The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 454 Appease the Rape
The twelfth of the first lunar month.

The news of the Shaanxi earthquake, like thunder on the flat ground, exploded in the official circles of the capital.

The news reached the capital during the day, Zhu Youtang was already ready to take a nap, Xiao Jing and Li Rong appeared in Xinuang Pavilion with the report from the Northwest Region.

"...Your Majesty, more than five thousand houses collapsed, four people were injured, and one person died. All of them did not listen to the orders of the local government and entered the houses without permission. Some officials and people knew that the earthquake was coming, but they had to go inside their houses to avoid the wind, but they ran out when the earthquake occurred...at least it minimized the casualties..."

When Xiao Jing reported the incident, he also felt regretful.

The time and place have been calculated. Although there is no specific time, but for the local people, if you prepare for two days, nothing major will happen.

But after all, this earthquake occurred in the cold winter, and it was the first day of the new year, so many people knew that the earthquake might come, but they had to run to places with tiles to cover their heads, just to avoid the cold.

Li Rong added: "In Yan'an Mansion and other places, the weather was suddenly cold on the day of the earthquake, and it even snowed in some places. The people have no use in the wild to keep out the cold."

The implication is not that the common people are looking for death by themselves, but they all have some fluke mentality, and they have no choice in the cold wind.

Zhu Youtang said with emotion: "The imperial court has already done everything it can do. If the news cannot be conveyed to the place due to the delay in transmission, it is the imperial court's fault, but there is no delay... How is the disaster relief going?"

Xiao Jingdao: "Report from the local area, the earthquake relief work is still going on, many people are now displaced, and some soldiers and civilians failed to transfer property in time, there are reports of livestock deaths and injuries. In addition, the city walls have also collapsed, and spring has not yet begun , it is not easy to rebuild the house..."

Zhu Youtang was silent for a while.

Knowing that there might be a disaster, the first thing that comes to mind is to avoid casualties. As for how to relieve the disaster... Even Zhu Youtang himself didn't think clearly.

After all, Shaanxi is still too far away from the capital, and it is impossible for the emperor to allocate money and food from the capital for disaster relief.

"Decree that the areas affected by the earthquake in Shaanxi shall be exempted from one year's money, grain, tax and labor, and 20 shi of military rations shall be transferred from Yansui to cooperate with the affected areas to relieve the victims. The Shaanxi chief envoy is ordered to send people to the localities, and the chief envoy The department assigned officials to different prefectures and counties...the local government treasury opened warehouses to release grain, and those government offices that had not yet collapsed, resettled the victims...to prevent the plague from appearing after the disaster..."

Zhu Youtang himself didn't have any good ideas, he just tried to instruct and arrange as much as possible.

Xiao Jing asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, should we send people to Shaanxi to coordinate disaster relief and other matters?"

"From the capital?" Zhu Youtang asked coldly, then shook his head, "It's too far away, this earthquake, just as Bingkuan predicted, the collapse of the house is the most fatal, only a few people were killed or injured ...It can be regarded as the utmost benevolence and righteousness. But Bingkuan also said that in the near future, there will be repeated earthquakes in Shaanxi, so the local government should not take it lightly."

There is no such thing as the magnitude of an earthquake these days, but the magnitude of the Shaanxi earthquake is at least above magnitude [-], and there are aftershocks.

Not to mention the wide range of influence, it is still the twelfth lunar month of winter, and the people are also very passive in avoiding disasters and other things.

"By the way, build more thatched sheds." Zhu Youtang suddenly thought of something, and added, "The office of the yamen is not proper anymore... Sigh! In the past few years, Bingkuan prophesied that there are so many earthquakes, so we will The earthquake was the worst, and I suddenly forgot what to do when I encountered such things before."

Li Rong reminded: "Your Majesty, in the past, when earthquakes occurred, there was no advance preparation, and disaster relief and other matters in the places where accidents happened were rushed, and it took longer for news to come and go. Before the disaster, the local government has already made preparations, so even if it is a hasty response, it is definitely more than enough."

"That's right." Zhu Youtang sighed, "But why do I still feel helpless when I know about it? Is there something I didn't prepare well?"

Li Rongdao: "Maybe it's because the local government is still not fully prepared in case of a disaster. It's because the local officials are slack in their official duties. It stands to reason that with such an accurate earthquake prophecy, there should be no more deaths and injuries. The locality should have made preparations earlier, and the resettlement of the people will be orderly, and it is definitely not like the present situation, knowing that there will be a disaster, and waiting for everything to be repaired after the disaster.”

"Correct!"

