The only ones who have surfaced so far are a few county magistrates, Sun Mian, a prefect, and Huang Wei, the former Huainan West Road Transport Commissioner.
On May 17, Yang Gao sent an official document back by express horse, saying that the former magistrate of Huoqiu had been captured and brought back from Sichuan.
Moreover, they were attacked by "water bandits" on the way. If Yang Gao had not reacted quickly and led the army personally, they would have been killed again.
Under such circumstances, the former Huoqiu County Magistrate was scared to death. Finally, Yang sued him for interrogation and asked to meet Zhao Jun before he was willing to give in.
Zhao Jun then took a boat north to Zhenzhou.
In fact, he did not do nothing during this period. When Li Jianzhi was trying Sun Mian's case, Zhao Jun was visiting the people and understanding their sentiments.
In addition to the agricultural situation in the Jiangnan region, the most important thing is the southern economy.
In later generations, the southern coastal areas became economic centers, and the situation was similar during the Song Dynasty. Frequent foreign trade exchanges made the business atmosphere in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangzhou extremely developed.
According to historical records, the number of large sea-going ships that passed through the Guangzhou Maritime Customs Office could reach more than 2,000 each year, and trade spread across more than 50 to 60 countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia at that time, even including Japan and Korea.
As an important hub for maritime trade, Hangzhou established a Maritime Customs Office in Hangzhou and Mingzhou (Ningbo) as early as the reign of Zhao Guangyi in the Song Dynasty to specifically manage foreign merchants coming from Guangzhou.
In addition, many Japanese and Korean merchants also went to Hangzhou and other places, which was the main gathering place for Japanese merchants, while Korean merchants were mainly concentrated in Mizhou (Qingdao).
For example, Japan's famous breeding program took place in Taizhou, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. This shows how great the influence of Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions on Southeast Asia and East Asia was at that time.
During this period, Zhao Jun inspected the Hangzhou Maritime Customs and visited the commercial guilds in Hangzhou City. He chatted with some of the more famous businessmen in Hangzhou City and asked them for their opinions and views on the current business in the Song Dynasty.
He even met with some Japanese businessmen, which made the Japanese very excited. They casually asked about the situation in their country, and he told them everything without them noticing.
In addition to commerce, agriculture was also a focus of his concern. Zhao Jun visited various places outside the city of Hangzhou and inspected several villages and towns around Hangzhou, including Anxi, Chi'an, Linping, and Chang'an.
Understand the land annexation situation here, find out the difficulties farmers are facing now, go to the fields yourself and see the productivity of southern agriculture.
As a child who grew up in a rural area in the south, Zhao Jun did not feel that the agricultural development in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions was very advanced. The planting spacing in the rice fields was far less than that in later generations, and the rice ears produced by early rice were much fewer than those in later generations.
Problems include insufficient rice grains, small amounts of rice, and short rice seedlings.
You should know that one mu in the Song Dynasty is similar to one mu in later generations, which is approximately equal to 0.91 mu in later generations.
According to Fan Zhongyan's memorial to Zhao Zhen, "Ten Suggestions in Response to the Imperial Edict," at that time, the yield of rice per mu was two to three dan.
In the Song Dynasty, one dan was about 50.2 kilograms. Even if calculated at three dan, the yield per mu per quarter in the Song Dynasty was actually equivalent to about 150 kilograms in later generations.
In later generations, it has basically been possible to achieve a rice yield of more than 500 kilograms per mu, and super hybrid rice can reach a yield of 1,000 kilograms per mu.
Therefore, the grain yield per acre in later generations was at least three times that of the Song Dynasty. It is obvious how huge the productivity gap between the two sides was.
This is the south where grain production is relatively high.
In the north, the grain yield per acre is basically around two stones, and there are about 600 million acres of arable land. To feed the country's nearly 100 million people and prepare for war, the survival pressure on the lower-class people is very difficult.
Moreover, many people did not have their own land and became tenants or farmhands of the landlords. Once there was a famine, hunger was rampant, which was the most realistic portrayal.
What Zhao Jun saw along the way was the suffering of the people, and dealing with those corrupt officials was like laying the groundwork for changing all this in the future.
On May 26th, Zhao Jun arrived in Zhenzhou.
Yang Gao took the water route. The former Huoqiu County Magistrate was serving in Sichuan. The people sent by Huainan took Zhao Jun's handwritten order and captured him on the Chengdu Road. They then took a boat along the Yangtze River to Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Originally, they should have just gone to Shuzhou, then traveled overland through Huaining to Shouzhou. However, Zhao Jun had already reached Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so they had no choice but to continue on and wait for him in Zhenzhou.
At Zhenzhou Wharf on Huainan East Road, when Zhao Jun's ship arrived, the transport envoy Jiang Tang led many officials to greet him.
Zhao Jun was quite tired from traveling during this period and should have had a good rest, but he declined the banquet hosted by Jiang Tang and, under the guidance of Yang Gao, went all the way to the Zhenzhou Transport Commissioner's Office to meet the former Huoqiu County Magistrate.
From March when Zhao Jun became aware of the Huainan corruption case to now, in late May, more than two months have passed, and this major case has finally made some progress and a key figure has been apprehended.
Although Huang Wei was probably arrested as well, he was in the north, too far away, so the news could not be delivered immediately.
Therefore, Zhao Jun was eager to learn about all the criminal officials from the former Huoqiu County Magistrate.
Inside the prison cell, during the interrogation, Zhao Jun sat behind the desk, flanked on his left and right by Yang Gao, the West Huainan Shipping Commissioner, and Jiang Tang, the East Huainan Transport Commissioner.
The other guards, such as Jiang Dalang and Huang Sanlang, protected them on both sides, and many imperial guards stood in between, making a great presence.
The room was rather dark, with only a small window high up on the wall behind Zhao Jun.
The sunlight came in through the window. When the former Huoqiu County Magistrate was brought in, his eyes were first stung by the sunlight and he could hardly open them.
It took him a moment to adjust and he saw a young face sitting behind the desk in front of him, looking at him seriously.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
