The heroine Jiangshan

Chapter 6 Disaster Relief
A few days later, a rare guest came to the villa.

Yun Ruochen was talking with Concubine Huang, and he didn't take it too seriously when he heard a servant report that someone had come from the city.After leaving Concubine Huang's courtyard, she happened to meet Nie Shen in the backyard who was reinforcing the fence with the conductors, and asked about the identity of the guest.

When she learned that it was Gu Yuan, Prince Jing's teacher and one of the cabinet scholars, she really fell in love.

There is no prime minister in the Qing Dynasty, the cabinet is the core central department of the court, and several academicians are important ministers of the country.Gu Yuan used to be a lecturer in Prince Jing's residence, and also the highest-ranking minister of Prince Jing's family in the court, Yun Ruochen knew about it.

But I don't know that Mr. Gu Ge came to the suburbs of Beijing to find Prince Jing in his busy schedule, what is the purpose of discussing?

Yun Ruochen looked in the direction of the study outside, hidden his right hand in his sleeve, secretly pinched his fingers and made a calculation, but the result was blurred.

She couldn't help but smiled wryly, she had no aura in her body, and it was not as easy as before to peek at the secrets of heaven.So depressed!
This made her desire to mend her dead veins even stronger.

She turned her attention to Ye Shenyan who was mixing in the team of servants and helping the servants.This little boy is a clever ghost, although his experience in entering the mansion was very dishonorable, but now he seems to be very familiar with his companions around him.

At noon, when Yun Ruochen went to the front hall to dine with Prince Jing, he found that the gloom on his father's face had gathered again.

"Father, what's bothering you?"

After lunch, Yun Ruochen saw that Prince Jing was still absent-minded, thinking that it must have something to do with Gu Ge's visit in the morning.

King Jing shook his head, glanced at Yun Ruochen, and sighed again, "It's nothing, you won't understand even if I tell you."

"Father looks down on others again!"

Yun Ruochen knew that Prince Jing loved her very much, so he said coquettishly, "Chen'er has grown up, and she wants to relieve father's worries too!"

"Hehe, okay, my little Chen'er is the most well-behaved."

Prince Jing patted his daughter's cheek affectionately, forced a smile, but still didn't say why he was hurting.

Yun Ruochen could understand Prince Jing's perfunctory.I am just an eight-year-old girl, which adult would seriously talk to her?Just because Prince Jing has a good temper, other fathers may not have the patience to deal with their daughters.

But Yun Ruochen knew that Prince Jing was not favored by the ministers, and he had almost no staff members, at most, those gentlemen in his mansion who were pointed out by the palace to teach him to study should be close to him, such as Gu Yuan.Even though he is a prince, but because the emperor's father doesn't want to see him, his popularity is not ordinary.

So Yun Ruochen still wanted to know why Prince Jing was bothered by something, maybe he could help out with some ideas?
"Father, just tell me, Chen'er really wants to know."

Anyway, she's a child, so she can do whatever she wants to be willful and coquettish.Being tortured to no avail by his daughter, King Jing had no choice but to say, "Oh, isn't it because of the recent disaster victims?"

victims?

Yun Ruochen turned her head and thought for a while, it seems that when she chatted with Ye Shenyan in the past two days, he also talked about the disaster victims outside.Has the situation worsened?
It is said that this year the Yellow River floods were particularly serious, and many counties and villages in the Central Plains were affected, with as many as 10 victims.Now there are nearly [-] disaster victims gathered near the capital, and the imperial court is having a headache.

The Qing Dynasty was not a particularly wealthy and powerful dynasty. There were barbarians on the grasslands in the north who stared at them and often harassed the border. In the west, there were barbarian tribes who refused to obey the government's control.In addition, after 300 years of rule, the ruling class has long been decadent and depraved, and the lives of the people are miserable...

Regarding the historical materials of the Qing Dynasty, Yun Ruochen had only read a few general ones.However, in the academic world, most people deny the existence of the Qing Dynasty, because there is no inheritance before and after this dynasty...

Thinking about it now, maybe it's because Qingchao and her original world are not in the same time and space at all?What she saw might have been written down by a wandering soul who strayed into this time and space just like her.

Why didn't this senior do it to the end, and listed all the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, so that she could have more spoilers in hand!

Now that he had started talking, Prince Jing usually had no one to talk to, so he simply continued talking.

"Now the disaster victims are surrounded outside the capital, hungry and dying everywhere. Although the imperial court has tried its best to relieve the disaster, it can only provide two porridge a day, no more. But the disaster victims from all over the country are still coming in a steady stream. The cabinet is really in trouble... ..."

Because the old emperor was very indifferent to these two sons, basically he ignored them, so they did not enter the court to observe politics.But it is also impossible for them to really be indifferent to the government. If any major event happens in the court every day, someone will sort it out and send it to the palace.

Yun Ruochen knew some reasons why Emperor Yuan Qi had such an attitude towards his sons, and this was one of the few records in the historical materials she had read.But her mind was not on this for the time being, she just followed her father's words and said: "The elders in the cabinet are also in trouble?"

