Chapter 241 0236 [Seizing power and iron ore mining]
Before the dismissed officials started to cause trouble, Jinzhou officials showed up one after another.
Zhu Ming went to Jinzhou and did everything he did.
Inspecting the public affairs halfway and letting the farmers go home to farm is tantamount to clarifying their position: one is to oppose the general judge, and the other is to ask for orders and do business for the people.
Therefore, Chen Yuan's fellow villager, Si Li joined the army, Huang Gui, and immediately showed goodwill to Ju Ming.
Then the unjust case was retried, prestige was established, and Wu Mao, the investigation commander, was forced to stand in line, and nearly twenty officials were brought to justice.
As a result, the state's yamen and subordinate officials were shocked. The right governor escorted yamen Fan Zhun and saw the opportunity to show his obedience. Zhu Ming immediately promoted and placed the yamen officials.
After taking control of some government officials, he took advantage of the situation to close down the city affairs and completely fell out with Tongsuan publicly.
By this time, it was time for the thoughtful officials to take sides.
Those who come to report their work in person must of course seek refuge and follow Governor Zhu from now on.
Asking subordinates to report work means that the two are not helping each other and no one wants to offend. They can just eat together and wait for death.
None of the officials were sent here, so it was obvious that he was the judge of Li Daochong.
An Ju, the deputy envoy of Jinzhou Tuanlian, came to the Huangtang of the state government office to meet with the prefect on the day when the city's Yiwu was sealed up to discuss the matter of annihilating the bandits in the mountains.
It doesn't matter when to suppress bandits, showing attitude is the key.
In the entire Jinzhou, except for Ju Ming, only An Ju is a court official. He seems to be of high rank, but his actual power is not as good as that of a judicial officer. This man was demoted to the mountainous area. He will not be able to return to the central government until Cai Jing is defeated. .
In this case, why don't you make good friends with Ju Ming?
Two of the officials from the prefectural government and various Cao Cao came in person, and one was sent by their subordinate officials.
Chen Yu, the principal of the state school, and Cao Yuhongxu, a scholar, even came hand in hand to discuss with Ju Ming the state examination this fall.
Chen Yu first prefaced the friendship of the same year: "Donghua Gate roll call, the prefect riding horses across the street, the people really welcomed him at that time. Countless people in Tokyo city all admired the handsomeness of the prefect!"
"Where, where." Zhu Ming smiled modestly.
Chen Yu then said to Hong Xu: "I was shocked when I heard the eunuch's response to the imperial poem at the wedding banquet. I was sitting at the back and could only silently admire the eunuch's grace."
Hong Xu sighed: "I wish I could see it with my own eyes."
The two of them sang and harmonized and flattered Ju Ming like crazy.
In the years after Cai Jinggang restored the Sanshe method, Jinshi was very popular as the principal of the prefectural school, and he was promoted very quickly.
Now the situation is so bad that once the state school principal is appointed for the first time, he will be on the bench for several years.
Chen Yu was from southern Anhui, and his idea was very simple. Since Ju Ming suppressed Tong San and he was unable to be promoted in the short term, why not completely turn to Ju Ming and take advantage of his career opportunities ten years later?
The same goes for Hong Xu. The secretarial officials are also small and transparent. Some secretarial officials do not even need to be a Jinshi. He is not qualified to curry favor with traitors in the court, but it is just appropriate to curry favor with the prefect.
After a meal of flattery, Hong Xu clarified his thoughts: "There will be a state examination this autumn. According to the convention, the general judge should preside over the examination, but the prefect can also preside over the examination. The prefect has learned a lot, so why not preside over the examination himself?"
Chen Yu cupped his hands and said, "Hong Shipu and I both support the prefect in taking charge of the state examination."
Ju Ming was too lazy to pretend, and immediately smiled and said: "Since you two have invited me so kindly, I can't refuse. What should I do if I seize the right to be the examiner?"
