Chapter 221 The first assistant of Volume B! (Third update, please vote for me!)

 “Your Majesty, I have something to say.” At this time, some people still dare to speak.

Emperor Yonglong stared at the man who stood up with cold eyes, suppressed the anger in his heart, and said warmly: "Qi Qing, please speak."

"The recent embarrassment in the capital city is certainly related to the failure of the imperial court and local officials to manage their duties, but it is not the main cause." Qi Yongtai's words seemed so inappropriate at this time, and everyone was shocked.

Does this minister who was just promoted by Emperor Yonglong really think that he has a strong character and wants to be a critic?

Emperor Yonglong narrowed his eyes and stared at Qi Yongtai, without saying anything for a long time.

He has long known that this Qi Yongtai is different from Zhang Jingqiu. Zhang Jingqiu will raise different opinions, but he may not raise them face to face in the court hall. Instead, he may find some private occasions to express his opinions. But this Qi Yongtai does not Just like that, it has a bit of a grievance-like feel.

Emperor Yonglong naturally knew that it was a blessing for the court to have such critical ministers, and it was also a sign of the emperor's purity, but he still didn't like such ministers in his heart.

Can't you, Qi Yongtai, be more tactful like Zhang Jingqiu? Am I so intolerant of what others say, do you have to use this gesture to express your attitude?

Anger surged up and was suppressed by Emperor Yonglong. He needed to show his broad-mindedness and magnanimity as a superior.

“I am also very interested in what Qi Qing has to say. Go ahead and tell me. I and you are all listening attentively.” Emperor Yonglong’s cheeks twitched, and he was smiling.

Qi Yongtai also knew that the emperor was not a broad-minded person. He just sat in this position and had to show this side of him to his ministers, but he didn't care.

"Your Majesty, since the capital was moved to Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, the capital city only briefly experienced more than ten years of being the capital of Yingtian Prefecture of this dynasty, and then it became the imperial capital again. It has been two hundred years in total. During these two hundred years, the size and population of the capital city have grown. More than ten times? Even after this dynasty established the capital, the population should have increased three times, but this dynasty’s management system of the capital city has continued from the previous Ming Dynasty, and basically there has not been much change..."

Emperor Yonglong's expression slowly softened, and he had to admit that what Qi Yongtai said was reasonable.

When the foundation of this dynasty was laid, it also followed the unification process from south to north of the previous Ming Dynasty. Yingtianfu briefly became the capital of the dynasty, but soon Emperor Guangyuan realized the disadvantages of Yingtianfu as the capital. The power of the Tatars in the north rose. If If the situation in the north cannot be stabilized, it will most likely turn into an embarrassing situation like that of the former Song Dynasty. That's why Emperor Guangyuan boldly moved the capital to Shuntian Prefecture, which is now the capital city, as soon as he ascended the throne.

At that time, because Shuntian Prefecture had only been the northern capital for more than ten years, its population quickly dropped from nearly one million at the peak of the Ming Dynasty to only about 300,000. However, after Emperor Guangyuan moved the capital, the population of the capital city declined in more than seventy years. Suddenly it skyrocketed again.

 In particular, Emperor Guangyuan and the then-successor Emperor Tianping migrated a large number of craftsmen, merchants and military households from the south, and the descendants of these people multiplied after staying in the capital.

In addition, there has been no major war, so the population inside and outside the capital city exceeded one million as early as the 30th year of Yuanxi. The scale of the capital city has also continued to expand, from the inner city with only nine squares to the current inner and outer city with thirty-six squares. Square, the population is estimated to be around 1.1 million people.

"I believe that some of the management strategies for the capital city inherited from the former Ming Dynasty are no longer suitable for the size and population of the current capital city, and some management strategies from the previous Ming Dynasty are not very reasonable. The powers and responsibilities of the Shuntian Prefecture and Wanping and Daxing counties have never been clarified. In theory, they can control everything, but in fact they can't control anything. The censor who patrols the city has the greatest power and responsibility, but it is limited to his own powers, responsibilities and manpower. It can't be managed at all, and the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry only care about their own affairs, and they can push back and forth when they encounter other matters involved. Even Long Jinwei can intervene. How can this make this capital city? Antai?"

Without being polite, almost everyone involved was brought in for a chat, especially the big bosses from the Ministry of War, Ministry of Industry, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, whose faces were not good-looking, but Emperor Yonglong’s face was getting better and better.

"Even Shuntian Prefecture, Wanping and Daxing counties, as well as the entire inner and outer cities, how many households there are, how many of these people are native citizens, how many are vassalage, and how many are temporarily living in the capital city, these more than one million people We have never really clarified the categories of the population, so how can we really control them?"

It is not that this kind of cleanup has never been done before, but the expansion of the capital city was too fast, and there was no time to verify it clearly before encountering changes again.

Almost every time there is a famine or disaster, there will be a large influx of refugees. In the past twenty years, there has been a wave of famine almost every two or three years, either in Beizhili, Shandong, Henan, or from Shanxi. The number of people who came over was huge, but every time they were ordered to return, it was difficult to exhaust them all.

Many of them have become hidden household registrations. These people have either become beggars or thieves, or they have possessed wealthy families or even changed their names in the military to become hidden slaves. These hidden slaves have even given birth to children and adopted daughters and become a new hidden population. It can be said that The population of this group is quite large.

