Politics (IV)

The sky gradually became brighter, and the fire that had burned for a night gradually faded. Wu'anbo Chen Xing, who was covered in dust, stood quietly beside the ruins, his eyes were filled with waves. His white hair was blown up by the morning breeze and dyed golden by the morning light.

"Master, take a break, the fire is out." Chen Jiu, a native of the family, came over and gently pulled Chen Xing's sleeve. The latter was unaware of it and was still quietly looking at the ruins in front of him.

"Master, be careful, it's better to be a good person than anything else." Chen Jiu was a little anxious and pulled Chen Xing hard. He was an old servant of the Chen family and watched Chen Xing grow up. He had suffered from troubles together, so he had a high status in the Chen family. Seeing Chen Xing like this, the old man was very anxious.

"Dad"! Chen Qingdai, the eldest daughter of the Chen family who was taking care of her younger brother and sister, saw that her father was acting abnormally, and rushed over. Mrs. Chen was injured by smoke while commanding the fire and was in a coma. If her father had trouble again at this time, Qingdai, a girl, didn't know how to deal with this crisis.

Hearing his daughter's cry, Chen Xing turned his head slightly, and a desolate smile surged from the corner of his mouth, "Die'er, dad is fine, is the doctor here? How are your mother?"

"The doctor said that my mother is anxious and needs rest," Chen Qingdai answered with tears in her eyes. She was very happy to be together. Yesterday, everyone was happily talking about the benefits of this year. overnight, there was nothing left. My mother was already sick, and she didn't want her father to not be able to bear it. "Dad, take a break, guys are counting the losses and can report it in a while."

"No need to order, there are twenty-nine warehouses, only the saltpeter in the east is still intact, and the rest is all blown up." Chen Xing smiled bitterly and turned his eyes to the fire again. The fire was huge overnight, turning all the hard work of several years into ashes. "What a big fire, Butterfly, have you heard the explosion clearly last night?"

Die'er is Qingdai's nickname. When she heard her father's mindless questioning, Miss Chen was stunned and felt a pain like a knife in her heart. Her father was no longer awake and did not care about the loss of family and property. Instead, she appreciated the explosion.

"Uncle Jiu, please advise my father. You are knowledgeable and my father will listen to you." The little girl held back the tears in her eyes and begged to her hometown.

Chen Jiu nodded, gently pushed Chen Xing, and said loudly: "Master, the old ones don't go, the new ones don't come. It makes sense that the fire is prosperous. As long as people are there, you can earn anything back. When we were moved to Huairou that year, we didn't have anything."

Seeing that Chen Xing did not say anything, he still stared at the fire. The old man was even more worried, so he forced his shoulder to persuade him: "Master, a man is the pillar of the family. You can't fall down at this time. I have seen you since I was a child and have never seen you recognize a bear. If you lie down at this time, the spirits of the ancestors and sects in the sky will not be at ease."

Chen Xing gently pushed away the big hand of his hometown, turned around and smiled at everyone, and said, "Didn't you still grab some silver notes yesterday? Uncle Jiu, find a friend to arrange everyone's breakfast, and then work after eating, you will have the strength to work." Then he called his daughter, gently stroked Qingdian's hair, and asked in a low voice: "Die'er, have you heard the explosion last night? The eleventh warehouse on the left was originally used to clean the table and use waste cotton, so why did it blow up more than fire?"

Seeing that his father didn't seem to be mentally ill, Qingdai put his heart slightly into his stomach. He thought about it carefully and replied carefully: "My daughter also finds it strange. The cotton yarn is used to apply green alum oil, so how could it explode? Dad, please take a break first. When the fire is cleaned up, let's think about these miscellaneous things."

Chen Xing smiled again, shook his head, a little helpless, and a little comforted. "Girl, I'll leave my home to you in the future, and my dad has no time."

"Dad, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me." Qingdai was anxious and started crying in a sob.

"Don't cry, child", Chen Xing inserted his hand away the tears on his daughter's face, and Heiyu wiped his daughter into a vague face. "Look at you, don't cry, you don't have an older brother, your father can only treat you as a boy. Remember to take good care of your younger brother and sister in the future. It's a bit difficult for you to leave this family, and my father doesn't want to do this, but there is no way. Fortunately, Uncle Jiu will help you, and it's time for him to leave."

