prosperous age

Chapter 313 Chapter 312
After the Lantern Festival holiday, this year is over, and the yamen are reopened for duty.

However, it seems that the beginning is not a good omen, and it also indicates that the 38th year of Jiajing seems to be another troubled year.

Not long after the Yamen opened in February, battle reports from border towns and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces were continuously sent to the capital. Datong Town and Ningxia Town were hostile, and there were also a large number of Japanese pirates in Jiangnan and Jiangbei. They claimed that if the captain of Wufeng was not released, they would continue Expand the scope of harassment, and gradually go north to attack coastal prefectures and counties such as Shandong.

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

Last year, in order to decide whether to arrest Wang Zhi, some ministers in the court thought that they could follow Hu Zongxian's play-recruitment, but after seeing Jiangnan and Jiangbei being harassed by Japanese pirates, the number of ministers who were willing to protect Wang Zhi decreased rapidly.

The Ming Dynasty could not be intimidated by mere Japanese pirates. Even the ministers who thought that they should be recruited to calm the borders chose to keep their mouths shut at this time.

The only thing left to wait now is the interrogation record of Wang Zhi submitted by the Procuratorate of Zhejiang Province. According to the record, he can be convicted and punished. But almost everyone knows that under the current situation, Wang Zhi will undoubtedly die.

In June, an urgent report from the governor of Liaodong Capital, Yushi Hou Ruliang, was quickly sent to the Secretary of Tongzheng. After reading the report, the Secretary of Tongzheng did not dare to neglect, and immediately got up and ran to the cabinet station——Wen Yuan Court.

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

Governor Ruliang, the governor of the Liaodong capital, made a statement: Liao left the sea, and the water and land are difficult.In the past, it was only a few cities or a few months that suffered from natural disasters. It is not like today that the whole town is affected by disasters and there is no grain for three years.The minister was ordered to enter the country at the beginning of spring, and he saw that there was no smoke in the village, the wildness was brutal, the depression was miserable, and he couldn't bear to look at it.Last year there was a severe famine, eight coins of rice and silver, the mother abandoned the child, the father ate the dead child, and the father and the elder handed it down. It is said that there is a disaster that has never happened in a century.Today is the turn of summer and autumn, floods and pests are concurrent, a bucket of rice is as expensive as seven silver coins, and I don’t know what to do in winter and spring.Please donate a lot of money from the inner government to save a town of people.

The words "Mother abandons children, father eats dead sons" appeared grandiosely in the governor's report to the court, and instantly hit the minister who said "worry about the world's worries first, and enjoy the world's joys later" Their excitement caused an uproar in the government and the public, and countless petitions for disaster relief in Liaodong flew into the Tongzheng Envoy like snowflakes.

Disasters must be saved.

Jia Yingchun, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was quickly summoned by the cabinet to inquire about the situation of the Ministry of Finance and grain. Write them together.

It's just that the action of the cabinet is always one step slower than that of Jin Yiwei. When they convened the Minister of the Ministry of Households to discuss disaster relief matters, Jin Yiwei had already sent the copy of Hou Ruliang's memorial to Xiyuan.

Emperor Jiajing saw this report in the Yongshou Palace, and he was silent for a long while before ordering: "The ministers of the cabinet, the six ministries, come to Xiyuan as soon as possible."

And in the cabinet at this time.

"Mr. Yan Ge, the Ministry of Households can provide 60 taels of silver, but they can't produce equivalent rice grains. This year, there is little rain in the south, severe drought in many places, and the water transportation is also greatly affected. This year's water grains cannot be transported. Where is it? The grain from here will be transported to Liaodong.”

Naturally, it was Jia Yingchun who spoke. After he took over the household department, after some rectification, it took half a year to save a little money. Now that there is another natural disaster, Jia Yingchun knew that the money would not be kept.

A town of disaster victims has to be rescued, unless the land thousands of miles away from the customs is not wanted.

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

"Then the trade route will be cut off, and the tank boat will be given priority to ensure the smooth flow of the grain road."

Xu Jie said.

"Mr. Xu Ge, the official document has been issued two months ago, and now countless merchant ships are blocked on the river. Seeing that the flood season is approaching, there is already a lot of trouble there, and there is still a few more 10 taels to be transported." It’s really impossible to get food with silver.”

