Chang Feng made enough preparations before leaving Beijing.
This time when he left Beijing, he selected 300 capable men from Beizhen Fusi to accompany him.
He also found Bai Ang, the Minister of Punishment, to give lectures to him and Sanbaipao Ze.
Bai Ang, fifty-nine years old, is a famous flood control expert in the Ming Dynasty.
Bai Ang was a Jinshi in the first year of Tianshun, and served successively as the Minister of Etiquette to Shizhong and the Doctor of the Ministry of Industry. Later, he served successfully in suppressing the rebellion and was promoted to Minister of War. He was also transferred to the Ministry of Household Affairs to inspect rivers and has considerable political achievements.
Last year he was promoted to the imperial censor of Zuodu. This year he replaced Peng Shao and was transferred to the post of Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice.
In the words of later generations, he was a typical all-round technocrat. Not only does he know how to control floods, he also knows how to fight, and he is an expert in law.
This person is honest and self-reliant. Among Jin Yiwei's private files, the biggest black material about him is that he accepted a hundred liang tribute from a certain prefect of Nanzhili, a good friend from his school days.
During his three years in Hongzhi, he did something earth-shattering.
At that time, he was supervising the construction of the imperial mausoleum in Fengyang and gave a memorial to Emperor Hongzhi.
The general content of this memorial is: You can just mess around with the matter of repairing the tomb of Grandpa Taizu. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to use the extra money for repairing graves to provide relief to the victims?
Grandpa Taizu has a spirit in heaven, and he will praise the emperor that you are a great filial grandson who cares about the people!
Please keep in mind, Your Majesty, that the hunger and cold of the common people is much more important than the tomb of the Emperor's family!
This is a typical disrespectful statement.
After Emperor Hongzhi read the memorial, not only was he not angry, but he even praised Bai Ang as a wise minister. He approved of his memorial and transferred him back to Beijing to entrust him with important tasks.
Although Bai Ang is not yet in his sixties, his health is not very good. Years of patrolling rivers caused his bones to suffer from moisture and he suffered from bone pain. This is also the reason why Emperor Hongzhi did not send him to Shandong to regulate rivers.
Emperor Hongzhi was a benevolent king, and he could not do anything that was easy for him to do but use it to the point of death.
Chang Feng respectfully supported Bai Ang and entered the Fusi lobby of Beizhen.
Bai Ang sat down at the top.
Chang Feng gave an order: "Everyone, please bow to me sir!"
Chang Feng is now in Fusi, Beizhen, keeping his word. With a command from Jun, all the people in robes knelt down like a mountain of gold and jade pillars, "Greetings, sir!"
Bai Ang stroked his beard. He had a sense of humor: "Please get up quickly. It's my first time to be a teacher for a group of Jin Yiwei who arrest, torture and kill people all day long."
"If what I say is not good, please don't take me to prison. If you want to kill me, please leave a whole body."
Chang Feng smiled and said, "Sir, you are funny."
Bai Ang said: "Then let's get started?"
Chang Feng nodded: "Please sir, please give us some advice."
Bai Ang cleared his throat and said something astonishing: "Yesterday morning, the governor of Changzhen said that every liang of the river bank should be used for practical purposes. I almost died laughing."
Chang Feng was stunned: "May I ask, sir, why are you laughing?"
Bai Ang said: "Let's put it this way. If 60% of the river silver is used in practical applications, it is already rare."
"If 80% of it is used for practical purposes, the imperial court should confer a count to Chang Zhenfu! Because you have done something that no one has been able to do since the founding of the country."
Next, Bai Ang explained to everyone the various tricks of the Ming Dynasty water conservancy project.
Civil servants are in charge of water conservancy projects at all levels. The person below leading the civilians to build the embankment was the military attache.
There has always been a saying among civil and military officials in the river that "civilian officials eat grass and military officers eat soil."
The main method of dam construction in the Ming Dynasty was "pigmentation".
"Xi" is an engineering component made of straw, branches, earth and rocks, wrapped with straw mats.
A building formed by connecting multiple ridges is called a ridgework.
Piermen can be used both as bank protection dams and as plugs for breaches. It is the most important flood prevention tool.
