Time flies, in a blink of an eye, it has come to August, the drought is still continuing, the earth is dry and cracked, from the beginning of the waterless irrigation, to the current draft is difficult, the people are not living.

"The official warehouse has bottomed out, and there are not many miscellaneous cakes left, and judging from the current situation, I am afraid it will be difficult to survive this month." At the small council, Fang Xuanling sighed deeply and said helplessly.

The cabinet system has only just been proposed, and it has not yet been formally formed, but this mode of work has already begun.

Every 10 days, ministers who have been identified as members of the Cabinet come here for meetings, whereas in the past, only the prime minister had such qualifications.

The status is there, but the burden on his shoulders is not light.

The bigwigs of various ministries racked their brains to think of various methods, and even hated to take out their own food, but that bit of food was not enough to stuff their teeth.

Many people have persuaded Li Yuanji, and the relief of the imperial court is not so inspiring.

At least at this time, this is not appropriate.

But Li Yuanji didn't listen, and insisted on disaster relief in this way, so that the people could eat the food distributed by the imperial court every day.

It doesn't matter how much or less, it's all about affection, and it is important to let the people know that the court has not forgotten them even in the most difficult times.

The advantage of this is that many people do not have any complaints about the court.

In the past, the pot that should have been carried by the emperor, except for some blind fellows in Confucianism, the people were very calm and were not bewitched by some people.

The reputation is there, but the problem is just as serious.

In a few months, the victims of the disaster have almost exhausted the entire Datang reserve of grain, both civilian and military.

If a war breaks out at this time, the imperial court will not even be able to gather enough food to send troops.

"I am ordered by the heavens, and I will live forever! All the people in the world are my people! Li Yuanji said a little tiredly, he was indeed very tired, he hadn't had a good rest for several days, and he kept reporting every day, there was a shortage of food here, there was an emergency, these major events were not something that the so-called prime ministers could handle, they had to go through themselves.

And this drought also made Li Yuanji deeply aware of the impact of natural disasters on the ancient people.

In just one year, almost half of the entire country has been paralyzed, and if it comes for a few years in a row, I am afraid that a country will be doomed.

"Spread my will, from now on, the palace will only eat one meal a day, and all the rest will be distributed to the victims."

Li Yuanji didn't understand any routines, methods, etc., but he knew that the emperor had to make a statement at this time.

I don't know how Li Shimin handled it in history, but the final result will definitely not be as embarrassing as it is now.

……

"Let's put the grain!" In a certain village in Jingyang County, in a large mansion, the old man with gray hair and a tuft of beard was neatly trimmed, and he commanded his sons in front of him a little helplessly.

"Dad, you can't put food!" The eldest son, Liu Cuo, immediately stood up and stopped.

"That's it, Dad, you must not put food, our family's food is not obtained out of thin air, why should we put it on them?" The second son, Liu Ju, also stood up and agreed.

Waiting for a thousand years, waiting for this disaster year, but with the intervention of the imperial court, although those soil buns are having a hard time, they have not reached the point where they can't go on, and few of them come to the house to borrow food.

But Liu Ju has also been sending people to inquire in the county, it is said that the official warehouse is almost empty, and it will not be long before their spring comes.

"Big brother, second brother, at this time and that time, now if you want to make a fortune by this natural disaster, it's best to dispel it as soon as possible." The youngest son, Liu Shan, also stood up and persuaded him.

"I said third brother, are you stupid to study? If you don't want to make a fortune, what do you have at home for you to study? What do you take for the exam? Liu Cuo glared at his little brother fiercely, but he didn't really take it to heart.

"It is precisely because of reading that my brother persuaded the two brothers to dispel the idea of getting rich." Liu Shan didn't care either, and argued with reason: "The Analects says: Do not do to others what you do not want to be done to yourself. In this set of books published by His Majesty, almost all the Confucian classics have been cut, but only this "The Mean" has been retained, and my brother has already read it dozens of times.

Today, the government posted His Majesty's edict, and even the royal family began to eat only one meal a day, and used the saved food for disaster relief, in the eyes of most people, this is the fact that the imperial court has recognized the fact that there is no surplus food in the official warehouse, and everyone's opportunity to make a fortune is coming.

In fact, in the eyes of the younger brother, this is just a dangerous signal, dare to ask the two brothers, how have the five surnames and Qiwang behaved recently? Rao is such a huge family, and still has to take out hundreds of thousands of stones of grain to the imperial court at the beginning, even they dare not make a fortune, do we dare to send it? ”

Liu Cuo and Liu Ju were a little hesitant, while Old Man Liu was full of relief and looked at his young son.

There are three sons in the family, the eldest son and the second son are not reading materials, and they are also old, so they missed the best opportunity.

