Chapter 470: Deviations in History

Shuntian Prefecture Yamen is located on the north side of the capital.

The yamen door.

The North City Military Department and government officials were sweating profusely as they worked to clear the snow from the streets that was already higher than an adult's calves.

Further away, the owners of each block in the city also led the people in the block and actively responded to the order of the government office, and quickly cleared a path on the streets inside and outside the block.

Originally, they were unwilling and reluctant to do such things.

But who can blame it on the fact that the current Shuntian prefect is a man named Hai Rui?

Haven’t you seen how many officials from Northern Zhili have been sent to jail by this man since he took office?

No one dared to offend or disobey him.

Compared to the possibility of being questioned and imprisoned in the government prison, at least carrying tools and shoveling snow can be considered exercise, right?

When people are unable to make choices, they can only interpret the present situation optimistically.

"It's not okay to be optimistic..."

"Our Master Hai can really put you in jail."

"But I heard that there is another Master Gao in the south, and he is the real King of Hell..."

Several guards from Lingchunfang and Chongjiaofang were shoveling snow on Andingmen Street, talking in low voices while they were busy.

The news that Gao Hanwen had killed many gentry and wealthy families in Jiangnan had already spread to the capital. Even many people in the court began to criticize Gao Hanwen's actions. If it weren't for the fact that the court was collectively impeaching Xu Jie, I'm afraid that Gao Hanwen, the real King of Hell, would have to eat a lot of impeachment memorials at this time.

The guards were shoveling snow, looking towards the government office from time to time.

"Tell me, how long has this person been standing in front of the government office?"

"Are you afraid that we will be lazy and slack off?"

Someone said with sweat on his forehead: "Even if this person is not here, who dares to be lazy? I think you are worried about when the snow will stop."

"Oh, God has mercy on us. We can still have enough food and clothing in the city. I wonder how people outside the city are doing now."

"Shovel the snow, don't delay the government's orders."

The guards ended their discussion and quickened their pace once again, hoping to clear the road they were assigned as quickly as possible so that they could return home earlier to warm themselves by the fire and take a good night's sleep with their wives.

And in front of the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen.

After reading the current news around Shuntian Prefecture at noon and deciding on a few things to do, Hai Rui did not even have lunch and stood at the gate of the government office with four guards.

At the beginning.

The officials in the government office thought that the new master was watching the snow.

But if you watch it for just an hour or so, it's obviously not watching the snow.

Hai Rui just stood at the gate of the government office without saying a word, and the officials in the government office did not dare to come forward and ask too many questions.

Fortunately.

The officials of Shuntian Prefecture today were all reorganized when Zhang Juzheng was in office, so there won't be any other miscellaneous problems.

The four guards who were standing with Hai Rui in front of the government office silently glanced at the gray sky where snowflakes were beginning to fall again. Then they looked at Hai Rui, who remained silent and no one knew what he was thinking. The four of them looked at each other.

"Your Excellency... It's cold outside. You might catch a cold if you stay outside for too long."

After some hesitation, the four of them finally gave a quiet reminder and persuasion.

Hai Rui finally moved after hearing the sound. He opened his mouth slightly and exhaled a breath of hot air, which turned into a ball of white mist when it went outside.

"The government in the city is still working hard to clear the snow and clean the roofs to prevent the snow from crushing the houses. But what about the people outside the city? With such a sudden snowstorm, the people will definitely have no firewood or rice to cook at home. How can they survive?"

Hai Rui was deeply worried, and this was the reason why he had to stop investigating the criminal officials of Xu Jie's group in Northern Zhili.

Compared with those criminal officials in Northern Zhili who can be investigated and arrested at any time, the heavy snow in Gyeonggi Province now is the most terrible thing.

Once the wind and snow continue, the snow inside and outside the city will accumulate more and more, and it will become more and more difficult for the people to endure.

I don’t know how many people will freeze to death and how many will starve to death.

When Hai Rui was still worried about the common people.

In front of the government office.

I saw the Tongzhi of Shuntian Prefecture, who was rushing back from the south with two runners, walking on the snow on the road.

Far away.

The Shuntian Prefecture's deputy governor shouted, "Mingfu, the imperial court has issued a document requiring this prefecture to open its warehouses to provide relief to the capital and the surrounding areas. The cabinet has also issued a document requiring Mingfu to supervise the Ministry of Revenue to release grain, charcoal and clothing to provide relief to the people of Shuntian Prefecture."

Upon hearing the sound, Hai Rui hurried down the government office, not caring about the snow on the road that had not yet been cleared, and joined the co-magistrate who was covered in snow.

"Has the imperial court issued an order?"

The Tongzhi hurriedly took out two documents from his bosom.

"Ming Fu, everything is here. There are documents from the cabinet and approval documents from the Ministry of Revenue."

