Chapter 418 Meeting an Old Friend
Chapter 418 Meeting an Old Friend
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and asked, "Then according to Lord Gao's idea, how should we expand the Shanyang Canal and dredge the Jiangnan Canal?"
Gao Jiong pointed to both banks of the canal and said, "Your Highness, please look. There are houses on both the east and west banks of the canal. How should we dredge it? We must demolish one side. Obviously, there are very few people on the west bank. Then we can move the people on the west bank to the east bank, and the west bank will be empty.
Fortunately, Shanyang Du had just been dredged, and there were hardly any people on the west bank, so it was easier to dredge. If the west bank was widened by three meters, it would be the same as Tongji Canal. This section of Shanyang Du is the easiest to complete, and I estimate it will be completed by next spring."
"So fast?"
“Totally possible!”
Gao Ying stroked his beard and smiled slightly, "The previous dredging laid a good foundation. The canal banks have been cleared. There won't be any trouble in the early stages, so the later stages will be easy. Five months will be enough."
After a pause, Gao Jiong continued, "But dredging the Jiangnan River is a tough nut to crack. A large number of households on both sides of the river will be demolished, which may lead to civil unrest, so we must be extremely cautious."
"What should we do specifically?" Xiao Xia asked.
"It's very simple, just like launching a campaign. Before the troops move, the food and grass must be sent first. Then, a plan is made and a proposal is made. On the one hand, it must be implemented strictly according to the plan. On the other hand, it is necessary to listen to the opinions of the people and constantly revise and improve the plan. The people who have suffered losses must be compensated in a timely manner. More importantly, officials must be managed well and iron-fisted. We must not let the projects that benefit the people turn into projects that harm the people."
Xiao Xia nodded, "Mr. Gao is the governor and has extensive experience. I'll ask you to formulate the plan and I'll order all the officials to fully cooperate with you."
Gao Jiong said happily: "I will do my best to get things done!"
In the next two days, more than a dozen officials from the former Liangzhou General Administration Office, including Zhou Mo, Zhao Guangcai, Jiang Xingyun and others, came to report one after another, and the framework of the Henan Dao General Administration Office was quickly completed.
Xiao Xia arranged official residences for all officials in Jiangdu County, and also gave them resettlement subsidies of fifty to one hundred strings of cash so that they could move their families there.
In the afternoon, Xiao Xia met with Yuan Min, the governor of Jiangdu County. Yuan Min and Xiao Xia were old friends. Yuan Min's promotion was also very rapid. He was transferred to Jiangdu County as a county lieutenant in the second year of Renshou. In just five years, he jumped three levels and became the governor of Jiangdu.
Yuan Min had gone back to Beijing to report on his work. He came back at noon and immediately came to pay his respects to His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin.
Xiao Xia smiled and asked him to sit down, saying, "I am very happy to see an old friend."
Yuan Min clasped his fists and smiled bitterly, "Your Highness knows me inside out. With my level, I am not qualified to be the governor of Jiangdu County. I rely entirely on the support of my family. If I do something wrong in the future, Your Highness must remind me in time. I did not do it on purpose. It is because of my lack of talent and learning!"
Although Yuan Min was a villain back then, Xiao Xia had always had a good impression of him. Because of his honesty and good attitude, Xiao Xia nodded and said with a smile: "I have always liked Envoy Yuan's honesty. Qualifications and the like are secondary to me. The key is attitude. If someone is hypocritical and disobeys me, I will never tolerate it, even if he is extremely talented."
"I will fully cooperate with Your Highness!"
Xiao Xia asked again, "Will Envoy Yuan report to Chang'an or Luoyang?"
"Yes, I went to Luoyang. The emperor and all the officials have already arrived in Luoyang, but the situation has not yet fully started. I just reported to the court. In fact, my father asked me to go to Luoyang. One reason was to move the capital, and the other was that His Highness took office. My father was worried and wanted to understand the situation. I also visited my parents by the way, and my father also said hello to His Highness."
Yuan Min's father was Yuan Shou, the general of the Right Guard. Yuan Xiong, who had provoked Xiao Xia with Dou Dexuan in Chang'an and was slashed in the buttocks by Xiao Xia, was Yuan Shou's grandson and the son of Yuan Min's eldest brother.