Bent down, Chen Xing bowed to Uncle Jiu and his friends, and whispered: "The Chen family has suffered this disaster. Thank you for your righteousness. Please help me with support from Die'er in the future." After that, he straightened his back and walked towards the prefect Xu Haoda and the officer who had been waiting aside for a long time.

A servant took out the iron chain and hung it on Chen Xing's neck tremblingly, but he didn't dare to pull it. He stood beside him with his hands hanging down, waiting for his superior's order.

The prefect Xu smiled bitterly and said, "Sir, it's hard for you. The official's life is in his own hands, and there is nothing left to do with the officials."

"Let's go", Chen Xing waved his hand and interrupted his politeness. Several officers surrounded him and hugged Chen Xing to leave.

"Stand" suddenly, with a sweet scolding, blocked everyone's footsteps. Chen Qingdai took the shovel and a bunch of friends to block the way the servants.

Seeing this, Xu quickly took a few steps, came to Chen Qingdai, and bowed to the ground: "Niece, I have no choice. Your father is in charge of the Beiping Fire Manufacturing Bureau. With such a big fire, he naturally has to give in to the court. You should give in, I beg you."

"Xiaodie, retreat, don't delay the government's case handling." Chen Xing scolded him among the officers.

"No"! Qingdai bit her thin lips tightly and asked loudly: "Last night, someone clearly set fire on purpose. We have tried our best to put out the fire, and the soldiers guarding have tried their best. If they don't catch the arson, why should they catch you?"

"Yes, it's clear that someone deliberately set fire. Why do you arrest Mr. Chen?"

"Mr. Xu, you are useless to be a brother to my master all day long. When things come to an end, you will be hurt." Chen Jiu, a native of the family, asked angrily that Xu Haoda often visits the Chen family, and both of them are considered people in the officialdom. Chen Xing and Guo Pu are close, so Xu Haoda naturally hopes to get closer to Chen Xing and take more care of him.

"The officials have no good things, why are they so unreasonable?" The guys scouted the guys and slowly surrounded the servants.

"Yes, we don't allow you to catch people. If you have sex, you will catch everyone." The soldiers guarding the Fire Yaoku also started yelling. Last night, everyone saw masked people setting fires, and some soldiers were killed during fighting. Prefect Xu did not go to catch the arsonist, but his actions to deal with the victims were offended, and the crowd was excited for a moment.

"Die'er, be obedient, don't delay your uncle Xu's important business." Chen Xing calmly comforted his daughter. He took a few steps from the group of servants and said to the crowd, "Chen thanks everyone for their righteousness. Let's get out of the way. Chen is an official of the court, so he will naturally be responsible for the fire."

Everyone was speechless, hesitating whether to get out of the way. Chen Xing was named Wu'anbo and was in charge of the Fire Manufacturing Bureau. The Chen family's industry and the government were already entangled. The fire burned the Chen family's industry and burned all the government's orders. As the supervisor of the Fire Bureau, Chen Xing naturally had to bear the corresponding responsibilities. But this fire was clearly released by man, and maybe it was the Mongol envoy. The government troops stationed in Beiping City could not prevent the enemy from intrusion. How could a few soldiers guarding the Fire Deposit defend against the enemy's destruction?

A servant hurried over and whispered a few low words on the head of the prefect Xu Haoda.

Xu Haoda's face suddenly became even worse than the embers in the ruins. Everyone heard the word "Loyalty and courage" vaguely, and was guessing what was going on. Xu Haoda had already grabbed the iron chain from the servant's hand and put it around his neck.

"Sir, what are you doing?" The officer asked loudly in surprise while untiing the iron chains in a hurry.

Xu Haoda sighed, stopped the officers from untiing the chain, and said with a wry smile: "Catch Brother Chen and I to the yamen of the governor's office, and I will be the last one."

"What's wrong, Lord Xu, what's going on?" Chen Xing was also stunned by Xu Haoda and couldn't help asking curiously.

A sigh, with a bolt from the blue, shocked everyone on the spot. "Mr. Li, Zhongyong Hou Li Shanping was assassinated. Just last night when we were all busy putting out the fire, all the guards were killed. Mr. Li's life and death were uncertain. The officers and soldiers discovered Mr. Li's carriage this morning, empty and full of blood."

