The twelfth day of the first month.

The news of the earthquake in Shaanxi exploded in the officialdom of Beijing like thunder on the ground.

The news reached Jingshi during the day, and Zhu Youzhu was already ready to take a nap, Xiao Jing and Li Rong appeared in the Xinuan Pavilion with the report from the northwest place.

“…… Your Majesty, more than 5,000 houses collapsed, four people were injured, and one person died, all of whom did not listen to the dispatch of the local government and entered the houses without authorization...... The good thing is to minimize the casualties ......"

Xiao Jing also felt sorry when he reported the matter.

The time and place have been calculated, although it is not specific to what time it is, but for the local people, if you prepare for two days, there will be no major events.

But after all, this earthquake occurred in the cold winter, and it was still the first day of the Lunar New Year, so that many people knew that the earthquake might come, and they had to run to a place with tiles to cover their heads, just to escape the cold.

Li Rong added: "In Yan'an Mansion and other places, on the day of the earth movement, the climate was suddenly cold, and it even snowed in some places. The people had no use to keep warm in the wilderness. ”

The implication is not that the people are looking for death by themselves, but they all have some luck psychology, and they have no choice in the cold wind.

Zhu Youzhu sighed with emotion: "Everything that the imperial court can do has already been done, if it fails to convey the news to the local place because of the delay in news transmission, it is the fault of the imperial court, but there is no delay in the end...... How is the relief going? ”

Xiao Jing said: "Local reports that the errand of disaster relief is still continuing, many people are now displaced, and some soldiers and civilians have not been able to transfer goods in time, and some livestock have been killed or injured. In addition, the castle walls have also collapsed, and it is not yet spring, so it is not easy to rebuild the houses......

Zhu Youzhu was silent for a while.

Knowing that a disaster may occur, the first thing that comes to mind is to avoid casualties, and as for how to provide disaster relief...... Even Zhu Youzhu himself didn't think it through.

After all, Shaanxi is still too far away from the capital, and it is impossible for the emperor to transfer money and grain from the capital to relieve disasters, and far water cannot quench the thirst of the near.

"It was ordered that the places affected by the earthquake in Shaanxi should be exempted from one year's money and grain service, and 200,000 stone of military rations should be transferred from Yansui to help the victims of the disaster in cooperation with the affected places. He ordered the Shaanxi political envoy to send people to the localities, and the political envoy assigned officials to different prefectures and counties...... The local government treasury opened warehouses to release grain, and the government offices had not collapsed to resettle the victims...... Preventing plagues and other events after disasters......"

Zhu Youzhu himself doesn't have any good ideas, just to ask and arrange as much as possible.

Xiao Jing asked: "Your Majesty, should you send someone to Shaanxi to coordinate disaster relief and other matters?" ”

"Sent from the capital?" Zhu Youzhu asked coldly, and then shook his head, "It's too far, this time the ground movement, as Bingkuan predicted, the collapse of the house is the most fatal, only a few people were killed and injured...... It can be regarded as the end of benevolence and righteousness. However, Bingkuan also said that in the future, there will be a series of earthquakes in Shaanxi, so the local government should not take it lightly. ”

There is no such thing as an earthquake magnitude in these years, but the magnitude of this Shaanxi earthquake is at least above level 6, and there are also aftershocks.

Not to mention the wide range of impact, it is also the cold winter moon, and the people are also very passive in avoiding disasters and other things.

"By the way, build more straw huts." Zhu Youzhu suddenly thought of something and added, "The public office of the Yamen is also inappropriate...... Alas! In the past few years, among so many earth movements, this time the earth movement is the most serious, and I suddenly forgot what to do when I encountered such things before. ”

Li Rong reminded: "Your Majesty, in the past, whenever there was a ground movement, there was no advance preparation, and the disaster relief and other things in the local disaster where there was a temporary accident were also in a hurry, and it took longer for the news to come and go. Now, the local government has already made preparations before the disaster, so even if it is a hasty response, it is definitely easy to deal with it. ”

"yes." Zhu Youzhu sighed, "But why do I know about this and still feel that the six gods have no master?" Is there something that is not well prepared? ”

Li Rong said: "Or because the local government is still not fully prepared in the event of a disaster, it is because the local officials are slack in official affairs, it stands to reason that such an accurate prophecy should not have any more deaths and injuries, and the local government should make preparations as soon as possible, and the resettlement of the people will be orderly, so that it will not be like now, knowing that there will be a disaster, and waiting for everything to make up for after the disaster." ”

"Yes!"

