Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 146 Surrender to the Yellow River
Early the next morning, Wang Daoqiu was in darkness again, and he went to the morning court under the moonlight. But as soon as he arrived at the Jinshui Bridge, more than a dozen courtiers came running over there, all of them looking very anxious.

Damn it!The palace gate is about to open, why are they still running out?Could it be that they just can't bear to be fools every day and want to go on strike?
Just thinking about this!Lao Yansong took the lead and led the group over.As soon as he saw Wang Daoqiu still riding in a daze on the horse, Old Yan Song yelled at Wang Daoqiu anxiously: "Liangzhen, Liangzhen, just arrived in Shandong eight hundred miles to expedite. Two or three feet from the county seat, it still covered the four counties of Jinxiang, Yutai, Dingtao, and Chengwu, and now it rushed to Guting. The water was too heavy, and Zhan Han, the imperial censor of the Yellow River, asked for an order to go to the mouths of Zhaopizhai. And cross more branch rivers to divide the water potential. The emperor is now summoning the cabinet, six ministers, and ministers to the Longevity Palace to discuss this matter, and it will not be early today. Liangzhen, go, go."

In July of the 26th year of Jiajing's reign, the river defeated Caoxian County. Isn't this what I warned Emperor Jiajing when he delivered the decree from Baiyun Temple last year?How could there be a prophet, Emperor Jiajing, that faint king, wouldn’t he still have no preparations?

Wang Daoqiu was complaining about Emperor Jiajing in his heart. What he was thinking about was catastrophe and disaster, and preventing it from burning.But he didn't know that facing the prophet, Emperor Jiajing thought that God's will cannot be violated.If the three views are not in harmony, there is really no way!

With his thoughts in mind, Wang Daoqiu rode a horse and followed the sedans of a group of important officials of the imperial court to Xiyuan.

Entering the Wanshou Palace, Taoist priest Jiajing had already gotten up early and sat on the imperial couch.In the face of natural disasters, Taoist Master Jiajing was so concerned, not because he cared deeply about the world.It's because every change of dynasty in China begins with a major natural disaster, which is a common practice.

To put it bluntly, it is a major natural disaster that will cause millions of hungry people.And if the court fails to provide disaster relief at this time, the millions of starving people without food may turn into millions of mobs at any time, knocking the dynasty's regime to pieces.

Therefore, since ancient times, every dynasty in the world has attached great importance to disaster relief, trying their best to provide a way for the victims to survive, and to prevent the victims from taking risks and becoming peasant uprisings to grab food themselves because they cannot survive.

Precisely because disaster relief work is related to the life and death of a regime, Emperor Jiajing was also in the dark early this morning.I want to discuss a practical disaster relief plan with the courtiers as soon as possible, and then send it to the disaster area for implementation as soon as possible, so that the people in the disaster area can basically stabilize their emotions.

Wang Daoqiu followed a group of ministers and saluted Emperor Jiajing. The ministers stood in front of Emperor Jiajing according to their rank and work unit.As for Wang Daoqiu, a close minister, he came to Emperor Jiajing's side as usual and stood under Lu Fang, the chief seal officer of the Supervisor of Ceremonies.

As soon as Wang Daoqiu stood still, Emperor Jiajing spoke to him: "From now on, when I discuss politics with the ministers in the court hall, you will stand at the head of Lu Fang."

"Here"

"The old slave obeys the order"

When discussing political affairs, Lu Fang takes the lead, and in other matters, Lu Fang takes the lead. This is what Jiajing Lao Tao will do in the future.Wang Daoqiu thought so and changed positions with Lu Fang.

Everyone took their positions, and then began to discuss the Yellow River flood.The victims of the disaster definitely need relief, and the relief of the victims is nothing more than sending imperial envoys to take charge of the work in the disaster area, and then distribute food to the victims.

