In the warm room, the floor heater was burning hot.
Emperor Jing continued to review memorials.
Since returning to Beijing yesterday to meet with several ministers in private, memorials have been delivered to the palace like snowflakes.
The main content is to urge flood relief funds.
Emperor Jing kept shaking his head as he drew the lines stroke by stroke.
The court must allocate funds, but it is not the right time yet. As an emperor, I cannot speak without thinking.
You can't say that you have found a magical artifact called Immeasurable Merit that can turn the world around.
If I fail, I don't know how the history books will record it, but I think I will become a joke...
After all, even he had never seen such immeasurable merits, and he was even more unsure about it.
Fang Zhengyi's method was like a drowning man grabbing a piece of driftwood to him. It was better to grasp this ray of hope than to try to remedy the situation afterwards.
Fang Zhengyi is a capable official who can create miracles, and he is willing to take a chance!
After rejecting all memorials requesting funding one by one, Emperor Jing breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he became worried again, fearing that the ministers would come to him to demand an explanation again tomorrow, and this kind of days would have to go on for a few more days.
Just as he was thinking about it, a young eunuch suddenly ran in from outside the door: "Your Majesty, the prince wants to see you."
"Let him in!"
Seeing the prince coming, Emperor Jing couldn't help but smile and asked, "How do you feel about walking around the capital for a day?"
Li Yuanzhao said confidently, "I think I understand."
"Oh? Where did you go today?" Seeing him like this, Emperor Jing had a bad feeling in his heart for no reason.
"I only went to the outer city today and came back in a hurry. However, a glimpse of the whole picture is enough to tell the whole story. There is no point in seeing too much!"
Emperor Jing's face darkened.
The prince is getting cocky. He just took a look at the outer city and then he ran to me and made a solemn promise.
He also said that a single glimpse can reveal the whole picture, but considering his young age, Emperor Jing suppressed his unhappiness and maintained a kind face.
"Then tell me what you think!"
Li Yuanzhao took a deep breath and said, "I'll tell you then. If I don't tell you well, please don't blame me, Father!"
"You can talk as you please! I won't blame you no matter what you say today."
"Forgive me for being blunt, but the situation in the capital is so bad that it has exceeded my imagination!"
"Oh?" Emperor Jing adjusted his sitting posture and started to take it seriously.
"Let's start with the streets. The layout of the houses is a mess, and the houses are built all over the place! It's obvious that there is a lack of planning!"
"This will make life inconvenient for the people, and dark corners will be more prone to crime. If it is up to me, the court should make a unified plan, build uniform houses, and then sell them to the people!"
"The court gets money, and the people get better houses!"
Emperor Jing closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, tapped the table with his fingers occasionally, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Well, that's good. Go on!"
After hearing Emperor Jing's encouragement, Li Yuanzhao gradually became more confident.
"There is also the sanitation of the streets. Sewage is flowing everywhere and garbage is everywhere. This place should follow the example of Taoyuan County and resurface the road, appoint sanitation officials, and prohibit people from dumping garbage."
"At the same time, we should repair the underground pipelines and move the dirty water and garbage away!"
Emperor Jing opened his eyes, looked directly at Li Yuanzhao and said, "Do you know how to repair the pipeline? Where should the dirty water and garbage be transferred?"
Li Yuanzhao waved his hand and said confidently: "We can build a pipeline near Jiangling Port and dump the garbage directly into the sea!"
"How long is the pipeline? How much silver will it cost, and how many civilians will be recruited?"
"How can we continue the construction if we encounter high mountains or valleys along the way?"
“Once the pipes are fixed, how do we move the dirt away?”
Emperor Jing immediately threw out a series of questions.
Li Yuanzhao was a little embarrassed and stood there speechless. Then, suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind.
She said confidently, "These are all fine. They are not something I should consider! If this task is given to me, I will let Fang Zhengyi do it!"
"As the saying goes, everyone has his or her own specialty. What I want to learn is the art of being an emperor! Don't worry about these trivial matters first. The right thing to do is to focus on the big things and let go of the small things!"
Oh, a trifle? This uneducated bastard!
Emperor Jing said expressionlessly: "Okay, then let's skip this and get straight to the point!"
Seeing that his father was "speechless" by what he said, Li Yuanzhao immediately perked up: "Okay! Then I will get straight to the point!"
"Today, I went to a commoner's house and took a look. That house can't even be called a house. It's just a poor man's leaky house."
"At the time, they were cooking a pot of fish soup, which looked unappetizing. Moreover, this soup was specially cooked for patients."
"I asked them for their daily food. I wonder if Father has ever eaten it. It is a kind of porridge made from yellow rice."
"I also tasted it twice. The sour and bitter taste is still nauseating when I think about it."
As he spoke, Li Yuanzhao really recalled the previous moments, when he ate tasteless porridge in the dim room, and spent day after day like this.
Li Yuanzhao's heart ached, and he said with a heavy face, "The lives of the people in Dajing are too hard, and they have to eat this kind of food to survive... I feel really bad when I see this."
"I have also gained some insights from this matter..."
"Wait a minute!"
Emperor Jing suddenly sat up straight and asked seriously, "Did you really eat that yellow rice porridge?"
Hearing the doubt, Li Yuanzhao immediately became angry: "Really! Eunuch Guo can testify!"
"Call Guo Banban!"
Guo Tianyang trotted into the warm room, and Emperor Jing asked, "The Crown Prince went to the people's homes today and tasted the people's food. Is this true?"
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