The sunlight shines through the large glass windows, making the water pavilion as warm as spring.

Outside the water pavilion, however, is a chilly winter scene. The third cold wave of this winter has hit, and the pond has frozen over. The red and green in the garden have faded, and the reeds are swaying, creating a bleak and decadent scene.

The only thing worth appreciating is the spirit of the withered lotus leaves standing tall against the sky.

"Is Shanghai frozen?" Hai Rui stood in front of the French window, looking at the scene outside in surprise. "I remember that there was no ice in the twelfth month of the year."

"Yes, things are going to change." Zhao Hao at the side sighed and explained: "This is not a pun."

"Is the Little Ice Age you talked about finally coming?" Hai Rui asked softly.

"Yes." Zhao Hao nodded and said, "The brief warmth before the ice age is over. Winter is coming, Lord Hai..."

Zhao Hao first started this topic in Beijing in the second year of the Longqing reign. He told Hai Rui that in an agricultural society with low productivity, the rise and fall of dynasties were closely related to the so-called Little Ice Age cycle.

The previous three Little Ice Ages destroyed the Shang Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty. Now, the fourth Little Ice Age is coming again...

Hai Rui specifically checked historical records and found that the number of frost and snow disasters in the late Han and Tang dynasties did increase dramatically, and the months of occurrence were also much earlier. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, the "Tongjian" and "Book of Tang" clearly recorded that the weather was hot in the early Tang Dynasty, cold in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and it often snowed in Chang'an and Luoyang.

That is why Cen Shen, who lived in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, wrote the poem "Snow flies in the Hu sky in the eighth month."

Hai Rui also collected data from the current dynasty and found that, just as Zhao Hao had said, frost and snow disasters had increased significantly and occurred earlier since the Zhengde period...

Abnormal climate will lead to floods, droughts, locust plagues, and people's livelihood is in dire straits. This is consistent with Hai Rui's own feelings. The situation in the Ming Dynasty was indeed terrible, and the large-scale refugees were proof of this. Otherwise, he would not have written "Straight Talk on the First Thing in the World"!

When he was the governor of Yingtian, Hai Rui once again talked to Zhao Hao about the Little Ice Age. At that time, he asked if he could try to alert all the officials in the court and make them realize that the extreme cold era was coming?

Zhao Hao told him that this was too difficult. Because climate change is a long and subtle process, and it is not static. For example, the temperature will continue to rise in the next decade or so. In this case, the talk about the Little Ice Age has no market at all.

Now, nearly twenty years have passed since that conversation. Zhao Hao's prediction has been proven - from the end of the Longqing period to the thirteenth year of the Wanli period, the climate of the Ming Dynasty was generally warm and the weather was good, which created excellent conditions for the implementation of the Wanli New Deal, and the Ming Dynasty finally showed a prosperous scene.

But the cruel thing is that this was just the last glimmer of hope. Starting from the 15th year of the Wanli reign, as the number of sunspots gradually decreased, the global temperature began to gradually drop. In 1600, the 28th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, it entered an extremely cold period and reached its peak during the Chongzhen reign.

The winters during this period were extremely cold, with heavy snowfalls in places like Guangdong. The extreme cold in the north caused the rainfall area to generally move southward, with severe droughts hitting the Qin and Jin dynasties, then the Heluo region, and then the Qi and Lu, Wu and Yue, Jing and Chu, and the capital. Grain production dropped sharply, and even mice couldn't stand it and had to move around.

So the plague spread on a large scale again...

~~

Now, Hai Rui saw with his own eyes that Pudong had begun to freeze over. During the Longqing period, he could still take a boat in the muddy waters of Pudong in the twelfth month to investigate water conservancy.

"It seems that your prediction is gradually coming true." Hai Rui sighed desolately and looked at Zhao Hao and said, "I hope your large-scale immigration plan can protect hundreds of millions of people in the north."

"I will definitely do that." Zhao Hao nodded and said with a smile: "Mr. Hai may have thought I was bragging back then, but now you should know that the vast world overseas is indeed a warm land created for China, right?"

"Well, a few years ago, at the request of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Foundation, I traveled to all the 18 overseas administrative regions you have developed." Hai Rui nodded, and said with deep emotion, "It would be unbelievable if I hadn't personally experienced it. It turns out that right at our doorstep, in addition to Qiongzhou Island, there is a world a hundred times bigger waiting for us to explore."

"If you don't take what God has given you, you will suffer the consequences! If the red-haired devils take it all, China will be in a difficult situation in the future." Hai Rui gave Zhao Hao a thumbs up and said, "From this point of view alone, you are the greatest hero in China in the past two thousand years!"

"Mr. Hai praised me so much that it made me feel uneasy." Zhao Hao smiled from ear to ear and said:

"Nanyang can accommodate 100 million people without any problem. Moreover, we haven't had time to develop the largest green islands and isolated islands yet."

"No wonder you're so arrogant. I heard that you plan to increase the number of immigrants to three million per year?" Hai Rui asked, "Ten million in three years?"

"Well, it's easier said than done. Immigration is a complex project. Housing, transportation, sanitation, epidemic prevention, livestock, pesticides, fertilizers, food, etc. must all be fully equipped to ensure the survival and livelihood of the new immigrants. Any shortcoming will limit the scale of immigration. The most important thing is that the group has limited manpower. It is already very difficult to resettle two million immigrants a year."

Zhao Hao sighed and said, "It is only because of the great uncertainty in the future political situation that the group decided to send all the people who signed up earlier overseas first, and then slowly digest them."

