"Father! I don't want to go......"

"Daddy! You have to intercede with King Qi......"

"Father's ......"

"Uncle Wang......"

On March 15, with the end of the meeting of the feudal divisions, thousands of clan disciples wearing mandarin duck battle jackets began to cry on the wharf of Tianjin Port.

On the edge of their dock, they cried with the princes of the feudal domains, and some princes were also very reluctant to give up their heirs, but for the children of the domain, some of them showed impatient expressions.

In the crowd, although Zhu Youxiang did not cry, his trembling hands and feet made Zhu Changxun, who came to see him off, look very unsightly, but Zhu Youqu was still comforting his brother.

"Afraid of what? After you go south, you are at least a small flag officer, and you have more than a dozen people under you to protect you. ”

Zhu Changxun stood and spoke without backache, and while scolding Zhu Youxiang, he also said to Zhu Youqu next to him:

"Qu'er, when you enter Yanshan Academy in the future, you must win glory for our Fu Domain, and at least give your father a top 100 ranking."

"Daddy...... Children are not afraid of death, children are afraid that they will not see you......" Zhu Youxiang spoke in a trembling voice, and Zhu Changxun waved his hand and said:

"You are the son of my blessed domain, Zhu Youzhen's kid didn't get hurt when he ran rampant in the south and north of the desert, and you are naturally blessed."

"I ......" Zhu Youxiang wanted to speak and stopped, he wanted to say where he could compare with Zhu Youjian, and after thinking about it, he forgot it.

After more than a year of training, Zhu Youxiang can only open a five-force bow, and according to some Shangzhi cavalry in Nangui, Zhu Youzhen can already shoot an eight-force bow.

What is the concept of the Eight Forces Bow? The elite cavalry of Shangzhi can only open seven forces, and Zhu Youzhen can open an eight-force bow at this age, and it is estimated that when he is the same age as Zhu Youxiang, he can open more than ten forces.

To exaggerate, I'm afraid it's not impossible for Zhu Youzhen to open a strong bow of one hundred and fifty catties.

really threw Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Youxiang together, I'm afraid that Zhu Youxiang couldn't even scream, so he was killed by Zhu Youzhen.

"Beep-"

Suddenly, a shrill whistle sounded, this was the whistle urging the soldiers to board the ship and go south, hearing this whistle, many clan members could only hide their faces and weep on boarding.

It's just that compared to them, there are not no bold people among the children of the clan.

"Zhu Yujian, how many of your brothers don't go to the old Tang King to cry?"

On the deck, a familiar voice came, and twenty-five-year-old Zhu Yujian turned his head to look over, but saw Li Zicheng, who was a leader in the military academy, and a group of children from northern Shaanxi around him.

"What? Are you going down to your father and mother to cry? ”

Zhu Yujian disregarded his identity and quarreled with Li Zicheng, and his father Zhu Qiqi was exempted from going south because he was over forty years old.

By his side, only a few younger brothers followed him, namely Zhu Yujing, Zhu Yulu, Zhu Yuyi, and Zhu Yuji.

The four brothers ranged in age from twenty-five to nineteen years old, and it can be seen that the old father Zhu Qiqi is strong in terms of heirs, and the most important thing is that the four of them have survived safely.

In the era when the Ming Dynasty clan often died young, it can be praised that the Tang Dynasty was able to educate people.

"Don't cry when you go to the battlefield, you are all future princes, and we are all Qiu Ba."

Although Li Zicheng said this, he patted his chest and looked very confident that he would come back alive.

After all, the children of the clan who had only been trained for one year had been sent to the battlefield, and there was no reason why Li Zicheng, who had trained for more than five years, would not be able to do it.

"Let's see......" Zhu Yujian didn't want to talk to Li Zicheng too much, and returned to the boat room with his four younger brothers.

Immediately afterwards, the children of the various feudal clans also began to board the ship, among which Zhu Changqing began to unite the children of the Huai clan early in the morning, and Zhu Shaoyong, the grandson of the Zhou domain, was the same.

The capable children of each clan came to the fore, and those over forty years old were retained.

Zhu Youzhen's move was to cultivate the new generation of the children of the clan, otherwise it would be a bit naïve to go to the Mughal only to learn the art of war.

