Chapter 313 312 Sea transportation Liaoning

After the Lantern Festival holiday, the year is over, and all government offices have opened their doors to pay the price again.

However, it seems that it is not a good sign at the beginning, and it also indicates that the 38th year of Jiajing seems to be another disaster-stricken year.

Shortly after the opening of the yamen in February, war reports from border towns and Jiangsu and Zhejiang were continuously sent to the capital. Datong Town and Ningxia Town all had enemy situations, and a large number of Japanese pirates also attacked in the south and north of the Yangtze River, claiming that if the owner of the Five Peaks was not released, they would continue to expand the range of harassment and gradually head north to attack coastal prefectures and counties such as Shandong.

At this point, the name of the prisoner Wang Zhi, who was once forgotten by the court, was once mentioned in the court again, but this time the debate was obviously much smaller.

Last year, in order to arrest Wang Zhi, some ministers in the court believed that they could recruit according to Hu Zongxian's report. However, after seeing that Jiangnan and Jiangbei were attacked by Japanese pirates, the number of ministers willing to protect Wang Zhi quickly decreased.

The Ming Dynasty could not be intimidated by mere Japanese pirates. Even the ministers who thought they should be recruited to calm the seas were chosen to shut up at this time.

The only thing we have to wait now is that the Zhejiang Censor General presented Wang Zhi’s interrogation record, and he could be convicted and punished according to the record, but almost everyone knows that based on the current situation, Wang Zhi will undoubtedly die.

In June, an urgent report from the governor of the Liaodong Censor Hou Ruliang was quickly sent to the Tongzheng Envoy Department. After reading the urgent report, the Tongzheng Department did not dare to neglect it, so he immediately stood up and ran out of the yamen to run to the cabinet headquarters - Wenyuan Pavilion.

Soon, news of the century-old disaster in Liaodong spread among the officials in Beijing.

The governor, the Liaodong Censor Hou Ruliang, said: Liao left the coast, and the water and land are difficult to get. In the past, he suffered natural disasters, only a few cities or months, but there was no such disaster in the whole town today, and he had not been able to reach grains for three years. I was ordered to enter the country in early spring, and saw that there was no smoke in the village, and there were many bones in the wild, and the depressed and miserable eyes were unbearable. Last year, the evil croaker was eight cents of silver with rice dumplings. The mother abandoned her child, and the father ate her son. According to legend, all of them said that there was no disaster in a century. Now at the turn of summer and autumn, floods and insects were caused, and the rice dumplings were expensive to 7 cents of silver, and I don’t know what to do in winter and spring. Please give out the silver coins of the inner palace to save a town of creatures.

The words "Mother abandons her son, father eats her son" appear in a plain manner in the governor's report to the court, and instantly touched the arousal of the ministers in the court with the "worry about the world before worrying about the world before joyful". The court and the country were in an uproar, and countless memorials asking for disaster relief for Liaodong flew into the Tongzheng Envoy Department like snowflakes.

Disasters must be saved.

Jia Yingchun, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was summoned by the cabinet to inquire about the money and grain situation of the Ministry of Revenue. Such memorials are not dared to delay. The cabinet must learn the details as soon as possible. How much money and grain can the Ministry of Revenue be given for disaster relief? It is better to write them together when the ticket is drafted.

However, the cabinet's actions were always one step slower than the Jinyiwei. When they convened the Minister of Revenue to discuss disaster relief, the Jinyiwei had already sent the memorial copied by Hou Ruliang to the West Garden first.

When Emperor Jiajing saw this report in Yongshou Palace, he was silent for a while before instructing: "Tell me that the cabinet ministers, the six ministries and ministries will come to the West Garden quickly."

And in the cabinet at this time.

"Old Ge Lao Yan, the Ministry of Revenue can pay 600,000 taels of silver, but cannot produce equivalent rice and grain. This year, there is little rain in the south, and many places have severe droughts, and the transportation of grain has been greatly affected. This year, the transportation of grain cannot be guaranteed. Where can the grain come from to transport Liaodong?"

