Starving!

As soon as the two simple words came out, Zhu Yuanzhang's face, which was originally full of smiles, instantly froze and condensed into frost.

And from his old, wrinkled face. Zhu Yunzhang could see a variety of complex, intertwined emotions. There was despondency, anger, worry, and bitterness.

"Sun's son saw an old and a young two beggars in Chang'an Street, and later in the broken temple over in Luoyang Lane, he saw many beggars, dozens of them!"

Zhu Yunyun slowly stirred the grains of rice in the bowl with his chopsticks and said in a small voice, "Others told Sun'er that there are more starving people in the shacks outside the west gate of Yingtian City!"

Having enough to eat has always been a big problem that has plagued Chinese people for thousands of years. Even in the best of times, there are shadows of imperfection in the unseen corners.

After encountering an old man and two young beggars, Zhu Yunyun looked for a long time in those deliberately forgotten corners of the capital city of the Great Ming. He saw the handicap of the flourishing world and some unsupported people under the splendor of Daming.

No society or regime is perfect, there are problems are not afraid, there are problems have to face the problem, have to deal with the problem, so that such problems no longer appear.

"We, have let Yingtianfu go for relief!" Zhu Yuanzhang's voice carries a little bit of helplessness and silence, he is the emperor, the son of heaven, but he can't do it so that everyone can have enough to eat.

"Imperial grandfather!" Zhu Yunzhang whispered, "Relief alone isn't a thing?"

"Then tell me what to do!" Zhu Yuanzhang smiled bitterly.

"Sun's son inquired, this year's spring started with the flooding of Huaixi, many poor people had no choice but to flee to this side of the capital." Zhu Yunzhang carefully organized his language, "The capital is a place under martial law, there are so many in the capital alone, let's not mention the rest!"

Snapping, Zhu Yuanzhang threw his chopsticks, his anger flared, "All up and down deserve to die!"

Zhu Yunzhang lowered his head and kept quiet. He knew who the emperor was scolding, scolding the officials who did not report in time and were mishandled.

"Imperial grandfather!" Zhu Yun Yun continued to speak, "Our Ming is so big, every year there will be natural and man-made disasters, the people who planted the land can only flee with their families once they are hit by a disaster and have no harvest!"

"This is something we know well! My son!" Zhu Yuanzhang rubbed his forehead, "Back then, our old family had a poor harvest. Your oldest grandfather fell ill and died, and your second and third grandfathers all went out to escape the famine and died on the way. The whole family was left with grandpa alone!"

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed, "At that time, we were thinking, if those officials had some conscience and knew how to help the people, how could so many people die? National taxes, taken from the people to use in the people. With the people to grow food, relief for the people is not natural and justified?"

Speaking here, Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head, "But then, the officials acted as if they didn't see it. Do you know what officials are most afraid of?"

Zhu Yunzhang shook his head.

"The most feared thing is having no conscience!" Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "The great flood in Huaixi washed away more than 10,000 acres of land, and nearly 10,000 victims are waiting to be fed. We've been talking about relief relief relief since the beginning of spring, and the local officials have also been uploading folders one after another on how to resettle them. But look at you now, the people fleeing the famine have all run to the capital!"

"You're right in that sentence, the capital has got so many, what about other places?" A hint of ruthlessness flashed in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, "They think we don't know about it by staying in the palace everyday? Hehehe, we scold them for being damned because they really deserve to die, they will only be officials without conscience!"

"If they are dedicated to resettle the displaced people, how would they become beggars? They are just lazy, just not willing to take the initiative to do something. They can't see it and think it's not there, they can't see it and think we can't see it either!"

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Zhu Yuanzhang was angry, Zhu Yunzhang was silent.

This emperor has a very short temper, especially when it comes to the people. Zhu Yuanzhang is a perfectionist with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he believes that the officials under him should not only be clean, but also care about the people of the world as much as he does.

Therefore, if something was not as good as he wanted, he would be furious and make the officials tremble. And for the disposal of unfavorable officials, his method is also very simple, that is a word, kill.

The officials who are dismissed, exiled, or even killed every year in the Ming Dynasty, corruption is only a part of it. The other part is all corpses, no action, or even unable to enhance the livelihood of the officials under the rule.

Fuming, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be comfortable in his heart. Said to Zhu Yunzhang, "Don't look at us as an emperor, but a lot of things, can't help it!"

The emperor is a human being, not a god, and even if he is a god, he can't take care of all the people in the world.

