prosperous age

Chapter 1111 1202 Open-air Garbage City

"Okay, got it, go ahead and get busy."

Wei Guangde smiled and nodded at the secretary, then went straight to his duty room.

When he reached the door of the room, he saw Lu Bu, who had been standing by the door for a long time, and said, "Keep an eye on the door. If you see Prime Minister Zhang coming, come in and let me know."

"Yes, sir."

Lu Bu agreed respectfully.

After Wei Guangde entered the room, Lu Bu hurriedly brought in the brewed tea from the small room next door.

He sat down to rest for a while, took a sip of tea, then picked up a memorial on the table and glanced at it, but impatience soon appeared on his face.

It is said that there were a lot of memorials in ancient dynasties. That is true. Huge piles of memorials were submitted to the cabinet every day, but there were also quite a few memorials that were the same and repeated every year.

It's not like the kind in Qing palace dramas where local officials have to submit memorials to the emperor every month to pay their respects, but repetitive things like the transportation of tax silver, local governance, and river dredging. Now because of the implementation of the performance evaluation system, lower-level officials have also written their main work into memorials to show that they have done those things while in office.

The one in Wei Guangde's hand was an invalid memorial, which was empty and lacked substantive content. It first touted the peace and prosperity of the country, and then mentioned some problems existing in the court, and then said that the emperor was smart and would be able to solve them.

Yes, Wei Guangde had gradually become impatient with dealing with such memorials. These things should have been brought out by the Ministry of Public Security, and they could have directly asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to approve them. There was no need to send them to the Cabinet for drafting.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde thought carefully and roughly classified the types of memorials that he could think of that could be dealt with quickly. He planned to mention this to Zhang Juzheng later to see if it would be appropriate to not send some of the memorials to the cabinet for processing in the future.

However, as soon as the pen was put down, Wei Guangde stopped suddenly.

He realized that although doing so could reduce the workload of the cabinet, it undoubtedly opened a loophole, that is, memorials would not go to the cabinet and could be directly approved by the Silijian.

This may not seem like a big deal, but it carries the risk of undermining the cabinet.

"This hole cannot be opened."

Wei Guangde hesitated for a moment, and finally gave up the idea.

The brush continued to move on the paper, and soon a few words were written, which served as a draft of the memorial.

He pasted it on the memorial, closed it and put it aside, which was considered the first official business of the day.

After that, he naturally continued to look through other memorials, but most of them were meaningless. Although some of them might be novel, they were just like that. There were very few memorials that could really bring some useful information to Wei Guangde.

After processing a few memorials, Lu Bu came in quickly and whispered in his ear, "Master, Prime Minister Zhang is here and has gone to the duty room."

"understood."

Wei Guangde nodded.

He did not immediately put down what he was doing and go directly to Zhang Juzheng.

When people just arrive at the duty room, they have to be allowed to rest.

However, thinking about his own affairs, Wei Guangde suddenly realized that after entering the duty room, he actually forgot to write a charter about the sanitation of the capital city, asking Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingmasi to cooperate in cleaning up the city's garbage, feces, and subsequent maintenance.

Looking sideways at the memorials that had been processed, Wei Guangde suddenly realized that he seemed to have become accustomed to processing memorials in this mechanical way. Sitting in this position, he would pick up a book at random, flip through it, quickly write a vote, throw it aside, and pick up another one.
Shaking his head slightly, Wei Guangde couldn't help but sigh. He really didn't know how Zhu Yuanzhang, the diligent emperor who founded the Ming Dynasty, spent his days. He actually died after reading such a boring memorial.

Little did he know that Zhu Yuanzhang had actually spanked someone in order to get his subordinates to write memorials more bluntly.

At the beginning, Zhu Yuanzhang was annoyed by the flowery articles of the literati. Only after he dealt with some of them did things change. At least the main idea of ​​the memorial could be understood from the first few paragraphs.

The memorials to the dead in the early Ming Dynasty were not as complicated and repetitive as they are today, so Zhu Yuanzhang naturally had the time to calm down and read on.

If Zhu Yuanzhang saw this memorial, I'm afraid countless people would be punished.

Finding a piece of rice paper, Wei Guangde began to write a simple charter of what he had been thinking about before. In fact, it was a list of the duties of Shuntian Prefecture and its subordinate Daxing and Wanping counties, as well as the responsibilities of the Wucheng Bingmasi.

The Wucheng Bingmasi was responsible for cleaning and sanitation, and the county government officials were responsible for daily inspections. Sanitation fees were collected by the Wucheng Bingmasi to pay for the costs of cleaning and maintaining cleanliness, mainly labor costs.

During routine inspections, the county government's runners could impose fines on businesses and residents who violated hygiene rules, and the money would naturally be distributed between the government office and the runners.

Having a share of the fine money can also give the police officers a little more subjective initiative and prevent them from turning a blind eye and fooling around.

