Chapter 751 850 Flood

"Sir, a letter has arrived from my uncle in Nanjing."

A few days later, after Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizhen and Zhu Heng were persuaded by Wei Guangde's memorial, the four of them jointly submitted it to the imperial court. However, Emperor Longqing was non-committal after reading it, and the memorial was also left in place.

This news came from Chen Ju, who "happened" to be present when the memorial was reviewed that day.

When it comes to the safety of grain transportation, this was a national policy in the Ming Dynasty. There was nothing wrong with the emperor being more cautious. However, Wei Guangde felt that the emperor's memorial in residence might also be waiting for Gao Gong to officially return to the ministry.

In other words, it doesn't matter what the emperor's opinion is. He wants to listen to Gao Gong's opinion before making his own decision.

When he returned home that day, Wei Guangde heard that a letter had arrived in Nanjing, so he naturally knew what was going on.

"Are those people honest in Zhuangzi?"

Wei Guangde stepped into the house and asked in a low voice as he walked.

"I made a couple of noises at the beginning, but after I was dealt with, I became honest."

Zhang Ji replied softly.

"Be careful not to reveal your identity. Throw the person out after a while."

Wei Guangde ordered in a low voice.

Some things have been done, but they cannot admit it and are unwilling to harm people's lives. The best way is to make them mistakenly think that they have been robbed.

It has to be said that the things stolen from Duke Wei's mansion this time were really valuable. The tens of thousands of taels of silver as a gift made Wei Guangde's eyes light up when he knew the value.

Of course, he did not hide this matter from his wife. In fact, everything was transported into the Wei Mansion in a big way, and Xu Jianglan counted it alone and put it into her private treasury.

It is said that the status of women in ancient times was low, but this is not something that can be taken lightly. In fact, it also depends on who they are facing.

In fact, in ancient China, a woman's dowry items were items given by her natal family according to the law at that time, so the dowry belonged to the woman personally and not to the couple, similar to pre-marital property.

These dowries can then be inherited by their children.

But if a woman has no children, the dowry can actually be taken back by her mother's family, but it does not belong to her husband's family.

Of course, small families don't have many things, so they just keep them to themselves, but large families often have a list of dowry items, detailing the name and quantity of the dowry items and signing them.

With this thing, even if the husband's family commits trouble in the future, as long as it does not harm the wife, children, or natal family, the dowry will not be confiscated by the government, but will be returned intact.

Therefore, the Wei Mansion's warehouse is actually divided into two. One is the Wei Mansion's warehouse, the public treasury, and Xu Jianglan also has a small warehouse for herself to store dowry items.

Xu Jianglan moved all the financial gifts from Nanjing obtained from this robbery into his small warehouse.

As for whether he would transport it back to Nanjing and return it to his brother in the future, Wei Guangde didn't bother to ask. The answer was obvious.

Xu Bangrui will have the entire Duke of Wei's palace by then, so he probably doesn't like these things anymore.

Yellow and white things are actually the most common things for such a noble family. What they value most is the title that can be passed down and the real estate and land that can be passed on to their descendants.

"Don't worry, sir. If you tell me when the time comes, I will arrange to stun the person and throw him into the mountains."

Zhang Ji lowered his voice and replied.

Wei Guangde was satisfied with his answer, nodded and entered the backyard.

Back at the back house, as soon as Wei Guangde came in and hugged the child, Xu Jianglan took out the letter from Nanjing, then asked the maid to take the child back. She brought tea to Wei Guangde and asked him to sit at the table and read the contents of the letter carefully.

"Can what you said last time really be accomplished?"

Xu Jianglan sat opposite Wei Guangde and asked in a low voice.

Wei Guangde knew what she was talking about, which was to recover the Zheng family's royal decree. Although her biological mother did not have a royal decree, her mother was suppressed by a person with a lower status. Both Xu Bangrui and Xu Jianglan were unwilling to accept it.

"It's a small matter. I have already informed the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Punishment. As soon as the files and confessions from Nanjing arrive, I will arrange for people to investigate the matter thoroughly. Then we can uncover Yan Shifan's operations.

Although Xiao Yan has been dead for many years, the imperial court still insists on a negative attitude towards all the things that the Yan family did. Moreover, whenever he is involved, it will be considered to be caused by bribery, and the memorial to recover the imperial edict will be submitted to the Ministry of Etiquette soon.

Therefore, there is no need to worry about new waves. "

Wei Guangde just smiled at this and didn't take it seriously at all.

"That's good. By the way, I have prepared the gift that Mr. Ouyang has asked him to bring back to Jiujiang. Can someone send it to him tomorrow or you can bring it to him when you see him off the day after tomorrow."

Xu Jianglan remembered something again, so she asked.

"Let Zhang Ji send it there tomorrow, so it can be loaded into the car there."

Wei Guangde said.

Ouyang Yijing's memorial to resign has been approved, but other people's memorials will have to wait for some time. The approximate time is tomorrow or the day after, when the memorial of Yang Bo, the Minister of Personnel, should be approved.

