Although the officials of the participating countries were very interested in the establishment of a grain reserve system, there was a person in charge like Ji Jiliang who had to personally take care of every detail, and the establishment of a grain reserve obviously had to contradict the big grain merchants in various places, even if Chongzhen and Tobe Shangshu were behind him, it might not be of any benefit, and they also extinguished their desire to intervene in it.

However, the establishment of the Ministry of Water Resources by the Ministry of Industry and the establishment of a project plan for the treatment of the five major water systems have attracted great attention from everyone.

The Pearl River, the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Huai River, and the Haihe River, except for the Pearl River water system, which has nothing to do with the Grand Canal, the other four major water systems are all related to the Grand Canal.

Therefore, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has been focusing on the governance of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Huai River, and the Haihe River, and the governance of the Yellow River is the top priority.

Before Nurhachi raised his army, the politics of the Ming Dynasty basically revolved around two centers, one to keep the water flowing smoothly, and the other to govern the Yellow River.

Controlling the water can make political achievements, and the governance of the Yellow River is the same as the construction of castles by the Liaodong army, which is a huge investment of money, but the imperial court does not have much expectation, as long as it is safe and sound. As long as you are lucky, you may not be able to do anything during your tenure.

Moreover, Wu Chunfu, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, is now mainly working on the construction of mountain tombs, so there is no time to take care of this water control affairs. The newly established Ministry of Industry Water Control Waiter, naturally everyone wants to recommend their own people to go up.

However, Chongzhen did not give them a chance, but directly appointed Jiang Dejing, the editor of Hanlin, as the squire of the Ministry of Works in charge of the Ministry of Water Resources.

Although many officials believe that Jiang Dejing has been staying in the Hanlin Academy, he may not be proficient in such practical practices as water control. For government affairs that are related to the livelihood of the people, such as water control, it is more appropriate to select personnel who have handled local practices.

Chongzhen asked Jiang Dejing to stand up, and after explaining his plan for controlling the Haihe River in front of everyone, he said to the ministers: "If you have talents to control the water, you might as well recommend them." Since Pan Jitao, I have not managed water conservancy on a large scale.

The Ming Dynasty took agriculture as the foundation, and agriculture was based on water conservancy. How can I think there are too many talents to control the water? However, the people you recommend must first write a plan for water control, and it must be like Jiang Hanlin's article on water control. If it's just a rhetorical person, don't waste my time. ”

Jiang Dejing stood among the ministers, his face slightly red. This article was not the crude plan he had given to the emperor before, but a new plan that had been reorganized after talking with the emperor and obtaining some geographical survey data given to him by the emperor.

This kind of Haihe River management plan is by no means something that can be done by one person in a vacuum, but requires the collaboration of an entire team to collate such a detailed plan.

Even Jiang Dejing himself thought that without the data collected by these geographical survey teams sent by the emperor, he would not have been able to make the whole plan at all.

These opposing officials suddenly fell silent, they wanted to recommend candidates and reap some benefits from water control, not to make trouble for themselves.

They weighed the plan made by Jiang Dejing in their hearts, and found that the candidate they recommended might not be able to draw up such a plan, and perhaps except for Pan Jitao, a water control expert in the Wanli period, others could not surpass this Jiang Hanlin.

Seeing that the voice against Jiang Dejing gradually became quieter, Zhang Ruitu suddenly stepped forward to support the emperor's proposal. With this pavilion elder taking the lead, several Fujian officials immediately came out to support this fellow villager Hanlin.

Chongzhen's appointment of Jiang Dejing was also passed without danger. As for the treatment of the five major water systems, Wu Chunfu, on behalf of the Ministry of Industry, proposed a water control plan for water control in stages, first in the north and then in the south, and with priority and urgency.

First of all, the water control work will be carried out in a period of five years, with the Haihe River and the Huai River being treated first, followed by the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, and finally the Pearl River.

Located near Gyeonggi, the Haihe River threatens the security of the people of the capital and the Ming Dynasty, so it should be regarded as a key target of governance.

The maintenance of the tributaries of the Haihe River, and the setting up of flood reservoirs in the upper and middle reaches of the Haihe River, and the construction of dams, and the widening of the downstream river channels, as the focus of the first phase of the project, is expected to exceed 1.5 million yuan of capital investment, so the Haihe River treatment project allocated 1.5 million yuan.

After that, it is the Huai River that was taken by the Yellow River to the sea, the Huai River has many tributaries, abundant water, and it is related to whether the Grand Canal has water for navigation, so it is quite tricky to govern.

Since the five years of Song Shaoxi's reign, the Yellow River has become the main pan road for the Yellow River to migrate south to seize Huai River between the Yinghe River and the Vortex River in Anhui Province. A large amount of sediment carried by the yellow water has silted up the riverbed of the main stream of the Huai River and the Huaibei tributaries in Anhui, disrupting the original water system. Therefore, almost every year in the middle and lower reaches of the Huai River, there will be a flooding of the river.

According to the principle of water control of both flood storage and planning, the main stream and major tributaries of the Huai River must be brought under control. The first is to build a large valley reservoir in the Dabie Mountains to intercept floods during the rainy season. secondly, the use of lakes and depressions along both banks of the Huai River to build banks and flood storage projects; Finally, a survey was carried out in the lower reaches of the Huai River to see if a new estuary could be excavated to alleviate the flooding of the Huai River.

