prosperous age

Chapter 314 313 Performance
In the past few days, in addition to the trivial incidents in the streets and alleys, there are also major events that happened in the Beijing court, and the topic of the Liaodong catastrophe has been added to the conversation in Jingchengjing.

According to rumors in the market, Liaodong today is already looking like a hell on earth, starving for thousands of miles, and eating after changing children, anyway, how miserable is it.

However, such a topic spread among the people in the capital, except for sighing from time to time, everyone was full of foam and high spirits.

The common people talked about this, but the lack of discussion among Beijing officials has changed from asking Emperor Jiajing to order disaster relief to how to transport the food.

The problem of water transport mentioned by Jia Yingchun, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, has already spread among Beijing officials. In fact, many officials knew about it more or less before that, but they didn’t think about it when talking about disaster relief in Liaodong.

Now that they heard the conversation in Xiyuan that day, many officials suddenly realized that water transportation is really important.

These days, if a businessman is not backed by Beijing officials, it is very difficult to do business in the business circle of the capital. The officials in Shuntian Mansion and the county government alone are enough to annoy them, and they can definitely eat them alive.

Therefore, the Beijing officials naturally know that due to the recent water transportation problems caused by the severe drought in the south, the water transportation may be cut off at any time.

However, at this moment most officials are still hesitating which side to stand on.

Yes, on the second day after the meeting of the Xiyuan imperial court, many low-level officials from the household department and various yamen in Beijing wrote letters, asking Emperor Jiajing to agree to reopen the sea route and transport the disaster relief food directly to Liaodong by sea ships. Instead of transporting it into Taicang by water as usual, and then transporting it to Liaodong through Jizhen.

Disaster relief is like fighting a fire. To waste time at this time is to disregard human lives.

While some people support it, others will naturally oppose it. There are also many officials of the fourth and fifth grades in the major yamen who have written letters against the sea transportation to Liao Dynasty.

The supporters naturally cited the circumstances at the time as an example. In the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming army transported supplies for the Ming army who opened up Liaodong by sea, but the suspension was because the Liaodong military colony had begun to take shape and the local area was already self-sufficient.

However, the current situation is far from that at that time, so it should naturally be restored.

Just kidding, if Liaodong can be self-sufficient in food now, there will be no catastrophe in Liaodong.

It was another debate over whether the ancestral system should be maintained or the people should be saved from fire and water. However, most of them used to be officials who chose to sit on the fence. In the face of the catastrophe, the balance in their hearts gradually turned to support the faction of shipping.

From their point of view, even in order to deal with the Liaodong catastrophe, it is necessary to save people first by making a sea shipment.

What time is it, people are starving to death in Liaodong every day, and the gang of Shangguan are still arguing about how to transport food to the past, it is really a lack of morality.

There are more and more memorials supporting the opening of shipping, but the grades of officials in the memorials are generally not high, and the influence of what they say is not strong enough.

The officials in the major yamen in Beijing were obviously divided into two factions, not only attacking each other in the memorials, but even meeting in the yamen often had to say a few words, but they were quickly pulled away by others.

For or against it, anyone would be annoyed if a subordinate blatantly contradicted him.

However, in the Ming Dynasty these days, the upper officials have little restraint on the lower officials. It is difficult for them to retaliate against their subordinates because of their political disagreements. They drink a pot, so they can only roll up their sleeves and spray each other, and don't talk about the official prestige that a Shangguan should have.

Perhaps, only the censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate did not participate in this debate, because they were still arguing in the yamen about who should be sent to the south to buy grain.

This is a fat job. The Ministry of Households issued 600,000 taels of silver. Even if it was lost according to the usual practice, there would be almost 500,000 taels in hand.

Sending food worth 400,000 taels to Liaodong, I am really kind.

When the food is delivered, there will be countless living people. Will the people of Liaodong still have to build a living shrine for themselves?

If this is the case, do you want to accept it?
This is what the censors who are interested in this errand are thinking now. Many censors who used to have a good relationship have now become stiff due to competition for the errand.

There are many people who are ready to move in their hearts, and there are also many people who will make a statement after the end, but they are still a minority in the huge group of Beijing officials.

So far, more officials are only in the wrong mind, but they have not followed suit.

At this time, in a restaurant in the inner city of the capital, in an elegant room with a few tables, a group of green-robed officials were drinking around the wine table, and the atmosphere was very lively.

