Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Prefect, Li Dafan is colluding with officials to impeach you for bullying the emperor!" Wu Mao came quietly to report.

Although this man is very timid, he has a very correct attitude and is diligent and reliable in his work.

Ju Ming smiled and asked, "How did you know?"

Wu Mao said: "Cang Cao joined the army and Guoliang was coerced and lured by Li Dapuan. He secretly sent someone to tell me yesterday. Don't be careless, governor. They plan to impeach you for misconduct in sacrifice. The officials are extremely concerned about this kind of thing. "

"I understand." Zhu Ming nodded.

Cang Cao's military officer Guoliang has always been on both ends of the spectrum. His direct boss is Li Daochong, and he is also under the jurisdiction of Ju Ming. Therefore, he always obeyed Li Daochong's orders and sent messages to Ju Ming intentionally or unintentionally. For example, this time, Shangshu not only impeached Ju Ming, but also let Ju Ming know that he was forced to do so.

Wu Mao suggested: "The prefect should make preparations early and write a secret memorial to explain to the officials."

"I can write," Ju Ming asked, "Are there hungry people gathering outside the city?"

Wu Mao said: "There are already sporadic hungry people who have fled from the countryside and mountains to come here. The official is arranging relief. When the number of people increases, the hungry people will be asked to repair the dock and then repair the road from the dock to the city gate."

Ju Ming reminded: "When the number of hungry people reaches 500, let them build water conservancy projects and bridges. The gentry along the river must also participate. After all, building water conservancy projects is in their best interest. Then send official documents to the counties to ask them to pay attention to the hungry people at all times. If it reaches a thousand, it must be reported.”

"Yes!" Wu Mao was ordered to retreat.

This year's climate is extremely abnormal. Summer rainfall has begun in Jianghuai, Hubei, and Jiangnan, while drought continues in the north, Hanzhong, and Shangyong.

Here in Jinzhou, it rained at the end of April. The thunder was loud and the raindrops were light, which moistened the ground.

By mid-May, county officials received two official documents at the same time.

One came from the prefect, allowing counties to defer summer grain collection and urging them to pay more attention to disaster relief.

One came from the Tongpan, urging counties to collect summer grain, and also set the amount of money to buy.

Su Yuanlao, the magistrate of Shiquan County, read both official documents and sighed: "There are two extremes in politics, and there are so many contradictions. This is not a blessing to the people of Jinzhou."

The chief registrar asked: "Your Majesty, who should I listen to?"

Su Yuanlao said: "We have postponed the collection of summer grain to help the victims, and quickly summoned the rich households in the county to let them distribute some grain. The Zhishui (Chi River) and Yue River in Shiquan County and the irrigation canals along the banks should also be dredged. Relief through work can be done Rescuing the victims is also good for the landowners. If you really don’t have enough food, ask the state for it.”

To be honest, Su Yuanlao is not active in governing the people, and even has a bit of Huang Lao's technique.

The main victory is not to torment yourself, nor to let your subordinate officials torment you. In disaster years, he took the most initiative to provide work for relief. The rest of the time, he let the people live on their own.

The situation in Jiangyin County next door is different.

After the county magistrate Luo Ruji read the two official documents, he immediately had a plan and called the chief clerk and the scribe: "The summer grain collection will start today. Don't rush it too much. The gentry should be the main force. The summer grain collection can help the victims." .”

The chief clerk was disgusted by this, but hesitated to speak.

But the calligrapher flattered him and said, "What the county magistrate said is very true. He not only complied with the general magistrate's order to collect grain, but also complied with the magistrate's order to provide disaster relief!"

The two official documents with completely opposite contents gave Luo Ruji room for maneuver.

He did everything right by collecting grain, providing disaster relief, and making money. If the superiors were to investigate him, he could quibble at will. Anyway, he would not take the blame. He could just let the magistrate and Tongpan go bite the dog to hide below and make money.

Magistrate Pingli simply lay down because his broken county was too poor. No grain was collected, no money was collected, and no relief was provided for disasters. The wealthy households were only asked to distribute porridge, while he hid in the county government office, drinking and composing poems, and waited for another two years before leaving this hellish place.

