Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 59: Hai Rui is unsheathed, Jiangnan is in deficit!
In the lobby of the governor's office.

The two rows of desks on the left and right were filled with people in red and purple robes.

During the discussion, many people became impatient. When Hu Zongxian, the governor-general of Zhejiang and governor of Zhejiang, was in office, the Zhejiang officialdom had already reached a final conclusion on the Xin'an River flood. Wang ordered the execution of dozens of people. If they continued to discuss, they would only be repeating the same thing over and over again.

As a result, all the boring situations of Zhejiang officials were exposed.

Two officials sitting at the same desk were playing with a chicken-patterned cup made of fine official porcelain. Two officials at the same desk were even more unreasonable. They spread out a newly copied Kunqu opera score on the desk, tapped the beats with their fingers, and hummed in unison.

Zheng Michang, who was sitting in front of the large desk in the middle, was very patient. He closed his eyes and ignored everything, just resting his mind.

He Maocai, the Zhejiang Provincial Surveillance Commissioner who was sitting at the first seat at the desk on the left and had been in charge of Zhejiang's criminal law for 20 years, was teaching Zhejiang officials to treat the "angel" with caution, but he became anxious.

As the saying goes, "A man's reputation is like the shadow of a tree." He Maocai had heard of the name of Hai Rui from the neighboring province and was a very serious person.

If Hai Rui really discovered the secret behind the breach of the Xin'an River in nine counties, the Zhejiang officialdom would not have an easy time in the face of the Emperor's Sword.

He Maocai has handled countless major cases. Although he did not handle them personally, he knew that the breakthrough points of many cases are often in the details.

People's complacency is like the water storage at the Guanyan Weir before the Peach Blossom Flood of the Xin'an River. People's carelessness is like the shoddy construction of the Xin'an River that caused the river to burst in nine counties.

The truth that “a thousand-mile long dam can be breached by a single ant hole” was demonstrated before by the Xin’an River, but these bastards don’t take it seriously.

He Maocai slammed the table and stood up, shouting, "Can you please behave like an official? This is not a place for singing and playing with antiques!"

Seeing that Shangguan was really angry, the room suddenly became quiet.

The two officials who were playing with the chicken-glazed cups put away the cups. The official who was leading the Kunqu opera stopped singing, silently put away the music score, put down his hands, and sat upright.

In an instant, the atmosphere in the hall became positive and the officials seemed awe-inspiring.

"Virtue!" He Maocai snorted, and then said: "Chun'an, the food has been distributed, and the people have a way to survive, but the matter is not over yet. The food distributed is not from the government warehouse, but from the weaving bureau.

Now, after Eunuch Yang came to the capital, he was imprisoned and left alone, but the grain owner Shen Yishi came to Hangzhou Prefecture to ask for grain. There should be an explanation and a rule. What do you think? "

Shen Yishi was not an ordinary businessman, but a businessman who worked for the Weaving Bureau. Behind the Weaving Bureau were the palace and the emperor.

Zhejiang and Hangzhou prefectures had to return the relief grain that had been shipped to Chun'an, otherwise Shen Yishi would make a fuss and stop all the looms in his workshops. The Emperor would then stop weaving silk if the 500,000 acres of mulberry fields owned by Lord Yan and Minister Xu and the official mulberry fields in Zhejiang were not used to weave silk, and Zhejiang would be in big trouble.

This involves the emperor's treasury. He dared to allow the treasury to be in deficit. The deaths of the two eunuchs in charge of the Imperial Household Department, Meng Chong and Shi Yi, are still vivid in people's minds.

Under the emperor's wrath, the people of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau will die, and Shen Yishi will die. What if, before his death, Shen Yishi reports every detail of the money he had transferred to the Zhejiang officialdom? Who among those present here dares to say that they have not accepted money from Shen Yishi?

The fate of Zhejiang officials is self-evident.

However, one million dan of grain was worth seven hundred thousand taels of silver.

Be it the Hangzhou Prefecture or the Zhejiang officialdom, no one was willing to use their own money to fill the deficit.

The whole room was silent.

He Maocai became even more angry and said dissatisfiedly: "Is this the attitude to solve the deficit?"

Still silent.

