After another two or three days, officials from Jinghu South Road arrived one after another. Not only the state officials, but also some county officials came. This made Chen Qing a little strange. He asked the state officials to come by name. What were the county officials doing?
Zhou Kuan explained: "It's Hengyang County in Hengzhou and Lingling County in Yongzhou. The reason is that the state officials from these two states did not come, so the county officials below came."
Chen Qing's face sank slightly, and he asked dissatisfiedly: "Is there any reason why the officials from Hengzhou and Yongzhou don't come?"
"I also asked the magistrates of Hengyang and Lingling. They gave the same reason. The magistrates of the two prefectures have fallen ill. Tongpan is busy with government affairs and cannot leave."
Chen Qing snorted and asked again: "Apart from Hengzhou and Yongzhou, what about the other states?"
"There are still Chenzhou and Guiyang prisons that have not arrived. They are relatively far away, but I heard that they are already on the way. By the way, there is also the Wugang Army, and their commanders are also on the way."
"Then you know that the chief officials of Hengzhou and Yongzhou have not arrived?"
"Exactly!"
Chen Qing thought for a moment and said, "Invite the two county officials here this afternoon. I want to meet them."
It is not easy for these two county officials to confront the chief officials, especially the county officials of the prefecture. This is a complete break. It is not that other counties dare not break, but because the south of Jinghu South Road is mountainous and the transportation is inconvenient.
Information is limited and other counties do not understand the situation.
Chen Qing stopped Zhou Kuan again, "There is also Zhang Shun, the prefect of Jiangling, and Ge Qinghong, who knows about Ezhou affairs. I will receive them together. Counselor Zhou, please be here too!"
"I understand, I will make arrangements immediately!"
In the afternoon, several officials were invited to the VIP Hotel. The reason why Chen Qing invited Zhang Shun, the prefect of Jiangling, was because Zhang Shun and Chen Qing had a close relationship. Zhang Shun was also from the Eight-Character Army. He had followed Wang Yan for many years and had always been Wang Yan's confidant.
Staff, when Wang Yan became the prefect of Jiangling, Zhang Shun was recommended by Wang Yan to be the Sima of Jiangling Prefecture. After Wang Yan was killed in battle, Zhang Shun was appointed as the general magistrate of Jiangling Prefecture because of his meritorious service in defending Jiangling. Later, he was promoted to the general magistrate of Jiangling Prefecture for cooperating with the imperial court to eradicate Liu Guangshi.
He was the prefect of Jiangling.
On the other hand, Zhang Shun was not tolerated by the court for assisting Chen Qing in controlling Jinghu South Road. The court dismissed him several times without success. This time, the Internal Affairs Hall notified officials from various states on Jinghu South Road to gather in Chengdu. It was mainly Zhang Shun who helped deliver the letter, otherwise
It would have been impossible for the Imperial Household's courier to deliver the letter so quickly.
Zhang Shun had high prestige in Jinghu South Road and was very loyal to him, so Chen Qing considered Zhang Shun to be the director of the Shangshu Office in Jinghu Road.
Inviting Ge Qinghong, the magistrate of Ezhou, to come over was also due to some intention of the imperial court. It should be said that the imperial court was aware of the importance of Ezhou. Ezhou is connected to Jinghu North Road to the northwest and Huainan West Road to the northeast. Both roads face each other across the river, and to the east
Bordering Jiangnan West Road, its strategic position is extremely important. In particular, Chen Qing planned to place the main force of the navy in Jiangxia. Warships would attack from Jiangxia. Not only the Han River and Poyang Lake were controlled, but the entire middle reaches of the Yangtze River was controlled by the Jiangxia navy.
It was also for this reason that Emperor Zhao Gou began to regret and wanted to take Ezhou back, but how could Chen Qing allow it?
Chen Qing asked everyone to sit down. The two county magistrates seemed a little restrained. Zhang Shun introduced Chen Qing with a smile: "This Lord Li is the magistrate of Hengyang County. He was a Jinshi in the second year of Shaoxing. He is from Changning County, Hengzhou."
The dark and thin Magistrate of Hengyang stood up and saluted, "Li Gong, a humble official, thank you for your cultivation!"
Chen Qing smiled and waved his hand, asking him to sit down. Another man took the initiative to stand up and salute, "Su Xuansheng, a humble official, is from Baling County, Yuezhou. He has been the county magistrate in Lingling for three years."
Zhang Shun added: "Su Zhixian County was also a Jinshi in the second year of Shaoxing. In that year, the court admitted more than 500 people from all counties in the south."
