Flowers on the other side [Comprehensive Red House]

Zhu Youxiao convened six ministries and seven ministers to discuss the relief of the Yellow River embankment in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.The money for disaster relief has been allocated, and he wants to take this opportunity to let the courtiers realize the effect of the millions of dollars invested by the Ministry of Industry this year on river governance.

Several maps of the Yellow River Basin were hung in front of the civil servants who participated in the discussion on disaster relief when the Yellow River broke its embankment again.Xu Guangqi gave a brief explanation to his colleagues present.

They are all people who passed the imperial examination. Xu Guangqi doesn't need to elaborate, just look at a few pictures to understand the history of the Yellow River's river course changes in 2000.Xu Guangqi focused on the changes in the river course after the Ming Dynasty, and the river control plan of the Ministry of Industry.

"After the Yellow River seized the Huaihe River and entered the sea, the water system of the Huaihe River was in disorder. Because the water potential of the Yellow River was stronger than that of the Huaihe River, it carried a huge amount of sediment, which gradually increased the lower reaches of the Huaihe River. The imperial court had to collect several Thousands or even more than [-] river workers built embankments on both sides of the Huaihe River. However, the Yellow River still forced the Huaihe River to the south, becoming the bane of Henan, Jiangsu and other provinces.

According to His Majesty's proposal last year, the Ministry of Industry tried to reduce the sediment carried by the Yellow River from the source on the basis of collecting water to flush the sand. Sediment problem.

The first is to relocate people from Shaanxi to Liaodong by planting trees in the upper reaches, reduce the number of people living in the upper reaches, reduce plowing and felling of trees, effectively reduce the destruction of vegetation in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, and reduce the amount of sediment carried by the Yellow River.Then, during the winter dry season, the Ministry of Industry recast the north bank of the Weihe River with a new type of calcined lime, which increased the flow of Yellow River water into the Weihe River.After the opening of the river this spring, the amount of sediment carried by the Yellow River was successfully detected at ten water intake points for monitoring sediment content, which was reduced by nearly half compared with the same period last year.

The second major move is that the Ministry of Industry changed the previous river control strategy of "blocking the north and diverging the south" in the winter of last year. Simply put, it is to dredge the ancient river channel in the north and let the Yellow River flow directly into the sea.The project is huge and will be completed in several phases.Last winter, the first phase of the plan was preliminarily completed, so that when the Suiyang section of the Yellow River was in crisis this year, the ancient river channel that was initially dredged was used in a timely manner to partially divert the flow.

It is estimated that the construction period will take another three to five years to complete the second step.But the initial effect has already been seen.This time the Yellow River broke its embankment, and the losses caused to Suiyang, Xuzhou, and Pizhou were far smaller than in the past few years.This year, only part of the farmland around Suiyang was submerged, and no more than 20 people were affected. "

After Wang Yongguang and Xu Guangqi finished their speech, they added: "Last winter's river control money was basically used to clean up the ancient river course and excavate the buried river section of the ancient river course. I suggest that the cabinet and the six ministries consider the new plan of the Ministry of Industry, which is in the Before the dry season comes this year, the diversion opening dug at the beginning of the month will be blocked, and then 20 to 30 river workers will be added to complete the second phase of the project ahead of schedule this winter.

The second phase of the project still includes two parts.Part of it is still to strengthen the north bank of the Weihe River, and at the same time, continue to fix the desert on both sides of the Hetao with tree planting, and strive to restore its forested appearance in the pre-Qin period as soon as possible.

The other part is to continue to widen and deepen the ancient river channel that diverted the flood of the Yellow River this year.If the goal of making most of the Yellow River flow through the ancient channel can be achieved, the Huaihe River will no longer be affected by the flood season of the Yellow River next year.

Next winter, we can focus on river control on the Huaihe River system.Actively clean up the problem of the elevation of the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, so that the water of the Huaihe River can resume its smooth flow into the sea. This will initially solve the problem of flooding in Henan, Jiangsu and other provinces. "

Wang Yingjiao, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, said: "Then you mean that the Ministry of Industry will increase the money for river control this year and next?"