It was naturally Jia Yingchun who spoke. After taking over the Ministry of Revenue, he took over, and after some rectification, he searched for more than half a year before he saved some money. Now it was another natural disaster, and Jia Yingchun knew that this money could not be saved.

A disaster victim must be saved unless there is no land outside the gates.

Moreover, even if you don’t want that land, those people are still Ming people, and the Ming court cannot ignore them and let them starve to death.

"Then cut off the trade routes, give priority to the grain ships to ensure smooth food access."

Xu Jie spoke.

"Gemaster Xu, I have issued a document two months ago. Now there are countless merchant ships blocking the rivers. As the flood season is approaching, it is already a big deal. It is really impossible to transport hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to grain."

At this moment, footsteps sounded outside the door, and a little eunuch ran into the house and sent an order to everyone inside, saying, "The emperor's oral order: I will send the cabinet ministers, and the six ministries and departments to the West Garden."

"Abide by the order."

"Since the order."

All officials, including Yan Song, stood up to receive the order.

The little eunuch glanced at everyone in the room. After the news was passed, he bowed to the officials and turned around and ran out.

In the Hanlin Courtyard, Wei Guangde sat alone in the duty room thinking about the news he had just heard.

The disaster in Liaodong is terrible, it is really miserable.

But just like Jia Yingchun thought, Wei Guangde was thinking more about how to transport grain from Jiangnan to Liaodong.

There are many merchants in Jiujiang. In the past, they all took famous letters from officials from Jiangxi to pass the sluice, so as to pass the sluice first. However, this year is different. A large number of merchant ships are blocked outside the sluice, and priority is given to ensuring the transit of the sluice. It is said that this is a document under the Ministry of Revenue.

Wei Guangde really knew this official document.

He learned from Jia Yingchun at a banquet that there are severe droughts in several provinces in the south this year, which directly led to the risk of severing the canal transportation due to water shortage. Now we can only give priority to ensuring the safety of the canal ships.

The merchants found Wei Guangde for help, but Wei Guangde could only spread his hands and could not help.

What is grain?

That is to ensure food rations in the capital and border towns. At this critical moment, it is better not to join in the fun.

But now, Liaodong is short of food, what else can I do?

According to convention, Taicangku must take out grain to provide disaster relief, but this year the food stored in Taicangku is much less than in previous years, so how dare you support Liaodong's needs?

The Liaodong area is interesting to say. There is no independent governor's office here, but only the Liaodong Metropolitan Office was established according to the military town model.

In terms of organization, the Liaodong Dushi belongs to the Shandong Chengxuan Zhengzheng Department, which is across the sea, and the governor who is appointed by the court to manage the local military and political affairs.

Thinking of Shandong, Wei Guangde didn't realize that it seemed that the connection between Liaodong and Shandong was the water camp in charge, and there was always a sea route that communicated between the two places.

I went back to ask Jia Yingchun, this time it was an excellent opportunity to propose his idea of ​​"starting shipping". I don't know if the old man mentioned this in the cabinet.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde looked down at the blank paper that had been spread out on the desk.

Well, when I talked about the Liaodong incident with my colleagues, I don’t know who took the lead. I also said that I would write to the emperor to request the allocation of silver for disaster relief and drive the ducks to the shelves. Wei Guangde could only follow the crowd and said that he would follow the letter.

But sitting here, Wei Guangde felt that it was really good to write such things.

The current congestion of the Grand Canal in Beijing and Hangzhou is actually mainly concentrated in the Shandong section. The canal transportation in Nanzhili is still normal. If you go out to sea in Huai'an, you can go directly to Haikou, Tianjin bypassing the Shandong Peninsula.

It should be much better to transport grain from there than to block in Shandong.

There is also food transported from Liaodong, so you can also take this route and go directly to Liaodong by Denglai Hai Road in Shandong.

Wei Guangde sat there, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was a way.

