On 26 April, Ma Maocai, the governor of Shaanxi, played: In the whole territory of Shaanxi, most of the whole territory of Shaanxi had no rain last year, the grass and trees were scorched, and it coincided with the military rebellion, and the people could not continue, so they asked the imperial court for disaster relief.

After Zuo Guangdou became the secretary of Dali Temple, Ma Mao was promoted to the governor of Shaanxi.

It is true that the income of the national treasury is more abundant than in previous years, but the successive natural disasters have made the national treasury not too rich. However, although the disaster situation in Shaanxi was serious, after confiscating the property of King Su, King Qing, and King Han, Shaanxi had enough money and grain for disaster relief, but half of the money and grain belonged to Zhu Youxiao. The cabinet hopes that Zhu Youxiao will allocate this part of the internal funds for disaster relief.

"The disaster in Shaanxi is limited to this, and there has been no cannibalism, right?" Hearing about the great hunger in Shaanxi, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but ask.

In history, the situation of the great famine in Shaanxi was extremely serious," ...... The hungry gather together to be thieves, and it is better to die for thieves than to wait for starvation to death. He also burned human bones for wages, and boiled human flesh for food, and those who ate men died in a few days with red and swollen faces, and heat and dryness. So, the death pillow, the stench is stinking, and several pits are dug outside the city of Ansai County, each pit can accommodate hundreds of people, and it is not as good as the people who are buried, and I don't know how many more? If this is true in small counties, it can be known in large counties, and if it is like this in one place, it can be known elsewhere. and the people were safe and thieves, and they were not involved in each other. To the north of Qingyang and Yan'an, the famine was even worse. ”

Zhu Youxiao's question was a bit abrupt, and it was easy for people to misunderstand, Han Yi replied: "Thousands of miles of red land, some people have already used the bark of the mountain grass for food, if you don't hurry up the disaster relief, I'm afraid there will really be a situation of cannibalism." ”

Listening to Han Yi's words, Zhu Youxiao knew that the disaster situation in Shaanxi was still under control, and he immediately said: "Eight hundred miles to urgently send an edict to Ma Maocai, and all the money and grain confiscated from the anti-king will be used to help the victims, and Shaanxi will be tax-free for two years." Aiqing, can this solve the problem of the disaster in Shaanxi? ”

"If the drought in Shaanxi continues, I am afraid that it will be necessary to allocate money and grain to solve the disaster situation in Shaanxi. Guo Yunhou said.

"In this case, I will find a way to prepare a batch of grain to be transferred to Shaanxi." Zhu Youxiao said.

"Now there are continuous disasters in various places, and there is a shortage of grain in various places, especially in the north, grain prices have doubled, and now it is a time when there is a shortage of green and yellow, and there is still a period of time for summer grain to be on the market, so I am afraid it is difficult to prepare enough grain." Guo Yunhou said.

"On April 28th, I will hold a charity dinner, and I will see if I can prepare enough food at the dinner?" Zhu Youxiao said.

"What is Your Majesty going to do?" Guo Yunhou asked curiously. He knew that there was a shortage of grain in the market, but the merchant landlords had food in their hands.

"When you go, you'll know." Zhu Youxiao said with a smile.

Although there are a lot of criticisms in the court about Zhu Youxiao's approach, the court has more trust in Zhu Youxiao's means of making money. If nothing else, let's just say that the tax paid by Feng Qiuhuang to Daming in a year can be worth a big province.

"Shaanxi is hungry, how is Shaanxi's new crops being promoted?" Zhu Youxiao suddenly remembered the promotion of new crops.

"When Zuo Tingwei served as Futai in Shaanxi, he tried to promote new crops, but when the three kings were troubled, the promotion of new crops was interrupted by it, and now the two provinces with the best promotion of new crops are Shanxi and Hebei, followed by Shandong, although the rest of the provinces have planted, but not promoted." Guo Yunhou replied.

"The promotion of new crops is related to the livelihood of the people, and its importance is self-evident, and I believe that the promotion of new crops is urgent, and the cabinet must come up with a strategy." Zhu Youxiao said.

"No." Han Yi and the others replied together.

"I think the establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture is already an urgent matter, and the Ministry of Agriculture must be established to promote new crops and new agricultural tools." Zhou Yingqiu said.

The establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture was a small point in the administrative reform of the imperial court in the new policy, and now it was proposed by Zhou Yingqiu, which really made other cabinet members feel troubled. Zhu Youxiao himself didn't mention the matter of the new deal for the time being, but you Zhou Yingqiu actually took the initiative to mention it, which made other people feel like "Qingjun's side".

"It's okay to set up the Ministry of Agriculture, and other new policies will be postponed for the time being, what do you think?" Zhu Youxiao saw the changing expressions of the others and said with a smile.

"The minister seconded the proposal." Hearing Zhu Youxiao say this, Guo Yunhou first agreed. He is very receptive to new crops, and he also knows that to promote new crops, there must be special people in charge of doing a good job, and if it only depends on the spontaneous cultivation of the people, then it will take many years to promote it to the entire empire.

"The minister seconded the proposal." Come to the sect and agree with the way.

"The minister seconded the proposal." Immediately after that, the cabinet members agreed.

"Since all Aiqing are in favor of the establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture, then immediately draft a decree to make Xu Guangqi the post of secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and prepare for the Ministry of Agriculture. We decided to set up a Ministry of Agriculture in the central government, an agricultural department in each province, and an agricultural bureau in each prefecture and county, which was responsible for all the affairs of the empire, such as cropping, animal husbandry, aquaculture, and agricultural reclamation. Zhu Youxiao said.

"No."

……

After more than a thousand years of development, the system of the Six Ministries appeared for the first time in this time and space, and the Ministry of Agriculture appeared alongside the Six Ministries, and this change attracted the attention of the entire empire. For the first time, Zhu Youxiao's new policy on the administrative reform of the imperial court was hotly discussed by the entire empire, after all, this new policy involved all the administrative departments of the entire imperial court.

The first point that Zhu Youxiao's new policy was attacked was redundancy, and Zhu Youxiao wanted to set up several new departments in the administrative reform. More new departments were created than some departments had to be abolished.

The second thing that Zhu Youxiao's new policy was attacked was to change the ancestral system and change the system formed over the millennium of Chinese history, which was difficult for many people to accept.

As for the other attack points, the sound is much weaker than the first two.

As Zhu Youxiao's mouthpiece, the "Ming Imperial Daily" must support Zhu Youxiao as always. Feng Menglong also couldn't understand Zhu Youxiao's administrative reform, but he knew that the "Daming Imperial Daily" only grasped one point, that is, the impact of the establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture. "Daming Imperial Daily" started with new crops and introduced them in detail, including planting, yield, and so on. And then to the Ministry of Agriculture set up what can the people of the empire bring.

"Daming Imperial Daily" has a broad mass base and huge influence, under the bombardment of public opinion in "Daming Imperial Daily", ordinary people support Zhu Youxiao nine times out of ten, in their opinion, whoever can keep them fed and clothed, they will support whomever they want. This also made many scholars support Zhu Youxiao, and also made Zhu Youxiao gain the strength to compete with opponents.

(End of chapter)