After all, this was Yang Bo's third begging memorial, and Emperor Longqing had no reason to stop it.

Wang Ting's third memorial has not yet been published, mainly waiting for the Nanjing matter to be understood.

Recovering the imperial edict of the Duke of Wei is a big deal, and the Imperial Procuratorate must send people to participate. Wei Guangde didn't want to cause trouble, so he visited Wang Ting alone a few days ago and entrusted the matter to him.

After knowing the details, Wang Ting nodded and agreed. After all, this was not against the rules, but it was meant to bring order to the chaos.

According to the rules of the Zheng family in the Duke of Wei's mansion, Xu Pengju, the Duke of Wei, could straighten her up in the palace, but the court would not recognize her as the wife of the Duke of Wei, nor would it issue a royal decree.

Wei Guangde was not interested in the case in Xu Bangrui's letter, but he read the account of the interesting things that happened in Nanjing in recent days at the back of the letter very carefully. Of course, it was about the fight between Hai Rui, the governor of Yingtian, and Xu Ge Lao in Yeju.

Officials of all sizes in Nanjing City have already known the details. Knowing that it was caused by the surrender and the One Whip Law, they are naturally very concerned, because each family has more or less such a situation.

Hai Rui's handling method is likely to become a routine for the trial of similar cases.

Wei Guangde knew that Hai Rui had already fought with Xu Jie, but now it seems that the news has spread, and I think many Jiangnan officials in the capital should know the news.

However, I didn't hear anyone talking about this matter, so Wei Guangde always thought that this matter had not spread there.

Xu Bangrui's letter did give him some useful information, that is, many people in Nanjing knew about it, and Beijing should also begin to spread it.

Whether Hai Rui would not be able to withstand the lobbying of Nanjing officials was still a question that was not certain for other officials of this era, but Wei Guangde could roughly judge it.

If Hai Rui would give up dealing with the Xu family because of pressure, then the name "Hai Qingtian" would not be passed down to later generations, and the scope of influence would not be so large.

If it was just to arrest Xu Jie's nephews, it was within Hai Rui's authority and responsibility, and he could take action himself, mainly to see whether the case would eventually involve Xu Jie.

If Hai Rui believed that Xu Jie was also at fault in the case of occupying civilian land and wanted to hold him accountable, then he would have to report to the court and ask the emperor to make a decision.

This is the benefit of entering the cabinet. Local officials cannot make decisions involving punishments. They must be authorized by the emperor, even if it is a retired official like Xu Jie.

The next day, not long after Wei Guangde entered the cabinet to work, he was summoned to the duty room by Li Chunfang to talk.

After Wei Guangde came in, he saw that not only Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizhan and Zhang Juzheng were in the duty room, but also Zhu Heng, the Minister of Works, Liu Tigan, the Minister of Revenue, and Xu Gang and Zhao Kongzhao, the two assistant ministers, were all in the room.

After saying hello, Wei Guangde sat in his seat and soon heard Li Chunfang start to talk about the purpose of this trip.

"The Huaihe River has been dredged from Banzha to Xihuzui, but the Likou and other places are blocked again. The Governor-General of the Grain Transport, Zhao Kongzhao, asked for money and grain to be discussed because the construction fee was not paid. Your Majesty ordered us to discuss and come up with a solution. Today, everyone was summoned here to talk about what to do."

Li Chunfang said, and then looked at Zhao Kongzhao, "Minister Zhao, please tell us about the construction of the Ministry of Works, and let's discuss it."

"Okay."

Zhao Kongzhao stood up and bowed to Li Chunfang, then looked around and said, "The dredging from Banzha to Xihuzui has been completed, and the Likou and other places have been blocked again. The new river channel is 1.5 kilometers away from the Huanghe River. The river is getting closer. If it is not dealt with early, it may cause the Yellow River to take over the Huai River and flow into the sea. At that time, it will definitely block the Grand Canal and it will be difficult to restore it.

Therefore, the Ministry of Works discussed and decided to build a weir 50 miles from the Yellow River in the Qingjiang area to prevent the river from overflowing, and to build a weir more than 70 miles from the Huai River in the Gaojiajian area to prevent the Huai River from rising.

However, the scale of these projects is not small, and the price of the Ministry of Works alone is not enough, and the Ministry of Revenue needs to support it. "

The Governor-General, the Minister of the Water Transport, Zhao Kongzhao, opened his mouth to briefly explain the situation, so that everyone in the room knew what happened today.

The Ministry of Works will build a dam between the Yellow River and the Huai River to prevent the water from both sides from rushing into the Grand Canal.

In fact, since the completion and opening of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the most headache is that the Yellow River water pours into the canal, and the yellow sand and silt block the river channel, which is very time-consuming and laborious to clean up.

In fact, the Huanghuai area has many rivers, which is very convenient for flood discharge.

But because the Grand Canal passed through here, many rivers were used by the Grand Canal, so the court has been trying its best to let the Yellow River flow into the sea instead of invading the Huaihe River.

