Governor Nie believed that he had the capital to be tough in front of Jin Yiwei.
Not only because he was one of the great masters of Neo-Confucianism in the Ming Dynasty and had a backer in the cabinet.
Also because he is honest.
I am not greedy for money, not lustful, and do not seek profit. I only strive for a clean reputation in my life. What can Jin Yiwei do to me?
Besides, in which dynasties and generations did the Yellow River burst without death? Those who died were just illiterate common people, not the gentry or scholars.
The common people, hey, what do the common people count? People who are illiterate and unable to read are not worthy of being human at all in my eyes.
Governor Nie’s thoughts are just like what Laozi said: Heaven and earth are unkind and regard all things as stupid dogs. The saint is unkind and treats the common people as stupid dogs.
Although Governor Nie was not a saint, he claimed to be a student of the saint.
Liu Daxia said, "If you want to control floods, you must first save the people."
Governor Nie disagreed: "Your Majesty asked two imperial envoys to control the flood. Disaster relief is the business of my Shandong government!"
"Don't forget, I am also an imperial envoy!"
Governor Nie is really an imperial envoy.
In the Ming Dynasty, local officials at the provincial level only included three divisions, namely the chief envoy, the inspector-general, and the general commander-in-chief.
Although the governor was actually a feudal official, in name he was the emperor's imperial envoy stationed in the place.
Chang Feng became a little impatient: "Who is the magistrate of Yanggu County? Get out!"
An acquaintance came to Chang Feng!
The county magistrate turned out to be Huang Zhongren, the Yayuan of Beizhili Township Examination in the same year as Chang Feng! The younger brother of the great upright official Huang Boren!
Chang Feng was stunned: "Huang Zhongren? Is it you?"
Huang Zhongren said cautiously: "Ah, Brother Chang Nian. At the Shuntian Prefecture's Deer Ming Banquet, I didn't know Brother Chang Nian's identity and I bumped into Brother Chang Nian. I regretted it."
Chang Feng was a little surprised: "I remember that during the two examinations, your name was not even on the apricot list. A candidate became a county magistrate in just a few years?"
The selection of officials in the Ming Dynasty placed great emphasis on family background. Usually, people who participate in the competition are awarded positions such as county magistrate, chief registrar, and official. It takes ten or twenty years of work to be promoted to a county official.
And this also requires the candidate to have a background, know-how, and be able to do things.
Huang Zhongren lowered his voice: "Back to Brother Changnian. The godfather of the lower official is Bingbi Li Guang, the Superintendent of Ceremonies."
Chang Feng suddenly realized! It turned out that he was hugging Li Guang’s thick legs.
Among the three giants of the Bureau of Ceremonies, Li Guang is the most dishonest.
Relying on Queen Zhang's favor, he has been aggressively placing cronies in local areas in recent years. Yan Guan often participated in the impeachment.
But the biggest problem of Emperor Hongzhi was that he doted on his wife and loved his house.
Emperor Hongzhi turned a blind eye to all the impeachment reports involving Li Guang.
Chang Feng sneered: "You prided yourself on your talent back then. How could you recognize the eunuch as your godfather?"
Governor Nie doesn't know how to do things, but he knows how to be an official. One of the secrets of being an official is to protect your subordinates in front of outsiders and win the support of your subordinates.
Although Huang Zhongren's official position is low, he is a local official in Shandong. Governor Nie naturally wanted to protect him.
Huang Zhongren said nothing.
Governor Nie spoke for him: "This is what the deputy imperial envoy said. As far as I know, in the 23rd year of Chenghua, you recognized Eunuch Huaien as your godfather."
"You are demeaning Magistrate Huang by saying this now. Doesn't it mean that only the state officials are allowed to set fires, but the people are not allowed to light lamps?"
Chang Feng said: "Okay! Let's not talk about the marriage. There are thousands of victims in Ping'an Township. You only allocated ten stones of relief food for a month. Is there such a thing?"
Huang Zhongren panicked: "This, this. The Yanggu County official warehouse is empty, and the flood is coming quickly. I have no choice but to..."
Chang Feng said: "Fart! In the third year of Hongzhi, the emperor ordered the prefectures and counties to stockpile grain to cope with the disaster. The official warehouses all over the world are full. Why do you say that the official warehouses are empty after two years and four months have passed?"
