Thousands of miles away, the sun is high, although it has entered the late autumn, but you can still feel the warm breath everywhere, this should be a rare good weather.

But if you look at the sun-dried old trees in the mountains and the charred crops in the fields, you don't want this good weather to last.

Perhaps, the rain is continuous, and even the lightning and thunder are greater than the majestic, which is better than this sunny day.

Zhang Bin wiped the hot sweat on his forehead, frowned, and said, "It's still so hot this day, it seems to be a little cold at this time in previous years." ”

The prefect of Yanping on the side recalled: "The weather is indeed a bit strange in the past two years, it is still very hot in this season, and it will be very cold in another month, and it snowed heavily here last year, which is simply an unheard of strange thing." ”

Zhang Bin sighed: "Alas, yes, the weather has been too strange in the past few years, and the people are afraid that they will suffer." ”

At this time, Wang Laohan had already come over with a tray with a few cups of tea on it, he carefully stretched the tray to Zhang Bin, and said with a little trepidation: "Lord Governor, I'm really sorry, the wells here are about to bottom out, and the water that comes up is muddy. ”

Zhang Bin has been riding under the sun for a long time, he is indeed a little thirsty, he directly picked up the teacup, blew a few times, and then took a sip, this tea is not bad, but the water feels a little astringent, he did not show a strange expression, but greeted cordially: "Don't be busy, sit down and talk, the official has to go to other places to see, wait and leave." ”

When Wang Laohan heard this, he hurriedly shouted into the house: "Pillar, hurry up, don't grind." ”

A young man ran out in response, holding a stack of bowls in his arms and a large teapot in his hand, he was bringing water to Xie Zhenggang and other guards.

Wang Laohan saw that he had brought the tea over, so he sat down respectfully and said with a smile: "Your Excellency, you say." ”

Zhang Bin said with concern: "The official just took a look in the field, I am afraid that half of this year's harvest will not be available, can the villagers survive until next year?" ”

Wang Laohan cringed a little and said, "This, this, I'm afraid it's a little difficult." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he frowned and asked, "Could it be that the common people don't have any food at home?" ”

Wang Laohan still cringed a little and said: "This, there is a little, but, but." ”

When Zhang Bin saw him like this, he immediately encouraged: "If you have anything, you can say that this official is not here to find a way for you." ”

When Wang Laohan heard this, he glanced at Zhang Bin, and then plucked up the courage to say: "Lord Governor, please forgive me, the villain pretended to say something inappropriate, if the adults can ask the imperial court to exempt this year's taxes and salaries, the villagers can barely make do until this time next year, if the taxes and salaries are not exempted, the villagers will definitely be hungry, of course, they will not starve to death, in short, they will not be able to eat for a few months." ”

Zhang Bin was stunned when he heard this, he actually forgot about the tax issue, the tax plus the salary, one acre of land is about one cent and six cents, if a family has ten acres of land, it is one or two six cents, which is about equivalent to two stones of grain, usually they are a little hungry after paying the tax, and then the income is reduced by half, what the family has to be hungry for, I really can't imagine it.

He couldn't help frowning and pondering, is it exempt from taxes and salaries?

Isn't this a play against the emperor, Chongzhen is short of money, you told him that he wants to be exempted from taxes and salaries, can he be happy?

When Wang Laohan saw Zhang Bin's frowning appearance, he hurriedly changed his words and said: "Lord Governor, if you are embarrassed, forget it, the villain will say so, we have a lot of mountainous land, and there are more sweet potatoes and potatoes, and in the past two years, we have made French fries, potato chips, potato flour or something, and every household has made so much money, so I should be able to get through it, but I am afraid that the price of food will rise, this money is worthless, but it will be difficult." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, his heart suddenly tightened, this problem has to be guarded against, now there are more unscrupulous profiteers, they want to deliberately raise the price to buy grain, hoard Juqi, and raise the price of grain, and the common people will be even worse.

Zhang Bin thought about it for a while, but decided that taxes and salaries could not be exempted, of course, he could not let the people go hungry, he himself tried to raise food for the people, so that the people could be fed, and the taxes and salaries would be paid!