The children of the feudal clans on the ship were all depressed, perhaps in their opinion, they were already the worst people in the entire Ming Dynasty.

But if you really compare, are they really the worst?

As the anchor was raised, the ship escorting this group of soldiers and scholars set sail, gradually becoming smaller from the sea surface of Tianjin Port, and finally disappeared.

Seeing this, the feudal lords sighed and got into the carriage, some of them chose to stay in the capital, and some chose to return directly to the domain.

In short, their choices are different, but there are still choices, and those who really have no choice are looking at the arid fields at the moment, helpless......

"God, it's going to rain!"

Outside Yuhe Town, Yan'an Prefecture, Shaanxi Province, two and a half months of rain did not fall, so that hundreds of small streams and rivers in northern Shaanxi have been cut off, and the drought has bottomed out.

As the rivers and streams dried up, the fields began to dry up and the seedlings died.

Although the land was divided and a good year was lived, this sudden drought still made many farmers irritable.

Yes, most of the people in Yan'an Mansion were relocated, and the people who remained, each of them could have five acres of land, and they did harvest for a year last year, and they were tax-free for one year, and more than 30 stones of rice and wheat were piled up in each household.

But even so, everyone will be irritable when they sit and eat in the air.

The 30 or so stone rice and wheat are eaten by a family of six or seven people, and there are livestock and poultry at home......

That is, more than 30 stones of rice and wheat at home can make them nourish for a year, so although the people in Yan'an Mansion are irritable, they are not desperate.

Some people initially went to the fields in the hope of rain in the upper reaches of the river, but this hope slowly turned to despair over time.

Time passed little by little, from March 15 to April 15, a whole month, still not a drop of rain.

All the seedlings died, and even some vegetables needed to be sustained by the water from the wells.

In May, the dry season became more and more pronounced, and the water level of wells in the entire Yan'an province began to plummet, and every village had the sound of shouting and working in the wells.

Baskets of silt were lifted to the ground, and then people covered in mud were hoisted up.

"No! This well has been drilled for more than ten zhang, but the water coming out is still not large. ”

The mud-covered man wiped his face with a coarse cloth and spoke to the people of the village gathered around the well, and the old village said:

"Do you think you have to hit to get out of the water?"

"That's at least twenty feet." The man opened his mouth without thinking, and immediately made the people next to him look at each other.

The well is twenty zhang deep, which makes many people dare not think, but if this well is not drilled, then the whole village will have no water to drink.

"Let's fight, what do you need, the village will pool money to buy it for you."

Muramasa sighed and spoke, and the man also said:

"There is no need for anything, it is just people and wood, and it takes at least twelve people to dig this well, divided into four teams to dig the well upside down, but the people who go down the well will be in danger."

"If the well collapses, then it really can't be saved!"

The words instantly made the hearts of the men around tighten, and some women also clutched their men's clothes.

"Do you sign up yourself or do you draw lots?" The village turned to the villagers.

"I'm coming!"

"Count me in!"

"I'm coming!"

"I ......"

A well is related to the problem of drinking water for hundreds of people in the whole village, and no one dares to be sloppy, even if they are afraid of death, but in order to let their wives and children get a mouthful of water, some people still have the courage to stand up.

"Good!"

Twelve men quickly gathered, the village and the people scraped together copper coins, and finally each family provided a bucket of grain, and the twelve men finally drove the mule cart to the nearest county to buy wood.

However, as wells were being dug in the villages, the price of wood in the county skyrocketed, and only four-fifths of the money that had been enough to buy wood was bought.

"Let the villagers buy some."

One of the people in the line spoke, but the leading man guarding the door of the timber shop gritted his teeth and said:

"Go back to work first, and let the villagers pool their money to buy it."

"Okay!" There was not much to play, and the problem of draft weighed on their minds, and everyone returned to the village with the wood in a worried state.

Each family gathered another bucket of grain and gave it to one of the teams to buy wood, while the other three teams began to deepen the well.

As in the later rural villages, they used rollers to erect at the mouth of the well, and two people were hung down, and the people on top kept lowering the wood for them to reinforce the well.

When the wood was reinforced to the bottom of the well, the two were changed shifts, and the other two went down with the tools used to dig the well.

