Since the Song Dynasty, the Yellow River bursting its banks has almost become a routine, and Henan and Shandong provinces have been particularly affected.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Chief Secretary of Shandong delivered a disaster relief memorial every year, and no one was absent. In recent years, floods have become more serious year by year. Last year, water transportation for millions of refugees was almost interrupted.

The most fatal thing is that the Yellow River is seriously silted up. No matter how many dams are built to waterproof, it will not help. We can only watch the floods occur every year during the flood season, turning a province into a country thousands of miles away.

Shen Yichen was ordered to control the flood when he was in danger. To be honest, it was not that the ministers of the government and the public had high expectations for him. It was simply that Wang Zhen wanted to use this matter to find someone to take the blame. Shen Yichen happened to take the initiative to become the "wronged son". "That's all.

Even Emperor Zhu Qizhen did not have much confidence in Shen Yichen's ability to control the Yellow River floods.

Zhu Qizhen's idea is actually very simple. As long as Shen Yichen can block the breach in Zhang Qiuzhen, it will be enough if the floods in the Yellow River this year are not as serious as in the orthodox ten years!

As a result, it is surprising to see that Shandong has become an isolated island like a "paradise" during the flood season when disasters occur frequently in other provinces.

"Shen Xiangbei seems to be a really capable minister and official. The serious illness of the Yellow River in Shandong Province can be resolved in his hands!"

The good news from the Chief Secretary of Shandong can be said to have cast a ray of sunshine amidst the gloomy disaster news, making Zhu Qizhen Longyan very happy.

But when Wang Zhen saw this scene, his expression was extremely ugly!

We must know that no matter which dynasty controls water, as long as it can succeed and benefit all people, it can be regarded as an unparalleled achievement, and it can be remembered for generations and be famous for thousands of years!

The Yellow River flood in Shandong has been a serious problem for a century. Countless famous ministers and wise ministers have tried to deal with it, but they have been unable to tame this evil dragon.

Wang Zhen never thought that such a situation would arise. He originally only waited for the Shandong Chief Secretary to report the disaster situation to the court after the flood season this year, and immediately organized the Kedao Speaker to impeach Shen Yichen.

Coupled with this boy's unscrupulous evil deeds in the local area, once he no longer has the ability to control floods to protect himself, even the emperor will no longer be able to side with him, and he will definitely be dismissed from office and prosecuted.

When Shen Yichen enters the Metropolitan Procuratorate Prison, with Wang Zhen's growing power, there is a high probability that he will not be able to wait until the day he is released from prison alive.

Wang You, the minister of the Ministry of Industry in the palace, noticed that Wang Zhen was unhappy and immediately came out and said: "Your Majesty, the Water Cleaning Department of Shandong Daodou has submitted an urgent document. A dike has burst in Shawan, Dong'a County, Liaocheng. The current situation is surging. It’s about to break out!”

After Wang You's words came out, all the civil and military officials in the imperial court subconsciously looked at Li Cheng, who "co-served" as Minister of the Ministry of Industry.

Many people in later generations know that there were two Manchu and Han ministers in the six books of the Qing Dynasty, but they did not know that in fact, in the Ming Dynasty, there was also a scene of multiple ministers.

The main reason is that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were separated from each other, and the titles of the six ministers and ministers were used as "level classification". For example, the cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty were actually only ranked as bachelors of the fifth rank, no matter how lofty their status and real power they were. No matter how solemn it is, the fifth-grade official title is obviously not enough.

The solution is to use the title of minister and minister as the rank of cabinet ministers. The title of cabinet scholar is added to the title of six ministers. This solves the shortcomings of too low official titles. This also leads to the appearance of two ministers in one book, or even multiple ministers. Condition.

In addition to the function of "classification", there is also the difference in work assignments. It is necessary to add another minister to oversee all work. The Ministry of Industry falls into the second situation.