Wang Yongguang nodded.

"Yes, it will be doubled. As you all have seen, the number of people affected by the breach of the embankment this year is much less, and the cost of disaster relief has also been saved by more than half. River management is just withdrawing the money for disaster relief in advance and using it for Prevention. As long as this idea is correct, after ten or eight years, the money saved for disaster relief will be enough to add to the expenditure for excavating ancient river channels.”

Wang Yingjiao knew that Wang Yongguang was right, but what about the money?Where does the money to spend now come from?

"Your Majesty, is it possible for the Dutch to pay that silver?"

Cui Jingrong stood up and answered for the emperor: "Sun Zhisheng just went to Luzon and fought fiercely with the Spaniards occupying Luzon. The imperial court still needs to send armaments and artillery to Luzon, lest the Spaniards and the Dutch come together. Luzon retaliated.

I think the chances of the court receiving reparations from the Dutch are very slim.Unless Daming can send troops to the Dutch mainland, or cut off business with the Dutch, and the persecution is in place, it is possible to sit down and negotiate compensation. "

What Cui Jingrong said is reasonable, and it also fits the specific situation of Daming and Western Netherlands.Wang Yingjiao dropped the extravagant hope of getting compensation from the Dutch, and turned to discuss with his servant Bi Ziyan.

The two whispered for a while before Wang Yingjiao replied to Wang Yongguang.

"This winter's river control money depends on the situation of the autumn tax relief. If it is the same as last year, it can only provide [-] river workers' food and wages. The condition must be that the budgets of other ministries have not changed much compared with this year. Of course Yes, if there is a balance that can be mobilized, the Ministry of Accounting will definitely consider He Gong's money as the first step.

Because next year's autumn tax must first repay the 300 million silver that was borrowed last year, and the court must not lose its faith. "

What Wang Yingjiao said made sense and was unanimously recognized.

Zhu Youxiao tentatively proposed: "Last year, the debt of 300 million was used to attack the Dutch, and the imperial court also earmarked the funds for special use. I thought that next year, I could borrow again for river control."

Everyone looked at the Son of Heaven with weird expressions, he was indeed a young man, why did he take borrowing money to live as a habit?

The ministers looked at them with a sense of condemnation, as if they were looking at their own juniors who were not up to date.Seeing that Zhu Youxiao was a little embarrassed, he wanted to throw the table and say that there is nothing wrong with borrowing money for development plans, you old antiques!What is a national debt owed?If every ordinary person is a creditor of the court, they will wholeheartedly look forward to the good of the court, and they will wholeheartedly look forward to the eternity of the court, at least until they get back their capital and profits.

But such a statement cannot be put on the table.

"What I mean is that I want the common people to know that the imperial court can raise this money through apportionment, but I would rather use the tax revenue from the next year or the next year to pay back the debt. The purpose is also so that the people's life this year will not be affected, and the future will not be affected." It will be better."

Everyone knows what the emperor said is right, but borrow money again!Zhou Jiamo and Ye Xianggao looked at each other, Ye Xianggao was defeated, so he had no choice but to speak as the chief assistant.

"Your Majesty, there are still about four or five months left for the river project this winter. Don't worry about finalizing it today. Colleagues can also think about whether the plan of the Ministry of Industry is feasible. At this time next month, we will Let's discuss this again.

However, I would like to remind everyone that a large number of sinners from Shandong Wenxiangjiao served as river workers last year, so the government's expenditure of ICBC was less than the actual amount that should have been spent.This year, we will continue to use only [-] river workers, and the number of ICBC will also increase. "

Wang Yingjiao made another note in the notebook.The increase in income from the emotional budget this year is still not enough to cover the possible expenses that He Gong may have to spend.

Zhu Youxiao thought over and over again, but still threw out his thoughts.

