No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 43 Law-abiding and Good Citizens of the Su Family
If you want to ask, what is the county magistrate of Longcheng doing during the time when food prices soar before the Dragon Boat Festival?
Yan Liulang can answer immediately:
The Ming government is traveling in mountains and rivers, and playing autumn wind everywhere.

But the former one, in Mingfu's own words, he was worried about his business, traveling in mountains and rivers was just incidental, yes, appearance, just appearance.

But how Yan Liulang looks at it now, it seems that traveling in the mountains and rivers seems to be the real thing...

It is estimated that only Brother Liu Ashan, who followed behind in a dull manner, believed in Ming Fu's words.

In any case, in the past few days, Ouyang Rong took Yan Liulang and Liu Ashan to visit the upstream and downstream of Butterfly Creek.

From the ruins of the Digong Gate connecting Yunmeng Guze in the upper reaches to the mouth of the Butterfly Creek and the Yangtze River in the lower reaches, as well as the dozens of "Ze Kingdoms" along the way that have not completely receded, Ouyang Rong personally measured a circle with his feet.

Today, the three of them went to Donglin Temple on Dagu Mountain again, and found Master Shandao, the presiding master, but this time it was not Master Shandao who enlightened everyone, but the amiable magistrate of Ouyang County, the parent official, who enlightened Master Shandao:
As a result, the two sides had a frank, in-depth, long-term, and constructive communication on the disaster situation, and believed that the dialogue was timely and beneficial, which deepened the mutual understanding between the county government and Donglin Temple. The post-disaster construction issue related statements and positive intentions are highly appreciated. Ouyang County Magistrate pointed out...

Well, in the end, Master Shandao waved his hand and decided to renovate an old temple and take in a group of homeless victims to cultivate the temple fields for the tenants... As long as the Buddha suffers, he will deduct the merits.

I don't know what the county magistrate talked about with the master. The young novice Xiufa has never seen such a heroic and generous master. Maybe this is the relationship between officials and people.

The little novice monk with beautiful hair sighed, and didn't notice at all that after the county magistrate left, his master touched his head and sighed, and didn't go to read palms for the female benefactors and female Bodhisattvas in the afternoon.

"Mingfu, the county government still has a lot of things to do, why don't we go back?"

Halfway up the mountain, Ouyang Rong stopped again, took Yan Liulang and Liu Ashan together, and looked at the scenery from a pavilion on the mountainside with an excellent scenery and a plaque named "Zhimu". Yan Liulang couldn't help asking in a low voice.

"Look, this is our county seat. This Butterfly Creek really looks like a butterfly's wings. The name is right."

Ouyang Rong suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed to the stretch of blue-tiled buildings at the foot of the mountain; Longcheng County did not have a city wall. When Da Suiping destroyed Nanchen and unified the north and the south, he ordered the demolition of the walls of most counties in the south; the county seat is located in Butterfly On both sides of the stream, the Butterfly Creek winds and winds, and the sails on the river are like clouds. From a distance, you can see the endless Dongliu River, with mud-yellow sandbars at the mouth of the river.

Yan Liulang interrupted:
"Our Butterfly Creek is indeed a good place. This stream has nourished hundreds of sword furnaces on the west bank. I heard from the old man that the red sword body taken out of the furnace can make the sword as long as it is poured with Butterfly Creek water." Hissing out 'green smoke, the quality of the swords cast is not vulgar...Since the pre-Qin period, this stream has watered many famous swords."

Glancing at the side face of Ouyang Rong who was listening carefully, Liu Ashan, who had been silent all the time, also said: "I used to work as a clerk in a sword shop, and I heard from senior swordsmiths that the most powerful thing about this Butterfly Creek is not the communication cloud. The key position of Mengze and the Yangtze River is that this stream has dragon energy, and it is one of the few places in the world that can cast a tripod sword."

Seeing that Ming Fu seemed interested, Yan Liulang also answered:

"I heard that in the past, the Great Sui of the former Dynasty had not yet unified the north and the south. The last state of Chen in the Southern Dynasty was here to forge the tripod sword with the power of the whole country. It is a pity that the sword was destroyed by the Great Sui. Later, the Sui Emperor Chaofeng exhausted the material resources from the north and the south, and then repaired the furnace and cast the sword by the Butterfly Creek. This time, before the sword was completed, the world was in chaos, and rebels rose everywhere...

"Later it was Emperor Taizong who cleaned up the stalls, learned lessons after working hard to build a country, lived with the people, and never forged those harmful things. The sword shop business in Longcheng gradually declined, until Liu's family reopened later. Gu Yue Sword Shop."

