My father is Jiajing

Chapter 390 Prince Yu’s Responsibility
It has been more than a month since the Washington earthquake, and we have finally made it to the spring.

The problem of disaster victims causing unrest that Emperor Jiajing and other court officials were worried about did not occur due to various reasons and influences.

Therefore, after this New Year, Emperor Jiajing stopped fasting and praying, and instead turned to continuing his spiritual practice.

Yan Song, Xu Jie and others also breathed a sigh of relief. They had been worried for some time that they would be used as scapegoats and dealt with by Emperor Jiajing.

So after getting through to the present, they found that everything was calm, and people on both Yan Song and Xu Jie's sides also thought that the earthquake was over.

However, Zhu Zaigui, the regent, did not think so.

Zhu Zaigui believed that although the disaster victims in Huazhou did not cause trouble, it did not mean that the disaster was over.

The earthquake was so severe in Washington that more than 100 counties suffered disasters to varying degrees.

If the imperial court cannot find an effective way to help and guide the disaster-stricken areas, it will become a post-disaster reconstruction task.

Relying on the self-repair ability of the people in the disaster-stricken areas, production and order will gradually be restored, and the scar left by history on the Ming Dynasty will always exist.

The problems in the north will continue to become more serious.

After all, it was the ordinary people who were really hit hard by the disaster. Although the rich families and landlords were also affected by the disaster, their ability to resist risks was still many times stronger than that of ordinary people.

By then, these disaster victims will have nothing to eat and nothing to use, so they will have to sell their land to the big farmers at low prices, allowing the big farmers to complete a large-scale land annexation invisibly.

Once the period of tax exemption granted by the imperial court expired, the imperial court and local governments would continue to collect taxes and land taxes from previous years according to the yellow book before the disaster.

The common people at that time no longer had much land and wealth, yet they still had to bear heavy imperial taxes and local taxes. How could they live an easy life?
Therefore, in order to prevent these people from suffering endless hardships after the disaster, Zhu Zaigui could not help but submit a memorial to Emperor Jiajing.

In this memorial, Zhu Zaigui pointed out the evils of land annexation that might occur after the disaster and the heavy burden that the people in the north might have to bear in the future. He also requested Emperor Jiajing to pity the difficulties of the people in the disaster-stricken areas, to allow wealthy provinces to provide targeted assistance to some counties that were having difficulties in post-disaster reconstruction, and to further extend the period of tax exemption for the victims.

At the same time, we also request Shunyi Industrial Park to make some industrial transfers to absorb some of the people who have been severely affected by the disaster and provide them with new livelihoods.

After seeing Zhu Zaigui submit this memorial, Emperor Jiajing remained silent for a long time.

There are so many well-read people in the cabinet and the court, and they have read countless books of sages, but not one of them has taken the issue of post-disaster reconstruction to consider the future livelihood of the victims and the future development of the northern part of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Emperor Jiajing had not anticipated these problems, he was still very disappointed with the knowledge and abilities of the court officials.

However, even so, Emperor Jiajing did not immediately approve Zhu Zaigui's proposal.

Because the plan for this memorial is very large, it cannot be decided on a whim.

The cost and time required will be measured in decades.

Moreover, if the imperial court really wanted to do this, the taxes that could be collected in the future would be much less, which would be unacceptable to the imperial court.

After all, the imperial court is also a big family, and there are many places to spend money.

However, the only taxes the imperial court could collect each year were the land taxes earned by the common people from growing crops.

As for some local monopolies such as salt, iron, and tea, the imperial court could make some money, but the money had already been clearly divided and was not enough to support major needs.

Therefore, after all this entanglement, Emperor Jiajing was really hesitant. "Huang Jin, go and take this memorial back to San'er and tell him that I have not yet removed him from his position as regent. If there is anything he can try to do within his authority, but he cannot do it in the name of the court."

This was the solution that Emperor Jiajing came up with after thinking for a long time.

He really couldn't make such an order.

So after three considerations, Emperor Jiajing decided not to remove Zhu Zaigui's position as regent for the time being, allowing him to continue to have certain rights to participate in politics and administration, and to implement things according to his plans and ideas.

After hearing what Emperor Jiajing said, Huang Jin replied in a low voice, "Yes."

Then he took Zhu Zaigui's memorial to Prince Yu's Mansion.

After arriving at Prince Yu's Mansion, Huang Jin also conveyed Emperor Jiajing's order to Zhu Zaigui.

When Zhu Zaigui heard the news brought back by Huang Jin, he first expressed his gratitude and then sighed softly.

Zhu Zaigui was well aware that the suggestions in his memorial were difficult to support with the current financial and national strength of the Ming Dynasty.

However, since Emperor Jiajing still had some conscience and did not keep this memorial, it means that there is still hope for these things to turn around.

Therefore, after a slight sigh, Zhu Zaigui also ignited his fighting spirit.

Zhu Zaigui said to Huang Jin: "Please tell your majesty that I will not let your majesty down and will do my best to handle this matter."

Huang Jin listened to Zhu Zai's words and sighed, "Why bother, Your Majesty? How can you handle such a big thing alone? Otherwise, let me beg the Emperor again and ask him to arrange for the court to get involved."

Zhu Zaigui shook his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty has done his best. The court cannot be involved in this matter. The court has its own affairs. As your Majesty's son and your Majesty's subject, I naturally have to shoulder my responsibilities and share your Majesty's worries."

"Your Majesty has not removed my responsibility as regent, which is already the greatest support for me. If I can't even handle this little bit of pressure, how can I support Your Majesty's greater expectations in the future?"

Huang Jin was also moved by Zhu Zaigui's words.

Although he was treated coldly by Emperor Jiajing during this period, Huang Jin did not regret it.

Because Huang Jin always believed that the philosophy he held was the greatest loyalty to Emperor Jiajing.

Therefore, when Chen Hong rushed to talk about the affairs of Prince Yu's Mansion, Huang Jin strongly disapproved in his heart.

As a slave, you just need to do your duty. How can you sow discord between your master and his son for the sake of your own future or to please your master?

Therefore, there were some things and some words that Huang Jin could not say, which gave Chen Hong the opportunity to show his abilities, allowing him to be looked at differently by Emperor Jiajing, who then handed over the East Factory to him.

Huang Jin said: "If the Emperor knew about the prince's loyalty and filial piety, he would surely be deeply moved."

Zhu Zaigui laughed and said, "Your Majesty, do you know that this is my duty? Others can weigh the pros and cons before giving advice to Your Majesty, but Your Majesty and I are like father and son. We prosper together and suffer together. So I cannot make the decision. I can only speak for the sake of the Ming Dynasty and Your Majesty, and express all my worries and concerns."

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