"Otherwise, we will sell the river-control debts to the nobles of the capital this year. It is quite obvious which of the nobles of the capital has money and which has no money. For the sake of the court, it is not good to sell officials to sell nobles, but the children of Wu Xun To enable it, it should still be linked to the bond.”

Cui Jingrong was overwhelmed, thinking that His Majesty really has you.No wonder there have been a lot of wars in the past two years, and there are only a few noble children who have been used.

Zhou Jiamo's black face, the emperor didn't even care about his reputation for the sake of state affairs?

Duke Ying and Duke Ding also don't know what to think of the Son of Heaven anymore.Counting on the head of Xungui for the sake of the common people, as expected, the emperor of the Zhu family is not reliable.

Huang Kezuan saw that everyone's face was not good-looking, so he shouted to help the emperor: "Your Majesty, let me wait and think about it, and we will discuss this matter at this time next month."

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Zhu Youxiao broke up the small court meeting.Regardless of the bad faces of the officials, she went back to Qianqing Palace to change her clothes beautifully, and then prepared to go to Kunning Palace to have lunch with the little queen.

Wang An came up to report and said: "Your Majesty, Yuan Liu of the Grand Hospital has been waiting for a long time. I asked him what's the matter, but he refused to say anything."

"Okay, tell him to come in and answer."

No one in the palace was sick recently, Zhu Youxiao had nothing to worry about, so he easily ordered Wang An to call for someone.

When Liu Yuan saw the emperor, he immediately reported the news that the queen was pregnant.But what he said was different.

"Your Majesty, Chen Guan is fond of martial arts and active, so she said that she is still not sure if she is safe, and told her to rest in the near future."

Zhu Youxiao laughed, "I know, Liu Qing has good intentions. But please don't say anything about the empress's birth."

Liu Yuanzheng understood why, it was unlucky that the queen was pregnant when the news of the Yellow River breach arrived in Beijing.But what should be explained, he has to explain clearly.Because he thought that the emperor was at a young age, and there were no elders in the inner court who could control the young couple, and there were no other concubines, so the intercourse ban was a must.The reason for this was that he wiped off his old face, explained it carefully and clearly, and did not dare to be vague at all.To put it bluntly, Zhu Youxiao felt his old face turn red and nodded to promise that he would not violate it, so Liu Yuanzheng let him go.But he still told Wang An who was standing still.

"The king's nephew must remember to remind His Majesty every day that the queen's pregnancy is short, so you can't make a mistake."

Wang An felt embarrassed for the emperor, so he quickly and solemnly agreed.

When Liu Yuanzheng received the reward and left, Wang An approached Zhu Youxiao and whispered: "The British Duke is still looking for the minister today, and wants the imperial doctor to take care of your majesty and empress."

Zhu Youxiao was taken aback for a moment, "What kind of trouble is the Duke of England going to do?"

If there is no elder in the palace to urge, then the head of the country will not come forward.Isn't this the British Duchess to come forward to urge the Queen?How could he guess the partiality of the British husband and wife.

Wang An couldn't help but hear the queen's face was full of joy when she was pregnant, and sighed pretendingly, explaining to the Duke of England.

"The British prince is afraid of being urged by the courtiers. The emperor, that is, the empress, has good news now, otherwise those old ministers will speak at the memorial before the end of the year."

Zhu Youxiao thought it was funny, the British public was urging himself under the banner of letting the imperial doctor take care of his body.He turned his eyes and said to Wang An: "Go and tell the imperial physician Liu to keep the queen's pregnancy secret, especially not to the British Duke."

Wang An smiled knowingly, and hurried out after Liu Yuanzheng's figure.

Zhu Youxiao took Fang Zhenghua to Kunning Palace. This guy has a natural face, don't try to show anything on his face.Just after entering the Kunning Palace, I saw Cao Huachun smiling so much that he couldn't see his eyes but came over to salute.

"My lord, there is a good thing, but the slaves dare not say it. The empress is sitting in the inner room."

After Cao Huachun saluted, he retreated and dragged Fang Zhenghua away.