Wei Guangde also gave a general explanation of the amount of the fine, which would not exceed five taels of silver. You can't fine someone to the point of bankruptcy just because of a hygiene issue.

No matter whether it is the common people in the city or the merchants, five taels of silver can make them feel distressed.

After simply writing down the regulations, Wei Guangde waited until the handwriting had dried before folding it and putting it in his sleeve. He then touched Qi Jiguang's letter and made sure it was correct before he stood up and left the duty room.

"Uncle brother."

After the report, Wei Guangde walked into Zhang Juzheng's duty room and greeted him with a bow.

"Shandai is here, please take a seat, but what can I do for you?"

Zhang Juzheng naturally knew that Wei Guangde must have something to talk about since he came here so early in the morning. After asking him to sit down, he asked casually.

"Two things."

Wei Guangde said happily, holding up two fingers.

"Tell me one by one, haha."

Zhang Juzheng smiled.

At this time, the clerk served tea. After the others left, Wei Guangde took out Qi Jiguang's letter from his sleeve and handed it to Zhang Juzheng, saying, "This is a letter written by Qi Jiguang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong. I wonder if the governor of Liaodong has sent any news to the capital?"

"Liaodong?"

Zhang Juzheng was slightly stunned. Judging from his reaction, he seemed not to have expected that the first thing would be the Liaodong matter.

After taking the letter, Zhang Juzheng took it out and started reading.

Soon, Zhang Juzheng frowned.

This small action also made Wei Guangde believe that Zhang Xueyan should not have told Zhang Juzheng the details of Liaodong, otherwise he would not have taken this action.

Naturally, there was nothing inappropriate in Qi Jiguang's letters, so Wei Guangde dared to take out the letters and show them to others.

After Zhang Juzheng finished reading the letter, he folded it, put it in an envelope, and handed it back to Wei Guangde. Then he said, "If what is said in the letter is true, it is indeed better to do it sooner rather than later."

Zhang Juzheng was not a fussy or indecisive person. If someone like Wang Gao might appear again, it would be better for him to deal with it as soon as any signs of him appeared.

Since Zhang Juzheng had expressed his attitude, Wei Guangde immediately said: "So what does uncle mean?"

"Regarding this matter, you should first pass the message to Yuan Jing and ask him to be prepared and wait for the order from the governor's office." Zhang Juzheng did not let the Liaodong Ming army attack Hongli Village and Shaji City immediately, but only asked them to be prepared, naturally with the intention of verifying the authenticity.

Being in this position, he certainly would not listen to one side of the story blindly. He needed to verify the content of Qi Jiguang's letter before making a decision.

However, from the fact that Qi Jiguang was asked to be prepared, it can actually be seen that if what was said in the letter was true, the Ming army should have sent troops to conquer Ata and Ahai at this time and completely nip the unstable factors in the bud.

As for the rumors from the outside world, that this cabinet does not seem to be stable, and that the Ming Dynasty has been in constant war since they came to power, he certainly does not take these rumors seriously.

What’s the big deal? As long as the war is won, these remarks are nothing but the barking of incompetent people.

"Oh, by the way, didn't you say there was one more thing? It's not the war in the southwest, is it?"

Zhang Juzheng thought of the two fingers Wei Guangde had pointed out earlier, so he continued with a smile.

"It's not about the war in the southwest, it's about the capital."

Wei Guangde smiled and put the letter away, but when he took it out, there was another piece of paper, which he then handed to Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng took the paper from Wei Guangde, opened it and started reading. Soon his mouth opened slightly, as if he had suddenly realized something.

"Every day when I walk down the street, I smell a foul odor from time to time, and the streets are full of dirt and chaos. It feels really incompatible with the scene of the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

To be honest, only the imperial city and the various mansions are habitable, other places, tsk tsk."

Wei Guangde kept shaking his head gently, seeming to be very regretful.

"If Shandai hadn't mentioned it, I really wouldn't have thought of this."

Zhang Juzheng stroked his beautiful beard and smiled, "When I first came to the capital to take the imperial examination, I thought it was a role model for the whole country, but after entering the city, I found that it seems to be similar to my hometown.

But I didn't think much about it and thought that all cities in the world should be like this.

Now that I have seen Shandai’s proposal, I feel very good.

The capital of the Ming Dynasty, under the feet of the emperor, should have its own demeanor. It is time to improve the sanitation of the capital."

"Well, once the capital is ready, we can use this as an example and promote it in other parts of the Ming Dynasty, so that people from those vassal states can see the grandeur of the Ming Dynasty."

Wei Guangde replied with a smile.

"Ah."

Zhang Juzheng nodded and said, "I think this is feasible.

Since the Wucheng Bingmasi is in charge, then Shandai will be in charge of this matter. Shuntian Prefecture will fully cooperate and try to clean up the capital as soon as possible."

