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In the study room of the Qianqing Palace in the imperial palace, Emperor Hongzhi was carefully reading the information about the current global climate that had been sent back from the Ming Dynasty and even around the world.
At the same time, there is also a record of natural climate records compiled by officials and historians from various places in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the late Tang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
In just a few days, the relevant information had been compiled and delivered to Emperor Hongzhi as soon as possible.
"The Great Plains of Northern Huanghuangzhou experienced a severe cold wave. Even the rivers running through the north and south were completely frozen, and it even affected Penglai Bay!"
Emperor Hongzhi picked up the globe on his desk, found the Great Plains of Northern Golden Continent, and carefully compared the geographical location.
"Even Penglai Bay has been frosted. This is a subtropical area."
Emperor Hongzhi was slightly surprised.
"The climate in the northern hemisphere has generally dropped extremely sharply. It has reached tens of degrees below zero in the Black Earth Province, and the weather is freezing. European countries have also encountered unprecedented cold weather, and a large number of people at the bottom have frozen to death."
"The only area that is not affected is the Tianzhu continent. All the cold climate from the north is blocked by the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau."
"But the Tianzhu continent is experiencing unprecedented drought conditions. There has been no rain for several months. If it continues until early next year, a large-scale famine may break out on the Tianzhu continent."
"The southern hemisphere is also experiencing extremely short-term drought weather. The colonies and vassal states in southern Africa have all encountered unprecedented drought conditions. The grasslands of the Southern Golden Continent have withered and turned yellow, and fires have occurred one after another."
Emperor Hongzhi looked at it carefully. These were all the same as what Liu Jin said. At this moment, the world is experiencing extreme weather. Most parts of the northern hemisphere are suffering from severe cold, and the southern hemisphere is suffering from drought.
After reading this information, Emperor Hongzhi began to read relevant historical records again.
"Frost was still falling in Yangchun in Luoyang, the eastern capital. There were still tangerines and tangerines in southern Henan at that time, but they all disappeared later. Wei Wu was training troops in winter, and the Huaihe River was completely frozen, so you could cross the carriage directly."
"Plagues occurred frequently in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. A large-scale plague broke out almost every two or three years, resulting in countless deaths and injuries."
"Frequent extreme weather, including blizzards, cold waves, frosts, and hail, has led to years of no harvests and poor harvests. People who cannot survive have risen up one after another, and wars have spread everywhere."
"In the late Tang Dynasty, there were successive years of drought and very little rainfall in summer."
“Citrus trees were planted in Chang’an City in the early and middle Tang Dynasty, but all of them died by the end of the Tang Dynasty.”
"The winter is extremely cold, and the sun is hot and cold in June."
"Drought, the Yellow River bursts its banks, locust plagues rage, the land is bare for thousands of miles, the people are in dire straits, and they have to change their sons to eat!"
Emperor Hongzhi couldn't help but change his face when he looked at some relevant records that the historians had found.
If such an extreme climate really happened in the Ming Dynasty, would the outcome of the Ming Dynasty be better than that of the Eastern Han and Tang Dynasties?
That's really not necessarily the case. If people can't survive, why would they care so much?
After years of famine, the hungry people could do anything.
"If it hadn't been for the reforms carried out over the years, the Ming Dynasty would have been strong and its people prosperous. If such a situation had occurred, it would have been really doomed."
"I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty will not be able to escape the fate of dynasty change."
Emperor Hongzhi put down the information in his hands and fell into deep thought.
In an agricultural society, we almost really depend on God to provide us with food. If the weather is good, life will naturally be easy.
But if there is a large-scale famine, and it lasts for a year or two, it won't be a big deal. But if the famine continues year after year, and all kinds of disasters take turns, and if natural disasters and man-made disasters are added, then it will really happen.
It is not unusual for a major problem to arise and a change of dynasty.
"The Little Ice Age!"
Emperor Hongzhi muttered the noun given by Liu Jin.
"The extreme cold, drought in the coming year, etc., if it is the same as before, I don't know how many people will die."
Emperor Hongzhi thought of the heavy snowfall in the eleventh year of Hongzhi. The winter that year was extremely cold. Several northern provinces suffered from heavy snowfall. It was unknown how many people froze to death in the winter.
In the second year, a great famine broke out. People in Beizhili under the Emperor's feet were starved to death everywhere, and they were all skinny. It is not known how many people died of starvation.
Of course, the cause of the disaster was also caused by grain merchants deliberately hoarding grain and driving up grain prices, and colluding with officials to build imperial granaries and sell the grain.
