Jiangnan has a wealthy and excellent economic foundation. Wherever there is money, it is also a place where literary fortunes are extremely prosperous. The number of scholars in Jiangnan was shocked by other places in the past. Of course, now because of the national education policy implemented by the Ming Dynasty, if children of local age of the Ming Dynasty do not go to school, their parents will be punished. Schools are spread all over the towns and villages of the Ming Dynasty. After more than ten years, Jiangnan is not as good as literacy rates, but when it comes to literacy, Jiangnan is still far ahead.

The natives of the Ming Dynasty studied and applied what they learned was extremely purposeful. After receiving the most basic literacy education, they chose the subjects they would study according to their needs or hobbies. Things like poetry, songs and essays were not popular in the Ming Dynasty. Because unlike the colorful articles and songs in the past, a person could knock on the door to becoming an official. In the Ming Dynasty, if you want to become an official, there is only one way, and you have the ability to do things.

Therefore, these scholars from the Ming Dynasty were naturally looked down upon by scholars in Jiangnan, but in reality, these scholars from Jiangnan who were arrogant and literary and elegant could not match the despicable men they mentioned, because those people are now holding the power of Jiangnan and standing at the center of everyone's sight.

The only thing these frustrated scholars in Jiangnan can do is to raft the rivers, play in the mountains and forests, and write more beautiful articles and poems to vent their dissatisfaction.

The so-called form is better than that of people. When you find that literary talent is not popular under the Ming Dynasty, scholars in Jiangnan are either cynical and lament that they are not appreciated, or they change their courses to learn the practical ways advocated by the Ming Dynasty. Speaking of which, every scholar has a great wish to govern the country and pacify the world, but if you are not appreciated by the court, you can do nothing.

Above Wuhu, a few small boats are floating leisurely. On the bow of the boat, the fisherman wearing a straw raincoat sits alone at the bow, holding a fishing rod in his hand, like a sculpture, and a thin layer of snow has already fallen on his body. For such a lonely boat, the old man with straw straw hat and fishing alone in the snow of the cold river, it is already common for the locals to have a habit of fishing alone. In such a cold season, ordinary people either stay at home to guard the warm kang of their wives and children, or work hard to accumulate more wealth, and fish in the lake with nothing but the only literati who claim to be romantic.

In the past, these people were always the most popular. Everyone envied the uniqueness and style of these people, but now they have become an alien in everyone's eyes. Although Jiangnan has been in the Ming Dynasty for more than two years, the change of concepts is still very fast. There are no more beauties wearing fox furs looking at each other on the lakeshore. Instead, some pedestrians who walked by hurriedly looked at the river, spitting and cursing: "There are no diligent bodies, no grains are divided, and a group of waste."

If Jiangnan returned to the Ming Dynasty, the most disappointing group of scholars was such a group of scholars who had lost too much privilege.

Cao Hui was one of these decadent guys at this moment, sitting on the bow of the boat, staring at the floating and rising buoys on the river with great concentration. He had been in Wuzhou for a long time. Since he discovered the strangeness of the four counties in Jiangnan, he immediately took action to mess up the four counties in Jiangnan, which was his top priority. Now other places in Chu have become increasingly stable under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

The emergence of the steam engine has indeed shocked everyone in the Qi court. Its huge energy and wide application have made people, including the Emperor of Qi, feel a strong crisis. Everyone seems to have seen a future that terrifying them. If Ming Dynasty is allowed to develop like this, I am afraid that the strength comparison between Qi and Ming will be reversed.

In fact, even now, the people in the Qi court still believe that they have a certain advantage in their strength. As long as Qi feels that their domestic problems are solved, a war between the two countries will inevitably break out.

Of course, now is not the time. The Chang'an and Luoyang Incident caused great trauma to Qi State. The complete destruction of the eight great masters of Qi State brought not only political crisis, but also economic storms. We must first stabilize the internal situation, and internal chaos, so we naturally dare not move foreign troops at will.

And when Qi was panicked about this, the strange aura of the four counties in Jiangnan was immediately captured by them. Civil rebellion and riots were the best way to mess up a country. Haven’t you seen that the fuse of the collapse of Yue State back then was the riot of the people in Changyang County. An empire that seemed powerful collapsed down with a thunderous resistance from the mud legs they looked down upon.

Compared with Changyang County, the four counties in Jiangnan are not of the same level. Whether in terms of population or economy, the four counties in Jiangnan are several orders of magnitude higher. If the flames of resistance against the Ming Dynasty can be reignited in the four counties in Jiangnan, then the Ming Dynasty will be exhausted from this.

The steam engine has great energy to improve productivity, but in the short term, its harm to ordinary people is extremely conspicuous.

