Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 60: Hai Rui is fierce in playing in the officialdom!
What is officialdom?

Once you become an official, you have to show off your presence when you go out and have an "aura" when you come in. This is called officialdom.

All the red and purple robes from all over Zhejiang are here, and the official aura is more than intimidating.

All eyes turned to Hai Rui who was walking slowly towards them holding the Emperor's Sword.

"He's here. The great scholar has finally arrived." He Maocai shouted deliberately.

Everyone present here has passed the imperial examination and become a Jinshi. But Hai Rui was just a Juren.

In the officialdom, even if they were all Jinshi, they were divided into first, second and third class. However, scholars looked down on each other. Even Jinshi of the same year looked down on each other, let alone a Juren?
In a word.

The expressions of the people present all underwent subtle changes, and their gazes towards Hai Rui gradually became filled with undisguised scrutiny.

Hai Rui seemed to have heard nothing and walked steadily and calmly. On the contrary, Xu Wei, who was following behind him, seemed to have been hit by an arrow.

When he looked at the Zhejiang officials again, there was a hint of hostility in his eyes.

Seeing this, Zheng Michang glared at He Maocai and stood up first.

No matter what Hai Rui's background was, even if he was a peasant, he held the emperor's sword in his hand and the entire Zhejiang officialdom could not neglect him.

Old He is confused again.

He Maocai, knowing that he had spoken badly, and those officials had to stand up lazily.

Zheng Michang was exhausted and could only smile and walk forward, "Thank you for your hard work, County Magistrate Hai. Come on, please take a seat."

Following the direction of Zheng Michang's finger, Hai Rui's eyes flashed. His seat was actually arranged in the first place opposite He Maocai, which obviously meant that his position was higher than his rank.

Zheng Michang's intention in making such an arrangement was very clear. Hai Rui was chosen by the emperor and was given the Emperor's Sword. Honoring him was honoring the emperor.

More importantly, in addition to Hai Rui's responsibilities as the magistrate of Chun'an County, the emperor also allowed Hai Rui to investigate the truth of the Xin'an River flood. In this case, Hai Rui's attitude was crucial. If he was won over, the matter of Xin'an River would be resolved.

According to the rules of officialdom, Hai Rui should have been humble and said something like "I dare not". In the past, a small county magistrate could not even attend this class. The difference in status between him and the officials here was too great.

Hai Rui was humble at first, and Zheng Michang and others praised him again. After a few rounds of tug-of-war, Hai Rui reluctantly sat down again. This showed the harmony among Zhejiang officials from top to bottom.

Unexpectedly, Hai Rui showed no modesty at all, and did not even bother to greet Zheng Michang and He Maocai. He just walked straight to that seat and sat down.

Xu Wei didn't have a seat, so he stood next to Hai Rui.

This time, Zheng Michang was unable to hold it anymore, and the faces of officials such as He Maocai became even uglier.

He Maocai looked at Hai Rui with dissatisfaction. When their eyes met, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

Under the light of the lantern, Hai Rui's eyes were like being painted, flashing two bright lights that were brighter than the light of the lantern!

The overwhelming chilling aura completely overwhelmed everyone's official airs.

But after all, he was in office and in charge of criminal cases, so he couldn't be arrogant. He Maocai showed off his power and said, "The entire Chunan County was flooded, and the fields of hundreds of thousands of people were destroyed. County Magistrate Hai must have known about it in Fujian. Now, the provincial government has solved the grain problem for Chunan. The one million dan of grain is enough for the people of Chunan to eat until next year."

At this point, He Maocai was full of annoyance. In order to pay for these grains, they almost had a fight in the hall just now. He snorted and said, "The biggest problem has been solved. When County Magistrate Hai arrives in Chun'an, he only needs to do two things. One is to plant seedlings in the fields, and the other is to rebuild Chun'an. Don't worry about the rest."

This is Hai Rui's code of conduct agreed upon by Zhejiang officials.

As for the breach of the Xin'an River in nine counties, the Zhejiang officials would not allow Hai Rui to investigate, let alone cooperate with him.

If Hai Rui insisted on investigating, he would bear the consequences if anything went wrong.

There were both persuasion and warning, as well as words of authority, which Hai Rui and Xu Wei understood.

"Okay!" Hai Rui replied. Zheng Michang, He Maocai and the Zhejiang officials present were all stunned.

Is it that simple? Did it scare Hai Rui?

