Twelfth year of innovation, July 25.

In the State Council, there were already many ministers standing at this time, among which ministers from the Cabinet and the Privy Council stood at the front and flank, while the ministers from various ministries of the Executive Yuan were in the back row in turn, only to see a few anxious faces showing from time to time in a bustling red robe.

Cui Wancai, who is the first assistant of the cabinet, stands at the forefront as the leader of the ministers, he is much older than five years ago, his hair that was originally black is now a lot white, and the whole person is a little tired and old, and even the brilliance in his eyes is slightly dim.

However, everyone understands in their hearts that it is too normal for Cui Wancai to have gray hair, and it can even be said that under the pressure of work in the past five years, I am afraid that I can't even bear the body if I change people, and even Cui Wancai's age in his early fifties is more or less unbearable.

"Cui Xiang, there has been no news from the palace so far, will it be .......?"

Li Fu on the side came closer, the wrinkles on his face were much denser, and there was a little worry in his eyes.

Cui Wancai sighed in a low voice, since the eleventh year of the revolution, the old injuries in the body of the Emperor Taishang in the past have begun to attack, and even the imperial doctors have no good methods, even if Ye Tianshi has thought of many ways to warm and replenish, he can only reluctantly recuperate, and it has been delayed until this year, but it has never improved.

Although Da Chu did not establish the country with filial piety, but the Emperor Taishang chose to abdicate the emperor, which shows that he had good intentions, so Emperor Ning Yu also personally went to the Taishang Emperor's bedside every day to serve the decoction in person to show filial piety, but in this way, the emperor could only rush to the State Hall after serving the decoction every time.

And since the news came from the palace the day before yesterday, the old wounds of the Emperor Taishang seem to have been serious, so that the ministers have a lot of worries in their hearts, if there is really a big accident, I am afraid that the emperor will also need to wear filial piety for the 27th to express his condolences - if there is no major event in the court, it will be fine, but now a major event has really happened.

Cui Wancai couldn't help but have a headache when he thought of this, and glanced at Li Fu lightly, "The Emperor Taishang is precious in the world, and he is blessed by auspicious stars, so he should be fine." ”

Li Fu was shocked in his heart, knowing that his words were a bit taboo after all, so he kept silent at the moment, and for a while, the silence in the entire State Hall was restored.

However, with the sound of three whips, everyone's faces suddenly felt relieved, after all, this meant that the news that the holy car had arrived, but after a while, Ning Yu walked directly to the middle of the State Hall along the imperial road.

Compared with the Fengtian Hall in the past, the State Department not only can transmit the voice farther, but also the monarch and the minister are not too far apart, and there is no taboo that cannot face the monarch, but more emphasis on face-to-face communication - since ancient times, in order to maintain his authority, the emperor often takes the initiative to create a sense of mystery, so he needs to keep a sense of distance from the minister, and Ning Yu is now incomparably prestigious, so naturally there is no need for this method.

Therefore, when Ning Yu appeared in front of everyone, everyone quickly saw that a touch of sadness appeared on the emperor's face, although it quickly disappeared, but it made everyone's hearts sink, and then everyone began to salute.

Twenty-eight-year-old Ning Yu already had a short mustache on his face, he looked up at everyone, and said in a deep voice: "The rise and fall of the world is more important than the disaster of one family and one surname, the emperor is unwell, and I and the queen are worried, but if there is a problem in the world, then I will ask you." ”

"The ministers don't dare."

Cui Wancai stepped forward slowly and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the matter of the June Huguang flood has been properly handled, and all the people involved in the disaster, the imperial court has also moved them out of the disaster area and temporarily resettled them in neighboring provinces. ”

Ning Yu's face was as pale as water, he took the fold presented by Cui Wancai, read it carefully, and then said in a deep voice: "This year, the rain is too dense, so that it will cause a disaster, and you can make a decision, so naturally I won't say anything, but ....... Can the Cabinet come up with an emergency response ordinance? If there is a disaster next time, how to save it in advance? ”

"Your Majesty, the cabinet has selected capable personnel from the ministries and cabinets, represented by the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Supervision, to go to Huguang to conduct research and investigation, take the omissions in the handling of the disaster as a warning, check and fill in the gaps, and work with the local yamen at all levels to issue emergency response regulations for the disaster as a lesson."

