prosperous age

Chapter 175 Chapter 174

He got up early this morning and only ate some breakfast. After a morning's ceremony of passing on the cohort, Wei Guangde followed the No. [-] champion and Tanhua's buttocks for a long time. By the end of the official praise ceremony, he was already hungry.

People are iron and rice is steel, Wei Guangde at this time is really afraid of starvation.

In fact, it wasn't just Wei Guangde, most of the other Jinshi who followed along the way were in the same situation, and perhaps only the three bragging officials who rode horses felt better.

Seeing the restaurant on the side of the road, Wei Guangde couldn't help it anymore, turned his head and saw Lao Kan, Wei Guangde immediately waved his hand to call him over, and he himself walked towards the restaurant.

Lao Kan took the No. 70 No. [-] exam this time, and his ranking is not bad.

When he came up to him, Wei Guangde said bitterly to him: "Brother Lao is here to say hello to Tongnian, if someone you know calls him into the restaurant for a meal, I'm so hungry."

Well, Wei Guangde would not treat 300 people to a trial in this department, he would not invite them to dinner generously, that is, he would just invite people he knew well to eat and drink.

At this time, I went into the restaurant alone in Jinshi uniform to show off, what would I think if I was seen by other students of the same year?
It's better to ask Lao Kan to do it for him, and he goes inside to rest and order food.

"Okay, I'm hungry too, so I just have to deal with it first here."

Lao Kan is the same at the moment, can he not be hungry after walking all the way?
Wei Guangde strode into the restaurant and went up to the second floor, took a few tables by the window and sat down, the waiter came over, bowed his head and called out: "Master!"

What Wei Guangde wears is mainly to know who he is after staying in the capital for a few years, not to mention that the streets are so lively today, so there is no need to ask.

Wei Guangde interrupted directly with a wave of his hand, he didn't bother to ask about the menu now, so he said to the waiter: "Everyone who is good at the store prepares a few dishes, first come to three tables, and then you prepare as many people as you think, first serve I'll get some tea."

Right now, the bragging about officials had just ended, and Wei Guangde didn't bother looking for Zhang Ji and the others, so he took care of his own Wu Zang Temple first.

This is an alley near the end of Kuaguan's street in Yujie. When Wei Guangde came over, he saw many new scholars walking back along the avenue and looking for restaurants on the avenue.

But Wei Guangde wouldn't do that, there were so many people on the street, after watching their parade now, it is estimated that many people would rush into the roadside wine shop to eat and drink, it would be a ghost if they could find a place.

This restaurant is not big, there are only a dozen tables upstairs and downstairs.

Not long after, Lao Kan brought more than 20 people from outside, most of whom were from Jiangxi.

When they went upstairs, Wei Guangde laughed and said, "I'm afraid everyone is the same as me. I'm the host today, so let's have some food here."

Wei Guangde had asked the store owner to prepare tea, but everyone hadn't had a sip of water all the way. They were really tired and hungry at the moment, and four tables were quickly seated.

"Follow it."

Although we talked about three tables first, Wei Guangde also asked them to prepare. Two waiters came up and poured tea for everyone in a hurry. Everyone tried to see if the water was hot, and they all drank it in one gulp.

Not long after, the waiter in the shop brought a few dishes of appetizers, and a few jugs of wine on each table. Everyone lost the bearing of Jinshi at the moment, and they just picked up their chopsticks and started eating without talking about politeness and other nonsense. up.

Not long after that, another group of Jinshi came, and I don't know how to find here, but their number is smaller than that of Wei Guangde and the others.

Four of the six tables upstairs were occupied by Wei Guangde and the others. At first they also wanted to eat upstairs, but they had no choice but to give up when they saw that there were only two tables left.

Everyone is a Shinke Jinshi, so they just hug each other on the stairs.

Not long after that, the tables upstairs and downstairs were filled with people coming from behind.

Just as Wei Guangde expected, the restaurants on the street have long been occupied by the bustling people, so there is no room for them.

When the food and wine were served, Wei Guangde didn't feel hungry after eating for a while, then he heard voices from upstairs and downstairs, and said with a smile: "I think this restaurant is the real Jinshi building, the upstairs and downstairs are full of Jinshi. "

"Hehe, I didn't think the restaurant food was good in the past, but today I know what delicious food is."

"Come here early in the morning and have been standing until now. I was really hungry at that time."

After eating and filling their stomachs, everyone was no longer as hungry and thirsty as before, and they also started talking and laughing.

There were also two groups of Jinshi who came upstairs to sit, there were not many people, all of them were six or seven people, and each occupied a table.

Not long after, the two tables over there also ended the boredom of eating in a hurry, and started talking while eating like Wei Guangde's side.

"Why didn't you see Jin Da Jin Tan Hua?"