Huang Zhongren said: "Xiaguan has only been in office for a year and a half. When he took office, the official warehouse was empty. This is a shortfall caused by his predecessor!"
There is an unspoken rule in officialdom: current officials do not look for blame from previous officials. Everyone has to leave their post and be transferred one day. The shortfall left by the officials will be taken over by the common people. Why bother looking for the back account?
But at this moment, Chang Tufu of Jinyiwei was eyeing Huang Zhongren. In panic, Huang Zhongren could only blame his ex.
In fact, the official warehouse of Yanggu County has 5,000 shi of grain in its books. Before Huang Zhongren took office, the previous magistrate embezzled two thousand stones.
The remaining three thousand stones were sold out by Huang Zhongren within a year and a half and exchanged for silver. While he was enriching himself, he devoted half of his money to his godfather Li Guang.
As Huang Zhongren's brother Huang Boren said at the beginning: The emperor's original intention of ordering localities to stockpile grain was good. But in a disaster year, the food hoarded cannot be eaten by the victims!
Chang Feng witnessed the people exchanging their sons for food, and was angered by Governor Nie, a rotten scholar. He has had murderous thoughts and wants to kill people to establish his authority.
Only with the power of imperial envoys will local officials in Shandong fear them and help them wholeheartedly to save people and control floods.
Chang Feng said angrily: "Huang Zhongren, the people of Yanggu exchanged their children for food. This was witnessed by the imperial envoy, deputy envoys and attachés. Such a shocking thing happened under your rule. What crime should I punish you for?"
After saying this, Chang Feng winked at Qian Ning.
Over the years, Qian Ning has already tasted it. He knew in his heart that Chang Feng regarded him as a murderous knife.
But Qian Ning didn't care. Killing can establish authority and power. He wished Chang Feng could use him as a sword!
Qian Ning answered: "Master Chang, Huang Zhongren deserves to be punished for his crime!"
Huang Zhongren was dumbfounded: "Master *** is Li Guang and Eunuch Li. He doesn't look at the monk's face to look at the Buddha's face..."
Qian Ning said angrily: "Do you know who I am?"
Huang Zhongren asked: "Who are you?"
Qian Ning said: "Remember! I am the Jin Yiwei who inspects Qian Ning of thousands of households! ***Dad is the Chief of the Ceremony Supervisor Bing Qian Neng!"
After saying that, Qian Ning took out his waist knife.
Governor Nie became anxious: "How can an official of the imperial court kill without permission? Come on, please order the flag!"
The local governor has a royal order flag issued by the emperor, which is similar to the sword of Shangfang in the play. It can represent the emperor to act cheaply in the local area. It can kill people and protect people.
Governor Nie wanted to use the Wangming flag to protect Huang Zhongren's life.
Who would have thought that as soon as he finished speaking, Qian Ning's knife had already pierced Huang Zhongren's neck.
"Bah!" Huang Zhongren's blood splashed all over the floor.
Governor Nie was stunned.
Qian Ning shouted at the top of his lungs: "Whoever doesn't take the people seriously, this is what will happen!"
"A seventh-grade official is just an egg! Even if Jinyiwei kills a third- or fourth-grade official, it's still as easy as shaking an egg to scatter the yellow!"
"Remember, my name is Qian Ning! Whoever dares to disobey Liu Duyuan and Master Chang will be the first to refuse mercy! Huang Zhongren will be the end result!"
Governor Nie, a rotten scholar, had never seen such a bloody scene before?
He was shocked and angry, and even stuttered when he spoke: "Qian Ning, I want to help you kill local officials indiscriminately!"
Qian Ning sneered: "Hey, you can participate as you like! You think I haven't done enough merit in front of the emperor, so help me repay my merit!"
Governor Nie looked at Liu Daxia: "Liu Daxia, Qian Ning is your attendant. Don't you care if he kills innocent people indiscriminately?"
Liu Daxia smiled slightly: "Only Chang Zhenfu can control the people of Jinyiwei."
Chang Feng sang a double act with Liu Daxia: "Only Eunuch Qian can take care of Eunuch Qian's adopted son Gan'er."
Governor Nie said angrily: "Okay! Okay! Listen carefully to me. As soon as you arrive in Shandong, you will kill the local officials. I will help you!"
"Besides, I don't associate with bloody butchers! The Shandong government is only responsible for disaster relief! It's up to you to control the floods!"
After saying this, Governor Nie shouted: "Officials from all three departments should follow me back to Jinan!"
