Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 743: Immigrants Filling the Border (1)

The longer you stay in a position, the more you feel that the world you live in is cruel. There are too many things in this world that cannot be changed by hard work alone.

The more you experience, the more despair you feel.

But what can we do even if this is the case?

Life still has to go on. After all, we have too much to bear. Choosing to give up is undoubtedly the most direct and effective way. However, for most people, it is impossible to do this.

"There have been too many disasters in the past decade or so."

Qianqing Palace.

Dong Nuan Pavilion.

As disputes continued outside the court, a far-reaching imperial court meeting quietly began in the Forbidden City. Zhu Youxiao stood with his hands behind his back, staring at the special map in front of him, and said in a low voice: "Droughts, floods, earthquakes, snow disasters, wind disasters, locust plagues... have occurred alternately in various parts of our Ming Dynasty. Whenever a major disaster occurs, there must be an epidemic. In the two capitals and 13 provinces under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, there is no place that is not troubled by this."

"After reading this memorial on the disaster in the Ming Dynasty, I couldn't calm down for a long time. Drought and flood can be intervened by building water conservancy projects, and locust plagues can be curbed through some methods, but earthquakes, snowstorms, windstorms, etc. are beyond human power to forcibly resist."

"If the imperial court dares to be negligent or foolish in the matter of disaster relief, then the victims under the rule of our Ming Dynasty will inevitably explode. If it really comes to that, the stability of the Ming Dynasty will become the biggest joke!"

There were special officials in the Shaofu in charge of disaster relief, emergency response, imperial farms, grain storage, etc. in front of the emperor. When they heard what the emperor said, they all showed solemn expressions.

"Your Majesty, when I was reviewing and sorting out the disaster relief memorials over the years, I also discovered a grim situation." Lian Guoshi, the chief officer of the Emergency Clearing Office, had a serious expression on his face and stepped forward to bow.

"Whenever a disaster strikes, regardless of whether the imperial court provides relief in a timely manner, it is inevitable that the affected areas will see the annexation of land at low prices, the inflating of grain prices, the private lending of high interest rates, and the forced prostitution of women."

"In this situation, whether it is the disaster relief ministers sent by the court or the local officials, they are more concerned about whether there is riot or even civil unrest in the disaster-stricken areas. It is precisely because of this that these evil deeds are rampant!"

"I know about the situation your family is talking about."

Zhu Youxiao turned around, looked at Lian Guoshi and said, "That's exactly why I set up two special Qingli Divisions in the Shaofu, one for disaster relief and the other for emergency response. If the power is too dispersed, it will lead to a situation where supervision is not possible."

"In the past two years, many places in the northern provinces have been affected by disasters. There may still be signs of similar evil deeds, but they will be suppressed quickly."

Lian Guoshi nodded.

indeed.

With the disaster relief issue being handed over to the disaster relief and emergency response departments under the jurisdiction of the Shaofu, and the policy of using work instead of relief, many dirty things have indeed been reduced.

Even as various disaster relief systems are clarified, the probability of epidemics can be greatly reduced through effective disinfection and prevention when disaster relief is carried out in disaster-stricken areas. Even if an epidemic occurs, screening out the sick victims and concentrating their treatment can effectively reduce the scale of the infection.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty was still ahead of the world in many aspects, but the influence of some concepts and habits made it difficult to improve the system.

However, with Zhu Youxiao's intervention, and with the summary and development of a group of professional talents, all of this began to gradually move towards a new path. "Everything is prepared, and failure to prepare leads to failure."

Zhu Youxiao continued, "I don't have too many concerns about disaster relief at the moment, but I am worried about one thing."

"Land annexation under the Ming Dynasty was very serious. I was able to see this when I asked you to review and organize the disaster relief files and documents."

"Land annexation brings many harms. In addition to the reduction of corresponding taxes, it also increases the number of bankrupt self-cultivating farmers, increases the size of the group of people wandering around, and even exists in some places where people are hidden illegally!"

Lian Guoshi's expressions became solemn.

This is indeed a very serious matter.

Land annexation has occurred in all dynasties. Especially as the dynasty has been passed down for a long time, this phenomenon has become more and more serious and cannot be solved by suppression alone.

There are too many people and things involved. If we only rely on some policies to promote change, there may be people who pretend not to obey but actually go against their will. After all, things are done by people.

If what we are going to do affects the interests of these people, how can they possibly do it well?
"Your Majesty is right."

In this atmosphere, Wu Linzheng walked out of the crowd, bowed and said, "When I participated in the compilation of this disaster, I found that since the first year of the Tianqi period, due to the disaster, Northern Zhili has taken in more than two million disaster victims, refugees, and escapees, Shandong has taken in more than one million, and Henan has taken in more than one million... These places have implemented the policy of using work for relief, and through the establishment of large-scale projects and workshops, these groups have settled down in the local area."

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"In the past two years, the above groups have been able to support their families through labor, but I have discovered a phenomenon that the prices of grain, cotton, oil and other items in the above places have also increased."

"After learning about these situations, I have been thinking about one thing. If disaster strikes the above-mentioned places or neighboring places again, how will the court resettle them? After all, there is a limit to the construction of large-scale projects and workshops. It is impossible to start and build in every place, right?"

"Also, the Ming Dynasty governs the country with agriculture. There are so many people who are not working. Yes, what they do is indeed needed by the court and the country, but food must be grown, and it is a rule to harvest twice a year. Except for a few places that can harvest three times a year, the overall output of food is fixed."

He is a talented person after all.

After listening to what Wu Linzheng said, Zhu Youxiao smiled with relief. The person in front of him was one of the ministers who died for the Ming Dynasty after the Jiashen National Disaster in the original timeline!

With the convening of the joint examination in the second year of the Tianqi reign, followed by the palace examination, the fate of many people changed. The reason was very simple: the number of Jinshi admitted in this palace examination was definitely the largest in all previous examinations.

"This is the purpose of my convening this imperial court meeting."

Zhu Youxiao gathered his thoughts, and stretched out his hand to Wu Linzheng, saying, "To curb the trend of land annexation, we need to conduct a rectification from top to bottom, and the key is to rectify the administration of officials. If the administration of officials is not clear, no one will really pay attention to the annexation problem in that place, and no one will really implement the policies formulated by the court, and all this takes time."

No wonder Your Majesty set up a special procuratorate and entrusted major plans to it.

When the ministers in front of the emperor heard this, they thought of a previous incident that had caused a lot of uproar in the court and the country. When they heard this, many of them understood what the emperor was thinking.

(End of this chapter)