"Your Highness, if you are really worried, why don't you leave some money for the people of that village......

At the foot of Taihang Mountain, when a human-powered four-wheeled bicycle was still heading south, the eunuch who was sitting next to Zhu Ciran and pedaling hard couldn't help but persuade Zhu Ciran, who was in a bad mood.

It's just that after going through so much, Zhu Ciran is no longer the political novice he was at the beginning, and he asked the eunuchs rhetorically: "Do you think they are so poor because they have no money?" ”

"If it's because of the money, then why are the village officials in that village so poor?"

"If you don't bring down prices, even if you give more money, it's useless."

"Besides, this is only the first village, what about the back? How many villages are there in the back? ”

Zhu Ciran was speechless when the eunuch spoke, and he couldn't help but be a little pensive.

After staying in the Qi Wangfu for more than half a year and watching it for more than half a year, he probably knows why the people of Shanxi are so poor.

The drought is one thing, and soaring prices are the main culprit that has caused them to live like this.

Is there a way to curb prices? Naturally, there is, that is, to transport a steady stream of goods to Shanxi, and then continue to use the way of work-for-relief to make the people rich.

It's just that the imperial court has interrupted Shanxi's cash-for-work method, in order to force them to move to the three provinces outside the Guanwai.

This group of people did not want to move, and there was nothing the court could do, after all, the king of Qi said that force could not be used, otherwise the population of the entire Shanxi Province could be evacuated in one fell swoop within a few years.

"Doesn't the country have a train right now? How can prices in Shanxi be so high......"

A eunuch sitting in the back row couldn't help but speak, and Zhu Ciran could only shake his head when he heard this:

"Of the more than 900 million mu of cultivated land in the national dynasty, only 800 million mu can produce grain, and the annual grain output is only 12.3 billion stones, according to five stones per person, only the people themselves have to eat 800 million stones."

"But this grain did not come to the people suddenly, but it needed to be transported."

"After 800 million stone of grain is transported to various places, it will become one billion stones, or even 1.1 billion stones, and the remaining 100 million or 200 million stones will have to be used on livestock."

"If there are no livestock, if there is not enough meat, then 800 million stones will not be enough for the people to eat."

Zhu Ciran realized a problem of distribution, as well as the problem of transportation loss.

At his age, it's good to be able to perceive this.

As he said, Daming's grain must be enough to eat, even if there are only 800 million mu of arable land, it can grow 12.3 billion stone rice and wheat, 89 stone per capita is enough, which is converted to at least 3 catties of rice per person per day.

However, this so-called three catties of rice and four people per capita, and everything is most afraid of per capita.

The 20 acres of Han-Ming paddy fields in Luchuan are 20 or 30 stones per year, and the 1 or 2 acres of Hermes-Epitek in Shanxi are less than 3 stones per year.

The former can eat a bowl and pour a bowl, and even take out a dozen stones to raise livestock to increase meat, eggs and milk, while the latter can't even eat enough and work hungry every day.

It is useless to talk about per capita, and only by crushing the data can we know how the people are doing in various places, just like the prices in Beizhili and Shanxi, which are worlds apart.

The problem of Shanxi that you want to solve is unless there is no drought in Shanxi, or the Ming Dynasty has sufficient materials, which can send tens of millions of stones, rice, wheat and various materials to Shanxi every year.

However, shipping costs costs, time costs costs, and labor costs too.

The price of rice in Shanxi can be maintained at about 800 Wen, which is already the limit of what Ming officials can do.

If it is according to the course of history, the price of rice in Shanxi this year should be three taels and one stone.

The people of Shanxi are not doing well, and all the officials in the DPRK and China know about it, and Zhu Youzhen also knows about it, but they can't help it.

Under the drought in the north, relying on food from the south to keep people from starving to death is already the limit.

With a depressed mood, Zhu Ciran stepped on the pedal hard, trying to relieve his anxiety by riding.

"From today onwards, we will not take the provincial road and the government road, and if there is a rural road, we will take the rural road!"

After that, Zhu Ciran drove his bicycle quickly off the cement country road, but he suffered the three eunuchs who were desperately stepping on it in order not to let him get tired.

