The Ming Dynasty's native Henan Province, Henan Chief Minister Liu Long was inspecting the drought situation in Henan Province.
This year has been another year of disasters. At first, in March, there was still no sign of the weather getting warmer. Finally, when the weather warmed up, spring plowing began. As a result, from April to June,
For three whole months, not a drop of rain fell in the entire northern region of Ming Dynasty.
On the contrary, there were major floods in the south, which seemed to have retained all the rainfall of the Meiyu in the south, but not at all in the north.
"Even the Yellow River has dried up!"
Liu Long looked at the Yellow River in front of him. At this moment, the Yellow River was about to stop flowing. The originally turbulent river had now become like a small river, with only a few trickles left.
It’s so dry!
There has not been a drop of rain for three whole months, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as a thousand miles away. And according to the predictions from the Imperial Meteorological Office, in the next 1-2 months, it is very likely that there will be no rain in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty.
There is no rain, which means there will be no harvest this year.
"Sir, can we report it to the imperial court and take advantage of the opportunity when the Yellow River dries up to clean up the river bed and remove more silt, sand, etc. from the river bed? This can lower the height of the river bed, which will be very helpful in dealing with future flood disasters.
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Beside Fei Yuan, Fei Yuan, the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture, suggested.
"This is a good suggestion. The riverbed in the Kaifeng section is indeed too high, and accidents often happen when floods occur."
When Liu Long heard this, he couldn't help but nod his head. This Fei Yuan is okay, he is a person with ideas.
Managing the Yellow River has been a difficult problem since ancient times, especially in this section of Henan. In some places, the river bed is even much higher than both sides. It is resisted by dams, otherwise it would have been washed away long ago.
"Fortunately, we are in this good era. If it had been a few decades ago, there would have been such a severe drought, people would have been in dire straits, wars would have been everywhere, and the land would have been starved to death."
Liu Long looked towards the village in the distance.
Even though there is a severe drought, people in the village still don't look worried at all. The old people gather together to chat, the children play carefree, and the adults ride their motorcycles to go to work.
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A peaceful scene, Yanran was not affected by the drought at all.
This made Liu Long sigh. When he was young, in the 10th and 11th years of the Hongzhi period, there was a severe famine in the three northern provinces due to heavy snowstorms. In his hometown of Shanxi, famine was everywhere, and the ground was full of hunger. I don’t know how severe the winter was.
How many people froze to death on the roadside.
Looking at now, due to such a severe drought, the red land is thousands of miles away, and even the grass on the ground is withered and yellow. However, the impact on the lives of the people of Ming Dynasty has been minimal.
As early as March, the Ming Dynasty court had already issued an early warning that there might be a large-scale reduction in grain production this year, requiring all localities to make relevant preparations in advance, inventory granaries to ensure food supply, and maintain social stability.
Therefore, early on, the grain reserves of various Ming government officials were already full, enough to feed Ming people in various places for a year or two.
Even if there is a severe drought, the price of food remains very stable without any fluctuation.
"Yes, it's a good thing that we grew up in such a good era, otherwise under such a severe drought, the entire Henan Province might be empty."
Fei Yuan also nodded. After all, he was young and could be considered a Ming Dynasty man who grew up in the new era, but he still heard many things about that era from his elders.
"Draw up a plan here. While the Yellow River is drying up, we will clean up the silt, sand, etc. in the Yellow River."
"Yes, sir!"
The great plain area in the central part of Northern Huanghuangzhou.
As the population of the Ming Dynasty in Huanghuangzhou continues to grow, the development of the entire Huanghuangzhou is also becoming larger and larger. One of the most important places is the Great Plains of North Huanghuangzhou.
The land here in the Great Plains is fertile, flat and open, and there is a large river that runs from north to south, bringing abundant water. At the same time, the moist moisture from Penglai Bay in the south can also stretch from south to north to the Arctic region.
Such unique natural conditions allowed the Great Plains area to gradually develop into another important granary of the Ming Empire.
