All the kings thought that what King Jin said was very true. Everyone has the desire to speak, and the vassal king was no exception. It would be a rare pleasure if his cook could learn some delicacies from the immortal world.
Only King Fu was depressed all the time, but no one wanted to talk to him. King Fu's domineering look disgusted all the kings.
Everyone was a vassal king and had the same rank. The only difference was their age. No one wanted to see King Fu's stinky face, as if someone owed him a hundred thousand taels of silver.
Prince Fu felt that the prince had done something wrong by confiscating his family property. He could go to the East Palace to argue with the young prince and see who would win in the end!
Regarding the fact that the prince returned from his study tour in the fairy world, the kings believed that it was better to believe that it existed than to believe that it did not exist. What's more, so many inventions and creations were right in front of them, which made people have no choice but to believe it.
This rickshaw alone is an object that the kings have never seen before. If it is pulled by servants, it will be more stable than cattle, horses and livestock, and at least it will not be shocked by external stimuli.
After experiencing it personally, all the kings admired the rickshaw purchased by the king and unanimously decided to purchase a batch for easy use in the vassal country.
Although the roads in the feudal kingdom may not be smooth, or there may be no roads at all, they can be rebuilt later. With novel objects, as long as you can afford them, you must enjoy them.
Today's party ends here. The kings also felt tired, so they said goodbye and went back to their homes to rest. Tomorrow they can take a tour of the capital and buy some of their favorite things.
"You're so ignorant!"
A certain prince felt sick to his stomach when he saw Prince Fu's virtuous character. He got fat and had a big air of self-importance. Without himself, in a short time, you would be sliced up and cooked in hot pot by Brother Li, the courier!
"Your Highness, the three people you are looking for have been brought!"
"Invite them in!"
There is no need to announce this. He is not a famous person anyway, at least not too famous for now, especially after their "road to promotion" is cut off.
These two things were easy to find for the Jinyiwei who came to invite them. They mobilized a large number of local officials, closed the city gates, and conducted door-to-door inquiries before they were captured. Otherwise, they might have escaped.
"Three gentlemen, are you okay?"
There were three guys dressed as scribes who were escorted into the East Palace by the Jin Yiwei. One was a little short, one was a little fat, and the other was a little thin. But judging from their clothes and appearance, they could travel around the world with a cover.
"Cao Minniu Jinxing, Gu Junen, and Song Xiance come to see His Highness the Crown Prince and wish him a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years!"
The three of them knelt on the ground together, kowtowed and saluted. This was no other place, and it was no one else. It was the eldest son of the current emperor, the prince of the Ming Empire.
Despite his young age, if he said the wrong thing, even just one word, and made this young man unhappy, he would be in danger of being beheaded by Ling Chi.
"Can you have dinner?"
The emperor did not send hungry soldiers, but had to use these three goods to feed their stomachs first. A certain prince would not mistreat useful people, at least he would not be as disgusting and clumsy as Prince Fu.
"...I have not reported it to Your Highness yet!"
Gu Junen and Song Xiance didn't dare to answer. Niu Jinxing was considered a former candidate. Although he was deprived of his honor by the dog official, he still had some courage, so he gritted his teeth and said a word.
"Come here, give me some face!"
Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance are both from Henan, and Gu Junen is from Zhongxiang, Huguang. There should be no problem eating noodles. Anyway, I am the prince, and I will give you face by letting you eat. Even if you don't want to eat, you have to eat.
As soon as a certain prince waved his hand, Yang Jinchao asked the servants to bring them braised noodles. It was summer now, the weather was hot and the appetite was poor. If anyone could enjoy it, this was it.
"No need to worry, this noodle is non-toxic, you three can eat it with confidence, and you can talk after you finish it!"
A certain prince didn't want to poison them to death, nor did he want to support them to death. Keeping them would be of great use. These three guys couldn't do anything else. They were very good at cheating, kidnapping, and cheating.
Guys like Brother Li, who is only at elementary school level, can make good use of them, and there is no reason why I can't use them well. At least it would be good to have them as my staff, or "dog-headed military advisers" in layman's terms.
Without the bad ideas of these three guys, even if the army couldn't catch Li Zicheng, it would be difficult to contain the rogue bandits who started a prairie fire, which would turn his courier army into headless flies and not cause much burden to the court in a short period of time.
A certain prince found the Jin Yiwei who was leading the team and briefly asked about the general situation. Looking at their tired appearance, he knew that they had not had a good rest along the way.
In order to show his benevolence, those who are not sick and injured can take a week off. The sick and injured can go to the army hospital for treatment. Medical expenses are waived. Each ordinary feudal lord can receive one hundred taels of silver, a small flag three hundred taels, and a captain You can receive five hundred taels.