For example, when it comes to large-scale construction projects at the national level, the Minister of Industry needs to go to the site for inspection and inspection. In ancient times, transportation was not as convenient as in modern times, and it was often calculated on a yearly basis. Over such a long period of time, the position of the chief official of the imperial court , it was impossible to leave a vacancy, so two Ministers of the Ministry of Industry appeared.

Li Cheng was originally the eldest son of the Annan Chen Dynasty king. He was captured by the Ming army during the Yongle period. He was proficient in firearms and served in the Ministry of Industry.

Originally, it was not Li Cheng's turn to share the post of Minister of the Ministry of Industry, but Xu Xi, the Minister of the Ministry of War, passed away in March of the 11th year of Zhengtong. Kuang Ye, the former right minister of the Ministry of War, took over the post of Minister of the Ministry of War.

You must know that Xu Xi is a die-hard eunuch who flattered Wang Zhen in every possible way to get to the top. In comparison, Kuang Ye belongs to the standard civil servant group and has no special friendship with Wang Zhen. It can even be said that he is on the opposite side.

In the past two years of the Zhengtong Dynasty, Wang Zhen's power was growing rapidly, and even the precedent of hereditary inheritance among eunuchs' children was settled by him.

Now that the late emperor had asked Yang Pu, the fifth minister, to retire due to illness, the British minister was not allowed to interfere too much in the affairs of the government as a relative. Hu Hu had always been scheming and liked to protect himself wisely, which meant that there was no important minister in the court who could compete with him.

In this situation, none of the six ministers belong to him, so how can Wang Zhen endure it?

As a result, in the eleventh year of Zhengtong's reign, the center of the imperial court was extremely unrest, and Wang Zhen began to mop up his political opponents.

First, he asked his close confidant Naiheng, the minister of household affairs, to frame Zhao Min, the minister, and then implicated Wang Zhi, the minister of civil affairs, and the whole group was interrogated and imprisoned by the three law divisions.

Immediately afterwards, the incident of Anxiang Bo Zhang An's struggle for wealth triggered a push-over between Jin Lian, the Minister of Punishment, and Wang Zuo, the Minister of Household Affairs. Wang Zhen took the opportunity to trigger officials to impeach the two men, and both were imprisoned.

At this point, three of the six ministers of the Ming Dynasty were in prison. Wang Zhen naturally set his sights on Wang Xing, the minister of the Ministry of Industry.

After all, Wang You, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, is a hardcore among the irons. How could his godson stop being promoted and sit on the position of minister of the Ministry of Industry?

In this way, Wang Ning encountered various difficulties and insults from Wang Zhen, and from time to time officials accused him of corruption and embezzlement. In order to prove his innocence and wait for the review results, Wang Ning reported illness and recuperated in the palace, and Li Cheng took care of all the affairs of the Ministry of Industry.

This is why, before the Tumu Fort Incident in the 14th year of Orthodoxy, the civil and military ministers of the DPRK and China allowed Wang Zhen to do all kinds of nonsense, but few people dared to stand up to impeach and oppose him.

The reason is that those who dare to oppose have been punished by Wang Zhen in various ways in the past few years, and the remaining civil and military ministers have naturally become honest.

Li Cheng was from Annan and was still a prisoner. Even though he was a minister, he still had no status in the court. It was just that Wang You was so shameless that he revealed in front of the emperor that there were official documents from the Shandong Dushui Qingli Division. , which is still relatively rare.

Not to mention the courtiers, even Li Cheng himself was turning blue and white at this time.

In addition to being humiliated by Wang You, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, what is more important is that he has never read the official document of Shandong Province, let alone the existence of this official document.

This also means that as the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, I was actually ignored by Wang You in the Ministry of Industry!

"Wang Qing's family, when did Shandong Road send the official document?"

Zhu Qizhen's expression suddenly became serious. Last year, the breach of Zhangqiu Town caused millions of refugees, and the Shandong Chief Secretary's taxes were reduced by 60%.