Zhu Youzhu seemed to have finally found the crux of the problem, and said angrily, "I sent someone to notify the place a month in advance, even if the road was delayed, I gave them at least half a month to prepare, they can still deal with it in such a hurry, I really look down on those local officials!" ”

Xiao Jing hurriedly reminded: "Your Majesty, even if the local officials act inappropriately, they should wait for the disaster relief to end before dealing with it." ”

"Hmm." After Zhu Youzhu thought about it, he nodded reluctantly, "I should still send someone to help." When the order was issued, it was clear to the people of the Shaanxi Political Envoy that if there was chaos in the area where anyone was responsible during the disaster relief, they would all be investigated to the end! And it became a rule! I don't believe it...... You have to beat a group of people well, so that the officials of the dynasty will know what it means to put the people first, if you can't even do this thing, you will be vain courtiers! What do I want them to do? ”

……

……

The matter of disaster relief was ordered by the emperor himself, but it was obviously inferior in timeliness.

The news comes and goes, and it takes at least twenty days or more.

After coming out of the Xinuan Pavilion, Xiao Jing said to Li Rong: "Your Majesty has arranged for the officials of the Shaanxi Political Envoy Department to go down for disaster relief, have you ever thought that if you wait for the news to arrive in ten days, they will go again, won't it be after February?" What's the point of disaster relief then? ”

Li Rong said: "Or Your Majesty just wants to set an example with this, if there is a local movement in the future, the provincial feudal and Taiwan yamen must immediately dispatch and provide relief, instead of waiting for everything to be ordered by the imperial court." ”

"Alas!" Xiao Jing sighed, "I'm afraid that the degree of disaster relief is not easy to control, in the past few years, the amount of grain stored by the government in the northwest has been sharply reduced, which is used too much, and if it is used less, it is easy to be questioned by the boss, and it has become a stain on their official side, how many people will really be responsible?" ”

Li Rong nodded and said: "Or this also reflects that Cai Guogong is a responsible person." Thinking about such things, he can pretend not to know, not to cause trouble for himself, and still make it clear to His Majesty without hesitation...... That's why His Majesty relies so heavily on Cai Guogong, right? ”

Xiao Jing obviously didn't want to hear those words of praise for Zhang Zhou.

The more responsible Zhang Zhou is, the more he wins the trust of the emperor, and the more he reflects the incompetence of these close ministers.

Xiao Jing is an internal official who has had a head-to-head competition with Zhang Zhou, and he is also well aware that he is gradually falling out of favor...... Even Xiao Jing was pondering in his heart, maybe it won't be long before his position as the eunuch in charge of the seal of his master of ceremonies will be given to others, what is the point of me advocating Zhang Bingkuan?

……

……

The official document for disaster relief was also immediately sent to the yamen of the household department.

After the cabinet learned the news, Xie Qian, on behalf of the cabinet, went to the yamen of the household department to talk to Tong Zhong about the relief of the earthquake disaster in Shaanxi.

Seeing Xie Qian's very cautious appearance, Tong Zhong couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "But do you want to raise some matters with Your Majesty about this disaster?" ”

In other words, you attach so much importance to it, do you want to use this disaster to let the people below impeach Zhang Zhou?

Xie Qian said: "The household department didn't know about Cai Guogong's words in advance? ”

He Zhong nodded and said, "I've heard a little." However, His Majesty did not order the Ministry of Household Affairs to prepare for disaster relief. ”

"Ahem." Xie Qian cleared his throat and said, "That's because, in the past, no one would make preparations for the ground movement in advance, you said that if this money and grain were transported to Shaanxi, halfway through, the ground movement did not happen, who would bear the loss?" ”

She Zhong said: "In such a disaster, you can't expect to transfer money and grain from Taicang for relief, right?" Is there no preparation at the ground? ”

Xie Qian sneered: "This is interesting, as far as I know, the local government only informed the people of the land movement, and did not even send people to mobilize in the people's houses, and only a few people were killed and injured in the report, but who knows if there are widows and widows in the remote farm who do not know about the disaster, and no one even reports the death?" ”

"This ......"

Only then did he realize that the local government was so irresponsible when preparing for the earthquake this time.

Xie Qian sighed again: "Or it really depends on the prestige of Cai Guogong Zhang, if the court does not say that this is from his mouth, the people in the affected places may not even pay attention to it, and more than 5,000 houses have collapsed, even the city tower, city wall and the public hall of the yamen are no exception, but you can imagine how big the impact of this disaster will be." Now I am afraid that there will be a situation of concealment in the local area. ”

Tong Zhong said: "Your Majesty does not seem to have summoned the courtiers to discuss how to deal with it. ”

Xie Qian said: "Or Your Majesty knows that when such a thing happens, you have to save yourself locally." What Jingshi Taicang can do is only to fill the vacancy in the local treasury, and also wait for the local treasury to be transferred first...... The household department then played on this stage, and played the disaster relief matters at the ratio of two taels of silver to one household. ”

"One household and two taels affected by the disaster?" When you count the clock, this is an astronomical amount.

