Chapter 2038, Disaster Early Warning, Prevention Mechanism
In the study room of Qianqing Palace in the capital, Emperor Hongzhi was convening the main ministers to discuss the current matters.
"Your Majesty, according to the memorials submitted from various places, our Ming Dynasty is experiencing unprecedented cold weather at this moment!"
“Countless cattle and sheep froze to death on the northern grasslands, herders suffered heavy losses, and many herdsmen even froze to death directly!”
"The four provinces of the Western Region, Central Asia, Black Earth, and Hezhong called and said that this year's temperature is more than ten degrees lower than in previous years. The temperature in the coldest city of Winter City in the northwest province has reached more than 70 degrees, and a large number of people have been exiled to Winter City. The prisoners in the city froze to death.”
"Countless cattle, sheep and livestock froze to death in the three provinces of Central Asia, Hezhong and the Western Regions, resulting in heavy losses."
"A large number of houses in Liaodong were crushed by snow, hundreds of thousands of people suffered frostbite, and thousands of people froze to death."
"The entire Bohai Sea is frozen, the Tianjin Port is frozen, and ships are impassable, causing a large number of factories and commercial banks to shut down, and commerce and trade has been greatly affected."
"Many places in the south have also experienced extremely cold weather. A large number of livestock have been frozen to death, and countless people have suffered from frostbite."
"In addition, a call from Huanghuangzhou said that the central plains of Huanghuangzhou were hit by the worst cold wave ever before, and a large number of herdsmen's cattle and sheep were frozen to death, resulting in heavy losses."
Han Wen, the current chief minister of the cabinet, informed Emperor Hongzhi and the ministers of the latest situation.
This winter is really too cold. All parts of the Ming Dynasty have encountered unprecedented cold and heavy snow, which has had a great impact on the production and life of the people of the Ming Dynasty.
"Everyone, let's talk about it."
After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi also said to everyone.
"Your Majesty, I believe that the imperial court should quickly mobilize food, clothing, fodder, etc. for disaster relief to ensure that all parts of the Ming Dynasty can survive the winter smoothly."
Mao Ji stood up and said.
In fact, it is an old routine. When there is a disaster, it is natural to provide relief. If there is disaster relief, it is necessary to provide relief.
Now the Ming Dynasty is not without money, but has plenty of it.
Moreover, Liu Jin had already established a complete financial system when he was the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and had budgets for all aspects of expenditures. Among them, a special part of the funds was reserved for disaster relief. This part of the funds was reserved every year. Some years it accumulates even before it is used up.
"Your Majesty, disaster relief is necessary, but I believe that this extremely cold weather will not only have a great impact on herdsmen and farmers, but also have a greater impact on our large industries and businesses."
"The weather is cold and the accumulation of ice and snow on the roads will inevitably have a great impact on traffic, which can easily lead to vehicle skidding and accidents, blocking traffic and business exchanges."
"Traffic is related to the lifeblood of our Ming Dynasty. Only with normal traffic and unimpeded travel between various places can the disaster relief materials be transported to various places quickly."
“Because there was heavy snow and accumulation of snow in the past winters in the northern region, a certain system has been formed for road cleaning, and there are also a large number of related machinery and equipment.”
"However, in the Guanhai and southern regions, there is often a lack of relevant systems and equipment, which will seriously affect transportation and exchanges between various places."
"I believe that the top priority is to order the local governments to clear the main roads between various places as soon as possible. The snow and frost on the roads must be cleared regularly every morning to ensure the smooth flow of traffic."
Zhong Fan thought for a while but then stood up and expressed his opinion.
Disaster relief must be provided. Although the northern regions have suffered heavy losses, it is the areas within the Guanhai Pass and the southern region that really need attention. Snowy roads and frost will inevitably lead to traffic interruptions and poor circulation, seriously affecting factories, businesses, workshops, etc.
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"Um!"
Emperor Hongzhi also nodded slightly after hearing this.
These officials of the practical school can always think of more things than those of the old school.
"Your Majesty, the weather is extremely cold this year. Judging from the telegrams sent from various places in the Ming Dynasty, this year's cold wave has spread over a wide range. It is not only extremely cold in the north, but also a large number of lakes and rivers in the south are frozen."
"It snowed heavily even in Qiongzhou, and it was extremely cold in Guangdong."
"Such a wide range of severe cold weather will not only have a huge impact now, but will most likely lead to corresponding famines next year."
"In the eleventh year of Hongzhi's reign, extremely cold weather occurred in the northern region. Heavy snow froze the wheat to death. In the second year, famine occurred in the three northern provinces."