Hong Xu said: "The prefect just waits patiently."
Chen Yu also said: "I have made arrangements with Hong Shifu."
What arrangements can be made?
When they organized the examination, they did not notify Li Daochong. All examination work was reported to Ju Ming. As soon as they went back and forth, they excluded Li Daochong. It would be too easy for Zhizhou to seize the right to examine the general judge as long as it makes him lose face.
That's how politics is played. As long as you can open up the situation, more and more people will actively vote for you, and they will even help you seize classes and seize power.
Hong Xu said: "One thing must be said, please support the prefect. Li Dafan has financial power. If he is not allowed to take charge of the examination, I am afraid that the money for organizing the state examination will be withheld."
"How much does it cost?" Zhu Ming asked.
Hong Xu replied: "In the past, for a state examination, including the deer singing banquet, you had to get five to six hundred guan."
Ju Ming asked: "Can two hundred guan be done?"
Hong Xu thought for a while: "If you use it sparingly, it's barely enough."
"I will give you two hundred and fifty guan." Zhu Ming gave 50 guan as a favor, so that the corresponding officials would not have to work in vain.
Now that he has money, he first withholds the gold for oral affairs, and then the property for trade affairs. Of course, he will not spit out the fat he has eaten. As for whether it is against the rules, Li Daocheng will impeach him.
Ju Ming left the two of them to eat, and made an appointment to ask them to bring their family members, and Zheng Yuanyi would make friends with their wives.
After having dinner and chatting for a while, Ju Ming personally sent the two of them out of the back house.
"Which official family member have you been able to chat with the most these days?" Zhu Ming asked casually.
Zheng Yuanyi thought carefully and said: "Mrs. Yuan from the Gongcao family is the most friendly with me. But she is too flattering and flattering. If you think about it carefully, she seems to be hypocritical and cannot be in touch with her."
Zhu Ming couldn't help laughing: "My wife has grown so much that she actually knows that others are flattering her."
Zheng Yuanyi said: "My husband taught me well, I have remembered it all." He added, "Ms. Xu, who does not have money to drive, although she occasionally caters to her, she is the most sincere. But she speaks unabashedly and says anything.
He also said that he didn’t like Jinzhou, it was too poor, far inferior to Jiangnan, and he regretted marrying Qian Qian.”
"Haha," Zhu Ming could imagine what kind of character that woman was. "Qian Bijia's wife, Mrs. Xu, was probably also from a wealthy family. She was a rich girl who came to Jinzhou with her husband to suffer, and she had no power to accept others.
Roll your eyes. How can you feel so happy?"
Zheng Yuanyi said: "Mrs. Xu also gave me a pearl flower. It was made of gold inlaid with pearls. The craftsmanship is also very good. I am afraid it is worth dozens of coins. I thought it was too valuable and refused to accept it, but she forced it over and had to accept it.
I gave her a twenty-gun gold hairpin in return. That gold hairpin is already my most expensive jewelry."
Zhu Ming asked again: "Huang Gui, where is the Wu Mao family?"
Zheng Yuanyi said: "The wife of Mr. Huang's family is not of high birth, but she is well-educated and courteous, and her words and deeds are very measured. But she doesn't speak much, and she always feels that there is a gap, perhaps because she is not too familiar with her. Wu Zhishi did not take his wife with him
When I came to Jinzhou, I only brought one concubine. I didn't like that concubine because her behavior was too rude. The maid next to her was scolded by her in front of many officials because she accidentally spilled tea. She
He was harsh to the maids but yet he fawned over us."
Zhu Ming took Zheng Yuanyi for a walk, feeling quite happy that she could finally observe people, unlike before where she was confused about everything.
Now that the situation is so good, even the right to examine the judges will be snatched away by him.
It was the drought in Jinzhou that gave Ju Ming a headache.