When the wine was hot, a young official at the wine table in the middle stood up suddenly, holding a wine glass in his hand, coughed twice deliberately to attract the attention of the guests at the surrounding tables, and then said loudly: "Today, all colleagues are called This year, the first is to get together with all the younger brothers. In the past two months, everyone has been busy with royal affairs, and there is no time to go out for drinks and connect with each other.

Second, in the past two days, Guangde thought about it at home, and many of his elder brothers may have known about it. A few days ago, I also wrote a letter to ask the court to help the people of Liaodong, and send the relief food directly to Liaodong by sea.

When Guangde wrote the letter, Xiyuan should still be discussing disaster relief matters. It can only be said that Guangde's original thoughts coincided with those of Jia Situ from the household department.

In the past few days, many people in the DPRK and China wrote letters to each other and criticized each other because of this matter, and Guangde felt a little disturbed after reading it.

However, after two days of being closed at home, the final conclusion is that the only way for the people of Liaodong to survive is to ship the relief food directly to Liaodong. "

The person who spoke was naturally Wei Guangde. Although after the meeting that day, they had already planned to mobilize Prince Yu's Mansion, Wei Guangde, and the veterans of Xuge in the same year to fully support the idea of ​​reopening the shipping proposed by the Minister of the Ministry of Households, Jia Yingchun, but the final implementation steps were carried out again. refined.

Naturally, it was Wei Guangde who opposed Gao Gong's full support, and his reasons were also very good. If everyone had fully supported it from the beginning, the opposition would quickly gather together to jointly oppose Kaihai, which would likely delay the disaster relief. Turned into a court battle.

The result of the final discussion is naturally the current situation. The officials who can influence the Yuwang Mansion took the lead, including the officials of the Ministry of Households. The boss has spoken out. Can the officials below not support it?

What's more, this is also the most reasonable solution, and it is okay to object, but come up with practical and effective means.

As a result, the first shot in support of Kaihai fell on the heads of officials from Prince Yu's Mansion and the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Who does Jia Yingchun belong to? Of course, he is from Prince Yu's Mansion. It is reasonable and reasonable for Prince Yu's Mansion to come forward.

As for the second shot, it was natural that Wei Guangde's contemporaries wrote a letter of support.

Now the Jinshi of Wei Guangde's class can no longer be called Xinke Jinshi.

In the spring of Jiajing's 38th year, a new general examination and palace examination were held successively, and the title of "Xinke Jinshi" has been changed.

Ding Shimei, Mao Dunyuan, and Lin Shizhang were the top three in the Jiwei Palace Examination Gold List, followed by 85 people in the second class, and more than 200 people in the third class. Now they are the influential figures in the capital.

This, perhaps, is that the waves behind the Yangtze River push forward the waves ahead, and a new generation replaces the old ones.

As for Xu Ge's disciples, they are the last link to be activated, because these people's grades are higher than those of the previous two waves, and they have more influence.

As for the purpose of doing so, it is natural that Wei Guangde wants to give the officials in Beijing a feeling that it is a general trend to open the sea to help Liaodong, and the supporters are gradually increasing, and the weight is gradually increasing.

The general trend of the world is mighty and mighty, those who follow it will prosper, and those who go against it will perish.

As a result, more people choose to support them instead of sitting on a small bench and watching the show as usual, and the support only stays in their mouths.

And now, it is the time to mobilize fellow students to respond, Wei Guangde specially arranged here to invite fellow students who stayed in Beijing to a banquet together, lobbying for this matter.

In fact, everyone here already knew that in the same year. Wei Guangde had already written a letter asking to open the sea to deliver disaster relief food to Liaodong in the afternoon when Xiyuan was still in the court meeting. For this reason, two memorials to impeach him were submitted to the Tongzhengshi.

However, Wei Guangde did not write a letter to defend himself in the face of impeachment. Instead, he took a few days off from the Yin Zhangyuan and hid behind closed doors to thank the guests. "Stance.

And yesterday, Zhang Ji, the little butler of the Wei family, started running around in various houses in the capital. After sending today’s invitation letter, Wei Guangde wants to invite his contemporaries to the banquet. As expected.

In fact, those who can sit here are not idiots. Idiots have long been screened out in previous imperial examinations.

Wei Guangde's support for shipping to Jiliao is the right answer for most people. As for why there are so many voices of opposition, everyone is well aware that there is a bit of interest in it.

As for whether to write a letter or not, standing with Wei Guangde, everyone also has a little love in their hearts.

Now everyone has been an official for several years, and they are not as simple as they were back then.

Fortunately, because Wei Guangde wrote the letter early, no one in the same year thought that Wei Guangde and Jia Yingchun had anything to do with the Yu Palace, but only thought it was a coincidence.

