Chapter 279 Ping Japanese (19) Treating the symptoms and root causes
During the treatment of the victims, Gao Jingshi and Zhang Yiyuan convened a meeting. Gao Jingshi first said: "According to the reports from various governments, states, and counties, more than 13,000 patients have been treated. Mr. Yang told the cabinet that after a long illness,
Its spirit will be damaged, just like a tree that is replanted, its roots will be damaged. If you want to restore the vitality and complete the spirit, it cannot be done overnight. You must rest and recuperate for several years before it can return to its original state.
The Ministry of Cabinet and the Fu Army have already written a written report on this, asking the Emperor to be merciful and kind, and to serve in Henan lightly. You must also keep this in mind. From now on, you should use the people's power carefully to live in harmony with the people."
Zhang Yiyuan, the governor of Henan Province, went on to say: "Previously, in order to please local wealthy households or accept bribes, some state and county officials reported intact mature fields as disaster fields to apply for aid without authorization, and robbed the victims of relief money and food; or withheld relief money and exploited the victims.
The poor love the rich, and all the official reserves are given to the people who travel in the market, and the owners of the rich families, while the victims of the disaster in the countryside have not seen a grain of rice all day long.
I have asked the Cabinet for instructions on this. The Cabinet has already said that the crimes of these people are unpardonable! All these people have been identified one by one and punished on the spot. I hope you will strictly order the officials to take this as a warning and not to violate this
The knife edge, and leave eternal infamy."
As soon as Zhang Yiyuan said this, the whole audience fell silent, and the needle could be heard. Everyone looked at Gao Pragmatic with awe in their eyes. "Rectifying the Fa on the spot" is not a joke. Gao Pragmatic had just killed two people some time ago.
Seventeen officials, I don’t know how many more officials there are this time, all the officials are dead?
Considering that the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty have always been "noble", even the emperor usually did not dare to take their lives at any time. On the other hand, Gao Ge Lao, Gao Jinglue, and Gao Houye obviously did not take this kind of approach and would kill them whenever they asked.
Are you afraid? The key is that you don’t dare to resist, or even dare to go to court for impeachment.
It is said that great chaos should be treated with heavy laws, and all dynasties have clearly been politically correct about the issue of disaster victims. At this time, impeachment and pragmatism on this issue are almost self-inflicted. No one is stupid enough to do this.
situation.
Gao Pragmatic looked around the audience and said coldly: "People have desires and forget their loyalty when they see benefits. The imperial court allocated millions of silver and rice grains to relieve the people of Zhongzhou, but some local officials coveted it and wanted to get their hands on it.
These people may have exchanged for low-quality silver, mixed rice and wheat with sand, or smuggled goods under false pretences. They have all kinds of tricks. How can such layers of corruption be used to rectify the disaster! The legal net is tight, but they still do not hesitate to take risks.
Hateful and pathetic.
Once again, I would like to advise you all not to lose big because of small things. You must know that managing officials in this cabinet is like running an army. There are hundreds of thousands of dead souls killed by the sword, but you are not afraid of hundreds more heads to decorate the gate of the imperial palace."
When the officials thought of the long list of withered heads at the gate of the imperial palace, many of whom were old acquaintances and even old friends, they shuddered involuntarily and bowed to receive their orders tremblingly.
Zhang Yiyuan saw that Mr. Gaoge had already shocked all the officials, so he took over the topic and continued: "Next, we need to prepare for the redemption of his wife and children, the resumption of the refugees' business, etc. This time in Zhongzhou, there is a catastrophic problem of cutting people for meat and the inability of close relatives to protect each other.
In order to survive, many people had to sell others at low prices and send their wives and daughters to a foreign land. This was not Shao En, but it was really helpless.
Now that the disaster situation is gradually stabilizing, there is a secretary who immediately carries out the redemption, checks the details of the transaction, and invests money to redeem his children to return his father, his brothers and sisters to return his brother, and his wife to return her husband. The states and counties must report the truth and make sure there is no mistake.
Regarding this matter, Mr. Gao Ge has set an example by unconditionally dismissing all those who have sold themselves to Xinzheng Gaofu since the disaster occurred and allowed them to leave on their own. Among them, there are 764 men, 1,139 women, and children.
There are 423 men and women in total, and 231 elderly people.
