Shenkyo
As Emperor Chongping denounced and questioned the Xia Flood in Shenjing City, the central government agencies of the Han Dynasty began to take action, mainly to speed up the harvest of summer grain. In addition, they issued documents to local provinces, prefectures and counties to warn against the Xia Flood, and the central court officials Their eyes are also focused on the rain and flood in the Central Plains and Huainan.
The northern provinces are talking about building water conservancy projects and wasting money and people. No matter what, we must speed up the harvest of summer grain. Let's not talk about the summer floods. We cannot delay the summer taxes.
Word spread in Shenjing City that it was the first heavy rain since the beginning of summer in Henan. This was a rare scene in the arid north in the past five years.
Prince Chu's Mansion, evening
In the study, King Chu sat behind the desk with a slumped expression and a long sigh. Sitting on the pearwood chairs on both sides were Princess Chu Zhen Qing, Liao Xian and Feng Ci.
Feng Ci said: "My lord, there is no need to be upset. What happened before was not my fault."
But today, the Queen Mother specifically sought out the King of Chu to enter the palace to say goodbye. She said that a group of family members of the Wei and Zheng dynasties came to the palace to plead for mercy, which quite disturbed the Emperor's recuperation. The Emperor had been in Chonghua Palace since the Gongling Mausoleum collapsed. Because I was sick, I didn't listen to singing and dancing very much, and some of the young and beautiful women who were originally waiting on me were gradually sent away.
King Chu shook his head and said: "That's not what the two vassal princes and princesses said at the beginning. They said that the two vassal princes were used to pampering themselves, so they followed them to take care of them on the road. The lonely king believed their words. Sure enough, the woman's words could not be Believe it."
Zhen Qing's face looked a little unnatural. What did the prince say? Was it aimed at her?
At this moment, Prince Palace Chief Shi Liao Xian said: "Your Majesty, the news came from Beijing at noon that there was a heavy rain after summer started in Henan."
"Let's do it... huh?" King Chu said to himself, but suddenly he was startled and looked at Liao Xian in surprise.
Princess Chu Zhen Qing also stared at Liao Xian and asked in surprise: "Is it raining in Henan?"
These days, she was well aware of some public opinions in the capital, and she knew that because of the attention of her father in the palace, whether it would rain or not had become an event with political significance.
In fact, Jia Heng has never said that there will be floods this summer. He just hopes that the court will take precautions and may be more aggressive. As a result, due to Emperor Chongping's overreaction and the encouragement of thoughtful people, word spread that somehow it happened. Out of shape.
According to legend, Jia Ziyu said that heavy rains will cause floods this year, and various places must step up construction of water conservancy projects, and so on.
The purpose is naturally to accelerate in the opposite direction, thereby damaging Jia Heng's prestige.
Liao Xian pondered and said: "Your Majesty, Uncle Yongning is probably right again this time. From the first year of Chongping to the third year of Chongping, every summer, the Yellow River will report summer floods. At that time, everyone paid attention to this. There has been a severe drought in the Northland for a few years, so this is not a common occurrence."
Feng Ci frowned and said in a low voice: "Last time, a gold mine was found in Henan. The Holy Scriptures believe in it even more."
The King of Chu pondered for a moment and asked: "If there is a flood in Henan and Huaiyang, what impact will this have on Gu?"
It doesn't matter whether there is a flood or not, the key is what can he get from it?
"Your Majesty, Uncle Yong Ning is now highly valued in the palace, maybe we can sell him a favor?" Liao Xian thought for a while and said.
"Selling favors?" King Chu murmured and asked, "How to proceed?" The lonely king is now in charge of supervising the construction of the imperial mausoleum, and he cannot escape from it. "
Liao Xian said: "If there is a flood, the prince will organize scribes and gentry in the capital to raise donations for the people of Henan. This move will definitely win the hearts of the saints."
King Chu's eyes lit up, and he felt a little moved in his heart.
Feng Ci frowned and said: "This matter still needs to be considered. The prince has already gained a reputation of generosity in front of the clan, but he has received complaints from the palace. This is the time to hide one's capabilities and bide one's time. It is not good to do this again." Liang Feng, even if we do such things, we can't do it in the name of the prince."
When King Chu heard this, his eyes dimmed and he said, "That's the truth."
Liao Xian pondered for a moment and said: "Your Majesty is famous now, so it would not be good to be too calm."
Sometimes, it’s not that the person in power doesn’t have good suggestions, but that there are too many suggestions and you don’t know which one to listen to.
