really encountered a catastrophe, and Zhao Zhen felt more and more that what Wang Ningan said was reasonable. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

If the treasury is full and there is a problem in Chenzhou, the grain will be directly transferred, and the grain will definitely be delivered in half a month. But now, the summer grain has not been confiscated, and the imperial court warehouses have been empty for a month.

If there is no food in the capital, it is necessary to urge the surrounding prefectures and counties to ask them to take out the grain, but the problem is that each prefecture and county may not have it, and even if there is food, it is not easy to get it in the year of the catastrophe. It is easy to exchange official documents, prevaricate, and delay for two or three months.

Jia Changchao's ability to allocate tens of thousands of stone of grain for the first time is already remarkable.

But the problem is that 50,000 stones were lost, and Jia Changchao and Zhao Zhen were forced to a dead end all of a sudden, and they had to hold a meeting in front of the emperor, including Zeng Gongliang, the envoy of the three divisions, Ouyang Xiu in the imperial history, and the ministers of the two prefectures, all of which were gathered.

Jia Changchao's eyes were bloodshot, "Your Majesty, the minister has already ordered to urge, and the minister has the courage to plead and borrow grain from the local Haoqiang in Chenzhou, and whoever borrows grain will be rewarded by the imperial court." ”

Okay, I directly took out this set of selling officials, which shows that Jia Changchao is really anxious.

It is rare that Fu Bi, Wang Yaochen and others, who have a big stomach, have no objections, Tang Jie wanted to open his mouth, but when he thought of the life and death of hundreds of thousands of people, he had to shut up.

"Jia Aiqing, in this way, how long can Chen Zhou support it?"

"A month!" Jia Changchao said: "The old minister can't do it, and he is willing to be punished." ”

Zhao Zhen said again: "What about a month later?" ”

"It's time to collect the summer grain, and the minister asked the officials to step up the urging, and then directly transport the grain to Chenzhou, so that the victims can survive."

"How much can be allocated for summer grain, and how long can it last?" Zhao Zhen continued to ask.

Jia Changchao glanced at Zeng Gongliang, "Has the third division estimated it?" ”

Zeng Gongliang's face was ugly, and he hesitated: "The summer grain allocation to Chenzhou is only 500,000 stone at most, because if it exceeds 500,000 stone, it will affect the grain in the capital." If there is a shortage of food in the capital, it will be the livelihood of millions of people, and no one can bear the consequences. ”

The big guy thinks that Bianjing is the heart of the Great Song Dynasty, no matter what, there can't be a famine, otherwise things will be bigger.

Zhao Zhen said: "500,000 stones is a lot, can you survive it?" ”

"Can't!" Ouyang Xiu spoke, he had been in Hebei disaster relief, and he was very experienced, "Your Majesty, if these 500,000 stones are transported to Beijing through Cao, there will be 350,000 stones left, but if they are transported to Chenzhou, I am afraid that it will be good to have 150,000 stones." ”

Afraid that Zhao Zhen didn't understand, Ouyang Xiu explained the reason to him, among the various modes of transportation, water transportation is the cheapest and has the least loss.

In the past 100 years since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, in order to feed the officials and men in the capital, it was painstaking to build the four major canals, all the way unimpeded.

But Chenzhou is different, the road is very poor, and there are displaced people, along the way to send people and horses to escort the grain, just the loss on the road, it will cost more than half, plus livestock forage, officials are greedy for ink and other problems, can get to the hands of the people of the grain, 150,000 stone is already a lot.

If the damage is not severe, it may be able to cope with it......

Zhao Zhen had no choice but to nod and let the political hall handle it immediately. The gang was gone, Zhao Zhen rubbed his temples, and looked at Chen Lin with a wry smile, "How do the people have a saying?" It's hard to call a rich man, but it's hard to be a man without money! ”

Zhao Zhen lamented: "I, the emperor, from the inside out, is full of poverty, which is really ridiculous. ”

Chen Lin said with a smile: "Your Majesty is merciful, which has never been seen in ancient times, but the old slave thinks that when the food is grown over there, it may be no problem." ”

"Yes, Wang Qing is a capable person, but it's a pity that this time the incident happened suddenly, if it was a few months later, maybe I wouldn't have to worry."

There was a disaster in Chenzhou, and Zhao Zhen thought of Wang Ningan for the first time, but after thinking about it again, he denied it, without him, the whip is beyond his reach!

Wang Ning'an is in Jiaozhi, and after the decree passes, it will take more than half a month, and it will take at least three months for him to requisition and transfer grain, load it on ships, and then transfer it to Chenzhou.

What's more, according to Wang Ning'an's report, the first batch of rice has just been planted for less than half a month, and if you want to harvest it, it will be a month later, and no matter how you calculate the time, Zhao Zhen had to dispel the idea.

You can't rely on Wang Ning'an for everything, the court has raised so many officials, is it because they eat white rice?

The more Zhao Zhen thought about it, the more angry he became, and at this moment, someone suddenly reported that it was his uncle Cao Tong who handed over a sign and asked to see him. Zhao Zhen was very irritable and didn't want to see Cao Yan, so he hesitated for a moment, but still let him in.

After seeing the ceremony, Zhao Zhen suddenly said with a calm face: "When you developed Lingnan, your family took a lot of money, right?" There are almost 7 million generals in the capital, which is really rich! ”

The poor and crazy emperor can do anything, and he is not even polite to his brother-in-law, so he almost reaches out and asks for money. If it weren't for the fact that he was the emperor, he would have died immediately!

Cao Tong bowed and said: "The official, the minister is here to donate for disaster relief." ”

People actually took the initiative, but Zhao Zhen was embarrassed.

"Jingxiu, you have a heart."

