"In autumn and July, the county governor of Linxian County, Shanxi Province is sparse, saying that the hail is big for three days, planting more than two feet, as big as a goose egg, hurting the crops, begging for exemption."

"Xinhai, Pinggu and Zunhua counties are sparse together, and the two counties are hit by locusts, and the whole county is out of harvest, so please be spared."

"In August, Jiangxi was flooded, and there were no less than 100,000 people in Nanchang, Jiujiang, and Nankang, and Jiangxi begged for exemption."

"August Jiashen, Henan ......"

In late August, with the autumn harvest coming, it seems that even God can't get along with the Ming Dynasty, and more than ten prefectures and counties have suffered disasters in a row, making the Ming Dynasty, which is already in a bad situation, even worse.

Fortunately, there are only less than ten days left before the autumn harvest, so after listening to the begging of the provincial capitals and counties, Zhu Youzhen bowed his head slightly: "It's all agreed." ”

Sitting in the side hall of the carrier hall, Zhu Youzhen gave such instructions to Bi Ziyan, and after the order, he explained: "The three divisions of the household department, Jinyiwei, and Dongchang sent people to check whether it was true. ”

"The lower official obeys the order...... Bi Ziyan responded, and Zhu Youzhen also continued to ask:

"There are only ten days before the autumn harvest, and the household department estimates how much grain can be harvested this year."

Seeing Zhu Youzhen's inquiry, the "...... of the household" thought for a moment before giving an estimate:

"Although the south has suffered floods, dragons, floods, and droughts this year, the good thing is that they are only partially affected."

"Huguang, which is a heavy grain and straw land, has not been affected, and although the people of Sichuan in eastern Sichuan have also encountered drought, the scale is not large, except for six counties that need to be exempted, other prefectures and counties in Sichuan can pay taxes normally."

"Therefore, the household department estimates that the grain that can be harvested by the national dynasty this year is about 95 million stones, which is much better than the situation in the previous two years."

Bi Ziyan made an assessment of this year's drought, that is, the scale is very large, but the power is not enough.

Compared with the terrible drought of the previous two years, this year's drought is a little more ordinary, at least God appreciates the face, and it also gives a few rains to various dry areas before autumn.

"Of the 95 million Ishida grains, how many of them can be transferred to the disaster area?"

After learning about the scale of Tian Fuliang, Zhu Youzhen sat on a chair and ate "Crispy Mountain" with a spoon to cool down, while looking at Bi Ziyan with a bright eye.

In the face of the pressure brought by Zhu Youzhen, Bi Ziyan was neither humble nor arrogant:

"At present, although there are thirteen railways in the national dynasty, the section of the prefecture and county that can be opened to traffic only accounts for one-third of the territory of the national dynasty."

"The Beijing-Liaoning Railway should be completed at the end of the year, and at the same time, the Liao-Mo Railway and the Liaobei Railway have been repaired to Yidong Hecheng (Changchun), that is, there is already a railway in the northern Xinjiang of the National Dynasty that initially connects the three provinces of Liaodong, Modong and Donghai."

"However, at present, the three provinces are not self-sufficient, and they will not be of much help to the country."

"As for the Jingxi Railway, Jingjia Railway, and Jinglong Railway, they will be repaired to Ningxia, Gongchang, and Hanzhong respectively."

"On this road, in addition to Beizhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hexi and other northwestern provinces are connected."

"There is drought in the three provinces, and according to last year's situation, Hexi should be the only province that can have surplus land to provide grain, but the scale will not be very large, only about 2 million stones."

"Fortunately, the southwest Hong Gechen managed it properly, and as early as the ninth year of the Apocalypse, he began to build the Beijing-Long Railway from Kunming, so the Beijing-Long Railway in Yunnan has reached Longchuan in the west and the border between Yunnan and Sichuan in the north."

"In addition, the railway in Luchuan has been repaired from Longchuan to Xihaigang, if you want to take the land route, the grain in the Luchuan Dajinsha River Plain can be transported to Longchuan by rail, and then changed to oxen and horse-drawn carriages to Yongchang, and after arriving at the Yangtze River with the Yongchang railway, the Yangtze River water transportation will be exchanged to transport the grain to the south of the Yangtze River, and the grain will be transported north by sea."

"This road takes about two months, and the fire consumption is about 30%."

