The first assistant of the poor family

Chapter 553 Canal Illness 【4000 words two in one chapter】

Gu Dingchen can be said to be proud of the spring breeze these days.

Ever since he was appointed by the emperor as the deputy examiner of the examination, he knew that his fortune had come.

From the envied No. [-] scholar to the noble Hanlin Xiuzhuan, to the unsatisfactory lecturer in the Eastern Palace, Gu Dingchen's official career is not perfect.

Fortunately, the emperor did not forget him, and with the help of the elder Xiaoge, he was directly promoted to the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, and joined the cabinet to participate in government affairs.After Xie Qian became an official, he was given the title of bachelor.Although it is only the last Dongge University scholar, it is also a University scholar, and it can be called a prime minister.

Don't forget the well digger when you drink water. Apart from the great grace of the emperor, it is thanks to Xie Shen, the old man of Xiaoge.

Gu Dingchen was naturally very grateful to Xie Shen, and vowed to do his best to repay the favor of Xiaoge Boss.

Xie Shen asked him to promote the Academy of Craftsmanship. This was a hot potato, but Gu Dingchen agreed without hesitation.

In his view, this is an excellent opportunity to show his ability.Since he entered the cabinet, he has not presided over any major events alone, how can he convince all the officials?
The more controversial things are, the more convincing they are. Gu Dingchen urgently needs to prove himself now.

The doctoral trainers of the School of Craftsmanship are all craftsmen, but most of the high-level officials are still Confucian officials.This is something that can't be helped, after all, the imperial court is controlled by civil servants, and it is impossible to change overnight.

Kong Yu, who offered sacrifices to wine at the School of Craftsmanship, was originally an official of the Ministry of Industry, so he was not a small official.Although he was awarded the Jijiu of the Craftsmanship Academy with a higher grade, Ke Kong Jijiu was not happy at all.

Officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, and workers.

This is the ranking of the six.Although the Ministry of Industry is at the end, it can be regarded as the sixth department.

From such an important government office being "decentralized" to Laoshizi's Craftsmanship Academy, it is estimated that normal people will not be happy.

But there is nothing you can do if you are not happy, this is the emperor's own will, Kong Jijiu can't enter the palace, hug the emperor's thigh and cry loudly to ask the emperor to change the imperial edict, right?
With Zhu Houzhao's personality, it is estimated that Kong Jijiu will be spanked by the royal staff outside the Meridian Gate by Jin Yiwei.

Since you can't refuse, then do it honestly.What's more, even Mr. Gu, a scholar of Dongge University, is in charge of this matter. What else can he complain about?
This day, Gu Dingchen came to the Craftsmanship Academy for inspection, and Kong Jijiu accompanied him with a smile on his face.

"Mr. Gu Ge, these are all the students recruited by the National Academy. These are the doctors of the National Academy. Discipline."

Kong Jijiu introduced it attentively, for fear that Gu Dingchen's impression of him would be diminished due to a mistake or omission.

Gu Dingchen pushed his hand and coughed, "Don't rush to introduce Kong Jijiu, these officials are all aware of it. What I really care about is whether these students have any novel inventions?"

"Uh"

Facing Gu Dingchen's inquiry, Kong Jijiu was obviously at a loss.

Inventing this thing does not mean that it will be available.

"Report to Elder Gu Ge, there is not yet."

"Oh."

Gu Dingchen was a little disappointed, and said in a deep voice: "In addition to teaching, we should guide the students to think more. After all, the purpose of the imperial court to train them is to be able to innovate."

Kong Jijiu hurriedly nodded and said, "Your official understands."

Gu Dingchen flung his sleeves and walked all the way to the cabinet.

As soon as he entered the cabinet to be on duty, he rushed to Xie Shenli and said: "Mr. Xiaoge, the situation of the Craftsmanship Academy may not be as ideal as imagined."

Xie Shen put down his pen and nodded, "It's natural. Inventions don't seem to be stereotyped articles. How can they be easy to come by. Jiuhe, don't be too anxious."

"Well, the next official is worried that if things go on like this, it will give those jealous people a reason to attack."

Xie Shen narrowed his eyes slightly, but did not answer immediately.

"Jiuhe's worry is not unreasonable. But what about their criticism? Can it change His Majesty's will?"

Xie Shen said unhurriedly: "The School of Craftsmanship is strongly promoted by His Majesty, how can it be possible to change the order overnight. Jiuhe let it go and do it. Your Majesty and this official will support you when the sky falls."

Gu Dingchen was overjoyed when he heard the words, what else could Xie Shen say when he got to this point?Anything he says is hypocritical!
"Jiuhe read this memorial, this is the top priority."

