November 5th, Shanhai City.

In the imperial study, Zeng Guofan, the second assistant of the cabinet, was reporting to Ouyang Shuo on the disaster situation in various places.

Among the six cabinet elders, Zhang Liang and Wei Zheng are part-time and do not participate in the division of labor in the cabinet. Jiang Shang is the first assistant of the cabinet, which is equivalent to half of the prime minister, and when Ouyang Shuo is not in the capital, according to the usual practice, Jiang Shang is in charge of the country.

The remaining three elders, Kou Zhun, Yan Song and Zeng Guofan, have their own emphasis.

Kou Zhun is in charge of personnel and is also the first assistant to Shoufu Jiang Shang. Whenever Great Xia lays down a new territory, except for special ones like the Central Plains Province that need to be treated with high standards, it is generally Kou Zhun who comes forward to preside over the overall situation.

Of course, if you build several provinces at once, it may also be that several elders are in charge of each other.

In addition, Yan Song is in charge of the court bureau, mainly focusing on the big mess of the capital court. Zeng Guofan is in charge of local government affairs, involving local affairs, and Zeng Guofan has the most right to speak.

The two men worked together to maintain the authority of the Cabinet.

Yan Song has the ability, that is, he likes to cultivate party henchmen, if Yan Song is allowed to take charge of local government affairs, then Ouyang Shuo is really not at ease, but he is in charge of the court situation, which is not difficult for Yan Song, who is old and sophisticated.

This time involved a local disaster, so it was reported by Zeng Guofan.

"The natural disaster in October affected 17 of the 22 provinces of the dynasty, affecting more than 13 million people, millions of hectares of pasture, and nearly 20 million acres of farmland. According to preliminary estimates, the direct economic loss is more than 19 million gold coins, and the indirect economic loss is even more incalculable, and it is still under further calculation. ”

Ouyang Shuo listened and gasped.

Gaia was really ruthless this time, and directly let the Great Xia Dynasty cut a piece of meat.

"What are the hardest-hit provinces?"

"Liaojin Province, Central Plains Province, Southern Anhui Province, Jiangnan Province and North African Zhenshou Province are the five places that have been the most severely affected." Zeng Guofan remembers it well.

Ouyang Shuo listened, and he didn't know whether he was sad or happy.

More than half of this is new territory, and it's really bad luck.

What made Ouyang Shuo feel a little relieved was that with the disaster in the Central Plains, southern Anhui and Jiangnan provinces, if the imperial court donated generously, the people of the three places would definitely be grateful, and then eliminate the estrangement and be united with the imperial court.

"Has all the relief food been distributed?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

Zeng Guofan replied: "According to the king's instructions, disaster relief is like fighting fires, and the imperial court directly took out a part of the reserve grain purchased a year ago for disaster relief. After the grain harvest in the unaffected areas is completed, the warehouse will be filled. ”

Ouyang Shuo nodded in satisfaction.

The Great Xia family has a great cause, and this natural disaster is estimated to be the largest loss in the world.

But it is precisely because of the large family business that Daxia has not been affected, or there are still many areas that are not seriously affected.

Unlike some dynasties, the territory is small, and once it is affected, the whole territory is affected, and there is no room for turnaround.

Not to mention other regions, in terms of the Chinese region alone, the Mongol Empire on the steppe, the Great Zhou Dynasty in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and the Tang Dynasty in the upper reaches of the Yellow River were very badly affected.

However, the Western Xia Kingdom and Daqin, which were close to the grassland, had been fed with locusts in the vast grassland, so that the two countries were spared from the scourge of locusts, and they were lucky to escape.

What made Ouyang Shuo more vigilant was that the Mongol Empire was a hard-hit area this time, and as a nomadic people, they had a single source of food, and their ability to resist disasters was weaker than that of agricultural civilization.

This winter, the Mongol Empire is bound to be very difficult.

With Genghis Khan's temperament, he will never bow his head to anyone and admit defeat, and the only possibility is to send troops to go out to plunder a wave before the onset of winter, and feed his own people with the blood of the enemy.

The Central Plains bore the brunt of the attack.