The bicycle gradually disappeared at the end of the road, and Zhu Ciran's travelogue continued to be written, and he wanted to report all the situations he saw to his Uncle Qi, so that Uncle Qi could better govern the world and return the people to happiness.

It's just that the situation of the hungry people in the northwest is not only recorded by Zhu Ciran, Xu Xiake and others, but also many officials among the hundred officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Among them, what caught Zhu Youzhen's attention the most was the one in his hand.

[Since last year, there has been no rain in Shanxi Province, except for Guanzhong, Hetao, and Fenshui banks, the rest of the land is yellow, and the grass and trees are scorched]

[Since the beginning of spring this year, Pingyang Mansion has been fighting for rice and Baiwen, so that the people are competing to pick wild grasses in the mountains for food, wild grass grains are small like chaff, their taste is bitter and astringent, and the food can only be extended to immortality......]

[Ma Maocai, the prefect of Pingyang, Shanxi, begged His Majesty to allocate money and grain to quell the grain shortage in Shanxi]

A copy of "Bei Chen's Great Hunger", which was seven years late, appeared in Zhu Youzhen's hands, and the person who wrote about him was still Ma Maocai, who dared to speak out.

Due to the appearance of Enke, Ma Maocai, who should have been admitted to Jinshi in the fifth year of the Apocalypse, was sufficiently neglected in his subsequent career.

has been an official for ten years, and he is just the prefect of Pingyang Prefecture, and in history, it only took him three years to become the Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites.

Of course, the reason why he was promoted so quickly was mainly because there was no one available in Daming at that time.

It's just that it's different now, although the officials of the Yanshan faction have been fighting for the party, in terms of governance, the Yanshan faction has countless grassroots officials.

Pragmatic...... This is the reason why they govern faster than the old school.

At a time when the old school still needed to worry about the etiquette system, the officials of the Yanshan faction had already handed over the answers to their questions.

Therefore, Ma Mao, who was in the middle of ability, became unknown among the tens of thousands of Enke officials in the fifth year of the Apocalypse.

Fortunately, as in history, he gave the court a note about the hungry people, otherwise Zhu Youzhen might not have been able to notice him.

Thinking so, Zhu Youzhen put down Ma Maocai's recital and picked up Zhu Ciran's travelogue backup.

Ma Maocai was in early February, and Zhu Ciran's travelogue was in late February.

With a difference of more than half a month, the content of Zhu Ciran's travelogue can make Zhu Youzhen better understand the living conditions of the people in Pingyang Mansion.

[In February, I rode from Lingshikou Township Road into the boundary of Pingyang Mansion, and chatted with the local Liu Village elders for a long time when I arrived at Hanxinling. 】

[Since February, the "natural disaster" in Shanxi has not left, but has struck quickly, tormenting the barren Han Xinling]

[From the New Year's Day to the spring equinox, there was not a single rain here, and most of the paddy fields were unsustainable, and they were dry fields one after another, and the crops were not harvested. 】

[The day after the spring equinox, I was still in Hanxinling, all because of the locusts that came to Shanxi and went to Shandong, and the villagers did not come out for a day. 】

[On the third day, the crops withered, and most of the people in the village packed up and went to the Lingshi Railway Station, ready to take the car to Guanwai to ask for a living. 】

[The crowd fleeing the famine was bustling, and along the railroad to the north, some thirteen or fourteen-year-old boys were as old as me, but they were still unclothed, and they went north bare-chested, and I had clothes distributed to them. 】

[I went against the victims and went south along the railway]

[Along the road, the victims of the disaster in Wuyang were crowded and went north along the railway]

[In the year of famine, the trees on both sides of the railway also suffered]

[The young leaves on the branches were brushed off as soon as they bloomed, and no matter how hard they grew, they were brushed again]

[The most unfortunate thing is the bark, the trees on both sides of the railway have been stripped of their bark, and the wooden part is exposed, white and white, like the bones of a dead man. 】

[Thirty miles to the south, after arriving at Guojiakou, I saw that the house had collapsed, the building was empty, and the bones were piled up in the corner of the collapsed earth house, or in the stove]

[Forty miles further south, to Yangdiguan, there is still a stream here, but the fish in the river are empty, and the hungry people can't find food all over the mountains, so they can only look for wild vegetables and weeds]

[Thousands of people are looking for wild vegetables and weeds, picking and eating them, their hands and lips are dyed green and they are unconscious, and the hungry people who are unfortunate enough to eat poisonous weeds can only lie on the ground and turn over and over in front of everyone's eyes. 】

[Although the government along the border has arranged a medical stall for Huimin Pharmacy, but in such a drought, even the weeds are sparse, not to mention the medicinal materials? More than a dozen hungry people who ate poisonous weeds were painfully killed]

[In February, I went to the east of Fenshui, and when I reached Fushan, Fushui dried up, and even the weeds could not grow, and the scorched yellow grass blades were scattered on the ground, like a pile of sharp and hard fish bones. 】

[February ......]

