Chapter 296: The King, His Ministers, and His Assistants, Jiyou Project

In the imperial study, a pin drop can be heard.

Although people have a selfish side, many civil officials have the heart of "carrying on the lost knowledge of the past sages and bringing peace to the world for all eternity" at the beginning, but they are often defeated by the hypocritical reality.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has ushered in such a wise ruler, even if they do not consider their own future, they still want to witness the prosperity of China with their own eyes, and even want to participate in it.

Now the court is facing the great problem of properly resettling millions of disaster victims, but there has been no good solution to this stubborn disease from ancient times to the present, just as the Minister of Punishment He Zhixin said that letting it survive is the most common method of the dynasty.

Unfortunately, many people present had similar thoughts to Wu Yu, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, but they believed that this problem would not be difficult for this wise and powerful emperor.

It's out!

When Li Si, the Minister of Revenue, saw Zhu Youtang appearing at the guardrail of the attic, his eyes flashed with excitement.

After many things, more and more important officials are now impressed by the emperor's wisdom, so they hope that Hongzhi can come up with a way to break the deadlock.

In the past, wise ministers were valuable because the emperor had to rely on them for everything. But now the Hongzhi Emperor is simply a demon emperor. Their greatest role is to "talk less and do more" to implement the emperor's decisions.

Whether it is the courage to rectify the salt administration, or the wisdom of using the book of unruly people to promote the land survey, or the focus on the elite soldiers and capable generals in military affairs, they all reveal the wisdom of this emperor in governing.

Although it is difficult to resettle millions of disaster victims now, they believe that under the leadership of this wise ruler, it may not be impossible to solve it.

"Are you crazy? The emperor can solve this difficult problem, it's really desperate to try any medicine!"

The Minister of Punishment He Qiaoxin has different thoughts from the ministers. Seeing that this lucky right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue actually intends to ask the emperor for help, he can't help but despise him.

Although he admits that the emperor has done a good job since he ascended the throne, it doesn't mean that Zhu Youtang is so good. It's just that Zhu Youtang is a stubborn emperor, plus Wang Yue and Wang Zhi, two crazy dogs.

If I were in his position, I would definitely be ten times stronger than Zhu Youtang. If I could employ wise ministers such as Wang Shu, Ma Wensheng and Liu Daxia, the world would surely be in great order.

As for the problem that I couldn't solve, this little emperor naturally couldn't solve it. It was just a joke.

Zhu Youtang was just accepting tea from a beauty in the pavilion. After a little hesitation, he walked to the guardrail and said lightly: "In this case, let's start the war immediately!"

Start a war?

Minister of Rites Xu Qiong and other officials looked at each other, but they were confused for a while.

Obviously, everyone was discussing the resettlement of millions of disaster victims in Henan, but the emperor suddenly said that he wanted to start a war, which seemed to be a wrong answer.

As for the war that the emperor said, it was undoubtedly referring to the bloodbath of Jianzhou Jurchens by the Ming soldiers stationed in Liaodong. However, there was a major disaster in the country now. Shouldn't it be a truce at this time?

"Sure enough, this little Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue is unreliable. This emperor who already holds great power is simply a war maniac. Obviously, everyone was discussing the resettlement of millions of disaster victims, but they ended up dragging on the Liaodong war. Is this emperor crazy about war?" The Minister of Justice He Zhixin's heart is in Cao Ying and his heart is in Han. Faced with Zhu Youtang's unreliable answer, he secretly discussed it.

"Your Majesty, do you want to conquer the Jianzhou Jurchens?" Li Yu, the Minister of Personnel, asked tentatively.

Zhu Youtang shook his head gently, causing the important officials below to be stunned immediately, but they did not expect that they had guessed wrong.

Zhu Youtang's eyes were bright and he said in a firm tone: "Wrong! The people of our Celestial Empire are the people of the superior country. Now the Jianzhou Jurchens have surrendered but are mostly disloyal. They have flattered Korea several times, which shows their wolfish ambitions. The previous emperor once said that they would be exterminated. Now I don't want millions of people to be displaced, so this time I want to wipe out the Jianzhou Jurchens and take back the old land of the Ming Dynasty to comfort the millions of disaster victims of the Ming Dynasty."

Ah? Wipe?

The cabinet chief Wan An and others were dumbfounded and looked at the emperor who was high above.

Just as they were thinking hard about how to subsidize the people and let millions of people regain their livelihoods, the emperor jumped out of the "national gate" and set his sights on the fertile land of Jianzhou.

The Jianzhou Jurchens were no longer a nomadic people in the true sense. The reason why they were transitioning to a semi-agricultural society was precisely due to the unique land conditions of Jianzhou.

If we can take back that fertile land and build water conservancy projects, it will be a good place to settle millions of disaster victims, so that millions of disaster-stricken people will not become slaves or starve to death in the wilderness.