 According to the discussion between Qi Yongtai and Feng Ziying, in the past few decades, the number of such people may not be less than 100,000.

Emperor Yonglong's face finally became clear, "Qi Qing, in your opinion, what should I do now?"

"Your Majesty, I don't have a good solution. The top priority is to keep the people safe. How to do this, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs should have a strategy." Qi Yongtai said coldly: "As for what to do in the future, To make the management of the capital city more reasonable and stable, that is a matter for later. The most important things at the moment are two things, one is to relieve the victims, and the other is to prevent the post-disaster epidemic. For these matters, we must come up with strategies as soon as possible and implement the personnel. Distribute them, and once the flood subsides, we will arrange them."

Emperor Yonglong breathed a sigh of relief, but felt a little regretful.

  He originally thought that Qi Yongtai would take advantage of the situation to put forward some suggestions, even on the appointment and dismissal of officials, but Qi Yongtai did not. He only put forward suggestions for doing urgent things at the moment.

This man was also a loyal minister and could be of great use, but Emperor Yonglong found it difficult to get close to him in his heart.

“Well, what Qi Qing said is true, but is there anything else?”

"Furthermore, after the disaster, we must ask the patrol battalion, the Five City Military and Horse Division, and the Longjinwei and Shuntianfu counties to pay close attention to the inside and outside of the city to prevent the spread of rumors, especially in the North Zhili area, which was also severely affected by the disaster. We should pay close attention to Strictly prevent refugees from entering Beijing. The White Lotus Sect and Wenxiang Sect are also spreading in Beizhili, so we must prevent them from taking the opportunity to cause trouble."

Qi Yongtai's suggestion surprised Emperor Yonglong. Before he could speak, Xiao Daheng, the Minister of Punishment, couldn't help but interject: "Master Qi, the White Lotus Sect and Wenxiang Sect have always been spread in Shandong. When did they become Beizhi Sect?" Is it spreading here?"

"Master Xiao, the White Lotus Sect is quite capable of changing its identity. Going to Beizhili under an alias to win over the people is not an exception. Baoding Prefecture has already discovered it. The Ministry of Punishment might as well investigate it. Don't wait until Shandong's civil uprising happened in Beizhili. Let’s do it again!”

Qi Yongtai didn't have much favorable impression of this old cunning guy who was just waiting to die. He retorted unceremoniously: "If your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can also ask Long Jinwei. I believe you will get something."

  Xiao Daheng didn’t care about Qi Yongtai’s attitude. This guy had the same attitude towards everyone and would not sell anyone’s face. But if the White Lotus Sect has penetrated into Beizhili, it would be a big deal.

This flood disaster not only affected the capital city, but Shuntian Prefecture and Baoding Prefecture outside the capital city were also affected. Such demons are accustomed to taking advantage of such natural disasters, either to deceive people's hearts, lead people to religion, or to incite Dissatisfaction with the government, if the local disaster relief and tax reduction are not done well, it will lead to a civil uprising.

Seeing that Xiao Daheng did not dare to say anything anymore, Emperor Yonglong guessed that this guy must not be too confident in his heart, and he was even more disdainful of these veterans, but he could only endure many things and had to take it one step at a time.

This Qi Yongtai is a good cabinet minister, but he is not a suitable candidate for the first assistant. Moreover, he has just served as the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and will not be able to join the cabinet in a short time.

Emperor Yonglong also sighed inwardly. Zhang Jingqiu was too junior and had stayed in Nanjing for too long. As a result, many people in the capital were unfamiliar with him. Even Xiao Daheng's appointment as Minister of War was met with a lot of resistance.

 After all, my foundation is still too shallow. Thinking of this, Emperor Yonglong couldn't help gritting his teeth. I have to survive these two or three years and let you see what I can do.

 How to choose between Fang Congzhe and Ye Xianggao is also a problem.

　　From the bottom of his heart, Emperor Yonglong was not very fond of these two men. They were both important ministers promoted by his father, but he could not admit that both of them had some skills.

If Shen Guanyin leaves, the first assistant can only be chosen from these two people. But on the one hand, Emperor Yonglong himself has not made up his mind about who will serve as the first assistant. On the other hand, he still has to find out his father's thoughts.

After calming down, Emperor Yonglong stopped thinking about it and turned his gaze to Shen Yiguan, "Shen Qing, what do you think of what Qi Qing said?"

Shen Yiguan sighed secretly in his heart. He knew that he was less and less trusted by the new emperor. Maybe it was just because he was not ready to choose between Ye Xianggao and Fang Congzhe to succeed him, or maybe he was still worried. The emperor's feelings were why he was dragging on like this, but he knew that he would have to leave after spring next year at the latest.

But it doesn't matter to Shen Yiguan. After serving as the chief assistant for so many years, what has he not seen in the world? Even the Supreme Emperor wants to compete with him?

The emperor wanted to choose an obedient chief minister, but he didn't think about it. How could he be obedient in everything when he was sitting in the position of chief minister? Then the cabinet ministers and the six ministries below will rebel against him. The chief minister cannot represent Shilin Wenchen, so he is not qualified to be the chief minister!

　　A minister who was obedient before taking the position of chief minister will no longer be able to obey the emperor after taking the position of chief minister. This is the chief minister!

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 (End of this chapter)