Chapter 298: The Ruler and His Subjects Are of One Mind, and the People Are the Most Important

In the remaining days of May, public opinion in the capital slowly changed.

Many troublemakers actually did not know that the war against Jianzhou was not a one-sided act of Zhu Youtang, but a joint decision of the internal and six ministries.

Especially in the matter of settling millions of disaster victims, the emperor and his ministers were unprecedentedly united, knowing that annihilating Jianzhou was the best way to save millions of disaster victims.

That was why those who hid behind the scenes to fan the flames and prevent the war not only challenged the emperor, but also angered the most powerful group of people in the court.

In the face of such scum who wanted to hold back the Ming Dynasty and hypocrites who wanted to ignore millions of disaster victims, the emperor did not need to take action personally, and the people in power in various government offices had already dealt a heavy blow to these people.

"Come with us to Shuntian Prefecture!"

"You are a scholar, go to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation!"

"Haha... You are still receiving a monthly salary from the Ming Dynasty. Is this your way of being a minister?"

...

As more and more people were arrested and taken to Shuntian Prefecture, the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, the Northern Pacification Office and other government offices, the public opinion storm against Zhu Youtang slowly subsided.

It is worth mentioning that the Baijiayuan played an important role in guiding public opinion.

Through the latest issue of Ming, they listed the numerous crimes committed by the Jianzhou Jurchens over the years, thereby arousing the people's resentment against the Jianzhou Jurchens.

This is indeed the case. If it were not for the Ming Dynasty's shelter and protection, the Jianzhou Jurchens would have been destroyed by the Haixi Jurchens long ago. As a result, after the Jianzhou Jurchens gained a firm foothold, they flirted with Korea and frequently invaded the border residents of the Ming Dynasty.

If one word is used to describe the current Jianzhou Jurchens, the best word must be: repaying kindness with enmity.

Faced with the slaughter of their compatriots by ungrateful wolves, the best way is to give them back in their own way. Not only should they take back the homeland of Jianzhou, but they should also send these Jurchens to hell.

"Such a foreign race should be slaughtered!"

"How can we treat them well if they are so ungrateful?"

"They are not subjects but slaughter our border people. We should exterminate their species!"

...

With the publication of the latest issue of Ming, the public opinion in the capital has changed 180 degrees, from advocating peace to advocating war, and they all support the court to eliminate the Jianzhou Jurchens.

Because this public opinion storm is of great importance, Xie Qian personally handled it this time.

At the end of the article, Xie Qian cleverly added a slogan: "Eliminate the Jurchens, recover the homeland of Jianzhou, devote national strength to water conservancy, and build the Northeast Granary of the Ming Dynasty".

Although there was no industrial planning in this era, this slogan has undoubtedly promoted the country's latest strategic deployment, which is to recover Jianzhou and build the Northeast Granary.

"Isn't Jianzhou a barren land?"

"You are going to make a fool of yourself. The land in Jianzhou is fertile!"

"Although I haven't seen it with my own eyes, it is said that the area around Huligaijiang is indeed conducive to growing crops!"

...

Many of the court's policies in the past would not have caused much impact, but as the Ming magazine became the best-selling magazine in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and it was the year of the big exam, this plan was quickly publicized and caused widespread discussion among scholars.

Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty conquered Mobei five times, seemingly winning five battles in five battles, and seemed to be very glorious. However, in terms of economic value, it was actually very low. Although it severely damaged Mongolia, it did not gain much.

On the other hand, the strategic goal of the court this time was not limited to annihilating the enemy, but it was eyeing the fertile land in Jianzhou, and it was clearly invested in resources to reclaim Jianzhou and build a granary in the Northeast, which was a move that benefited the country and the people.

"Just as I guessed, your majesty really has this in mind!" Xu Hong said proudly when he saw the Ming magazine confirm his earlier judgment.

At this moment, he was more convinced that the Ming Dynasty had welcomed the best monarch in history, and the plan to build the Northeast Granary alone was stronger than that of Emperor Taizong.

Of course, the greatest feature of the Hongzhi Dynasty has never been empty talk, but practical work.

When the strategic concept of the Northeast Granary was put forward, in addition to the Liaodong Army's eastward march out of Shanhaiguan, the disaster relief plan led by the Ministry of Households also began to be implemented.

In a word, the people are the foundation of the dynasty and the foundation of the true rise of China.

That night, the dam broke.

Bian is the old capital, stretching for thirty miles, in the center of the world.

The worst-hit city was Kaifeng, with hundreds of thousands of surviving people hiding on roofs or tall buildings, while the walls of Zhouwang City were above the water.

Tian Qi was one of the residents of Bashifang. When the flood rushed into Kaifeng City, he was lucky enough to take his mother to the bell tower and escaped with thousands of refugees.

It was just that Kaifeng City was submerged in the rolling flood, and their crisis was far from over.

One day!

Two days!

…

In the next few days, the flood did not recede, and they lived a miserable life, which exposed the ugly side of human nature.

