Qing Yao

Chapter 188 The Old Master is Displeased
The situation was entirely under Zhao An's control.

The governor, who was inexplicably presented with a "ten thousand people's umbrella" by the gentry and common people of Yangzhou, was overjoyed. That very day, he summoned the prefect of Yangzhou to inquire about the water conservancy projects in Ganquan County that were intended to benefit the people.

Upon learning that Magistrate Ding of Ganquan County, representing Yangzhou, had gone to Huai'an to negotiate with the Grand Canal Transport Office regarding the canal workers' affairs, the Governor attached great importance to the matter. In order to resolve the impact of the canal's shutdown on north-south trade as soon as possible, and to further reduce the risk of unrest among the canal workers, the Governor instructed Yangzhou to fully support Ganquan County's "mediation" efforts.

Specifically, Yangzhou Prefecture raised 8,000 taels of silver, and the province allocated 10,000 taels as special funds for "mediation".

Finally, he instructed the Yangzhou prefect to write a formal report on the water conservancy project in Ganquan County and submit it to the province, which would then allocate a certain amount of funding for the project.

On that day, the governor added the name of Ding Chengen, the magistrate of Ganquan County, to his "Records of Good Officials" which was used to examine officials throughout the province, and wrote an eight-character note: "Capable and honest, worthy of great use."

In Huai'an, Lao Ding didn't make much progress at first.

Because the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner Guan Ganzhen was completely unaware of the specific situation, he was thoroughly deceived by Wu Wenyun, the Canal Transport Councilor.

Wu Wenyun was also caught in a dilemma by the Yangzhou branch of the Grand Canal Gang. He and Wen Qing, the deputy commander of the Grand Canal, secretly mobilized troops twice behind the back of the governor to try to "open up" the Grand Canal, but they were repelled both times by the united canal workers.

Since several officers and soldiers of the canal patrol had died, the matter could no longer be kept secret.

However, when reporting to the governor, Wu Wenyun still insisted that the canal gangs were deliberately paralyzing the canal to extort money and cause trouble. He also said that the gangs dared to gather people to oppose the government and soldiers, which showed signs of rebellion. If they were not decisively eliminated and their leaders arrested, they would become a major threat to the court in the future.

He made no mention of the fact that the trouble caused by the Yangzhou branch of the Canal Gang was because Wu, the councilor, had made excessive demands.

Regardless of whether the canal was deliberately cut off by the canal gangs, it is true that the canal workers gathered and caused the deaths of several government soldiers.

When Guan Ganzhen, the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, was serving as an Imperial Censor, he was fearless in the face of important Manchu and Han officials. How could he be coerced by unruly people today? Moreover, his subordinates were blindly deceiving him, which led the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner to make a wrong judgment on the situation and actually sent a letter to the Jiangsu local garrison requesting that troops be sent to suppress the rebellion.

As a result, Jiangsu Governor Fu Song strictly ordered local garrisons not to obey the orders of the Grand Canal Transport Office, leaving the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, who was eager to suppress the canal workers, without any troops available.

Helpless, Governor Guan had no choice but to write to the court, saying that the canal workers in Yangzhou were mostly lawless criminals who dared to rob passing ships in broad daylight. Today, they had even gathered a crowd to openly confront the government and arbitrarily cut off the "national artery." If they were not severely punished, it would only embolden the lawless criminals.

The Governor-General's memorial and the Jiangsu Governor's memorial arrived in the capital one after the other, with the Governor's memorial coming first and the Governor-General's memorial coming later.

There was another memorial in the middle that also mentioned the chaotic state of the canal transport in Yangzhou.

This memorial was submitted by Zhao An, who had just been appointed as the supervisor of the "Baoyi University".

"Baoyi Da" was the accurate title used within the Imperial Household Department for Zhao An, who served as both an educational supervisor and professor at the Imperial School.

Because the Imperial Household Department stipulated that those without official rank were collectively called "Baoyi Xia" (lower-ranking Baoyi), while those serving as officials outside the capital but with low rank were collectively called "Baoyi Da" (higher-ranking Baoyi).

Above the head of the bondservants are the bondservant captains and bondservant lieutenants.

According to the rules of the Imperial Household Department, no matter what official position you, a bondservant, hold outside or what rank you are, you are still under the jurisdiction of the bondservant captain within the Imperial Household Department.