Among these people, those who voluntarily stayed in Gaofu because they had no property and all their relatives were dead have been registered in the county government. A total of 146 men, 397 women, and children
Two hundred and eight people, including 153 elderly people, and the rest have been repatriated. Their food and beverage expenses while staying in the Gaofu were all taken care of by the Gaofu themselves without any charge, and each person was given a certain amount of dispersal expenses.
In addition, let’s talk about the province’s aftermath plan: the dead must be buried in each township in each locality, and the corpses must be buried in the ground, and the corpses must not be allowed to explode in the wilderness. This will calm the people’s hearts. For every corpse buried, three cents of labor and food silver will be given, and a mat will be provided.
Two cents of silver, and the free graves in each township will follow suit without any mistakes."
This matter is mainly the work of the Chief Secretary, so the Chief Envoy stepped forward to accept the order on behalf of the Chief Secretary. As for the high government's example, although everyone felt a little pained for some reason and wondered whether everyone should follow suit, they also admired it.
In fact, everyone has always seen Gao Pragmatic's own actions, and there is really nothing to say. He reformed tax collection and taxed his own family first, and demobilized refugees first before deporting his own refugees. No one dared to question his role as an example. All the officials couldn't help but think.
, he dares to "kill people like hemp", I'm afraid the prerequisite is that he has been impeccable, right?
However, Gao Pragmatic was too lazy to boast, and instead continued to talk about business, saying: "After the famine, some people are still alive, and the ignorant people often complain about their small anger, but the officials often cannot persuade them to stop. If the case is accepted, after deliberation, a family may be taken away.
A few months' worth of food may deprive a person of food for several days, or may kill several families.
At present, disaster relief is the only urgent task and cannot be easily distracted. Therefore, all prefectures and counties should be ordered to stop ordinary litigation according to the old practice. Except for those involved in great treason and rebellion, they must be tried quickly, but they must not sit together. The rest must be tried first.
Put it aside for later discussion.
Some of the victims were captured because they were forced to take risks because of their livelihood. Their crimes were justified and their circumstances were merciful. Those who were not involved in murder or who injured or maimed others would be released with a little training.
At the same time, those who are released need to keep their criminal records for one year to observe the consequences. If they do not commit any subsequent crimes, their criminal records will be eliminated; those who continue to commit crimes will be punished at the same time."
This matter belongs to the judicial level, so the prosecutor and prosecutor came forward to receive the order.
After receiving the order, the inspector had something to say. He raised his hand and asked: "As the Ministry of Cabinet admits, in years of famine, there are also many victims who become bandits. Some of them are just helpless and always look forward to returning home to atone for their sins. Others
They took advantage of the opportunity to gather the victims, roaring in the mountains and forests, wandering into the valleys, robbing homes and houses, and were very rampant.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! At present, these people have constituted an obstacle to the disaster relief work. I don’t know whether the government will exterminate these bandits or appease them. I would like to ask the cabinet minister to give you some advice on this. Your Excellency
It’s easier to wait and deal with it.”
This is a good question. Gao Pragmatic nodded in approval, and then said: "After all, it is forced by hunger and cold. This cabinet department is willing to go to each village to talk to the leader to make him know the actual situation of the current disaster relief. If it can be disbanded immediately,
You can also contribute to disaster relief. If you persist in your stubbornness, you will destroy it immediately."
The inspector was surprised and said: "The cabinet minister wants to go and talk to these thieves in person? It's absolutely impossible. The cabinet minister is not only a minister of the imperial court, but also a noble prince. How can a body worth ten thousand dollars be easily put in danger?"
Gao pragmatic calmly waved his hand and said: "I will bring some servants to prevent me from doing anything wrong. Besides, in Zhongzhou, I am not afraid of anyone being so bold."
When the officials heard this, they also felt that this was the truth. For one thing, the Gao family's servants were not on the same level as the Henan army. This can be seen from the fact that after the disaster, bandits from all over the country did not dare to enter Xinzheng, so that
The Gao family takes in a lot of refugees - all the refugees go to Xinzheng.
Secondly, the reputation of the Gao family in Henan Province is really good. Even the most vicious gangsters are very familiar with the Xinzheng Gao family. I have almost never heard of any gangsters taking the initiative to cause trouble for the Gao family's properties and caravans.
