Chapter 252 0247 [Floods, droughts and earthquakes come in turn]
Outside Tokyo, on the bank of the Yellow River.
The Minister of Civil and Military Affairs and three thousand Taoist priests gathered to watch Lin Lingsu pray for rain, and countless Tokyo citizens also came to help.
Regardless of whether they believe in Taoism or not, everyone hopes to succeed.
Well, except Wang Zaixi.
Two months ago, we prayed for rain once, and Lin Lingsu and Wang Zaixi took turns.
As a result, I prayed for a hailstorm...
There were already hordes of hungry people all over the north. Although the imperial court ordered relief, it was just an order. The specific operations depended on local officials.
When encountering capable and responsible state and county officials, the common people are somewhat lucky. But more often than not, even the officials are powerless and can only persuade the gentry to use their stored grain to provide porridge.
Fortunately, the Song Dynasty still had the most advantageous skill: recruiting refugees as the Xiang army!
It just so happened that there had been successive wars in the past few years, and the soldiers had suffered heavy losses.
When the refugees gathered to a certain scale, the imperial court finally took action, transporting the grain sent from the south of the Yangtze River to the most severely affected areas, and ordered state officials to recruit young and strong soldiers as soldiers. The old and weak were given symbolic porridge, which in any case removed the young and strong.
The remaining refugees were unable to cause trouble.
Things were equally bad over in the Liao Kingdom, with Jin soldiers outside, uprisings inside, and drought.
This spring, Dong Pang'er, a Han citizen in Yizhou (Yixian County), launched an uprising in Nanjing (southwest of Beijing) in the Liao Kingdom, and his team quickly grew to ten thousand people.
Dong Pang'er moved in all the way and fought with the Liao soldiers in Yishui. He lost consecutive battles, but he always recovered. Even if the rebel army collapsed, tens of thousands of people soon gathered and fled from Hebei to the surroundings of Datong.
Dong Pang'er secretly contacted the Song Dynasty, and Song Huizong promised to make him King of Yan and give him the name Zhao Yi.
This operation is very cool. Song State itself has done a lot of shit, but it went to interfere in the affairs of neighboring countries, clearly preparing for the future attack on Liao.
The two countries of Song and Liao, which had been in love and fighting each other for many years, have now become brothers in distress.
Rumble!
Lin Lingsu prayed for rain for the second time, but within a few days, it rained heavily all over the north.
"Sir, you are truly a god!" Song Huizong said, holding Lin Lingsu's hand.
Lin Lingsu acted like an expert, and said calmly: "This is not my fault, but your Majesty's blessing. Since Your Majesty is the Son of God, God has his own rain to fall, and I am just communicating with the gods on your Majesty's behalf."
Song Huizong trusted Lin Lingsu more and more, and Taoist Wang Zaixi's situation became even more dangerous.
However, Lin Lingsu went too far in praying for rain, and it was like breaking a hole in the sky. It rained heavily for two days, and after it cleared up for a few days, it started raining continuously again.
The water levels of the Yellow River, Danshui River, Xishui River, and Baihe River... all surged.
From Hedong to Henan, from Kaifeng to Nanyang, from Tangzhou to Xiangyang, flood peaks come one after another.
The Song Dynasty court rarely worked at full capacity and built more dams on the Yellow River in Henan to protect Kaifeng from flooding.
Other places were ignored. The Yellow River burst its banks in both Hejian Prefecture and Cangzhou City. Especially in Cangzhou City, half of the city wall was flooded, and the people in the city were forced to evacuate. Those who had no time to run were buried in the belly of the fish, and those who ran fast were buried in the belly of the fish.
Also hungry and without attachment.
In the entire Hebei Yellow River Flood Area, more than one million people died of drowning, starvation, and disease.
On the South Beijing Road, Nanyang, Biyang and Xiangyang, a large number of villages were submerged, and countless victims fled towards the North West Road.
Immediately afterwards, the Xihe, Huanqing, and Jingyuan earthquakes were the kind of major earthquakes that fractured valleys and shifted river courses.
