Chapter IV

Zhou Pu took Chen Enze to ride a fast horse first, and Lin Jian did not go ashore in the afternoon, so he sat in the cabin and read.

If you are not in this era, you will not know how rare books or literacy are for ordinary people.

There is also a paper-making workshop under the Lin family, 70 pieces of paper for a knife, and the price of the paper alone is 300 yuan, and Zhao Hu, who is strong and strong, has been a porter at the Lindu Wharf for half a month - those booklets printed by the printing house are not even more difficult for small families to do. Lin bound them and left Shiliang County, in addition to the two hundred taels of silver and four horses they carried, probably this wooden book was the most valuable.

The sky was dark, and the official ship sailed into the mouth of Chaotian Lake.

Lin Jian rode on a horse, and saw from a distance that the blue-black outline of Jiangning City in the twilight merged with the intermittent blue-black ridge, which seemed to be at the end of Chaotian Lake and Tiantian, as if the heaven and earth of the Dayue Dynasty. There are also some large and small sandbars scattered in the rivers and lakes, and the large reeds on the nearby lake beach have ignited wildfires at some point, and they are charred and blackened.

Two hundred miles of waterways from Shiliang County are full of sparse forests and fields, scattered with a few villages, and Jiangning, the southern capital of the Dayue Dynasty, lies at the end of the river and the sky, and between the fields of vision, there is a sense of pride in my heart for no reason.

Lin Jian felt that he was getting more and more adapted to this world, no matter how huge and magnificent the city in this era was, even the Jiangning City with a population of 150,000 households in front of him was far from being comparable to the reinforced concrete forest after a thousand years, but once he adapted to this world, he would feel that it was a miracle that a city with a population of six or seven hundred thousand could appear in this era.

In fact, during the Gaozu period, the number of people in Jiangning once exceeded 200,000, Taizong moved the capital to Yanjing, and as many as 60,000 powerful and wealthy families in Jiangning were ordered to move to Yanjing, and then moved 30,000 households to fill in Yunnan, such a large-scale forced migration led to a sharp decline in Jiangning City, and the population dropped to less than 100,000 households. Then Jiangning stayed in Beijing as a dynasty, collecting the essence of Jiangdong's wealth, and the population gradually recovered to about 150,000 households in the past hundred years, and the population living in the city alone was as many as 60,000 households.

Sitting on his horse, it was hard to imagine how much effort and effort it would take to maintain a city of 150,000 households in an era when transportation mainly relied on manpower, animal power, and waterway transportation.

Zhao Hu also came to Jiangning for the first time, rode a horse and followed Lin Lian's side, looked at Chaotian Lake in front of him, and said with emotion: "I thought that Hongzepu was the largest lake in the world, but Chaotian Lake has not heard much of it, and the water surface is much larger than Hongzepu." ”

The front is Chaotianyi, Chaotian Lake is in fact the vast water swing that is directly connected with the Yangtze River, because the water surface is scarce, there are nearly 30 miles apart from the water gate in the north of Jiangning City, the smoke wave is vast, the original name is Gu Tiandang, after Gaozu fixed the capital of Jiangning, the northern officials enter Kyoto to pass through the ancient Tiandang, so it is renamed Chaotian Lake, and has been used until now.

Hongzepu is Hongze Lake after a thousand years, the area of the entire Hongzepu is much larger than the Chaotian Lake in front of you, but Hongzepu is composed of a series of small lakes, especially in autumn, winter and spring, looking at the water surface of those small lakes, it is indeed not as open as the Chaotian Lake in front of you, Lin Jian smiled Zhao Hu explained the difference.

Although Zhao Hu was asked to follow Zhou Pu to learn kung fu, Lin Jian didn't want Zhao Hu to become a simple martial artist, and always explained to him in detail some of the things he knew when he had the opportunity, so that he could have more knowledge.