The crowd suddenly became silent. Xu Haoda and Chen Xing walked side by side with iron chains. Wherever they passed, the onlookers automatically gave way.

Qingdai looked at her father's back and knelt down. Her teeth had bitten a blood mark on her thin lips. The blood slowly flowed down from the corner of her mouth.

"Dad"! A little boy ran towards Chen Xing crying, but was pulled by Qingdai. The little boy kept struggling while crying, punching and kicking his sister. Qingdai endured silently until his father walked away and his younger brother was tired of fighting, so he never let go.

"It's not my fault, but I must take my own responsibility." I vaguely remember that on the stage of spring, King Epist blinded his eyes at the sun, and from then on he would go into darkness forever. Fate destined him to kill his father and marry his mother. He fought and he fought. When he found that he had fallen into the arrangement of fate, he could not argue that he had no mistakes.

Everyone has their own responsibilities. Whether they are intentional or not, they need to bear any mistakes and cannot escape them. This is true for common people, and even more so for officials.

The sound of ding-knit chains gradually faded away. Chen Qingdai pulled up his younger brother who was sitting on the ground with one hand, and wiped the bloodstains from the corner of his mouth with the other hand. In an instant, she had grown up.

"Miss, let's have a meal." Uncle Jiu used lotus leaves to hold a few buns, and the guy brought a bowl of porridge.

Qingdai grabbed a bun, stuffed it into his brother's mouth, blocking his sobs. Then he ordered Chen Jiu: "Uncle Jiu, have the blood coral tree we snatched out last night that the emperor gave last night been collected?"

"It's been packed," Uncle Jiu replied carefully, "I rented a small house on the corner of the street, and the things were locked there. Someone watched it specifically, and the lady was there to rest."

"No need, Uncle Jiu, I will ask my friend to carry the blood coral tree and go to see Uncle Xu Shi. We asked him to borrow 30,000 taels of silver and use this blood coral as collateral. You always stay here to clean up the fire to see if there are any materials available. Let Chen Qi rent a few non-adjacent houses. After we clean up the fire, we will organize the friend to start work." Chen Qingdai's face showed a heroic spirit that was inconsistent with his age.

Uncle Jiu's turbid eyes suddenly lit up and looked up at the young lady who was usually pampered. Beside Chen Qingdai, several rows of green trees were scorched by the fireworks from last night, and had lost their lush color. However, after a rain, tender buds would still sprout at the roots of the tree, dyeing the screens a dark green color.

There will be houses, factories, grass will be green, trees will be tall, and children will grow up. The old man nodded heavily at Chen Qingdai. He believed that as long as God left the Chen family with a girl, the Chen family's signature would never fall, never.

Everyone has to take on their own responsibilities. Guo Pu, the governor of Peking, wrote a lot under the lamp. Several letters with glued mouths were placed in the basket beside him, with different names written on them. At the critical moment, he had to use all the power that could be mobilized. This was a crisis. In the mixed water, countless big and small fish were looking for the opportunity to take a big bite. There was no time to be sad. What he needed was to be calm, calm, and calm again.

During the day, Guo Pu resisted the pain of losing his friend and ordered people to free up a clean room to settle down Chen Xing and Xu Haoda. He calmly organized people to quickly investigate the cause of the fire and the losses that night. At the same time, he asked the government troops stationed in Peking to search for suspicious people from house to house to find Li Shanping's whereabouts. In the city of Peking, there was a panic. The stock market crash, fire, and the news of Li Shanping's assassination were reported by two newspapers in Peking. The news was transmitted to the palace before Guo Pu's memorial.

In the magnificent hall, all the civil and military officials were summoned by Zhu Yuanzhang to discuss the court's response measures. The sound of the Grand Secretary Du Yu's reading of memorials came out of the hall and echoed among the red bricks and golden tiles.

That was the chapter written by Bai Zheng, a famous scholar in the south of the Yangtze River, to Zhu Yuanzhang by more than 200 Qingliu Secret literati. They did not stand in the court, but believed that their views were more objective and fair.