When Zhu Youxiao entered the inner room, he saw the empress with jade hands resting on her cheeks and frowning, standing in a row in front of the Bogu shelf in spring, summer, autumn and winter, and no one said a word.

"Zitong, what are you thinking?"

The sound of Zhu Youxiao's footsteps coming in was heavier than usual. Zhang Yan came back to her senses and said, "My lord, it's not good. Liu Yuanzheng said that I might be pregnant."

Oh no?Zhu Youxiao was shocked.

"What's wrong?"

"Yellow River just broke through. I just heard that I am pregnant. Is it a good thing? No one should say that this child is unlucky."

Zhang Yan didn't think about the Yellow River until after sending her mother out of the palace.

"Ha, it turns out that you are the one who descended from the real dragon emperor and brought a flood of water to the world. No wonder the embankment of the Ministry of Industry is so strong that it burst again this year."

Zhang Yan frowned when she heard the words, and smiled and blamed Zhu Youxiao, "The emperor is telling a joke again."

"The statement of the son of the dragon and the grandson of the dragon is not wrong."

Zhu Youxiao spoke nonsense in a serious manner, and Zhang Yan let go of her melancholy with a smirk.Zhu Youxiao coaxed the queen to be happy with a few words, and the atmosphere in Kunning Palace immediately became active.Lichun and others began to hand the emperor hot towels to wipe his hands, and served snacks, fruits and hot tea to the emperor and queen.

Zhu Youxiao sat down opposite the little queen, took a sip of hot tea, and then slowly spoke to the queen.

"Yuan Liu from the Tai Hospital told me that it is not yet sure whether the pregnancy is stable. It is best for you to rest for half a month. Then the martial arts class will be suspended for the time being."

Zhang Yan nodded, "Mom said the same thing today."

"The old lady has entered the palace today?" Isn't this impossible to hide from the British Duke?

"Well. I see that you have been busy discussing disaster relief these days, so I asked Cao Huachun to invite my mother into the palace to talk. Hey, by the way, Lidong, you quickly send someone to the mansion and tell my mother not to talk to anyone. Talk about it."

Lidong hurriedly went out and asked Cao Huachun to come again, and explained all the internal relations to him carefully, lest he might make a mistake.

Inside the room, the emperor was still explaining to the queen, "Study is also very exhausting, why don't you stop half of the courses first and pick the ones that don't exhaust your energy?"

Zhang Yan frowned, and thought for a moment before saying, "My lord, except for martial arts, everything is exhausting for me."

"Stop all of them first?"

The little queen shook her head, blaming the emperor for her unreliable suggestion.

"Then I will be worse than the princesses in the future? If there is no class, how boring is it every day."

"How about reducing some homework first? Go must be stopped, as well as mathematics and geometry."

Zhang Yan has always been bad at Go.Mathematics and geometry are two subjects that Zhang Yan struggles with, but she likes them very much.Hearing the emperor's resoluteness, he muttered unhappily, "Then what's the lesson?"

"There are also piano lessons, painting, and the Four Books and Five Classics. You can choose from them."

"I just want to hear Uncle Lu Wang play the piano."

"Okay. Then you go and listen to him play the piano."

The young couple discussed and discussed, and the queen left three classes, watching Zhu Youjian's paintings, listening to Lu Wang playing the piano, and keeping the calligraphy class.This class is the one that the queen made up her mind to strive for the first place.As for the martial arts class, she didn't care if it stopped.Even if they stopped for a year or two, Zhu Youjian and the others still couldn't catch up with her.

The emperor and empress were talking after eating together. Wang An came over from Qianqing Palace, "Your Majesty, the British Duke is asking to see you."

The little queen said with a tacit understanding: "My mother must have said it. Father came to the palace because he didn't want us to announce it."

Zhu Youxiao nodded, "It's very possible. Take a good rest, and I'll go over and have a look."

The little queen stood up and wanted to go with her.