Liu Ashan recalled, "An old swordsmith in the sword shop said that the Butterfly Creek is a blessed place, but it is also a source of disaster."

"What is this tripod sword you are talking about?" Ouyang Rong was curious.

Liu Ashan shook his head, "I don't know, it should be the most powerful famous sword. I heard that princes and generals all want it."

Yan Liulang also interjected, "Not only that, I heard that Qi practitioners in the world and in the world also want to get this thing. Some people say that the Southern and Northern Dynasties fought for the tripod, and they were fighting for these tripod swords."

Ouyang Rong shook his head, just like what the little junior sister said about the mythology, Taoism, Yunmeng and Jianze, he only listened to it as a novelty.

Returning to the current business, the young county magistrate turned to Liu Ashan and said:

"The old swordsman was right, this Butterfly Creek is indeed the source of disaster, not only nourishing an evil 'willow' that sucks the marrow of the people, it also became an accomplice to the flood in Longcheng.

"Every time Yunmengze floods, as long as the Digong gate is not blocked, the water of Butterfly Creek will overflow the river and flood Longcheng County. This creek is tortuous and has no ability to discharge floods at all..."

Ouyang Rong stared down the mountain.

As the county magistrate of Longcheng, his responsibility for this flood is not only disaster relief, but also flood control.

As for the latter, when Ouyang Rong first came to the county government office, he talked with Diao Xiancheng, but at that time he didn't even have enough food for disaster relief, let alone water control. Diao Xiancheng suggested that he go to Liu's family for food ', like the previous ones, rebuilt the Digong gate to block the water in Yunmengze upstream.

Right now, after he has been tossing around, he has barely enough food for disaster relief, plus mobilizing the whole county, providing relief with work, and organizing the Dragon Boat Festival... he is already able to feed the refugees outside the city.

Therefore, water control has become a top priority right now.

Because he knew that after the Dragon Boat Festival, the biggest rainy season would come. At present, there is no water conservancy work in Longcheng County. In front of Yunmengze, which is like a basin and easy to store water in the rainy season, it is like not wearing pants. Whether it is big or small can be seen at a glance, it will be no wonder that the flood peak will not flood Dragon City by then.

Others, such as the magistrate of Diao County, rely on the experience of the county annals to predict floods, such as "a major flood in four years", which will not be flooded if it has already been flooded this year...

Ouyang Rong has never encountered any supernatural power in this world, so the education he has received does not allow him to believe in jingles, and he cannot lie to himself.

In the past few days, he visited the upstream and downstream of Butterfly Creek to find out the water conservancy situation.

The situation at hand is as simple as it is tricky.

Yunmengze, Butterfly Creek, and Yangtze River can be regarded as a "gong" shape, and Butterfly Creek is the "vertical" in the middle. Yunmengze can be regarded as a reservoir covering thousands of miles. The largest freshwater lake, its water is mainly discharged into the Yangtze River from this "vertical", and then flows eastward from the Yangtze River into the sea.

But right now, the "vertical" that Ouyang Rong sees is curved.

Tortuous waterways are the most difficult to discharge floods.

How to treat this water?
Should we continue to repair the public gate of Di, follow the old path of Mr. Di, and sew and mend it every four years like the subsequent county magistrates?
The young county magistrate who came to Longcheng for a walk and accumulated merit asked himself.

Yan Liulang and Liu Ashan were stunned after listening to Ouyang Rong's clear explanation in a few words.

Yan Liulang thought for a while, and tried to come up with an idea: "How about we... widen the river?"

Ouyang Rong didn't nod, Yan Liulang realized something, and said to himself with a frowning face; "It's not good, even if we have manpower, but we don't have extra money now, we can't support the amount of work."

But Ouyang Rong got up when he heard the words, and patted the ashes on his clothes with downcast eyes: "Who said there is no silver grain? Hasn't the silver grain for flood control already arrived?"

"Where is the silver grain that the Ming government said?"

"Isn't it just below? I still have long legs."

Ouyang Rong lightly pointed to the county seat down the mountain, and then sat alone again, watching the scenery down the mountain quietly, and turned around first: "The view here is really wide, let's go, it's time to go back."

After the young county magistrate walked out of the pavilion, he turned around and glanced at the plaque on the pavilion, and couldn't help saying to himself:
"It's such a blinding pavilion, it doesn't cover your eyes at all... There is a way, don't be afraid of floating clouds to cover your eyes, and you are at the highest level."

Having already made up his mind, he smiled and went down the mountain to eat "meat".

……

Ouyang Rong didn't expect that he was fed a mouthful of "meat" as soon as he returned to the county office.

County government office.

"What, you said that the Su family came to me when I was away?" Ouyang Rong felt a little puzzled, "Which Su family? Why did they come to me?"