"If you think it's too much, you can directly take the sea to transport the grain from the Dajinsha River Plain to the West Seaport, and from the West Port to Daming by steam."

"In this way, the grain from Luchuan can be transported to Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in about a month and a half."

"In the case of Cochin and the old port, it is most cost-effective to go by sea."

"According to the report of the four provinces of Yunnan, Luchuan, Jiaozhi, and Jiugang, the four provinces can produce at least 240 million stone rice and wheat this year, excluding the grain from the fields and the rations of the people of the four provinces, as well as the sea grain transported to the feudal domains, the four provinces can support the national dynasty of about 90 million stone."

Bi Ziyan said half of the situation, but even if he only said half of it, it made most of the stones in Zhu Youzhen's heart fall to the ground.

Without affecting the prices of the province, the four provinces can come up with 90 million stone rice and wheat to support the Ming Dynasty, and these rice and wheat alone can save at least 20 million people.

"The Beijing-Hangzhou Railway and the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway have been repaired to Huguang, Wuchang, Nanzhili and Zhou respectively."

"The grain from Huguang and Nanzhili can also be sent to Kaifeng by railway, and then transferred to Shaanxi and Shanxi by oxen and horse-drawn carts from Kaifeng."

"Although Nanzhili has encountered drought, the situation is generally not bad this year, and he can be self-sufficient and does not need the support of the imperial court."

"As for the grain in Sichuan and Huguang, it can be transported to Wuchang, Huguang and Kaifeng by railway through the tributaries of the Yangtze River such as the Xiangjiang River, Jialing River, Tuojiang River, Minjiang River, and Baima River."

"Sichuan and Huguang will probably be able to support 17 million stones in the local area without raising prices."

"The situation of the last Liangguang, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, Yingzhou and Ryukyu provinces and Ryukyu Province ......"

Bi Ziyan suddenly hesitated as he spoke, and after a few seconds, he glanced at Zhu Youzhen before continuing:

"Zhejiang is already short of food, and according to Huangdian's booklet, Zhejiang's grain shortage is as high as 70 million stone every year."

"Although Jiangxi can be self-sufficient, but this year has suffered a disaster, I am afraid that it will also need to adjust 30 million stone to stabilize local grain prices."

"At the moment, the five provinces and one government of Liangguang and Fujian, Ryukyu Prefecture, Shandong, and Yingzhou can only come up with 60 million stones."

"With the grain from Beizhili and Henan, in general, the amount of grain that can be mobilized by the dynasty is about 200 million stones, and the grain from the fields is 295 million stones."

"But the fire consumption on the road is about 20 percent, and only 230 million stones can be mobilized to the ground."

"In the case of satisfying the land south of the Yangtze River first, the dynasty needs to take out 130 million stones to allocate to Jiangxi and Zhejiang, so there are still 100 million stones that can be used......"

After Bi Ziyan finished speaking, the entire carrier hall was silent, and Zhu Youzhen ate "Crisp Mountain" in silence, without saying a word.

The good mood in front of us was wiped out after the food shortage in Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces.

Looking at Zhu Youzhen's appearance, Bi Ziyan didn't know why Zhu Youzhen was in a bad mood, and he couldn't help but comfort: "Your Highness, 100 million stones is already a lot." ”

"This year, the four northeastern provinces only need 20 million shiping to suppress grain, and Shanxi, Henan, and Shaanxi only need 50 million shiping to suppress grain."

"There is still a distance of 30 million stones from the limit of the national strength of the dynasty, which is really a blessing......"

Bi Ziyan said that the situation of Daming in his eyes was not only him, but even Wang Chengen, who was handling government affairs in the corner, and Cao Huachun also felt that the situation was good.

But the problem is that they only see the present, while Zhu Youzhen sees the future.

He was thinking that if a drought broke out in the three provinces south of the Yangtze River, and the fields other than paddy fields were not productive, what a huge food shortage Daming would have to face.

According to the 74 million people in the three provinces according to the statistics of the Yellow Book, even if these people have fish and shrimp to eat, they still have to eat at least three stones of grain throughout the year.

In this way, the three provinces have to eat at least 230 million stone of rice and wheat, and the scale of paddy fields in the three provinces is only less than 50 million mu, even if the yield of two stones per mu can only provide 100 million stones, and there is still a gap of 130 million stones.

If this batch of grain were transported from outside, counting the fire consumption, the gap would have reached 150 million or even 160 million stones.

