Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 251 0246 [Kill the people and stand up]

"Prefect, Li Dajuan is colluding with officials, and wants to impeach you for deceiving the emperor!" Wu Mao came quietly to make a small report.

Although this gentleman is very cowardly, his attitude is very correct, and he is also diligent and reliable in his work.

Zhu Ming smiled and asked, "How do you know?"

Wu Mao said: "Cangcao joined the army and Fang Guoliang was coerced and lured by Li Dajuan. He secretly sent someone to tell me yesterday. The prefect should not be careless. They plan to impeach you for improper sacrifices. The officials are very concerned about this kind of thing. "

"I see." Zhu Ming nodded.

Cang Cao joined the army and Fang Guoliang has always been at the top of both ends. His immediate superior is Li Daochong, and he is also under the jurisdiction of Zhu Ming.Therefore, every time he obeys Li Daochong's orders, he also intentionally or unintentionally sends news to Zhu Ming.For example, this time, Shangshu not only impeached Zhu Ming, but also let Zhu Ming know that he was forced.

Wu Mao suggested: "The prefect should prepare early and write a secret memorial to explain to the officials."

"I will write," Zhu Ming asked, "Are there any hungry people gathering outside the city?"

Wu Mao said: "There are already sporadic hungry people who have fled from the countryside and mountains to come here. The officials are arranging relief. When there are more people, the hungry people will be asked to repair the pier, and then repair the road from the pier to the city gate."

Zhu Ming reminded: "After the number of hungry people reaches [-], let them build water conservancy and bridges, and the gentry along the river must also participate. After all, building water conservancy is in their best interest. Then send an official document to the counties to let them pay attention at any time. If it reaches [-], it must be reported.”

"Yes!" Wu Mao was ordered to retreat.

This year's climate is extremely abnormal. Jianghuai, Hubei, and Jiangnan have begun to rain in summer, while the north, Hanzhong, and Shangyong are still in continuous drought.

Here in Jinzhou, there was a rain at the end of April. The thunder was loud and the raindrops were small, which moistened the ground.

By mid-May, the county officials received two official documents at the same time.

One is from Zhizhou, which allows counties to postpone the collection of summer grain and urges them to pay more attention to disaster relief.

One came from the Tongsan, urging all counties to levy summer grain, and also set and bought money quotas.

Mr. Su Yuan, the magistrate of Shiquan County, read both official documents and sighed: "There are two ends of the government, and the contradictions are so extreme. It is not the blessing of the people of Jinzhou."

The head book asked: "Master, who should I listen to?"

Mr. Su Yuan said: "Naturally, the collection of summer grain was delayed to relieve the victims, and the wealthy households in the county were quickly called to distribute some grain. The Zhishui (Chihe), Yuehe, and coastal irrigation canals in Shiquan County should also be dredged. Rescuing the victims of the disaster is also good for those landlords. If there is not enough food, just go to the state to ask for it.”

To be honest, Su Yuan was not active in governing the people, and even had a taste of Huang Lao's art.

The main advantage lies in not tossing yourself, and not letting subordinate officials toss.Relief with work in disaster years is already the most proactive time for him, and the rest of the time is for the people to live by themselves.

Jiangyin County next door is different.

After reading the two official documents, Luo Ruji, the county magistrate, immediately became hesitant, and called the chief bookkeeper and scribes: "The summer grain levy will start today, so don't push too much. The gentry should be the main ones. The summer grain levy can be used to help the victims." .”

The master book was disgusted by this, but he hesitated to speak.

But the scribe flattered and said: "The county lord's words are very true. He not only obeyed the order of the general judge to collect grain, but also obeyed the order of the magistrate to provide disaster relief!"

The two official documents with completely opposite contents gave Luo Ruji room to manipulate.

He collects food, relieves disasters, and makes money. When the higher-ups pursue it, they can argue at will. Anyway, he won't take the blame.

The county magistrate of Pingli lay flat directly. His broken county is too poor.They don't collect food, don't collect money, and don't provide relief for disasters. They only let the rich households distribute porridge, hide in the county government office, drink and compose poems, and leave this ghost place after another two years.

