General Constitution of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 224 How old are you?

Inside the Xiyuan Pavilion, the lights were as bright as day.

Jiajing, who was dressed in Taoist robes, leaned lightly on the dragon chair and carefully looked at the people who walked into the hall.

As soon as Fang entered the palace, everyone felt a sense of oppression.

"The guilty minister pays his respects to His Majesty."

After talking, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng knelt down with Ning Jue in their arms.

"Damn it, why don't you see that you two are so energetic?!"

"Am I very strong?" Gao Gong murmured in a low voice.

As he said this, there was a trace of sweat oozing from his high-arched forehead.

Apparently like Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong was also panicked.

Everyone saluted, but Jiajing didn't speak for a long time.

Zhu Zaihan had no choice but to lead the crowd and shout again: "My son, I pay homage to your Majesty!"

"I've had enough trouble and know I'm back?! The half of my Ming Dynasty in the south of the Yangtze River has already been harmed by you and others?!"

"To seize the great seal, I let you go to the East Palace, is it because I let you teach the prince to rebel?!"

Hear the word "rebellion".

The string in the hearts of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng could not be stretched completely.

Zhu Zaiyu lowered his head and said, "My son is guilty..."

Before Zhu Zaihen could finish speaking, he retorted with his arched neck and exposed veins: "Your Majesty! I really don't know, what is your crime?"

Gao Gong's voice stunned even Ning Jue.

"Boom!" came the sound, and the copper hammer in Jiajing's hand hit the copper chime.

"What else do you, Gao Suqing, want to do?! Is treason enough?!"

Gao Gong stood up excitedly from the ground.

"I really don't understand that the people in the south of the Yangtze River sell their sons and daughters for a day's food and clothing. Although the south of the Yangtze River is rough, some people do live a good life because of it!"

Jiajing casually picked up a stack of playbooks and threw them in front of Gao Gong.

"The good days you said mean that thousands of starving people died of starvation in Jinling?!"

Just when Gao Gong refuted Jiajing, Zhang Juzheng also snatched the Chaohu from Ning Jue's hand, and roared at Zhu Xizhong: "Mr. Cheng, offended!"

Zhu Xizhong raised his head in confusion.

"What?"

Before Zhu Xizhong came back to his senses, the chao wat in Zhang Juzheng's hand knocked down on Zhu Xizhong's neck.

Zhu Xizhong rolled his eyes and passed out.

Seeing the reaction of these two people, Ning Jue came back to his senses.

TNND!

This is my job!

Didn't you agree not to do it? !
Jiajing looked at Zhu Xizhong who was knocked out by Zhang Juzheng in shock.

"Zhang Juzheng! You attacked Cheng Guo in front of me..."

Before Jiajing finished speaking, Zhang Juzheng's intentions were already realized.

If these few people join hands to go crazy and want to assassinate the king, then Zhu Xizhong is destined to influence the outcome.

"You want to assassinate! Come on!!"

Before Jiajing could finish shouting, Huang Jin and Zhang Zuo had already stood in front of Jiajing.

Ning Jue recaptured the Chaohu from Zhang Juzheng's hands, and shouted at Jiajing who was on the dragon chair: "Capture the thief first, capture the king!"

"You are presumptuous!"

Yuan Wei, who was in the crowd, got up and rushed towards Ning Jue.

Unexpectedly, Ning Jue kicked her back.

"Get out! How old are you?!"

I have to admit that Ning Jue's hands were trembling slightly.

Everything has been done to this point, and there is no reason not to go back!
Ning Jue rushed towards Jiajing.

Zhang Zuo rushed towards Ning Jue with two young eunuchs in the palace.

"Ning Kezhong! You are crazy, look at what you are doing!"

"I'm very clear-headed! Get out of here!"

Only Jiajing snarled angrily on the dragon chair: "What do you care about him, protect me out! What is Lu Bing doing outside the hall?! Why don't you come in and save him?!"

Seeing that Ning Jue was trapped, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong, who each kicked Yuan Wei, rushed over.

If Ning Jue is the only one who is in trouble.

These eunuchs also held Ning Jue down.

But with the addition of Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong, the balance of victory soon tilted towards Ning Jue.

After all, something was missing.
-
Lu Bing and Zhu Xixiao, who were outside the hall, were poking their heads into the hall curiously.

"Captain Governor, it seems to be quite lively in here."

"After all, we haven't seen each other for such a long time. We may not really kill people tonight. Your Majesty may be lenient."

