Chapter 60                                                             �

Anything that is about to destroy people’s jobs is not easy to do.

When clearing the land and redefining the yellow book, you must know who their enemy is, and naturally they are officials of the prefectures and county governments. After all, the reason why the original yellow book became unusable is essentially because these people seek space for rent-seeking. Now, we need to thoroughly investigate it, how can it be so easy?

These officials do not have the courage to kill officials, but they are the source of wealth for generations. There are still soft confrontations.

After all, the accounts and documents in the county government offices in various places are all the guys who eat, and they are doing things to make things difficult for them to artificially increase obstacles. It is not an exaggeration.

But these officials have lifelong experience, while the students of Datong Academy have several years of professional mathematical knowledge. In the end, mathematics surpasses experience. No matter how they make trouble, problems will be found.

Yang Jisheng even felt that if he had not brought these people over, the result of this time would either he would have made some concessions or he would have been tricked by accident.

Although Yang Jisheng had the idea of ​​pleasing Zhou Mengchen, he also felt that if the officials had read the books of sages, there would not be so many grassroots corruption. He recommended these people.

Zhou Mengchen smiled faintly and said, "Let's do this. Don't break the future of others. Those who are listed as officials are not as good as officials. When will he stop doing it? Let Datong Academy publish a recommendation person. Brother Yang, what do you think?"

After hearing this, Yang Jisheng didn't know what Zhou Mengchen was thinking. In his opinion, Zhou Mengchen could be selfless in many things, but when it was involved in Qi, he became vulgar. In fact, what Zhou Mengchen said now is not in line with the rules. However, there are too many things that are not in line with the rules in the Ming Dynasty.

With Zhou Mengchen's prestige today, Yang Jisheng would not object, so this matter could be settled. When Zhou Mengchen is no longer in Datong, this matter is the rules of Datong or the unspoken rules.

Yang Jisheng was not a disciple of Qixue, but he did not mean to go against Zhou Mengchen. Although he had a little complaint about Zhou Mengchen's actions, he always felt that it was harmless. He said, "Master Zhou has the final say."

Zhou Mengchen said: "How is the drought in the four prefectures and five counties this year?"

Yang Jisheng sighed and said, "It is not optimistic. The prefectures and counties along the Sanggan River are not bad, especially Guangchang and Lingqiu in the mountains. The drought is particularly severe. Some of the springs in the Taihang Mountains have dried up. It is okay to get money from here this year, but it is not easy to deal with if you want to get food."

Zhou Mengchen told Yang Jisheng about the population transaction and said, "Does Brother Yang have any good plans?"

Yang Jisheng thought about it and said, "Can't you ask the court to allocate some food?"

Zhou Mengchen's economic policy on Datong was not a question of fishing for the fishing waters, but he could also consider everything he could consider. Zhou Mengchen had no choice. Could Yang Jisheng have any new solutions? After thinking about it, he just asked the court for help.

Zhou Mengchen said, "A memorial has been left. Forget it, Brother Yang. You can sign a memorial again and explain it to the court."

Yang Jisheng naturally would not refuse.

But Zhou Mengchen knew that if the first memorial was useful, it would be useless to write this memorial. If the first memorial was useless, it would be useless to write this memorial.

Zhou Mengchen said in his heart: "After thinking about it, there is only the seller's foundation."

Zhou Mengchen stayed overnight in Yingzhou and couldn't sleep. After thinking about it, he wanted to send someone to find Yin Zongyi.

Because Zhou Mengchen was separated from the Shanxi merchants by a layer. Although he had dealt with the Shanxi merchants, he was condescending and did not know much about the internal affairs of the Shanxi merchants. Zhou Mengchen considered his connections and found that the person who was most likely to understand the Shanxi merchants was either someone else or Yin Zongyi.

On the second day, Zhou Mengchen and Yang Jisheng took a boat to Shuozhou.

However, the water in the Sanggan River is a bit shallow. The originally wide river channel is only one line left. Only one ship can pass through. Even in some river sections, Zhou Mengchen suspected that he could not sail. The north is not the south. Water transportation is definitely one of the biggest weapons in which the south is better than the north.

If the water is shallow, the boat will be slow.

Before we arrived in Shuozhou, we heard the sound of horse hooves on the shore. Someone changed to a small boat to board the boat. It was no one else, it was Yin Zongyi.

