Chapter 337: Drought
In November, when the cold wind was howling, the disaster situation in various places continued unabated, and the officials sent by the three prefectures of 'Xijiang', 'Tangzhou', and 'Zhongzhou' to provide disaster relief had written one after another: 'Xijiang' allocated 500,000 taels of silver, bought 220,000 stone of rice, set up 18 disaster relief points, and provided relief to more than 5 million people; 'Tangzhou' allocated 400,000 taels of silver and 190,000 stones of rice, set up 16 disaster relief points, and provided relief to more than 4 million victims; 'Zhongzhou' allocated 300,000 taels of silver to buy 150,000 stones of corn and wheat, and set up 10 disaster relief points to provide relief to more than 2 million victims.....。
The disaster is serious, the three states of the Qin sent to ask the imperial court to continue to allocate funds for disaster relief, the important ministers of the court have written in response, the emperor was sad and moved 500,000 taels of silver to send to the three places, less than half a month, the silver has been spent, the three Qin sent a letter again, but the emperor has been powerless, less than half a month without food, displaced people everywhere. However, the 'Yangdao League' was in the 'Zhongzhou' disaster relief, and knew the truth, and as early as secretly sent people to check, the so-called disaster relief of the imperial court, its porridge and clear soup and little water can only hang their lives, and it is not a full-day porridge, looking at the place they set up for disaster relief, it is impossible to help one million disaster victims, at best, it is only more than 200,000, and the 'Yangdao League' previously produced 10,000 stone of grain can still give porridge for ten days, and the victims are only above 200,000 and not under 200,000.
The emperor also seemed to feel that it was wrong, and sent someone to investigate, but the result was surprised, Zhang Qing said that the accounts of several rice shops that bought grain in 'Zhongzhou' were consistent with what Zhang Qing and the magistrate said, but when I inquired about last year's 'Zhongzhou' grain collection was the 'Yang Dao League', followed by the four gangs, and the rest of the rice shops did not get much, these rice shops together collected a total of more than 50,000 stone grain last year, and it was impossible to endure not to sell it at this year's rice price, even if one was not sold, there was absolutely no 150,000 stone sold to Zhang Qing.
When the news was transmitted back to the capital, the emperor was furious, and then checked the 'Western Xinjiang' and 'Tangzhou', and the situation was almost the same. The emperor was furious again, and immediately ordered people to arrest Feng Zhu, Li Rong, and Zhang Qing, and then reassigned the Qin messenger to go to the disaster relief.
In December, the fish pond was completely frozen, the northern section of the canal was frozen, the heavy snow outside the Guan, the lack of food for cattle and horses, the drought in summer and the snow disaster in winter, so that the two countries of "Northern Calamity" and "Tianxiong" were too busy to take care of themselves, Fang Bing took the opportunity to form an alliance with the "Northern Calamity" to appease the enemy, and the "Northern Calamity" gladly agreed, and the emperor was overjoyed.
In mid-December, Fang Bing asked for the sale of grain and rice to the allies in the 'Northern Disaster', and the emperor was worried that he would resell the grain to the 'Tianxiong' because of the ambiguous relationship between the 'Northern Disaster' and the 'Tianxiong'. Fang Bing sold grain and rice to supplement the soldiers' salaries with the lack of salaries for the soldiers, and then resold the 'Northern Calamity' fruit to the 'Tianxiong' at a high price.
In mid-December, the imperial court also 'raised the sword alliance' grain and rice used in the silver taels.
At the end of December, Fang Bing beheaded Zhao Wenhuai, the chief soldier of the 'Right Island', on the grounds that he did not listen to the order, embezzled military salaries, and ate empty quotas, and then asked the emperor for guilt. The next day, the emperor issued another order to appease Fang Bing, guarding the border with him, rejecting the enemy with all his heart, and not investigating the past.
In February of the following year, 'Tianxiong' survived the famine, and made a detour to 'Tangzhou' to attract the country's soldiers to attack, Fang Bing was shocked when he learned that he led the troops to chase after him, and went to the capital to fight, and the 'golden cavalry' retreated, looting property along the way was not counted, and more than 1,000 men were taken into slavery, and more than 300 women were prostitutes in the army. The emperor was furious, and immediately took Fang Bing to prison, and his subordinate deployment did not listen to the emperor's order to return to 'Beichuan', the emperor immediately ordered Fang Bing to repair the book and order Fang to stop the situation but retreat from the enemy's army, after this incident the emperor was horrified, the army raised by the power of invasion did not obey the emperor's order, so he suspected that Fang Bing was planning treason, and the Dragon Pavilion took the first paragraph to capture the holy will and took the opportunity to write the book, and Fang Bing suffered a thousand swords and died.
In May, the 'Right Island' rebelled, tens of thousands of soldiers, wanton looting, led by Zhao Wenhuai's son Zhao Lei and his two lieutenants, there is also a big businessman on the island - Huo Wuyang.
In June, the imperial court ordered the post station to be abolished because it was too corrupt and ineffective, and in August, the post soldiers in 'Western Xinjiang' and 'Tangzhou' rebelled. In September, the imperial court increased taxes and suppressed bandits, famine and tax increase came together, and there were many displaced people, and the imperial court had no surplus food for disaster relief.