This tool, known in the local language, is known as the butterfly cone, and the head of the cone is shaped like a modern ice inlay, and the upper part has two clay buckets shaped like butterfly wings.

While drilling, the cone also brings the sediment to the mud hopper, which is filled and pulled out of the ground for cleaning.

Because the wells in northern Shaanxi are all soil layers, and the wells are relatively deep, they are easy to collapse when they are soaked in water, so they should go down the well at the same time as the wells.

Since there are not so many suitable stones in northern Shaanxi, the well trees selected by the village drilling team are all wood.

When they dig a well, the area of the wellhead is slightly larger, so that the inside of the well is inlaid with a layer of lining, which is the well beam.

The work was long and boring, the well was damp and dark, and in order to relieve their fears, the people in the well could only talk and talk.

Under the command of the wellhead wellsmith, the laborers filled the mud in the mud bucket, and the wellsmith asked the wellmaster to clean it up again.

For three days in a row, the well was drilled deeper, and gradually water layers began to appear.

Finally, with the exertion of a force, when the Hu Butterfly Cone was pulled out, a clear spring began to overflow from the mouth.

"There's water!"

"There's water!"

"There's water?!" Hearing the sound coming from the bottom of the well, the people on the well, although they were very tired, hugged each other and celebrated loudly.

However, before they could celebrate, there was a sudden vibration on the soles of their feet, and before they could react, the Lifu in the well heard a "bang".

One piece of wood used to reinforce the wall of the well broke, but in an instant, the other pieces of wood broke one after another, and damp earth poured out of the crack in an instant.

"The well is broken! Come on! ”

The wellsmith who was in charge of observing at the wellhead shouted, his voice was terrified, and the two wrestlers under the well subconsciously grabbed the hanging basket.

"Come and pull!"

The well smith grabbed the handle of the wheel and began to turn, but the weight of the two people was too heavy, and he quickly woke up the stunned person next to him.

The people around them reacted and ran to pull the wheels, but the reaction time given by disasters is often insufficient.

As they tried to pull upwards, the heavy layer of earth poured down, and the basket was swallowed up by the dirt in an instant, and the rope broke due to insufficient weight.

The person who pulls the wheel only feels a sudden lightness, and the person who exerts force it falls backwards one after another.

The second he fell to the ground, everyone's minds were blank, and only the well smith hurriedly got up.

But when he looked at the well, most of the wells that had been dug for days were buried, and the two Lifu were gone.

"It's over......"

——————

"From March to May, no less than 4,000 people died as a result of digging wells, nearly 50 million acres of fields in the three provinces were wiped out, and more than 1 million people drank without water......

On the first day of the fifth month, when Bi Ziyan read out the local sparse recital in the study of the Qi Palace, Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting in his position, was silent.

The fact that 4,000 people died in two months, all of them because of digging wells, is enough to show that the drought in the three provinces has reached the extent that the people know that they will die if they dig wells, but they still have to go into the wells.

Zhu Youzhen solved the problem of food, but now the problem of water has come.

However, he personally has been preparing for this question for several years.

"Two hundred and sixty-two stone cement and one hundred and sixty-two engineering teams are ready, and the officials of the various provinces have provided craftsmen and iron tools for them to dig wells."

"In addition, if there is really no way to dig wells, move the village to Hexi, Hetao, or other places."

Zhu Youzhen opened his mouth to order, and the so-called 162 engineering teams were students from the civil engineering department of Yanshan.

Their teachers are all kinds of craftsmen with the best skills in the Ming Dynasty, if even they can't solve it, and can't find a place to dig a well, then the relocation of the village is the last way for the people to live.

The 260,000 stone of cement was accumulated by the Mongols who were captured in the Battle of the Sweeping Trap for two and a half years of labor reform.

Ensuring that the people in the northwest have water to drink is one of Zhu Youzhen's means to deal with the current drought in the northwest.

"The cost of digging this well is ......" Bi Ziyan asked Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen said without thinking:

"It is allocated from the state treasury, and if Hexi cannot accommodate so many people, please ask the people to go to Luoyang and take a boat south along the Yellow River to the sea."

"After going to sea, the people moved to Annam, which is enough from the perspective of time."

"The cost of relocation is borne by the local government, and the imperial court distributes silver."