The result of the discussion of the Ministry of Works this time is still to build a bottom to protect the river and ensure the smooth flow of the canal.

The Ministry of Works has insufficient silver for wages and is unable to support such a huge project, so the Ministry of Revenue needs to allocate funds.

To ask the Ministry of Revenue for silver, it is natural to report to the emperor for permission, and the Ministry of Revenue will give silver, and how much silver to give and how to give it need to be discussed in detail.

This is one of the uses of the cabinet, to contact the six ministries to discuss matters.

If the Ministry of Works asks the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Revenue will try its best to delay if it does not want to give silver, and the result is that the business is delayed.

Although Wei Guangde is in favor of the Ministry of Works, he did not show it at this moment. He looked at Zhu Heng and let the two ministers discuss the matter.

Liu Tigan is similar to Zhu Heng. He did not speak up to participate. Now is the time for the ministers to speak, and they will only leave when they speak to the end.

Although Wei Guangde was not paying attention to the situation at this time, he was also thinking about the situation there, because he remembered several memorials he had seen before, which were sent by the government of Sizhou City, requesting the court to allocate funds for waterproofing.

As for why waterproofing, it was because the Ming Zuling was here.

In the eighth year of Hongzhi, the Yellow River flooded all along the river, and the surging Yellow River water carried a large amount of silt and impacted the coastal areas.

In order to prevent floods, the court successively used Bai Ang, Liu Daxia and others to control water and build large-scale projects such as Taihang Dike to prevent floods.

But the actual result is that if it is blocked here, it will burst there, and after blocking again, other places will burst again. Until now, this situation is still the same. The Yellow River flood has not only not been eradicated, but has become more and more serious.

Moreover, under the action of these projects, the Yellow River waterway has been continuously raised, and the adjacent river channels have also been affected. Hongze Lake, Huaihe River and the Grand Canal have also been continuously raised, resulting in the appearance of "hanging rivers on the ground".

Such a result not only failed to prevent floods, but also continued to increase the harm of floods.

Sizhou City and the nearby Mingzu Mausoleum are located on the edge of Hongze Lake and are constantly being eroded.

What Wei Guangde didn't know was that a hundred years later, in order to protect the canal and ensure the safety of water transportation, the water level was raised again, which directly caused Sizhou City and the Mingzu Mausoleum to be submerged in Hongze Lake for hundreds of years. However, by that time it was already the Kangxi era. towards.

As the emperor of the new dynasty, of course he would not care about places like the Mingzu Mausoleum.

In fact, in later generations, there were not many ways to deal with floods. Most of them focused on guarding the embankments, blocking wherever there was danger to prevent the embankments from breaking.

Even in order to protect some key cities and regions, flood discharge areas are planned to be found near rivers. In order to protect the dams, artificial openings are opened to divert floods to designated areas and reduce the harm to the surrounding waters.

However, in later generations, water can still be seen in the Yellow River except in the middle and upper reaches. Forget about the trickle in the lower reaches. It seems that there have been no reports of floods in the Yellow River for many years.

Therefore, at this moment, Wei Guangde searched his memory and could not find any good way to solve the current flooding in the Yellow River.

Is it because there is too much water in the north at this time?

Of course not. In the late Ming Dynasty, long-term drought in the north triggered large-scale civil unrest, which ultimately directly led to the collapse of the dynasty.

After discussing for a long time, Li Chunfang finally became impatient and asked everyone to rest first and resume the discussion later.

Wei Guangde and Zhu Heng came together and asked about what they had told him last time about using Pan Jixun to control water.

"The ministry has sent an official letter to contact Mr. Pan, but we haven't received a reply yet."

Zhu Heng replied, "This kind of thing cannot be reported directly to the emperor. It must be approved by him in advance. Otherwise, it will look bad if Master Pan is unwilling to accept the order."

The task of water control is a heavy responsibility, and ordinary officials cannot avoid it.

This is different from the general Ministry of Works projects. With the current frequency of floods, the results will be known within three or four years. If you take over the job rashly and fail in the end, you will be held accountable.

"What we are discussing today is the idea put forward by Minister Zhao. What kind of dams should we build?"

Wei Guangde asked in a low voice.

Zhu Heng nodded.

Therefore, Wei Guangde told Zhu Heng what he had thought about later generations calling the Yellow River a "hanging river above the ground". The purpose was naturally to remind him of the dangers of continuing like this.

"The Ministry of Industry actually knows this, but there is nothing they can do about it. As the river continues to rise, what can they do if they don't build new embankments? Are they going to let the river flood?"

Zhu Heng replied helplessly.

"Okay, there's nothing we can do about raising the river course, but will the water level of Hongze Lake also be raised?"

Wei Guangde suddenly asked, "Where will the lake be in a few decades? There is Sizhou City and the Tomb of the Ming Dynasty over there. The Ministry of Industry must consider the location when building the dam."

Wei Guangde reminded that what he was afraid of was that one day the breach would flood the ancestral mausoleum, and Zhu Heng would not be able to bear the responsibility.