Beijing was the imperial capital of the Ming and Qing dynasties and had a large population. By the Wanli period, it had more than 800,000 residents, and by the late Qing Dynasty, the combined population of the inner and outer cities exceeded one million.

Since cities gather a large population, people's activities inevitably produce garbage and excrement, and coupled with sandstorms, environmental problems arise.

The first impression that Beijing left on outsiders during the Ming and Qing dynasties was its tall and majestic city walls. It was said that twelve horses could run side by side on the top of the wall.

When you enter the city, you can see magnificent palaces and government offices. The city is bustling with business and thriving business. "The population in the capital is increasing, and the goods are becoming more and more abundant. There is almost no room for people in the streets and markets."

The most prosperous street in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty was Qipan Street between Daming Gate and Zhengyang Gate. According to the "Huangdu Jishengtu", Qipan Street was full of tents, with alleys crisscrossed, all kinds of goods on sale, and bustling tourists.

By the Qing Dynasty, Qipan Street had developed into the bustling commercial district Dazhalan, which was known as "the essence of the capital city lies here."

But behind this prosperous scene there are other unforgettable memories and troubles.

People in later generations all know about the sandstorm weather in the capital, which actually appeared as early as the Ming Dynasty.

Strong winds brought with them fine powder-like dust, and the situation did not improve until the Qing Dynasty. "Whenever the wind blew, the dust cloud rose to the sky and blocked out the sun. People could not recognize each other when they saw each other. It was commonly known as the blowing of yellow sand. This happened several times or dozens of times a month, or even all month long."

The dust in the north was very unaccustomed to the southern scholars who had just arrived in the capital. Xie Zhaozhe from Fujian wrote in his notes: "In the lands of Yan and Qi, there is wind every day; the dust rises to the sky and one cannot see even a little distance. When the people from the south first arrived, they found it very hard, but the locals did not care at all."

The locals are used to it. Beijing's pervasive sandstorms, along with the strong winds, make the interiors "full of flying dust". When faced with such unpleasant weather, residents use paper to cover windows to prevent the intrusion of sand and dust. "The sandstorms in Yan are pervasive, and people often use paper to cover windows to prevent it."

Another very unsightly phenomenon in Beijing's environmental conditions during the Ming and Qing dynasties was urinating and defecating on the streets, with some people urinating and defecating anywhere.

This was particularly surprising to outsiders who had just arrived in the capital, "In the north, the streets were filled with feces, and it was even worse in the capital. People threw themselves naked in broad daylight, without avoiding officials, and behaved in a disrespectful manner. The villains got used to it and their respect and fear for them disappeared."

The main reason for this phenomenon is the lack of sanitary facilities and toilets in the city.

Most people don’t have toilets, and women use toilets. “People in the city don’t have pit toilets, and their women urinate in the ditch outside the door in the morning.”

Feces is poured into the ditches, making them blocked, so they need to be cleaned regularly.

Although there were dung men in the capital at that time who were responsible for collecting dung and transporting it outside the city, the phenomenon of "dung filling the streets" in the city still existed.

Ultimately, it’s because of the times.

Beijing uses a lot of animal power, which results in "mule and horse manure being everywhere in and around the capital, in the streets and alleys, and in front of and behind the ministries and government offices. When it rains or snows, the manure turns into mud and stinks, just like a manure factory."

Therefore, the feces in the capital city not only comes from the people, but also from the livestock on the streets.

Later generations used asphalt to pave roads, but in this era, livestock manure was everywhere on the streets. You can imagine what the scene would be like after the rain.

Wei Guangde plans to solve the garbage and feces, as well as the resulting poor drainage problem in the city of Sijiu, all at once this time.

There is no way to deal with sandstorms, but when it comes to sanitation work, Wei Guangde is quite familiar with it.

If the ditch is blocked, we need to clear it, which requires manpower investment.

As for manpower, the Wucheng Bingmasi has plenty of people, so there is no problem at all.

It is said that the first city-wide sanitation campaign in Beijing was carried out by the invaders, the Eight-Nation Alliance. It’s embarrassing to think about it.

Now that Wei Guangde has come and thought of this, he naturally wants to solve this matter thoroughly.

"Well, I'll send a note to summon the governor of Shuntian Prefecture and the commander of the military department, and tell them the matter."

Zhang Juzheng handed the job to him, and Wei Guangde had no intention of refusing, so he accepted it immediately.

No one knows how to do this job better than him, and with the garbage and feces accumulating in the capital city, the Five Cities Army may not have enough manpower, and it may be necessary to mobilize officers and soldiers from the Beijing Camp to help.

In short, the capital of the Ming Dynasty must be the largest and cleanest city of this era.

Living in such a city, you will feel much more comfortable.

If Wei Guangde did not have the insight of later generations, he would have simply ignored it because it was so commonplace.