Hai Rui quickly opened the two documents, and after confirming that the information on them was correct, he immediately rushed into the government office with the Tongzhi. Soon, he summoned the officials who stayed in the government office to the court.

"The cabinet and the court have sent a letter."

"I have now issued a written order to all officials and clerks in various departments. You are to lead the officials of this prefecture and Daxing County and call on all the districts in the city to clear the snow from the roads and houses, build sheds, open warehouses to store grain, charcoal and clothes."

"The Tongzhi should go to the Military Affairs Department as soon as possible and invite them to leave the city and open up the important roads to the counties of Shuntian Prefecture to transport the relief materials from the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse."

In the hall, the officials responded in unison.

After all, it is the capital, under the feet of the emperor, and the city is full of princes and ministers. They dare not make any mistakes.

Hai Rui added: "The snowstorm in the capital has affected the people around it and they will inevitably go outside the city to wait for relief. This government has assigned officials to stay behind to take charge. I will stay outside the city these days to appease the people and avoid any incidents that may cause disturbances to the capital. I will strictly prevent the Forbidden City from being disturbed."

No one in the hall objected to this statement.

After all, the capital is the best place to live, with various ministries and government offices located there, so the people in the city won't have a hard time even if there is heavy snow.

But it’s different outside the city.

When the people could no longer make ends meet, the first thing they thought of was to come to the nearest capital to seek relief from the imperial court.

Once more people gather together, various problems and conflicts are inevitable.

If more people gathered and trouble broke out, it would be considered an attack on the capital, which would be a serious offense.

Hai Rui was the Right Vice-Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate and the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of Northern Zhili, but he was also the Prefect of Shuntian, so he had to stabilize the situation outside the city.

Not long after.

Seeing that everything had been arranged, Hai Rui hurriedly took his four guards, several government officials, and some runners and rushed out of the city.

And in Xufu Lane in the city.

After Xu Jie was expelled from the cabinet, he only retained the title of Junior Tutor in the court. Then, due to numerous complaints from the gentry and wealthy families in the south, a series of impeachments of civil and military officials were triggered in the court of Beijing.

Xufu Lane no longer had the bustle of the past. Even the snow in the lane had not been cleared away by anyone, only a few servants of the Xu family were shoveling snow slowly with their heads down, looking unhappy.

Inside the mansion.

In the study room as warm as spring, Xu Jie leaned back in his chair, his face ruddy, but his hair seemed to be a little whiter than before. He watched his son Xu Kun making tea in front of him in silence.

The staff sitting nearby whispered, "Huating should have received the news. The land donated to the family over the years should have been dealt with so that no one can find any evidence against them. Now we just need to wait for the people sent by the court to come back, and the matter will be settled."

The teapot was steaming hot.

Xu Kun poured three cups of tea and frowned, saying, "Just because our family's affairs have been dealt with, it doesn't mean those people in the south will stop and file a complaint. God knows why these people would suddenly betray their trust and do such disgusting things."

After saying that, Xu Kun looked up at his father.

Then he added: "It must be Gao Hanwen who colluded with Yan Shaoting to force those people in the south to surrender. Under Gao Hanwen's butcher knife, these people can no longer care about the overall situation. I'm afraid each of them is thinking about protecting their own foundation and their heads first..."

This was a complaint against the gentry and wealthy families in Jiangnan for stabbing the Xu family in the back, and it also pointed out that the reason why Xu Jie and the Xu family were currently facing impeachment by court officials was that it was instigated by Yan Shaoting, Gao Hanwen and others in the south.

Xu Jie picked up the teacup his son brought to him and lowered his eyelids silently: "Be thankful for the snow, otherwise, not to mention Yan Shaoting, Gao Hanwen and others far away in Jiangnan, even Hai Rui would probably have killed all of Northern Zhili."

Compared with what happened in Jiangnan and the impeachment of himself by the censors in the court, Xu Jie did not care and did not think it was a big problem.

Nowadays, every official in the court has been impeached by a few censors.

It's just that this is the first time that I have been impeached by so many people.

In the end, the worst that can happen is that one person will be detained. These people are just forming a clique for personal gain, and they are simply trying to turn the direction of the government into a party struggle.

What really matters is what Hai Rui did in northern Zhili.

If Hai Rui was allowed to continue doing this and clean up all the officials in Northern Zhili who were related to him, then when Hai Rui connected all these things together, it would mean that he, the former second prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, was the one who formed a clique in the court.

and so.

Only then would he say, thank goodness for the snow.

The aide took a sip of tea and said solemnly, "Since the snow has come, it is reasonable for the Prime Minister to open the granaries and release grain to help the people of the capital."