It's like in his previous life, Zhao An was the mayor of a village, but his entire family was still registered in the village. So whatever the village chief said went, and he, as the mayor, had no say in front of the village chief.

A form of disguised slavery.

Of course, in reality, very few village chiefs dare to boss the mayor around.

The same applies within the Imperial Household Department.

If you, a mere bondservant, were to rise to a high-ranking position, whether you're a captain or a lieutenant, everyone would have to defer to you. Rules are rules, but people are cunning.

In particular, the position of Gongzhong Zuoling is not hereditary, so if it really displeases the high-ranking officials within the Zuoling, the Zuoling is very likely to be taken away.

The only possibility that could make Zhao An, a "bondservant leader," completely obey the command of his sergeant was that the Qing Dynasty was on the verge of collapse and the Imperial Household Department's bondservant sergeants were being mobilized.

However, at this point, the "bosses" seem to have more options.

The old man was presented with two completely different "views": one from Governor Fu Song, representing the Jiangsu officialdom, and the other from Zhao Youlu, representing the Jiangsu education sector; and the other from Guan Ganzhen, representing the Grand Canal transport office.

The two sides presented conflicting accounts; who is lying?

What is the true situation of the Yangzhou Canal?
Was it the canal gangs that were wicked and lawless, or the canal transport authorities that were too oppressive?

At this time, the consequences of the interruption of the Grand Canal in Yangzhou were already becoming apparent in the capital. Not only were the New Year's goods from the south that the princes and ministers were waiting for delayed, but the New Year's goods supplied by the Imperial Household Department to the royal family were also stuck in Yangzhou.

Merchants who were planning to make a fortune from New Year's goods were complaining bitterly, but instead of cursing the canal workers, they were cursing the canal transport authorities.

Even Heshen had many grievances against the Grand Canal transport office.

The reason for this is simply that everyone knows the official in charge of the Grand Canal Transport Office has always acted excessively, but no one has ever said anything to the old master.

Now someone has said it.

Zhao Youlu, a "bondservant chief" and a neutral third-party member, severely criticized the Grand Canal Transport Office in his memorial.

"The Grand Canal is a vital part of the national economy, but over the years it has developed numerous drawbacks. The profits from the Grand Canal do not go to the state or the people. Many people have embezzled funds, from high-ranking officials who are corrupt and lawless, to countless layers of bureaucratic loopholes that exploit and plunder, to generations of hereditary boat owners who profit by skimming profits. Many grain transport boat captains have established sects and factions to extort money and cause trouble..."

I have heard that the transport workers have to pay various fees to the grain transport authorities and checkpoints along the route, such as the hardships of traveling by water, crossing the Huai River, and passing through checkpoints. After a single grain transport trip, the transport workers suffer, the grain transport laborers suffer, the common people suffer, but only the officials do not suffer.”

Zhao An's memorial was several thousand words long. Apart from the beginning, which presented a completely neutral view of the impact of the canal's suspension on Yangzhou, the rest of the memorial was entirely Sun Rui's account of the hardships of transporting grain that he had told him last time.

Of course, the illegal activities of the canal gang were also mentioned, which makes the memorial appear more objective.

Heshen had already read this memorial, but the reason he took it to the East Warm Pavilion to read it to the old master alone was because Heshen believed that what the memorial said was very accurate and that there were indeed too many drawbacks to the canal transport system.

The recent canal shutdown in Yangzhou is a manifestation of these problems.

The old master had already heard the memorials from the Jiangsu governor and the Grand Canal transport commissioner. Upon hearing the memorial from "Zhao Youlu," he couldn't help but say, "Heshen, I remember Zhao Youlu was a scholar who obtained his official rank through donation. I specially granted him the title of Jinshi, didn't I?"

Heshen hurriedly replied, "Yes, Your Majesty, that is indeed the case. Zhao Youlu has now been registered as a bondservant in the Imperial Household Department."

The old man said "Oh," and raised his hand: "It's rare for him to have such insight. Convey my decree and tell him to go to Huai'an to see what Guan Ganzhen is doing."

Heshen paused for a moment, then cautiously asked, "Master, Zhao Youlu is a seventh-rank education inspector. In what capacity should he go and take a look?"

"Let him also serve as the Imperial Inspector of the Grain Transport."

The old man was already in poor spirits. He yawned twice and said rather displeasedly, "Tell those people in the canal gang that I said it was me. Is the canal gang trying to control the canal transport affairs?"

(End of this chapter)