The banner of the Gao family is already like this. If Gao Pingshi is willing to take action in person, let alone any gangster who dares to risk the disapproval of the world and has any intentions against him, they might really cry and beg Mr. Gao Ge for forgiveness.
Sure enough, Gao Pingshi later only led 800 servants, and personally persuaded him to abandon evil and do good from Kaifeng to Runing, Nanyang and other places. Along the way, he easily persuaded 16 mountain strongholds and two water strongholds, and no one dared to do anything to him.
If there is any disrespect, without exception, the leader of the village will personally lead the entire village to greet him and confess his guilt.
Some of them seemed to have read for a few days, and they resorted to tricks such as asking for forgiveness. Gao Pragmatic also implemented the strategy of combining leniency with severity. On the one hand, he comforted them and ignored minor offenses; on the other hand, he asked them to
If you report a serious crime, you will be punished with a reduced sentence but without exemption.
In short, wherever Gao Pragmatic went on his province-wide exhortation tour, the bandits from all over the country were not only welcomed by bandits, but they were almost resigned to the wind.
When the news came out, not only the officials in Henan were shocked when they heard it, but even the emperor in Beijing couldn't help but be filled with emotion. He issued a special edict, praising Gao pragmatically, and then gave it to Chen Han, saying: "For
Government based on virtue is like Beichen."
These eight characters come from "The Analects of Confucius". The original words are "Government is based on virtue, such as Beichen, who lives in his place and all the stars share it." Originally, it was mostly used by ministers to praise the emperor, but occasionally it can also be used to describe the leader.
auxiliary.
The problem is that Gao Pragmatic is not the first assistant, he is just the most junior and lowest-ranked assistant in the current cabinet. The emperor gave this sentence to Chen Han, and its meaning naturally makes people can't help but have various associations.
Getting back to the topic, before Gao Pingshi went on a tour to advise, he first announced to the whole province: "The Holy Emperor is extremely sad for you, restless in sleep and food, and sighing in sorrow all night long. He has specially ordered this pavilion to come here and provide rescue in various ways.
All common people have their own consciences, but they are forced by hunger and cold, and are helpless. It is appropriate for you to say that the Holy Emperor has great compassion and sends officials to provide relief. How can we, the common people, support us? Some of you will surely shed tears.
Burn incense on top to consecrate the emperor. Also, if you have heard of the method of scattering silver in the porridge factory, you will have to wait until the wheat is ripe.
If you are disbanded immediately, you will be good people. If you persist in your obsession and do not realize it, there is a law for you. How can you regret it? Today, when you turn misfortune into blessing, the place of enlightenment will be a paradise, and the place of confusion will be hell. Once you are confused, you will finally realize it, and you will be transformed.
Hell is a paradise, but you must think of your grandfather first and your descendants second, to protect your life and not to regret it later."
After this, Gao Pragmatic personally came forward to teach, and the bandits and bandits from all over the country all realized their fear and put down their weapons one after another and returned to their homeland.
In this way, through measures such as treating epidemics, redeeming children, burying bones, and banning lawsuits, the disaster situation in Henan has become increasingly stable. Every time Gao Pragmatic visits the porridge factory, although the refugees have received relief, they still cry day and night, and some of them ask Gao for help.
Pragmatically cried and complained that he had left his hometown and begged for food. Although there was relief, he was willing to return home. However, he was penniless and worried about starving to death along the way, so he had no choice but to continue living outside and occupy a porridge factory.
From this, Gao Pragmatic learned that the victims in various places were eager to return home, but they did not have travel expenses, so the government began to check the refugees, provide financial support for returning home, and provide travel expenses according to the distance. A company issued a seal, indicating the place of origin, and gave three cents of silver to the prefectures and counties they passed through.
After returning to their hometown, they received relief money according to the votes and resumed their old business. A total of 23,000 refugees were returned.
Gao pragmatically and the chief envoy visited various states and counties, and found that although relief was provided promptly and some of the refugees resumed their businesses, there was a severe lack of farming tools, leaving the fields desolate, so he asked the chief envoy if he had any suggestions for how to deal with it.
The chief envoy said: "According to the usual practice, after a disaster, the government borrows two cattle from every ten households, provides seeds, inspects the farmland and provides them with farming, and exempts them from food shortages for five years. But now the cattle are really insufficient. If the government wants to buy them,
Damn, the expenses are really too high.