"Has your father also arrived in Luoyang?"
Yuan Min nodded, "They all went. Although the Guanlong nobles were reluctant to go to Luoyang, they had no choice but to go. They also bought new houses in Luoyang. When I went there, they were just moving. Luoyang was in chaos." Xiao Xia said slowly, "I also just set up the Jiangnan Dao General Administration Office. A new official has three fires when he takes office, and I am no exception. But I will not target anyone to settle old grudges. As long as you cooperate with me honestly, everyone will get along well."
"Your Highness, please give me any instructions. I will fully cooperate with you."
"I do have something to talk to you about, but it's not me who's looking for you. It's my chief of government affairs, Gao Jiong, who wants to talk to Envoy Yuan. They have a mission that requires the cooperation of Jiangdu County."
Yuan Min was startled. When did Gao Jiong become the chief of government affairs in the General Administration Office? He quickly stood up and said, "I will go find Prime Minister Gao now."
"He is no longer the prime minister. You can call him Gao Changshi, Gao Lingjun, or like me, you can respectfully address him as Gao Gong. I suggest you bring Jiangdu County Changshi with you to visit Gao Gong. He doesn't want to chat with you like I do. He wants to do practical things!"
"I understand. I will go back to the government office to prepare and visit Lord Gao tomorrow!"
Xiao Xia nodded, "That's what I mean!"
Yuan Min took his leave. Xiao Xia took two steps with his hands behind his back and pulled the rope on the wall. Du Ruhui appeared in front of Xiao Xia, "Your Highness, please give your orders!"
"Go find Gao Jiong and Liu Wenjing, and also find Zhang Yunqiu."
Du Ruhui left in a hurry, and soon Gao Jiong, Liu Wenjing and Zhang Yunqiu arrived one after another.
Dredging the canal was the first major thing Xiao Xia had to do at the moment. He set up a canal excavation office, with Gao Jiong as the director, Liu Wenjing and Zhang Yunqiu as deputy directors.
Xiao Xia asked the three of them to sit down and asked, "How is the plan going?"
Gao Jiong bowed and said, "Your Highness, the general outline has been drawn up, but the details are slow. I have sent three teams to investigate the canal excavation along the way. It is estimated that it will take a month to draw up the details. In addition, we still have a lot of shortcomings."
"Just let me know if you need anything and I'll arrange it."
"We are currently drafting a list. First of all, we are short of people. We have discussed borrowing military officers from the army first, and then organizing an examination as soon as possible to select a group of young officials from scholars from all over Jiangnan."
Xiao Xia is also short of staff at the moment. He had previously recruited more than twenty aides in Liang County. However, when he went to take up the post in Hexi, many of them were unwilling to go and more than half of them resigned, including Pei Kun, the second-level aide who had followed him for two years.
Xiao Xia nodded, "I agree to recruit. We need to post the recruitment notice as soon as possible. It will take time for scholars to travel. There are also some things that can be done in advance. I just met with Yuan Min, the governor of Jiangdu. Tomorrow Yuan Min will bring the chief secretary to visit Lord Gao. If you have any requests, you can raise them with them. For example, we must first clear the assets and verify the money and grain properties of each county. We are the Jiangnan Dao Transportation Commissioner, so should all the money and grain be handed over to us?"
Liu Wenjing said: "The liquidation of property and verification of capital is indeed the first major thing we need to do. We will notify each county to submit a report. Now please, Your Highness, allocate us an army. We now need to send people to each county to post notices and deliver letters. We don't have anyone, so it's very troublesome."
Xiao Xia thought for a moment and said, "I will send You Junda to you and let him lead 3,000 cavalrymen to obey your orders at any time. I estimate that you will also need a group of supervisors. Zhang Liang has an intelligence agency with more than a hundred intelligence scouts. I will transfer this intelligence agency to the Supervisory Department to conduct open and secret investigations. They are just right for conducting secret investigations. Then I will allocate 100,000 strings of money and 30,000 stones of grain from the army to you. I believe you will feel more relaxed."
The three of them breathed a sigh of relief. They had been extremely busy these past two days with a lot of things to do. Due to lack of manpower, they had to do many things themselves. Now that they had people and money in mind, many things became easier to do.
(End of this chapter)