Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 417 Patrol Office
"Huh? Ni Qing's words gave me a refreshing feeling. I have lived in the deep palace for a long time. Although I know about internal and external affairs, but the domestic affairs are so complicated that I have no time to pay attention to many details. What you said about patrolling the shop seems to me. I have never heard of it, so let me tell you!"

Ni Yuanlu's words aroused Zhu Youjian's interest and attention.

Although he has been working hard to promote this kind of gradual change in Daming, one person considers the shortcomings and everyone considers the advantages. There are too many things that need to be improved in all aspects of Daming. It is impossible for him to do everything. Therefore, the suggestions and reminders is extremely important.

"Qi Zou Shengshang, what I said is the general name of the fire soldiers and night patrol archers in each city. I feel that under the day and night patrols of the five city soldiers and horses and 72 red shops in the capital, the number of thieves and fires in the city has decreased year by year. , people’s properties and lives can be more protected, so I want to extend this move to the prefectures and counties of Gyeonggi, and use the power of the court to reduce the damage to people’s property and property caused by indiscriminate disasters!”

Ni Yuanlu cupped his hands and said the reason and purpose of his suggestion without haste.

When it comes to the various policies and strategies of the imperial court, as well as a series of preventive measures to deal with natural disasters, Ming can be said to be ahead of the world at that time.

Especially in Jingshi, the most densely populated and bustling city in the world at that time.

Let me talk about the Forbidden City first.

In the courtyard of each palace in the imperial city, there are several large tanks that can hold thousands of liters of water. These large tanks are guaranteed to be full of water every day. needs.

In order to prevent the water in the vats from being frozen and unusable in winter, the eunuchs would put quilts or straw coats on each vat.

In the event of a major fire, in addition to the water in these large tanks, the moat outside the palace and the Jinshui River in the palace city became the best places to get water.

As for the tall courtyard walls where the emperor and nobles lived in the harem, apart from preventing privacy leaks, their greater role was actually a firewall.

Once a fire broke out in a bedroom, these firewalls could completely control the fire in a certain courtyard and prevent the fire from spreading to other palaces.

Let's talk about the whole capital.

There are 72 fire shops in the huge capital city, and each shop has [-] fire soldiers and archers on duty day and night. Every night, a chief of armor leads five subordinates to patrol at night with copper bells, and the copper bells ring , to remind the people to set fire to prevent theft, but also has the function of arresting thieves.

Every certain distance in the capital, the imperial court would dig a water well, and set up several large tanks within the inspection range of each fire shop, filled with water or sand, for emergency use in case of fire.

Each fire shop will be equipped with long axes, hoes, iron rakes, and other water containers. Once a fire breaks out, the shop soldiers will immediately go to put out the fire. Residents near the fire point must also unconditionally participate in the fire fighting, otherwise they will be punished afterwards. Official punishment.

Under these strict measures, although the capital city with a population of one million may suffer from fires, the losses caused have been minimized.

After Ni Yuanlu took office in Shuntian Mansion, he also made some political achievements with full satisfaction. After on-the-spot investigation and review of the documents of the subordinate states and counties, he decided to propose to the emperor that the capital's perfect fire prevention and theft prevention measures to benefit the people should be extended to the local government. State extension.

"I've looked through the official documents of the relevant prefectures and counties, and found that many prefectures and counties under Jueshuntian Mansion's jurisdiction have set up firearms, but due to years of slack and negligence, they have existed in name only, so that when the fire broke out and the thieves broke into the house, they were unable to resist. The lives and property of the common people have suffered a great loss! The minister suggested that each prefecture and county in Shuntian Prefecture imitate the system of the capital, separate a number of patrol shops in the city, fill them with solid staff, and distribute various utensils for emergency use. The staff was recommended Officials and county magistrates are under the jurisdiction, and their salaries are distributed in the same way as in the capital city, so that they can have perseverance in their tasks. If patrol shops are set up in each city, the safety of the people in the city can be guaranteed, and it can also demonstrate the responsibility of the imperial court to love and care for the people !"

After Ni Yuanlu finished playing, he bowed his hands again, and then waited for the emperor's reply. Wen Tiren on the side stroked his beard and closed his eyes, and did not express his opinion on Ni Yuanlu's suggestion.

