C40

Time ran by in all parts of Zhang Zhou, busy with all kinds of things. It was almost October. More and more participants were entering Hezhou through various channels.

A five-foot-long boat was sailing towards Hezhou after the capital's pier had finished resupplying it. The shape of the boat is different from that of the passenger and cargo ships. According to their purpose, the boat was a private yacht. It was smooth and comfortable, with a broad bottom and no large sail. Its speed was extremely slow and it was not suitable for long distances. In the river basin, from the prefecture to the capital, the difference in water potential was too great. This sort of boat was inconvenient to use, so it was extremely rare.

According to the conditions of the river, a five-meter long ship was already the largest ship. Using this kind of equipment that could let the rich and wealthy of Jiangnan play around with was not something that ordinary people could play with.

The boat was on the second floor and the decorations were quite exquisite. It was carved and decorated elegantly, appearing luxurious. There was a flag hung in front of the building, and the word "Wu Yu" was written in black ink on a red background.

At the bottom of the boat, there were twelve large oars. They were all moving in an orderly manner, and their speed was not slow at all. This kind of operation was rare even in the Southern City that was filled with boats and boats.

On the second floor, besides the servants and followers scattered all around, there were six or seven people sitting around a table, talking and laughing. Two of them were women, and there were men of both ages. The one sitting at the head of the table was a luxuriously dressed old man. His bearing was extremely refined and extraordinary; this table of people clearly had him in the center.

"Duke Ming, I really didn't expect that you would come to this remote place!"

The old man called Elder Ming smiled and said, "This old man once used twenty years of time to travel the world. This old man once used to travel the world, and this Hezhou was also called Elder Ming, he used to travel the world.

The middle-aged man then continued, "This junior has read Duke Ming's travel notes of the Great Tang Dynasty many times, and feels that the artistic conception is so far away, that it is indeed a great blessing to have such a wise man in the literary world, I presume there will be a good story on this trip to Hezhou, and I hope that you can give it to me to read it as soon as possible, to help me understand my thirst!"

"Ziyuan is joking!" You and the two Jiaxi brothers have long been famous in the Southland. You don't have to be humble! I also heard that there was a wonderful event of Miss Lu from Suzhou cherishing the talents of both of you brothers, and it was difficult to forget one of them! "

"Haha, please excuse me, but how many of the talented students in the ten prefectures imitated your elegant and unrestrained style from back then!"

A beautiful twenty-something year old lady stood up to pour some wine for Duke Ming. She smiled sweetly and said, "My master has been through a lot of trouble in his life!"

Everyone on the seats laughed, except for a fifteen to sixteen year old pretty girl. She let out an extremely dissatisfied snort, and was extremely disdainful towards her father's new concubine.

A young student on the side secretly stuck out his tongue at the little girl and then said to the old man, "Father, I heard that a lot of famous people came this time, and some of the old officials of the imperial court who had left were also going to participate. When we were at the pier just now, I saw the people of the Chen Prefecture's You Family and the Gan Prefecture's Mo Clan. There are also a few boat boats, I wonder whose family they are from. "

The old man had a look of disdain on his face as he lightly said, "Some people lose their scholarly character as soon as they enter the government. They can only dress up the scene!"

The young man chuckled and didn't dare to speak anymore!

… ….

At the bow of the boat, two young men were standing at the front and back of the boat. They were sitting on the boat with a long piece of wolftail grass in their mouths, lazily looking at the river. They were pulling something in their hands and throwing it into the water from time to time. The young man who was sitting, after throwing out the leftovers from his hands, clapped his hands and took out the wolftail grass in his mouth. He twirled it around his fingertips and said lightly, "This Hezhou! "Even though it's quite remote from the outside world, it's much easier to breathe. I wonder if the people and events here will be boring!"

The man behind him did not take his eyes off the changes in the scenery as he said in a clear voice, "Brother Fang Cheng, why do you need to be so pessimistic? Look at this He Zhou, isn't this a place where talents can be displayed? "How can you describe it as remote when it's He Zhou Lie who can produce such carefree and joyful products!"

"I see that you, Mei Changqing, have gone silly from your studies. The world is as dark as a crow. Could it be that this Hezhou is a paradise?"

Mei Changqing did not answer, but read aloud, "The heavens will make me useful! "What a great saying, 'The heavens give birth to me, I am bound to be useful!'"

