Zhang Yaofang's son Zhang Dai, the son of Zongzi, is called Taoan, although he is 33 years old, he is still a student. It's not that his talent is insufficient, but that he doesn't use Zhu Xi's commentary as the standard for studying the Four Books and Five Classics, and every time he takes the exam, he forgets to look up when he writes about the holy scriptures.

Therefore, although he was born in a family of eunuchs, no examiner dared to admit him. Zhang Dai has a good family background, and although I have expectations for the fame of the imperial examination, I do not regard the imperial examination career as the only goal of life.

In addition to the Four Books and the Five Classics, he was also interested in history, science, literature, primary school, and geoscience. At the beginning of this year, he went north to Shandong to visit his father, who was the right Changshi of King Lu Xian.

However, when he arrived in Shandong, Zhang Yaofang was transferred from the right Changshi of King Lu Xian to the project commander of the project to guide Shu Jingsha into the sea. Although Zhang Yaofang's health has never been very good, after receiving the emperor's entrustment, he burst out with amazing enthusiasm for doing things.

After Zhang Dai arrived in Shandong, he saw his father working so hard, so he naturally couldn't stand by and watch, so he soon became the most effective assistant by Zhang Yaofang's side.

In the upper reaches of the Yi and Shu rivers, the basins above Linyi and Daguanzhuang cover an area of more than 10,000 square kilometers, and most of them are hilly and mountainous areas. The downstream catharsis is not in time, and it is easy to collapse into a disaster.

The data recorded in the "Yizhou Mansion Chronicle" has the saying that "three days of drought will become dry, and one day's rain and fertile fields will go with the sand and stones". During the Yellow River's seizure, floods occurred on average once every two years.

Therefore, when the local people heard that the imperial court was governing the Yi and Shu rivers, they all adopted a positive and supportive attitude. However, the Shuhe River was managed in parallel with the recruitment of river workers, which increased the burden on the local people relatively lightly, so the recruitment of manpower soon exceeded the earlier estimate.

However, after the start of the diversion section of the project, digging to about two meters underground, it encountered stones, which caused a lot of trouble to the project. Therefore, the first phase of the project was finally temporarily stopped in mid-May, and the headquarters asked the people to go back to prepare for the summer harvest first, and then continue the second phase of the project after the autumn.

The first phase of the project completed more than 260 million cubic meters of earth and stone, 1.96 million man-days, and paid more than 150,000 yuan in wages for river workers. However, in the flood season in June and July, the first phase of the project has already begun to play a role. This year, there was no continuous heavy rain in the upper reaches of the river, so there were only general floods in the lower reaches of the Shahe River, and under the constraints of the newly built embankment, there was no harm to the farmland along the river as in previous years.

The success of the first phase of the project not only boosted the morale of the local gentry and common people in water conservancy management, but also brought great confidence to Zhang Yaofang and other officials in charge of water control.

However, for the next second phase of the project, Zhang Yaofang and Shandong officials also have some tricky problems with the excavation of the stone side of the diversion section. For the excavation of this kind of stone, a large number of steel tools such as * and crowbars are required, and Shandong can not produce excellent * and high-quality stone cutting tools.

Looking at the hot weather, Zhang Dai, who was worried about his father's health, accompanied Zhang Yaofang to Beijing to report, and by the way asked the Ministry of Industry for allocation* and stone opening tools.

On July 12, the group arrived in Tianjin, and Zhang Dai, who has always loved the excitement, found that the Tianjin wharf was crowded, and he had the heart to see the excitement, but he was worried that his father had something to tell him to do.

When he was restless, Zhang Yaofang, who was familiar with his son's temperament, said to him with a smile: "Today, my father is going to visit an old friend, so you don't have to go with him." But I don't care if you go to the docks to see the excitement or wander the streets, you must come back before dinner, and we will leave for the capital early tomorrow morning. ”

Zhang Dai hurriedly bowed his hand to his father and said, "Please rest assured, father, I will definitely come back before dinner." I heard that Tianjin's seafood was abundant and fresh, so I went to pick it out and ask my father to drink a few cups in the evening to cool off. ”

Zhang Yaofang smiled and waved his hand at him and said, "Go, go, don't stand here scratching your ears and cheeks." ”

After sending his son away, Zhang Yaofang continued to discuss official business with the subordinate officials who went to Beijing together. Zhang Dai saw that his father didn't seem to have anything to tell him, so he quickly and quietly exited the room, called his entourage, and left the inn to go to Tianjin New Wharf to watch the excitement.

On the way, Zhang Dai inquired a little and understood why the people of Tianjin ran to the dock to watch today. It turned out that the fleet had returned from fishing abroad, and merchants from Gyeonggi and other places in Tianjin went to the wharf to buy the fleet's catch, and the local people also went to see the excitement and wanted to buy some cheap leftovers.

Zhang Dai picked a restaurant near the port, and chose a window position facing the new wharf in Tianjin on the highest third floor, and watched the excitement unhurriedly.

Shaoxing is known as the "water town and Zeguo", and it is more convenient to recruit a canopy boat to and from the city than to take other means of transportation. As a native of Shaoxing, Zhang Dai is no stranger to ships. The Zhang family not only has an industry in Shaoxing, but also has a separate residence on the edge of the West Lake, and Zhang Dai has lived in the West Lake for several years.

