This can be described as a happy worry. Even Zhu Han did not expect that the effect of dividing the land among local tyrants would be so good, attracting hundreds of thousands of refugees in a short period of time.

"What, hundreds of thousands of refugees?" Zhu Yuanzhang was surprised and happy when he heard this.

"Yes, there must be 200,000 people at least. The government has to provide relief to the refugees, and just drinking porridge is not enough. Li Shanchang is so worried that his hair has turned all white." Ma Xiuying said.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he immediately panicked.

He had just promised Liu Futong to support the Northern Red Turban Army with hundreds of thousands of shi of food and cloth.

Who knew that when I came back, I would have hundreds of thousands more mouths to eat!

If the promised hundreds of thousands of grain, grass and cloth were given to Liu Futong, the whole army would be starved.

"This is a big deal, sister, let's go discuss it first!" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a frown.

This kind of matter is a matter of life and death. If you break your promise to Liu Futong, your prestige and reputation will be ruined. If there is no food and grass, the refugees you have finally recruited will be disappointed, and the army will be delayed in training.

"I'm fine. You're fine. Go quickly." Ma Xiuying said quickly.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't even have time to change his clothes, so he came to the front hall and sent someone to invite Tang He and Li Shanchang.

Soon, Tang He and Li Shanchang came together.

"Commander, what's wrong?" Tang He asked as soon as he entered the door.

"My sister told us just now that we heard that there is a serious shortage of money and food, right?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked directly.

"The commander is right, there is indeed a big gap now." Li Shanchang said quickly.

"Mr. Li, please tell us carefully what is going on." Zhu Yuanzhang raised his hand and asked the two of them to sit down first.

Tang He and Li Shanchang sat on opposite sides of the hall, and then began to come one by one.

The cause of everything is Zhu Han's plan to divide the land among local tyrants, which is really great.

Far more refugees than expected poured into their territory. Even if they obtained a lot of food from the local tyrants, it was still not enough to fill the bellies of these new refugees.

"It's good to have more people, but it's also troublesome to have so many people come all at once," Li Shanchang said.

"In this case, why don't we fight more bullies and local tyrants and share more food?" Zhu Yuanzhang pondered and said.

Li Shanchang immediately shook his head, "Commander, you can't go too far with this kind of thing. Many gentry families don't have many bad deeds, and they all support our rebel army. If they fight together regardless of the indiscriminate consequences, there will be

Damaging the commander-in-chief's prestige is not conducive to recruiting scholars to serve him."

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang did not believe that gentry families rarely had bad deeds. It was just that some families were better decorated and more strict.

Li Shanchang himself is a member of the gentry, so he naturally has some good words to say for himself.

However, what Li Shanchang said also makes sense.

If all the gentry were beaten to death with a stick, all the scholars would be scared away.

In this day and age, if there are no scholars, how can we organize households and integrate the people, how can we teach and educate people, how can we collect grain and grass, and how can we pay taxes? It is impossible to rely on the homeless people who farm the land to accomplish these things.

"That being said, we really can't touch them." Zhu Yuanzhang was also a little helpless.

He thought for a moment and then said: "What if we buy food from them?"

Li Shanchang shook his head again, "Commander, we don't have that much money!"

It turns out that the Red Turban Army has already implemented a military pay system, and the money in the treasury has to be reserved to pay military pay to the sergeants.

If the military pay system, which has just been implemented for a short period of time, is stopped, it will be a huge blow to the morale and morale of the military.

"This won't work either. We don't have any money or food." Zhu Yuanzhang became a little depressed.

"Commander, I have an idea, I don't know if it will work." Tang He suddenly said from the side.

"Tell me what we can do?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

Tang He straightened his body and said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Don't we have a lot of fields in our hands? If we can use the fields to exchange for grain from those gentry, can they still exchange it?"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he immediately looked like a fool.

Li Shanchang next to him couldn't help it anymore.

"Tang He, your idea is really bad. You want to snatch the land from one group of landowners and sell it to another group of landowners. What are we trying to do?" Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless.

"Oh, that's right." Tang He suddenly blushed.

"Commander, we have another way now, maybe we can try it," Li Shanchang said.

"What can I do? Tell me quickly!" Zhu Yuanzhang said quickly.

