How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 308 The Million Canal Workers: Their Livelihoods and Food

"A good question, Minister Shen." Emperor Chongzhen spoke, his voice not loud, but every word carried clearly to every corner of the hall. "Moving sand is not the same as controlling sand... Your words have struck a nerve with those river management officials for the past hundred years!"

All the officials were taken aback. Xu Hongji, Zheng Sanjun, and the others exchanged glances, none of them expecting the emperor to be the first to affirm the one who had raised the objection.

Emperor Chongzhen glanced at Shen Shiliang, nodded slightly, and then looked at everyone: "Minister Shen is knowledgeable and sees the difficulties. I am the ruler of the world, and I see the blood shed and the money and grain wasted over the past sixty years behind these difficulties!"

His voice suddenly rose: "Counting from the first year of the Wanli reign to now, a full sixty years have passed! The Yellow River and Huai River have breached their banks, large and small, forty-three times as recorded in the archives! On average, every year and a half, the heartland of my Great Ming Dynasty has suffered a catastrophic disaster! It happens every year and a half..."

The number, read aloud with a heavy sigh, struck everyone's heart like a thousand-pound stone. Many officials lowered their heads. They knew the river was a frequent source of flooding, but they had never calculated the costs so clearly before.

"Of these forty-three breaches," Chongzhen continued, his tone turning cold, "there were nineteen major disasters that completely severed the Grand Canal transport, cut off the vital link between the north and south, and caused critical shortages of food and provisions for the capital and the nine border regions! What does that mean? It means that every three years, I would receive an urgent report on my desk that the Grand Canal was cut off and the capital was on the verge of starvation! Have you, who receive salaries from the court, ever thought about how the soldiers on the border guarded the cities on empty stomachs every time the Grand Canal was cut off? And how the Tartars and Jurchens from beyond the Great Wall took advantage of these opportunities to plunder and kill?"

Xu Hongji and the others turned pale. They realized that the emperor wasn't getting bogged down in the details at all, but instead using these irrefutable figures to prove that the old methods were no longer effective.

Emperor Chongzhen stood up and walked to Zheng Sanjun, the Minister of Revenue: "Minister Zheng, you are in charge of the finances and grain of Southern Zhili. Tell me, from the 43rd year of the Wanli reign to the 6th year of the Tianqi reign alone, how much silver did the court spend? How many laborers were employed to plug these breaches?"

Zheng Sanjun's forehead was covered in sweat. He knew this all too well, and he had no choice but to step forward, his voice trembling: "Your Majesty... the total amount of treasury silver spent... probably exceeds ten million taels, and the number of laborers conscripted is no less than several million..."

"Ten million taels! Millions of man-days!" Chongzhen repeated, his words filled with anguish and sarcasm. "And the result? The result is that the riverbed is blocked higher and higher, and the dikes are breached more and more frequently! What kind of river management is this? This is using the national treasury's silver and the people's blood and sweat to fill a bottomless pit that can never be filled!"

He stopped looking at Zheng Sanjun and turned to point to the huge map hanging on the wall: "Let's talk about the land! Fengyang, Huai'an, and Xuzhou, the birthplace of Emperor Taizu, the granary of the nation! According to the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue's inventory, in the past sixty years, more than 350,000 hectares of fertile land have been completely submerged and can no longer grow grain! 350,000 hectares of good land, enough to feed a million people! Now it has become a breeding ground for fish and shrimp! This is not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster! It is a festering sore that has accumulated over hundreds of years!"

Finally, his voice lowered, yet it sounded even more sorrowful: "Finally, it is my people. 'Countless drowned'? How easy to say! Every time the dikes breach, the floodwaters come crashing down like a wall, drowning, starving, and dying of disease—tens of thousands drowning at a time! Over the past sixty years, the number of people who have died directly or indirectly from these floods is at least several hundred thousand, if not a million! These wronged souls are the very foundation of my Great Ming Dynasty! Tell me, can this old method still be used?!"

