"The imperial court released floods, and millions of people were affected!"

As soon as this news came out, everyone's hearts trembled, the failure of the Yellow River in all dynasties and dynasties will cause huge losses, and this time it also caused losses of millions of people.

Fortunately, the imperial court gave three days' notice of the flood discharge, so that many people were able to move or prepare in advance, and not many people died because of the flood, and at the same time, a lot of property and food were transferred, so as not to cause a catastrophe in a hurry.

However, what is heart-wrenching is that the area from the Yellow River embankment to Liangshan Bo, which is dozens of miles wide and hundreds of miles long, has become a disaster area, and the number of people is as high as one million, all of which require disaster relief, which is a great burden for the imperial court.

Since ancient times, most of the peasant uprisings in the last years of the dynasty were caused by disasters and eventually caused an empire to collapse.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now that the Yellow River has been discharged, I don't know how to resettle the victims in the flood discharge area." In the vertical arch hall, Zhao Xu said loudly.

It can be said that the Great Song Dynasty has learned from the experience of previous dynasties, and has sufficient experience in dealing with floods, so it will let the disaster relief matters be discussed as soon as possible.

Su Song said solemnly: "Qiqi official, this flood discharge, the government and the opposition prepared three days in advance, so that a lot of grain can be preserved, coupled with the dispatch of the imperial court, there will definitely be no famine." ”

The flood discharge was notified three days in advance, which gave the people three days to prepare, and at the same time gave the government an extra three days, which was enough to stabilize the victims and not rush into chaos.

Fan Zheng also continued: "The doctors have mobilized doctors to go to the disaster area, and the doctors from all the provinces along the way have also been mobilized, and all the disaster areas are forbidden to drink polluted water, and they must drink boiled water to prevent the plague." ”

Now that the doctors have been unified, and under the order of the Imperial Medical Department, the strength of the doctors has begun to gather, even three points faster than the government, and the first batch of doctors to support the doctors may have arrived in the disaster area.

"Qiqi official, although the imperial court has long been prepared for disaster relief, but millions of refugees have emerged, if the response is not good, I am afraid that there will be chaos, Weichen thinks that it is necessary to levy soldiers." Yushi Yang Wei said solemnly.

"Levy the soldiers! The ministers agree with Lord Yang's words! ”

Baiguan nodded slightly, the box soldiers were a method in the Great Song Dynasty to prevent rebellion.

Whenever there is a year of famine, the imperial court will levy the young and strong in advance in the disaster people, and the strong and strong will enter the forbidden army, and the other slightly worse are the van soldiers, which not only strengthens the military strength of the Great Song Dynasty, but also directly draws the backbone of the disaster victims, and the remaining old, weak, sick and disabled are unable to rebel at all, so as to avoid the occurrence of rebellion.

Now that the Yellow River is discharging floods, it has created a huge flood discharge area in the Central Plains, and millions of victims have been born.

Although this law greatly alleviated the peasant uprising, it made the military expenditure of the Great Song Dynasty increase rapidly, and redundant soldiers and redundant expenses were the most troublesome stubborn diseases of the Great Song Dynasty.

"You can't levy any more box soldiers, now the imperial court has finally laid off 100,000 box soldiers, if you recruit box soldiers again, wouldn't it make the previous court's years of hard work come to naught." Fan Zheng objected.

Many ministers nodded one after another, the box soldiers have always been a burden on the imperial court, and now it is not easy to form a construction corps, and the reduction of 100,000 box soldiers has eased the financial wealth of the imperial court.

"The collection of van soldiers is an ancestral system, which can allow the victims to survive, and how can it be abolished because of some money, not to mention that now the Great Song Dynasty's finances are improving, which is enough to bear the cost of van soldiers." Yang Wei was conservative and moved out of the ancestral system again.

"However, compared to the survival of the victims and the safety of the imperial court, some money is nothing?"

A group of old parties chimed in.

Even Fan Chunli nodded slightly, now that the Great Song Dynasty has undergone reforms, the finances have improved greatly, which is enough to bear the cost of some of the van soldiers.

Zhao Xu couldn't help but be moved, after all, the van soldiers were an effective method of disaster relief and rebellion prevention, and compared to the cost of supplying a group of van soldiers and the destruction caused by millions of victims, it was only a drop in the bucket.

"Wechen is against it." However, Fan Zheng still insisted.

Zhao Xu couldn't help but look at Fan Zheng suspiciously.

Fan Zheng explained: "First, these victims are not desperate victims who will rise up at the slightest temptation, they were originally people in the flood discharge area, with their own family businesses and fertile land. Nowadays, when the flood discharge of the imperial court is full of rain in summer, as long as the Yellow River is broken and closed, the autumn, winter and spring can also continue to have a season of wheat, not to mention that the flood discharge is only once every few years, and at other times it does not affect production at all. ”

Hundreds of officials nodded one after another, the flood discharge area washed away the summer crops at most, and the others were fine, and the people were naturally unwilling to give up easily.

