Jia Yujing of Red Mansion

Chapter 298 The precarious Chu

Chapter 298 The precarious Chu

Daming Palace, South Study Room.

Emperor Longqing was wearing a large cloak, sitting behind the desk, looking at the military report just sent from Japan, with a happy face.

Opposite him stood Li Shirui, the chief minister of the cabinet, and Yu Wannian, the new Minister of War.

Two months ago, Siam's troops and horses were mobilized frequently, and there seemed to be a risk of provoking trouble.

Sima Xian, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, suddenly deteriorated when he was inspecting the border defense. He was bedridden and had to submit another memorial to beg for the remains, asking Emperor Longqing to quickly send important ministers to stabilize the situation.

Emperor Longqing urgently transferred Grand Scholar Wu Yingdian, and Yang Sicheng, Minister of War, rushed to the southwest to replace Sima Xian as governor of Yunnan and Guizhou.

The Minister of War is an important position, and all forces in North Korea and China want to promote their own people to the position.

Luo Jin, a scholar at Jianji Palace, recommended Zhou Churen, governor of Shanxi, who was originally from Shaanxi and was Luo Jin's disciple.

In the first year of Longqing, Sanjia was born as a Jinshi. He first served in the Ministry of War, and later served as the prefect of Zhenjiang, the inspector of Henan, the chief envoy of Jiangxi, and the governor of Shanxi.

Zhou Churen was very capable, and with Luo Jin's care, he could be said to have risen to prominence in more than twenty years, one step at a time in a few years. In more than ten years, he became the governor of a province and the official of a frontier.

Luo Jin hoped to promote him to the important position of Minister of War in order to restore the decline of the Fujian Party in the government.

Xiao Mo recommended Xiao Mingsheng, the left minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War, who was related to Xiao Mo by marriage, and Xiao Mo's wife was Xiao Mingsheng's aunt.

Jia Yucun, the prefect of Jinling, was recommended by Wang Ziteng and the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army through Jia Zheng's connections.

However, none of these people had fought for more than ten thousand years. Jia Qiong made arrangements in advance, and Yang Sicheng specially recommended him to Emperor Longqing before leaving Beijing.

With more than ten thousand years of experience in battle, he was proficient in military affairs, and with the help of the royal party, he finally won. He had just served as Minister of War for more than a month.

Today, the Ministry of War received a battle report from Jia Qiong. It was sent by Jia Qiong a month ago after he occupied the entire Kyushu Island, and it has just been delivered now.

The reason why Emperor Longqing was so happy after receiving the military report was mainly because Jia Qiong reported the gains from the capture of Kyushu Island.

Preliminary estimates indicate that the gold and silver seized by the Chu army would total more than 700 taels of silver.

Such a huge wealth is exactly what the court urgently needs.

"This money came at just the right time. Yu Aiqing, cough...send an order to Marquis Wu Ning and order him to transport the captured gold and silver back as soon as possible."

Yu Wannian hurriedly raised his hands and said, "Yes, I obey your order."

"Li Aiqing, immediately summon the cabinet, cough cough cough, summon all the bachelors to come to the south study room to discuss disaster relief matters, cough cough cough."

Li Shirui looked at Emperor Longqing who was coughing non-stop and said worriedly: "Your Majesty, it's important to take care of your dragon body, you still need to get more rest.

Regarding the disaster relief, I will report to you after we have discussed the plan. "

Emperor Longqing waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter, I'm almost healed, go ahead."

"Yes, I obey the order."

Li Shirui and Yu Wannian took the order and left. Emperor Longqing turned to look at the rain outside the window, listening to the rumble of thunder from the sky, and the joy on his face was quickly replaced by gloomy clouds.

"Your Majesty, it's time for you to take medicine."

Emperor Longqing looked at the sky outside the window in trance, and did not look back until he heard the Queen's voice. "Queen, it's raining so heavily, ahem, why did you come in person?"

The queen picked up the medicine bowl and handed it to Emperor Longqing's hand and said: "This little rain is nothing. The emperor's health is urgent, so drink it while it's hot."

Emperor Longqing took the medicine bowl and said helplessly: "No wonder they say that the tea soup from Guanglu Temple, the prescriptions from Taiyuan Hospital, cough cough...are all in name only.

I just caught a cold occasionally, but I haven't felt better after taking medicine for so many days. "

Although Emperor Longqing complained, he frowned and drank the medicine in one gulp.

The queen hurriedly handed him tea to rinse his mouth, and said angrily: "The imperial doctor said that the emperor's body needs more rest. Have you ever heard of it? Do you still blame the imperial doctor for not using the medicine?"

Emperor Longqing smiled bitterly when he heard this and said: "What time is it now? I don't have time to rest.

If the rain continues like this, ahem... I don't know how severe the disaster will be. "

Hearing this, the queen couldn't help but glance out the window, frowned and said, "I don't know what happened this year. Is God trying to make up for the lack of rain in the first ten years this year?"

Since April, it has been raining non-stop in Chang'an City, and it has not cleared up for three consecutive days.

Like Chang'an, most of the entire middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River receive continuous rain, just like the plum rain season in the south of the Yangtze River. There is no drought at all in previous years.

Although sufficient rain is a good thing for the north, the continuous rainfall has caused the water level of the Yellow River to continue to rise.

Especially since the beginning of summer, the rain has no tendency to weaken at all, but is getting heavier and heavier.

Continuous heavy rains and melting glaciers in the upper reaches in summer have brought floods to the Yellow River that have not been seen in many years.

The drought that has lasted for many years has kept the water level of the Yellow River at a low level. There has been no flood for many years, and people have gradually forgotten the terrifying scene when the Yellow River overflowed.

Large households in many places have privately filled rivers to build land, occupying the exposed riverbanks of the Yellow River. Some are used as farmland, and some build manors next to the river, causing the river to become narrower year by year.

It is not visible during the dry season, but after the Yellow River rose this year, the narrowing of the river channel has intensified the power of the flood.

The Yellow River embankment, which has not been repaired for many years, can hardly withstand the impact of floods. Although the summer flood has just begun, there are already two dams in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.

From Henan to Jiangsu, floods have raged for thousands of miles, leaving millions of people homeless and hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile farmland without harvest. This is just the beginning.

When the real main flood peak arrives, I don’t know how many towns will be flooded and how many people will suffer.

The imperial court's newly improved finances were simply unable to cope with such a disaster, and Emperor Longqing had to once again use funds from the internal treasury for disaster relief.

In just half a month, Emperor Longqing had already withdrawn 200 million taels of silver. If the current situation continues, his newly enriched treasury may bottom out due to this disaster.

The battle report sent by Jia Qiong was like a timely rain, allowing Emperor Longqing to breathe a little easier. At least there would be no shortage of money in the short term.

But if the heavy rain continues, the entire north will be flooded with dead bodies, and countless people will suffer.

And summer is the season when plagues are most common. If a large-scale plague breaks out again after the floods recede, the consequences will be even more disastrous, and Dachu will definitely be severely damaged.

This is why Emperor Longqing was not worried, so even when he was ill, he could not rest in peace and cultivate himself. He was busy working on state affairs every day, which made his already poor body even weaker.

The country is facing a major disaster, and Emperor Longqing is restless. Today's court is just like the weather, with turbulent weather and undercurrents.

(End of this chapter)

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like