If we include disaster relief and flood control allocations, it can be said that Shandong Province's fiscal revenue last year was negative. Today's floods in various places are obviously more serious than last year. If Shandong Province repeats last year's situation, the Ming Dynasty's treasury may really not be able to afford it!

"Reply to Your Majesty, it will be delivered urgently at 600 miles this morning. According to the time, it is estimated that the embankment collapsed three days ago."

Hearing Wang You's answer, many ministers in the palace took a deep breath subconsciously. The current flood season is fierce. Judging from the situation in Shandong over the years, it is absolutely impossible to seal the breach.

Maybe the current situation in Shandong is once again a vast country!

Zhu Yong, the Duke of Cheng, who stood at the top of the list of honorees, had an equally solemn look on his face. Yu Qian's incident caused a complete break between Shen Yichen and Wang Zhen. Since Yang Pu was in bed to recuperate, the situation in the DPRK and the Central Government has turned towards the eunuch.

He was not caught by Wang Zhen and relied on his status to fight against him, preventing him from using any dirty tricks behind his back.

This is why Shen Yichen was not hindered by Wang Zhen in his work in controlling floods in Shandong.

It's not that Wang Zhen is tolerant and doesn't want to cause trouble for Shen Yichen, but the Xunqi Group helped him block it.

But if Wang Zhen takes advantage of the failure of flood control, even if he is the Duke of the country, he will not be able to withstand the power of the eunuch party. Shen Yichen may be in danger!

Zhu Qizhen, who was sitting on the throne, heard that Shandong's embankment had breached again. He felt a surge of anger in his heart. He slapped the emperor's case hard with his hand and yelled angrily.

"Shen Yichen spent a huge amount of money on water control, killed local court officials with a stick, and took over the Chaoguan Salt Field in an unscrupulous manner. I tolerated all these for the great cause of water control."

"In the face of my kindness and high hopes, what Shen Yichen will repay is that Shandong's embankments have collapsed again? And the news is still an official document submitted by Shandong Dadu Water Cleaning Company. How long will this person keep it secret!"

Zhu Qizhen was really angry this time. He even called him Shen Xiangbei by his first name, Shen Yichen, and finally "this son".

On the one hand, Shandong's embankment collapsed again, but what Zhu Qizhen found unacceptable was that he trusted and supported Shen Yichen so much. Now that there was a problem in Shandong, he also planned to deceive the Holy Emperor.

Logically speaking, when such a disaster occurs, shouldn't you report it directly to yourself?

"Your Majesty, please calm down. The matter may be urgent and Shen Qianxian's edict has not been delivered to the capital yet."

Qian Xili, the minister of the Ministry of Rites and the head of the Hanlin Academy, first came out to explain something to Shen Yichen. As Shen Yichen's mentor, he had to stand up and speak out, both in public and private affairs, and in matters of emotion and reason.

"Shen Qianxian is well organized in providing disaster relief and helping the people. He should not be negligent in water control on the river embankment. Your Majesty, please wait and see what happens."

Cabinet minister Gao Gu also stood up to speak for Shen Yichen. At the end of the 10th year of Zhengtong, he was given the title of right minister of the Ministry of Industry. In a sense, in addition to being the old boss of Dongge, he also had the status of "supervisory unit" for water control and river engineering.

The three provinces and eight prefectures affected by the disaster last year were memorialized. During the time when Shen Yichen was out of town in Shandong to control floods, Gaogu was the focus of attention.

He wanted to know the changes in the disaster-stricken place and see if Shen Yichen could really achieve the three immortals of a literary man: make speeches, make meritorious deeds, and make virtues!

It can be known from memorials from various places that the millions of refugees affected by the disaster last year have been properly resettled after Shen Yichen came out of town in Shandong. Moreover, Yanggu County, Yanzhou Prefecture, which was the most severely affected, has completed reconstruction, and Zhangqiu Town, which was once in ruins, has been rebuilt. , once again became one of the five major commercial ports on the canal, and its prosperity was even greater than before!