"Liu Yuanzheng said that he wants you to rest. It's sunny outside, so don't walk around. After a while, I will tell the father-in-law to have dinner together in Qianqing Palace."

Seeing the emperor's firm attitude, the little queen had no choice but to put aside the idea of ​​going to the Qing Palace together and listen to the emperor's instructions to Wang An.

"You have heard Liu Yuanzheng's orders. In the afternoon, you stay here to take care of the queen, and explain the precautions to Chun Xia Qiu Dong by the way."

When the British Duke met the emperor in Qianqing Palace, he immediately mentioned the suggestion that it is not appropriate to announce the queen's pregnancy for the time being.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said: "I won't say anything outside within three months. Please rest assured, the father-in-law. If the old lady is free, she will come to the palace to talk to the queen. I have reduced a lot of classes for the queen, and I am free every afternoon. of."

The British Duke hurriedly agreed on behalf of the old wife, and took care of the palace entry token sent by the Wei Dynasty. This was a very good thing for the old wife.

"Your Majesty, I have one more matter to discuss with Your Majesty."

"Master, please tell me."

"That's what His Majesty said about issuing debts for river governance. There are many nobles in the capital who have money, but if they are allowed to take out money like this, some people will say that His Majesty is ruthless and disregards the hereditary decree. For the sake of the common people, he plotted against the generals who fought with the Zhu family."

Zhu Youxiao pondered for a while and said: "I am also doing this for the good of these nobles. Look at last year's war with the Westerners, I borrowed money from merchants in those places in the south of the Yangtze River. Let the merchants know that the imperial court will not hesitate to borrow money to protect their safety. To get rid of bandits.

This year, for the sake of the river engineering, letting Xungui buy debts is also to shorten the distance between Xungui and the people, so that the people in the Yellow River and Huaihe River Basin will know and remember them, and both the court and Xungui are thinking of them.

This Ming Dynasty not only belonged to the royal family and nobles, but also belonged to the common people.Scholars, workers, farmers, and businessmen have to have the idea of ​​being grateful to each other, so that they can live peacefully under my governance, right?

To put it a little higher, this is the deep friendship between the army and the people. "

The British Duke was taken aback by the emperor. Why is such a statement so novel?When will the common people not regard soldiers as worse than bandits?The sentence that bandits pass like a comb and soldiers pass like a grate truly reflects the current situation between soldiers and civilians.

Zhu Youxiao ordered Fang Zhenghua to bring tea to the British public, and talked with the British public in a pretentious manner.

"Patriarch, the two times I have led troops out of the capital, I have made sure that the soldiers will not offend Minqiu."

The British prince muttered in his heart, that is enough for your military supplies.

Zhu Youxiao guessed what he was thinking, "When the imperial court transfers soldiers in the future, it is inevitable that the army needs to be fully prepared. Otherwise, if the state capital along the way is not capable or does not prepare in time, a mutiny is triggered, and the people The loss is huge, and the imperial court has to send troops to counter the rebellion, which will add an extra expense. Even if I withdraw the ill-prepared civil servants, it will not help. Please help me remember this."

The British Duke nodded, in order to avoid subsequent troubles, such a rule should be established.

"I mentioned today that it is a helpless move for Xungui to borrow money, and it is also a ploy. If the imperial treasury has enough money, I don't want to borrow money either.

Over the years, they have poured money into the Yellow River.But the three major signs spent all that Zhang Taiyue had accumulated.Liaodong emptied its internal funds again.I'm not afraid of the head of the state's jokes. If the eunuchs are not cleaned up, the inner court will not be able to support so many people.

Now the Yellow River is just a matter of active governance and passive investment of money to plug the breach.What do you think? "

The British Lord nodded, and the management of the Yellow River has been effective for more than a year.

"I just want to take advantage of Xu Zixian, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, to shake off the burden of the Yellow River. Without the burden of the Yellow River, the imperial court can save more than one million silver and labor every year. But if the Yellow River is not managed well, That would cost one million taels or more to the river every year.

I am really afraid.

