Heavy snow, freezing rain, severe cold and low temperatures once approached Guangdong and Guangxi. More than 700 people were reported to the court in the southern provinces alone to freeze to death, and countless others suffered from frostbite.
Zhu Yunwen was so anxious that he repeatedly summoned officials from the cabinet, the Sixth Ministry, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Fifth Military Governor's Office to discuss strategies for dealing with the cold wave. You may have thought of all the ways, but who can do anything to God?
Cotton in the inner court has bottomed out, and 90% of the cotton inventory in the Ministry of Household Affairs has been withdrawn. Even half of the quilts from many health stations in the south have been withdrawn. How many sergeants have to squeeze in to sleep on one quilt, but under the cold disaster, how many soldiers are sleeping on it? Thousands of families cannot be saved by this measure.
Meishi Street.
Li Laosan and his son Li Sheng were carrying burdens and lined up in a long line to buy some coal. Li Jiu came a little later and saw that the line was too long, so he sneaked to the front. When he saw Li Laosan was there, he immediately laughed. : "Excuse me, please, we are together and just went to the toilet. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry..."
Li Laosan glanced at Li Jiu who jumped in line and complained: "It took you a long time to go to the toilet. Could it be that you fell into a trap?"
Seeing that the team in front was moving too slowly, Li Jiu simply put the pole aside: "Third brother, when you went to the toilet a few days ago, I was there to guard you."
Li Sheng chuckled, but was slapped by Li Laosan, and he suddenly felt aggrieved.
Li Laosan breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Why is it so cold? This is trying to make people look like popsicles. This is the first time in my life that it is so cold. I heard that Taihu Lake is frozen."
Li Jiu put his hands into his sleeves, put them on his chest, and said tightly: "No, the Yangtze River froze the day before yesterday. Fortunately, the river surface is wide, and with the day and night boating, it only froze two steps away from the shore. Ice. But it’s like this. The old people in Beijing say they haven’t seen it for three generations.”
The old man queuing up behind him heard this and interjected: "I heard it was all caused by moving the capital. If the emperor issued an edict to blame himself, there is no way the weather would get warmer."
"What are you talking nonsense about? What does moving the capital have to do with the weather?"
Li Laosan turned around and clenched his fists angrily.
The old man chuckled: "I just heard people say it, so what do you think, why was it not so cold in the past few years, but why did such a strange thing happen at the end of the first year after the proposal to move the capital? Isn't this a warning from God? ?”
Li Sheng turned around, looked at the old man, and said: "Old man, the troubles caused by moving the capital are all caused by people with bad intentions. Think about it, Emperor Jianwen has been diligent in his administration since he came to the throne, and there are countless people alive. Who in the family still has so many excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes? Who in the business family is worried about being bullied by the powerful? Besides, moving the capital to Peking is something that countless people nodded in agreement. During the debate at the Imperial College, I was present, and so many people unanimously supported moving the capital. Why can only the emperor be blamed?"
"If it is really said that God provoked this disaster, then it was caused by everyone together. It is not enough for the emperor to issue an edict to punish himself alone. How about I go to the Imperial College, the Sixth Ministry Hall, and various places in Peking to find hundreds of thousands of people? Do you think it's OK for millions of people to write a confession together and burn it to God?"
The old man lowered his head after being told by Li Sheng and did not dare to speak any more. Anyone who could be present during the debate at the Imperial College was either an official or a student, and he could not be offended.
Li Sheng didn't care whether the old man was ashamed or not, and continued: "The earthquake was said to be the emperor's fault, the fire was said to be the emperor's fault, the drought was blamed on the emperor, the waterlogging was blamed on the emperor, and it is cold and freezing, the emperor is also blamed. , I don’t understand why so many people say something wrong about such a wise monarch? It seems that only the sword of the Hongwu Dynasty can stop people from mentioning sinners. I will write a copy later. The memorial recommends that the emperor restore the Hongwu ancestral system, and the weather will get warmer tomorrow."
The old man trembled, looked at Li Sheng in panic, and said quickly: "This little brother can't talk nonsense, it's me talking nonsense, I... I don't want coal anymore!"
Frightened, the old man simply picked up the pole and ran away.
Li Jiu laughed, patted Li Sheng on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "You can do it."
Li Sheng chuckled, but there was some worry in his eyes.
Linking the severe cold with the relocation of the capital, it was not the common people who initially advocated that Zhu Yunwen issue an edict to punish himself, but the censor. It's just that this censor has now gone to Liaodong, shouldering the important mission of checking the local frost disaster. If he goes to the north, he doesn't know if he can come back alive.
Although Zhu Yunwen suppressed Yan Guan's remarks, officials in the Ming Dynasty were very courageous. According to the news, at least twenty officials have asked Zhu Yunwen to issue an edict in the past half month.
Li Sheng was just an ordinary supervisor of the Imperial Academy and could not understand the deeper struggles in the court. However, judging from the public opinion, the severe cold weather made many people believe that this was related to Zhu Yunwen's large-scale construction projects and preparations to move the capital. This was a dangerous situation. Signal.
While Li Sheng was deep in thought, a farmer carrying coal walked by and cursed: "You're not human, fifty kilograms of briquettes costs one, two or three taels of silver. This price is simply killing people." "
"Did the price go up again?"
