Xu Da's words eased Lao Zhu's worries a little. As long as the Ming Dynasty stood still and concentrated on dealing with the drought, no matter how big the obstacle was, it could overcome it.
Turning to look at Li Shanchang.
Li Shanchang pondered for a moment and then said immediately: "Your Majesty, since drought is inevitable, the court must make preparations now."
"I just want to hear your opinion."
"I think there are three things we can do," Li Shanchang said immediately. "The first is to immediately start counting the granaries everywhere. How much grain is stored must be thoroughly investigated. Only by knowing how much grain is there can we make a clear target. The second is the Ming Dynasty royal grain.
You must start purchasing food from now on, even if the price is a little higher, so that you are prepared. Third, from now on, the imperial court will order various places to repair water conservancy, and encourage everyone to dig wells in places where wells can be dug."
"This is what Lao Cheng said to plan for the country." Lao Zhu nodded with satisfaction.
Li Shanchang is indeed a top counselor, and he can arrange things in an orderly manner in just a few words.
Lao Zhu was about to say something, but suddenly saw Tang He looking thoughtful. He asked, "What do you think, second brother?"
Tang He came back to his senses immediately and said softly: "I don't have any high opinions, but I heard Han Du say before that the products in the sea are very rich, and many of them are edible. I was thinking, since there is not enough food, what's the point?
Can’t we fish some out of the ocean for emergency use?”
"Sea cargo emergency?" Lao Zhu lowered his head and muttered.
Tang He nodded and immediately said: "Yes, I wouldn't have mentioned it in the past. But now there may not be enough food. Since seafood can be eaten and satiated, why don't we go fishing for some seafood?
?”
"Mr. Xin Guo, is this possible?" Li Shanchang was a little confused. "Since ancient times, people have made a living by fishing on the sea, but we haven't seen how rich they can be. It can be seen that although there are such sea goods, but want to
It is not easy to salvage it. If there is a drought, the food shortage will be huge, and a little sea food will only be a drop in the bucket."
Lao Zhu's eyes were downcast, and he was weighing things over and over in his mind.
After hearing this, Tang He did not argue with Li Shanchang, but said to the emperor: "The emperor understands Han Du. He may not be able to do things that others cannot do."
Seeing that Li Shanchang was about to speak, Lao Zhu waved his hand to stop a few people from talking.
"Just follow what Baishi said. The imperial court first ordered various places to repair water conservancy and dig water wells." Old Zhu paused and continued: "As for the Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry, I will let them start purchasing grain."
Looking up at Li Shanchang, Lao Zhu said: "It is the responsibility of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to thoroughly investigate the affairs of the granaries in various places."
"I obey the order." Li Shanchang cupped his fists and bowed slightly.
"As for going out to sea to fish," Lao Zhu hesitated, "Let me think about it again."
Seeing that the emperor had made a decision, several people stood up and left.
At the end of the storm, everything was calm in the court, and a few decrees that made people feel normal spread from Jinling to the world.
The first is that the imperial court ordered the Ministry of Industry to take the lead in water conservancy repairs in various places. For an agricultural empire, water conservancy repairs are something that is done every year, so no one thinks there is any problem here. In addition to water conservancy repairs, this year
There is also a special one, which requires all localities to organize labor to dig water wells.
Secondly, the Ministry of Personnel will inspect various prefectures and counties in the name of inspecting officials. This is not a regular government affair. Although the Ministry of Personnel sometimes inspects officials, it does not do so every year. There is no telling how often the inspections should be carried out.
A certain number, usually when the emperor feels that time has passed or the customs have deteriorated, he will ask his officials to go on inspection.
As soon as this news came out, all the local officials couldn't help but become nervous. Are they going to think deeply about what is going on? Everyone is racking their brains to think of how to pass the test smoothly. If anyone can pay attention to the Libu faction
If the team goes out, they will find that there is actually a supervisory censor inside.
As for the royal grain industry of the Ming Dynasty, no one paid even more attention to it.
When the Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry was first established, it attracted attention for a while, but since it was chased and intercepted by grain merchants last year, no one paid attention to it anymore. When the Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry first announced the minimum purchase price of grain, it was
The grain merchants were nervous about this for a while, thinking that the royal family was going to get involved in the grain trade. But later they discovered that it actually only purchased grain at a fixed price, and had no intention of rushing in. The grain merchants
I'm not afraid anymore.
They only need to pay a higher price than the Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry, and it will not be difficult to receive the grain as in previous years. But the profits are not as generous as before and are divided thinly.
But the grain merchants are helpless. If they don't raise the purchase price, then no farmer will sell grain to them. Even if the purchase price is the same as that of Daming Royal Grain Industry, they don't believe it. Compared with them, farmers
They still trust the royal family more. And the farmers are not fools. They know that the royal family has set such a fixed purchase price for grain to prevent them from being squeezed too much by merchants. It is for their own good. Therefore, even if the merchant purchase price is higher than
Even if the Royal Grain Industry has a few people with a couple of letters, the farmers will not sell grain to them.
If grain merchants want to receive grain, they must offer a price that makes farmers think it is a good deal to sell it to them. Moreover, grain merchants have to collect grain. If they do not collect grain, there will be no profit. If there is no profit, then they are losing money.
, after all, there are so many shopkeepers and servants below, and everyone eats and chews money every day.
When they discovered that the Imperial Grain Industry of the Ming Dynasty had begun to raise prices and harvest grain quietly, all the grain merchants did not understand what was going on.
It's not the end of the recession yet. Why does the Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry collect grain? But doubts remain doubts. These grain merchants are still very interested when they see the opportunity to make money.
Although there are still several months before the lean period and the highest food prices have yet to come, they can still make money even with the current food prices.
Although if you wait a few more months, you can sell it at a higher price, but the expenses in these few months are not small. After such a replacement, you will actually make no less money from selling now than you will make later.
How much. The most important thing is that if you sell it now, there is no risk at all.
As grain merchants sold grain to the Ming Royal Grain Industry, grain prices this year began to rise slowly several months earlier than in previous years.
At first, the grain merchants thought that the Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry could not harvest much grain. Because in the past, the Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry gave a fixed price.