Chapter 93: The Emperor’s Fury
On the imperial carriage, the Initial Emperor looked at the disaster victims blocking the road with an expressionless face.
Huangfu Kang, the Commander of the Imperial Guards serving as the escort officer, hurried over to apologize: “Your Majesty, please forgive us. These lowly rabble are blocking the road; this minister will drive them away immediately!”
“Nonsense!” The Initial Emperor burst out with a curse and coldly looked at Huangfu Kang: “These are all my subjects. If you drive them away without asking the reason, do you want me to become an incompetent ruler?!”
“Yes, this minister deserves death!” Huangfu Kang hurriedly knelt down in the dust.
“Pass down the order: soldiers are not allowed to harm them.” The Initial Emperor ordered in a deep voice: “Find a few representatives to come over. I want to hear what they have to say!”
“As commanded.” Huangfu Kang quickly accepted the order and left. Before long, he returned with several raggedly dressed old men.
“Commoners pay respects to Your Majesty!” The several old men, surrounded by golden-armored guards, looked at the Great Xuan Emperor on the luxurious imperial palanquin and all prostrated themselves in fear and trepidation.
“Several elders, do not be afraid.” The Initial Emperor said kindly, then instructed those around him: “Why haven’t you helped them up yet?”
Several eunuchs hurriedly went over and helped the old men to their feet.
“Speak up. Why are you blocking my carriage? What is the reason?” The Initial Emperor smiled at the old men and had someone bring them water and food.
The old men were moved to tears, holding the food granted by the emperor in both hands, and said with tears streaming down: “Your Majesty, we shouldn’t have disturbed your holy carriage, but we really can’t swallow this anger!”
“Don’t panic. Drink some water and speak slowly.” The Initial Emperor said kindly, completely ignoring the tens of thousands in the entourage baking under the blazing sun.
Only then did the old men start speaking one after another about their situation. “We are all disaster victims who fled to the capital from various places. This old one is from Liang Prefecture…”
“This old one is from Ji Prefecture…”
“I am from Qi Prefecture…”
“The Imperial Court did not take good care of you, causing you suffering.” The Initial Emperor asked gently: “Was the disaster relief not in place, leaving you hungry?”
“That’s not it…” The old men hurriedly shook their heads: “The congee kitchens of the Imperial Court and the various clans have been doing their utmost to help us. We can’t ask for more.”
“Sigh!” The Initial Emperor sighed and said to Du Hui beside him: “What fine subjects they are!”
Du Hui hurriedly nodded, and the Initial Emperor asked the disaster victims: “Then what is the matter with you?”
“We want justice!” The old men said all at once: “We want to accuse the Imperial Court officials responsible for repairing the dikes. They did shoddy workmanship, arbitrarily altered the blueprints, which led to the Yellow River bursting its banks and our families destroyed!”
“Your Majesty!” One old man cried out in grief: “It was midnight when the dike burst. This old one’s family of fourteen—all swept away by the flood in their sleep except for this old one and his wife. We drifted in a dough vat for a day and night before kind people rescued us!”
“Six people in my family were also drowned…”
“My little grandson was swept away by the flood…”
The old men recalled their tragedies, grief overwhelming them, and they couldn’t help bursting into loud wails.
“Your Majesty, you must uphold justice for us!” They cried and kowtowed repeatedly: “If it weren’t for those damn dog officials building the dike like that, how could we have our families destroyed and be left destitute in old age!”
The Initial Emperor listened to their tearful complaints with a sorrowful expression. Once the old men had slightly calmed down, he asked in a deep voice: “You say it was because of the Imperial Court’s shoddy workmanship on the dikes and arbitrary alteration of blueprints that caused the Yellow River to burst?”
“Not just that!” One old man shouted loudly: “To irrigate mulberry fields, they dug the dikes full of holes. When the flood came, how could they not collapse?!”
“Who wants to irrigate mulberry fields?” The Initial Emperor grew more confused: “How could there be mulberry fields by the Yellow River?”
“Your Majesty may not know,” the old men said all at once: “It was a scheme from above to make money. When repairing the dikes, they replanned the river course, turning many abandoned old channels into official fields, then sold them to rich people.”
“This…” The Initial Emperor hesitated: “What’s wrong with that?”