Small disasters occur every year in the Yellow River Basin, and major disasters occur every three to five years. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty has a very mature plan for relief work for victims in this area, so this matter does not need to be discussed.What needs to be discussed now is how to subdue the beast of the Yellow River this time. The basis for the discussion is the memorial of Zhan Han, the censor of the river.

At the beginning of the court meeting, the ministers expressed their opinions in front of Emperor Jiajing. They generally agreed with Zhan Han's suggestions, but they used their wisdom to add some more, and there was no objection.

All the princes in the court supported Zhan Han's suggestion, but Emperor Jiajing sat there and hesitated to make a decision. He seemed not very satisfied with Zhan Han's suggestion.

Emperor Jiajing was meditating there, his brows furrowed. It was obvious that he was dissatisfied with the plan of Zhan Han and the princes in the court, but he could not think of a better one.

So Emperor Jiajing just stood there for a long time, and then he asked: "Wang Qing, you haven't spoken since the beginning of the court meeting. What do you think about this matter?"

"Your Majesty, I dare not deceive Your Majesty. On the matter of treating Huang, I have different opinions from the princes in the court. However, my idea is too shocking, so I dare not speak out." After being named by Emperor Jiajing, Wang Daoqiu had no choice but to Come out and report.

After listening to Wang Daoqiu's words, Emperor Jiajing immediately changed his mind from being helpless and became obviously a little excited. He said to Wang Daoqiu expectantly: "Wang Qing, when discussing politics in the court, various plans and ideas should be discussed. Compare them all. If you listen to both, you will be enlightened, but if you listen to one side, you will be dark! Wang Qing, don't have any scruples. It doesn't matter if you are wrong."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I am aware of my guilt. Your Majesty, Yushi Zhan's suggestion has been done in this way throughout the ages, and it has been proven to be effective, but this is a strategy that treats the symptoms rather than the root cause. Let's not talk about it from afar. In the past 200 years, hasn't this been done every time the Yellow River bursts? But has the Yellow River been controlled? Since the founding of our country, both sides of the Yellow River have been either drought or flooded every year. In every year, the government has not allocated disaster relief funds. ? In the past 26 years of His Majesty’s reign, how many floods and droughts have been caused by the Yellow River? Your Majesty, how many times can you think of it? There are too many. Basically, it will happen once every three to five years. So we won’t talk about it. From afar, our management of the Yellow River in the past 200 years, from now on, is a complete failure."

"What Aiqing said is a bit sorry for my ancestors of the Ming Dynasty, but I am right. If nothing else, I have been the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Anyway, every summer and autumn, I will worry about the ancestor of the Yellow River, afraid of it What kind of disaster will it bring to the Ming Dynasty? You are right, my dear, in the past, our management of the Yellow River was to treat the head when it hurts and the feet when it hurts, treating the symptoms but not the root cause. Treating every year will bring disaster every year. It's time to change the method. Wang Qing, you have always been able to find a way, so I wonder what you can teach me this time?"

teach!When Emperor Jiajing asked Wang Daoqiu for advice, he actually used the word "teaching". How dare Wang Daoqiu accept it?So as soon as Emperor Jiajing finished speaking, Wang Daoqiu knelt down and said that he "deserted death".

Wang Daoqiu's attitude was so correct. To be honest, Emperor Jiajing felt very happy.However, he still blamed Wang Daoqiu a few words in front of him, asking Wang Daoqiu to quickly say something and say nothing.

After receiving the order from Emperor Jiajing, Wang Daoqiu got up from the ground and continued: "Your Majesty, it is better to block the water in ancient times than to clear it, and most years of the Yellow River are not floods, but droughts. Therefore, I suggest that the court should not block the river this time. The Yellow River has stopped flowing, allowing the rolling Yellow River water to overflow into the Central Plains..."