A one-foot-wide pot is made of "wood, three grasses and seven". It takes five taels of silver.
The civil servants were in charge of the materials for the construction, and they would either falsely quote the price, or cut corners and change the wood three grass seven to wood one grass nine. This is called "eating grass".
The military attache was in charge of the civilian construction work. Falsifying the amount of earth and rock excavation work and taking the opportunity to defraud the earth and rock silver is called "eating earth".
Bai Ang's teacher Xu Youzhen is a powerful official who wields power. This Xu Shoufu has a low character, is good at maneuvering, and is narrow-minded. Qian was once killed.
But people are not black and white. On the other hand, Xu Youzhen was proficient in water conservancy and was of great benefit to the people.
Xu Youzhen once told Bai Ang during his lifetime: "Hewu buys grass, wood, bamboo, stone, hemp and iron, and works with the people. Everything is shared, and the money is 23/10 of the silver."
Bai Ang was still young at that time. He was puzzled and asked Xu Youzhen: "Sir, what about the remaining seventy-eight percent?"
Xu Youzhen gave a wry smile and explained: "Civil and military officials are extravagant. They eat and drink in social gatherings in the large and small yamen. They are like carps crossing the river when receiving officials. They eat only two or three."
"There are five or six left, from the main hall of the river, to the supervising eunuchs, to the chief of the civil servants, you share some, I share some, pluck the feathers of the geese, pinch the tips and drop the notes."
"The imperial court allocates 10 taels of silver to treat the river. At most, only 23 taels can be used on the river dam."
Bai Ang told Chang Feng and others for three hours. From noon to dusk.
Chang Feng and Pao Ze were very attentive. From time to time, I would write down what Bai Ang said about the strange things about rivers on paper.
Chang Feng asked Bai Ang: "Sir, our Jinyiwei people are not good at checking accounts. I am going to call a hundred accounting clerks from the Ministry of Accounts to accompany me to check the accounts of Shandong River. What do you think?"
Bai Ang waved his hands repeatedly: "Absolutely not. I used to be the Minister of Household Affairs. I know who the scribes under me are."
"The relationship between the scribes and the local government is complicated. If you use them to check the river accounts, you won't be able to find anything. It only enriches these scribes and gives them the opportunity to get gag money."
"You need people who understand accounting. I suggest you hire a group of accountants from small private shops in Beizhili."
Chang Feng raised his hand and said, "Thank you sir for your advice."
All the people in royal robes bowed their hands towards Bai Ang and said, "Thank you, Mr. Sir, for your advice."
Bai Ang joked: "No need to say thank you. It is common for Liubu Hall officials to be in the hands of your Jin Yiwei. If I am thrown into prison one day, I will be grateful if you show mercy to me."
Fatty Xu said, "Look at what Mr. Xu said. How could it be possible?"
This time Fatty Xu, who was in charge of elephant training, also followed Chang Feng to Shandong.
After sending Bai Ang away, Chang Feng discussed with Fatty Xu, Qian Ning and Shi Wenyi.
Chang Feng said: "I have had an idea for a long time. In the past, Jin Yiwei had to borrow people from the Ministry of Accounts for errands involving checking accounts. It was very inconvenient."
"I plan to recruit a group of accountants who are proficient in accounting figures and set up an accounting office in the North Division. They will be responsible for checking the accounts."
Chang Feng said that the functions of the Baihu Office were similar to those of later economic crime investigation offices.
Shi Wenyi said: "When setting up a new base, it seems that we have to report it to Commander Zhu, who will then report it to the Emperor."
Qian Ning interjected: "Commander Zhu is not in the Imperial Guard eight out of ten days now, and has long been idle. I heard from ***'s father that the emperor intends to choose another commander."
"What will he do to repay him for this? Master Chang can just give the emperor a message."
Zhu Ji didn't understand when he was an official. Those below do not support it, and those above do not want to see it. In addition, he is old and suffers from many diseases. In the past two years, I have simply become a hands-off shopkeeper.
Anyway, Chang Feng, the governor of the North Town, and Wang Miaoxin, the governor of the South Town, are both shrewd and capable people. The specific affairs of Jinyiwei are left to the two of them and nothing can go wrong.
