In the 21st year of Chengping, on the second day of the seventh month, the heavy rain continued for more than half a month, and the water surface of the Qinghe River swelled, causing the embankment of Zhengjue Temple in Putai to be washed out in seven miles, and hundreds of villages in five counties such as Putai, Lijin, Boxing, Guangrao, and Shouguang were flooded, and more than 4 million acres of fertile land were washed away, and nearly 500,000 people were affected. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The Manchu Dynasty was shocked, and the whole country was shaken.

Emperor Xiao held accountable more than 20 officials of all sizes, including the Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, the Right Squire of the Ministry of Industry, the Governor of the River, the Political Envoy of Qizhou, and the Left and Right Guards of Qinghe, and ordered the Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry and the Political Envoy of Qizhou to make meritorious contributions, and urgently summoned Xiao Bai, the king of Qi, to Beijing.

Imperial capital, the sixth day of the first month, heavy rain.

The eaves of the celebrant in the inner court of the imperial city were washed bright by the rain, and an old man in a black python robe stood under the eaves in front of the door with his hands in his hands, looking at the rain curtain outside with a blank face.

After a while, a big eunuch dressed in a cyan python robe came behind the old man and said softly: "Godfather, the hour is almost up, it's time to go to the imperial front to discuss matters." ”

If the cabinets in the cabinet are always high-powered, then the celebrant is a typical lowly power, and the grade is only four grades, but the palm seal eunuch and many of them can wear python robes, hold the power of criticism, and have the power to vote against the cabinet, so there is the outer court and the inner court.

In addition to Emperor Xiao himself, there are only ten qualified participants according to the convention, including five celebrants and five cabinets.

Today's cabinet has a total of one first assistant, one second assistant, and three group assistants. The celebrant eunuchs are also roughly the same, with a palm seal eunuch, a admiral eunuch, and three eunuchs with a pen.

This big eunuch in a cyan python robe is the number two person of the celebrant eunuch, surnamed Zhang Mingbao, that is, the admiral eunuch and the chief bingbi, and his status is only below the palm seal eunuch. can make the dignified admiral eunuch so respectful, then the identity of the old man is naturally self-evident, it is the master of ceremonies who is known as the prime minister Zhang Baiying.

Zhang Baisui stretched out his hand to catch some rain, pondered for a moment, and nodded.

Half an hour later, in Weiyang Palace, ten people were divided into two columns.

The five on the left are the celebrants, and the five on the right are the cabinet.

In addition to these ten people, there is one more person in front of the emperor today, standing in the middle position, wearing a black dragon python robe, and the crown on his head is inlaid with seven huge eastern pearls, which is already extremely prominent in terms of clothing alone, far surpassing the rest of the others, second only to Emperor Xiao sitting on the dragon chair, it is Xiao Bai, the king of Qi who was urgently called into Beijing.

In terms of appearance, Xiao Bai and Xiao Xuan are very similar, as if carved out of a mold, but Emperor Xiao is older, more majestic, and more restrained, and Xiao Bai, who is still young, is a little more sharp.

Zhang Baisui stood first on the left, and opposite him was the first assistant Lanyu of the dynasty.

As the emperor's teacher, Lan Yu was crowned as a Taishi in the tenth year of Chengping, and he was also the only person who could sit in the entire Weiyang Palace.

As the eunuch in the hall rang the first yellow bell chime, Lan Yu, who was sitting on the eunuch's chair, was the first to speak: "Everyone has arrived, let's discuss it." ”

Zhang Baisui said slowly: "This discussion is still because of the recent incident of the Qinghe embankment. Not to mention the people who were directly drowned, that is, those who escaped with their lives, lost their fields, lost their houses, separated their wives, and their families were destroyed, and they could only be displaced in the end. Overnight, the flood flooded several states, and there were millions of victims, which is not a small number, and if someone takes the opportunity to cause chaos, something big will happen. ”

As soon as the words fell, a thunderbolt suddenly sounded outside the hall, and the rain that was already not small became more and more majestic.