Looking at it this way, it is not surprising that the drought in the north has slightly decreased in history, but the peasants still have no food.

At the same time that the drought in the north is decreasing, the drought in the south is aggravating, and the population of the three provinces accounts for nearly half of the population of the Ming Dynasty, so the three provinces cannot supply grain, so they can only eat grain from Sichuan, Huguang, Liangguang and Fujian.

The grain from these provinces was supposed to be sent to the north to stabilize food prices, but now that they have been eaten, the people in the north can only go hungry.

The people of Jiangnan have silver, they can buy grain unscrupulously, as long as they are hungry, the price of grain in the entire Ming Dynasty will rise.

In the face of such a large population, even if Zhu Youzhen wanted to migrate, he was actually powerless.

According to the principle of relocated grain and 10 stone per person and at least 10 mu of land per person, if he wants to move the population of the three provinces, even if only half of the population is relocated, Zhu Youzhen has to take out nearly 400 million mu of cultivated land and 400 million stone of rice and wheat.

Under the circumstance that the cultivated land in the world does not exceed 3 billion mu, where did Zhu Youzhen go to grab these 400 million mu of cultivated land?

It's good to use mechanical development, but Zhu Youzhen is no longer allowed to do so in terms of time.

Next year...... Next year, the southern part of the Yangtze River will be the hardest hit by the drought.

Historically, the price of rice in the three provinces south of the Yangtze River once rose to 126 yuan per stone, which shows the severity of the drought.

The Chongzhen Dynasty in history was not that Jiangnan refused to send money and grain to Beijing, but that Jiangnan was either flooded or flooded, and there was no money of grain to help the north.

This is not difficult to see from the fact that Zhang Xianzhong and others all hit Fengyang, and then turned around and ran to Henan, Huguang, Sichuan, and Shaanxi.

The disaster situation in the north continues, and the south is not much better, only Huguang, Sichuan, and Henan are still quite rich, so Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng have been wandering around these provinces, even if they have the opportunity to go to Jiangnan.

It was not until the end of the great drought in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen that Li Zicheng was ready to attack Nanjing, but was chased and defeated by Azig with his troops.

The situation in Jiangnan is so bad that Zhu Youzhen doesn't know how to get started with this place.

What's even worse is that if he remembers correctly, while the south of the Yangtze River is experiencing drought, the north is also suffering from drought, and the intensity is even worse than this year.

Under such circumstances, Zhu Youzhen has given up his plan to feed the people, as long as they can be kept alive, it is already the best arrangement that Zhu Youzhen can do.

Therefore, at the same time that the "Crisp Mountain" bottomed out, Zhu Youzhen also put down the spoon, raised his head and looked at Bi Ziyan, and said:

"Although there is enough food this year, it is better to prevent it than to prevent it."

"There is nothing to be done about the rise in grain prices, and according to my order, Sichuan, Huguang, Hexi, Beizhili, Shandong people's grain, and official grain are transferred to stabilize Shaanxi and Shanxi."

"Yingzhou, Liangguang, and Ryukyu Prefecture civilian grain and official grain to suppress the four northeastern provinces."

"Luchuan, Jiugang, Fujian, and Jiaozhi grain and straw are all transferred to Jiangxi and Zhejiang."

"Where there is a gap, there is a gap, in short, things should be arranged this way."

In Zhu Youzhen's words, the rise in grain prices in Zhejiang and Jiangxi has become a foregone conclusion, because the gap between the two provinces is 130 million stones, and Zhu Youzhen has only adjusted less than 120 million stones.

Counting the fire consumption on the road, it can reach the two provinces with only 100 million stones.

If there is a shortage of 20 million stone of grain, there will be an extra 20 million stone shortfall, and the 50 million people in Jiangxi and Zhejiang will have reduced their annual ration by 62 catties.

In the face of this situation, it is certain that food prices will rise in the two provinces.

However, in the north, Zhu Youzhen mobilized all the rest of the grain in one go, and the scale of transportation could reach 130 million stone after arrival.

While satisfying the 20 million shortage in the four northeastern provinces, there are nearly 110 million stones for 17 million people in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan.

Even if they don't do anything, this food will be enough for them to eat for two years, not to mention that most of their rations can be met in the province this year.

