Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 13: Let the old people in the mansion show up

Liang Chu had no choice but to bow to Zhu Houcong and say: "Your Majesty loves the people like his own children, and we should be happy to obey your order. However, it is important to go to the capital to ascend the throne, and we cannot delay important matters. Therefore, I think that this matter can be dealt with by ordering local governments to provide relief."

"Lord, isn't it a big deal to help the people?"

"Besides, I have not yet ascended the throne, so it is not appropriate for me to issue orders to the world."

"Besides, if we delay for a moment, more people will starve to death and more plagues will occur. We won't have enough time to ask the local government for relief. If they could provide relief, they would have done it long ago."

After Zhu Houcong said this, he looked deeply at Yun Yi in front of him, and smiled harmlessly at Liang Chu and other ministers who came to greet him:
"And you are all good ministers left by the late emperor to govern the country. You can correct the emperor's virtue and bring peace to the people. I think it will not be difficult for me to fulfill my love for the people!"

Zhu Houcong's words made Liang Chu and other civil officials who were in charge of welcoming the emperor feel like they were being framed.

After all, the heir apparent has said so. As their most trusted ministers, how could they not be tactful and show the heir apparent their abilities as important officials of the court?

You can't just say directly, Your Majesty, don't treat these refugees as human beings, just treat them as grass. Are you afraid that they will rebel? If they rebel, that would be even better. You can just kill them as bandits.

But how could they, who are only willing to talk about etiquette and preach the scriptures and govern the country with morality, be willing to increase spending for these ant-like refugees?
Moreover, they did not want to devote their energy to providing relief to these refugees at this time, which would weaken their influence and control over the successor.

Therefore, Liang Chu could no longer refute Zhu Houcong and just glanced at Mao Cheng at this time.

He hoped that Mao Cheng would come and reject the successor on his behalf.

After all, it was people like Mao Cheng who insisted on controlling the successor and letting him inherit the throne.

In Liang Chu's opinion, since the successor emperor now wants to help the people, Mao Cheng and others should stand up bravely to stop the successor emperor and make him obey their orders!

But at this time Mao Cheng turned his face slightly to avoid Liang Chu's gaze.

However, Liang Chu still thought of a way to avoid this matter. He coughed a few times deliberately, knelt down weakly and said:
"I am old and have many illnesses, and I often suffer from coughing. That is why I coughed in front of you, which is disrespectful. I beg your Excellency to punish me."

Zhu Houcong naturally would not punish Liang Chu just for coughing, so he quickly had someone help Liang Chu up and expressed his forgiveness for his crime.

Liang Chu, however, took advantage of the situation and said, "Although your majesty has forgiven me, I know that I am old and incompetent. I have long intended to retire and return home after you have brought your majesty to the capital and brought peace to the country. I dare not cling to power and do nothing. Now, I am too old and ill to take charge of this matter. I hope your majesty will let Mr. Mao take charge. As one of the nine ministers, Mr. Mao also has the responsibility to share your worries. Moreover, Mr. Mao has a good reputation and outstanding ability. I hope your majesty will allow me to do so."

Ever since Liang Chu betrayed his accomplice Wang Qiong, he had long wanted to retire and return home.

Because he knew that he would never be trusted by Yang Tinghe and treated as one of his own, and that if he stayed in the court in the future, he would inevitably be embarrassed by Yang Tinghe, so he had already made plans to resign and return home.

Therefore, when Zhu Houcong posed a problem to these civil servants who came from a clean background, Liang Chu decisively chose to refuse to take responsibility for the matter on the grounds of being old. The price he paid was naturally to interrupt his official career and label himself as old.

Seeing that Liang Chu had said so, Zhu Houcong naturally would not force Liang Chu to take responsibility for this matter. He took the edict and looked at Mao Cheng: "Then the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan will have to work harder."

Mao Cheng glared at Liang Chu at this time, and couldn't help but grit his teeth and curse Liang Chu in his heart for being cunning and treacherous, and actually trying to avoid this matter by planning to resign and return home.

But Mao Cheng was unwilling to use this reason at this time because he still wanted to join the cabinet.

But he didn't dare to refuse now, saying that it was wrong for the successor to help the people.

In his heart, he only hated the corruption and incompetence of Huguang Governor Qin Jin and other Huguang civil servants. They must have embezzled all the remaining tax grain, otherwise there would not be so many refugees.