Xu Kun's face changed, and he snorted coldly and cursed in a low voice: "The court is rich now, and the inner treasury has a lot of silver. When I came back just now, I heard that the Ministry of Revenue has opened its warehouses to release grain, and will also distribute charcoal and clothes to the people. Why should our family waste this effort and lose money in vain."

The staff member looked helpless and looked up at Xu Jie.

Xu Jie glared at Xu Kun and said, "Now send people to various places in the city to set up tents to distribute porridge. Then go to Zhu's cloth shop and tell Zhu Tang to move all the cloth and clothes in the warehouse and distribute them to the people."

Xu Kun was holding his head in a frown, his eyes turned away: "Father, are you trying to buy fame?"

Seeing that his son was not too stupid, Xu Jie's expression eased a little.

"The court situation is one thing, but now everything we do must be seen by the emperor."

Xu Kun nodded quickly: "Then my son will take some money to the cloth shop, and then it will be considered as the clothes our family bought."

Although that is said.

But the Zhu Cloth Shop under the name of Zhu Tang was actually also the property of the Xu family.

Zhu Tang and others simply donated their family land in Songjiang Prefecture to the Xu family as a stake in a cloth shop. They used the name of Zhu's Cloth Shop, but in fact they were doing the Songjiang cotton cloth business for the Xu family.

But when Xu Jie saw that his son also knew how to cover up, he finally felt relieved and nodded.

Xu Kun then stood up and left with a smile on his face.

The next day.

The situation in the capital was exactly as Hai Rui had expected.

Even though the roads were blocked by heavy snow, people from all over the country outside the capital still took advantage of the occasional stop in the snow and trudged to the outskirts of Beijing.

It was just one night.

More than ten thousand people had gathered outside the city of Beijing, waiting for relief from the imperial court.

But still the same sentence.

The court is rich now!
And it's a lot of money.

When heavy snow fell and the Imperial Observatory gave a very bad prediction, the Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue immediately approved the opening of warehouses to release grain, and distributed charcoal and ready-made clothes to help the people.

As the prefect of Shuntian, Hai Rui stayed outside the city in the following days, constantly walking around the four directions of Beijing, comforting the people who kept coming to Beijing and supervising the distribution of relief in various places.

There is an interesting thing about this.

Generally speaking, even when faced with such a disaster, the imperial court would rarely dispatch troops from the garrisons, let alone send soldiers from the Beijing camp to handle the matter of providing relief to the people.

However, this time, a government army took part in providing relief to the people of Shuntian Prefecture, which was rare.

This government army was not from anywhere else but the 3,000 Dragon and Tiger Army from Changping.

The leader was naturally the unique Dragon and Tiger General Yan Hu of the Ming Dynasty. Accompanying them was a group of medical students headed by Wang Xiuhong from the Academy Medical College. These people were mainly responsible for preventing the gathering of patients and dealing with the frostbite problem of the people.

When Yan Hu and Wang Xiuhong found Hai Rui, Hai Rui was guarding the distribution of hot porridge at a gathering place for common people outside the west city.

"Mr. Hai, the three thousand officers and soldiers of the Dragon and Tiger Army are now at your disposal at any time."

Unconsciously, Yan Hu had started to have a short beard on his chin, but it was not very obvious.

Wang Xiuhong pointed to the medical students from the academy who had already walked into the common people and said, "We also brought herbs. During the severe cold, it is easiest for the cold to enter the body. But there are too many people here. It would be great if Censor Hai could ask the court to allocate more herbs."

Seeing the two young men's eyes shining, Hai Rui was in a good mood. He personally served two bowls of hot sweet potato porridge and handed them to Yan Hu and Wang Xiuhong.

"The soldiers of the Dragon and Tiger Army have worked hard. Now they just need to help stabilize the people around Beijing. As for the herbs, I will send someone to the Ministry of Revenue to request them."

Yan Hu and Wang Xiuhong nodded repeatedly.

The reason why the two of them came here was all because of Xu Wei's suggestion.

As for Yang Jinshui, the military supervisor of the Dragon and Tiger Army, he would naturally not forbid such things that could help him gain points and curry favor with the emperor.

It is unlikely that the Dragon and Tiger Army would take advantage of this opportunity to rebel and attack Beijing.

And with the arrival of Yan Hu.

Hai Rui's mood also improved.

With relief from the imperial court and support from local elites, the people will not have to worry about their lives even if they encounter disasters.

How could Hai Rui not be happy with such peace and tranquility?

But at the same time.

The historical deviation finally appeared.

Different from the original reality, it was just a small joke.

That night, Hai Rui hid in a charcoal-burning shed outside the city and asked for a memorial and writing materials.

This time, Hai Rui wrote a new memorial in a place where thousands of people gathered outside Beijing.

…………

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(End of this chapter)