"What do you think about the disaster relief?"

Emperor Chongzhen, who was sitting firmly on the dragon throne, looked calmly, looked at Han Xu and the others, and said: "The drought in Zhili and the flood in Shandong, these two disasters came at the wrong time.

Shaanxi suppressed the rebel bandits, Shanxi suppressed civil unrest, and Liaodong had more rebels eyeing them. In addition, the victims who fled from Shanxi and Shaanxi were resettled, which made it difficult for the court."

When Emperor Chongzhen said that his name was Han Xu, the cabinet ministers such as Wen Tiren and the household ministers such as Bi Ziyan all showed worries.

yes.

Internal and external troubles.

It is now the spring plowing season, and needless to mention the situation in Shanxi and Shaanxi. It is hard to say how much food can be planted and how much can be harvested.

After all, the previous snow disasters, droughts, and earth dragons in Shanxi and Shaanxi were all negotiated, one after another.

Liaodong, let alone growing food, is a bottomless pit.

Although at the current stage of Liao Qian, after Sun Chengzong became the governor of Liaodong, he stopped building strong cities and fortresses, the hundreds of thousands of troops guarding Liao Qian were still a big expense.

"Your Majesty, the current treasury may not be able to provide food and salary for disaster relief in the two places." Bi Ziyan stepped forward, with a worried look on his face, showing that he was tired, and bowed in salute.

"In the second year of Chongzhen's reign, the bandits built a border and invaded our Daming Pass, causing a lot of losses, including various expenses, even to..."

Emperor Chongzhen understood what Bi Ziyan said in his heart. This was not because he wanted to shirk something and did not want to worry too much about the country.

As the financial minister of the Ming Dynasty, there was nothing more difficult for the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty than Bi Ziyan.

The fiscal system is almost out of balance and collapsed, and there are many types of expenditures.

Faced with this situation, it was not because of the original rectification of Chongwenmen Customs and the opening of Zhangjiakou Customs that the Ming Dynasty's treasury was ruined long ago.

'Faced with the chaotic situation in the Ming Dynasty, when the situation improved slightly, and then a big disaster occurred, even the financial minister of the Ming Dynasty is still a clever woman who cannot make a meal without rice.'

Looking at the sad-looking Bi Ziyan, Emperor Chongzhen, who was thinking a lot, secretly said in his heart: "It just makes the difficulties clear and makes the difficulties clear."

Only in this way can we get the cabinet to support our plans and arrangements.

Otherwise, when the disaster is so severe and the officialdom is so corrupt, it would undoubtedly be a fool's errand to continue to passively provide disaster relief as before.'

At that time, the Wenhua Hall fell into silence.

As for ministers like Han Xu and Wen Tiren, they were all waiting for the emperor to speak.

Even though the treasury is currently unable to produce money, the emperor's internal funds are abundant.

Starting from the purge of the inner court, to the rectification of Chongwenmen Customs, to the eradication of the Eight Thieves, the warehouse was in deficit, etc., during this period, so many people were killed, so many houses were plundered, and all the stolen money was put into internal funds.

ah.

Even if the emperor had previously used part of it to cover part of the military salary expenses, the internal funds were still abundant.

The current severe drought in Zhili and floods in Shandong are major events related to the national economy and people's livelihood.

As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, if he just watched the disasters and corruption, then who would worry about the Ming Dynasty?

"Since I became emperor, the Ming Dynasty has suffered from disasters every year, and the imperial court has provided disaster relief every year."

Looking at the silent crowd, Emperor Chongzhen lifted up his robe sleeves and said: "Including the seven years since the emperor's brother Yuji ascended the throne, it was almost always like this. I have been thinking about it for some time.

Except for this snow disaster, the Earth Dragon's turning over is beyond human control.

But for things like floods, droughts, and locust plagues, if the local government builds water conservancy facilities, widens rivers, and prepares to build water storage reservoirs, will it be able to mitigate some of the losses caused by the disaster?

But in fact this is not the case.

According to what I know, most of the disaster relief food and salary allocated by the imperial court were spent on disaster relief, but no one saw what I thought.

This is not good.

Very bad.

If disasters continue to happen every year after tomorrow, I would like to ask your family, if the national treasury is out of money and the internal funds are out of money, what will the court do?"

It was very quiet in the Wenhua Hall. The cabinet ministers Han Xu, Wen Tiren, Xu Guangqi, including Bi Ziyan, the household ministers, all showed different expressions.

Through what the Emperor said, they were keenly aware that the Emperor seemed to have some new ideas regarding the drought in Zhili and the floods in Shandong.

Perhaps these ideas are contrary to the unspoken rules followed by the current Ming Dynasty officialdom, so once they are proposed, they may arouse heated discussions among the government and the public.

"In this severe drought in Zhili and floods in Shandong, all the food and salary needed for disaster relief were allocated from internal funds."

Emperor Chongzhen's deep eyes shone with brilliance, and he said calmly: "But... I have decided to establish a special disaster relief office in the country to deal with disaster relief in the Ming Dynasty.

As for what I just mentioned, they are all under the jurisdiction of the Disaster Relief Office. Local administrative offices should be set up separately. This can be tried out in Zhili and Shandong first.

This Disaster Relief Agency is directly under my jurisdiction. If any matter is involved in the future, we will need to negotiate with the department, and the department must cooperate.

Regarding the disaster relief work in Zhili and Shandong, I am thinking about doing work-relief work. Under the full responsibility of the local government, and under the full responsibility of the Disaster Relief Office, I will organize local disaster victims, dig water conservancy facilities in various places, widen rivers, etc.

From now on, under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, if a disaster occurs in any place and the court needs to allocate food and salary for disaster relief, six out of the national treasury and four out of the internal funds will be put under the responsibility of the Disaster Relief Office. Imperial ministers will be dispatched to the disaster areas in person, and officials from the leading administrative offices will preside over disaster relief.

thing.

In view of the sudden occurrence of this disaster, Wen Qing temporarily transferred officials from the government offices to the Disaster Relief Office established by the state, and recruited students from local areas to serve as officials in the office.

Those who perform outstandingly in disaster relief can be promoted to official positions."

As soon as Emperor Chongzhen said this, the ministers in the Wenhua Palace showed different expressions on their faces. Compared with the surprise of Xu Guangqi and Bi Ziyan, the other cabinet ministers and courtiers were more shocked.

.

The emperor is transferring the disaster relief power of the imperial court directly to the so-called disaster relief office. In the future, the cabinet, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Industry and other departments and offices will not be able to get involved.

How can this be done?

Wouldn't all the previous unspoken rules, especially those involving disaster relief, be abolished? This would have a great impact on the Beijing officials and even local officials involved.

"Han Qing, in the name of the cabinet, please issue an edict clearly."

Emperor Chongzhen ignored this, stood up, looked at Han Xu and said: "If there is a minister in the court who objects to this matter, you can ask him to provide disaster relief food and salary, and I will abolish the disaster relief office.

If you cannot come up with funds for disaster relief, you will follow my will and the support of the cabinet.
Chapter completed!