Chapter 177: An epidemic broke out, and Zhu Yuanzhang was furious! (Please subscribe!!)
After scolding Jiang Wei for a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang finally got tired of scolding him.
Of course, the anger in my heart also dissipated a lot.
"Chongba, take a rest." Queen Ma advised.
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, was silent for a moment, and then asked: "Sister, we think the water in Yong'an Mansion is getting deeper and deeper!"
Empress Ma nodded slightly, "Yong'an Mansion is developing better and better, and more and more people will be associated with it. This is normal."
Zhu Yuanzhang continued: "Now we see Yong'an Mansion as a den of thieves!"
Den of Thieves? ! Upon hearing this, Queen Ma was stunned.
She could feel that Zhu Yuanzhang's mood became a little strange after talking with Ouyang Lun and Tang He, and he had more thoughts, but she never expected that Zhu Yuanzhang would regard Yong'an Mansion as a den of thieves.
You must know that the current Yong'an Mansion can be said to be the most developed place in the entire north. The people are well fed and clothed, and business is prosperous. It is recognized by the emperor as a den of thieves. If this matter spreads, it will be a big blow to Yong'an Mansion.
Even if Zhu Yuanzhang will not take action against the relevant personnel of Yong'an Mansion, rumors alone can make many businessmen and people worry about the future of Yong'an Mansion.
In this era, the emperor's views are the largest public opinion and political trend.
"Chongba, it's not easy for Xiao Lun to run Yong'an Mansion like this. Don't mess around!" Empress Ma couldn't help but remind her.
"Sister, what time has it been? You are still talking to Ouyang Lun." Zhu Yuanzhang said extremely seriously: "How long has it been? Just by collecting protection fees for escorting merchant ships, Tang He was able to buy two 055 large-scale cruisers. , and Tang He only divided a small part, most of it is in Ouyang Lun's hands, what will he do with the money?"
"If Ouyang Lun rebels, it should be easy."
He has personally experienced that the Ming people of Yong'an Mansion are fierce, and they have a militia system. It is not surprising that all the people are soldiers. In addition, Yong'an Mansion requires money and food, and its weapons and equipment are even ahead of the Ming Dynasty. I don’t know how many other armies there are! Maybe we need to strengthen the control of Yong'an Mansion. If we continue to let it go like this, something will happen sooner or later.
"Chongba, I think you are overthinking. After all, Xiao Lun is An Qing's husband and our son-in-law."
Queen Ma looked at Zhu Yuanzhang's worried look. After being married for so many years, she naturally knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was very stimulated by his visit to Yong'an Mansion. With Zhu Yuanzhang's character, he would definitely be worried about the situation in Yong'an Mansion.
"We are afraid that we will not think too much!" Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head, but he was actually very conflicted in his heart.
Ouyang Lun made many contributions to the Ming Dynasty, and indeed made the people of Yong'an Mansion and even the entire Beizhili live a good life, but he also posed a great threat to the country of the Ming Dynasty. If he was just greedy for money, he could still leave a little more. time.
But taken together, it has reached a point where it has to be dealt with.
Back in the luxurious suite of the hotel, Zhu Yuanzhang was lying on the rocking chair on the balcony of the room. As the rocking chair rocked, Zhu Yuanzhang's head kept spinning.
At this moment, there was always a voice in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind that Yong'an Mansion must be closely monitored, especially Ouyang Lun! Maritime trade must also be taken seriously. At first, he only agreed to open the Jieshi Terminal, but now Ouyang Lun is using the Jieshi Terminal to fully support maritime trade.
You must know that the Ming Dynasty's sea ban has not been abolished!
To be honest, these maritime trades have violated the sea ban. If it were before, the memorial to impeach Ouyang Lun would have flown into the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang like snowflakes. But now not only has no one impeached him, Tang He and Guo Zi have Even Li Shanchang and others were full of praise for the maritime trade.
Have these people forgotten that there is a sea ban?No, no, these people are old, but they have good memories. They are just selectively ignoring them.
Of course, there are also people here who are waiting for his attitude towards Zhu Yuanzhang. After all, Ouyang Lun is his son-in-law, and he has made great achievements one after another. He is also the youngest chief envoy and the youngest official in the border areas of Ming Dynasty. Before he knows clearly about him, Zhu Yuanzhang Before his attitude, no one dared to attack Ouyang Lun.
In a short period of time, Zhu Yuanzhang had analyzed the entire situation.
"Huh, these people are all human beings! They all have their own little plans in mind!"
Just when Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking about solutions, Jiang Yu hurried over.