He Maocai got angry, "Does this deficit need to be resolved? Since everyone has agreed, it means it needs to be resolved. If you can't solve it, then Lord Zheng and I will solve it.

This deficit is borne by all government offices, and everyone should claim it! "As soon as the word "claim" was spoken.

The Zhejiang officials immediately lowered their heads.

The silver of each government office had its owners even before it was produced. What should be divided and what should not be divided had already been distributed.

Asking people to hand over the silver now is an extremely offensive thing, who would be willing to do it?

Seeing that everyone was bowing their heads and unwilling to speak, He Maocai simply pointed at someone directly, "Ma Ningyuan, you are the prefect of Hangzhou Prefecture, and Chun'an is the county under your jurisdiction. Tell me, how much do you want to claim?"

Ma Ningyuan raised his head, looked at Zheng Michang, then looked at He Maocai, and said helplessly: "Master He, you decide, the amount that Hangzhou Prefecture will pay is what you say."

"shit!"

He Maocai saw that Ma Ningyuan was slippery, so he was not polite either. "I asked you to pay everything, will you? If you pay everything, today's meeting will end immediately."

All the Zhejiang officials raised their heads at this time and looked at Ma Ningyuan with shining eyes. When Hu Butang was in power, Ma Ningyuan was his confidant. Hangzhou Prefecture was the number one prefecture in Zhejiang, so there was definitely a way to make up for all the deficits. It just depended on whether Ma Ningyuan was willing to do it.

Ma Ningyuan was of course unwilling to do so. If he really took on the deficit of 700,000 taels of silver, he would no longer be able to serve as the prefect of Hangzhou.

Ma Ningyuan had no choice but to swallow his pride and said, "If Hangzhou Prefecture is fully paid, what are the other prefectures for?
All the governments say they don’t have silver, but don’t they all have something to use as collateral?
When the Xin'an River flooded, all prefectures and counties suffered varying degrees of damage, and a lot of farmland was submerged. They used the traditional methods to turn these lands into fake fields and gave them to the Weaving Bureau and Shen Yishi.

In Zhejiang, one mu of paddy land costs thirty-five taels of silver in a good year. But during a disaster, the price cannot be less than twenty taels of silver per mu.

That is 35,000 acres of land. This severely affected area is in my Hangzhou Prefecture, so I should take the lion’s share, 5,000 acres of land!
Mr. Zheng, Mr. He, how are you?"

Zhejiang has eleven prefectures under its jurisdiction.

Hangzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing, Ningbo, Jinhua, Quzhou, Taizhou, Wenzhou, Chuzhou, and Yanzhou.

It is not easy to share the land equally, but if Hangzhou Prefecture promises 5,000 acres and the other ten prefectures each receive 3,000 acres, that will be enough.

but.

That was it. The prefects of the ten prefectures in Huzhou were not very satisfied and the noise gradually grew louder in the hall.

Zheng Michang knew it was time to speak, and looked at Ma Ningyuan, "Hangzhou Prefecture, 10,000 acres!"

Ma Ningyuan subconsciously wanted to complain, but then he heard Zheng Michang say, "Don't complain to me. Anyone can complain, but you can't."

Being able to recognize Ma Ningyuan's use of land to pay for grain is the bottom line of the Zhejiang officialdom. If they continue to complain, the deficit cannot be resolved.

Sure enough, after it was announced that Hangzhou Prefecture would give up 10,000 acres of land, the prefects of the other ten prefectures stopped talking.

Ma Ningyuan had no choice but to accept it.

"I'll give you ten days. If the land deeds are not in place, you will resign!"

Zheng Michang made the final decision and said, "We have been colleagues for many years. Finally, I want to remind you that the angel is coming. Don't take that person or that sword lightly. During this period, those who visit prostitutes or keep concubines should stay quiet and don't let anyone catch them. Otherwise, don't regret it if you are chopped to death!"

The attendant outside the door hurried in and whispered in Zheng Michang's ear that Hai Rui and Xu Wei had come together.

Thanks to the reader "喵柒柒'殿" for the three hundred rewards. I am humbled and extremely grateful!

Killing a dragon in the river
August 2024.8.7,
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(End of this chapter)