Nanming Engineer

Chapter 51
The Inspection Department of the Ming Dynasty was established since the Hongwu Dynasty. It was established in the main roads of Guanjin and Tianjin, mining areas, places where merchants gathered, places where ethnic groups intersect, areas at the intersection of states and counties, places far away from the government, places where refugees gather, etc. , Inspection departments are not only located in cities and towns, but also in villages; not only in prosperous places, but also in remote places, where there are deep mountains and forests, remote places with sparse people, vast lakes, or wild mountains and lakes.Whether the ground is "critical" is the main criterion for setting up an inspection department.The Inspection Department has an inspector, ranging from the ninth grade or the ninth grade official level, depending on whether the status of the inspection department is important or not. He leads the local people's strong archers to inspect the place and guard the checkpoints, with the purpose of detecting theft and smuggling. The main responsibilities are under the jurisdiction of the local government.And the Huaiyuan inspection department in front of him is an extremely important checkpoint inspection.

When the Huaihe River reaches this point, its course narrows down, with steep cliffs on both banks, rapid currents, and another big bend. It is a natural place to set up a card, so when the Hongzhi Dynasty reduced the national inspection department, it was not affected here, and it still existed as the first pass of the Huaihe Waterway.

The Inspection Department has two watchtowers on the shore, about ten feet high. When the weather is good, you can see out for more than ten miles. The rocks in the river are chained to the river and paved with barges, which truly controls the situation. The effect of the throat of the Huaihe River, if you want to rush through here, it is more difficult than climbing to the sky.

At this time, it was getting late in the evening, but there were still soldiers guarding the inspection checkpoint, and passing ships were docked beside the water village on the shore, waiting for the inspection officer to board the ship for random inspection and pay the customs fee.

Li Tingyu stood at the bow of the boat, squinted his eyes at the distant water pass, looked again and again, shook his head and sighed: "I didn't expect that Huaiyuan water pass is still in operation when the world is in turmoil. The judge has already slipped away."

Wang Huan stood aside, the book in his hand had already been put into his arms, and he also looked at the water pass in the distance and replied: "It has been more than a year since HN and SD fell into the hands of the Tartars, and such a long time is enough for the Tartars to manage. I heard that officials from various prefectures and counties have been appointed in place, and besides, this place is close to the Guangshun regime in Huzhou. From here, crossing the Dabie Mountains is the important area of ​​Jingxiang, and it is normal for the inspection department to have soldiers guarding it."

Li Tingyu nodded: "That's true, it's just that we have to pass the test, it will be a little troublesome."

Wang Huan smiled, took out the guide given by his ancestors from his arms, and said, "It's okay, here is the guide from the Qing court's customs defense, which proves that we are all good people doing business, so there is no problem."

Li Tingyu looked nervously at the Lu Yin that had already been filled in, and said in a deep voice: "I heard that Li Zicheng has been kicked out of SX by Azig, Prince of Tartar Ying, and even his old nest in Xi'an has been taken, and he fled to Xiangyang like a bereaved dog. , Wuchang area, our road lead is heading to Xiangyang, so will we be stopped and not allowed to pass?"

Wang Huan pondered: "There is indeed a risk, but since we are pretending to be cloth merchants in Central Sichuan, we are going back to SC Nanjing from Songjiang to fight a war, and the Yangtze River waterway is cut off. Only this waterway is the fastest, and it is reasonable to go from here , as long as you are willing to pay more taxes and fees, it will not be a big problem."

When Li Tingyu heard that he was going to bribe money again, the flesh on his face twitched involuntarily, and he said in pain: "Ah, I have to throw money out again, counselor, we don't have much money with me, I want to save some money back for Zhan The family members of the dead brothers are paying pensions."

Wang Huan looked at Li Tingyu, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Looking at this burly man, he was really reluctant to throw his hard-earned property to the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty for nothing, so he could only comfort him: "I don't want children to be caught by wolves. Adults don't need to save this little money." , When I get to the stone pillar, I will find my own way to make money from sitting on the ground.”

Li Tingyu curled his lips and said, "Wang Huanna, if you can change your bragging habits, that would be even better."

While the two were talking, the boat took advantage of the wind and slowly approached the water village standing by the river. The water village was a wooden tower built by a man who wrapped his hands around a huge tree and dug it deep into the mud and sand at the bottom of the river. In Kuan Ke Paoma, there were several heavy iron cannons set up on the crenels, with their dark muzzles pointing, bringing the entire river surface into range.

As soon as the fleet approached, there were soldiers shouting loudly on the tower: "By the way, the owner of the ship comes ashore to report!"

