Top Scholar

Chapter 586 One man's poison is another man's honey

Upon returning to Donggui Hall, Su Lu summoned the main leaders of the Imperial Funds Committee for a meeting.

At this time, the second phase of the construction of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices was still underway, and the Imperial Supplies Committee was temporarily set up in Donggui Hall, working in the backyard that was originally used as a storeroom. The already crowded office environment became even more crowded... Fortunately, it was the dead of winter, so being crammed together made it warmer.

Currently, the Imperial Assets Committee has three departments with clearly defined responsibilities: the Financial Preparatory Office, headed by Su Man, is responsible for the minting of gold and silver coins and the establishment of the Royal Bank; the Imperial Shop Preparatory Office, under the jurisdiction of Xia Bangmo, is responsible for the integration of imperial shops and the planning of business strategies; and the Imperial Estate Preparatory Office, led by Lu Ying, is responsible for surveying land, demarcating imperial estates, and arranging regulations.

Once everyone had arrived, Su Lu got straight to the point, first giving a general overview of the situation of the disaster victims in the capital, and then emphasizing what he had seen and heard during his on-site investigation with his elder brother that morning, which made everyone's expressions solemn.

“The soldiers of the Five Cities Garrison would drive oxcarts along the streets every morning to collect corpses…cart after cart, all of them had frozen to death the night before, mostly the elderly and children.” Lu Ying also opened up. He liked to conduct on-site investigations and was out and about all day, so he had seen far more horrific scenes than Su Lu, who sat in the office all day.

"Their bodies were frozen stiff, but not curled up; they lay upright, chests exposed, faces contorted in agony, a truly gruesome sight. These corpses were hauled away, truckload after truckload, to the cremation grounds south of the city, where thick smoke billowed for days." Lu Ying recounted the most tragic details in a calm tone:
"Those responsible for cremation and burial at the cremation site are all disaster victims. They would fight to do it even if they weren't paid, because it would at least provide food and warmth..."

Hearing this, everyone broke down, and some almost threw up their breakfast.

“Brother, you may not know this, but the current state of the city is the result of Eunuch Liu’s repeated orders to expel the displaced people, unable to bear their gathering. Go outside Beijing and see for yourself; the shacks outside the city walls are a vast, continuous expanse, with at least tens of thousands of displaced people.” Xia Bangmo continued, “
"No wonder Eunuch Liu kept chasing people out of the city. With so many starving and freezing disaster victims gathered together, a single spark could set them off!"

Lu Ying disagreed, saying, "What's all this fuss about? The disaster victims are all starving and barely able to stand. How could they possibly have the strength to cause trouble?"

He sneered and said, "I think Eunuch Liu is just doing this on purpose. Let them all starve to death!"

“Yes, the trouble will be over once they're all dead!” Zhu Zihe, Secretary Su’s secretary, was naturally present. He snorted coldly.

“But this is not something a human being would do! We keep saying we want to save the Ming Dynasty, but in the end, aren't we saving the people of the Ming Dynasty? We can't help the people in other provinces because we're too far away, but these living disaster victims are right in front of us. If we just stand by and watch them freeze and starve to death, and do nothing but talk about ‘saving the Ming Dynasty,’ wouldn't that be a huge joke?!”

Su Lu nodded slowly, then said in a deep voice, "What everyone says is absolutely right—we, the Imperial Funds Committee, will take in all these disaster victims. Since it's not raining, we'll build canals to bring in water and use work as a form of relief, thus resolving our dilemma!"

"The imperial estate now has vast tracts of land that urgently need irrigation; once the irrigation system is completed, the opening of the imperial store will also require a large workforce!" He paused, then declared proudly.
“In Eunuch Liu’s eyes, these people are vagrants who disturb the peace and cause trouble, but in my eyes, they are not a burden at all, but rather a valuable labor force that has left the land!”

As he spoke, he couldn't help but blurt out, "Do you know that in the Duke of England's hometown, a large-scale 'sheep eat people' land enclosure movement is taking place, which is to force farmers to leave the land and work in factories?"

Upon hearing this, the people present looked at each other, their faces full of confusion... Some didn't understand why the sheep had stopped eating grass and started eating people. Others were puzzled, since the Duke of Yingguo's hometown was Beijing.
Su Lu didn't bother to explain further, but instead emphasized to himself:

“You must not regard migrants as a burden—labor has always been the most valuable asset, and is usually firmly bound to the land! But since we have set the path of enriching the country through industry and commerce, we need a large number of laborers to leave the land and work for us!”

"Do we need so many people?" The crowd found it hard to believe.

“Yes!” Su Lu nodded emphatically, pointing to the map of Beizhili on the table: “The capital alone is a huge and extremely wealthy market with a population of one million; if you include the entire Beizhili, the population registered in the Yellow Register is four million, and if you include the hidden population, the conservative estimate is as high as eight million! Such a large market is enough for us to support tens of thousands of workers and their entire families!”

The others naturally believed Su Lu's words, but Xia Bangmo, the director of the Imperial Shops Bureau, couldn't simply believe everything he said, otherwise it would all be his responsibility. He said worriedly, "What you say is true, senior brother, but the current difficulty is that the people of Beizhili are struggling to make a living—from the first year of Zhengde to the third year, the drought has worsened year by year, and this winter is no exception. If the drought continues next year, I'm afraid people will starve to death everywhere. How can anyone do business then?"