"But millions of people have been affected by the disaster, and this is an established fact, so how can we solve it?" Yang Wei asked rhetorically.

Fan Zhenglang said: "The imperial court's conscription of soldiers is a method to reduce the backbone of the victims to prevent rebellion. ”

"Cash-for-work!"

Baiguan frowned, not knowing what it meant to be cash-for-work.

Fan Zheng then remembered that there was no word for relief in this era, and explained at the moment: "Fan's mention of relief for work is due to the words of the ancestors, who once said: "In the year of apology, the day is five liters, and the people are called for service, so the relief is given in January, and the rice is 5,000 stone ears." ”

The officials nodded one after another, Fan Xianggong did have this remark back then.

"The victims need relief, and the imperial court also needs to build water conservancy, in this case, why not recruit disaster victims to build water conservancy in disaster years, so that although the imperial court spends more than 10,000 tons of grain for disaster relief, it is much more beneficial than distributing 10,000 quintals of grain alone in disaster years, and it can build water conservancy for the imperial court."

"Cash-for-work! Wen Zheng Gong is a good means! Zhao Xu was stunned.

The New Party couldn't help but twitch their faces, Wang Anshi's reform and Fan Zhongyan's Qingli New Deal are the two schools of reform, and after Fan Zheng's continuous interpretation, now Fan Zhongyan's concept is actually popular in the imperial court, and it has vaguely surpassed the momentum of Wang Anshi's reform.

Even Fan Chunli couldn't help but sigh, if he wanted to study his father Fan Zhongyan's policy, he was familiar with it, and he had even read this sentence many times, but the cash-for-work was easily proposed by his own son, how could this not make him both proud and ashamed.

"Moreover, the cash-for-work also draws a large number of young and strong laborers, which can also prevent the occurrence of rebellion." Fan Zheng said proudly.

Su Song's heart moved: "Qiyu official, now that the earthen dam in the flood discharge area has been built in a hurry, it needs to be repaired more, and the water potential of Liangshanbo is too large, and it needs to be drawn out, all of which require a lot of forced labor. ”

The idea of cash-for-work surprised the Manchu Dynasty, and the imperial court could only continue to distribute grain to the victims, but now it has changed to actively cash-for-work, so as to achieve the dual purpose of providing relief to the hungry and building water conservancy.

"According to what Fan Taicheng said, the flood discharge area implements cash-for-work!" Zhao Xu said with a hammer.

Although the conscription of the box soldiers can provide disaster relief, but it requires the imperial court to bear its grain and grass for a long time, and the work for relief only needs to pay a small amount of food, which can provide disaster relief, and can also build water conservancy.

"The official is wise!" Hundreds of officials complimented.

"Fan Aiqing, since cash-for-work is a good policy of Wen Zhenggong, Fan Aiqing's son inherits his father's business, and I order you to be in charge of the cash-for-work project in the disaster area." Zhao Xu ordered.

Fan Chunli came out and said solemnly: "Weichen obeys the order." ”

At present, with the official order of the imperial court, the Yellow River is flooded, and millions of people are affected.

Fan Chunli immediately rushed to the disaster area and announced that the imperial court would provide five liters of rice a day for work.

"Cash-for-work! Five liters of rice a day! ”

As soon as this news came out, it immediately caused an uproar in the government and the opposition. Five liters of rice is not much, one liter is about one and a half catties, and five liters of rice is seven liters and a half of rice, according to the price of rice in later generations, between two and three yuan, about 20 yuan a day. It's not much, but it's guaranteed that the family won't go hungry.

When the news came out, the entire disaster area also cheered, although they rescued a lot of family property, the most precious food could not be brought out, and the most important thing in the disaster area is food.

Now the imperial court uses food as a stipend and work for relief, which is enough to give countless victims a livelihood, and the people have a livelihood, and their minds naturally settle down.

However, these five liters of rice are not easy to earn, and all the people needed by the imperial court to recruit river workers are young and strong, and many old and weak women and children cannot scruple at all, and still need the imperial court for disaster relief.

All of a sudden, the price of grain near Yuncheng was in short supply and began to rise.

"Qi Fan Xianggong, the price of grain in the vicinity has begun to rise sharply, and we need not only grain to pay for the wages of the river workers, but also need to help the old, weak, sick and disabled.

In Yuncheng, the Yuncheng County Commander reported to Fan Chunli with a bitter face.

"These profiteers!" Many officials gritted their teeth.