As for Lu Fang Cheng, he listened to the poem that echoed on the surface of the river and was completely lost in thought!

"Are you really planning to give up the exam?"

Lu Fang Cheng's thoughts were pulled back by Mei Changqing's question and he did not deny it. Instead, he asked, "What about you?"

"Let's see!" I don't think it's appropriate for me to take the exam and become an official! Besides, he didn't have to be an official to do anything! This time, I must meet the person who wrote this poem in Hezhou. If it really is a character, then there's no harm for me, Mei Changqing, to lead the horse and fall for him! "

Lu Fang Cheng did not attack him, but said with a hint of self-mockery, "I seem to be even more unsuited to be an official than you!"

… ….

On the official road, three horses were panting, and the three people leading them were completely worn out. At the very end, there was a child who looked like a errand boy as he yelled, "Young Master, are we done with resting? I'm almost at my limit! "

A tall and wide man in the middle said with dissatisfaction, "Little bookshelf, didn't you already agree to let young master rest his horse?"

"F * ck off, you thick-skinned Fourth Brother Li. If you don't let me ride, I'll just rest my horse!" People don't have to rest? Young master, can I take a break? The days come and go! "

The young man leading the horse turned around and looked at the errand boy. He smiled and said, "What did you say when I didn't let you come with me?" All along the way, you get hungry, sleepy, and tired fast! If you can't hold on any longer, you can go back! "

"Young master, we've already walked almost two thousand miles. How do you want me to go back?" I've followed you so hard, how can you be so heartless! "

After he had finished bawling, the young master seemed to be extremely afraid of him crying as he shook his head and sighed, "Take a rest, take a rest. I think you are the young master!"

When the boy heard this, his tears turned into laughter as he cried out loudly.

"Chen Huaijin from Su Prefecture is the best young master in the world!"

… ….

Early in the preparations for the beauty contest, Zhang Zhou decided to set up a registration office in each state. Such an action had never been seen before in any of the similar gatherings in the Tang Dynasty. In the past, there had always been a meeting somewhere, and all the actions and expenses before the meeting began were for the individual. As for the long journey and lack of money, no one cared about them. This greatly reduced the influence of the gathering! Especially in this era of transportation, not everyone had the ability to travel when they wanted to! At first, Zhang Zhou's decision was rejected by many people. Not only were the expenses huge, it was also troublesome to carry out his decision. However, Zhang Zhou's decision was confirmed by a single blow of his hammer! Even if they disagreed, they still had to abide by the rules! Those who dared to be negative were dealt with harshly!

Of course, everything really started from zero. It was indeed time-consuming, time-consuming, and expensive. Furthermore, they were not familiar with each other, and their credibility was not high enough, making it difficult for them to carry out their tasks!

Therefore, Zhang Zhou asked for Cao Yi's help, and the state's yamen for criminal arrest appeared, and set up an registration office. Due to transportation reasons, it did not include every part of the country, and in the 33 states of Tang Dynasty, 309 counties, the hundred prefectures and counties with a relatively concentrated population were selected to carry out the preparations. First, he was responsible for publicizing and punishing the yamen's mission. After all, the yamen's public trust was much greater than that of the Shang family! Second, he was responsible for escorting the registration personnel. According to their respective conditions and distance, after calculating the route, they would have to be escorted by a group of torturers. Whether it was hiring a boat, renting a horse, or spending money on lodging, all of it would be borne by the Nine Prefectures' business. When they reached a place where the Nine Prefectures' caravan was stationed, the Nine Prefectures' business would take over.

The first was to expand the publicity and increase the brand influence of the Nine Prefectures' businesses on a large scale! This intangible brand asset is not recognized by the current people! The second benefit was that he had established a cooperative relationship with the yamen authorities, letting them know that there was a close relationship between the upper echelons of the Nine Prefectures' business and the Ministry of Justice. This would lay a foundation for future business development and eliminate many potential troubles! The third benefit was that the safety of all participants was guaranteed, giving many civilian women the opportunity to participate. This not only allowed more commoners to understand the business of the Nine Prefectures! They would even provide the Nine Prefectures with more talents to recruit! This time, there was also a prize for the Hezhou beauty contest. There would be five beauties hired in each state. As the business spokesmen of the Nine Prefectures, they would be able to sign a long term and well-paid contract after receiving their training. Of course, the principle would be voluntary. Just think about it, what kind of talent would a pretty girl with the guts to travel thousands of miles to participate in a competition and undergo training? As for whether or not there would be any deeper benefits, Zhang Zhou had no idea. In short, doing so would make Zhang Zhou feel that it was worth it!