Thinking of this, he continued to ask: "Do you roughly estimate, if you pay taxes and salaries, the people will still have enough to eat, how much food will each household need?" ”

What does this mean, although Wang Laohan didn't understand it very well, but the governor didn't dare not answer when asked, he estimated it in his heart for a while, and then said carefully: "If the yield is reduced by half, one stone of grain is less than one stone of grain per acre, and ten acres of land is ten stones, and each family can probably get five stones of grain with French fries, potato chips, and potato flour to satisfy their hunger, and if the money from the likes is paid taxes and salaries, it is still about five stones." ”

Five stones, 10,000 households are only 50,000 stones, and the purchase from Guangdong is more than 30,000 taels of silver and less than 40,000 taels, and the four state capitals add up to less than 200,000 taels of silver, which is nothing, besides, he still has a large farm that produces military food, and he has not heard of the disaster in Guangdong this year, so he should be able to produce a lot of grain, and he may not have to pay a penny, so what is there to hesitate, Zhang Bin got up directly and said: "Old man, thank you, this official will not bother, and leave." ”

So saying, he beckoned to the people, and when he turned around, he left.

Wang Laohan suddenly mustered up the courage to ask: "Lord Governor, forgive the villain for offending, I don't know if this tax and salary can be paid?" ”

Zhang Bin nodded affirmatively: "Deliver." ”

"Ahh , Wang Laohan was suddenly disappointed.

Zhang Bin then added: "Didn't you say that each family can almost eat enough food by distributing five stones of grain, and this official will raise food for you." ”

"Ahh , Wang Laohan was dumbfounded, five stone grain is four taels of silver, let everyone pay more than one tael of silver, but give everyone four taels of silver, what does this governor think!

What do you think, coax the emperor!

Of course, Zhang Bin will not say it, after he left the stone pit, he went to several places with the prefect of Yanping, and the drought situation was similar, and the grain was not harvested, and most of the output was reduced by about half.

It took more than a day to turn around the more seriously affected places near Yanping Mansion, and Zhang Bin fully agreed with the judgment of the Yanping Prefect that the disaster in Yanping Mansion was not very serious, and less than 20% of the people affected should be less than 10,000 households.

Immediately afterwards, he rushed non-stop to Jianning Mansion in the north of Yanping Mansion and Shaowu Mansion in the west of Yanping Mansion, the situation of these two state capitals is similar to that of Yanping Mansion, most of the ordinary people live next to the river system, can divert river water for irrigation, and the population affected by the disaster is less than 20%.

However, the situation is different in Tingzhou Mansion in the south of Yanping Province, which is larger than Yanping Province, but the river system is less than half of Yanping Province, and the disaster is quite serious, at least nearly 60% of the population has been affected by the drought!

The only thing that makes Zhang Bin happy is that the officials of these four state capitals are relatively responsible, there is no corpse vegetarian meal, and there is no serious corruption.

This has a lot to do with the fact that when he first took office as the governor of Fujian, he wiped out all the eunuch minions, and it also had a lot to do with the strict supervision of the two people who were sentenced to prison and prosecuted, Zou Weilian and Ni Yuanlu are both upright masters, and they can't rub a little sand in their eyes.

In the past two years, officials in Fujian have all known that as long as you dare to be corrupt, as long as you dare to act recklessly, whether you are a political envoy, a commander of the envoy, a criminal envoy, or a prefect, or a prefect, once you are found out, you will die.

After spending more than ten days and going around the four state capitals, Zhang Bin hurried back to Fuzhou and began to formulate a disaster relief plan.

The first point is to prepare for the distribution of food for disaster relief, and all the state governments will immediately report the detailed statistics of all the affected population, and the political envoy will distribute the disaster relief food according to the number of households and the number of people, which is almost equivalent to the distribution of one stone of disaster relief food to each affected population.

At this time, less than half a month before the autumn harvest, Zhang Bin demanded that all state capitals must count the affected population within five days, because he still had to raise grain and grass, and his plan was to let the affected population use taxes and salaries to buy grain, which was almost equivalent to four cents of silver and one stone, which was half cheaper than the purchase price.

Of course, it is impossible for anyone to make money from this, because the relief food is distributed according to the affected population, and it is not an unlimited supply.

