I'm really not doing business

Chapter 883 People always have to pay the price for their mistakes
The loyalty of Shuntian Prefecture is not without reason. Half of it is based on fear. After all, the emperor has killed too many people in front of the Meridian Gate. The other half is because of gratitude. The development of Shuntian Prefecture in recent years is obvious to all. Your Majesty has not only brought wealth, but also benefited most people.

The development of the city has benefited most people in the process.

The restoration of Ming Dynasty's resident craftsmen and government factories provided a large number of jobs for skilled craftsmen; the poor coolies who fled from Shanxi, Northern Zhili, and Shandong to the capital to escape famine provided sufficient labor;

The emperor used various means to fully mobilize these laborers. Even if they did not have any special skills, they could still choose to earn an income by pulling rickshaws or loading and unloading at the docks. Although the income was very meager and barely enough to make ends meet, it was already the envy of rural tenants.

Countless goods gathered in the capital, and the effect of the coal-silver convection was that not only coal and silver, but also the goods manufactured by various workshops became abundant;

The victory of the war brought dividends of development. Food, furs, various mountain products from the Liaodong reclamation, furs, woolen materials, alkali and other goods from Suiyuan were supplied to the capital and became commodities on the shelves of government factories.
Although the capital of Shuntian Prefecture has not yet completed the construction of a commodity economy, compared with the lifeless capital city that has remained unchanged for nearly two hundred years, the rapid changes have made Shuntian Prefecture loyal.

On the road to development, many problems will be concealed, but they are just concealed. If they are not solved, they will always exist.

"He's not that loyal. As soon as I left, the censors began to impeach Shen Shixing." Zhu Yijun was holding a memorial in his hand. This was a memorial that needed to be dealt with personally by the emperor. For this memorial, Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Juzheng and Wang Chonggu to see the emperor together.

When the emperor set out for Jinan, public opinion impeaching Shen Shixing began to brew in the capital. When the emperor arrived in Jinan, the first memorial impeaching Shen Shixing appeared in the court. In order to avoid suspicion, Shen Shixing submitted a petition requesting the emperor to punish him with power.

Wang Chonggu said with a smile on his face: "I think that impeaching Shen Shixing is not disloyal. He has problems. Impeach him. Mencius said: To criticize the king is called respect, to promote the good and to suppress the evil is called respect. My king cannot be called a thief."

"Wang Jiaping is very good."

Shen Shixing has problems, he can't do it, but Wang Jiaping can.

Blaming, demonstrating one's virtues, and failing to fulfill one's monarch's responsibility are the three core principles of the Confucian way of being a minister.

The criticism is that Bigan and Hai Rui risked their lives to make remonstrances to the king, which is respectful;

To express goodness, to state the good way and to put an end to evil teachings, is respect;

My king cannot do it, which is the core logic of the laws of our ancestors. If you say that my king cannot do it while there are laws established by our ancestors, you are a traitor to the country.

Zhang Juzheng glanced at Wang Chonggu before saying, "Wang Cifu, your majesty has another memorial in his hand, which is to impeach Wang Jiaping."

Zhang Juzheng's people couldn't hide, but could Wang Chonggu's people hide? The emperor was not in Beijing, and Prince Lu followed the emperor on a southern tour. A nine-year-old child sat on the dragon throne. The censors who had been suppressed for seventeen years finally began to become active.

Wang Chonggu was not sure if Zhang Juzheng was deceiving him after hearing this. He hesitated for a moment before saying helplessly, "It's really just a small matter that you submit a series of memorials. To dismiss the ministers for a small matter, isn't that treating the important affairs of the country as a trifle?"

"Your Majesty, these censors love to talk nonsense, so don't trust them."

Wang Chonggu didn't dare to gamble. He had not heard that Wang Jiaping had also been impeached, but if this memorial really existed, Wang Chonggu would be in a passive position if he did not change his attitude.

Dog fights are mainly about controlling the rhythm. Apparently Zhang Juzheng is a master of rhythm. His words made Wang Chonggu anxious and worried.

"This memorial does exist. Both Wang Jiaping and Shen Shixing have been impeached, and it is not a false accusation." Zhu Yijun took out two other memorials, the one impeaching Wang Jiaping and his own petition.

"The petitions of Shen Shixing and Wang Jiaping acknowledged the fact of impeachment by the censors." Zhu Yijun handed the petition to the two assistant ministers and emphasized again that even if the censors became active, it was different from the early years of Wanli. The censors did not dare to make false accusations. If they did, His Majesty would really kill people.

