Zhou Xin, courtesy name Taiming, was born in Kuaiji. When he was young, he traveled to the capital. Fortunately, he studied under the tutor Chen Fan. He practiced hard for several years and got a gold medal. Push forward the disaster."
With such a good teacher and a good background, he was quickly recruited into the Taiwei Mansion, promoted to a high rank, and after a few more years of officialdom, he was moved to Danyang Prefecture. He was not yet thirty years old, which can be said to be a young man's success. , but when it comes to the position of prefect, it is not so easy to advance to the official position. The relationship is almost exhausted, and some real achievements are needed. Unfortunately, Zhou Xin does not have much real material for these, so Danyang A prefect can sit there for many years.
Zhou Xin is thirty-nine years old this year and is in the prime of life. He has a square face with Chinese characters, which looks quite upright. This face also contributed a lot to winning this official position because he is handsome. People are always more popular.
Ten years ago, after Zhou Xin got the position of prefect, he spent a lot of money and hired a powerful local staff to join him. He knew that his money was not enough, and this official position was obtained with money and connections. Yes, if you want to manage government affairs well, you can't do it without a strong staff, so I rely on my master for everything.
This morning, Zhou Xin got up early, and then went out to the prefect's mansion to handle government affairs. But in fact, he just drank tea. All the affairs of the prefect's mansion were actually handled by his staff.
Zhou Xin's master was about forty years old. He was wearing a blue cloth gown. He looked like a very knowledgeable person. This staff member was also a man of etiquette. When he saw Zhou Xin walking into the government affairs office, he stood up quickly. He first saluted and said hello to Zhou Xin, and then handed over the bamboo slips: "Sir, these are the affairs of the county that have been going on for the past few days. My subordinates have all commented on them. These important things are specially presented to you for your personal viewing!"
"No need. Sir, I am very relieved to do the work. I will send it to all counties." Zhou Xin shook his head and said no. After these years of cooperation, he trusts his staff very much. If he is not there that day, I am afraid that his Danyang County will be destroyed. It will not work properly.
However, Zhou Xin ignored these county government affairs, but asked about another matter: "Yesterday, the Zhu family of Wu County sent someone to bring me gifts and a letter. Sir, have you read it?"
"I saw it." After listening to Zhou Xin's question, the staff member said coldly: "But it's so whimsical!"
"Oh, how do you say this?" Zhou Xin asked.
"Sir, don't be anxious." The staff member chuckled: "Zhu of Wu County thought that he was still the Marquis of Yanling, Zhu Zhen, at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. He was just a local gentry of Wu. If the previous head of the family had been better, After all, he is also the Chief Registrar of the Wu Commandery Prefecture. Unfortunately, he was implicated in the Xu Sheng Rebellion and died. Now he is just living on his last breath, hoping that he can still claim to be one of the four surnames in Jiangdong, just to make people laugh!"
"Although he is a local gentry, he has a lot of property. Look, this move is worth a thousand catties of gold." Zhou Xin agreed, and then said: "I have to pay such a high price to deal with a county magistrate. , What is the reason for this? It seems that this county magistrate is a bandit leader who was recruited by Zang Min before he left office. Did the two parties once have a grudge? But it is wrong. What kind of grudge made the Zhu family of Wu County Spending such a huge price, a thousand pounds of gold is not a small amount, it is enough to earn the Zhu family's income for two years."
Regarding Zhou Xin's speculations, the staff member shook his head. He did an investigation. He has been acting as an agent for county affairs for many years, and he is much more familiar with many administrative situations than Zhou Xin. According to the intelligence brought back, the other party's target is not
Na Majun replied.
"Although Ma Jun was born as a water bandit, he has a good way of managing the county. Under his management for several years, Moling has become the number one county in Danyang County and ranks first in taxation. Ma Jun may be a bit of a bandit.
However, he has a very good reputation among the people. He has been very filial to the county governor in recent years, but he will not commit such treasonous acts as causing chaos. These are all framed by Zhu Zhi."...
"Well, yes! Governor Zang Min has been kind to him. Forgive him for being a small water bandit. If he is not grateful and grateful, how can he dare to resume the rebellion?" Zhou Xin nodded, but the question was wrong. The Zhu family of Wu County made this move
What do you mean?
