In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, it is still a year of frequent disasters, and this time even the three eastern provinces have been affected, and it has not rained for nearly a month after entering the summer, but fortunately, the water conservancy system of the eastern three provinces has been perfected to support the past.

In the Huguang area, the sun was exposed to the sun for more than half a month, resulting in locust plagues, followed by three rounds of heavy rainfall, and the entire Hanjiang River Plain became flooded.

The Huanghuai Plain also had a locust plague, while the Jianghuai region had a large-scale hail (in Anhui), which was simply a natural disaster.

Under such circumstances, the number of people who came to Shandong to emigrate increased sharply, and Shandong began to continuously transport grain for disaster relief.

Most of the ones shipped out are sweet potatoes, which are not highly nutritious, so it can only be said that they can keep people alive!

Zhao Yan and Zhao Quan discussed that the disaster relief would be carried out by means of migration and grain dispatch, and Zhao Yan proposed the idea of storing grain.

That is, the Jimin Grain Bank will set up a warehouse in each prefecture, buy when the price of grain is low, release it when the price is high and lower the price, and after a disaster in a certain place, it will draw grain from the warehouses in the surrounding areas for disaster relief.

This strategy was developed early on, but not every province had a grain storehouse.

According to this method, there will basically not be much change in local grain prices, and as far as the commodity grain market is concerned, it will only be pressed at normal prices, and such normal prices will not only allow grain merchants to make money, but they will not reach the level of windfall profits.

In addition to disaster relief, Zhao Yan does not want to rescue disasters every year. The issue of water conservancy repair is still very urgent. So Zhao Yan immediately sent a letter to Chen Zhongsheng, asking him to increase investment in water conservancy again.

…… Yan Jizu, who was far away in Beijing, was going to the cabinet to deal with government affairs as usual, and he received a report from his subordinates on the way that day, and Zhao Yan sent someone to send him a dowry gift.

Yan Jizu was stunned for a while, returned to normal, and didn't go back to look, just continued to go to the cabinet and ordered his subordinates to let his wife deal with it.

Yan Jizu and his wife are looking forward to when their daughter will marry into the Zhao family every day! Now it's a wish. And Yan Jizu was not happy or worried, or it was mixed, and he felt a little dazed.

He was a man who had received an orthodox and loyal education.

However, he is now working for Zhao Yan, so he is a little lost.

Zhao Yan is a prosperous Mingjun or Dingge, after all, he is still Chongzhen's courtier, and loyalty is always a little difficult to let go.

The daughter married Zhao Yan, which can be regarded as completely joining the camp of the Zhao family.

"Switch to Shandong, even if it is for the sake of the world!" Yan Jizu took a deep breath and made the final decision in his heart, his daughter was going to marry into the Zhao Mansion, what choice could he have?

When they arrived at the cabinet, many cabinet members congratulated Yan Jizu.

The news spread very quickly, as soon as the dowry arrived in Yan Jizu's house, the news spread quickly, and the cabinet members looked at Yan Jizu differently, and they paid more attention than before.

This is the future father-in-law, so he naturally wants to be courteous.

The cabinet has not made any big moves recently, except for the annual tax exemption, it is engaged in water conservancy, and borrowed 10 million taels of silver from the Denglai Bank, which was quickly scattered.

That's not enough money.

Due to the unusually cold climate, this year is another year of more serious disasters, agricultural production has been greatly hit, in order to restore the grain output of the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible, Zhao Yan once again asked Chen Zhongsheng to put forward a loan proposal.

So Chen Zhongsheng once again came up with a water conservancy repair bill to borrow 20 million taels of silver from Denglai Bank, which was different from the last time.

The 10 million taels passed by the last bill were mainly used to control the three river basins of the Huanghuai River and the Yangtze River, and were mainly used to build embankments, strengthen embankments, and clean up rivers.

This time, the 20 million taels were used to govern the Hanjiang Plain and the Jianghuai Plain.

The Hanjiang Plain is a region with a dense network of water, and the same is true of the Huanghuai Plain. However, the water conservancy in the Hanjiang Plain is so bad that Zhao Yan can't help frowning when he sees it.

In contrast, Huang Huaiping's principle is much better.

Therefore, the cost of treatment in the Huanghuai Plain is only 5 million taels, and 10 million taels are invested in the Hanjiang Plain and Hunan areas to control the Hanjiang Plain.

The other 5 million taels will be used to repair the southeast water conservancy.

The Hanjiang River and the Jianghuai River are the largest commercial grain producing areas in the Ming Dynasty.

Once the water conservancy in these two areas is repaired, they will have a strong ability to resist drought and flood, so that agricultural production will be stable, and once agricultural production is stable, society will also be stable.

If the bill passes, the cabinet will spend 30 million taels on water conservancy.

The 30 million taels are still in arrears, and the borrower is Denglai Bank, and this loan is still interest-free. The cabinet had just received the 6 million taels of confiscated Jin Shang and kept it in the treasury first.

Since it is an interest-free loan, those opposition parties are also willing to approve it.

Of the three main parties in the cabinet, two are controlled by Zhao Yan and one is the royalists, but this time the royalists have erupted into strong discontent.

They strongly opposed the passage of this bill, believing that the transfer of these water conservancy projects to the engineering team in Shandong was a gift of money to Zhao Yan.

The royalists proposed that the cost of the project should be handed over to local officials, who would then organize personnel to repair the water conservancy.