Zhu Youtang seemed to have finally found the crux of the problem, and said angrily, "I sent people to the place a month in advance, and even if there was a delay on the road, I gave them at least half a month to prepare, and they unexpectedly To be able to respond in such a hasty manner, I really think highly of those local officials!"

Xiao Jing hurriedly reminded: "Your Majesty, even if the local officials act improperly, they should wait until the disaster relief is over before disposing of it."

"Hmm." After thinking about it, Zhu Youtang reluctantly nodded, "It's better to send someone to help. When you make the decree, make it clear to the people in Shaanxi's chief political envoy that if there is any trouble in the area responsible for the disaster relief, all They must be investigated to the end! And make it a rule! I don't believe it... You have to beat a group of people so that the officials of the country know what it means to put the people first. Courtier! What do I need them for?"

……

……

The disaster relief was ordered by the emperor himself, but it was obviously not as effective in terms of timeliness.

It takes at least 20 days for the news to come and go.

After coming out of the Xinuang Pavilion, Xiao Jing said to Li Rong: "Your Majesty arranged for the officials of the Shaanxi Chief Envoy to go down to relieve the disaster. Did you ever think that if you wait for more than ten days to spread the news quickly and they go again, wouldn't it be good?" Isn't it going to be after February? What's the point of disaster relief then?"

Li Rongdao: "Maybe His Majesty just wants to set a model for this. In the future, if there is an earthquake in the local area, the government departments of the provinces and Taiwan must immediately dispatch and provide relief, instead of waiting for the imperial court to order everything."

"Hey!" Xiao Jing sighed, "I'm afraid that the speed of disaster relief is not easy to control. In the past few years, the amount of food stocks in the northwest has been declining sharply. If you use too much or use less, it is easy to be blamed by your boss." When asked, how many people will really take responsibility for the stain on their official side?"

Li Rong nodded and said: "Maybe this also reflects that Cai Guogong is a responsible person. He can pretend to be ignorant of such things, not to cause trouble for himself, and he has no hesitation to explain clearly to His Majesty... So Your Majesty is so dependent on Cai Guogong, right?"

Xiao Jing obviously didn't want to hear those words of praise for Zhang Zhou.

The more responsible Zhang Zhou was, the more he won the emperor's trust, the more he showed the incompetence of his close ministers.

Xiao Jing is an internal official who has had direct competition with Zhang Zhou, and he is also very aware that he is gradually falling out of favor... Even Xiao Jing is thinking in his heart that maybe it won't be long before his position as the eunuch in charge of ceremonies will be given up to Others, what's the point of me admiring Zhang Bingkuan?
……

……

The official document for disaster relief was also sent to the yamen of the household department immediately.

After the cabinet heard the news, Xie Qian, on behalf of the cabinet, went to the household office to talk to Zhong Zhong about the relief of earthquake disasters in Shaanxi.

Seeing Xie Qian's serious look, Zhong Zhong couldn't help asking in a low voice: "But you want to raise something with Your Majesty because of this disaster?"

The implication is that you attach so much importance to this disaster and let the people below participate in the impeachment of Zhang Zhou?
Xie Qian said: "The Household Department didn't know Cai Guogong's prophecy about the earthquake in advance?"

He Zhong nodded and said: "I have heard about it a little bit. But His Majesty has not ordered the Ministry of Households to carry out disaster relief preparations."

"Ahem." Xie Qian cleared his throat and said, "That's because, in the past, no one would use the prophesied earthquake in advance to make preparations. You said that if the money and food were transferred to Shaanxi, halfway In the end, the earthquake didn’t happen, so who will bear the loss?”

He Zhong said: "In such a disaster, we can't expect to transfer money and food from Taicang for relief, right? Is the local government unprepared?"

Xie Qian sneered and said: "This is interesting. As far as I know, the local government only informed the people about the earthquake, and didn't even send people to the houses to mobilize. It only reported that there were a few casualties, but who knows In that remote farm, are there widows who don’t know about the disaster, and no one even reports their deaths?”

"This……"

Only then did Zhong Zhong know that the local authorities were so irresponsible when preparing for the earthquake disaster.

Xie Qian said with emotion: "Maybe it really depends on the prestige of Cai Guogong Zhang, if the court doesn't say it's from his mouth, the people in the disaster-stricken area may not even pay attention to it, and more than 5000 houses collapsed, even the city Buildings, city walls, and yamen’s offices are all no exceptions, so imagine how big the impact this disaster will have. Now I’m afraid that there will still be concealment in the localities.”

He Zhong said: "Your Majesty does not seem to have summoned the courtiers to discuss countermeasures."