The second point is to issue a warning, the number of people counted by the state capitals, and the Yamen of the Procuratorial Department will be sent to verify the matter, and if there is a false report, the person responsible must be held accountable, and whoever dares to make a false report will be absolutely severely punished.

Zhang Bin will also send guards to various prefectures and counties to conduct unannounced visits, and the statistics of the affected population and the distribution of disaster relief food will be secretly verified, and once any fraud is discovered, it will also be severely punished.

The third point is still a warning: After the distribution of disaster relief food, the Department of Procuratorial Officers will conduct spot checks on the affected population reported to them, not in general, but in a specific household, and directly visit the door to see if the disaster relief food has been distributed.

If it is found that there is a situation of withholding food for disaster relief, it will also be severely punished.

Although corruption in Fujian officialdom is basically curbed now, no one dares to guarantee that a certain official will not be moved in the face of tens of thousands of taels of silver, so Zhang Bin has repeatedly warned in the official document issued to warn all officials not to make mistakes.

This official document was not only sent to Yanping Prefecture, Jianning Prefecture, Tingzhou Prefecture and Shaowu Prefecture, but also Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Xinghua and Funing Prefectures, although these coastal prefectures did not report the disaster situation, but the northwest of Zhangzhou Prefecture, Quanzhou Prefecture and Fuzhou Prefecture is actually similar to the situation of the four inland prefectures, and the area affected by the disaster may not be very large, but there must be people affected by the disaster.

As soon as this official document was issued, all the state capitals in Fujian immediately became lively, not only the prefect's yamen, but also the governor's yamen sent people everywhere, and even the officials of the county and county yamen were almost all sent out.

Such a huge population count, if you want to change it to other places, let alone five days, I am afraid that fifteen days will not be able to get an accurate number, but in Fujian, if you say five days, that is five days, and the officials below dare not delay even if they do not sleep.

If you don't sleep endlessly, at most you are tired, if you don't report on time, it's not a question of whether you're tired or not, it is estimated that you will never have the opportunity to be an official in your life.

Therefore, all the state capitals are the prefects urging the county, and the prefect urging the officials below, urging every day, urging hard, and urging constantly, no one dares to delay.

The officials below are intensively counting the affected population, Zhang Bin is naturally not idle, he is also busy arranging inspectors, secretly inspecting, he recruited four groups of personal guards, respectively sent to Yanping Mansion, Jianning Mansion, Tingzhou Mansion and Shaowu Mansion, the four hard-hit areas to make secret visits.

On this day, in the morning, as soon as the official document was issued, he summoned Ni Yuanlu, the criminal prosecutor, to come to discuss the matter of supervision.

This Ni Yuanlu is the proud protégé of Yuan Keli, a famous minister, Zhang Bin is quite important to him, because Zhang Bin had the honor to work with Yuan Keli in the Southern Capital Military Department for a few days, and he still wanted to win over this famous minister in the late Ming Dynasty, so he had a good understanding of Yuan Keli.

He found that Yuan Keli was really a rare honest and capable official in the court at the end of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention being able and decisive, but also knowing to try to stay away from the party and do more things, and won a place for those Qingliu officials in the court of the Tianqi Dynasty, and also presided over Liao affairs for many years under the condition of being surrounded by eunuchs, and the results were quite fruitful.

It's a pity that such a capable official, in the end, was not allowed to be eunuched, and was kicked to the southern capital by Wei Zhongxian, and he still wanted to find an opportunity to clean him up, as a result, Yuan Ke was so angry that he returned to his hometown, and since then he has never been able to pursue a career, and then Chongzhen came to power and invited him, but unfortunately, he has been disheartened, and the prince and Taibao of Gongjia can't move him at all.

At this time, it was not easy to invite Yuan Keli's proud protégé, and Zhang Bin naturally had a good opinion of Ni Yuanlu.

After he took over Zou Weilian's class and took up the post of Fujian's criminal envoy, he not only managed Fujian's criminal names and litigation affairs in an orderly manner, but also never relaxed his supervision of officials at all levels in Fujian.