Xie Shen handed the memorial to Gu Dingchen, and Gu Dingchen carefully read it word by word.

After reading the memorandum, Gu Dingchen looked extremely solemn.

"Mr. Xiaoge, this canal matter is related to the fate of the country and should not be handled hastily."

Xie Shen nodded and said: "How can I not know what Jiuhe said? The canal is the main road connecting the north and the south, and it is the lifeblood of Ming Dynasty. Now the river channel is silted up, and the navigation capacity is greatly reduced. If it is not treated, the situation will only worsen. "

Gu Dingchen tentatively asked: "Old Xiaoge, do you have anything to worry about?"

Xie Shen tapped his fingers and said, "There are roughly two ways now. One is to dig a new canal to connect to the Grand Canal. The other is to dredge the silt to dredge the river."

Gu Dingchen respectfully said: "Which one does Xiaoge always prefer?"

Xie Shen smiled wryly and said, "Actually, no matter what kind of project it is, it is a huge project and requires extremely high financial and material resources."

This is really a thankless thing.

If you do well, others will say you deserve it.If you do not do well, someone will immediately jump out and criticize you, saying that you are wasting the national stockpile of silver.

In fact, the capacity of the Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties has been greatly reduced by the Ming Dynasty.The section from Shandong to Beijing is a new canal dug again.

But even so, just after 100 years, the river was raised by silt again, and the navigable capacity was greatly reduced to the stage where it had to be rectified.

The reason is that the Grand Canal is an artificial river, the flow of the river is too slow, and the silt is easy to deposit.Therefore, manual dredging is required every once in a while, or a new river channel has to be dug to replace the original one.

Digging the river must be costly, but it can be maintained for a long time, at least 100 years without problems.

However, dredging mud is quick and effective, but it may happen again in ten or twenty years.

"This matter depends on His Majesty's will. We are just presenting the pros and cons to Your Majesty."

Zhu Houzhao's will played a decisive role in this matter. Without the support of the emperor, the canal would not have been completed no matter whether it was heavy digging or dredging.

"Well, it should be so." Gu Dingchen also thought that it would be safest to report the memorial to the emperor first.

The reason why the Grand Canal in the Ming Dynasty is very important is because it is irreplaceable.

Water transportation is mainly to transport the grain from Jiangnan, Huguang to the north. If it is too expensive to go by land, it is better to go by water.

The status of the Grand Canal will not change until better transportation methods are available.

Xie Shen hopes that one day in the future, Daming will no longer rely on the canal, which will prove that there has been an innovation in the transportation method.

With Craftsmanship Academy, he believes that this day will come.

The cabinet threw the difficult problem to Emperor Zhengde, which made Zhu Houzhao a headache.

He was used to the cabinet helping him with government affairs, and it was really uncomfortable for him to be arbitrary all of a sudden.What's more, throwing him such a big problem from the very beginning, there is no buffer.

Digging a canal is not something that can be decided by patting the head.If it is not handled properly, it will cause great public grievances and even riots.

In the early years of Zhengde, there had already been a peasant uprising, which made Zhu Houzhao lingering fears, and he was always cautious for fear of arousing public resentment.

After walking around the hall for a few steps with his hands behind his back, Zhu Houzhao still couldn't make a decision, and sighed several times in annoyance.

Seeing the distressed appearance of the Son of Heaven, Zhang Yong said cautiously: "Since Your Majesty is also in trouble, you might as well ask Jiuqing Tingyi to have a look."

Zhu Houzhao's eyes lit up.

This is a good idea, and the cabinet can't give an answer for a while, so it's always good to ask more opinions.

Zhang Yongsui went to the foreign court to preach oral instructions.

Nine important courtiers, including the six ministers, the Tongzheng envoy, the capital censor, and the minister of Dali Temple, gathered together to discuss the matter of the canal. Inconsistent, but fortunately Jiuqing is a person with a head and a face who knows how to restrain his emotions. At most, he is angry and silent, and there is no embarrassing situation of fisting and kicking each other.

After a whole day, those who supported the dredging gained the upper hand, and Zhang Yong then returned to the Leopard Room to report to the emperor-Jiuqing advocated dredging the canal.

This also coincides with Zhu Houzhao's opinion.

He really didn't dare to order to re-dig the canal at this time.Once a new canal is dug, it may not be enough for the national treasury or even all the money in the country.The most important thing is that digging the canal requires a large amount of corvee, which will cause public resentment.

Although Zhu Houzhao is the emperor, he is also afraid of changes.

Didn't Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty say that the people are the water and the king is the boat.Water can carry a boat and capsize it.

If an emperor made a move against the will of the people, it would definitely trigger a crisis.

Zhu Houzhao let out a long breath, waved his hand at Zhang Yong and said, "What are you waiting for, pass the order to the cabinet."