In the end, he calculated the expenses that had to be paid and found them. The figure was astonishing, as it was a total of 500,000 silver taels. As for the other details, even though the expenses seemed random, it was all to pave the way for the Nine Prefectures' business expansion into the entire country!

There was no such treatment for participants in the Poetry Wine Meet, but having poems with wine and beauties was enough to make countless scholars and rich playboys scramble to be the first to rush to Hezhou.

When Wu Yu's boat was two miles away from the dock, it was stopped by a small boat. Someone politely informed the boat that it needed to stop here for a moment to receive the notice.

Wu Yu, unable to understand what was happening, climbed up onto the deck in curiosity. He couldn't help but be startled. On the wide river, various boats were shuttling back and forth. They were as busy as the water transportation of the Southern Ten Prefectures. Not far away, on the shore of a tall turret, someone was using several colors of the flag to draw something from time to time! The person blocking the boat seemed to be waiting for the signal from the turret. As expected, the man on the corner tower held the flag with both hands and gestured a few times at the small boat. The man on the boat used the green flag to draw a circle and then informed Yu Daming politely that they could continue on their way. Then, let them pass and wait for the next ship!

There were many flags on the wide wharf. The pedestrians seemed orderly. Four cargo wharves and four passenger wharves lined up on the riverbank in a formation. There were numbers on each wharf. The pier was slightly wider than the others. A five-meter-long passenger ship was slowly leaving, but it didn't affect Yu Daming's boat as it docked. The people on the boat clearly saw that after the ship had left, some of the trash on the spacious and flat pier had been quickly cleaned up. The garbage was picked up and put into the bag instead of thrown into the water. The dockworkers wore a uniform of black with a striking yellow waistcoat, and the foreman in command wore a red cuff on his arm. They called each other 'peace' and cooperated skillfully. These people were all experienced people, and they couldn't help but restrain their arrogance.

Not long after they had set foot on the dock, they discovered that their boat had also slowly left the dock. For some unknown reason, a child with a red ribbon across his chest ran up to them and gave them a salute before explaining: Not far from the pier in Hezhou, there is an extremely safe haven where all the ships must stop. If you want to use the boat, just say hello in advance. Following that, the child politely made a gesture of invitation before continuing to lead the way.

Other than politely informing the people on the dock about the rules and regulations, the crowd would take the initiative to introduce themselves and explain the situation to everyone.

"That's the cargo storage area. Those few buildings are for the guests to rest in."

"That is the trading market, and many transactions can be completed here. It saves the trouble of customers entering the city!"

"Hehe, Young Master, you've guessed wrong. Those houses are not for living. They are specially made for the guests at the pier to come to an emergency place. There is a newly invented flush treatment and there is even someone to take care of them. They are very clean!"

Song Ziyuan was slightly embarrassed after guessing the usage of the item, but no one mocked him either. It was because almost everyone in the crowd had guessed it wrong. These people from the upper echelons of the Southern City suddenly felt that they were ill-informed.

"Ahead of us is the place where we can enter the prefecture city!" Under the boy's guidance, everyone became even more speechless when they saw the rows of brand-new, grand, and innovative four-wheeled carriages! Zhang Zhou imitated Xi Yang's carriage style and manufactured a tourist car!)

"These carriages are all free of charge. All you have to do is queue up to get on the carriage and leave when the people are full. If they are together, inform them in advance and the person in charge of supervising the carriage will arrange it in a reasonable manner."

Apparently, the child was in charge of leading the way, thus it ended here. Yu Daming's son, Yu Shaofu, took out a small silver ingot and stuffed it into the boy's hands. The child politely accepted it, thanked him, and left to welcome the next group of people.

The group was arranged to sit in the same carriage, four rows of seats, and they didn't feel crowded. The simple and spacious car lids could block the sun's rays, but could not obstruct the viewing of the scenery. The coachman sitting in the middle of the carriage was a young man with agile movements. His manner was polite and polite, and his posture was generous. Behind him was a thick and neat cloak. He seemed very confident.