From the beginning of spring to the present, there have been only a few sporadic light rains across the five counties of Jinzhou, so a poor summer grain harvest is a certainty.
As a prefect, you have to make plans in advance.
The state government provided some money and asked the merchants to take action and go to the south to buy grain in advance. Part of it was used to stabilize the price of rice, and part of it was used to provide work relief.
When the time comes, Li Daochong will have to be forced to open Changping Granary. It is unclear how much grain is left in the granary.
"My lord, Su Zhixin is back." Bai Sheng came to report.
Zhu Ming led Zheng Yuanyi back to the pavilion: "Bring him here."
When passing through Hanzhong, I went to Xingyuan Prefecture to recruit some smelters and blacksmiths. Su Zhixin was the blacksmith. He had seen others looking for iron ore, and was assigned by Ju Ming to be responsible for the prospecting.
"The common people have met your husband!" Su Zhixin saluted respectfully.
Ju Ming smiled and said, "Sit down and talk."
Su Zhixin sat carefully on the stone bench: "I took the iron smelters and blacksmiths and walked in the mountains for more than a month. We went to the mountains to the south and north of the Han River. There are a lot of iron ores here, and Iron Hat discovered several places.
.”
"Iron Cap" is the remaining part of sulfide deposits in the surface oxidation zone, mainly composed of limonite, goethite, hydrohematite and other materials.
You can tell at a glance that this thing is very convenient for prospecting.
Ju Ming asked: "Where is the best place?"
Su Zhixin said: "There is a ravine more than ten miles away in the north, where the iron ore is the richest. I also asked the local people that although big ships cannot travel there, small boats can still pass there as long as there is no drought. There are also dense trees nearby.
, and there are also bamboo forests, so it is convenient to burn charcoal on the spot.”
Ju Ming asked again: "Are there many people there?"
Su Zhixin said: "There is only one village, where dozens of families live, with an estimated population of two to three hundred people. The village is very poor, with only some paddy fields by the river, and there was a spring drought this year."
Zhu Ming said to Bai Sheng: "You and Liu Shiren go and buy that mountain range. First build a charcoal farm and recruit villagers to be charcoal burners. Don't force them. If there are not enough charcoal burners, come from the city.
Recruit the poor."
"Yes!" Bai Sheng accepted the order.
Zhu Ming murmured in his heart, why hasn’t that magician Shi Yuangong hired the blacksmith yet?
Zhu Ming then said to Su Zhixin: "You are responsible for selecting the location of the smelting site and determining where to build the furnace."
"I've written it down." Su Zhixin responded quickly.
Ju Ming asked again: "You have traveled to many places. Are there any big iron smelting yards in Jinzhou?"
Su Zhixin said: "Compared with Xingyuan Prefecture, it is not too big. The mountains here are full of iron ore, and there are many small iron smelting yards. They can simply smelt pig iron and sell it to the blacksmith shops in the city.
There are even few people smelting wrought iron. I heard that only one family in Xicheng County can smelt wrought iron."
This situation is caused by many reasons.
First of all, transportation is inconvenient, and the state capital near Jinzhou is rich in iron ore. Jinzhou’s ironware, including transportation costs (especially private card tax), is not competitive enough when shipped to other places, so it can only be produced locally.
sell.
Secondly, the exploitation was too heavy, and all the businessmen had to muddle along without the motivation to expand production or improve technology. Anyway, it was enough to make a little money.
Ju Ming's mining of iron required the approval of the Jinzhou Changping Division, but Li Daochong took this position concurrently.
Alas, I'm afraid I have to collect it secretly and privately. Li Daochong will definitely not give me a legal license.
After thinking about it, Zhu Ming thought of Zeng Xiaoduan.
He helped Zeng Xiaoduan overturn the unjust case and asked him to recommend an honest person who would ostensibly serve as the owner of the mine. Zhu Ming did not need to step forward himself and let the honest person quietly apply for a license and obtain the legal mining rights.