Four years!
Everyone present was shocked, and the inspector Chen Ying shook his head repeatedly. Even Geng Bingwen thought Song Li was exaggerating.
Kong Ne's lips were a little dry and he stared at Song Li with a slight movement at the corner of his mouth: "Master Song, are you joking? There are more than 450 miles of Huihe River. Although only one-third is silted up, it should be noted that other rivers also need to be widened. If we dig deep, there are no old channels in the river for more than a hundred miles, so manual excavation will be time-consuming and labor-intensive, and four years is too short!"
Zheng Gang, the prefect of Yanzhou, couldn't hold himself back. The main construction site of Huitonghe is within Yanzhou Prefecture. If we pursue the progress of the project too much and fail to consider the actual situation, the following situation may occur:
The imperial court urged the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Works urged the Yanzhou Prefecture, and the Yanzhou Prefecture urged the craftsmen and migrant workers. Who would the craftsmen and migrant workers urge?
They can only work overtime and rush to work day and night. This process is likely to be exhausting and cause riots.
At that time, the first unlucky people were Yanzhou officials.
Reducing six years to four years is too radical.
Zheng Gang stood up, looked at Song Li seriously, and asked, "Sir, can you consider the issue of long-term and short-term workers?"
In fact, the construction of rivers in ancient times is definitely not like what is shown in TV dramas. Hundreds of thousands of people play in the mud in the river all year round. The rulers are not stupid. They know that crops need to be planted in spring, and there are busy times in summer and autumn. Therefore, work such as repairing river embankments is usually arranged after the autumn harvest, especially in winter, when people perform corvee work most frequently. In addition, winter is the dry season, which is more suitable for this work.
Is it freezing cold?
Just dig out the top layer of soil and it'll be fine.
However, in ordinary years, most of them are small-scale corvee work. For example, the county town recruits a few hundred people to build a pool, and the state capital recruits a thousand people to dig a ditch. For example, it was the first time in the early Ming Dynasty that hundreds of thousands of migrant workers repaired the river.
In order not to delay agricultural work and ensure the progress of dredging the Huitong River, the imperial court adopted a combination of long-term and short-term workers in recruiting migrant workers, with a total of 60,000 long-term workers and 240,000 short-term workers.
During the summer and autumn harvests, these day laborers need to return home to farm.
Judging from this, for a few months every year, only 60,000 migrant workers are dredging the Huitong River. Even if there is a group of short-term workers left, there will only be a few hundred thousand people at most.
With fewer people, the progress of the project will naturally slow down.
Facing Zheng Gang's inquiry, Song Li replied seriously: "Of course I have considered it. If the north and south cannot be unblocked in four years, I, Song Li, will resign!"
For this reason, it is not easy for others to argue.
Song Li bet on his official career and destiny. As the first person in charge, he knew how heavy the burden was and how difficult the problem was. However, he was still willing to believe in the so-called "merit system" and delegate power to craftsmen and migrant workers. So what should we do? What can be said?
Chen Ying thought for a long time and finally said: "Okay, if this is the case, a detailed construction plan needs to be formulated."
Song Li calmly raised his hand, and Lin Fang, who was behind him, took a long scroll and unfolded it with the magistrate's subordinates.
On the top side of the scroll, it reads: Huitonghe Four-Year Plan.
Below it is a plan for each year. The entire project is divided into three steps. The basic strategy is to gnaw the hard nut first and dig the river channel, then dredge the old river channel that can be used, and finally widen the north and south river channels.
The thorough planning and clear arrangements are amazing.
Song Li couldn't help but sigh when he looked at this plan. This planning thinking and approach is based on the five-year plan for concrete infrastructure and was developed after several revisions.
But Zhu Yunwen’s evaluation is just:
Not satisfactory.
This can only be regarded as a qualified evaluation, but Song Li also knows that compared to the five-year plan for concrete infrastructure, his own plan is really insignificant.
"Everyone, this is the first year of the four-year plan, and the initial focus will be on digging new river channels..."
Song Li began to introduce, his bright eyes full of expectation.
It can be said that the Rencheng Meeting determined the construction methods, schedule arrangements, labor allocation, material transportation, and related functions of the Huitong River dredging project... and laid the foundation for the success of the entire project.
The four-year-long Huitong River dredging project officially kicked off today.
Since then, both the Shandong Chief Envoy and the Inspectorate, as well as officials from the Yanzhou Prefecture, as well as personnel from the Prince Lu's Palace and Duke Yansheng's Palace, have dispatched capable personnel to the river embankment.
The emergence of the performance system has completely stimulated the enthusiasm of the people and craftsmen.
They don't understand what performance is, but they can understand that the government doesn't care how you work, but it needs you to do it well. As long as it's good and fast, you'll get more money.
The common people and craftsmen spontaneously elect foremen. If no one is literate, they can find someone from the government to serve as a workkeeper, who will reconcile the accounts every day and issue money on site every month.
Considering that these people had been working and the money was not safe anywhere, the Ministry of Industry persuaded the court to set up dozens of small temporary royal central banks along the river embankment.
People can deposit money into the bank, and they can entrust the bank to deliver the money to their family members, or they can withdraw it all at once and take the money home when they leave.