He really didn't remember that among the thirteen largest gentry families in Longcheng, there was a family surnamed Su.

Diao Xiancheng shook his head, "The Su family boss said that he came to pay taxes for his family. Before the Ming government checked the accounts, they checked themselves and found that there might be some ambiguous taxes that were not paid. So now submit it to the Ming government."

Ouyang Rong wondered: "There are still people who think about our government and take the initiative to check for omissions and fill in the vacancies? Uh, how much did they make up?"

Diaoxian Cheng swallowed, "1000 taels of silver."

Ouyang Rong's eyelids twitched, "What kind of tax is this missing, paying so much?"

Diaoxian Cheng spread his hands and said: "I asked my subordinates to check the accounts of the Su Mansion, and found that they paid taxes on time every year, and they paid a lot of money."

"Then why don't you return the money?"

When Diao Xiancheng heard this, he looked at Ouyang Rong with strange eyes:
"But the big man of the Su family said that if there is no leak, then donate the money to the county government and let the master of the Ming family handle it by himself. They only ask for a pen and ink from the master of the Ming family, and they can give it at any time. .”

The corner of Ouyang Rong's mouth twitched, he got up and went to the table to look at the huge sum of money.

This table is a little rickety under the weight of silver.

1000 taels of silver is worth half of the money he coerced and lured those bullies and evil gentry into donating.

The young county magistrate threw the silver in his hand back on the table, walked up the hall with his hands behind his back for a few steps, and couldn't help turning his head:
"There are still such law-abiding citizens in Longcheng County?" He asked in surprise.

The main reason is that Ouyang Rong has long been disappointed with these landlords and local tyrants in the county, or he has never had hope for them at all. These days, fighting wits and courage, touching the interests is more difficult than touching the soul...

But right now, a white lotus flower suddenly popped up, better than a good citizen on a horse, it really makes people cry.How can he not be shocked.

Good guy, thinking about it this way brings tears to my eyes.

This wave, this wave is called PUA.

Ouyang Rong sighed.

Diao Xiancheng remembered something, and said again: "By the way, Ming Mansion, the Meilu Garden where you and your aunt are now living is also donated by the Su family for free."

Ouyang Rong was dumbfounded.

Not long after, Diao Xiancheng left with his official duties, leaving a young county magistrate standing alone in the lobby facing a table of white money.

He touched his chin.

"The Su family on Luming Street... right next door? The Su family next door, I remember that my junior sister lived there, she said it was Shibo's family... In other words, this Su family is an old friend of my teacher?"

Ouyang Rong put on his clothes and was about to go out, but after hesitating for a while, he hung up his official clothes again.

He asked for a donation of 1000 taels in name, and only asked him for a pair of calligraphy and painting, which is quite like a gentleman's friendship. It would be a bit vulgar to visit, not to mention that the Su family is an old friend of a teacher, so he can't be too familiar with it, so he has to avoid suspicion .

Ouyang Rong nodded, wrote down the favor, and immediately sent someone to call Yan Liulang.

He motioned for the silver with his chin: "Take it to buy food, it's all spent, don't leave it."

After a pause, the young county magistrate smiled a little embarrassedly: "Especially the newly opened rice shop on the street, you have to take good care of their business."

"Here."

……

The first morning light first fell on the bell tower on the top of Donglin Temple.

It's just that the gray monk who went upstairs to ring the bell today didn't pay attention to the bell at all, and frequently looked in the direction of the Butterfly Creek down the mountain.

If there were disciplined monks passing by early at this moment, they would not bother if they saw it, because there must not be much incense in the temple today, and the abbot will bring a large group of monks down the mountain to preach at Penglangdu in the city.

Because today is May [-]th, and it is another year's Dragon Boat Festival.

In Longcheng County.

Before dawn, the expanded new ferry is the first to be lively. Strong men, coolies, peddlers, household servants, government clerks, and hawkers selling breakfast are bustling at the pier, setting up tables like platforms, climbing ladders and hanging colors. .

On the Butterfly Creek just warmed by the morning sun, the most conspicuous thing at the moment is not the big ships transporting grain from other places, but the colorful dragon boats.

If you look down from the whole city, you can see that the heads of people coming out of all the streets and alleys on the streets that have not been fully illuminated by the sky have gathered into endless waves of people, all heading towards the Butterfly Creek Ferry where the dragon boat race is held. As the flow went, refugees from outside the city also poured into the city, and there were policemen in blue clothes patrolling the streets and alleys to maintain order...

The Dragon Boat Festival organized by the Longcheng County Government finally started.

Just arrived in the morning.

"Mingfu, Mingfu!"