"Then what's the fuss about here? It sounds like someone is beating Father Jun's bronze chime as a gong."

"Shouldn't it be possible?"

Ti Wei, who was guarding outside the hall, didn't think in this direction at all, after all, Zhu Zaiyan didn't even get a life out of the rebellion.

Ning Jue soon broke free from the siege of Huang Jin and others.

Only when Ning Jue escaped did he see Jiajing running toward the door under the protection of Zhang Zuo.

"Where is your Majesty going?!"

"Ask someone to chop your heads off! A bunch of crazy people..." Before Jiajing could finish cursing.

The door that was originally open in front of him was closed with a "bang!"

I saw Zhu Zaiyu kneeling at the door, and said loudly: "Father! Although the new law is not perfect, it is the way out for my great civilization! Now that the new law is stopped, it will really make the people hang upside down!"

"If you still recognize my father! Open the door now! Lu Bing! Are you waiting outside to collect my body?! Lu Bing?!"

Hearing Jiajing standing at the door shouting this sentence, Lu Bing rushed over with a group of guards.

"Escort! Escort!"

At the moment when Lu Bing led someone to break into the door.

Ning Jue finally found a chance to jump to Jiajing's side.

"Don't move!"

Everyone who found that Ning Jue had kidnapped Jiajing was startled.

"Zhu Houcong!"

Hearing these three words from Ning Jue's mouth, Jiajing didn't even realize who Ning Jue was calling.

It took me a while to remember that it was my name.

"Ning Kezhong, the prince is in Jinling, is it because you bewitched him to conspire against him?"

"Me? If it's just me, am I worth talking nonsense to you?!"

After finishing speaking, Ning Jue kicked Jiajing's ass.

"Go in!"

The moment Ning Jue's kick landed on Jiajing, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Zhu Zaihen were all stunned on the spot, while Huang Jin and Zhang Zuo burst out with sharp explosions.

"Ning Kezhong! You let Your Majesty go, and you have something to do with us slaves!"

"Shut up, I think it's noisy! You guys deserve it too? How high are you?!"

Jiajing looked at Ning Jue and nodded involuntarily.

"Don't act rashly!"

Ning Jue forced Jiajing to retreat towards the apse, while Ning Jue looked at Jiajing panting heavily and growled.

"Since the first year of Jiajing, bah, since the 16th year of Zhengde, you have compared yourself to Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty. You weigh yourself. Are you worthy of being compared with Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty?"

"People in the south of the Yangtze River, one mu of land is only five shi grains a year. The landlord will take two and a half shi, and the remaining two and a half will be used as offerings for you to worship and repair the temple. You have to plant [-] mu of land a year to feed the government and the people. You started with thousands of silverfish in the civil and military dynasties."

Huang Jin immediately opened his mouth and cursed: "Ning Kezhong! You are presumptuous! Where were you when your father worked hard for the people day and night and couldn't sleep peacefully..."

Before Huang Jin could finish speaking, Jiajing directly interrupted Huang Jin's words.

"Huang Jin, let him talk!"

Then Jiajing put on a righteous and awe-inspiring look, straightened his back and stood in front of Ning Jue.

"Say……"

Before Jiajing finished 13, Ning Jue kicked Jiajing again.

"Are you pretending to be your uncle?!"

"Back then, Emperor Taizu Gao was too embarrassed to call himself the father of the emperor. You said each of the fathers of the emperor. Didn't any of these "fathers of the emperor" you say remind the people of Ming Dynasty that although there is a emperor, there is no father?"

Jiajing, who had two big footprints hanging on his Taoist robe, looked at Ning Jue angrily and said, "What about you? Did you save the people?"

"With all the commotion in the south of the Yangtze River, fewer people starve to death? I have been in power for more than [-] years, how is it compared with Wuzong and Xiaozong?! The family business left by Emperor Xianzong was not defeated by me! " Jiajing flicked his Taoist robe angrily.

Even if he loses his family, what Jiajing loses after all is the family fortune he has saved.

This is the confidence that Jiajing has cultivated for so many years.

"Peel the bone marrow of the world, separate the children of the world, and take it for granted that you alone's lust is the flower of my inheritance? Do you know that the great harm in the world today is you alone!"

"People in the world have been blind to you for a long time, you stupid king!"

"Do you really think that people in the world dare not turn against you?! How did your Zhu family come to be! Do you still remember?!"

Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong and the others had long been watching in a daze.