The Royal Central Bank is protected by the reputation of the royal family. People do not believe in the government, but they believe in the emperor.
Simple people believe that if they put their money in a bank now, they are putting their money in the emperor's treasury, and safety will not be a problem.
Capital.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Song Li's memorial and frowned slightly.
Zheng Ci, the Minister of Industry, and Bao Zhao, the Minister of Punishment, squinted their eyes and waited for Zhu Yunwen to speak.
Zhu Yunwen looked at a list of names and counted them carefully. There were twenty-three people. He couldn't help but sigh: "There were so many corrupt people when the river was opened. If we don't take a heavy blow, I'm afraid we will lose it." He has manipulated people's hearts and condoned evil deeds."
Bao Zhao echoed: "I believe that this matter cannot be treated as normal and should be punished with the death penalty to deter corrupt officials!"
Zhu Yunwen also knew that no matter whether he followed the strict "Da Ming Law" or looked through the cases in "Da Gao", these corrupt officials would have no way to survive.
From a personal emotional point of view, Zhu Yunwen also hopes that these corrupt officials will be cut into pieces and executed in Lingchi.
However, is it a little too serious to lose your life after greedy for a few taels or more than a dozen taels of silver?
In future generations, ten taels of silver would only amount to seven or eight thousand yuan at most, certainly not more than ten thousand. I have never heard of any judicial authority giving a death sentence to this amount of corruption. On the contrary, some guys who embezzled tens of billions, The sentence was only a few decades.
Although the Ming Dynasty did not need to talk so much about "rule of law" and "humanity", it was more or less twenty lives, and behind it were more than twenty families.
If you are more bloody and hot-blooded, it will be easy to kill someone, all it takes is one sentence.
But is the result of this really good?
Zhu Yuanzhang's method of combating corruption is just one word:
kill. After twenty or thirty years of killing, there were still mountains of people killed, but not much results were achieved.
Although he re-determined the treatment of officials, it also affected the officials' property. Their gains may not be as much as their losses. In order to enjoy more, some officials will definitely take risks and test the law.
Solving the problem of official corruption cannot only rely on salary and supervision, but also requires thinking. However, this is a long road. In addition, some old fried dough sticks have been rolled in the frying pan several times, and I am afraid there is no way to change it.
We can only place our hopes on new officials, strengthen the thinking of these officials, and gradually replace officials all over the world.
"emperor……"
When Bao Zhao saw Zhu Yunwen was silent, he couldn't help but shouted in a low voice.
Zhu Yunwen came out of his thoughts, looked at Bao Zhao and Zheng Ci, spread out the memorial in his hand, and said: "Corrupt officials cannot be forgiven. Without severe punishment, we cannot calm the people and deter others. We will decapitate the five leaders." The rest of the officials were demoted to the common people and worked as migrant workers to dredge the Huitong River. When the Huitong River was connected from north to south, they were assigned to the border and served for three years."
"this……"
Bao Zhao looked at Zhu Yunwen in surprise, then turned to look at Zheng Ci.
Zheng Ci was also a little surprised. In the first half of the sentence, the emperor had vowed to punish him severely. How come in the end, he only killed the chief culprit and not the others?
Four years as a migrant worker, plus three years of probation, and seven years in prison are indeed not light, but compared to beheading, it is much lighter.
Zhu Yunwen looked at the two astonished ministers and said seriously: "If killing people can solve the problem, I will not hesitate to kill a few more people. Let them live to repent, so that officials and people can see their fate clearly. A thousand days of vigilance is always better than one day. Head alert works.”
Bao Zhao bowed respectfully and said, "Your Majesty is kind, and the world is blessed."
If Zhu Yuanzhang had done this, no one would survive. However, Zhu Yunwen really couldn't bear to use such methods that were close to "tyranny".
After all, these are all the people of Ming Dynasty.
If one less person dies and one less home is destroyed, the country will have more luck.
Zhu Yunwen picked up the brush and ticked several people's names, which meant that this person would be killed.
Many later generations or TV dramas often show the government pushing people out to be executed. This is inconsistent with the judicial reality of the Ming Dynasty and is also completely fabricated.
In fact, the judicial authority in the Ming Dynasty was clearly divided, and the specifications were very clear and strict.
As for the magistrate, he has absolutely no right to kill. The most he can use is flogging or cane punishment, which is the so-called beating with a whip or serving with a board.
For more serious sentences such as imprisonment and exile, the county magistrate is not qualified and must be handed over to officials at the prefecture level.
If it is the death penalty, you still need to go up and ask to be sent to the Three Laws Division of the Capital for a decision.
And the "Book of Life and Death" of the Sanfa Division must be "ticked" by the emperor before the death penalty can be sentenced. If the emperor is too lazy, such as making alchemy or doing carpentry, and has no time to tick, then it is really a welfare for sinners, those Damn brother, I guess he won't die in a few years or more.
Of course, the emperor often does not check all the boxes in the "book of life and death". At this time, it can only depend on fate. The hard-working man escaped the disaster and will queue up again next year. Those with bad luck can only report to the Lord of Hell.
This is why Song Li needs to report to the court and request an order to kill people. Local officials are not qualified to execute prisoners.
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