Luming Street, Longcheng County Government, the officials who finished the report all went out to watch the dragon boats at the pier, only a certain kind of arrest ran against the flow of people, and ran into the county government, shouting, he arrested Quickly ask an acquaintance:

"Zhao Silang, have you seen the Ming Mansion?"

"A brother went to deliver breakfast to the county magistrate in the morning, and it seemed to be in the back house."

"It's so late, the dragon boat race is waiting for the opening of the Ming Mansion, why are you still in the back house?"

Yan Liulang had no choice but to push the crowd all the way, and rushed to the back house of the county government that was washed away by the flood and no one lived there.

As soon as he came in, he saw a young county magistrate in a blue robe, bent over and tinkering with a strange "sand table" in the yard.

Yan Liulang thinks that the thing in the yard should be called a sand table, because it looks a bit like a sand table simulated by the army to simulate the terrain and mountain shape, but this is an enlarged version of the Ming Dynasty, which occupies the entire yard, and there are simulated rivers and water sources inside. Connected to another well for pumping water.

"Mingfu, it's time to go out."

"Oh."

Ouyang Rong replied without turning his head, squatted by the pool and washed his dirty face and hands, then walked, and closed the well truck that was pumping water by the well.

The rapidly flowing "stream" in the huge "sand table" in the yard stopped.

Yan Liulang fetched the official uniform, unfolded it, and helped the young county magistrate put it on; during this period, the brusque policeman in blue couldn't help but glance at the strange "sand table" in the yard.

Ever since he came back from Dagu Donglin Temple's tour of mountains and waters last time, Mingfu has been obsessed with this thing.

He first asked Liu Ashan to find a lot of tools and materials, and then found a large courtyard in the back house of the county government that no one would disturb, ate, drank and slept in it, and spent two days burying his head in tossing, and finally made this "sand table" in the courtyard. ".

Looking at it, Yan Liulang felt that it was very similar to the Butterfly Creek and Longcheng County that he saw on the mountainside that day, but when he looked carefully, there were some changes. Some winding rivers seemed to be straightened, and some terrain seemed to be moving. some...

Yan Liulang couldn't understand what he was doing, but...it was normal. He felt that if he could understand the brain circuit of the Ming Mansion, he would be really successful, and he could stop being the fast catcher of errands and grievances.

Yan Liulang sighed.

Ouyang Rong put on his official uniform, lowered his head to straighten his cuffs, and asked as he went out, "What's the price of food now?"

"Mingfu, it's already twenty cents a bucket, and it's lasted for half a decade!"

"Good job."

Yan Liulang said with a humble face: "It's the command of the Ming government."

"No, I mean those foreign grain merchants did a good job."

Yan Liulang: "..."

Ouyang Rong led Yan Liulang out of the county government office, boarded the carriage driven by Liu Ashan, and after sitting in the carriage, he explained with a smile:

"According to the news you came back from the dock warehouse the day before yesterday, these foreign grain merchants have gathered at least [-] shi of grain in Longcheng, but the price of grain is still maintained at [-] kuai a bucket, and there is no vicious competition among peers. , Among these out-of-town grain merchants, there should be people with bright brains and long-sleeved skills who are cooperating in series to sell grain tacitly."

Yan Liulang suddenly realized, "So that's the case."

Ouyang Rong chuckled, "It seems that they are not all defenseless, they are all human beings... This meat is a little hard."

Yan Liulang tentatively said: "Then today..."

"Everything is as usual, let's go, this year's Dragon Boat Festival, let the whole city have a good festival."

Ouyang Rong said with a smile, Yan Liulang nodded.

At this time, as if thinking of something, the young county magistrate asked again: "By the way, little junior sister, have you seen it recently?"

Yan Liulang thought for a while, "The last time I went home, I saw her coming out of Yuanming Building on the street."

"Why do you go there if you have nothing to do, what can you do there, uh, my little junior sister must be a girly girl..."

The young county magistrate frowned.

Yan Liulang hesitated to speak, and wanted to ask, Miss Xie is so obvious that the Ming government can't see it, and she neglected the flowery junior sister for several days, isn't it a good man... There is a single seedling in the house. Yi Butou couldn't help shrinking his buttocks back.

Ouyang Rong didn't know that the atmosphere suddenly became scorching hot. Not long after, the carriage arrived at Peng Langdu. He opened the curtain first, and suddenly a wave of overwhelming heat hit his face.

Well, it's the smell of salty rice dumplings...

　Good brothers... It's going to be on the shelves soon, I'm so nervous, I feel like I'm going to hit the street, let's catch up with the books these days... (Kowtow dong dong dong!)

　　
　
(End of this chapter)