After reading hundreds of words, Zhu Youzhen finally finished reading Zhu Ciran's travelogue, but after reading it, he did not order people to transport grain to Pingyang Mansion for disaster relief.

It is easy to provide disaster relief, but as soon as this opening is opened, the people of Shanxi are reluctant to leave.

The drought in Shanxi will not end for eight years, and if Zhu Youzhen can't be ruthless enough to drive them out of the border, then the Ming Dynasty will need to raise them for eight years.

With the scale of Shanxi's watered fields and paddy fields, only when Shanxi's population was relocated to a scale of only four million people, he could order Huangdian to transport grain to Shanxi at any cost to stabilize grain prices.

Shanxi is bitter, but other places are also bitter.

If grain is transported to Shanxi regardless of the cost, then the people of Shanxi will be full, but the people of other provinces will have to go hungry.

Zhu Youzhen is already trying to keep them alive, they are unwilling to move, and Zhu Youzhen has no choice.

Perhaps only when they are really going to starve to death will they let go of the so-called local feelings and go to the gate where there is food.

"Alas......"

Zhu Youzhen sighed deeply, and at the same time, he couldn't help but ask Cao Huachun, who helped him sort out the music, "Am I doing this too harshly to the people of Shanxi?" ”

"This ......" Cao Huachun looked surprised, he didn't understand how His Highness could have such an idea, so he couldn't help but reply:

"Even if Your Highness wants to adjust grain, the dynasty has no grain to adjust, let alone silver."

"In all dynasties, everything has encountered drought for more than three years, and I have never heard of anything that can save more than sixty percent of the people."

"There has been a severe drought in Shanxi for nearly nine years, but so far only 100,000 people have died of hunger."

"Such a natural disaster, His Royal Highness has done the best arrangement and disposal, even the people of Shanxi, and no one has ever said that His Royal Highness is not at all, His Royal Highness does not need to blame himself."

Cao Huachun's words can be said to express the thoughts and opinions of most people in this era.

In their opinion, it is normal for people to die of famine and starvation, after all, with the productivity of this era, let alone nine years of famine, many people can starve to death in a year of famine.

For example, Shanxi, which is either a major drought in one province or a major drought in half a province, and has been a drought for nine consecutive years, it is strange that a million people do not starve to death in any dynasty or generation.

】

However, in the Apocalypse Dynasty, thanks to the import of trains, ships and overseas grain, Shanxi suffered a severe drought for nine years, and there were not even 100,000 people who died of hunger.

Not to mention, most of the 100,000 people who starved to death were recalcitrant people who were unwilling to move and would rather starve to death than die in their hometowns.

In Cao Huachun's view, His Royal Highness can protect more than 8 million people in Shanxi, which is already a great kindness.

Compared with the more than 8 million people in Shanxi, the 100,000 people who died are nothing at all.

"Maybe you're right......"

Faced with Cao Huachun's words, Zhu Youzhen was slightly silent.

He always wants to save as many people as possible and meet the needs of more people, but the times are here, even if he has worked hard to climb the technology tree, but improving productivity is not something that can be improved all at once by climbing the technology tree.

Governing the country requires patience year after year, day after day.

Only by putting in hard work and working hard year after year can the country slowly become stronger.

The size of the Ming Dynasty is too large, the territory is too large, and even if many policies are promulgated, it will take years to see results.

Not to mention anything else, the current population problem alone took nine years of the Ming Dynasty, but it still hasn't been investigated.

In the face of such a Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youzhen could only come step by step, so in the face of such Shanxi, his policy still could not be changed.

"Tell Ma Maocai and the household department that the court already knows the situation of the people in Pingyang Mansion, but the dynasty has no grain and no silver to adjust."

