"Your Majesty, Henan, Hedong, Shannan, and more than 130 counties in the forty-two prefectures. Although the drought has been controlled, many people are still homeless. Several large refugee teams, the number of them exceeds 100,000. I request Your Majesty to immediately order the Ministry of Revenue to prepare sufficient money and grain to help the people so as to avoid civil rebellion."

The censor Zhai Hongliang was the first to stand up and said loudly.

From late March of the ninth year of Chengping to late February of the first year of Tianhe, in nearly a year, the drought affected most areas of Henan, Hedong, Shannan, and more than 40 prefectures and more than 100 counties in the affected areas. In order to avoid taxes and natural disasters, millions of people were displaced and homeless. Although Zhao Zhi issued many pacification policies, the court's finances were empty, and many policies and decrees were powerless in the end and could not be implemented at all. Moreover, at that time, the Longyou War was the most intense moment. The court also tightened its belt and supported all its money and grain to Longyou, and could not afford to provide disaster relief.

Finally, the Minister of Revenue He Zhongkai proposed a feasible suggestion, asking all officials to donate money, and to borrow money from wealthy merchants. The court borrowed a lot of money at the cost of high interest rates. Although it was not enough, it could only barely maintain it. Until July, the wing king Zhao He and Li Xun each contributed a large sum of food. The court started large-scale disaster relief, and finally stabilized the disaster.

Although the disaster has stabilized, it does not mean that everything has ended. The subsequent reconstruction work and a considerable number of refugees are still homeless. This is a huge burden to the local government. In addition, after the Jiangnan War, the number of local troops increased to a certain extent, but not many. The number of troops directly under the imperial court has increased greatly, from less than 300,000 to nearly 500,000. With the increase in the army, the consumption of money and food naturally increased greatly. In addition, although the subsequent two Longyou Wars achieved great victory, the court's finances deteriorated rapidly. By the beginning of the ninth year of Chengping, it was almost unsustainable. Local officials were better and could use materials locally. In addition to the gentry, most officials at all levels in the capital had not received salaries for nearly a year, which was a great threat to the stability of the government.

After all, if you can’t even eat enough, who can you still be loyal to political affairs and the court?

Minister of the Ministry of Revenue He Zhongkai said, "This matter is still being planned. It is not appropriate to be discussed in the court before the plan is complete."

Zhai Hongliang said angrily: "Planning for planning, I don't know when I will wait. If this continues, I don't know how many refugees will starve to death. Is this arbitrary thing about He Prime Minister?"

He Zhongkai's face suddenly looked extremely ugly and he felt extremely worried when he was questioned loudly in front of so many ministers.

"Censor Zhai, please pay attention to your words. You are just a small censor and are not qualified to question me."

When someone said that the officials were young, Zhai Hongliang became even more angry: "The court can discuss matters, and then it can be said, what does it have to do with the rank? As a prime minister, you are bullying me like this, which is not something that the prime minister should have."

"Zhai Hongliang, when will I suppress you with an official? Don't slander me?"

He Zhongkai was also very angry and his voice became much louder.

"You just said it."

"You're just messing around."

The more they talked, the more angry they became, and they started arguing there.

The scene was a bit unreasonable. Many ministers kept winking at the Chief Censor Liu Chongji. This is your subordinate, you should come out to stop it. Liu Chongji pretended not to see these winks. It was not that he didn't want to come out to stop it, but he didn't dare. Zhai Hongliang was just a stubborn person and was stubborn. Now his emotions were obviously aroused. If he came out rashly, he would not have any effect, and he might have brought himself in, which would be as unstoppable as He Zhongkai.

Although Zhai Hongliang's official position was small, he was the censor. Taizu set rules when he was founded. The censor had the power to speak freely, and even the emperor could not let him shut up at will.

There are two celebrities in the Censorate, one is Zhai Hongliang, and the other is Zhou Qing. Both are Jinshi who have been in peace for seven years. They have very similar personalities, temperaments, and tempers. They are both of them. People with the same stubbornness are naturally easy to get together. Zhai Hongliang and Zhou Qing have a very good personal relationship. Many people, including Li Xun, have already experienced Zhou Qing's personality. Zhai Hongliang is even better than Zhou Qing. People like this either hate him to death or like him very much. For example, Liu Chongji, the chief of the Censorate, has a great appreciation for Zhai Hongliang. He was promoted from a censor's documentary to a Censor's Second Prison two months ago. Although the rank is the same, he has the qualification to go to court to follow the government.

Zhai Hongliang and Zhou Qing have many similarities, but some things are far inferior to Zhou Qing. Zhou Qing is the top scorer. He is successful in his youth, handsome and majestic. He has such a personality. He quickly gained the attention of Zhao Zhi and arranged him to Li Xun. He was very open and valued, so that his talents can be displayed and his career started very quickly.

Zhai Hongliang was not as lucky as Zhou Qing. He had the same origin and was equally talented. Unfortunately, the imperial examination was not smooth. He was nearly forty years old and was only admitted to the Jinshi. He was short and had a poor face. To put it bluntly, he was very ugly and had such a bad temper. Most people hate it and stay away from it. Fortunately, Liu Chongji admired Zhai Hongliang quite much, otherwise at most, he would be the first to be the county magistrate when he was old.

Zhai Hongliang became more and more excited when he spoke there. He looked like he was a prime minister, so what if I was not afraid. He Zhongkai was so angry that he trembled all over and his face turned red. In the end, he could only keep silent. He was the prime minister of the Political Affairs Hall. Today, he quarreled with a small censor in the lobby. Regardless of winning or losing, it was already an extremely embarrassing thing.

Zhao Zhi leaned against the chair, and looked at the two of them quarreling there with a calm expression. Without any words, Liu Congxi could not bear to watch and said loudly: "Chief Zhai, please pay attention to your emotions, don't roar in the court, and mess up etiquette."

Zhai Hongliang then glanced at He Zhongkai and bowed to Zhao Zhi to apologize. Zhao Zhi just said lightly, "Get off" without any emotion.
Chapter completed!