Cui Wancai obviously did his homework, he made his arrangements one by one, and then said softly: "After the catastrophe, there will be a great epidemic, and the minister hopes to ask His Majesty to send the capable doctors of the Tai Hospital to Huguang to do a good job in epidemic prevention and prevent the people from repeating the epidemic at that time." ”

After hearing Cui Wancai's arrangement, Ning Yu's expression couldn't help but ease a lot, Huaxia is a vast land, disasters are naturally frequent, almost every month there will be different degrees of various disasters reported, this is a normal thing, but Ning Yu will never allow natural disasters to become a man-made disaster, at least what should be done, the imperial court must work hard to complete.

After this incident, Xue Haiyun, the imperial historian of Zuodu, stepped forward and presented a letter of Huang Aya's recital, but at this time, everyone's expressions were more or less subtle, and even when Ning Yu took it from the hands of the attendants, his brows were firmly locked.

The reason is very simple, the main reason for Xue Haiyun's submission is one thing, that is, the case of Wang Xiu, a subordinate of Suzhou Prefecture, ordering Wang Xiu to kill the peasant Xue Sanyi, has caused a sensation in the world, and even the lawsuit has reached the Supreme Dali Yuan, so that the emperor had to send the Metropolitan Procuratorate to the case.

If you want to talk about the reason for this case, it is not very responsible, there are all human and material evidence, and the reason why it has made such a big name is completely because there is another other thing in it.

It turns out that since the rise of industrialization in Dachu, there are many factories stationed in coastal counties, and a large number of steam engines have produced heavy black smoke when they are in production, resulting in many damage to the crops in the fields near the left.

Finally, in June of the 11th year of the revolution, Xue San, a farmer in Kunshan County, Suzhou Prefecture, thought that the black smoke from the nearby weaving factory was the cause of the necrosis of the crops in his own field, so he took his brothers and drove all the way into the factory with sticks, smashed many of the steam engines that were spitting black smoke, and injured several workers.

After that, Kunshan County ordered Wang Xiu to rush to the weaving factory with the county garrison, and asked Xue San to stop the destruction and arrest him, but Xue San was naturally unwilling, so he thought about fleeing the scene, and then was ordered to be killed by Wang Xiu.

However, Xue San's family did not relent, and determined that there was a bribe between Wang Xiu, the county magistrate, and the factory owner, so they launched a lawsuit against the Yamen of Dali Temple in Suzhou Prefecture, demanding a thorough investigation of the case.

However, strictly speaking, the case itself is not complicated, after a thorough investigation by the Dali Temple in Suzhou, it was not determined that Wang Xiu had taken improper measures, but some people began to think that the factory had encroached on the cultivated land and created black smoke to destroy the fields, and that the factory needed to bear the main responsibility in this matter, and thought that if they had not provoked Xue San, Xue San would not have bent the law, let alone be killed by the guards.

With the help of public opinion, this matter also came to the court, and the problems exposed by this incident also led many ministers to attack industry and commerce with this matter, believing that businessmen were greedy and unrestrained, and regarded the law as nothing, and demanded the introduction of laws to restrict the atrocities of industry and commerce, so as to return the people to the green mountains and clear waters.

Ning Yu naturally maintained a high degree of concern about this matter, but he also knew how difficult this matter was, if it was dealt with impartially according to the law, Xue San would naturally die in vain, but this would undoubtedly hurt the hearts of the peasants in the world, and even intensify the current social contradictions, but if the law was to be amended, it would not be so easy in itself.

The reason is also very simple, when the industrial revolution rose, the so-called protection of the environment was essentially a nonsense, because whether it was the textile industry, or the printing and dyeing industry, as well as other current factories, there was no concept of environmental protection, and a large number of waste gas and wastewater were generated, and there was no good way to deal with it.

In the original history, the British took the lead in launching the first industrial revolution, although it made Britain the first country in the world to achieve industrialization and urbanization, but the pollution caused also made the British people leave very painful memories, even the British writer Dickens described the industrial revolution in "A Tale of Two Cities":

"It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. It was a season of light and a season of darkness. It was the spring of hope and the winter of sorrow. It was 1775 A.D. ”

At that time, with the industrial revolution in full swing, a large number of new factories, such as papermaking, bleaching, printing, tanning, alkali making, soap making, coal washing, glass manufacturing, in order to facilitate the use of water conservancy, steam engines and cheap transportation, so they all adopted the way of building along the river, resulting in a large amount of wastewater containing lead, alkali, sulfur and other pollutants, without any treatment, directly discharged into the Thames.

