Chapter 53: The horn of inverted severity?

The rain in the capital seemed to echo the heavy rain in the southeast.

Dense raindrops hit the umbrella with a bang, making pits that rose and fell repeatedly.

The hem of the green robe was already wet by the rain.

The official boots with soapy white soles were completely wet from the inside out, and the boots were filled with rain water. Every step made a squeaking sound.

Yan Shaoting walked so fast that his lackey Yan Hu, who was following behind him, fell down several times.

When they reached Chengtian Gate, Yan Shaoting finally stopped and looked back at Yan Hu: "According to the time, news has already come from Zhejiang Province. I think Hai Rui's news from Suzhou Prefecture will also be coming to the capital soon. You should stay at home. Once there is any news, let Yu Cheng bring it to me in the palace."

Yan Hu pursed his lips and nodded heavily, then handed the foot clothes and clean boots that he had been hiding in his arms to the young master.

When Yan Shaoting arrived at Wenyuan Pavilion, only a few secretaries from the cabinet were busy in the classroom.

Guarding the cabinet classroom was an official who was wearing a civil servant's flying bird robe, had a burly figure, a broad face and a full beard, and was about thirty years old.

Seeing Yan Shaoting coming over, Gao Hanwen, who was working in the cabinet today, hurriedly stepped forward and said, "I am Gao Hanwen, the editor of the Hanlin Academy and the secretary of the Central Secretariat. I am honored to meet Yan Shidu."

The Hanlin Editor was an official of the seventh rank.

However, Yan Shaoting's Hanlin tutor was a sixth-rank official.

Strictly speaking, Yan Shaoting was Gao Hanwen's direct superior in the headquarters.

Yan Shaoting was a little surprised. He didn't expect to see Gao Hanwen here. He smiled and said, "It's Gao Hanlin. Have you, the ministers, gone to the West Garden?"

Gao Hanwen was a big, strong man, but he spoke slowly and thoughtfully: "In reply to Yan Shidu's words, several ministers have been summoned by His Majesty to the West Garden."

"Is it about the dike destruction and flooding of fields in Zhejiang Province?" Yan Shaoting asked knowingly, but his eyes were staring at Gao Hanwen with scrutiny.

In theory, the Yan family was Gao Hanwen's teacher, but in the original history, he was thrown to Zhejiang by the Yan family to take the blame.

Then a series of magical things happened.

Gao Hanwen didn't know what his master's son was thinking at this time, so he answered truthfully: "I never expected such a big thing to happen in Zhejiang. When the ministers received the news, they were all terrified. As soon as they got up, they were summoned by Xiyuan."

Gao Hanwen spoke calmly.

But Yan Shaoting's eyes moved slightly.

This shows that even now, the Taoist priest's access to information inside and outside the court has not been hindered in the slightest.

Even the information channels of Xiyuan are faster than those of the imperial court and the cabinet.

Now that he had met Gao Hanwen, Yan Shaoting temporarily put aside the idea of ​​rushing to Xiyuan.

Instead, he looked at Gao Hanwen leisurely.

Yan Shaoting asked with a smile: "Gao Hanlin, how do you think the Zhejiang incident should be properly resolved this time?"

He knew how Gao Hanwen would answer, but he asked anyway.

obviously.

Gao Hanwen, who is an editor of the Hanlin Academy and serves as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat in the cabinet, now has his own opinion on what happened in Zhejiang Province.

Gao Hanwen said cautiously, "I think the matter of Zhejiang Province is actually about the relief provided by the imperial court, but it cannot be carried out as usual. Yan Shidu's work in the capital to provide relief to the victims of the disaster in Shuntian Prefecture has given me a lot of inspiration. As for Zhejiang Province, I think it is feasible to change to a method of providing relief at the same time, and then the dilemma can be solved."

"By combining reform and relief, can the dilemma be resolved?"

Yan Shaoting had an unclear smile on his face and glanced at Gao Hanwen indifferently.

Gao Hanwen nodded and said, "Order the Zhejiang Provincial Government to gather the local wealthy families and use money and grain to buy the damaged fields from the disaster victims at a suitable price. Then the Zhejiang Provincial Government can directly convert these rice fields into mulberry fields.