Seeing Zhou Xin's doubts, the staff member smiled and said: "Your Excellency, you know that Zhu Kui, the Zhu family of Wu County, is instigating Zhu Kui's father to merge his Zhu family into his Zhu family of Wu County, in order to take the initiative.
The name of the family is against the branch, trying to steal the property under Zhu Kui's name."
"Zhu Kui...but the young man who surrounded and killed the giant bandit Yan Baihu a few years ago?"
"Yeah!" The master shook his head and said: "But it was this young man who was a young talent. In a few years, he accumulated a huge fortune, no less than that of the Zhu family of Wu County. This made the Zhu family of Wu County have a bad heart.
In order to take advantage of him to go north to join the Yi and fight against the Yellow Turbans, he used his honest father to secretly cause harm."
"It's despicable and shameless~" Zhou Xin laughed and said: "But Zhu Kui is indeed an outstanding young man from Jiangdong. He has such great ambitions and leads people to serve the country. But what does this have to do with me?"
"Sir, do you think I want to help the Zhu family of Wu County and find a reason to demote Ma Jun to another place as they said?"
It seems that Zhou Xin has not been in contact with government affairs for a long time and does not know anything.
Hearing what Zhou Xin said, the staff member quickly pulled down the other party's sleeve, shook his head and said, "No, sir!"
"Why?" Zhou Xin was a little surprised to see his staff so eager.
The staff member saluted and apologized for the rudeness of pulling his sleeves, and then said, "I'm afraid you don't know yet! Zhu Kui led five hundred soldiers and horses all the way north, but he made such a great contribution."
"First in Lujiang County, he solved the siege of Shu County and beheaded the leader of the Yellow Turban bandits. Then he entered Runan and joined the command of You Zhonglang Zhu Jun. He was deeply appreciated by You Zhonglang. He was immediately awarded the post of Army Commander, with consequences that were not good.
Defeat Zhu Zhonglang's expectations and kill Peng Tuo in one battle."
"These are not enough. We went outside Yingchuan County and went deep into Bo's camp to respond. We successfully burned the ant thief's granary, defeated the Yingchuan ant thief, captured Bo Bo alive, and solved the crisis in Luoyang. Only then was he rewarded by the imperial court in advance and became a powerful prisoner.
The general finally led the Yingchuan Yellow Turbans to surrender tens of thousands of soldiers, and joined forces with Nanyang Governor Qin Jie to successfully annihilate the Nanyang Yellow Turban bandit Zhang Mancheng. It took less than a month and the Nanyang turmoil was completely subsided."
"Si..." Zhou Xin took a breath: "I didn't expect that there would be such young talents under my rule. It's a pity that I can't discover and use them."
The staff nodded in agreement, and then said with a serious face: "I also received the latest news that Zhu Kui was summoned to the capital by His Majesty and the princes of the imperial court some time ago..."
"What? You are still in the eyes of the princes and your majesty!" Zhou Xin did not dare to look down upon him at all. You must know that as long as he can get into the eyes of the emperor, the three princes and the nine ministers, he will be remembered for a little bit in the future.
This will ensure a smooth career.
After a long time, Zhou Xin finally calmed down the shock and disbelief in her heart, and said quietly: "The Zhu family of Wu County is very scheming, but it's a pity that they made a bad move. His family insulted Zhu Kui's father in this way, and the rest of the family will not be able to do it in the future."
See how he treats people when they return from Luoyang."
"Hmph, it's okay if you don't take the thousand catties of gold, just return it to him."
"It's good that you understand, my lord. When Zhu Kui enters the capital, I don't know what he will encounter, but it's always good to avoid the possibility of future enemies, isn't it?" The staff member chuckled and immediately turned around again.
His face was greedy, full of greed, and encouraged: "Why do you need to return that thousand kilograms of gold, sir? Just reply to the Zhu family of Wu County and make a promise. You agree, but when it will be fulfilled, it is not up to you, sir?"
"
"Hahaha! What you said makes sense, sir, and it won my heart. I will do as you say." When Zhou Xin heard this, he suddenly stood up, and then the two of them laughed evilly together, which could be heard outside the hall...
But when the staff man chuckled, there was a different kind of brilliance in his cunning eyes.