Someone suddenly asked.

Lao Kan shook his head, "I didn't see anyone in the past, maybe he rode back to the guild hall, I reckon he was also very hungry."

The four tables of Jiangxi Jinshi also talked about Jiangxi, but after a while, Wei Guangde's attention was attracted by the topic of the next table of Shanxi Jinshi.

"Who says it's not? A letter from my family said that it's not bad. The loss in our area is relatively small. I heard that the next door in Shaanxi is a disaster. More than 30 people have disappeared."

"Shaanxi is miserable. It is said that there are 20 dead in Shanxi."

Then I heard Tongnian from Shanxi sighing.

When the words entered Wei Guangde's ears, Wei Guangde felt it was funny.

Wei Guangde still had a vague memory of what they said earlier, as if he had heard someone say that it happened in December last year that the earth dragon turned over in Shanshan.

Well, Wei Guangde, who has experienced the Great Southwest Earthquake in later generations, naturally knows that the magnitude 8 earthquake he personally experienced was in a densely populated area, and there were not as many of them as they said.

Unable to bear it any longer, Wei Guangde interrupted involuntarily, "Guys, is the earthquake in Shanxi Province as exaggerated as you say?"

Wei Guangde does not deny that natural disasters such as earthquakes must have caused great losses, but he is a little bit skeptical and strongly skeptical of their claim that the loss of tens of thousands of people is so frequent.

"Wei Chuanlu, we didn't talk nonsense, that's what the letter from home said."

A Jinshi who spoke before hastily spoke.

"That's right, there are businessmen coming over from time to time in the guild hall. Although we all listen to what they say, we are all from the village, so we shouldn't curse the people from the hometown."

"No, I just said that the hundreds of thousands you mentioned is a bit exaggerated. I'm afraid it means hundreds of thousands of people affected by the disaster."

Wei Guangde said with a smile, he jumped from the top three to the top two to get the position of Chuanlu, even those who didn't know before know him now, not to mention that he was the first person to suck up to the champion all the way, so he directly was recognized.

"Yeah, it's certain that tens of thousands of people will be affected by the earth dragon turning over."

Zhang Ke beside Wei Guangde nodded in agreement and said in agreement.

"It's not the disaster, it's the dead."

"Could it be that you heard wrong?"

"Yeah, treat it as a disaster."

"No, Shanshan lost a lot of people this time."

Soon, Jiangxi Jinshi talked to Shanxi Jinshi because of the earthquake disaster in Shanxi and Shanxi. Jiangxi Jinshi felt that the loss of tens of thousands of people in their mouths was too exaggerated. You must know that the population of those large counties in Jiangxi is only a dozen or 10 Ten thousand.

Well, for such a debate, there is naturally no result. Jiangxi Jinshi bluntly said that he was guessing, while Shanxi Jinshi heard about it through letters from his family and fellow villagers.

"This time Shanshan suffered a lot of losses. As far as I know, it is more than what you said."

At this moment, one of the Jinshi sitting at another table upstairs got up and said.

Wei Guangde looked at him, vaguely impressed, he seemed to be called He Bangli, the palace examination ranking was the 150th in the top three, and he was born in Fuqing, Fujian, because the ranking position was relatively close to Wei Guangde, so the two had spoken a few words before.

"Brother He, why did you say that?"

Wei Guangde was a little puzzled, how could he, a Jinshi from Fujian, know about the disaster situation in Shanxi and Shaanxi.

"Yesterday, I had a gathering with my fellow villagers. I heard from the people at the Secretary of General Administration that Shanxi reported that the earthquake lost 20 people. After the earthquake, there were nearly [-] people who could not be cured and plague and other disasters. It is strange to lose [-] people. .”

Speaking of this, He Bangli sighed and continued: "Shaanxi is even worse. The direct loss of the earthquake is more than 30, and the post-earthquake loss is nearly 20. Weinan, Huazhou, Chaoyi, Sanyuan, Puzhou and other places suffered losses. It is huge, and the population is not one in ten."

Wei Guangde's heart twitched when he heard He Bangli's shocking numbers of 30, 20, and [-], and he couldn't help saying: "Brother He, how many casualties did the Shanshan earthquake cause? Is there any local report?"

"The local government is still accounting. There is no doubt that more than 80 people have lost their lives."

He Bangli shook his head, then lowered his head and stopped talking, and He Tingjin, who was beside him, who was also a Jinshi in Fujian, answered, "I hate that the money of the imperial court has been corrupted by those corrupt officials. It is said that there is no money for disaster relief, but later they moved out the money for repairing the wall, and deducted some frontier military salaries to get together 15 taels of silver, 15 taels."

When Wei Guangde heard He Bangli say the number "80", he opened his mouth in shock. This number was too big for him to imagine.

