Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 296

In the imperial study room, you can hear the drop of a needle.

Although people have a selfish side after all, many civil servants have a heart of "carrying on the sage's knowledge for the past, and creating peace for all generations" at the beginning, but they are often defeated by the hypocritical reality.

Now that the Ming Dynasty ushered in such a British lord, even if they didn't think about their own future, they still wanted to witness the prosperity of China with their own eyes, and even wanted to participate in it.

Now the imperial court is facing the big problem of properly resettling millions of disaster victims, but there is no good solution to this stubborn disease throughout the ages, just as He Zhixin, Minister of the Ministry of punishment, said that self-survival is the most common method of the dynasty.

Unfortunately, many people present had the same thoughts as Wu Yu, the right servant of the household department, but they believed that this difficult problem still could not trouble the wise and mighty emperor.

Out!
Li Si, Minister of the Household Department, saw Zhu Youtang appearing beside the guardrail of the attic, and his eyes flashed with excitement.

After many things, more and more important officials are now convinced by the emperor's wisdom, so I hope that Hongzhi can come up with a way to break the situation.

In the past, virtuous ministers were valuable because the emperor relied on them for everything.It's just that the current Emperor Hongzhi is simply a monstrous emperor. Their greatest role is to "less talk, more practical" and carry out the emperor's decision-making.

Whether it is the courage to rectify the salt administration, the wisdom of using the book of unreasonable people to help Qingzhang's fields, or the military and political leadership of elite soldiers and generals, all reveal the emperor's ruling wisdom.

Although it is very difficult to resettle millions of disaster victims, they believe that under the leadership of the British lord, it may not be impossible to solve the problem.

"Crazy? The emperor can solve this kind of problem, it is really urgent to go to the doctor!"

He Qiaoxin, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, was not in the same mind as the other ministers. Seeing that the right servant of the household department, who was running on dog shit, wanted to ask the emperor for help, he couldn't help feeling contemptuous.

Although he admits that the emperor has done well since he ascended the throne, it doesn't necessarily mean that Zhu Youtang is so good, it's just that Zhu Youtang is a self-willed emperor, plus Wang Yue and Wang Zhi are two mad dogs.

If he were in his position, he would definitely be ten times stronger than Zhu Youtang, and he would use wise ministers such as Wang Shu, Ma Wensheng and Liu Daxia, and the world would be in great trouble.

As for the problems that he couldn't solve himself, the little emperor naturally couldn't solve them, it was just a big joke.

Zhu Youtang was just being served tea by a beauty in the pavilion. After a moment's hesitation, he walked to the guardrail and said calmly: "In that case, let's start the war immediately!"

Go to war?
The Minister of Rites, Xu Qiong, and other officials looked at each other, but they were in a mess for a while.

Obviously everyone was discussing the resettlement of millions of disaster victims in Henan, but the emperor suddenly said that he would go to war, which seemed to be an irrelevant answer.

As for the start of the war, the emperor undoubtedly refers to the bloodbath of the Jianzhou Jurchens by the Ming soldiers stationed in Liaodong, but now that there is a major disaster in the country, shouldn't it be a truce at this time?
"Sure enough, this little servant of the household department is unreliable. This emperor who is already in power is simply a war madman. Obviously everyone is discussing the resettlement of millions of victims, but the war in Liaodong is abruptly involved. This emperor wants to fight. Are you crazy?" Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, He Zhixin, had his heart in Cao Ying and his heart in Han, facing Zhu Youtang's unreliable answer, he secretly discussed it.

"Your Majesty, do you want to conquer Jianzhou Jurchen?" Li Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, asked tentatively.

Zhu Youtang shook his head lightly, causing the important ministers below to be taken aback immediately, but he didn't expect to guess wrong.

Zhu Youtang's eyes were piercing, and he said in a firm tone: "It's wrong! The people of my heavenly dynasty are the people of the Shang Kingdom, and now Jianzhou Jurchen is attached to them and many are unfaithful. Fawning to North Korea several times is enough to show their wolfish ambitions. The late emperor once said no." Its type. Now I don’t want millions of people to be displaced, so this time I want to wipe out the Jianzhou Jurchen and take back the old land of my Ming Dynasty so that the millions of victims of the disaster in my Ming Dynasty will be safe.”

ah?wipe out?

The chief minister of the cabinet, Wan An, and the others were dumbfounded, and they couldn't help but stare at the aloof emperor.

Just when they were thinking hard about how to subsidize the people and let millions of people regain their livelihoods, the emperor jumped out of the "national gate", but set his sights on the fertile land of Jianzhou.

The Jianzhou Jurchens are no longer nomadic in the true sense. The reason why they are transitioning to a semi-agricultural society is precisely because of the unique land conditions in Jianzhou.

If we can take back that fertile land and build water conservancy, it will be a good place to resettle millions of disaster victims, so that millions of disaster-stricken people will not be reduced to slaves or starving corpses in the wilderness.