At this moment, footsteps sounded outside the door, and a small servant rushed into the room and delivered an order to the people inside: "The emperor's oral order: tell the cabinet ministers, and the six ministries will come to Xiyuan as soon as possible."

"According to the order."

"Sir, obey the order."

Including Yan Song, all officials stood up to receive the order.

The little servant glanced at the people in the room, and after delivering the news, he turned around and ran out at several officials.

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

Liaodong catastrophe, miserable, really miserable.

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

There are a lot of merchants in Jiujiang. In the past, they used to hold the name cards of Jiangxi officials in order to be able to pass through the sluice first. But this year is different. A large number of merchant ships are blocked outside the sluice. It is said that this is an official document of the household department.

Wei Guangde really knew about this official document.

He learned from Jia Yingchun at the banquet that several provinces in the south have experienced a severe drought this year, which directly caused the water transport to be cut off due to lack of water. Now the only priority is to ensure the safety of the water ships.

The businessmen came to Wei Guangde for help, but Wei Guangde could only throw his hands up, unable to help.

What is grain?
That is to ensure the rations of the capital and the border towns. At this juncture, it is better not to join in the fun.

But now, Liaodong is short of food, what else can we do?
According to the usual practice, Taikuang will definitely provide food for disaster relief, but this year the food stored in Taikuang is much less than in previous years, how dare it meet the needs of Liaodong.

This place in Liaodong is also interesting to say. There is no independent chief envoy here, but the Liaodong capital is established according to the model of a military town.

In terms of organizational system, the Liaodong capital is under the management of the Shandong Chengxuan Political Commissioner across the sea, and the governor appointed by the imperial court manages the local military administration.

Thinking of Shandong, Wei Guangde couldn't help thinking, it seems that the connection between Liaodong and Shandong is the responsibility of Shuiying, and there has always been a sea route connecting the two places.

Go back and ask Jia Yingchun, this is an excellent opportunity to put forward his idea of ​​"opening the sea", and I don't know if the old man mentioned it in the cabinet.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde looked down at the white paper that had been spread out on the desk.

Well, when I was talking about the Liaodong incident with my colleagues earlier, I didn’t know who took the lead, and they also said that they would write to the emperor to ask for money for disaster relief. After the ducks were put on the shelves, Wei Guangde could only follow the trend and said that he would follow in the letter.

But sitting here, Wei Guangde felt that writing such a thing and handing it in was a real challenge.
The current congestion of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is actually mainly concentrated in the Shandong section, and the water transport on the South Zhili side is still normal. If you go to Huai'an, you can bypass the Shandong Peninsula and go straight to Tianjin Haikou.

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

There is also the grain transported to Liaodong, which can also be taken this way, and it can be directly transported to Liaodong by taking the Denglai Sea Road in Shandong.

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

Right now, all officials in the DPRK are raging. If at this time, they throw out the 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 this is the beginning, the sea transportation can be gradually expanded in the future. In the worst case, the existing grain transportation tasks can be kept first, and then it can be done slowly.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde knew what to write.

The others followed suit and clamored for the court to allocate money and food. Since Wei Guangde had already guessed that the court would allocate money for disaster relief, there was no need to follow them.

Jia Yingchun should have brought up the matter of "maritime transportation" in the cabinet, but since it is a big matter, there may not be any immediate results. I followed the previous memorial to present the benefits of shipping, which can be regarded as an assist for him.

As soon as he thought of it, Wei Guangde called Lu Bu to grind ink for himself, and he began to think about how to write the memorial.
At this time, in the Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan, Jia Yingchun, Minister of the Household Department, had already explained the difficulties he was facing now.

The Ministry of Households can provide 60 taels of silver to help the people of Liaodong, but the problem now is that the water transportation is not smooth.

There is food, but let alone shipping it to Liaodong, it is difficult to send the food to the capital and enter the Tai warehouse. How can this be solved?

This is to solve the practice, not just empty talk, but to come up with a solution.

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

Emperor Jiajing sat on the throne, looking expressionlessly at the cabinet ministers and ministers under the throne, and they were the ones who maintained the court.

The sympathy I had felt earlier because of reading the memorial has gradually dissipated over time, but the millions of people in Liaodong still need to be saved.

If under his rule, the people of a town were starved to death, Emperor Jiajing couldn't imagine how future history books would write about him.

Begging for longevity, after so many years, he has actually realized something in his heart, but he is still persisting.