The county magistrate of Xunyang was active in disaster relief, and was the first to ask Zhizhou for food.His attitude is very clear. I also care about the people, but I don't have enough food in my hand. I can only provide food relief from the state.If the state doesn't provide food, then I can only do my best, anyway, my county government storehouse is empty and rats run away.

These county magistrates have different minds, only old Su Yuan looks like a human being.

At the end of May, more and more hungry people gathered outside the city, but Qian Chen hadn't brought the wheat back yet.

"Prefect, the key is in the hands of Li Tongpan, the villain really can't open the warehouse!" The official who manages the Changping warehouse said aggrievedly.

Zhu Ming said angrily: "I asked him to open the Changping warehouse three days ago. Since he is pretending to be deaf and dumb, then I will not be polite. Come and pry open the warehouse doors of the Changping warehouse! Who dares to stop, Arrest them in order to obstruct disaster relief!"

A group of Yaqian officials rushed out and quickly pried open various warehouses.

Zhu Ming entered one of them himself and found that there were spices hoarded inside. He immediately ordered: "Sell all these spices and replace them with food for disaster relief!"

Wang Jia quickly ran over to report: "The eunuch opened three granaries in a row. The ones outside are all old grains, and the ones inside are full of sand."

Zhu Ming said: "Chen Liang is also used for disaster relief, let the Sisi Yuan hear the matter of stealing and selling official grain."

Zhu Ming almost led people to evacuate the Changping warehouse, and Li Daochong did not show up from the beginning to the end.

The two of them, neither of them can bring down the other, and in the next two or three years, they will have to continue to entangle like this.

It is useless to impeach Zhu Ming. With Cai Jing and his son covering him, it is impossible for Li Daochong to be transferred.

Before Qian Chen transported the food back, Zhu Ming used all official resources, and even recruited gentry to help the victims, trying to delay this time as much as possible.

Into June, more and more victims.

People in various counties heard that Zhizhou was doing disaster relief, but their own county magistrate didn't care much about it, so they helped the old and the young, begging along the way, and went to the state city.

People starved to death along the way, and their bodies were eaten by wild dogs.

In the countryside, there are more and more believers in the evil gods, and the people are hungry and pray for the protection of the evil gods.

"Prefect, the food is almost gone."

"Search the temple!"

In the western suburbs of Jinzhou City, there is a large temple called Tiansheng Temple.Its predecessor was Xingxi Temple, which was founded by Jiaoran, a poet monk in the Tang Dynasty.

Li Bao followed Wang Jia and led people out of the city, heading straight for Tiansheng Temple.

The monks here are also serving porridge, but they only boil a few pots every day, and it is almost as thin as soup.

Li Bao shouted: "Check the monks' certificates. If a monk without a certificate is found, he will be fined ten stones of grain and confiscated! If there are more than 50 monks without a certificate, he will be fined another five hundred stones of grain! If there is not enough food, the temple land will be confiscated." Deduction!"

In an instant, Tiansheng Temple was in dire straits.

In the Song Dynasty, there was a limit to the number of degrees issued each year, otherwise this thing would be inflationary.

There are probably no more than ten legal monks in Tiansheng Temple, and the rest are all undocumented monks.

Li Bao and Wang Jia almost emptied the food in Tiansheng Temple, and even forced the monks to carry it by themselves.Only twenty or thirty stones were left for the monks in the temple to make do with.

The rest of the temples were too far away, so Zhu Ming focused on the Taoist temple again and forced the Taoist priests in the Yaowang Temple to give food.

"My lord, there is a rice shop whose price has risen too high, and two other rice shops that are only open for half a day. But the rice shops that are open to sell grain are coaxed by the people to buy them, and the grain merchants ask the government to take care of it." Yang Pu is in charge of making inquiries. news on the market.

Zhu Ming immediately ordered: "Those who violate the rules and increase prices, those who only sell for half a day, will be fined according to the rules set earlier!"

He also said: "In and outside the city, there are grain shops everywhere, and officials in front of the yamen are sent to maintain law and order. All people who buy grain have to queue up. According to the registered population, each person is limited to buy one and a half catties of grain per day. If you can't eat enough, you will starve!" "

There are too many things in charge, and there are not enough subordinate officials in the state government. The subordinate officials in Xicheng County have also been recruited, and they are too busy all day long to rest.

