The Child Emperor

For three consecutive days, Han Ruzi and Yang Feng visited the school in the deep alley every day, and they saw more and more people every day, including the disciples of Guozijian and Taixue, the jinshi who had not yet been appointed, and the officials of various ministries... Although none of them were The high-ranking officials knew very well about the government and were eager to help the people.

Han Ruzi just wanted to figure out one thing: under normal circumstances, how should the government provide disaster relief?

Gradually, the way the imperial court operated became clearer to him: when a disaster occurred in a local area, officials should quickly collect the situation and report it to the relevant ministries and the prime minister's office according to the severity. If the disaster is relatively minor, the local officials can solve the problem at the time, and only need to report the solution and cost; if the disaster is slightly more serious, the local officials cannot make the decision, but they have to give a solution, and the boss decides whether it is available or not; if the disaster is very serious, the local official will You can only plead guilty and wait for the court's order.

In fact, the methods are always the same, such as opening warehouses, borrowing grain, persuading farmers, suppressing business, reducing rent, exempting rent, etc., but only with the permission of the emperor, can the emperor's grace and power be shown.

Since last autumn, the disaster documents from various places have already been delivered to the Ministry of Household and the Prime Minister's House. At that time, the palace was still approving the memorials normally, so all the things that could be done were done, but it was only a drop in the bucket. When the disaster required a large-scale release of food , the imperial edict is no longer in the palace.

Han Ruzi wanted to make big things small, but there were many difficulties.

On the third day, Han Ruzi got the preliminary estimates of the Tan family from the East Sea King. They could directly put grain in dozens of counties, and they could also contact wealthy businessmen in more than 300 counties to participate in disaster relief, accounting for almost 60% of the affected areas. , but the ability to accept is limited, no more than 100,000 people, and can only last for one or two months.

This afternoon, Han Ruzi finally met a high-ranking official—Liu Zeqin, the minister of households. He said, "I'm not here to support Hou Juan, I just want to do something for the people."

"I'm not here to ask for support." Han Ruzi smiled.

As an official of the Ministry of Household, Liu Zeqin knew the disaster situation best, but he did not bring good news. "There must be an imperial decree. In fact, the relevant documents have already been prepared. As long as the imperial decree comes out of the palace, it can be distributed to various places and implemented immediately."

Han Ruzi gave no hope for the imperial decree and asked, "Is it possible to issue the document directly?"

Liu Zeqin shook his head vigorously, "Even if the Ministry of Households is bold, who will deliver it? The post is under the management of the Ministry of War, and there is no official document from the Ministry of War, and a document cannot be sent. Dare to execute it, the assassins from all over the country will definitely write to ask for details... In short, it is not feasible, and it is impossible to do anything."

Han Ruzi had been listening for the past few days, and finally said what he thought, "I once led troops from Mayi City to Broken Iron City, and all the counties supplied food and grass along the way. Does this also require an imperial edict?"

Liu Zeqin pondered for a while, "Actually, it is needed, but it has been promulgated long ago. It is the imperial decree that gives the general governor the power of frontier military affairs, so that the general can issue orders to the county."

"The general also received the imperial edict when he quelled the civil strife."

"Of course, otherwise, it would be a serious crime for the general to leave the frontier."

"In this way, the general can actually levy grain."

Liu Zeqin pondered for a while, and answered with less confidence, "It should be possible, but it can only be used to support the army, not to provide relief to the victims."

"Where's the prisoner?"

"captive?"

"There will be battles in pacification, and there will be prisoners when there are battles. While supplying troops in various places, should they raise prisoners?"

"This... I think it should be possible, but if there are too many prisoners, the local officials still have to report it to the court, and the garrison should also report it to the Ministry of War and the Grand Governor's Office."

"But the prisoners can't starve. Do local officials raise the prisoners first and then report them, or do they report first and then raise the prisoners?"

Liu Zeqin thought for a while, "You can only keep the prisoners temporarily and wait for the court order, but..."

"But without the imperial decree, the imperial court could neither admit nor veto these reports, and the local government had to keep 'temporarily raising' the prisoners."

Liu Zeqin stared at Marquis Juan, and finally believed that he really wanted to do something, "The question is whether the general agrees? Even if he agrees, how could the army in various places take all the refugees as prisoners?"

"It can be recruited, or it can be incorporated into the army." Han Ruzi said that the prisoner was just a title.

"It's still the same question. Will the general agree? This responsibility is not small. When the court returns to normal, he needs to explain a lot of things."

"It's up to me to deal with the general's side. I only hope that when the documents from various places arrive, the Ministry of Household will not reject it."

"The Ministry of Household has the power to reject it, but... the situation is special at the moment, and it is better to have less than one thing, but not only the Ministry of Household, but also the Ministry of War, the Grand Governor's Office, the Prime Minister's Office, the Censor's Office, etc., will receive documents, and there is a yamen. If they do not agree, local officials will have to stop feeding the 'captives'."

The old gentleman Guo Cong coughed and interjected: "Relief to the disaster victims is a matter of great Chu's national fortune, and we can't just let Marquis Juan do the work. You have been studying for many years and talking about benevolence and righteousness. Now it's time to put it into practice. I used to be my student, I can find a talk, disaster relief has nothing to do with the battle for the throne."

