Chenghua's twenty-year New Year was spent in an earthquake. On the first day of the first month of the pilgrimage, on the second day of the first month, there was an earthquake in the capital, which made people panic. Yongping Mansion in Zhili, Xuan Mansion, Datong, and Liaodong were shaken together, the sound was like thunder, and sandy springs burst out from the ground of Xuan Mansion.
When the news from other places did not reach the capital, the focus of all the ministers was that the earthquake in the capital was a warning from heaven. The Emperor Chenghua is not someone who is easy to manipulate, not to mention that Concubine Wan is also involved in these remarks. His combat effectiveness immediately exploded, from a good guy who said "I don't listen to you anyway" to "I'm guilty of you, too." Unclean" fighting emperor.
He took himself lightly in the edict, pointing out that the ministers and the emperor "shared the vocation", and the disasters caused by heaven must be related to the courtiers' negligence. The imperial censor of the DPRK made a local report, and Emperor Chenghua either stayed in the Central Committee and did not send it, or instead accused him of sending people to a remote place in Renzhi County.
The foreign officials from Beizhili who stayed in Beijing for the pilgrimage were even more panicked. While paying attention to the situation in the court, they were worried about the disaster and relief situation under their own control, and they had to wait for the official court to appear.
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long - the Northern Zhili Prefectures were directly under the six departments, and they were in the forefront during the inspection. After passing the exams in Shuntian Mansion and Baoding Mansion, it was Yongping Mansion's turn. The prefect Wang Wen first went to the court to respond to the waiter, and all the staff to ask questions. He took out the education, money and grain, supervising transportation, mining, construction, righteous husband and wife and other eunuch achievements of the counties under his control, and commented on Shangguan in person.
There is nothing special about other prefectures and counties, only Qian'an County has set up a library to lend free books to scholars and scholars, which slightly aroused the interest of Li Yu, the imperial censor of the Youdu. When the Qian'an County magistrate took the examination, he asked, "Does your library really allow students to read books without spending money? How is this different from those bookstores that allow people to copy?"
The magistrate of Qi County has worked hard for this library for a few months, and regards it as a very proud cause. Hearing people ask, he can't help but say a few more words: "Master Hui, the library in our county is actually for the scholars. , open to the public as a whole, and the books are only for people to read, not for profit. There are 300 kinds of books in the library, three books on each shelf, and there are spares and replacements in the library, a total of more than 3,000 books The library opens every day from Chenzheng to Shenchu, and everyone who loves books is allowed to enter and read books of their own choice. The library is always equipped with pen, ink, paper and inkstone, so that people can transcribe famous sentences when reading books.”
Li Yu nodded slightly. However, Geng Yu, the left servant of the Ministry of Officials, asked, "Where did you get the money to open the library, and where did the books come from? Was it donated or lost by a big family, or was it intercepted by the county?"
Qi Sheng bowed and replied: "The library and books were gathered by a young righteous man and many big households in the county. Originally, he wanted to set up such a library by himself, so that the students in the county could borrow it for free. The lower official saw that his family was poor. However, he had such ambition and was so ashamed that he wanted to take over the matter. Who knew that he was determined to do things for the court, and he still donated the library and the books in his home. The lower official had erected a monument for him. Act righteously."
Geng Yu sighed, "Why don't you invite the court to honor you with such a righteous act? What is the name of that righteous person and what does the family do?"
Li Yu said with some pity: "After all, what he donated was not rice for disaster relief, and it was not included in the example of the decree. The magistrate of Qian'an erected a monument for him as a biography, and recording this matter in the county annals is enough to honor him. "
Qi Sheng said twice, "That's a righteous citizen who has been honored by the imperial court, his family..." Just as he was about to say that his family's esteemed lord was a member of the Ministry of Finance, he suddenly remembered that he had just casually said that his family was poor. And Cui Langzhong's family background, as far as he inquired about the past two days in Beijing, does not seem to be very poor
At least it's not as poor as Cui Xie appeared when he first arrived in Qian'an.
