My life skills in Daming Liver

Everyone in the family ancestral hall smiled. The hatred between the Beishan Chen family and Changningwei was not only related to Lutian, but also related to a series of disputes such as water sources.

The old grandfather said: "This time the three Chen brothers returned to the village from the county government, and they want to have a good talk with our Changning Guard about dredging Jianxi."

Su Ze asked: "Is it the three dogs of the Chen family who work in the county government?"

"It's those three brothers."

Su Ze understood that among the subordinate officials in Nanping County, one tiger, one fox and three dogs were the most famous, and among them the fox was Xu Shisheng, the household clerk, who had been killed by Su Ze.

Hu is the leader of the strong class, Li Hu, who was hit in the shoulder by Su Ze's blunderbuss last time, and is still recuperating at home.

The three dogs are the three brothers of the Beishan Chen family. Now the three brothers are working in the county government office. The three know how to bully the superior and the inferior, and are as docile as a dog in front of the superior.

The last time Changningwei fought with Beishan Village, the three dogs of the Chen family did not participate because of errands. This time it was related to the irrigation of Beishan Village. They asked for leave to return to the village, just to have a good talk with Changningwei.

This time, the old grandfather still handed over the important task of negotiation to Su Ze, and Lin Xianyang was Su Ze's deputy.

The old man's bottom line is that the Beishan Chen family can be allowed to dredge the silted tributary, but it cannot affect the water conservancy irrigation of Changningwei.

The next day, Su Ze had just finished breakfast with his ninth aunt Lin Cainiang. Instead of going directly to the ancestral hall and waiting to negotiate with the Chen family, Su Ze rode out of Changningwei on horseback, walked around Jianxi, and observed After knowing the direction of Jianxi, he returned to Changningwei.

And Lin Xianyang was already waiting for Su Ze in the family temple. He came to inform Su Ze that the three dogs of the Chen family had arrived at the family temple.

The place for negotiation was the front hall of the ancestral hall. Su Ze was pulled in by Lin Xianyang, and he saw the three brothers of the Chen family sitting on the right.

The three brothers of the Chen family are not tall, and their bodies are not burly, but they are quite strong.

The eldest of the three Chen brothers, who was at the head, looked at Su Ze with a pair of white eyes and a smile on his fierce face. He cupped his hands and said to Su Ze, "This is Mr. Su, who has been famous in the county recently?"

The three Chen brothers were also looking at Su Ze. They didn't expect that Su Ze, who was clearly a scholar, was a head taller than them.

It's nothing more than high, Su Ze walks vigorously, and at first glance he looks like a Lianjiazi. This is no frail scholar. Li Hu and Su Ze, the leaders of the strong class of the county government, are half a head lower than Su Ze.

The boss of the Chen family was going to use his aura to oppress the people of Changningwei first, but he didn't expect to be overwhelmed by Su Ze, a scholar.

The eldest of the Chen family is named Chen Bofei, the second is Chen Zhongfei, and the third is Chen Shufei. The three fought bravely since they were young, but when they were adults, they were appointed servants by the county magistrate Bai, and now they serve as yamen servants in Nanping County.

However, the three of them worked in different places. Chen Bofei was the arrester of the county government, also known as the catcher, responsible for arresting the murderer and handling the case.

Chen Zhongfei is a grain servant, and his job is to guard the granaries and check and accept the grain when the people enter the county to pay the grain tax.

And Chen Shufei is a soap servant, this is the one who stands in the hall of the yamen and shouts mighty in the costume drama, and is also responsible for carrying out the punishment of flogging and sticking in the court.

Chen Bofei also had a headache. He had never fought against someone from Changningwei last time, but this time he came to ask for water, and it was not easy to get Changningwei to agree.

But the clan sent people to ask the three brothers to come forward, and the three brothers had to obey. Their status in the county government actually relied on the support of the Chen family behind the back.

Su Ze politely returned the gift. Chen Bofei was a rough man, so he didn't have any twists and turns. He went straight to the topic and said:

"This time, I was invited by the patriarch of the Chen clan to check on the water source dispute between Changningwei and Beishan Village."

Su Ze frowned and said, "Hurry up Chen, I'm going to ask you clearly here. Are you representing the county government to handle the case of our Changningwei and Beishan Village competing for water sources, or are you representing Beishan Village to negotiate with our Changningwei?"

Hearing what Su Ze said, Chen Bofei groaned secretly in his heart. Ever since he became a scholar like Su Ze, this Changning Guard has really become more and more difficult to deal with!

If in the past, Chen Bofei had directly moved out of the county government, he might have been able to bluff the people of Changningwei and pull the tiger skin of the county government, and the matter of the water source might have been resolved.

