Zhao Fude's repeated provocations ignited a fire in Zheng Rong's chest. If it were a dozen years ago, he would have killed him long ago, but now he was more cunning. He suppressed his anger and said calmly: "Mr. Zhongli, please show me the emperor's edict and the documents from the Ministry of Revenue, and read them to Governor Zhao."
Zhongli Kuang nodded, took out a bright yellow wooden box from his bag, carefully opened the lid, took out the imperial edict, and read it aloud in class.
After reading it, all the officials kowtowed three times and nine times, and shouted "Long live the king". Zheng Rong then looked at Zhao Fude and asked, "May I ask Mr. Zhao, the governor of Henan Province, whether the imperial sword in my hand can kill the officials of Henan Province?"
Zhao Fude knew that the Prince of Youyan had the Imperial Sword and was in charge of the military and political affairs of Henan Province. He could kill any official in Henan Province except himself and the Jiedushi Wu Yan. The life of his brother Zhao Fuyi was irreversible. Thinking of this, Zhao Fude simply gave up and stood up without kneeling. He pointed at Zheng Rong and cursed: "The emperor gave you the Imperial Sword as a sign of trust. It is your right to kill people with the Imperial Sword. Why do you have to ask me about it? It's really unnecessary. You just want to humiliate me. I'm sorry I can't keep you company!" After that, he bowed and turned to walk out of Ninghe Hall.
Zhao Fude could not walk a few steps before he was half-dragged and half-carried back into the hall by the soldiers waiting outside. Zheng Rong said solemnly: "Lord Zhao is right. The imperial sword cannot kill officials above the fourth rank. You are a third-rank frontier official, so of course I cannot kill you. But you have committed the crime of partiality, perverting the law, confusing right and wrong, and despising me. I will report it to the emperor truthfully, and then the Ministry of Justice and the government will judge your crime." After the soldiers dragged Zhao Fude down the hall and put him under custody, Zheng Rong said to Zhao Fuyi, who was already pissing and shitting: "I have just told you about your crime. Do you have any last words?"
Zhao Fuyi was already in a state of despair, and couldn't even open his mouth to speak. He was just waiting for a knife in the back of his head.
Unexpectedly, Qiu Yizi suddenly ran out and knelt in front of Zheng Rong. Zheng Rong was shocked and asked, "Yizi, do you want to plead for your uncle who is worse than a beast?"
Qiu Yizhi bowed and said, "I have been without a father since I was a child, and my mother has passed away. My two uncles are my closest relatives. How can I not plead for them based on ethics and moral principles?" He bowed twice more and said, "Please, foster father, show mercy and spare my uncles' lives!"
After hearing this, Zheng Rong was filled with emotion. He pondered for a moment, then helped Qiu Yizhi up with his own hands and said loudly to Zhao Fuyi: "How could a heartless and ungrateful uncle like you have such a loving and righteous nephew? Since Yizhi pleads for mercy, I will be especially lenient. However, the death penalty can be pardoned, but the living crime cannot be forgiven. Today, I will take away your title of Juren, and order you to return the land you have annexed over the years. All the farmland and manors will be confiscated, and I will grant you one mu and three fen of good land. From now on, you can be a good citizen and make a living on your own!"
After hearing this, Zhao Fuyi's tears and snot flowed all over the floor. No one knew what he was saying, but he kowtowed like crazy.
Zhao Fude was also taken away, and the Ninghe Hall returned to peace. Zheng Rong drank a sip of tea and said to the officials standing in the hall: "You have all heard the imperial edict and the documents from the Ministry of Revenue just now. The emperor sent me to control Henan to relieve the current drought. However, Emperor Gaozong Ren of our dynasty once issued an imperial edict saying: 'Of ten natural disasters, seven are man-made.' This Zhao Fuyi is rich but unkind. He has great achievements but does not know how to share the country's worries. He actually took advantage of the fire to rob and occupy the land of good people. He is hateful and abominable. Now I am in charge of the disaster relief plan in Henan. The Ministry of Revenue has allocated money and grain totaling 700,000 taels of silver. I also plan to send more than 300,000 taels of money and grain from Youyan. In this way, through the hands of you gentlemen, there will be one million taels of silver. You gentlemen can intercept it layer by layer, embezzle it, and break the law with your own bodies!"