I have to admit that compared to Ning Jue, their thinking is still a bit narrower after all.

Every word of Ning Jue is hitting the limit that they can imagine.

"Are you afraid?"

"I'm not afraid!" Jiajing said angrily, flicking his sleeves.

"Then why are you shaking? I think you won't be afraid."

"Fart, I'm not shaking, but I think you're shaking..."

Everyone quickly came back to their senses.

Ning Jue didn't tremble.

Jiajing didn't shake either.

The ground is shaking.

"Ning Kezhong! You will be punished by God for overstepping the law! God can't stand it anymore!"

As the amplitude of the vibration on the ground became more and more intense, there was a crisp sound of "click".

A wooden door that was broken in just now was smashed down towards the crowd because of the loose bolt, and Lu Bing was smashed head-on under the door.

The crashing collapse of the gate frightened everyone, and also woke them up.

The people in the hall also came to their senses completely, the most important thing they should do now is to run.

Ning Jue subconsciously pushed Jiajing hard.

"Still stubborn if you don't run for your life?! Run!"

It was just that Jiajing who was pushed by Ning Jue stood there as if he was frightened and did not leave.

Most of the palace servants and Ti Weidang fled away.

Just like the fire in Weihui more than ten years ago.

Only Huang Jin, Zhang Zuo, and Zhu Zaiyong ran towards Jiajing, and finally Zhu Zaiyong carried Jiajing up, and then shouted at Ning Jue: "Master Ning, hurry up! Collapsed!"

After saying that, Zhang Zuo and Huang Jin ran out of the hall with the support of the father and son.

Lu Bing, who was limping after being smashed by the wooden door, shouted at Zhu Zaiyu: "Your Highness, if this pavilion is about to collapse, the courtyard will not be safe. Go to the edge of Taiye Pond!"

And Ning Jue in the hall also casually threw away the chao wat in his hand, and staggered towards Zhu Xizhong who was beside him.

He picked up something casually and wanted to help Zhu Xizhong cover it up, only to realize that the bench could only cover Zhu Xizhong's big face.

"Forget it, I tried my best and kicked the old Taoist priest, it doesn't matter if the palace collapses or not."

After saying that, Ning Jue lay down on the ground and felt the earthquake.

This was the first time that Ning Jue, who had been born in two lifetimes, felt what an earthquake felt like.

It's just that Ning Jue didn't know that this earthquake was more terrifying than any of them imagined.

The three rushed to the Taiye Lake in one breath, and when they reached the water's edge, the palace people gathered here.

"The minister waited for the rescue to come late, and the crime waited for ten thousand deaths. Please forgive me the crime."

Zhu Zaiyu gasped heavily with Jiajing on his back, turned his head only to find that Ning Jue hadn't come out at all.

"This……"

"This palace won't collapse. The door was knocked down by Lu Bing. Yan Shifan doesn't have the guts to fool me yet."

Hearing Jiajing's words made Huang Jin and Zhang Zuo feel more alive than the earthquake.

Just now Jiajing stayed in the palace and waited to watch the excitement.

Jiajing, who climbed down from his son's back, pointed to the palace not far away and said, "Duke Cheng is still fainting inside!"

"Lu Bing."

"The minister is here."

"Let's send Ning Jue, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong to prison first." Jiajing then glanced at Yuan Wei who was hiding in the corner with a slightly disappointed look.

Ning Jue couldn't see clearly from that angle, but Jiajing could see clearly.

It was Yuan Wei who took the lead to run out of the group of people in the hall.

That is decisive.

Zhu Xizhong in the hall was also jolted awake by the earthquake.

In the Forbidden City, Jingyang Zhongsheng made a masterpiece, and all the households in the city immediately opened their lamps. With the moonlight on the horizon, Jiajing could faintly see what seemed to be huge waves rolling in the southwest of the capital.

An unknown premonition lingered in Jiajing's heart.

Gyeonggi is probably not the epicenter.

Not long after, a sound of horseshoes sounded outside Xiyuan.

Yan Song and Xu Jie insisted that each of them came to the palace on a horse.

"Sinner Yan Song/Xu Jie, please forgive me for being late to rescue you."

"Where was the epicenter?"

Yan Song blurted out: "It's the southwest of the capital. The Department of General Affairs and the Jingying have allocated [-] li to expedite the investigation to the southwest. The Qin Tianjian hastened to play... This earthquake is no small thing, and it's midnight. The court should make preparations in time."