The road was spacious and smooth, and it was obvious that the carriage had gone through strict paving techniques. There was no dust to be seen from the passing of the carriage. A white line was drawn in the middle, separating the left and right sides of the road. All the vehicles that entered the city took the right side, and from time to time the road intersected cars that headed for the pier. The grooms would greet each other, and the atmosphere would be harmonious, but there would be no loud greetings, and the guests would not be affected. The seats were also designed to be of a high and low height, making them extremely comfortable to sit on. No one knew what special method the carriage had used, and it was rare for it to feel stiff and bumpy.

From time to time, teams of patrolling torturers could be seen. Not only were their uniforms, but they also had a new set of equipment. Even the color of their horses was the same. Each and every one of them looked serious and brave. Hezhou was the first. With the sponsorship of Zhang Zhou, they were able to unify the criminal detention center. However, Zhang Zhou would not reveal his true strength when it came to the material he was made of!

The coachman clearly informed that there would be a teahouse ahead. It was the only place on the way to the city where the carriage would stop for the guests to rest. If they missed it, they would have to stay in the city.

The horse carriage had a leaky water tank and drinking utensils, and declared that they would be changed once in the journey. After being ironed out, they were allowed to use them again. It was very clean and clean. Everyone had water to drink, and since they were in high spirits, they did not feel tired. Thus, they chose to continue forward.

As they got closer to the city gates, they found it a little congested. The coachman politely asked about the identities of the people and then got off the carriage to go to the registration office. After a while, he came back with a red token in his hand. He didn't continue to line up but drove the carriage out of the main road and entered the city through the side door.

Wu Yu was very knowledgeable and had to admit that he was extremely shocked today! Outside of the shop, there were all sorts of neatly arranged flowers, all sorts of slogans. At each corner of the street, there were two criminal arrests, as well as two state patrolling soldiers. Other than the capital, Yu Daming had never seen such a standard and upright guard.

Wu Daoming naturally didn't know how many times Zhang Zhou had pointed out to Fei Zi, the head of yamen, and the head of the Regional Army, and how many times he had scolded them. Zhang Zhou had personally explained, demonstrated, and guided them! The execution of the punishment was still better, and for this reason, the Flying Dole had punished more than twenty of his men who did not execute the punishment seriously. (TL: Chinese idiom "the sentence of the yamen" means that the punishment is better than the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the execution of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the punishment of the people. Most of the Regional Army soldiers did not pass, so Zhang Zhou managed to clean up a large number of them! Initially, he had soothed the general's discontent. After he had walked around the city once, he pulled back the wrongdoers without a word. Each person was to be sentenced to an additional 40 military sticks!

The rules were strict, and the income was high. Just the coachman alone had a monthly income of nearly 20 silver! Not to mention these civil servants with proper statuses. If this news were to spread out, who knew how many colleagues would rush to Hezhou to snatch the job!

The coachman repeatedly confirmed the location of the signboard and drove to the entrance of a newly renovated alley on the courtyard wall. There was already someone waiting at the entrance of the alley, so he exchanged a few words with the coachman who got off the carriage. On the coachman's red handplate, he pressed a small object to make a mark and the coachman happily returned to inform Yu Daming that they had arrived.

Even until now, Wu Dazhi still didn't understand the situation. He heard the butler respectfully say, "Fengming Prefecture's Master Yu, the Nine Prefectures' Business has already prepared a temporary residence for you. Because the He Zhou prefecture's side is small, you are unable to arrange it properly. "Please come in."

It was an ordinary courtyard, neat and tidy.

"If old master Wu Yu needs anything, feel free to let me know!"

Wu Yu Da Ming scrutinized the courtyard that wasn't considered spacious for his identity and suddenly asked.

"How many people are coming from Hezhou this time?"

The manager answered with a smile.

"Not counting the inns, there are a total of two thousand houses in the city for this year's competition. These kinds of courtyards are specially prepared for important figures like you."

Wu Yu, on the other hand, couldn't help but feel proud of himself. Thinking about it, the preparation for the Hezhou Meet was indeed shocking, but after all, he did not have enough knowledge and did not have so many residences. Not only was it a waste, it was also a shock to the citizens. As a matter of fact, it was the common people who had suffered losses. Seeing Wu Dazhi finally ask the question, Wu Yu said somewhat playfully, "2000 households? "A bit …!"

The steward seemed to misunderstand as he continued, "Lord Wu Yu said that preparations were indeed insufficient this time. He neglected the many guests who came to He Prefecture. Those who don't have a place to stay can only temporarily stay in the homes of the commoners!"

"What?" You mean there aren't enough residences? " Wu Yu was stunned.