"Our Lord was ordered to rebel in heaven and to rebel, save all the people from water and fire, expel the Tartars, wipe out all the heroes, and win over China. Wait for the unification of the world, cultivate virtue and politics within, respect Confucianism and sages, and the people live in peace and prosperity. He sent out fierce soldiers to defend the territory and the four barbarians came to court in fear. Even Emperor Tang and Emperor Song, the great achievements of Your Majesty are beyond the reach of Emperor Tang."

'After all, he is a famous scholar in the world, and the sound of flattery at the beginning is extraordinary.' Xu ​​Da, a virtuous minister who was invited from the Command Academy and had not been to court for a long time, frowned and looked disdainful. The Command Academy trained students to enrich them in the army in batches, and he was full of talents all over the world. He was so happy that he could not come to court. This time Zhu Yuanzhang specially sent someone to invite him. Xu Da probably had something big to ask. Who would have expected that the grand sects would have just begun the morning court, and the grand sects would have put forward this article that was full of flattery at the beginning.

"I am the people of the mountains and wild grass, and should not have discussed the government affairs and disturbed the holy hearing. However, the ancients said that when I live in a high temple, I worry about the people; when I am far away from the rivers and lakes, I worry about the king. I have been unworthy. In recent years, I have witnessed all kinds of new policies in Peking, which hurt the country's roots and was unable to stop them, so I risked my life to present to Your Majesty to hear it..." Du Yu read, as he seemed to be moved by the heart of the master of the fist, his voice had changed, and he brought out a hint of loneliness.

The memorial lists the new things in Peking and the various consequences of the launch of maritime bans and customs in recent years, and the establishment of customs will not prohibit trade. Among them, it is to start border trade and encourage industry and commerce as the main target of attack.

"Our dynasty has been banned from border trade in Hongwu in the 12th year of Hongwu. Industry and Commerce have been prosperous. People have turned to it and abandoned agriculture and joined business, which has led to the desolation of fertile land and the etiquette has collapsed. There are treacherous and slanderous people who forget their righteousness when they see profit, collusion between officials and businessmen, colluding with internal and external collusion, so gold flows out and prices soar. This is a move to use the power of the country to support the enemy. Fortunately, our dynasty won the victory in the attack on Goryeo, but its evil is not obvious..." The smooth text made some officials nodded, and secretly praised this in their hearts for the new policy of Peking. The Ming Dynasty was cheap and silver was expensive, and everyone knew that. In the early years of Hongwu, one tael of gold was exchanged for four taels of silver, while in Japan, Ryukyu and other places, one tael of gold could be exchanged for ten taels of silver. If the ships were easy to use, selling silver from overseas to the Central Plains was a very profitable profit.

The outflow of gold was strictly prohibited from being launched in the big deal. However, there were too many places along the coast that could leave the port, and with the temptation of huge profits, many illegal merchants took risks and privately purchased gold to go overseas, and foreign vendors also responded at sea. The silver circulating on the market grew rapidly and prices gradually increased. The new policy of Peking has developed industry and commerce, and the people have more spare money and increased demand, which constitutes another major factor in the price increase. Some aides and lower-level officials who make a living by selling literature are the most dissatisfied with this. Their income has not changed, and their lives have gradually remained the same as those of the wealthy people. Last year, someone had already reported this matter, but Zhu Yuanzhang put it aside.

The next attack hurts the muscles and bones. The anger has turned into a rebuke, and a clear echo in the hall was shaken. "Recently, weaving has been established. The machine cloth has been cut off for half a day, and the machine cloth is flat and wide, resulting in the unsold local cloth and women's nothing to do. In Shandong, Hebei and other places, men do not farm and women do not weave. Everyone talks about profit, and they do not know what the rules are, and they do not respect the majesty of the gentleman. There are even unruly people who see that cotton planting is profitable, but they actually destroy seedlings and grow cotton..." In addition to exporting, the impact on the countryside is almost subversive. Men's farming and women's weaving habits are guaranteed.

After so many years of persistence, it was suddenly broken, which made many people at a loss. Many families lost an important financial income. No matter how good the hand-woven cloth was, it was not as good as the machine weaving. Especially the cloth produced in Songjiang Prefecture in recent years, it was fine and soft and strong, almost monopolizing the market in the south of the Yangtze River. The huge profits of growing cotton made many northern dry land farmers give up on planting traditional crops such as wheat, and some landlords actually asked all tenants to change to plant cotton. In this memorial, Bai Zheng stated bloody facts.

