Chapter Twenty-Four: The People Eat for Heaven

During this period, the Jinyi Guard left by Emperor Taizong was still strong, at least not to the next generation, and it could not be used at all. He is a good hand in the power struggle, and if he really lets them do something, he can't.

All the news of Yu Qian in Henan was sent to Beijing in the form of a newspaper almost a day.

Let Zhu Qizhen see every night that Yu Qian's every move four or five days ago has been the situation of the drought in Henan.

If you look at the history books, drought is probably the most frequent disaster.

Many times, people's impression of drought is probably that the land is thousands of miles away, the earth has opened several gaps, and countless people are competing for some muddy water in the puddles.

Rivers dried up and wells dried up.

Of course, this situation is naturally a major drought.

But many times droughts are not like that.

In a nutshell, if it doesn't rain from the first month of the first month to before May, it's a drought, and if it doesn't rain until late July, it's a big drought.

The lack of green and yellow refers to the beginning of spring.

After a winter, the people have almost consumed all the food, but the wheat is not yet ripe, and many people will run out of food at this time.

However, if there has been no rain before, it means that the grain output in May will probably be reduced, or the harvest will be lost.

If it doesn't rain in July. The autumn grain harvest is likely to be wiped out as well.

In many cases, a grain harvest in one season is enough to make the people unbearable, let alone a year's grain harvest, which is naturally a major drought.

In many cases, such a drought cannot be achieved for thousands of miles on the red land, the rivers are cut off, and the wells are dried up.

But even so, people can't bear it.

The drought in Henan is like this, since the beginning of spring, there has not been a drop of rain in Henan. Most of the farmland has not been harvested.

After Yu Qian arrived in Henan, the first thing he did was not to help the victims, but to find a way to maintain the farmland that depended on water, and now he can harvest an extra bucket of wheat. It's about living one more person. Immediately, Yu Qian traveled all over the affected counties, inspected them one by one, returned to Kaifeng, and distributed grain. It depends on the severity of the drought.

Several times when the people made trouble, it was Yu Qian who did not bring any guards to persuade the hungry people.

Zhu Qizhen looked at it and sighed in his heart. It is no fluke that Yu Qian can stand out in history.

At this time, Yu Qian, who was in his thirties, had already shown his talent.

Zhu Qizhen thought to himself, and he couldn't do it better than Yu Qian.

It can even be seen from the information in his hands. The dark stake placed next to Yu Qian, the title of Qian has also slowly changed, before he was still the governor Yu Qian, then Yu Daren, and then Yu Gong, and there are many places to say good things for Yu Qian.

The so-called justice is in the hearts of the people.

Among the Jinyi Guards, although there are many people who draw on fame and fortune, most of them are ordinary people, and naturally they also have the love and hate of ordinary people.

After May, Zhu Qizhen found out one thing from the letters, that is, the relief food brought by Yu Qian had been distributed.

But the harvest is already a fact.

Just 100,000 stones, it's not enough at all.

Zhu Qizhen also asked Ma Shun to send someone to inquire, but the capital was short of food. For a while, the household department couldn't squeeze out food, Zhu Qizhen was anxious, and asked Li Shimian for a day off to go to see the Queen Mother.

I also brought all the secret reports sent from Henan in the past ten days.

The Empress Dowager stared at the sun, squinting her eyes, and carefully looking at the words on these secret reports. It took nearly half an hour to finish reading.

The Empress Dowager gently put down these secret reports and said: "As a human king, when you are above board, these methods are unseemly, not that the documents played by the people below can be trusted, but if you use this method, it is inevitable that you will have preconceived ideas, and feel that Jinyiwei is right, and the courtiers outside are wrong." ”

"But wouldn't the brocade guard lie?"

