A powerful minister of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 33 Water Map
To Yan Shu, Song Xuan's words far exceeded the insights of his peers.

Even when he was an official in the central government and had seen many successful candidates, none of them had the insightful views that Song Xuan had.

Many people, after passing the imperial examination, became so proud that they could no longer see their own abilities.

He acts superior, but in fact, when he is an official, he is as stupid as a pig and is deceived by the cunning and treacherous officials below him without knowing it.

Such people waste the Song Dynasty's salary in vain. Yan Shu naturally looks down on officials who behave in this way.

After three dynasties of the Song Dynasty, the phenomenon of redundant officials had already appeared.

Many people in the imperial court saw this, but they were all smart people and no one would take the initiative to destroy the jobs of their own class.

Then you will become the target of public criticism!
Maybe he would die without a burial place and his entire family would be buried with him.

The government said that they will share the world with the scholars and officials and will not kill you.

But the other scholars and officials will not go easy on him.

Yan Shu had witnessed the ruthless methods of the Five Ghosts of the Song Dynasty (Wang Qinruo, Ding Wei, Lin Te, Chen Pengnian, and Liu Chenggui).

It was Fan Zhongyan, the stubborn boy, who submitted a memorial requesting reform after teaching in Yingtian Prefecture.

After this matter was raised, some people in the court wanted to punish Fan Zhongyan, but they were suppressed by Prime Minister Wang Zeng.

Wang Zeng wanted to protect the young man Fan Zhongyan and prevent him from falling into the vortex.

Especially since Fan Zhongyan destroyed his colleagues' jobs, the backlash he suffered must have been huge!

"It seems that Brother Twelve has already planned what to do?"

The first thing Fan Zhongyan thought of was a solution.

If Song Xuan didn’t have it.

Well, he does!
"Let Mr. Fan know. I have a plan in mind. I'll tell you the details once we're on board and there's no one around."

"Because it gets spread out by too many people, if there are any omissions, please ask Mr. Fan to check and fill in the gaps."

"Okay, Brother Twelve is indeed prudent in his work."

After hearing Song Xuan's words, Fan Zhongyan agreed immediately and asked everyone to leave quickly.

Everyone rushed to the pier of Lema Town.

The venomous scorpion received the news and couldn't help but high-five:
"As I expected, Song Twelve publicly announced that he would leave tomorrow, but he ran away tonight. It seems that the ship is loaded with a lot of gold, silver and treasures."

"Brother, you're a master of predictions. Let's go quickly."

The venomous scorpion was flattered by his subordinates and was very proud of himself:
"Tell the brothers to grab their weapons and go."

At the same time, the surgeon also received the news and was extremely excited.

Tonight's plan will come into play.

"Good son-in-law, he is truly my good son-in-law!"

Old man Pan standing by looked as if he had avenged himself.

Back then, his own cold soup shop was bankrupted by a kid and had to be sold out, but it happened to be bought by Song Xuan. It was such a shame!
Over the years, he has been hearing people laughing at him and pointing fingers at him. No matter whether he hears it clearly or not, Old Man Pan just thinks that others are laughing at his incompetence.

Fortunately, now that he has his son-in-law's plan, Song Twelve doesn't have to worry about having an easy time!

The surgeon laughed a few times:
"Don't get excited, father-in-law. Wait until I get the poisonous scorpion out for half an hour, then we can do our work. The more critical the moment, the more we must be patient!"

Song Xuan and others arrived at the dock of Lema Town. After getting on the boat, Zhang Kang immediately began to make arrangements.

After everyone was on board, Song Xuan and the others sat in the cabin with lights on.

"There's no rush to sail." Song Xuan looked at the sky outside:
"We have to wait at least half an hour before leaving. This will give them time to prepare and wear down their patience."

"it is good."

Zhang Kang naturally went to arrange the yamen runners.

Song Xuan unfolded the waterway map, and Yan Shu stepped forward to take a look at the surrounding terrain.

The Sui River, fed by the Honggou River in Daliang (Kaifeng), flows down to Xiaohekou (in Pi County) before joining the Si River. Its long course has been repeatedly ravaged by the Yellow River floods, but it has not yet been diverted. Civilians in the Song Dynasty were forbidden from studying military manuals, so Yan Shu felt something was amiss when Song Xuan casually produced a map of the surrounding terrain.

Could it be that he drew it himself?
While Yan Shu was puzzled, Fan Zhongyan spoke first:
"Was this picture drawn by Twelfth Brother?"

"That's right. The main reason is that I have business dealings with Mr. Lei from Songcheng, so I need to be familiar with the waterways to avoid any loss of goods."

Fan Zhongyan nodded.

When he built the river embankment, he did not use such a clear river management map.

Song Xuan's face was solemn:

"Don't think that the Song Dynasty is peaceful. There are many robberies on the river."

Zhang Kang, who had just lifted the curtain and walked in, didn't say a word.

This is indeed the case.

Whether on the river or on the road, there are many robberies on merchant caravans.

The main reason is the weakness and emptiness of local power, especially military strength. The Xiang army cannot even support itself and all of them have gone out to work. How can we expect them to have any combat effectiveness?

Small-scale uprisings (rebellions) occurred from time to time, and Sichuan was the hardest hit area.

In the year of Jiawu, there will be changes in Shu.

The previous Jiawu year was when Li Shun attacked Chengdu and established the Great Shu regime. The year before that, Meng Zhixiang proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu. The third Jiawu year was still a long way off, but there are still many messages.

Yan Shu heard Zhang Kang come in and laughed twice: "Zhang Tuiguan, is what Twelve Brother said true?"

"To answer the prefect, it is true. There are always bad guys on the loose." Zhang Kang did not dare to hide it from Yan Shu.

Yan Shu got the exact answer, but he did not say anything in public about wiping out all the bandits, and he gave the people of Yingtian Prefecture a clear and transparent world.

He just stood aside and wondered what went wrong.

There is no war on the border of the Song Dynasty, and the people live and work in peace. How come there are so many bad guys?
Could it be that many people do not follow teachings?

Should we build more schools so that young people can receive education and prevent the emergence of large numbers of criminals?

Yan Shu was thinking about the reason why the number of bad people increased.

Fan Zhongyan listened to Song Xuan's plan.

The place where the water flows slowly in this section of the river is Qu Yuan Temple.

"This is the best place to intercept people." Fan Zhongyan looked at Song Xuan's water map and nodded repeatedly:

"Twelfth Brother, since the founding of the Song Dynasty, I've heard that the Yellow River has frequently flooded, the Honggou Canal has silted up, and ultimately, due to a shortage of water resources and a disordered riverbed, Xiang County's water transportation has ceased to function. Now that the government has permitted water conservancy projects in the surrounding areas, your river map will surely be of great use."

"The plan is complete, and the matter is settled."

Song Xuan directly pushed the water map in front of Fan Zhongyan:

"Mr. Fan, please take it."

"Good good."

Fan Zhongyan had a smile on his face.

He really wanted the court to spend less money on water conservancy projects.

In this way, more places can be developed and more people can benefit.

Developing water conservancy projects is truly beneficial to the people and the country!
Otherwise, reckless river management will not only waste people's time and money, but will also make the government lose the trust of the people.

Even Song Shou, who had never had a good impression of Song Xuan, had to admit it.

Song Xuan is such a heroic young man, and I have come into contact with him in detail.

It really makes people feel his sincerity and willing to make friends with him.

(End of this chapter)