Zhu Youtang didn't care what the following silence was thinking, but he knew that important things had to be decided by himself, the emperor himself: "I am not a warlike king, but I will strengthen China, and I will do business with the world outside, and I will restore me inside." The land of Huaxia. It doesn’t matter if the history scolds me as a tyrant, the establishment of the state today is not a conquest, but the destruction of the state and the restoration of our old land in China. Would you be willing to help me?”

"Your Majesty puts all the people first, and the ministers are willing to go through fire and water for His Majesty!" Knowing Zhu Youtang's true intentions, Wan An also expressed his position loyally.

Xu Qiong, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, was originally flattering for his official career, but after seeing the emperor's various deeds, he couldn't help but shed tears of loyalty.

Although this emperor is contrary to the benevolence and love advocated by Confucianism, and also contrary to the blessing of peace and prosperity advocated by the ruling class, he is an emperor who really has the people in his heart.

There are so many prosperous times in the past and present, in fact, they can only be the prosperous times of some people, and most of them are silently carrying forward the burden of this prosperous world.

It's just that in order to resettle millions of refugees, the current emperor did not hesitate to bear the notoriety of a tyrant, and directly sent troops to wipe out the entire Jianzhou Jurchen. How could the emperor not swear to follow him to the death?
This……

He Qiaoxin, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishments, was stunned, his head was buzzing.

I thought this eternal problem was unsolvable, but the emperor found a new way to solve it by recovering old lands and investing huge sums of money in water conservancy projects.

But... launching a war in order to resettle one's own citizens, does this damage the reputation of a great country of etiquette?
Zhu Youtang felt that these important ministers were also pretending to be ordinary people, so he said seriously: "Since the ministers have no objection, who should be in charge of the expedition next? How can Dangping Jianzhou move refugees and promote water conservancy? Jianzhou has a flat terrain and land. Fertile, even if the imperial court reprimanded 50 taels of national funds to promote water conservancy, and actually built our Daming Northeast granary, so this move will soon solve the disadvantages of water transportation, and far away will build the foundation for the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.”

Different from the thinking of the ruling class in this era, if you want to build a place, you need capital investment in the early stage.

The fertile land in Jianzhou is a good place for agricultural development, but it actually requires time and manpower to cultivate it, and it also requires investment in water conservancy projects, so that Jianzhou can truly be built into the granary of Northeast China.

Although the initial investment is expected to be one million taels, once the granary in the Northeast rises, the capital's demand for food from the south will be greatly reduced. By then, the problem of water shortages will be solved, and food security will be provided for the entire Ming Dynasty.

"According to the decree!" Li Yu, the official minister, and other important ministers felt that the emperor was strategizing, and immediately saluted respectfully.

I... object!

He Qiaoxin was very unwilling to do things that would damage the state of etiquette in order to resettle millions of disaster victims, but he looked around and found that everyone had no objection, so he couldn't help swallowing the words that came to his mouth.

Huh?
The right servant of the household department glanced contemptuously at He Qiaoxin, the minister of the Ministry of punishment, but noticed the strangeness of He Qiaoxin, and believed in his heart that the minister of the Ministry of punishment was really unfaithful, and immediately regarded him as his number one political enemy.

Since Zhu Youtang set the tone, everything became simpler in the following discussions.

Although this group of important ministers can't open up the situation, who will be in command and resettle the refugees, etc., are actually their old profession.

The problem since ancient times is actually the word money, but Hongzhi's finances are still very healthy, and he just got a lot of stolen money from the Ye family.

Since there is no need to impose additional taxes or stipends on the people, there is naturally no need to argue. Everyone only needs to consider how to spend money.

"Our household department has enough money for disaster relief, but the Metropolitan Procuratorate must do a good job in anti-corruption work!"

"Our Ministry of Households has the money to repair embankments, but the Ministry of Industry chooses river officials, please keep your eyes open!"

“Our Ministry of Household’s granary is well-established, but the Ministry of War must formulate regulations for transporting grain!”

……

Li Si, the Minister of Household Affairs, has become a veritable God of Wealth. He allocates funds correctly when faced with requests from various yamen, but he also makes requests with confidence.

The biggest feature of the Hongzhi Dynasty is that it abandoned the previous model of fighting alone and changed it to cooperation among various departments, which greatly improved the efficiency of work.

Now it can be said that the monarch and his ministers are united. Although some corruption is hard to guard against, the determination of the imperial court to fight corruption is unprecedentedly strong.

In particular, the status of the Metropolitan Procuratorate has suddenly risen, and Wang Yue is an upright king beheaded, so the Metropolitan Procuratorate is silently shouldering the sacred mission of anti-corruption.

After listening to the opinions of officials from the six ministries, Zhu Youtang handed over the work of rescuing and relocating victims to the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Officials. The repair of the Yellow River embankment and the planning of water conservancy projects in Jianzhou were undertaken by the Ministry of Industry, with the assistance of other departments.