Cao Hui felt that the opportunity was once a lifetime. It was less than two years since Chu surrendered to the Ming Kingdom, and there were countless people who sympathized with the Chu Kingdom. The people's feelings for the Min Dynasty in Chu Kingdom still existed. If they passed this village, there would be no such store.

Cao Hui did not expect to let the Ming Kingdom fall over the peasant riots like the Yue Kingdom, because the Yue Kingdom was not comparable to the Ming Kingdom. However, it was not difficult to cause trouble for the Ming Kingdom as much as possible and slow down the development of their national strength.

He decided to direct the matter in person. In addition to completing this goal, he also wanted to get a few steam engines back to Qi and study it carefully.

In order to get the steam engine, Qi State has been doing all the tasks in the past year, but has gained nothing. The advanced moles hidden in the Ming Dynasty are still nowhere to start. Although the derivative machines of the steam engine are everywhere in the Ming Dynasty, it is even more difficult to steal one. This thing is too big and cannot be taken away casually. Each of the machines that are out of the factory have a unique number. Each one is under the monitoring of the Ming Dynasty, and it is impossible to get them away by some normal means.

Since the normal channel cannot be done, there is only the most primitive path left, grab it.

But even if you grab a few such machines, it is extremely difficult to get them back. You don’t have to consider it on land, so there is only the last way left, and you’re going to take the sea.

For this reason, Cao Hui did not hesitate to use the Qi Navy. Even though the Navy is in the process of hard reconstruction, a navy fleet wants to overcome layers of obstacles, arrive at the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River and launch robbery. The difficulty is self-evident. The Ming Navy, who is in charge of the sea, is the Ming Navy. Once they are discovered, the only fate of the Qi Navy is to be completely wiped out.

In order to achieve the goal, Cao Hui racked his brains and took great pains to finally formulate a plan that seemed feasible. Now it seems that everything is developing as he expected.

On the water surface, the float suddenly sank into the water and floated up again. Cao Hui stared at the float motionlessly. When he saw the float falling head-on, he shook his wrist suddenly. A golden carp flew into the air. Sprockets of water splashed down as the carp shook its head and tail. He was afraid that the fish fell heavily on the boat board. Cao Hui smiled and picked up the fish, took off the hook, and stuffed the fish into the fish basket.

"It's almost done, too much is not enough." After glanced at the two fish in the fish basket, Cao Hui smiled and put away the fishing rod, picked up the support rod from the side of the boat, and slowly supported it towards the lake.

By the lake, countless weeping willow branches hang down, and there is no green on the branches. Instead, there is a layer of white snow. Occasionally, a few thin ice ridges can be seen, and one or two of them are not worth watching. However, when there are hundreds of weeping willows along the coast, this has become a local scene again.

He jumped out of the boat with a fish basket. Cao Hui looked at an old servant who had been waiting for him on the shore and smiled and said, "There are fresh vegetables tonight. The carp caught in Wuhu in winter has delicious gravy, but it is awesome. After you go back later, you have to stare at it. Do not use heavy-tasting things to remove the fishy smell with rice wine, marinate it a little, steam it in a steamer for a little time, and then mix some seasoning juice. Gently pour it into a perfect taste in the world."

"Young Master is really a luxury person who has a landslide and his beauty remains unchanged. When a big thing is about to begin, you still have the leisure to fish and discuss the way to cook." The old servant took the fish basket with a smile.

"Planning is for people, and getting things is for God. I have done everything I can do, and I have thought of everything I can think of. I can only take one step at a time. Could it be that I have locked my eyebrows all day long, haggard and uneasy, just doing things seriously?" Cao Hui smiled. "Let's go, go back and see what's going on?"

One master and one servant, one carried a fish basket and the other carried a fishing rod. Two rows of faint footprints were left on the thin snow, and slowly moved forward along the lake embankment.

Wuzhou County Government, the young county magistrate Murong Yuan seemed to be worried. Even though he was having dinner with his father-in-law, he was still a little distracted from time to time.

Murong Yuan is only in his early twenties this year, but he is already a county magistrate of Wuzhou, one of the four counties in Jiangnan. He can soar so quickly, thanks to his outstanding performance when the Ming Dynasty conquered Chu State, and also his strong background. His father was once the commander of the personal barracks of Emperor Qin Feng of the Ming Dynasty. Now he leads 5,000 barbarian cavalry to station in Hengshan, and his father-in-law is Xie Cheng, the rich man in Chu, who is ranked first in Chu.

With these powerful help, he was promoted to office and was smooth sailing without any resistance.

With a bang, the young lady Xie Feiyan hit Murong Yuan with her chopsticks that were hovering above a plate of steamed fish, and said a little angrily: "The master is distracted again."
Chapter completed!