Governor Nie is making a statement: Don’t expect our Shandong government to help you control the floods.
After Governor Nie left, Liu Daxia said: "Just leave. I don't expect a rotten scholar to help me save the people and control the floods."
Chang Feng echoed: "He wants to join us. I want to join him too!"
Everyone entered the Yanggu County Yamen. Yanggu County Yamen was regarded as the imperial envoy's headquarters.
Chang Feng immediately wrote a note, a letter.
The excerpt was given to Emperor Hongzhi to impeach Nie Cheng, the governor of Shandong.
At the end of the excerpt, Chang Feng wrote two sentences. These two sentences are like two knives: "To change one's son to eat something should not happen in the prosperous era of Hongzhi."
"During the prosperous times, people in Luxi were starved to death. It was the fault of Nie Cheng, the herdsman of Heaven!"
The letter was written to Huang Boren, the prefect of Laizhou, Shandong. After all, Chang Feng had a personal relationship with Huang Boren. If you kill someone's younger brother, you always have to explain.
The next day, Chang Feng sent his warriors and accounting clerks to count the number of victims in thirteen counties along the river and estimate the amount of food needed for disaster relief.
Two days later, the rough estimate of the number was completed. The food required is 250,000 shi.
But the official warehouses in various prefectures and counties in western Shandong are empty.
Nie Cheng was angry with Chang Feng and Liu Daxia. In the name of preventing Japanese pirates from hoarding military grain, he ordered not to transfer a grain of grain from the official warehouses of the feudal lords and Ludong Prefecture to the affected counties.
In the lobby of Yanggu County.
Chang Feng discussed with Liu Daxia: "The disaster is like a fire. We must find food to save the lives of the victims first. We can put aside the issue of flood control first."
Liu Daxia said: "Yes. We must hurry up and look for food in Shandong. Who has food?"
Chang Feng said: "Of course he is a gentry. The biggest gentry in Shandong is Yan Shenggong Kong Hongtai. We are close friends with him, so we will write to him and persuade him to donate grain and transport it to Western Shandong!"
Chang Feng wrote a letter to borrow grain and sent Shi Wenyi to ride a fast horse to Qufu.
After receiving the letter, Kong Hongtai readily agreed. The Kong family, which owns millions of acres of land, is indeed very wealthy. He can come up with 100,000 shi of grain storage.
However, this batch of food was burned!
The people who set the fire were thousands of members of the Kong family!
The Kong family members opposed Kong Hongtai's donation of grain. The reason is very good: the land granted by the royal family in the past dynasties was for learning. For scholars in Shandong to study.
The food of our Confucius family is worthy of eating by scholars, but not by ordinary people.
Kong Hongtai, the head of the family, had fierce conflicts with the Qian clan members.
The tribesmen think: Although you are the head of the Kong family. But the food is not your own. Belongs to the whole clan.
The tribesmen did not stop doing anything, and directly set fire to the granary where they stored food.
Even if it is burned, the food of the Kong family will not be eaten by those mud-legged people!
Sixteen million kilograms of grain caught fire. The fire burned for two days and one night.
These filial sons and grandsons of Saint Confucius were so ruthless that they even dared to burn the Confucius Temple enshrining the ancestral tablets (in the twelfth year of Hongzhi), let alone food?
Yanggu County lobby.
Shi Wenyi ran in angrily and reported the news to Liu Daxia and Chang Feng.
Chang Feng was surprised when he heard this: "Burn? Are the Kong family members cold-blooded beasts? Have all their books been read into the stomachs of dogs?"
Shi Wenyi said: "The Kong family's warehouse was completely burned down. Duke Yansheng was also at a loss to do anything."
Fatty Xu interjected: "Damn! If you dare to burn the people's life-saving food, I will take people to Qufu and arrest hundreds of his people."
But Liu Daxia waved his hand: "What they are burning is private food, not official food. Moreover, this is an internal conflict within the Kong family. Although the Jin Yiwei are the emperor's slaves, they cannot interfere in the affairs of the Kong family."
Chang Feng fell into confusion: "Liu Duyuan. How could things become like this?"
"Local officials in Shandong treat ordinary people like cattle and horses. They are left to fend for themselves."
"The descendants of Saint Kong also treat the common people as cattle and horses. They would rather burn the food than give it to the victims."
