On 14 May, after Li Yanliang and his entourage arrived in Jinghai County (today's Jinghai District), they separated from the Qin army's grain convoy.

After resting for a night in the county seat, he rented two carriages the next day and went to Tianjin.

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, several horse-drawn carriages arrived on the outskirts of Tianjin, but they were blocked by countless hungry people.

There were about 350,000 people, densely packed, rushing towards the pier to the east. Their clothes were tattered and almost uncovered, and many of them were so hungry and weak that they had to breathe for a long time even to walk a few steps. The elderly, children and pregnant women are all huddled together, suffering from exhaustion and hunger.

"What's the situation?" Gan Changsheng saw that the old man who was driving the car turned around and hurriedly asked.

"Back to the words of the general of the Qi country." The handlebar replied respectfully, "They are all hungry people who have run out of the city, and when they hear that a big ship is arriving at the dock, they all run to that side." ”

"Is it your Great Qin Imperial Court that has brought grain?"

"Although the war in Korea has stopped, the warships of the puppet Ming are still wandering around from time to time, how dare the grain ships of the imperial court come by sea, I am afraid that they will not be captured!" The handlebar shook his head and said, "It should be the immigration ship of your Qi country, or the immigration ship of several feudal countries in the South Seas." Hey, don't mention, when these migrant ships come, they usually come with some food, set up a few cauldrons at the dock, boil some porridge and rice, and then cook some flatbread, as long as there are people on the boat and go to sea, everyone can be full. ”

"Oh, seeing these migrant ships coming, you Qin State officials don't care?" Gan Changsheng asked with a smile.

"What's the matter?" The handlebar led the horse and moved the carriage towards the side of the road, so as not to block the road of the hungry people who were running, "In the past, when there was no famine, the government could still keep those migrant boats out of the country and prevent them from docking, so as to prevent them from plundering the people of Daqin." But in this wave of disasters from last year to now, what can the government do if there is no food in their hands? You can't watch the people starve to death, right? According to me, the government is eager to let these tens of thousands of disaster victims go out to sea by boat, so as not to starve people and cause some trouble! ”

"Look at your Great Qin's court, it's! The response to the famine was so slow, and he watched the people under his rule flee in all directions. Gan Changsheng said sarcastically: "Don't be a citizen of Great Qin, follow the immigration ship of my Qi country, and go to my Qi country to eat fragrant and drink spicy food!" ”

"Hey, that's a good feeling!" The handlebar looked around carefully, then turned his head, and said with a smile: "If it weren't for the old and small in my family, there would still be a little bit of the idea of leaving the homeland in my heart, maybe I would have taken a boat to your Qi country to make a fortune when the government was deregulation!" ”

These Qi people look like they are on top!

But who makes the family rich?

It's like my Daqin, although it has a territory of thousands of miles and a population of hundreds of millions, it is really not as rich as the Qi country.

Like them, these "Qiu Ba", it is said that a month's salary is dozens of silver dollars, not to mention the salaries of the new officers and soldiers of Daqin who killed me in seconds, even the lords in the county are not as high as them!

In addition, if you look at what they eat, drink, and use, which is not "delicate and abnormal". In this year of famine, dozens of millions of people in Daqin have no food and clothing, but they are still looking for meat every day. After a meal, you have to drink tea, or drink something that tastes weird.

Sucrose, which is regarded as a rare thing by the people of Daqin, is like eating salt, and they can take a handful out of their pockets at any time.

You say, they are all the same Chinese ethnicity, how can the Qi country become so rich?

Is it really like what people say, my Great Qin Imperial Court is too "" and unwilling to spend money on us ordinary people?

In fact, if you compare it with all dynasties, the dynasty that is most willing to spend money on the common people really belongs to my Great Qin Court!

Although Great Qin replaced the former Ming Dynasty, and many political systems and governance methods also followed the previous dynasty, the background of Great Qin was stronger than that of the Ming Dynasty. Judging from the financial income of the imperial court, "the annual income of 50 million taels" far exceeds that of all dynasties.

