Ma Daguan's name is Ma Meng, his family was originally a big family in Yongcheng, he has been good at boxing since he was a child, and he is mixed with some characters of three religions and nine streams. When I grew up, my parents passed away, and I took advantage of the geographical advantage of the Bianhe River to become a tooth man. This person has a flexible mind, and some means, and has made a lot of money. After that, this Zhuangzi was built, recruited a wide range of people, and it was one of the few extravagant figures in Yongcheng County.

On this day, Ma Meng took a boat and slowly rocked back to Zhuangzi from the other side. Looking at the village in front of him, he said to the people on the boat: "A few days ago, there was a Song Sigong, who said that he had committed something in the capital and came to join me. This man is a good man, and I have heard the name of him, so I took him in at home. ”

A big man sitting next to Ma Meng said, "What means! This Song Sigong is the best at stealing, I heard that he robbed a few rich families in the capital, lost his wind, and was chased by the government, so he fled in all directions. He came to join the officials, because he saw that our place was prosperous, and there were many living people, so it was easy to hide before he hid here. Official, it's not for me to say, this kind of person who commits a crime is the most likely to have an accident, so drive him away as soon as possible, and don't be burdened by false fame. ”

Another said: "It's not difficult to hide such a person, but this kind of person will definitely refuse to settle down, and it will be difficult to take in trouble sooner or later." ”

Ma Meng smiled: "What do you know! Song Sigong stole a few wealthy families, and he didn't know how much gold and silver he had on him, since it was in my hands, how could he let him fly away! I am not related to him, and I have a natural intention to keep him in the village. ”

The rest of the people listened and clapped their hands together, only to know that Ma Daguan had already made arrangements.

Chai Jiejie and Ma Meng are good friends, the two have done a lot of business together, Song Sigong found him, and he moved this thought. It's just that these people ate this bowl of rice, and they were introduced to Mamun in consideration of their reputation. In the past few days, Ma Meng has almost arranged it, and only then did he bring a few brothers back and prepare to make a move on Song Sigong. That Zhuangzi is owned by Ma Meng, and all the people in the village are his eyeliner, doing things there, and God does not know it.

When they reached the shore, a boat was tied under the big willow tree, and several people jumped ashore. Ma Meng entered his house all the way, and there were already villagers arranging a banquet in the backyard, and several people sat in turn.

Just as he was about to instruct Song Sigong to summon him, the supervisor of the village stepped forward and said to Ma Meng: "Official, yesterday the yamen unveiled the list in front of the village, saying that the surrounding water is a borderless land, and people should be recruited to cultivate. The official is also in the middle of the house, and he wants to go to the yamen. ”

Ma Meng was taken aback: "This area is between the Bianhe River and the whirlpool, there are rivers and ponds everywhere, and when it rains, it is an ocean, how can it be reclaimed into grain fields?" What official is so ignorant to do such nonsense! ”

The supervisor said: "I heard that there is a new person in the state who lives in this area to supervise Caoyun, and he came up with such an idea. The official waited in the inspection village, and asked the Li Zhengshu in this area to meet him in the village and discuss the matter. There is only one Zhuangzi in this area, except for the officials, who does he discuss with? We don't plant fields in our village, so why bother with him? ”

Ma Meng said: "That's not what I said. In this area, not to mention whether we can grow grain or not, people come and go, and we can't hide many things. This official is also an ignorant person, how did he come up with such an idea? ”

After saying that, Ma Meng waved his hand to let the supervisor leave and figure out a way by himself. In Mamon's view, this area is uncultivated. Not to mention that there is no drainage in the low-lying area, due to years of waterlogging, the exposed land is also more saline, what crops can grow? It is precisely because of this geographical advantage that he built Zhuangzi here, surrounded by deserted people, and many things are easy to do. Once reclamation begins, many things will be exposed.

With this matter, Ma Meng had to put down the matter of Song Sigong for the time being, thinking about how to go to the yamen to get the government to give up the matter.

