That year, that cicada, that sword

Chapter 205

In the 21st year of Taiping, on the second day of July, the heavy rain lasted for more than half a month, and the water level of the Qinghe River soared. As a result, the embankment of Zhengjue Temple in Putai was washed away seven miles away, and hundreds of villages in five counties including Putai, Lijin, Boxing, Guangrao, and Shouguang were flooded. , destroyed more than [-] million mu of fertile land, and nearly [-] people were affected. Later, six dikes burst in succession, flooding Qizhou, Yuzhou, Zhili Prefecture, Huizhou and other states. In the rest of the time, it broke through one million people.

The whole court was shocked, and the whole country was shaken.

Emperor Xiao successively questioned more than [-] officials, including the Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, the right servant of the Ministry of Industry, the governor of Hedao, the chief envoy of Qizhou, and the left and right supervisors of Qinghe. Wang Xiaobai enters Beijing.

In the imperial capital, on the sixth day of the lunar new year, it rained heavily.

The tile eaves of the Supervisor of Rituals located in the inner court of the imperial city were washed bright by the rain. An old man in black python clothes stood with his hands behind his back under the eaves in front of the door, looking expressionlessly at the rain curtain outside.

Not long after, a big eunuch dressed in blue python clothes came behind the old man and said softly: "Godfather, it's almost time, it's time to go to the imperial court to discuss matters."

If the members of the cabinet are always high and powerful, then the ceremonial supervisor is a typical low-ranking and powerful person. In terms of rank, they are only four ranks, but the eunuchs in charge of printing and many of them can wear python robes and hold the power of criticizing red. , to compete with the cabinet that has the right to draft votes, so there is the theory of the outer court and the inner court.

Except for Emperor Xiao himself, according to the usual practice, there are only a few people who are qualified to participate in the discussion before the imperial court, including five supervisors and five members of the cabinet.

Today's cabinet has a chief assistant, a second assistant, and three group assistants.The supervisors of ceremonies are also roughly the same, there is one eunuch who holds the seal, one eunuch who is the admiral, and three eunuchs who hold the pen.

This big eunuch dressed in a blue python robe is the second person in the Si Li Jian. His surname is Zhang Mingbao.If the dignified admiral and eunuch are so respectful, then the identity of the old man is self-evident, and it is Zhang Baisui, who is known as the chief of ceremonies, who is known as the inner minister.

Zhang Baisui stretched out his hand to catch some rainwater, thought for a moment, and nodded.

Half an hour later, in Weiyang Palace, ten people lined up.

The five people on the left are the inspectors, and the five people on the right are the cabinet.

In addition to the normal ten people, there is one more person in front of the imperial court today, standing in the middle, wearing a black dragon python robe, with seven huge oriental beads inlaid on the crown on his head. Surpassing the others, second only to Emperor Xiao who was sitting on the dragon chair, it was Qi Wang Xiao Bai who was urgently summoned to Beijing.

In terms of appearance, Xiao Bai and Xiao Xuan are very similar, as if they were carved out of the same mold, but Emperor Xiao is older, more majestic, and more restrained, while the young Xiao Bai is much more A bit of sharpness must be revealed.

Zhang Baisui stood first on the left, and facing him was Lan Yu, the chief assistant of the dynasty.

As the emperor's teacher, Lan Yu was granted the title of Grand Master in the tenth year of Taiping, and she is also the only person in the entire Weiyang Palace who can sit.

As the eunuch in the hall rang the first yellow bell, Lan Yu, who was sitting on the grand teacher's chair, was the first to speak: "Everyone is here, let's discuss the matter."

Zhang Baisui said slowly: "This discussion is still due to the Qinghe embankment breach not long ago. This time, there were seven embankment breaches in the Qinghe River. Let alone the people who were directly drowned, they were those who escaped with their lives by chance. No fields, no houses, wives and children, families broken up, and finally displaced. In one night, the flood flooded several states, and there were millions of victims. This is not a small number. If someone takes the opportunity to survive If there is chaos, something big will happen.”

As soon as the words fell, a thunderstorm suddenly sounded outside the hall, and the heavy rain became more and more majestic.

There was a moment of silence in the hall, and Lan Yu said: "The old man has experienced the war at the end of Zheng Dynasty. In fact, there is only a thin line between the disaster victims and the refugees, and there is also a thin line between the refugees and the rioters. The people rebelled, why did the people rebel? It’s because there is no way out, and now the disaster victims are everywhere, if left alone, even if no one takes the opportunity to create chaos, troubles will happen sooner or later, even if they don’t rebel today, they will rebel tomorrow, the day after tomorrow will rebel.”