However, He Tingjin then brought up the topic of court corruption, and Wei Guangde branded this person a "stupid" in his heart, but he didn't know whether he was really stupid or fake.

Although the imperial court said that a large amount of tax money is put into the treasury every year, the money has to be supplied to officials and yamen inside and outside the capital, as well as the military salaries of the frontier troops in the nine border towns. The practice of Taoism and offering sacrifices has long been a serious deficit.

Greedy, what the hell is Jinshi, yet dare to say the word "greedy", doesn't that mean people of my own class?

When it comes to corruption, Jinshi all over the world are "big corrupt criminals".

However, for such a big disaster in Shanshan, the imperial court allocated 15 taels of silver, which is indeed too little.

However, as soon as this idea came to mind, Wei Guangde was terrified. This is a misappropriation of border funds. Now the Northland is constantly being harassed by Altan Khan's troops. At this time, you reduce military expenditures. Does the northern frontier army still have the morale to fight?

Shutting his mouth, Wei Guangde became silent.

In the years of peace in the world, facing the disaster in Shanxi and Shaanxi, the imperial court could not allocate money for disaster relief. What would it be like at the time of Chongzhen at the end of Ming Dynasty.

Wei Guangde unconsciously sympathized with the emperor who was not even a caterpillar.

The restaurant was quiet, and all Jinshi were stunned by the bomb thrown by He Bangli, and the population was lost by 80. In Jiangxi, there would be no one in several counties.

"How could it be so serious?"

After a while, Linchuan Jinshi Wu Chaoyi spoke.

"The earthquake happened in the middle of the night. According to reports, the ground cracked and springs gushed, and there were fish in it, or the city walls and houses fell into the ground, or the flat ground burst into hills. After that, there were several earthquakes in a day, and the earthquakes continued day after day, hey."

He Bangli looked up at this moment and said: "According to the summary report, a total of 101 counties in Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan were damaged by the earthquake.

The earthquake reduced local houses, government offices, temples, and academies to ruins, and relatively solid tall buildings such as city towers, pagodas, and palaces all collapsed.

The common people were crushed under the houses in the dream, and there was no time to escape. The civilian households and the military households suffered heavy losses. Later, the Yellow River was congested and caused floods. The earthquake was in the middle of winter, and the victims froze to death, starved to death, and then the plague The deaths caused are countless. "

"There are 80 people with names and surnames?"

Wei Guangde still felt that this number was unbelievable, it was beyond his cognition.

With the current technological level of the Ming Dynasty, a death of 20 to 80 can be barely accepted, but this time it is [-]. According to the current Ming Dynasty's decree, the number of people lost must be well-known. Wei Guangde knows that there are still many people without household registration Hermits exist.

Although I don't know how many hermits there are in Shanshan, Wei Guangde must still exist.

These people are not on the household registration, and there is a high probability that they will not be included in the calculation of the lost population.

Seeing the delicacies on the table, Wei Guangde felt bad again for a while.

Thinking that there are millions of disaster victims in Shanshan and Shaanxi waiting to be fed, but they are in the capital with fresh clothes and delicious food, Wei Guangde feels a little uncomfortable.

Most of the people in the restaurant now have sad faces. Although they don't know their true thoughts, as long as they are normal people and scholars who know etiquette, righteousness and shame, they should all cry because of this.

"Since ancient times, disasters and injuries have never been so tragic. I wish I could replace it with my body."

Someone suddenly let out a long sigh.

"I am already a Jinshi, and I will be an official in the future. Daitian herders, as long as they are diligent and thrifty, so that the people under the rule can live and work in peace is the right way. What nonsense."

Someone else reprimanded.

"Tomorrow's honor banquet is said to cost thousands of gold each time."

Wei Guangde suddenly spoke leisurely.

Talking at this time naturally attracted the attention of other people, and everyone wanted to hear what he, a second-class biologist, had to say.

Wei Guangde knew in his heart that most people would be unconvinced since he was inexplicably mentioned at the end of the top three, but he himself was also very surprised that he didn't give away any money, so why did he rank so high.

When the former Shanxi Guo Dong called him "Wei Chuanlu", Wei Guangde had already heard the faint sourness in his tone.

"The imperial court has no money to relieve the disaster."

Wei Guangde still said unhurriedly, "And I waited to study and learn etiquette just to get an official in the imperial examination, to live in a high position and enjoy pleasure without caring about the suffering of the people.

The Rong En Banquet is a system and cannot be abolished, but the country is in a difficult situation. I want to go to the Ministry of Rites and ask Uncle Da Zong to reduce the banquet and replace it with clean water, and send all the saved money to the disaster-stricken areas in Shanshan."

(End of this chapter)