Zhu Yunzhang looked at Zhu Yuanzhang's face and spoke again, "Relief when there is a disaster, this is the Imperial Grandfather's benevolent policy. However, grandchildren want to ．．．．

"What are you swallowing for, what can't our grandparents and grandchildren say, say it straight!" Zhu Yuanzhang said.

"Ming year after year there are local disasters, Jiangnan in this side is okay, the northern mountains and Shaanxi borderlands, the Yellow River side of the Central Plains and other places, but also including the Huaixi and other places, every now and then either a drought, is a flood!"

Zhu Yunyun slowly opened his mouth, "The local government is not rich, and it's a burden to take out food to relieve the people year after year. And ．．．． " said, looking at Zhu Yuanzhang's face, "Moreover, those local officials may not be doing their best to provide relief! "

"Heh, even some simply put the court's relief silver grain into their own pockets, right? " Zhu Yuanzhang sneered.

Zhu Yunzhang was silent for a moment, in agreement.

"So, my grandson thought, why is it that when there is a disaster, the imperial court doesn't organize these disaster victims and provide them with work instead of food? "

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and pondered, "This is a good idea! But I'm afraid that the local officials will hit on the idea of providing work in lieu of food and increase the corvée for the people! "

This old man!

Zhu Yunyun laughed in his heart, so he was afraid that the local officials would abuse the people's labor.

The people of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to paying taxes, there are annual corvée. For example, building walls, dredging waterways, paving official roads and so on.

In order to avoid the corvée, some people would pay money and grain to the government, so this was one of the means for the local officials to get rich.

Now Zhu Yuanzhang was the emperor, and he had two eyes on him, so the local officials naturally did not dare to act recklessly. However, in the late Ming Dynasty, because the people were overburdened, it also became one of the triggers for the demise of Ming.

"What my grandson said about food for work is different from the past! " Zhu Yun continued to speak, "For example, the Yellow River, Sun'er looked through the palace archives and found that from the 20th year of Hongwu, the three times of governing the Yellow River cost a total of more than one million two hundred thousand taels of silver, and used more than three hundred thousand civilian laborers! "

"Sun'er thought that if we use the victims to replace the civil laborers, the court can not only provide relief to the victims, but also save a lot of unnecessary expenses! "

"Take the example of the flooding in Huaixi this spring, it was caused by the Huai River's failure to dredge its channels. Flooding this thing, blocking is not as good as dredging, dredging is a meticulous and long process. "Zhu Yunyun thought while saying, "Since there are affected victims, is ready-made labor, the court rather than non-stop relief, it is better to organize."

"They work for their own sake as well, dredge the river and there will be less flooding in the future! With less flooding, the people will be better off. That's why my grandson thinks that providing food through labor is a way to get the best of both worlds!"

Listening to Zhu Yunzhang's eloquent speech, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but nod his head.

The frown that was originally wrinkled due to anger slowly dispersed, and a smile even surfaced on his face.

What he was most satisfied with about this grandson was this child's unique vision, and the courage to dare to do something.

Of all the royal sons and grandsons, he was the only one who knew how much money had been spent and how many people had been used to manage the Yellow River by going through the palace archives.

So many imperial sons and grandsons, there is no one who dares to say what is in his heart at this age in front of his face.

Waiting for Zhu Yunzhang to finish, Zhu Yuanzhang contemplates for a moment, slowly opens his mouth, "The son, we heard that you have a good heart, saved an old and a young two stray beggars?" Tuen Mun.

"Yes!" Zhu Yunzhang knows that his actions, surely someone told Zhu Yuanzhang, immediately opened his mouth and said, "The grandson let the Duke of Chu's family, Liao Yong, to bring back home to resettle, think of his Duke of Chu's mansion, there should not be more than two mouths!"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed, "so many stray beggars, how come you only saved those two people?"

This is a casual question, but Zhu Yunzhang's face is solemn.

"An old man and a young man are grandparents and grandchildren, it's a grandfather with a granddaughter!" Zhu Yunyun whispered, "They have no one to rely on, the grandchild ．．．．

Zhu Yuanzhang understood what he meant and sighed, "Good boy! "

Grandchildren, lonely and unsupported grandchildren, Zhu Yuanzhang had a feeling in his heart, and looked at Zhu Yunzhang's look with more love for a few points.

"Besides, so many stragglers beggars grandchildren can not save! " Zhu Yunzhang smiled, confidently looked up, "save one person is small, save ten thousand people is big, the grandson want to be able to save the world of the living, ten thousand people! "

"Well said! "Zhu Yuanzhang patted his thighs, "This is what our Zhu family men should do! "