Shen Shixing's problem was very simple. After he became the top scholar in the imperial examination in the 41st year of Jiajing, his grandfather passed away. Shen Shixing asked to return to Changshu, Suzhou Prefecture to mourn for his grandfather. During the mourning period, Shen Shixing's parents, grandfather and grandmother were all gone, and he himself was very poor, so he lived in the official residence.

During the period of mourning for his grandfather, Shen Shixing was somewhat uninhibited and "indulged in some obscene activities."

The censors were really very polite, just a little bit; they engaged in indecent activities, associated with people of bad conduct and questionable character, and traveled around with them.

This is the censor giving face to Shen Shixing. He can explain to His Majesty himself what the problem is.

According to Shen Shixing's own account, it was at that time that he had just won the top spot in the imperial examination and had become a little arrogant. All those famous prostitutes in brothels came to him on their own initiative. They were so attentive and fawning that they wanted to use all their life's knowledge to serve Shen Shixing, just so that they could take them with them when they went out to play.

If you are willing to leave some poems, that would be great.

Shen Shixing was living under someone else's roof and had been studying hard. He had never seen such a scene before, so he took famous prostitutes on many trips. Although Shen Shixing did not pay them, he left behind several poems, which were actually the money for prostitution.

This story was told by a juren from Suzhou Prefecture. He failed to pass the imperial examination and stayed in the Beiya Imperial College to study. He shared this little gossip with his classmates.

The juren thought it was just a little gossip, which the speaker may not have meant, but the listener may have taken it seriously. So his classmate told his father, the censor.

When the censor heard the news, he would definitely inquire about it, and finally confirmed the news was true from the official residence of Changshu Prefecture in Suzhou.

In order to mourn for his grandfather, he actually took prostitutes to travel around and wrote poems to give to them. This was a serious moral corruption in the Ming Dynasty, which ruled the country with filial piety, so Shen Shixing had no choice but to resign.

If Shen Shixing was an ordinary person, such behavior would at most make him be scolded as an unfilial son. However, Shen Shixing was a cabinet minister, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and the future Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, so this was a big problem.

You are so disrespectful to your grandfather who raised you with great difficulty and even handled matters of life and death. How can you still be loyal to the emperor?

"Let's talk about Shen Shixing first. I'll demote him three levels." Zhu Yijun thought about it and decided to demote Shen Shixing to the fifth rank.

Every word the censor said was true and there was no false accusation. He also chose words carefully to make Shen Shixing look good. Shen Shixing had no choice but to explain the situation himself. The result of Zhu Yijun's consideration was to demote him by three levels.

Zhang Juzheng finished reading the memorial, closed his eyes for a moment, shook his head and said, "People always have to pay the price for their mistakes. Fortunately, this matter was impeached today. If he really became a cabinet minister in the future, it would be a big problem."

The censors had conducted a thorough investigation and had solid evidence, but in their memorials, they used vague terms to express the evidence, letting Shen Shixing speak for himself instead of the censors.

The censors could have waited until Shen Shixing was promoted to the position of Minister of the Six Ministries or Cabinet Minister before exposing the matter to create a huge uproar. Now the emperor values ​​him, his teacher is still the chief minister, and the emperor and his prime ministers have left the capital, and the time has come to recruit new people. This little thing cannot bring down Shen Shixing.

It is obvious that the censors did not intend to put Shen Shixing to death, and the officialdom is not all about fighting and killing, but mostly about human relationships and worldly wisdom.

Shen Shixing, who had just transformed from a poor boy into a top scholar, was so excited that he could see all the flowers in Chang'an in one day. However, he really couldn't withstand the attack from the world of fireworks.

"Shen Shixing, who has had a smooth life, deserves to suffer a little loss." Zhu Yijun thought this was a good thing. The previous two setbacks were caused by Yan Shixuan, and this setback was due to a mistake he made when he was young.

"This Fan Yingqi has been locked up in the prison and refuses to come out, yet he's still trying to cause trouble." Wang Chonggu's face turned ashen after reading the memorial.

Wang Jiaping's trouble was much bigger than Shen Shixing's. Shen Shixing's problem was a lifestyle issue, mainly because he was in mourning, which was very taboo. But such things happened frequently, and the censors did help Shen Shixing clear a minefield on his path to promotion.

Shen Shixing had been through three downfalls and was very experienced. As long as he did his job well, he would be reinstated soon.