"Wang Daoqiu, what do you mean by this? Do you want to force the millions of victims to rebel? If the breach of the Yellow River in Caoxian County is not blocked, there will be millions of hectares of fertile land in the five counties of Caoxian, Yutai, Jinxiang, Dingtao, and Chengwu. , how to farm next year? Then how will the millions of local disaster victims make a living next year? Wang Daoqiu, do you have the courage to go to the disaster area of ​​Cao County and say what you just said again? "

Wang Daoqiu told Emperor Jiajing his good strategy, but Emperor Jiajing didn't respond at all!Xia Yan, the second assistant, jumped out, pointed at Wang Daoqiu's nose, and began to scold him harshly.

Too lazy to pay attention to the mad dog Xia Yan, Wang Daoqiu continued to say to Emperor Jiajing: "Your Majesty, China has always suffered from floods in the south and drought in the north. The main disaster in the Central Plains is not floods but drought. I believe that the main reason for this is the Central Plains. There is only one big river in the area, the Yellow River, but no other big rivers or lakes. Your Majesty and the princes standing here now, most of them, like me, have lived in the Yangtze River Basin in the south since childhood."

"On both sides of the Yangtze River, Sichuan has Dujiangyan, Huguang has Dongting Lake, and Jiangxi has Poyang Lake. My hometown, Huzhou, Zhejiang, is close to Taihu Lake. These lakes are all large lakes with a radius of thousands of miles. How much flood would it take to raise their water levels by one foot? Huh? And when the Yangtze River is dry, the water in these large lakes is enough to irrigate hundreds of millions of hectares of fertile farmland in the surrounding areas. Therefore, major floods are rare on both sides of the Yangtze River, and major droughts are basically impossible."

"To sum up, the flood and drought disasters on both sides of the Yellow River, to put it bluntly, are the lack of large lakes on both sides of the Yellow River that can receive floods during floods and can replace the Yellow River during droughts and provide irrigation water for both sides. Your Majesty and the princes in the court, what do you think? If the four provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong on both sides of the Yellow River are on the Yellow River, let alone big lakes like Dongting and Poyang, even if there is a medium-sized lake like Hongze and Weishan Lake. , will they still have droughts nine times out of ten years?”

"So Your Majesty, I believe that the key to managing the Yellow River is to arrange several flood discharge areas of a certain size in each province on both sides of the Yellow River. Whenever the Yellow River is full of water, the Yellow River water is introduced into the flood discharge area and stored. When the Yellow River is dry, , and then use the water in the flood discharge area to irrigate the surrounding fields, forming a large and stable irrigated land. Your Majesty, it is indeed a pity that a large amount of fertile land has been flooded as a flood discharge area. But if you are willing to give up, you will get something if you give up! No Speaking of other things, Xia Cifu dares to imagine that if they in Jiangxi fill in the Poyang Lake for farming, will anyone in Jiangxi dare to live on the flat land in the future?"

Wang Daoqiu put forward the theory of building flood discharge areas and wetlands in later generations.The emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty who are here now, including Emperor Jiajing, are all the most powerful brains in the world in this era.Wang Daoqiu had already pointed out the idea, and they could naturally figure out that this method was the right one.

So as soon as Wang Daoqiu finished speaking, Emperor Jiajing and other Ming emperors and ministers all nodded and approved the plan.Yan Song, the chief assistant, also came out and said: "Your Majesty, what Wang Shizhong said is right. This time the Caoxian breach is indeed not suitable to be blocked anymore. Let the five counties of Caoxian, Yutai, Jinxiang, Dingtao and Chengwu become the Yellow River in our Central Plains Let’s create a flood discharge area! In this way, although the imperial court has abandoned five counties, it can ensure the long-term peace and stability of dozens of counties on both sides of the Yellow River in Henan, Shandong, and Zhili provinces. I think this is worth it, and please ask your majesty to sanction it.”

"Minister and others seconded"

Yan Song, the chief minister, came out to support Wang Daoqiu's plan, and then other courtiers, including Xia Yan, also stood up to express their support for the plan.

The ministers were unanimous in their opinions, and Emperor Jiajing himself also liked Wang Daoqiu's once-and-for-all solution.So this plan was passed after Emperor Jiajing made the final decision.

(End of this chapter)