After thinking about it, Du Zhongxiao still decided to live in the inspection village by himself. Although it is not as prosperous as the opposite county, it is better in that the relationship between people is simple, and it does not have much to do with the place. Whatever you do, it's much easier.

Half of the main hall of the village is his own office, and on the second day, Du Zhongxiao will go to the book to recruit people to reclaim the surrounding area. According to the experience of the previous life, the methods of controlling flooding were also listed in detail and sent to the state.

The state officials were very surprised, and they all knew that this area was seriously waterlogged, and the good land was often flooded, not to mention the land between the two rivers that Du Zhongxiao wanted to reclaim. Regarding the method proposed by Du Zhongxiao, the officials are also unclear. In the end, Han Yi saw that Du Zhongxiao was his son's friend, and agreed to the proposal, but there was no money to allocate it, but it was only allowed to use the one-year tax of Yongcheng County and be paid by the state.

After dealing with some official business, Du Zhongxiao said to Jin Shu on the side: "Bangwen has been out for a few days, so the neighbors are coming to discuss the matter of recruiting people to cultivate fields, why haven't people arrived yet?" Seeing that it is about to be after autumn, how can they let them drag it down when they are waiting for the fields to open in their spare time! ”

Jin Shuzhao arched his hand: "Official, in addition to the wharf, there is only one Zhuangzi here, that is, the Yaren Zhuangshang surnamed Ma, and this person is also the Lizheng of this place." I sent people to urge him, and they all said that he had gone to the city to do some business, and he was not in the village for the past few days. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, waved his hand and said, "Send someone to urge again, you can't let him drag it down." ”

Jin Shuzhao got up and arranged for a public servant to go to Mamengzhuang and asked him to go to the inspection village quickly.

arranged people, Jin Shu recalled back to Du Zhongxiao's case, and said euphemistically: "Official, although the place in this area is not small, there are no people, if you can reclaim the fields, it will definitely benefit the place." But this place is located between the two rivers, the river is vertical and horizontal, and there are many ponds, but it is not easy to open the field. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Don't worry, I have already calculated this matter in my heart." It is between the two rivers that Pitang is good at diverting water. I checked the terrain two days ago, and although there is silt accumulation in the Bianhe River, this area is still much higher than the river level. With this, you can cultivate the land. ”

In his previous life, Du Zhongxiao grew up in the countryside, and he had some impressions of the land governance in the village, and knew how to manage this kind of low-lying land. To sum up, it is to focus on drainage, and build more strips and terraces. As long as you are willing to work hard, it is not difficult to transform this kind of land. The difficulty now is that there is not enough funds and manpower in his hands, and he is trying to figure out a way these days.

Jin Shuzhao was still a little hesitant, thought for a while, and said carefully: "Official, don't dislike the small talker." If the land can be cultivated, it will naturally be the merit of the officials. It's just that it's really not easy to do, and it's really difficult to do it because it takes a lot of money to employ people. Officials come here to supervise the transportation of Caoyun, why bother working on this? As long as you make sure that the Bianhe River is okay, everything will be fine. ”

Du Zhongxiao was silent for a while, and sighed: "That's what I said, but these days, I can't forget Tao Seventeen killing people in front of me." He was a mortal man, and no one could save him. Now that I have arrived, I have no choice but to try my best to find out the unjust case in his family and let him go with peace of mind. Being a human being is like this, and in order to have peace of mind, many things have to be done. ”

"What does this matter have to do with the officials wanting to reclaim the land?"

"You've been visiting for days, and you haven't seen it yet? The Ma Meng in this area covered the sky with one hand, except for that dock, which was full of his people, and there was nowhere to start. I built a few Zhuangzi with cultivated fields, which was like peeling off the silk and pulling out the cocoon, so as to find out the details of Ma Meng's bottom. It seemed like a hassle, but it had to be done. Ma Meng has been operating here for many years, so he must have arranged to prevent people from checking him, how can it be so easy? ”