Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 176 Earthquake in Three Provinces
For most of the common people, matters such as Jianlu and Yi chaos seem to have nothing to do with them.

What they can clearly feel are the changes around them.

For example, the people in Shanxi and North Zhili, nearly a quarter of them were assigned to the fields, and at the same time, they also felt the increased sense of security due to the garrison of soldiers and horses.

More importantly, after the soldiers and horses were stationed and some military equipment were abolished, there were fewer subordinate staff who set up cards and paid customs duties.

Even some arrests in the city are much more low-key, because the battalions stationed outside the city often come to the city to buy things.

In addition, and more importantly, because of the presence of battalions, it seems that the request for corvee service is also rare.

After some road damage was seen by the battalion generals, they would communicate with the local county magistrate, and the county government would send money, and the battalion soldiers would send people to repair the roads.

Such an army is relatively rare because of Zhu Youjian's personal requirements for the soldiers and horses under his command.

The troops stationed must repair some local roads, bridges, canals and other things every year, so as to improve the image of the people of Ming Dynasty on the past officers and soldiers.

This is true in Shanxi, Northern Zhili, and Liaodong.

However, compared with Shanxi and Northern Zhili, people in Liaodong feel more about the emperor's shop.

The opening of Huangdian and the practice of selling grain below the market price to reduce the living cost of the people undoubtedly won the hearts of many Liao people.

The prices of food, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, coal and other materials in Huangdian are much lower than the market prices in Liaodong.

Not only that, the garrisons in various places east of the Liaohe River will recruit civilians in the name of the emperor instead of conscripting corvee.

Although the wages are only ten cents a day, the work is not too tiring. It is just repairing roads, building canals, or cutting down trees for land reclamation.

In short, in Liaodong, Shanxi, and Beizhili, where the imperial power has the highest control, the happiness of the people is naturally the fastest, followed by the places where good officials and generals are arranged.

For example, Shandong is a typical...

"At the beginning of human beings, nature is good..."

In a village in Yuncheng, Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province, the children in the private school recited the catchy "Three Character Classics". However, upon closer inspection, the number of children in the private school was no more than a dozen, which did not fit the scale of this large town of thousands of people. .

If you look carefully, on the low hill not far from the private school, some children are sitting on the ground with wooden shelves carrying some branches and firewood, looking at the children who are reading and writing in the private school from a distance, His eyes were full of envy.

Compared with private school children who can still afford clean new clothes, most of these children doing farm work are wearing old clothes, and there are seven or eight patches on the clothes, in various colors, and I don’t know where they were cut. cloth.

But even brightly colored rags can turn gray after a year or two of farm work.

Just like this, a dozen or so children in dusty sackcloth sat looking at the private school in the distance.

After a long time, the sky gradually darkened, and dusk appeared in the sky. They didn't care about envy, and hurriedly got up and left, carrying firewood on their backs and walking home.

Gou Wazi was one of them. His parents were tenants of Liu Ju's family in the village. They rented three acres of dry land, and their income was very poor. The family of six lived in two adobe houses, and even the land belonged to Liu Ju's family. of.

"Goofy, what are you doing? It took so long to gather firewood!"

"Mom, it's hard to find firewood today, I've been looking for it for a long time!"

A long distance away, when Gouwazi saw his mother washing clothes by the small river, he immediately responded loudly.

"He who has received a thousand knives, come here and take the food home, and ask your father to go home and prepare dinner."

While washing the clothes, the woman yelled at Gouwazi, but Gouwazi didn't want to be scolded, so he had to hug the tub.

He looked down at the vegetables in the pot, they were leeks, cabbage, and a wild vegetable that he couldn't name.

"Go."

"Hey!" Hearing his mother's words, Gouwazi ran home carrying firewood and a vegetable bowl.

At the same age of twelve, he lived like a little adult, and every day he opened his eyes to run for his family.

In the early days when the imperial court had strict rules, the magistrates of each county had to send ten-year-old children in the county to go to government schools, and they could have a bowl of porridge and pickles every day at noon.

But later, for some reason, it seemed that the north had lost the battle, and after that the official school was closed, and Gouwazi had no choice but to go home.

Carrying firewood and vegetables in his arms, he walked to a not-so-good low hill, and yelled at the figures who were working under the low hill:
"Grandfather, Father, Mother said that I'm going home for dinner."

"Hey!" Hearing Gouwazi's voice, several figures who were busy planting spring in the field straightened their backs.

An old man in his [-]s, a man in his [-]s, and two teenagers in their [-]th or [-]th year.