The county magistrate of Xunyang actively provided disaster relief and was the first to ask the prefect for food supplies. His attitude is very clear. I also care about the people, but I don’t have enough food in hand. Only when the state provides food can I provide disaster relief. If the state does not provide food, then I will have to do my best. Anyway, my county government warehouse will be empty.

These county magistrates have different ideas, but Mr. Su still looks like a human being.

At the end of May, more and more hungry people gathered outside the city, but Qian Chen had not yet brought back the wheat.

"Prefect, the key is in Li Tongpuan's hand. The villain really can't open the warehouse!" the official in charge of Changpingcang said aggrievedly.

Ju Ming said angrily: "I asked him to open Changpingcang three days ago. Since he pretended to be deaf and dumb, I won't be polite. Come here, pry open the warehouse doors of Changpingcang! Who dares to stop? Arrest him for obstructing disaster relief!"

A group of government officials rushed out and quickly opened various warehouses.

Ju Ming personally entered one of them and found that spices were hoarded inside. He immediately ordered: "Sell all these spices and exchange them for food for disaster relief!"

Wang Jia quickly ran over and reported: "Prefect, we opened three granaries in a row. The ones outside are all old grain, and the ones inside are full of sand."

Zhu Ming said: "Chen Liang will also be used for disaster relief and let the Si Liyuan examine the matter of stealing and selling official grain."

Ju Ming almost led people to empty Changpingcang, but Li Daochong never showed up from beginning to end.

Neither of them can defeat the other, and they will have to continue to be entangled like this in the next two to three years.

No matter how Zhu Ming impeached him, it was useless. With Cai Jing and his son protecting him, it was impossible for Li Daochong to be transferred.

Before Qian Chen transported the grain back, Ju Ming used all official resources and enlisted the gentry to help the victims, trying to delay this period as much as possible.

Entering June, the number of victims is increasing.

People in each county heard that the magistrate was providing disaster relief, but their own county magistrate did not take care of the matter, so they helped the old and young and begged along the way to the prefectural city.

Along the way, people starved to death and their bodies were eaten by wild dogs.

There are more and more followers of the evil god in the countryside, and people are hungry and praying for the evil god's blessing.

"Prefect, we are almost out of food."

"Search the temple!"

In the western suburbs of Jinzhou City, there is a large temple called Tiansheng Temple. Its predecessor was called Xingxi Temple, which was founded by Jiao Ran, a poet monk in the Tang Dynasty. It was still small in scale at that time, but it became increasingly prosperous in the Song Dynasty.

Li Bao followed Wang Jia and led people out of the city and went straight to Tiansheng Temple.

The monks here also serve porridge, but they only make a few pots of it every day, and the porridge is almost as thin as soup.

Li Bao shouted: "Check the monks' ultimatums. If a monk who has no ultimatum is found, he will be fined ten shi of grain and confiscated. If there are more than 50 ultimatum-free monks, he will be fined another 500 shi of grain! If the grain is not enough, the temple land will be confiscated. Confiscation and deduction!”

In an instant, Tiansheng Temple was in a state of panic.

In the Song Dynasty, there was a limit on the amount of ultimatums issued each year, otherwise this thing would be inflated.

There are probably no more than ten legal monks in Tiansheng Temple, and the rest are all unlicensed monks.

Li Bao and Wang Jia almost emptied Tiansheng Temple of food and forced the monks to carry it themselves. Only twenty or thirty stones were left for the monks in the temple to make do with their lives.

The other temples were too far away, so Ju Ming targeted the Taoist temple again and forced the Taoist priests of Yaowang Temple to provide food.

"Ms. sir, one rice shop has raised its price too high, and two other rice shops only do business for half a day. Every rice shop that opens its doors to sell grain is being coaxed into buying by the people. The grain merchants ask the Yamen to take charge of it." Yang Pu was responsible for making inquiries. Market news.

Ju Ming immediately ordered: "Those who increase prices in violation of regulations or sell for only half a day will be fined according to the previously set rules!"

He also said: "There are grain shops inside and outside the city, and government officials are sent to maintain public order. All grain purchasers have to queue up. According to the household registration population, each person is limited to one and a half kilograms of grain per day. If you don't have enough to eat, you will be hungry! "

There were too many things to take care of, and there were not enough subordinate officials in the state government. The subordinate officials in Xicheng County were also recruited, and they were so busy all day long that they had no time to rest.

