Li Zhi looked at the heavy rain in Nanjing, thoughtfully.
It is the rainy season in March. It rains almost every few days in Jiangnan. This rain is of course a good thing and is beneficial to agriculture. It is precisely because of the abundant rain that the rice yield per mu in Jiangnan is much higher than that of wheat in the north.
Therefore, even in the dim late Ming Dynasty, the people of Jiangnan barely had enough food and clothing, and there was never any major turmoil.
But this rainwater is a great test of the city's drainage. In the late Ming Dynasty, the finances were in chaos, and the municipal facilities in various cities were often in a state of paralysis. Even in cities in the south of the Yangtze River, the drainage system could not be compared with that of Fanjiazhuang and Tianjin under Li Zhi. When it rained heavily, the city
The garbage flows down the river and blocks the drainage channels and ditches. There is often serious water accumulation in the city and the sewage is all over the ground.
If during the plum rains and midsummer, the stagnant water and the hot high temperatures combine, it will form a breeding ground for plague, especially the plague. The plague was extremely abundant during the Chongzhen period, which is a reflection of this poor sanitary condition.
The plague in the late Ming Dynasty began to break out in Shanxi. In the tenth year of Chongzhen's reign, there was a "great plague." The dead were scattered in the city. In the thirteenth year, there was another great plague in the summer. In the fifteenth year, there was a great plague. In the sixteenth year of the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, there was a great plague in July.
There is a plague in the county and town."
Due to the poor sanitary conditions in Beizhili, the plague from Shanxi quickly spread to Gyeongsang Province. In the 13th year of Chongzhen, there were serious epidemics in Shunde Prefecture, Hejian Prefecture and Daming Prefecture, and they were epidemics of severe infectious diseases. "Plague contagion, people
"Death". In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, "the plague was widespread in Daming Prefecture, and fifty-six out of ten people died, and the year was very bad."
From the 16th to the 17th year of Chongzhen, the plague in Beijing, which was in a mess of municipal construction, was severely plagued. "There was a great plague in the capital, and tens of thousands of people died every day." According to the calculations of later generations, the plague killed a quarter of the capital's population.
The only city in Gyeonggi that has not been affected by the plague is Tianjin, run by Li Zhi. Among the cities in Tianjin, Li Zhi has vigorously developed municipal sanitation in recent years. Dozens of prefectures and counties in Tianjin have clean and tidy cities and good sanitary conditions, and have withstood the impact of the plague.
In the countryside, Tianjin's population has been migrating to Taiwan over the years, reclaiming wasteland, and the population density in the densest rural areas has been declining, which has also reduced the possibility of plague outbreaks.
Li Zhi stood in the two-story observation deck and looked outside the Ministry of War Yamen. He felt that although Nanjing's municipal facilities were old, they were still running. Although there was garbage on the streets, it was too much and there were still people cleaning it up. On the roads
Although there is a lot of water, because there are many rivers in the city, the water flows to lower areas and will not form large pools of disease in low-lying areas.
The situation in Jiangnan is always better than in the north.
Rain will not only form sewage pools and breed plagues, but in this era, it is also the natural nemesis of firearms. When it rains, gunpowder gets damp and may not be fired. If they encounter enemies on heavy rain days, the Tiger Army can only rely on steel knives and armor for hand-to-hand combat.
There is less rain in the north, so if it rains for a few hours, you can actually run away, and the probability of hand-to-hand combat is low. But in the south, heavy rain sometimes falls for half a day at a time, and it is really possible to force the Tigers and Ben troops to fight in hand-to-hand combat.
The further south you go, the more rain there will be. Li Zhi secretly thought that he must develop some waterproof equipment, otherwise he may encounter big problems when he attacks the south in the future.
After thinking about it, Li Zhi stopped looking at the rain in the city and thought about the problem of the gentry's houses being confiscated. He turned to look at Han Jinxin and asked: "General Han, how much silver have we confiscated so far?"
Han Jinxin replied: "The Duke of Guo, the gentry from Huizhou Prefecture, Anqing Prefecture and other places all ran away. We only succeeded in capturing the gentry from Luzhou Prefecture and six other prefectures. All in all, we copied eight million taels of silver.
