Prodigal Son of the Ming Dynasty

  Chapter 442 Your Majesty and the people eat fish to survive

  Annuan Pavilion, Emperor Hongzhi is a little tired.

   But the discussion continues.

  This time, Li Dongyang, a cabinet minister and secretary of the household department, presided over it.

  Although the post of Minister of the Household Department is held concurrently by a bachelor, in fact, Li Dongyang seldom manages the affairs of the Household Department.

  But when encountering such a major event, it must be Li Dongyang.

   Li Dongyang's face was serious, and he scolded Fang Jifan's eighteenth generation ancestors in his heart. If it weren't for this guy and those guys who prepared Japanese guards for being unreliable, why would they be here today.

   In addition to Liu Jian and Xie Qian, there were also people from various ministries present at the meeting. Ma Wensheng was frowning, and Li Dongyang couldn't scold Fang Jifan, or even if you pointed at someone's nose, so what? People who should eat and sleep should not lose a catty of meat, so can't you scold you, Ma Wensheng?

  Recently, Ma Wensheng has become more and more the target of public criticism.

  Almost everyone pointed their finger at Ma Wensheng.

  Among the various ministries, whoever wastes the most money and food is the Ministry of War!

  Whoever is the least able to do things is the Ministry of War!

  Ma Wensheng lowered his head, it's a bad year.

   But it doesn't matter, soon, luck will be transferred, so... hold on!

At this time, Liu Zhang, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, was pale. He was born as a local parent official. He went from Gaomi County, Shandong Province, to Fujian Province to supervise the censor. After that, he was promoted to Shandong Qianshi, Shanxi Sichuan Deputy Envoy, Shanxi Inspectorate Chief Envoy, and Deputy Capital Yu. Governor Shi Gansu, etc., the most important thing is that he is still from Wei Hui. He used to work in the local area, his accent remained unchanged, and his temper has become known as: "Go to the ball! How much money have been wasted by the turtles and grandchildren? Now, Ningbo Hefu There is a shortage of food, the whole house is trapped in dire straits, the clothes are ragged, there is no food to eat, people eat each other, and life is like a piece of grass. If the turtles and grandchildren seldom waste money and food, why is this so? Why is this so!"

  Weihui belongs to Henan, which is an important granary in the north, with a large population and little land, so when it comes to food, Liu Zhang feels very distressed.

  Of course, this is obviously aimed at Marvin Sheng.

   Who is the grandson who squandered money and food, isn’t it your Ministry of War? Now almost all the money and food of the imperial court are supplied to the Ministry of War. Other ministries, especially the Ministry of Industry, have less and less money and food.

  Ma Wensheng lowered his head and remained silent, as if resigned.

Li Dongyang said worriedly: "If there is an emergency food adjustment from Fujian, although the Fujian chief envoy is not far from Ningbo, there are many mountains, and the food will not arrive without a month's work. The remaining grain in the warehouse has already been escorted to Beijing. The Jiangxi chief envoy still has a full Taiping warehouse, but the distant water cannot save the nearby fire. The grain sent by the imperial court for relief is still on the way of water transportation. The tank boats have set off, but within ten days and half a month, I’m afraid they won’t arrive, Tingui, I know you are impatient, but everyone here, why aren’t you so anxious, well, don’t scold me.”

Tinggui is Liu Zhang's name. Liu Zhang said: "Ten days and a half months is not a solution. Even if the food arrives in Ningbo Mansion, when the people in Ningbo Mansion start giving relief, a few days will pass. During this half month, people have no food, what will happen? ?”

  Liu Jian and Xie Qian sat aside, silent.

  Li Dongyang began to search his brains, thinking about food. It was terrible. There was no food for half a month, and Ningbo Prefecture was a large government. The livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people was involved. This... would be fatal.

   It's just that if a clever woman has nothing to cook, what can he do.

   "If it is possible to transfer money and food from Fujian to Ningbo Prefecture by sea boat..."

  He shook his head again when he said this, not to mention that although Fujian Chief Envoy has sea ships, they are in the hands of Fujian Beiwowei, but what is the use of such a poor sea ship? There are too many hidden reefs nearby. If something happens, the ship will be destroyed, but once it deviates from the land, those dilapidated small sea boats will not be able to withstand the wind and waves at all...

  Everyone fell silent again.

  Emperor Hongzhi looked anxious. He leaned on the cushion and kept silent. He suddenly said, "In the yellow book of Ningbo Mansion, are there 93,000 households?"

   Everyone looked at His Majesty, Li Dongyang said: "Yes."

  Emperor Hongzhi said: "If you add hidden households and escaped households, there will be 150,000 households, right?"

  Emperor Hongzhi appears to be understatement.

  The problem of hidden households and escaping households has always been a persistent problem. Many large families deliberately conceal their population in order not to pay taxes. This is hidden households. As for escaping households, it is probably the spontaneous behavior of the people at the bottom who cannot afford to pay taxes.

   "One hundred and fifty thousand households means six or seven hundred thousand people." Emperor Hongzhi said, "At least this number."

"Six or seven hundred thousand people, not to mention half a month without food, what will it look like in three or five days?" Emperor Hongzhi glanced at the princes: "I read the memorial of Wen Yansheng, the magistrate, last night. Last time, the food had already run out, and it had been seven days, seven days since this memorial was handed over here. So now... what has become of Ningbo Mansion? Terrible, terrible."

   All the officials were silent and speechless.

  Emperor Hongzhi sighed again: "Why are things in the world so difficult? When I look at you, I must find it difficult. But what kind of situation will those small people who are promoted to find difficult for me and you?"

