Since June, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the entire Yangtze River basin have begun to enter the dry season, and this drought has lasted for more than three months, with no sign of relief until September.
Because the drought is so severe, even the Yangtze River near Nanjing has experienced an extremely rare dry flow phenomenon.
Faced with a natural disaster of this intensity, Chongzhen was not in the mood to continue to burn cement at the foot of Qingliang Mountain. Of course, this was mainly because the quality of the cement produced was so inferior, which made him a little impatient.
So Chongzhen simply took the three brothers Zhu Cixiang, Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Cijiong to the river to fetch water to irrigate the fields.
Chongzhen took his three sons to carry water to irrigate the fields. This was not just a show, but a real task. After a few days of carrying water, calluses appeared on the shoulders of the father and son, and Zhu Cijiang burst into tears.
Gao Qiqian, the old eunuch, also called out.
But it was useless, Chongzhen's heart was as strong as iron.
Zhu Cixiang felt sorry for his younger brother and wanted to choose a section for Zhu Cixiang, but was stopped by Chongzhen.
"Boss, you have your own burdens to bear. Let the fifth brother pick his own. You can help him pick for a while, but you can't pick for him for the rest of his life, right?"
Zhu Cihong did not dare to shoulder this burden for his fifth brother again.
Because he heard that there was something in his father's words.
But Zhu Cizheng's temper also rose. Because unlike his two brothers who had been teaching Chongzhen for a long time, this naughty boy was surrounded by a group of eunuchs and was used to bossing around. How could he endure such hardship?
"I quit, I quit." Zhu Cizheng threw the bucket on the ground and said angrily, "I am a prince after all. Even if all the seedlings in the world are withered, there is no need for me to carry water."
Water the ground? Father, don’t you just want to put on a show and have a good reputation? Okay, if you want a good reputation, you can choose it yourself, and my son won’t accompany you.”
Looking at the pouting Zhu Cizhen, Chongzhen couldn't laugh or cry. Twelve years old is really an age that people hate and dogs hate. You can say that he is not sensible. He can even give birth to children at this age, but you can say that he is sensible. Three
The concept has not yet been formed, and all thoughts in every aspect are childish.
And there seems to be no use in fighting again at this age.
So Chongzhen could only scare him: "Prince? My father told you, it's not necessarily true."
"What do you mean?" Zhu Cizheng was stunned for a moment and said, "Father, you want to take away my title from my son?"
Chongzhen shook his head: "It's not that the emperor wants to take away your title of prince, but maybe starting from your generation, the rule that the emperor's heirs must be crowned princes will become history."
"No way?" Zhu Cizheng was anxious, "Does this also need to be changed?"
Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong also felt a little surprised. They had never heard of this statement.
Chongzhen smiled and said: "Then who knows? Before the final result comes out, anything can happen. Zhen'er, if one day you lose your title of prince and are forced to go to your own overseas territory, then your territory
We have suffered another severe drought. If you don't carry water, you may starve to death."
Zhu Cizheng's face immediately fell: "Why do you want to go to overseas territories?"
"It's very simple, because there is no territory for you in the country." Chongzhen said, "So you can only go overseas."
After hearing this, Zhu Cizheng had no choice but to pick up the burden again and walked forward while crying. In his heart, he hated Chongzhen so much that he said that he would never come back to Ming Dynasty again when he came to his territory overseas. He didn't want to see you.
The four father and son watered the ground a few more times and waited until it gradually darkened before setting off back to Nanjing.
When I entered the city from Tongji Gate, I saw lanterns lit up on the embroidered buildings on both sides of the Qinhuai River. The sound of silk and bamboo, the sound of Pingtan, storytelling and even singing and singing could be heard all the time.
There is still an endless stream of visitors coming in and out of the old courtyard.
The drought that swept across the entire Ming Dynasty did not have the slightest impact on these fragrance-seeking travelers.
At this time in Nanjing, other neighbors were in need of drinking water, but in the Qinhuai River area, Gui Nu still used clear and sweet well water to clean the streets.
If it were another emperor who saw such a contrasting scene, he would definitely be furious. If it were Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor, he would probably arrest all the fragrance seekers in the old courtyard and demote them all to lowly status.
But Chongzhen had no such idea at all. One code was the same as the other, and the two had nothing to do with each other.
The drought in Ming Dynasty would be alleviated if the lovers came to the old courtyard less often and the girls went whoring less often. Isn’t this nonsense?
On the contrary, if the sex-seekers come to the old courtyard more often and prostitute more girls, the entertainment industry in Jiangnan will become more active. When the entertainment industry becomes more active, the economic life will become richer and the economic life will become more active.
Only when things are more colorful will there be more jobs. This is the most fundamental problem.
Of course, the entertainment industry is just one of the industries.
The entertainment industry alone cannot support the employment market in Ming Dynasty.
But as a saying goes, if you don’t take small steps, you won’t reach a thousand miles.
One industry can only provide part of the employment, but hundreds of industries combined can provide more employment, enough to accommodate the labor that has poured into the city due to this drought.