The King of Chu paused for a moment and said in a low voice: "Now it seems that the job of supervising the construction of the imperial mausoleum is a good job for King Qi. He is now the king of the county and has merits to be paid, but for the lonely king, he has no merit. No, otherwise if there is a flood in Henan, the lonely king can also go to Henan and Huaiyang on behalf of the palace to inspect the river embankments to show the clan's love for the people."
Everyone was startled when they heard this, but they were already accustomed to King Chu worrying about gains and losses.
The King of Chu's temperament has always been one of looking forward and backward, and he will worry about gains and losses when encountering adversity.
King Chu said, without hearing the response, he stared at Princess Chu Zhen Qing who was sitting opposite, looking expectantly and said, "Does the princess have any ideas?"
There was a look of thought on Zhen Qing's beautiful face, her phoenix eyes flashed, and she said softly: "Your Majesty, you can't say that. It's good to supervise the construction of the imperial mausoleum and not to make King Qi specialize in beauty. Even if he has a name, it's good." , the future has really come... A pure nature and a filial piety to our ancestors are enough to defy all opinions."
Supervising the construction of the imperial mausoleum is the greatest legal basis for enthroning, and it is much better than thinking about doing a few meritorious deeds.
"What the princess said makes sense." King Chu thought for a moment, then settled down and said with deep conviction.
"Your Majesty, we'll wait until the floods in Henan are followed up before we talk about anything else. It's too early to say whether it will rain like this now and whether there will be floods." Zhen Qing said in a soft voice. Seeing the anxiety of the King of Chu, he comforted and said: "As for the previous clan issue, although my father and the Queen Mother were a little unhappy, they also knew that it was not the prince's fault. If the prince is still worried, I will meet the princesses of Wei and Zheng tomorrow. Concubine, talk to them and persuade them to live in peace."
The beauty eased King Chu's anxiety with a voice as cold as jade, and also caused Feng Ci and Liao Xian to think.
"What the princess said is very true. Where will the Henan side go in recent months? It's still between two and one. Maybe there will be no floods, but everyone is happy." Feng Ci continued.
Liao Xian also said: "Your Majesty, if something serious happens, you should calm down first. Your Majesty, please calm down and don't be impatient."
King Chu was looking at Zhen Qing at this moment, with a complex expression in his eyes.
"Also last time, Your Majesty, my concubine and I were checked. It was the boss who was plotting against Your Majesty and trying to make Father suspicious of Your Majesty." Zhen Qing said softly, her face as smooth as frost.
The King of Chu has been in charge of the government for so many years, and he also has a secret intelligence force. There is an informant of the King of Chu in the King of Qi's Mansion.
"Is this... really him?" King Chu's expression changed, his eyes became colder, and he said, "Fortunately, my father did not believe him."
"When the prince was sent to Luoyang, the palace had plans to investigate the prince. It seems that the prince has eliminated the suspicion. Now whether Prince Qi has been found, I still don't know who I am." Zhen Qing said in a low voice.
The King of Chu was silent for a moment and said with emotion: "It's true that tigers are not harmful to people, but tigers are harmful to people's hearts. The lonely king thinks that he respects his brother, and he doesn't want to resort to such insidious methods!"
Zhen Qing's eyes were dim and she said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Prince Qi's various actions have already lost the favor of the palace. In addition to being careful to guard against his secret arrows, the one you really want to deal with is King Wei. He is the Queen's Yuanzi. This is The prince’s confidant is troubled.”
The King of Qi still has one elder, and the King of Wei has a direct descendant, so the only way for her prince to go is to be a virtuous one.
The King of Chu sighed and said, "The King of Wei is not easy to deal with."
"It's difficult to deal with now. It's not too late to wait another three or two years." Zhen Qing said softly.
King Chu nodded and asked, "Have you visited Jia's house recently?"
Zhen Qing said: "After my mother left Beijing, she hasn't been there much in the past two days. I'll go over and have a look in two days."
She doesn't go often when she has nothing to do, and easily gets lost. Fortunately, her younger sister has a good relationship with the Qin family, and Xinxin also recognizes the Qin family as her godmother, as the two families are related.
"Well, don't stop moving around." King Chu warned, and suddenly said with emotion: "This Jia Ziyu is not stopping in Henan. He is mining and building rivers. When he returns to Beijing, I am afraid that my father will You still have to rely on it.”
Such a great talent must be put to good use after he is promoted to Dabao.
…
…
Henan, Guide Prefecture, Yucheng County
After a heavy rain, it has been cloudy for two more days, and today it started raining again.
At this moment, Jia Heng, accompanied by a large number of officials from the Henan feudal and feudal dynasties, Tan Shiliang, the magistrate of Guide Prefecture, Lu Li'an, the magistrate of Yucheng County, and Xu Kai, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, went to inspect the river embankment.
"Rumble..."
