prosperous age

Chapter 1138 1229 Council Meeting
"Shuda, Ziwei, this is the memorial submitted by Pan Jixun, the governor of Hecao. Please take a look."

Wei Guangde handed the memorial sent by the Ministry of Works directly to Zhang Juzheng and asked him to take a look first.

In the summer of the fourth year of Wanli, the Yellow River broke through Cuizhen, the water flowed northward, the Qinghekou silted up, the entire Huainan region was relocated, the Gaoyan Lake embankment was severely damaged, and the Huai, Yang, Gaoyou and Baoying regions were all severely flooded.

The cabinet was deeply worried, and the court was also divided on water management, so the decision was delayed.

The Minister of Waterway Wu Guifang proposed to restore the old course of the Yellow River, while the Chief Censor of Waterways Fu Xizhi wanted to block the breach and divert the water back to the canal. The two disagreed.

Later, Wu Guifang died of illness while in office, so Zhang Juzheng decided to replace him with Ji Xun as the Right Censor-in-Chief and Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works.

After Wei Guangde handed in the memorial, he just sat there without saying a word. In fact, he was also thinking about the pros and cons of Pan Jixun's memorial.

The Ming Dynasty court was in financial distress. Although the Ministry of Revenue had increased its revenue significantly by minting silver and gold coins that were circulated throughout the country, it could still only barely maintain a balance with a slight surplus so far.

Moreover, such a surplus is only temporary.

As the war in the southwest progresses, the war is still supported by the financial resources of the southwest in the past two years, but once they are used up, subsidies from the court will eventually be needed.

By then, I'm afraid there will be deficits again.

If we consider the rewards after the war, the deficit will be even bigger.

Therefore, some officials from the Ministry of Revenue have suggested tightening Xuan Da’s spending on tribute and strictly controlling the amount of the reward.

The appetite of the Altan tribe is getting bigger and bigger. At the beginning, the tribute trade was more than 100,000 taels of silver per year, but now this number is constantly increasing, and there are signs that it is gradually becoming a burden on the court.

For this reason, officials in the DPRK were quite dissatisfied.

The original intention of negotiating peace with Altan Khan was to save costs so that the court would not have to invest large sums of money in the northern border towns.

However, military expenses became tribute expenses. Although the court could increase some supplies for this purpose, when the accounts were calculated, the court still suffered losses.

Among them, the supporters are mainly from the Jiangxi faction and the Shandong faction, because over the past few years, people around Wei Guangde have learned that Wei Guangde was actually not aware of the terms of the peace agreement in advance.

After Emperor Longqing handed him the terms of peace, Wei Guangde was dissatisfied with the vague description of the tribute.

However, his memorial was sent back to the capital too late. With the strong support of cabinet ministers Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, and the promotion of local power by Xuanda Governor Wang Chonggu and Datong Governor Fang Fengshi, a peace agreement was reached.

The Ming Dynasty and Mongolia reached an agreement on enthroning Altan Khan as a king, paying tribute, and engaging in trade, but many aspects were vague, giving others a lot of room to maneuver.

Therefore, although the Ministry of Revenue solved some of the financial pressure by minting Tongbao, it was only happy for a while, and was overwhelmed by the heavy burden.

To put it bluntly, Pan Jixun's memorial will cost money, and according to the Ministry of Works' estimates, they will have to spend money on it almost every year in the future.

Although the Ministry of Works can impose corvée labor on river workers, there must be a limit.

The Ministry of Works felt under tremendous pressure from such a large-scale river embankment repair.

After all, the Yellow River control project has already consumed a lot of river work, and so far, although Pan Jixun's suggestions are innovative, after discussion and analysis, everyone is still not optimistic about his opinion.

Of course, the Ministry of Industry couldn’t come up with any better solution.

In fact, even in the future, there is probably no good way to achieve all three goals, including controlling the Yellow River, ensuring transportation, and protecting the Ming ancestral tombs.

"Shan Dai, how likely do you think this memorial is?"

Zhang Juzheng had finished reading the memorial and handed it to Zhang Siwei next to him. He then sat down next to Wei Guangde and started asking questions.

"Wei Liang's memorial actually contained six proposals: to plug the breach to save the river, to build dikes to prevent the breach, to restore the sluice gates to prevent the river from flowing out, to build rolling dams to strengthen the dikes, to stop dredging to save money, and to stop the proposal to open the old Yellow River to make it easier to cross.

The Ministry of Works believed that the river works were too big to build dikes, restore sluice gates, and create rolling dams.

Although the method of restraining water and attacking sand is very useful, it is not without danger.

Wei Guangde began to tell Zhang Juzheng everything that Jiang Zhi had said before and the Ministry of Works' discussions.

Sure enough, after Zhang Juzheng heard the consequences, his expression kept changing.

Even Zhang Siwei, who was standing next to him, put down the memorial in his hand and listened to Wei Guangde's statement with a frown on his face.

