In June, as usual, today’s Jianglai is very hot during the day.
The street in Jinling Fucheng, located in the north of Jianglai, is a lively and extraordinary scene. Various merchants are coming and going on the street. All kinds of fine brocades are placed on the stalls, and cries can be heard everywhere. On the street, ordinary people wear simple and old clothes, and sometimes you can see groups of beggars in certain corners holding broken bowls in their hands, begging everywhere.
Just as the people of Jinling City were shopping happily, the originally hot sun was suddenly blocked by layers of black clouds.
The black clouds were coming fiercely, and it didn't take long for the originally blue sky and white clouds to suddenly cover the very hot sky.
The originally hot air suddenly turned desolate and a bit cold, causing pedestrians walking on the streets of Jinling City to suddenly stop and watch this strange phenomenon.
"Not good! There must be something ominous!"
People along the way were shouting loudly, causing the people around them to look over with doubt.
Before the common people could run away, the yelling person ran away first.
Looking at this celestial phenomenon and noticing the coldness of the air, the people standing on the streets of Jinling Fucheng felt uneasy and at a loss.
After hesitating for a moment, he saw rows of people running down the street over there, all of them very panicked and shouting something.
The people who were nearby ran over together, but only the people who were far away were still standing on the ground, confused.
It wasn't until I got closer that I heard these people shouting: "Run! There's a lot of water!"
After hearing this, the common people who had just been standing on the ground and couldn't hear them ran over and ran towards the South City Gate. The smart ones ran towards the higher mountains, and the stupid ones kept running forward. , as if racing against the water.
The flood quickly swept through the entire Jinling City and washed away from the various cities. The flood destroyed the lush and almost ripe rice. After the flood, Jinling City was like a water city, and the low-lying areas were all turbid and muddy. There was a lot of water, and there were several recently dead bodies lying in the water if you didn't pay attention.
Sweeping by the flood, all the people in Jianglai, known as the land of plenty and the largest harvest of food in the whole country, suddenly had to worry about food and clothing...
The current situation in Jianglai soon spread to the capital.
"For the record, Prime Minister Zuo, I received a letter from Xia Yuansi, the governor of Jianglai today."
After finishing the speech, Lu Xinzhi, the official secretary, wanted to present the letter to the left prime minister.
After seeing the actions of Lu Xinzhi, the Minister of Rites, Su Yunqi, the left prime minister, waved with a worried face: "No need to bring it up, just read what is written in the letter."
"yes."
After responding, Lu Xinzhi, the Minister of Civil Affairs, opened the letter he had already read and read it again: "Xia Yuansi, governor of Jianglai, said: Today, Jianglai was swept by a flood, and crops were destroyed in many places in the northern part of the province. There were heavy casualties, and today, it is reported that Huang Pengchi, the prefect of Jinling, has died, and he is begging the Holy One for judgment."
A letter that was supposed to be delivered to the two prime ministers in the Prime Minister's Mansion, and then handed over to the current emperor for reading depending on whether it was serious or not, was opened in the court.
Those second- and third-rank ministers who relied on the Zuo Prime Minister thought it was nothing. Only those ministers who had not relied on the Zuo Prime Minister, or even never took him seriously, only dared to talk about it in their hearts but did not dare to speak out.
"Prime Minister Zuo, this matter..." Prime Minister Yang Youcheng on the right looked at his benefactor Su Yunqi who was sitting beside him.
If the current emperor were to personally preside over the affairs of the court, these two powerful prime ministers would have to stand and listen. However, the current emperor has not been in court for many years, which makes the two prime ministers quite comfortable.
Su Yunqi, the left prime minister, thought about it for a while, sighed, and said with a look of concern for the country and the people: "Jiang Lai's matter is of great importance. A month ago, Yu Si officials sold off their grain reserves, and Yu The grain stored in the department has long been gone. Now, the only way to talk about the stored grain is to temporarily withdraw it from local grain depots to provide disaster relief."
When the civil and military officials listened to the left prime minister's method, they thought it was good, but there must be disadvantages behind the good.
"Prime Minister Zuo, I think this is not possible."
Changfumi Yan, the right servant of the Ministry of Finance, stood up.
He has an old face, a head of black and white hair, and a slightly chubby figure, which makes people look a little uncomfortable.
"Why not?" Left Prime Minister Su Yunqi was slightly angry.
"Prime Minister Zuo, it is not a bad idea to obtain local grain stocks from various prefectures and counties. The official believes that if this can relieve the disaster in Jiang Lai Province, if disasters occur in other areas in the future, I am afraid that the food in Jiang Lai will be If we don’t collect it, we will be at a loss when it comes to disaster.”
After listening to the words of the Right Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Su Yunqi, the left prime minister, was furious. With his own character, he hated these people who pointed fingers at him the most.
"Be bold!"
The words frightened the right minister of household affairs, Changfumi Yan, to his knees.
Although the Emperor is the most powerful person, and the Prime Minister is the person below this person and above ten thousand people, but now that the Holy Emperor is not here, the two prime ministers in front of him are the only ones who are afraid.
Compared with the two prime ministers, what I fear more is the leftist prime minister, not because of his power, but because of his temper and character.