Cao Tong was a little moved, and hurriedly said: "The minister's family has been deeply favored by the emperor for generations, and now that the country is in trouble, the minister can't stand idly by. Zhao Zhen smiled with relief: "Sure enough, it's your own family, you tell me, how much you can come up with, count it as what I borrowed, and I will definitely return it in the future." ”

Cao Yan is not optimistic about Zhao Zhen's memory at all, but he has no choice. In the past few years, the Cao family has made too much money, and if they are still misers, they will vomit it sooner or later.

And Cao Tong knows Wang Ning'an's ability to fool too well, those generals seem to follow him to Lingnan to do business, but in fact, sooner or later they will be tied to Wang Ning'an's chariot, at that time, the Cao family is not the only one in the gate, Cao Tong feels that it is necessary to hug his brother-in-law's thigh tighter.

Of course, for such a big thing, taking money directly from the outside is not only useless, but also easy to expose.

"Qi Guan's family, the minister has 10,000 stone of white sugar, and the minister is willing to contribute all of it, according to the calculation of 50 stone grain for 1 stone of white sugar, it can be exchanged for 500,000 stone of grain, which is used to relieve the victims."

The price of white sugar in the Song Dynasty has always been high, even with Wang Ning'an's intervention, the price of sugar in the capital is 80 guan a stone, and the grain, at most six or seven hundred wen, will not exceed 1 guan.

Cao Tong's exchange method is basically only forty percent of the price, and you can talk about whose cheapness it is.

Zhao Zhen thought about it for a while, and said with a smile: "I am no stranger to this method, Wang Ningan used it when he was in the disaster relief, but he exchanged spirits and whale meat for food, and Jingxiu used sugar. ”

mentioned Wang Ning'an, Cao Tong hurriedly said: "The official, the minister thinks that Lord Wang has rich experience and wisdom in disaster relief. The minister suggested that the official family should issue an edict to ask Lord Wang how to relieve the disaster, and let him help. ”

"I still think that Wang Qing is too far away, since Jing Xiu mentioned it, then I immediately made an order."

Zhao Zhen said again: "Jing Xiu took the initiative to contribute 10,000 stone of sugar, I am very relieved, you will go to Chenzhou for me and send the grain over." ”

Cao Tong was still a little hesitant, would there be a suspicion of buying people's hearts by doing this, to be honest, he was bullied and scared by civil officials, and the leaves fell and didn't hit his head.

"You don't have to worry!" Zhao Zhen said with a dark face: "They don't have the ability to raise food, so they will annoy me and disappoint the people!" I also dare to frame Zhongliang, and see if I don't clean them up. By the way, let the drunkard accompany you, I have to listen to the truth! ”

……

Zhao Zhen's anger and suspicion are grounded, Chenzhou is not far from the capital, why did such a big disaster suddenly appear, I'm afraid it's not as simple as locusts, right?

Sure enough, with the arrival of Ouyang Xiu and Cao Yan, more reports came up.

It turned out that the name of the governor of Chenzhou was Zhu Fuzhi, this person was not born in Kejia, but he was very strong, and his means were very hard, he was in Chenzhou for five years, looted the land, and squeezed the people's fat and ointment dry.

Later, he set his eyes on the disaster relief funds of the imperial court, and in the past two years, he falsely reported the disaster situation, and after getting the money and food, he actually filled his own pockets, and not a penny was used on the people.

He was too greedy before, but as a result, there was a locust plague in Chenzhou, but he didn't dare to report it, because the locust plague was unusual, and the imperial court would definitely send someone to investigate, and he was afraid that he would miss the bottom.

But the problem is that he can suppress the people, but he can't control God, the locust plague is getting bigger and bigger, and the neighboring state capitals have suffered from the pond fish, and the people who can't be oppressed have risen up to resist in order to survive, and this is why the people have revolted.

Zhu Fuzhi has been taken down by Wang Gongchen, and Chenzhou's corruption over the years is still under investigation.

But it is the people of Chenzhou who are really pitiful.

The famine in the previous two years has not been compensated, and the mountains and rivers are already exhausted, and the big guys are pinning their hopes on this year's crops, and as a result, locusts have appeared, isn't this to force people to a desperate road?

When Cao Tong arrived in Chenzhou, he was really stunned, he saw with his own eyes that someone grabbed the soil on the side of the road and stuffed it into his mouth, and the surrounding trees had been stripped naked, leaves, bark, grass roots, fish and shrimp in the pond, and even locusts everywhere...... and they became food for hunger.

Uncle Cao Guo, who was clothed in fine clothes and jade food, had never seen this, and he suddenly felt that his heart had been stabbed.

Unable to sit in the carriage, Cao Tong jumped down, and before she went far, she found that a woman seemed to be crazy, her body kept twitching, foaming at the mouth, and the child in her arms was so frightened that she cried and fell on top of her.

At this time, the woman suddenly opened her mouth, revealing her black and yellow teeth, and ran towards the child's arm and bit down.

It's crazy to be hungry!

Cao Tong jumped over suddenly, and according to the woman's fist, the woman fell straight down. Cao Yan's shot was not heavy, but the other party's body was too weak, and he actually passed out directly.

"Boiled porridge, hurry up and boil porridge." Cao Tong shouted at the top of his voice.

His subordinates were embarrassed: "Uncle Guo, there is no firewood here, I'm afraid it's inconvenient, 30 miles ahead, it's Chenzhou ......"

Before his subordinates finished speaking, Cao Tong rushed directly to the front of his carriage, asked people to lead the horses away, raised the axe, and split the carriage, set up an iron pot, and within half an hour, the fragrance of porridge overflowed, and the people who were waiting for death came to life again...... A few years later, the people who were grateful to Dade built a temple to worship the statue of Cao Tong and sent him into the ranks of the Eight Immortals!