(Today's monthly pass is still doubled, if there is no local tyrant to send a red envelope to grab, just smash it to Benfu Street!) ）

Many of the locust plagues in Guangxi were spread from Vietnam and other places, and they were forcefully crushed by Feng Yunshan not long after they began. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info And places such as Henan Zhili, which is deep in the Central Plains, also ushered in a locust plague that is rare in a century.

Some parts of Zhili in Henan have been in drought since the end of 1852 until the first half of this year. Since May, there have been locust plagues in Henan and other places, and at the beginning it was locally affected, but as the weather turned hotter, by June and July, it was already overwhelming. Not only Henan, but also the neighboring places of Zhili and Shandong have also begun to spread.

……..

Inside the palace to nourish the heart.

Xianfeng was full of sorrow, and looked at the recital from Henan and Zhili on the royal table.

Under the hall, kneeling successively were Qi Liaozao, a scholar of the Tiren Pavilion and Minister of Military Aircraft, Lin Kui, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Sun Ruizhen, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, Weng Xincun, the secretary of the Ministry of War, Wei Yuanhong, the left attendant of the Ministry of Industry and the left deputy capital of the imperial history Zhou Zupei, the right attendant of the Ministry of Household Wang Maoyin, and the cabinet bachelor and the imperial guard Su Shun and others.

The emperor's brows were tightly locked, and none of the ministers below dared to make a sound.

Xianfeng was annoyed and picked up a few copies of the report, threw them in front of Lin Kui, who was the leader, and said, "You all see, the rebellion in the south has not been quelled, but has intensified. At this time, the locust plague in the important land of Henan and Gyeonggi in Zhili is so serious, how can these slaves at the bottom take care of me? ”

Lin Kui hurriedly and carefully picked up a report, he was a man with a white flag in Manchuria, and he was only transferred from the Ministry of Industry to the Minister of Internal Affairs this year.

"Ying Gui Song, the governor of Henan: Ruzhou, Henan, Kaifeng, Zhangde, Weihui and other places rise in the summer locusts, all over the sky is like a cloudy sun, locusts eat the grass and trees, so to cover the sun, hindering people and horses can not walk. The pits and trenches were filled, and the hungry people caught locusts for food, or dried up and accumulated them for food. The slaves have supervised the provinces to mobilize the people to hunt and kill, but the mountains and fields are all over the country, and it is difficult to work for a while, most of the crops have been destroyed, and a large number of hungry people have dug up the bark of wild vegetables and trees to eat. ”

Lin Kui finished reading the report from Henan in his hand, and his heart was shocked: the house leak happened to rain overnight, no wonder the emperor was full of sadness, Henan is a large province in the Central Plains, densely populated, and now there is a locust plague, causing famine, I am afraid that I don't know how many people will starve to death, not to mention, what is more troublesome is that there will be a riot of hungry people.

And if you want to avoid this, you must put food for disaster relief. But now, the entire Qing Dynasty is dragged down by two wars in the south, and the cost of money and food is not calculated, especially now that the long-haired thieves have launched the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition, the imperial court has to send hundreds of thousands of troops to surround and intercept all the way, and it is difficult to afford the salary alone, not to mention that now they have to pay for food and disaster relief?

Lin Kui couldn't help but look embarrassed. However, he is the minister in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, although there is a division of responsibilities, but the main responsibility for dealing with disaster relief is the household department, so he handed over the report from Henan to Sun Ruizhen, the secretary of the household department next to him.

Picked up another copy and looked at it.

This is a report from the governor of Shanxi, Hafen, reporting that there was a serious locust disaster in Shaanxi Tongzhou and Yan'an Prefecture, and that Shaanxi was not effective in controlling locusts, resulting in the locust plague in Puzhou, Jiangzhou, Pingyang, Xizhou and other places near Shanxi, and the people were not able to make a living.

Lin Kui's face changed drastically, Wang Qingyun, the governor of Shaanxi and Selenium, had a good relationship with him, and now he was participated by the governor of Shanxi, Hafen, which was very unfavorable.

Silent at the moment, he pressed this report at the bottom, picked up a few other copies casually, and distributed them to the other ministers next to him.

After about a stick of incense, everyone saw the fold in their hands almost as soon as they saw it, and then Lin Kui put it away.

Xianfeng's eyes, which had been pretending to sleep, suddenly opened and said, "All Aiqing, let's discuss it." ”

Everyone looked at Lin Kui, and Lin Kui looked at Qi Liaozao, a scholar of Tiren Pavilion and minister of military aircraft, who was sitting alone on one side, he could barely be regarded as an emperor, and it was best for him to speak.

Qi Liaozao, who had just passed his sixtieth birthday, was given a seat by Emperor Xianfeng. He sensed everyone's intentions, and did not refuse, stood up, bowed to Xianfeng, and said: "Your Majesty, when the society is in such a critical situation, you should immediately order people from all over the country to quickly extinguish the locust plague. At the same time, the household department will allocate disaster relief money and grain to the most serious places where the locust plague is most serious to help the hungry. ”

What Qi Liaozao said is high-sounding, but in fact, what he said is the same as not saying it. However, he started and the tone set.

