Zhao Hao came to meet Hai Rui. As soon as he returned to Jeonra Island last month, he learned that Hai Gong had asked him several times when he would return.
After learning of Zhao Hao's exact return date, Hai Rui made another appointment with him to meet in Lannidu Town on the fourth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Mr. Zhao had no choice but to crawl to the appointment without even taking a break.
"This area is called Lannipu." Niu Yiqun introduced to Zhao Hao while steering the boat: "The south bank of the lower reaches of the Wusong River is known as the 18 Pu, and Lannipu is the easternmost one. The Lanni Ferry where Hai Zhongcheng asked you to meet is right next to Lannipu."
As he said this, he couldn't help but mutter, "Hai Zhongcheng is really something. Why did he choose such a shabby place?"
"What's wrong with that place?" Zhao Hao asked with interest. To be honest, although he had bought the entire Pudong, he had never set foot there.
"In one word, 'poor'. There's a folk song in Shanghai that goes, 'There's a muddy ferry beside the muddy river, Pedestrians are crossing the muddy road, Without good clothes, Bachelors are crying all over the street...'" Elder Niu began to sing in his tuneless voice, startling a flock of gulls and herons.
Zhao Hao almost vomited after listening to it, but he didn't know that other people had the same feeling when he sang.
No, it's even worse. Because others have to pretend to enjoy it, and they have to praise it against their will after it's over. It's a triple injury, 361 degrees of abuse.
Having said that, if this broken place wasn't half saline-alkali land and half muddy pond, could he have taken over the entire Pudong with just one tael of silver per acre of land?
After a while, a rural ferry appeared in front of him. Zhao Hao looked closely and saw several sampans and wooden boats parked next to the wooden pier, but he did not see the boat of the Yingtian governor.
If the guards brothers Cai Xu, Cai Kun and Hai An had not been waiting for them at the dock, Young Master Zhao would have thought that Lord Hai was late.
After the sand boat came to a stop, Cai Xu set up the planks, and Cai Kun jumped on board and helped Master Zhao ashore.
Hai'an greeted Master Zhao with a smile. This all-weather multifunctional old servant was not a mean-spirited person who would bring prosperity to his entire family if only one person succeeded. Instead, he was still simple, steady and reliable.
"Haha, old man, long time no see." Zhao Hao took a cloth bag from the guard and handed it to Hai An, saying, "I got some Korean ginseng. You can replenish your body and serve Lord Hai for a few more years."
"Haha, you are too polite, sir." Hai An also smiled and took it with both hands and said, "But I have to ask my master first. I dare not accept it without his nod."
"I'm not an outsider." Zhao Hao knew Hai'an's character and didn't force him. He asked with a smile, "When did you arrive?"
"My master has lived in the town for more than half a month." Hai'an replied with a smile.
"Ah?" Zhao Hao was surprised.
"Oh, I just stay here at night. I take a small boat before dawn and travel to all the deserted villages and wild waters in this area." Hai An smiled bitterly and said, "I went to Huangpu again today. I asked you to wait for me here."
"Mr. Hai is really 007, he doesn't care about his life when fighting..." Zhao Hao shook his head helplessly and said, "Then hurry over."
"Okay." Hai'an responded and led the way.
The water was even shallower where they were going, and the sand boat Zhao Hao was on couldn't go there. He could only follow Hai'an on a small sampan and row towards the deep part of the river covered with reeds.
The guards also boarded the small raft and followed closely behind.
~~
Because Zhao Hao was coming today, Hai Rui didn't go far. After the boat sailed three miles and passed a large area of calamus, he saw several small boats parked on the water.
The governor's personal guards on a boat saw a boat approaching and looked over with caution. Only when they saw the group led by Hai'an did they relax.
On the other boat, Niu Chenshi, who was huddled in the awning to warm himself by the fire, also stuck his head out. When he saw that it was Zhao Hao, he waved excitedly to greet him.
"Where is the Zhongcheng?" Zhao Hao asked after greeting him.
"Over there." Niu Chenshi pointed ahead.
Following the direction he pointed, Zhao Hao saw Hai Rui and Zhang Qi, the magistrate of Shanghai. They were each holding a long wooden pole, standing on one side of the shore. There was a long rope between the two poles. Hai Rui stretched the rope, counted the knots on it, and shouted, "It's four feet and seven feet wide!"
Upon hearing the voice, Niu Chenshi quickly wrote it down on paper.
Then Hai Rui stuck the wooden pole into the mud, pulled his feet out and got on the boat, followed the rope to the center of the river, and sent another rope with a lead weight hanging from it into the water. He measured the depth and said, "It's six feet deep."
Niu Chenshi quickly wrote down the data.
The book in his hand was already filled with thousands of hydrological data, all of which were personally measured by Hai Rui with a pole and rope...
Zhao Hao ordered someone to row the boat over and saluted Hai Rui with a smile.
"You're finally back." Hai Rui saw him and said unhappily, "If I don't urge you, do you plan to spend the New Year in the Li Dynasty?"
"That's not the case. I've been so nervous for half a year, so I'll go abroad to relax." Zhao Hao smiled awkwardly and didn't want to say more. I couldn't tell Hai Rui that I was going to win glory for my country and attack the Japanese pirates' lair, right?
The two boats were close together. Zhao Hao helped Hai Rui to his boat and joked, "Is the Minister in a hurry to call me back to drink the full moon wine for your son?"