Zhu Youtang didn't care what the silence below was thinking, but he knew that the important things had to be decided by the emperor himself: "I am not a warlike king, but I want to strengthen China, trade with the four seas, and restore China's land. History will scold me as a tyrant, but now Jianzhou is not a conquest, but to pacify Jianzhou and restore China's old land. Are you willing to lend me a hand?"

"Your Majesty attaches great importance to the people, and we are willing to go through fire and water for Your Majesty!" Wan'an learned of Zhu Youtang's true intentions and expressed his loyalty.

Xu Qiong, the Minister of Rites, originally flattered for his career, but after seeing the emperor's actions, he couldn't help but shed tears of loyalty.

Although this emperor is contrary to the benevolence advocated by Confucianism and the common happiness advocated by the ruling class, he is an emperor who truly cares about the people.

Throughout the ages, many prosperous times can only be prosperous for some people, and the vast majority of people are silently carrying the burden for this prosperous time.

However, in order to resettle millions of refugees, the current emperor is willing to bear the infamy of a tyrant and directly send troops to flatten the entire Jianzhou Jurchen. How can such a king not swear to follow him to the death?

This...

He Qiaoxin, the Minister of Punishment, was completely stunned, his head buzzing.

I thought this eternal problem was unsolvable, but this emperor found another way to solve it by recovering the old land and investing huge sums of money in water conservancy projects.

But... starting a war to settle its own people, wouldn't this damage the reputation of a great country with etiquette?

Zhu Youtang felt that these important officials were also pretending to be the people, so he said seriously: "Since you have no objection, who should be the commander in chief next? How to relocate the refugees and build water conservancy after pacifying Jianzhou? Jianzhou has a flat terrain and fertile land. Even if the court spends 500,000 taels of national treasury to build water conservancy, it will actually build a granary in the northeast of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, this move can solve the problem of water transport in the near future and lay the foundation for the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty in the long run."

Different from the thinking of the ruling class of this era, if you want to rise up a place, you need capital investment in the early stage.

The fertile land of Jianzhou is a good place to develop agriculture, but it actually takes time and manpower to cultivate it, and it also requires investment in water conservancy projects, so that Jianzhou can truly be built into the Northeast granary.

Although the initial investment is expected to be one million taels, once the Northeast granary rises, the capital's demand for food from the south will be greatly reduced. At that time, the problem of grain transport malpractice will be solved, and it can also provide food security for the entire Ming Dynasty.

"Yes!" Li Yu, the Minister of Personnel, and other important officials felt that the emperor was in control of the situation, and immediately bowed respectfully.

I... object!

He Qiaoxin was very reluctant to do something that would damage the etiquette of the country in order to resettle millions of disaster victims, but he looked around and found that no one had any objections, so he swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

Huh?

The right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue looked at the Minister of Punishment He Qiaoxin with contempt, but noticed that He Qiaoxin was strange, and believed that the Minister of Punishment was really unfaithful, and immediately regarded him as his first political enemy.

Since Zhu Youtang set the tone, everything became simple in the following discussions.

Although these important officials could not open up the situation, who would take charge and resettle the refugees were actually their main business.

The problem since ancient times is actually about money, but Hongzhi's finances were still very healthy, and a large amount of stolen silver was obtained from the Ye family.

Since there is no need to impose additional taxes on the people, there is naturally no need to argue, and everyone only needs to consider how to spend the money.

"Our Ministry of Revenue has enough money to help the disaster relief, but the Censorate must do a good job in anti-corruption!"

"Our Ministry of Revenue has money to repair the dike, but the Ministry of Works needs to keep its eyes open when selecting river officials!"

"Our Ministry of Revenue has a solid granary, but the Ministry of War needs to formulate regulations for grain transportation!"

...

Li Si, the Minister of Revenue, has become a veritable God of Wealth. He will allocate funds to various government offices without any mistakes, but he also makes requests with confidence.

The biggest feature of the Hongzhi Dynasty is to abandon the previous model of fighting alone and change to cooperation among various departments, which greatly improves work efficiency.

Now it can be said that the monarch and his ministers are of one mind. Although some corruption is hard to prevent, the court's determination to combat corruption is unprecedentedly strong.

The status of the Special Censorate suddenly rose, and Wang Yue was a straight-forward king, so the Censorate was silently shouldering the sacred mission of anti-corruption.

After Zhu Youtang listened to the opinions of the officials of the six ministries, he handed over the work of relief and relocation of disaster victims to the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Personnel. The repair of the Yellow River embankment and the planning of the Jianzhou water conservancy project were undertaken by the Ministry of Works, and the other departments assisted.

As for the most important candidate to lead the army to pacify the Jianzhou Jurchens, Zhu Youtang originally preferred Liu Xuan, the governor of Liaodong, but Liu Xuan's military talent was still a little lacking, and it was finally decided that Wang Yue, the left censor of the Censorate, would lead the expedition.

