In March, the power of the spring drought in Yan'an Province began to appear, although there were preparations, but the severity of the spring drought was still beyond Zheng Xunrui's expectations, he originally thought that after four consecutive years of famine, the climatic conditions in various parts of Yan'an Province should be at least slightly better, but unfortunately his idea was too good, from February, not a drop of rain fell, and it continued until the end of March, which also made him see the power of the Xiaoice period, no wonder the world has encountered great disasters during this time.

Because of the accumulation of more than one million cubic meters of snow water, all parts of Yan'an Prefecture can barely survive the spring drought, but the consumption is huge, the sky does not rain, winter wheat maize and sweet potatoes, it is necessary to carry water manually to solve the drought, this is not just a joke, so much land, relying on human backs and carriage transportation, to water all the crops, in this case, it is impossible to do everything, can only hold some crops, give up some crops.

Zheng Xunrui really scolded his mother, he scolded God, and he really didn't want to give people a way to live.

The huge consumption of labor has led to a large consumption of grain, and by the end of March, Fuzhou and County are a little overstretched, and when working, they must eat well and eat well, otherwise they will not have the strength to do anything well, Zheng Xunrui, who knows the importance of this, will never be stingy at this time.

"My lord, there are only 2,000 stone flour in the treasury of the government office, and all the sixteen counties in the three states have sent documents, and it is difficult to hold on.

Zheng Xunrui frowned, Zhao Mu's grain reached 23,000 stones, leaving 3,000 stones in Qingjian County, and the rest of the 20,000 stones were all transported back, plus the original grain storage in the treasury, it should be said that it was still relatively optimistic at that time, who knew that it was only a few months, and the rapid consumption of grain was actually only 2,000 stones.

The harvest season of winter wheat, less than a month, the harvest time of maize and sweet potato, that is, more than a month, it should be said that the growth of grain is good, although it can not be compared with Jiangning County, but there is finally a harvest, this is very good, Zheng Xunrui specially went to check, according to the prediction of some old people who have been farming for a long time, the yield per mu of winter wheat is about five times with one stone, such a yield makes Zheng Xunrui a little speechless, he spent a lot of effort, but the winter wheat yield is so low, if it is in Jiangning County, I'm afraid the output can reach about three stones.

There is no comparison between the North and the South, and food production is much lower.

As for maize and sweet potato, it should be said that the yield of maize is average, can reach about three stones, even if it is Amitabha, but the yield of sweet potato, Zheng Xunrui can not estimate, he found that the growth of sweet potato is very good, it seems to be better than the growth of Jiangning County, is it suitable for planting sweet potatoes in Shaanxi.

Until the harvest, nothing can be said clearly.

"Master Ma, has the state and county counted how much food relief is needed before the winter wheat harvest?"

"The lower officials have counted it, and according to the documents of the state and county, at least 8,000 to 10,000 stone of grain are needed."

Zheng Xunrui gasped, the government only has 2,000 stone of grain, the gap is too big, food is no better than other things, clothes are not enough, you can always wear one, no one can afford to eat for a day, so food must be prepared sufficiently, but it is currently the time when the price of grain is the highest, the so-called green and yellow season, to buy 10,000 stone of grain, at least more than 30,000 taels of silver.

"My lord, the lower officials have carefully checked, in the documents of the state and county, there are also exaggerations, but the shortage of food is zài, excluding the exaggerated components, the real need of grain should be about 5,000 stones, of which Juzhou needs about 1,000 stones, Suide Prefecture and Jiazhou, each need about 500 stones, the rest of the counties need an average of about 300 stones, the smallest demand is Ansai County and Qingjian County, Ansai County 100 stones of grain can solve the problem, Qingjian County may not need food."

"Well, according to the statistics of Master Ma, the food gap in Yan'an Mansion is at least about 3,000 stones, and so much grain must be purchased, is that what it means."

"If you want to be able to supply enough, you need at least 4,000 stone of grain to spend this nearly a month, winter wheat is about to be harvested, some time ago to fight the spring drought, too much grain was consumed, the harvest season, the demand for food is also very large, this time is not so much demand, but you need to prepare in advance."

Zheng Xunrui was a little speechless, after he showed his ability, the officials at all levels did things well, but they lacked the ability to take the initiative to think of a way, and they had to rely on him as the prefect to worry about it, of course, this can't be blamed on the officials below, all those who stayed in Yan'an Mansion were officials with no background and backers, not to mention that there was nothing to do with the imperial court, even if it was with the governor's yamen, there was not much contact, thinking about relying on these people to find a way, it was unlikely.

