Chapter 272 Crying Spirit
In late September, Jiangnan became more and more chaotic. Refugees and robbers smashed many shops, broke into many people's homes, and even smashed government offices.
Burning, looting, and committing all kinds of evil.
There are more and more refugees, and more and more people are dying of starvation. Gradually, the refugees begin to flock to the capital.
After the emperor received an urgent report from Jiangnan, the situation in Jiangnan was out of control.
Along with the report, there was also a list of names and clear evidence of corruption.
After the emperor read it, he became so angry that he went into a rage in the Jinluan Palace.
In early August, the Qintian Supervisor calculated that there would be floods in Jiangnan this year. At that time, Chu Xuanyu proposed to let the officials in Jiangnan know the truth earlier and let them make early preparations to fight the disaster and rescue the people.
Finally, the matter was brought to the court for discussion.
The officials discussed all morning, and finally the emperor issued an order to ask Mr. Dai, the chief envoy to Jiangnan, to appease the victims and sort out the disaster situation. He also sent a censor to go to Jiangnan to assist Mr. Dai. There were also 200,000 taels that went with him. Disaster relief funds of silver.
At the same time, the emperor also ordered the four major cities in the south of the Yangtze River to mobilize all the grain in the grain depots, and open warehouses to give porridge and distribute grain when the people were short of food, so as to pacify all the victims as soon as possible in the shortest possible time.
The grain depots in four provinces contain millions of dans of grain, enough to feed millions of victims in Jiangnan for several months.
Although we can't eat rice all the time, we can certainly drink porridge until next spring. When a batch of grain is transferred from other cities in next spring, the suffering of the victims will be over.
The emperor had everything planned well, but he couldn't help but encountered a large number of corrupt officials.
First, greedy for food.
The food that was distributed was gone after more than ten days for the victims to eat and drink. When they started to ask for food, the government officials said it was gone, and the victims started to make a fuss.
The money was also stolen.
More than half of the 200,000 taels of silver that the emperor ordered to buy grain seeds were embezzled by officials. The grain grains were delayed in reaching the people. As a result, after the rain stopped in the second half of the year, no crops could be planted in the fields.
The people were so hungry that they went out to beg for food, digging grass roots and eating wild vegetables. However, there were more wolves than meat, and within a few days, all the grass outside was eaten up.
When people have nothing to eat, they start robbing, stealing, and snatching. In short, no one wants to starve to death, but everyone wants to live.
Jiangnan was completely in chaos. By the time the officials in Jiangnan realized that they could no longer control it, it was already too late.
After the emperor received the report and a pile of evidence that Jiangnan officials were corrupt, he was so angry that he threw his favorite inkstone on the desk to the ground.
In the court hall, all the civil and military officials were silent, no one dared to speak, and even their breathing was subconsciously softer.
Even Duke Lu, who was used to showing off in the court, now wished he could shrink back into the crowd and hide in a turtle shell.
The Jiangnan area belongs to the Lu family. Nine out of ten officials in that area were promoted by Lu Guogong. Now someone is impeaching the officials there for embezzling the food and money allocated by the court to the people. They even presented the evidence and the list. Come up.
Duke Lu Guo was also very angry, his face turned black, and he hated those officials who didn't have any priority.
As an official, there is no one who is not greedy.
As the saying goes, an official who is not corrupt is not a good official, but if you want to be corrupt, it depends on how corrupt you are. You can't just pluck your hair and ignore the life and death of the people, right?
If something big happens now, who will take care of it?
They can't be greedy for money or food, and they can't wipe their buttocks cleanly when they poop, so they still have to let him wipe them, right?
If he does it, he must have the money to do it.
It's not like the Lu family can't afford hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, but even if they can, he can't take this amount of silver.
If he takes out the money, he will immediately be suspected of being the mastermind behind this corruption incident.
He cannot bear the blame.
The Lu family cannot afford to bear such a big crime. If not, the whole family will have to pay for it.
It's not worth sacrificing the entire family for Jiangnan.
Duke Lu Guo gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, feeling unwilling but unable to do anything.
He wanted to be like before, if someone impeached him, he would first ask the emperor to investigate the case carefully, and then he would recommend one or two of his ministers to pretend to investigate, and then do some tricks in secret, and then He openly and honestly bit back the minister who submitted the memorial for impeachment.
If it had been in the past, he could have blocked the sky with one hand, turned things around, and been able to preserve the Lu family's power in Jiangnan,
But not this time.
Refugees have already arrived in the capital. If such a big thing happens, even if the Lu family is extremely powerful, they may not be able to cover up such a big thing.
After weighing the pros and cons, Lu Guogong decided to give up the fat piece of Jiangnan and keep the Lu family as the main priority.
Jiangnan was lost. No matter how hard he tried to figure it out in the future, Jiangnan would still have a chance to return to his hands. But if the Lu family was gone, there would be nothing. The concubine and the two princes in the inner courtyard of the palace would also be gone. It's over.
The Lu family, the concubine, and the two princes were dependent on each other for blessings and misfortunes. Even for the concubine and the two princes, he had to give up Jiangnan.
After the emperor lost his temper, he began to discuss the matter with the civil and military officials.
