The Prosperous Era of Longwan

I got up early this morning and only had some breakfast. After a morning's passing ceremony, Wei Guangde followed the second and third overall picks and ate ashes for a long time. By the time the ceremony was over, he was already ravenous.

People are like iron rice or steel. At this time, Wei Guangde was really afraid of hunger.

In fact, it wasn't just Wei Guangde, most of the other Jinshi who followed him were in a similar situation. Perhaps only the three riding horses and boasting officials felt better.

When he saw the restaurant on the roadside, Wei Guangde couldn't help it anymore. When he turned around and saw Lao Kan, Wei Guangde immediately waved to him and walked towards the restaurant.

Lao Kan ranked 77th in the second class this time, which was a pretty good ranking.

When he came up to him, Wei Guangde said bitterly to him: "Brother Lao, I'm here to say hello. If anyone I know is the same year, please come to the restaurant for a meal. I'm very hungry."

Well, this department will try to recruit 300 people, and Wei Guangde will not invite them to dinner generously, that is, just inviting people he knows well to eat and drink.

At this time, I was wearing a Jinshi uniform and went into a restaurant alone to show off. What would I think if someone of the same year saw me?

It's better to ask Lao Kan to do this for him, and he can rest inside and order some food.

"Okay, I'm hungry too, so I'll just have a meal here first."

Lao Kan is about the same now. Can he not be hungry after walking all the way?

Wei Guangde strode into the restaurant and went up to the second floor. He occupied a few tables by the window and sat down. The waiter came over, bowed his head and called out: "Master"

Wei Guangde's clothes mainly indicate who he is after staying in the capital for a few years, not to mention that the streets are so lively today, so there is no need to ask.

Wei Guangde waved his hand and interrupted directly. He didn't bother to ask for the menu now, so he said to the waiter: "Prepare a few dishes that are good at the store. Take care of the three tables first. You can prepare as many people as you think will be there at that time. Give them first." I'll get the tea."

At this moment, the official praise had just ended, and Wei Guangde was too lazy to find Zhang Ji and the others, and took care of his own five internal organs temple first.

This is an alley near the end of the street where Yujie Kuaguan is located. When Wei Guangde came over, he saw many new scholars walking back along the avenue and looking for restaurants on the street.

But Wei Guangde wouldn't do that. There were so many people on the street. After watching their parade, many people would probably rush into the roadside wine shop to eat and drink. They would only be able to find a place.

This restaurant is not big, with about a dozen tables upstairs and downstairs.

Not long after, Lao Kan brought more than 20 people from outside, most of whom were fellow Jiangxi residents.

When they went upstairs, Wei Guangde smiled and said: "I'm afraid everyone is like me. I'm the host today, so let's eat something here."

Wei Guangde had already asked the store owner to prepare tea. Everyone didn't even get a sip of water during the whole journey. They were really tired and hungry now, and four tables were quickly occupied.

"Follow it."

Although the three tables were mentioned first, Wei Guangde also asked them to prepare. The two waiters who came up hurriedly poured tea for everyone. Everyone tested whether the water was hot or not, and drank it in one go.

Not long after, the waiter brought out a few plates of food to go with the wine, and a few bottles of wine for each table. Now everyone no longer looked like a scholar, they just picked up their chopsticks and started eating without saying any nonsense about courtesy. .

Not long after, another group of Jinshi came, and I don't know how they found their way here, but they were smaller than Wei Guangde and others.

There were a total of six tables upstairs, but Wei Guangde and the others occupied four of them. At first they wanted to eat upstairs, but they had to give up when they saw that there were only two tables left.

We are all new scholars, so we can just hold hands with each other on the stairs.

Not long after that, the tables upstairs and downstairs were occupied by people coming from behind.

Just as Wei Guangde expected, the restaurants on the street had long been occupied by busy people, so there was no room for them.

After the food and wine were served, Wei Guangde didn't feel hungry after eating for a while. He heard the sounds upstairs and downstairs again, and said with a smile: "I think this restaurant is a real Jinshi restaurant. There are all Jinshi people upstairs and downstairs. "

"Haha, I didn't think the restaurant food was that good in the past, but today I know what delicious food is."

"I came here early in the morning and have been standing there until now. I was really hungry at that time."

After eating to fill their bellies, everyone was no longer as hungry as before and began to laugh.

There were also two groups of Jinshi who came to sit upstairs. There were not many people, six or seven of them, each occupying a table. They all knew each other, but were not familiar with each other, and everyone just shook hands with each other.

Not long after, the two tables over there also stopped eating in a hurry and started talking while eating just like Wei Guangde here.

"How come you didn't see Jinda Jintanhua?"

Someone suddenly asked.

Lao Kan shook his head, "I didn't see anyone when I went there. Maybe he was riding back to the clubhouse. I guess he was also very hungry."