Because the geographical data of the Huai River is not detailed enough, it is impossible to give a more detailed budget, and the final estimate is 800,000 yuan for river control.

It seems that there is no better way to control the Yellow River than Pan Jitao, so 450,000 yuan is allocated according to the practice of previous years.

As for the Yangtze River, one is to survey the whole basin, and the other is to maintain the Yangtze River channel and maintain the dams of the Yangtze River, with an allocation of 500,000 yuan. As for the Pearl River, which no one cares about, only 250,000 yuan is allocated.

Based on the water control plan in the above five years, a total of 3.5 million yuan of water control bonds need to be issued. After hearing this number, the officials present all turned their eyes to Wang Fengyuan.

The bulk of the previous commercial taxes, such as the taxes on silk, tea, and cotton, have been mortgaged out. The only thing that would like to mortgage such a large amount of public debt is the salt tax or the land tax, but most of the officials present felt that they would not agree with such a mortgage target.

The salt tax and the land tax are the basis for maintaining the normal operation of the Ming Dynasty, and without which of these two pillars, the Ming Dynasty will not have a future to speak of. Whether it is the salaries of officials or the salaries of the army, they need to come from these two things.

Although he was stared at viciously by so many officials, Wang Fengyuan was much calmer than when he first came in.

He replied relatively calmly: "The Central Bank of Daming is willing to underwrite this public bond, simple interest, 3 years, 35% annual interest, and the amount is 3.5 million yuan." ”

After the two public debts were approved by the courtiers, Zhu Youzhen yawned and said: "It's not too early, if you don't have anything else, this will be dispersed, let's go have lunch." ”

Huang Liji hurriedly walked in front of the emperor and bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has something to report to Your Majesty." ”

Zhu Youzhen, who was already about to stand up, sat back again, and he asked Huang Li very gently, "What else does Mr. Huang have to tell me?" ”

Huang Liji hurriedly said: "These days, because of a case, the Criminal Department has made the officials of the DPRK and China panic, and even the political affairs have been abandoned. I ask Your Majesty to order the Criminal Department to clarify the facts, and not to use the case to attack dissidents and make a storm in the city..."

Zhu Youzhen asked with a slight curiosity: "What kind of case is it?" Let Mr. Huang, you are in a hurry? Mr. Huang, please speak slowly, don't be in a hurry. ”

Huang Liji hurriedly talked about Huang Zongxi's case of avenging his father from beginning to end.

Han Xiangyun and several Donglin Party members stared at the emperor's actions, trying to judge what the emperor's intentions were for this case.

I saw Zhu Youzhen suddenly come to his senses, and said to Huang Liji: "I have also heard some rumors of this case in the palace, but I don't know much about the details of this case.

Since Mr. Huang has a deep understanding of this case, I would like to ask: When the Criminal Department summoned the officials, did he violate the judicial procedures formulated by the Criminal Department and approved by the Cabinet? ”

Huang Liji was stunned for a long time before slowly replying: "This is about nothing." ”

Zhu Youzhen continued to ask: "So in this case, the judge who presided over the interrogation took bribes?" ”

Huang Liji hurriedly shook his head and said, "There shouldn't be such a thing." ”

Zhu Youzhen spread his hands and asked Huang Liji: "The Criminal Department did not violate the law in the trial, and the second did not take bribes. So what does Mr. Huang want me to clarify for you? ”

Huang Liji felt that his head was dizzy by Chongzhen, he wanted the emperor to pay attention to the content of the case, but the emperor blocked his complaint with the legality of the procedure.

When Huang Liji was thinking about how to refute the emperor, Zhu Youzhen had already turned his eyes away from him.

He asked Liu Zongzhou: "Mr. Liu, you are a member of the DPRK and China. Excuse me, are you panicking these days because of this case? ”

Liu Zongzhou subconsciously replied: "Back to Your Majesty, the minister did not feel abnormal. ”

Zhu Youzhen turned his face to Han Yi again and said, "Mr. Han, how are you feeling these days?" ”

Han Yi said with a smile on his face: "The minister has been in a good mood for the past two days. ”

Zhu Youzhen pointed to a person next to the Ministry of Rites and asked, "Qian Shilang, how are you feeling?" ”

Qian Longxi lowered his head and avoided Huang Liji's gaze, and replied without hesitation: "Back to Your Majesty, the minister's mood has been very calm these days. ”

Huang Liji looked at it with a depressed face, and took the initiative to find Qian Longxi, who had reconciled with him, and betrayed himself without hesitation.

"How could he believe in the ethics of these Donglin Party members, it is really self-inflicted, and he can't live." Huang Liji said to himself in his heart.

Huang Liji fell into thought, but Chongzhen didn't plan to continue to talk to him. Zhu Youzhen touched his stomach, then stood up and said, "I feel hungry too, so let's disband." ”

Taking advantage of Huang Liji's lack of reaction, Chongzhen stood up and walked into the apse and left the conference room of the Wenhua Palace. When Huang Liji wanted to catch up, he was stopped by two little eunuchs.

After walking out of the Wenhua Palace, Zhu Youzhen instructed Wang Chengen: "You find a time, go and see the Sun Guoyi who checked the "Three Dynasties Classics", and ask him if he has any experience..."