When Zhang Yong came to the cabinet to announce the decree, it happened that the three giants of the cabinet were there.

Li Dongyang, Chief Assistant of Huagaidian University Scholars Cabinet, pondered for a long time before asking: "Your Majesty is wise, but even for dredging rivers, corvee must be collected. Is it only for the Chief Secretary of Hebei or for Shandong as well?"

"this."

Zhang Yong was just a mouthpiece, he didn't know how to answer, so he said with a mournful face, "Elder Li Ge, this servant doesn't know either."

Theoretically speaking, the entire river from Shandong to the capital should be dredged, but if this is the case, at least hundreds of thousands of corvees are imposed, and the number is not much reduced compared to digging canals, but the time of corvee is greatly reduced.

And if some of the seriously silted river sections are dredged up, the number of corvees collected can also be reduced.

The remaining sections of the river that are not too silted up can wait for a while, and then levy corvee to clear the silt after a while.

The response from the people will not be so violent if the time is staggered, which is actually the most reasonable.

"Then I'll have to make another trip, Eunuch Zhang. This kind of thing is related to the country's plans, and there is nothing wrong with it."

"The servant knows."

In front of Li Dongyang, Zhang Yong naturally had no choice but to pretend to be his grandson, so he hurriedly left.

As soon as Zhang Yong left, Xie Shen cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Xi Ya thinks we should clean up a section first, or dredge everything?"

"What does Siming think?"

Li Dongyang asked with a smile on his face.

"Of course it's all dredging."

Xie Shen said firmly.

In fact, he originally hoped to dig a new channel for drainage.But this would cost too much money, and the Ming court might not be able to bear it.

Then implement the alternative.But it would be too outrageous if even the alternative plan is kept tight.

"Segmented dredging is tantamount to lying to yourself. In a few years, those riverbeds that have not been cleared and raised will have to be dredged. It is better to do it in one step."

Li Dongyang nodded approvingly and said, "I think so too. Jiuhe, what do you think?"

Li Dongyang turned to Gu Dingchen again, with a hint of expectation in his eyes.

Gu Dingchen took a deep breath and said, "The students think that the entire river should be dredged."

"The reason why the old man asked Eunuch Zhang to report to the emperor is to let His Majesty think about this issue independently. If everything is done by the cabinet, there may be problems in the future if there are really important matters that require His Majesty's discretion."

What Li Dongyang said was very clear.Zhu Houzhao is a hands-off shopkeeper, and almost all government affairs are handed over to the cabinet.

From the perspective of the ability of the cabinet ministers, this is of course no problem, but as Li Dongyang said, the emperor has been leaning on the cabinet as a crutch, what if one day he can't let go?

There are some things that the cabinet can handle, but there are some things that the cabinet cannot handle.

It would be the most terrible thing for the Ming Empire if the Son of Heaven lost the courage of Gan Gang's arbitrariness.

"Gong Xiya is really hardworking."

Xie Shen couldn't help but sighed: "It would be best if His Majesty can regain the responsibility of governing through this matter."

"Actually, there is no need to worry about the collection of corvee. Siming, after your tax reform, the corvee has been reduced a lot, and the common people can afford it if it only needs to be dredged once in decades."

Xie Shen nodded and said, "That's true. However, people who are subject to corvee should be exempted from tax for at least one year."

It is not uncommon to use corvee to offset taxes. Xie Shen did this in the hope that the people would feel more balanced.

"Haha, the old man has no objection. As long as Siming can persuade His Majesty, the old man will definitely support it."

This is tantamount to showing support for Xie Shen.With the relationship between Xie Shen and Zhu Houzhao, as long as they want to persuade the emperor, they can definitely do it.

"The grain in the south of the Yangtze River must not be cut off, otherwise the troops stationed in the north will be hungry. This matter should be done sooner rather than later. When His Majesty makes an order, send the six divisions to copy the mansion report during the matter."

Li Dongyang felt a little tired and yawned: "The old man will take a nap first, if there is anything, Ming can wake the old man at any time."

Xie Shen's eyes turned red and he said, "Mr. Xiya rest assured, Jiuhe and I are here."

Although Li Dongyang's body is healthier than Xie Qian's, he is still an old man after all.An old man at this age has to come to the cabinet every day to take on duty, and he is heartbroken for the Ming Dynasty. He is really worthy of admiration.

Xie Shen felt that he should take on more responsibilities, so that Li Dongyang could relax somewhat.

He pulled Gu Dingchen aside, and said in a low voice: "Xie is going to leave the cabinet for a while, and there will be trouble here."

Gu Dingchen nodded and said, "Cifu, don't worry."

(End of this chapter)