***
There are fine fish in the south, and they are covered with fish. The gentleman has wine, and the guests are entertained with joy.
There are fine fish in the south, swaying and gurgling. The gentleman has wine, and the distinguished guests are feasting with it.
This is a line from "The Book of Songs. Xiaoya. There is Jiayu in the South". Jiayu County is named after this poem. Jiayu is bordered by the Yangtze River in the northwest and Honghu Lake in the south. It is a typical alluvial plain with numerous lakes around it. From this poem, we can see that Jiayu is rich in products and its people are hospitable. It is a rare land of fish and rice.
It is said that the Battle of Red Cliffs, which had a profound impact on Chinese history, took place nearby. I recall the days when Gongjin was young, Xiao Qiao was just married, wearing a feather fan and a scarf, looking handsome and heroic... ... ... ..
Qin Mu at this moment could not compare with Zhou Lang. He was dressed in a straw raincoat and led two hundred guards to Jiayu County in the rain. He looked quite embarrassed. The rain was thick in the fields, and the horses' hooves stomped on the road, splashing mud and water everywhere.
Yun Qiao'er curled up in his arms like a little quail. Qin Mu said with some heartache: "I told you not to follow me but you didn't listen. You are suffering now."
Yun Qiao'er raised her little face and showed a sweet smile. Qin Mu had been busy recently. In Qiao'er's words, she could hardly remember what Qin Mu looked like. This time, he insisted on coming with her. Even if he suffered some hardships, she was still very happy.
"Sir, what did Sister Zhi'er say in the letter? I miss her."
"She said she's in good health, so we can rest assured. You'll be a sister-in-law by August."
"It's my aunt."
"Uh... OK, OK, it's my aunt."
"Master, Sister Zhi'er said he likes sour food or sweet food?"
"Well, she said she likes to eat something fragrant, what should I do?"
"Ah, people are asking you something serious?"
After a few jokes with the little girl, Qin Mu felt much better. The rice in the field was already golden, and it was almost time for the summer harvest. However, it had been raining non-stop for the past two days, which was really worrying.
When approaching Jiayu County, Qin Mu saw a large group of people, nearly a thousand in number, who were busy raising the river embankment to prevent the river water from flowing back into the farmland.
When I got closer, I saw a man in his forties in the crowd wearing a seventh-rank official uniform. He had lost his official hat and his uniform was splashed with mud and water, so it was almost unrecognizable. He was loudly directing the crowd, rushing back and forth.
What surprised Qin Mu even more was that Gu Yanwu was also among them, and he was also covered in mud.
"Governor, why are you here?"
"Ningren, you might as well change your name to clay man." Qin Mu felt very relieved to see that the local officials were so dedicated.
"Your humble servant Xie Fan, the magistrate of Jiayu County, greets the Governor." Xie Fan obviously did not know Qin Mu. After hearing Gu Yanwu's address, he hurriedly stepped forward to salute.
"Thank you, sir, please don't be polite. How is the flood situation?"
"Your Excellency the Governor, when we were constructing water conservancy last year, we had time to raise this section of the river bank. Now it has rained heavily for two days in a row. The river water has risen, and I am worried that the river will burst the bank, so I hurriedly organized manpower to reinforce it. The flood situation in this county is not very serious at present, and only a few hundred acres of rice fields in low-lying areas have been flooded. If the weather clears up in a day or two, the flooded rice can be harvested and eaten. I am afraid that the rain will continue, and it will be hard to say what will happen then."
It’s going to rain and my mother is going to get married, what can I do
Qin Mu knows his own business. Others say that he can attract the god of thunder and communicate with God, but these are just tricks. Can he really stop it from raining
Since there was nothing he could do about it, Qin Mu had no other options except to take precautions as best he could.
"Thank you for your hard work, sir. Regarding flood prevention, we need to send people to patrol the riverbank day and night, and organize the corresponding supplies in advance, so that we can respond quickly if any danger is found."
"Don't worry, Governor. I have already asked people to prepare it."
"Well, that's good." Qin Mu said to Li Shi, "Pass my order back to the General Staff. Once the rain stops, the garrisons in various counties and prefectures must temporarily stop training and focus on helping the people harvest summer grain. In addition, in the future, when there is a dangerous situation and the local counties and prefectures request support, the garrisons must fully cooperate if there is no war."
"Yes, sir."
Xie Fan was overjoyed when he heard this. Now Huguang and Jiangxi were different from before. In the past, civil officials could usually command the local garrisons, but that was no longer possible. Qin Mu had made a clear distinction between the military and the political, and local officials had no right to mobilize the army.
