Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 538 Corruption and the Emperor's Prestige!

"Although those official granaries were all built with reinforced concrete, they were not as easily washed away as the mud-brick houses of ordinary people when the flood came."

The man lowered his voice and said helplessly, "But the grain stored inside was still soaked by the flood."

He leaned closer, his tone no longer as friendly as before, tinged with indignation: "I heard that the grain we disaster victims are using to cook porridge is salvaged from those flooded granaries."

The man's eyes flickered: "This grain had already been reported to the imperial court and was to be reimbursed as a loss."

"But those officials took the grain that should have been reimbursed and used it to deceive the disaster victims, pretending it was for disaster relief!"

"Because the floodwaters contained a lot of silt, the porridge we were given was also full of sand."

"As for the disaster relief grain actually allocated by the imperial court, it had long been secretly sold off by the officials and turned into piles of silver, all of which went into their own pockets!"

Speaking of this, another matter came up: "Two years ago, the imperial court set up official granaries in various places and vigorously encouraged people to store their grain in the official granaries."

"The people believed it wholeheartedly and went to store grain."

He sighed and continued, "Who would have thought that the Yellow River would breach its banks this year, and almost all of those official granaries were also flooded."

"However, many people still held receipts for the grain stored in the government granaries, and they demanded that the government compensate them for the grain."

The man's face showed a mocking expression: "The government's response was: 'The grain has all been flooded, where would there be any grain left? When faced with a natural disaster, one can only accept one's fate and blame no one else!'"

He shook his head and said, "Of course, those people who had stored up grain were not satisfied. They said that the government had previously made a solemn promise that no matter what natural disasters or man-made calamities occurred, as long as the people had proof of receipt, they would be paid grain according to the proof and would never shirk their responsibility."

"Why are you going back on your word now? As a result, the people are gathering to cause trouble."

The man shook his head again, muttering self-deprecatingly, "But it won't cause much of a stir."

"Things are different now. The officers and constables in those government offices are now equipped with firearms. The common people are unarmed, what can they use to fight them?"

"I heard that a few days ago, the higher-ups issued a strict order: anyone who gathers a crowd to cause trouble should be shot dead!"

"Two days ago, a group of people were demanding grain in front of the government office, and the constables actually opened fire, killing more than a dozen people on the spot!"

Zhu Yunwen's expression suddenly changed, and his previously calm face instantly became serious.

What this man said may not be entirely true.

But the information it revealed was enough to make him wary.

At least, Zhu Yunwen did not see any mention of the flooding of the official granary in the reports from Henan.

Although Zheng Hongjian and Zhao Qingzhi exaggerated the severity of the disaster tenfold in their resubmitted memorial, describing the devastation in every line, they still made no mention of the damage to the official granaries.

These official granaries were all built by order of Zhu Yunwen himself.

The construction standards are extremely high, with extensive use of reinforced concrete and strict regulations on site selection.

The most basic requirement is that it must be built in a high-altitude area to ensure that it will not be submerged by floods in the event of a flood.

After the Yellow River breached its banks, although many places were flooded, there were actually quite a few high-altitude areas that were not affected by the flood.

Ultimately, the Yellow River's water volume is far less than that of the Yangtze River, while the North China Plain is vast and boundless.

After the Yellow River breaches its banks, the water will quickly spread in all directions and find a nearby river to flow into.

Apart from the area near the breach, even in slightly more distant areas that are flooded, the water does not accumulate to a very deep depth.

Because if the floodwaters are dispersed sufficiently, the amount of water in each place will be greatly reduced.

The reason why so many people's houses collapsed was mainly because, in that era, many people's houses were built with mud bricks or even thatched roofs and mud.

This type of house will collapse if it is submerged in water as deep as one foot.

The official granaries were different; they were not only built to be exceptionally sturdy, but their locations were also chosen in these high-altitude areas.

Even if conditions do not permit, the foundation should be raised by filling in soil to ensure the safety of grain reserves.

Zhu Yunwen had repeatedly emphasized this point as early as the beginning of the construction of the official granary, issuing orders and instructions on it repeatedly.