Wang Jiaping and Fan Yingqi were classmates and good friends. They both had the same master, Ge Shouli, and they had a close relationship. Even when Fan Yingqi got into trouble, Wang Jiaping still went to Jie Ku Yuan to see Fan Yingqi, although that was the last time they saw each other.

But recently the Ministry of Revenue checked the accounts and found that Wang Jiaping had lent a sum of money to Fan Yingqi. Half a year later, Fan Yingqi returned the money. This money was the stolen money from the Baoding Guantian case. Even though the incident happened so long ago, the court still recovered the stolen money.

The problem lies with the money. Fan Yingqi borrowed one thousand silver coins and spent it all on opium. He had a severe toothache at that time, and it was also because of this money that Fan Yingqi became addicted to drugs.

This money is drug money.

You, Wang Jiaping, said you didn't know that this was drug money, but whether you knew it or not, no one knows, and it is impossible to say clearly.

And this matter is very tricky.

The Ming Dynasty's drug prohibition was so strict that any economic dealings had to be strictly investigated. It was actually quite simple for Wang Jiaping to solve the problem. He only needed to cut ties with Fan Yingqi directly and completely. It was all because of his own failure in judging people and making friends carelessly.

But Wang Jiaping couldn't do that. When everyone had a bright future, it was as good as being in the same boat. But now that Fan Yingqi is in trouble, this kind of cut-off makes Wang Jiaping seem like a snob. He has gone from being single-minded to being blocked in both ends, and no matter what he does, he can't get anywhere.

Wang Jiaping had always refused to let anyone tell Fan Yingqi that he had endured all the ups and downs, but Fan Yingqi still found out.

Fan Yingqi hid in the dismemberment hospital on his own; he was not imprisoned by the emperor. After leaving the dismemberment hospital, Fan Yingqi was afraid that he would relapse, so he gradually became a great medical officer in the dismemberment hospital and changed his name to Fan Wuqi, which means that there is no end in sight for escaping from the sea of ​​suffering.

Doctor Fan is already a well-known medical officer in Huimin Pharmacy. He is a rare talent among the many people who have crossed the single-plank bridge to become a Jinshi. In addition, he is determined to treat himself as an experimental consumable, so Doctor Fan's medical skills are extremely superb.

Doctor Fan and Fan Yingqi are the same person, but in terms of social relations, they are completely different people.

When Fan Yingqi heard that Wang Jiaping had suffered because of him, he left a suicide note in the Jiekuyuan and chose to hang himself. He felt that everything was caused by him, and if he died, the matter would be over.

A female doctor who admired Fan Yingqi very much happened to have something she didn't understand about anatomy, so she went to Fan Yingqi's house to ask him for advice. Everyone in the anatomy hospital understood the thoughts of this single man and woman and the female doctor. After Fan Yingqi fell into trouble, his wife divorced him and his son simply refused to acknowledge him as his father.

The female doctor happened to come across a suicide attempt and saved Fan Yingqi.

In his petition, Wang Jiaping did not cut ties with Fan Yingqi. Instead, he believed that he had already noticed Fan Yingqi's abnormality before he left Beijing for Guangzhou, and it was his responsibility that he did not advise his friend.

Wang Jiaping didn't even say a word to defend himself, saying that he didn't know what Fan Yingqi was going to do.

"Stupid!" Wang Chonggu thought Wang Jiaping was stupid. Fan Yingqi was actually dead, and all his social relations were severed. He even changed his name to Fan Wuqi. This was a sinking ship, but Wang Jiaping still refused to jump.

Zhu Yijun said, not particularly agreeing, "I think Wang Jiaping is not stupid. On the other hand, Wang Jiaping is also a man who values ​​friendship and loyalty. He did not avoid the storm and went to Jiekuiyuan to visit Fan Yingqi. Later, he came to Wang Cifu's door and asked Wang Cifu to help with the Guangzhou government's acceptance and remittance."

"It's still reassuring. Just like Shen Shixing, he will be demoted three levels."

Once Shen Shixing and Wang Jiaping made mistakes in the process of actually controlling power after the emperor left, their demotion of three levels would turn into dismissal and deprivation of their official status.

The censors launched such attacks on Shen Shixing and Wang Jiaping at this time in order to let them not think that they are the backbone of the Ming Dynasty when the emperor leaves the capital, and to be clear about their own identities and look after their family for His Majesty.

"Why bother?" Wang Chonggu sighed. Wang Jiaping was simply asking for trouble.