According to various detailed information, the annual fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty was only about 3 million taels of silver, but this was only in monetary terms, because a large part of the Ming Dynasty's revenue was levied in the form of grain. If these grains are also converted into currency to calculate, the annual fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty is about 20 million taels, and the highest year is the 30th year of Wanli (1602 AD), with a total income of 22.953 million taels.

However, even this highest year's income is far from the average annual income of the Great Qin period.

Why?

Under the multiple influences of the Qi State, the flourishing overseas trade of Great Qin, the gradual rise of industry and commerce in China, and the increase in the size of its own population, which meant an increase in the number of "taxpayers", all made the imperial court's fiscal revenue increase significantly compared with the previous Ming Dynasty.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Household Affairs of Daqin, in the 40th year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1722), about 50%-60% of the government's fiscal revenue came from industry and commerce, and the tariffs extracted by the government from import and export trade alone accounted for more than 15% of the fiscal revenue.

The non-agricultural industry and the domestic and international trade developed on this basis are the main sources of Daqin's central finance!

On the other hand, Great Qin also had more tax sources than the Ming Dynasty. The taxation of the Qin State was different from that of the previous dynasties, in addition to levying taxes on land, industry and commerce (the commercial tax collection in the Ming Dynasty was a joke), it also imposed taxes on customs duties, salt, and luxury goods (mainly glass, clocks, ivory, pearls, jade, precious wood, etc. from the Qi State).

According to rough estimates, the population of Daqinguang is more than that of the Wanli period of the pre-Ming Dynasty (the population of the Wanli period was about 120-130 million), and the more salt people eat, the more salt they eat, and the more salt taxes they have. This, combined with taxes under other nominal headings, as well as an increase in taxpayers, has led to a significant increase in tax revenue.

There is also a hidden reason, that is, the inflation in Daqin during this period was much more serious than that of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, although the treasury income was high, the price of commodities was also high, and the prices of rice, cloth, daily necessities, etc. in Daqin had been rising.

In particular, the huge scale of trade between Qin and Qi caused a large amount of silver to flow into Qin, which was equivalent to indirectly importing inflation, which caused the real purchasing power of silver to decline slowly but firmly.

When the court is rich, it will naturally do more.

In addition to developing armaments and expanding the territory to eliminate the troubles in the north and northwest, it is to immerse oneself in the administration of government and consolidate the foundation of domestic rule. Post roads, railways, wharves, river control, embankment repair, and the construction of farmland and water conservancy ......, for which Daqin invests millions of taels of silver every year to actively improve various infrastructure conditions in the country.

In addition, the imperial court is not as nonsense as "some people" say.

They are all the people of Great Qin, and it is also related to the stability of the ruling foundation, as an emperor, how can he not add any relief during the famine period, and let him fend for himself?

Don't forget, including the Qi State, the Northern Ming Dynasty, and many small Han countries in Nanyang peeped on the sidelines, all of them tried to "abduct and plunder" the people of our Heavenly Dynasty. If the imperial court did nothing in the face of the famine, wouldn't it be taken advantage of by "outsiders"?

What made the Great Qin Imperial Court even more jealous was that the collapse of the former Ming Dynasty was that the victims were all over the place, and the displaced people were all over the world, and then there was the Great Qin Taizu Sun Ke Ke Yu Ye took advantage of the situation to rise up, so as to use the Qin Dynasty to build the foundation and achieve the Great Qin Dynasty.

As early as the time when Sun Kewang was still the auxiliary government of the Qin king, he referred to the disaster prevention and relief model of the Qi State and formulated a series of meticulous "waste administration" systems, that is, disaster relief systems.