"Everyone in the same year, everyone must have seen the sea chart. In order to argue about this in the past two days, many people should have checked it, and at least they know the details.

I just want to say that my generation studies, establishes a heart for the world, establishes a life for the people, inherits the knowledge of the past, and creates peace for all generations.

No matter why they object to saving the people of Liaodong, my original intention remains the same.

Today, only the sea route can quickly transport enough relief food to Liaodong, buying time for Jiangnan to buy food.

Everyone knows that the Ministry of Household Affairs transferred [-] stones of rice from Taicang to Liaodong, but now they don't know how to transport it.

Passing through Ji Town by land, Guangde has seen the high mountains in the north. It is said that after passing the Shanhai Pass, there are still mountains outside the mountains. How much food will be wasted when transporting people to eat horses? This is life-saving food for the people of Liaodong. "

Wei Guangde talked eloquently for a long time, then stretched out his hand to wipe the corners of his eyes, as if the corners of his eyes were wet when he mentioned the emotion, and finally raised the wine glass in his hand and circled it, and said cheerfully: "Guangde hereby implore everyone, support Guangde, Please send me a letter to ship it by sea, the [-] shi life-saving food will go from Haikou, Tianjin to Liaodong, and there will be no delay."

Speaking of this, Wei Guangde felt reddened eye circles.

That thing is a bit hot on the eyes.

To open the sea, we still have to take it one step at a time. Now we have to tear open the hole first, and use the excuse of [-] shi of life-saving food to win the support of more officials.

Once the opening is opened, there will be disaster relief food in the future, and the food that should have been transported by water because the Grand Canal was cut off, so there is every reason to go to Beijing by sea.

Wei Guangde's strategy, of course, is to nibble away, opening the hole bit by bit.

After the domestic sea transportation is opened, we will consider opening the sea in the true sense, establishing customs and foreign trade.

As long as there is money, the Ming Dynasty should be able to survive.

Some people may feel that there is money but no food, and the future crisis is still unsolvable.

In fact, Wei Guangde is a half-hearted history buff, or it is more accurate to say that he is historically illiterate. In his consciousness, because he still has the memory of later generations, he doesn't think that there is nothing that can't be done if he has money.

Are those foreign ships coming to China empty?
Or only silver on board?
Fill the labor and capital with food, and the food is worth the tariff. As long as the imperial court has enough food for disaster relief, it will not be afraid of frequent famines in various places and the displacement of the victims.

If there is food, they will not make trouble.

Given the urgency of the local officials of Ming Dynasty, it is impossible to distribute all the relief food to the disaster relief, and some levels have to withhold some, so it is estimated that the common people below will have a conscience if they do not starve to death.

But this seems to be good, and I'm afraid they will make trouble when I'm full.

Officials still need to supervise, so send more censors, at least to ensure that no one starves to death.

Wei Guangde's emotional performance first won the support of his fellow villagers, and Lao Kan was the first to stand up, holding a wine glass in his hand and saying to the others: "The good loans are all about this. Thousands of people in Liaodong, I wrote this memorial, I will write it when I get back tonight, and I will hand it over to the Secretary of Transportation and Political Affairs tomorrow morning."

After the words fell, he drank the wine in the glass in one gulp.

Afterwards, Zhu Dashou, Tao Dalin, Zhang Ke and others also stood up one after another, saying the same words as Lao Kan, all supporting Wei Guangde.

In fact, everyone's official position is really not high now, and after two years of experience in the officialdom, they have become shrewd, but Wei Guangde's performance still successfully conquered everyone.

What Wei Guangde said is correct. At this time, it is a charity of the living to support the transportation of disaster relief food by sea. Why not?
If you don't even dare to say a word of truth, then what's the point of being an official?
Set up the heart for the heaven and the earth, set the destiny for the livelihood and the people, for the sacred and inherited knowledge, and for the peace of the world.

This is the original aspiration of those in the officialdom. After two years of soaking in the big dye vat of the officialdom, it seems that it is no longer clean.

At this time, many people unconsciously had a feeling that for the livelihood of the people in Liaodong, they wrote a letter to support the sea route to help Liaodong, so that they could wash away the dirt on their bodies in the past two years, and they could also regain their original aspirations and become a flower again. Out of mud but not stained with white lotus.

Soon, the atmosphere of the wine table was ignited again. Everyone stood up with their glasses in their hands, uttered a few bold words, and then drank the wine in the glasses in one gulp.
(End of this chapter)