Fatty Xu said: "Let me tell you guys, there is now a vacancy in the command post. The commanders are also two junior uncles. If Commander Zhu retires, our Master Chang will most likely take over."
Chang Feng coughed: "Stop talking nonsense. Let's get down to business. Qian Ning, you have three days to find one hundred accountants from private shops. Please come to Jinyiwei."
Qian Ning held up his hands and said, "Yes."
As night fell, Chang Feng returned home.
Father-in-law Liu Bingyi brought a jar of good wine to Chang Feng to practice.
As soon as Chang Feng entered the front yard, he saw a paper funeral crane placed in the yard.
Chang Feng frowned: "What is this unfortunate thing doing in the courtyard? Xiaoyan, whose noble family has passed away, and our family has to mourn?"
Liu Xiaoyan
Explanation: "Where is it? These days, Tangtang has been learning how to make paper rolls from Huang Yuan of Qingsong Coffin Shop."
Chang Feng was a little unhappy: "The dignified Princess Wanping actually likes such unlucky things."
Liu Xiao smiled sweetly and lowered his voice: "I think Tangtang is a drunkard and is not interested in drinking. The way she looks at Huang Yuan is wrong."
Chang Feng was stunned: "You mean..."
Liu Xiaoyan said: "How can you not be pregnant with spring in your cardamom years? It's just that Huang Yuan's background doesn't match Tangtang."
Chang Feng is very open-minded: "You sound like what you said from your father's mouth. Why are you born without family background? I was a good match for you before?"
"Besides, I've met that boy Huang Yuan. He's a motivated scholar. He might be on the gold medal list in the future."
"It's actually a good thing that Tangtang's sweetheart doesn't have a father who is a prostitute in the family."
"If *** children marry our Chang family, they are here because of the current power of our Chang family."
Liu Xiaoyan said: "That's right. My father is here to practice it for you. Go to the dining room quickly."
Chang Feng came to the dining room and the family sat down.
After drinking a few glasses of wine, Liu Bingyi said: "This time you go to Shandong, you will go on a killing spree again."
Chang Feng asked: "Why did Lao Taishan say this?"
Liu Bingyi said: "I used to be the chief envoy. I oversaw the river affairs of the six major rivers in Beizhili. How can any river official not be corrupt?"
"You know Daqinghe, right?"
Chang Feng said: "I know, the source of Daqing River is in Laiyuan. It is a quiet river and floods rarely occur."
Liu Bingyi took a sip of his wine and said, "That's right. Without flooding, the government offices on the Daqing River would have no income."
"In the 20th year of Chenghua, in order to allow the imperial court to control the river, the river officials colluded with the young supervisors to open up the embankments of the Daqing River and create artificial floods."
"The Ministry of Industry sent a doctor to investigate, but in the end nothing came of it."
Chang Feng was shocked: "How dare they create floods just to have money to covet? Isn't this just exchanging people's lives for money?"
Liu Bingyi said: "He Dao official has a saying, how to say it, civil servants eat..."
Chang Feng answered: "Civilian officials eat grass, military officers eat dirt."
Liu Bingyi was surprised: "You also know this?"
Chang Feng replied: "Bai Butang told me today."
Liu Bingyi said: "Anyway. With your temperament, you will definitely start a killing spree when you go to Shandong."
This reminded Chang Feng. During this trip to Shandong, you must take Qian Ning with you. Let him do the killing for the limelight.
Qian Ning works very neatly. Two days later, more than a hundred accountants came to Beizhen Fusi.
All these people were very happy. Qian Ning has already told them to let them work as servants in Jinyiwei.
Chang Feng met these people in the duty room.
Chang Feng said: "Everyone, I am going to set up an accounting office in the Bei Division. But the robes of Jinyiwei are experts at playing with swords. They are amateurs at dialing beads on abacus."
"That's why I invited you here. The positions for the Accounting Department have not yet been approved by the palace. You will go with me to Shandong on business first. Each of you will receive a salary as a captain."
All the accounting gentlemen were delighted.
At this moment, imperial envoy Liu Daxia walked in.