The four were planting spring in the field, and after hearing Gouwazi's words, they waved their hands to signal Gouwazi to go home first.

Gouwazi was very obedient, didn't say anything, just went home with firewood and vegetables on his back.

Their home is two small adobe houses, the roofs are paved with straw and straw harvested in the autumn harvest last year, and the cooking place is outside an adobe house.

Gou Wazi put down the firewood and vegetables, built the firewood into a firewood pile, and then took some wood from the firewood pile that had been dried enough to dry, and piled them on the kang with dry branches and hay collected by himself. .

He went back to the house to have a meal, and finally he carried a bucket of water, two clay pots the size of his fist, and a torch pinned to his waist, and staggered out.

The water in the bucket swayed as he walked and splashed on him, but he didn't complain.

He skillfully placed the two clay pots by the stove, put them away carefully, then squatted down and lit the fire with the torch.

After busying with a cup of tea, the fire was successfully lit, and at this time his mother also came back with the washed clothes.

She handed the wooden tub full of clothes to Gou Wazi and said, "Take the clothes to dry."

"Hey!" Gouwazi took over the tub and went to dry the clothes.

His mother took out the big pot from the house, then picked up a clay pot next to it, opened the stopper, poured five or six drops of oil carefully, and scraped it with a wooden spatula to get some oil on the bottom of the pot, Then he yelled at Gouwazi:
"Goofy, get some eggs from the chicken coop."

Gou Wazi, who had just hung up his clothes, heard the news, and hurried to the chicken coop locked in the side room, looked at the thirty-odd chickens in the house, and took a wooden shovel to pull out all the eggs from it.

"One...two...three...only four today..."

Looking at the plate with only four eggs, Gouwazi was depressed for a while.

Those chickens are the treasures that they have to sell for money to pay taxes during the summer tax and autumn tax. The only real meat that can be eaten is these eggs.

Four eggs, six people in the family eat, naturally not much.

But there was no other way, he took the egg to the water tank, got some water to wash it, and finally walked out of the house and stood next to his mother with the egg.

When his mother saw the eggs coming, she immediately put the big pot on the stove, and the cabbage, leeks, and wild vegetables beside it had already been chopped.

Put the eggs in the pot, then add leeks, and a plate of leeks and eggs is ready.

At this time, Gouwazi's father, grandfather, and brothers also came back.

A group of people washed their hands, moved the table out, and after setting up the bowls and chopsticks, the three dishes were also prepared and served on the table.

As for their staple food, it was the leftovers from lunch, mixed with some water and boiled.

In this way, each person is no more than five taels of staple food.

Soon, the whole family began to eat, and at the dinner table, Gouwazi's grandpa also said:

"I heard that the governor has changed, and it has been replaced by an adult named Yuan. This governor Yuan is going to be admitted to the official school in Shandong. It is estimated that someone will ask Gouwazi to go to school in a few days."

"Father, the family is nervous, and it's hard for Gou Wazi to pay for his school books." Gou Wazi's mother looked worried.

"Alas... now the imperial court heard that they like to go by sea. I don't know if the water workers for this year's water transportation still need an old man like me." Grandpa sighed when he heard that the family was nervous.

"Father, don't think too much about it. It's okay without water workers. I heard that the shipyard in Tianjin needs a lot of hard labor. Thirty Wen a day is better than water workers." Gou Wazi's father said, by the way I picked up a piece of leek and egg for Grandpa.

Gou Wazi listened quietly to what the adults said, and the sensible one had been eating wild vegetables. When his mother saw it, she picked up a few chopsticks of chives and eggs and gave him a few chopsticks.

Such a life, in their eyes, is considered a peaceful and prosperous age.

Of course, if more men in the family go out to work this year, they can still earn a lot of money after a few months of slack.

Therefore, Gouwazi's father also said:

"Father, I want you, Huifen and Gouwazi to work on the farm this year, and I will take Huwazi and Langwazi to Tianjin to earn some money."

"Otherwise, the thirty or so chickens at home this year may not be able to pay the autumn tax."

"Hmm... that's fine." The dull grandpa nodded, while Gouwazi's mother asked with concern, "How long will it be?"

"When the fifteenth day of the busy season is over, I will take people out and sell ten chickens to collect a gift money for Li Juren, and ask him to help guide the way. The rest of the money will be used as travel expenses." Gou Wazi's father said planning .

"Is it a little less?" Gouwazi's mother was concerned, while the man said:

"If you have too much, you can't pay the summer tax, so let's do it."

