"Your Majesty, I have some suggestions, please forgive me."
Gu Chengyu knew that it was useless to count on these Beijing officials. He had to express his own point of view and minimize the loss this time.
The emperor immediately nodded, "Yes!"
"I dare to ask Mr. Shen, does the Ministry of Household Affairs currently have a household registration in Changtian Mansion?"
Gu Chengyu turned to look at Shen Shikang, the Minister of Household Affairs, and remained calm amidst the different expressions of everyone.
Shen Shikang is quite optimistic about Gu Chengyu, so his attitude is quite mild.
"Yes, there are, but the Ministry of Household Affairs only changes them every three years. After all, the household registrations in the following prefectures change a lot every year, and it is impossible to deliver them in time, so the number of people may not be accurate."
Nowadays, the imperial court has changed the tax collection system and implemented the method of apportioning one person per mu. Compared with the previous dynasty, the taxes paid by the people have indeed been reduced a lot.
If taxes are collected based on acres of land, it is not difficult to understand why the Ministry of Household Affairs does not have a more comprehensive household registration system.
In ancient times, carriages and horses were slow and the journeys were long. It was impossible to report every change in the household registration to the capital.
So there's a lot of fuss to be made here, and it's easy for those officials to make a fortune from it.
If you meet a greedy person, you can also make a fortune, because there are many tax options.
Gu Chengyu pondered for a moment, "I wonder if the Ministry of Industry or the Ministry of War has a household registration?"
Every three to five years under the imperial court, the common people were obliged to perform corvee service.
The Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War must have household registration files on file, but it seems that it was two years ago since I last served as a corvee, and I don’t know if the household registration has been changed.
Tong Shunmin and Dai Yuanji shook their heads. The household registration of the Ministry of Industry was changed according to the time when they served as corvees.
It changes every three years, and you will have to do corvee service next year, so the household registration two years ago must be different from the current household registration.
It is even more impossible to have a Ministry of War, because the army was recruited two years ago to enrich the army.
Gu Chengyu frowned, it was really inconvenient in ancient times, but the number of people registered in the household should not be far from what it is now.
The truly complete household registration should be in the state capital below, or there should be a government envoy, after all, it is the superior of the state capital.
"Your Majesty! The minister believes that the top priority is to send officials from the Ministry of Works to inspect the river embankments of various state capitals in the south of the Yangtze River to see if other state capitals are strong, and immediately organize the people to strengthen their defenses. Furthermore, the disaster in Changtian Mansion is serious, and the Ministry of Household Affairs must be dispatched Officials went to verify the number of victims, and the court could allocate funds for disaster relief based on the number of victims. At the same time, the scope of the Changtian Mansion's dam should be expanded."
Gu Chengyu walked to the side of the map and pointed to several places, "These places must rush to repair the embankments, otherwise the river embankments will continue to collapse in large areas, and the consequences will be disastrous!"
The emperor nodded. These are the precautions after the disaster. Gu Chengyu described it in detail.
In fact, it's all about these points, but it's very difficult to do it.
"If you don't have anything to add, then I will adopt Gu Aiqing's opinion."
The emperor's face did not look good, and Gu Chengyu had already made a detailed plan.
But these ministers are still dumbfounded and don't have any useful suggestions. This is the gap.
It seems that the imperial court did not hold the conference examination until three years after the provincial examination, which was still too long, and the imperial court lost many talented people.
These old ministers have become old officials in the officialdom. They are all messing around, and their brains have been used for too long, and they are almost turning into mush.
"Your Majesty! Is Master Gu's map accurate? It was only drawn by the steward of his residence. The steward is not an official of the Ministry of Industry, so I don't know if there will be deviations?"
Xia Qing raised a question, and Gu Chengyu just talked eloquently, as if he had everything under control.
But he thought that Gu Chengyu had never been to Changtian Mansion, so how could he know the terrain of Changtian Mansion so well?
Just based on that steward of the Gu Mansion? What a nonsense.
How could a steward who was only proficient in accounting draw such a detailed map? This was a specialty of the officials at the Ministry of Works.
"No matter whether this map is accurate or not, I must send officials to Changtian Mansion to take charge of the overall situation now!"
The emperor glanced at Xia Qing. He had become increasingly dissatisfied with Xia Qing in recent years.
Because of that disciple, Xia Qing was always eager for quick success and wanted to make plans for his disciple.
It seems that Xia Qing is getting old too!
"Your Majesty, the embankment of the Tianya River was just repaired and reinforced this year. Why is it so vulnerable?"
Dai Yuanji, Secretary of the Ministry of War, raised a question. The Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs were probably responsible for this matter.
Gu Chengyu's lips curled up slightly. There were some things that he couldn't bring up. Someone had to do it for him. Otherwise, the gun would be pointed at him.
As soon as these words came out, the palace suddenly became quiet. The emperor's eyes widened. He had only been focusing on disaster relief matters and almost forgot about it.
"What does Mr. Dai mean by this? Just now, Academician Gu also talked about the topography of the Tianya River. The topography of that place is so special, and the river is surging. How powerful is the power of the river? Doesn't Mr. Dai know that it is normal for the dam to collapse?
"
This matter concerns the Ministry of Industry, so Tong Shunmin naturally cannot allow Dai Yuanji to throw dirty water on their Ministry of Industry.
If this matter is found to be due to the Ministry of Works' incompetence in repairing and strengthening the river embankment, then he, the Minister of Works, will also be implicated.
"Hmph! This is an obvious thing. I don't believe that the river embankment will be washed away so quickly. Didn't the officials of Changtian Mansion find anything abnormal before this? If the river embankment is strong, it will leak at the beginning. Before it collapses,
There must be traces to follow.”
What Dai Yuanji said is actually reasonable. If it collapses so quickly, the quality of the embankment is really worrying!
"Master Dai, don't speak nonsense. The imperial court has not sent officials to investigate the matter. How did you know that the embankment is vulnerable? Everything must be based on evidence. As a second-rank official in the dynasty, Master Dai can speak so casually. It is really shocking.
It’s an eye-opener for me!”
Shen Shikang, the Minister of Hubu, was not to be outdone, but Dai Yuanji also questioned them.
"You two adults know the truth of the matter..."
Gu Chengyu looked at the three of them talking to each other and spitting.
The most important thing at the moment was disaster relief. Because they were afraid of taking responsibility, these people actually started to quarrel.
"I also believe that Mr. Dai has no evidence and just slanders him casually, which is extremely inappropriate."
Xia Qing also joined in the verbal dispute among several people. The hall soon became noisy, and several officials became even more excited.
A muffled sound suddenly came, and Gu Chengyu immediately looked towards the place where the sound came from.
I saw an incense burner rolled down on the carpet, and the ashes inside were scattered everywhere.
"Shut up!" The emperor was furious. This group of people only blamed each other and did not care about the suffering of the people at all.
Several people immediately silenced themselves and did not dare to say anything!
"Kuang Zhaoying, please bring some people to read the files and see who were the officials who participated in the repair and reinforcement of the river embankment at that time. Capture these officials overnight and take them to Dali Temple first, and then make a decision."
The emperor didn't want to listen to their nonsense anymore, so he arrested the people first, and then sent people to several state capitals in the south of the Yangtze River to inspect the river embankments.
As long as there is something wrong, none of these people can escape.
Kuang Zhaoying's heart tightened, "I obey your order!"