Migrating people from the northwest to Southeast Asia sounds incredible, but Zhu Youzhen has no choice.

He can move from northern Shaanxi to southern Shaanxi, southern Shaanxi to Sichuan, Sichuan to Yunnan, and Yunnan to Annan......

But the question is, how many people and how many acres of land need to be delayed?

Instead of delaying the cultivation of tens of millions of acres of land, it is better to directly relocate the people.

After all, the people who have no water to drink are a minority, and the migration of hundreds of thousands of people will only cost more than a million taels of silver, but if a province is relocated, the cost will not be more than 10,000 taels of silver.

Wherever the disaster area is, move it to wherever it is, this is Zhu Youzhen's means of dealing with natural disasters.

"Have you handed over all the money of the vassals?" Zhu Youzhen asked Bi Ziyan, and Bi Ziyan also said:

"According to what was said, pay one-tenth of the amount first, then pay two-tenths after Annan fights, and pay three-tenths after the Gongwei battalion is dispatched."

"In the end, after many princely states and feudal lands were conquered, and after the vassal king moved and arrived, he finally handed over four-tenths."

"At present, there are still 1,524,040,000 taels of official silver in the treasury, and it should not be a problem to cope with the cost of drilling wells......," Bi Ziyan said.

Zhu Youzhen looked at Wang Chengen, who was standing in the corner, when he heard this: "How is the matter of the south-to-north grain transfer?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, the emperor has begun to actively purchase grain from Sichuan, Huguang, Jiangxi and other places." Wang Chengen explained:

"At present, the grain of the old port is moving north to Liangguang, and the grain of Liangguang is moving north to Fujian and Zhejiang by water."

"Fujian and Zhejiang grain is transferred to the north to Nanzhili, and the grain from Nanzhili, Huguang and Sichuan is transported to Henan, Shanxi, and Beizhili by small boat."

"The grain transferred to the north is as much as 7.76 million stone at the moment, and there should be more than 12 million stone in the future, and then all the grain and silver in the Imperial Horse Prison will be exhausted......"

The silver of the Imperial Horse Supervisor plus the silver transferred by the household department was more than 13 million taels, and the corresponding could only buy 20 million stone grain, which made Zhu Youzhen frown.

In this regard, Wang Chengen did not need him to open his mouth to explain:

"Due to the drought in Shanxi and Shaanxi this year, many businessmen are rushing for grain, waiting for Shanxi and Shaanxi to sell grain at high prices after the great famine."

"Huguang Sichuan was originally only 400 wen per stone of rice, but now it has risen to 600 wen per stone of rice, and Jiangxi has risen from 400 wen to 700 wen."

"If it weren't for the imperial store to buy grain in time, I'm afraid I wouldn't even be able to compete for 20 million stone grain."

The matter of businessmen grabbing grain seems to be businessmen making profits, but the profiteering of businessmen is simply a joke for officials.

"If they want to grab grain, they will grab it, Jinyiwei pays close attention to the actions of these businessmen, as long as they transport grain to Shaanxi and Shanxi, they will immediately close the position to stabilize the grain price."

"When the time comes, unless they are willing to wait, they will have to sell at a reduced price, or wait for the grain to spoil."

Zhu Youzhen opened his mouth to talk about how to rectify these grain merchants, but Bi Ziyan said:

"The household department has calculated, judging from the savings of the people in the three provinces over the years, it will not be a problem to survive the autumn harvest next year......

"The suggestion of the household department is not to open the permanent liquidation at the beginning, but to continue to transfer grain from the south to the north, and transfer the grain from the south to the permanent liquidation in the north."

"At present, the price of one stone of rice and wheat in Shaanxi has risen to 580 Wen, Shanxi 540 Wen, and Beizhili 500 Wen."

"Grain prices will inevitably continue to rise with the passage of time of the great drought, and the estimate of the household department is that by the end of this year, the grain price in Shaanxi will rise to 700 Wen, Shanxi 650 Wen, and Beizhili 600 Wen."

"The imperial court can use work to provide disaster relief, take this opportunity to recruit people, comb the Yellow River, and distribute it according to the daily wage of ten wen."

"In this way, a person will have a salary of 300 wen a month, which will naturally allow the people to resist for a while longer."