Therefore, this batch of grain is enough for the people of the three provinces to eat for more than two years, and Zhu Youzhen did this, in the final analysis, to prepare for the great drought in Jiangnan next year.

Under the condition that there is enough grain to eat in the three provinces, all provinces in the Ming Dynasty except for the three provinces can transport grain to the south of the Yangtze River next year to stabilize grain prices.

The rise in grain prices in Jiangnan this year is for the people of Jiangnan to survive next year.

In the view of Bi Ziyan and others, there is nothing wrong with this, because in recent years, the drought has been in the north, and there is no harm in stockpiling more grain in the north.

"We must continue to increase our efforts in the matter of immigration, and the household department should not be lazy."

Zhu Youzhen pushed the empty crisp mountain aside, Wang Chengen got up and came to clean up when he saw this, and Bi Ziyan also returned the salute, saying that he knew.

"After the issuance of the Apocalypse Tongbao, how much has the fire consumption of the local yamen been reduced?"

Zhu Youzhen leaned back in his chair to examine Bi Ziyan, Bi Ziyan was not timid, he replied respectfully: "Compared with before, the fire consumption has been reduced by about sixty percent, and the new currency is indeed conducive to tax collection." ”

The denomination of new coins eliminates the need to smelt them into official silver, which naturally reduces the chances of local yamen stealing food.

Although there are still some loose silver that can be operated, with the continuous issuance of new coins, this phenomenon of stealing and stealing will be slowly eliminated.

However, this is only temporary, for officials who want to be corrupt, they can come up with countless ways to deal with the imperial court, and Zhu Youzhen can only check and fill in the gaps.

"Your Highness, Yuan Cifu's son found Xia Guan this morning, saying that Yuan Cifu was sick and could not recover, and asked for Zhishi."

Zhu Youzhen was still thinking about checking and filling in the gaps, but Bi Ziyan's words pulled him back to reality.

Yuan Keli is about to pay tribute...... This did not surprise Zhu Youzhen.

People are different, although they are all in their sixties, Yuan Keli only lived to the sixth year of Chongzhen in history, that is, the thirteenth year of the Apocalypse.

It's been fifteen years of the Apocalypse now, and if Zhu Youzhen lets Yuan Keli go home to recuperate, maybe he can live for two more years, such as Zhao Nanxing and Ye Xianggao now.

If he insists on letting Yuan Keli serve as a cabinet minister and continue to work hard, I am afraid that Yuan Keli's end will be in these two years.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen did not harsh Yuan Keli, but turned his head to Wang Chengen, who was cleaning up, and said:

"Long live the slight, approve Yuan Cifu Zhishi, and be crowned as Suiyang Bo, the prince and the prince."

Without waiting for Wang Chengen to respond, Zhu Youzhen looked at Bi Ziyan again: "From now on, you will serve as the deputy assistant of the cabinet." ”

"The vacant position of the cabinet minister...... Bi Ziyan was not surprised that he became the second assistant, and the only thing he was surprised by was when Zhu Youzhen sealed Yuan Keli.

However, he didn't feel strange when he thought that Yuan Ke would lead the troops and put down Xu Hongru's rebellion with Zhu Youzhen.

All he wanted to ask was who the vacated position of the cabinet minister would be for.

"It's empty for the time being, as for the position of the secretary of the ministry......" Zhu Youzhen pondered for a moment, and there was no suitable candidate in his heart.

"Transfer Fan Jingwen to take over as the political envoy of Sichuan, and transfer Li Banghua to the cabinet as the secretary of the ministry."

After all, there is no one in the Donglin Party, Sun Chengzong is difficult to support alone, and Zhu Youzhen can only transfer Li Banghua to the capital.

Fortunately, the dust has settled on Sichuan's new policy, and adjusting Fan Jingwen in the past will not affect anything.

......Seeing this, Bi Ziyan responded, turned around and was about to leave, and Zhu Youzhen did not stop him, but after he watched and left, he turned his head and instructed Wang Chengen:

"Let Yang Wenyue speed up the immigration to Yingzhou."

"The slave maid takes the order...... Wang Chengen knew in his heart that his Royal Highness probably wanted Yang Wenyue to enter the cabinet, so he urged him.

However, Wang Chengen also understands that in the current situation, it is not easy for Yingzhou to speed up immigration, unless there is a drought in the coastal provinces, otherwise there are not so many people willing to go overseas.