However, it turns out that the flooding of the official granary did actually happen.

Moreover, judging from the man's tone, there were probably more than one flooded granary.

What enraged Zhu Yunwen even more was that not only the Henan government offices kept this a secret.

Those newly built official granaries were directly under the jurisdiction of the Grain and Material Reserves Bureau.

However, the Reserves Department also failed to report this matter to him.

If he hadn't come here today and heard this man mention it unintentionally, he would probably still be in the dark, completely unaware of the magnitude of the disaster and the resulting losses.

Even more outrageous is that the local government failed to honor the promises it had made to the people.

Not only were the people not allowed to collect grain with their certificates, but they also openly opened fire to suppress them!
Once this news spreads, its impact will be far more than just the disaster-stricken areas of Henan.

At that time, people all over the country will probably rush to the government granaries to get grain in a panic, which will undoubtedly shake the system of centralized grain storage that they have worked so hard to establish in order to reduce losses, and make it all for naught.

The huge mess created by the local government in Henan ultimately resulted in losses for the entire Ming Dynasty!
After saying this, the man suddenly laughed heartily, as if he had thrown all his troubles to the back of his mind. He shook his head and comforted himself, "Let's not worry about these messy things. Although the government offices may not be very good now, it's good enough that they can give ordinary people something to eat."

He pointed to the dense crowd around him and said, "Look, so many people. If we distribute porridge to them every day, how much rice and grain will we need?"

"We ordinary people can't ask for too much. Do we really expect them to give us money, clothes, and build us houses?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen frowned slightly, then asked in return, "Why not?"

"Didn't I see in the Da Ming Daily that the imperial court has already allocated several million taels of silver to the disaster area?"

"According to the imperial court's regulations, people in disaster areas should have at least two steamed white flour buns a day, plus porridge and pickled vegetables, and enough to fill them up." "How come here, all we get are two bowls of thin porridge a day, and that's not even enough to fill us up?"

His gaze swept over the people living in the open air, and he said, "The Ming Daily also said that the imperial court allocated 10,000 tents to the disaster victims for them to live in temporarily and to shelter them from the wind and rain. Why haven't they been distributed yet?"

Zhu Yunwen's tone revealed obvious dissatisfaction: "Besides, the disaster relief clothing has also been prepared. It was transported here from the clothing factories in Jinling two days before His Majesty the Emperor set off on his northern tour. Why hasn't it been distributed yet?"

Finally, he raised the most crucial question: "And the money. The Da Ming Daily clearly states His Majesty's decree that every household in the disaster area should receive two taels of silver as disaster relief funds, and families with more than five members should receive an additional tael of silver."

"In addition, if any family member unfortunately dies due to the disaster, an extra two taels of silver will be given as a funeral allowance."

"Haven't these been distributed yet?!"

Upon hearing this, the man was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter. Not only him, but the surrounding crowd also joined in the laughter.

"Do you really believe what's in the newspapers?" someone shouted sarcastically, their tone full of disdain. "It's just the court putting on a show for those who aren't actually in the disaster area. As for whether they actually allocated money or it's just a bluff, who knows?"

Another person immediately chimed in, "Based on my previous experience working in government offices, it's possible that the emperor himself issued an imperial edict, and the Ministry of Revenue, seeing that the national treasury was empty, simply wrote, 'Let's owe it for now, don't allocate any more funds,' just to get by."

“That’s absolutely right!” someone else chimed in, their tone full of familiarity with the ways of the government. “The Ming Daily publishes the Emperor’s decree, but whether it is actually implemented below is another matter entirely!”

“In my opinion,” another person concluded, shaking his head, “those officials know perfectly well that they’re only keeping it from the Emperor! This article in the Ming Daily is specifically written for the Emperor alone!”

"Hahaha!"

A series of joyful yet somewhat desolate laughs echoed in the air.

Those were the voices of a group of disaster victims, worn down by life, containing their insight into the power games and their helpless sorrow.

