Ma Mingyuan put his hands on his knees, and sat there like an obedient child, because he talked too much, he felt that his throat was dry as if it was about to burst.

Zhao Huan, who looked like a woman, looked at Ma Mingyuan's appearance, couldn't help frowning, showing an expression of disgust, he covered his nose and couldn't help complaining: "Can't you give him a shower or something?" The smell is too bad. ”

Jinyi Wei Xiaoqi Pang Gao said nonchalantly: "I'll get used to it after smelling it for a long time, and keeping it like this is also to protect him." He suddenly slapped the table and scolded Ma Mingyuan in front of the table: "Ma Xiucai, don't fall asleep, I have to continue to ask you." ”

Ma Mingyuan's body was about to tilt, and his conditioned reflex generally sat up straight, and he pleaded hoarsely: "Two adults, I have already said everything I know, okay, give me a sip of water to drink." ”

"If you want to drink water, you have to answer the questions honestly, understand?" Pang Gao said majestically to him.

"What do you want to know, sir? You're always going to give me a hint, right? Ma Mingyuan felt like he was about to collapse.

"Let's start again from the day you set off from Shenyang, right? Remember to be honest and tell all the details. Zhao Huan sharpened the ink and said with a pen ready to record.

Ma Mingyuan took the glass of water handed over by Pang Gao, drank it greedily, and began to numbly repeat his eighth or ninth time.

At the mouth of the Haihe River, at the mouth of the Haihe River, a large area of flat seaside tidal flats has been bulldozed, and many ditches and multi-level pools have been dug on it, making it look like paddy fields without rice. This new type of salt production method is the latest salt drying method in the south.

Although the salt drying method is more productive than the conventional salt boiling method, it is a very heavy physical work to bring seawater into the pool. But today, a strange structure has been erected on this salt pan, a tower-shaped structure with 4 criss-crossed leaves on the roof, which looks like an enlarged windmill.

Although he had already seen the design principle of the windmill house on the drawings, Wang Zheng looked at the completed windmill that had been completed to lift water, and still couldn't help but ask Lu Ruohan, a Western missionary beside him: "Can this Dutch-style windmill really be more efficient than the vertical shaft windmill with wind coming from all directions?" ”

Lu Ruohan replied with emotion: "A windmill of this size, even if it is made by skilled craftsmen in the Netherlands, it will take six months. Unexpectedly, it only took us more than 3 months to complete. ”

Wang Zheng smiled and said, "That's because we first made models for the craftsmen, so that they were familiar with the structure of the entire building. In addition, some parts are made of iron instead of wood, which greatly saves manufacturing time. ”

Before Lu Ruohan could speak, the saltworks workers gathered around the windmill were already shouting: "Move, move..."

Wang Zheng and Lu Ruohan both turned their heads to look and saw a line of water flowing along the high platform next to the windmill towards the pool below.

Wang Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and said: "It's successful, and the workers in the salt field can save a lot of effort..."

On the morning of June 15, at the state meeting held in the Wenhua Palace, Huang Liji was saying to the emperor and the officials of the six ministries: "Shi Yongan, the governor of the right servant of the military department, reported that following the great drought in Shaanxi last year, there has been no rain in northern Shaanxi this year, especially the drought in Yan'an Prefecture and Suide Prefecture is the most serious.

Last year, the second king of Baishui killed Zhang Douyao, the magistrate of Chengcheng, and after being repelled by the official army, he merged with the people's army of Wang Jiayin of Fugu and retreated into the Huanglong Mountain in Yanqing.

Hu Tingyan, the governor of Shaanxi, was old and old, and anyone who reported to him the peasants' uprisings was indiscriminately beaten with a board, and claimed that it was nothing more than a starving people; When the grain is harvested next year, it will naturally be fine.

The governor acted in this way, and the subordinate counties naturally did not dare to report again, resulting in the hungry people in various parts of Shaanxi rising up to become thieves, while the local counties no longer dared to report to the higher authorities.

On this basis, Shi Yongan impeached Hu Tingyan, the governor of Shaanxi, and asked the imperial court to provide relief to Shaanxi. In addition, although the imperial court allocated a lot of military salaries to the border army last year, it still owed nearly 650,000 taels.

Because it is very likely that the drought in Shaanxi will continue this year, in order to prevent the border soldiers from making trouble and becoming thieves, Shi Yongan asked for an allocation of 300,000 taels of military salaries to reassure the border army. ”

Han Yi hesitated, but decided to say a few good words for Hu Tingyan, "Although Hu Tingyan is at fault for deceiving the imperial court, he still has some things to say.

The thieves in Shaanxi are always desperate because of the extreme famine and the people's lack of livelihood, and if there is grain to harvest, these thieves will naturally become good citizens. ”

Shi Fenglai suddenly said angrily: "After Hu Tingyan concealed the thieves under his rule, he did not take any measures to alleviate the disaster, he closed the city gate and lay on a soft pillow in the governor's yamen, could it be that the hungry people outside the city disappeared?" ”

Li Kuilong said sarcastically: "Shi Ge Lao doesn't know, these hungry people have indeed disappeared, and the thieves have been driven to other people's jurisdictions, so he Hu Tingyan will naturally be able to sit back and relax." ”

Seeing that these officials had the momentum of a big quarrel in the Wenhua Palace, Zhu Youzhen finally couldn't help but shout: "Enough, Shoufu convened this meeting to seek a solution to the problem, not to listen to who you are responsible." ”

Today's emperor was surprisingly not angry, but the officials quickly calmed down.