However, because he had to deal with such practical matters for the successor emperor, Mao Cheng did not dare to agree rashly and was even embarrassed. If he wanted to save these hungry people and treat them as real human beings, it would mean that people in other places along the way would also have to be rescued. If so, the food brought by the emperor would definitely not be enough for relief, and he would definitely have to eat the rich and disturb the local people.

Zhu Houcong couldn't help laughing when he saw Mao Cheng's embarrassed look.

He did not intend to embarrass Mao Cheng and other upright civil officials. He did this just to make Mao Cheng and other upright civil officials who were so arrogant that they thought the monarch should obey their arrangements, and to damage their authority through certain things, so that the old people who followed him in the mansion would have the opportunity to stand out and take the initiative. At the same time, he also wanted to test their obedience and let him take the initiative.

Yuan Zonggao now knew Zhu Houcong best and knew that his prince was not an ordinary boy. He thought more seriously about Zhu Houcong's words at this time and was the first to guess the purpose of Zhu Houcong's doing so.

Yuan Zonggao took the initiative to step forward, bowed to Zhu Houcong and said, "Your Majesty, although the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan is one of the Nine Ministers, he is only a ceremonial official. How can he know the real situation in the local area and how can he do a good job in helping the people? So please let me take charge of this matter. Although I am only the chief historian of the feudal residence, I was born and raised here, and I know the feelings of my hometown. I also followed the king's order and provided relief to tenants affected by disasters, so I am more suitable than the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan."

Mao Cheng glanced at Yuan Zonggao, then gritted his teeth and bowed. At this time, not wanting to disturb the locals and eat the rich, he could only say:

"I am ashamed that I am not as good as Mr. Yuan in terms of practical work to keep the people safe!"

Mao Cheng's bow really surprised the old people in the surrounding mansions, but at the same time they also felt a sense of pride.

Young Lu Bing couldn't help but say to his father Lu Song, "Dad, it turns out that this Shangshu from the capital is not as good as our Yuan Changshi."

"It's all because of these officials in the capital. I didn't expect that our prince really loves the people like his own children!"

Lu Song replied with pride.

Zhu Houcong was also moved by Mao Cheng's greeting and said, "Since this is the case, please take charge of the matter, sir, and show your love for the people."

Yuan Zonggao bowed and said yes.

Then, Yuan Zonggao said to Zhu Houcong, "There are about 300 refugees and about 100 able-bodied men here. I think they are here to make a living in Anlu City. According to the calculation that one man eats one liter of fried rice a day, and women, children, the elderly and the weak need to eat five he of fried rice a day to fill their stomachs, I would like to allocate two stone of fried rice first, and send 100 households of the Royal Palace Jinyiwei to lead people to provide relief, help bury the bones and find doctors to take care of the patients, escort them to Anlu City to find food, and then catch up with the main group and continue to enter the capital with the emperor."

Zhu Houcong nodded in agreement.

Later, Yuan Zonggao said, "Last year, Huguang suffered a great disaster, affecting 15 prefectures, especially Anlu. I am afraid that the refugees are not only here. In my humble opinion, if we want to help the people, we can't just save them this time. So we have to send the Royal Palace Jinyiwei to take turns to help the refugees and escort them to nearby cities for resettlement."

"But in this case, the Jinyiwei soldiers and horses must camp separately from the imperial carriage to prevent the epidemic from spreading to the heir and the guards."

"In addition, we must prepare enough food and medicinal materials in advance."

"Of course the food and medicine we brought with us are not enough!"

"As for preparing grain, rice and medicinal herbs, instead of borrowing from the local government, it is better to borrow some grain, rice and medicinal herbs from the local temple now. At least 5,000 dan of rice and various commonly used medicinal herbs should be borrowed first!"

"Because according to my experience, there are still 20,000 to 30,000 starving people along the way from Huguang to the capital."

"Why borrow from the temple instead of the local government office?"

Zhu Houcong asked in a confused manner.

Liang Chu and Mao Cheng also looked over.

Yuan Zonggao explained, "With so many refugees, the local government can only say that it is difficult to collect taxes due to the disaster, so there is no grain left in the treasury. Even if there is grain in the treasury, they can only say that there is no grain. However, the local temples are different. Many of the abbots of the temples here have close personal relationships with me. They are all enlightened monks who love to help the poor and needy. They are also grateful for the kindness of the successor and the previous king over the years. Therefore, if the successor asks me to borrow grain from them, they will do their best to lend it to me."

“What if they also say there is no food?”

Mao Cheng asked at this time.

Yuan Zonggao smiled and said, "That's just not knowing what's good for you."

(End of this chapter)