My father is Jiajing

Chapter 292 Hai Rui Can't Stand It

The stronger the wind and snow, the colder it becomes.

But it still blocks people's excited and enthusiastic hearts.

The construction site outside Chongwenmen was also covered with white snow. The workers and laborers all finished work early and went to the nearby shed dormitories to rest and relieve the fatigue of the day.

These workers and laborers were in a good mood because since they were recruited to work on the project of expanding the outer city of the capital, the court had never deducted their work time, and they were given a meal of meat every few days.

I heard that the meat was bought at a low price from the Tatar territory by the caravans heading north. A porcelain bowl could be exchanged for an entire sheep!

When these workers and laborers heard about the huge price gap between Ming Dynasty and Tatar, they couldn't help but sigh with envy. If they also had the opportunity to go to the north to do business, they might have endless meat to eat and endless money to spend.

But in fact, the danger level of this kind of thing is still very high.

Not to mention how harsh the natural climate of the northern grasslands is, even though they are already crippled grassland tribes, their hearts are still barbaric. If the caravans heading north did not have the official support of the Ming Dynasty, and did not have strong manpower and weapons,

It is estimated that before they go deep into the grassland to do business with these grassland tribes, they may be ambushed and slaughtered by these greedy grassland tribes and disappear silently on the grassland.

Not to mention exchanging the common porcelain, silk, tea and other items of the Ming Dynasty for the abundant cattle, sheep and horses on the grassland. Therefore, if you want to do business on the grassland today, in addition to having strong strength, you also need courage that ordinary people do not have.

After all, the hostility between the grassland and the Ming Dynasty is still very strong, and both sides still have the ruthless desire to kill each other.

There was no such natural and beautiful peaceful coexistence as in later generations.

Therefore, the ethnic integration and exchanges between the Han and Mongolians will still require a long period of adjustment before the two can be completely integrated.

Therefore, this requires not only the efforts of this generation, but also the efforts of the next generation and subsequent generations.

Otherwise, such a vast grassland would never be able to merge with the Central Plains. What a historical regret that would be!

Fortunately, because this was the initial success of the caravan, it gradually changed the attitude of some people within the Ming Dynasty towards the grassland. They no longer showed extreme hatred and distrust towards the grassland as before.

They also began to look at the possibility of easing grassland conflicts from the perspective of practical benefits.

After all, no matter how greedy the meat-eaters in the court are, they are not villains who disregard national interests. When faced with major issues, these people who can make decisions will still consider realistic issues more.

If we can reduce the friction of war with the grasslands, it will be an extremely cost-effective deal for the imperial court.

After all, the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue is so little each year. If the court ignores the current financial situation of the people's livelihood and insists on maintaining the status quo of hostility and friction with the grassland, then the court will have to spend at least two to three million taels of silver on the nine borders every year.

Such huge fiscal expenditure is only visible on the books.

If we take into account the losses suffered by the common people in the nine border areas, the figure would be an astronomical figure that cannot be estimated.

Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that the Ming Dynasty can obviously suppress the grassland, it is in line with the interests of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Jiajing and the court ministers to adopt a superior attitude and achieve a certain degree of peaceful coexistence with the grassland.

Because if this peaceful trend continues, and lasts for many years, then in future history books, someone will record: "During the Jiajing reign, the emperor was wise and powerful, and he defeated the grasslands. He and the cabinet officials worked together to formulate good policies to stabilize the northern border, creating unprecedented achievements and forging a pioneering trend of Chinese integration."

Therefore, no matter they are the so-called clean officials or the real corrupt officials, they all desire this kind of eternal reputation.

After all, this is a historical story that will be passed down through the ages, and having reached their current status, any amount of money or enjoyment can no longer compare to the temptation of these historical reputations.

"Brothers, today the masters of the Daxue City Construction Company feel sorry for everyone's hard work during this period, so they specially prepared hundreds of jars of fine wine to warm everyone up!"

A group of people who appeared out of nowhere, with more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages carrying hundreds of jars of fine wine, appeared in the dormitory where the workers and laborers gathered. From their tone, it seemed that they came from the Urban Construction Department. The workers and laborers were no strangers to the new Urban Construction Department.

They knew that this new government office was responsible for calculating their wages and assigning them tasks.

In addition, during this period, they did not feel that their wages or food were deducted at all, so they were very fond of this new government office.

You have to know that when they were originally affiliated with the Ministry of Industry, let alone wages, sometimes even the food allowance had to be deducted by the people above before they could get it.

After a day's hard work, I only earned a few dozen copper coins, which was barely enough to support my family.

But now, after working for a day, they not only earned nearly a hundred copper coins in wages, but also the food was much better than before.

Therefore, when these workers and laborers heard that it was the masters from the Urban Construction Bureau who sent them wine to warm them up, they were immediately moved.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir."

The workers and laborers immediately expressed their gratitude to the people who brought the wine, and enthusiastically helped to carry the wine into the dormitory.

The person who delivered the wine looked at these enthusiastic workers and laborers and a proud smile appeared on his face.

They called out, "Drink as much as you want tonight. There's no need to worry about tomorrow's work on a snowy day. Our Urban Construction Department is very considerate of you."

While these people were distributing wine in jars, Hai Rui, who had just finished several days of busy sorting work, looked at the heavy snow outside and became worried about the heating problem in the workers' dormitories outside Chongwenmen. So, under the protection of several guards assigned to him by Zhu Zaigui, he came here on the creaking snow, holding a lantern with the word "Supervision" on it.

When Hai Rui saw a convoy of vehicles that he had never seen before appeared in front of a shed, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised and curious. He asked the guard beside him, "Who are those people in front?"

The guard stretched his head to take a look, but couldn't make out the words on the lanterns hanging on the carriages, so he didn't respond clearly to Hai Rui.

He only replied: "It's too far to see clearly."

Hai Rui had no intention of blaming them. After all, these guards were assigned to him by Zhu Zaigui to protect him, and were not his subordinates who obeyed his orders completely.

Therefore, sometimes when these guards could not accurately answer some of his questions, he could not blame them, because these guards were not petty clerks who supervised the work in person, and it was natural that they were not clear about some things. Even Hai Rui, who was known for his strictness and uprightness, could not find any fault with them.

Hai Rui said, "Let's go over and take a look."

The guards immediately walked in front with lanterns, clearing the way for Hai Rui and heading towards the bustling workers' sheds and dormitories.

As they got closer, they could finally see the words on the lanterns hanging on the carriages: "Urban Construction Bureau".

When Hai Rui saw the lanterns of the Urban Construction Bureau, he couldn't help but frown. Why didn't the Urban Construction Bureau report to him when they sent so many carriages and brought so many people to the work shed dormitory at night?

This obviously does not comply with the regulatory regulations for the expansion of the outer city of the capital.

Therefore, Hai Rui's expression suddenly darkened. He walked towards the bustling workers' dormitory without saying a word. When he got closer and saw that these horse-drawn carriages were loaded with jars of wine, Hai Rui's expression became even uglier.

One of the working rules and regulations jointly formulated by Prince Yu's Mansion, the Ministry of Works and Shuntian Prefecture is that drinking is not allowed.

But now the Urban Construction Company actually brought so much alcohol to the workers' dormitory. This was clearly a violation of the rules, and Hai Rui could not tolerate it!
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There is another chapter tonight

(End of this chapter)