Finally, the emperor ordered Wu General Wu from Jiangnan to send 10,000 troops to suppress the bandits and refugees. He also ordered Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Household Affairs to serve as the disaster relief ambassador and go to several major cities around Jiangnan to collect food and transport it to the disaster area.
He also sent people from Jin Linwei to Jiangnan to investigate corruption cases.
The people sent out this time were all the emperor's confidants. The people Lu Guogong recommended several times were refuted by the emperor and cabinet ministers.
This was also the first time that the emperor repeatedly refuted Lu Guogong's proposal at a court meeting. Lu Guogong was angry, but he did not dare to force the emperor to agree.
Ever since Mr. Liang Ge was beheaded, the cabinet has been in the hands of the emperor's people.
The power of the Lu family is no longer what it used to be.
……
Recently, Mrs. Pei was almost at the end of her rope in order to organize the funeral of little Zeng.
For a while now, she had pawned two-thirds of her jewelry. If she continued to pony up, she would have no jewelry to wear.
They also pawned two ornaments passed down from the ancestors of the Song family.
Those are good things. They are treasures passed down from the ancestors of the Song family. Each piece is worth thousands of taels of silver, but when it comes to the pawn shop, it is not worth half of the silver.
Mrs. Pei was very reluctant to part with it, but she couldn't do it inappropriately.
If it is not done properly, little Zeng’s funeral will not be held.
The monks of Baoxiang Temple counted the days for the little Zeng family. The coffin of the little Zeng family must be kept at home for seven or forty-nine days before being sent to Baoxiang Temple for burial. It can only be released after it has been kept for one hundred and twenty-eight days. Buried.
How much money will it cost?
Just to pay Baoxiang Temple to look at the coffin would cost over a thousand taels of silver. Where would she go to prepare this sum of money?
Mrs. Pei was almost worried to death.
When she heard that refugees had entered the capital, her eyes lit up and she went to discuss with Song Baiqing to bury little Zeng's coffin directly.
Firstly, it saves money, and secondly, she can take a rest. During this period of time, she was so tired that she almost shed all her flesh, and she was so tired that she lost shape.
Of course, when discussing with Song Boqing, she changed her tone and said, "Now that the capital is in chaos, my mother's coffin is placed at home. I'm worried that refugees will break into the house and collide with me. I think we should hold a mother's coffin as soon as possible." A funeral, so that my mother can be buried early.”
For a while, Mrs. Pei didn't give Song Boqing a penny, and sent a few servants to follow Song Boqing closely. Song Boqing didn't have a chance to find Peony, so he turned around to coax Mrs. Pei.
On the surface, the couple is reconciled.
Song Baiqing disagreed, "The masters of Baoxiang Temple have said that if my mother's coffin should be kept at home for seven to forty-nine days, our Song family will have good luck. If you..."
"At this moment, the master of Baoxiang Temple did not predict that there would be refugees in the capital." Pei interrupted him with a long face.
Seeing that Song Baiqing's face was ugly, she cried, "My family has long been out of money, and you don't care about anything. You ask me for everything at home and outside. My jewelry is almost gone. Do you want me to sell my house?" Are you raising money to give to Baoxiang Temple?”
Song Baiqing just sat there gloomily with a dark face.
Little Zeng's funeral was scheduled for two days later, and Xia Zihan also received a message from Zeng.
The next day, Xia Zihan resigned from the Zhuo family and returned to the capital.
On the day of little Zeng's funeral, Zeng and Xia Zihan went to the Song family early.
Song Baiqing and Pei both looked ugly after seeing Zeng's ancestors and grandson, but in front of a large group of people, they did not embarrass Zeng like last time.
Song Huai and Shi Wenting stepped forward to salute Mr. Zeng.
Song Huai looked at Xia Zihan and saw that Xia Zihan's pretty face was much prettier again. His expression was dazed for a moment, but soon it became dim again.
Shi Wenting seemed to have never seen her before and said, "Auntie, Lord Chuyu County, I will take you to change into mourning clothes."
"Thank you for your help, cousin."
"We are all one family, cousin Chu Yu, don't be polite."
Without a single incident or a single gain of wisdom, Shi Wenting's whole person changed, as if a child had grown into an adult overnight.
The reception and hospitality are so considerate that no one can find anything wrong.
The look in Xia Zihan's eyes was very calm, and there was no trace of the previous sharpness and resentment.
Her change surprised even Xia Zihan.
By the time they changed into mourning clothes and came out, it was already time for the funeral team to set off.
The coffin was lifted up by sixteen big men carrying the coffin. With a roar, Zeng rushed towards the coffin and burst into tears.
This is called crying spirit.
Only the closest female relatives of the deceased can weep. Zeng is the only sister of Zeng Zeng. She and Pei Shi Wenting will weep together.
The weeping spirit should keep holding the coffin with its hand and cry until it leaves the city gate. In this way, the soul of the deceased will be willing to reincarnate and become a new human being when it sees that its relatives are sad for it. Nostalgic for the world.
It took an hour for the Song family to walk to the city gate. Zeng was getting older. Xia Zihan was worried that Zeng's body and bones would not be able to bear it, so he stuck close to Zeng's side and supported her so that she could cry. It loosens faster.
(End of chapter)