It turns out that Zhu Kui actually knew over the years that if he wanted to establish a foothold in Danyang County, he must establish a good relationship with the prefect's mansion. After some investigation, he found that this staff member was the key and could speak well in front of the prefect Zhou Xin. Therefore, for many years,
There are bribes from time to time, and hundreds of pounds of gold are offered every year. This is a long-term bribe.
The Zhu family of Wu County went directly to meet the prefect Zhou Xin and handed the bribe directly to Zhou Xin. However, he, a small staff member, did not get any benefits. Naturally, he would not speak for them. Moreover, he had collected so much money over the years.
The benefits that come from Moling will naturally help you at critical moments, which can be regarded as repaying your filial piety over the years.
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Moling City, Zhao Bancheng Mansion.
As summer passes and autumn comes, a breeze blows. In the small courtyard behind the Zhao Mansion, willow trees sway and dance. Some slightly dry willow branches cannot fly and fall into the pool, causing small ripples to ripple.
.
Breaking the wicker in her hand, Zhao Ying'er suddenly felt sad: "It's already the beginning of autumn! Brother Kui has been away for three months!"
"Brother Zhu Meng came over last time to inform me that Brother Kui became General Weilu, pacified Yingchuan, and made great contributions to Nanyang. The latest news coming back is that the emperor summoned him to Beijing for an audience! I don't know who he is now.
What do you do in Luoyang? You must visit the largest and busiest market in Luoyang with Sister Shu Shuer, and buy a lot of rouge, gouache, etc."
"Hey, now my father is always whispering in his ears about why I didn't imitate that sister Shu Shu'er and followed her secretly. It's annoying me to death."
"Father, how did he know that Brother Kui left something important for me to look at? Brother Kui said that this thing would bring him great fame! I don't know if it is true or not. I have been experimenting for so long and it has always failed.
, and also told me not to tell my father."
Although as early as two years ago, when he made up his mind to fight for that ideal, Zhu Kui knew that in order to compete for the world, in addition to the most important thing is luck, he also needs fame, and the second is force.
A person who only has military power but no reputation will only have political power in one place and will not be recognized by the world. Of course, fame alone will not do it. Liu Bei has betrayed his life's benevolence and righteousness, and due to bad luck, he can still only divide one side.
At this time, her personal maid ran impatiently from outside, panting and said: "Miss, there is news from the escort agency outside the city that the blank paper is ready!"
"What!" After hearing this, Zhao Ying'er, dressed in white, stood up and confirmed: "Really!"
"Yes, Miss, how dare the people sent by Mr. Gao to lie to me!"
"Xiaoqiu, come with me and have a look!"
Then Zhao Ying'er threw away the wicker in her hand, and the two of them hurriedly left home and left the city, accompanied by a middle-aged guard, who was none other than Wang Xin, the single-sword swordsman who Zhu Kui had hired earlier.
Outside Moling City, the Escort Villa and deep in the backyard of the school grounds are surrounded by high walls. This is where Zhu Liao encouraged Zhu Laoshi to break in last time. There are many strong guards at all times.
Men guard.
In fact, it contains craftsmen that Zhu Kui collected from all over Jiangdong to use it to study some things of later generations, such as white paper, which is one of them.
The person who is really in charge of things is Zhao Ying'er, because all the techniques that Zhu Kui memorized were entrusted to her for safekeeping. Although Ma Yuanyi, Zhao Da, Wu Fan, and even Ma Jun, Kao Xiong and others knew about it, they all assisted Zhao Ying'er.
Just help manage the craftsmen there.
"It's done! It's done!" The excited shout was heard by the entire escort agency.
When Zhao Ying'er, who had just arrived, heard this, she felt happy and knew that it should be done.
As soon as he entered the hospital, a foreman ran over sweating profusely. When he saw Zhao Ying'er, he shouted: "Miss Zhao...paper making is done!"...
"Really? Bring it to me quickly!" Zhao Ying'er couldn't help but said in surprise.
In fact, Zhu Kui had been thinking about papermaking as early as a year ago. At that time, he had an idea. Based on his past life memory, he wrote down the papermaking formula on a bamboo slip in small regular script.
In fact, paper had already appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biography of Cai Lun" records: Lun Nai made the intention (invention, creation) to use tree skin, hemp heads, poor cloth, and fishnets as paper. In the first year of Yuanxing, he memorialized it.
