Granting you Sovereignty of the Nation

Chapter 33: Battle of the River

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At the end of August, Zhu Yunjing's family letter and the memorabilia of inviting him to be crowned son were sent to Zhu Yunxuan. Zhu Yunjing's second son was already full moon, and Zhu Yunxuan gave a lot of rewards as soon as his nephew was born. Then someone opened his own private warehouse, and sent all the good things he picked up.

Zhu Yunxuan excitedly picked up his pen and was about to draw up an edict. Liang Zhen who was on the side suddenly laughed lowly and asked him: "Your Majesty, the Duke's son is just born and you are going to make him the crown prince. What about the one in your stomach?" ?”

Zhu Yunxuan's hand holding the pen paused for a moment, the smile on the corner of his mouth gradually faded, until the edict was finished, he never answered Liang Zhen.

Watching him solemnly put the jade seal on the prepared imperial decree, Liang Zhen said again: "The Marquis of Dingyuan now has two sons, the eldest son is the son of the Duke, and the second son is the son of the Duke of the State, so he is considered to be an elder brother." It's a loss, won't there be rifts in the future? After all, not everyone in this world can be as brotherly and brotherly as His Majesty and the Duke."

Zhu Yunxuan frowned slightly, knowing that Liang Zhen's eccentric tone was deliberately trying to squeeze him out, but his words were not unreasonable, he thought about it seriously, and said lightly: "You are right, Dingyuanhou has been doing things for me for so many years. Dayan fought in all directions and made great achievements, I should have praised him a long time ago, and now I will issue another imperial decree, Jin Fenghou of Dingyuan as the first-class Duke of Dingguo."

"..." Liang Zhen was at a loss for words for a moment, he never thought that he would help He Huailing win the title of duke of the country with a casual sentence, so that the He family would become a duke of two countries in the future, with extraordinary glory. Zhu Yunxuan is really generous and reassuring to the people he trusts, but it is a pity that such undefended trust may be difficult to put on himself in this life.

Zhu Yunxuan drew up the two imperial edicts and stamped them with jade seals, and sent them out. As soon as the eunuch who delivered the decree left, Zeng Huai brought several cabinet ministers and ministers of the Ministry of Household and Ministry of Industry to seek an audience to discuss rebuilding the embankment.

Zhu Yunxuan lowered his voice: "Tell them to come in."

Now that the flood has receded, the plague has been eliminated, and all the refugees have settled down, the follow-up matters of river channel regulation and embankment repair have to be put on the agenda.

The breaking of the Yellow River embankment was originally a major headache for all dynasties. Emperor Zhaoyang also spent a lot of effort to repair all the embankments in Qinzhou and Yuzhou, which are most prone to accidents, and ended up spending a lot of money. , but did not have the expected effect, because the river officials cut corners with their own pockets, and the newly built dams were washed away by sudden floods that year. At that time, it was Zhu Yunxuan's uncle, the former Xie Guogong Xie Chongming, who was appointed as the governor of the river at that time. After years of natural disasters and floods, the management of the river has now become the most urgent matter for the Dayan court.

Every time I think of this incident, Zhu Yunxuan deeply regrets that his father treated Xie Chongming too lightly back then, and only let him die on the way to exile. His uncle not only brought disaster to the country and the people, but also harmed his elder brother. Today, Zhu Yunxuan wished he could dig it out from the ground and whip his corpse.

It is precisely because it was the Xie family who did this, and now that he is the emperor, he wants to make up for his past mistakes and completely quell the hidden dangers.

Zeng Huai and the others came here to ask Zhu Yunxuan to issue an order to allocate money. A few days ago, Zhu Yunxuan merged all the 60 million taels of silver returned from Liang Zhen's private treasury of Emperor Zhaoyang into the national treasury. The dikes and dams can even be paid for. At least in this matter, Liang Zhen's move really solved the urgent need of the court, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The minister of the Ministry of Industry, who is also the governor of the river, talked eloquently with Zhu Yunxuan about the arrangement for rebuilding the river embankment. Zhu Yunxuan listened carefully, but Liang Zhen was not so patient. After listening to him for less than a quarter of an hour, he spoke out to fight Cut him off: "This king just wants to know, will His Majesty transfer the money this time, and after rebuilding the embankment, can it ensure that there will be no breach in the future when there is a flood?"

The Minister of the Ministry of Industry was taken aback for a moment, maybe he didn't expect Liang Zhen to ask such a straightforward question, he muttered for a while, and said: "How dare the lower officials assert this natural disaster, I will do my best, if I can go to heaven bless..."

"That is to say, the money has been allocated to the repair of the dam, and the next time the flood comes, whether it can be stopped or not depends on fate."

"Of course not, it's just this matter... It's impossible to say death about this matter..."

Liang Zhen was not polite. Not only was the Minister of the Ministry of Industry stiff and unable to answer, but Zhu Yunxuan's expression darkened. Zeng Huai frowned and said, "Does King Zhao still understand river affairs? How big can the newly built dam be? Floods are impossible to deal with. The flood is as fierce as a tiger. No matter how strong the river embankment is built, it may be washed away. Today, the old ministers are patting their chests and telling His Majesty that the embankment can be used for ten or twenty years. That is also nonsense. It is equivalent to deceiving the king."

