Volume 1: Swan Goose Chapter 425: The Darkness of the World Always Waits for the Sun
--send--
It rained for a long time and cleared up in the evening. Until almost noon, the sky was still overcast and the air was filled with mist.
The shocking moment last night has left everyone with lingering fears.
There are twice as many guards in Ziwei City as usual, and patrols are more careful. The guards wear embroidered swords on their waists, and everyone has a serious look on their face.
Jinjiawei patrols the streets and alleys of Shengjing City. Whenever they see anyone suspicious, they will stop them and question them. If they answer even the slightest mistake, they will be arrested.
The imperial court acted so uninformedly that the people were in panic. Many people came home early and saw that the officers and soldiers had taken a detour. It was extremely miserable, but they did not dare to complain.
Man Tingfang came earlier than usual today and hurried straight to the Ganlu Hall.
As soon as he arrived, the palace door was slowly opened, and Eunuch Shuangxi came out, bowed to him and said hello, and then led him through the door.
His face didn't have the same smile as before, and Man Tingfang began to worry - it seemed that something big must have happened if he was summoned to the palace today.
Sure enough, as soon as he entered the door, he heard the conversation between Emperor Yu and Mei Qing.
Mei Qing's tone was urgent, occasionally mixed with a little gasping sound. He must have arrived here in a hurry, not much earlier than himself.
"Your Majesty, I have received an urgent report as soon as possible: Yingzhou, Youzhou and Caozhou have been hit by heavy rains for several months, which has caused serious flooding. The floods have drowned countless people and livestock, and destroyed thousands of acres of rice fields. The disaster is very serious. ! The local government offices are not in a good position to control the floods, and they have written to the imperial court, hoping that the emperor can send manpower to fight the floods!"
Emperor Yu also changed his usual calm tone, and his voice was a little scary.
"Yingzhou, Youzhou and Caozhou have suffered three floods in ten years! However, the water control has been failed repeatedly! No matter how much relief money the court allocates, they can't stop their burst dams! Is this a natural disaster or a man-made disaster? !」
"The court is full of ministers who are paying homage to the Emperor. Long live the Emperor!"
After Emperor Yu finished speaking, Man Tingfang walked forward and bowed respectfully.
"Man Aiqing, what do you think about this matter?" Emperor Yu looked at him with a stern expression.
Although the situation was urgent, Man Tingfang did not answer immediately. Instead, she sorted out her thoughts as quickly as possible:
The Lingnan area where Yingzhou, Youzhou and Caozhou belong to is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Haihe River, so it will be flooded if it encounters continuous heavy rains.
Due to poor local government governance, floods have become an insurmountable problem in the Lingnan area.
Not only would it affect the normal development of local agriculture, but the number of people who died in each flood was also shocking. Although the court would allocate a lot of money and officials to provide disaster relief, in the end it became an opportunity for local officials to make a fortune. !
Not only did it make the people miserable, but the burden on the court was also huge. If it was not handled well, it could easily lead to small-scale local rebellions, which was really a headache.
This year is also the case. Although many areas have suffered severe drought, large-scale floods still occurred in the Lingnan region.
Of course, based on Man Tingfang's experience, part of this disaster is man-made - if flood prevention measures had been taken before the flood and remediation had been carried out in a timely manner at the beginning of the flood, it would not have been so serious.
But successive officials saw the reason and made the matter intensify:
If the disaster was controlled from the beginning, not only would there be no funding from the court, but the local prefect's credit book would not be significant enough, and the chance of promotion would be extremely slim.
Once the situation escalates to the point where the emperor is aware of it, not only will a steady stream of silver rice flow into the local government, but also after the disaster is over, the local prefect will have a big write-up on his merit book "for meritorious service in controlling the disaster".
Maybe after this term is over, you will get a huge promotion opportunity!
No matter how you look at it, allowing disasters to skyrocket is a win-win situation that kills two birds with one stone.
Therefore, there is today's situation of "treating the disease every year, but relapsing every year".
Everyone can see it, but no one can change it.
Unable
Either the official position is not enough, or it is difficult to resist the temptation of money, even if you meet a responsible and not greedy official to handle the matter.
However, because the interests of several local officials are closely tied together, it is difficult to defeat them. In the end, it is very likely that the official who went to govern will be the unlucky one.
Naturally, no one in the court was willing to take care of such a thankless thing. Even if it happened, they would just hide and avoid it.
After weighing the pros and cons, Man Tingfang decided to tell the truth: "Back to the emperor, the officials sent there in previous years either encountered local officials who were uncooperative and unable to fight the disaster. Or they colluded with local officials to make the disaster worse! But now is not the time to investigate the culprits.
At that time, after the floods, famine and plague followed. If the situation is not controlled at this time, many people will die again this year!"
Emperor Yu raised his face and thought for a long time before speaking: "It seems that the key to this matter lies in the officials who went to provide disaster relief. I wonder if you two dear ministers have any suitable candidates?"
Man Tingfang took a step forward, bowed deeply, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, this flood is coming fiercely, and the fight against the flood is urgent! I am willing to go alone to provide disaster relief!"