When Zhang Bin saw Ni Yuanlu coming, he immediately got up and greeted him cordially: "Ruyu, come on, sit here." ”

Ni Yuanlu is not the kind of person who doesn't know how to lift, Zhang Bin is very kind to him, he also greets Zhang Bin with a smile, after the two sat down in the guest seat, Ni Yuanlu immediately bowed his hand and said: "I don't know what the Governor is doing." ”

Zhang Bin immediately pretended to be worried about the country and the people and sighed: "Ruyu, you should have also heard that there is a great drought in Yanping Mansion, Jianning Mansion, Tingzhou Mansion and Shaowu Mansion, and the grain production of many farmlands has been seriously reduced, and the victims are afraid that they will not be hungry." ”

Ni Yuanlu had naturally heard about this for a long time, and he was also worried: "How difficult the state affairs are, I'm afraid the imperial court won't be able to come up with silver taels for disaster relief." ”

Zhang Bin patted his forehead, looked for him to supervise, and didn't show him the official document, he immediately got up, picked up the original manuscript of the official document, handed it to Ni Yuanlu, and then said solemnly: "I naturally won't watch the people under my rule become hungry, Guangdong and Dongfan are separated by five mountains, and the other is blocked by the ocean, all of which have not been affected by the drought, and the food is still relatively sufficient, I am ready to go to these two places to raise food to come to the disaster relief, but the money is moving, in order to prevent officials at all levels in Fujian from being unable to withstand the temptation of money, corruption and disaster relief food, so, I have specially issued a warning, and it is up to you to supervise this matter. ”

Ni Yuanlu carefully read the official document, immediately got up and bowed to Zhang Bin, and said solemnly: "Your Excellency the Governor cherishes the people so much, it is really a blessing for the people of Fujian, and the officials admire it." ”

Zhang Bin hurriedly took his arm and sat down, and said modestly: "When a parent naturally has to think about the people, there is nothing to say about this, but you have enough manpower for this supervision." ”

Ni Yuanlu thought about it, and then said: "This matter of verification and supervision can be sent to the officials at all levels of the prosecutor and the yamen to be responsible, as for the random inspection, the lower officials are going to visit the state capitals in person, I wonder if the governor thinks this is okay?" ”

Zhang Bin persuaded politely: "It is naturally best for Ru Yu to personally go to this last level, but this visit is quite hard and time-consuming, and you can also assign other people to take charge." ”

Ni Yuanlu insisted: "Seeing is believing, hearing is false, such a big thing, if you let all your subordinates do it, there is also the possibility of channeling into one breath, which cannot be guarded against." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he nodded and said with relief: "Then it's hard work." ”

While the two were talking, Zhang Cha, who was on duty outside, suddenly said loudly: "My lord, Lord Bi ordered someone to send the latest Di newspaper, saying that there is important news on it, please take a look." ”

Di Bao, Zhang Bin hasn't read it for a long time, the so-called out of sight and out of mind, there are too many bullshit things in the court, he didn't bother to see it, he just specially told Bi Maokang that if there is anything big, he will order someone to send it to him.

At this time, since Bi Maokang said that it was a big deal, it was definitely not a small matter, he looked at Ni Yuanlu, and then said loudly: "Submit it." ”

Soon, Zhang Cha walked in with a copy of the newspaper and handed it to him respectfully.

Zhang Bin opened the newspaper and saw that it was indeed a big event, the first assistant of the cabinet had been replaced, and the cabinet scholars had also been recruited.

The first assistant of the cabinet became the foundation of the minister, the crown prince Taibao Wenyuan Pavilion scholar Zhou Yanru took over, and the Ministry of Rites Shangshu Wen Tiren entered the cabinet and concurrently served as a scholar of the East Pavilion University.

After reading this news, Zhang Bin was so angry that he patted the newspaper on the coffee table, and said angrily: "This group of garbage! ”

Ni Yuanlu was taken aback, in his impression, the Governor didn't seem to have been so angry, he carefully picked up the newspaper and looked at it, and couldn't help frowning: "Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren!" ”

Zhang Bin snorted coldly: "These two treacherous villains, apart from engaging in infighting, what else will they do!" ”

Natural disasters and man-made disasters are getting worse and worse, Zhang Bin has just made a little change after several efforts, and this court has returned to the footprints of history, can't he stop the rolling wheel of history? 166 Reading Network