"Go check it out first."

The sudden earthquake completely interrupted the drama in the palace confinement, the palace in Xiyuan did not collapse, and Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Ning Jue were taken into custody by Jin Yiwei.

Only Zhu Xizhong walked out with Gao Zhong's support, clutching the back of his head.

"Eunuch Gao, what's going on, you've come to Jinling too."

Jiajing waved to Gao Zhong, Gao Zhong did not help Zhu Xizhong to come to Jiajing, but helped Zhu Xizhong to send him to Cheng Guogong's mansion.

People from the chief envoys of Shanxi and Shanxi provinces are entering Beijing at night.

And the scout horses sent by the capital are also rushing to the two provinces.

The Tan Ma who was out of the city did not know about the drama that took place in the palace.

After receiving the order, they performed their duties and went straight to the southwest of the capital. The closer they got to the southwest, the more shocking the sight they saw.

When entering Shanxi, they saw many collapsed houses.

Near Tongguan, these postmen finally saw a scene they would never forget.

The collapsed loess silted up the course of the Yellow River and formed a huge barrier lake. As the water level of the barrier lake rose, the Yellow River flowed backwards.

Since the Yin and Shang Dynasties, this is the only time.

For this reason, the Weishui River moved northward for more than eight miles, and this was the only time.

When the horses passed through the cities and towns, they could only see the remnants of the people wailing and howling in the sky, but they didn't know what they were doing.

The leader Yi Cheng looked at the ruins in front of him and asked in disbelief: "Where is this?"

"Reporting, it's... Huazhou, it's Huazhou City..."

"Report to the cabinet."

"Here."

Weinan, Puzhou, Pingyang, and Huazhou counties adjacent to Chang'an were the epicenter of the earthquake.

Almost all buildings in the four places were razed to the ground, only Tongguan City Wall remained.

Guanzhong is densely populated and the earthquake occurred at midnight, so that it became the earthquake that caused the heaviest casualties to humans since the primates came out of the African continent, and it is very likely that it was the earthquake that caused the most casualties before the extinction of human beings.

It is amazing that 83 people died in the earthquake, and there are countless people who have not been registered in the Yellow Book.

So Han Bangqi, Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, and Wang Weizhen, the former Nanjian Jijiu Wang Weizhen, more than a dozen officials who had reached the sixth rank and above died in the epicenter.

The capital was approaching the end of the new year, but no palace people went out to buy supplies. On the Tianjie, you can see teams of travel-stained horses going back and forth day and night.

The entire capital was cast in a haze.

As the news from the palace spread, the people in the streets and alleys were all discussing the catastrophe.

Everybody knows.

For Daming, this year may be more difficult than any other year.
-
Cabinet value.

"Mr. Yan Ge, Linfen is still like this, how strong can Huazhou be..."

The official robe of the speaker was stained with a lot of mud, and he had obviously just arrived in Beijing from the earthquake area.

Just listening to the man's words, Xu Jie and Yan Song, who were on duty in the hut, couldn't help but look embarrassed.

After a long time, Yan Song spoke.

"Zisheng, the military rations of Datong and Taiyuan towns, after the soldiers of the two towns have enough rations until March next year, how much more can they allocate?"

Xu Jie settled the accounts for a while, and then said: "There is more than [-] shi to be allocated, but the food may not reach Linfen. There are earthquake areas everywhere along the way, and it is just to give relief to the less affected counties first. .”

The earthquake started from the center, but the disaster relief could only go from mild to severe.

They are all citizens of the Ming Dynasty, with meat on their palms and backs, and the military warehouses. This little grain from the court cannot be transported to the places where it is most needed.

"Ruzhen, you stay in the capital, give the court some time, and let the court think of a way."

"Men, Mr. Xu Ge, I can wait until next year, but the disaster victims can't wait. This is not one or two million people, but millions of victims' lives."

"Hundreds of tens of millions of people are looking forward to it day and night, only hoping that the court will come up with a solution."

"You are drowning and you are hungry, you two pavilion elders, please be careful."

Hu Zongxian bowed his head and walked out of the value hut in a daze. Perhaps Hu Zongxian had already expected this result in his heart.

But he still came.

At this juncture, the common people do not count on the imperial court, and there is no other way of life at all.

As soon as Fang came out of the hut, Xu Jie and Yan Song in the cabinet showed rare despair on their faces.

In the face of such natural disasters, even the most sophisticated schemes are useless.

Where there is food, there is life.