The Mongol Empire did this for good reason. In this locust plague, the Mongolian steppe shielded the Central Plains from disasters and charged a little interest, which is not a matter of course.

Therefore, as early as a month ago, Ouyang Shuo ordered the Northern Xinjiang Army to strengthen border vigilance.

What worries Ouyang Shuo is that the Fengxiang Army and the Hedong Army, which are planned to be deployed in the north, are still being formed, and if the Mongol Empire chooses to invade the territory at this time, it is really a little irresistible.

If the situation is urgent, you can only catch the ducks on the shelves.

Putting aside the matter for the time being, Ouyang Shuo instructed Zeng Guofan: "At present, the price of grain is rising, and the cabinet must do a good job of coping with it, control the price of rice, and neither let the merchants take the opportunity to suck the blood of the people, nor let the people hoard too much rice." ”

The people live on food.

As soon as the price of grain rises, the people panic, and it is easy to trigger a rush to buy, so that the supply of rice, which could have guaranteed a normal supply, becomes in short supply, giving businessmen the opportunity to make profits from it.

Stabilizing grain prices is the unshirkable responsibility of the imperial court.

"Please also rest assured that the Cabinet has instructed the Commercial Department to send investigation teams to various places to supervise the matter, and if any illegal acts of businessmen are discovered, they will be severely punished. The governor's yamen of the provinces and the yamen of the capital guards, and the imperial court also greeted them one by one and asked them to supervise the matter. ”

Ouyang Shuo nodded, having such an efficient cabinet made him worry-free.

Zeng Guofan followed suit, "Your Majesty, the price of grain has been rising recently, and the grain we hoarded years ago has a large surplus in addition to self-sufficiency, do you sell a batch of grain for profit?" ”

Speaking of this, Zeng Guofan admired the king's foresight.

A few years ago, Ouyang Shuo insisted on using tens of millions of funds to purchase grain on a large scale, betting that Gaia's grain production would be reduced in six years. At that time, a group of ministers, including Zeng Guofan, was very puzzled.

They are also very uninterested in such a shocking gamble.

Now it has been proved that the king's judgment is right, if this batch of grain is sold, as soon as it changes hands, the court will be able to make a net profit of one or two thousand gold coins, and there is no more cost-effective deal.

Sometimes Zeng Guofan is also thinking, but all kings can see what ordinary people can't see.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why the king was able to conclude that there would be natural and man-made disasters in Gaia in the sixth year of Gaia, which would lead to a reduction in grain production.

The king's original speculation has now been fulfilled one by one.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head and said with a smile: "How much money can you make selling grain?" It's nothing but little Lear. ”

Zeng Guofan was stunned, vaguely guessed the king's intentions, and didn't dare to say it clearly, so he could only reveal it, and then mentioned another thing, "Your Majesty, the court is currently affected by the disaster, is the ceremony scheduled for the New Year held as scheduled?" ”

"That's nature."

Ouyang Shuo glanced at Zeng Guofan.

The promotion ceremony of the dynasty is the biggest event in Daxia in recent times, and it is related to the dignity of a country, since the date has been set, no matter what difficulties are encountered, it is impossible to change it.

With Zeng Guofan's wisdom, he would not ask such a superficial question.

Since I asked, I have another meaning.

Zeng Guofan must still be distressed about food, and he didn't dare to ask openly, so he could only ask in a roundabout way.

Sure enough, I saw Zeng Guofan take advantage of the situation and said: "To promote the dynasty, you need to capture at least one province, and the king ordered the year to stop, I don't know how to solve this lack of provinces." ”

Zeng Guofan is not the only one who has this question.

Ouyang Shuo smiled, he still had a sense of accomplishment to be able to find out the minds of these ministers, and replied: "This remaining province can be taken without spending a single soldier, what is missing is just an opportunity." ”

Zeng Guofan listened and thought thoughtfully.

…………

On November 10, the Indian Empire sent an envoy to Shanhai City.

Although there is a communication compass and exchanges break through geographical barriers, when it comes to state affairs, the dynasties are still accustomed to solemnly send envoys to hand over state affairs as a sign of respect.

The Indian Empire came to envoys, but they made a strange request to Ouyang Shuo.