Conservative estimates suggest that the number of laborers flooding into the city due to this drought will exceed one million.
During this severe drought, people living near large rivers, lakes or rivers are doing relatively well, but people living in mountainous areas will be in dire straits. If they don't want to starve to death on a large scale, they will have no choice but to go out and come to big cities to make a living.
Therefore, the top priority is not to rectify the entertainment industry, but to revitalize the economy, create more jobs, and arrange for the large number of farmers who are about to flood into the cities to make a living.
…
Almost at the same time, Lu Zhenfei, Zhang Shenyan, Meng Zhaoxiang and Zodiac Thursday people also filed out of the check-in room.
Lu Zhenfei sighed softly and said: "Our Ming Dynasty is really troubled by disasters. In the past fifty years, there have been various natural disasters. The past two years have been relatively smooth, but this year another big one has happened.
A once-in-a-century drought.”
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "A once-in-a-century event?" Huang Daozhou looked up at the fading fire clouds on the horizon and said quietly, "Look at this situation, it will soon be a once-in-a-thousand-year event, and it will remain in the history books.
The world has never seen a drought more severe than this."
"Hey, what can we do?" Meng Zhaoxiang said worriedly, "It looks like many people will starve to death."
Zhang Shenyan said with a dark face: "Instead of worrying about what to do here, it is better to prepare food as soon as possible to help the people survive this great famine that only happens once in a century or even a thousand years."
At this time, Huang Daozhou began to shirk responsibility: "Our cabinet cannot handle this matter."
"What are you talking about?" Zhang Shenyan said angrily, "This matter is the responsibility of our cabinet. What do you mean that our cabinet can't handle it? Do you want to say that this matter should be left to the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"
"It should be handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs." Huang Daozhou snorted. "The warehouses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are full of money and grain. The granary in Wuchang Town alone has tens of millions of stones of surplus grain stored in it! Allocate some grain at will,
This year of disaster has passed."
"So our cabinet doesn't have to do anything. Is that what Huang Ge always meant?" Zhang Shenyan said.
When Huang Daozhou was about to retort, he was interrupted by Lu Zhenfei: "Stop arguing, what time has it been and we are still arguing."
Lu Zhenfei was also upset. Ever since the two articles from Huangming Times and Hanlin Daily were published, Zhang Shenyan and Huang Daozhou began to compete with each other. They would pinch each other whenever they met, and they would pinch each other all the time.
"I heard that Du Yinxi went to the Imperial Academy and wanted to report the disaster in detail to the Holy One."
Speaking of this meal, Lu Zhenfei said again: "We also went to Guozi to listen."
…
When Lu Zhenfei and his four friends arrived at Yilun Hall, Chongzhen and his son had just sat down.
After the monarch and his ministers had seen each other, Chongzhen said to Du Yinxi again: "Qing Du, since the four elders are here, you should explain the situation again."
"Yes." Du Yinxi responded respectfully and added, "In the past two months, I have visited eight prefectures and one state in the south of the Yangtze River, Shandong, Henan and Huguang provinces. Jiangxi also visited several places near the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake.
Except for Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Fujian, we are basically aware of the drought situation in other provinces."
"You don't need to worry about Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Fujian. There won't be any big problems in these provinces." Zhu Cixiang asked solemnly, "Except for the above provinces, how big is the food gap in Ming Dynasty?"
"There is no gap in telling the prince," Du Yinxi replied.
"No gap?" Zhu Cixiang was obviously stunned after hearing this.
"No gap?" Lu Zhenfei and the other four pavilion elders also looked at each other.
After a long while, the naughty boy Zhu Cizheng asked first: "How is it possible that there is no gap? My father said that this is a once-in-a-century disaster. If it doesn't rain for another half month, it will be a once-in-a-thousand-year event."
"King Huiyong said that even if it happens once in a thousand years, there will still be no gap."
Du Yinxi said in an extremely confident tone: "This year's food is enough."
"Is it really enough to eat?" Lu Zhenfei frowned and said, "I went to Huzhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou more than half a month ago, and I found that the drought is still very serious, and the rice harvest has failed in large areas.
It’s a foregone conclusion. Conservative estimates suggest that this year’s food gap in just one of the eight prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River will be more than 50 million dan.”
"Shou Kui's estimate is indeed a bit conservative." Du Yinxi said with a smile.
"This year, the food gap in one of the eight prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River is not 50 million shi, but 100 million shi!"
"What? There is a gap of 100 million stones?!" Lu Zhenfei, Zhang Shenyan, Meng Zhaoxiang and the Zodiac Thursday people suddenly changed their expressions. This gap is too big to be filled at all, and Huguang does not have enough food to fill it.
"Yes, at least 100 million stones." Du Yinxi said, "Because by now, the population of each of the eight prefectures and prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River is far from just 30 million, but at least 40 million!"
"What, there are already 40 million people in eight prefectures and one state in the south of the Yangtze River?"
Now even Chongzhen felt a little surprised. The population was growing too fast.