Hunger soon spread in the drum tower, causing everyone to try every means to find a bite to eat.

"Let me go! Please let me go!" A fair-skinned woman was suddenly forcibly dragged away from the crowd and begged bitterly.

Some people in the crowd recognized the perpetrators, and an old man immediately shouted: "Zheng the Butcher, what are you doing?"

Puff!

As soon as the voice fell, the old man saw blood gushing out of his abdomen.

"Who dares to meddle in other people's business? Be careful of the white knife in and the red knife out!" After the muscular Zheng the Butcher stabbed the old man to death, he threatened everyone present.

Originally, some people wanted to stand up for the injustice, but when they saw the vicious butcher Zheng, especially the blood-stained butcher knife, they immediately lowered their heads silently.

Ah...

In the dead silence, a sound like the sound of butchering a pig came from the corner in front, which made everyone shudder.

Butcher Zheng dealt with the woman neatly and neatly, just like he usually slaughtered pigs and cattle, and then set up a big pot, and soon the smell of meat wafted out.

An old woman saw this scene and criticized bitterly: "Butcher Zheng, you have done such a cruel thing. The court will never forgive you villains and will cut you into pieces!"

Many scholars present nodded and looked at the beastly butcher Zheng with hatred.

"The imperial court? When the imperial court provides disaster relief, many people die. Take care of your own stomachs first! One catty of meat costs one ounce of silver. No cheating!" Zheng the butcher didn't take it seriously, but he continued to sell.

This...

The crowd onlookers were speechless when they heard this hawking.

Although they wanted to condemn this behavior, their stomachs were already growling with hunger, and their bodies seemed extremely honest. What's more, what Zheng the butcher said made sense. The corruption and whitewashing of the imperial court were basic practices. The people in power probably really couldn't care about them.

The scholars who were about to denounce Zheng the butcher swallowed their saliva, but relied on the silver they had on them: "I... I want two catties!"

"I want one catty!"

"I want two catties!"

"I want one catty, no, two catties!"

...

The scholars couldn't resist the temptation of the meat aroma, but they took out silver to buy it.

"Haha... OK, come one by one! I'll keep enough!" Zheng the butcher looked at the scholars and said with a smile.

Everyone present felt like they were part of a herd of pigs, and they couldn't help but feel a chill.

Tian Qi saw the scholars buying one after another, but he couldn't help but shouting: "In ancient times, there were righteous men who refused to eat food given out of pity. How can we eat our compatriots now? The current emperor is a wise ruler. I believe that the court will not ignore us. Don't be tempted by the traitors. We must keep our integrity!"

"Smelly tongue! Go, grab his mother, I want to see how much integrity he has!" Zheng the butcher's face changed slightly, and he pointed at the woman behind Tian Qi.

Tian Qi saw that the other party wanted to cook his mother, so he picked up the stick on the ground and said: "You beasts, I will fight with you today!"

At this point, he had no choice but to risk his life.

There were several righteous men here, who picked up the short sticks on the ground and wanted to help Tian Qi.

"Whoever dares to take a step forward, I will kill him!" Zheng the Butcher raised a sharp butcher knife and threatened the strong men who were ready to move.

Puff!

At this moment, a sharp knife flashed and a stream of blood splashed immediately.

Ah...

Zheng the Butcher covered his broken arm and screamed loudly.

"This general is Wu Gang, the lieutenant general of Henan. I came to rescue today by order! Come on, take down all these villains!" A tall general cut off Zheng the Butcher's arm and ordered with a wave of his hand.

"Why do you want to arrest us? We are not in the same group with them!" Several scholars were eating cooked meat and cried out in panic.

The soldiers who came in already knew what they were eating. They didn't listen to the scholars' cry of injustice at all, but dragged them out directly. The voices begging for mercy soon stopped.

Without trade, there will be no harm. These scholars deserve to die.

Tian Qi loosened the short stick that he had tightly grasped in his hand. Seeing that he and his mother had escaped death, he could not help but secretly swallow a breath.

After so many days of arrangements, rescue ships have arrived one after another, and the corresponding rescue work was immediately carried out. Unlike other places, the victims of Kaifeng Prefecture must leave here first.

"Old people, children and women are given priority, and the rest of the people stay and cross the river with this general!" Wu Gang did not say much nonsense and made arrangements immediately.

Because the flooded terrain in the south is complicated, and most areas have been affected by the disaster, the best solution is to transfer hundreds of thousands of people trapped here to the north bank.

Zhou Wangfu has its own boats and has been self-rescuing a few days ago. Since the breach of the dam is more or less related to the officials of Kaifeng City, they did not receive preferential treatment, but waited for the rescue boat with ordinary people.

The number of people on the four walls is the largest, and the number of rescue official boats is limited, so they can only send them food first. As long as things are not chaotic, there will be no big problems.

In the next few days, countless official ships traveled back and forth in the turbulent new river channel, and some economically minded people on the north bank rowed logs to do the river ferry business for the rich.