"When he asked to open the old river, was he also considering a workaround, that is, if the Yellow River is blocked by silt, he would open the old river to alleviate the river disaster?"

At this time, Zhang Juzheng thought of the last thing mentioned in Pan Jixun's memorial, that is, to abandon the proposal to open the old Yellow River in order to still facilitate crossing.

In fact, it means that when building the Yellow River dam, the old Yellow River must also be dredged. The meaning is self-evident.

"Yes, he probably knows the consequences. If this continues, the Huai River alone can only remove part of the silt, but not all of it, so the riverbed will eventually become clogged.

The riverbed will rise and endanger the surrounding areas, so the old river channel is dredged to prepare for flood discharge."

Wei Guangde said, "According to what he said, we need to build two dams on both sides of the Yellow River. Not only the river embankment, but also a remote embankment in the back."

In fact, this practice has been widely accepted in later generations, that is, reserving flood-prone areas.

However, the problem is that the current Ming Dynasty finances have difficulty supporting one river embankment, let alone two.

To put it bluntly, the ancients were actually eager for quick success and wanted to find a method that could cover all aspects and solve all problems.

Therefore, water control presents many difficult problems that need to be solved at once, which are entangled with each other.

Of course, it seems that there is no other real solution to the Yellow River floods except climate change.

However, Wei Guangde couldn't say that.

"This time, the main reason for talking about this matter is that our cabinet ministers need to know about it. I have asked Jiang Zhi to go back to the Ministry of Industry and list all the possible outcomes. Then we can all decide what to do."

Wei Guangde said.

"Do you support this memorial?"

Zhang Juzheng keenly noticed the change in Wei Guangde's attitude. Although it seemed that he raised many issues, he was ultimately considering the issue of how to execute this memorial.

In the end, the Ministry of Industry was even asked to list the possible consequences.

In fact, it is just a matter of making a choice among these consequences. If there are projects that must be protected, a decision must be made early.

For example, the Ming Zuling Mausoleum is a big deal.

Zhang Juzheng guessed Wei Guangde's plan in an instant. Since they did as Pan Jixun suggested, the rising water level of Hongze Lake might endanger the Ming ancestral tomb, so he built a dam near the Ming ancestral tomb to protect it.

In fact, Zhang Juzheng's guess was correct. Political risks cannot be taken.

After considering it, Wei Guangde felt that it was not impossible to use the Huai River to flush the river channel, which could at least alleviate the problem of siltation in the Yellow River.

Although it cannot solve all of them.

However, the risk of a hanging river on the ground cannot be taken, especially turning Hongze Lake into a hanging lake.

The safety of the Ming Dynasty's ancestral mausoleum has become a factor that can make their official hats unstable.

Then we can try another method and build dams around the Ming Dynasty Mausoleum in advance to protect it.

As for the people around here, there doesn't seem to be any good solution.

In fact, even if the imperial court did not control the water, the people on both sides of the river would always be under the threat of the Yellow River floods.

Wei Guangde nodded, and Zhang Juzheng fell silent.

Some things don't need to be explained, he can guess them.

Zhang Siwei was also very conflicted, which could be seen from the change in his expression. He probably didn't expect to face such a difficult problem soon after entering the cabinet.

If there is any merit, the Cabinet should naturally be credited first.

People in later generations often said that during the Jiajing period, Yan Song would steal the credit from his subordinates whenever a major event occurred. In fact, this statement is incorrect.

When it comes to credit, the first priority goes to the leadership of the cabinet, followed by the credit for execution below.

Correspondingly, if something serious happened, it was the cabinet ministers who were scolded by the emperor, as they were responsible for the leadership's failure to supervise the matter.

This time too, Zhang Siwei had already realized that the conversation between the two men just now was actually an effort to exonerate the cabinet of possible responsibility after the accident.

For example, first build a dam around the Ming Ancestral Mausoleum to protect it.

Even if the Yellow River flood is out of control, at least the Ming ancestral tomb will be preserved. They will be blamed but will not be dismissed from office. The river officials will still bear the actual responsibility.

As long as we avoid fatal political risks, nothing else will be a problem.

"In fact, Weiliang's memorial did give me some hints."

However, Wei Guangde suddenly spoke.

"Oh, what hint?"

Zhang Juzheng asked curiously.

"Building a remote dike behind the dike, and the open space between them can be used to drain water when floods come. Although it takes up farmland, it is still a good way to alleviate flood disasters, but it costs too much."

Wei Guangde said.

According to Pan Jixun, it is equivalent to widening the river embankment, and the investment of manpower and material resources is huge.

“In my opinion, if we select a place along the Yellow River waterway as a special flood discharge area, there is no need to activate it if the water level is not high.

However, if the water level is too high, in order to protect the embankments and fertile fields on both sides of the river, the flood discharge area can be opened to allow river water to flow in and share the water flow pressure.