In years of famine, many cattle are slaughtered by the hungry people, so it is difficult to ration them accordingly. We can only strictly survey the barren land, measure the seeds, and allocate cattle uniformly according to the size of the fields."
Gao Pragmatic said: "This method is very good and can solve this problem. For example, if there are a hundred cattle in a county, and they earn interest for several decades, they can get a thousand cattle. In order to avoid the private killing of cattle again, the government needs to register it every year, and it will last forever.
The people have grown and multiplied widely, so that people have tools for farming and every household has a field to cultivate."
The chief envoy replied: "Just like this, farming can be gradually resumed in various places, and the disaster will be subsided soon." So the government implemented this, so that the farmers who were living in poverty could temporarily resume cultivating their fields.
However, even so, because the total number of cattle is limited, the young cattle will not be born and grow up all at once. Therefore, some people are still unable to resume farming immediately and become idlers without food and clothing. Therefore, the government began to implement work-for-relief.
Under highly pragmatic arrangements, Henan has carried out projects such as rebuilding academies, rebuilding towns, dredging rivers, building dams and other projects. These projects are based on labor and public recruitment, and each person will receive three liters of grain per day. They can not only rebuild after the disaster, but also ensure people's livelihood, public and private
Both sides benefit.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! One day, Gao Pragmatic and the Chief Envoy were leading a patrol in Yucheng County. The local villagers heard that the visitor was Gao Nanning, a Buddhist from thousands of families, and they all came forward to say hello.
And warmly invited him to taste the mulberries.
Gao pragmatically took it and ate it without any pretense. Then he talked to them with a smile and asked: "Since there are mulberries here, we can grow mulberries. If we have mulberries, we can produce some silk. Why don't I see any mulberry trees along the way?"
And what about silk?”
The local villager replied: "We rarely plant mulberry trees here, and people who raise silkworms only sell silkworm cocoons instead of spinning silk."
Gao pragmatically asked: "fellow fellow, do you know what the silk can be used for? Do you know how much silver it can be sold for?"
The fellow replied: "I don't know much about it. I only heard that this silk can be used to weave silk and is a very expensive fabric. But we in the countryside have never seen it. I wonder what you mean by it?"
Gao Pragmatic asked again: "My fellow villagers know a lot, so why is there no spinning and takeaway in the village?"
The fellow said: "On weekdays, the villagers are busy farming and doing small business, so how can they have time to plant mulberry and raise silkworms?"
The chief envoy couldn't help but asked: "Is Yucheng County just giving out relief grains all the time?" The fellow said so.
After bidding farewell to the local villagers, Gao pragmatically said to the chief envoy: "Some county officials and local people are still focusing on saving food for disaster relief, and are not eager to resume production. Jia Yi once said that it is very difficult for the holy king to be in power while the people are cold and discouraged.
Being able to plow and eat them, and weave and clothe them is the way to develop their resources.
The officials of various states and counties are ordered to inspect agriculture and if there is positive action, a variety of cash crops can be considered in vacant wasteland. For example, if there is an acre of vacant land, a hundred mulberry trees can be planted, and if there is ten acres, a thousand mulberry trees can be planted.
If there are more mulberry trees, there will be more silkworms. If there are more silkworms, there will be more silks. If there are more silks, there will be more benefits. As for planting grains, dates, pears, persimmons, chestnuts, etc. can also be planted. People should spare no effort and the land should leave no profit. All kinds of wealth come from hard work.
In wisdom."
The chief envoy cupped his hands and said: "What the cabinet minister said is absolutely true. Food is the first priority for the people, and relief is needed because of famine. But if farming is abandoned because of relief, the famine will continue."
Gao Pragmatic asked the chief envoy to order the governors of various states and counties to go deep into the rural fields to guide agricultural production. In addition to planting wheat, beans, millet, and paddy, they also needed to plant mulberry trees or fruit trees in suitable soil to enrich agricultural products for production and sale.
At the same time, Gao pragmatic found that officials in the Ming Dynasty generally did not have the initiative to guide economic production, and may even have no such awareness at all. This made him feel that it was necessary to find some way to improve the officials' ability and enthusiasm in economic work.
He thought for a while and realized that the Ministry of Revenue might take the lead in training, and the Ministry of Personnel should take the lead in including this in the assessment, so that it could be implemented smoothly.
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