Huang Qianshan, who worked in Hanzhong last year to knock out bones and suck out marrow, was recommended by Wang Fu and was transferred back to the central government after the spring. He was ordered by the emperor to inspect the earthquake disaster and found that it was a mess, so he simply concealed it. When he returned to Beijing, he said it was just a minor earthquake and the victims had been properly resettled.
, so he was promoted again due to merit.
The war in the northwest region was temporarily suspended due to the disaster, and neither the Song Dynasty nor Xixia could bother to fight.
However, Song Huizong was still thinking about joining forces with Jin to attack Liao.
When the victims of the disaster in Hebei were fleeing, Gao Yaoshi, Cao Xiaocai, and Seng Jirong, the Han people in Liaodong, took more than 200 relatives to escape the chaos and went to sea. They set out from Suzhou (Jinzhou, Dalian), intending to go to Goryeo, but they were blown away by wind and waves.
to Bohai Bay.
The magistrate of Dengzhou obtained more detailed information about the Liao and Jin Dynasties from these people.
It turned out that the Liao Kingdom had lost all its territory in the northeast. Song Huizong was overjoyed when he got the news, so he summoned Cai Jing, Tong Guan and others to discuss the matter.
Cai Jing suggested: "In the name of buying a horse, you might as well take Gao Yaoshi and others across the sea from Dengzhou to contact the Jin Kingdom. Firstly, you can visit to find out the reality of the Jin Kingdom, and secondly, you can test the Jin Kingdom's attitude. Even if you can't reach an agreement, you won't lose.
The Great Song Dynasty style."
Song Huizong was very satisfied: "With these mature and prudent words, I ordered the selection of generals and sent military ships to carry Pharmacist Gao to the Kingdom of Jin to buy horses."
In fact, Cai Jing was unwilling to attack Liao. Floods, droughts and earthquakes were coming, and the victims everywhere were struggling to help. The mess in Xixia had not been dealt with yet. How could he want to regain Yanyun under such a situation?
But Cai Jing was riding a tiger and couldn't get off. He had to please the emperor and do things according to the emperor's wishes, so as to consolidate his position and avoid being overthrown by political enemies such as Zheng Juzhong and Wang Fu.
As for Tong Guan, he only wanted to be crowned king.
That is what the late emperor promised, whoever can regain Yanyun can be crowned king!
…
Hanzhong and Shangyong areas also started to rain. Perhaps due to the obstruction of Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountain, the amount of rainfall here was just right, which just ended the drought in the first half of the year.
Zhu Ming left the city with his personal entourage and government officials. He did not sound gongs to clean the streets, but the people took the initiative to avoid where he passed.
This year has been very difficult, but with Zhu Taishou here, I can barely get through it.
Only those grain merchants were dissatisfied, and Ju Ming allowed them to increase prices. But how much and when the price would be increased was entirely up to Ju Ming, and no chance was given to hoarding. Some grain merchants even suffered a small loss.
Outside Jinzhou City, thousands of victims were queuing up to receive food.
The work-for-relief program has ended, and each person will receive a dou of food to go home. The government will send ships to transport them in batches and disembark them near their homes.
A bucket of food would definitely not last long, and they would have to beg to survive. But at least it rained, and the plants came to life. They could dig grass roots and eat tree bark for a while.
Wealthier landowners will lend seeds to the victims, asking them to quickly replant late millet, and maybe they can harvest before it snows. Borrowing grain and seeds is definitely a loan shark, and you will not be able to pay it back in your lifetime with compound interest, but you can survive.
Survive the crisis and save your life.
Zhu Ming was helpless. Qian Chen only got back more than 5,000 shi of grain and was unable to continue to help the victims.
Groups of victims boarded the boats one after another. Many people expressed gratitude for the governor's kindness and kowtowed in the direction of the city.
Huang Gui stood on the city tower, watched the ships go away, and whispered: "It has been found out that part of the grain in the Changping warehouse was sold to grain merchants. There is still a lot left, which is piled in couch houses on the outskirts of the city.
, it is estimated that Li Tongpan was reluctant to sell it, and the longer he delayed, the higher the price he could sell it for. The prefect kept suppressing the price of grain, but Li Tongpan never took action."
Cot rooms were called didian in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and warehouses in the Ming Dynasty.
The place where Li Daochong stored grain was an official couch, which had the functions of checking taxes and temporarily storing goods.