Li Jiu frowned.
Li Laosan lamented: "It's been too cold this year. Many families have bought stoves, so coal is also indispensable. In the past, a hundred kilograms of coal only cost one or two or three yuan. It's a bit expensive. At least it won't be used throughout the winter. It would have been possible to get over it with more time, but now the price has skyrocketed, and many people may not be able to afford it."
"Hey, having said that, it's still better than losing your life. Without a stove, no one can sleep well at night. As you know, my children's toes are already rough. At night, they scream as soon as they get warm. It’s itchy, it’s so frustrating.”
Li Jiu said bitterly.
The team moved forward little by little. It took nearly half an hour for Li Laosan and others to turn. Seeing that there were still three large piles of coal in the warehouse, next to the prepared briquettes, Li Laosan breathed a sigh of relief. As long as there was coal, this You can get through the winter.
"I want 20 taels of briquettes."
Li Laosan gritted his teeth and decided to buy enough for winter at one time.
The steward collected the money, checked the check, and asked Li Laosan and Li Sheng to go to the side to get the briquettes. Li Jiu also came over. The three of them were carefully loading the briquettes when they saw a man in silk and satin running up to the steward. After whispering a few words in a low voice, the steward immediately nodded and shouted to everyone in line: "Don't wait in line. They are all gone. There is no coal."
"How can there be no coal? What is that if it's not coal?"
When the people in front heard this, they immediately became angry.
"They've all been bought away. Let's go. Let's go soon."
“We’ve been here for so long, why don’t we have our coal?”
"It's gone, it's gone. Back off, you unscrupulous people still dare to cause trouble?"
"How can we live without coal? No, give us coal!" "If you make trouble again, I will take you to the government!"
The steward slapped the table with anger on his face.
As soon as they heard that it was sent to the government, everyone did not dare to say anything, but no one dispersed. Those who came here to buy coal were mostly people whose families did not have much coal. They could not survive this winter. If they could not buy coal now, it would mean that they would not be able to survive. My parents, wife and children have all been freezing in the past few days. Who knows if the weather will get even colder in the future. We must prepare some coal!
"Give us money, give us coal!"
"Yes, give me coal!"
everyone shouted.
Seeing this, Li Laosan and Li Jiu quickly got their own coal, carried the coal and went out. Behind them were the excited people. Li Laosan looked at the children with their parents in the crowd, and their hands were already frozen. There were cracks and white spots on the face that looked like peeling skin.
"Wait a moment."
Li Laosan shouted and stopped.
"Third brother, we don't dare to get involved in this matter. We have bought the coal, so let's go back."
Li Jiu knew Li Laosan's temper and temperament. This former classmate still had a bloody and caring heart.
Li Laosan looked back at the coal yard, gritted his teeth, and said to Li Sheng, "Son, are you afraid of people from the Security Bureau?"
"An, Security Bureau?"
Li Sheng's face turned pale, he thought for a moment, shook his head and said, "I'm not afraid, what does father mean?"
Li Laosan nodded and said: "There are so many people who cannot buy coal. There are many orphans and widows here. We can't ignore them. Li Jiu, the emperor is not kind to us. He moved to Nanjing from afar and gave us a house." He also gave us a stove and asked us to lead the construction of concrete roads. We need to be looked after by the emperor. In this world, there are high-ranking officials, wealthy gentry, who do not treat the common people as human beings, but the emperor treats us as human beings. Go and find the people from the Security Bureau. Tell them that if someone takes away all the coal, the people will freeze to death."
Li Jiu took a deep breath and persuaded: "Brother, you can't say this nonsense. This coal yard is out of coal, but there are other coal yards. There are more than fifty large coal yards in the capital."
Li Laosan pointed to the crowd in line and asked: "Do you expect the elderly, women and children to carry a hundred kilograms of coal back and forth for 700 miles or more than ten miles? The nearest coal yard is only three miles away." "
Li Jiu had a headache. He put down the pole and said, "Well, I'll go and let the child go to the security bureau. It doesn't matter. He is a person who wants to gain fame. If he gets into trouble, the rest of the child's life will be over!" "
Li Laosan grabbed Li Jiu, kicked the stunned Li Sheng, and shouted: "Go!"
Li Sheng quickly threw down his pole and ran into Tongjimen. The location of the Security Bureau headquarters was not a secret in the capital. It was located in Ertiao Lane of Xi'anmen. It was tightly sealed and it was difficult to enter without a badge.
Li Jiu complained that Li Laosan was not thinking, but Li Laosan smiled and said to Li Jiu: "Think about it, if something happens to Li Sheng, we can still think of ways to get people. If something happens to us, he, a young man, can't do it." There is no way to catch us..."
Li Jiu was depressed, it was quite enough to trick him to this level. However, Li Jiu is not worried about Li Sheng. He is a prison student, not an ordinary person, and the security bureau will not take action against him.
The coal yard was getting more and more noisy. I don’t know where the news came from. Other coal yards were out of coal, which added fuel to the fire. When the steward arrogantly pointed at a pile of coal and said there was no coal, some people took it. I picked up the pole and gave it to him for a while...
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