Hai Rui nodded and was silent for a long time before he continued, "Lin Run said that only by following your path can we save the people and the Ming Dynasty."

"What does Lord Hai think?" Zhao Hao asked softly.

"I think so too..." Hai Rui never beat around the bush. He looked at the lonely and proud withered lotus on the ice and said quietly, "Otherwise I wouldn't have done so many things for you."

"Yes, the integrity of the group is all due to the righteousness injected by Lord Hai." Zhao Hao nodded and tried to persuade him again, "So don't go to Beijing. The emperor is not King Zhou, and I will not be King Wu. The Ming Dynasty only needs a pen holder, not Bigan's."

"Don't worry, I won't reveal any information about Jiangnan Group, nor will I do anything that would be detrimental to you." Hai Rui looked at Zhao Hao with a half-smile.

"Hey, what do you think of me?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but smile bitterly: "I'm not worried that you will deal with our group."

"Yes, no one can deal with you now." Hai Rui said calmly, "Even if we kill you and your son now, it will be useless. On the contrary, the royal family will not be able to escape."

"Then Lord Hai wants more..." Zhao Hao said helplessly.

"Just think of it as me asking for peace of mind. When I submitted the memorial on public security, I did not expect to come out alive. However, Emperor Sejong passed away before me. This has always been a thorn in my side. I often wonder if I am also responsible for Emperor Sejong's death?" Hai Rui's tone was a little vague, but his eyes were as firm as ever.

"What does this have to do with anything? Emperor Jiajing was already terminally ill." Zhao Hao couldn't help but shake his head.

"No matter what, even a slave state like the Shang Dynasty and a tyrant like Emperor Xin still had loyal ministers like Bi Gan. Our Ming Taizu expelled the Tartars and restored China. Successive emperors have nurtured scholars for two hundred years, so how could there not be ministers who died for their advice? Doesn't that make the Ming Dynasty's ministers seem too heartless?" Hai Rui laughed:

"The Emperor Shizong didn't kill me back then, probably because he wanted me to return my life to his Zhu family one day."

"It's not worth it..." Zhao Hao wanted to persuade him again.

Hai Rui raised his hand to stop him from continuing, saying, "I have made up my mind. No need to persuade me anymore."

"Ah..." Zhao Hao sighed. That's right, when will Hai Rui listen to advice?

"In fact, I have been thinking hard for the past few years. Is there a way to have the best of both worlds?" Hai Rui smiled and slowly said to Zhao Hao:

"Then I thought, since your group emphasizes justice and legitimacy so much, then as long as the emperor doesn't make a big mistake, you can't fabricate a crime for him, right?"

"That's definitely not possible. One lie must be covered up with countless lies. What's fake will always be fake." Zhao Hao shook his head and said, "If the emperor doesn't settle accounts with Master Zhang and doesn't do evil, we will naturally just do what we should do."

"This is the purpose of my coming to the capital. I don't expect to make the emperor as good as Yao and Shun, but just want to keep an eye on the emperor and make sure he doesn't make any mistakes." Hai Rui looked at Zhao Hao frankly and asked, "Do you want to keep me here even more?"

"Hahaha, how could that be?" Zhao Hao shook his head and laughed, "We would love for Lord Hai to look after the emperor and let him be a decent human being!"

"I know that the Emperor reinstated me just to use me as a cover, not because he really wants to hear my nagging." Hai Rui was very self-aware and said, "But I was determined not to go to Nanjing to take up the post, so he had no choice but to bring me to him. But if I go, he won't be able to do anything about it."

"It looks like your Majesty's good days will soon come to an end." Zhao Hao showed a sympathetic smile: "It's been two months, and he hasn't attended court once, nor summoned ministers to make reports."

"It's time to take better care of it." Hai Rui's face turned cold, and he said in a deep voice, "How come the line of King Xingxian is always so lazy from generation to generation?"

"Maybe this is hereditary." Zhao Hao said with a smile: "If you want to blame someone, blame Lord Yang Wenzhong. He made the wrong choice and couldn't control it."

"From a personal perspective, I hope that the child is fine." He sighed and said, "But he finally got rid of my father-in-law. Can he listen to Mr. Hai's advice?"

"Even if I can't persuade him, I will do it anyway!" Hai Rui said firmly, "Don't worry, if he really does something perverse and brings disaster to the country and the people, I will shed blood at the palace gates and sound the death knell for this tyrant!"

"Ming Dynasty is so fortunate to have Lord Hai." Zhao Hao's nose felt sour, and all his words turned into a deep bow.

"You are too kind." Hai Rui shook his head and exhaled a long breath, "Before I came here, I was planning to persuade you to save the family. But when the boat entered the Huangpu River and I saw the sharp contrast between Pudong and Puxi, I couldn't think of any more reasons."

Puxi was once known as a paradise on earth, but compared with Pudong New Area, the new living demonstration area that Zhao Hao spared no expense and built with the highest standards, it is still a world of difference.

Almost everyone who has been here will become a crazy fan of Jiangnan Group and would like to move their home here immediately... Unfortunately, it is now a lottery.

Hai Rui was the most deeply touched because before he presided over the "Huangpu River" water conservancy project, Pudong was a quagmire...

"Compared to ensuring that the common people of the world are not hungry and cold, that the elderly have someone to rely on, and that the widowed, the orphaned and the lonely are all provided for, the ancestral temple of a family is indeed insignificant." He looked up at the sky filled with dead leaves and murmured:

"It's just that I'm old, and there are some things that are deeply rooted that I can't change even though I know they're wrong."