The Prosperous Era of Longwan

After the Lantern Festival holiday, the year has come to an end, and all government offices have reopened for duty.

However, it seemed that it was not a good sign from the beginning, and it also indicated that the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing seemed to be another troubled year.

Shortly after the opening of the office in February, war reports from border towns and Jiangsu and Zhejiang were continuously sent to the capital. There were enemy sentiments in Datong Town and Ningxia Town. There were also a large number of Japanese pirate attacks in the south and north of the Yangtze River. They claimed that if the Wufeng Captain was not released, they would continue They expanded the scope of their raids and gradually moved north to attack Shandong and other coastal counties.

At this point, the name of the imprisoned pirate Wang Zhi, who had been forgotten by the court, was once again mentioned in the court, but this time the controversy was obviously much smaller.

Last year, when deciding whether to arrest Wang Zhi, some ministers in the DPRK believed that they could follow Hu Zongxian's instructions and recruit him for safety. However, after seeing Jiangnan and Jiangbei being attacked by Japanese pirates one after another, the number of ministers willing to protect Wang Zhi quickly decreased.

The Ming Dynasty could not be intimidated by mere Japanese pirates. Even the ministers who thought that they should recruit people to calm the maritime border chose to keep silent at this time.

The only thing left to wait now is for the Zhejiang Procuratorate to submit Wang Zhi's interrogation records. According to the records, he can be convicted and punished. But almost everyone knows that judging from the current situation, Wang Zhi will undoubtedly die.

In June, an urgent report from Hou Ruliang, the governor of Liaodong, was quickly delivered to the General Affairs Department. The General Affairs Department did not dare to neglect after reading the urgent report, and immediately got up and left the Yamen and ran to the cabinet station - Wenyuan. Pavilion.

Soon, the news that Liaodong suffered a century-old disaster spread among the officials in the capital.

Hou Ruliang, the censor of the governor of Liaodong, expressed his feelings: The coastal area of ​​​​Liaozuo is difficult to reach by land and water. In the past, natural disasters only affected a few cities or a few months. Never before has an entire town been hit by a disaster like this, with no crops harvested for three years. I was ordered to enter the country at the beginning of spring. I saw that there was no smoke in the village, many bones in the fields, and the depression was miserable. It was unbearable to look at it. Last year there was a terrible famine, with eight coins of rice and silver, the mother abandoned her son, the father ate his son to death, and the family members passed down the family tradition. It was said to be a disaster that had not happened in a hundred years. Today is the turn of summer and autumn, and there are floods and insect disasters. A bucket of rice is as expensive as seven cents of silver, and I don’t know what to do in winter and spring. Please spend a lot of money from the inner palace to save the lives of this town.

Words like "Mother abandons her son, father eats her son to death" appeared majestically in the governor's report to the court, instantly hitting the mark of the ministers in the court who said "worry before the world's worries, and rejoice after the world's happiness" Their agitation caused an uproar in the government and the public, and countless memorials asking for disaster relief in Liaodong flew into the General Affairs Office like snowflakes.

Disasters must be saved.

Jia Yingchun, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, was quickly summoned by the cabinet to ask about the money and grain situation of the Ministry of Revenue. The cabinet would not dare to delay such a memorial. It must know the details immediately. How much grain the Ministry of Revenue can give for disaster relief should be drafted. Write them together.

However, the actions of the cabinet were still one step slower than that of Jin Yiwei. When they summoned the Minister of Household Affairs to discuss disaster relief matters, Jin Yiwei had already sent the transcript of Hou Ruliang's memorial to Xiyuan.

Emperor Jiajing saw this report in the Yongshou Palace and was silent for a long time before ordering: "Inform the ministers of the cabinet and the six departments to come to Xiyuan as soon as possible."

At this time in the cabinet.

"Mr. Yan Ge, the Ministry of Household Affairs can provide 600,000 taels of silver, but it cannot provide rice grains of the same price. There is little rain in the south this year, and there is a severe drought in many places. Water transportation has also been greatly affected. This year's water grains cannot be transported. Where does the grain come from and transported to Liaodong?"

The one who spoke was naturally Jia Yingchun. After he took over the household department, he reorganized it and spent more than half a year trying to save a little money. Now that there was another natural disaster, Jia Yingchun knew that this money could not be saved.

The victims of the disaster in a town must be saved, unless the country thousands of miles outside the customs is eliminated.

Moreover, even if you don't want that land, those people are still Ming people, and the Ming court cannot turn a blind eye and let them starve to death.

"Then we'll cut off the trade routes and give priority to the canal boats to ensure that the food routes are smooth."

Xu Jie said.

"Mr. Xu Ge, we have issued official documents in the past two months. Now there are countless merchant ships blocked on the river. Seeing that the flood season is approaching, there has already been a commotion there, and hundreds of thousands more taels have to be shipped. It’s really impossible to get enough food for money.”

At this moment, footsteps were heard outside the door, and a young chamberlain ran into the room to announce the order to everyone inside: "The emperor has spoken: Instruct the ministers in the cabinet, and the six departments will come to Xiyuan as soon as possible."