Officials from various prefectures in Henan Province had been frightened several times today. How could they still have the courage to take bribes and pervert the law? They all prostrated themselves on the ground, saying, "We dare not!"
Zheng Rong had no official residence in Henan Province, and it would take time to preside over disaster relief, so he had to find a suitable place to preside over major events. Zhongli Kuang suggested setting up an office in the governor's mansion in Henan Province or in Zhao Fuyi's house. Both places were famous places in Henan Province, and the facilities were very complete. They were really good places to handle such major events. However, Zheng Rong did not want to have anything to do with the two Zhao brothers anymore, so he simply ordered the two buildings to be sealed, and he would not use them himself. Unexpectedly, the next day, Zheng Rong transferred the skilled craftsmen in charge of building military camp tents from Youyan. In just a few days, he renovated the dilapidated temple where he first met Qiu Yizhi, and made it a new place for the vassal king to preside over major relief events.
Within a few days, carriages and horses carrying money and grain gathered in Nanyang, and officials going to and from work filled the narrow loess-paved streets of Zhaojiatai, making this depressed and quiet little village full of a busy atmosphere. Government orders were issued from here, and various measures to provide relief to the victims were also launched one by one.
As soon as Zhao Fude, who was impeached by Zheng Rong, was sent to Beijing, the Zhongshu Province ordered the Ministry of Justice to preside over the trial. The lobby of the Ministry of Justice is not an ordinary place. After two or three interrogations, more than a dozen corruption cases were found, and they needed to be verified one by one. Unexpectedly, Zhao Fude tore his clothes into strips and hanged himself in the prison. When the news reached Nanyang, Qiu Yizi was sad for two days. At the same time, the Zhongshu Province asked for an imperial decree and selected Li Xinru, the right assistant minister from the Ministry of Revenue, as the governor of Henan Province. Li Xinru was an old scholar who knew himself well. Although he still had some ability in government affairs, he always followed the lead of Prince Youyan in disaster relief matters.
Although the drought in Henan was more serious than expected, the administration in Henan had finally improved since Zheng Rong dealt with the brothers Zhao Fude and Zhao Fuyi, and corruption was not as rampant as before. The 700,000 taels of relief money and grain allocated by the Ministry of Revenue was more than enough.
After the major events were settled, Zheng Rong did not want to stay in the ancient temple all day, so he left Zhongli Kuang to handle the paperwork, and went with Qiu Yi, Zhao Heizi and three or five trusted guards to inspect various places in Henan. Every time they arrived at a place, in addition to talking about the past and the present and enjoying the local scenery, they also investigated the local relief situation.
The King of Youyan was famous all over the world, and he had recently become famous in Henan. He had reached the point where he could not conceal his identity even when traveling incognito. So he asked Zhao Heizi to take Qiu Yizhi to pretend to be disaster victims and investigate secretly. Although Zhao Heizi was dull and upright, he hated those bureaucrats and dignitaries who were greedy for the people's money. As soon as Zheng Rong received an order, he went around to investigate, sparing no effort. Qiu Yizhi, who was traveling with him, was a child and did not understand the ways of the world, but he was extremely smart. When he saw an abnormal situation that he could not judge, he always wrote down the situation carefully and went back to ask Zheng Rong for advice.
After several incidents, Zheng Rong was filled with emotion. He had already been ordered by the emperor to appoint Zhao Fude, the highest official in Henan Province. However, when these officials saw that distributing rice was profitable, they still gambled their own careers and tried every means to exploit them. Some falsely reported the disaster to defraud relief rice, some privately lowered the distribution standards, some sold the good rice of the Ministry of Revenue and bought old rice to make a profit, and some sent people to pretend to be disaster victims to queue up to receive rice and replace it with other rice. It can be said that they racked their brains and thought out all the tricks. Zheng Rong sighed and could only repeatedly use the imperial sword to kill these shameless officials one by one.
So he continued killing along the way, having beheaded twenty or thirty officials at all levels. The more Zheng Rong thought about it, the more he felt that there was no solution, but he was still helpless. Fortunately, all matters were basically concluded.