However, I have never walked along the Yellow River, so I don’t know if there is such wasteland on both sides of the river for flood discharge, so I need the Ministry of Works to check if there is such open space near the river.”

Wei Guangde talked about the idea of ​​a flood discharge area that he had previously thought of. In fact, there was nothing new in essence. It was the same idea as Pan Jixun's reopening of the Yellow River's old course, which was to divert floodwaters.

"Good, great good."

However, it was the first time in this era that someone proposed to set up a special flood discharge area, which really opened Zhang Juzheng's eyes.

"In fact, we don't really need to find wasteland. As long as there is a suitable location, we can set up such a flood discharge area."

Wei Guangde mentioned the words "flood discharge area" and "flood discharge area" successively. Although they had never appeared before, Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Siwei could still understand what they meant.

Now that you understand the purpose, you will naturally understand the importance of settings.

The water can be confined within a certain range so that it is not completely out of control.

In this way, all we need to do is relocate the people in the flood discharge area to nearby areas.

Even if the Yellow River floods again in the future, at least, although it will submerge the fields, it will not endanger the lives of the people. This is worthy of Zhang Juzheng's loud praise.

"This method of loaning money is very wonderful. It can save the lives of tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait."

Zhang Siwei also spoke.

“That’s the truth, but whether it can be actually implemented and whether a suitable place can be found is just a spur of the moment thought. It depends on the actual situation.

I heard that the Yellow River is already higher than the surrounding terrain due to siltation in the riverbed, and I am worried that there will be no suitable place to discharge the flood water.”

Wei Guangde quickly added.

"It's okay. At worst, we can just hire more river workers and raise the embankments in the flood discharge area, and that will alleviate the flooding in the Yellow River."

Zhang Juzheng didn't care about the Tao.

"Can the imperial court finances support this? For such a large project, we are not afraid that we will not be able to afford it."

Wei Guangde reminded immediately.

He knew that Zhang Juzheng must have been so excited when he heard the suggestion that he forgot everything else and didn't even think about the money.

Sure enough, Zhang Juzheng's expression changed immediately after being reminded by Wei Guangde.

"There is always a way. As for the money, if you think about it, you can always find a solution."

Just when the atmosphere was becoming a little awkward, Zhang Siwei spoke up to ease the atmosphere.

"Think of a way."

When Wei Guangde heard this, he couldn't help but grin, thinking of his predecessor, Yan Song, who was called a traitor, and said the same thing when he encountered problems that the court's finances could not solve.

In fact, the solution is to take money from one pocket to cover another, and use five lids to cover six bottles, or even more bottles.

In essence, it is only treating the symptoms and not the root cause.

Of course, it is an indisputable fact that his son Yan Shifan was also trying hard to enrich himself, but Yan Song was also working hard to keep the court running.

"The imperial court still needs to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and it is still necessary to strive to turn deficits into surpluses.

Otherwise, if something serious happens and the court has no money to spend, it will not be a solution after all."

Zhang Juzheng suddenly said, "I looked through the data reported by the Ministry of Revenue before. The land tax in recent years is very different from before. The land area has not increased but decreased. It is really weird."

Unexpectedly, Zhang Juzheng suddenly changed the topic to the issue of land measurement.

Wei Guangde kept his mouth shut and didn't say much. He just glanced at Zhang Siwei twice and saw that he had a strange expression on his face. It seemed that he didn't know that Zhang Juzheng was planning to re-survey the land in the world.

Come to think of it, the matter of land surveying is of great importance. If Zhang Juzheng did not know Wei Guangde's character, he would not have revealed it to Wei Guangde before the regulations were completed.

After all, Zhang Juzheng was not around and didn't know how much land Wei Guangde owned. He only cared about Wei Guangde's family's wealth, which was mostly income from business rather than output from the land. Naturally, he would not be very opposed to the survey of the land.

Zhang Siwei and Wei Guangde are in similar situations. They both come from merchant families, so naturally they would not strongly object.

Therefore, taking advantage of this conversation, Zhang Juzheng obviously intended to give Zhang Siwei a hint and let him know that the cabinet was planning the land reclamation.

Now that he has entered the cabinet, he will know about this matter sooner or later from the discussion between the two.

Since I can't hide it, I might as well tell him openly.

Zhang Juzheng talked eloquently, comparing the land data of previous dynasties with that of the present dynasty. Even if Zhang Siwei was slow to react, he could guess the reason.

He also glanced at Wei Guangde, and seeing that he looked normal, he knew that the two of them must have discussed the matter beforehand.

It’s just that Wei Guangde didn’t say anything, so it’s impossible to guess his attitude.

However, the matter was raised by Zhang Juzheng, so it was obvious that this Prime Minister was the instigator.

"The matter of Tianmu is indeed strange. It's time to investigate it."

After Zhang Juzheng finished speaking, Zhang Siwei could only add a sentence.

"Brother Uncle, it is better to be cautious about this matter."

Wei Guangde spoke after Zhang Siwei expressed his opinion.