However, these subordinate staff have preferential treatment.

Each subordinate has two family members who have priority in buying grain, and they can go directly to buy grain without queuing.The subordinate officials who were in charge of affairs were also in charge of food, and the state government provided food centrally, so as not to let them go hungry anyway.

This is not a big deal in normal times, but it is very face-saving in times of famine.

Once you have obtained the privilege, you have to bear the responsibility. It is basic to do things seriously, and you are not allowed to take the opportunity to blackmail and accept bribes.Once discovered, he will be dismissed immediately, and the stolen money will be recovered and punished.

"Sir, I patrolled around quietly and found that on the banks of the Moon River in Xicheng County, the victims who were dredging irrigation canals were being deprived of food!" Bai Sheng came back by boat to report that almost all of Ju Ming's followers had been thrown out.

Zhu Ming said: "Arrest people, check accounts, dismiss all subordinate officials involved in the incident, recover stolen money and severely fine it!"

Two days later, the city's hooligans were making noise.They didn't want to line up to buy grain, and they thought they couldn't get enough to eat a catty and a half a day, so they urged the people to loot the grain shop.

Zhu Ming personally rode the cornucopia and led people to arrest him.

This time, he came up with a ruthless move, including looting the common people, who were surrounded with the poppy.When they saw the official messenger coming, they planned to scatter and flee with food.

Clang!
Zhu Ming drew his sword out of its sheath, galloped out on his horse, and hacked to death a commoner who was grabbing food on the spot.

The scene became even more chaotic, and the people fled in terror.Zhu Ming continued to chase after them on horseback, hacking the three who had escaped the farthest to death on the street.

After beheading four people in a row, the officials in front of the yamen also beat them with sticks, and finally they were so frightened that the food grabbers knelt down and begged for mercy.

After identifying the rambunctious rogues, Zhu Ming yelled angrily: "Shut them to various grain shops, and beat them to death in public just outside the gate of the grain shops. Strict Xiangfang Baojia Law, the chiefs and security chiefs of each square, every day Organize the neighbors to buy grain every day. If a Baojia has a problem, all ten neighboring households will sit together, and the head of the workshop and the head of the Baojia will have to pay fines!"

I really took those rogues separately and took them to grain shops everywhere, and beat them to death with sticks in full view.

The officials were in awe, the common people were shocked, and the gentry and merchants were also very frightened.After this incident, no one dared to openly disobey Zhizhou's order.

In these famine years, the law and order in Jinzhou City has become exceptionally good.

After the strict Baojia Law, even petty thefts have disappeared, because neighbors will be imprisoned after being caught.

Li Daochong rode a horse in and out of the city. Seeing the well-organized market, he couldn't help muttering to himself: "He is really a capable minister and good official. If you go back 20 years, I will definitely work with you. But in this day and age, it's hard to be a good person. Preserving one's own future is the right way. Mr. Cai is in power, how can your father and son bring it down?"

Scholars from prefectures and counties became more and more in awe of the prefect, and there were even a group of fans of Zhu Ming.

They recited Zhu Ming's poems and even got "Zhu's Mathematical Classics" for self-study.Even if you don't pass the Juren exam this year, you can use this to build a relationship with Zhizhou in the future.

Zhu Ming tried his best, and when the food was about to run out again, Qian Chen finally returned with the food fleet.

When Qian Chen met, he bowed and said, "I kept the prefect waiting for a long time. There are too many merchants going to the countryside to buy grain in Xiangzhou, and most of them are merchants from the north. The Wei family spent a lot of trouble to collect five thousand shi of wheat. To express his apology, Mr. Xishang also donated an additional three hundred shi of corn for disaster relief."

"It's good to be back, brother Qian has lost weight." Zhu Ming said while holding Qian Chen's hand.

Qian Chen had indeed lost weight, he couldn't sit still in Dengcheng, and went to the countryside with the Wei family to collect grain every day.After running around for many days, he can already see his neck, which he didn't have before.

Being held by the prefect kindly and saying that he lost weight, Qian Chen was inexplicably moved: "It is my honor to serve the prefect and buy food for the people!"

(End of this chapter)