"If the more than 600,000 people in Binh Duong Province really have no food to eat, then they can be resettled in Donghai Province in accordance with the national policy of 'immigration to the real border' and issue food stamps."

"Yes......"

Zhu Youzhen spoke, Cao Huachun responded, just like that, the affairs of Pingyang Mansion have not changed, and those people who insist on staying, Zhu Youzhen can't control them.

It's not that he didn't give these people a way to live, it's that these people themselves don't give themselves a way to live......

The song was quickly wholesaled, and at the same time, the changes in the Ming Dynasty were also showing little by little.

With the influx of a large number of victims over the years, the three provinces of Modong, Donghai and Beishan outside the customs have changed significantly.

As far as cultivated land is concerned, after the five years of the Apocalypse, the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th years of the Apocalypse, more than 6 million people poured into the three provinces outside the Guanxi Province.

Most of these people are mainly the people of Liaodong, followed by the victims of Shanxi, then the victims of Beizhili, and then the victims of Henan and Shandong after the railway was built.

These victims did not move in the same year all at once, but in groups of people, year after year.

Some of them have been in the customs for five years, and some have only been in the past year.

Proportional to the migration of the population is the cultivated land that has been continuously cultivated by the people.

Among them, although there are only 400,000 people in Beishan Province, which is in the ice and snow, it has the largest amount of cultivated land per capita, and the cultivated land in the province has reached 1.67 million mu, with four mu per capita and five buckets of grain per mu.

It is followed by Donghai Province, with a population of more than 3.4 million and 9.27 million mu of cultivated land, close to 3 mu per capita.

As for the last Modong Province, according to the records of the Yellow Book, it also reached a population of 3 million and 7.23 million mu of cultivated land, which is basically close to two and a half mu per capita.

Although it is unrealistic per capita, in terms of local arable land, as batch after batch of immigrants settle down and continue to cultivate, the grain self-sufficiency rate of the provinces is also increasing.

During the Xiaoice period, grain production outside the customs decreased by 3 to 40 percent, but at least there was no major drought and there was still food.

Even if Liaodong is not counted, the population of the three provinces has reached more than 6.8 million, and the cultivated land area has reached 18.17 million mu.

Although the latitude is different and the degree of cold is different, the grain yield per mu of the three provinces outside the Guanxi Province is basically maintained at the level of about five buckets to one stone, and it can basically produce about 14 million stone of grain, reaching a self-sufficiency rate of about 40 percent.

The three provinces outside the Guanxi can be self-sufficient, and the rest is only a gap of less than 20 million stones.

By the end of March of the 15th year of the Apocalypse, the population of Liaodong had dropped to 6.7 million before spring ploughing, but the scale of cultivated land remained at about 34 million mu.

Although Liaodong is bitterly cold, after the use of chemical fertilizer, the local yield per mu can still be maintained at the lowest seven buckets and the highest one stone and one bucket.

Judging from last year's situation, this year's Liaodong should be able to ensure the province's self-sufficiency in grain, and at the same time export about 600,000 stone rice and wheat to the outside world.

It may not seem like much, but this is the first time in so many years that the four northeastern provinces can be self-sufficient.

The construction of railways and the use of sea ships made Zhu Youzhen no longer so anxious about the drought.

Especially after the time entered the summer of April, Shandong, Beizhili and other places, as well as Shanxi Datong and Taiyuan ushered in several timely rains, so that many watered fields that have become dry fields have been reborn.

This has determined that the two provinces of Shandong and Beizhili, which have 110 million mu of cultivated land, can export nearly 100 million stone rice and wheat to the outside world under the condition of ensuring the food rations of the population of the two provinces.

The good news of the yamen in Beizhili and Shandong allowed Zhu Youzhen to sleep peacefully, and when Yingzhou sent the situation of Qi and Yingzhou back to Daming in May, Zhu Youzhen's mood was even better.

"As of April this year, there are about 2.62 million immigrants in Yingzhou, about 11.6 million people in Yingzhou, and 1.91 million re-education workers."

"According to the investigation of the ministers, Yingzhou should have more than 4.37 million mu of paddy fields, more than 23.4 million mu of irrigated fields, and more than 7.9 million mu of dry fields."