But now with Su Ze, things are different!

Su Ze is a scholar who has been awarded by Fangzhifu and praised by Baizhi County!

Although Su Ze is not yet a scholar, his influence in the county is not small at all.

Although the three brothers of the Chen family were notorious, they did not dare to lie about official business in the yamen. If Su Ze really went to the yamen to inquire, he could easily expose Chen Bofei's lies.

Chen Bofei immediately said: "Our three brothers are not here on official business in the yamen, but as members of the Back Mountain Chen Clan, we are here to negotiate with you."

It turns out that he is not from the Yamen!

Lin Xianyang glanced at Su Ze, he was still a great scholar, and immediately tore off the tiger skins on the three brothers.

Without the status of "people from the yamen", Chen Bofei's momentum has also weakened a lot.

Chen Bofei bit the bullet and said: "Changningwei and our Beishan Village have been neighbors for several generations. It is often said that distant relatives are worse than close neighbors. Now that Jianxi is silted up, we in Beishan Village want to dredge Jianxi. I hope Changningwei can make it easier."

In the past, Chen Bofei's words must have been righteous when he was staring at the name given to the county government official.

But now that his identity has been exposed by Su Ze, his momentum is much weaker, and this sentence is even more lacking in confidence.

The tributaries of Jianxi to be dredged are all within the range of Changningwei. If you want to mobilize other people's water sources, how can others agree.

Sure enough, as soon as Chen Bofei finished speaking, Lin Xianyang said: "The Jianxi River doesn't flow through your Beishan Village, so why would you want to use our village's water source!"

At this time, the second son of the Chen family stood up and said, "Jianxi doesn't just flow through your Changningwei! The branch of Jianxi flows through our back mountain village, and now the water level is shallow! We suspect that Changningwei cut off the water source!"

Chen Zhongfei's words completely ignited the anger of everyone in Changningwei, and everyone in the ancestral hall stood up to greet the Chen brothers.

And the Chen brothers were not to be outdone, the three of them were even scolded by everyone in the ancestral hall, Chang Ningwei.

Su Ze kept silent and waited until the Chen brothers got tired of scolding. Chen Bofei said in a hoarse voice:

"Su Xianggong, do you really want to go to court?"

This kind of case between two villages competing for water sources is also the most frequently handled case by the Ming government.

Chen Bofei's words were vaguely threatening. Going to court these days is the last resort for both the plaintiff and the defendant.

The legal spirit of the Ming Dynasty was to emphasize mediation and suppress litigation. If Beishan Village and Changningwei really want to file a lawsuit, the first step is to accept a round of mediation at Jingming Pavilion.

If the result of the mediation is satisfactory to both parties, they will be notarized under the witness of the county government clerk and promise not to sue for this matter again.

If mediation cannot be reached, then the next stage of court proceedings will be entered.

At this stage, the old officials in the torture room will let you know what it means to eat the defendant and eat the plaintiff.

The three brothers of the Chen family were well versed in the ways of the county government, so naturally they were unwilling to go to court.

Su Ze said indifferently: "Okay, let's go to court and go to court. The lower reaches of Jianxi belong to Changningwei!"

This time, the three Chen brothers were completely defeated. Obviously Su Ze was a knowledgeable person. The case was brought to the county government, and the head of the family, Ning Wei, took charge.

Last time they lost so badly in the weapon fight, they couldn't grab it, and they couldn't win the lawsuit. The three brothers stood up in despair, ready to tell the patriarch the bad news.

Su Ze said, "However, if you want to dredge Jianxi, it's okay."

The three brothers had already stood up, and immediately sat down again after hearing Su Ze's words.

Chen Bofei immediately asked: "Su Xianggong, is it really possible?"

Lin Xianyang also looked at Su Ze, and he didn't understand why Su Ze agreed to allow Beishan Village to dredge the water source. Isn't it time to take advantage of the victory and let Beishan Village know how powerful Changning Guard is?

Su Ze continued: "Bring the hydrographic map."

Lin Xianyang immediately took out a yellowed atlas from the back of the ancestral hall, which was the watershed map of Jianxi flowing through Changningwei.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were such hydrological maps from villages to counties.

A hydrographic chart records the course and branches of a river, as well as its width and basic shape.

On the one hand, the hydrological map records the basic hydrological information, and on the other hand, it also confirms the ownership of the river. If a river belongs to different villages, or which village the upper reaches of the river belongs to, these must be marked on the hydrological map. .

Su Ze looked at the hydrological map, and it was the same as what he observed this morning. The silted tributary was in the bend of the river.

Although Jianxi is called a creek, it is actually a fairly wide river. Otherwise, Changningwei would not have been able to irrigate such a fertile field by relying on Jianxi.