Zhang Bao glanced at Zhang Baisui, saw that Zhang Baisui had no objection, and said softly: "The Qinghe River has been flooded through the ages, and all dynasties have suffered from it. The embankment needs to be repaired urgently, the second is to provide relief to the victims, the third is to strictly prevent the victims from making troubles, and the fourth is to prevent a major epidemic after a major disaster. Our family thinks that the top priority is nothing more than money and food. grain, and the second is to allocate funds from the Ministry of Households to rush to repair the embankment.”

Han Xuan, who returned to the temple, lowered his eyes and said, "Not long after I took over the household department, I just counted the household silver in the household department and the grain storage in various places. In the 20th year of Taiping, the annual tax silver of the four capitals and thirty prefectures was four It was 2305 million taels. At the beginning of last year, the budget for various expenses was 900 million taels, but the actual expenditure last year was 190 million taels, an overrun of 290 million taels. Counting all the money, the income and expenditure are balanced, and the overspend and deficit last year was a huge 9505 million taels, which is nearly a quarter of last year's tax money!"

Han Xuan looked around, and said with a slightly louder voice: "As for the granaries in various places, officials, big and small, shoddy the second-best ones, traded old ones for new ones, and filled their pockets. It's not uncommon to see such a variety of things. Just like my household department, they are also seriously short-lived. In other words, the current household department has no food to adjust, and no money to allocate.”

As soon as Han Xuan said this, the whole room was silent.

There is no money in the household department. If you want to talk about it in detail, no one can pick it up.Although Han Xuan is a bachelor in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs, he has just taken office after all, and the previous bad debts cannot be counted on his head. Could it be that after disposing of a minister of the Ministry of Industry just now, he is going to dispose of a minister of the Ministry of Households next?
Unlike the Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry who is about to retire and return to his hometown, the Shangshu of the Household Department is now in his prime, and he is still Lanyu's favorite student.

Lan Yu calmly asked: "Then according to what Elder Han Ge wants, what should we do?"

Han Xuan said neither humble nor overbearing: "Now the household department has less than 200 million taels of silver. It is necessary to repair the embankment and provide disaster relief. It is just a drop in the bucket. Lan Xiang is the leader of the horse."

Zhang Baisui said softly: "Wen Bi has just returned to the temple, and many things are still unclear, so don't embarrass him, and Wen Bi is also right, after all, Lan Xiang is the chief assistant of the cabinet, everything has to be done by you It’s up to you to be in charge.”

At this moment, the second yellow bell rang, and the hall fell into silence again.

Emperor Xiao, who had not spoken all this time, suddenly said: "Xiao Bai, Qizhou is your fiefdom, and it is also the hardest-hit area of ​​the flood. What do you think should be done?"

Xiao Bai took a step forward and said respectfully: "There are priorities. In my humble opinion, after the flood season, the floods will recede, so the matter of rushing to repair the river embankment can be put aside first. Relief for the victims is the top priority. Now The prefectures in the northern part of the Yangtze River are suffering from floods and cannot take care of themselves, so the current plan is to raise funds and adjust food from rich places such as Jiangdu and Jiangnan to relieve the urgent need."

Emperor Xiao was noncommittal, and slowly got up from the dragon chair.

"Your Majesty." Everyone, including Lan Yu and Xiao Bai, knelt down together.

Emperor Xiao walked down the steps and walked all the way to the door of Weiyang Palace, looking at the rain outside the door, he said calmly: "Get up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Everyone got up.

Xiao Xuan stretched out his hand to catch some rainwater, looked down at the water stains on his palm, and said: "When the late emperor had not won the world, Emperor Shenzong of Zheng ordered Xu Lin, who was the governor of the Central Capital at that time, to lead an army of 23 to attack the late emperor. You all know the outcome of the decisive battle on the banks of the Qing River in the midwinter of Shujiu. Qiu Ye personally opened the altar. The heavy rain in winter broke the ice of the Qing River and finally flooded Xu Lin's army. After this battle, Xu Lin surrendered to the late emperor , the first emperor entered the central capital with great victories, and this is how the later Hushi Central Plains came into being."

Speaking of these opening battles, everyone who should have been emotional was silent, and the atmosphere in the hall became more and more dignified.

Xiao Xuan turned around, suddenly aggravated his voice, and said loudly: "That flood, with the power of Taoism, is also the general trend, but today, the will of heaven has changed. If we don't understand the will, we still don't practice virtue, resulting in A calamity from the sky, the Qing River will flood the people of several prefectures today, but tomorrow it will flood the imperial capital under our feet."

Xiao Xuan looked at Xiao Bai, "Thousands of miles have changed the country, millions of disaster victims are related to our Daqi country, the clan is one with the country, and this trip to the south of the Yangtze River to raise funds and adjust grains should be handled by the King of Qi himself."

Xiao Bai knelt down on one knee, and said in a deep voice: "My son is willing to share the worries and labors for the emperor, so I should do my best."

(End of this chapter)