Fan Chunli shook his head and said: "Scarcity is expensive, what Yuncheng lacks most now is food, and it is understandable that the price has risen. ”

Fan Chunli is in charge of turning a French workshop, so he naturally knows a lot about business, and he doesn't have much aversion to it.

The county magistrate of Yuncheng hurriedly said: "The county order should not be careless, the profiteers are greedy, they dare to rise by three percent today, and they dare to rise by fifty percent tomorrow, and within a month, the price of grain in Yuncheng will be doubled. ”

"I heard that Wen Zhenggong deliberately raised the price of grain back then, transported grain to the grain merchants, and then opened a warehouse to release grain, which suddenly made the price of grain in the disaster area plummet, and it was easy to provide disaster relief. An official came up with an idea.

Fan Chunli couldn't help but smile bitterly: "What my father said back then was a strange plan, once I used it, I'm afraid it won't work, if the price of grain in Yuncheng is raised, but it fails to attract merchants to transport grain, I'm afraid we will be sinners in Yuncheng." ”

A group of officials were dumbfounded.

Suddenly, Song Jiang hurriedly came and said, "Qi Fan Xianggong, many grain merchants suddenly appeared in Yuncheng, asking to see Fan Xianggong." ”

"Grain merchant?"

Fan Chunli couldn't help but be dumbfounded, they hadn't used a trick yet, and the price of grain in Yuncheng had risen by only thirty percent, so these grain merchants smelled fishy.

"Not bad! Many of them are big grain merchants! Song Jiang said excitedly.

At this moment, the young Song Jiang is still a hot-blooded teenager, these big grain merchants have abundant funds, even if the price of grain is a little more expensive, but they can ensure a sufficient supply of food, enough to keep the victims from starving.

"Introduce these grain merchants now!" Fan Chunli immediately decided.

If a large amount of grain can be transported, it will be enough to solve the crisis in the disaster area, otherwise not only will there be a food shortage in the disaster area, but I am afraid that even Yuncheng and other surrounding counties will also have a food crisis.

"I'll see Fan Xianggong later!"

Soon, a group of grain merchants came to Fan Chunli and saluted one after another.

Fan Chunli smiled, raised his right hand and said, "You guys are really timely and rainy!" Now that there is a shortage of grain in the disaster area, you have traveled thousands of miles to bring grain, which is really thanks to the imperial court, and the prime minister has decided to buy the grain in your hands at a market price higher than the usual price. ”

"Timely rain?"

When Song Jiang heard this, he couldn't help but admire Fan Chunli, so he gave face to the grain merchants and left them thirty percent of the profits, which will definitely make these grain merchants return to their hearts, and they can smoothly change the disaster area to tide over the difficulties.

However, the grain merchant at the head shook his head and said: "If Fan Xianggong wants to buy our grain at a price higher than 30% of the market, please forgive the small people for their courage, but they can't sell it to adults." ”

In an instant, the scene suddenly became cold.

"You and other profiteers, thirty percent of the profits are not satisfied?" The Yuncheng County Commander angrily reprimanded a number of grain merchants.

If it weren't for Fan Chunli's presence, he would have ordered to forcibly leave the grain of the grain merchants.

Fan Chunli's heart also sank, he could naturally order the grain merchants to be forcibly left, but this move destroyed the prestige of the government, and I am afraid that no grain merchants will be willing to go to the disaster area to deliver grain in the future.

Fan Chunli said calmly: "Then how many layers are you willing to sell above the market price?" ”

The grain merchant led by him said proudly: "We are willing to sell grain at market prices and at a low price!" ”

"Ahh

As soon as these words came out, all the officials immediately couldn't believe it, and no one thought that these profiteers who were sucking the bones and marrow would give up their profits and be willing to sell grain at a low price!

"Really?"

Fan Chunli asked in disbelief.

"Fan Xianggong didn't hear it wrong, we are willing to sell grain at a low price!" The grain merchant said directly.

"Could it be this batch of grain?" Yuncheng County was puzzled.

He didn't believe that these traitors would be so kind, they transferred grain from other places and traveled long distances to send it to Yuncheng, if they sold grain at a low price, they would not make a profit at all except for freight.

Unless............

Unless there is a problem with this batch of grain.

At that moment, even Fan Chunli looked at the grain merchants suspiciously.

How could the grain merchants not know the suspicions of the officials, and immediately promised: "These grains are all high-quality grains, if there is bad grain, not only will we not tolerate the business community, but will also be punished by Fan Xianggong." ”

"The official is confused?" Fan Chunli asked the doubts in his heart.

A group of grain merchants said solemnly: "Because we are Song merchants!" ”

"Song Shang!"

Baiguan couldn't help but be stunned, they didn't expect the final reason to be so simple. (End of chapter)