Chang Feng asked all the accounting gentlemen to go down, and asked someone to serve tea to Liu Daxia.
Liu Daxia asked: "How are the preparations? How about we leave Beijing tomorrow?"
Chang Feng immediately agreed: "Okay. Please take care of Liu Duyuan for this errand."
When Liu Daxia went to Shandong, he was awarded the title of right deputy censor of the capital. Therefore, Chang Feng called him "Liu Duyuan".
Liu Daxia said: "You should take good care of me. If you can keep the 500,000 taels of silver allocated by the court to control the river, then half of the success of river control will be achieved!"
Chang Feng asked: "The imperial court allocated five hundred thousand taels this time?"
Liu Daxia nodded: "The emperor attaches great importance to water conservancy. Yesterday, I met you in Qingqing Palace. If the emperor said it is not enough, you can give me a discount to make more."
Chang Feng said: "Don't worry Liu Duyuan. I will definitely do it for you.
The imperial court kept an eye on Heyin. "
The next day, the imperial envoy drove out of Beijing. Flood control in ancient times was a lot like fighting. Therefore, when people leave the capital, they go through Anding Gate for good luck.
Traveling all the way south, ten days later everyone arrived at the breach of the Yellow River, in Yanggu County, Dongchang Prefecture.
Zhang Qiudi is located in Yanggu County.
Liu Daxia discussed with Chang Feng and put on casual clothes first to inspect the water conditions. This saves the local government from showing them only what they want them to see.
It doesn't matter if you don't visit privately. After a private interview on Weibo, Chang Feng and Liu Daxia were dumbfounded!
The emperor's mission to Lu this time was to regulate the river, not to provide disaster relief.
Disaster relief is the responsibility of the local government.
Two years and four months ago, Emperor Hongzhi ordered local officials to stockpile grain. The purpose is to cope with this kind of famine.
It stands to reason that the local officials exploited the people severely that year. While enriching themselves, the official warehouses were also filled to the brim.
Yanggu County should have enough food for disaster relief.
However, Chang Feng and Liu Daxia inspected the area and saw people dying of hunger and wild dogs gnawing on the corpses.
In the wilderness of Anle Township, Yanggu County, Chang Feng saw a dozen victims gathered around a large pot.
Everyone walked over.
Chang Feng asked the victims: "What is boiling in this pot?"
The victim's answer shocked Chang Feng: "Boiled rice and meat. If you want to eat it, you have to exchange it with grain."
Chang Feng lifted the lid of the pot.
The victim hurriedly said: "Hurry up and cover it! It's hard to find this little dry firewood to cook the meat. Don't let the heat escape!"
Liu Daxia and others also vomited after seeing it.
Chang Feng and the others were all paid officials in the capital and had never suffered from hunger.
But the victims have become accustomed to it.
Chang Feng said angrily: "Great Ming Law, Li Zhan! We are from the government! Come on, take them all down for me!"
The victims said confidently: "Why should you take me?"
Chang Feng had only seen it in books before. This time I actually saw it with my own eyes.
Liu Daxia ordered: "Don't take them. They also want to find a way to survive. Otherwise, his son will be replaced in vain."
Liu Daxia asked the victims: "You suffered a disaster, didn't the government open porridge sheds to provide relief?"
The victim replied: "There are six porridge sheds in the county. They cook delicious wheat rice. But the government does not allow the victims outside the city to enter the city at all!"
Chang Feng interjected: "What about the villages outside the city? There are no porridge sheds?"
The victim replied: "There are three porridge shacks in Anle Township. You will know after you go and take a look!"
Chang Feng and others came to the township government office in Anle Township.
As expected, there were three porridge sheds in the township office, each supporting two large pots. The cauldron was steaming.
However, there were thousands of people waiting in line for porridge with broken bowls in hand!
Chang Feng and the accompanying warriors are always strong and healthy. He forced his way through the weak people and came to the porridge shed.
I saw a farmer from the countryside grabbing a handful of wheat with his hands and throwing it into the cauldron.
A handful of wheat makes a big pot! Where is the porridge here? It's clearly water!
Chang Feng grabbed Liang Ding's hand: "Can this pot of water save people's lives?"
