Jiajing Chengming

"That's not something we can worry about. Our children and grandchildren will have their own blessings. We shouldn't be slaves for them."

"Since we want to curb these extravagant and wealthy families from accelerating their annexation and exploitation of the common people, we can only guide them to change their way of making profits and let them expand their family businesses in the same direction as the court expands the benefits of the world."

"I believe that as more and more wealthy families in the world become more and more tied to the fate of the country, even if future monarchs and ministers want to destroy their own pots and bring disaster to the Ming Dynasty, many wealthy families will not allow it. The emperor and the cabinet may change frequently due to fierce struggles, but the country will not perish."

When Zhu Houcong said this, Zhang Cong nodded and said, "Your Majesty is right. I am afraid that future rulers and ministers will be lazy and only want to give up the difficult and take the easy, blindly exploiting the outside world, instead of following the kingly way and the hegemonic way."

"I still say the same thing, your children and grandchildren will have their own blessings, don't be a slave to them."

"How to repay the debt in the future is a matter for future generations. After we do this, we are only responsible for how to choose our repayment method."

Zhu Houcong spoke again solemnly, then laughed again and said: "I am not really the greatest sage king in the history who can solve all problems, nor do I have a system that can be implemented for eternity and still work effectively. Let's take it one step at a time."

Zhang Cong nodded in agreement.

Therefore, Zhang Cong followed Zhu Houcong's instructions and drafted an imperial decree to let the Ministry of Revenue issue bonds based on the annual income of the supply and marketing shops next year, and the ministry would negotiate the interest rate.

As for the Yellow River breach in Henan, the governor of Henan, Pan Yun, and the inspector of Henan, Ding Xiao, were dismissed from their posts, and Ge Hao, the left governor of Shandong, was appointed governor of Henan. The king ordered the two men to be executed, but they were spared from reporting the incident in time, and their houses were not confiscated.
Weng Wanda, the trial censor of the Qing army in Nanzhi, was appointed as the provincial censor of Henan. He immediately rushed to Henan and took the money and grain reserved in the provincial treasury for relief.

……

……

"Has the dam been dug?"

Henan Prefecture.

Dai Shi, a local official, stood in the attic of his house, looking at the heavy rain in front of him and asked about Li Xian, the servant who appeared downstairs with an umbrella.

Li Xian replied: "It has been dug up!"

"Brother, next we have to wait for the emperor to return and pass through Henan, and see the thousands of miles of marshland and hundreds of thousands of refugees."

Dai Shi's younger brother Dai Fu, at this time, smiled and spoke to Dai Shi.

Dai Shi also smiled and said, "We have no choice. The emperor competes with the people for profits, making the wealthy and powerful families in the world worse off than before. In order to support a large family, we can only choose to make the people suffer."

"Brother, you are right. This is the emperor's own fault. With such a long river bank, so many mountains, forests, hills and valleys, and so many people, and so many natural and man-made disasters, can the government take care of it?"

"If we, the wealthy families, don't help to look after the people, and instead they secretly make trouble, what can the government do even if all the honest officials are diligent and can provide relief with money and grain?"

"The wool comes from the sheep. The profits that have been taken away from us will eventually be taken back from the people. In the end, the people will suffer."

Dai Fu echoed and looked ahead at the increasingly heavy rain, with a smile on his face.

Dai Shize continued to smile and said, "It just so happens that His Majesty loves the people like his own children and is as benevolent as the heaven. I think he will not ignore so many victims whose families have been destroyed. So, when the time comes, our Dai family will still actively provide porridge to relieve the disaster, and then tell the people that the benevolent emperor is in power, so the court will not ignore their lives and put them at ease. In addition, it will also reassure those villagers who have to sell their land to make a living because of the large number of people in their families and heavy debts. They don't have to worry about not being able to survive after selling their land. When the emperor passes through Henan, they can follow his holy carriage. The emperor will definitely take them in and will not ignore their lives, because when the emperor entered the capital that year, he did not drive away the people who followed him."

"it is good!"

"I will tell my family to do this when the time comes."