Zhang Ruitu took advantage of this opportunity and hurriedly said: "If Shi Yongan's impeachment is true, the minister thinks that Hu Tingyan should be punished, and another cadre should be appointed as the governor of Shaanxi to appease the people of Shaanxi." ”

Zhu Youzhen immediately looked at him and asked, "Then who do you think should be sent to take over Hu Tingyan's position?" ”

Hearing that Chongzhen responded to Zhang Ruitu so quickly, and several officials who wanted to speak for Hu Tingyan suddenly lost their minds, obviously the emperor had already made up his mind to change people.

Zhang Ruitu said without thinking: "The minister recommended Feng Sanyuan, the deputy capital of Yushi, to be the governor of Shaanxi, Feng Sanyuan is old and honorable, and he will definitely be able to appease the thieves in Shaanxi." ”

Guo Yunhou clapped his hands and said: "Whether it is to relieve the hungry people in Shaanxi, distribute food and salaries to the border army, or appease the people and thieves, they need money and food." At present, there are about 650,000 taels of savings in the state treasury, and the funds for the repair of the mountain mausoleum have not yet been allocated this year. First of all, where do you want to raise money and food to plug this gap? ”

Hwang said, "There has been no rain in Gyeonggi since the beginning of May, and if the drought continues, I am afraid that the Gyeonggi region will be the first to experience drought this summer." The minister thought that the household department should also leave a part of the money and grain as a reserve for the relief of the people of Gyeonggi. ”

Huang Daozhou stood up and pleaded to Chongzhen: "Now that the treasury is empty, the only way to do it now is to ask Your Majesty to send the silver from the inner treasury to help the difficult times." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, several officials came out to support him. Zhu Youzhen looked at the officials below for a long time before he said coldly: "In other words, you can't think of any other way except to ask me to allocate the money in the inner treasury?" ”

The officials below were speechless for a while, and Huang Daozhou suddenly said dissatisfiedly: "Your Majesty's silver in the treasury also comes from the blood and sweat of the people, and now the people of Shaanxi are in trouble, Your Majesty has taken out some silver, what's the problem?" ”

Zhu Youjian replied in an unkind tone: "If it is a state meeting, you will only let me allocate the money from the inner treasury, then why should I waste time here with you?" ”

Huang Daozhou was even more angry when he heard this, and Li Yingzhi, the imperial historian of Shaanxi, hurriedly stopped in front of him and said: "The minister thinks that it is better to let the officials in the capital help him pay, so that the people of Shaanxi can know that the imperial court is not saving him when he sees death, but the treasury is really empty and he is unable to save it." ”

There were very few responders to Li Yingqi's proposal, but no one dared to speak out against it.

Zhu Youzhen nodded at Li Yingzhi and said, "No matter what, Li Qing still thought of a way.

However, I also know that the salary of this dynasty is not high, and the Beijing officials are even more miserable, if you let the officials help the salary, it will not be helpful if there is less, and it will be difficult for some officials with insufficient family resources to support it. ”

He paused at this point, which relieved most of the officials in the hall. However, the emperor continued: "But I cannot turn a blind eye to the intentions of the people.

In this way, after you go back, you will inform the officials of the various ministries that this donation to the people of Shaanxi is purely voluntary. There are a lot of articles, not many hundred taels, and it is enough to express your intentions.

Since you don't have any other ideas, then except for the first assistant and the head of the household, the secretary of the department, the others will disperse. ”

Although they were dissatisfied with the emperor's early dissolution of the National Assembly, these officials were also relieved, after all, the problem of Shaanxi was really difficult to solve. If it doesn't rain, there will be no harvest in the field, and if there is no harvest in the field, the hungry people will rise up and rebel.

However, it is even more difficult to transport grain from Jiangnan to Shaanxi than to Beijing. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that you don't sell grain for thousands of miles, and you don't sell firewood for hundreds of miles.

Except for Shanxi and Shaanxi, which are only separated by the Yellow River, the other provinces and Shaanxi are surrounded by mountains and difficult to walk mountain trails.

In addition to the Guanzhong Plain in the south, Shaanxi is also a hilly area that is difficult to transport.

It can be said that in order to provide relief to the victims of the disaster in Shaanxi, raising money and grain is the first difficulty, transporting grain into Shaanxi is the second difficulty, and transporting grain from the Guanzhong Plain to northern Shaanxi is the third difficulty.

When there were only three ministers left in the hall, Huang Liji, Guo Yunhou, and Xu Guangqi, Zhu Youzhen beckoned the three of them to come to him, and then said: "The day before yesterday, I had ordered someone to go to Luoyang to get 100,000 stone of grain and 100,000 taels of silver to be transported into Shaanxi first.

In addition, last year, Henan and Shanxi were still smooth, and this year these two places do not seem to encounter famine, and this summer is about to be expected to be a bumper harvest. I plan to requisition grain in Henan and Shanxi to relieve the disaster in Shaanxi. ”

Guo Yunhou and Xu Guangqi breathed a sigh of relief, since the emperor had arranged the money and food, both of them felt that it was not a big problem.

However, Huang Liji frowned unexpectedly, he didn't think that Chongzhen would be so simple, so he took out the money in the inner treasury like this.

"How does Your Majesty plan to requisition food?" Huang Li asked cautiously.