Now all the officials in the court are in a turbulent relationship. If they sell off the sea to transport grain to save the lives of the people in Liaodong, who dares to object?

As long as you open this head, the shipping will be gradually expanded later. At the least, you can save the existing grain transportation task first, and you can take it slowly later.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde knew what to write.

Others followed the crowd and clamored to ask the court to allocate silver and food. Since Wei Guangde had guessed that the court would definitely allocate silver to help the disaster, there was no need to follow them to make trouble.

Jia Yingchun should have mentioned the "sea transportation" in the cabinet, but this matter is very important and it is likely that there will be no result immediately. He followed the previous memorial to express the benefits of sea transportation, which is considered to be an assist for him.

He did what he thought of, and Wei Guangde called Lu Bu to grind the ink for himself. He began to think about how to write the memorial.

At this time, in the Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan, Jia Yingchun, the Minister of Revenue, had already explained the difficulties he was facing now.

The Ministry of Revenue can spend 600,000 taels of silver to help the people of Liaodong, but the problem now is that the water transportation is not smooth.

There is food, but let alone shipping it to Liaodong, it is difficult to deliver the food to the capital and into Taicang. How can I solve this problem?

This is to solve the problem of practice, not just empty talk, and we have to come up with solutions.

After Jia Yingchun finished speaking, the palace fell into silence.

Emperor Jiajing sat on the imperial throne, looking at the cabinet ministers and tribes under the imperial throne expressionlessly. The court was maintained by them.

The pity that aroused from reading the memorials has gradually dissipated over time, but the millions of people in Liaodong are still to be saved.

If the people in the town were starved to death under his rule, Emperor Jiajing would not have imagined how the history books in later generations would write him.

After asking for immortality, he has actually realized it in his heart for so many years, but he is still persevering.

Emperor Jiajing did not speak out, so naturally Yan Song could only preside over the meeting.

The situation is very obvious now. The Ministry of Revenue can allocate silver to provide disaster relief, but the canal transportation has become the biggest obstacle. How to solve the transportation problem has become a big trouble that needs to be solved urgently.

"Dear colleagues, the disaster in Liaodong is in full swing, so I won't say much. Now Lord Jia has already put forward the problem. Let's talk about how to solve the problem of grain transportation in the south and the north."

Yan Song said in an old voice.

No one is a fool. Jia Yingchun said so much, but in fact he only had one solution left, but this method was a national policy that was abandoned since the middle and late stages of Yongle.

Although many people mentioned it in the past dynasties, they were not approved. How do you say this?

Is it urgent to follow the power?

No one wants to start this, so he can simply stay silent.

Jia Yingchun didn't frown when he saw this situation. When he entered Yongshou Palace, he thought about it. Now it seems that it is a good time to start shipping, and even the sea route has ready-made ones, that is, the channel between Shandong and Liaodong - Denglai Sea route.

All the expressions below fell into the eyes of Emperor Jiajing who was lofty. Jia Yingchun's frowning expression naturally revealed that he actually had a solution, but he didn't know whether he should say it.

Emperor Jiajing was here, and the free speech that the court officials held private meetings and discussed naturally did not exist. No one was willing to talk nonsense and lose points in front of the emperor.

Their position is stable and unstable, all within the emperor's thoughts.

"Dang"

A dull sound of a bronze chime came, and everyone was respectful.

"Jia Situ, let's talk. You are in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and should come up with a way to let everyone discuss it."

Emperor Jiajing's voice came from the front, and it was about to start calling out

In the evening, Wei Guangde had already returned home to rest. After dinner, he was lying in the yard to enjoy the cool air. Zhang Ji hurried from the front yard and whispered in Wei Guangde's ear.

"Um?"

After hearing this, Wei Guangde was a little surprised and guessed what was going on. He probably asked him to go or talk about "sea transportation".

However, before the time being, he had handed over the memorials to the Tongzheng and Envoy Department like other colleagues.

"Prepare the carriage."

Wei Guangde said to Zhang Ji, then got up and went back to the house to change his clothes.
To be continued...