Tian Qi was lucky and unfortunate. On the third day, he successfully escaped from this hell on earth on an official ship. However, Kaifeng City had been flooded, and he was destined to be unlikely to return to Kaifeng City.

"Son! Mother is useless. You can escape alone. This way you still have a way to survive, but remember to leave blood for our Hu family!"

Although they were lucky enough to cross the river, most of the people had no money or property on them. They could only stay in dilapidated temples or lie in the weeds by the roadside, begging from people, and suddenly became wandering ghosts in a foreign land.

After landing on the north bank, Tian Qi took his mother and followed the large army to Fengqiu, Yanjin, Yangwu and other counties.

"Mom, the current emperor is a good emperor. He will definitely not ignore our people. If you persist, old man, we will definitely get relief when we go to Fengqiu County!"

Tian Qi felt uncertain, but combined with what the court had done in the past two years, he had the last hope.

Although he was not wealthy before, he has now become a real refugee. If the emperor did not love the people, then they might not be able to survive now, let alone the future.

At this moment, he could only rely on the emperor's mercy to allow the two of them to temporarily overcome this difficulty.

“There’s a porridge shack in front!”

"The government is giving out porridge in front!"

"Woooo...we are saved!"

…

The common people who were walking like zombies in the official road heard the news from the front, and they seemed to be suddenly alive, but they accelerated forward one after another.

As it turned out, the government indeed set up a porridge shed on the edge of the road in front. There was a long line of people there, and some people actually received the porridge.

"Mom, we are saved!" Tian Qi said with great joy when he saw someone in the front team holding porridge and eating it.

Tian Qi's mother is a diligent middle-aged woman, and she was also very excited and said: "God opens your eyes, our Ming Dynasty has really welcomed the Ming King!"

Since the creation of the Supreme Council, the court now operates very efficiently.

Officials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Household Affairs have already arrived at the "front line", but they are standing on the edge of the porridge shed, urging the officials to set up porridge sheds to provide porridge to the victims along the way.

"Twenty miles ahead along the official road, Fengqiu County will build a resettlement area outside the south gate. You can rest there temporarily!" the porridge official gave serious guidance.

Tian Qi knew that this was indeed not a place to stay for a long time. After drinking the porridge, although he was only three-thirds full, he still gritted his teeth and led his mother along the official road.

I saw several dead bodies on the road. I thought they were victims of starvation, but I found that they had stab wounds. Through discussions by others, it was learned that the identities of these corpses turned out to be nearby mountain bandits who were killed by the government because they wanted to rob the victims.

During this disaster, the imperial court probably did much more for the victims than they imagined.

"These are food stamps, ten per person, which can be exchanged at various levels of government or rice shops!"

Tian Qi looked at the easily obtained food stamps, and suddenly felt a little suspicious in his heart.

Not to mention that the imperial court gave him too much, these light pieces of paper could be exchanged for a large amount of rice, but it was unbelievable that such a good thing could happen.

Just when I entered Fengqiu County, I saw a sign hanging high on a rice shop in the city: "This store can redeem food stamps! Because our store has limited food storage, only one ticket per person!"

Tian Qi changed the rice grains with uneasiness. After seeing the heavy rice grains in his hands, he felt like he was dreaming.

"You have two choices now! One is to use food stamps to visit relatives along the way and find another way out; the other is to accept the court's arrangement and go to Jianzhou, where each person will get ten to twenty acres of land. You can Live again there!”

"My former husband-in-law married into the Yang family in Shanxi, and I want to go visit him!"

"I'm afraid I can't go back to my hometown. I'd better go to Jianzhou to make a living!"

"Jianzhou seems to be still a place occupied by Jurchens. I'd better find another way out!"

"You can be a good person only if you have land. Even in Jianzhou, I have to try my best!"

"I believe that the current court is definitely not deceiving us. I want to go to Jianzhou!"

…

Faced with this multiple-choice question in life, although some people choose to seek relatives, the vast majority of people actually have no other choice, so they silently prepare to go to Jianzhou to make a living.

"I signed up to go to Jianzhou!" Tian Qi thought about it again and again, and finally chose to take the risk.

The current court gave him trust, but he believed that the court was not deceiving them, and he also wanted to get a new life from it.

More than half a month later, Tian Qi followed a large army of nearly ten thousand people to the new river dock, and then left the Yellow River on a brand new large ship.

Although they decided to go to Jianzhou to reclaim land, there were actually many variables in this adventure. No one knew the situation in Jianzhou and whether the imperial army could really drive the Jurchens away from Jianzhou.

In June, Jianzhou was ravaged by the summer wind, and blood had already filled the grassland.

After also traveling for more than half a month, the Eastern Expeditionary Army under the command of Wang Yue had advanced into the hinterland of Jianzhou. Several small battles that occurred along the way ended in the complete annihilation of the Ming army.

Wang Yue was riding on a tall horse, wearing thick armor. He was now considered a battle-hardened veteran. But facing such a smooth advance into the hinterland, especially when his army's supply lines continued to lengthen, he felt uneasy.