Since no one came out to oppose it, and the proposal to rebuild Dongjiang Town was so decided, Fang Yuan looked at Wang Bingjian, who had replaced the civil official system, and asked, "Elder Wang Ge, do you have any other worries, let's talk about it together!" ”

Wang Bingjian glanced at the rest of the cabinet and continued, "Third, the military fronts have been fighting one after another, and the consumption of military food is huge; The regent also continued to transport grain to Huguang and Jiangxi for disaster relief and reassurance, and the household department was afraid that it would not be able to allocate a large amount of military rations for the northern expedition in a short period of time. ”

Shen Xiang also stood up and echoed Wang Bingjian's proposal, "Before the regent came to Jiangnan, Jiangnan often spent a lot of money to buy grain in Huguang. Now it has reversed the relationship between buying and selling, but instead transporting grain from Jiangnan to Huguang and Shandong, and it is still given away for nothing. This is simply taking the fat and ointment of the people in the south of the Yangtze River to raise the people of Huguang and Shandong! ”

Fang Yuan also knew that although Jiangnan was the land of fish and rice, it was responsible for the production of raw silk and silk. Because the profit of planting mulberry and raising silkworms is much greater than that of farming, a large number of fields have been changed to planting mulberry, and once the grain in the south of the Yangtze River is insufficient, they will spend a lot of money to buy grain in Huguang.

Now he wants Jiangnan to send grain to Huguang and Shandong for free, and Shen Xiang, as a representative of wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan, is naturally full of resentment and understandable.

Attacks in these areas were also common before the crossing. Even the northern and southern Jiangsu within a province have been scolding each other for hundreds of years, not to mention Shandong, Huguang and other places outside the province?

Shen Xiang saw that Fang Yuan was silent, and continued, "Regent, the grain in Jiangnan should be used by the people of Jiangnan first, not the people of Huguang and Shandong!" ”

Wang Bingjian echoed again, "Regent, now there is almost no grain in the granaries of Nanzhili, Zhejiang, and Shaoxing, and the official warehouses of Shaoxing, so you can no longer abuse the people's and financial resources in Jiangnan!" ”

The food problem is indeed a problem, the Huguang battlefield, because Li Zicheng's Liukou battle was extremely devastated to the people's livelihood, Fang Yuan requisitioned another 200,000 stone of grain from Nanzhili, and 100,000 cloth entered Huguang and Henan to reassure the people.

After calculating this before and after, the people in Huguang alone spent 400,000 stone of military rations, plus the military rations for half a year, and 600,000 stone of grain were spent on the battlefields of Huguang and Henan. Counting the battlefield in Shandong, the food for the people after the war. At least one million stone of grain was spent during the year.

What's more, Fang Yuan also generously exempted Shandong and Huguang from three years of land endowments, at least in the next two or three years, these two newly occupied areas will not be able to generate any economic benefits, and can only rely on the financial and people's power in Jiangnan to support them.

What Shen Xiang said is extremely that the two continuous wars in Shandong and Huguang, as well as the post-war peace of the people, are high-intensity food losses, even if Jiangnan is the land of fish and rice, it is difficult to bear. In the account books of the independent accounting group, the stock of both the official warehouse of the government and the reserve grain warehouse of Shaoxing has long been bottomed out, and it can no longer support the consumption of a large amount of military rations.

Jiangnan does have a hard time, and Fang Yuan can understand it. However, understanding is understanding, and Fang Yuan doesn't care what an individual thinks in his heart. But openly calling the people of another political secretary in the court is Diao Min, which is a naked regional attack, and Fang Yuan will never tolerate it.

Fang Yuan looked at the two of them and said in a deep voice, "Elder Wang Ge, Shen Shangshu, whether it is Jiangnan, Huguang, or Shandong, the people are all the people of the Ming Dynasty, and they should be supported by all parties when one side is in trouble. ”

His tone became louder and louder, and his tone became more and more stern, "There was no grain from Huguang before, can Jiangnan grow mulberry with peace of mind?" Now that Huguang has been devastated by the war, the people are hungry for a while, and they need Jiangnan to lend a hand, so you want to sit idly by? Without Shandong as a barrier to the south of the Yangtze River, the Manchu Qing Dynasty would have rushed to the south of the Yangtze River long ago; Without Shandong's minerals, Jiangnan's firearms, where does the artillery come from, how can Jiangnan protect itself? Is your cabinet the cabinet of the whole world, or the cabinet of Jiangnan?! ”

He scolded to the end, looked at the two of them gloomily, and said lightly, "In your eyes, I am also a Diao people from the north, and nine times out of ten the Xuanjia Army are Diao people from the north, right!" ”

Fang Yuan directly moved out to talk about himself and Xuanjia Jun, where did Wang Bingjian and Shen Xiang dare to say this, and hurriedly closed it.