“Indeed, the drought may continue next year.” Su Lu nodded, but his tone remained firm: “But Brother Shunyu, there’s no need to worry too much; the drought will surely pass!”

"Pfft..." Although the atmosphere was very serious, the young people were still amused by Su Lu's nonsensical literature.

"Don't laugh, I have evidence." Su Lu said with a serious expression, "The drought research group led by Ji Zhan has compiled statistics on the duration of all national droughts in history. The conclusion is that in the past thousand years, no such extreme drought has lasted more than three years, and there have only been four droughts that lasted for three years."

“If we look further back, in the last two thousand years, only the severe drought at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty lasted for more than four years, coupled with locust plagues and wars, which ultimately led to the Yellow Turban Rebellion.” Su Lu said in a deep voice, “Therefore, we have reason to believe that if we hold on for at most another year, the drought will definitely be alleviated!”

"..." The crowd was surprised that Su Lu would use this method to persuade them, and for a moment they didn't know how to refute him. "Believe me, there's always a way out, and the drought will eventually pass!" Su Lu stood up, his resolute gaze sweeping over the crowd. "What we need to do is to feed these laborers as much as possible during these difficult days, so that they have work to do and food to eat, and live to see the day when the rain nourishes the earth."

"Then it will be time for our Imperial Assets Committee to vigorously develop industries and revitalize the lives of people in the capital region!" he said, raising his voice decisively.
“We have vast tracts of fertile land in the imperial estate. As long as we can grow crops, we can reliably feed these disaster victims! But in a year of severe drought, the key to a harvest is the construction of irrigation systems! So, Brother Shunyu, your Imperial Estate Administration must hurry up and formulate a work-for-relief plan!”

"Brother Binyang, your Imperial Estate Administration should immediately contact the Ministry of Works and the Shuntian Prefecture, requesting the assistance of the Water Conservancy Bureau and the Assistant Water Conservancy Commissioner to formulate a plan for the water conservancy project!" Su Lu then looked at Lu Ying:

"I want to hear your feasibility report in two days!"

“Yes,” Xia Bangmo and Lu Ying hurriedly replied in deep voices.

Su Lu then instructed Zhu Zihe: "Zihe, take another inventory of the confiscated grain and see if you can take out some of it to set up soup kitchens in the name of the Emperor, so as to at least keep the lives of the disaster victims alive."

"Furthermore, Brother Shunyu," Su Lu said, turning to Xia Bangmo, "regardless of any plans for now, recruit disaster victims to mine coal in Xishan, and provide them with free heating once the coal is mined."

The Imperial Household Commission was essentially the inner court, so everything was done under the emperor's name, and there were no taboos. As long as Zhu Houzhao didn't object, Su Lu could do whatever he wanted... Even if he messed it up, there was always Eunuch Liu to take the blame.

After everyone had accepted the order, Su Man asked, "Then what should I do?"

"Brother, hurry up and mint the Zhengde silver coins so we can spend money!" Su Lu said.

"Everything is progressing smoothly, and I was just about to report to you." Su Man didn't intend to cause trouble, but seeing how much Su Lu valued the silver coins, he took out a heavy brocade box, opened it, and neatly arranged more than ten gold and silver coins of different styles on the table.

"These are the foreign gold and silver coins we have collected during this period. Most of them were obtained from the Jiangnan area, so it took some time."

As everyone took a moment to adjust their mood, their attention turned to the gold and silver coins on the table, with some even picking them up and examining them curiously. They were of varying sizes and had unique designs, quite different from the copper and silver coins that circulated in the Ming Dynasty.

Su Lu also picked up a Ducat, examining it as he said casually:

"This is not surprising. Overseas trade along the southeast coast is very prosperous, and it is normal for some foreign coins to circulate... For example, this European gold coin should have flowed into the Ming Dynasty through Arab merchants."

Lu Ying asked curiously, "But Brother Hongzhi, doesn't the imperial court have a maritime ban? It forbids private trade with overseas countries. How did these foreign coins end up in Jiangnan?"

"People from Shandong are really straightforward," Xia Bangmo said with a faint smile, clearly knowledgeable. "These days, what kind of prohibition can actually be enforced? Especially overseas trade involving huge profits, which gentry and wealthy merchants flock to, smuggling with great enthusiasm. You may not know, but the Xie family is one of the most prominent maritime merchants, and I've heard they have a large share in the trade with Japan!"

"Trade with the East?" Lu Ying was dumbfounded. "And trade with the West, and trade with Southeast Asia?"

“That’s right.” Xia Bangmo nodded and said, “However, the West is too far away. Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty’s overseas trade is mainly divided into two routes: the East and the South. The main target of the East trade is Japan, but the Japanese do not have the technology to mint coins. What is circulated is silver ingots and silver bars, which have to be recast into silver coins when they arrive in China!”

He stated confidently, "Therefore, these gold and silver coins must have been obtained from trade in Southeast Asia!"

"Wow, Brother Shunyu, you're so knowledgeable!" Lu Ying exclaimed with admiration. "If your family weren't from Chongqing, I would have thought your family was also in the maritime business."

"Hehe..." Xia Bangmo smiled but didn't say anything. He wouldn't tell Lu Ying that his family supplied goods to maritime merchants.

(End of this chapter)