"The gentry in Shandong are like iron roosters. They take advantage of the disaster years to buy the victims' fields at low prices as private property, and buy the victims' daughters as playthings. They just refuse to donate to provide relief."
"This damn thing happened in the land of Confucius and Mencius, the land of etiquette!"
"What's the use of reading the books of Confucius and Mencius? What should be burned is not the food, but the Four Books and Five Classics!"
"The Ming Dynasty shouldn't be like this!"
Liu Daxia comforted Chang Feng: "There are always officials and scholars with unyielding consciences all over the world. We cannot generalize them."
At this moment, Qian Ning ran in anxiously: "Master Chang, Huang Boren, the prefect of Laizhou, has entered Yanggu County!"
Chang Feng asked: "He is here to give his brother
Was Huang Zhongren the one who collected the corpse? Give him the body back. I've always had some kind of friendship with him. "
Qian Ning said, "Mr. Chang, Huang Boren is here to deliver food! The fleet of food transporters stretched out for two miles! He also transported hundreds of cars of sea salt!"
Chang Feng was surprised: "Let's go. Let's go to the city gate to greet him!"
Everyone came to the city gate.
Chang Feng saw Huang Boren, who was fat, bloated and panting.
Huang Boren did not wear official uniform, but wore a commoner.
Chang Feng held Huang Boren's hand: "Brother Huang!"
Huang Boren said: "Sir, this time Laizhou Prefecture has brought 70,000 shi of official grain and 3,000 shi of official salt to help the victims in Western Shandong."
"In addition, I discussed with the gold mine supervision eunuch Gao Fenggao. Last month, the two gold mines of Jiaojia and Jincheng in Laizhou produced 600 taels of gold. They will not be handed over to the court for the time being. They will be brought together to provide relief to the victims."
Laizhou is a land of fish and rice, rich in fish and salt, and is rich in gold. It is a famous wealthy city in Shandong.
During his tenure, Huang Boren was an upright and honest official, and managed Laizhou Prefecture with great vitality and prosperity.
Laizhou Prefecture's warehouses are full of grain and salt. Able to provide relief to the disaster-stricken areas in western Shandong.
However, Nie Cheng, the governor of Shandong, strictly ordered the governments in eastern Shandong not to transfer grain to western Shandong. Governor Nie is Huang Boren's immediate boss. Huang Boren will lose his virginity if he does this.
The supervision of Daming Gold Mine is extremely strict. Misappropriating gold from gold mines will make Huang Boren and eunuch Gao Feng lose their heads.
In order to help the victims who were crying for food, the fat man Huang Boren risked his life!
Huang Boren was born timid, and when he first saw Jin Yiwei, he was immediately frightened and suffered from chest paralysis.
But this time, for the sake of the people, he had the courage to swallow the sky!
Liu Daxia lamented: "Prefect Huang, you are risking your own life for the livelihood of the victims!"
Huang Boren's answer was shocking: "It is the duty of an official to save the people from fire and water, and to save them from hanging upside down. Even if you are beheaded, what regrets will there be in Ling Chi?"
Chang Feng lamented: "If the officials and scholars of the Ming Dynasty were as broad-minded as Brother Huang, why would the world be worried about instability? How could there be a tragedy like changing children and eating them?"
Qian Ning on the side felt a little guilty: "Prefect Huang. I killed your second brother..."
Huang Boren waved his hand: "Don't mention this matter! He brought it upon himself. I don't have a brother like him!"
"I heard that the governor of Shandong and the three divisions jointly participated in the impeachment of Jin Yiwei for indiscriminate killing. This letter can clear your name."
After speaking, Huang Boren took out a letter.
This letter was written to him by his younger brother Huang Zhongren.
The content of the letter is that the younger brother laughs at his elder brother for being pedantic. Guarding the wealthy land of Laizhou and living a hard life.
Huang Zhongren was quite proud to teach his brother how to make money.
Taxes are divided into court taxes and local miscellaneous taxes. Similar to the national tax and local tax in later generations.
Huang Zhongren said that he had organized bucket boat donation, chestnut row donation, county donation, mountain product donation, school building donation, leather goods donation, medicine donation, theater donation, animal slaughter donation, oil pressing donation, charcoal scale donation, and manure donation in Yanggu County. , urine donation... thirty-eight hours of miscellaneous donation. Make a lot of money.
He asked his brother to learn from him and make tens of thousands of taels of snowflake silver from him when he was appointed as the magistrate of Laizhou.