I am afraid that the Huaihe River will flood Jiangsu, and I am afraid that Henan and Shandong will experience another famine like the previous few years.Once the flood causes refugees, it is inevitable that some people will take the opportunity to cause chaos and confuse the people that the world will change hands.Just like last year's Wenxiangjiao rebellion/rebellion, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent in countering the rebellion.

Alas, I don't know when I will be able to achieve Haiyan and Heqing! "

Zhu Youxiao's voice dropped as he spoke, and the British Duke began to feel pity for the emperor in front of him.Even several generations of emperors have been out of tune, not to mention the government, military administration, and local affairs, the messy things left over everywhere, that is, the inner court has never been peaceful since Xiaozong.Fortunately, Zhu Youxiao was decisive. Before he took the throne, he killed Li Xuanshi with a knife, and then abolished the mother and son of Fu Wang who harmed Daming.Otherwise, these few people will not be easy to deal with until now.It's really unsatisfactory to take good care of it.

Alas, the more capable and willing people are, the more things will be done.

Once the threat from the north is removed, we will consider harnessing the Yellow River, and at the same time have to deal with Westerners with malicious intentions.

When Shenzong was at this age, everything was still waiting for Zhang Taiyue to come forward.Now the civil servants of the Manchu Dynasty all feel that they are unambiguously in the top two rankings, but which one can be worth half of Zhang Taiyue's use.

For the scale of the floods this year, if the first emperor was soft-hearted, he might have done his best by allocating a sum of money for disaster relief.At the end of Shenzong's reign, which flood was no bigger than this year, and local officials wrote to express their urgency, didn't Shenzong stay in the middle and not deal with it?

Only his own son-in-law really puts the people of the world at ease and pursues "Hai Yan He Qing" as his goal.

The more the British Duke thought about it, the more he felt wronged for the emperor in front of him, and he comforted the emperor: "Your Majesty, don't push yourself too hard. The Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, and there will always be one thing or another."

Zhu Youxiao grinned, "I can only deal with one thing at the moment. If the people in the Yellow River and Huaihe River basins can be resettled, it can be said that the heartland of the Central Plains will be stable.

It is not in vain that I use the hereditary and honorable Xianyin to rule the river, and I use my thousands of miles of rivers and mountains as guarantee.With the presence of the Zhu family, I will definitely pay it off.Master, do you believe me? "

The author has something to say: the Yellow River burst

In May of the third year of Tianqi (1623), the Yellow River burst through Suiyang, Xuzhou, and Pizhou. The area within 150 miles was flat, and Suining County was exempted from all kinds of money and food in the first year and second year of Tianqi.

In the early Ming Dynasty, river disasters were still frequent. During the Yongle period, the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal was reopened. Keeping the canal unobstructed became the most important principle in river control measures in the Ming Dynasty.The river control policy in this period adopted the strategy of dividing the river from the south to blocking the north.

The south division is to divert the Yellow River to the south, along the old Jialu Road, Guoshui and Yingshui, etc., and follow the Huaihe River into the Yellow Sea, so as to divert the flood and make it less likely to break the embankment.

The north block is to build a strong long embankment on the north bank of the lower reaches of the Yellow River to prevent the Yellow River from bursting in the north and causing damage to the canal channel.

However, this method is beneficial in the short term, but has serious problems in the long term. Due to the high sediment content of the Yellow River, the diversion of the river will easily accelerate the deposition of sediment, resulting in more serious flood disasters in the late Ming Dynasty.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the lower reaches of the Yellow River burst and flooded frequently. Pan Jixun, the Prime Minister of the river at that time, and others proposed a river control method centered on "constraining water to attack sand". The dam protects the embankment, and transforms Hongze Lake into a reservoir to regulate and store the flood of the Huaihe River, increase the flow rate of the river, so as to wash away the sediment of the Yellow River and reduce the phenomenon of siltation.Although the effect of this method is not obvious, it is of epoch-making significance to change the traditional water control into both water and sand control, and it was the mainstream of river control methods in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.