qimei.
Because Dong Xiaowan is particularly good at making desserts, it is said that she invented "Dong Tang", which coincides with Pan Qimei's hobby.
At night, the fleet docked at the shore, and Fei Yuanjian and Han Chengxuan had already left.
Zhao Han is meeting with the leader of the Black Guards in Yangzhou. Nanjing and Yangzhou are the two major bases of the Black Guards.
The most famous cook in Yangzhou was also called on board.
"What is the most famous dish in Yangzhou?" Dong Xiaowan asked, standing next to Pan Qimei.
The cook wanted to say that there are many famous dishes in Yangzhou. She thought carefully for a few seconds and replied: "Yangzhou red goose."
Yangzhou Red Goose is the rouge goose in "A Dream of Red Mansions".
Pan Qimei smiled and said, "Xiao Wan, take note of it."
Dong Xiaowan took out a pen and paper and heard the cook say: "Kill the goose, remove the feathers and wash it, but remove the internal organs. Slice the goose in half, add water to boil, boil the blood... add rice wine, green onion, cinnamon
Leaves, apples..."
"etc!"
Pan Qimei interrupted and asked, "What kind of fruit is an apple?"
The cook said: "It's just Shaguo, Catalpa, and Pingpo. If there are no apples, you don't have to use them. You can use other fruits instead."
Pan Qimei asked with great interest: "Are apples delicious?"
"It's delicious, but very expensive," said the cook.
Pan Qimei asked again: "Are they sold in Yangzhou city?"
The cook said: "There are none at this time, and it will take another two or three months. When there are no apples, you can use other fruits instead. You can also make Yangzhou Red Goose to get the fresh and sweet taste of the fruit. However, it is best to use apples.
Good, the cooked red goose tastes better."
In another cabin, two concubines, Liu Rushi and Tian Xiuying, also recruited female poets and painters from Yangzhou City.
It was like this along the way. It was not convenient for the concubines to get off the ship, so they sent someone to summon the local female celebrities. The people who were summoned were very excited. Even their husbands felt that their faces were bright. They even bought their wives in advance and dressed them up.
Go and see the noble one with all your glory.
When the emperor and his concubines go on tour, they generally do not make surprise attacks. They usually send people to make arrangements along the way two or three months in advance.
After the black-clad guards disembarked, Zhao Han leaned on his chair and closed his eyes to rest, while Li Xiangjun began to pack away pens, ink, paper and inkstones.
"When the inspection tour returns to Beijing, there will be another group of palace maids this year who will be released to the public to get married," Zhao Han said to Li Xiangjun, "How old are you this year? It's time to get married, right?"
Li Xiangjun replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I am twenty-three this year. I have no relatives or connections among the people. I only want to serve Your Majesty and have no intention of leaving the palace to marry."
Zhao Han said nothing, but Li Xiangjun's heart was beating wildly, thinking that the emperor wanted to accept her into the harem, otherwise why would he suddenly mention this matter?
Li Xiangjun has been with him for several years, and Zhao Han has indeed used it very smoothly.
Zhao Han didn't even need to say anything about some things. As long as he showed his intention, Li Xiangjun would take the initiative to do it.
At this moment, Zhao Han was thinking, no wonder the previous emperors did not use female officials but eunuchs.
If she is a beautiful female official who works for the emperor for a long time and gets along day and night, she will definitely have feelings for her. When one day she can't help it anymore, she will probably be admitted into the harem, and if she is easy to do things, will she be made a concubine and still let her do things, or...
Ask her for her opinion. Doesn’t this mean that the harem is interfering in politics?
If we continue to use female officials, for future generations, some emperor will definitely do this. It is not likely that Wu Zetian will appear, but it will be normal for Cixi or something like that.
After thinking about it more carefully, I felt that it could be avoided, so just set up a system to prevent the foreign relatives from getting bigger.
Without the help of relatives and the influence of her natal family, no matter how clever the concubine is, she cannot become Cixi.