However, whether it is in Shaoxing or West Lake, the ships that Zhang Dai has seen are not as majestic as the more than 20 big ships docked at the Tianjin River wharf in front of him. Compared with these large ships with their sails stowed, the canopy boats in Shaoxing are too slender, while the building boats in West Lake are too gorgeous.

Zhang Dai has read a lot, and he occasionally yearns for the aura of iron horses and soldiers exuded from the poems of the Tang Dynasty, but he does not have the courage to go to see it in person. But today, on this fleet, he saw a bit of a soldier's spirit, which was really difficult to compare with the boats and boats in the rivers in the south.

While Zhang Dai was admiring the majesty of these boats, the merchants on the wharf were engrossed in the various catches brought down from these boats.

The four stewards who led the fleet back were also very satisfied with the harvest in the first half of the year. This huge fleet, which is made up entirely of ships between 100 and 200 tons, is actually made up of 4 small fleets.

When they went to sea in March, one went to the coast of Korea, one to the vicinity of Jeju Island, one to the Ryukyus, and one to Japan. I came back once in mid-April and brought back 2,800 tons of catch, but this time it was full of more than 3,500 tons of catch. As for whale oil, it is transported by a separate vessel.

In addition to various types of dried and pickled fish, there are also many live fish that are brought back from the sea using ice cubes. Compared with those dried fish and pickled fish, these live fish that are finally shipped back are naturally of high quality and high price. Of course, the best live fish were fished out by someone almost as soon as they landed on the shore, and then transported to the capital.

1 catty of sea fish is equivalent to 7 catties of grain, which refers to the market price. This fishing fleet, which has not been established for a long time and has only 2,000 personnel, has harvested 460,000 stone of grain in the first half of the year. In terms of the yield per mu in the north, 460,000 acres of land have been reclaimed at sea, which is an astonishing figure.

In terms of efficiency, it is equivalent to five farmers per fisherman, and at least one more trip to sea in the second half of the year, which shows that these areas are rich in fishery resources.

Although there are still thousands of fishermen in the Bohai Sea and Shandong coastal waters, the catch they catch is only more than 3,000 tons, which is only the harvest of the fleet going to sea at one time. In the final analysis, it is because of the small resources of the fishing grounds along the northern coast of the Ming Dynasty.

Compared with the relatively scarce fishery resources along the coast of Shandong and the Bohai Sea, the islands near the Kuroshio Current, such as Korea, Japan and the Ryukyus, are a treasure trove of fish. And that's not counting the schools of whales north of the Tsushima Strait.

The merchants on the wharf shouted hoarsely about the price, and Zhang Dai watched it with relish in the restaurant for an afternoon, and he also tasted a large yellow croaker of more than one pound carefully made by the restaurant, the taste of the fish was very delicious, but the wine provided by the restaurant was worse, not as mellow as Shaoxing rice wine.

When he returned to the inn, his entourage was carrying a hand full of seafood, but let Zhang Yaofang and several officials in Beijing have a good seafood feast.

After Zhang Yaofang ate a few bites of seafood, he said with emotion: "Such a big yellow croaker, you should really let Lao Lin make it, your uncle is the best thing." ”

Zhang Dai listened to his father's words and understood that his father missed his family a little. However, he was relieved to see his father's energetic appearance, and to know that this was just a feeling, not a grievance. As the home of generations of eunuchs, the Zhang family is also a well-known family in Shaoxing.

Zhang Yaofang grew up in such a prominent official family, and his own talent and learning were not bad, but he was never able to cross the dragon gate, and finally spent half his life in the imperial examination. As a last resort, as a person, he went out of the long history of Shilu Xianwang, and the indignation in his heart was indescribable.

Zhang Dai looked at his father like this, and he was naturally very worried. However, this trip to Shandong made his father look different, which made him very happy. also had a good impression of the young son of heaven who used his father unusually, and this time he went north with him, and he was also very much looking forward to seeing this great son who had just ascended the throne.

At the banquet that night, everyone ate very much, but considering the journey until tomorrow, everyone was not greedy for cups, and the moon dispersed in the middle of the day.

On the way back to the bedroom with his father, Zhang Dai couldn't help but ask his father, who was a little dazzled, with some curiosity: "Father's visit to Beijing this time is also the second time to see the new son of heaven, I don't know what kind of person this new son of heaven is in my father's eyes?" ”

Hearing his son's question, Zhang Yaofang suddenly stopped, thought about it for a long time, and then said, "Your Majesty now?" Although I didn't talk to him for long. But I think that His Majesty is a frank and straightforward person, and his temperament is also very gentle, but he is a little less literary.

But if you talk to him about practice, you'll quickly forget that he's still a teenager of the prime age.

His Majesty's intelligence is completely out of heaven, and even ministers like Guo Yunhou, Xu Guangqi, and Liu Zongzhou dare not despise His Majesty's opinion.

And Wu Chunfu and Xu Xianchun, the remnants of the eunuch party, are also cautious in their words and deeds in front of His Majesty, and they dare not be as unscrupulous as the first emperor to deceive his superiors and subordinates.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to serve this majesty in the court, remember a word of sincerity. If you are sincere, there is nothing you can't do..."