roccoschili Chapter 37 Translation: What is malicious disaster relief?
Chapter 37 Translation: What is malicious disaster relief?
The sky was overcast and rainy, with rain falling continuously!
In June of the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, news of various disasters flooded into the capital like snowflakes.
On the first day of the sixth lunar month, urgent reports came from Jiangbei and Shandong: the drought was incessant, locusts covered the fields, the seedlings were devoured, and the land was barren for thousands of miles.
On the third day of the sixth lunar month, continuous rain fell for ten days in and around the pass, causing severe flooding in Yongping, Jizhou and other places, and continuous flooding in the surrounding areas of Beizhili.
On the fourth day of the sixth month, the border troops encountered Jurchen cavalry outside Xuanfu Town, resulting in a small-scale conflict. They retreated after leaving behind several corpses.
On the fifth day of the sixth lunar month, the Yellow River breached its banks at Guangwu, and turbid waves surged to the sky, submerging dozens of prefectures and counties overnight;
....
In the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Zhu Ming sat on his throne, holding a series of memorials in his hands. His gaze swept over the edges of the memorials, coldly watching the noisy civil and military officials in the hall.
The hall was buzzing with activity, like a swarm of wasps disturbed.
"...Drought and locust plague at the same time, this is divine punishment!"
"With the Yellow River breaching its banks, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, yet the Ministry of Revenue hasn't provided any disaster relief funds?"
"Relief? What are we going to use for relief? Even a rat would leave the national treasury with tears in its eyes if it went in!"
Zhu Ming remained silent.
He sat there, holding urgent reports in his hands, tapping the imperial desk with one finger at a leisurely pace.
knock.
knock.
knock.
The sound was not loud, and was completely drowned out by the noise of the entire hall.
He is waiting.
When these people have argued enough, when they're tired of arguing, when they finally come forward to offer their faces.
Sure enough, the conversation went from years of severe drought to locust plagues, from locust plagues to the Yellow River breaching its banks, from the breach to disaster relief, and then from disaster relief to the Jurchen invasion of the border...
The atmosphere in the hall changed immediately when the topic of the Jurchens came up.
"The Jurchens have repeatedly invaded the borders; what are the border troops that the imperial court supports doing?"
"The Jianzhou Jurchens have already scoured Xuanfu City so openly that they're practically scouting it out. What is the Xuanfu commander-in-chief doing?"
"How did the Jurchen cavalry manage to reach the very foot of the border wall? I must impeach Hou Shilu, the General of Xuanfu!"
"What kind of impeachment are you talking about! Don't forget, there's still a debt of 300,000 taels of silver for military pay in Xuanfu. The soldiers are so hungry they can't even lift a sword. How do you expect them to fight the Jurchens?"
"The border troops are corrupt, with too many empty positions! They're drawing salaries without working every year, and when it comes to fighting, they all run away faster than anyone else! Why can't they be impeached?"
"What the hell are you talking about! Hou Shilu has only been stationed in Xuanfu for a few months. Besides, the one leading the troops this time is Mangultai, the Third Prince of the Jurchens. That scoundrel is bloodthirsty and infamous. What makes you think you can fight him head-on? And if you really do fight, what will you use to stop him?"
"Even if we can't beat them, we must fight; even if we can't stop them, we must stop them! How can we allow the Jurchen barbarians to covet the gates of the capital?"
"Xuanfu only has so few troops, how can they possibly hold them off? You're shameless and have a big ass, are you the one to use to block them?"
....
As they talked, the hall erupted into chaos.
Some impeached Hou Shilu, while others spoke up for him; most criticized the border troops for their incompetence, while a few also spoke out in their defense.
They argued back and forth, but no one came to a conclusion.
Zhu Ming remained silent.
He looked at the faces in front of the main hall, some indignant, some fearful, and some numb, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
It's been over a year since I traveled through time, and I've been personally presiding over the morning assembly for almost three months now.
For three months, he watched as every morning assembly was just as noisy.
When natural disasters strike, there's arguing; when war strikes, there's arguing; in the end, the arguments either escalate to higher taxes, offer perfunctory responses, or postpone the trouble to the next tomorrow.
But tomorrow never cleans up the mess himself.
Zhu Ming's fingers stopped tapping.
He picked up his teacup, took a slow sip, and then used the lid to skim off the foam.
The movements were fluid and graceful, quite pleasant.
However, it is unacceptable for court assemblies to be so noisy and chaotic every time.
Now that he has a pretty good grasp of the ministers' rhythm and temperament, it's time to standardize the meeting procedures, to discipline those who need to be disciplined and punish those who need to be punished, and to deal with them one by one.
"My beloved ministers."
He finally spoke, his voice not loud, but clear and resonant, overpowering the noise of the hall.
The hall gradually quieted down.
Zhu Ming put down his teacup, slowly sat up straight, and glanced down at the floor below.
"Are you done arguing?"
No one dared to answer.
"Now that the argument is over, let me say a few words."
His gaze swept from left to right, then back from right to left, finally landing on a note-taker in the corner who was engrossed in writing.
The scribe was startled; his pen trembled, and the ink blot spread into a black flower on the paper.
"Before June was even halfway over, disasters struck one after another, which pained me deeply."
Zhu Ming spoke slowly, his tone devoid of any inflection, "However, what I find tragic is..."