As a result, the royalists were ruthlessly vetoed.

The motion passed smoothly with a majority of the passes.

…… The next day, the "Royal Daily" broke a piece of news, saying that Zhao Yan was a pseudo-constitution and a real theft of power. The news provided a detailed account of the current state of the cabinet and interviews with many royalist and opposition officials.

The officials interviewed all said the cabinet was under Mr. Zhao's control.

In fact, the loan bill passed this time is a means of embezzlement of state finances by Zhao Yan in the name of repairing water conservancy, because the borrowed project funds will be handed over to the engineering teams in Shandong, and these engineering teams belong to Zhao Yan.

The logic is very smooth.

Chongzhen, who has mastered the tools of public opinion, can't wait to discredit Zhao Yan, and under the planning of Yang Sichang, he made this show.

Zhao Yan was depressed in Shandong, the conscience of heaven and earth! I didn't greed for a penny.

Also feeling very angry are Yuan'er and Yan Yuyao, who dare to slander their husbands in the newspaper, how can they forgive! So he raised his pen to criticize it, but was stopped by Zhao Yan.

The Department of Public Information has professional gunmen who are needed to get their hands dirty.

However, Zhao Yan also had to come forward to speak on this matter, so he dictated a paragraph and published it in the newspaper. Zhao Yan frankly admitted that he had a high level of control over the cabinet, and the reason for this was that there was no soil for survival in the Ming Dynasty, but he was working hard to develop education to promote the return of government to the people.

On the matter of corruption, Zhao Yan criticized the corruption of court officials.

Soon, the "Daming Daily" also counterattacked the "Royal Daily".

The "Royal Daily" attacked Zhao Yan for embezzling the state treasury, while the "Daming Daily" attacked the imperial court for corruption.

The distrust of the two sides was evident in the two newspapers, and within a few days, the soldiers of the world were completely attracted by the mutual attack in the two newspapers, and joined the ranks of the attack.

However, the attack of the two sides lasted only half a month, and Zhao Yan fully gained the upper hand.

Zhao Yan has a special team of gunners, while Yang Sichang does not have any professional gunners, so that it is difficult for Yang Sichang to parry.

At the same time, Zhao Yan has something he can get his hands on, but Chongzhen doesn't.

In terms of military exploits, Zhao Yan fought in the south and the north, suppressed the thieves, pacified the construction of the captives, destroyed Korea, defeated the capital, conquered Mongolia, and recovered Taiwan, laying a vast colony in North America.

Administratively, Zhao Yan's anti-corruption efforts are the highest, and he has just skinned a group of corrupt officials.

At the same time, Zhao Yan has been providing disaster relief and reassuring the people since the sixth year of Chongzhen, and this year, almost all disaster relief in Daming has been presided over by Zhao Yan.

In terms of personal character, Zhao Yan also has the same characteristics as Chongzhen, that is, thrift, Zhao Yan does not build a palace, second, there are not many slaves, and third, he is not extravagant and wasteful.

But Zhao Yan still has qualities that surpass Chongzhen, such as loving the people and being radical.

Zhao Yan's love for the people is famous, as long as people who have been to Shandong, they can know how much Zhao Yan loves the management of the people, Shandong officials are just slaves in front of the people, and at the same time, Shandong has no servitude, no messy taxes.

At the same time, Zhao Yan is a radical who advocates nationalism. And respect personal property, regard personal innocence and property as sacrosanct, attach importance to personal life and personality, and hardly take the lives of soldiers as bargaining chips for victory on the battlefield.

In Zhao Yan, there are too many good qualities that can be found, and the gunmen under Zhao Yan wrote one after another, and constantly introduced the system of Shandong.

Saying that Zhao Yan is corrupt, how much does Zhao Yan spend on infrastructure and education every year? If he wants to embezzle, the money invested in infrastructure and education can be left in his hands.

Even if he is corrupt, he is also corrupt for the sake of the nation!

Zhao Yan, who stood on the moral high ground, completely suppressed Chongzhen's restlessness under the rendering of the gunmen!

After reading the "Daming Newspaper", many of the scholars in the world directly defected.

is the so-called indistinguishable, such an argument, the gap between Zhao Yan and Chongzhen is clear at a glance.

What did Chongzhen do in the eleven years on the throne?

Although he is very diligent, it is undeniable. But his ability was limited, the thieves were not suppressed, the captives were not defeated, and he did not give relief to the victims.

Zhao Yan had the advantage in this public opinion war, not only because Zhao Yan was not afraid of crooked shadows, but also because the "Daming Daily" showed super 'combat effectiveness' in the public opinion war.

The doubling of the pages is almost entirely a public opinion offensive.

In less than half a month, the "Royal Newspaper" was completely defeated, and Chongzhen not only did not defeat Zhao Yan because he mastered the tools of public opinion, but was defeated very miserably.

So in the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen's roar can often be heard!

Every time he roars, it must be when he reads the newspaper, and this is when Chongzhen is the most angry, Yang Sichang was summoned into the palace by him, and then scolded a bloody dog.

What a fucking idea!

How does this end?

Yang Sichang was scolded so ashamed that he had to admit that engaging in public opinion was really not the opponent of "Daming Daily". This failure, congenital deficiency is also a big constraint, if Chongzhen can perform better, he will not be so passive.

(To be continued)