Great Qin's famine policy covered 12 aspects, including preparation for invasion, elimination of evil, relief of famine, distribution of relief, reduction of waste, lending, levy, deferment of levy, trade, persuasion, construction and construction, and collection of exile. Moreover, the imperial court also treated disaster relief as an established national policy, and mobilized the whole country to fight against it, in order to remedy it and prevent the disaster victims from growing and eroding at the grassroots level.

It can be said that Daqin's famine relief measures are the culmination of previous dynasties and can be regarded as the most comprehensive and complete.

In the event of a disaster, the exemption (exemption) of money and grain was an important measure for famine relief in Daqin, that is, the taxes levied by the local government were reduced or even exempted. However, the exemption was subject to the Emperor's imperial approval and was published in the place where the exemption was made. If the decree has not arrived and the money and grain have been collected, it can be used as a tax for the next year.

To put it bluntly, it is the measure of reducing taxes and money and grain according to the disaster situation, and in the past 50 years since the establishment of the Great Qin Dynasty, the total amount of money and grain exempted due to disasters is about 23 million taels. If we add in the number of disasters avoided, the total number of disasters is between 26 million and 27 million, which is the largest in history.

In addition to free money and food, the most direct way for the imperial court to provide relief is relief, using money and food to relieve the victims. Silver and rice were distributed directly to the victims to help them stay alive and tide over the crisis.

During this period, when Daqin implemented large-scale relief for the victims, there were no uniform regulations on the amount of rice, silver and the length of the relief period, and all depended on the severity of the disaster. But in general, "If the disaster victim has a big mouth, he will be given 5 rice a day; Half of a small mouth; If there is not enough rice, then silver and rice will be both".

In the event of a flood or drought in a local area, regardless of the number of disasters, regardless of the extreme poverty, the first direct relief is called regular relief, also known as emergency relief or general relief, and then reported to Nanjing, after the investigation of the disaster and the examination of households, and then according to the disaster situation to determine the disaster level and disaster relief time.

In addition to directly distributing rice and money, the relief also includes cooking porridge for relief. In order to improve the order of the porridge factory, measures such as men and women lining up separately and receiving them one by one were adopted. Porridge factories are set up near the city, and a rice factory is set up within 20 miles in the remote villages to cook porridge. At the same time, from the first day of October to the twentieth day of March of the following year, the Great Qin court would cook alms in the northern and southern capitals and various places every year—well, many places have become mere formalities, and the act of cooking alms has gradually been abolished—all for the wandering victims.

The concentration of the distributed porridge should be subject to "no pouring and no seepage". In order to facilitate the rest of the victims, it is also necessary to build a shelter from the wind and rain with reed mats. Porridge relief is also very humane, with special passages for the elderly, infirm or disabled, and temporary toilets for women.

In addition, work relief is also a regular form of relief. Following the model of the Qi State, the government funded the construction of the project in the disaster year, and gave silver rice every day to recruit the victims. Most of the projects run by the relief project are also related to water conservancy, which is of a positive relief nature and prepares for future production. Normally, the Great Qin court would take into account the suffering of the people and try to make the work relief as much as possible, such as stipulating, "In the past few months, listen to all the poor to go to work and serve; If the farming is busy, there is an urgent project, and one of the three is drawn, and the rest is left to be cultivated."

Well, to put it bluntly, it is to solve the problem of food and clothing for the disaster victims by promoting employment, and not to make a mass mess. On the one hand, the construction of public welfare projects such as disaster prevention and water conservancy can promote the employment of disaster victims and solve their livelihoods, and on the other hand, the construction of public welfare projects can play a positive role in agricultural production and disaster prevention in the future.

According to the information on the relief expenses and the situation of the relief work of the Great Qin Household Department, the Qin State used an average of about 3 million to 3.5 million taels of silver per year, which even exceeded the annual military expenditure of the Northern Ming Dynasty. Since the establishment of the Great Qin, up to now, the Qin State has used more than 150 million taels of silver to save the famine.

This is not what "some people" take for granted that my Great Qin Imperial Court did nothing during the famine years!

It's like loving the people like a son!

