Chapter 888 Announcement
Chu Jingqi left a group of maids and women such as Chu Fei, Chu Chuan, Chu Lin, and Chu Xian to her, and he also borrowed a group of servants and shopkeepers under her.
He selected ten secret guards and appointed them as imperial stewards. Each steward assigned them a boy and a shopkeeper to run errands for them
The fox will be in charge of the ten imperial envoys. As for Chuanqiong, he has to stay with him to run errands.
He told Chuan Qiong to buy a dozen sheepskin maps of Jiangnan first, and then called Chu Yuexi, Fox, Chuan Qiong and ten imperial envoys to sit together, spread out a sheepskin map, and discuss the matter.
After Chu Jingqi looked at the sheepskin map carefully, he took out a few silver ingots and placed them on several large lakes in the Jiangnan area.
"Look, there are rivers hundreds of miles away from these three big lakes. These rivers run through more than a dozen cities, especially the moat outside Yi'an City, which runs through five cities in the south of the Yangtze River, and Qiantang in Yunzhou. River, the Pearl River in Lingnan... As long as a waterway is dug out of these three large lakes , connected with the nearby rivers, and then dug countless small waterways along the rivers to flow to the ponds in villages in various places. As long as these waterways are opened, then we will not be afraid of drought, at least the food in the fields near these rivers will be Can keep it.”
He pointed to several major cities, especially the worst-hit cities that Xia Zihan had mentioned to him.
"The waterways of these cities will be dug out first, and there should be no delay. Remember, I give you the right. If the prefect doesn't listen, or resists and disobeys any of your orders, then you can take off his black gauze hat first."
Since the emperor handed this matter over to him, it gave him the greatest power.
Since he is an imperial envoy, he can kill those who disobey his orders first and then report them later. Now, he has given this right to the ten imperial envoys he personally selected.
"This matter is of great importance. No one is allowed to block the road. If you block the road, I allow you to put them in jail first. If anyone dares to deliberately cause chaos and cause trouble, you can kill them first and then report them."< br>
The ten people who were appointed as imperial envoys immediately stood up straight and responded seriously, "I obey."
An hour later, based on the topography and water sources of various places, they studied out a waterway extending in all directions, and used a brush to draw lines on the place where the waterway was to be dug.
Watercourse lines were drawn on the other ten sheepskin maps. Then, the ten imperial envoys each took two servants with them, and immediately set off to ten cities in the south of the Yangtze River.
Before leaving, Chu Jingqi told the ten of them, "It is not a trivial matter to dig a river or a lake. On normal days, officials from the Ministry of Industry would definitely have to come to investigate. We are studying how to start, and we need to get the approval of the emperor. After the emperor agrees, , we can dig, but time is urgent now. The emperor said that as long as we study a line, we just need to open a hole on the edge of the lake and dig Just build a waterway to connect with the rivers in various places, and then dig out the waterway to carry the water to the villages below. Although we have drawn this waterway line, the actual terrain is different from the map. If you are in your local area If the waterway line is blocked and it really cannot be opened, you can discuss it with the local officials and customize a new line.”
After Chu Jingqi gave some instructions, he wrote ten identical letters himself, stamped them with the seal of Prince Youan County, and handed them over to the ten imperial envoys, and then urged them to get on their horses and leave.
The next day, the Jiangnan magistrate received autographed letters from Chu Jingqi one after another, and soon after, notices were posted in nearby cities in the afternoon.
Cities further away also posted notices on the second, third, and fourth days.
As soon as the notice appeared, the people in Jiangnan were excited. The strong laborers in the village rushed to the village chief to sign up and ask to work.
People in the city, those who had no land and could not find work, also went to the government offices to sign up.
All of a sudden, the officials responsible for registration in the government office were overwhelmed. Just registering the people who signed up, their hands almost cramped when writing. The prefect also personally took the imperial envoys to various places to survey the local terrain, and divided the waterway routes studied by Chu Jingqi and distributed them to various places below, asking officials in each place to divide the waterway lines into sections and then distribute them to local officials. The common people went to dig.
In less than five days, dense crowds of people had appeared in places where the movement was quick, and they were enthusiastically digging rivers and lakes.
The place where Chu Jingqi and Xia Zihan were located was called Sanlian City. Chu Jingqi sent Chuan Qiong to summon the prefect of Sanlian City. Chu Jingqi took out his token and directly ordered the prefect Xiao to post a notice.
Sanlian City’s announcement was the first to be posted. On that day, the gate of the government office was crowded with people signing up. Chuan Qiong saw that the master in charge of registration at the government office was too busy, so he hurried back to report, “The officials are illiterate, and they have to maintain order on the scene. , Mr. Xiao really can’t spare anyone.”
Chu Jingqi snorted, put down the ordinary map he saw on his hand, and said, "There is a school in Sanlian City. Then go and ask the scholars there to contribute. Although they are literati, they are faced with natural disasters. Every man has a duty, so pass on my orders , ask the academy to send ten scholars out to the government office to be responsible for enthroning the throne, and inform the prefect that in half an hour we will go to Beiyang Lake to survey the terrain, and ask him to bring a few people who are familiar with the terrain to go with us. "< br>
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After Chu Jingqi's identity was exposed, Chuan Qiong stopped calling him Young Master and changed his title back.
Chuan Qiong left in a hurry.
Half an hour later, when Chu Jingqi put down the map and passed by the gate of the government office on horseback, he saw a long table at the gate of the government office, with a dozen young scholars behind the table.
Chuan Qiong said, "At first, the school did not want to allocate people, saying that it would delay the scholars' studies. Later, the prefect lost his temper and promised to pay thirty cents a day, so some scholars with poor family conditions took the initiative to help. ”
A laborer only gets a dozen or thirty cents for a day's work, which is a lot of money.
Chu Jingqi glanced at the dozen or so scholars who came, and two of them had patches on their clothes, which showed that the family was really in trouble.
He said, "Registration will only be busy in the first two days. After these two days, everyone who should register has signed up, and there will not be too many people. When the time comes, just leave three or two scholars here to take charge. ”
He pointed to the two men wearing patched clothes and said, "Keep those two."
"I know, Prince." Chuan Qiong memorized the appearance of the two scholars, then raised his whip, slapped the horse's belly, and quickly followed Chu Jingqi.
When they arrived at Beiyang Lake, Mr. Xiao was already waiting by the lake with a large group of people.
Seeing him coming, a group of people quickly came over to salute.
Chu Jingqi turned over and jumped off the horse. Without saying much, she let Mr. Xiao lead him directly to the place where the waterway line was drawn on the map.
(End of chapter)