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "Since Fan Yingqi committed suicide once, he was ordered to be dismembered and the doctor Fan Yingqi was renamed Fan Wuqi. From now on, there will be no Fan Yingqi in the Ming Dynasty. The past is over." "What a pity. He was originally a capable official of the country."

Hai Rui handled Fan Yingqi's case. Hai Rui only recovered the stolen money, dismissed him from his position, and stripped him of his official status and honors. He did not impose any further punishment. He asked Fan Yingqi to change his name, and that was his business in the future. There was no need to implicate Wang Jiaping.

Zhu Yijun felt very sorry for Fan Yingqi. Just as he kept talking about Liu Hanru, the honest official, Liu Hanru was very capable. He managed the Sanduao private market very well. If he had not crossed the two red lines of opium and private market, he would not have been convicted and executed.

Compared to the unrepentant Lin Qing, Liu Hanru knew from the beginning that what he did was wrong, but he still did everything for promotion, and the national law could not keep him.

"I thank Your Majesty for your great grace." Wang Chonggu chose to thank him, which was undoubtedly forgiveness and solved Wang Jiaping's worries.

Zhu Yijun took out a memorial and said hesitantly, "Shen Shixing said in his memorial that the customs duty should be increased from 13% to 24%, an increase of 11%. The taxation in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty will remain unchanged. This will form a tax gap between the inside and the outside, and promote the formation of the internal market of the Ming Dynasty."

Wang Xiyuan wanted to get the powerful and wealthy people in the country to sign a letter to denounce the behavior of the rebel party and make it a fact of surrender;
Shen Shixing wanted to increase tariffs, saying it was for the sake of Ming Dynasty's domestic demand construction, but in fact it was just to intimidate and punish the people in Jiangnan for selecting tributes. He made this purpose very clear in his memorials.

Because of the 11% tariff, these powerful and wealthy people would rather increase prices, reduce sales, and drop profits to continue selling abroad, rather than be willing to supply internally.

This involves extremely complex cost issues, and tax is only one of the domestic costs of the Ming Dynasty.

Those local tyrants who control the local government offices would like to drink a sip of manure every time a manure cart passes by. The hidden costs, local taxes and risks are much higher than the 11% tax.

A group of people have just been executed in the Chizhou Prefecture ship hijacking case.

Wang Chonggu agreed and said, "I agree. If we don't collect tariffs, how can we build a customs office? The Coast Guard Inspection Office needs money, and the navy also needs money. To maintain the safety of offshore trade, real money needs to be invested."

Lin Qing handed the star map and the needle map to the desperate criminals on the sea. It became more difficult for the Ming Dynasty to eliminate the pirates. In order to prevent the security situation of offshore trade from completely collapsing, more silver was needed to build the Ming Dynasty navy and coastal defense inspection, which made the tax increase reasonable.

As for the effect of building up the domestic demand of the Ming Dynasty as mentioned by Shen Shixing, Wang Chonggu was not particularly optimistic.

"There is enough silver for now. More silver in the market will be beneficial to the opening of the sea." Zhu Yijun's inclination was not to add more.

Tariffs are like a blood pump. Once it is turned on, it will suck the blood of the workshops. More silver will remain in the market, which will help promote the formation of a commodity economy.

Horizontal transfer payments are a means to balance the uneven development between the inland and coastal areas, not to drain the liquidity of the coastal areas.

13% tax, no more, no less.

"I think what Your Majesty said makes sense. What Shandong Governor Song Yingchang said also makes some sense. It was these rebels who chose Jiangnan, not the people of Jiangnan who chose the rebels. Not all people in Jiangnan are rebels." Zhang Juzheng felt that there was no need to increase taxes. The Ming Dynasty was a manufacturing country and an importer of raw materials. High tariffs would be detrimental to production.

Tariffs have always been a double-edged sword. If tariffs continue to be raised, it would be better not to open the sea, but to directly ban the sea and close the country to the outside world.

"Then don't increase it for now. If necessary, we can increase it at any time." Zhu Yijun chose not to increase tariffs for the time being.

Since the powerful and influential people headed by Xitucheng had been expelled, Zhu Yijun did not pursue them further and no longer expanded the scope of the attack.

Zhang Juzheng talked about a strange thing that happened during these thirteen days. The business chiefs and shipowners of the five major maritime customs and ocean-going trading companies issued a joint statement to denounce the rebel party.