The four tables of Jiangxi Jinshi scholars mostly talked about Jiangxi, but not long after, Wei Guangde's attention was attracted by the topics mentioned by the Shanxi Jinshi scholars at the next table.

"Who says it's not the case? A letter from home said it was pretty good and the losses there were relatively small. I heard that the situation in Shaanxi next door was so bad that more than 300,000 people were killed."

"Shaanxi is miserable. It is said that there are not 200,000 people in Shanxi who died."

Then I heard my colleague from Shanxi over there sighing.

When the words reached Wei Guangde's ears, Wei Guangde felt funny in his heart.

Wei Guangde still vaguely remembers what they talked about before. It seems that he heard someone say that the earth dragon in Shanxi Province turned around in December last year.

Well, Wei Guangde, who later experienced the Southwest Earthquake, naturally knew that the 8-magnitude earthquake he personally experienced was in a densely populated area and was not as large as they said.

Unable to bear it any longer, Wei Guangde couldn't help but interrupt: "Guys, is this Shanshan-Shaanxi earthquake as exaggerated as you say?"

Wei Guangde did not deny that natural disasters such as earthquakes would definitely cause huge losses. He just had some doubts, strong doubts, about the hundreds of thousands of people they claimed could be lost at every turn.

"Wei Chuanlu, we are not talking nonsense, that's what the letter from home said."

A Jinshi who spoke earlier spoke hurriedly.

"Yes, there are businessmen coming to the guild hall from time to time. Although we all listen to what they say, we are all fellow villagers. No matter what, we will not curse the people in our hometown."

"No, I just said that the hundreds of thousands you mentioned is a bit exaggerated. I'm afraid it's probably the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the disaster."

Wei Guangde smiled and said, he jumped from the top three to the second to get the position of Chuanlu. Even people who didn't know it before now know him. Besides, he was the first person to flatter the number one pick along the way, so he just went to Being recognized.

"Yeah, yeah, if the Earth Dragon turns over, it's certain that hundreds of thousands of people will be affected."

Zhang Ke, who was beside Wei Guangde, nodded in agreement and echoed.

"It's not the victims, it's the people who died."

"Could it be that you heard wrongly?"

"Yeah, treat the disaster as..."

"No, Shanshan lost a lot of people this time."

Soon, Jiangxi Jinshi talked to Shanxi Jinshi about the Shanxi-Shaanxi earthquake disaster. Jiangxi Jinshi felt that the hundreds of thousands of losses they claimed were too exaggerated. You must know that the large counties in Jiangxi have a population of only a dozen or two. One hundred thousand.

Well, there is naturally no result in such an argument. Jiangxi Jinshi bluntly said that he was just guessing, while Shanxi Jinshi heard about it through letters from home and inquiries from fellow villagers.

"The losses in Shanshan this time are huge. As far as I know, they are more than what you said."

At this moment, someone from another table of Jinshi sitting upstairs stood up and said.

Wei Guangde looked at him and had a vague impression that his name was He Bangli. He was ranked 150th among the top three in the imperial examination. He was originally from Fuqing, Fujian. Since his ranking was relatively close to Wei Guangde's, the two had exchanged words with each other before.

"Brother He, why did you say this?"

Wei Guangde was a little puzzled. How could he, a Fujian Jinshi, know about the disaster in Shanxi and Shaanxi?

"Yesterday, I had a gathering with fellow villagers and heard from people at the General Affairs Department that Shanxi reported a loss of 100,000 people in the earthquake. After the earthquake, the number was nearly 100,000 due to lack of treatment and plague and other disasters. The loss was 200,000. strange."

At this point, He Bangli sighed and continued: "It's even worse in Shaanxi. The direct loss of the earthquake was more than 300,000 people, and the post-earthquake loss was nearly 200,000. Weinan, Huazhou, Chaoyi, Sanyuan, Puzhou, etc. The losses were huge, and not even one out of ten people was left alive.”

Wei Guangde's heart twitched when he heard the shocking figures of 100,000, 300,000, and 200,000 popping up in He Bangli's mouth, and he couldn't help but lost his voice: "Brother He, how many casualties were there in the Shanshan-Shaanxi earthquake? Is there any local report?" "

"The local authorities are still accounting. There is no doubt that more than 800,000 people have died."

He Bangli shook his head, then lowered his head and stopped talking. Next to him, He Tingjin, who was also a Fujian Jinshi, said: "It's a shame that the money of the imperial court has been embezzled by those corrupt officials. This time Shanshan and Shaanxi suffered a major disaster. The Ministry of Household Affairs and the Cabinet They all said they had no money to provide disaster relief, but later they diverted the money for building the wall and deducted some of the border army’s pay to collect 150,000 taels of silver, 150,000 taels.”

When Wei Guangde heard He Bangli say the number "eight hundred thousand", he was shocked and opened his mouth wide. This number was beyond his imagination. It was too big.

However, He Tingjin then brought the topic to court corruption, and Wei Guangde labeled this person "stupid" in his heart, but he didn't know whether he was really stupid or pretending to be stupid.