"If there is no problem with Lifu's wages, and we come back before the autumn harvest, our third father should earn back more than a dozen taels of silver, and then we can also mess around with our house and find a marriage for the tiger boy and the wolf boy, Gouwazi I can also go to Shangguan to study, and the autumn tax for the coming year can also be paid."

Hearing that his eldest brother and second brother could get married after the autumn harvest, Gou Wazi looked at the two brothers enviously, and they also blushed and smiled awkwardly.

The time for one meal determines the direction of the family for the rest of the year. After washing the dishes and pots, sweeping the floor and collecting the tables, a group of people returned to the house, and the sky completely darkened.

The room was dark, only the room of Gouwazi's parents was lit, but there was a "creaking" sound of wood spinning inside the room.

Gouwazi knew that it was his mother weaving, in order to subsidize the family more before the summer tax.

Maybe it was because he was too tired from work, the grandpa and two elder brothers who were lying next to him fell asleep not long after, but Gouwazi couldn't fall asleep in a daze.

He stayed up until his mother blew out the candles and went to sleep, and he still kept his eyes open, thinking about the children who were studying in private schools during the day.

"Buzz..."

Suddenly, Gouwazi heard a buzzing sound, and thought it was tinnitus, but the next second, the chickens in the chicken coop started to crow, fluttering their wings, making a lot of noise.

Before Gouwazi could sit up, the wooden door of the house suddenly slammed, the sound was so loud that Gouwazi was startled.

Just when Gouwazi thought that someone was knocking on the door as a prank, he suddenly felt an indescribable sound from the adobe wall.

"What's the matter? What's the matter?"

The vision and abnormal movement woke up the sleeping people one after another, but Gouwazi suddenly became blind for some reason.

At this moment, his mind was blank and he didn't have any thoughts, until the grandfather next to him yelled: "Run out! Dilong turned over!"

Grandpa shouted and grabbed Gouwazi beside him. Huwazi ran out. He ran out rolling and crawling.

Not only them, but the entire Mahu Township ran out of Jia, crying and howling.

Strong shocks continued, and then the ground began to explode, and the sky and the earth were shaking. Gouwazi's family hugged a big tree at the door, and dared not let go.

I don't know how long it took, the tremors became more and more intense, and the sky kept flashing, making people too scared to look directly at it.

Over the course of the night, the "bang" sound continued, and every house was shaken down, and Gouwazi's house was no exception.

His mother cried and said that she wanted to release the chickens in the chicken coop, but was grabbed by his father and yelled "Don't die".

Such scenes were staged throughout Mahu Township, until the sky gradually brightened, and the strong shaking finally stopped.

Gouwazi's family let go of the tree at the door, only to find a crack a foot wide and hundreds of steps long at the door of the house, which can't be seen at a glance.

The entire Mahu Township seemed to have been destroyed. All walls, houses, roads, and canals were destroyed, and a large number of cracks appeared on the surface.

The fields are full of people, those with clothes on, those without clothes, those wrapped in quilts, those sitting under the trees in a daze, those crying in the arms of family and friends, and Gouwazi's family in a state of embarrassment.

As he walked, Gouwazi saw some of his friends sitting under a tree in a daze. After Gouwazi passed by, she lifted up her clothes to show Gouwazi. Her back was bruised and purple, which was very scary.

In the end he cried and said that his parents fell between the cracks of the ground when they ran away.

Gouwazi took a look at the crack in the ground, it was more than four feet wide, it might be hopeless...

--------

"Clang... clang... clang..."

On the seventh day of February in the second year of Tianqi, when the Chang Dynasty began, the faces of many ministers and workers became ugly with the news that Shandong Babaili was urgent.

"Entry~~~"

Accompanied by the opening of Honglu Temple Minister, the general of the Han Dynasty waved the clean whip, and Baiguanshan shouted long live, and at the same time Zhu Youxiao also stepped onto the high platform and sat on the dragon chair.

What is rare is that Zhu Youjian also came to participate in the court meeting, and the organization of this court meeting is undoubtedly to deal with the earthquake.

"Be flat!"

Zhu Youxiao spoke with a dark face, and after speaking, after all the officials thanked him, Ye Xianggao, the chief minister of the cabinet, took a step forward, handed out the memorial with both hands and said:
"Long live, last night Yanzhou Mansion, Jinan Mansion, Dongchang Mansion and other places encountered earth dragons overturning, and Jining Prefecture had an earth dragon overturning that has not happened in a century."

"The earthquake in Yuncheng was like thunder, the ground cracked and springs gushed, chickens and dogs barked, and walls and houses collapsed."

