Wishing You Eternal Happiness Chapter 657: ：Natural and man-made disasters

The latest website: Xia Tao whispered: "Miss..."

Yu Youyao sat in a daze, a little dazed: "The strong wind never ends, the heavy rain never ends, Zhejiang has Dragon Boat Festival floods every year, and all dams have to spend a lot of money on maintenance every year, they are as solid as gold. , how could a flood destroy six levees, unless..."

River embankments are not as impregnable as everyone thinks...

Yu Youyao couldn't say anything else anymore, closed her eyes, got up and went to Anshou Hall.

Old Mrs. Yu leaned on the couch and saw her granddaughter's face pale and frightened. She sighed softly: "Are you scared?"

Yu Youyao's eyes were red: "Grandma, all six embankments of Xin'an River have collapsed. How is it possible that all six embankments were destroyed at once? So many people are... Is this a natural disaster or a man-made disaster?!"

Her voice was stuck in her throat and she couldn't speak any more. Tears rushed out of her eyes.

Building water conservancy projects will benefit the country and the people. There is a lot of rain in the south, and the Dragon Boat Festival floods occur every year. The imperial court inspects and repairs dams every year to prevent floods.

Mrs. Yu held her granddaughter in her arms: "It is a natural disaster and a man-made disaster."

Yu Youyao asked in a hoarse voice: "Grandma, will the court allocate money to provide disaster relief?"

Severe drought in the north and floods in the south all point to the fact that the imperial court's spending is excessive, the people are living in dire straits, and the vitality of the Great Zhou Dynasty is about to be exhausted.

Old Madam Yu touched her head: "The flood is not like the drought. It can be delayed for a while. I think the court is already discussing relief matters. Let's wait to hear the news!"

It was until dark that Yu Zongzheng came back from the palace.

After meeting the old lady, the first thing Yu Zongzheng said was: "The urgent report of the Dragon Boat Festival flood in Zhejiang was sent to the palace. The emperor immediately summoned the courtiers to discuss the matter. The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works quarreled, and the emperor was furious. , asked Qin Tian Jian Jian Zheng why Qin Tian Jian did not account for the flood in the south. Qin Tian Jian Zheng said that the flood in the south was a man-made disaster, not a natural disaster."

Old Madam Yu took a breath, and even Yu Youyao also held her breath.

Yu Zongzheng took a sip of tea and continued: "Your Majesty asked, what is a man-made disaster? Qintian Supervisor Jianzheng said that for hundreds of years since Emperor Gaozu ordered the renovation of Zhejiang dams, the tides and floods in Xin'an River have risen again and again. , rising and falling, the imperial court spends large sums of money every year to repair and maintain the dykes as a precautionary measure. The dykes have diversions set up. If one part of the **** overflows with water, another **** is opened to divert the water. In the worst case, continuous floods It rained heavily for more than ten days, and some dykes were overwhelmed and washed away, but it was not so serious that six dykes in a row collapsed at once."

In just three days, the dam collapsed.

Unless the money allocated to the Ministry of Works every year for embankment repairs has not been truly implemented, the originally impregnable embankments have gradually become overwhelmed by years of erosion.

Qintian Supervisor is pointing the finger at the Ministry of Industry.

The Ministry of Industry is responsible for water, wood and soil conservancy, construction, farming, prohibitions on mountains, forests and rivers, river embankments, roads and bridges, etc. If there is a problem with Zhejiang's dams, the Ministry of Industry will be the first to bear the brunt.

Yu Zongzheng continued: "The emperor was furious. All the officials from the Ministry of Industry involved in the maintenance of Zhejiang's dams and the river supervisory eunuchs were all ordered to be imprisoned. They also named Zuo Qiandu Yushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate as the river supervisory envoy. He went to Zhejiang to investigate the matter thoroughly, and gave Shang Fang a sword. He was accompanied by a hundred Yu Lin guards. Anyone who tried to stop him would be killed on the spot. The emperor also gave an edict to allow the censor to patrol the river and mobilize troops."

This is going to be a big war, kill first as a warning.

Yu Youyao lowered his eyes. In the past two years, the emperor's dissatisfaction with Jiangnan has been increasing day by day. The Dragon Boat Festival flood has become the best excuse for the emperor to regulate Jiangnan and further control Jiangnan.

So after the incident, the emperor's first reaction was not to declare a sage to fight the disaster, but to mobilize troops to fight against the disaster. South China is rich, especially Zhejiang. The dog emperor even cares about her money, how can he let Zhejiang go?

Two years ago, the case of Song Xiuwen's embezzlement of Mo Junzhang was loud but rainy. Although the "dirty silver" was seized, it did not satisfy the emperor's appetite.

It later died down due to the "Japanese invasion", but Song Xiuwen has not yet dealt with it.

Nowadays, the money to build rivers is a huge sum of money.

The collapse of six dykes at once was definitely not caused by corruption in a year or two. It must have been at least seven or eight years ago. The accumulation over so many years is a huge sum.

Neither the Ministry of Industry nor the eunuchs overseeing the river can swallow this amount of money. Local officials must be involved.

The money they are greedy for is all from the national treasury.

These corrupt officials are all blood-sucking insects. Whose blood are they sucking?

It's the emperor's blood.

Now that the treasury is empty, the Dog Emperor is worried about where to exploit.

I think this time, Zhejiang will be bleeding like a river again.

It is even worse than the northern border.

Yu Youyao took a deep breath: "What's the situation in Zhejiang right now?"

Yu Zongzheng sighed: "All six counties were flooded, but the disaster affected far more than six counties, and it affected a wide area. Ye Hanyuan, the general in charge of Qianshi, led his navy to evacuate and salvage the people. They also mobilized people to load sandbags and try to block the embankment."

For some reason, when she heard the news, Yu Youyao's frightened mind suddenly calmed down a lot.

No matter what happens to the court, at least there are still people in Zhejiang who are willing to do their best for the people.

At this moment, she suddenly woke up.

Long before Ye Hanyuan went to Zhejiang, her cousin had mentioned to her that Zhejiang would be in chaos sooner or later, either due to Japanese invasion or civil rebellion.

If there is a flood this time and the court cannot implement benevolent policies to provide relief to the victims and calm the people's hearts, there will be riots in Zhejiang.

My cousin sent Ye Hanyuan to Zhejiang~IndoMTL.com~ not just to muddy the muddy waters in Zhejiang, nor just to covet the wealth of Zhejiang and to control Zhejiang.

It also means to let Ye Hanyuan stabilize the chaos.

When Mrs. Yu heard this, she clasped her hands together and said, "Amitabha!" Then, she frowned and asked, "Didn't the imperial court mention disaster relief?"

I talked a lot, but not a single sentence was on point.

Yu Zongzheng shook his head: "My second brother mentioned this matter at court and asked the emperor to issue an edict, ordering all government offices in Zhejiang to resettle the victims and open warehouses to provide food relief. Merchants and others are not allowed to take advantage of the flood to raise food prices. Buying and annexing people's land at low prices, making a lot of ill-gotten wealth, etc., the emperor asked his second brother to draft a document, which will be distributed to all government offices across the country."

The government's grain reserves are limited, and it is impossible to provide relief to all victims. Only when the court allocates money to the government will the government come forward to negotiate with merchants to purchase grain and provide relief to the people.

Yu Zongzheng sighed slightly at the people: "The national treasury is empty. The Ministry of Revenue misappropriated the military silver allocated to Zhejiang in the second half of the year and collected two million taels of silver without force. We must be prepared for the drought in the north..."