"This year's weather is even worse than last year. It is colder and wider. It is very likely that all the winter wheat in many provinces in the northern part of Ming Dynasty will freeze to death, and next year's grain harvest will be wiped out."
"So I believe that not only do we need to overcome the current difficulties, but we also need to prepare for the famine in the coming year. We will build warehouses in various places and stockpile food. Once famine occurs, we can quickly provide disaster relief and stabilize people's hearts."
"In addition, years of famine are often accompanied by the emergence of plague. I think we should make relevant preparations now to avoid being at a loss when the time comes."
Han Wen thought for a while and expressed his opinion. After following Liu Jin for many years, he finally learned a lot. When looking at problems, he not only looks at the present, but also thinks about longer-term things.
"Hmm~"
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he nodded.
This reminded him of the schistosomiasis outbreak in the Jiangnan region that year. It spread to several southern provinces and hundreds of thousands of people were infected. There was no way to do it. Later, he got an effective prescription from Huguang through a reward, plus reasonable prevention.
With this method, the epidemic was brought under control.
Major disasters, whether they are floods, droughts, locust plagues, snowstorms, etc., will inevitably be accompanied by other disasters, among which the most notorious ones are plague and bubonic plague.
Once this thing spreads, I don't know how many people will die, especially now that the population of Ming Dynasty is slowly concentrating in cities. If this thing spreads in big cities, I'm afraid many people will die by then.
This kind of plague that cannot be seen or touched, but can spread quickly and kill people, has been talked about in almost all dynasties.
The ministers kept discussing the matter at hand with each other.
"Everyone should act according to what was discussed. Not only must we survive the current cold winter, we must also ensure production and life in the coming year. At the same time, we must also prevent possible plagues, plagues, etc."
Emperor Hongzhi and his ministers had been discussing for several hours, carefully discussing the relevant details and specific measures, before letting everyone leave to deal with these matters.
Generally speaking, the current Ming Dynasty is still very good. Even if such terrible cold weather occurs on a large scale, the imperial court can deal with it with ease.
As long as there is money, you can allocate money at any time, and it is not just a little bit, it can easily be several million taels or tens of millions of taels of money, which is enough to show the wealth of the Ming Dynasty.
There are enough supplies when necessary. The grain reserves of the Ming Dynasty are very large and sufficient. There are many production areas, and the grain output is very large. The grain produced in one year is enough to feed the people of the Ming Dynasty for ten years.
A large amount of grain is also used to make wine, feed livestock, etc., and at the same time, a large amount of cultivated land is idle for rotational cultivation.
In addition, the industry of the Ming Dynasty has also developed. The development of the industrial revolution has made the industrial production capacity of the Ming Dynasty very large, the productivity is amazing, and the level of science and technology has also been developed.
The most important thing is that the transportation conditions in Daming are extremely good. Railways have been built all over the country and there are more roads. Manpower and material resources can be quickly mobilized for disaster relief.
Therefore, even in the face of such terrible cold weather, it is enough to cope with it, and you can also think about next year and prepare for possible disasters.
"Your Majesty, this is the memorial written by Liu Jin for you!"
When the ministers left, Xiao Huangmen delivered a memorial to Emperor Hongzhi.
"Haha, Liu Jin finally remembered me and wrote me a memorial. It's really rare."
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he immediately laughed.
It has been almost more than a year since Liu Jin returned home and Ding You observed his filial piety, but during this period, he did not write anything in the form of a telegram or memorial. It was almost like resigning and returning home.
If he hadn't known clearly that Liu Jin was living a comfortable life at home every day, he would have doubted whether Liu Jin had disappeared.
Although Liu Jin has always been a lazy person, you still occasionally send telegrams, write memoranda, etc., and keep in touch with each other as much as possible.
You must know that these ministers in the government and the public have to write memoranda no matter what happens. They report things when they have something, say hello when nothing happens, or talk about special delicacies in their local area, etc.
In short, he is trying his best to show his face, check in, leave an impression, etc., just so that he can remember that there is such a person.
Fortunately for Liu Jin, it took more than a year to get him a memorial, and he almost forgot about Liu Jin.
"I would like to see what he wrote."
Emperor Hongzhi picked up the memorial written by Liu Jin and read it.
"Establish a disaster early warning and prevention mechanism?"
When Emperor Hongzhi opened it, his eyes lit up slightly. Sure enough, he was still in his usual style, only talking about things but not about feelings.