"Commander, we still have some grain in storage now. If we wait until the autumn harvest, we can increase some taxes and collect an additional 20% of the autumn taxes. We should be able to cope with this past winter." Li Shanchang said.

This method can be said to be more operational.

As long as the most difficult winter is over, there will be fewer refugees migrating due to the cold weather, and the food and grass crisis will be alleviated.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang did not think so.

He thought about it carefully and shook his head.

"Sir, this method can only be a helpless move, not a long-term solution."

Li Shanchang was also a little helpless, because what he said was indeed true.

"It's just July, the beginning of autumn. It will take nearly two months to wait until the autumn harvest is completed before collecting the autumn taxes. If something happens midway, the food may be exhausted, and it will be too late to collect taxes by then.

ah."

"Besides, our government office and the Marshal's Office have already said that today we will take the corvee lightly and reduce the tax, but at the end of the day, we will increase the tax by 20%. This is also a slap in the face."

"Also, if we wait until spring next year, when there is no harvest, and if a large number of refugees come again, then there will definitely be insufficient food. No matter how you look at it, it is not a long-term solution."

Zhu Yuanzhang's words were analyzed thoroughly, and Li Shanchang was convinced and could not say anything to refute.

For a moment, the three people in the hall had no idea.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Seeing that the sky is completely dark, there is still no progress.

Zhu Yuanzhang had someone arrange a casual meal, and the three of them discussed it while eating.

Unexpectedly, after dinner, the three of them still had not come up with a solution.

Tang He put the tea cup on the table and suddenly started laughing.

"Oh, we are really confused!" Tang He laughed.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shanchang were both stunned, not knowing what it meant.

"Commander, sir, think about it, we don't have food here, but there is no shortage of food in another place." Tang He said.

"Where?"

"Where else could it be? Of course it would be Jiangnan! They have no famines or wars, so the food has gone to the sea!" Tang He said with a smile.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shanchang suddenly understood.

"Haha, yes, why did you forget them?"

"The last time we sent troops on a tour, they brought back one million grains and grass. If we go there again, even if we can't get one million grains, we can get through it with four to five million dan."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shanchang both breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that they had found a breakthrough.

If you want to send troops south of the Yangtze River to attack Caogu again, you have to go to Zhu Han to discuss the action.

Because the rebel navy is now all in the Liuhe area of ​​Chuzhou, led by Zhu Han.

"Then let's go to Chuzhou tomorrow to discuss sending troops with Qiwu!" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.

Early the next morning, Zhu Yuanzhang said goodbye to Ma Xiuying and others, and led hundreds of personal guards to rush to Chuzhou.

As the sun set, Zhu Yuanzhang led his people into Chuzhou City.

Zhu Han was also very happy when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang coming.

"Brother, why are you here in such a hurry?" Zhu Han rushed to greet him.

Zhu Yuanzhang was in a good mood when he saw Zhu Han.

While looking up and down at Zhu Han's taller figure, he said with a smile.

"It's okay if you don't come. If you don't come, my brothers and I will be hungry."

When Zhu Yuanzhang said this, Zhu Han had already guessed eight or nine points.

The situation in Chuzhou and Dingyuan is similar. They divided the land among local tycoons, but the reputation of the rebels was lost.

At the beginning, tens of thousands of refugees poured into Chuzhou and were provided with food, agricultural tools and cloth.

Subsequently, more refugees poured into Chuzhou, which made it difficult for the wealthy Chuzhou government office to bear.

Dingyuan is in the north and is close to the war-torn and famine-stricken Central Plains. The number of refugees will only increase, not decrease.

Sure enough, Zhu Yuanzhang told the whole story, and Zhu Han guessed it.

"Moreover, it's not just the refugees. We also promised Liu Futong to give them hundreds of thousands of grain, grass and cloth. We've already said it, but we can't go back on it." Zhu Yuanzhang said.

Zhu Han nodded, obviously agreeing with his elder brother Zhu Yuanzhang's move.

"Liu Futong and his three-pronged Northern Expedition. After all, they are fighting against Bao Yuan. If we don't send troops, we can still get some food. If we don't get any food, there will definitely be many people behind our backs scolding us as freeloaders. By then,
To be continued...