Zhang San was about to continue teaching the children, when suddenly the monkey hurriedly ran in and said: "Third brother, I just got the news from the newspaper, a reporter went to the Department of Agriculture for an interview, and an official said that there may be a locust plague near the capital, and everyone doesn't know what to do, so I came over and asked you what to do?" ”

Zhang San was taken aback when he heard this, stood up and said, "Immediately go find a few refugees who have experienced the locust plague, prepare the carriage and horses, and let's go to the fields first." ”

After a while, the monkey was ready, and several old men of fifty or sixty years old hurriedly came to Zhang San's side to greet Zhang San, Zhang San waved his hand and asked them to hurry up and get into the car.

Out of the saline-alkali land to which Zhang San belonged, the scene outside made Zhang San a little shocked, some women and children in the field were desperately chasing locusts with branches and brooms, but with little success, the roadside was full of locusts, and some even jumped on Zhang San's car.

Zhang San has been going out in a carriage recently, and he rarely passes through the fields on the road, but he didn't expect it to come to this point, after everyone went down to the field together, the old people said worriedly: "My lord, now these insects have not grown wings, and it will be a big problem in half a month, and the people of the capital will suffer." ”

Zhang San thought about it and knew that these people could not be like Zhang San, it was estimated that the news in the countryside had already spread, but the people in the upper echelons had not paid attention to it, Zhang San grabbed a locust on the side of the road and pinched it in his hand, and sure enough, these locusts had not yet grown wings.

Zhang San could think of the scene of locusts growing everywhere, and asked with some uncertainty: "Will such locusts become a plague?" How far will it spread? ”

One of the old men said: "My lord, there has been a drought and little rain near the capital recently, and now the disaster is already a certainty, and now there is still a moonscape before the wheat harvest, if you are diligent, you may be able to save a few harvests, if the official family is reducing taxes in the next few rainstorms, the locust plague has passed, and everyone can barely survive the disaster year by grasping the autumn planting." ”

The old man looked at the sky and said, "I just ask God to show mercy, if there is no rain, the locust plague will not pass, and the autumn grain will not be planted, then I am afraid this will really be over." ”

Zhang San's heart was shocked, no one knew what the weather would be like in the future, Zhang San immediately drove the carriage back to the house, and first asked Sister-in-law Yang to start counting the amount of grain in stock, and then the amount of silver money in stock.

After a day's inventory, Zhang San's current stock of grain is less than 10,000 stones, which is only enough for 10,000 people to eat in March, and there are still 200,000 taels of silver in the warehouse, more than 80,000 yuan of copper coins, and more than 10,000 yuan per day.

Zhang San calculated that the city of Tokyo and the surrounding affected population are estimated to be about 3 million, and one person has one pound of grain a day, 3 million catties a day, one stone of grain is about 112 catties, and 3 million catties is about 24,000 stones.

Now the value of one stone of japonica rice in the Great Song Dynasty has always been about one, that is to say, he has to eat more than 24,000 yuan a day, and he can eat Zhang San into a penniless poor egg in a month, Zhang San shook his head and his ability is limited, so he can't help so much.

Suddenly a little surprised, why didn't anyone tell him such a big news, and the capital didn't see a panic because of this? Zhang San asked Sister-in-law Yang: "Has the price of grain in Beijing risen?" ”

Sister-in-law Yang said: "Recently, food prices have only risen by one or two percent. ”

Zhang San was a little surprised, such a thing needs to have a think tank figure to get an idea for himself, Zhang San immediately said to the monkey: "You go and invite Mr. Wen Huanzhang over, just say that I have something to ask for advice." ”

Zhang San was sitting on the chair in a hurry, Wen Huanzhang walked in with slow steps, Zhang San saw him and said: "There are already signs of locust plague in the capital, don't you know?" ”

Wen Huanzhang shook the feather fan in his hand and said, "Wen Mou has already gone to see it last month, and I am afraid that locusts will become a plague in January." ”

Zhang San asked strangely: "Since Mr. knows, why don't you ignore this matter?" ”

Wen Huanzhang asked even more strangely: "Why do you ask?" ”

Zhang San didn't expect Wen Huanzhang to be so cold-blooded, and exclaimed: "This is millions of displaced people, thousands of miles of red land, starvation everywhere, shouldn't Mr. do his part for this?" ”

Wen Huanzhang smiled slightly and said, "San Lang is too worried! ”

Wen Huanzhang found a chair and sat down and said: "Although there is a locust plague in the capital of the Great Song Dynasty, as long as the disaster relief is done properly, the population affected by the disaster will become more than 100,000 displaced people. ”

Zhang San was suspicious: "In the capital alone, there are at least 1.5 million people in the capital, plus the nearby prefectures and counties, there are still 3 million people, and more than 1.5 million people will be hungry if the grain production is reduced by half, how can there be only 100,000?" ”

Wen Huanzhang was stunned for a moment and smiled slightly and asked, "I asked San Lang, where did the food for the 1.5 million people in this capital come from?" ”

Zhang San said: "Of course it's ......, yes, the grain in the capital is transported from other places. ”

Wen Huanzhang nodded and said: "The capital has always transported rice from the south of the Yangtze River and grains from the north, and millions of people in the capital have not received grain from near the capital, and the Great Song Dynasty has always exempted all local taxes and forced labor in disaster years. This alone can be worth 10% of production. ”

Wen Huanzhang narrowed his eyes and said: "The fields near Tokyo are mostly imperial farms and aristocratic fields, and in the year of famine, these people cherish their feathers even more, and they generally reduce the rent of the tenants who cultivate the land, and will lend the tenants some rice and grain to survive the disaster year. As a result, other landowners will follow suit, so the number of people affected will be further reduced. ”

Zhang San nodded, this is indeed the truth, the land around the capital is generally owned by those nobles, these people will indeed be exempted from land rent in disaster years, so that the national tax is exempted, and the land rent is exempted, even if the people can only collect three or four layers of grain, it is almost equivalent to all income.

Wen Huanzhang continued: "Taizong has a saying: 'There are many things in the sea, and the storage is wasted. 'In the third year of Gu Taizong's Chunhua (992), because of the great prosperity of Gyeonggi, 'the envoys were dispatched to set up a field at the four gates of the capital, and the price was increased to buy it, so that there was a division to store it near the warehouse, and the fate was called Changping. With the permanent staff officers leading it, when the hunger is old, that is, the reduction of the rice and the poor, it will be a permanent system. ’”

Wen Huanzhang dragged down this large paragraph of classical Chinese, Zhang San was stunned for a moment before he understood, this is the introduction of the Northern Song Dynasty's Chang Ping, it is the Northern Song Dynasty that has Chang Ping, the capital is the first in the world, and Chang Ping is naturally the largest, and there is no problem in feeding the refugees in the capital.

Wen Huanzhang continued: "In addition to the regular closing of the position, the government also has a righteous warehouse to call, and Tokyo as the center of the world, water and land transportation is smooth, the capital enters the city every day chestnut rice more than 10,000 stones, as long as there is a disaster, it can increase the number of millions of stone grain into Beijing, so it is basically guaranteed that there is no need to worry about the locust plague in the capital." ”