There was silence in the hall for a moment, and Lan Yu spoke: "The old man has experienced the war at the end of Zheng, in fact, there is only a line between the disaster victims and the displaced people, and the displaced people and the chaotic people are a line apart. ”

Zhang Bao glanced at Zhang Baisui, saw that Zhang Baisui had no objections, and said softly: "A Qinghe River has been flooded through the ages, and all dynasties have suffered from it. We think that the most urgent task at the moment is nothing more than money and grain, one is to transfer grain from the neighboring state capitals in the disaster area to the disaster area, and the other is to allocate funds from the household department to repair the river embankment. ”

Han Xuan, who returned to the temple, lowered his eyes and said, "Not long after the old man took over the household department, he just counted the silver in the household department and the grain stored in various places. In the 20 years since Chengping, the total annual tax and silver of the four capitals and 30 prefectures was 42.35 million taels, and the expenditure budget at the beginning of last year was 39 million taels, but when combined with the actual expenditure last year, it was 51.9 million taels, and the budget was overspent by 12.9 million taels. Even if we count the tax and silver for the whole of last year, and the income and expenditure are offset, the overspending and deficit of last year will be 9.55 million taels, which is already nearly a quarter of the tax silver of last year!"

Han Xuan raised his head and looked around, and said in a slightly heavier voice: "As for the granaries in various places, officials of all sizes are shoddy, old and new, and fill their private pockets, so many things are not uncommon, and my household department is also in serious deficit, in other words, today's household department has no food to adjust, and there is no money to allocate it." ”

As soon as Han Xuan's words came out, the hall was silent.

The household has no money, and if you want to talk about it in detail, no one can pick it out. Although Han Xuan is the head of the Ministry of Households, after all, he has just taken office, and the previous bad debts are not on his head, could it be that he has just disposed of a Ministry of Works, and he will continue to dispose of a Ministry of Households?

is no better than the Ministry of Industry Shangshu who is about to return to his hometown, and now the Ministry of Household Shangshu is in the prime of life, and he is still the proud protégé of Shoufu Lanyu.

Lan Yu asked calmly, "Then according to Elder Han Ge's meaning, what should I do?"

Han Xuan was neither humble nor arrogant: "Now the household has less than two million taels of silver, and it is just a drop in the bucket to repair the river embankment and provide disaster relief. ”

Zhang Baisui said softly: "Wenbi has just returned to the temple, and many things are not yet clueless, so don't embarrass Lan Xiang, and Wen Bi is also right, after all, Lan Xiang is the first assistant of the cabinet, and you have to decide everything." ”

At this moment, the second yellow bell chime rang, and the hall fell silent again.

Emperor Xiao, who had never spoken, suddenly spoke: "Xiao Bai, Qizhou is your fiefdom and the hardest hit area of this flood, what do you say." ”

Xiao Bai took a step forward and said respectfully: "There are priorities, in the humble opinion of the sons, after the flood season, the floods will recede, so the matter of repairing the river embankment can be put aside first, and helping the victims is the top priority. ”

Emperor Xiao was noncommittal and slowly got up from the dragon chair.

"Your Majesty. "Including Lan Yu and Xiao Bai, everyone knelt on the ground together.

Emperor Xiao walked down the steps, walked all the way to the door of Weiyang Palace, looked at the rain curtain outside the door, and said calmly: "Get up." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty. And they got up.

Xiao Xuan stretched out his hand to catch some rain, looked down at the water stains in his palm, and said: "When the first emperor had not yet won the world, Emperor Zheng Shenzong ordered Xu Lin, who was still the governor of the central capital at that time, to lead an army of 230,000 to crusade against the first emperor, and the two sides fought a decisive battle on the bank of the Qinghe River in the middle of winter. After this battle, Xu Lin surrendered to the first emperor, and the first emperor entered the central capital with a great victory, which led to the later tiger eye on the Central Plains. ”

Speaking of these wars in the opening of the dynasty, everyone who should have been in a stirring mood was silent, and the atmosphere in the hall became more and more solemn.

Xiao Xuan turned around, aggravated his voice suddenly, and said in a loud voice: "That big flood, there is the merit of the Daomen, and it is also the trend of the times, but today, the will of heaven has changed, if we do not have the will of God, we still do not cultivate virtue, resulting in disasters from the sky, the Qinghe River is flooded today by the people of several states, and tomorrow it will be the imperial capital under our feet." ”

Xiao Xuan looked at Xiao Bai, "Qianli Zeguo, millions of victims, related to my Great Qi's Jiangshan Sheji, the clan and the country are the same body, this errand to Jiangnan to raise funds and transfer grain will be handled by the King of Qi himself." ”

Xiao Bai knelt on one knee and said in a deep voice: "The sons and daughters share the worries and labor of their father, and they should do their best. ”