Yin Zongyi did not mention the ceremony. Zhou Mengchen introduced Yin Zongyi into the inner room and immediately asked him. He said, "How are you doing business now?"

Yin Zongyi said: "Teacher, I have a small family of 100,000 people."

Zhou Mengchen said, "What are you doing?"

Yin Zongyi said: "The first one is to sell iron, and sell Shuozhou iron to Shanxi. The second is the steam engine. This is the teacher who takes care of the business. The teacher uses the steam engine for water conservancy. Some rich people in Shanxi also follow the example of the teacher and want to use the steam engine to irrigate."

After hearing this, Zhou Mengchen felt a little happy and said, "This is also a blessing to the countryside."

Yin Zongyi said: "It is true to use a steam engine, but it may not be beneficial to the countryside."

Zhou Mengchen showed a trace of suspicion in his eyes. It is true that he had the efficiency of steam engine pumping water this year, and it was far from comparable to later water pumps. However, compared to human and animal power, he didn't know how much he had surpassed. At the most important time, as long as he kept burning coal, he could use it all the time.

Of course, the steam engine is unstable these days. There are inevitably some minor problems. It is best to shut down the machine every night. But even so, it is many times better than lifting water than people. There are so many times more land that can be watered. In Zhou Mengchen's opinion, a person does not need a steam engine at all.

Yin Zongyi seemed to see Zhou Mengchen's doubts and said, "All he watered was their own land."

Zhou Mengchen was stunned and said, "All?"

Yin Zongyi said: "It may not be all. For some people, a steam engine is not enough for the land."

Only then did Zhou Mengchen see the tip of the iceberg inside the Ming Dynasty.

Zhou Mengchen said everything. Does this mean that these people who sell steam engines are all watering their own land? And Yin Zongyi has some mistakes in understanding.

However, this answer was even more terrifying for Zhou Mengchen.

At this time, Zhou Mengchen realized that Datong was actually an exception.

In essence, land annexation in Datong is not too serious. It is nothing more because of border troubles. There is a lot of land here to escape famine. There is no need to merge at all. Unless it is best to irrigate the fields, they need to worry more when there is land and no one cultivates it.

In this case, the land annexation in the north of Datong is more serious than in the south. The most important reason is that most of the land in the northern part of Datong is under the name of the garrison. It is particularly easy for these generals to rely on the garrison to annex the land. However, there are not many garrisons in the southern border. In addition, the people of Datong are strong and the land reclamation is insufficient.

Only then did many self-cultivated farmers remain.

But this is not the case within the Ming Dynasty. Even the longer the peace in the Ming Dynasty, the less it is. The more developed the economy, the less it is. The Shanxi where Yin Zongyi went to was the tip of the iceberg. The landlords were quite like crossing states and counties.

This incident also reminded Zhou Mengchen that the Ming Dynasty was too big and the national conditions were different in different places. We cannot estimate other parts of the Ming Dynasty based on the current situation of Datong.

But that's all. How shocked Zhou Mengchen was, it was impossible for his hand to stretch out Datong. He changed his voice and turned the matter to the point, saying: "How is the iron sales in Shuozhou?"

Yin Zongyi said: "It's very good. The best-selling one is actually selling to Hebei, but this road has been occupied by the Fengcheng Marquis Mansion. I can only find another way."

Zhou Mengchen said: "Didn't the Shanxi merchants participate?"

Yin Zongyi said: "However, there is. But they have no way."

After hearing this, Zhou Mengchen couldn't smile bitterly. He naturally understood what this route was. Although Shuozhou Supervisory was not personally presided over by Zhou Mengchen, it has always been Zhou Mengchen's territory. This is why Yin Zongyi can equally divide the export rights of Shuozhou Tie with the Fengcheng Hou Mansion.

To be honest, Zhou Mengchen and these things are inevitable. But this is not modern times. This is the norm. The Ming Dynasty is used to it. Even Yin Zongyi doesn’t think there is anything wrong. After all, it is natural for disciples to gain the favor of their teachers. After all, masters and disciples are like fathers and sons. Can a sons get the favor of their fathers be wrong?

It should be noted that Zhou Mengchen went one day. According to the etiquette of this era, Yin Zongyi would wear mourning clothes.
Chapter completed!