Time flies, and January goes by in a blink of an eye.
The late summer is slowly receding, the west wind is gradually blowing, and early autumn has arrived.
Zhu Yuanzhang continued to deal with government affairs during this month, and even Li Jin's affairs were forgotten by him.
On this day, Zhu Yuanzhang was handling memorials in the upper study as usual, and suddenly Liu Bowen hurried in from outside the palace.
"Your Majesty, Jiangnan Road has been hit by a typhoon, and countless houses have collapsed."
"Autumn floods are rising, and countless people are flooded in Yiwu and other places."
"Now tens of thousands of acres of fertile farmland have been destroyed, the people of Yiwu have been displaced, and hundreds of thousands of people are crying for food. Please ask the emperor to send people to provide disaster relief quickly."
"Snapped!"
The memorial in Zhu Yuanzhang's hand suddenly fell to the table. It was obvious that Zhu Yuanzhang was also shocked by Liu Bowen's news.
"Is Yiwu County the most severely affected in the Jiangnan region now?"
There were not no typhoons in previous years, but coastal areas were mostly hit hard.
But I didn't expect that this year's typhoon would cause the rivers in the mainland to rise, flooding the fertile fields in the Jiangnan area.
Now that the autumn harvest is around the corner, most of the people's families have almost eaten the remaining grain. If it is true as Liu Bowen said, then I am afraid that the people in Jiangnan will really starve to death.
"Your Majesty, the river burst its banks in Yiwu County, and now Yiwu County has become a vast ocean."
"Although other prefectures and counties were also affected by the typhoon and many houses collapsed, the local prefectures can handle it."
"But the disaster in Yiwu is so serious. If the court does not provide rescue, I am afraid that many people in Yiwu County will starve to death this year."
Liu Bowen was heartbroken at this moment, and his eyebrows were tightly knitted together.
Zhu Yuanzhang finally understood the seriousness of the matter and was about to speak, but Li Shanchang was outside the door asking to see him.
"Let him in."
After Li Shanchang came in, he saw that Liu Bowen was also there. He knew that he was a step late, but he still bowed and said:
"Your Majesty, Yiwu County is affected by the disaster. Please come to your Majesty to help the victims."
"Shan Chang, why are you here so late? Liu Bowen told us just now."
Zhu Yuanzhang also had a serious face and said:
"I think you might as well let Liu Bowen do it for you."
Li Shanchang's heart suddenly flashed. He didn't know whether Zhu Yuanzhang was telling the truth, but no matter what, Li Shanchang still bowed and apologized:
"I am guilty and should not be so negligent. I am indeed not as diligent as Bowen."
After saying that, he glanced at Liu Bowen vaguely.
This is what Zhu Yuanzhang wants. He wants these two people to constantly fight so that he can control the overall situation as the emperor.
"Okay, stop talking nonsense and call the Minister of Household Affairs over here quickly. We need to discuss disaster relief matters as soon as possible."
"Your Majesty, you have already accused the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance. The position of the Minister of the Ministry of Finance is still unresolved."
At this time, Li Shanchang quickly brought up Fan Min's matter, hoping that Zhu Yuanzhang would be merciful and spare Fan Min's life.
But Zhu Yuanzhang said directly:
"Then call us Lu Chang, the minister of the Ministry of household affairs, and ask him to temporarily serve as the minister of the Ministry of household affairs and come to discuss it."
Zhu Yuanzhang then asked the guards in front of the palace to call the newly appointed Hubu Shangshu Lu Chang.
Lu Chang was originally an official in the Yuan Dynasty and was considered to be of outstanding ability.
An official from the Ministry of Household Affairs who was sent to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang to surrender to the Yuan Dynasty was persuaded by Zhu Yuanzhang to rebel against Zhu Yuanzhang.
Lu Chang himself did not belong to any faction, and he worked diligently, so he was promoted quickly.