Thousands of taels of silver have been spent, but as long as the prey is caught, it is worth it, and it is super value for money. If these three goods join the courier brother Li, they will cause far more damage to the Ming Empire than just a few dollars. A thousand taels of silver...
"Niu Jinxing, I heard that you resisted tax arrears and took away eighteen local women?"
As for Niu's trivial matter, as soon as Jin Yiwei showed his sign in the past, the local officials could only tell them everything, and a certain prince also knew a little bit about it, but they all regarded it as a joke.
"Your Highness, Cao Min was wronged, and it was all because of the collusion of Wang Youde..."
Niu Jinxing, who had eaten and drank enough, hurriedly knelt down on the ground and shouted that he was wronged. If Wang Youde hadn't colluded with the Ming Dynasty, he would not have been dismissed from the civil service and sent to the army. However, he did not dare to say anything casually after colluding with the Ming Dynasty.
"Who are you colluding with?"
A certain prince believed that he was the greatest official in the world besides his father-in-law. Even if he was an older vassal king, he didn't have to be a bird. Anyone who dares to ignore the king's law should let him know how powerful the king's law is. place.
"...This county...Ming...Ming Mansion!"
Hearing the prince's question, Niu Jinxing, who was already sweating profusely, spoke out, then prostrated on the ground, not daring to speak, and could only wait for the judgment.
"Forcibly seizing eighteen local women... Hum! Are Mingfu and Wang Youde fools? How can such a crime stand up to scrutiny? Even if you have the courage and financial resources, do you have such a body?"
The chamberlains present all bit their lips after hearing this, for fear of laughing out loud. If they want to occupy eighteen women, don't talk about the money first, even their bodies can't bear it!
"I don't know how your county came to have such two fools! But now that I have made the decision for you, this crime can be waived after the trial by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the relevant criminals will be punished! "
Those two guys are just waiting to be punished. Being convicted of such a crime shows that the other parties are two fearless local snakes. They also know that Niu Jinxing has no connections, so they are not afraid of sending people down to investigate the case.
"Cao Min is grateful to His Highness, His Majesty! Cao Min is deeply grateful to His Highness!"
Niu Jinxing finally found a chance to clear his name. Although the prince was young, he was extremely smart and could see the flaws at a glance. However, he was a wise king at the time. This made Niu Jinxing almost cry with excitement.
"Okay! Get up! Being grateful is not just a matter of words, it must be expressed with actual actions. From now on, you and the two people behind you will make suggestions for this palace. This is also the job of the three of you. You must not decline!"
Even if I don't need you and raise the three of you like pigs, I won't let Brother Li, the courier, use you. At most, I will just spend some money on food in a year. I have money, but I am so willful.
"Cao Min thanks His Highness the Holy Family!"
The three of them knelt down and saluted again, unable to hide their joy. They originally thought that they were captured by the Jin Yiwei and were about to be executed. Unexpectedly, there was a turn of events. Not only did they not die, they were reused by the prince. From now on, they would have a golden rice bowl with no worries about food and clothing. .
"Okay, get up and answer the question. Is this noodles delicious?"
Even if they don't dare not agree, if they refuse me, they can go to Jinyiwei's prison and eat some tiger stool pepper water. That is not something that everyone can enjoy.
"It's delicious! It's so delicious. If you can eat three bowls a day, Cao Min will ask for nothing more!"
Niu Jinxing, who no longer had to suffer injustice, was so excited that she shed tears. As long as he could do things for the prince, even if he didn't receive any money, he would be satisfied with three bowls of noodles a day.
"Three bowls? Haha, with your talent, it's worth three hundred bowls a day, right?"
A bowl of ramen costs twenty taels, and three hundred bowls is 6,000 taels, which is six taels of silver. A day's wages are six taels, which is one hundred and eighty taels a month, which is equivalent to the monthly salary of a second-grade civil servant in the imperial court.
"Cao Min's ability is shallow, His Highness is so complimentary!"
Niu Jinxing is also a very discerning person. The prince is just being polite to him and cannot take the three hundred bowls seriously. He is really a stupider guy than Wang Youde.
"You are not joking. Three hundred bowls of this are worth six taels of silver. We will add up to two hundred taels per month. In addition, we will pay one thousand taels of silver for each person as settling-in expenses. We will first settle them in a separate courtyard and live together, and wait for the three of you." When people find a partner, they can move out of here and live on their own.”
Not counting the settlement fee and extra rewards, raising these three goods requires 7,200 taels of silver per year, which is equivalent to one and a half chief assistants.
But it's not too bad. At least you don't have to think of bad ideas by yourself in the future, and someone will take the blame for you when the time comes. If you think about it this way, it's still a good deal.