The youngest son is twenty years old, playing a little smart and clever, after failing the last examination, the old man Liu asked someone to go to Chang'an to buy a set of books on the ground, only three months later, the young son learned all the content by himself.

And I am familiar with some of the previous decrees, and I have also interpreted the current situation.

For this year's examination, Mr. Liu is more confident than his young son, so some things in the family, the opinions of the young son are more important to Mr. Liu than the eldest son and the second son.

"The family has thousands of stones of surplus food, why don't you go against the grain when everyone is waiting to get rich? Even if it will make my Liu family a man, but it can be heard by heaven, and the two brothers will definitely know which is more important. Liu Shan continued.

"Good!" Old man Liu's brain lit up, and he instantly slapped his thigh happily, he has lived a lifetime, and he can accumulate the family business to this extent, and he will never be able to do it without some means and scheming.

In exchange for thousands of stones of grain for the Liu family's soaring Huangda, this transaction is worth it.

Even if it didn't succeed, the family's land was still there, and after the disaster year, they could come back after ten or eight years, but if they missed this opportunity, the Liu family would never have a chance to rise.

"Ju'er, you go to the village to inform the old and young, and ask each household to send one person to come to our house to receive food, no matter the old or the young, each person has two buckets. Cuo'er, if you go to the county seat to find the Min County Order, you will say that my Liu family heard that the official warehouse was in an emergency, and I am willing to donate thousands of stones to store grain at home. Shan'er, you go and gather the family, light up the warehouse, and prepare to put and deliver the grain. Old Man Liu immediately assigned the task to his three sons.

The eldest son will run the family in the future, and he will be sent to deal with the county order, in order to get acquainted, in case the younger son fails to succeed, someone can take care of anything in the family in the future.

The second son doesn't have a good reputation on weekdays, so he asked him to inform the villagers in order to improve the relationship between them.

The young son is a good learner, and he is even more open to the numbers, and it takes others two or three days to figure out the numbers, but he can calculate them in less than an hour.

In addition, in the future, it will be necessary to take the examination, and it is most appropriate to undertake the task of releasing grain.

As for releasing grain to the villagers, the Liu family is in this village and donated the grain to the county, and in the future, the people will not want to come to their homes to borrow grain.

Old Man Liu also wanted to increase the good name of the Liu family through this move.

Thousands of stones of grain are said to be donated, but do you care that these dozens of stones of grain will not be successful?

……

"Master, the official warehouse has bottomed out, and it can only last for ten days at most, and even the garrison can only guarantee two meals a day, and each meal is half full." Jingyang County, in the official office, Master Liu Hu frowned and said the situation.

"Hey!" Min Xian's brows furrowed even tighter, but he had no choice but to sigh deeply and said, "Inform the official warehouse that the porridge will be reduced by two percent every day." ”

"Master, will this be targeted?" Liu Hu reminded with some concern.

"There's no way to focus on it, it's not that the county is full of private pockets, but there is really no food, it can last a day, I will write an excerpt and tell the state government about this, I hope Shangguan can understand." Min Hyun was a little desperate.

In the past disaster years, most of them were mediated by the imperial court, and the people borrowed grain from the landlord at a low price, although in the end it was still the people who lost their land, and the landlord obtained the greatest benefit with a small amount of grain, but the imperial court could only turn a blind eye.

Things shouldn't be like this, but that's how the court arranged, in the past few months, the people have rarely borrowed grain from the landlords, relying entirely on the insufficient official warehouse, and no one knows when the dried fish will come, and they have been supporting it for a few months, and they have no choice.

When the new emperor ascended the throne, everyone was full of energy and wanted to rush, and natural disasters were the time to show themselves, whoever lasted a long time, the people survived more, and whose political achievements were good, who could enter the horizon of the upper echelons and have the opportunity to be promoted.

When this decision was made, Min Xian had almost given up his future, and all places were also asking each other, so far, there are emergency county governments, but those who can take the initiative to reduce porridge should be the first.

So, I have been eliminated.

Min Xian disdains to do the kind of thing that makes the people have no way out for himself, and he can't do such a thing because he is upright by nature.

"Master, the garrison caught a person who violated the foot restriction order, and that person said that he was coming to the county seat to find you and tell you something." There were almost no people in the county office, only a few people were busy running back and forth, and the slaves and maids bought by Min Xian also had to take on the duties of the porter.

"Looking for this county? What about people? Min Xian was stunned, in the past few months, there have been no people who have violated the foot restriction order, this is the first time, and he can't help but be a little curious.

"Outside, the garrison is holding him, saying that if there is no important matter to find you, the garrison will take him away and deal with him for violating the foot restriction order!"

Anxious like an ant on a hot kang, Min Xian can't take care of any more, someone takes the risk of violating the foot restriction order to find himself, no matter what it is, he has to see it, even if it's not true, it's just a few more steps.

"Hurry ......"