Just like when Shen Yichen left Dongge, Gao Gu suppressed his displeasure and still gave him parting words.

To truly look at a person, you don't look at what he says, but what he does. Shen Yichen is a practical person and will never neglect to conceal anything on the water control embankment. Gao Gu believes that there is something hidden.

Zhu Qizhen was furious, but Qian Xili and Gao Gu's explanations did not calm him down, but only added fuel to the fire.

"The official documents of the Shui Qing Li Department in Shandong Daodu have been submitted to the Ministry of Works. As the censor of Qiandu, Shen Yichen has the power to directly reach Tianting. Can he be slower?"

The imperial censor of Qiandu in the area leaving the town can submit it directly to the emperor's imperial court without going through the six cabinets. It also has the highest level of transmission level, which is comparable to emergency military information. No government office can block it. Allowed to pass.

Therefore, as long as Shen Yichen is absent, there is no possibility that he will be slower than the local government officials. Qian Xili and Gao Gu's explanations are obviously untenable.

Seeing Zhu Qizhen's furious look, Wang Zhen, who was standing next to the throne, had an imperceptible smile on his lips.

This is the difference between Shen Yichen and himself. This son can enjoy the emperor's favor for a while, but once something goes wrong, he will understand what the emperor is ruthless. Only he and the emperor have the relationship of being both a master and a father, no matter what There will be no estrangement broken down.

Taking this opportunity, Wang Zhen winked at His Royal Highness's Imperial Censor Wang Wen. If he didn't add insult to injury now, how could he wait?

"Your Majesty, as the censor of the capital, I should assume the responsibility of supervision."

"According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty Law, the time limit for canal construction is set. If it is completed within three years, the construction official will be contacted; after three years, the defense officer will be contacted. If protection cannot be carried out, and there is a collision, all the officials will be involved."

"Shen Xiangbei, the censor of Qiandu, failed to report the knowledge and failed to control the flood. He should be ordered to return to Beijing for investigation and prosecution!"

Flood control in the Ming Dynasty did not mean that after building the embankment and returning to Beijing, you could just turn around and do nothing. If the embankment breaks within three years, the original construction official will be held accountable. If the embankment breaks after three years, the subsequent maintenance will be held accountable. River embankment official.

Shen Yichen took flood control and built embankments for three years, but the embankments collapsed in just one year. He dared to conceal the truth and failed to report the facts. He will definitely be held accountable!

Wang Wen's words speak to Zhu Qizhen's heart. He could endure the wanton impeachment in the past, but he must not be selfish this time!

Just when Zhu Qizhen was about to issue an order calling on Shen Yichen to return to the capital, an official from the General Affairs Department came to the center of Fengtian Hall with a memorial in his hand, knelt down to Zhu Qizhen and said: "Shen Yichen, the censor of Qiandu, is reporting urgently to the north. , please give your Majesty a royal visit!"

If you really say Cao Cao, Cao Cao will arrive soon. No one in the civil and military dynasties expected that Shen Yichen's memorial would arrive in such a timely manner.

"Hurry up and bring it up!"

Zhu Qizhen did not hesitate at all, and immediately ordered the officials of the General Affairs Department to submit Shen Yichen's memorial to the imperial court.

Under the curious eyes of the civil and military officials, Zhu Qizhen opened the memorial and began to read it. It didn't take long before he saw an excited smile appear on his face, and he couldn't wait to praise it.

"Well, you are worthy of being my loyal minister. Shen Xiangbei has lived up to my expectations after all!"

Zhu Qizhen's change of expression, as if he were turning over a book, made the officials in the court even more confused. What exactly did Shen Yichen write that could make the emperor change his attitude in an instant? It couldn't possibly be to block the breach.
Chapter completed!