Chapter 214 It’s not difficult to meet people! (Second update, there will be another update tonight!)

The magistrates and bookkeepers of the seven counties of Panyu, Xinhui, Dongguan, Huaiji, Nanhai, Shunde, and Xiangshan all gathered at the Guangzhou Prefecture Office.

Including the officials from the Prefecture Government Office, including the government officials and others, there were about twenty people, and the huge hall was filled to the brim.

The transshipment envoy Zhang Heng and the general magistrate of Guangzhou Zhan Chongwen have not arrived yet, so everyone can relax and greet each other.

A famous official in the history of Xiangshan County magistrate quietly asked Jia Ruolin, Panyu magistrate: "Hey, Mr. Jia, your Panyu is close to Guangzhou, so you should be well-informed. Do you know what Cao Shuai called us for this time?"

Xiangshan was later called Zhongshan. Zhongshan has no land bordering Guangzhou. It is a piece of alluvial land and is naturally isolated from other counties in Guangzhou, so the news will be slightly delayed after all.

Jia Ruolin laughed in a low voice and said: "I heard that we are building land around the embankment. Our new commander is a capable man. You see, he has just arrived and is already building the city wall.

I heard that this was donated by Quanzhou Maritime Business. In addition, I also heard that Guangzhou Maritime Business was not far behind and directly invested nearly 200,000 yuan to renovate the state government office and the roads in Guangzhou City. of.

Tsk tsk, if nothing else, our new Caoshuai is really good at making money!"

Shi Mingchen frowned when he heard this. Although Jia Ruolin's words seemed like compliments, they involved businessmen, and then he said that Xin Caoshuai was good at making money. This was not a good thing for an official.

"Jia Gong, isn't it a good thing that the new commander-in-chief can do something good? It seems that the city wall of Guangzhou is indeed very old. As well as this state government office, I suspect that a typhoon will completely collapse it. It is time to repair it. In addition, , wouldn’t it be great if the land reclamation around embankments could really come true?”

"Come true?" Jia Ruolin sneered and said, "What, Lao Shi, do you think this can be successful?"

Shi Mingchen frowned and thought for a moment and shook his head: "It is indeed not easy. I often go to the countryside to inspect, and I have also set foot in some swamp areas. It is true that some villagers tried to build some embankments, but it took too much effort, and even if they were barely built, Some fields are easily flooded.

In our place in Guangdong, when it rains and winds blow in the summer, it is really devastating. An ordinary embankment cannot bear it at all. If we really want to build a strong embankment, it will take a lot of manpower and material resources. All the financial resources are gone!"

Jia Ruolin nodded and said: "Have you not heard that Quanzhou maritime merchant Zhang Mazi donated 100,000 guan and the Guangzhou Chamber of Commerce donated 200,000 guan. Do you think the huge wealth of 300,000 guan is enough to be used to build embankments?"

Shi Mingchen thought about it after hearing this, and then said with a smile: "If it is all given to Xiangshan County, it will definitely be enough."

Jia Ruolin immediately laughed and cursed: "I heard the abacus made in Xiangshan even in Panyu."

He paused and said, "It's not like no one has ever thought about building land around embankments, but every time they study it carefully, they shake their heads and give up.

This is not about building a city or building a state government, or building a city or building a state government. In fact, as long as the money is in place, there is no difficulty. However, there are many problems that need to be solved when building land around embankments. The biggest problem is still money. .

If we really want to realize the construction of land around the embankment, the money required may be ten times or a hundred times that of building the city. Such a large amount of money, let alone our Guangzhou, even the imperial court may not be able to come up with."

Shi Mingchen smiled and said: "Don't say that, maybe our new Cao Commander really has a method."

Jia Ruolin snorted and was about to say something when she heard the yamen servant reminding her loudly: "Zhang Cao is so handsome!"

The county magistrates and bookkeepers who were buzzing with each other stood up to greet him and cast curious eyes outside the door. They were also curious about what kind of person this new transfer envoy and magistrate of Guangzhou was.

Just looking at it like this, they were all shocked.

Zhang Heng's tall figure appeared outside the door. He looked very fit in his red official uniform. Of course, this was nothing special, not even his shamelessly handsome face. In the officialdom, being handsome was nothing special...

…Pooh.

In fact, the most surprising thing is that this person is too young!

Shi Mingchen was particularly surprised. He had long heard that the new transfer envoy was very young, but he did not expect that he was so young.

Generally speaking, transfer envoys are usually held by Beijing officials of the fourth rank or above, but looking at the face of this new transfer envoy, he is probably only in his early twenties. For such a young transfer envoy, he is also the first

Saw this for the first time.

Zhang Heng saw everyone's surprised faces and knew what they were thinking, so he joked: "Why, are you surprised by my handsomeness, or by my youth?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone laughed softly, and the atmosphere suddenly became more relaxed.

Zhang Heng smiled and said: "Everyone, please sit down."

He was the first to sit in the middle, and everyone followed suit.

Zhang Heng and Zhan Chongwen nodded, and Zhan Chongwen quickly stood up and said: "I invite you all to come from the jurisdiction today, mainly for two things.