"More than half of the battlements of the Juye City Wall have collapsed, and the Confucian Temple and its verandahs have all been destroyed.

"Licheng shook like thunder, the house shook and the ground shook."

"Caozhou, Chengwu, Caoxian, Puzhou, Chaocheng, Jinxiang, and Yutai are all loudly shaken."

"The turn of the earth dragon this time has affected Dong'e, Pingyin, Dongping Prefecture, Wenshang, Dingtao..."

"Licheng, Jiyang, Qidong, Zouping, Yangxin, Zichuan, Xintai..."

"Dongchang Prefecture Liaocheng, Xinxian, Guantao, Guangping Prefecture Qinghe, Jize, Feixiang, Cheng'an..."

"In addition, there are more than [-] prefectures in the three provinces of Luoyang and Yanshi in Henan, Qixian and Weishi in Kaifeng, Shangqiu, Suizhou, Luyi, and Yangwu in Guide, and Xuzhou, Xiaoxian, Peixian, and Fengxian in South Zhili. State and county."

"Officials from all over the country rushed to send letters. Millions of people were affected by the disaster, hundreds of thousands of houses collapsed, and the city walls were countless..."

"..." After the words were finished, the entire court hall suddenly fell silent.

Millions of people have been affected on an unprecedented scale.

Although the earth dragon can dig up food from the ruins to eat after turning over, the collapsed houses cannot be restored.

In the words of later generations, the loss caused by this major earthquake may be as high as tens of millions of taels...

In Zhu Youjian's memory, he is not familiar with this earthquake. Perhaps under the background of the late Ming Dynasty, such a major earthquake is not as good as the upcoming severe drought, but for Zhu Youjian, this needs to be resolved problem.

"Brother Huang and younger brothers thought that we should quell the disaster of the earth dragon in the three provinces by relieving the plague of the three provinces by exempting them, adjusting the grain, and providing disaster relief through work."

Zhu Youjian stood up and took the lead in responding, and such a response was actually very comprehensive, especially the grain adjustment.

However, after the point of using work to relieve disasters was raised, the officials frowned, but still did not refute.

Zhu Youjian's suggestion is good, this is everyone's perception, even Zhu Youxiao thinks that his younger brother's suggestion is good, and no one should refute it, but he still underestimated some people's brain circuits after all.

"Long live! Your minister Wan Yanyang impeached the king of Qi to bring chaos to the court. This time the earth dragon turned around is an early warning from the heavens!"

Your mother and maid...Zhu Youjian cursed secretly, and turned his head to see which cerebral palsy was impeaching him.

When he turned around, Dang even saw a strange face.

When he was still wondering who it was, he saw Yang Lian's ugly expression, and now he knew that this guy should be a member of the Donglin Party who was as talkative as Gao Panlong.

"Long live! Last year, the King of Qi sent troops to the south, and the Yellow River breach occurred in Lingbi. This year, the King of Qi sent troops to escort money and food to the south, and the earth dragon broke out again. Isn't this situation a warning from heaven?"

Zhu Youjian was really amused by Wan Yan's upright and righteous words, and his awe-inspiring appearance.

After Wan Yanyang said that, he almost felt that he was being targeted by God.

"Wan Yushi is exaggerating. How can natural disasters and man-made disasters be counted on King Qi?"

There was no way, Yang Lian took the initiative to stand up and bear the firepower, and his stepping up immediately made some officials in the Donglin Party feel uncomfortable.

You, Yang Lian, are also Qingliu. Right now, Qingliu is impeaching the vassal king of the chaotic dynasty.
"Long live, if what I say is wrong, I am willing to be punished!"

Wan Yanyang stood up and acted like he was a loyal minister, which made Zhu Youxiao disgusted.

Because, Zhu Youxiao immediately said with a dark face:

"If you follow what Wan Yushi said, then when the Yellow River burst last year, I remember that Wan Yushi passed by the Yellow River, and now in the first month of this year, Wan Yushi visited Henan, Shandong and other places."

"According to this, isn't it Wan Yushi who was warned by the heavens? And the soldiers and horses of the Yuma Supervisor are just cleaning up the mess for Wan Yushi?"

"Long live! The minister is loyal to the country, why does God warn the minister?" Wan Yanyang knelt down, with a sad expression on his face, as if Zhu Youxiao was about to kill him.

"Then if this is the case, why do you say that the heavens are warning King Qi?" Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, grabbed his sleeves and stood up at the same time, saying:
"Right now, the people in the three provinces are suffering from disasters, and you don't want to think about how to relieve the disaster, but here you are framing good ministers. What's the reason?"