Some wealthy merchants who became rich after the opening of the sea and were not on the list were dissatisfied. Why were only the former powerful and wealthy people and local gentry qualified to submit a petition? They could also express their views, love the Ming Dynasty, and be loyal!

Are wealthy businessmen who are not on the list not allowed to be loyal?

The wealthy businessmen, led by the five major customs offices, began to issue a joint statement. The reason why the wealthy businessmen had to publish a joint statement even without the imperial court's request was because the fire of the Southern Court's tribute selection case was too big, and these wealthy businessmen were afraid that the fire would burn themselves.

"Your Majesty, Xuzhou prefect Liu Shunzhi requests an audience for the fourth time." A eunuch saw that the emperor, the prime minister, and the second prime minister had finished discussing business, and took the opportunity to report Liu Shunzhi's request for an audience.

"Xuan."

Xuzhou prefect Liu Shunzhi finally met the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, your servant Liu Shunzhi pays his respects to you. Long live Your Majesty." Liu Shunzhi greeted you respectfully. This trip was not easy for him. He finally met the Emperor at the Taoshanyi Palace.

"No need to be polite, sit down and talk. The tribute selection case in Jiangnan was a bit complicated, so I was lazy for a few days." Zhu Yijun smiled and motioned Liu Shunzhi to sit down and talk, and explained what he had been waiting for these days.

Liu Shunzhi was a juren, and had not passed the imperial examination. This was his second time serving as the prefect of Xuzhou. His first time was in the first year of the Wanli reign. He left the post after three years and went to Qiongzhou. It was the emperor who came to Xuzhou and saw that the place was in a mess, so he transferred back Liu Shunzhi, who was highly recognized by the people of Xuzhou.

Xuzhou is a bit evil.

Among local officials, the prefect is a hurdle that some people have to go around in circles for their entire lives without being able to overcome.

Liu Shunzhi is such a person. He did not have the title of Jinshi, so he had been serving as a prefect, a fourth-rank official, for seventeen years without any advancement. Now he is already very old.

"Four prefects could not make up for one person, and thanks to Prefect Liu's kindness, the people were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief." Zhu Yijun affirmed Liu Shunzhi's achievements in the past four years. He did not make great contributions, but he did not make any mistakes.

During his tenure, Liu Shunzhi developed water conservancy projects, built city dikes to protect the people of Xuzhou as the Yellow River flowed south from Xuzhou to the Huai River and into the sea.

Moreover, when the treasury was not very full, he squeezed out some money from his own pocket and forced powerful local tycoons to donate some money. He built the Xuzhou Normal School and implemented the Dinghai school system.

Tianxiong Academy in Daming Prefecture did not receive a single cent of silver from the government for sixteen years.

Liu Shunzhi was old, and he did not seek promotion. Seeing that Your Majesty really cared about the people of Xuzhou, he hesitated for a while before speaking: "Your Majesty, Xuzhou is not burdened with taxes but with labor service. The people of Xuzhou and Pi are fierce in the salt industry. The water and land roads are wide, and the prefectures are exhausted and desolate. We should not follow the simple example of Jiangbei. "

In a nutshell, Xuzhou is a place close to the canal and has no shortage of taxes, but the labor is heavy, the people are tough, and Xuzhou is exhausted. At first glance, there is nothing but depression. The contradictions and problems here are not as simple as the emperor and the court thought. There is a clear deviation in the court's actual understanding of the handling of Xuzhou's local affairs.

Liu Shunzhi continued, "Your Majesty, the four previous prefects all had one thing in common, which was that they valued protecting grain transport more than protecting the people. That's why Xuzhou was so depressed."

Liu Shunzhi started by talking about why the previous four prefects were incompetent. It was not that the previous four prefects were incompetent, but that they simply did not bother to care about the local people in Xuzhou. In other words, protecting the grain transport was more important than protecting the people.

The most serious problem in Xuzhou is the flooding of the Yellow River. The Xuzhou section of the Grand Canal is a combination of the Yellow River and the Grand Canal. Because of the huge amount of silt, it is very easy to silt up. Every year, a large number of laborers are recruited to clean up the silt in the riverbed.

What about the imperial court? When evaluating Xuzhou’s performance, ensuring the grain transport was the top priority. On ordinary days, the management was not very strict, so all the prefects took the grain transport as their primary responsibility and did not manage Xuzhou. They only paid attention to grain transport and shipping, not people’s livelihood.

