Chapter 659 - 659: Natural and Man-made Calamity
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Xia Tao called out softly, “Young Miss…”
Yu Youyao sat in a daze, feeling a little dazed. “The strong wind doesn’t end in court, and the heavy rain doesn’t end in the evening. There’s a Dragon Boat Festival in Zhejiang every year. All the dams have to be repaired with a large sum of money every year. They’re as impregnable as iron. How can a large flood destroy six dams? Unless…”
The riverbank was not as impregnable as everyone thought…
Yu Youyao couldn’t continue. She closed her eyes and got up to go to An Shou Old Madam Yu leaned against the couch. Seeing her granddaughter’s pale face and shocked expression, she sighed softly. “Were you frightened?”
Yu Youyao’s eyes turned red. “Grandmother, all six dams in Xin’an River have collapsed. How can all six dams be destroyed in one go? So many commoners are… Is this a natural disaster or a man-made disaster?!”
Her voice choked in her throat and she couldn’t continue. Tears rushed out of her eyes.
Water conservation was good for the country and the people. There was a lot of rain in the south, and the Dragon Boat Festival flood was present every year. The Imperial Court checked and repaired the dam every year to prevent heavy water flow.
Old Madam Yu hugged her granddaughter in her arms. “It’s a natural disaster, but it’s also a human disaster.’
Yu Youyao asked in a hoarse voice, “Grandmother, will the Imperial Court allocate money for disaster relief?”
There was a drought in the north and a flood in the south. All of this showed the fact that the Imperial Court was spending endlessly and the commoners were struggling. The Great Zhou Dynasty was about to die.
Old Madam Yu stroked her head. “The flood isn’t like a drought. It can be delayed for a while. I think the Imperial Court is already discussing disaster relief. We’ll wait to hear the news!”
They waited until it was dark before Yu Zongzheng returned from the palace.
After seeing the Matriarch, the first thing Yu Zongzheng said was, “The urgent report of the Dragon Boat Festival in Zhejiang was sent to the palace. The emperor immediately summoned the court officials for a meeting. The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works quarreled. The emperor flew into a rage and questioned the Imperial Astronomer why he hadn’t calculated the flood in the south. The Imperial Astronomer said that the flood in the south was a man-made disaster and not a natural disaster.’
Old Madam Yu gasped, and even Yu Youyao held her breath.
Yu Zongzheng took a sip of tea and continued, “The emperor asked what he meant by a man-made disaster. The Imperial Astronomer said that ever since Emperor Gaozu ordered the renovation of the dike in Zhejiang for hundreds of years, the tide of the Xin’an River has risen and fallen. Every year, the Imperial Court will pull out a large sum of silver to repair the dike to ensure safety. The dike has been diverted. If there is water overflowing the embankment, they would open another embankment to divert the water. At the most serious moment, it rained for more than ten days in a row. Some of the dikes couldn’t take the pressure and collapsed, but it wasn’t so serious that six in a row collapsed at once.”
In just three days, the dam collapsed.
Unless the levees that were allocated to the Ministry of Works every year were
not really implemented, the originally impregnable levees would gradually be overwhelmed through the years.
The Imperial Astronomer was targeting the Ministry of Works.
The Ministry of Works was in charge of water, wood, soil, construction, farming, the ban on mountains, rivers, embankments, roads, bridges, and so on. If there was a problem with the dam in Zhejiang, the Ministry of Works would be the first to bear the brunt.
Yu Zongzheng continued, “The emperor was furious. All the officials from the Ministry of Works who had participated in the repair of the dike in Zhejiang and the eunuchs who supervised the river routes were ordered to be imprisoned. Someone was conferred as the River Inspection Censor of the left capital of the Imperial Court and had to patrol the river. He needed to head to Zhejiang to investigate this matter thoroughly. He was also given a sword and a hundred palace guards to accompany him. Anyone who stopped them was killed on the spot. The emperor even gave a holy decree allowing the censor of the river route to mobilize his troops.”
They were going to make a big fuss and kill him as a warning.
Yu Youyao lowered her eyes. In the past two years, the emperor’s dissatisfaction with Jiangnan had increased day by day. The Dragon Boat Festival flood had become the best reason for the emperor to manage Jiangnan and further control it.
Therefore, after the incident, the emperor’s first reaction was not to fight the calamity, but to denounce him.
Jiangnan was rich, especially Zhejiang. The dog emperor even wanted her money. How could he let Zhejiang off?
Two years ago, Song Xiuwen’s case of embezzling money from the army was dealt with openly and secretly. Although he had confiscated the “dirty money” , it did not satisfy the emperor’s appetite.
Later on, because of the “Japanese pirates”, it had stopped, but Song Xiuwen had yet to be dealt with.
Now, repairing the river was a huge sum of money.
Six dams had collapsed at once. It was definitely not caused by a year or two of corruption. It had to be at least seven or eight years. After so many years, it was a huge cost.
Neither the Ministry of Works nor the eunuchs who supervised the river could take out this sum of money. Local officials would definitely be involved.
The money they were greedy for was from the treasury.
These corrupt officials were all blood- sucking insects. Whose blood were they sucking?
It was the emperor’s blood.
Now that the treasury was empty, the dog emperor was worried about how to get more funds by exploiting people.
This time, blood would flow like a river in Zhejiang again.
It was not any better than the North.
Yu Youyao took a deep breath. “How’s the situation in Zhejiang now?”
Yu Zongzheng sighed. “All six counties were flooded, and it was far more than six counties that were affected. The impact was very widespread. The governor joined forces with Ye Hanyuan and led his navy to evacuate and save the commoners. He also mobilized the commoners to transport sandbags in an attempt to block the dike.”
For some reason, when she heard this news, Yu Youyao’s panicked mind suddenly calmed down a lot.
No matter what happened to the Imperial Court, at least there were still people in Zhejiang who were willing to do their best for the commoners.
At this moment, she suddenly realized something.
Long before Ye Hanyuan went to Zhejiang, her cousin had mentioned to her that Zhejiang would be in chaos sooner or later. It would either be in chaos, or the people would rebel.
If the Imperial Court could not be benevolent this time by providing relief for the refugees and calming the hearts of the people, there would be a riot in Zhejiang.
Her cousin had not sent Ye Hanyuan to Zhejiang just to stir up more trouble. He had not only coveted Zhejiangs wealth and wanted to control it.
He also had the intention of letting Ye Hanyuan stabilize the chaos.
When Old Madam Yu heard this, she clasped her hands together. “Amitabha!” Immediately after, she frowned and asked, “The Imperial Court didn’t mention anything about resisting the disaster?”
He had said a lot, but none of her words were on point.
Yu Zongzheng shook his head. “Second Brother mentioned this in the court and asked the emperor to issue a decree to order the various government offices in Zhejiang to settle down the refugees and open warehouses to provide food relief. Businessmen and the like are not allowed to take advantage of the flood disaster to raise the price of food and buy and annex the land of the commoners at a low price. They will gain a huge sum of ill-gotten wealth and so on. The emperor asked Second Brother to draft a document and distribute it to all the government offices in the country.”
The storage of food in the government office was limited, so it was impossible for it to help all the refugees. Only when the Imperial Court allocated money to the government would the government step in and discuss with the merchants to buy food to help the people.
Yu Zongzheng sighed slightly. “The treasury is empty. The Ministry of
Revenue has embezzled the military salary allocated to Zhejiang in the second half of the year and gathered a million taels of silver.. We can’t not be prepared for the drought in the north…”
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