With the end of the highest meeting of the Imperial Study, the largest "Jianzhou Jiyou Project" since the Hongzhi Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty was launched.

In the next few days, the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of War became the busiest departments.

The Ministry of Households fully undertook the disaster relief work in Henan and other places, the Ministry of War was responsible for the logistics of the Liaodong war, and other departments mainly cooperated with these two tasks.

However, when the news reached the outside world, especially the appointment of Wang Yue by the Ming Dynasty to join forces with the military supervisor eunuch Zhang Yong and the new Liaodong general Wu Jingbo Zhao Chengqing, the anti-war sentiment suddenly rose.

"It is not the behavior of a great country to conquer because of insufficient deer tendons?"

"The Ming Dynasty is a country of etiquette, and such behavior can make a tyrant!"

"Those who lose have few supporters, and virtuous ministers will not serve the king. The virtuous should resign!"

...

The scholars outside did not pay attention to the millions of disaster victims. When they learned that the court was conquering Jianzhou, they immediately opposed it in anger.

Under the instigation of those who had ulterior motives, the public opinion in the capital was almost one-sided, and many scholars pointed the finger at the court.

What's worse, some people advocated that virtuous people should resign and leave this kind of unrighteous monarch.

These voices naturally reached the palace. Although Zhu Youtang knew that the power against him in the capital was increasing instead of decreasing, he did not intend to focus on this group of jumping clowns, but focused on pacifying Jianzhou and disaster relief.

East of the city, Dongsheng Inn.

Xu Hong and Gao Kui are two lucky people who stayed in the capital. When they have time, they will meet in this place that changed their destiny.

Although there is still about a month before the Shuntian Academy Examination, candidates have come to prepare for the exam one after another, and these "active" candidates like to criticize current affairs the most.

Anti-war seems to have become politically correct. A table in the middle is talking freely, pointing the finger at the "impulsive" emperor.

Xu Hong naturally heard these discordant voices, but noticed that Gao Kui arrived first, so he walked towards the wine table in the corner.

When Gao Kui saw Xu Hong arriving, he personally poured wine for Xu Hong and said, "What a coincidence between us two! I thought I was the only one staying in Beijing, but I didn't expect that I would also be sent to Henan on errands!"

"You all, the Procuratorate, are becoming more and more lenient. Now the officials from the six ministries say they are most afraid of you, for fear of being caught by your Procuratorate!" Xu Hong sat down in front of the table and picked up his wine glass.

There was a hint of sarcasm in the corner of Gao Kui's mouth, and he looked upright and said: "If you don't do anything bad, don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. People who are really afraid of us must have ghosts in their hearts and do illegal things. How dare you reach out for disaster relief funds like this one , I will definitely disown my relatives, and I will never do anything complicit in it!”

"This time due to the slag construction of the river, most of Henan has been reduced to a wasteland, and millions of people have been displaced. I used to think that the power your Majesty gave you to the Procuratorate was too great, but after experiencing this, I realized that Your Majesty is actually Lord Ying. But now, someone in this capital actually calls your majesty a tyrant. I really want to drink it!" Xu Hong frowned slightly as he took a sip of wine.

Gao Kui raised his head and glanced at the few scholars who had just criticized the emperor, but asked seriously: "Your Majesty used deer sinew as an excuse to conquer Jianzhou, right?"

"If my guess is correct, this is indeed an excuse! At first, His Majesty was afraid that he was planning to establish a state, but now millions of people have been displaced. This battle is inevitable, and it is inevitable to win!"

"you mean……"

"Anmin!"

As soon as these words came out, a bright light flashed in Gao Kui's mind, and then he looked in the direction of the Forbidden City in shock.

Several scholars in the center of the front hall were still criticizing the emperor, but Gao Kui in this corner looked at the Forbidden City in shock, and Xu Hong's eyes were also full of awe.

Although it is impossible for the imperial court to announce the Jianzhou Jiyou Project, it is inevitable that some clues will not be revealed, and some talents with political talent can also get a glimpse of it.

In fact, Xu Hong was smart on the one hand, but more importantly, Xu Hong had met Emperor Hongzhi before and knew that he was a rare British master.

In addition, Zhang Sui was sent to Liaodong earlier, so Liaodong must not have been a war caused by Lujin, but Emperor Hongzhi had the idea of ​​taking back the entire Jianzhou, and even wanted to use Jianzhou as a basis to pacify the savage Jurchens and Hai. Western Jurchen.

Combined with the current disaster situation in Henan, Xu Hong has every reason to infer that the real intention of the Jianzhou War is to resettle millions of victims.

"Hey, what are you two muttering about? I think the head of the case heard you talking about the British Lord just now?"

At this time, several boys who had been giving advice just now came over, and the man with the black mole in the lead asked them in a strange manner.

Sorry, I'm in the hospital and I'll be back to normal in two days.