"Let's go." Zhu Ming left the tower.
He stepped onto the cornucopia, took his entourage and government officials, and headed straight to the official couch room on the outskirts of the city.
The subordinate officials there were all Li Daochong's confidants.
But when the prefect came in person, they did not dare to stop him.
It wasn't until Ju Ming ordered the couch room to be opened that someone finally stood up and said, "No one is allowed to enter without Li Tongpan's permission!"
"Who do you think you are?" Ju Ming scolded.
The man said: "I am Li Tongpan's personal attendant!"
Ju Ming stretched out his hand and pressed the hilt of the sword: "Officials are personally accompanying you and are not allowed to interfere in local affairs. Why don't you get out of the way quickly!"
Zhang Boring, Li Bao, Bai Sheng and others were usually responsible for conveying orders or acting with officials, and never led people alone to perform official duties.
This is the rule of the Song Dynasty.
But the man didn't dare to get out of the way. He couldn't deal with Li Daochong.
Since he was given the opportunity to be ignorant, Ju Ming had nothing to say and shouted angrily: "You stole Changpingcang's grain behind your master's back, and you actually dared to resist arrest!"
"I didn't..."
Before he finished speaking, Ju Ming had already slashed out with his sword, causing blood to spurt from the opponent's throat.
When everyone was shocked, Ju Ming ordered: "Send this guy's body back to Li Tongpuan. Tell him that he stole and sold official grain without telling his master. I will help him clean up his house so that he doesn't have to come to thank him. Tell him again."
Jinzhou grain merchants, let them come once every five days, and I will sell them grain at a lower price than the market price."
Although the drought is over, food is still in short supply.
This batch of stolen Changpingcang grain can just last for a while to prevent grain prices from becoming too high.
Ju Ming did not let the government sell grain directly, but sold it through grain merchants, which was to leave room for merchants and try not to use violent means to control grain prices.
Half an hour later, Li Daochong looked at the corpse that followed him, his face gloomy and he said nothing.
Li Bao smiled and held his hands in his arms: "My husband said that even though Tongpan cleans up the family, Tongpan doesn't need to be too grateful."
Li Daochong gritted his teeth, but he couldn't hold it back after all: "Of course I want to thank you. I will keep this kindness in my heart and I will definitely repay you generously in the future!"
"Then my husband will wait for the judge to repay his kindness. Take your leave!" Li Bao turned and left.
Bang!
After Li Bao went out, Li Daochong couldn't hold himself back and kicked down the high stool next to him. The vase on the stool fell and was smashed to pieces.
If Ju Ming hadn't caused trouble, he could have taken advantage of this year's drought to hoard and steal government rations and make a huge profit!
But Ju Ming didn't give him a chance at all and kept an eye on the price of grain every day. He convened a meeting of merchants once every five days and ordered all grain merchants to sell at the official price. Whoever sold more expensive grains would be fined double.
In the end, Li Daochong didn't make any money, nor did he gain any reputation or political achievements. It was all in vain that he benefited from Ju Ming.
How can there be such an official in the world?
Li Daochong was now very sure that Ju Ming did not corrupt even half of his money, and he did not even take the unwritten gray income. All the money from the envoy's treasury that the governor could normally embezzle was handed over by Ju Ming to Qian Chen to buy grain in Xiangyang.
As for the iron smelting plant, there is a lot of initial investment, and who knows when the cost will be recovered.
Li Daochong was angry and frustrated. He couldn't fight such a person because he didn't know how to fight at all.
Everything he did seemed to be in vain.
We can only hope that the ten major crimes listed in the impeachment memorial will make the emperor angry. After all, the emperor's most important thing is the sacrifice.
Moreover, if the local officials did not perform sacrifices properly, it showed that they did not take the emperor to heart.
"Ms. sir, do you still want to compete with the person named Zhu to be the examiner of the state examination?"
"How to argue? He is the magistrate of the state, and I am just the judge. If he insists on being the chief examiner, who in Jinzhou will dare to object?"
Li Daochong roared to vent his anger and then returned to the back house to drink.
If he fails to be impeached on all ten counts, he will be left to die in the future, all he wants is to get out of this hellish place as soon as possible.