"In fact, the water surface at this time is still small, and during the summer and autumn flood seasons, the lake is as wide as a hundred ......miles," Lin Jian said, "The earthen embankment we passed by in the afternoon just now is the remote embankment that swings towards the sky." ”

Zhao Hu looked at the fields around him and said, "In summer and autumn, the sky is wide and hundreds of miles, so isn't it all water?" Why build the embankment so far and not here? ”

"In the summer and autumn, the floods are fierce, the narrower the embankments on both sides, the more ferocious the floods bound in the embankments, and the north bank of the river embankment can bear to collapse, if the south bank collapses, it will be a catastrophe - even if you want to build an embankment here, you can only build a sand embankment. This is the beach field, the wild field planted in the wasteland, those crop households will plant grain here, that is, the gambling time, only before the flood season can have a season of harvest, the days will be much more prosperous...... Lin Jian said, thinking that it is not better than a thousand years later can take reinforced concrete to build a solid embankment, this era, the embankment is mostly built of earth, although the stone embankment is also quite strong, but the cost is extremely high, in order to prevent the flood season flood threat to the embankment, the embankment will be built as wide as possible. To the Jiangning section, especially in order to protect the south bank of Jiangning City from the threat of floods, Chaotian Lake can be said to be a deliberately left flood buffer zone, except for a very small number of embankments on the north shore of Chaotian Lake, other embankments are forbidden to build embankments with stones even if they have money, which is also the reason why the estuary in the north of Jiangning is far more narrow than after a thousand years.

"Hehe, I didn't expect you to be unfamiliar with poetry and writing, but you know the river affairs......" Gu Wuchen and Yang Pu, who were wearing civilian robes, walked over from behind, and Gu Junxun, the young lady of the Gu family, changed into men's clothes and followed behind Gu Wuchen like a little girl.

"Why did Lord Gu come ashore too?" Lin Tie got off the horse and gave Gu Wuchen a salute.

"After entering Jiangning City, do you still have the opportunity to come out and see this Jiang Tianxiaokou?" Gu Wuchen asked rhetorically, "Not far from the ferry in front, I happened to move my muscles and bones, and I returned to Beijing for nearly a year, and my muscles and bones were not as strong as when I was in the army." ”

Lin Jian handed over the horse to Zhao Hu to lead, and he accompanied Gu Wuchen to the ferry in front, and the official ship was still sailing along the waterway near the shore.

When Gu Wuchen first talked about poetry and scriptures with Lin Tie in the Gu family's old mansion and deliberately mentioned him, he saw that Lin Tie was clumsy in answering, but when his level was limited, he diluted this distraction, and at this time, he overheard him talking about river affairs with the servants around him, and felt strange, thinking how could he put his mind on these miscellaneous arts before the imperial examination?

Gu Wuchen has been in the army for nearly ten years, and he will not rest on his laurels and think that all miscellaneous techniques other than poetry and scriptures are useless, on the contrary, he thinks that as an auxiliary minister, he should be proficient in the art of the world, so he talked with Lin Jian about river affairs on the road with great interest: "I don't know much about river affairs, Xun Niang's grandfather Tang Gong once served as the governor of the river, this narrow embankment, wide embankment and remote embankment, I have only heard from him, but I didn't expect to hear it again but in you...... The flood of the Yangtze River is not serious, but the flood of the Yellow River has already endangered the country's foundation, and the DPRK and China are also controversial about the art of river control. ”

"Where do I dare to buy it with my shallow knowledge?" Lin Jian said modestly, "In my spare time, I have read Tang Gong's theory of using solid embankments to restrain water and sand flushing, all of them are pearls and jades, Lord Gu asked me what I think, and I also sold Tang Gong's words to you." ”

"......" Gu Wuchen laughed, very satisfied with Lin Lian's answer, then he felt that the young man in front of him still had some talent, walked slowly all the way to the ferry in front of the post house, and discussed with Lin Lian with great interest about miscellaneous techniques such as criminal names, money and food, and confessions. If you only seek to become a career with a son, I am afraid that you will have to be over half a hundred years old to display your talent," said in a serious persuasion, "I also don't advocate dead reading, but if you don't jump over the dragon gate, how can you show your talent in front of the Son of Heaven?" This is true.

Seeing Gu Wuchen's desire to persuade him to participate in the examination, Lin Lian said with a wry smile: "Lin Lian also knows this truth, but people are specialized and lazy, and these side miscellaneous techniques are read with relish, but the articles of the sages are like medicine and bitter mouth......"

