Chapter 251 0246 [Kill the people to establish power]
"Prefect, Li Dafan is colluding with officials to impeach you for bullying the emperor!" Wu Mao came quietly to report.
Although this man is very timid, he has a very correct attitude and is diligent and reliable in his work.
Ju Ming smiled and asked, "How did you know?"
Wu Mao said: "Cang Cao joined the army and Guoliang, but he was coerced and lured by Li Dapuan. He secretly sent someone to tell me yesterday. The prefect should not be careless. They plan to impeach you for improper sacrifices. The officials are very concerned about this kind of thing.
"
"I understand." Zhu Ming nodded and said.
Cangcao's military officer Guoliang has always been on both ends of the spectrum. His immediate superior is Li Daochong, and he is also under the jurisdiction of Ju Ming. Therefore, he often obeys Li Daochong's orders and passes news to Ju Ming intentionally or unintentionally. For example, this time, both Shangshu and Shu impeached Ju Ming.
He also let Ju Ming know that he was forced to do so.
Wu Mao suggested: "The prefect should make preparations early and write a secret memorial to explain to the officials."
"I can write," Ju Ming asked, "Are there hungry people gathering outside the city?"
Wu Mao said: "There are already sporadic hungry people who have fled from the countryside and mountains to come here. The official is arranging relief. When the number of people increases, the hungry people will be asked to repair the pier and then repair the road from the pier to the city gate."
Ju Ming reminded: "When the number of hungry people reaches 500, let them build water conservancy projects and bridges. The gentry along the river must also participate. After all, building water conservancy projects is in their best interest. Then send official documents to the counties to ask them to pay attention to the hungry people at all times.
If it reaches one thousand, it must be reported.”
"Yes!" Wu Mao was ordered to retreat.
This year's climate is extremely abnormal. Summer rainfall has begun in Jianghuai, Hubei, and Jiangnan, while in the north, Hanzhong, and Shangyong, there is still persistent drought.
Here in Jinzhou, there was a rain at the end of April. The thunder was loud and the raindrops were light, which moistened the ground.
By mid-May, county officials received two official documents at the same time.
One came from the prefect, allowing counties to defer summer grain collection and urging them to pay more attention to disaster relief.
One came from the general judgement, urging all counties to collect summer grain, and also set the amount of money to buy.
Su Yuanlao, the magistrate of Shiquan County, read both official documents and sighed: "There are two extremes in politics, and there are so many contradictions. This is not a blessing to the people of Jinzhou."
The chief registrar asked: "Your Majesty, who should I listen to?"
Su Yuanlao said: "We have postponed the collection of summer grain to provide relief to the victims, and quickly summoned the wealthy households in the county and asked them to distribute some grain. The straight water (Chi River), Yue River, and coastal irrigation canals in Shiquan County should also be dredged. Relief through work can be done
Rescuing the victims will also be beneficial to the landowners. If there is not enough food, go to the state and ask for it."
To be honest, Mr. Su Yuanlao is not active in governing the people, and even has a bit of Huang Lao's technique.
The main advantage is that he does not make trouble for himself, nor does he let his subordinate officials make trouble. In disaster years, he takes the most initiative to provide work for relief. The rest of the time, he lets the people live their own lives.
The situation in Jiangyin County next door is different.
After reading the two official documents, the county magistrate Luo Ruji immediately had a plan and called the chief clerk and the scribe: "The summer grain collection will start today. Don't rush it too much. The gentry should be the main force. The summer grain collection can help the victims."
.”
The chief clerk was very disgusted by this, but he hesitated to speak.
But the calligrapher flattered him and said, "What the county magistrate said is very true. He not only complied with the general magistrate's order to collect grain, but also complied with the magistrate's order to provide disaster relief!"
The two official documents with completely opposite contents gave Luo Ruji room for maneuver.
He did nothing wrong in collecting food, providing disaster relief, and making money. If the superiors were to investigate, he could quibble at will. Anyway, he would not take the blame. He could just let the magistrate and Tongpan go bite the dog and hide below to make money.
The magistrate of Pingli County simply lay down. His poor county was too poor. He did not collect grain, did not collect money, and did not provide disaster relief. He only asked the rich households to distribute porridge while he hid in the county government office, drinking and composing poems, etc.