Two hundred and thirty thousand taels of gold and four million taels of various goods. The total income is about fifteen million taels."
Li Zhi's raid on southern Zhili was a one-time military operation, and it was impossible to occupy Jiangnan for a long time. Jiangnan's gentry rule had a solid foundation. Although the Huben army tried to sell the houses and properties they raided, potential buyers were worried that Li Zhi would leave.
Later, when the gentry came back, no one dared to buy. What Li Zhi gained this time was only cash goods.
However, Jiangnan was indeed rich. Although he only succeeded in capturing the gentry from six prefectures, Li Zhi also copied more than 10 million taels of goods, so he returned home with a full load.
Li Zhi nodded and said: "It's almost time. I'll tell the emperor about Huai'an and we'll be back to Tianjin."
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On April 10th, in the morning session of the Huangji Hall, Gong Dingzi stood in the middle of the hall, sobbing bitterly.
"Changshu Qian Qianyi is a man of great talent, Bohai has a vision, the country is strong, and a model for scholars. I don't want to die in the hands of Li thief in one day. We look forward to it."
When Zhang Guanghang, the minister of punishment, saw Gong Dingzi crying bitterly for Qian Qianyi, he couldn't bear it. He stepped forward and cursed: "Qian Qianyi colluded with the Tatars and united with the Eastern slaves from north to south to attack the Duke of Jin. He has undoubtedly been labeled a national thief. Qian Qianyi, the leader of the Duke of Jin, has
Yi, Shuntian Yingren. What is Gong Dingzhi’s intention in mourning you for the traitor Qian Qianyi?”
Gong Dingzi was immersed in his own grief and did not hear Zhang Guanghang's angry rebuke. He just stood there and cried: "When Mr. Qian left this time, Jiangnan Shilin lost its leader. Death is a great thing, so I ask the emperor to issue an imperial edict."
, absolve Qian Qianyi of the blame, find someone to collect his body, and find a good place to bury it."
Zhang Guanghang got angry when he saw Gong Dingzi ignoring him.
"He was a prodigal in his youth, a fraudster who sabotaged the imperial examinations in his middle age, a traitor who colluded with the Qing Dynasty in his later years, a local tyrant and evil gentry when he lived in the countryside, and a corrupt official in the government. Such a person was deposed by the Duke of Jin, and everyone in the world celebrated it.
So, is there any argument for overturning the verdict?"
Hearing Zhang Guanghang's undisguised curse, the civil servants in the court all glared at Zhang Guanghang. If it weren't for the Han generals in uniform to maintain order in the court, I am afraid that the Donglin Party members would have gone up to beat Zhang Guanghang.
Shi Wenkaiting, the right deputy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, suddenly took a step forward and said, "I have something to say!"
"explain!"
"Shaanxi has suffered from severe drought for consecutive years, and there has been no harvest. Rice and fat are bare for thousands of miles, and people eat each other. Sun Chuanting please exempt Shaanxi for one year."
However, the Donglin Party was not concerned about the severe drought in Shaanxi, and Wen Kaiting's words were regarded as deliberately changing the topic. Before Wen Kaiting could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Wang Duo, the chief minister of the cabinet: "Qian Qianyi's imperial examination fraud case,
There are many doubts, and they are the tactics used by the eunuch party Wen Tiren to frame our Donglin Party. Zhang Guanghang, you are using Wen Tiren's chicken feathers as arrows, do you want to build the eunuch party again?"
Hearing Wang Duo's attack on Wen Tiren as an eunuch, Zhu Youjian suddenly shouted angrily: "That's enough!"
When Wen Tiren was the chief minister, the imperial court could still control the situation in the world. At that time, all the provinces south of the Yangtze River obeyed Zhu Youjian's imperial decree, but now Zhu Youjian feels that he can only control Northern Zhili.
"I can't explain anything, so let's end the discussion here today."
Fan Jingwen, the elder of the pavilion, suddenly jumped out and said: "Your Majesty, please stay! I ask the emperor to order Li Zhi to hand over the silver goods confiscated from his house in Nanzhili!"
Zhu Youjian was stunned when he heard this and took a breath. After all, he did not answer Wang Duo, but waved his hand and said: "Retreat!"