"Really?" Liang Zhen dragged his voice slowly, "But why did I hear that someone dared to do this? I just asked someone to ask about it a few days ago because I didn't understand river affairs. There was a man named Zhou The doctor of the Ministry of Industry patted his chest and promised this king that if he follows his method and diverts the river course in the Qinzhou and Yuzhou sections, at least a hundred years of safety will be guaranteed."

The Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry hurriedly explained: "The lower official knows who the prince is talking about. That Zhou Langzhong is still young, and he is a bit conceited. In fact, he only has a half-knowledge about the things on the river. As mentioned, it is a good idea to divert routes from the upper reaches of the Qinzhou section, bypassing the 18 most populous and prosperous prefectures and counties in Qin and Henan prefectures, and divert them to Ludi, but it is too whimsical and not Speaking of how much manpower and material resources this will cost, the number of people who need to be relocated is as many as 500,000.

Liang Zhen said disapprovingly: "There are often breaches in the Qin and Henan sections of the river, which are related to the current trend of the river and the topography of the mountains and forests. If you choose a suitable path and divert it, you can avoid hidden dangers as much as possible. Instead of strengthening it every year and repairing it every year, It’s better to change the road directly to reduce the possibility of floods, which is the fundamental solution to the problem, but it’s just a lot of work, I don’t think there is anything whimsical about it.”

Zeng Huai argued: "King Zhao said it lightly, how did the five million people move, how did King Zhao think about it? How many of them have been guarding that one-third of an acre of land for generations, and now you want to move They moved away, where can they move? You are going to uproot them! Besides, has King Zhao thought about how much labor is needed for such a large project? Where will the people who work at that time come from? ? What if there is a civil uprising caused by forced labor by the imperial court?"

"There is nothing in this world that can't be solved with money. If you don't want to move, if you give them enough money to settle down, they will naturally move away. There are only half a million people, and each of the neighboring states and counties will share some. There will always be a place for them. The same is true for labor and labor, as long as the remuneration is sufficient, the officials in charge will not exploit or withhold, so that people will not lose their livelihood because of doing things for the court, and naturally no one will complain, and I am afraid they will rush to do it."

Zeng Huai was heartbroken: "How much money will this cost? Really doing this is tantamount to throwing money into a bottomless pit!"

"Why did it become a bottomless pit?" Liang Zhen snorted, "Didn't the Ministry of Households just take your majesty's 60 million taels of silver? Why is it that it's only been two days and you want to come and cry with your majesty again? This king is curious. Since the opening of the sea ban, how much more tax has been collected every year, how did it get to the mouth of the officials of the household department, even if there is no money here, and money, where did the money go?"

The Hubu Shangshu who was named blushed, and stammered: "Money must be used wisely. The world is so big that there are places where money is used everywhere. King Zhao is so extravagant, just a few more 60 million taels I can't stand it."

"Changing the river course is also for the sake of the country and the people. Why isn't it being used wisely?" Liang Zhen looked cold, "The revision of the river course is a matter of merit and benefit for the whole country. You didn’t even intend to mention it to His Majesty, and now you’re finding so many excuses here to push things back and forth, what are you doing?”

Zeng Huai was very annoyed: "How can we rest assured? It is clear that you are so ambitious and disregarding the life and death of the people, you..."

"I heard that Mr. Zeng Ge's ancestral home is in Qinzhou. Could it be that he stopped you like this because he was afraid that changing the river course would dig up your ancestral grave?"

"you!"

"That's enough." Zhu Yunxuan, who had not made a statement, finally interrupted the dispute between the two, and signaled Zeng Huai and the others, "We will discuss the allocation of money to the river later, so you should step down first."

"His Majesty!"

"Back off."

When there were no other people in the hall, Liang Zhen asked Zhu Yunxuan with a smile: "Your Majesty thinks what I said is reasonable?"

Zhu Yunxuan reminded him in a cold voice: "Elder Zeng Ge is very old, even if you have different views with him on court affairs, you should speak politely, lest people say that you are disrespectful to your elders and corrupt in virtue."

Ganqing thought that his words were too vile, and he dug up people's graves when he opened his mouth. Liang Zhen laughed and said: "Is your majesty worried about the minister, or is he complaining for your chief assistant? If it is the former, the minister is really flattered."

Zhu Yunxuan ignored his nonsense: "Who is the doctor of the Ministry of Industry you are talking about? Since he proposed the method, I will ask him to come to the court to perform in the court tomorrow morning."

"Does Your Majesty also think this method is feasible?"

"Whether it is feasible or not, I can wait for the court meeting to make a conclusion."

Liang Zhen smiled and shook his head: "I'll just call someone tomorrow, but I'm afraid I'll disappoint His Majesty, just look at it, no matter how good this idea is, there will always be people, and many people, who will jump out and strongly oppose it. "

"Why?" Zhu Yunxuan's expression darkened, "What did you do again?"

"What else can I do," Liang Zhen said calmly, "Naturally, to share your worries for Your Majesty."