Give it another two years and leave this hellish place.
The magistrate of Xunyang County was active in disaster relief and was the first to ask the prefect to provide food. His attitude was very clear. I also care about the people, but I don’t have enough food in hand. I can only provide disaster relief if the prefecture provides food. If the prefecture does not provide food
, then I can only do my best, since my county government warehouse is so empty that rats are running around.
These county officials have different ideas, but Mr. Su still looks like a human being.
At the end of May, more and more hungry people gathered outside the city, but Qian Chen had not yet brought back the wheat.
"Prefect, the key is in Li Tongpan's hand. I really can't open the warehouse!" the official in charge of Changpingcang said aggrievedly.
Ju Ming said angrily: "I asked him to open Changpingcang three days ago. Since he pretended to be deaf and dumb, I won't be polite. Come here and pry open the warehouse doors of Changpingcang! Who dares to stop him?
Arrested for obstructing disaster relief!"
A group of government officials rushed out and quickly opened various warehouses.
Ju Ming personally entered one of them and found that spices were hoarded inside. He immediately ordered: "Sell all these spices and exchange them for food for disaster relief!"
Wang Jia quickly ran over and reported: "Prefect, we opened three granaries in a row. The ones outside are all old grain, and the ones inside are full of sand."
Zhu Ming said: "Chen Liang will also be used for disaster relief and let the Si Liyuan examine the matter of stealing and selling official grain."
Ju Ming almost led people to empty Changpingcang, but Li Daochong never showed up from the beginning to the end.
Neither of them can defeat the other, and they will have to continue to be entangled like this in the next two to three years.
No matter how Zhu Ming tried to impeach him, it was useless. With Cai Jing and his son protecting him, it was impossible for Li Daochong to be transferred.
Before Qian Chen could transport the grain back, Ju Ming used all official resources and enlisted the gentry to help the victims, trying to delay this period as much as possible.
As June enters, the number of victims is increasing.
The people in each county heard that the magistrate was providing disaster relief, but their own county magistrate did not take care of the matter, so they helped the old and the young and begged along the way to the prefectural city.
Along the way, people starved to death and their bodies were eaten by wild dogs.
In the countryside, there are more and more believers of the evil god, and the people are hungry and praying for the evil god's blessing.
"Prefect, we are almost out of food."
"Search the temple!"
In the western suburbs of Jinzhou City, there is a large temple called Tiansheng Temple. Its predecessor was Xingxi Temple. It was founded by Jiaoran, a poet monk in the Tang Dynasty. It was still small in scale at the time, but it became increasingly prosperous in the Song Dynasty.
Li Bao followed Wang Jia and led people out of the city and went straight to Tiansheng Temple.
The monks here also make porridge, but they only make a few pots of it every day, and it is almost as thin as soup.
Li Bao shouted: "Check the monks' ultimatums. If a monk is found without ultimatums, he will be fined ten shi of grain and confiscated. If there are more than 50 ultimatum-free monks, he will be fined 500 shi of grain. If the grain is not enough, the temple fields will be confiscated.
Confiscation and deduction!”
In an instant, Tiansheng Temple was in a state of chaos.
In the Song Dynasty, there was a limit on the number of ultimatums issued each year, otherwise it would be inflationary.
There are probably no more than ten legal monks in Tiansheng Temple, and the rest are all undocumented monks.
Li Bao and Wang Jia almost emptied the Tiansheng Temple of food and forced the monks to carry it themselves. They left only twenty or thirty stones for the monks in the temple to make do with their lives.
The other temples were too far away, so Ju Ming targeted the Taoist temple and forced the Taoist priests of Yaowang Temple to provide food.
"Ms. sir, one rice shop has raised its price too high, and there are two other rice shops that only do business for half a day. Every rice shop that opens its doors to sell grain is coaxed by the people to buy it. The grain merchants ask the Yamen to take charge of it." Yang Pu was in charge of asking.
Market news.
Ju Ming immediately ordered: "Those who increase prices in violation of regulations or only sell for half a day will be fined according to the previously set rules!"
He also said: "There are grain shops inside and outside the city, and government officials are sent to maintain public order. All grain purchasers have to queue up. According to the household registration population, each person is limited to buying one and a half kilograms of grain per day. If you don't have enough to eat, you will starve!