Chen Qing nodded and said with a smile: "Both of you are good. You take the overall situation into consideration, understand current affairs, and have the courage to make progress. People say that the county magistrate where the state is governed is the most difficult to be. You have to look up to the state government and appease the squires at the bottom, just like a woman wrapping her head around
I am afraid of saying the wrong thing and taking the wrong path. I also know that your boss will definitely not tolerate your coming, but you can rest assured that since you dare to come out, I, Chen Qing, will definitely take care of you.
Protect and let those who are unwilling to cooperate with me go where they should go."
Chen Qing's words were very domineering, and he made no secret that he wanted to deal with the officials in Hengzhou and Yongzhou.
The two magistrates looked at each other with relief in their eyes. Both of them took great risks in coming to Chengdu this time. It can be said that they have staked their official careers. If the magistrate does not leave, they will be the only ones to leave. They will take different sides.
, it has become difficult to work together under the same roof.
Chen Qing changed the subject, softened his tone, and asked with a smile: "I remember that Hengyang and Lingling were severely infested with bandits before, and then illegal salt was rampant. I wonder what the situation is now?"
Li Gong, the magistrate of Hengyang County, leaned forward and said: "The previous banditry troubles that were caused by Liu Guangshi's defeat have now been wiped out. Not only in Hengyang County, but also in Hengzhou, there are no bandit troubles. As for illegal salt, it was indeed rampant in the past, but last year the salt lords
After Zhang Tai was completely wiped out, the two small salt lords in the south seemed to be frightened and had withdrawn from Hengzhou. Now they are selling official salt from Sichuan and Shaanxi."
Chen Qing nodded and asked Su Xuansheng, "Where is Lingling County?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, Lingling County and Hengyang County are exactly the same."
Next to him, Zhang Shun secretly sighed, how rare the opportunity to talk to His Highness King Yong was, but Su Xuansheng did not seize this opportunity to express himself. How can you say that Lingling County and Hengyang County are exactly the same? Doesn't Lingling County have its own characteristics?
"Tell me about the difficulties!"
Chen Qing smiled and said: "If there are any difficulties in Lingling County at present, then Hengyang County will also tell you."
This time it was clear that Lingling County was the one to speak first and give the opportunity to Su Xuansheng.
Su Xuansheng said quickly: "The biggest problem in Lingling County is the inconvenience of transportation. It is very closed. Although the products are rich, they cannot be transported out. So many mountain products are rotting in vain. It is really heartbreaking."
"Doesn't the Xiangjiang River pass through Lingling County? Isn't it allowed to transport outwards through the Xiangjiang River?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, Lingling County is located in the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River. There are many beaches and fast water, and there are many strange rocks in the river. It is possible to use bamboo rafts, but it is easy to be stranded or crashed by cargo ships."
"What if we pull out the strange rocks in the river?"
"That would be much better. At least a five-hundred-stone cargo ship can be navigable."
Chen Qing nodded, "I remember this. Later I will arrange for the army to try to remove the big rocks."
"On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of elders in Lingling County, I would like to thank His Highness for your concern."
Chen Qing smiled and said to Li Gong: "What's the situation in Hengyang County?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, Hengyang County actually also has transportation problems. Hengyang County also relies on the Xiang River for external transportation, but the water conditions in Hengyang are better and the water flow is relatively gentle and stable. The main problem in Hengyang is that there are too few ships. During the Xuanhe period, the entire Hengyang
There were more than 3,000 ships in the state, but now there are only more than 300 ships left, a decrease of ten times."
"Do you have insufficient transportation capacity?" Chen Qing asked.
"Exactly!"
Chen Qing asked Zhang Shun again, "Can a ship with thousands of stones be used on the Xiangjiang River?"
Zhang Shun leaned forward and said: "Reporting to Your Highness, the ship with ten thousand stone has not passed by, but the ship with five thousand stone can certainly pass by. It arrived in Hengyang during the Xuanhe period."
Chen Qing borrowed one hundred thousand-stone ships from Zheng Tongquan, and bought twenty thousand-stone ships in Quanzhou. He had 220 ten thousand-stone ships in his hands, and he could divide twenty ships to sail on the Xiang River. If
By building Hengyang into a transit city, materials from the entire south can be concentrated in Hengyang, and then transported from Hengyang to Jiangling by 10,000-stone cargo ships. The entire Jinghu South Road can be revitalized through the Xiang River.