"Where is the big Han general?!"

Zhu Youxiao shouted, and immediately the big Han generals on both sides of the gate of Wenhua Hall trotted in.

Zhu Youxiao pointed to Wan Yanyang who was kneeling on the ground, and said with a gloomy expression:
"Since Wan Yushi said it was a warning from the heavens, please ask Wan Yushi to apologize on my behalf!"

"Send Wan Yushi to the Shanchuan Altar, and apologize to heaven for three days on my behalf!"

"Long live! Minister..." Wan Yanyang became anxious when he heard it, wouldn't he kneel for three days and three nights for three days of apology?This is deadly.

However, before he had time to speak, a big Han general covered his mouth with his hands.

"Oh... it's insulting to the gentleman..."

Seeing the big Han general's small movements, the civil servants next to him shook their heads one after another, but they also knew that if this guy continued to talk, it would be impossible to continue the court meeting today.

In this way, Wan Yanyang was taken down, and Zhu Youjian also felt a lot more relaxed.

At this time, Zhu Youxiao also said:

"The strategy offered by the king of Qi is good. I will pass on my will. The affected areas will be exempted from taxation for one year, and the summer taxes in Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and other places will be used for the local areas."

"[-] liang of silver was allocated from the internal funds, and [-] shi of grain was allocated from Taicang to provide disaster relief with work."

"The governor of the local government must investigate clearly, how many people were killed and injured this time when the earth dragon turned over."

"Long live the Holy Spirit..." Hearing that the emperor was willing to pay the money, all the officials bowed and sang, but one person in the crowd frowned.

This person is Zhu Youjian, and the reason for his frowning is that the relief funds are too small.

Although millions of people affected by the disaster is an exaggeration, there should be hundreds of thousands, especially Dongchang Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture, which are the epicenter of the earthquake.

Three hundred thousand taels, eight hundred thousand shi, plus the summer tax of the four provinces, at most it will not exceed eight hundred thousand taels of silver, two million shi grains and fodder.

Right now, we don't know how many acres of land the earth dragon turned over and hurt. If the damage is small, then the money and food can still last until the autumn harvest without affecting the spring planting.

But if there are many injuries, this amount of money and food can't do much at all.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian sighed from the bottom of his heart, and then he didn't speak immediately, but found his imperial brother after the court was over, and said to him:

"Brother, is there a little less money and food for the disaster relief? The Yumajian can give another five hundred thousand taels."

"Can't you use so much? There are still a lot of local money and food in the three provinces." Zhu Youxue was a little surprised that his younger brother attached so much importance to disaster relief.

But for his words, Zhu Youjian could only shake his head and say:

"It's still a little less, how about another five hundred thousand taels of silver in the name of the Yumajian's internal money?"

Five hundred thousand taels, buying grain from Huguang and Jiangxi, is enough to buy [-] million shi, enough to feed millions of people for a month or two, plus the original money and grain, enough to last until after the autumn harvest.

If it is not enough by then, then the Yumajian will also collect the autumn tax, and continue to provide disaster relief.

"Since my younger brother said so, let's pay another five hundred thousand taels of silver, which happens to be escorted by Bao Taowei."

Seeing his younger brother's insistence, Zhu Youxiao could only shake his head helplessly. After hearing this, Zhu Youjian bowed and exchanged greetings, and then left the place.

On the other hand, Zhu Youxiao, watching his younger brother leaving, frowned tightly, not knowing what he was thinking.

Seeing this, Wei Zhongxian next to him immediately asked, "Is Long Live worried about disaster relief?"

"No..." Zhu Youxiao replied, turned around and got on the chariot, and then said:

"My brother is still too weak..."

Zhu Youxiao said this not because he was dissatisfied, but because he felt that Zhu Youjian was too close and weak to the people.

The way of the king taught in "Shang Jun Shu" is to weary and weak the people.

On the other hand, Zhu Youjian, what he wants is for the people to live and work in peace and contentment.

But if the common people live and work in peace and contentment, they are prone to chaos.

Zhu Youxiao was dissatisfied with this, but it was not that he felt that he could not suppress the people, but that he felt that his younger brother's personality might suffer a lot in the future.

"Let's go."

Zhu Youxiao sat down and opened his mouth, and Wei Zhongxian quickly had someone carry his chariot to the Qianqing Palace.

Just after walking around, Zhu Youxiao still turned his head to look at Zhu Youjian's back uneasy, and then heaved a long sigh...

(End of this chapter)