"Even if it does come then, won't there be any way to provide disaster relief?! How did all the civil and military officials in the dynasty become officials?!" Zuo Xiang said angrily.
Upon hearing this, the right minister of household affairs, Chang Fumihiko, had no choice but to respond: "Yes, yes, yes."
"This time, the disaster in Jiang Lai Province is serious. Someone should be sent to provide disaster relief and appease the people. Who will go and when?" Left Prime Minister Su Yunqi asked.
After hearing this, there was a lot of private discussion among the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty. For a long time, no one recommended himself or introduced him.
After a long discussion, the discussion stopped.
Seeing no one recommending him or recommending himself, the Prime Minister Zuo looked at the faces of the ministers one by one, and suddenly turned towards Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Revenue.
"Cen Shangshu, I wanted to see it. It would be best for you to go."
Upon hearing this, Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs, stood up and said, "Prime Minister Zuo."
"What? You don't want to?" Left Prime Minister Su Yunqi said in a somewhat forced tone.
"no."
"Then if you have any doubts, it's up to you to go." said Zuo Xiang.
Upon hearing this, Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs, had no choice but to stop what he wanted to say and responded: "Yes, I will go down to the official position."
"In this way, we will pack up today and go to Jianglai early tomorrow morning."
"yes."
Listening to the words of the left prime minister and the Minister of Hubu, Yang Youcheng, the right prime minister on the side, asked: "Zuo prime minister, what about the prefect of Jinling City..."
Zuo Xiang thought about the student Yang Youcheng's words and looked at Lu Xinzhi, the Minister of Civil Affairs.
"Lu Shangshu, regarding the matter of Jinling Magistrate, your staff should arrange the candidate as soon as possible and take office immediately."
"yes."
Before the arrival of the new prefect, Jinling City suddenly became almost an unruly city.
Although there are still Tongzhi, Tongpan and others in the magistrate's yamen, without the magistrate, these officials in the magistrate's yamen suddenly seemed to be unconscious.
The people's food supply has not been solved, but the corpses of the people floating in the water outside the city have been dealt with by government officials.
The entire city of Jinling suddenly felt like a water city. The water in the streets and alleys had not been resolved, and no one cared about the lives of the people at all.
"Tongzhi Lu, this... we stay in the Yamen all day long and ignore the people's affairs. If the superiors investigate, we will..."
The person who spoke was the magistrate of the magistrate's yamen. His surname was Xu and his given name was Yuan Kai. Despite his age, he was still as timid as a mouse.
The person sitting on the official hat chair is a fellow magistrate of the prefect's Yamen. His surname is Lu and his given name is Zhuang. He is wearing a purple official uniform and a black hat. He is leaning on the hat chair with his eyes closed and drinking warm wine. Tea. Judging from his appearance, he is a few years older than this general judge.
"What are you afraid of? What do you mean by ignoring the people? Those corpses in the city... aren't they all handled by you and me?"
"Yes Yes Yes."
"The first one is the disaster relief envoy; the second one is the new prefect. What can we do? The only thing we can do now is to ask those government officials to dispose of the corpses."
"What Tongzhi said is absolutely true. Then I will resign first."
After finishing speaking, seeing that Lu Tongzhi didn't say a word, Xu Tongpan walked out.
Due to the sudden flood, which no one could predict in advance, several petty officials in the yamen died, and even the yamen officials lost several of them.
There was not enough manpower in the city, so all the yamen servants were ordered to go and deal with it together.
There are very few people coming and going on the street. Everywhere you can see hungry people, beggars, crying people, and corpses that will have to be disposed of in the future.
Listening to an old and feeble cry, I saw a family of three on the street near the wall of a house.
Two of them cried, and one of them opened his eyes weakly and held on.
What he saw was an old man who was weak and in danger. He had a head of black hair with a few white hairs in it.
Next to her was an older woman who was almost like an old man. Her old face was full of tears, and they were dripping down drop by drop.
On the other side, there was a young boy, about eight or nine years old, with tears in his eyes. From time to time he would say: "Dad, you have to hold on."
But at this moment, the boy's father can no longer hold on. Not to mention he is old, can he hold on without having anything to eat these days and nights?
"Mo... don't cry. Bowen."
"Dad, my son is here." The boy held his father's hand tightly.
"Take good care of...your...mother."
After saying this, I saw the elderly man closing his eyes and falling asleep.
Then, the two men cried loudly, alerting the government officials who were ordered to collect the bodies.
"there!"
"Walk!"
With one word, the two government officials gathered in front of the three people, including the old man who had just left.
"take away!"
After giving the order, the two government officials stepped forward and took the body by force.
"What are you doing? You can't take her away!" the old woman cried.
"We all know that we have a destiny. To avoid the plague, all the dead need to be taken away."
Seeing that the yamen servant was about to take away her wife, whom she had been dependent on for decades, the old woman grabbed her wife's hand and said with tears in her eyes: "Where are you taking him?"
"Why should I tell you?" After speaking, the officer looked at the two corpses: "What are you doing standing there in a daze? Take them away quickly!"
Seeing her husband being taken away, the old woman held on to the body tightly and refused to let go. It wasn't until a long knife from the government servant was placed above the old woman's neck that she let go, hugged her child, and cried.
