This snow has been falling intermittently for more than ten days. It has been snowing sparsely since the beginning of the year. It was particularly heavy on New Year's Eve. After one night, the country was covered with snow, and the snow was knee-deep, and then it stopped.
As the old saying goes, auspicious snow heralds a good year. This heavy snowfall for more than ten consecutive days can alleviate the drought after the beginning of spring, but it will cause great troubles to people's livelihood. Many people and animals will die as a result, such as freezing to death.
It's cold, it's surprisingly cold this year.
Although it is so cold every year, people still feel that it is colder this year. Some people conclude that more people will freeze to death this year because there were not so many refugees in the capital in previous years.
However, in fact, proportionally speaking, there was no large-scale freeze to death in the capital, and the imperial court made preparations for the refugees to spend the winter before the severe cold came.
Previously, due to Li Zicheng's Eastern Expedition and the entry of the Tatars, tens of thousands of refugees poured into Beijing. At that time, the entire imperial capital was so crowded that there was water and urine everywhere, which worsened the epidemic, and hundreds of people died every day.
Later, the imperial court adopted Chang Yu's suggestion and quarantined him!
Refugees were prohibited from entering the inner city, and those who had been exposed to plague patients were quarantined in a manor in the west of the city. Afterwards, the whole city was cleaned and disinfected, public toilets, garbage stations, etc. were built. In addition, with the coming of winter, the momentum of the plague outbreak was finally brought under control.
However, these stranded refugees became an urgent priority for the imperial court. However, the Ordnance Factory in the west of the city, the military hospital, and the Royal Academy soon began to divert troops to resettle some of the refugees. Later, Tongzhou Farm and Immigration, and Octopus Recruitment diverted some of the refugees.
, and excluding some who returned to their hometowns, there are only thousands of old, weak, sick and disabled people left in the capital.
And the court did not leave these people to fend for themselves. To be precise, the royal family, Chang Yu and a few conscientious officials and gentry tried their best to lend a helping hand. Even during the period of the Great Famine, they still helped them through the cracks of their teeth.
They squeezed out some grain and rice to set up a porridge shop, so that they could drink porridge one night a day and not starve to death. In the end, most people lasted until the potatoes and sweet potatoes were ripe, plus a steady stream of relief supplies from the south.
Although the food supply still does not guarantee enough food every day, the possibility of starving to death is not high.
However, as soon as the stomach problem was solved, the severe cold came.
How cold was the winter at this time? Let's take a look at expert data. We all know that the late Ming Dynasty was in the Little Ice Age, but many people don't know how long the Little Ice Age lasted.
To be precise, the period from the Yuan Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty belonged to the Little Ice Age. However, the period at the end of the Ming Dynasty, that is, 1580-1644, was the most prosperous and coldest period. It was the coldest in a thousand years and ranked second in a year.
Rank 6-7 in a million years is the coldest period in the history of human civilization.
This was the period in which the unlucky Emperor Chongzhen lived.
In this cold winter, many poor people freeze to death every year. It is not surprising that beggars and refugees living on the streets freeze to death. However, although the weather seems to be colder this year, it is not surprising for refugees.
In fact, the conditions are actually better.
During the few months they were stranded in the capital, the refugees formed several gathering places in the open spaces outside the city or in the outer city, which are so-called refugee camps. These refugees built temporary homes with wood and sundries, and then in winter
In the past, the imperial court also built more than ten large thatched sheds in these places. They were long and wide, much like the vegetable sheds of later generations, and each could accommodate more than a hundred people.
Then several stoves were set up in these huts to burn charcoal for heating and water for cooking. They also provided shelter from the wind and snow when winter came.
These heating coals come from the coal mines of King Jin in Shanxi and King Dai in Datong. Of course, they are not provided to the refugees free of charge, but from special funds allocated by the imperial court. Now that the imperial court is in dire straits, it can still survive under such an embarrassment that the national treasury is stretched thin.
It is unimaginable that such consideration should be given to the refugees. Of course, Chang Yu was behind this with gritted teeth.
These were unthinkable in previous years. In previous years, these refugees stranded in the capital would most likely have died of starvation or freezing.
However, just when the imperial court was at its weakest this year, countless refugees and poor people in the capital did not freeze to death as ordinary people expected. It has to be said to be a miracle.
However, this is only the capital city.
At this time, the imperial court's ability can only maintain the three-thirds of an acre of land under the emperor's feet. Where else?
Not to mention other things, except for the capital city, in the capital region, in the cold winter under the famine, you can imagine how many people were about to freeze to death or starve to death. However, although the imperial court had the intention, it was really powerless.
The latest year has ushered in the severe cold.
The New Year is a big event. No matter how hard or difficult this year is, whether the people are poor or rich, they still have to decorate the New Year with joy and look forward to the next good year.