Wang Bingjian shook his head again and again in fright, "No, the regent misunderstood my thoughts, I am fully in favor of disaster relief to Huguang and Shandong, just reminding the regent to cherish the people's power and be cautious in the use of troops abroad." ”

Shen Xiang also knelt on the ground and changed his tone, "Regent, I was dizzy for a while, and I made a mistake in my mouth, and I made a mistake in my mouth." ”

Fang Yuan saw that the two of them took the initiative to admit their mistakes, so they no longer cared about it, and forcibly suppressed their anger.

However, despite the geographical discrimination of the two, what they said is very reasonable, and if a new war is to be restarted, it will be necessary to wait at least a year for the new grain harvest to be in the warehouse. Moreover, Jiangnan must also have smooth wind and rain, and there must not be a year of famine.

However, there is a shortage of food, at this critical juncture of peace talks with the capital, how can Fang Yuan admit that there is no food in Jiangnan, if this news spreads, then it will be okay?

Fang Yuan said slowly, "Elder Wang Ge, Shen Shangshu, you only know one thing but you don't know the other, I also secretly built a granary in Jiangxi, which contains 500,000 stones of grain, which is enough to support a Northern Expedition war. ”

Wang Bingjian and Shen Xiang had never heard of any grain reserves in Jiangxi, at least there was no such grain in the accounts of the household department. But Fang Yuan's actions have always been unexpected, and it is difficult to guarantee whether he really has a back hand in Jiangxi.

The two of them couldn't judge the truth of what Fang Yuan said, so naturally they couldn't refute it at will.

Wang Bingjian and Fang Yuan's cold eyes looked at each other, and suddenly realized something. No matter whether Fang Yuan has left a back hand or not, at this juncture, he will never admit that Jiangnan has no food. As the chief assistant of the cabinet, he must not say anything more frustrating, and if it is spread out, it will greatly affect the morale of the army and even the favorable situation in front of him.

Wang Bingjian hurriedly changed his words, "It turns out that the regent still has a back hand, and there is still a large amount of grain in Jiangxi, the old minister is confused, confused!" ”

Fang Yuan saw that he was talking for himself in an informed and interesting way, and he was really an old slippery head, so he was angry, and laughed, "Of course, although we have the strength to level the capital in one fell swoop, but after all, Your Majesty is in the capital, our principle is to give priority to peace talks, supplemented by military conquest, and salute first and then soldiers!" ”

"Mao Shangshu, the Ministry of Rites issued an official document to Jiangnan Daily, spreading this decision widely in Jiangnan, and it is necessary for women and children to know about it."

Wang Bingjian, Shen Xiang, and Mao Bijiang responded in succession.

Fang Yuan's hype in Jiangnan was bluffing, creating a posture that could be used for the Northern Expedition at any time to put pressure on the imperial court in the capital.

Of course, bluffing is a bluff, and it cannot be eaten as food, and in order to solve the problem of food shortage in Jiangnan, we must take another good measure.

Fang Yuan said, "Elder Wang Ge, I am ready to promote one million more acres of hybrid rice in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, and the rice seeds will be distributed by the royal government and the cabinet will preside over the cultivation. ”

As soon as one million mu of hybrid rice is promoted, at least one million stone of additional land will be levied, and the food crisis can be solved. However, the silver required to buy one million acres of hybrid rice is at least one or two million taels of silver.

Due to the rebuilding of the Fengyang Palace and the reconstruction of the Dongjiang Military Town, Fang Yuan's family funds have been emptied. Fang Yuan only had 500,000 taels of silver in Yu Bao's account, and this silver really couldn't be withdrawn, and the only way was to borrow two million taels of silver from Huabei in the system, pay it in 24 installments, and pay off the loan within two years.

The sowing profit of hybrid rice is three times that of ordinary rice, and Fang Yuan previously strictly controlled the sown area of hybrid rice in order to control grain prices and reduce the consumption of silver, causing grain prices to soar. The sown area in the south of the Yangtze River is only 500,000 mu, all of which are in the reserve fields of Shaoxing.

Now Fang Yuan has launched another million mu of hybrid rice, and it has not been planted in the reserve field jointly managed by the cabinet and the military, but the distribution of sowing the state capital has been handed over to the cabinet separately, that is, a large piece of fat meat has been sent to the cabinet.

Wang Bingjian and other cabinet scholars knew that Fang Yuan had voted for a peach, and they had to report to Li. Accept the benefits given by Fang Yuan, don't go against the Northern Expedition anymore, and do it honestly.

Wang Bingjian, Shen Xiang, Mao Bijiang, Bi Maokang and other cabinet members stood up together and supported Fang Yuan's resolution.