"Right now, about seventy to eighty percent of the accommodations within the city are already filled. Right now, I estimate that there are still three to four thousand people who will be entering the city before the convention begins. The accommodation arrangements are indeed not enough!"

Wu Yu was completely shocked. How many people had come?

As for how many people had arrived, Zhang Zhou didn't get any detailed statistics. At this moment, he was in the middle of a discussion with Tang Wenxuan and Li Shuting.

Tang Wenxuan looked at the list of the important people who had already entered the city!

"A big party, a big party!" The scale of the exam had already surpassed the one held every three years in the capital! Book Pavilion, take a look. Almost everyone has arrived at this prestigious literary world! "

Li Shuting was more complicated in his heart than Tang Wenxuan, but he covered it up extremely well! He was very clear on how much Zhang Zhou had paid for all of this! Zhang Zhou had spent a total of two hundred thousand silver taels to invite these people out. At the same time, he sighed in his heart and felt that it was laughable that he had thought of such a ridiculous idea in the past! Deep in gratitude for Zhang Zhou's efforts, he smiled and said: "If nothing goes wrong, then this gathering will definitely leave behind a mark in the history of the literary world."

"The bookstore is right!" Tang Wenxuan expressed his agreement and then laughed as he looked at Zhang Zhou. "Zhang Zhou!" "You have to promise not to let this problem go!"

Zhang Zhou answered with a smile, "Sir, for your old Hezhou, I am duty-bound!"

"That's good. When Master Cao was about to leave, he said that you are an extremely capable person. I have wronged you, my lord! Don't worry, as long as this matter is safe, I will definitely not treat you unfairly! I'll make sure you go one step further! "

Normally speaking, Zhang Zhou's ascension platform had only one direction, and that was the capital's torture camp. In the torture camp, many years of experience were needed to accumulate meritorious services to a certain extent. Only then would they have the opportunity to be released to serve in the local torture camp, where they would then slowly accumulate the qualifications to do so. Ability, luck, and capital were all indispensable. Only then would one be able to sit in the same position as Cao Yi. However, in the last year, ever since the incident with the King of the Great North River, Zhang Zhou had almost never seriously taken the job. Not to mention that he had never been involved in any major cases, even in cases where he had never been involved in any major cases, so where did the achievements come from? The only thing that could be listed was that after taking office, the security situation in the prefectural city of Hezhou had greatly improved.

However, there were always exceptions. The other method of promotion was recommended by the Prefectural Yamen. It was a cross-border appointment for talents with special contributions. However, this system only had one spot a year in each prefecture, and it was often fruitless due to conflicts of interest. Today, Tang Wenxuan had promised that he would show his respect and appreciation to Zhang Zhou.

After Zhang Zhou thanked Tang Wenxuan for his guidance, he took out the newly printed table and handed it over to the two people. The rough arrangements were as follows: On the first day of the three days of the poetry party, a few esteemed literary figures lectured from four academies, focusing on explaining the scriptures. Then, let the younger generation come up with their own opinions and debate. Finally, the four of them would each evaluate an outstanding younger generation as a arena master to encourage them! The next day, a group of eighty people gathered at the North Market of the city. Each person would have a bowl of wine, a poem, and a total of ten people from each group. These people would drink a second bowl of wine, and from the second poem, eighty people would be selected. This song and dance performance was also the beginning of the preliminaries for the beauty contest. The entire city was divided into eight districts and was held simultaneously. On the third day, the first 80 to 20, then 20 to 8, and finally all of the contestants were to use their name scrolls to announce the top three contestants and determine the leader of the contestants. What was interesting was that the participants in the beauty contest also had one vote, so they could participate! They could be considered to be linked together, complementing each other!

The chief's name was 10,000 silver, and he received 10,000 books of poems, giving the title of number one in Hezhou Poetry Wine! This title was bestowed upon him by the government and yamen of Hezhou Prefecture. In addition, he would become the spokesperson for He Zhou Lie.

Tang Wenxuan finally smiled and said to Zhang Zhou, "Zhang Zhou, where did all these thoughts come from? A scholar and a beauty, the two of them complemented each other. How wonderful! I don't have anything else I can help you with right now, but I can give you a small suggestion! Actually, you can ask the Empress to bestow upon you the title of the most beautiful woman in Zhe Xiang.

Zhang Zhou was surprised for a moment, then praised, "Why didn't I think of that?"