However, since decades ago, the water flow of Jianxi has gradually become smaller, and the sediment in the water has also increased a lot.

When there is little rainfall, Jianxi will even stop flowing.

The reason is actually very simple. The upstream of Jianxi passes through a mining area. Due to the excavation of mining and the flushing of mud in the mine pit, the sediment content in Jianxi increases. Because of the increase in sediment, the riverbed of Jianxi is raised, and the water flow slows down. a lot of.

The elevation of the river bed not only made the river slow and easy to stop, but also prone to floods during heavy rains. The family tree of Changningwei recorded many deeds of "treating the river".

Since the 20th year of Jiajing, the government-run mines have continued to destroy the land to mine ore for the Dogon mining tax. Jianxi has also flooded every few years to almost every year.

For the people of Changningwei, Jianxi flowing through Changningwei is both a blessing and a curse.

Originally, Changning Guard was waiting to be rebuilt, and Su Ze couldn't take care of the management of the stream, but this time, Beishan Village sent them to the door. These people were not in vain, and they simply took the opportunity to manage Jianxi.

Although Su Ze's [Water Conservancy] skill is only Lv1 now, Jianxi is just an ordinary tributary of the Minjiang River. With the knowledge system of Lv1 and Su Ze's experience in reading water conservancy history in his previous life, it is more than enough to manage this stream, right?

Su Ze said to the brothers of the Chen family: "I plan to manage Jianxi, so that the river in Beishan Village will not be silted up, but the people who manage the river must go back to the mountain village."

The Chen brothers were stunned, and even the Changning Guards were also stunned.

The old man coughed and said, "Ah Ze, the ordinary households have also asked Cao Dianshi from the canal house to look at the problem of building the stream. Cao Dianshi said that as long as the mines in the upper reaches are endless, there will be no peace in the lower reaches."

The Chen brothers also nodded and said: "Mr. Su, there is too much silt in the Jianxi River. Even if we, the Chen family and the Changning Guards, are all mobilized, we will not be able to dig out the silt in this stream."

Su Ze knew that it was because everyone didn't believe in themselves.

Water conservancy has always been very professional.

For example, the officials of the canal house of the county government have been engaged in water conservancy work for generations.

The Ming Dynasty attached great importance to river governance, and specially set up river government offices to be responsible for water governance.

However, another feature of the Ming Dynasty was that the finances were extremely tight, and the yamen were seriously short of funds.

Water conservancy projects have always been projects with huge investment but slow returns.

Therefore, after the development of water conservancy projects in the early Ming Dynasty, the construction of water conservancy projects in the middle of the Ming Dynasty entered a period of stagnation.

It would be good if the canal house in Nanping County can manage the Minjiang River well, but it can't manage a tributary like the Jianxi River.

Even when the rainfall is heavy, flood water will be introduced into Jianxi for flood discharge.

Not only in Nanping County, but also in the entire Ming Dynasty, the water conservancy projects were in disrepair for a long time, the old projects could not be maintained, and the new projects had no money to start.

Su Ze secretly thought that when reading history books, he always felt that the later stages of the dynasties were "exhausted of luck", and the entire dynasty suffered from constant natural disasters, as if God was going to send this dynasty away.

But in fact, this view is causality reversed.

It was because of the financial collapse of the imperial court in the later period of the dynasty, and it was no longer possible to carry out large-scale construction projects with low cost and high efficiency as in the early days of the dynasty. This made various water conservancy facilities fall into disrepair for a long time. .”

Or locust plagues and droughts broke out. If the dynasty was strong, it would naturally be able to provide disaster relief. But at the end of the dynasty, the court would not even be able to pay officials' salaries, and naturally it would not be able to organize disaster relief.

However, the time of the Jiajing court was not the same. At that time, the emperor was not his grandson's grandson, and the court could still receive a lot of money from the people.

It's just that this "intelligent" emperor prefers to spend money on building temples rather than on his "people".

The treasury of the Ming Dynasty was empty, but the emperor's private treasury, Taicang, was full of gold and silver.

Emperor Jiajing was like an extreme miser, charging interest on the money he "loaned" from Taicang warehouse to the treasury.

Except for the Minjiang River, the management of the rest of the water systems are started by private self-raised funds.

Su Ze said with confidence:

"I only need 50 able-bodied young men to heal the tributaries of Jianxi and Beishan Village."

Chen Bofei couldn't help asking: "Su Xianggong really has a way to control the river?"

Su Ze said firmly: "I have a method of 'flushing sand with a beam of water', which can be used as a century-old plan to completely solve the problem of silting in Jianxi River."