Above the sky, thunder rumbled, dark clouds rolled, and rain began to fall intermittently. For a while, the sky and the earth were vast and dark.
The willow trees next to the embankment sometimes sway with the wind, their branches and leaves are rolled up, and from time to time they send out large raindrops.
Everyone was wearing bamboo hats and raincoats on their heads, looking at the busy river workers in front and behind the embankment. At this moment, Jia Heng looked around, looking through the rain curtain, and saw that on the entire embankment, soldiers and civilians were carrying stones and glutinous rice sand in the rain. Shi Piao is constantly busy.
Under the command of the Hedao Yamen craftsmen, pile driving, drilling, and adding stones were all carried out in an orderly manner.
Jia Heng looked at the Yellow River and saw large splashes of water splashing in the originally shallow river. He frowned and his eyes showed a hint of thought.
In recent years, there have been successive droughts in the north, and the rivers have dried up. The shallowest part of the Yellow River has even reached the crook of the legs. This has undoubtedly bought time for Henan to repair river embankments. According to estimates, not all river embankments need to be rebuilt.
The 60-mile section of the river embankment from Yucheng to Dangshan counties is relatively dilapidated. The other section of the river embankment is from Xiao County to Xuzhou. After Xuzhou, it is the area responsible for the Nanhe Governor's Yamen.
Jia Heng looked at the groups of soldiers wearing Han military uniforms in the distance. Qi Jianhui, the governor of Fenwu Camp in Beijing, Pang Shili, the general of Yangwei Camp, and other generals in Beijing were leading the guards and commanding the troops in Beijing. Soldiers, assisting the peasants to carry earth, wood and stones, shouts of "one, two, one" came from a distance.
Eighty thousand troops from the Beijing camp went to Henan to quell the rebellion. Together with the captured bandits and Dingfu, and the common people hired with rice and grain, about 140,000 to 50,000 people gathered along the river embankment at this moment.
There were also cavalry troops from the Beijing camp who pushed back and forth to prevent chaos when the river was being built.
In the past, the thieves and bandits were whipped and hard labored, and not only did they not cause trouble, but they were all strangled by the Beijing camp cavalry.
At the same time, Henan Province has formulated a commutation plan. According to the severity of different criminals' crimes, they can redeem their sentences through corvee. Of course, this does not mean that they can redeem their sentences completely. Commutation of sentences is still limited for some crimes.
At the same time, the former coercers of Dingfu, whose crimes were relatively minor and who did not carry human lives, were redeemed with corvee labor and were released back to their hometowns after the river fortifications were completed.
Jia Heng patrolled along the river embankment, followed by a large number of officials, most of whom were wearing raincoats and bamboo hats. Liu Jixian, a bodyguard in Jinyi, initially held up a big umbrella to protect him from the wind and rain, but for Jia Heng waved his hand to stop him.
"Sir." At this moment, Guan Hetong, the current governor of Hedong Governor's Yamen, heard the news and led the middle and lower-level officials from the Hedong Yamen to come quickly from the river embankment. He approached and shouted to Jia Heng. shouted.
"Guan Tongzhi, how long will it take to complete the construction of the river embankment from Yucheng to Xiao County?" Jia Heng looked at Guan Shoufang, who had a muddy face, and asked loudly.
The gatekeeper said loudly: "Replying to your lord, it will still take twenty days to work in two shifts during the day and night. The river embankment has not been repaired for many years, so this place is relatively gentle. The water is moving downwards. Once it becomes blocked, the risk of a breach will be greater, so we should concentrate on it." Manpower heightens and reinforces.”
Jia Heng frowned and asked: "If we send half the manpower, can it be reinforced within half a month?"
The gatekeeper thought for a while and said: "If we need another 30,000 people, and with more coordination, the construction period will be greatly shortened."
Jia Heng pondered for a moment, then turned to look at the Magistrate of Guide Prefecture aside, and said, "Prefect Tan, how much more labor can Guide Prefecture recruit? Will it delay the busy farming season?"
Henan was severely hit by disasters in March and April, and production was reduced in many places. Therefore, there was not much busy farming, so there was basically not much harvest. Even the imperial court did not mention Henan’s summer tax this year, but Jia Heng still transferred it from Taicang to the gods. Beijing to pay the summer tax.
Except for Runing Prefecture and some prefectures and counties in Kaifeng Prefecture, which are exempt from summer taxes this year, this year's taxes such as Henan Prefecture, Guide Prefecture, Nanyang Prefecture, Weihui Prefecture, Zhangde Prefecture, and Huaiqing Prefecture will be halved as appropriate. Some of it was kept in the vassal treasury for emergencies.