As for the most important candidate to lead the Jurchen in Dangping Jianzhou, Zhu Youtang originally preferred Liaodong Governor Liu Xuan, but Liu Xuan's military talent was still a bit weaker, so it was finally decided that Wang Yue, Zuodu Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, would be in command.

With the end of the highest meeting of the Imperial Study Room, the largest "Jianzhou Jiyou Project" since the Hongzhi Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty was released.

In the next few days, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War became the busiest departments.

The Ministry of Households is fully responsible for the disaster relief work in Henan and other places, the Ministry of War is responsible for the logistics of the Liaodong War, and other departments mainly cooperate with these two tasks.

It was just that the news spread to the outside world, especially the appointment of Wang Yue's joint eunuch Zhang Yong and the new Liaodong General Wu Jingbo Zhao Chengqing, and the anti-war sentiment suddenly rose.

"Conquering deer because there is not enough sinew is not the behavior of a great country?"

"Daming is a country of etiquette, such behavior can be regarded as a tyrant!"

"The one who loses will not be helped, the virtuous minister will not serve the king, and the virtuous man should resign!"

……

Scholars from the outside world ignored the millions of disaster victims. When they learned that the imperial court was planning to conquer Jianzhou, they immediately objected passionately.

With the help of people with good intentions, the public opinion in the capital was almost one-sided, and many scholars pointed their finger at the imperial court.

What's more, some people advocate that a virtuous person should resign and leave this unjust king.

These voices naturally spread to the imperial palace. Although Zhu Youtang knew that the power against him in the capital was rising instead of falling, he did not intend to focus on these clowns, but instead focused on building the state and disaster relief.

East of the city, Dongsheng Inn.

Xu Hong and Gao Kui are the two lucky ones staying in the capital, and they will meet in this fate-changing place when they have time.

Although there is still about a month before the Shuncheon examination, candidates have come to prepare for the exam one after another, and these "active" candidates like to criticize current affairs the most.

Anti-war seems to have become politically correct, and a table in the middle is talking, pointing the finger at the emperor who is "impulsive".

Xu Hong naturally heard these discordant sounds, but noticed that Gao Kui had arrived first, and walked towards the wine table in the corner.

Seeing Xu Hong's arrival, Gao Kui personally poured wine for Xu Hong and said, "It's a coincidence for the two of us! I thought I was the only one staying in Beijing, but I was also sent to Henan on business!"

"You all, the Procuratorate, are becoming more and more lenient. Now the officials from the six ministries say they are most afraid of you, for fear of being caught by your Procuratorate!" Xu Hong sat down in front of the table and picked up his wine glass.

There was a trace of sarcasm in the corner of Gao Kui's mouth, and he seemed upright and authentic: "Don't do anything wrong, and don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. Those who are really afraid of us must have ghosts in their hearts and have done illegal things. How dare you give out the disaster relief funds like this time?" , I will definitely disown my relatives, and I will never do anything like that!"

"This time, due to the bean curd project in the river, most of Henan has been reduced to Wangze, and millions of people have been displaced. I used to think that His Majesty gave you too much power in the Procuratorate. Only after experiencing this incident, I know that His Majesty is really Lord Ying, but now, there are people in this capital calling His Majesty a tyrant, I really want to eat it!" Xu Hong took a sip of his wine and frowned slightly.

Gao Kui raised his head and glanced at the few scholars who had just criticized the emperor, but asked seriously: "Your Majesty used deer sinew as an excuse to conquer Jianzhou, right?"

"If I'm right, this is indeed an excuse! At the beginning, His Majesty was probably planning to build a state, but now millions of people are displaced, this battle is imperative, and it is inevitable!"

"what do you mean……"

"Anmin!"

As soon as these words came out, a bright light flashed in Gao Kui's mind, and then he looked in the direction of the Forbidden City in shock.

Several scholars in the center of the front hall were still criticizing the emperor, but Gao Kui in this corner looked at the Forbidden City in shock, and Xu Hong's eyes were also full of awe.

Although it is impossible for the imperial court to announce the Jianzhou Jiyou project, it is inevitable that some clues will not be revealed, and some political talents can also get a glimpse of it.

In fact, Xu Hong's intelligence is one aspect, but more importantly, Xu Hong met Emperor Hongzhi earlier, but he knew that he was a rare hero.

In addition, Zhang Sui was sent to Liaodong earlier, so Liaodong must not be a war caused by deer tendons, but Emperor Hongzhi had the idea of ​​​​taking back the entire Jianzhou, and even used Jianzhou as a basis to pacify the savage Jurchen and the sea. Western Jurchen.

Combined with the current disaster situation in Henan, Xu Hong has every reason to infer that the real intention of the Jianzhou War is to resettle millions of victims.

"Hey, what are you two talking about? The chief of this case seems to have heard you talking about the British Lord just now?"

Just at this time, several students who had been pointing the country just now had come over, and the boy with the black mole in the lead questioned him strangely.

　Sorry, in the hospital, it is expected to be normal in two days.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)