Chaos of Ming 1628

"Lord Sun, what do you mean by that? Why don't I understand?"

Sun Qing sat there calmly and slowly said, "When Jiaohe County stood out and His Majesty wanted to use me to revitalize Hejian Prefecture, I guessed that this day would come."

"I've thought about it too. If there were any other way to survive, I would never have gone this far."

Sun Qing's expression was serious.

He was not lying, and every word came from the bottom of his heart.

Sun Qing's thoughts never changed; he only wanted to live. If Chongzhen didn't let him live, then he couldn't be blamed.

Sun Qing stood with his hands behind his back, with Song Lian, Meng Zhaoxiang, Zhao Long, and several key staff members of the government office behind him.

He drew a line on the map with his vermilion pen, starting from the west gate of Hejian Prefecture and going straight west, all the way to the dotted line marked "Baoding Prefecture Boundary" at the edge of the map.

"Gentlemen," he began, "there are currently over 30,000 refugees outside the city, and with the original inhabitants inside, the population of Hejian Prefecture has nearly doubled."

"The city walls are full of open spaces, workshops, and farmland. But what about outside the city?"

He pointed to the line with his pen: "This section from Hejian Prefecture to the border of Baoding Prefecture is forty li from east to west and sixty li from north to south. It was once fertile plains, but most of it has been abandoned."

"Back then, due to bandits and drought, people fled and fields were abandoned, and now they are all overgrown with weeds. If someone were to cultivate them, each acre could yield two harvests a year, enough to feed a family of five."

He put down his vermilion pen, turned around, and glanced at everyone in the room: "I want to build another city wall outside Hejian Prefecture, along the boundary of Baoding Prefecture."

These words were like a thunderclap; no one could have imagined that Sun Qing would utter such a bold statement.

Meng Zhaoxiang's voice grew urgent: "My lord, according to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty Code, the construction of city walls in local prefectures and counties must be reported to the Ministry of Works for approval, and can only begin after the governor's office has inspected the site."

"If we build city walls without authorization, crossing the prefectural boundary, that would be expanding the city, building a new city. This is against the law. If the imperial court finds out, the crime will be severe."

Sun Qing chuckled, his face completely indifferent: "The imperial court has already pushed us to this point, do you think I care about this little bit of blame?"

"Haven't they even labeled me a traitorous subject?"

There was a moment of silence. Yes! What could be a greater crime than this?

Su's abacus clicked loudly as he worked: "Sir, a forty-mile-long city wall, even if it's just an earthen wall, would require hundreds of thousands of man-days of work."

"The workshops in the city have only just recovered. If we were to repair a city wall like this, it would probably take three years to complete."

"And don't even mention the manpower and financial resources consumed!"

This is indeed the most difficult thing to do. Sun Qing pondered for a moment, "You're right, so we can only increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and build the key checkpoints first!"

Song Lian's voice was low and deep. He was thinking about something different from everyone else: "My lord, I only have one question to ask."

"If we really do that, Hejian Prefecture will no longer be Hejian Prefecture. It will be a city within a city, a piece of land enclosing a larger piece of land."

"Leaving aside the court's stance for now, how are you going to explain this to the Grand Coordinator?"

Sun Qing stopped his long-winded talk.

Everything Sun Qing just said wasn't just empty talk. He had thought it through clearly and thoroughly.

Only by doing this can we see hope.

Sun Qing pondered for a moment, then slowly asked, "What do I need to explain?"

"Lord Song, what you're saying is indeed putting Lord Sun in a difficult position." Meng Zhaoxiang, being slightly older and unaware of the truth, advised, "Since Lord Sun and Grand Secretary Sun are family, he should understand Lord Sun's predicament even more."

"We have no other choice now. The court is pressing us relentlessly. Are we really going to let Lord Sun surrender without a fight?"

In ancient times, prominent families valued lineage above all else, and clan rules were more important than the law.

No matter whether a member of the family is an official or a businessman, they cannot act on their own when faced with important matters. They must first return to the ancestral hall to consult with the clan head, and then the elders of the clan will discuss and decide on the matter. Once a sentence is written in the genealogy, it becomes an unchangeable ironclad rule.

Every drink and every bite is at the behest of the clan; every honor and disgrace is tied to the household.