Xie Qian said: "Perhaps your Majesty knows that when such things happen, the local government must save itself. What the capital Taicang can do is only to fill the vacancy in the local treasury, and we have to wait for the local treasury to be transferred first." Come out...the Ministry of Households will play on this, at the ratio of one household to two taels of silver, and play on disaster relief matters."

"Two taels per household affected by the disaster?" He counted, this is an astronomical figure.

Xie Qian said unhappily: "It's the collapsed houses. Generally speaking, if the houses are damaged, it depends on how the place handles them. Alas! It happened so suddenly, and I don't know much about it. Reported."

……

……

Zhang Zhou didn't go out that day, it was his holiday.

He didn't have much to do in the listening office after the new year, and it was rare for him to take a day off. He was enjoying the beauty's tenderness at home while holding a pot of tea and a book in one hand.

This side knew that it was Li Rong who came to the door in a hurry.

Zhang Zhou could only tidy up a little, came out of the study, and went to the front hall to meet Li Rong.

"Mr. Zhang, it is about the disaster in Shaanxi. It may be more serious than you expected, but there is not much damage to people and animals, but there are many difficulties in disaster relief..."

Li Rong combined the reports from several places in the local area with the reports from the Shaanxi Provincial Supervision and Censor, and the report from the chief envoy, and handed them to Zhang Zhou to read.

After Zhang Zhou finished reading it, he said, "It's too late to talk about disaster relief thousands of miles away."

Wang Mingshan, who came out with Zhang Zhou, didn't feel much after hearing this, while Lin Yi blushed, put down the ginseng tea prepared for Zhang Zhou, saluted and left.

"Eunuch Li, do you want tea?" Zhang Zhou pushed Shencha over calmly.

Li Rong said helplessly: "Sir, I can't take care of it at this time."

Li Rong didn't come to drink tea at all.

Zhang Zhoudao: "I also explained everything. I did everything I could do on the first day back to Beijing. It would be useless to tell me more. I don't think His Majesty wanted me to make a suitable disaster relief memorial." Bar?"

Li Rong thought about it, the emperor really didn't "difficult" Zhang Zhou so much.

Knowing that the mountain is long and the river is far away, the timeliness is very poor, and even Zhang Zhou has successfully completed such things as the prophecy of the earthquake, and he was still convinced. This will have to be repaired after the fact?
"Actually, our family came here... more to inform Mr. Zhang that there is indeed such a thing... You don't have to worry about any criticism from the outside world." Li Rong was scheming and changed his mind quickly.

Zhang Zhoudao: "That's good, don't blame me, then I can speculate about the disaster in the future, and dare to mention it. But I'm afraid, it won't hit every time."

Li Rong said with a look of admiration: "Mr. Zhang, although our family has heard many things about you in the past, we have never seen it with our own eyes. This time we have seen it. You said that you are such a loyal minister who is dedicated to serving the country and the people." , why do you still care about those rumors? Such things, not to mention that you are hit every time now, even if you can only hit once ten or a hundred times in the future, do you dare not obey the regulations?"

"Eunuch Li is exaggerating. If it takes one hit out of ten or a hundred times, then I'm no different from Hu Meng. I won't try to do something so uncertain." Zhang Zhou seemed very peaceful.

It was as if he didn't feel that it was such a great thing that he could predict an earthquake in advance.

Li Rongdao: "Mr. Zhang, to be honest, His Majesty is very dissatisfied with the local disaster relief, and thinks that the local officials have failed to fulfill their due duties. Do you think these local officials should be punished?"

Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty must want to wait until the disaster is over before punishing him?"

"Yes." Li Rong said, "Temporary replacement, after all, it is difficult to achieve effective replacement, it is better to let them take the blame and make meritorious service."

He didn't have the nerve to say that, in fact, this was Xiao Jing's proposal.

Zhang Zhou said flatly: "I think that if we want to be punished, we can't tolerate it. Otherwise, I, who made predictions in advance, would feel that this group of people is messing around. Don't wait for the disaster to not cause too many casualties. Instead, they are doing disaster relief. The Chinese thought it was inappropriate, but some people died of freezing and starving, and even caused catastrophes such as plague..."

"How can you expect people who don't take care of disaster prevention to put their heart into disaster relief?"

Li Rong was stunned for a moment after hearing Zhang Zhou's words.

After a long while, he sighed: "That is... you can't tolerate adultery."

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "Probably so. That's all I can do. After all, the decision-making is made by His Majesty, and I am afraid that Eunuch Li and others will have to worry more about disaster relief."

(End of this chapter)