It is late autumn now and winter is about to come.
The northern grasslands were vast and sparsely populated, and nomadic peoples did not farm, but made a living by grazing. In spring, everything came back to life, in summer, the grass and trees grew lush, and in autumn, the fruits were plentiful. Only in winter did the world become bleak. Therefore, the northern nomadic peoples often took advantage of the summer and autumn to fatten up their troops and horses so that they could raid the northern border of the Han Dynasty in winter, looting property, people, food, and utensils to survive the winter.
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Tatars were rampant in the north. The two emperors Taizu and Taizong formed a brotherly country with them, opened horse markets, and sent annual tribute. Although the Tatars harassed them sporadically, they preserved the rich land of the Yellow River, were able to unify the world and rest with the people. After nearly 40 years of rule by Taizu and Taizong, the national strength of the Han Dynasty grew day by day, so Emperor Shengzu Wu led an army of 400,000, successively launched five northern expeditions, penetrated more than a thousand miles into the northern desert, and destroyed the Tatar royal court several times, creating an unprecedented achievement for China. After that, the Tatars completely surrendered to the Han Dynasty and voluntarily became a vassal state, paying tribute and becoming a vassal every year. After that, during the reigns of Gaozong and Zhongzong, the national strength of the Han Dynasty was at its peak, and the northern states were suppressed and pacified one after another, and the north was always peaceful and safe.
However, Zhongzong lost his virtue in his later years, and Chengzong succeeded him but was incompetent and incompetent. The Han Dynasty was in decline. Although the Tatars were still unable to invade the south, the Turks rose rapidly on the grasslands. The Turks were originally a small country under the Tatars. Unable to bear the Tatars' enslavement, they led their Chanyu Wang Khan to raid the Tatar royal court with a small force and completely wiped out the Tatars. The hundreds of Tatars' vassal states all obeyed the Turks. In the sixth year of Chengzong, the Turks gathered a total of 200,000 troops from their own tribe and vassal states and invaded the south. The Han Dynasty had not fought in the north for more than 70 years. The horses were put in the mountains and the swords and guns were put into storage. The Turks suddenly attacked, and the border generals were at a loss. Within a few months, they lost the Hetao. At this point, the Turks were growing stronger and could not be easily moved.
Emperor Xianzong Zhao worked hard to govern the country, reformed the country internally to raise funds, and strengthened the military externally. He began to fight against the Turks. Although both sides won and lost, the Han Dynasty's Guannei, Shanxi and Shaanxi were already in a state of war and the people were living in misery. In the 18th year of Emperor Shenzong's reign, there was a severe drought in the northern desert, and the Turks turned eastward and eliminated Bohai, a vassal state of the Han Dynasty. They began to threaten Youyan and Henan. The Han Dynasty then appointed Zheng Rong as the governor of Youyan. In the 25th year, Emperor Shenzong died, and the current emperor ascended the throne and immediately appointed Zheng Rong as the first vassal king to lead the military and political affairs of Youyan. Zheng Rong fought against the Turks for more than ten years on the throne of Youyan, expanded the territory by more than a hundred miles, ensured peace in the Han Dynasty, and became famous throughout the world.
Now, although Youyan King Zheng Rong was ordered to preside over the disaster relief in Henan Province, his primary task was still to guard Youyan and prevent the problem from happening again. Therefore, seeing that the matter in Henan had been completed successfully, he handed over the imperial sword together with a memorial written by Zhongli Kuang, which was considered to be the end of the matter.
After a few days, the imperial court issued a commendation document, and Zheng Rong immediately set off back to Youyan. Before leaving, Zheng Rong wanted to take Zhao Heizi with him, but although Heizi wanted to follow the King of Youyan to build a career, he had an old mother to take care of at home. Zheng Rong couldn't bear to go against Heizi's filial piety, so he left a sum of money for him to take good care of his mother, and told him that he could come to Youyan to seek refuge when he had difficulties.
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PS. The functions of the ancient Chinese government were nothing more than disaster relief and maintaining an army. Disaster relief was to prevent hungry people from rioting, and maintaining an army was to suppress riots in a timely manner. If one day the government's finances could not support these two undertakings, then the dynasty would be doomed. (To be continued)