"You also know that it is like medicine," Gu Wuchen shook his head and smiled, just stood here and muttered for a moment, and said, "I have a suggestion, I don't know if you should agree to it?" ”

"Please take care of your words."

"After I arrive in Jiangning, I will always hire a friend to help me take care of my official duties, if you don't dislike it, you can not only solve your livelihood in Jiangning, but also don't miss your Wenshu to participate in the Beijing Meeting...... Gu Wuchen said.

"......" Lin Jian was slightly stunned, but he didn't expect Gu Wuchen to suddenly bring up this stubble. If you don't want to fool the adjutants and subordinates below, and do a good job in the affairs under your jurisdiction, you need a capable staff team to plan and plan for him, so that you don't have to worry about giving those adjutants and subordinates. Gu Wuchen came to Jiangning, Yang Pu, Yang Shi, and Ma Chao were three followers who could not write and could not assist Gu Wuchen in taking care of specific official affairs, and his son Gu Siyuan came to Jiangning to enter Jiangning to concentrate on further study, and his nephews Gu Siming and Gu Tianqiao could only be used as servants or scholars at this time, and Gu Wuchen did not have a really handy assistant. Being a staff member for Gu Wuchen is definitely much better than being a petty official or even a petty official who is not in the stream, and the power obtained by relying on Gu Wuchen is also more majestic than those petty bureaucrats who have entered the ranks, the only disadvantage is that he must always follow Gu Wuchen's side.

Lin Jian had to do a lot of things to do in Jiangning, how could he follow Gu Wuchen's side?

Lin Lian had many thoughts in his heart, and one thought even wondered if Gu Wuchen still intended for Liu Yue'er, after all, if he kept himself by his side, he could even let himself live in the Gu Mansion openly, and Liu Yue'er, who was a cook for herself, naturally wanted to live in the Gu Mansion and continue to be a cook for the Gu family, and then thought that even if Gu Wuchen missed Liu Yue'er, he shouldn't be so urgent, maybe he really appreciated himself.

It's a real headache.

"Lord Gu's appreciation makes Lin Tie unable to reciprocate," Lin Tie Changyi said, "It's just that Lin Tie actually came to Jiangning this time because he was ridiculed and angry by his own family, and the reason for this is really unspeakable, if Lord Gu has something to summon, Lin Tie will not refuse, but... It's just ......" Lin Lianshen was sad and connected with two "just", as if he was bullying his family with a stomach full of sadness, and then said to Gu Wuchen, "Lin Lian came to Jiangning to find an official and a half-job, and he just wanted this official and half-post to send his life, and there was no other luxury." ”

Gu Junxun had heard her mother say that Lin Jian was just an insignificant person in the Lin family, seeing that he looked so sad, he couldn't help but be infected, felt pity for him, took her father's arm, and begged in a low voice: "Daddy, don't force Lin Gongzi to come to my house......

Gu Wuchen smiled dumbly, he thought that the second generation of Lin Lian was kind to his Gu family and Lin Lian had some talent, so he thought about inviting him to be a staff member, but he didn't expect his daughter's mouth to turn into a bitter force, Gu Wuchen didn't even understand what happened to the Lin family during this time, and said to Lin Jian quite regretfully: "Since you have a hard time and a will, I won't force you to seek a career, I can't just promise you now, you go to Jiangning and settle down." ”

As he spoke, he walked to the ferry. Liu Xilin sent someone to come over in the afternoon to inform the post house, before the official ship arrived on the shore, the post man also prepared a carriage and a horse to carry a sedan chair to wait at the ferry, Lin Jian looked at the past, Zhou Pu and Chen Size, who left in the afternoon, were also waiting there, and wanted to walk over and ask them why they stayed at the ferry and did not go into the city, but the short young man behind Zhou Pu raised his hand and ran towards him at dusk: "Brother Lin, Uncle Zhou said that you walked behind the boat, and he deceived Xiaoman!" ”

But Xiaoman, who had not seen him for more than ten days, dressed up as a teenager and waited for him with Zhou Pu at the ferry.

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