And the discharge, which lasted throughout the Industrial Revolution, also turned the Thames, which was once crystal clear, into a complete stinking ditch, "The whole river has become an obscure hazel liquid...... The smell was stinky, like the stench coming from the streets, and I was impressed...... At this point, the whole river is actually a stinking ditch........ Every day, a large amount of disgusting mixture enters the water, which is the daily drink of the inhabitants of the most civilized capital in Europe. ”

In addition, the most widely used coal resources during the industrial revolution, when promoting the rapid promotion of steam engines, also produced very terrible air pollution, the so-called "fog capital" is the best adjective for London at that time, like the sky over London at that time, there was always an unnatural red and black - there are a lot of smoke and sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and other toxic gases, this toxic gas not only affects urban traffic and residents' lives, but also deadly enough.

The industrial revolution caused a large amount of pollution to the British people to pay a heavy price, such as water pollution caused four serious cholera in the UK, causing more than 100,000 deaths, and air pollution also made a variety of infectious diseases epidemic, such as London has broken out of many poisonous fog events, resulting in a large number of London people died, such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, bronchitis have become common diseases for the people.

Ning Yu looked at the fold in front of him silently, and finally slowly opened it, the contents inside were not surprising, Xue Haiyun would not meet his expectations in this matter.

"Xue San's atrocities smashed the factory, and all the crimes he committed are on the record, and he really deserves it."

"Although Wang Xiu's behavior was slightly inappropriate, what he did was within the scope of the law, and there was no major mistake, and he should be given a warning in the file of the Organization Department, and he must not be promoted within three years."

"However, because of the people's desire, the Shen family weaving factory has been careless in this case, poisoning the people's fertile land with the pollution of steam engines, although the corresponding fines have been punished, but it is difficult to convince the public, and should be responsible for Xue San to collect one of the expenses for the burial, and ten times the fine of the pension, handed over to the Xue family, to the common people."

Originally, these three were not a big deal, but soon Xue Haiyun was in the last line of the recital, but he gently advised Ning Yu, he thought that although the steam engine can improve productivity, there are many drawbacks, and there are many weavers in the south and north of the Yangtze River, and there are many obstacles to the people's livelihood, so it is better to choose to give up.

"Hmph-"

Ning Yu was naturally extremely annoyed in his heart, he threw the song back in front of Xue Haiyun, and said coldly: "Kill the steam engine in the world, Xue Qing really gave me a good idea!" ”

Xue Haiyun's face was not moved in the slightest, he slowly picked up the fold on the ground, and then knelt directly below, and said loudly: "The minister does not want to violate the rules, so he will not sentence Wang Xiu to be guilty, nor will he pardon Xue San's innocence." However, the root cause of the troubles is not the cause of these two people, and the minister only wants to eradicate the troubles for His Majesty, so as not to poison the people's livelihood again, and the ministers are willing to bear all the crimes they commit. ”

Ning Yu snorted coldly, "I put you in the position of Zuodu Yushi, but I didn't let you be the great sage of the world, do you think that if you do this, the world will be fine?" It's just a joke! ”

Cui Wancai said slowly: "Your Majesty, the ministers of the Metropolitan Procuratorate should not have said much, but this matter needs to be decided as soon as possible, if it continues to drag on for a long time, I am afraid that it will damage Your Majesty's holy name." ”

"Hmph, I just said that the world doesn't need a great sage, but I didn't expect Master Cui to turn his head and put a high hat on me, you guys have a good idea!"

Ning Yu sighed slowly, he looked at the ministers in the State Hall, and said softly, "Everyone, don't you have anything else to tell me?" Or is there only a bunch of pedantic people left among my ministers? ”

"Your Majesty, the minister has a word."

A crisp and loud voice came, and everyone couldn't help but look back, only to see a young civil official from Sipin striding out of the crowd, but it was Liu Tongxun, the newly promoted director of the Department of Industrial Resources of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.