Seeing that Xuzhou was about to turn into a pot of porridge, the Jicheng Command finally sent a secret order with similar content to the Zhenwei Battalion and the Zhenwu Battalion stationed in Jizhou, to the effect that the soldiers of the two battalions should actively assist the local government in making preparations for drought fighting and disaster relief, and at the same time defending the territory and protecting the territory, they should participate in various drought relief operations as much as they can.

It seems that this order has nothing to do with Xuzhou, even half a penny? Anyway, I also reminded the two battalion commanders to pay close attention to the movements of Cao Jun's ally Yuan Jun, or take advantage of the favorable opportunity for Xiahoudun to withdraw to Yanzhou to knock Chun Yuqiong, right?

The order was given by the command, in black and white, and there was certainly no problem. In other words, this is what the eldest prince means.

So, why did Liu Hewei issue such a military order?

Because north of the Yellow River has rarely rained since the beginning of winter last year, and there have not even been a few snowfalls, all signs indicate that a major drought that cannot be prevented by manpower will occur this year! In addition to the drought, Cai Yong, Xu Yue and others also made a more worrying prediction by observing the sky and collecting the feelings of the people in various places: the drought may last for more than three years, and there may be locust plagues and plagues along with the drought......

Liu He didn't believe in occult theories such as divination, but he believed in the speculations of Cai Yong and Xu Yue, who studied the astronomical calendar, and trusted his own intuition more. The reason why the chaos occurred in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty was that people everywhere rebelled one after another, and the population of the Han Dynasty continued to decline sharply from 50 million, and after a few decades, there were only more than 9 million left, one of the key reasons was the continuous various disasters.

Although there have been military disasters in Youzhou and Jizhou from time to time in recent years, it is rare that there are no natural disasters, and there is a bumper harvest of grain, and almost no people starve to death, but this kind of good year cannot last forever.

Since the beginning of spring, officials in Youzhou and Jizhou who have observed soil moisture and river flow have been horrified to find that not only has the land become extremely dry, but the water flow in the river has become thinner and thinner, and drinking water for people and livestock has become a problem in some places. Such a severe drought. Naturally, all localities did not dare to conceal it and not report it, so snowflakes of official documents poured into Jicheng and piled up on the case of Taifu Liu Yu.

Liu Yu and his son Liu He had a division of labor, he was mainly responsible for internal affairs and the selection and transfer of local officials, and his son was mainly responsible for defending the land and conquering the army, and by the way, he helped the officials at all levels to find ways to make money. Originally, Liu Yu was not ready to let his son get involved in such a matter as disaster relief and drought relief, but after he learned about the grim situation faced by various places, he still asked his son to discuss countermeasures as soon as possible.

Liu Yu asked his son: "What do you think of the disaster reported in various places?" ”

Liu He replied: "This is just the beginning, the situation is far more severe than we imagined!" ”

"Wu'er always has unexpected ideas for solving various crises. I wonder if there is any advice for your father to refer to this time? ”

Liu He had long thought about how to fight the drought, and replied unhurriedly: "The child thinks that in the fight against such a severe disaster, it is necessary to achieve four points: first, the people's hearts must not be dispersed; Second, there should be no disorder; Third, relief cannot be stopped; Fourth, do not be idle in all trades. ”

Liu Yu nodded and encouraged his son: "Well, I have grasped the key point and the key." Let's talk about it in detail. ”

Liu He then talked eloquently: "If you want to keep the people's hearts out, the officials at all levels must not deceive the superiors and subordinates, let alone hide the situation and fail to report it, and must repeatedly warn the people before the disaster occurs." It makes everyone vigilant and fearful, and has a sufficient understanding of disasters. In addition to reminding and admonishing the people, the government at all levels also used various propaganda means, such as inviting the people to visit the grain stored in the relief granary. Let the artists in the teahouse and the young people who run the hall talk more about the precautions for disaster resistance, so that the people firmly believe that the government has the ability to organize everyone to tide over the difficulties. ”

"If we want to keep order, we must rely on the military and officials at all levels. Extraordinary control measures have been adopted to resolutely crack down on enemies who dare to take advantage of the opportunity externally, and resolutely crack down on all kinds of vicious incidents such as hoarding, looting, rumor-mongering, mutiny, and incitement internally. When the situation is urgent, the army can be directly involved in the bombing of the counties, in short, to ensure that the upper and lower levels are smooth and orderly. ”

"If we want to continue to provide relief, we have to rely on our previous accumulation, and empty white teeth can't solve the problem. If the drought lasts for several years, harvests will be lost in many places, and without government-organized relief, people in these places will either flee elsewhere or starve to death. I asked people to make a detailed count of the grain stored in the disaster relief granaries at and above the county level, and the old surplus grain accumulated in Jizhou and Youzhou in the past few years can fully cope with this catastrophe. As long as we continue to provide relief, the people will be able to stay in their homes with peace of mind, and when they get through the most difficult period, they will be more supportive of the various new policies we have introduced in the future. ”

"If we want to be able to stay in all walks of life, we need to find new jobs for the large number of workers who have been temporarily idle because the fields cannot be cultivated. Although this drought has had a great impact on the agricultural development of Youzhou and Jizhou, it can provide abundant labor for the fledgling handicraft industry, as long as we organize it properly, the people who have temporarily lost their fields will not only not be idle, but on the contrary, they will be busy and happy, creating more wealth than farming. ”

Liu Yu listened to his son's analysis with a smile on his face, and then said very unkindly: "What Wu'er said is the way, and everything is reasonable, it seems that the burden of disaster relief and drought relief belongs to you!" ”

"Father, the child is only in charge of the military, and it is not appropriate to interfere too much in civil affairs......" Liu He hurriedly shirked.