Liang Ding was furious: "Who are you? How dare you cause trouble in the porridge?"
Chang Feng showed his badge: "I am the deputy imperial envoy, tell the grain chief in charge of the porridge shed in Anle Township to come here!"
Not long after, the grain manager of Anle Township hurriedly ran to Chang Feng and others.
The grain chief knelt down and kowtowed: "Young man, kowtow to the imperial envoys."
"Bang!" Chang Feng kicked him in the face!
The grain manager grimaced in pain, but he still got up, knelt in front of Chang Feng and kowtowed.
Chang Feng said angrily: "You cook something so clear that you can clearly see people's faces and feed it to the victims? Believe it or not, I stripped you naked, threw you into the pot, and cooked you into rice and meat for the victims to eat?"
The grain chief said: "I'm reporting this to you, the imperial envoy. The county has allocated ten shi of wheat to our village!"
Liu Daxia interjected: "Ten shi of grain is more than 1,600 kilograms. It's not much when boiled into wheat porridge, but it can still kill more than 2,000 disaster victims."
The next words of the grain chief made everyone stunned: "These ten stones of wheat are not a day's relief, but a month's relief!"
Chang Feng was angry: "Only more than fifty kilograms of grain was raised in one day? More than fifty kilograms of grain to help thousands of victims?"
The grain director hurriedly shirks his responsibility: "This imperial envoy is going to ask our county magistrate. The number is determined by him."
In fact, the grain manager is not clean either. Ten shi of grain was allocated, but he greedily took three shi of it. Three stones of grain were distributed to five people. There were only four stones left in the relief food supply in Anle Township.
He also took twenty pounds of wheat and bought a twelve-year-old girl as his concubine.
That's right, a living person is only worth twenty pounds of wheat.
Chang Feng said: "Liu Duyuan, let's go to Yanggu County. I'll pick off the head of the county magistrate!"
Everyone was about to leave the porridge shed and head to the county seat. But they saw that the victims had stoned their horses to death and were fighting over and eating the horse meat alive.
Qian Ning said angrily: "I have to kill some of these daring bastards!"
But Chang Feng stopped him: "Forget it. Twenty horses can save a lot of lives. Let's walk to the county seat!"
The imperial envoy was ordered to go to Yanggu County to control floods. The governor of Shandong, Dusi, Fansi, Zhensi, Dongchang prefect and other leaders have gathered in Yanggu County to meet the imperial envoy.
Nie Cheng, the governor of Shandong, was a close friend of Ge Lao Qiu Jun. Birds of a feather flock together. This Governor Nie is also a rotten scholar.
Chang Feng and others came to Yanggu County Yamen.
Governor Nie and others all knelt down and said, "I respectfully wish you holy peace."
Liu Daxia said: "Honor, Holy Gong. Everyone, please get up!"
Everyone stood up. Chang Feng asked Governor Nie: "There is a tragic situation in Yanggu County where children are exchanged for food. Does Nie Futai know about it?"
Governor Nie had Qiu Jun as his backer, and he was also a frontier official in Shandong. He is not very afraid of Changfeng.
Governor Nie said: "Did the deputy imperial envoy exaggerate? In the prosperous times of the Hongzhi period, how could it be possible to change one's son and end up eating?"
"I have inspected the porridge farms in Yanggu County. All the rice cooked is fragrant. Each disaster victim can receive one pound of wheat rice every day!"
Chang Feng said angrily: "You didn't go out for inspection after entering Yanggu County, right? The wheat rice you mentioned is from the porridge shop in the city!"
"That's just for show! The Yanggu government won't let the victims enter the city at all! In the porridge shop outside the city, thousands of victims are fed ten kilograms of rice for a month!"
"A big pot only boils a handful of wheat!"
Governor Nie belongs to Qiu Jun and is a political enemy of Chang Feng.
He responded tit-for-tat: "Your imperial mission is to control floods. Disaster relief is a matter for our local government in Shandong."
"It doesn't seem like you should worry about where I go to inspect the porridge shop!"
Liu Daxia couldn't stand it anymore: "If we want to control the floods, we must first save the people! If the people are already dead, what's the point of us controlling the floods?"