More than a dozen inspectors in short jackets rushed down from the gate tower, hooked the boats one by one with long bamboo poles with iron hooks on them, and pulled them to the wooden raft of the water village. The sailors on the boat jumped onto the wooden raft. The boat is firmly tied to the raft with the cables on the boat, and then put on a springboard and set up on the bow.

Wang Huan looked at the clothes of these soldiers and found that they were still wearing variegated short jackets, but they all wore the unique bamboo summer hats of the Qing court, with a bunch of red tassels on them, indicating that this was the water gate of the Qing court.

Li Tingyu and Wang Huan, with smiles on their faces, turned sideways to let the soldiers who had boarded the boat check, bent down and walked along the springboard to the water village, and asked a soldier politely, the soldier stretched out his hand and pointed at the wooden raft, Wang Huan hurriedly Follow the pointer to a fat man standing on a wooden raft with his chest and belly raised.

This fat man was dressed in leather armor, tall and tall, with a fat face full of oil, wearing thousands of miles of leather boots, a long iron knife hanging on his waist, and a bamboo summer hat on his head. Under the banner, squinting at Li Tingyu and Wang Huan who came forward.

"Little people kowtow to the old man." Wang Huan smiled into a ball, and took a step forward to kneel down, while Li Tingyu stood a few steps behind with a stiff expression like a follower.

"Where did it come from?" the fat man asked, picking his teeth.

"Go back to my lord, this villain is a merchant from central Sichuan, and I'm going home from Songjiang." Wang Huan replied in a respectful voice: "The journey is still far away, please make it easier for me, my lord, it's getting late, and the little people still want to catch up Let's go find an inn."

"That's hard to say." The fat man raised his eyes to the sky and said lazily, "You have so many ships, so you have to spend some time to check them carefully. These days, Li Rebel's bandits are running around. The two slipping through the net are on your ship, just wait, it is possible to check so many ships for a few days."

Wang Huan hurriedly said: "Master, you can learn from this. The boatmen on the villain's boat are all clansmen brought out by the villain from the middle of Sichuan. They have nothing to do with thieves. They are all dutiful people. Besides, the villain does business. Yes, safety is the most important thing, why would you do the thing of beheading?"

The fat man snorted, didn't speak, and walked to the side on his own, as if he didn't want to pay attention to Wang Huan who was kneeling on the ground.

Li Tingyu's anger suddenly rose from the soles of his feet. In the past, he could swallow his anger and pretend to be his grandson in a low voice in the Qing army camp in order to escape. Today, in front of this sesame-sized patrol inspector, he has to suffer from this cowardice, so he is calm I couldn't get up anymore, my hands were trembling slightly as I stood where I was, and I almost couldn't help going up to break the fat man's neck, but I saw Wang Huan quietly turned around and shook his head at him, signaling him not to make a fuss.

Li Tingyu straightened his neck and simply stood aside like a servant, out of sight and out of mind.

But Wang Huan rolled his eyes, and saw the fat man walking in a figure-of-eight gait, walking very slowly and steadily, and he was going to the end of an empty wooden raft. The corner of his mouth gave a chuckle, and immediately bent down to follow him. The silver ingot weighing twelve taels came into the palm of his hand.

When leaving Mudun Island, Wang Huan and Ma Quan sorted through the pile of gold and silver and picked out some unmarked and unmarked gold ingots and silver nuggets, about 5 taels, and distributed them to Li Tingyu. Several thousand general officers who were close to him carried them, and Wang Huan also brought some with him, which came in handy at this time.

Wang Huanmei smiled and nodded and came behind the fat man, and said softly: "My lord, my boss is still waiting for the batch of goods I brought in Sichuan. It's late, and the villain will be punished. My lord, please take action." Be quick, the villain is very grateful."

As he said that, Wang Huan passed his hand to the fat man's hand behind his back, and the silver ingot immediately changed owners.

The fat man squeezed his hand and weighed it, but he didn't turn his head, and continued to look up at the sky.

Wang Huan waited for a few seconds. Seeing the fat man's appearance, he cursed inwardly, so he stretched out his hand to touch his bosom again. This time, he found a golden fruit, about the size of a walnut, and put it in the fat man's other hand. , leaned close to his ear and whispered softly: "My lord, this is gold!"

The fat man's body shook, and he pulled his hands back with lightning speed, glanced at them, and immediately put the gold and silver into his pockets calmly, and waved at Wang Huan. Wang Huan understood, bent over and promised backed away.

(End of this chapter)