At the same time, in order to cope with the increasingly frequent disasters, the Great Qin court also vigorously encouraged the people to carry out disaster relief. It is mainly based on contributions and redemptions.

Donation, that is, those who donate grain for disaster relief either give the quota of the national eunuch, or give the rank of loose officials from the ninth to the seventh rank (with names but no positions), and ordinary people can also be exempted from military service by donating grain.

Redemption is simpler, that is, the stolen money and fines confiscated from various places will be used as a special fund for disaster relief, and then allocated to the affected areas in the year of the disaster.

There are also local governments to encourage large households to provide relief, coupled with the establishment of many Yicang, Jinong Cang, these famine storage in the people, for the use of famine.

So, since last year, Shandong, Henan, and Hebei have experienced severe droughts, and millions of people have been affected.

Tens of thousands of troops arrived in Korea and Liaodong respectively, making the entire northern region a logistics supply area, and hundreds of thousands of masters continuously transported the material resources of the northern provinces to the above two battlefields, coupled with the Qin army stationed in Mobei, resulting in the accumulation of local accumulations for many years was almost exhausted.

When the drought broke out on a large scale, in the face of the maritime threat of Beiming's superiority, the grain and straw in the Jiangnan and Huguang areas could not be quickly transported to the disaster area by sea, and only slowly transported to the north by land and canals. This is not only a lot of wear and tear along the way, but also extremely time-consuming. In addition, to meet the needs of the Northeast War, it made Daqin's material transfer overwhelmed and under great pressure.

However, in view of this, the princes of the court suddenly realized the benefits and importance of the railway.

Nima's, no matter what, I, Daqin, must build a railway artery connecting the north and the south.

The Qi Military Staff Corps in Qin had a representative office in Tianjin, and the courtyard of the original Tianjin Left Guard Command Post was bought by the Qi people and used as a place for personnel to work and live.

However, the staff members stationed there were basically some naval officers, who were used to liaise and coordinate naval supply ships and information liaison ships that stopped there, (given the sensitivity of the Qin state, specialized warships were generally stationed at Gengluo Island), and also to assist the immigration department in transporting migrants there.

In the evening, seven or eight army staff officers arrived here in two carriages, which immediately made a group of leisurely naval officers and men feel very uncomfortable.

The brutal army turtle really disturbed the Yaxing we were waiting for!

"Which one is Li Yanliang, Second Tactical Staff Officer of the Army and Captain (Major) Xuanjie?" An officer of the Navy Xuanjie Captain (major) looked at the room with disgust as several army officers in the room lay on their beds without any image, smoking cigarettes and discussing something in a rough voice.

"I am." Li Yanliang glanced at the arrogant naval captain at the door, and didn't even move his buttocks.

"There's a local order here." The naval captain frowned, and his face was unconcerned, "This order has been released for several days, and it says that as long as you pass through Tianjin, it will be delivered to Yu Ling immediately." ”

"Oh?" Li Yanliang was a little strange, sat up from the bed, got up and walked to the door, and took the order from the naval captain officer.

Under what circumstances, the dispatch was sent to Tianjin in advance by sea clipper?

"Li Yanliang, Second Class Tactical Staff Officer of the Army and Captain Xuanjie, is hereby transferred to the Garrison Department of the Ryukyu Governor's District Hengguan (today's Shimonoseki City) to serve as deputy commander of the garrison and commander of the first battalion of the 5th Regiment. After handing over all formalities, he will be appointed before July 1. ……”

"Yo, sir, you've got a fat difference!" Gan Changsheng tilted his head and quickly swept the order, his face full of jealousy.

What luck is this sir!

He is only three years older than himself, but his rank is two orders higher. Now, there is no need to follow the staff group to North Korea to drill ravines, let alone endlessly argue with the military personnel of Qin and Ming, but directly transferred to overseas territories to serve as deputy commanders of garrisons.

His grandmother's, what is the background of this?

(End of chapter)