"According to the order."

"My lord, I obey the order."

All officials, including Yan Song, stood up to receive the order.

The young chamberlain glanced at everyone in the room, and after delivering the news, he turned around and ran out, cupping his hands at several officials.

In the Hanlin Academy, Wei Guangde sat alone in the duty room thinking about the news he just heard.

The Liaodong disaster was tragic, really tragic.

But just as Jia Yingchun thought, Wei Guangde was thinking more about how to transport grain from Jiangnan to Liaodong.

There are many merchants in Jiujiang. In the past, they would hold the name cards of Jiangxi officials in order to have priority when passing through the sluice. But this year is different. A large number of merchant ships are blocked outside the sluice. Priority is given to ensuring that water ships can pass through. It is said that this is an official document from the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Wei Guangde really knew about this official document.

He learned from Jia Yingchun at the banquet that there was another severe drought in several provinces in the south this year, which directly led to the risk of water transportation being interrupted due to lack of water. Now the only priority is to ensure the safety of water ships.

The businessmen came to Wei Guangde for help, but Wei Guangde could only spread his hands and was helpless.

What is Caoliang?

That is to ensure the rations of the capital and border towns. It is better not to join in the fun at this juncture.

But now, Liaodong is short of food again, what else can we do?

According to the usual practice, Taicang must provide food for disaster relief, but this year the food stored in Taicang is much less than in previous years, so how can it dare to meet Liaodong's needs.

Liaodong is also interesting to talk about. There is no independent chief envoy here, but the Liaodong capital is based on the military town model.

In terms of organizational structure, the Liaodong Dusi was managed by the Shandong Chengxuan Administrative Envoys Department across the sea, and the local military administration was managed by the governor who accepted the orders of the imperial court.

Thinking of Shandong, Wei Guangde unconsciously remembered that Shuiying was responsible for the connection between Liaodong and Shandong, and there had always been a sea route connecting the two places.

Going back to ask Jia Yingchun, this is a perfect opportunity to propose his idea of ​​"opening up shipping". I don't know if the old man mentioned it in the cabinet.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde lowered his head and glanced at the white paper that had been spread out on the desk.

Well, when I talked about the Liaodong incident with my colleagues before, I don’t know who took the lead. They also said that they would submit a letter to the emperor requesting for the allocation of funds for disaster relief. After catching the duck, Wei Guangde had no choice but to follow the trend and said that he would follow suit.

But sitting here, Wei Guangde felt that writing such a thing and handing it in was really...

The current congestion of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is actually mainly concentrated in the Shandong section. Water transportation in South Zhili is still normal. If you go to the sea in Huai'an, you can bypass the Shandong Peninsula and go directly to Tianjin Haikou.

It should be much better to transport grain from there than to be stuck in Shandong.

As well as transporting grain to Liaodong, we can also take this route and transport it directly to Liaodong via the Denglai Sea Road in Shandong.

Wei Guangde sat there, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was a way.

Nowadays, the public sentiment among the officials in the DPRK is raging. If we open a sea route to transport grain to save the lives of the people in a town in Liaodong, who would dare to speak out against it?

As long as we get this started, sea transportation can gradually expand in the future. The worst is to keep the existing grain transportation task first, and then we can take our time.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde knew what to write.

Others followed suit and clamored for the court to allocate money and food. Since Wei Guangde had already guessed that the court would definitely allocate money to provide disaster relief, there was no need to follow them in making noises.

Jia Yingchun should have mentioned the "shipping" issue in the cabinet, but the matter was serious and there might not be any immediate results. He followed the previous memorandum to explain the benefits of shipping, which was considered to be an assist for him.

As soon as he thought of it, Wei Guangde called Lu Bu to grind ink for him. He began to think about how to write the memorial appropriately.

At this time, in the Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan, Jia Yingchun, the Minister of Household Affairs, had already explained the difficulties he was facing.

The Ministry of Household Affairs can spend 600,000 taels of silver to help the people of Liaodong, but the problem now is that water transportation is not smooth.

There is food, but let alone transporting it to Liaodong, it is now difficult to deliver the food to the capital and Tai warehouse. What’s the explanation?

This is about solving practical problems, not just empty talk, we have to come up with solutions.

After Jia Yingchun finished speaking, the hall fell into silence.

Emperor Jiajing sat on the throne, looking expressionlessly at the ministers and ministers under the throne. The court was maintained by these people.

The pity I had aroused after reading the memorial has gradually dissipated over time, but the millions of people in Liaodong still need to be saved.

If an entire town of people starved to death under his rule, Emperor Jiajing could not imagine what future history books would write about him.

After so many years of praying for immortality, he actually had some understanding in his heart, but he still persisted.

Emperor Jiajing did not speak out, so Yan Song could only preside over the meeting.

The current situation is obvious. The Ministry of Revenue can allocate funds for disaster relief, but water transportation has become the biggest obstacle. How to solve the transportation problem has become a big trouble that needs to be solved urgently.

"Dear colleagues, the disaster in Liaodong is in full swing, so I won't say much. Now Mr. Jia has put forward the difficult problem. Let's talk about how to solve the problem of grain transportation from the south to the north."