A deathly silence fell over the court. With this series of terrifyingly specific figures, Chongzhen painted an apocalyptic picture, silencing all dissent.

At this point, Chongzhen's tone softened, and he regained his composure: "Minister Shen's concern for the Grand Canal is for the good of the country. But is rigidly adhering to a canal that is cut off every three years truly securing the foundation? That's just waiting to die!"

He pointed his finger heavily at the location of Qingkou on the map: "Therefore, my solution is not to patch things up, but to cure it completely! The Yellow River and the Huai River must be separated! A new channel for the Yellow River must be opened, allowing it to flow directly into the sea, thus permanently eliminating this threat of the Huai River being diverted! The primary purpose of doing this is to save the people, and only secondly, to facilitate the transport of grain!"

"As for the grain transport," he said, his gaze sweeping over the officials in charge of it, "the section of the canal north of Qingkou runs along the Yellow River, and the problem of siltation is indeed unavoidable. Therefore, I have decided that from now on, the grain transport will be divided into two sections, north and south!"

He crouched down and drew a line between Qingkou and Huai'an with his hand: "Let's use this place as a transit station. The cargo ships coming from the south will unload here. The goods will then be transported by mule-drawn carts along the newly built official road to the Grand Canal in the north, and then loaded onto ships to head north. This land route is only a little over a hundred li. Although it's a bit troublesome, it completely avoids the silt of the Yellow River and saves the cargo ships the danger of capsizing on the treacherous sections of the Yellow River! Doing it this way is so much better than struggling on that silted-up, frequently blocked waterway!"

Emperor Chongzhen surveyed his ministers and said decisively, "Two terrible things are before us. We must choose the one less harmful! A land transport route of over a hundred miles, or a silted river that dies every three years and has swallowed countless amounts of money, grain, and lives—tell me, which should we choose?!"

This reasoning was explained clearly and concisely. In particular, by portraying the "wooden-railed carts" as a practical way to avoid the dangers of the Yellow River and preserve the grain transport, it was difficult for opponents to find a reason to object. Many centrist officials began to nod in approval.

Shen Shiliang stared blankly at the emperor, his lips moved, but in the end he said nothing, bowed deeply, and returned to his place in the ranks. He couldn't refute him. The emperor accepted his reasoning and offered an even more comprehensive solution.

Looking at the silent crowd, Emperor Chongzhen knew the time was right. He said in a deep voice, "This matter is settled. The Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Revenue, and the General Office of the Waterways Administration shall immediately begin surveying and planning, and produce detailed regulations. Court adjourned!"

……

Inside the Forbidden City in Nanjing, in the Wuying Hall, Emperor Chongzhen was temporarily residing. The hall had already been prepared and a faint scent of sandalwood incense had been burned. Chongzhen, a hint of smugness on his face, sat down behind his desk. Wei Zhongxian and Gao Guiying, who had been waiting nearby, immediately approached.

"Your Majesty, the latest issue of the 'Imperial Ming Bulletin' you requested has already arrived." Wei Zhongxian bowed, a cautious and respectful smile on his face. "As soon as Lu Jiude received the news, he sent people to the dock to receive it. Right now, all the newspapers are safely stored in the Nanjing Garrison Eunuch's treasury, not a single one is missing."

Emperor Chongzhen gave a soft "hmm" and turned his gaze to Gao Guiying.

Gao Guiying immediately understood and presented a newspaper still smelling of ink with both hands, her movements clean and efficient: "Your Majesty, this is the article on the front page." The most conspicuous place on the front page was an article signed "Zhu Siwen"—"The Diversion of the Yellow River and the Huai River: A Merit for the Present and a Benefit for Future Generations."