But because he did not belong to any faction, Lu Chang failed to take the position of Minister of Household Affairs even though he was outstanding in ability.
Now that Fan Min, the Minister of Household Affairs, has fallen, Zhu Yuanzhang has promoted someone who is not from the Huaixi Group. The signals are intriguing.
I'm afraid that after Li Shanchang goes home tonight, he won't be able to sleep again.
Under the urging of the guards, Lu Chang quickly came to the study room.
After everyone had arrived, Zhu Yuanzhang went straight to the point:
"Lv Chang, do you know about the disaster in Yiwu County in the south of the Yangtze River?"
"Wei Chen knows that he has discussed it with the Ministry of Household Affairs and plans to spend 300,000 taels of silver to provide disaster relief to Yiwu County."
It was Lu Chang's first time to participate in such a high-level meeting, but he seemed calm and unhurried, as if he had been prepared for it.
Seeing Lu Chang's performance, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly, feeling that Lu Chang did not disappoint him.
But when he heard the price of three hundred thousand taels of silver, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly.
Lu Chang thought that Zhu Yuanzhang thought that too much money was spent, so he hurriedly said:
"Your Majesty, this is already the minimum budget. Basically all the fertile farmland in Yiwu County has been submerged."
"The people have lost their lives and can only be displaced."
"If we want the people to survive, the court must be prepared to provide relief for a long time, at least three months."
"Yiwu County is a top-level county in the south of the Yangtze River. It has at least more than 100,000 people. Calculating this, 300,000 taels can only barely support it."
"You misunderstood us. Of course we know the situation of the people suffering from the disaster."
"The reason why we are frowning is because we feel that three hundred thousand taels of silver may not be enough. In this case, many people in Yiwu County will starve to death?"
Seeing Lu Chang's constant explanations, Zhu Yuanzhang knew that he had misunderstood him.
"We think we should add another 300,000 taels, so that Yiwu County can survive this disaster without starving to death."
Unexpectedly, as soon as Zhu Yuanzhang said this, Li Shanchang jumped out and objected:
"It is absolutely impossible to take the position. Now the imperial government's finances are already stretched thin. Not to mention the extra 300,000 taels, even the 300,000 taels have to be diverted from other budgets."
"If we add these three hundred thousand taels, I'm afraid many things this year will be delayed."
"Even the plan to conquer Yunnan and other places will be in vain."
Liu Bowen frowned slightly and objected:
"If we can't go south this year, we'll go next year."
"The army can wait, but can the people of Yiwu wait? They are now in dire straits and are waiting for the court to rescue them."
"How could the imperial court give up on disaster relief just because there was no money?"
"Master Liu, you must also be considerate of the court's difficulties."
Li Shanchang looked at Liu Bowen with blame on his face, as if he thought Liu Bowen was ignorant.
Liu Bowen responded tit for tat and said loudly:
"I can sympathize with the court, but does Li Xiang think those victims who are about to starve to death can sympathize with the court?"
Seeing the two arguing endlessly, Zhu Yuanzhang was happy to see this, but this was not the time to watch the fun, so he immediately interrupted:
"Okay, stop arguing."
"Of course we have a solution at this time. Just as Lu Chang said, the Ministry of Revenue immediately allocated 300,000 taels of silver and rushed to Yiwu."
"Let's find a way to save the remaining money."
Li Shanchang and the others were a little surprised when they heard this. Could it be that the emperor wanted to use his own money to provide disaster relief for the people?
Thinking of this, the three of them bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang and said:
"According to the order."
Liu Bowen continued:
"Your Majesty, I will immediately arrange for the censor to supervise this matter, and we will never allow this money to be embezzled."
These are life-saving money, and Liu Bowen will never allow anyone to dare to reach out.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said:
"We already have a candidate, please step aside."
"He will never let us down, and he has a lot of money."
The three of them left the study room without knowing why. They didn't know who the emperor was talking about. He was so capable that the emperor trusted him so much.