Thinking so, Wang Chengen packed up his things and left, and Zhu Youzhen also picked up a note from the ministry.

There are more than a dozen copies of the officials' performances, and from the order of official positions downwards, they are basically things of transfer and promotion.

Zhu Youzhen spent a quarter of an hour reading most of them, and by the time the last book was opened, the official positions that appeared on it had already become the town mayor and village official.

Zhu Youzhen originally intended to glance at it casually, and then circle it red, but he saw a familiar name in this note, and it ranked first.

[Zhen'an Town, Longmen County, Kaiping Prefecture, Modong Province, Sun Kewang, the mayor of Zhengjipin Town, is expected to govern decently, and the number of households in Zhen'an Town has increased by 300 a year, and two taels of silver have been rewarded]

"Sun Kewang ......" Zhu Youzhen squinted his eyes, he remembered that Sun Kewang's original name was Sun Kewang, and what appeared in front of him now was not Sun Kewang, but Sun Kewang.

So is this person Sun Kewang in history, or just the same name and surname?

"Give me the document from the mayor of Zhen'an, Sun Kewang."

Zhu Youzhen instructed the Jinyi guard at the door, and when he heard that the Jinyi guard returned the salute, he immediately went to do something.

Zhu Youzhen put this book aside and didn't deal with it, and after half an hour, the brocade guard returned to the Qi Palace's mansion with Sun Kewang's text.

After handing the document to Zhu Youzhen with both hands, he retreated to the door, and Zhu Youzhen opened the paper.

Just at a glance, he basically determined that this Sun Kewang was the Sun Kewang in his heart.

His governance in Baishui Village, Jiuyuan County is very good, and he is also among the best among the tens of thousands of villages in the National Dynasty.

However, when he left, the two village officials of Baishui Village did not let Baishui Village be at the top as it once was, but became mediocre.

He was admitted to Enke last year, and he got the position of mayor of Zhen'an Town after good results, and now he has meritorious governance and deserves to be rewarded.

Zhu Youzhen did not directly promote him to be a high-ranking official, but remarked with a Zhu pen behind the reward of two taels of silver, "Observe his talent, and Shang Ke will be transferred to Longmen County." ”

】

After writing, Zhu Youzhen closed the notes and continued to deal with other notes.

Sun Kewang's talent is good, and in just a few months, he will stabilize Yunnan, where the people's livelihood is exhausted and the people are everywhere, and at the same time restrain military discipline, so that the army can extensively repair water conservancy for the people and encourage production.

Even in later generations, Yunnan's population and economy could not be compared with that of the mainland, and even more so in the late Ming Dynasty.

However, under Sun Kewang's rule, Yunnan suddenly became one of the best economic regions in the late Ming Dynasty.

Yunnan, which could only raise 60,000 soldiers in the hands of Mu Tianbo, became a rich place for "raising 200,000 soldiers and the people living and working in peace and contentment" in the hands of Sun Kewang.

In Yunnan alone, Sun Kewang could raise 200,000 troops and support the supply of military rations for the armies on the northern and western fronts at the same time.

Even the Qing army, which owns the world, will run out of food, but the Ming army does not.

This ability to farm is exactly what Zhu Youzhen needs at present.

However, even if it is a talent, Zhu Youzhen has to think twice before deciding whether to reuse him.

Fortunately, although a person like Sun Kewang is dangerous, his military ability is obviously not good.

If this shortcoming is still there, then Zhu Youzhen can also use him well.

What he was most worried about was that Sun Kewang had learned the Yanshan textbook, and as a result, Wen Taowu was proficient in everything, and his ambition had not diminished at all.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen was a little worried, but then he smiled again.

Sun Kewang in history is not Li Dingguo's opponent, not to mention that the Ming Dynasty is now in full swing?

At his age, it may be possible to get rid of Sun Chuanting and others, but it is a fool's dream to get rid of Li Dingguo, Zhu Ciran and others.

Thinking so, Zhu Youzhen also began to put his mind on governing Daming.

Daming has never lacked thousands of horses, only Bole.

Although most of the characters in history are outstanding, there are still many talents who have been drowned in the long river of history waiting for him to be reused.

In the years of the rise of official learning, Chengde, Li Demao, Zhang Maocai, Cao Meng and others have fully demonstrated that as long as there is an opportunity, there is no shortage of capable generals in the Ming Dynasty.