A young scholar opened his mouth and said, "Once the name of Marquis Tiara's disaster relief is spread, and it has nothing to do with the battle for the throne, I'm afraid no one will believe it, right?"

Han Ruzi thought of this episode long ago, and said, "The Tan family puts food in the name of the Tan family, and the local recruits the refugees. I owe everything to the general, and my reputation will never come out of nowhere."

Qu Zixi was young, but he had the highest status among scholars, and he first proposed the topic of disaster relief, and then said: "Mr. Officials of various ministries support disaster relief, and they must not be allowed to do bad things.”

More than a dozen scholars said yes, and they offered suggestions one after another. Using the relationship between classmates, the same year, fellow villagers, and teachers and students, scholars could get in touch with almost all officials in the DPRK and China.

Yang Feng walked up to Marquis Juan and asked in a low voice, "Marquis Juan and I cannot leave the capital, and the general cannot return to the capital, how can I persuade him?"

"I want to send Meng E there."

Yang Feng was stunned for a moment. He recognized Meng E and knew that she was a woman who was only good at martial arts. Her eloquence was not comparable to that of ordinary people. It was really difficult for her to persuade the general.

"One of the daughters of the general is Mrs. Wenyang Hou, and she has a good relationship with Mrs. Ping'en Hou. Wenyang Hou is currently serving under the command of the general, and there are several wives. Their husbands are all in the army. The husband and wife have been separated for many days. Ju, Shangxian County is very close to the capital..."

Yang Feng already understood that Han Ruzi wanted to bow first and then soldiers. General Han Xing cooperated as he wished, but if he refused, Meng E could only come forward, "She can't do it alone, I'll introduce you to some suitable helpers. ."

Qu Zixi came over and cupped his hands: "Marquis Tien must have a plan to persuade the general, but someone needs to pass the message on his behalf. Qu is not talented, please go there."

"Mr. Qu's willingness to go out in person is the best." Han Ruzi was overjoyed.

After everyone discussed it properly, they dispersed and returned to the Marquis Mansion. Han Ruzi asked Yang Feng, "There are also lobbyists among scholars. What's the difference between them and those who are eager for qi? One talks about benevolence and righteousness, and the other talks about destiny?"

"Destiny is impermanent, benevolence and righteousness are righteous, and those who look to the air to follow the trend are actually acting on the spot, not sticking to one side, scholars may be stubborn, or pedantic, and there are also those who forget their righteousness, but after all, they are persistent and unwilling to follow the trend. If it's just a struggle for power, those who are looking for Qi may be more useful. If you want to govern the country and bring peace to the world, Houjuan needs a large number of scholars, even if they may not please you."

Han Ruzi smiled. With his current situation, he was more fighting for power, but under the influence of Yang Feng, he didn't believe in hopeful people at all.

Meng E came back to return for her life. Several noble ladies were willing to meet their husbands and bring Meng E with them. They were not very enthusiastic about persuading the general to "recruit" the refugees, and only promised to give it a try on the surface.

The next day, Yang Feng recruited three women with thick hands and big feet, all of whom seemed to have practiced martial arts. After changing into the clothes of maids, they would go to Shang County together with Meng E.

In the past three days, Meng E and others left the capital with several noble ladies.

The King of the East Sea also wrote a letter to Han Xing, but he did not feel that relief to the victims was the top priority, "The new emperor ascends the throne, amnesty the world, opens warehouses and releases food, and celebrates with the whole world, how wonderful, now the disaster relief, the reputation belongs to the queen mother and the great grandfather. General, people are reluctant, alas, what a waste. It's just a group of scholars, is it worth the trouble to win over?"

Han Ruzi is also waiting for scholars to bring "miracles".

Teachers and students of Guozijian and Taixue used their relationships to persuade officials in the DPRK and China not to stop disaster relief.

"Xiao Sheng, the censor of Zuocha, has already spoken, and he will do everything in his power to stop the disaster relief." Guo Cong came to see Marquis Juan, with fine sweat oozing from his forehead. He was indeed old, and he was out of breath after walking a few steps. "This is a personal grudge between him and Hou Juan."

This is indeed a big trouble, Xiao Sheng was humiliated at Shenxiongguan, and he would never reconcile with Juan Hou.

The scholar showed a little of his strength to Han Ruzi.

The day after Xiao Sheng’s words were released, more than a dozen memorials were sent to the Censor’s desk. The object of impeachment was Xiao Sheng, one of the two Censors of the Censor’s Desk. There were various reasons, ranging from ability to character, and they were all demoted to nothing.

Xiao Sheng was furious, but before he could fight back, more impeachment memorials flocked to the censor's desk, and the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Officials also received a lot.

Since the empress dowager and the emperor refused to approve the memorial, these impeachments would not have any practical effect, but it was a big blow to Xiao Sheng's reputation. After three days of stalemate, after several confrontations and negotiations, Xiao Sheng gave in. , As an official, he pays more attention to reputation than ordinary officials.

"Xiao Sheng put forward the condition that as long as the word 'Tired Hou' is not mentioned in all correspondence, he will not interfere." Guo Cong passed the message on his behalf. During the whole process, Han Ruzi and Xiao Sheng never met.

Han Ruzi didn't care, he only cared about the news from General Han Xing.

Shang County was very close to the capital, less than a day's journey away, but the ladies who went to visit their husbands never came back, and there was no news.