His parents live in Qihu, Zhumen, and they call slaves and servants at home. bullying. At first, he only felt that the servant was domineering and bullying the master, but now he thinks about it, but he is a little shocked - what if it is not just the servant who bullies him
He hesitated for a moment, but the two printing officers in the hall thought he had forgotten the name of that person, so they told him to stop thinking about it and go back to the post house to wait for the result. They have to finish the trial before the tenth day of the first day. The deeds of the three thousand five hundred and twenty-three chief officials from various prefectures, states, and counties have been delayed for a lot of time here, and they have no time to wait. He thought about it.
When Qi Sheng came out of the Ministry of Personnel, he knew that 80% of the time he could stay in office. But he still had his thoughts on his mind. After breaking up with his colleagues, he quietly walked to Cui Langzhong's mansion alone and looked at the exquisitely decorated compound from the outside.
The second son of the Cui family happened to be going out at this time. He brought a group of servants with bright clothes, shouting back and forth, riding a horse and passing by in front of him in high spirits, without even giving him a glance at this small official in blue.
He also didn't want to take a second look at these playful children, arrogant and extravagant, and turned back to the inn.
On the eleventh day of the first lunar month, the results of the Ministry of Personnel's plan finally came out and reported to the emperor. Qi county magistrate not only fell into the eight eyes of dismissal, but also fell into the test language of "good at edification", and passed this big plan safely.
Afterwards, the Ministry of Officials will also push up the officials below the same level of the government to fill the gaps in those dismissed officials. However, the county magistrate Qi estimated that his qualifications and eunuch achievements could not withstand the impact of the current earthquake, and he no longer stayed in Beijing to drill thorns. After the plan was over, he quickly returned to Qian'an.
In fact, most of the officials in the earthquake area want to go this way, but few can really ride back like him - because he is thin. Good physical strength. I often travel in the mountains and water, and I am used to riding.
While most of the foreign officials were still procrastinating on the outskirts of Beijing, he had already returned to the county seat.
Fortunately, the epicenter was in the border area further north. Qian'an was not hit by any disaster, but some shantytowns collapsed in the earthquake, and several houses were on fire. Fortunately, there was heavy snow that day, and the fire did not spread.
The victims were placed in Guandi Temple and Xuanjue Temple by the Tian County Prime Minister. They had clothes and quilts, as well as porridge in the county's big house. The faces of the victims could still be seen. The magistrate of Qi County breathed a sigh of relief, and ordered people to go to the big household to persuade the rice and grain, and also planned to go to the Ministry of Households to ask for the opening of the warehouse for disaster relief.
Tian Xiancheng told him: "I had already persuaded him once during the earthquake, and got fifty or so stone grains, a hundred or ten pieces of old cloth, and twenty carts of charcoal. Now that the weather is not too cold, I will ask the victims to go by themselves. Cutting some wood outside the city will be enough to last until mid-spring."
The county magistrate held his hand, and his eyes were slightly red with emotion: "Fortunately, I have Brother Youtian to help me, otherwise I am in the capital, and I can't reach the whip, so what should these people do."
Tian Xiancheng said: "This is a matter of the lower officials, how dare I be praised by adults? It is fortunate that I am not badly affected by the Qian'an disaster. If I am like the Yongping frontier, the lower officials will not be able to manage even if they have the ability to reach the sky. "
The two praised each other for a while, and the county magistrate followed him to see the victims living in the monastery: to see whether the porridge in the shack was thick or not, and whether the clothes on the victims' bodies were thick. While watching the people below doing things, a man in a blue cloak suddenly walked into the yard. He was not tall, but his legs were long and his steps were wide. Eye.
A name suddenly popped up on Qi County Magistrate's tongue.
"Cui Xie."
Cui Xie paused in his footsteps, looked at him subconsciously, widened his eyes in surprise, and cupped his hands together, shouting, "My lord! Your lord came back from Beijing so soon?"
The county magistrate Qi nodded and asked casually, "Why are you here when you are not studying at home?"
