I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 185 The Foundation of People's Livelihood
When people get old, they always get up early and go to bed early, especially for Xia Yuanji who is over seventy years old.

In August and September, when the autumn tax comes to Beijing, as the Minister of Household Affairs, Xia Yuanji has been busy with official duties and worries in recent days.

After returning to the mansion, only when the sun had just set in the western mountain, he dragged his exhausted body to bed early.

It's a pity that people always sleep lightly, let alone Xia Yuanji's belly full of baskets, the sudden heavy rain suddenly woke him up from his dream.

After waking up like this, Xia Yuanji couldn't sleep anymore, so he simply put on his unlined clothes and walked to the window, listening to the sound of the rain.

Stretching out his hand to prop up the upper window, the scattered raindrops were blown by the wind and hit Xia Yuanji's ravine old face, taking away the last bit of drowsiness left in him.

Looking into the courtyard, looking at the swaying and falling flower garden under the heavy rain, Xia Yuanji was moved by the scene, and couldn't help thinking of the autumn tax that was getting smaller and smaller every year, and shook his head sadly:
"Although I, Daming, am not Fuliu Jiaohua, I can't stand doing evil like this."

Just as he was thinking, Xia Yuanji saw a sudden light in the front hall, and his old concierge came rushing in wearing a coir raincoat.

Seeing Xia Yuanji standing by the window, the old concierge knew that the heavy rain must have woken up his master, so he hurriedly called the young man to bring him a coir raincoat and bamboo hat, and walked quickly:

"Master, Admiral Huang from Dongchang has come and said that the emperor is waiting to see you at Mingshifang."

Hearing the emperor's summons, Xia Yuanji's expression changed, and he immediately put away his distracting thoughts, put down the window and left the room, put on his rain gear and hurried towards the front hall.

Huang Yan had been serving Li Tianyou in Mingshifang before, and he knew very well that the matter in Taicang was in great trouble, so he didn't dare to rest along the way, and arrived at Renshoufang in less than a quarter of an hour.

Seeing Xia Yuanji approaching in only a single suit, Huang Yan didn't dare to push him, so he hurried forward to greet him:

"Xia Shangshu, something happened in Taicang, our family is here to pick you up by the emperor's order."

Taicang?

Hearing that there was an accident in Taicang, Xia Yuanji's heart immediately raised his throat. The food in Taicang was the life-saving food for millions of people in the capital during the disaster years. How could there be any mistake.

Although he was very curious in his heart, Xia Yuanji did not rush to ask Huang Yan. After all, he has experienced too many major events in the past few decades since he became an official.
"It's His Majesty calling, so let's go."

Xia Yuanji is over seventy years old, in fact, he has already passed his term of office long ago, the reason why he has not retired yet is because of his excellent financial management skills, he has been trusted by several generations of emperors.

As the admiral of Dongchang, Huang Yan said that his eyes are higher than the top, which is considered modest. Looking at the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty, he didn't pay attention to any of them, and only veteran officials like Xia Yuanji could make him look up Two eyes.

He pretended to help Xia Yuanji into the carriage. Huang Yan knew that Xia Yuanji hadn't been involved in the Taicang incident, and he had no scruples, so he took the initiative to say:

"Xia Shangshu, Sun Zhifu came to report just now that all the food in East Taicang has been soaked. The emperor is very angry at the moment. You have to persuade the emperor later that it will not be good if you get angry and hurt the dragon's body."

As soon as Xia Yuanji got into the car, he closed his eyes and rested his mind. He didn't expect that Huang Yan would take the initiative to inform him. Knowing it immediately, he gave Huang Yan a smiling face for the first time, nodded slightly and said:

"Admiral Huang told me, the old man will explain to His Majesty in a while."

After humming lightly, Huang Yan saw that Xia Yuanji was wearing unlined clothing, casually added two pieces of charcoal to the charcoal stove at the side, and then followed Xia Yuanji's example and closed his eyes.

The heavy rain was pouring, the street was empty, the carriage was speeding, and it arrived at Mingshifang in a short while.

There were many Dongchang fans in front of Zhou Dahe's house, Huang Yan couldn't pretend anymore, jumped out of the carriage, strode into the courtyard, and said respectfully:

"Your Majesty, Xia Shangshu has arrived."

Huang Yan didn't help Xia Yuanji, someone else stretched out his hand, and was dragged into the courtyard, Xia Yuanji didn't say anything, first bent down and knelt on the ground, pleading guilty:
"Your Majesty, the guilty minister is late."

"Weiji, what are you doing?" Calling Xia Yuanji's words, Li Tian helped him up, feigning anger and saying:

"I called you here just to talk to you. If you kneel down, let me deal with myself. If others don't know, they will think that I want to deal with you."

"The old minister dare not."

As soon as he clasped his hands, Xia Yuanji stood up tremblingly, looked around and said directly:
"Your Majesty, where are the officials in the warehouse, you can tell the old minister just by asking."

Xia Yuanji cut straight to the point, so Li Tian simply stopped being polite, and directly ordered someone to drag the big warehouse clerk over and said:

"Weiji, I have already asked you just now. This little bastard insisted that Taicang was flooded, and he was absolutely innocent. If Wu Shangshu hadn't stopped him just now, Jiang Bao would have already cut off his head."

Although the officials in Taicang warehouse have no rank, they are the first-class fat servants in the household department. Xia Yuanji took a closer look and knew who this little official was, and immediately said in a deep voice:
"Your Majesty, this villain is Guo Wenyu's nephew. Please call Guo Wenyu here immediately."

Li Tian has long memorized the list of important ministers above the third rank in the court.

Guo Wenyu, whose real name is Guo Kuo, like Yang Shiqi, is known in the world with calligraphy.In the fourth year of Yongle, he was born as a second-class Jinshi in the Bingxu Division. He was promoted to the post of fifth-rank doctor in the household department by rebuilding "Yuan History".

Under the operation of a group of Qingliu scholars, Yu Yongle was promoted to the third-rank servant of the household department in 19 years. As of today, he has been in the position of the servant of the household department for three years.

Three years is not a long time for a minister. Moreover, Li Wenyu is only 49 years old this year. According to the normal official career promotion of Ming officials, his political career still has at least 15 years.

Nodding his head slightly, Li Tian came back to his senses, turned to look at Wang Fu and said:

"Go, bring Guo Wenyu to me."

It took a while for Guo Wenyu to come, Li Tian waved his hand to let the Taiku officials be taken down first, took a deep breath, looked at Xia Yuanji and said:

"Weiji, just now Sun Rongping sent someone to report that there are 15 shi of old and new grain stored in Taicang, and less than [-] shi of grain is still edible."

Although Huang Yan had already revealed it on the way here, Xia Yuanji still felt very angry when he heard that Li Tian said it himself.

Where is Taicang? It is the national grain depot, the foundation of people's livelihood and stability. A rain soaks up [-] shi of grain. Does this mean that the court is regarded as a fool?
"Your Majesty, although Guo Wenyu hasn't come here yet, but the old minister dares to assure you that this matter has nothing to do with it." After saying this, Xia Yuanji lowered his head guiltily, and said in a sincere voice:

"As the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, although I don't know about this matter, I still can't escape the blame. I implore your Majesty to come down."

(End of this chapter)