Chang Feng took the letter and looked at it generally.
Huang Boren said: "Send the letter that beast wrote to me to the court, and it will prove that he deserves to be killed! It will clear Jin Yiwei of the charge of indiscriminate killing of local officials."
Chang Tu, who was famous in Beijing, was moved to tears at this moment.
He is upright and upright, he is honest and self-defeating, and he does not hesitate to sacrifice his life to save the people. It would be great if there were more officials like this!
Everyone entered the Yanggu County Hall.
Liu Daxia said: "Although Laizhou has shipped 70,000 shi of official grain, the shortfall in disaster relief food is still 180,000 shi."
"It will take some time for the imperial court to dispatch food relief. I think this is how we should first use the special funds for flood control to use 150,000 taels to purchase food in neighboring provinces."
Huang Boren answered: "The six hundred taels of gold I brought will also be used to buy grain!"
Qian Ning raised an objection: "Master Liu, as far as I know, the imperial court's allocations have always been earmarked for special purposes. The earmarked funds for flood control have been misappropriated.
Disaster relief, I’m afraid..."
Liu Daxia said: "Prefect Huang is not the only official who is willing to sacrifice his head to save the victims! There is also me, Liu Daxia!"
Chang Feng said seriously: "And me!"
The robes of the Jin Yiwei all echoed: "There are more!"
Liu Daxia wrote a pamphlet explaining the reasons for the misappropriation of special funds for flood control. Chang Feng, Fatty Xu, Qian Ning, Shi Wenyi, and a group of Jinyi Weipao Ze all signed their names on the pamphlet.
After hundreds of signatures were written, Chang Feng said: "Everyone, in this disaster relief and flood control, let's advance and retreat together, and share the hardships together!"
"Everyone in the court says that Jin Yiwei is a group of butchers who only know how to kill people. This time, we have to show them that Jin Yiwei's butchers have more conscience than they who talk about benevolence, justice and morality!"
Everyone took action that day.
The accounting gentlemen of Jinyiwei's newly established Accounting Office were arranged by Chang Feng to go to various provinces to buy grain.
On the other hand, Chang Feng dispatched Laizhou official grain to various porridge restaurants in the disaster area. Cook wheat porridge thick enough to insert chopsticks into to help the victims.
The warriors patrolled various porridges. As long as the grain chief, shed chief, or grain servant is found to be corrupt, they will be beheaded immediately.
The main hall of Qianqing Palace.
Emperor Hongzhi read the two memorials sent by Chang Feng and others in front of the three elders of the cabinet.
After reading it, Emperor Hongzhi Long Yan was furious. He directly smashed Tong Qing to the ground!
This time it's not a fall, but a smash!
"Changing children to eat food should not occur in the prosperous era of Hongzhi."
"During the prosperous times, people in Luxi were starved to death. It was the fault of Nie Cheng, the herdsman of Heaven!"
These two lines of words were like two knives thrust into Emperor Hongzhi's heart.
Emperor Hongzhi threw the two memorials to the ground: "Take a look!"
Xu Pu, Liu Jian, and Qiu Jun picked up the notes and circulated them.
Qiu Jun hesitated: "This, this. Your Majesty, Chang Feng dared to write such treasonous and unethical words at the end of the book. He should be executed for his crime!"
"Liu Daxia misappropriated funds earmarked for flood control and should be dismissed from his post and investigated."
Emperor Hongzhi said angrily: "Fart! What are Chang and Liu guilty of? The fault lies with Nie Cheng!"
"Qiu Jun, is this the governor of Shandong you recommended to me?"
"The cabinet has issued a decree. Nie Cheng, the governor of Shandong, regards the people of Li as a piece of grass. The failure in disaster relief has led to starvation all over the land. He is to be executed!"
"Fortunately, there is still a good official in Shandong! I ordered Huang Boren, the magistrate of Laizhou, to assume the power of governor on his behalf! He will be given the title of Minister of War!"
"They say I am a benevolent king! I am going to kill you this time!"
"I am passing on my oral instructions to Chang Feng. Anyone who obstructs disaster relief and flood control, or is greedy for money, food relief, or river money, from the third division to the officials, Chang Feng can kill them first and then report them!"
"In addition, the Ministry of Household Affairs is ordered to immediately allocate money and food to the disaster-stricken areas in western Shandong!"