Crying children have milk to eat, this truth is also common now, for example, Beizhili Prefecture and County, you can quickly get relief, but in other places, there is no good relationship, there is no relief, you say that you have suffered a disaster, and it is not your one place that has suffered a disaster, there are many difficult places, the court does not have so much money and food, as long as the relief is most needed, what is the most needed, this is not a standard, so the standard of passage is the relationship.

"The official knows, it seems that there is no other way, you go to contact in person, buy 4,000 stone of grain, plus the grain in the treasury, a total of 6,000 stone, of which 5,000 stone of grain will be distributed according to demand, tell the many governors and counties, and if they want food, they will bring their official hats to ask for it, and the official will ask them carefully to see if they have thought of any way."

"This official will give you 15,000 taels of silver, no matter what you think, you have to buy back 4,000 stone of grain, it is definitely not possible to buy it in various parts of Yan'an Prefecture, it is best to go to Xi'an Mansion to buy it, the price is much cheaper, as for transportation, let the merchant be directly responsible, and you can give some transportation costs appropriately in addition to the price of grain."

After Ma Zhukui hugged his fist and saluted, he quickly went to handle it.

After a while, Sun Qimeng also came in.

"My lord, the document on the revocation of the state and county garrison yamen has been prepared, except for the two places of Kaifugu and Shenmu, the number of people is maintained at about three hundred, and the sergeants who garrison the yamen in the rest of the places are all disbanded, some of them are arranged to go to the yamen of the inspection department, and the rest go home to farm."

When Sun Qimeng said this, Zheng Xunrui's body still trembled slightly.

He thought of Li Zicheng, when Chongzhen was in the second year, Hu Ke gave Liu Mao a letter to the emperor in the matter, saying that there were too many post station soldiers all over the country, which consumed a large amount of money and grain in the imperial court, and it must be abolished, but the emperor agreed without thinking, but he didn't know that at that time it was the time when the disaster was severe, and the post station raised a lot of people, so that these people could barely make ends meet, so that they would not starve to death, and as a result, Liu Mao's twists and turns cut off the way of too many people, especially in Shaanxi, a large number of displaced people appeared, and they were desperate. They have joined the ranks of the Rogues, and even directly become the leaders of the Rogues.

Li Zicheng is one of them.

At this time, he abolished the garrison yamen, and the reason was the same as the abolition of the post station, but in terms of appeasement, he thought about it carefully, on the one hand, he gave these dismissed sergeants a part of the field, so that they could have a field to cultivate, so that they would not be cornered, and on the other hand, they would be given a part of the subsidy, so that they could temporarily tide over the difficulties.

In fact, the garrison yamen had long been ready to be abolished, but Zheng Xunrui had never dared to move, he was afraid that there would be a situation out of control.

"Lord Sun, after nearly half a year of deliberation, all the preparations should be almost over, but this official is still a little worried, will there be some unexpected situations because of the abolition of the garrison yamen."

"The lower officials thought that it would not, the state and county had already made preparations in accordance with the requirements of the government, and the end of the month was the winter wheat harvest season, and these dismissed sergeants, because they participated in the sowing last year, were able to get a lot of grain, so that they could ensure that there was food to eat, and in addition, they also received a certain subsidy, which was enough to support them for a period of time."

Sun Qimeng is a little strange, I don't know why the prefect, who has always been heroic and decisive, is so worried about this small matter, in fact, the garrison yamen has indeed lost its meaning, the imperial court has set up a guard in Yan'an Mansion, when the guard was established, the garrison yamen should be abolished, the security of Yan'an Mansion is directly responsible for Yan'an Wei, as long as there is a patrol inspection department yamen responsible for maintaining law and order, it is okay As for Fugu and Shenmu, because the distance from Yan'an Mansion is too far, when something unexpected happens, The garrison will not be able to dispatch troops in the future, so it is necessary to garrison the yamen to support it.

"Well, you still have to be careful, when the government issued the document, it warned the state and county that they must be cautious and not have any problems, otherwise the governor of the state and county will bear the responsibility of dismissing the sergeants who go home, and they will go to see on a regular basis, what is the situation, in case of life difficulties, the government must take proper care of them, these sergeants who garrison the yamen have finally done something for the stability of all parts of Yan'an Prefecture, and the government can't forget them."

After Sun Qimeng left, Zheng Xunrui sorted out his thoughts, the matter of the Denglai mutiny, he couldn't interfere, don't think so much, now the most important thing is the winter wheat harvest, in addition to the maize and sweet potato harvesting, if the yield of sweet potatoes is large, then the next year is a variety of sweet potatoes, less maize, Yan'an Mansion needs a lot of food, so as to be able to maintain stability, and gradually recover its vitality.