Chaos, chaos in the world, chaos that has never been seen since the founding of the dynasty.
In the past six months, the military generals have been exhausted, the civil officials have competed for power, and the emperor has been busy every day.
In the past six months, the 'Yangdao League' has sold a lot of rice, and also produced a lot of rice for disaster relief, 'Zhongzhou' is considered to be a little safe, and the imperial court specially named Shao Mingqian as an 'auxiliary general'.
In the past six months, the 'Gumengzhou' has been leveled down, the rain is sufficient, and the business is prosperous, and it seems that it is not affected by anything, but the imperial court tax is still insufficient, and it is difficult to increase taxes.
In the past six months, the misery of doing business is unspeakable, the rich family's assets are often looted, rumors are all done by the rogue thieves, some are good, after snatching the money and then leaving, it is not enough to kill, there are also many rich businessmen who rebel, some are different, not only robbing money, but also killing the rich family old and young, some even dig out the hearts of the people so that the dead have no body, whether it is a thief, a rogue, the same is true for the rebels, the same is true for the rebels, the same is true for the rebels, the more people who rob, it stands to reason that the more people support, the better, even if they rob something and kill someone, there is no need to dig their hearts to attract hatred, this is really incomprehensible, but it is rumored that dozens of rich families have suffered from this disaster in the past six months, there is no explanation other than that there are vicious people in this group.
In the past six months, the water level of the fish pond has dropped by more than a foot, the grass on the mountain has withered, and the fish food has gradually decreased.
In the past six months, Liang Xie's body is getting better and better, now he is far stronger than Lao Li Tou, and the three fish ponds are all under his care, Lao Li Tou is responsible for repairing fishing nets, fishing, inspecting whether the fish are sick, whether the water quality is good, etc., at this time, Lao Li Tou is also embarrassed to take Liang Xie's wages, and he has to return all the wages after Liang Xie to Liang Xie under reluctance, Liang Xie does not mind, he will pick it up when he gives it, and he does not want to give it.
In the past six months, in addition to the 'Yang Dao League', the merchants with grain have all hoarded Juqi, aggravated the famine and military disasters, and many people in the 'Yang Dao League' suggested that Shao Mingqian hoard goods, Shao Mingqian did not agree, which made Shao Mingqian's prestige in the gang greatly reduced, and the contradictions in the gang increased sharply, and the people were also scolding the 'Yang Dao League' for being a profiteer while buying grain and rice that was gradually rising in price, and Shao Mingqian was also helpless, not only the 'Zhongzhou' rice was expensive, but the price of grain in various places had risen.
Knowing that it would be difficult to buy a stone of rice next time and bring it back, Shao Mingqian only needs to raise some grain prices, although the rice of the 'Yangdao League' is the most conscientious, the most sold, and the cheapest, but Shao Mingqian still can't avoid the hat of the word profiteer.
Shao Mingqian is also helpless in this regard, he is not unaware that there will be such a result, in fact, he knows very well, including when he persuaded Zhuang Zejing at the beginning, Zhuang Zejing once changed from a very good person to a selfish person who doesn't care about the life or death of others, and even his own master, the person who even his own apprentice died in the pit, used to be not bad, even if he never really did good deeds, just to enjoy the reputation praised by others, and the feeling of the stars holding the moon, at least he did do a lot of good things, but unfortunately, a good one' The hypocrites are forced to be psychologically distorted and increasingly inhumane.
Originally, according to the opinions of the people in the gang, the 'Yang Dao Alliance' could make a lot of money, and even became the richest gang in the world, but Shao Mingqian didn't do that.
By autumn, the drought was a foregone conclusion. Heaven seems to have completely disgraced the new emperor, and the drought has spread to most of the 'Tianmang Dynasty', which is extremely fatal to the large country dominated by agriculture, and the number of people in the 'Tianmang Dynasty' is the largest in the world. So the land of Kyushu was full of displaced people, rebellions were everywhere, and the imperial court was powerless to provide disaster relief, so it had to pay it off.
Since the second year of 'Tianlu', the displaced people have fought and surrendered, and they have fought and surrendered, and they have fallen and reversed, and the court has been tossed several times, and the losses have not been calculated, and the emperor's temporary decision-making mistakes have caused great trouble.
At the same time, the border troubles are more serious, first the subject country 'Judao State' fell and surrendered to the 'Tianxiong Kingdom', this arrogant and boastful country never seems to be able to win a battle, some people either surrender or fall, and secondly, the 'Right Island' is less Zhao Wenhuai was captured by the 'Tianxiong Kingdom', and again, whenever the imperial court is about to succeed in suppressing bandits, the 'Golden Cavalry' will attack southward, the imperial court fights on multiple fronts, exhausted, and the people who can be used are limited, but the enemy is innumerable.
During this period, Jiang Yuanling tossed and turned between the ranks with a civil official, rushed to kill in the military array, repeatedly performed miraculous feats, several pairs of 'golden horses', and repeatedly frustrated the liukou, this civilian official who has not been conspicuous has been much braver than his son-in-law Yu Qibai, Yu Qibai fought with the army, and his official position has also risen, but the lack of military salaries and military food, and the increase in drought have made it difficult for the emperor and the generals to parry, and there is no time to spare.