Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

A few days before departure, everyone except Shen Zheng and the crew were very excited.

Fang Ziyan dragged Yu Nanshu and others and ran around on the deck, and pestered the crew to find a fishing net to catch fish.

For them, the ship is a small paradise.

You no longer have to worry about studying for exams, nor do you have to worry about your teacher suddenly showing up to give you a lesson.

Yu Shizhang and a few other old guys didn't get seasick and were very relaxed on the boat, sometimes enjoying the scenery, sometimes drinking tea and playing chess, looking very relaxed.

Only Shen Zheng is different.

She ate and then fell asleep, woke up and vomited, then took medicine and had an injection.

The new drug developed by Li Shiyuan is indeed useful, but it has a time limit.

Once the effect of the drug wears off, if you don't continue taking drugs, the feeling will come back.

Fortunately, Qiao Gu was skilled and intelligent. After staying with Li Shiyuan for two days, she learned how to make medicinal food.

Li Shiyuan devoted himself to research for two days and transformed the anti-dizziness pills into a nutritious and effective medicinal diet. Qiao Gu tried it twice and finally made the anti-dizziness medicinal diet.

In this way, Shen Zheng began to take medicine three times a day.

......

Before they knew it, the ship had sailed out of Liuyang Prefecture, passed the next prefecture, and was about to reach the next prefecture - Dezhou Prefecture.

After Shen Zheng finished the medicinal meal, she held onto the railing and went to the deck.

Although the sun is shining brightly now, it rained all night last night, so although the sun is bright now, it is not scorching at all.

Yu Shizhang was standing by the deck railing. He saw her out of the corner of his eye and waved to her over with a smile.

"We are almost at Dezhou Prefecture." Yu Shizhang looked at the sparkling water and smiled, "The last time I went to Dezhou Prefecture was when the Beijing-Dezhou Grand Canal was being built."

He looked in the direction of Dezhou Prefecture, with a look of reminiscence on his face.

"The Jingde Grand Canal?" Shen Zheng thought for a moment, raised his eyebrows and said, "Is it the longest canal in our Great Zhou? How many years was it built?"

"It was started in the 12th year of Mingsheng and completed in the 16th year." Yu Shizhang answered without thinking: "The late emperor was still in good health at that time, but he still hesitated for several years about building the canal. In the end, it was not until Benbo and the then prime minister wrote a letter to force the late emperor to agree to build it."

"Ming Sheng" was the reign title of the previous emperor.

The construction of the Beijing-Germany Grand Canal took a full four years.

But for the major projects of that era, four years was not actually a long time. After all, the Great Wall in Shen Zheng's memory took several dynasties to build.

Starting from the Chu Great Wall, it went through many dynasties including the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties. Each dynasty made repairs and modifications, and finally it became the Great Wall that everyone is familiar with.

"But it won't take four years." Yu Shizhang opened his palms and felt the breeze blowing across the river. "The reason why the Beijing-Germany Grand Canal was built is because this waterway has inherent advantages. Except for a few places where the river needs to be dug extensively, other places... just need minor repairs and digging. If the construction period is tight, it can be completed in more than two years."

As he was talking, he actually started talking about the past.

Shen Zheng looked at the river and listened quietly.

"The national treasury was very poor at the time." Yu Shizhang said, "But the canal had to be built. If it wasn't built, the transportation of various materials would become a problem, which would directly slow down the development of the entire Great Zhou."

Shen Zheng finally understood why the late emperor was unwilling to repair it.

How to repair without money?

Yu Shizhang also said: "How can we repair it without money? Either the late emperor pays for it out of his own pocket, or he confiscates the homes of a few more corrupt officials, or... he conscripts the people to perform corvée labor."

Of these three options, the second one is definitely the best.

For the development of the Great Zhou, the worst option is definitely the last one. But for the late emperor, which option is the worst... Shen Zheng doesn't know.

"Everyone knows that confiscating property is the best way to do it, but the late emperor couldn't do it at that time." Yu Shizhang sighed, "Shen Zheng, you know, the late emperor didn't dare to confiscate corrupt officials, and even I... didn't dare to force the late emperor to do it."

Although Shen Zheng didn't know who the "corrupt official" was, she understood the reason.

No matter who the "corrupt official" Yu Shizhang was referring to, as long as the late emperor and he hesitated on this matter, there is only one explanation.

"Turbulence." Shen Zheng tilted her head and said, "After the corrupt officials were arrested, the government and the people were in turmoil. The result would be worse than not arresting them at all."

For the imperial court and the emperor, the real corrupt officials cannot be arrested just because they want to.

That's a process.

A process of boiling a frog in warm water and slowly planning.

"Yeah..." At this point, Yu Shizhang seemed unhappy, "The corrupt officials can't be confiscated, the common people can't be levied, and the late emperor... is unwilling to take money out of his pocket, what do you think we should do?"

what is it now?

Shen Zheng thought for a while, "Work-for-relief? Rich businessmen raising funds?"

Yu Shizhang's eyes widened immediately, "So you know about Jingde's incident?"

Shen Zheng also stared, "I don't know. I wasn't even born at that time... I haven't heard of this incident in recent years."

Yu Shizhang leaned against the fence and said in amazement, "So you immediately figured out the solution at that time? It was to use work instead of relief, and then ask the merchants for some money to feed the workers."

Shen Zheng paused, "This humble official can only think of these two methods just now..."

It’s actually easy to guess.

When the treasury is empty and corrupt officials are rampant, many people will inevitably be displaced.

Because there are natural disasters. Natural disasters will not stop visiting a country just because it is in a bad situation.

When natural disasters strike, people have no choice but to leave their homes and seek ways to survive.

Yu Shizhang sighed and whispered, "Although the late emperor was stingy and a little... confused about major issues, he was also considerate of the people. Although the people who came to build the canal were refugees, he did not treat them as livestock, nor did he shorten the construction period, so the canal took more than four years to build. The refugees came and went. I followed them from Dezhou Prefecture, stumbling back to Shangjing little by little."

Shen Zheng was surprised when she heard this. "So... you supervised the entire construction of the Jingde Canal?"

This is not a good job.

The court refused to allocate funds and attracted refugees. Naturally, local officials were not very cooperative, fearing that the journey would be full of hardships.

In an instant, in Shen Zheng's mind, Yu Shizhang's image became taller again.

Yu Shizhang waved his hand. “It’s not a big deal. A few years passed in the blink of an eye. But now I have to go back to Dezhou Prefecture. How I feel about this… is hard to say.”

Looking at the approaching Dezhou Prefecture, Shen Zheng clapped his hands, "This is the fruit of your labor, the spoils of war! Let's take a rest in Dezhou Prefecture for a day, shall we? Buy some food before setting off again, the food on the boat is not fresh anymore."

Yu Shizhang smiled, "We really have to stop the boat to do some shopping. There are many mountains ahead, and if we stop the boat, we have to turn around, which is very troublesome."

At this moment, Shen Zheng had only one thought in his mind.

Finally we can get off the boat!