Emperor Yu was not in a hurry to express his position, but seemed to be thinking carefully:
Although the disasters in the three states were natural disasters, the root cause was man-made disasters! There are not many people around us who can dedicate themselves to the cause but have nothing to lose.
The war in the southwest is urgent and Xia Yunqing must go to supervise the war in order to temporarily stabilize Lan Yu.
Wang Su was greedy and did not do practical things, so he let him go. It is estimated that when he came back, there would be just one more mansion in the capital.
Liu Bingwen is greedy and stupid. If he is allowed to go, not only will he not be able to provide relief, he will probably add fuel to the fire. When the time comes, he will have to find someone to deal with the aftermath.
After much thought, Man Tingfang is indeed a more suitable candidate.
But last year, the incident where Wang Su's family was the dominant one and covered the sky with one hand left Emperor Yu still frightened. He would never allow himself to make a mistake twice in the same place.
"The affairs of the court cannot be separated from Man Aiqing, and Aiqing cannot be touched!" Emperor Yu vetoed his proposal in an understatement.
Man Tingfang and Mei Qing looked at each other and seemed not surprised by this situation.
"emperor."
"Your Majesty!" Mei Qing bowed quickly and said sternly: "Excuse me, please speak frankly! Local officials colluded with each other and corruption became common. Behind them were the support of important ministers in the court. Therefore, the officials who went to provide relief were not because of insufficient status or lack of qualifications.
He is so popular that he dare not confront him! If His Majesty wants to resolve this matter as soon as possible, he must send an important official in the court who is not afraid of offending the powerful and is also capable. I am afraid this person must be the Mandarin!"
Emperor Yu remained silent, thinking over and over what the two said. He agreed with their thoughts and knew the name of the important minister they were referring to.
But he also has his own considerations, and on this point, he cannot give in.
Suddenly, he glanced sideways and caught a glimpse of a stack of scriptures copied by King Yi at his hand, and his brows widened.
"What Aiqing said is absolutely true. However, Man Aiqing is not the only candidate. I think there is someone who is more suitable than Man Aiqing!"
Man Tingfang and Mei Qing followed his gaze and landed on a heavy handwritten scripture. If you look carefully, the words on the delicate gold-sprinkled paper reveal a rich bright red, which is the blood of King Yi.
Because of ink, I cried blood every word.
Man Tingfang and Mei Qing looked at each other tacitly, and asked in tacit understanding: "Could it be that His Majesty wants His Royal Highness King Yi to go to provide disaster relief?"
"Who said that only Man Aiqing is suitable for the court! I think King Yi is more suitable than Man Aiqing!" Emperor Yu patted the Buddhist scriptures casually and returned to his calm and unhurried attitude.
As soon as this statement came out, Man and Mei were really shocked.
Theoretically, they agreed with Emperor Yu's statement, but no one dared to remind Emperor Yu that the rule that King Yi was not allowed to leave the capital was set by him himself.
Man Tingfang thought about it for a while, but still reminded tactfully: "What the emperor said is absolutely true. However, King Yi has always stayed away from the government, and he lives in Shengjing almost without leaving home. If he is allowed to go rashly, will it happen?
Too forced?"
"Although he has no experience, he has privately discussed with me how to control floods.
His views on post-disaster rescue issues are very unique. Therefore, I decided to let him go and give it a try." Obviously, Emperor Yu was not convinced.
Man Tingfang was naturally a smooth and graceful person. When she heard what Emperor Yu said, she immediately changed her mind: "Your Majesty is absolutely right! If His Royal Highness King Yi goes to provide disaster relief in person, it will not only show that the Emperor attaches great importance to the disaster, but also has no place for it.
Officials who dare to embarrass themselves are the best candidates!"
"That's right." Mei Qing also stood by to smooth things over for Man Tingfang: "Since His Highness King Yi has a lot of insights into disaster relief, now is a good time to show off his talents!"
In this way, the candidates for disaster relief were hastily decided. Emperor Yu quickly conveyed his decree to King Yi.
After Man Tingfang and Mei Qing retreated, Emperor Yu was leaning on the throne, staring at the scenery outside the door in a daze.
I began to reflect in my heart - was it right or wrong to release King Yi from Shengjing City?
Suspicious like Emperor Yu, no matter how King Yi behaves, his suspicion never relaxes.
After thinking for a while, he immediately ordered Eunuch Shuangxi to call Wang Jing, the former commander of the Royal Guards Department.
Soon, Wang Jing came in response. He originally thought that he was going to be re-activated by the emperor, but he came here proudly.
But as soon as he walked in the door and saw that there was no father in the empty palace, only the expressionless emperor and the father-in-law Shuangxi, he immediately realized that something was wrong, and his movements and expressions became much more restrained.
He walked carefully to the hall, bowed and greeted him respectfully.
Emperor Yu raised his eyelids and looked at Wang Jing, who was less than six feet tall, small and thin, with a deer head and rat eyes. He couldn't help but frown, with a look of disgust on his face.
Emperor Yu propped his head and asked lazily: "When you were the commander of the Royal Guards Department, you had been sending people to secretly monitor King Yi. Have you found out any of his secrets?"