Although the imperial court has a large amount of tax money put into the treasury every year, this money has to be used to supply officials and yamen inside and outside the capital, as well as the salaries of the frontier troops in the important towns on the nine sides. It is already stretched thin, and the current Emperor Jiajing reaches out to the treasury from time to time to get money. There has long been a serious deficit in Taoism, temples, and rituals.

Greed, what the hell, you're already a Jinshi, but you still dare to say the word "greed". Doesn't this mean people of your own class?

When it comes to corruption, all Jinshi in the world are "big corrupt criminals".

However, for such a big disaster in Shanxi and Shaanxi, the imperial court allocated 150,000 taels of silver, which was indeed too little.

However, as soon as this idea came to his mind, Wei Guangde was horrified. This is the embezzlement of border funds. Now the North is still being harassed by the Ada Khan's headquarters. At this time, if you reduce military expenditures, Do the northern frontier troops still have the morale to fight?

Shutting his mouth, Wei Guangde fell silent.

In the years when the world was at peace, the imperial court could not allocate money for disaster relief in the face of great disasters in Shanxi and Shaanxi. So what would it be like at the time of Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty.

Wei Guangde unconsciously sympathized with the emperor who was not even a caterpillar.

The restaurant became quiet. All the Jinshi were stunned by the bomb thrown by He Bangli. The loss was 800,000 people. In Jiangxi, that's a few counties without people.

"Why is it so serious?"

After a long while, Linchuan Jinshi Wu Chaoyi spoke.

"The earthquake happened in the middle of the night. According to reports, the ground cracked and springs gushed out, and there were fish and things in it, or city buildings and houses sank into the ground, or the flat ground suddenly turned into a mountain. After that, there were several earthquakes a day, and the earthquakes continued day after day, hey."

He Bangli raised his head at this moment and said: "According to the summary, a total of 101 counties were damaged by this earthquake. The Chief Minister of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan.

The earthquake reduced local houses, government offices, temples, and academies to ruins, and the taller and stronger buildings such as towers, pagodas, and palaces all collapsed.

The common people were trapped under their houses in their dreams and had no time to escape. Civilian and military households suffered heavy losses. Later, the congestion of the Yellow River caused floods. It was the middle of winter during the earthquake, and the victims froze to death, starved to death, and suffered from the plague later. The number of deaths caused is countless. "

"Eight hundred thousand people with names and surnames?"

Wei Guangde still felt that this number was unbelievable and was beyond his knowledge.

With the current level of science and technology of the Ming Dynasty, one hundred thousand or two hundred thousand people could barely accept death, but this time it was eight hundred thousand. According to the current Ming Dynasty order, the loss of population must be calculated by name, but Wei Guangde knew that there were many more. The existence of hidden household registration.

Although I don’t know how many hidden houses there are in Shanshan and Shaanxi, Wei Guangde must still exist.

These people are not on the household registration, and there is a high probability that they will not be included when calculating the loss of population.

Seeing the delicious food on the table, Wei Guangde felt unsatisfied for a while.

Thinking that there are still millions of victims in Shanxi and Shaanxi waiting for food, but they are getting fresh clothes and delicious food in the capital, Wei Guangde feels a little uncomfortable.

Most of the people in the restaurant had sad faces at the moment. Although I don’t know their true thoughts, as long as they are a normal person and a scholar who knows etiquette, justice and integrity, they should be sad and shed tears for this.

"Since ancient times, disasters and injuries have never been so tragic. I wish I could take my own life to replace them."

I don't know who suddenly sighed.

"We are already Jinshi, and we will be officials in the future. On behalf of the herdsmen, as long as we are diligent and frugal, so that the people under the system can live and work in peace and contentment, that is the right way. What nonsense are you talking about?"

Someone else spoke up and scolded.

"Tomorrow's Rong En Banquet is said to cost thousands of gold each time."

Wei Guangde suddenly spoke leisurely.

Speaking at this time naturally attracted the attention of others, and everyone also wanted to hear what he, a second-tier scholar, had to say.

Wei Guangde was inexplicably promoted to the second-class position at the end of the top three. Wei Guangde knew that most people were unconvinced. In fact, he himself was also very strange. He didn't even give any money, so how could he be ranked so high.

When Shanxi Guodong called him "Wei Chuanlu" earlier, Wei Guangde could already hear the faint sourness in his tone.

"The imperial court has no money for disaster relief."

Wei Guangde still said unhurriedly, "Is it true that we who study and learn etiquette are just for the sake of imperial examinations and becoming officials, for the sake of being in high positions and enjoying ourselves without caring about the fate of the people?

The Rong'en Banquet is a system and cannot be abolished, but the country is in dire straits. I want to go to the Ministry of Rites to ask the great uncle to downsize the banquet and replace it with clean water, and all the money saved will be sent to the disaster-stricken areas in Shanxi and Shaanxi."