As a result, when it comes to disaster relief and rescue, local officials can only organize the people to come, but without the army as the main force, they are somewhat overwhelmed.
Qin Mu then asked, "How are the newly relocated refugees being resettled?"
Jiayu and Honghu areas are important areas for resettling refugees, which is probably why Gu Yanwu appeared here.
Gu Yanwu replied, "The overall situation is good. I have already submitted a report to Wuchang, but there are still many problems. Sir, do you think I should report to you in detail after entering the city?"
It was raining and the river bank was muddy, not a good place to talk.
Qin Mu smiled faintly and said, "No need, I just want to remind Ningren not to forget his job."
"I dare not." Gu Yanwu was neither humble nor arrogant, and did not take the initiative to explain why he came to the embankment. He looked calm.
Qin Mu only took a short break after entering Jiayu City. As soon as the rain stopped, he set out again. Before leaving, he asked Gu Yanwu to carefully investigate officials like Xie Fan. First of all, he had to find out whether Xie Fan was putting on a show.
If not, then it depends on his ability. As an official, it is not enough to be loyal to his duties, he must also have the corresponding ability.
Qin Mu is now in desperate need of talents to enrich his team, and it is not enough to just take care of the present, he also needs to make some talent reserves in advance so that when the territory expands in the future, he can immediately send capable people to govern it.
This is very important. A newly conquered place is often in a state of disrepair and requires capable people to bring order to the chaos.
***
Yueyang.
At the edge of the endless Dongting Lake, six large docks are bustling with people, and wood for shipbuilding is piled up like a mountain. Two gantry cranes are moving slowly, lowering a huge wood into the dock to be used as a keel.
When Qin Mu conquered Changsha last year, he asked Liu Boquan to prepare for shipbuilding. A lot of materials such as wood, tung oil, sails and ropes were prepared. Unfortunately, there were no craftsmen who could build warships at that time, so the matter was delayed for nearly a year.
Now, Liu Boquan sent people to the coastal areas to recruit many craftsmen. At the same time, when Qin Mu and Lu Jiude were discussing the conditions for supporting King Fu, they also poached craftsmen from major factions from the imperial court.
What surprised Qin Mu even more was that Johann Adam Schall von Bell also had a deep understanding of shipbuilding, which provided Qin Mu with the conditions to combine the strengths of Eastern and Western shipbuilding.
Wu Jinxi, the head of the General Armament Department, took Qin Mu to inspect the shipyard and introduced, "Sir, the largest blueprint we got from Nanjing this time is for a 2,000-ton Fu ship, but the shipyard here is probably not suitable for building such a large ship, and the craftsmen have never built such a large ship. We need to build some smaller ships first to accumulate experience before we can build larger ships."
"Well, this is the right thing to do. Building a warship of 1,000 tons shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"This... ... ... the blueprint is ready. If we study it carefully, it shouldn't be a problem."
Qin Mu was deeply moved after hearing this. The shipbuilding technology of the Ming Dynasty was once the best in the world. During the Yongle period, building a thousand-ton ship was not worth mentioning. However, after Zheng He's seven voyages to the West, the construction of large ocean-going ships was forced to stop.
The original large seagoing ships were either dismantled or put into storage, and small and medium-sized ships became the mainstream of shipbuilding. Decades later, the technology and craftsmen for building large seagoing ships no longer existed.
During the Jiajing period, as Japanese pirates became more and more serious, the Ming Dynasty had a small boom in shipbuilding in order to eliminate them. However, the largest ship that could be built at that time was only a Fujian ship of 1,000 tons, which was a far cry from the Yongle period.
Moreover, as the Japanese threat was eliminated, the navy's mission of distant sea operations decreased, and the construction of large sea vessels was once again stopped. Instead, some small Fu ships with only 400 tons were built, which were mainly responsible for near-shore patrols.
After Wanli, the Ming Dynasty was exhausted by the Jurchens in Liaodong, the treasury was in deficit, and there was no money to build even small Fujian ships of 400 tonnes. The navy mainly used small sand ships, bluff ships, and patrol boats.
Because of the entire decline of the shipbuilding industry, Qin Mu could not find a craftsman who could build a warship in Huguang and Jiangxi, so the shipbuilding plan was delayed for a whole year.
A year is fatal.
Now, finally everything is ready. There is Jiayu in the south. Hehe, we will soon have a boat to catch some "Jiayu" and steam them.
.(To be continued..)
...