"So there was something wrong with the court's performance evaluation system, which caused the suffering of the people of Xuzhou." Zhu Yijun immediately sat up straight after hearing what Liu Shunzhi said.

This seems to be the case. The performance evaluation of the first four prefects focused on grain transport, while during Liu Shunzhi's tenure, the focus was on people's livelihood. From this perspective, it seems that the first four prefects were the ones who did evil, but in fact it was the court and the emperor.

Liu Shunzhi waved his hands and said, "No, no, no, Your Majesty has misunderstood. I am not saying that there is something wrong with the performance evaluation system. I am saying that why they are so indifferent to the development of Xuzhou is because they don't care about the people."

"Officials only know how to manage the grain transport, but have never thought about defense. They are focused on the silk business, but have no time to think about security."

"Protecting the environment is our responsibility, but they ignored it. They came and went in a hurry."

Liu Shunzhi was sweating profusely. He had no intention of complaining about the examination system. As an official, he was responsible for the tasks assigned by the court and did not care about the lives of the people. Is this how to be an official? The word "official" has two mouths, one on the top and one on the bottom.

Liu Shunzhi, who had been an official for his whole life, knew very well that no system was perfect. How could the performance evaluation system cover all matters? Performance evaluation was only for important matters. Even those matters that were within one's responsibility had to be evaluated. Otherwise, it would become a mountain of documents and meetings, which would overwhelm people and make them unable to move.

The Performance Evaluation System was the best means of governing officials that the Ming Dynasty could come up with.

"I see." Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Last year, I received a memorial from Li Le, the governor of Yingtian, saying that there was a severe drought in Xuzhou, affecting all the counties in the prefecture. What is the specific situation?"

Liu Shunzhi hurriedly explained the details.

Last spring, there was a strange drought in Xuzhou. From October of the previous year to April of last year, there was only one snowfall and one rain, with the total precipitation being less than three inches. The whole of Xuzhou was in a severe drought, and seeing that the grain harvest would be poor, Liu Shunzhi had a conflict with the Chief Censor of the Grain Transport Bureau.

The Chief Censor of the Grain Transport wanted to close the sluice gates to store water for the canal, but Liu Shunzhi replied that he was sorry that he could not obey your order. He was too old and did not plan to be promoted any further. He directly ordered the sluice gates to be opened to release the water, and then opened the granary to distribute 300,000 dan of grain to provide relief for three months.

When the rain finally came, he loaned money to another 37,000 households to allow the people to farm, and finally "there was no disaster from the drought that year."

About 190,000 people were affected by the drought, and all of them survived. It was also during this time that Liu Shunzhi organized the victims to repair Xuzhou's water conservancy facilities.

The Chief Censor of the Grain Transport Bureau was furious and reported Liu Shunzhi. Li Le, who was the governor of Yingtian at the time, reported the details to the court.

The court did not punish Liu Shunzhi in the end and even gave him a very good evaluation.

Zhu Yijun said that Xuzhou had done a good job in the past four years, which was indeed a good job. Opening the sluice gates to release water did have an impact on the water transport, but it was not very big. However, if the sluice gates were not opened to release water, the people affected would not be the 190,000 people and 37,000 households.

Liu Shunzhi clenched his fists and whispered, "If the Yellow River can return to its original course, it will be a great blessing for the people of Xuzhou. There will be no more floods and they can live and work in peace."

The court also discussed the matter of returning the Yellow River to its original course. The benefits were not too many. First, it would stimulate shipping in the Huai River Basin; second, it would solve the problem of saline-alkali fields in the Huai River Basin; third, it would allow the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to flow unimpeded, as the silt from the Yellow River often clogged the canal.

The Xuzhou area was not troubled by taxes but by labor service. This predicament was largely caused by the frequent floods caused by the Yellow River diverting its way into the sea from the Huai River.

It can be said that controlling the Yellow River is a good thing that will allow all people to live and work in peace and contentment. Unfortunately, the earthwork required to return the Yellow River to its original course was too huge, and ultimately the court failed to make up its mind and could not do it.

"It is not my wish to drain the blood and sweat of the people and entrust it to a task that is impossible to accomplish. It is better to wait for the right time." Zhu Yijun shook his head and said. It's not that he doesn't want to do it, but the time has not come yet.

"Your Majesty is wise." Liu Shunzhi certainly knew that the thing could not be done. He just mentioned this matter to His Majesty, hoping that His Majesty would remember it.

When it is possible, save the people of Xuzhou and the people in the Huaihe River basin.

(End of this chapter)