Emperor Chongzhen took the newspaper, his gaze sweeping over the familiar lines of text, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips. He had written this article himself overnight before leaving Wuchang. He then ordered Niu Jinxing, who remained in Huguang to oversee public opinion, to publish it on the front page of the next issue of the *Huangming Tongbao* immediately after Chongzhen's departure for the south, and to send it to Nanjing by the fastest sea vessel before Chongzhen arrived.

Now that the power struggle in the imperial court has just come to an end, this well-prepared cannonball has come in handy.

"Good!" Chongzhen gently placed the newspaper back on the table, tapped the three characters "Zhu Siwen" with his finger, and then ordered Wei Zhongxian, "Your Excellency, go find Lu Jiude immediately. Tell him to distribute all these newspapers stored in the storeroom to me! In Nanjing, to the Imperial Academy, the prefectural schools, all the academies, government offices, the residences of nobles, even teahouses and taverns—deliver them to wherever possible! I want everyone in Nanjing to be talking about this 'Yellow River Diversion' overnight!"

"This old servant obeys the decree!" Wei Zhongxian's spirits lifted, and he accepted the order, quickly retreating to make arrangements. He knew in his heart that this battle, though without the clash of swords, was now truly beginning.

Emperor Chongzhen leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes slightly. Overwhelming his opponents with data in the court was only the first step. The more crucial step was to instill this principle of "merit for the present and benefit for future generations" into the hearts of the gentry and the common people.

He knew that the Duke of Wei and his group would not stand idly by, but he had to seize this high ground of public opinion first!

Outside the window, the sky over Nanjing gradually darkened, and a new storm was quietly brewing, along with the newspapers that would soon be scattered throughout the streets and alleys.

……

The atmosphere in the Duke of Wei's mansion was extremely oppressive.

Xu Hongji slammed the copy of the "Imperial Circular" onto the table: "What a 'Zhu Siwen'! What a 'meritorious deed for the present, beneficial for future generations'! The Emperor is trying to use public opinion to force us to submit!"

Zheng Sanjun said worriedly, "Lord Duke, what the Emperor said in court today was based on solid data and made sense, so it's hard to refute him directly. Especially his idea of ​​'segmented canal transport,' it sounds... it really does make some sense."

"Makes sense?" Zhang Pu sneered. "It's just a smokescreen! In my opinion, this 'wooden-railed carriage' is nothing but a feint! The real purpose is probably to use this project to deceive the canal workers and soldiers, while paving the way for a complete shift to sea routes in the future! Once the sea routes are open, those of us who rely on the canal for our livelihood will probably lose our jobs!"

Wu Tianxing chimed in with a sinister tone, "Mr. Zhang is right. Moreover, Duke, have you considered the costs? To dredge a new canal, lay timber tracks, and conscript laborers—how many people and how much grain would that require? It would absolutely take two hundred thousand or three hundred thousand people working for two years to complete! The cost would be astronomical! This is simply impossible; in the end, it will only be a waste of resources and manpower, forcing the people to revolt!"

A ruthless glint flashed across Zhu Guobi's face: "Lord Duke, the Emperor knows how to create momentum, we can do the opposite! He asks everyone to discuss, so we'll organize people to write articles to refute him! We'll say he's ambitious, wasteful, and undermines the foundation of the nation!"

Zhao Zhilong said fiercely, "Using pens alone is not enough! The key is the canal workers! The canal is their lifeline! If they feel that this 'segmented canal transport' and 'diversion of the Yellow River and Huai River' will take away their livelihood, we won't even need to lift a finger; they will go to the Emperor to 'petition' on their own!"

Xu Hongji pondered for a moment, then slammed his hand on the table: "Good! That's how it'll be done! Mr. Zhang, you immediately go and contact the Fushe Society and among the scholars, criticize this 'Yellow River-Huai River Diversion' theory as utterly worthless! Lord Zhao, you go and contact the leaders of the canal gangs and spread the news that the Emperor is going to abolish the Grand Canal, cutting off the livelihood of millions of canal workers! Remember, be clean and make it seem like the canal workers started this themselves!"

(End of this chapter)