"
There were too many things to take care of, and there were not enough subordinate officials in the state government. The subordinate officials in Xicheng County were also recruited, and they were so busy all day long that they had no time to rest.
However, these subordinate staff are given preferential treatment.
Each subordinate official has two quotas for his family members who have priority in purchasing food. They can go directly to buy food without queuing up. The subordinate officials are also responsible for the meals, and the state government provides meals centrally, so that they will not go hungry anyway.
This is nothing in normal times, but it is very honorable during times of famine.
Once you have obtained privileges, you must take responsibility. It is basic to work conscientiously, and you are not allowed to take advantage of the opportunity to extort or accept bribes. Once discovered, you will be dismissed immediately, and the stolen money will be recovered and punished.
"Ms. Sir, I quietly inspected various places and discovered that on the bank of the Yue River in Xicheng County, the victims who were dredging the irrigation canals were deprived of food!" Bai Sheng came back by boat to report, and almost all of Ju Ming's personal entourage were sent away.
Zhu Ming said: "Arrest people, check the accounts, remove all subordinate officials involved, recover the stolen money and fine them severely!"
Two days later, the gangsters in the city were making noises and causing trouble. They did not want to queue up to buy grain, and thought that one and a half kilograms a day was not enough, so they incited the people to rob grain shops.
Ju Ming personally rode the cornucopia and led people to arrest him.
This time we had to resort to ruthless tactics, including the people who were looting and being surrounded together with the gangsters. When they saw the official arrival, they actually planned to flee with the food.
Clang!
Zhu Ming drew his sword out of its scabbard, rushed out on horseback, and hacked to death a commoner who was robbing food on the spot.
The scene became even more chaotic, and the people fled in fear. Ju Ming continued to chase them on horseback, and hacked to death the three who escaped farthest on the street.
Four people were killed in a row, and the government officials also carried sticks and beat them around. Finally, they were so frightened that the people who were snatching food fell to their knees and begged for mercy.
After identifying the scoundrels who were making noise and causing trouble, Ju Ming shouted angrily: "Take them to various grain stores separately and beat them to death in public just outside the gate of the grain store. The security law of Xiangfang is strict.
On a daily basis, we organize neighbors to buy food. If something goes wrong in any Baojia, all ten neighboring households will sit together, and both the village chief and the Baojiang will have to pay fines!"
They really took those scoundrels separately and took them to various grain stores, where they were beaten to death with sticks in full view of everyone.
The officials were awe-inspiring, the people were shocked, and the gentry and merchants were also frightened. After this incident, no one dared to openly disobey the governor's order.
During these famine years, the security of Jinzhou City became extremely good.
After strict protection measures, even petty theft has disappeared, because if caught, the neighbors will be imprisoned.
Li Daochong rode a horse and walked around the city. When he saw the orderly streets, he couldn't help but mutter to himself: "You are really a capable minister and a good official. If you go back twenty years, I will definitely work with you. But in these days and days, it is difficult to be a good person.
, protecting your own future is the right way. Mr. Cai is in power, who can you and his son overthrow?"
The scholars in the prefectures and counties became more and more in awe of the prefect, and even a group of fans of Ju Ming appeared.
They recited Zhu Ming's poems and studied "Zhu's Suan Jing" for themselves. Even if they failed to pass the exam this year, they could use this to build relationships with the magistrates in the future.
Ju Ming tried his best and when the food was about to run out again, Qian Chen finally returned with the food fleet.
When Qian Chen saw him, he bowed and said, "I've kept you waiting for a long time. In Xiangzhou, there are too many merchants who go to the countryside to buy grain, and many of them are merchants from the north. The Wei family went through a lot of troubles in order to collect five thousand shi of wheat.
Mr. Xishang expressed his apology and gave an additional three hundred shi of corn to the disaster relief."
"It'll be good to come back. Brother Qian has lost weight." Zhu Ming said, holding Qian Chen's hand.
Qian Chen had indeed lost weight. He couldn't sit still in Dengcheng and followed the Wei family to the countryside every day to collect grain. After running around for many days, he could actually see his neck. He had no neck before.
When the eunuch cordially held his hand and told him that he had lost weight, Qian Chen was inexplicably moved: "It is my honor to work for the eunuch and buy food for the people!"