"Ni Qing's memorandum is very appropriate. This action is related to the daily safety of the people. It should be vigorously promoted. The salaries of the patrol shop personnel can be raised appropriately so that people can be more attentive to this assignment! Ni Qing can make this memo The proposed title will be handed over to the cabinet, and it will be implemented in Gyeonggi after being approved by the Supervisor of Rituals! Ni Qing's people-oriented thinking is really appreciated!"

Zhu Youjian was very satisfied with Ni Yuanlu's strategy.

Although the patrol shop, which combines fire protection and patrol police, is not new, it is a good start to professionalize this industry.

From then on, the local government will no longer let the people bear the burden of night watch and watch in the form of corvee, but will spend money and food to set up a professional team to manage the city's public security and fire protection more effectively.

Zhu Youjian felt sincerely happy and appreciated Ni Yuanlu's open concept and thinking.

For such a big event that belongs to his blind spot, as long as it is effective, he will decree to promote this measure in the whole of Daming. While spending money and food, it will also solve the employment problem of many people along the way.

When most officials believed that the people of Ming Dynasty should have the obligation and consciousness to pay for the government out of their own pockets, there was Wen Tiren's advanced reform plan for the courier system, and now there is Ni Yuanlu's proposal for turning the tour shop into a professional one. These two subtle but significant changes prove that not all officials of the Ming Dynasty were rotten people with rigid and old-fashioned ideas, and many people had very open and advanced ideas.

While speaking, Yang Sichang, Zhang Guowei, Hou Xun and others rushed to Zhaoren Hall one after another. After the emperor and ministers saw the ceremony, all the ministers sat down one after another, waiting for Zhu Youjian's holy metaphor.

"Yang Qing, is there any latest news about the war outside the customs? Are Xuanda Luqing, Dengzhou Liu Guoneng, and Zhang Wenyao's troops ready to go behind the enemy lines?"

Zhu Youjian did not throw out his own topic first, but first turned the topic to the war outside the customs that had already started.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, there has been no update since Master Sun sent people to report yesterday that Master Chen wanted to send people to set fire to destroy the enemy's food and grass, and prepared to send troops to respond to this surprise attack, taking advantage of the trend to drive the enemy from Ningyuan to the north. The military information has been delivered!"

The graceful Yang Sichang calmly stood up and responded with a salute.

"Chen Qing's strategy is indeed extraordinary, and Sun Qing's sending out troops to fight against the enemy can be said to have won the essence of Sun Tzu's art of war! Yang Qing judges, how sure are Sun and Chen Erqing of winning or losing this time?"

After Zhu Youjian received the military report sent by Yang Sichang to the palace yesterday, he admired Chen Qiyu and Sun Chuanting's military strategy, but he was very worried about whether the two's conspiracy would be successful. After all, the Qing army was not like a bandit mob.

"My lord, as long as Xueshi Chen's strategy is successful, the captives will retreat from the east to the north! And based on my humble opinion, the surprise attack planned by Xueshi Chen will most likely come true!"

Facing the emperor's inquiry, Yang Sichang immediately gave an affirmative answer.

"Why did Yang Qing have such a sentence? The soldiers of the Eastern captives are all strong soldiers in all battles. How can they strictly defend against food and grass?"

Zhu Youjian felt a little relieved when he heard the words, but he still hoped to hear Yang Sichang's reasonable analysis of the matter.

"What the Holy Majesty said is true. Donglu fought fiercely with our Daming frontier army for more than ten years. It was indeed a rare and powerful army at that time. But it is precisely because of this that Chen Xueshi's surprise attack plan is more sure! No one else, arrogant soldiers! Dong The captives from the slave chieftains have always regarded our officers and soldiers as nothing. Although we have encountered our powerful new army, their arrogant attitude of underestimating the enemy will not decrease in a short period of time. This is an opportunity for our army! Moreover, according to my ministers You know, when confronting our army, the eastern captives have never paid attention to the method of setting up camps, and moreover, they only care about our army coming out from Ningyuan, and they should not be prepared for the small town of Yuanbao. The combination of the two, so our army has not lost Zhiyu, please be at ease! If my expectations are not bad, there will be a good report at the end of the day after tomorrow!"

　Thanks to the book friends for the reward that no one has used this account.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)