“If it were just abandoned channels, we wouldn’t complain.” The old men said indignantly: “But they saw that the old riverbanks and silted new fields from the channels were extremely fertile, right next to the Yellow River, easy to irrigate. Countless people wanted to buy fields! To create more land, they massively abandoned the original channels and built new dikes elsewhere! As for narrowing and straightening the channels, those little tricks go without saying!”
“Your Majesty, the Yellow River’s channels are all naturally formed. They altered them recklessly—how could the river god not be angry? It must send floods!” The old man said angrily: “But it’s us commoners who suffer!”
“You mean they turned the original riverbanks and channels into mulberry fields—is that it?” The Initial Emperor tried his best to make sense from the old men’s tangled accounts.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” The old men hurriedly nodded: “Mulberry fields need a lot of water for irrigation, so they dug openings directly in the dikes to divert water. And it’s not just one or two families—almost everyone did it… Your Majesty, they don’t live by the Yellow River and don’t know its terror!”
“I basically understand what you’re saying.” The Initial Emperor raised his hand and asked in a deep voice: “But how did you learn of these matters? Do you have evidence?”
“We all come from the Yellow River area, and there are witnesses!” The old men nodded emphatically, pointing to the dense crowd behind: “Many of them personally participated in repairing dikes, creating fields, and mulberry cultivation, and can testify!”
“Have you reported these situations to the Ministry of Personnel?” The Initial Emperor asked in a deep voice.
“We went to the Ministry of Personnel to lodge a complaint yesterday, but they protected each other, said we were slandering, and refused to accept it!”
“What?!” The Initial Emperor’s face darkened: “The Ministry of Personnel refused to accept it?”
“Yes!” The old men said angrily: “Not only that, they had officials drive us out, and today someone tried to expel us from the capital. Fortunately, heaven blessed us, and we encountered Your Majesty’s carriage!”
“A bunch of scoundrels!” The Initial Emperor flared up in anger, scaring the old men into kneeling on the ground.
The Initial Emperor sighed: “I’m not referring to you. Get up.” Then he instructed Du Hui in a deep voice: “Immediately send people to fetch the people from the Ministry of Personnel!” He paused: “And Gao Guangning and the people from the Water Management Bureau!”
“As decreed!” Du Hui hurriedly ordered men to gallop into the capital on horseback.
.
The Ministry of Personnel was just outside the Imperial City, right next to Xuanhui Gate.
In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Cui Yan, the Minister of Personnel, and Xie Xun, the Left Vice Minister, who were handling official duties in the duty room, received the Initial Emperor’s decree.
The two dukes pondered briefly, then sent someone to report to the Grand Tutor before summoning Minister of Works Gao Guangning and Director of the Water Management Bureau Huang Yun.
The Water Management Bureau is a department under the Ministry of Works, which is managed by the Ministry of Personnel. Huang Yun encountered Gao Guangning on the way and hurriedly saluted: “Minister, what have the two dukes summoned us for?”
“It’s probably about yesterday’s matter.” Gao Guangning said with a gloomy expression: “It’s all your doing!”
“The Water Management Bureau is just a place for hard labor; the big decisions are all made by the Minister!” Huang Yun cried injustice.
“I did tell you to sell fields, but did I tell you to alter the river course?!” Gao Guangning was furious with Huang Yun.
“Minister, you also come from a humble background. Don’t you know the difficulties we commoner officials face?” Huang Yun said with a bitter face: “The young masters of various clans—this one wants a thousand qing, that one two thousand qing. I can’t do magic. Without altering the river course, how to satisfy them?”
“Why don’t you have them back you up!” Gao Guangning saw the two dukes standing by the carriage, spitefully threw down a remark, and hurried over to bow deeply: “I don’t know what instructions the two dukes have for this subordinate?”
“Hmph!” Xie Xun coldly glanced at him and said angrily: “It’s all your doing!”
Earlier, Huang Yun could still retort somewhat firmly, but when it was Gao Guangning’s turn, he could only stand there pale with fear.
“Sigh, get in the carriage first. Don’t keep His Majesty waiting.” Cui Yan sighed and gestured for everyone to stop talking. “We’ll discuss after seeing His Majesty.”
“Yes.” Everyone acknowledged and got into their carriages, heading toward Xuanhui Gate. Despite just being rebuked by Xie Xun, Gao Guangning still shamelessly boarded his carriage.
Cui Yan saw it all and shook his head.
