Chapter 180 I am innocent

This time the canal froze in Shandong, and this time Ou Zanghua saw the Ming Dynasty version of the icebreaker.

This type of boat is small in size, with a pointed front and a small rear. The bottom of the boat is nailed with bamboo strips to prevent broken ice from squeezing into the bottom of the boat. One person rows the boat with two oars, and several people follow behind, holding various ice-breaking tools and hitting the ice on the boat. The broken ice is washed away by the water flow or scraped away by the bamboo strips on the bottom of the boat.

Although it is very simple, it also reflects the wisdom of ancient craftsmen under limited conditions.

Ou Zanghua stood at the bow, watching the government on both sides of the strait organizing a large number of people to break the ice and clear the way. He said to Xiang Danian beside him: "Go to the city to collect ginger, radish, mutton, and mutton bones, stew them into radish and mutton soup, and add a dish for the people who broke the ice and cleared the way. It can be regarded as a way to thank them for helping us break the ice!"

In the Ming Dynasty, radish cost ten cents per pound, and ginger was a little expensive, but for a big pot of soup, only five or six slices of ginger were enough, and all together it was just a lump.

Ou Zanghua now has more than one million taels of silver, and spending one thousand taels is enough to treat everyone present to hot carrot soup.

"Yes!"

He responded to Danian and immediately got off the boat to arrange this matter.

Ou Zanghua, along with Ding Mian and Lu Bai, found the Imperial Censor Zhang Wei, who was a Jinshi in the 23rd year of Chenghua. He was framed by Liu Jin and thrown into imperial prison in the early years of Zhengde. He did not return to officialdom until Liu Jin's downfall last year.

The Imperial Censor was in charge of supervision and had great power. He was not under the control of the Governor-General of the Grain Transport System and was directly responsible to the emperor. He had the right to impeach the Governor-General.

In a sense, compared to the thankless job of the Governor of the Canal, the Inspector of the Grain Transport System was a rare and lucrative position. The fact that it fell on Zhang Wei was a kind of compensation for the torture he had endured for the past five years.

"Censor Zhang."

"Ou Dongqing."

The two men greeted each other. The reason why Zhang Wei called Ou Zanghua Dongqing was because in "The Book of Zhou", the Dongguan Sikong was in charge of engineering. In the Southern Dynasty Liang, the three ministers of Guanglu, Honglu and Taizhou were collectively called Dongqing.

So, this name has been passed down.

In addition, Keqing, Lu Ren and Da Ke Dian are all respectful titles for the Minister of the Honglu Temple.

"Zhang Yushi," Ou Zanghua said with a melancholy look, "I have to return to Beijing before January. Now the canal is frozen and impassable. I think we should speed up the icebreaking process."

Zhang Wei was originally touched by the fact that Ou Zanghua spent money to give the people a sip of hot soup, and thought that he was a good official who truly cared about the world, so he called him Dong Qing.

But when he heard him urging them to make progress, his face suddenly darkened and he said, "Master Ou, it's not that we don't want to, but the ice is too thick. It's not easy to maintain the current ice-breaking effect."

"It is naturally impossible to increase the speed by manpower alone."

Ou Zanghua said calmly, "I have 15 stones of various gunpowder on my ship. Why not use the gunpowder to blast the ice directly, and then let the icebreaker go in to remove the ice. This way, the speed should be faster."

"Among my followers, there is an expert in gunpowder. He can control the amount of gunpowder and will never damage the dam."

Zhang Wei was stunned.
Blow up the ice with gunpowder?!
Is this him?
What a genius idea!
Why hadn't he thought of it before?
"What Ou Dongqing said is absolutely right. Let's try it today. Where is your gunpowder expert?"

With Zhang Wei's cooperation, the people who were removing ice from the river were moved to the shore. It happened to be time for dinner, and everyone originally planned to eat the food they brought with them, but they found that someone on the shore had set up a big pot and was cooking soup.

The radish and ginger had a light fishy smell, which Ou Zanghua could not drink, but for these ordinary people, it was indeed delicious and made them salivate.

At this time, Xiang Danian stood in front and shouted: "Everyone has worked hard today. My master would like to ask you to drink some hot soup to warm yourself up."

Everyone was stunned. Several leaders came closer and asked with a bow, "Sir, is this soup really prepared for us?"

"really!"

Xiang Danian smiled and shouted, "My master is the Minister of the Honglu Temple of the current dynasty. He was ordered to return to Beijing. My master said that if you hadn't broken the ice, our fleet might still be stuck in Taijiazhuang. We are lucky to be able to reach Jining!"

"Thank you, Lord Honglusiqing!"

When everyone heard what Xiang Danian said, they all gathered around. It was a real treat to be able to drink a sip of steaming mutton and radish soup in such a cold day.

Unfortunately, there was very little mutton. Many people’s bowls contained a few two-finger-sized pieces of white radish mixed with a few fingernail-sized slices of mutton.

However, for ordinary people who only eat meat during festivals, this bowl of hot soup is enough to make them happy.