The victims suffered from the disaster, but they had money and food to live on and rebuild their homes. The Zhejiang government was also able to implement the national policy of replacing rice with mulberry trees to increase silk production.

In this way, the original plan of the imperial court to convert 50,000 mu of fertile land in Zhejiang Province to mulberry trees can be solved."

Yan Shaoting just laughed twice.

A Hanlin is a Hanlin after all. Without local experience, how can he truly understand the country?
Seeing Yan Shaoting only smiled and said nothing, Gao Hanwen was puzzled and bowed, "Did this humble official say something wrong?" Yan Shaoting coughed lightly and asked calmly, "Your method of solving the dilemma by combining reform with relief does sound similar to the previous dynasties' method of using work instead of relief, but how do you implement it?"

Gao Hanwen immediately said: "Of course..."

However, before he could finish his words, Yan Shaoting interrupted him.

"The victims have no food to eat, so the buyers will take the opportunity to lower the price, otherwise the victims will starve. But should the government intervene? Which government should intervene? The prefectural government, the provincial government, or even the provincial governor's government?"

Yan Shaoting's voice was not loud, but it hit Gao Hanwen directly, making his face flush.

When he was about to open his mouth to defend himself.

Yan Shaoting has continued, "When doing things at the local level, you can't escape the collusion between officials and businessmen. The people will always suffer. Has Gao Hanlin ever really thought about the people?"

Gao Hanwen's face flushed red, and he finally found a way to speak: "The Zhejiang prefecture and county government offices are still there, and above them there are the provincial government offices and the judicial and judicial offices. Even if they are ignored, there is still Hu Butang's Zhejiang Governor's Office and Zhejiang Provincial Governor's Office."

Yan Shaoting, however, stared at Gao Hanwen with the eyes of a rookie in officialdom.

After a long time.

He then said, "Think about it. Last year, the imperial court built the Xin'an River dike in Zhejiang. The Ministry of Works reported an expenditure of 1 million taels at the beginning of the year, and at the end of the year, it was 2 million taels. With such a huge expenditure, why did the dike in Zhejiang still collapse this time?"

After saying these last few words, Yan Shaoting held his official boots and footwear, held an umbrella, and left the cabinet under Gao Hanwen's confused gaze.

Xiyuan.

Ok Hee Palace.

The depressing atmosphere made the young eunuch guarding outside the palace gate shrink his head like a frightened quail.

The hall was silent, with only the crunching sound of fingers crunching on paper.

Yan Song sat halfway on the stool that was given to him. Yan Shifan worked in the Ministry of Works, so he was following behind the old man at the moment.

And Xu Jie, who was standing behind Yan Song and his son, lowered his head and remained silent.

Gao Gong looked provocatively and glanced from time to time at Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan, who had controlled the cabinet for more than a decade.

The Xin'an River levee in Zhejiang Province, which was repaired only last year, collapsed due to a heavy rain.

There must be someone behind the scenes who did this evil thing of destroying the dike and flooding the fields.

The governor and provincial judge of Zhejiang Province, and even the governor of Zhejiang and governor-general of Zhejiang Province Hu Zongxian, were all members of the Yan Party, who were promoted by Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan over the years.

This time, this incident caused hundreds of thousands of people to suffer.

Gao Gong felt that now was the time to blow the final clarion call to overthrow the Yan Party.

The emperor's anger was already visible on his face.

Just remained silent and kept silent.

Gao Gong thought for a moment, and finally couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart.

He took a step forward and bowed.

"Your Majesty, last year the Ministry of Works spent two million taels of silver in Zhejiang to repair the Xin'an River dike. However, just after the New Year, the dike that had been repaired at the cost of two million taels of silver was washed away by the flood. I and the people in the court believe that someone must have secretly taken advantage of this opportunity to cause trouble!"

Gao Gong took another step forward and bent half of his body.

"Your Majesty, I respectfully request that you issue an order to strictly investigate this human disaster!"

"Purge the government and the people to correct their will!"

…………

There will still be three updates today! Please read on~
　Thanks to Yilu Piaohong and book friend 160428153756840 for the reward

　　
　
(End of this chapter)