Another person added sharply, "Even if the imperial court really allocates silver, grain, clothes, and tents, these things will never reach the hands of us ordinary people!"

He pointed upwards and said, "Starting from the emperor, through each level of officials, how many officials have to go through the chain of command? Each one of them skims off a little, and by the time it reaches us common people, we're lucky if we still have two bowls of thin porridge left!"

Seeing the numbness and mockery of these disaster victims, Zhu Yunwen's expression changed repeatedly, from initial shock to anger, and then to a complex emotion that was hard to describe.

After a long silence, he finally suppressed the turmoil in his heart and asked again, "So, all these injustices and predicaments are the fault of the emperor, and he's deliberately deceiving us common people?"

"Hey! How can you talk like that?! If it weren't for the Emperor's wise policies, back when the Yellow River was breaching its banks, would you have been able to eat two bowls of porridge every day?!" This sudden rebuttal startled Zhu Yunwen.

"You're such an ingrate! You don't know how to be grateful, and now you're blaming the emperor!"

Others around them chimed in with their own opinions.

"That's right, it's clearly the officials below who are deceiving their superiors and covering up the truth. How can they shift the blame onto the emperor?"

"If you ask me, our Emperor Yongsheng is a wise and virtuous ruler who is rare in all of history! If it weren't for him, how would we, the disaster-stricken people, have anything to eat!"

"Even if some of the disaster relief measures reported in the newspapers were exaggerated, the porridge was still actually distributed to us!"

"Yes, yes, one should know how to be content!"

"His Majesty the Emperor has been incredibly kind to us! Since the court implemented the new policies, we ordinary people have been able to have enough to eat. Even now, despite the unfortunate disaster, the court's soup kitchens have never stopped providing relief!"

"That's right, the imperial court is protecting us from starvation, what more could you want?"

"Since ancient times, which official has not been corrupt? But let them be corrupt. As long as we ordinary people have something to eat, we shouldn't be too concerned about such trivial matters."

"I heard that His Majesty the Emperor personally made this northern tour to inspect our disaster area!"

"If you really can't stand those corrupt officials, go to the Emperor's residence and file a complaint against them! But you are absolutely not allowed to slander His Majesty the Emperor again, otherwise, I will be the first to not let you off the hook!"

"Count me in! Anyone who dares to say a bad word about His Majesty the Emperor is going against me!"

Immediately, the crowd was filled with indignation, and the disaster victims took turns speaking out, severely criticizing Zhu Yuntong's previous remarks as biased.

This surprised Zhu Yunwen somewhat.

It seems that his prestige and reputation among the people are much higher than he imagined.

"He was just talking nonsense, everyone, don't take it to heart," Xu Miaojin said, trying to smooth things over.

At this moment, the little girl somehow got hold of a handful of mud, smeared it on her face, and completely covered her originally pretty face. At first glance, she looked no different from a real disaster victim.

Zhu Yunwen couldn't help but want to laugh.

Generally speaking, women are quite clean, especially when they are out in public, and they are extremely concerned about their appearance and would never want to get dirty in the slightest.

In fact, Xu Miaojin was extremely clean, even more so than ordinary women.

But she wasn't as delicate as an ordinary woman; when necessary, she could let go of her inhibitions.

“Our Emperor is an unprecedentedly wise and sage ruler!” Xu Miaojin deliberately drew out her words, while winking at Zhu Yunwen with her beautiful eyes.

Even though her face was covered in mud, her eyes remained clear and bright, shining like pearls.

Zhu Yunwen smiled, cupped his hands to the surrounding disaster victims, and said nothing more.

Just then, the sound of gongs was heard in the distance.

"Those who want porridge, come and line up!" A yamen runner stood in front of a tent, banging a gong and shouting, "Today, there are still white steamed buns bestowed by the Empress, one for each person, plus a spoonful of pickled vegetables. Those who want some, line up quickly."

Upon hearing this, the disaster victims scrambled to their feet and rushed toward the tents.

Seeing this, Zhu Yunwen followed suit.

……

(End of this chapter)