"Is Shiwen too low?" Wang Chengen frowned and spoke, but Zhu Youzhen raised his hand and said:

"It's not low, but if it's high, there will be some people who are not disaster victims."

The wages set by Zhu Youzhen and Bi Ziyan are very reasonable, and the wages of the three provinces, on the basis of removing the capital, are basically between 15 and 20 wen.

Set the fifteen texts, and someone will inevitably rush to do them, and the ten texts are just right.

Even if the price of grain rises to 700 wen and one stone, ten wen and 1 wen a day, you can buy two catties of rice and wheat.

In addition, the people still have money and food in their homes, and in fact, this practice is to maintain their basic expenses.

There are tens of millions of peasants in the three provinces, and there are only a million places in the cities where workers are needed.

The crowd of people all flocking to the city will only make the city's jobs in short supply.

Combing the Yellow River will not only benefit the imperial court, but also benefit the people.

"If one person has ten yuan, how long can the household department last?" Zhu Youzhen asked Bi Ziyan, and Bi Ziyan also pondered for a moment and said:

"If there are millions of victims, the household department will spend about 3.7 million taels of silver every year, and with the income of the household department, as long as there is no war in the north, it can hold on for a long time."

"If there are 5 million victims, the expenditure will be more than 18 million taels, and the household department will support it for two years at most, and there will be no war in the north and south."

"If it is a ...... million" Bi Ziyan was silent for a few seconds before he said:

"The hundred officials may need to be in arrears, and the governor's office of the five armies must also reduce training, even so, the household still needs the support of the imperial horse supervisor and the internal treasury."

To appease tens of millions of victims, this is the financial resources of the Ming Dynasty that have been exploited for most of the time.

On this basis, even if Zhu Youzhen collects the mining tax and tax deed.

Then abolish the poll tax and miscellaneous, and directly transfer the field tax to 20 or 10 taxes, and the treasury revenue after the conversion of various taxes in kind in the Ming Dynasty will also be about 40 million taels at most.

These 40 million taels plus the silver of the Imperial Horse Supervisor are at most 70 million taels of annual income.

Nearly 30 million taels of silver were needed for military salaries and 100 official salaries, and about 10 million taels of silver were needed for the maintenance of the army and ordnance and the maintenance of the localities.

Therefore, in fact, the normal expenditure of the Ming Dynasty at the moment is 40 million taels of silver, and even if the annual income of 70 million taels of silver is concerned, there can only be a balance of 30 million taels.

If 30 million taels are used for disaster relief, according to Bi Ziyan's disaster relief methods, at most 20 million people can only be guaranteed to survive.

It's just that there are not only 20 million people in the Ming Dynasty, and at the height of the disaster, the number of people affected by the disaster is not only 20 million.

Only by relocating them and reducing the population density of the two capitals and thirteen provinces in Guannai could the Ming Dynasty control the number of people affected by the disaster to less than 20 million.

"After Hong Chengchou took Annam and established the Jiaozhi Chengxuan Political Envoy Division, if the victims in the northwest and southwest can be relocated, they should all move to the old port and Jiaozhi."

"From today onwards, criminals from all provinces will be sent to cement factories in various provinces to produce cement as required by the cement factories."

In the end, Zhu Youzhen decided not to use criminals to move and exchange silver, but to use them to produce cement.

His original idea was to build factories in Korea and other places, relocate Japanese defeated prisoners to work, and then ship cement to Shandong.

Because the validity period of cement is three months, it is only one month to travel from Busan, the southern tip of North Korea, to Shandong by water.

When the time comes, a railway will be built at Denglai Port, and the cement will be hauled by a railroad carriage first, and it will only take seven days to transport the cement to Guanzhong and 15 days to Jiayuguan.

In the south, you can use the natives of Annam and Donghu to directly build factories and work, which is simpler and easier than in the north.

It's just that at the moment, it seems that there is not enough time, and his steps can't be so big after all.

Now we can only use the resources at hand to build, in this catastrophe, if the imperial court has enough money and food, maybe after the disaster will be able to build the Ming Dynasty a new look.

But in the same way, if the imperial court does not have enough money and food, an uprising and rebellion will eventually be staged.

The court and the people, in the end, will it be a situation between the army and the people, or a turmoil.

These tests are the current ruling team of the Ming Dynasty......