As the most influential person in the Sun family, Sun Chengzong's opinion is naturally more important than anything else.

Logically speaking, Su Jiuda and the others were merely outsiders and naturally had no right to speak.

Having anticipated this, after careful consideration, I still couldn't help but speak up: "Lord Song, I would also like to say a few words about this."

"If a family can cultivate a genius like Lord Sun, then it is truly a blessing from their ancestors' graves."

"What an honor this is for a family! What Lord Sun did was also to save the people. If you ask me, even if it means risking the entire family, we should support our own child."

Both of them were evaluating the matter from their own perspectives.

Song Xian looked at Sun Qing, his brows furrowing deeply.

If they were truly one of our own, there would be no doubt about it.

Sun Qing, however, had never even stepped into the gates of the Sun family of Gaoyang.

"It's alright," Sun Qing said softly. "I know him as a person, and I know his way of doing things. But what I did did not go against his principles."

"Besides, everything has a right and a wrong. People can't just be blindly loyal!"

Song Xian let out a long sigh.

His face was full of helplessness, and he gave a bitter smile: "Lord Sun, what you said is naturally reasonable in every word."

"But the Grand Tutor..." he said, then sighed softly.

Throughout his life, Sun Chengzong believed in the four words: loyalty to the emperor and serving the country.

Historically, he could stand by and watch the factional struggles in the court with indifference, and sigh inwardly at Chongzhen's stubbornness, but as long as the imperial order was given, he would still don his armor and mount his horse without hesitation to guard the last line of defense for the Ming Dynasty.

In his view, rebels are rebels. Whether it is due to famine or injustice, anyone who rises up against the court is the root of chaos in the world. They should be suppressed or appeased as appropriate, and there is absolutely no reason to tolerate them.

Therefore, even though he now looks down on Wang Zaijin's eagerness for quick success and instant benefits, and may not agree with Chongzhen's decisions in everything, if someone asks him who he will fight for in his life, he will stand up.

It was precisely for this reason that the more than forty members of the Sun family in Gaoyang ultimately met their end by sacrificing themselves for their country.

Sun Qing truly didn't want to see such a painful thing happen again.

"Very well, I will write a letter about what happened here, and I'm afraid the Grand Coordinator will understand the difficulties you have faced, sir."

After saying this, Song Xian was about to pick up his pen.

Sun Qing waved his hand, "No need."

"Presumably someone will tell him what happened here first."

Song Xian suddenly looked up: "I'm going to get there before them."

"It doesn't matter."

Sun Qing's face showed no indifference, and he smiled coldly, "Whether it's right or wrong, it doesn't matter."

"Just record everything that has happened recently in detail, and leave the rest to him to judge!"

Although Song Xian did not understand Sun Qing's actions, upon hearing this, he gave a wry smile and nodded solemnly.

"Then, let's listen to the adults!"

Sun Qing nodded. Today, the people in the study were all people he could trust.

Without further delay or hesitation, he immediately said, "Now that things have been clarified, that's good."

"Let's discuss the resettlement of the refugees and the construction of a city within a city first."

Song Lian drafted the regulations overnight, and the next day he laid them out in the main hall of the government office and read them aloud to everyone, one by one.

"All able-bodied people in the city, regardless of gender, were registered as laborers. Strong laborers went out of the city to build walls, setting up checkpoints along the main roads and key intersections, first building with adobe bricks, then covering them with bricks and stones."

"Those who are weak or old will be assigned to the land reclamation team, and the wasteland outside the city will be divided into plots."

"From now on, Hejian Prefecture will be divided into one city and two cities. The city will remain as it was, and the people in the city will continue to enjoy the same treatment as before, and everything will remain the same."

"The second city started from scratch. Newcomers to the city first drank thin porridge, lived in communal shacks, went to work every day to receive a work card, and exchanged work points for food."

"Only when the economy of the two cities becomes self-sufficient can the people there be equal to those of the first city."

"If someone is selected for employment in a city based on their skills, strength, or ability, they can move into that city in advance and will not be subject to the regulations of the second city."

A buzz of discussion erupted below.

Some people slapped their thighs and cheered, while others clenched their fists and whispered, "There's hope now."

Some even shouted impatiently, "Lord Sun, I can build walls! I'm capable, I want to earn work points to go to the city!"