Yan Song's old voice said.

Everyone is not stupid. Jia Yingchun has said so much, but there is only one solution left that he has not mentioned, but this method is a national policy that has been abandoned since the middle and late Yongle period.

Although many people mentioned it in the subsequent dynasties, none of them were approved. How can I say this?

Follow the authority in urgent matters?

No one wants to start this conversation, so just stay silent.

Jia Yingchun didn't frown when he saw this situation. When he entered the Yongshou Palace, he thought about it. Now seems to be a good time to propose a sea transport, and even the sea channel is ready, that is, the channel between Shandong and Liaodong—— Denglai Sea Road.

All the expressions below fell in the eyes of the aloof Emperor Jiajing. Jia Yingchun's frowning expression naturally revealed that he actually had a solution, but he didn't know whether he should say it or not.

Emperor Jiajing is here, and the kind of free speech that the courtiers can discuss in private meetings naturally does not exist. No one wants to talk nonsense and lose points in front of the emperor.

Whether their position is stable or not depends entirely on the emperor's thoughts.

"Dang"

A dull sound of a copper chime was heard, and everyone stood in awe.

"Jia Situ, let's talk about it. You are in charge of the household department. You should come up with a way for everyone to discuss it."

Emperor Jiajing's voice came from the front, and the roll call was about to begin.

In the evening, Wei Guangde had returned home to rest. After dinner, he was lying in the courtyard to enjoy the cool air. Zhang Ji hurried from the front yard and whispered a few words in Wei Guangde's ear.

"Um?"

After hearing this, Wei Guangde was a little surprised and roughly guessed what it was about. He probably asked him to go because it was about "shipping".

However, before leaving work today, he, like other colleagues, had already handed the written memorial to the General Affairs Department.

"Prepare the carriage."

Wei Guangde said to Zhang Ji, then got up and went back to the house to change clothes.

"Are you going out?"

Xu Jianglan saw Wei Guangde changing his coat and guessed that he was going out, but it was so late.

Although a night ban is of little use to officials, it is always good to go out less at night.

"You know what happened in Liaodong today, so you want to ask me to go out and discuss it."

Wei Guangde said a few words briefly, got dressed and went out.

The one named Wei Guangde was naturally from Prince Yu's Mansion. It was still the same restaurant and elegant room. All the important people from Prince Yu's Mansion were here.

Jia Yingchun briefly talked about the situation in Xiyuan in the afternoon. After he proposed sea transportation to Liao, Wu Peng, the Minister of Personnel, and Zheng Xiao, the Minister of Punishments, all clearly opposed it, while Wu Shan, the Minister of Rites, Yang Bo, the Minister of War, and Ouyang Bijin, the Minister of Industry Neither took a stand.

But even so, the outcome is two to one, and the opponent has a clear advantage.

"First let's talk about how much money the Ministry of Finance will allocate for disaster relief."

Wei Guangde had already guessed that some people were going to object. This was just the ministry. If there was a court recommendation, there would be even more objections.

Of course, there are many people who remain neutral.

"Your Majesty has decreed that the Ministry of Household Affairs will immediately distribute 600,000 taels of silver, and send a member of the imperial censor to quickly purchase grain and try to transport it to help the people's urgent needs. At the end of the year, another 50,000 taels of silver will be distributed for cattle gear to prepare for sowing in the spring. .At the same time, we borrowed 50,000 dan of rice from Taicang to help the hungry people."

There was no need for Jia Yingchun to hide his secrets here, so he directly stated the results of the Xiyuan ministry meeting.

"Trying to transport."

Gao Gong frowned. Jia Yingchun's proposal for shipping was obviously not approved in the afternoon ministerial meeting.

Wei Guangde picked up the tea on the table and took a sip before saying: "Actually, I have already submitted a letter this afternoon to start shipping food directly to Liaodong to save the people from the fire and water.

For such a big disaster in Liaodong, the Ministry of Household Affairs would more or less spend money to provide relief, otherwise it would not be possible to explain to the world. "

"Then should we go down and contact more people to submit a letter, requesting a sea transport to Liaodong?"

Chen Yiqin interrupted at this time.

"I think it's feasible. It was inappropriate to use the shortcomings of water transportation as an excuse to request sea transportation. But this time the disaster in Liaodong is urgent. If the relief food is delayed for one day, countless people will die. It really can't be delayed."

Yin Shizhen nodded in agreement.

"In that case, it's settled."

Gao Gong is not an indecisive person. Jia Yingchun, the top leader on his side, has publicly supported shipping. Wei Guangde, Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen also support it. Wei Guangde has written a letter for this, so he should give it his all.

"Yifu, Zhengfu, you two are responsible for liaising with officials from the DPRK and China to write a letter supporting the opening of sea transportation to Liaoning. Guangde, you are also walking around the Hanlin Academy and your peers, but I guess not many dare to write a letter. This time The Yan family is obviously opposed to shipping.

But it doesn’t matter. Let’s move around a little more. If you can get one, count them all. I’ll go find Mr. Xu Ge tomorrow.”