The people are like this, and the royal family has to make arrangements with great fanfare. However, another surprising moment is that this year, the royal family is keeping everything simple, refusing to be extravagant and wasteful, and refusing to hold special events. Even the size of the sacrifice to Sheji is much smaller than in previous years.
The royal family's move is understandable to the common people and officials. Nowadays, the national treasury is empty and unable to carry out the kind of whitewashing of peace and prosperity. In addition, Emperor Chongzhen is also frugal by nature. If he really did that, it is conceivable that the whole court will be scolded.
For Emperor Chongzhen, this year was very meaningful.
Survival!
He knew clearly that if the extraordinary world had not appeared out of the blue, if it had not been for the prince's divine dream, and if it had not been for his hysterical final madness, his Zhu family's Ming Dynasty would have perished early last year.
So I am very lucky to be able to celebrate this new year, and I also cherish it very much.
The feeling of surviving a catastrophe is hard to express. Although the palace was decorated with lights and colorful decorations on New Year's Eve, and the palace maids and eunuchs were bustling with excitement, there was only a simple table in the Qianqing Palace. The emperor's family, a dozen or so people, felt deeply
I had a New Year’s Eve dinner out of gratitude.
They all have a very grateful person in their hearts, but no one says it out loud.
That person is still running around for his Zhu family, even on this New Year's Eve.
They are all celebrating the New Year, the rich are celebrating the rich, the poor are happy, the emperor's family is living a normal life, and the lights of thousands of houses in the capital are some happy and some sad. Of course, those who are happy are mostly rich families, but not necessarily officials.
Because none of the courtiers felt at ease this year and they were extremely embarrassed, even a little disgusting, as if they had eaten a fly.
It's because I feel disgusted by myself.
Or maybe I was hurt by Emperor Chongzhen’s words.
Let’s start from years ago. After the Yunnan rebellion spread to the capital, Emperor Chongzhen and Chang Yu studied the military situation and speculated on a dangerous consequence. Then Chang Yu secretly went to Yunnan. Emperor Chongzhen discussed this with the cabinet bosses again.
Then he took it to the court to argue.
The water above the court is murky and deep, and it is never the same mind.
We all know the seriousness of the situation, but we are still arguing about who to send?
No one wants to go. Not to mention the hardships of traveling through mountains and rivers, the problem may not be solved when we get there, but our lives will be in danger. If there is no success, the factions behind us will be affected, so they are all gritting their teeth to fight for the enemy.
People go.
From how to gently resolve the Yunnan rebellion without aggravating the situation to who to send, this matter has been at odds for more than a month!
Emperor Chongzhen did not rush him, and after going to court every day to ask a routine question, he saw that the topic shifted to other issues. This made the ministers secretly breathe a sigh of relief and then continued to fight. In the end, several factions reached an agreement and each sent one person to go.
Yunnan supervises counter-insurgency matters.
When the men who had been sent out had not crossed the river after ten days, they urgently delivered the report to the capital from 800 miles away. Emperor Chongzhen read it and asked Wang Chenen to read it in front of all the officials during the morning court. The officials were shocked and ashamed.
The eunuch of Dongchang, who had not been seen for the rest of the month, had actually gone to Yunnan, where he fought fiercely to liberate Kunming City, and divided his forces to defeat Sha Dingzhou and Wu Bikui one by one! Moreover, the previous emergency report from Yunnan was only about Wu Bikui's rebellion, so why did Sha Dingzhou also
…
Everything was within the eunuch’s speculation and expectation!
And they were all under his control, and he put down the two chieftain rebellions in just over 20 days!
Then look at what he and others did in the court...
Emperor Chongzhen looked at the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty and said bluntly: They were full of ugliness and shamelessness.
The disdainful look in his eyes was still fresh in the minds of all the officials after more than half a month apart. It is said that after retiring from the court, Li Banghua, who was recovered from the cabinet, hid his face in Wenyuan Pavilion and shouted: "It's so shameful!"
In the next court session, Emperor Chongzhen always had a vague look of disdain and disgust on his face, which made all the officials heartbroken and embarrassed, and this year was no longer enjoyable.
The slap between the emperor and Dongchang was too harsh and humiliating!
And soon the news that the great eunuch of Dongchang led his troops to go south and traveled thousands of miles away to fight the rebellion and put out the fire in Yunnan spread all over the capital. Dongchang, which had been gradually whitewashed, became even more popular and praised by everyone!
You must know that Dongchang has been notorious for hundreds of years. There is no one in the government or the public who is not afraid of them, scolds them, or hates them, because they not only punish officials but also bully the people. But since Chang Yu took charge of Dongchang, the atmosphere has changed drastically.
Cleaning up the noble officials, but not disturbing the common people. Throughout the ages, the common people have a hatred of the rich. Seeing Dongchang cleaning up those corrupt officials and powerful people, they felt very happy, so they gradually gained a reputation among the common people, and later came Chang Yu.
With great military exploits, Dongchang became whiter and whiter day by day.