Emperor Jiajing didn't speak out, so Yan Song could only preside over the meeting.

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

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

Yan Song said in an old voice.

Everyone is not stupid, Jia Yingchun has said so much, but there is only one solution that can be solved, but this solution is a national policy that has been abandoned since the middle and late period of Yongle.

Although many people have mentioned it in the past dynasties, none of them have been approved. How can this be said?
Do things in a hurry?
No one wants to start this, so just keep silent.

Seeing this situation, Jia Yingchun didn't frown. When he entered Yongshou Palace, he had already thought about it. Now seems to be a good time to propose sea transportation, and even the seaway is ready-made, that is, the passage between Shandong and Liaodong—— Denley 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 to say it or not.

With Emperor Jiajing present, the kind of free-spiritedness that the courtiers discussed in private meetings naturally did not exist. No one wanted to talk nonsense and lose points in front of the emperor.

Whether their positions are stable or not depends entirely on the emperor's thoughts.

"dang"

A dull bronze chime sounded, and everyone was in awe.

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

The voice of Emperor Jiajing came from the front, and the roll call is about to start
In the evening, Wei Guangde had already returned home to rest, and was lying in the yard to enjoy the cool after dinner. Zhang Ji came hurriedly from the front yard and whispered something in Wei Guangde's ear.

"Ok?"

After hearing this, Wei Guangde was a little surprised and probably guessed what it was. He probably told him to go or talk about "sea transportation".

However, before leaving duty today, like other colleagues, he had already handed over the written memorial to the Secretary of the Tongzheng Envoy.

"Prepare the carriage."

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

"Is this going out?"

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

Although the night ban is of no use to officials, it is always good to go out less at night.

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

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

The one named Wei Guangde is of course the Prince Yu Mansion, it is still the same restaurant, or the private room, and all the main people from the Prince Yu Mansion have come.

Jia Yingchun briefly talked about the situation in Xiyuan in the afternoon. After he proposed sea transportation to Liao Dynasty, Wu Peng, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Zheng Xiao, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, clearly opposed it. Neither made a statement.

But even so, the end result is two to one, and the opposing side clearly has the upper hand.

"Let's talk about how much money the Ministry of Accounts allocates for disaster relief."

Wei Guangde had already guessed that someone would object, and this was just a department hall. If the opening of the court was postponed, there would be more objections.

Of course, there will be many people who remain neutral.

"Your Majesty has decreed that the Ministry of Households will issue 60 taels of silver immediately, and send a member of the censor to quickly buy grain and try to transport it to meet the needs of the people. At the end of the year, another 5 taels of silver will be distributed to prepare for planting in the spring. At the same time, I borrowed [-] shi of rice from Taicang to help the hungry people."

Jia Yingchun didn't need to hide his secrets here, so he directly stated the results of the Xiyuan Ministry's discussion.

"Try to transport."

Gao Gong frowned, the shipping proposed by Jia Yingchun was obviously not approved in the afternoon ministerial meeting.

Wei Guangde picked up the tea on the table and took a sip before he said: "Actually, I have already written a letter to start shipping in the afternoon, and the grain will be shipped directly to Liaodong to save the people from the fire and water.

For such a big disaster in Liaodong, the household department will more or less give out money to help, otherwise there is no way to explain it to the world. "

"Then shall we also go down and contact more people to write a letter, requesting to ship directly to Liaodong?"

Chen Yiqin interjected at this moment.

"I think it's feasible. It was inappropriate to ask for sea transportation on the pretext of the shortcomings of water transportation. But this time, the disaster in Liaodong is urgent. If the relief food arrives a day late, countless people will die because of it. I really can't afford it."

Yin Shizhen nodded yes.

"If that's the case, then it's settled."

Gao Gong is not a person who is indecisive. Jia Yingchun, the top player on his side, has already publicly supported shipping. Wei Guangde, Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen also support it. Wei Guangde has written a letter for this, so let's go all out.

"Yifu, Zhengfu, the two of you are in charge of contacting the officials of the DPRK and China to write a letter to support the opening of the sea to Jiliao. Guangde, you are also walking around in the Hanlin Academy and yours, but it is estimated that not many dare to write a letter. This time The Yan family obviously opposed shipping by sea.

But it doesn't matter, everyone walk around more, if you can get one, I will go to Xu Ge tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)