As a result, everyone also echoed in unison, and the local government should be ordered to extinguish the locust plague, and the household department should take the lead in organizing disaster relief.

After listening to the ministers' reports, Xianfeng darkened his face and said in a deep voice: "I also know that I want to extinguish the locust plague and provide relief to the victims. But how does this put out the locust plague? The Ministry of Industry took the lead and came up with a countermeasure! And this relief for the victims, a large amount of food is needed, where does this food come from, the household department, come up with a countermeasure! ”

After speaking, Xianfeng looked at Sun Ruizhen, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, Weng Xincun, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and Qi Liaozao, who served as the two secretaries of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Sun Ruizhen, the head of the household, looked at Qi Liaozao, his position as a Shangshu was originally to take over from Qi Liaozao, so he naturally wanted to get some help from Qi Liaozao.

Now that the treasury of the household department is empty, who doesn't know? At the beginning of the year, there were nearly 3 million taels of silver, but after most of the army was used against the long-haired thieves, especially after the Northern Expedition was launched by Changmao, the sharp rise in soldiers' salaries was even more exhaustive.

Not only that, but also owed more than 300,000 taels of officials from Zhili, Shandong, Sichuan, Shanxi provinces and the six ministries above the fifth grade for a few months, resulting in officials in several provinces, especially those in the imperial history, participating in the impeachment of themselves every day in the past two months.

Sun Ruizhen is sometimes a little disheartened, if it weren't for the fact that the Sun family has been an important minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty for generations, for the glory of the Sun family, he would have planned to resign from the government.

The treasury is not only empty, but also in debt, and at this time, there is such a large-scale locust plague, what kind of relief can be used? Can you make money yourself? Sun Ruizhen was miserable in her heart, and it was estimated that she was the most unlucky Hubu Shangshu in the Qing Dynasty.

Qi Liaozao's eyes were slightly closed, like an old monk in a fixed place, regardless of it.

Sun Ruizhen had no choice but to report hard: "Your Majesty, Rong Weichen has returned, and there is only 1,782 taels of silver left in the household department." Jiangnan blocked the road due to the war, and in the first few months of this year, the taxes paid in Xixi, Zhejiang, and southern Jiangsu, as well as the customs and customs in Shanghai, totaling nearly 2.7 million taels, could not be sent to Beijing. If you want to provide disaster relief, you must find a way to escort this amount of money to Beijing or transfer part of it to disaster areas such as Henan. ”

When Xianfeng heard this, he suddenly had a splitting headache! The disaster relief turned out to be back to the imperial court. If the military situation is good, how can I have such a headache?

"But now the military is eroded, and the Yangtze River has been occupied by long-haired thieves. How could such a large-scale silver tael be transported to Beijing safely without the detection of the thieves? Xianfengqiang asked himself. In fact, he also knows that unless a large army is specially sent to escort him, but now that the battlefield is still short of troops, where are there any spare soldiers who can be transferred to specifically escort Yunyin?

What's more, as soon as this army is mobilized, it will consume countless silver taels.

Unexpectedly, Su Shun, a cabinet scholar and imperial guard, stood up and said: "Your Majesty, there is a way for slaves!"

Xianfeng was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly said: "Su Aiqing will tell me what method it is!" ”

"Your Majesty, the area south of the Yangtze River is where the Jin merchants are active, why not transport the tax and silver to the capital in batches through reliable Jin merchants, I believe they must have a reliable way. Hey, isn't Lord Qi a scholar from Jindi, he should be clear, right? Su Shun came up with an idea, but he was extremely cunning, told the solution, and quietly pushed the errand to Qi Liaozao.

When Xianfeng heard this, it was really a good way, and turned his head to look at Qi Liaozao.

Although Qi Liaozao was old, his eyes flashed, he glanced at Su Shun, and saw Xianfeng looking at him, so he replied helplessly: "Your Majesty, Weichen also knows a few Jinzhong businessmen who do business in the Jiangnan area, and tomorrow, Weichen will write to him to inquire about it." ”

As soon as Xianfeng heard that there was a play, he said: "Since Qi Aiqing said so, he will be safe." Then there was no need to delay the disaster relief, and 2 million taels of silver were directly borrowed from the merchants of Jinzhong, 1.2 million taels were retained in the treasury of the household department, and the remaining 800,000 taels were directly purchased by the household department to buy grain, and it was quickly sent to the locust-infested land for disaster relief. When the merchants of Jinzhong brought the silver of the taxes in the south of the Yangtze River back to Beijing, they returned the silver taels. This matter will be handled by Qi Aiqing to assist the household department! ”

With a word, Xianfeng tied Qi Liaozao and the Jinzhong businessmen he knew to the disaster relief.

However, it is also sighing that the dignified Heavenly Empire has now been reduced to a land where the silver for escort taxes has to be transported through merchants.

All the ministers in the hall were full of shame and shame. (To be continued.) )