"Have you checked all the things that were arranged for you just now? The speed is quite fast." Zhu Yuanzhang thought it was Jiang Ying who came to report the Yong'an Mansion.
Jiang Wei took a breath and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, something big has happened!"
"What's going on? Is there another bandit attack?" Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily.
The last bandit attack finally led to the traitor Hu Weiyong, but Hu Weiyong had already been killed by him and Dongying was conquered, so there should not be an attack by bandits.
"Your Majesty, there is news from the capital that an epidemic has broken out in Guangdong and that the situation is at risk of getting out of control. Your Majesty, the Crown Prince, kindly requests your Majesty to return to the capital as soon as possible."
Disease! ! ?
Zhu Yuanzhang’s head is so big, how could there be an epidemic at this time? ! But now he can't care about that much. If it was just an ordinary epidemic, Prince Zhu Biao would never bother him. If he asked Jin Yiwei to notify him in such a hurry, there was only one possibility. This epidemic was extraordinary! !
It's good that the epidemic can be controlled. If it cannot be controlled, there will be millions of corpses in Guangdong, thousands of miles away!
Swish! Zhu Yuanzhang stood up directly from the rocking chair and said, "Let's go back to the capital!"
"Yes!"
After Jiang Wei received the order, he immediately went down to prepare.
"Chongba, what happened?" Queen Ma came over with tea. She happened to see Jiang Yu leaving in a hurry. She suddenly felt something was wrong and asked quickly.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked solemn and said, "Sister, go pack your things first. We will rush to the capital overnight. I will tell you the details on the way."
"it is good!"
Empress Ma realized the seriousness of the matter, put down the tea in her hand, and immediately began to prepare.
That night, Zhu Yuanzhang and his party left Yong'an Mansion in a hurry.
This led Ouyang Lun to come to Zhu Yuanzhang the next day, but he was in vain. Six days!
In just six days, Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the imperial palace in the capital.
If this was done in the past, Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely be very happy, but now he is in no mood to record this.
When Zhu Yuanzhang appeared in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Zhu Biao was convening a group of ministers for discussion. They were all gloomy and gloomy. Everyone was also very surprised to see Zhu Yuanzhang!
"Father!"
When Zhu Biao saw Zhu Yuanzhang, he immediately stood up from the dragon chair to greet him. "I will pay my respects to Your Majesty!"
"Free gift!"
Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, walked to the dragon chair, and sat down with Da Ma Jin Dao.
A pair of tiger eyes scanned the people in the palace. Li Shanchang, Lu Chang and the six ministers had all arrived. The emperor's majesty shocked the entire audience! "Can anyone tell me what's going on with the Guangdong epidemic? What's the current situation?"
After Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, Lu Chang, who was now the fourth auxiliary officer, immediately stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the capital has received news that an epidemic broke out in Guangdong a few days ago. The situation is critical. It is roughly estimated that thousands of people have died, and the number is still rising. among."
"The cause of the epidemic is still unclear."
(ps: After Zhu Yuanzhang killed Hu Weiyong, refused to give up the position of prime minister, and dismissed Zhongshu Sheng, he appointed four auxiliary officers in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, ranking second to duke, marquis, and governor. The incumbents rotated within a month On duty, assisting the emperor in handling government affairs and resigning, with the purpose of assisting the emperor in promoting peace and prosperity for the people.) Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, stood up and added: "Your Majesty, I have also heard that the local people in Guangdong are afraid of the epidemic and have fled with their families. It is conservatively estimated that more than [-] households and hundreds of thousands of people will leave Guangdong and enter other provinces. .”
Um! ?
Zhu Yuanzhang was immediately shocked.
When Lu Chang said that thousands of people had died, Zhu Yuanzhang was not too surprised. But when he heard that hundreds of thousands of people would flee, Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked and realized the importance of this matter.
"What do the people of the Chief Secretary of Guangdong do for a living? Only when things get worse do they report them to the court?!"
"These people all deserve to die!"
When this incident happened in Guangdong, the first person Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to kill was the officials in Guangdong.
The best way to deal with the epidemic is in the early stage. As long as the early stage is controlled well, isolation is carried out when necessary, and incineration is carried out when necessary, it can basically be controlled.
"Can any of you tell me the reason?!"
Zhu Yuanzhang roared.
However, the Hall of Supreme Harmony became strangely quiet. Everyone lowered their heads, not daring to face the furious Zhu Yuanzhang.
"Your Majesty, I have something to say."
Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, gritted his teeth and stood up, "After what happened, I specifically checked the tax situation in Guangdong in the past few years. Judging from the accounts, Guangdong has had good harvests every year in recent years, but I have a distant relative who is In Guangdong, he came to seek refuge with me from Guangdong a few days ago, but he told me that Guangdong has been experiencing drought and lack of rain for three consecutive years. Although it is not a drought, and the food is not harvested, the people's families can no longer afford it. He really couldn't survive on food, so he came to seek refuge with me."
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, "You mean the Chief Secretary of Guangdong concealed the harvest report, and deliberately wrote it as a bumper harvest when it was clearly a food shortage?"
"But what does this have to do with the epidemic?"
Guo Zi hesitated for a moment, then spoke again: "Your Majesty, I also heard news from my distant relative that some people in Guangdong are short of food and clothing, so they will catch all kinds of game to eat, and some people will have a high fever after eating it. If you don’t retreat, you will become incontinent, your whole body will rot and die, but anyone who comes into contact with it will soon become ill and it is said that this is a punishment sent by the god of plague!"
"There is no plague god!" Zhu Yuanzhang said solemnly: "In my opinion, this is caused by the inaction of local officials!"
Although these are all said by Guo Zi's distant relative, this possibility is extremely high.
"check!"
"You all go and check for me. I want to know whether this epidemic is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster!"
"Yes!"
After receiving Zhu Yuanzhang's order, Jin Yiwei, the Sixth Department, and the Procuratorate (formerly Yushitai) began to investigate.
Only half a day passed, and everyone gathered in the Hall of Supreme Harmony again.
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue has thoroughly investigated the accounts of Guangdong over the years and found that there were serious concealments and lies in the accounts, and they turned the food shortage into a bumper harvest!" Guo Zi said, holding up the thick account books of the Ministry of Household.
"Your Majesty, Jinyiwei has found some people who fled from Guangdong. Their descriptions are basically consistent with those of Mr. Guo's distant relatives. Everyone from Guangdong, from the chief envoy to the county magistrate, colluded to conceal the true situation in Guangdong!" Jiang Gu opened his mouth and said.
"Those people who fled also said that in Guangdong, officials colluded with the rich and powerful gentry to constantly oppress the people and use various means to purchase fertile land from the people at low prices. Some even seized the land and turned the people into tenants, who had to work hard for a year to cultivate the land. Land, but the food they get is not enough to support their families, and once the food harvest fails, the rich and gentlemen will deduct it, and the people live in water and fire!"
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Punishment has found out that many people from Guangdong came to the capital to complain to the government. However, these people who complained either died on the way here or disappeared mysteriously after complaining to the government." Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment said with sweat on his forehead: "I have ordered the files to be collected and reviewed one by one!"
Lu Chang also stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I went to the Taiyuan Hospital and asked. If people eat some game, they will indeed be infected with diseases. Moreover, these diseases are often violent and there is no cure!"
After listening to these messages.
Zhu Yuanzhang held the armrests of the dragon chair tightly with both hands. If you look closely, you can see that the armrests have been pinched by Zhu Yuanzhang, which is enough to reflect the anger in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart at this moment! Among all the people present, no one could understand the despair in the hearts of Guangdong people at this moment better than Zhu Yuanzhang.
This was the case with Zhu Yuanzhang's family at the beginning. The family originally had land, and his father and mother were hard-working. If it hadn't been for those damn country gentry and rich men who robbed them, how could his parents and brothers have starved to death!
Those wealthy country gentry who dare to do this naturally have the support of corrupt officials.
I originally thought that the Ming Dynasty he established could prevent such things from happening, but it was obvious that he was just wishful thinking, and everything was just reincarnation!
"There is not a single official in Guangdong who makes decisions for the people. They are really capable!"
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were filled with murderous intent.
The Minister of the Ministry of Personnel opened his mouth and said: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Personnel has also selected some loyal and upright officials to go to Guangdong in recent years, but most of them have fallen into disgrace. More than half of the officials died of illness in Guangdong, and some officials encountered robbers at their homes. Before that, I thought it was because of the environment in Guangdong. Problem, now it seems"
"You guys are really good!" Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at the officials in front of him angrily, "Before the incident, no one came forward to say that there was a problem in Guangdong. Now that something has happened, everyone has become more aware of it and can see the problems in various ways!"
"Why did you go early!"
"Guo Zi!"
"Chen is here!"
Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at Guo Zi's nose and asked: "You have been the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue for two years. Have you never discovered any discrepancies in the accounts?!"
Guo Zi wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Your Majesty, the taxes paid by Guangdong in the past two years are consistent with the harvest conditions reported by them. As long as the general ledger is correct, the Ministry of Accounts will not carefully check the detailed accounts. "
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed angrily (End of this chapter)