.The emperor is good at what he can do, so he will always use it, so the world calls it 'Cai Hou Zhi'."
It is a pity that Caihou paper has serious defects such as being fragile, easy to mold, and difficult to preserve. Without rapid development, it cannot replace bamboo slips, brocade and silk, etc.
It is also expensive to make and is only spread among prominent families. Some ordinary people don't know about it at all.
Zhu Kui followed Cai Lun's papermaking method, but changed the materials into soft fibers such as bamboo, wheat straw, and rice straw, ground them into pulp, boiled them, and then washed the pulp with a large amount of water, and
The thick pieces, knots, stones and sand are removed, and finally they are picked up with a bamboo curtain and dried in the sun.
Zhao Ying'er came to the dried paper, picked up a dozen sample papers, touched and rubbed them, and finally put them on her cheek, felt the touch, and smelled them.
"It's really white paper, soft and slippery, and feels like cloth." Zhao Ying'er praised it repeatedly, but thought in her heart: "How much knowledge does brother Kui have in his head?"
It's a pity that she doesn't know anything about craftsmanship. This paper is not white paper, it still has a light yellow color, but it is much better than Caihou's paper and cannot be compared to the same quality. However, Zhu Kui only asked her to supervise, but he was born
As a businessman, she saw the profits at a glance and asked the foreman: "How much output can the workshop produce when it is operating at full capacity?"
"It can produce a thousand large sheets of paper every day."
"One thousand? It seems not enough. If you want to popularize the market, you need to build more workshops." Zhao Ying'er thought in her mind, but she was not good at specialization. She knew that Zhu Kui had other plans, but had other plans. Relying on this
Papermaking technology won the reputation of scholars all over the world.
"I'll take these papers away first. You can also try out the printing technique from earlier and print a few copies of Brother Kui's earlier works."
"Today, everyone here will be rewarded one tael of silver each. Don't go home. The money will be sent directly to your home later. You can register your address with Mr. Gao, the bodyguard, and move to this villa someday.
"
Zhao Ying'er also knows that the new papermaking technology is a secret among secrets. Everything is sealed and cannot be taken for granted. As for printing, it has been prepared early in the morning. Printing is much simpler than papermaking. You only need to know the seals and rules.
copy.
Then he came outside the workshop and said to Gao Yi: "Chief escort, the boss of this workshop said that this is the top priority. I hope you can take good care of it."
"Don't worry, Miss Zhao, no one in the villa can escape from Gao's clutches," Gao Yi assured.
"Xiaoqiu, let's go."
Along the way, Zhao Ying'er also solemnly told her girl to keep her mouth shut.
After coming out of the escort agency, guard Wang Xin followed him again, but he did not follow him into the workshop just now.
After returning to the city, Zhao Ying'er did not return to the Zhao Mansion, but took the paper to the county government office.
At this moment, Kaohsiung and Ma Jun were chatting in the backyard of the county government office.
"This kid Huai Ming has a chance. When the emperor summons him this time, he will definitely stay in the capital and serve as an official. The destruction of Taiping Road is a foregone conclusion. Thanks to the military advisor's urging not to join Zhang Jiao, otherwise we will face the same problem today.
The officers and soldiers are fighting to the death." Kaohsiung said, stroking his beard.
You can be a water bandit, and the court may ignore you, but if you become a rebel, it won't work unless the county soldiers suppress you.
"This is because the big master is different from Zhang Jiao, so we don't want to conspire with each other, otherwise no matter how much we try to persuade them, it will be useless." Although the two of them are no longer water bandits, their names for each other have not changed, and then
Another worried person said: "Now I am worried that if Shu Shu'er sneaks out alone, I wonder if she will cause trouble. This girl is too messy."
"That's what happened to my daughter. That day, my mother-in-law came to look for Shu Shu'er. After hearing about this, she went back angrily. This is because I am too pampered." Kaohsiung shook his head and regretted.
"Military advisor, what's going on with the private recruitment of troops recently?" Kaohsiung asked suddenly.
"There are more than 5,000 people. There is chaos in Taiping Road. Huai Ming has left a message with me, asking Moling to accommodate the refugees as much as possible. In the past three months, the number of households in the county has tripled, and most of them have been resettled.
Outside the city, fortunately, there are still large fields outside the city that can be reclaimed."