The Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs for five years, and Jiangnan fell for four years, and the war made the originally prosperous Jiangnan full of devastation and ruins.

After the cabinet dealt with the state funeral of Emperor Gaozong and the enthronement ceremony of the new emperor, the authority of the central court was restored, and the restoration of the economy and people's livelihood in Jiangnan was put on the agenda.

At the beginning of September, after the power to appoint officials was returned to the central government, the Chu Party once again proposed that the finances of the provinces should be handed over to the central government after the local government had reduced expenditure by 30 percent, and was ready to concentrate financial power, but was fiercely opposed by Tang and Lu.

In mid-September, the Chu Party put forward a bill to crack down on maritime smuggling and raise taxes, which was passed by a narrow margin in the cabinet.

The next day, the Zhejiang Party requested the opening of the East China Sea and the establishment of two ports of Ningbo and Hangzhou for trade with Korea and Japan, but the Chu Party vetoed.

In late September, after all parties privately negotiated a compromise, the Chu Party again submitted a bill to raise local expenditure reduction to 40 percent, and promised to fully open up the sea and increase the trade of the three cities of Quanzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, which was unanimously approved by the cabinet.

When Wang Yan gradually brought the government back on track with the prestige of recovering Nanjing, the entire Jiangnan had to face a cruel thing.

At the time of the autumn harvest, it should have been a busy season, but the Jiangnan campaign from February and March to August made the land south of the Yangtze River, many state capitals, summer and autumn all failed, and the Qing court had looted very fiercely before, and in September, many people's grain stocks had been eaten, and a large number of hungry people began to emerge in Nanzhili.

The war affected the entire Nanzhi, and the state capitals in the east and west of Nanjing broke out because of the impact of the war, and many hungry people have begun to pour into Nanjing.

In order to control the disaster situation and control the hungry people, Wang Yan asked the counties to stabilize the hungry people and not let the hungry people flock to Nanjing, and at the same time allocated grain to the counties for disaster relief.

Taiping Mansion, Dangtu County, is the county closest to Nanjing among the several disaster relief counties in the west of Nanjing, and it is also an important passage for hungry people from Chizhou and other places to flock to Nanjing.

At this time, on the official road leading from Dangtu County to Nanjing, there were endless tents, stretching for more than ten miles, and more than 200,000 victims lived.

This is only a small part of the victims in the entire Jiangnan, and the Ming court is facing a serious challenge.

Wang Yan, escorted by nearly 100 cavalry, came to the outside of the camp, the governor of Taiping Prefecture, and Tu Zhixian and other cadres came to greet him.

Zhizhou is an old bureaucrat named Sun Zhongyi, about 50 years old, relatively shrewd and capable, but also very slippery. Zhixian was promoted by Chu Tang, and he was the person of Hengyang Mansion, and his name was Chen Yanwen, who was only twenty-seven or eight, and his body was full of vitality, but the water chestnut was distinct.

Wang Yan turned over and dismounted, and entered the tent area with them, Chen Yanwen introduced Wang Yan as he walked: "Your Highness, most of these are not hungry people from Dangtu, but from the direction of Chizhou, and nearly 200,000 people have gathered so far, and most of these hungry people are tenants who have no land. ”

This was originally the report of the Zhizhou, but Chen Yanwen did Sun Zhongyi's work, but the latter seemed to take it for granted, after all, he was an official anyway, and his subordinates were the new talents of the Chu Party, so he naturally stood aside.

Wang Yan didn't say it, but he was depressed about this situation in his heart.

"Is there enough food?" Wang Yan asked.

This is his main concern, so many people, the daily consumption of food must be staggering.

"Although the household department has allocated it, I am afraid that the grain that should be painted can only last for half a month." Chen Yanwen replied.

"What's the situation with the food in Nanjing?" Wang Yan frowned slightly, turned his head, and asked Wang Fuzhi, he arrived in Nanjing in mid-September and served as the left waiter of the household department.

"Back to Your Highness, it's not a lot." Wang Fuzhi pondered: "Hong Chengchou has some grain in Nanjing, but this time the disaster in Jiangnan is too big, and the number of hungry people is too large, so I am afraid that all the relief will not last until the end of the eleventh." ”

"How much money is left in the account of the household?" Wang Yan pursed his lips.

"After conquering Nanjing, from the treasury, as well as from the homes of Mancheng and Touqing officials, a total of 11 million taels of silver was converted, in addition to hundreds of thousands of hectares of land and dozens of cotton spinning workshops."

Li Zicheng conquered Beijing and fished nearly 70 million taels, while the Ming army only had more than 10 million taels, mainly because Nanjing was not the nest of the Eight Banners, and most of the wealth they looted in the south of the Yangtze River was sent to Beijing.

However, this 11 million taels, plus the land and workshop, is equivalent to a year's tax in the Ming Dynasty, and the debts he owes are also settled.

Wang Yan was slightly shocked when he heard that there was so much money, thinking about how miserable Beijing was when the city was broken, and there were less than 100,000 taels left in the treasury, but now there are 11 million.

However, this seems to be a lot of money, but when you calculate it, it is not much.

First of all, at the end of the year, Wang Yan had to repay the debt of nearly five million, and then he rewarded the three armies, about one million, and then he had to pay a salary, and the rest was about three million.

"Take out two million taels and go to Nanyang to buy grain immediately!" Wang Yan sighed.

Wang Fuzhi has been promoted by the market department, and he is now more aware of trade matters than Wang Yan.

"Your Highness, now the horror is not that you can buy food with money!

Wang Yan was slightly stunned, a little puzzled, "What do you say?" ”

Wang Fuzhi said in a deep voice: "Nanyang also produces so much grain every year, in the past few years, we have gone to Nanyang every year to buy grain, and there is not much grain in Nanyang, plus the South China Sea is now fighting with Heyi, the shipping route is not safe, and the grain that can be bought is really limited. ”

Wang Yandao didn't expect this situation, he couldn't buy food even if he had money, but he thought about it carefully and could understand that to buy money, he had to have something before he could buy it.

"Buy as much as you can!" Wang Yan's face also sank, and he said helplessly.

Seeing this, Chen Yanwen couldn't help but step forward and said, "Your Highness, there is a shortage of food, and there is an idea in the lowly way. ”

Wang Yan looked at him, a little surprised, and couldn't help but stop, "Let's talk about it." ”

Chen Yanwen was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Your Highness, although the people have no food in their hands, some of the gentry still have food, and they can let these gentry take out food and come out for disaster relief." ”

In troubled times, the people liked to hoard grain, and the people may not be able to do anything in the face of the Qing court's looting, but the gentry had their own methods, and they could hoard some grain.

Wang Yan frowned, "Although the gentry have grain, they won't take it out for no reason, are you asking the lonely people to buy grain from them?" ”

Chen Yanwen saluted and said: "Your Highness, this famine has too many areas and a large number of people, and it will definitely not work by relying on the imperial court alone." Some of the victims were landless tenants, some were landed rich peasants, and the court's workforce was in need of relief, and those who had land could let the rich come forward to buy the land, so the pressure on the court would inevitably be greatly reduced. ”

"Are you letting big families take the opportunity to annex land?" Wang Yan's face changed greatly when he heard this.

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