"Cao Minkou thanks His Highness for His grace!"
Niu Jinxing never thought that he would be able to see the prince and be reused by the prince in his lifetime, not to mention that the prince would give him such generous treatment.
But he knew the court's embarrassment, and such a large amount of money was not a small amount. The prince said that he still didn't know whether he could get it.
"Okay, Pingshen, I'll give you a seat! Song Xiance, Mr. Song, may I ask how the local situation is in Henan this year?"
Song Xiance was from Henan, and he should have been to many places in the world. He should have a better understanding of the local situation than the censor.
"...Your Majesty, Henan is suffering from drought again this year. The crops have failed, and the red fields are thousands of miles away, and the sky is filled with locusts. The people first feed on fluffy grass, and then eat the bark of the trees. When the bark is peeled off, they are forced to eat He eats stones to satisfy his hunger, and eventually dies of abdominal distension. If a child is alone, there will be no trace when he leaves the city..."
Song Xiance had witnessed the horrors in many places, but he did not dare to speak directly about cannibalism for fear of scaring the young prince. This would be a very serious crime.
"I have long known the suffering of the people. Therefore, I ordered the new Henan Governor Lu Daqi to open warehouses to provide disaster relief after taking office. At the same time, he relocated the affected people and moved the disaster to the seaside. I have told Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, that we will build a warehouse along the coast. A new city was built in the area to accommodate disaster victims, and many mineral deposits were mined to implement a work-for-relief policy. Seven vassal kings and their families in a corner of Henan have been invited to the capital, and will soon move to settle overseas. With the food provided by the vassal state and the imperial court exempting us from all taxes, the local situation will gradually improve."
The worst situation in the northern region is Henan, followed by Shaanxi. After Zuo Maodi, the governor of Shaanxi Province, took office, he immediately reported the local situation. The situation in southern Shaanxi, led by Xinan, was pretty good. When the northern Shaanxi oil field project was officially launched, it would be greatly improved.
The whole territory of Henan was affected by the disaster. Except for a few big cities such as Luoyang and Kaifeng, the situation was almost the same everywhere. Jin Min waited eagerly for Brother Li, the courier, to come and lead them to rebel. If the court didn't take action, it would be equivalent to sitting back and waiting for death.
"Your Highness is wise, Cao Min thanked the Holy Grace on behalf of tens of millions of people in Henan!"
Emperor Chongzhen could not do such a bold thing as moving the feudal vassal. The prince's ability to be eclectic at such a young age must have great courage and courage. Song Xiance naturally admired this feat.
The three-pronged approach of relocating feudal vassals, relocating Min and providing disaster relief may not turn around the situation in Henan immediately, but the disasters in some places should be able to be effectively contained.
Especially taking away all the seven vassal states in Henan can reduce a considerable burden on the people. After this period of time, the days to come will be easier.
"Sir, there is no need to be so polite! Since ancient times, those who win Min's heart will win the world. If Min's heart is unstable, our Ming Dynasty will be unstable. Although I am young, I also know this truth. Now that the disaster has occurred, the court has We should do our best to deal with it. As long as the disaster in Henan enters Shandong and is close to Weishan Lake, the court can provide relief through water transportation, and the people will be considered to have escaped!"
To the southwest of the mountain is Weishan Lake. "Weishan Lake" is another name for the "Four South Lakes". The four lakes are composed of Weishan Lake, Zhaoyang Lake, Dushan Lake and Nanyang Lake, with an area of more than 1,000 square kilometers in later generations. , is the largest freshwater lake in the north.
Now that there is a severe drought, the water area of Weishan Lake may shrink, but it will not completely dry up. Historical records record that in the last few years of the late Ming Dynasty, the annual water transport volume through Weishan Lake still exceeded one million shi, which shows that Weishan Lake is still in normal condition.
As long as Weishan Lake remains, at least the people in eastern Henan will be saved. Arriving at the lake means returning with a life saved. Under the guidance of the local government, it is easy to reach the seaside.
Whether participating in salt drying or mining, there will be work to do, and food and clothing will be guaranteed. A certain prince believes that his plan can save at least a quarter of the people in Henan.
That's it for the imperial court. Most of the tasks fell on Lu Daqi and the local officials. Anyway, the factory guards' knives are ready. Anyone who feels that their neck is itchy should wait for the next wave in autumn... …
"Your Highness, this strategy is practical and exquisite. It is the way to save Wanmin from the king of water and fire!"
In the face of thousands of disasters, only water transportation can be used to pacify the people on a large scale. If it is replaced by horse-drawn carriages to supply food, half of it will be consumed before reaching the destination.
Song Xiance believed that the prince's decision was very correct. The closer to the lake or the waterway, the greater the hope of survival for the people.