However, these subordinate staff are given preferential treatment.

Each subordinate official has two priority quotas for his family members to buy food, so they can buy food directly without queuing. The subordinate staff were also responsible for the meals, which were provided by the state government centrally, so that they would not go hungry anyway.

This is nothing in normal times, but it is very dignified during times of famine.

Once you have obtained a privilege, you must take responsibility. It is basic to act conscientiously, and you are not allowed to take advantage of the opportunity to extort or accept bribes. Once discovered, he will be dismissed immediately and the stolen money will be recovered and punished.

"Ms. sir, I quietly inspected various places and found that on the bank of the Yue River in Xicheng County, the victims who were dredging the irrigation canals were deprived of food!" Bai Sheng came back by boat to report, and almost all of Ju Ming's personal entourage were sent away.

Zhu Ming said: "Arrest people, check the accounts, remove all the subordinate officials involved, recover the stolen money and fine them severely!"

Two days later, ruffians started making trouble in the city. They did not want to queue up to buy grain, and believed that one and a half kilograms a day was not enough, so they encouraged the people to rob grain stores.

Ju Ming personally rode the cornucopia and led people to arrest him.

This time I had to resort to ruthless tactics, including the people who were looting and being surrounded together with the gangsters. When they saw the official messenger coming, they planned to flee with the food.

Clang!

Zhu Ming drew his sword out of its scabbard, rushed out on horseback, and hacked to death a commoner who was robbing food on the spot.

The scene became even more chaotic, and people fled in fear. Ju Ming continued to chase on horseback, hacking the three who escaped farthest to death on the street.

Four people were killed in succession, and the government officials also carried sticks and beat them around. Finally, the people who were robbing them of food were so frightened that they knelt down and begged for mercy.

After identifying the scoundrels who were making noise and causing trouble, Ju Ming shouted angrily: "Take them to various grain stores separately and beat them to death in public just outside the gate of the grain store. The security law of Xiangfang is strict. Organize neighbors to buy grain every day. If something goes wrong in any Baojia, all ten neighboring households will sit together, and both the village chief and the Baojiang will have to pay fines!"

They really took those scoundrels separately and took them to various grain stores, where they were beaten to death with sticks in full view of everyone.

The officials were awe-inspiring, the people were shocked, and the gentry and merchants were also frightened. After this incident, no one dared to openly disobey Zhizhou's orders.

During these famine years, the security of Jinzhou City became extremely good.

After strict protection, even petty theft has disappeared, because if caught, the neighbors will be imprisoned.

Li Daochong rode a horse and walked around the city. When he saw the orderly streets, he couldn't help but mutter to himself: "You are really a capable minister and a good official. If you go back twenty years, I will definitely work with you. But these days, it's hard to be a good person. , protecting your own future is the right path. Mr. Cai has so much power in the government and the opposition, who can your father and son be able to overthrow?"

The scholars in the prefectures and counties became more and more in awe of the prefect, and even a group of fans of Ju Ming appeared.

They recited Ju Ming's poems and studied Zhu Ming's Sutra by themselves. Even if you don't pass the exam this year, you can still use this to build relationships with the magistrate in the future.

Ju Ming tried his best, but when the food was about to run out again, Qian Chen finally returned with the food fleet.

When Qian Chen saw them, he bowed and said, "I've kept you waiting for a long time. In Xiangzhou, there are too many merchants who go to the countryside to buy grain, and many of them are merchants from the north. The Wei family went through a lot of troubles in order to collect five thousand shi of wheat. Mr. Xishang expressed his apology and gave an additional three hundred stones of corn to the disaster relief."

"It'll be nice to come back. Brother Qian has lost weight." Zhu Ming said, holding Qian Chen's hand.

Qian Chen had indeed lost weight. He couldn't sit still in Dengcheng and followed the Wei family to the countryside to collect grain every day. After running around for many days, he could actually see his neck. He had no neck before.

When the eunuch cordially held his hand and told him that he had lost weight, Qian Chen was inexplicably moved: "It is my honor to work for the eunuch and buy food for the people!"