He paused, his gaze sweeping across the faces of the assembled officials. "You gentlemen have been arguing since early morning, your voices full of passion, but after listening for most of the hour, not a single one of you has come up with a single concrete plan."
A slight commotion arose in the hall, and many people's faces flushed red.
Zhu Ming paused, then continued, "What? Are you all waiting for me to make a decision? To draw up a plan?"
He asked calmly, one question after another, yet the entire hall of officials and scholars fell silent.
"Very well, I will now offer you all some suggestions!"
Zhu Ming answered for them, then chuckled softly, "Take the recent floods for example. First, after the Wanggongchang explosion, I ordered Wei Zhongxian to carry out work relief to repair damaged houses and city walls, and dredge the inner rivers of the capital and the surrounding canals, all to prevent flooding."
"Your Majesty has foresight! I was merely acting in accordance with Your Majesty's orders!" Wei Zhongxian said happily, quickly agreeing. "At the beginning of the month, there was continuous rain for ten days, causing floods around the capital. However, the capital was well-prepared and thus avoided the floods."
Indeed, in the sixth year of the Tianqi reign (1626), the capital city suffered a major flood. According to the "Veritable Records of Emperor Xizong of Ming", the water in Chang'an Street was as deep as at least the size of a Cao family mansion.
The low-lying areas within the city were flooded even more, turning the entire city of Beijing into a vast swamp.
This flood, together with the "Wanggongchang Explosion" that occurred in May, constituted a rare complex disaster in the capital city at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, they all time-traveled!
Zhu Ming could have taken precautions and made preparations in advance to avoid economic and population losses, while also further enhancing his prestige in the imperial court.
"That's right, this is prevention." Zhu Ming nodded and continued, "Secondly, when the disaster occurred, I mobilized the Xuanwu Guard and the Ministry of Works for emergency disaster relief and waterway repair; at the same time, Baohe Store quickly funded the purchase of grain and transported it to the disaster area."
"That's right! While your Ministry of Revenue is still arguing about how much to allocate, I have already instructed the staff at Baohe Store to take out most of the grain they bought before the New Year to help with disaster relief," Wei Zhongxian said, his arrogance rising as he saw that he was involved in another matter.
Although it was Zhu Ming who gave the order, he was the one who ran Baohe Shop, and he deserves half the credit for the good deeds done by Baohe Shop.
"This is about controlling the situation in advance!" Zhu Ming glanced at Wei Zhongxian but didn't interrupt him. After Wei Zhongxian finished his boasting, he continued, "So, thirdly, do I still need to give you all some advice?"
"..."
As a result, hushed discussions began to circulate inside the hall.
"His Majesty has taken care of all the disaster relief work... so what do you need us for?"
"Indeed, Your Majesty is wise. Now the Ministry of Revenue doesn't even have to worry about funds, and the disaster situation has stabilized, so there's nothing left for the Ministry of Revenue to do!"
"No...no! This is malicious disaster relief!" someone suddenly realized. "How can they act so arbitrarily without the approval of the six ministries of the imperial court and without following proper disaster relief procedures?"
"Yes! What if a popular uprising breaks out? Who will be held responsible?"
"You're just talking nonsense! How dare you say something like malicious disaster relief? Is your Donglin Party really that rigid?"
...
And so, a new round of insults began!
"..." Zhu Ming exclaimed in disbelief. At this point, these good-for-nothings were still arguing about whether the procedure was correct!
He gave Wei Zhongxian a look.
Wei Zhongxian understood immediately.
He also felt that these courtiers were both psychologically and physically uncomfortable, and that the people below were facing life and death, yet they were still making excuses.
"Enough!" Wei Zhongxian's sharp voice rang out, directly interrupting the whispers. "Listen to what you're saying! His Majesty asked you to come up with ideas, not to discuss them, right?!"
"We are standardizing the disaster relief procedures for His Majesty!" Gao Panlong stepped forward without hesitation. "Whether it's compliant or not, whether there are any errors, this is our idea! What do you mean by making a scene in court, you eunuch? Are you trying to stop us from advising His Majesty?"
"Hmph! Is that what His Majesty is asking about?" Wei Zhongxian was utterly speechless. "Then, Censor Gao, please translate what constitutes 'malicious disaster relief'?"
"..." Gao Panlong was momentarily speechless. The words had just slipped out in their back-and-forth banter. After a moment's thought, he replied, "Does this even need a translation? We've already said the process must be standardized! It must have approval! Otherwise, it's just malicious disaster relief!"
"I just want you to translate what 'malicious disaster relief' means," Wei Zhongxian said, somewhat angrily.
Malicious disaster relief!?
Gao Panlong began to realize that it was inappropriate to put "malice" and "disaster relief" together, but since he had already spoken, he could only put up with it.
After all, Zhu Ming in the palace did not refute a single word, which shows that the Donglin Party's argument was reasonable and that the emperor had taken it to heart.
Wei Zhongxian was just being unreasonable.
As long as you organize your thoughts well and deliver a powerful rebuke to Wei Zhongxian, you can win.
Gao Panlong, brimming with confidence, cleared his throat and began to improvise, "Malicious disaster relief, huh..."
Before he could finish speaking, Sun Chengzong stepped forward, glaring at his longtime friend, and interrupted him, "Translate it for me too! What the hell does 'malicious disaster relief' mean! What the hell does 'malicious disaster relief' mean!"
He simply couldn't understand why the Donglin Party members these days would dare to fabricate any term!