"That's right!" Prince Jing sighed again, "Last year was not a good year, and the granary near the capital was only half full. If more disaster victims come, the court will not be able to afford it."

It sounds serious, but is her father so worried about the country and the people, so depressed because of the starving victims outside?
She tentatively asked: "What about the other ministers, don't they have any good suggestions?"

Prince Jing hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Old Gu Ge said that the cabinet has been encouraging officials to submit letters these days to see who can come up with a better idea."

Brainstorming, this idea is also right.Yun Ruochen observed Prince Jing's expression, and suddenly asked, "Is it just the officials? Did the nobles participate... For example, did Uncle Cheng also write a letter?"

"how do you know?"

Prince Jing looked at his young daughter in surprise.

She knows it!

She wouldn't believe that Mr. Gu Ge, who was entangled in state affairs, could leave his official business and come here to discuss things in person, if it had nothing to do with the two kings fighting for the throne.

As the mainstay of Prince Jing's faction, Gu Ge must hope that Prince Jing will eventually ascend to the throne.And what can make Prince Jing, who is waiting with joy for his son's birth, so depressed, is nothing other than Prince Cheng.

Needless to say, His Royal Highness Cheng Wang, who is said to be a "virtuous king" but loves to play tricks in private, must have put forward some suggestions that attracted attention, so Gu Ge couldn't sit still.

"I guessed it!"

Yun Ruochen would not foolishly make up a set of rhetoric to explain, there is a saying called "Explanation is to cover up", the more you say it, the easier it is to arouse suspicion.On the contrary, it is easier to win people's trust if she frankly states that she "guessed".

"Guess?" Prince Jing looked his daughter up and down suspiciously, and just when Yun Ruochen thought he was going to ask more questions, he lightly stroked Yun Ruochen's head and sighed, "Oh, Chen'er really Clever! If only you were a boy..."

"Father! Didn't you say that even if Chen'er is a girl, you will always love Chen'er!"

Yun Ruochen pouted dissatisfiedly, causing King Jing to smile sincerely: "Yes, yes, of course my father loves Chen'er the most."

"Then what suggestion did Uncle Cheng give?"

With the smoke bomb of being coquettish, Yun Ruochen continued to explore the issues she was interested in.

What did King Cheng do this time?
Hearing the word "Prince Cheng", Prince Jing's eyes darkened again.

After repeating Prince Jing's "Your child doesn't understand this" and Yun Ruochen's "Father, please tell me" several times, Yun Ruochen finally listened to Prince Cheng's suggestion in general.

In fact, the most important piece of Cheng Wang's suggestion is to collect taxes in advance!

The national treasury is tight. Although it is only summer, the imperial court has already collected this year's autumn tax.King Cheng's suggestion is to continue to spend more than one year's worth of food, and collect the spring tax next year in advance for emergency relief.

Of course, King Cheng didn't just make this suggestion, he also had two other points to add - to borrow food from big households, and to transfer the military food from the northern frontier granaries back to the capital for disaster relief.

King Jing spoke to himself, and didn't expect his daughter to understand.Yun Ruochen heard it, but began to analyze the background of King Cheng's three suggestions.

Collecting taxes in advance is not new at all, but not everyone dares to mention it.Because ministers value their reputation very much and don't want to leave the impression of "executing harsh governance" among the people, they often don't publicly propose tax increases or tax collections in advance.In private...it's hard to say.

But King Cheng obviously has no scruples in this regard. His supporters in the upper echelon are never the people at the bottom but the upper class.And if he did this, he might give the old emperor a good impression that he "doesn't want to buy people's hearts"—even if he was his own son, the old emperor would not want to see them sell well to the people.

Moreover, his suggestion is highly operable and has quick results, which everyone will love to hear.

The other two points are just to accompany the prince to study.Borrow food from big households?Just kidding, the Qing Dynasty was very strong in protecting private property. Is the grain of the big households so easy to borrow? That's all.As for military rations, the Ministry of War will never agree.If military rations are used to relieve the disaster here but cause a border mutiny, who can bear the responsibility?
"I don't know if King Cheng came up with it himself, or if there are some experts behind the scenes..." Yun Ruochen thought to himself, no wonder his father has been suppressed by King Cheng all the time. There is no ambiguity in the overall situation.

But when she looked closely at Prince Jing's expression, she seemed to disapprove of Prince Cheng's suggestion.

When Mr. Gu Ge came over, he must have asked King Jing to write some suggestions, not to mention showing his face in front of the old emperor, so he couldn't completely stop participating, right?
Then, what good advice would my "single stupid" father and king put forward?
Judging from the current cards, King Cheng seems to have won this round, alas... Yun Ruochen thought helplessly.

　The number of words has gradually increased. If you have any opinions, you can freely put them forward in the book review area~~~~ I like to see dry goods reviews the most!Please recommend!
　　


(End of this chapter)