"Didn't you just say that in extraordinary times, extraordinary measures should be used? Now that more than 100,000 troops are in your hands, everyone is afraid of you like a tiger, and you are the best person to take charge of disaster relief and drought relief. Can you tell me if there is a better candidate besides you? ”

"A father is more suitable than a child."

"Your father is old, you need to pay attention to health preservation, otherwise you haven't seen your grandson yet, and you have to leave like Tao Gongzu, wouldn't it be a pity?"

was soaked by his father's soft grinding for a while, and Liu He had no choice but to take over this important task.

Liu He originally planned to go to Liaodong to supervise the formation in person, and cleaned up Gongsun Du within this year, but now it seems that it is basically in vain. Liu He felt that the feeling of commanding thousands of troops and horses galloping across the battlefield was much more chic than swaying back and forth in various counties and townships all day long.

After a conversation that day, a new sign was hung outside the yamen of the Jicheng Command Office, on which was a line of large characters written by Taifu Liu Yu himself: "Hebei Zhuzhou Drought Relief Headquarters". The so-called Hebei is the abbreviation north of the Yellow River. This time, it is not only Youzhou and Jizhou that are facing the drought, but also parts of Bingzhou and Qingzhou.

After the establishment of the Drought Relief Headquarters, Liu He served as the supreme commander, and Liu Yu gave him almost all the power of the two official positions of Taifu and Hussar General, and this time let his son do it. Since Liu He took over the burden from his father, he was not hypocritical, he immediately transferred Shi Liu Hui, the head of the Wuhuan Captain's Mansion, back to Jicheng as his deputy, and appointed Zhao Yun, the general of the Xiao Cavalry, to concurrently serve as the captain of the Wuhuan Guard, with full responsibility for the military and political affairs of the two counties in the west of Youzhou.

Liu He set up specific business handling departments within the Drought Relief Headquarters, such as the "Disaster and Epidemic Monitoring Office," the "Water Conservancy Construction Supervision Office," the "Cultivation Guidance Office," the "Public Opinion Response Office," the "Military-Local Coordination Office," the "Disaster Grain Allocation Office," the "Industrial Development Promotion Office," and the "Employment Placement Office," forming a set of efficient and rigorous organizational systems.

The Disaster and Epidemic Monitoring Department is an early warning department, and the person in charge is concurrently served by Tian Chou, director of the Military Intelligence Department; The Water Conservancy Construction Supervision Office belongs to the supervision department, and the person in charge is concurrently served by Li Ru, director of the Supervision Administration; The Cultivation Guidance Office belongs to the technical guidance department, and the person in charge is Cai Yong, a bachelor who has studied the astronomical calendar, in person; The Public Opinion Response Department belongs to the propaganda department, and the person in charge is Xu Miao, director of the Department of Culture and Publicity; The military-civilian coordination office belongs to the emergency department, and the person in charge is Guo Jia, director of the Zanhua Division; The "Disaster Grain Allocation Office" belongs to the statistical allocation department, and the person in charge is Xu Yue, a master of arithmetic; The Industrial Development Promotion Department belongs to the department of fishing deviation, and the person in charge is Liu Fang; The Employment Placement Office belongs to the aftercare department, and the person in charge is Han Heng.

Liu He's job is to listen to the direct reports of the heads of various departments every day, then find and find out the problems, and then hand over the problems to everyone to discuss until they come up with specific ideas and measures to solve them.

Soon after the drought relief headquarters was put into operation, Liu He received a secret report from Xuzhou, learning that Xuzhou Mu Taoqian had passed away, and before he died, he had Cao Heizi's father and mother, his brothers, and his brother and daughter-in-law all killed.

Liu He said to Guo Jia and Tian Chou with some toothache: "Tao Qian, this old thing, really doesn't let people live in peace, so he has to let out the sullenness that has been held in his heart for many years." This time he closed his eyes comfortably, but he completely annoyed Yanzhou Cao Cao, and he didn't know how many people in Xuzhou would suffer from innocent blood and light disasters this time! ”

Guo Jia immediately reminded Liu He and said: "Son, Tao Qian's death is a good time for us to lay out Xuzhou!" ”

Liu He shook his head and said: "Alas, I also know this truth, but we are too far away from Xuzhou, and Youzhou and Jizhou have encountered such big troubles as drought this year, I am afraid that we have more than enough strength but not enough!" ”

"Although we can't directly send troops to Xuzhou, we can use our strength to convey our thoughts to Xuzhou through some ways!" Guo Jia insisted on his own ideas.

"Tell me, how do we lay out Xuzhou?"

"It is imperative that we send a person with outstanding ability and prestige to Xuzhou immediately to help the Mi family stabilize their position, and then skillfully resolve the conflict between the forces of the various factions in Xuzhou, and lead it to the goal of jointly fighting against Cao Cao, and wait until the Cao army retreats, so that this person will take over Xuzhou!"

"Sounds good, but I can't find anyone like this around me now, isn't it the same as not saying it? Could it be that you want to go to Xuzhou to be a big official? ”

Guo Jia directly ignored Liu He's cold joke and said: "If Jizhou Mu Lu Zigan talks about qualifications and prestige, he will not lose to the deceased Tao Gongzu at all, if he is the Xuzhou Mu to the imperial court, who can stop him?" ”

Liu He listened to Guo Jia's words, paused for a while, and then laughed, he pointed to Guo Jia's nose and said, "I find that you are getting worse and worse now!" Such a bad idea, you can think of it! ”

Guo Jia touched his nose a little innocently, and then said, "Who let a certain ambitious guy be a student of Lu Zigan." (To be continued......)