In fact, if combined with the civil unrest in Runing and the destruction of Kaifeng Mansion, it seems that the saying goes, "Children who can cry are fed by milk."
Tan Shiliang was a middle-aged official in his early forties with a fair face and a short beard. He thought for a moment and said loudly: "To make the platform, Guide Mansion can still spare six to seven thousand men, but The river service is heavy, and if one is not good, he will be disabled. Because Henan has been exempted from the summer tax for more than half of the summer, the people are busy with farming and have doubts."
Ordinary people obviously don't want the river engineering affairs to affect their labor force or even make them disabled. The government does not allocate corvees, but now they have enough to eat. Everyone is watching and wondering.
Jia Heng pondered for a moment and said: "The government should actively mobilize the people to go up the river to build the embankment. If one person goes up the embankment, his family will receive rice subsidies. The people along the river in Guide Prefecture will not be disturbed by the river. What's more, they should mobilize the people to go up the embankment and know about them. To put it simply, if there is a flood, the people will be displaced, the land will be affected by the flood, and the autumn grain will be delayed."
In the past, the people relied on their own volition and were suspicious of the government's credibility, so not many people came at first. Later, the government actually distributed food to the people's homes. Although it was not much, it was undoubtedly life-saving rations for the whole family during the lean period. Everyone must be well fed.
In addition, Kaifeng Prefecture was a provincial capital and received high attention from top to bottom. Later, everyone enthusiastically competed to be the first. The river embankment in Kaifeng Prefecture was quickly repaired and reinforced in this environment of striving to be the first.
In fact, some people at the government level do not understand that white rice is distributed to the poor...
The Henan Governor's Yamen's explanation was to provide relief through work and use rice and grain to recruit people to build water conservancy projects.
However, with the arrival of the busy farming season, the period of drought and unsustainable food rations at home has gradually passed. No matter how much production is reduced during the busy summer farming season, it is finally our own fields, and the farm work is not that heavy, so river labor has become a retreat. Second option.
Under the premise of tight time, the manpower is insufficient.
Jia Heng didn't say how to mobilize, but the prefect of Guide Prefecture didn't ask, what else could be done?
That is to say, the corvée is assigned to the clan, village sages, and baojia as a unit. The difference is that you are not allowed to work for nothing, but you are given a certain amount of rice and grain subsidies. If you do not go to the embankment at this time, you are a unruly citizen who does not understand the justice of the court.
Feng Lian looked at the young man across from him, and when he heard what the young man said, his heart moved slightly, feeling a little weird.
I originally thought that in Henan, we would crack down on the gentry and treat officials cruelly, strictly discipline officials, and make life difficult for them to manage, while being lenient in providing relief to the people. This is an unusual appearance in officialdom.
Now it seems that he just has a conscience, but he is indeed not an alien.
Thinking about it, if he was really stupid, he wouldn't have achieved his current position of power with Ning Guoyuanzhi.
What no one can ignore is that Jia Heng became an important minister at a young age, so he must have two skills.
Everything you do must be backed up.
Xu Kai, a scholar at the Imperial Academy, looked at this scene with a thoughtful expression on his face.
As they spoke, everyone entered a wooden shed that had been built and began to arrange related river affairs.
"After the Hedong River passes through Xiao County, it should be inspected by the Nanhe Governor's Yamen. Xu Hanlin immediately wrote to the Nanhe Governor's Yamen, urging him to come to Xuzhou to discuss the river flood meeting." Jia Heng sat down and ordered.
In terms of river section defense, the east side of the river belongs to the secondary river, while the other side of the river platform of the Nanhe River belongs to the main river. The two sides must coordinate river flood affairs.
Xu Kai cupped his hands and said, "I will accept your orders."
With that said, he took the paper and pen delivered by the clerk in the shed and began to write to the Nanhe Governor's Yamen.
Jia Heng looked at Qi Jianhui, the commander-in-chief of Fenwu Camp, Pang Shili and others, and asked: "How many people are there on the river embankment in Beijing camp now?"
Qi Jianhui clasped his fists and said, "Report to your lord, the Beijing camp has 40,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, and the 15,000 newly-built Henan Dusi guards are here."
Jia Heng asked: "How is the morale of the generals?"
"Most of the infantry have not been in the war, so they have no objections to the construction of the river. It's just that they have been away from Beijing for more than a month and are homesick." Qi Jianhui said.
Jia Heng thought for a while and said: "Later, when more than a thousand households of soldiers are summoned, I will give a lecture."
The morale of the soldiers also needs special attention during this period. He has to build the river embankment despite the rain. As time goes by, he will easily become resentful. During this period, he will also have to live on the river embankment.
Sharing the same desires and sharing joys and sorrows is always the best way to resolve the grievances at the bottom.