"Let His Majesty and the villagers see our Dai family's loyalty and kindness!"

Dai Shi agreed.

Not long after that, the famous Henan official Dai set up porridge factories along the way when a large number of refugees rushed into Henan City shortly after the Yellow River burst its dikes.

The local magistrate Wang Jing was very moved. He held Dai Shi's hand and wept, "Your family's virtue is the best in Henan!"

As he spoke, Wang Jing bowed again and said, "This county will report the truth to your majesty for giving money to save the people!"

"You don't have to do this, old parents. My Dai family has been blessed by the country for generations, and has long been praised by our hometown. How can we sit back and watch such a natural disaster! Even if our family is ruined and our stored food is used up, we still want to save the people!"

Dai Fu hurriedly helped the county magistrate Wang Jing up. Wang Jing nodded.

He was truly grateful to the Dai family from the bottom of his heart, because the Yellow River suddenly burst its banks after heavy rain, causing a surge in the number of victims, and the grain in his county's Changping Warehouse was simply not enough for disaster relief.

Nowadays, the imperial court requires strict laws. When encountering emergencies, the treatment of local officials is directly linked to the number of deaths in the accident. Therefore, if too many people starve to death in his jurisdiction due to the Yellow River bursting its banks, he will only end up in exile or even beheading. On the contrary, if no one dies, the punishment will be very light, and the punishment will be light enough to keep his official position.

"Your Majesty, I am wronged!"

"I am truly wronged!"

At this time, the former Henan Governor Pan Yun and Henan Inspector Ding Xiao were being taken to the city wall of Henan Prefecture.

Following behind them were the executioner, the new Henan Governor Ge Hao, and the flag bearers behind him holding flags of imperial edicts and royal orders.

Pan Yun was shouting loudly, feeling extremely aggrieved.

Ding Xiao also cried out heart-wrenchingly, "Your Majesty, you are wise. Although we failed to see clearly, the fact that such a thing happened now is really due to the cunningness of the local wealthy families! Even if I had issued notices to the prefectures before the summer floods arrived, urging them to take strict precautions against dike breaches, even if I had inspected frequently, I could not have prevented them from instructing their minions to breach the dikes when the rains rose!"

"cut!"

Ge Hao did not allow the two men to shout for too long. After reading the imperial edict, he issued the king's order and beheaded the two men on the city wall.

Dai Fu smiled secretly when he saw this.

Wang Jing's expression was gloomy.

However, Dai Fu ignored Wang Jing's gloomy expression. He only returned home after bidding farewell to Wang Jing and said to Dai Fu: "Brother, the original governor was beheaded. The emperor is really severe and decisive in killing people!"

"These days, officials have a hard time making a living!"

Dai Shize sighed, then smiled and said, "Just wait. As more and more bureaucrats are held accountable for the bad deeds done secretly by the wealthy families under their jurisdiction, the bureaucrats of the world will be less and less willing to support the emperor in opposing the wealthy families. At that time, more and more people will be willing to join us in deceiving our superiors and bullying our subordinates."

Spring of the ninth year of Jiajing.

When Zhu Houcong entered Henan Prefecture on his way back to Beijing, he indeed saw a large number of starving people due to the Yellow River bursting its dikes.

Looking at these hungry people who were leading their children to various porridge factories, Zhu Houcong's face darkened.

"Ge Hao!"

At this time, Zhu Houcong also summoned Ge Hao, the governor of Henan who had come to welcome him.

Ge Hao hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, saying, "I am here!"

"Is there enough food?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Ge Hao replied: "There is enough food, because many wealthy families have donated food!"

"is it?"

Zhu Houcong smiled and said, "It seems that Henan is a clean and honest place, worthy of being the birthplace of Chinese civilization!"

"How are the land prices? Have there been any large-scale mergers?"

Zhu Houcong asked again at this time.

Ge Hao replied: "Your Majesty, there are mergers, but the price of land has not dropped. The local officials are willing to cooperate with the government and only buy land at 80% of the normal market price to help the people. They did not take the opportunity to lower the price!" (End of this chapter)