He was also wearing a fur cape, but the material and fur looked like a few taels of silver, and the young man Qi Sheng saw outside the door of Langzhong's mansion was wearing a fine cloud brocade cape. Mao also came out much better than this. Even the servant next to the young man was wearing a big sweater, and the material seemed to be brighter than this one.
But he seemed to be completely concerned about whether the clothes were good or not, so he quickly walked up to him and said, "I have seen Lord Xianzun and Lord Xiancheng. The student heard from the yacha that there are not enough herbs to ward off cold here, so he specially asked someone to buy some from Tongzhou. , just delivered."
He could think of this, thanks to Xie Qianhu who sent him a lot of nourishing medicinal herbs a few years ago. He ate it all by himself, and when the yamen came to ask for help, he remembered to buy some medicine for these victims to prevent it. However, there were only a few pharmacies in Qian'an, and they were all empty. He asked the guy to go to Tongzhou and asked the guy who opened a branch over there to buy some.
The magistrate Qi couldn't help but think of the arrogant young man outside Langzhong's mansion, and then looked at this young man who was more sensible than adults, and only felt that it was unfair for him. However, there is no reason to demote a son to a father in this world, so he just sighed, called him to his side and asked, "Did you donate these medicinal materials?"
Cui Xie nodded: "Exactly. At that time, the students heard that the victims could only stay in the temple temporarily, thinking that the weather would be cold and the ground would be cold, and they would get sick easily, so they donated some medicinal materials. There happened to be some leftovers left by the silk cloth farm at home. cloth, I also donated some…”
The magistrate Qi smiled and said warmly, "You have done a good job. In the event of a natural disaster, those who have spare capacity should give money and medicine to help the people. But you are still an ordinary person. If you are in my position... if you are in the position of the imperial court, In disaster relief, you can't just donate some money, food, cloth, and cloth, there are many other things to consider. You are watching here, what do you see, what do you think?"
When Tian Xiancheng and some of the accompanying Zaoli saw them talking, they backed away and went to see a few old and weak victims.
Cui Xie is not afraid to test this, he has seen a lot on TV before: leaders usually fly to the disaster area to inspect immediately, soldiers and doctors are stationed in the disaster area for disaster relief and treatment, tents and simple mobile houses are built to accommodate the victims, and then post-disaster reconstruction Work. Ordinary people like him, in modern times, donating to the disaster area is to give some money, or buy some clothes, tents, mineral water, food...
He recalled for a while, and then combined with the current era, he said all the methods he could think of without breaking the taboos of the Ming Dynasty.
The county magistrate of Qi was also noncommittal. Only by being in the middle of the court and in the hands of authority can these thoughts be applied to the world, so that all the people of the world can live and work in peace and contentment..." When he said this, he suddenly glanced at Cui Xie, his eyes full of solemnity.
Cui Xie's heart moved, and he pondered this sentence in his heart.
The people listening next to him didn't notice anything. The magistrate Tian heard vaguely "people of the world" and "live and work in peace and contentment", and even walked up to him and flattered him: "The adults are dedicated to the people, and they are indeed a model of herdsmen officials."
The county magistrate of Qi also smiled and praised him: "Brother Tian is too famous. These days, it is all relying on Brother Tian to support the overall situation, so that the county can survive the earthquake smoothly and not cause the people to be displaced."
The two laughed for a while, and Master Qi glanced at Cui Xie again, and said gently, "Go back to Haosheng to review. This year, the first day of Shang Ding came late, and the county has to wait for the Wenwu Temple to host the county test. One month’s work, don’t slack off.”
Having said this, he ignored Cui Xie and continued to inspect the victims.
After Cui Xie said goodbye to him, he still went to the Zhike monk to see the accepted medicinal materials, and the things that were lacking in points, but repeatedly recalled the words of the county magistrate: being located in the middle of the court, so that everyone in the world can live and work in peace...
Translating this sentence, is it called "the people of the world raise security"? Mencius went to Qi Yijie, "If the king uses Yu, how can it be that the people of Qi will be safe, and the people of the world will be safe"