Xie Qian said angrily: "It's a collapsed house, and if the house is damaged, it depends on how to get it." Alas! It happened so suddenly, and I don't know much about it, and we have to wait for the follow-up local report. ”

……

……

Zhang Zhou didn't go out that day, and it was his rest day.

After the year, there was not much to do in the listening office, and it was rare for him to take a day off, and he was enjoying the beauty at home while holding a pot of tea and carrying a book in one hand.

This head knew that it was Li Rong who came to the door in a hurry.

Zhang Zhou could only tidy up a little, came out of the study, and went to the front hall to see Li Rong.

"Mr. Zhang, it is about the disaster in Shaanxi, which is more serious than you expected, but there is not much damage to people and animals, but disaster relief and other things are difficult......

Li Rong handed over the reports from several local places, the joint Shaanxi local supervision of the imperial history, and the reports of the political envoys to Zhang Zhou.

After Zhang Zhou finished reading it, he said: "Talking about disaster relief thousands of miles away, the whip is beyond the reach of the whip." ”

Wang Mingshan, who came out with Zhang Zhou, didn't think anything when she heard this, while Lin Yi turned red, put down the ginseng tea prepared for Zhang Zhou, and bowed and retired.

"Grandpa Li, tea?" Zhang Zhou's face was indifferent, and he pushed the ginseng tea over.

Li Rong said helplessly: "Sir, I can't take care of it at this time." ”

Li Rong came to the door not to drink tea at all.

Zhang Zhoudao: "I also explained everything I could, I did everything on the first day I returned to Beijing, and it would be useless to tell me more." I don't think Your Majesty is trying to make me come up with a proper disaster relief plan, right? ”

Li Rong thought about it, the emperor really didn't feel so "embarrassed" about Zhang Zhou.

Knowing that the mountains and rivers are far away, the timeliness is very poor, and even the prophecy of the earthquake has been successfully completed by Zhang Zhou, and he said it, so he has to wait until the aftermath to make up for it?

"Actually, our family came to ...... It's more to inform Mr. Zhang, there is indeed such a thing...... You don't have to worry about what is being said about you. Li Rong is scheming, and he changed his words quickly.

Zhang Zhoudao: "That's good, don't blame me, then I can speculate about the relevant disasters in the future, and I dare to mention it." But I'm afraid, not every time I can hit. ”

Li Rong said with a look of admiration: "Mr. Zhang, although our family has heard a lot of things about you in the past, but we have not seen it with our own eyes, this time we can be regarded as having seen it, you said that you are such a loyal minister who is dedicated to the country and the people, why do you still care about those gossips?" Don't say that you hit every time you do this now, even if you can only hit once in the next ten times and a hundred times, do you dare to disobey it? ”

"Gonggong Li is exaggerating, if you can only hit once out of ten times and 100 times, then I am no different from Hu Meng, such an uncertain thing, I will not be able to do it." Zhang Zhou seemed very peaceful.

It's as if I didn't think I could predict an earthquake in advance.

Li Rong said: "Mr. Zhang, I can't hide it, Your Majesty is very dissatisfied with this local disaster relief, and thinks that the local government has failed to fulfill its duties as an official. What do you think should be done for these magistrates? ”

Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty must want to wait for the disaster to end before punishing it, right?" ”

"Yes." Li Rong said, "Temporary replacement, after all, it is difficult to achieve effective replacement, it is better to let them make meritorious contributions." ”

He was embarrassed to say that this was actually Xiao Jing's proposal.

Zhang Zhoubian flattened his mouth and said: "I think that if you want to punish, you can't tolerate it, otherwise I, the person who made the prediction in advance, will feel that this group of people is messing around." Don't wait for the disaster itself to not cause many casualties, but think that it is inappropriate in the disaster relief, and some people die of cold and starvation, and even plague and other catastrophes......"

"How can people who don't care about disaster prevention expect them to do disaster relief with their hearts?"

Li Rong listened to Zhang Zhou's words and was stunned for a while.

After a while, he sighed, "That's ...... Adultery cannot be tolerated. ”

Zhang Zhou smiled: "That's probably the case." That's all I can do, after all, the decision was made by His Majesty, and I'm afraid that disaster relief matters will depend on Gonggong Li and others to worry more. ”

(End of chapter)