Zhu Qizhen said: "Sun Er understands. ”

The Empress Dowager knew at a glance that Zhu Qizhen didn't understand, and said: "You must know that all the ministers who can stand in front of you are good at bullying the king." Forget it, you still don't understand this. You let me see this, it's because Henan doesn't have enough food for disaster relief. ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "My grandson inquired, and there is a shortage of food in Jingshi. There is no food to be allocated. ”

The Empress Dowager said: "That's natural, in the north, in the area of Henan and Hebei, it is regarded as a granary, and the imperial court has already decided, and most of the grain in Henan and Hebei is transferred to the nine sides." ”

"Now that the catastrophe here is here, it must be made up from the warehouse of the Jingshi first, and the soldiers must not be left without eating."

"In this way, although there is still grain in the granary of Jingshi and Tongzhou, it cannot be easily called."

Zhu Qizhen understands that these grains are the confidence of Beijing, and if the granary of Beijing is bottomed out, it will be even greater than the impact of the drought in Henan.

Zhu Qizhen said: "Is there such a shortage of food in Beijing, and there are few mistakes, so the food will not continue?" ”

The Empress Dowager said: "This is why Emperor Renzong moved the capital back to Nanjing. ”

"The capital of Beijing was built, and the grain and grass came from the southeast. At its peak, it was possible to transport 5 million stone grain a year, and now it can transport 4 million stone grain every year. ”

"These four million stone grains are the lifeline of Jingshi."

"Not to mention, the suffering of the people in opening a river for transshipment, just saying that it is a bit too childish to put the rise and fall of a country on a river."

The Empress Dowager sighed slightly, but she also knew that now she had no complaints, and there was no way. The Ming Dynasty invested too much financial and material resources in Beijing, and even the political pattern stabilized in Beijing.

The relocation of the capital is a big move.

The emperor is still young, and she doesn't have the energy to make such a big move.

Besides, her husband and her son are buried outside Beijing, where else can she go? In the future, I will also enter Tianshou Mountain.

However, Beijing is still on the line, not Beijing, probably her last stubbornness.

"Then why can't it be transported by sea, isn't it sea transportation in the previous dynasty, and Zheng He's fleet can go as far as the Western Ocean, it is impossible that it can't go from Songjiang to Tianjin." Zhu Qizhen couldn't help but ask.

The Empress Dowager said: "There are two reasons, one is the Japanese Kou. ”

"There have been some years of unrest at sea, and these unrest are like flies, and large groups of ships will avoid them, but if they are small groups of ships, they will plunder."

"During the time of Taizu, the grain ships transported from Jiangnan to Liaodong were plundered."

"If you send someone to escort and clean up, the cost will be much higher than that of Caoyun."

"Secondly, the sea is too windy and rough, it is easy to injure people, and it is too easy to drift."

Zhu Qizhen's heart turned and said, "Grandma, do you think these drifts are really lost at sea." ”

"Of course not." The Empress Dowager said: "Although I am old, I am not blind. How can you not see the greasy in this, but it is easy to see, but how to deal with it? ”

"From time to time, there are really losses, do you want to pursue them to death? The people have already regarded the sea as a daunting path, if they are harsh again, who will carry it? Moreover, it is too easy to collude with a boatload of people at sea, plus there are many small islands on the sea, and after going ashore, it is said that there are wind and waves and they have drifted. ”

"Who can find out?"

"When the court punishes officials, there must be evidence."

Zhu Qizhen said: "No, add some more quotas to benefit the carriers." If there is a loss, let them make a profit to replenish it. ”

The Empress Dowager said: "In this way, how can you face the civil and military officials. The fortune of the dynasty was not thick, but this little official became rich with the opportunity of transportation. ”

"This is not a good balance, and besides, people's hearts are always insatiable, give him an inch today, give him a foot tomorrow, and he may not be satisfied."

"And Cao Yun is in the hands of the imperial court all the way, where is there so much trouble."

Zhu Qizhen also slowly understood a little, although he didn't know whether the truth was right or not, he could only verify it in the future, and the bureaucrats hated things they couldn't control.

And sea freight is beyond their control.

As for Caoyun, although the canal is said to be a river, it is not wide, and if something happens on the canal, the imperial court will handle it very well, and it will not be able to run.

And what if something happens on the sea and escapes overseas, what should I do?