No food, just starve to death.

There is absolutely no third possibility.

"Old Yan Ge, the burden of Qianjun has come, and the cabinet has to deal with it."

After a moment of silence, Yan Song said: "In the seventh year of Dade's reign in the Yuan Dynasty, the Hongdong earthquake in Shanxi caused more than [-] deaths and injuries, yet nothing like the backflow of the Yellow River has been heard."

Hearing this, Xu Jie said, "Mr. Yan Ge, if it's a small earthquake or a small disaster, it's the fault of your own order. Such a big disaster, you must not make your father feel guilty."

The Taishan earthquake caused the instability of the East Palace.

The forbidden fire is the emperor's loss of morality.

But if such a catastrophe with more than one million casualties is really sensed, what does God mean?
After a long time, Yan Song just said earnestly: "The guilty king is the king after all. We can't save the people, but we can protect the father."

If there is nothing wrong with the southeast, the imperial court can provide some support.

But now the southeast has been disturbed by the new law, and Huazhou is in the middle of the world again.

If you don't make an edict of guilt, the scholar-officials don't mention it, but the merchants themselves.

Either rely on merchants for disaster relief, or merchants use the power of heaven and man to stir up chaos in the world.

Rather than waiting to be forced to sin against oneself, it is better to quickly promulgate the crime against oneself before no one reacts, and grab the ground first before talking about other things.

Xu Jie mustered all his strength before he said: "Mr. Yan Ge, if we really want to save the people in the northwest, our outer court must first have no restrictions."

"Is our cabinet considered a foreign court?"

"Isn't it?"

In the cabinet, Yan and Xu fell silent.

It wasn't until Huang Jin walked into the cabinet and summoned the two of them to Wuyi Hall to discuss matters that they came back to their senses.
-
"...It is bitterly cold in the northwest, and the literati and bureaucrats have a lot of earthen kangs. When the earthquake broke out, countless gentry were burned to death when the earthen kang collapsed. Therefore, Sima Han Bangqi in Nanjing died in the kang..."

"The people in the Northwest mostly live in earth kilns...the caves collapsed after the earthquake." Thinking of this, Yan Song couldn't help but sigh.

"In Pingliang, Jiangxian, Qingyang and other counties, the number of casualties exceeded a thousand."

After Yan Song finished reading the melody in his hand, he lowered his head.

Zhu Zaiyu asked in disbelief: "Why is it that only Huazhou reported the disaster situation among the counties at the epicenter?! Could it be that the disaster at the epicenter is not so serious?"

Xu Jie fell to his knees with a "plop", choked up and said, "Your Highness!"

"In the four counties at the epicenter, except Zhang Cai, the magistrate of Huazhou, all the officials of the county hall died at the epicenter. The situation of the disaster still needs to be checked by the Chief Commissioner!"

Zhu Zaiyu casually flipped through a few books, and saw many words that he would never have thought of.

Yang Cai, the magistrate of Huazhou, survived that night, so he called the gentry to open a warehouse to help. Huazhou was spared. Within two days, the people in the neighboring counties had no one to help, so they had to act as robbers. state.

"The pavilion's disaster relief..."

Xu Jie bowed his head and said, "Your Highness, there is not much food and fodder left in the warehouse in Beijing. The frozen canal boats stop at Xuzhou. It will not be until February at the earliest in the spring of the next year before the money and food can reach Beijing."

"It's not Chinese New Year yet! The people can survive the spring of the next year, and it's still February?! When the imperial court's food arrives in Huazhou, the first batch of food after the disaster is almost harvested!"

Hearing Zhu Zaiyu's questioning, both Xu Jie and Yan Song bowed their heads in silence.

After a long time, Xu Jie finally said: "At present, more than forty counties have reported the earthquake disaster... Qin Tianjian estimated that there should be more than a hundred counties affected by the disaster, and the rest will only report after the post roads are cleared."

Yan Song and Xu Jie coincidentally did not mention the "edict of sin against oneself".

It's a cold day, and the year is approaching, and the court is at a time when it's not ready.

The Huayin and Tongguan areas are also at the junction of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan provinces. All the areas north of the Yangtze River except Shandong and Beiji were affected by the disaster, and Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi felt it.

This earthquake completely exceeded Daming's ability to provide relief.

The tens of millions of disaster victims in the northwest became the most important weight, reminding the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty all the time that Ming needs stronger organizational power and more effective resource allocation.

(End of this chapter)