One is that Zhang Caoshuai has just taken office and invites everyone to come over for a meeting. There are still many things that we all need to do together in the future.

Secondly, there is a big matter, please come together to negotiate and deal with it.

Commander Cao, please let me introduce to you the magistrates and registrars of each county."

Zhang Heng nodded.

Zhan Chongwen smiled and said: "This is a famous official in the history of Xiangshan County..."

Shi Mingchen quickly stood up and raised his hands: "I have met Cao Shuai."

"...This is Jia Ruolin, the magistrate of Panyu."

Jia Ruolin stood up and said, "I have met Cao Shuai."

"...This is..."

Zhan Chongwen introduced them one by one and finished introducing them all.

Zhang Heng also matched the names of many people one by one.

Zhan Chongwen finished the introduction, and then said: "...I invite you all to come here today. What are you going to discuss? You must have heard something about it, right?"

Shi Mingchen hurriedly asked: "Xiaoguan has heard something about it. I heard that we are going to encircle the embankment to build farmland?"

Zhan Chongwen smiled and said: "That's exactly what happened. It seems that Shizhi County is quite well informed."

Shi Mingchen smiled sheepishly and said: "I only heard about it today, my official."

Zhang Heng took over the words and said: "Let me tell you, there is a shortage of food on Guangnan East Road, and we often have to buy food from Guangnan West Road. This situation is abnormal. Tangtang all the way, we can't even get food.

Isn’t it strange to be self-sufficient?

Now that I have come to Guangnan East Road as a transshipment envoy, I want to change this situation. Therefore, I have inspected various places and found that there are many undeveloped swamps in the Xijiang Delta. These swamps are actually quite fertile. As long as

With a little modification, it can become a high-quality paddy field.

But the problem is that these swamps can be planted when the water level is low, but when the water level is high, most of them will be destroyed. Therefore, as long as the embankments are built, the Xijiang Delta can add an additional 20,000 hectares of land that can be planted. With two

With thousands of hectares of land, Guangzhou will no longer be short of food!"

Everyone looked at each other in shock.

The hectare here is not the hectare in later generations. One hectare in later generations is fifteen acres of land. One hectare today is one hundred acres of land. In other words, 20,000 hectares is equivalent to two million acres of land.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Zhang Heng asked with a smile: "If you have any opinions, you can raise them."

Shi Mingchen said straightforwardly: "Commander Cao, I support your decision. Guangnan East Road has been stuck without food for a long time. It is already poor and has to use money to buy food. The people are in great hardship. If you are talking about the siege

If the embankment and farmland construction can really be realized, then our Guangnan East Road will be developed.

However, the official is a little worried. It is that the difficulty of building land around embankments is really too high. You said that 20,000 hectares of land can be obtained by building land around embankments. How many lengths of embankments must be built to get so much land?

The fields?

Xiaguan has visited those swamps. Most of the swamps are near the river and are formed by the alluvial deposits of the Xijiang River. There is some mud at the bottom. To build a dam on these foundations, the manpower, material and financial resources required are beyond the imagination of Xianguan.

.

As you said, Caoshuai, Guangnan East Road is really too poor, so it needs these fields, but because it is so poor, where can we find so much manpower, material and financial resources to build fields around the embankment?"

Zhan Chongwen repeatedly wanted to interrupt Shi Mingchen, but Zhang Heng stopped him and allowed Shi Mingchen to continue speaking.

After Shi Mingchen finished speaking, Zhang Heng looked at the other county magistrates and registrars. It could be seen from their expressions that they were not optimistic about this matter.

Zhang Heng nodded and said: "What Shi Zhixian said is indeed the key. This is why I invited you here. This matter is precisely because it is very difficult, so all counties need to work together to achieve success."

Jia Ruolin, the magistrate of Panyu, suddenly said: "Shuai Cao, Guangzhou is poor, and the counties below us are even poorer. We can't provide money or food."

Zhang Heng looked at Jia Ruolin and smiled: "Of course I know that you have no money and food, but the gentry in the county and township are always rich, right?"

As soon as Zhang Heng said these words, everyone suddenly changed their colors.

Jia Ruolin stood up and said: "Commander Cao, this must not be done! The gentry is the foundation of the country. If the gentry is exploited for no reason, the court will lose its prestige. This is an act of subjugation to the country!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Heng knew that everyone had misunderstood, so he smiled and explained: "Listen to what I have to say first. After that, you will understand what I mean."

Zhan Chongwen glared at Jia Ruolin, who sat down with a gloomy face.

Zhang Heng smiled when he saw this. He knew Jia Ruolin. This Panyu magistrate was from an ordinary background, not from a righteous background, but he was upright as a person and incorruptible as an official. Under his rule, Panyu has always been a good place for all kinds of people.

He is the head of the county, but he never gets promoted, probably because of his character.

Zhang Heng is not angry because of this. In his opinion, capable people will naturally have their own opinions. Those who always say yes to everything but do nothing will be a disaster.

Zhang Heng smiled and said: "The reason why you find this matter difficult is because there are too few resources that can be mobilized, and I am the best at mobilizing resources..."
Chapter completed!