All Zhejiang officials had a feeling that it was unreal, and then they lamented that rumors were harmful.

According to rumors, Hai Rui is upright, quibbles over everything and is a difficult person to deal with. But after meeting him today, he is very different from the previous one.

It was probably because Hai Rui "did not understand the rules of officialdom" and was mistakenly regarded by the people in Fujian as being difficult to deal with.

This is a person who "knows the times".

If they had known this would be the case, why would the Zhejiang officialdom be so cautious?
For a moment, people's hearts relaxed.

Xu Wei was anxious. If the breach of the Xin'an River in nine counties was not investigated, the ministers would probably never be released from prison.

As I said, emperors have always refused to admit their mistakes. The emperor has already determined that there is something fishy about the Xin'an River flood, so there must be something fishy. Otherwise, it will bring shame to the emperor, not to mention that there is really something fishy about the Xin'an River.

Under the current situation, either Lord Yan, Minister Xu, and Little Lord Yan will die in the imperial prison, or the ministers will die in the imperial prison, or all of them will die.

If Hai Rui reported to the emperor that the Xin'an River flood was a natural disaster, it would prove that it was the emperor's fault. Relying on the power of the court, Lord Yan, Lord Xu and Little Lord Yan might be able to escape from the predicament, but the crime of negligence and harming the country by the ministers would be confirmed.

Xu Wei was about to step forward, but he found that Hai Rui turned to look at him with a look of friendly dissuasion. After thinking for a moment, he fell silent again.

Zheng Michang really didn't expect that Hai Rui would be so "weak and vulnerable" at the beginning, and he didn't even dare to challenge the Zhejiang officials.

Although it was unexpected, this change was welcomed by the Zhejiang officials and even the people in Beijing. Zheng Michang gave He Maocai a look, sat back in his original seat, and resumed his dignity as the acting governor of Zhejiang.

The visitor is so tactful, so the Zhejiang officials should also show some appreciation.

He Maocai took the look, cleared his throat, and sat down. "County Magistrate Hai, if you need anything during the restoration of the seedlings and the reconstruction of Chun'an, you can report it to the provincial government in an official document. If it can be solved, the provincial government will definitely help."

"Master Zheng, Master He, I heard that the emperor has granted Chun'an three years of tax exemption, so that Chun'an no longer has to worry about food shortages in the near future, nor does it have to bear the burden of taxes in the long run. Now the farmland in Chun'an County has been flooded, and I want to convert the farmland in the county into mulberry fields to enrich the people."

Hai Rui climbed up the pole without hesitation and said, "We have nearly 400,000 mu of fertile land in Chun'an that has been converted to mulberry seedlings. I would like to ask for your assistance, gentlemen."

It is an indisputable fact that planting mulberry trees is much more profitable than planting rice.

The reason why the imperial court did not dare to replace rice with mulberry on a large scale in the south of the Yangtze River was that it was afraid that merchants would hoard grain and raise the price of grain, leaving the people with no food to eat.

But it is different now. As He Maocai said, the one million dan of grain are enough for the people of Chun'an to eat until next year. And after switching to planting mulberry trees, the people of Chun'an County will be able to earn money as late as this autumn.

Three years of tax exemption was enough to make the people of Chun'an County the richest in the south of the Yangtze River.

Deathly silence.

Zheng Michang, He Maocai and Zhejiang officials never imagined that rice would be replaced by mulberry in Zhejiang in this way.

However, there were some differences between the expected beneficiaries and the expected beneficiaries. The beneficiaries were not people from Beijing or Zhejiang officials, but the people of Chun'an County.

All the Zhejiang officials looked as disgusting as if they had eaten a dead fly.

"The mulberry seedlings will be delivered to Chun'an on time." Zheng Michang was already in a very bad mood. Without waiting for others to say anything, he waved his hand and was the first to walk out.

According to historical records, Chongde County, Zhejiang Province, is more than 6.2 miles away from Chun'an County. During the Wanli period, the county had 20.7 acres of mulberry fields. By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the number of mulberry fields reached 41.4 acres, accounting for % of the county's arable land.

During the Xuande period, there were only 4.47 mulberry trees in Wuzhong, Suzhou. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the number of local mulberry trees was too numerous to count, and it was recorded in history that "there was almost no vacant land in the villages."

Both of them prove the feasibility of replacing rice with mulberry in Jiangnan.

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(End of this chapter)