   Asking rhetorical questions sentence by sentence is like punishing one's heart.

  Li Dongyang hurriedly said: "The minister is dead."

Hongzhi said with a straight face: "I don't blame Li Qing, nor do I blame other ministers. Wanfang is guilty, and I am guilty. This time, I didn't think carefully. I thought that there were 3,000 people in the Zhenguo Mansion to prepare Japanese guards." I thought that if the 3,000 rations for March were only given to the victims for half a month, there would be 20,000 rations. I thought that these rations, if the relief goes on, at least hundreds of thousands of people will be able to feed them every day. Eating such a bite or two, at least, to ensure that people will not starve to death, and can hang on for a while, hey...I had a dream last night, dreaming that the people had no food to eat, and they were digging soil and gnawing bark..."

Speaking of this, Emperor Hongzhi's eyes were red: "In this dream, it is the misery of the people, but why is it not a condemnation of me? Ladies and gentlemen, I heard that there is soil in the south, which is the land of Guanyin, and the people We are very hungry, so we feed on this soil, have you... ever eaten it?"

   "Your Majesty..." Everyone bowed down and said in shame, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Emperor Hongzhi looked tired and shook his head: "I haven't tasted it, and you haven't tasted it even if you want to come. The soil cannot be eaten by people, but what can the people do without food? Poor, pitiful... "

   Even saying that the two are pitiful, the tragic situation of the people scrambling to eat soil has already appeared in Emperor Hongzhi's mind.

   These people who feed on the soil must resent the imperial court and me.

  He smiled bitterly, wanting to say something.

  Xiao Jing came in in a hurry and shouted: "Your Majesty...Your Majesty..."

  Xiao Jing is the smartest person, he knows what His Majesty is thinking, when he got the news of Ningbo Mansion, he immediately intercepted the memorial from the Minister of Housekeeping, and rushed in: "Your Majesty..."

  Emperor Hongzhi's words were interrupted.

  Looked at Xiao Jing with resentment.

  Xiao Jing bowed down: "Your Majesty, the memorial to Ningbo Mansion has arrived."

  Emperor Hongzhi was silent.

After a long time, he said with emotion: "Look at it, look at it, it's nothing more than that, people eat each other again, soldiers and civilians eat bark, roots, and soil, and we wait for the kings and ministers to live here. , people are eating dirt... bring me the memorial!"

  Xiao Jing hurriedly sent the memorial.

  Emperor Hongzhi's face was ashen.

  He felt that this memorial was nothing more than an accusation against his emperor.

  Take a deep breath.

  Records open.

  The minister Wen Yansheng, the prefect of Ningbo, said: "Ningbo suffered a severe drought, and there has been no rain so far. This is a phenomenon that has never been seen in a hundred years... In the year of the catastrophe, the price of food soared more than a hundred times, and the soldiers and civilians were exposed to fire and water..."

  Emperor Hongzhi no longer dared to watch it anymore.

  But next, he saw the words Beiwowei.

  No, to be precise, this is not an ordinary Beiwowei, because this Beiwowei is very special, it is the Beiwowei of the Zhen Guofu.

   "There is a town government to prepare Japanese guards, and go out to sea to salvage. God is lucky, and the ancestors are virtuous... The big ship goes to sea, and it returns without dissatisfaction. When you go to time and space, you can get hundreds of thousands of catties of fish when you come."

   "..."

   What is the concept of hundreds of thousands of catties...

  Emperor Hongzhi frowned slightly, feeling incredible.

  How do you look... like auspicious? The prefect Wen Yansheng, is he crazy? Hallucinating?

"Hundreds of thousands of catties are all yellow croakers. The swim bladder of this fish is very fat, as many as seven or eight catties, as little as three to five catties, or there are king fishes, which weigh as much as ten catties. If the fish is peeled off, the smell can be removed. The meat quality Fresh and tender, suitable for steaming. If frying, how much oil is needed so as not to fry the yellow croaker meat. The fish soup is very delicious, just like Qiongju wine. Even if you add a little salt, you can still get a little sweetness, without any Fishy, ​​this fish has a delicious taste, which is really rare..."

"The government of the town prepared Japanese guards and sold this fish for a penny. The soldiers and civilians were overjoyed and flocked to buy it, especially the victims of the disaster. They had no food, so they ate yellow croakers. Up and down Ningbo, cooking smoke was everywhere, and the smell of fish was overflowing. , the subject is dead, I should have presented fish to His Majesty, please Your Majesty to taste this delicacy, but I have traveled thousands of miles, I'm afraid..."

  Emperor Hongzhi looked at the memorial and felt very disappointed. He actually felt a little hungry.

   eat...eat fish...

  The disaster victims are eating fish...

  Emperor Hongzhi actually didn't know.

In later generations, in a certain period of difficult times, many people in the south of the Yangtze River were called to eat large yellow croakers to reduce the country’s food consumption. This large yellow croaker was called a patriotic fish. If they were patriotic, they would eat it. The coastal people , One after another, their patriotism was high, and they ate this fish, and they felt sick after eating it.

   And now...

   it seems...

  Emperor Hongzhi slowly put down the memorial, and glanced at the princes.

   "The Daming Sea has been banned for a hundred or twenty years. How do fishermen fish?"

   hit... hit... fish...

  Xie Qian is from Zhejiang, so he is familiar with it: "There are fish in the rivers and lakes..."

  Emperor Hongzhi shook his head: "I'm not talking about rivers and lakes, but in the sea, fishing in the sea, Qing, etc. Can you see such a record?"

  (end of this chapter)