"After the autumn of this year, Yingzhou will produce about 30 million stones of rice and wheat grain, and about 57 million stones of sweet potato and potato grain."

"After intercepting the grain, seven million stones can be transported to Liaodong."

On the rural road on the outskirts of the capital, when Wang Chengen read out the content of the recital written by Yang Wenyue, Zhu Youzhen next to him took Zhu Cihong on a horse and walked on the rural road, watching the endless rice fields.

The precedent for planting rice in the capital has been there for a long time, and many officials in the Wanli period hope to grow rice in the north, and many people guarantee that once the paddy fields are planted with rice, the grain production of Beizhili can increase by 60%.

However, in the end, the matter ended in nothing.

The reason for this is not that rice cannot be planted, nor that after planting, the grain production of Beizhili cannot be increased, but because of a simple tax problem.

The nobles, eunuchs, and gentry in the north were worried that the grain production of Beizhili would increase after the cultivation of rice, which would lead to an increase in taxes from the imperial court, so they had always opposed the assertiveness of the southern officials.

Originally, this was a good thing, but it failed because it involved the interests of the northern nobles, gentry, and eunuchs.

At that time, Daming was already in a period of decline in global temperature, and if he seized this opportunity, I am afraid that he would not be able to rely on Sichuan and Huguang later.

Although the drought in the north is still in place, and the cold period of the Xiaoice River has caused a reduction in grain production by about 30%, after planting rice in large quantities in Hebei, the yield of rice per mu can still be maintained at the yield of four or five buckets of one stone.

Unlike the paddy fields that only occupied less than 2% in later generations, due to the sparse population, the water consumption was not as good as that of later generations, so in the 40 million mu of fields in Hebei in the late Ming Dynasty, the number of paddy fields reached more than 23 million mu, accounting for about 60% of Hebei's cultivated land, and most of the rest were irrigated land.

After all the paddy fields were planted with rice, the total grain output of Beizhili increased by about 30 percent.

Under the condition of ensuring the food rations of the population of the province, Beizhili can steadily export about 15 million stone of grain to the outside world without encountering disasters.

Therefore, walking on the edge of this fruitful rice field, Zhu Youzhen was very happy in his heart, and his happiness also drove Zhu Cihong in his arms.

Zhu Cihong was shaking a rattle, and Zhu Youzhen didn't feel noisy.

"Counting the grain from Beizhili, Shandong and Yingzhou, it should not be a problem to supply the three provinces outside the Guanxi and Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces to survive this year."

"The grain in Sichuan and Henan should first be guaranteed for the victims in their own provinces this year."

"The grain from Huguang and the grain from Luchuan are still transported to the south of the Yangtze River, and as for the grain from Jiaozhi and the old port, those who can be transported to Taicang by steamship can buy as much as they want, and all of them will be transported to Taicang."

Zhu Youzhen rode on horseback and commanded Wang Chengen, and Zhu Cihong in his arms would stop the rattle in his hand very obediently after hearing him speak.

"The slave and maid take the order...... Wang Chengen responded on horseback, but he still reminded Zhu Youzhen:

"Your Highness, there are less than 30 million taels of gold and silver left in the treasury of the Financial Division, and the issuance of the Apocalypse Tongbao of the National Dynasty has also reached more than 80 billion, with a total amount of about 270 million taels."

"Li Shilang asked, whether he would continue to issue ...... this year"

"Are there any price increases in other places besides the disaster area?" Zhu Youzhen asked Wang Chengen rhetorically, and Wang Chengen also subconsciously replied according to the answers of Jinyiwei and Hubu:

"There are some, but basically they are all due to the increase caused by the rush for grain in the disaster area."

"Then continue to issue it." Zhu Youzhen touched Zhu Cihong's head in his arms, and Zhu Cihong looked up at his father.

In the distance, the north wind blew continuously, blowing the rice fields up and down, and poured towards them with some rice fragrance.

Smelling the scent of rice, although he knew that it would be difficult to start next year, Zhu Youzhen was able to maintain an optimistic attitude as the ship continued to be launched.

He touched Zhu Cihong's head and comforted: "When my father is busy for these two years, I will take time to accompany you to the south to play and see the blue sea." ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, his eyes immediately narrowed into a slit: "Hmm! ”