In Nanyang, a team of ragged hungry people rushed into the city. On the side of the road, there were falling hungry people everywhere, cotton grew lushly, and some had formed small bones. The leader was a man, and his eyes turned around for a while proved that he was a living creature. His broken clothes could no longer cover his body. The male root under his crotch drooped softly, revealing his gender.

We were about to enter the city, and we had already seen the plaque at the gate of the city. The prefect of the city ordered the opening of warehouses and relief. They rushed to the city after hearing the news from a small village. I don’t know how many days they had left. The village was flooded, and the wealthy families sold land, while the small families sold their children. However, a stone of rice had increased by one tael of silver, and they were not able to buy it anywhere. In some places, there was nowhere to buy rice even if you had money.

"Pu" an old man fell from the crowd, and everyone numbly stepped over him, and no one cared about whether he was still living in the world. The smoke and dust filled the wide open eyes of the person who fell on the ground.

The voice of Grand Secretary Du Yu continued to echo among the red walls and golden tiles of the palace. Several unknown birds were frightened and flew into the air with a scream. After hovering for a while, they found a place to fall.

"Heaven moves to the four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter, the earth rides on the weather, grows and collects, those who follow the heavens prosper, and those who go against the heavens perish, so the saints "fear the will of heaven". The court is treacherous and slanderous, and they are contrary to the way of heaven, and seeks fortune. They make the winter produce summer vegetables, and spring produces autumn fruits, and invite favors with things from time to time. They are even more selfish, greedy, and mines are widely damaging to the earth. The heavens and earth are angry and ghosts are frightened, and demons break into the sky, Tai Sui comes out of the earth, five disasters of drought, flood, hail, frost, and worms come one after another, and people live in poverty, starves all over the field..."

There was a burst of whispers among the ministers, and everyone was talking about the recent strange rumors. Some people secretly compared the disasters recorded in history to see whether these were signs of destruction of the country. The situation mentioned by Bai Zheng and others did occur in some places this year. The climate change this spring, and many places where spring wheat was planted were affected. The government's relief could only be distributed to the prefecture and county level. If it goes down, it can only be left to let it go. Moreover, in many states, the grain warehouses of the prefectures do not have much grain storage. In recent years, the profits of growing cotton have been made, and the people have abandoned grain and planted cotton. Grain prices have gradually risen. Some gentry took the opportunity to hoard grain for profit. The navy occasionally intercepted merchant ships that transported grain to sea privately on the sea. All kinds of chances have kept the price of grain this year.

It is necessary to take some efforts to rectify the situation. The emperor did not mention optimizing agriculture and suppressing commerce. What the merchants did immediately turned to heaven. Some places have begun to publicly challenge the gentry. The price of selling goods is as good as possible, and they can change as soon as they want, regardless of the lives of the people.

"From this perspective, the new policy is a way to harm the country and the people. The people dared to ask His Majesty to cancel the new policy and restore the old system, emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce, lay off border trade, severely punish the culprits who advocate the new policy, and expel traitors who make strange tricks and tricks..."

Wu Anguo stood in the team of civil officials and listened quietly. Wang Feiyu, Li Ling, Li Shanping, and all the good brothers were gone. He felt numb and seemed to no longer care about more blows. Besides, some mistakes were indeed related to him, and he must have the courage to take this responsibility.

A group of unknown black birds hovered in the sky, covering the sky. On the stage of the Beijing Restaurant, King Dippo blinded his eyes at the sun and walked into darkness forever from then on.

"It's been served, the tall and charitable man has served the porridge." A man dressed in a servant in Nanyang City shouted loudly. The guy brought out a steaming jar of rice porridge and was immediately surrounded by hungry refugees.

"Come one by one, each person has a bowl, don't grab it, don't grab it, don't grab it," the servant shouted. Seeing a few men with thick bones, he immediately began to greet him: "My master kindly recruits refugees and goes to Nanyang to make a fortune. He is willing to follow him. After each person is hired, he can prepare five taels of silver and two stones of brown rice as the cost of depositing his family. Those who are willing to hurry up, those who are willing to hurry up..."
Chapter completed!