"I'll definitely give you a good beating." Hai Rui's old face flushed, but he couldn't hide his joy. He had a son last month, which was a great joy to have in his old age. He was overjoyed. So he whispered to Zhao Hao, "Thank you very much."
"You're welcome. It's all thanks to Doctor Li. I didn't help much." Mr. Zhao said modestly. Hey, why do I feel something is weird?
Fortunately, Hai Rui's mind was not as dirty as his, and he did not realize the misunderstanding in his words. He sat down by the boat, took off his muddy official boots, and changed into the cloth shoes handed to him by Hai An.
In fact, his pants and the hem of his robe were all covered in mud. It was no use just changing his shoes.
Looking at the back of Hai Rui's hands, there were bloody cuts all over from the cold, and his ears and mouth were all chapped. His face was originally dark, and the cold wind blew a layer of bronze rust on it. It's more like he was an old boatman, but how could he have the demeanor of the world's top frontier official?
"What is Zhongcheng doing?" Zhao Hao quickly asked Secretary Ma to get the skin care oil he used and handed him a bottle.
"What is this?" Hai Rui looked at the exquisite little porcelain bottle.
"It's for skin care. Apply it on your face to prevent chapping. I've been drifting on the sea for several months, but I'm not like you." Zhao Hao said as he demonstrated how to apply skin care products. "We have to be worthy of this face, Zhongcheng."
"No, it's not proper for a gentleman to put on makeup." Hai Rui felt a chill when he saw him rubbing oil on his face.
"Love or not." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes, his kindness taken for granted. "What is the Minister doing here, coming here to survey the land?"
"Bullshit!" Hai Rui glared at him and said, "The ten prefectures in Yingtian have already completed the survey. I am just measuring the water conditions in this area!"
"What are you measuring the water conditions for?" Zhao Hao put his hands into his sleeves. The wind in Jiangnan in December was as sharp as a bone-piercing wind. I really don't know how Hai Gong persisted.
"Water control." Hai Rui rolled his eyes at him, and asked him knowingly, "Don't you know about the floods in Suzhou and Songjiang this year? Just because your father's county is not flooded, you can't ignore other counties, right?"
"Oh, it's about water management." Zhao Hao asked, exhaling white air, "Are the people below on strike? Why do we need the governor to personally conduct on-site measurements?"
"Strike? They wouldn't dare to do that even if they had the guts." Hai Rui sneered and said, "I just didn't use them."
"Why not?" Zhao Hao asked puzzledly.
"My boy, remember this: you must personally control the floods!" Hai Rui rolled his eyes at him and said in a deep voice:
"Governing floods is like leading troops to war. We cannot be stubborn, inflexible, or stick to ancient rules and regulations. We cannot just believe what others say. The reason is that the terrain is high and low, the water flows slowly and quickly, shallow and deep, and the river is curved and straight. Without personal observation and measurement, we cannot understand its true situation. Without visiting and understanding, we cannot thoroughly understand the situation."
"If you don't know what's going on, others will fool you, and you'll end up losing thousands or even tens of thousands of taels of silver, or even losing everything. Compared to these serious consequences, what's the point of working a little harder?"
"Okay, I understand." Zhao Hao quickly followed his instructions.
At work, he and Hai Gong have two completely different styles. Hai Rui is personally involved in every detail, and he delegates authority fully and only cares about results.
There is no difference between the two styles, only whether they are suitable. Hai Rui is the same type as Emperor Taizu, fierce and capable! It is not a problem for him to handle all the affairs of state. He can manage the overall situation by himself, so there is no need to delegate power.
For an ordinary person like Zhao Hao who has limited energy and is lazy, of course he can only establish a good system to motivate and restrain people and get others to do the work for him.
~~
The two men called up County Magistrate Zhang, whose nose was frozen and running, and went on the boat where Niu Chenshi was.
The boat had a cabin with a charcoal brazier inside and a copper kettle hanging above the brazier, so people could warm themselves by the fire and drink tea.
The four of them sat around the charcoal brazier, warming themselves by the fire and talking.
"This year's flood was too severe. It destroyed city walls, flooded farmhouses, and drowned countless people and animals. More than one million people in the ten prefectures of Yingtian were affected, and half of the crops were lost." Hai Rui said with great sorrow: "Fortunately, the disaster relief was delivered in time, and we finally survived."
Hai Rui said it calmly, but Niu Chenshi and Zhang Zhixian knew that it was extremely difficult for Lord Zhongcheng to carry out disaster relief work over the past six months.
Needless to say, Hai Rui was not afraid of the hardships and fatigue involved. But the problem was that the government's ability to directly provide disaster relief was actually very limited in those days. Even a governor had to rely on the wealthy and powerful families, gentry and landlords to donate money and materials and mobilize the people.
If these people don't cooperate, the government will be unable to handle the situation and the people can only watch helplessly... This is the tragedy of small governments and the tragedy of ordinary people.
Hai Rui previously cleaned up illegal occupation of land, implemented the "One Whip Law", tried old cases, and cracked down on local tyrants and evil gentry. He did everything with great authority and from beginning to end, which naturally offended the big landlords in Jiangnan.
Although the big landlords did not have the courage to retaliate, they took the opportunity to practice non-violent non-cooperation and put Hai Rui in a bad light...