Later, Liu Jin transported grain from North Korea and used work-for-relief methods, which gradually stabilized the situation and overcame the famine.
This is just caused by a heavy snowfall. If various disasters take turns and there are large-scale droughts, locust plagues, and abnormal cold for several consecutive years, the consequences will be really unimaginable.
According to the situation before the Ming Dynasty, there will be wars and wars everywhere, and the people will be in dire straits. Coupled with the invasion and harassment of external enemies, the grain merchants and corrupt officials within the Ming Dynasty will cause man-made disasters. Can the Ming Dynasty survive?
?
Emperor Hongzhi asked himself from the bottom of his heart.
"Fortunately, we have continued to carry out reforms and external expansion over the years, otherwise we would really not be able to face such a situation."
Emperor Hongzhi soon became happy. He was glad that he supported Liu Jin in carrying out various reforms and continuing external expansion, and continued to migrate the huge population of the Ming Dynasty. From the perspective of dispersion, it greatly eased the contradiction between man and land, and had more people.
Much land.
At the same time, the development of industrial and mechanical science and technology has also greatly improved productivity. With mechanized farming methods, a large amount of land has been reclaimed and cultivated, and grain production has increased dramatically. Now one year's grain production is enough to feed the Ming Dynasty for ten years.
In addition, with the development of transportation, the emergence of a large number of railways, highways, trains, and cars has greatly facilitated travel between various places. Even if there is a famine, food and materials can be quickly mobilized from various places.
Unlike before, there is a lot of grain in the south, but if it is transported to the north, less than half of ten kilograms of grain may be left, and it will take a lot of time.
"Such a thing will never be allowed to happen in Ming Dynasty!"
Emperor Hongzhi thought about this clearly and clenched his fists.
The scenes at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the end of the Tang Dynasty must not happen to the Ming Dynasty. Once such a thing happens, we don’t know how many people will die by then.
Whether the Ming Dynasty continues or not has become unimportant. Perhaps by that time, it will be another disaster, a catastrophe for the Han people.
Just like from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Han people in the north were almost extinct. At the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, it was an era when a few tribes settled in the Central Plains and the Han people became two-legged sheep.
"What about the Little Ice Age? Man can defeat nature. As long as we are well prepared, even the Little Ice Age can be defeated."
"Now the food produced by our Ming Dynasty in one year is enough to feed our people for ten years, not to mention there are a large number of overseas colonies and vassal states. I don't believe it. My Ming Dynasty cannot escape this Little Ice Age."
Emperor Hongzhi stood up and walked around thinking.
He still has confidence. The situation of the Ming Dynasty is now much better than at any time in history. There is a lot of money. The treasury is full and there is endless money.
The politics are clear and clear. Although there are many conservative and pedantic ministers among the ministers, most ministers can be regarded as upright people and are capable ministers in governing the country.
The most important thing is that the Ming Dynasty now has a strong enough family background, a vast territory, advanced farming and production methods, plus convenient transportation, etc.
These gave Emperor Hongzhi enough confidence to deal with all the problems in Xiaoglacier.
Isn't it just a large-scale drought and food harvest failure for several consecutive years?
It doesn't matter, I will grow enough grain in one year for the common people to eat for ten years. Even if there is no harvest for many years in a row, there will be no problem.
In addition, there are drought-tolerant sweet potatoes, corn, potatoes and other high-yielding crops, so you don’t have to worry about not having enough to eat.
What we really need to worry about are man-made disasters.
The most terrible disasters since ancient times are not natural disasters but man-made disasters. Just like the famine in the eleventh year of Hongzhi, it is obvious that food can be quickly mobilized to relieve disasters.
However, those grain merchants deliberately hoarded grain to drive up grain prices for their own selfish interests, and even emptied the grain in the imperial granary.
It can be seen that the most terrifying thing is man-made disasters.
"Come here~"
Thinking of this, Emperor Hongzhi shouted.
"Your Majesty~"
There is a small yellow gate coming over quickly to listen to the will.
"Immediately summon the cabinet ministers, the six ministers, and the governor of the five military governors to come to the minister's office to discuss matters!"
"yes!"
When Xiao Huangmen heard this, he also hurriedly went to deliver the order.
I don’t know what happened. The emperor had already held a small meeting today, and he was going to hold another small meeting this afternoon. Something big must have happened, otherwise he wouldn’t have continued the small meeting in the afternoon.
You must know that over the years, Emperor Hongzhi rarely convened ministers for meetings in the afternoon. Instead, he left time for ministers to do their work and gave himself time to review memorials.