Taoist Master Tianmen and Taoist Master Wang Chengwu walked carefully on the ice with their respective disciples. Hearing the cheers and thanks coming from both sides of the canal, they looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

"With Lord Ou's personality, if he were to venture into the martial arts world, he would sooner or later be known as a chivalrous man." Taoist Tianmen stroked his beard and said happily.

Taoist Wang Chengwu's smile was filled with undisguised pride: "It is better to be an official. Wandering around the martial arts world will only spread the name of our Hengshan Sword School, and being an official will benefit the people of the world."

Taoist Tianmen looked at Wang Chengwu, smiled and shook his head. The two studied on the ice for a while, but couldn't figure out how much gunpowder to put. After discussing for a while, they decided to make a small gunpowder barrel first.

Dig a hole in the ice, put the prepared gunpowder barrel in it, then run to the icebreaker and light the fuse of the gunpowder barrel with a bow and arrow.

A loud "boom" was heard, shocking the people on both sides of the canal to look over.

Amid the billowing smoke, ice flowers flew everywhere.

I saw that the nearly four-inch thick and extremely solid ice layer was now spreading out in all directions like a spider web.

"Row over!"

Upon seeing this, Taoist Priest Tianmen shouted excitedly.

Two patrol soldiers immediately rowed their boats closer, and saw Taoist priest Tianmen using a shovel to poke hard, thus chiseling off a thick block of ice on the outside.

Taoist priest Wang Chengwu quickly recorded it and said, "The cracks in the ice have not extended to the shore. We can add another 50% of gunpowder."

"Well, although the outer layer is cracked, it is not completely destroyed. My opinion is to add 100%!" Taoist Tianmen looked at the ice layer and said decisively.

While the two Taoist priests were discussing further, Ou Zanghua organized the leaders of various fleets lined up at the dock to watch the ice frying together.

Seeing the obvious effect of a powder keg, everyone became excited.

"I believe you have seen the effect. All of you are wise men. You should understand one thing. Time is the source of wealth."

Ou Zanghua looked at the canal and said with a smile: "If your goods can reach the capital before January, instead of being stuck on the canal, they will have to wait until March of next year to enter the capital."

"Master Ou, we understand."

The bosses all smiled so hard that their wrinkles could kill a mosquito: "You name a price, and we'll accept it!"

"What's this word?!"

Ou Zanghua frowned and said in a cold voice: "I am an official appointed by the imperial court. I have a salary to support my family. I am honest and upright. How can I make an offer?"

After saying that, he flicked his sleeves and left.

Everyone was confused. If you don’t bid, how do we know how much to give?
At this time, someone discovered that although Ou Zanghua was gone, Lu Bai was still there!
He coughed lightly and said, "Gunpowder is a national treasure and cannot be sold."

One of the fat men immediately understood what was going on, and immediately took out five silver notes of 100 taels each, stuffed them into Lu Bai's hand, and said with a smile: "My hero, I am from the Cixi Chamber of Commerce. I see that the Taoist priests are busy on the canal, and I feel really bad for them. I am willing to donate 500 taels to gild the body of Laojun."

"On behalf of the Taoist priests of Mount Tai's Dai Temple and Mount Heng's Jinmu Temple, I would like to thank the Cixi Chamber of Commerce for its donation." Lu Bai said seriously, and added: "Your boat will follow behind our No. 5 boat in a while!"

"Yes, thank you, brave man!" The fat man was delighted after hearing this and immediately bowed to express his gratitude.

The heads of other chambers of commerce then realized that this person wanted both money and reputation!
"How can this kid, at such a young age, have so many evil thoughts?!"

No matter how much you curse in your heart, you still have to pay the money.

Didn’t you hear that it was ship number five?

They have fifteen ships, but they let the first customer go in the middle, which clearly means they will leave ten ships behind to cover the rear.

No one dared to bet whether the young Minister of the Honglu Temple would sink the following ship in the name of suppressing bandits.
Not long after, Lu Bai returned with more than 10,000 taels of silver in silver notes.

"Reporting to the Lord, twelve Nanzhili Chambers of Commerce, ten Zhejiang Chambers of Commerce, four Fujian Chambers of Commerce, one Jiangxi Chamber of Commerce and one Huguang Chamber of Commerce, a total of twenty-eight, have volunteered to gild the body of Laojun."

Ou Zanghua nodded and said calmly, "Well, divide it into three parts. One part is used to purchase gunpowder, one part is used to reward sailors and helmsmen, and one part is used to buy some Chinese medicinal herbs to keep warm for the people who cut ice at each place. If it is not enough, ask the Chamber of Commerce for some money to coat the body of Laojun with a thick layer of gold."

"By the way, record their business names, the names of their bosses, and their products. They'll be useful in the future."

it works?

Lu Bai looked at Ou Zanghua, who had a natural expression, and couldn't understand what use these merchants could have for the Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

But since Lord Ou had given the order, he would just do it without thinking too much.

(End of this chapter)