Because the area of immigration here is vast and sparsely populated, from the beginning, like Liaodong, Hezhong, and Black Earth Provinces, the agricultural model of large-scale mechanized farming was developed.
Relying on the mechanized farming model, only a small number of farmers can cultivate a large amount of land with high efficiency and large output. At the beginning, because the food here could not be sold, everyone was not very enthusiastic about farming. Although there were
There is a lot of land, but people are still unwilling to farm.
Later, with the start of the Ming Dynasty's colonial activities in South Africa and the development of grain exports to Europe, farmers here gradually became willing to cultivate grain.
But in general, the current cultivated area here is still very small compared to the entire Great Plains. There is only a large amount of reclamation and planting in the southern part of the Great Plains. The central and northern areas are still vast wilderness, which is the grassland nomads who immigrated here.
Tribal pasture.
For people in Golden Continent, gold and adventure are their favorite things.
Here, stories of adventurers who became rich overnight are sung every moment.
As for farming, that is what women do.
That's right, here in Huangjinzhou, men never farm the land. All the farmers are women in the family.
The gentlemen here in Golden Continent basically yearn for adventure, looking for gold and silver, and now there is an additional oil. They are not just taking risks on the road to adventure.
Women are basically left to take care of things at home, including farming.
Generally speaking, the Ming Dynasty people here in Huangjinzhou, in addition to their main wives, often took concubines, and there were quite a few of them. They basically included concubines descended from the Yin Shang and white slave concubines purchased from Europe.
There are as few as four or five, as many as a dozen or dozens.
For the people of the Ming Dynasty, the cost of keeping concubines was very low, but the benefits were quite good. Not only could they give birth to children and keep their beds warm, but they also had more labor force at home.
Whether it's helping to take care of your family's property, or taking care of your family's manor, farming or other things are very good, and you can devote yourself wholeheartedly to the great undertaking of adventure.
At this moment, in the farmlands of the southern Great Plains, women are busy setting up pumps to pump water from rivers to irrigate the fields in their homes.
It has been too dry this year and there has been very little rain, but fortunately there is a river here with a lot of water in it. The water in the river can also be pumped up by pumps for irrigation.
"Sir, it's been very dry here this year. If it weren't for the water from the Xibe River, I'm afraid our fields in Northern Huanghuangzhou would have lost their harvest."
Zhong Bingxiu listened to the reports from the officials around him, and then looked at the great plain in front of him. The plain here was endless, very flat and open, and the river in front of him was comparable to the Yangtze River.
"If a dam is built on the Sibi River, a large area of land on both sides of the river can be easily irrigated."
Zhong Bingxiu looked at it carefully and said that he was the chief envoy of Northern Huanghuangzhou who had just been transferred from the mainland of Ming Dynasty. He was not very familiar with the situation of Huanghuangzhou.
"What you said makes perfect sense, sir. However, people here in Golden Continent are not very enthusiastic about farming. In fact, a large amount of land here has not been cultivated, and only a small amount of land has been cultivated."
"If there are a lot of fields on both sides of the Xibi River in the future, then a dam will definitely be built on the Xibi River, which can not only be used to generate electricity, but also be used to irrigate the fertile fields on both sides."
Beside Zhong Bingxiu, the officials under his command also said with a smile.
“Not very motivated to farm?”
"Agriculture is fundamental. If we don't cultivate the land, what will we eat?"
When Zhong Bingxiu heard this, he quickly asked. Looking at the vast fields in front of him, it seemed that a lot of land was planted, and various machines could be seen everywhere. The degree of mechanization was very high.
"Sir, if you take a closer look at the people working in the fields, you will know that in our Golden Continent, the big men do not farm, but the women in the family farm."
After hearing his subordinate's answer, Zhong Bingxiu picked up his telescope and looked carefully at the vast fields around him.
In this vast field, whether they are operating machines, carrying large bags, or wielding hoes, they are all women.
And after taking a closer look, Zhong Bingxiu soon discovered that these women were basically white, blond and blue-eyed women, and they were all very busy working. There was no Ming Dynasty man doing this at all.
Even though we could see some Ming Dynasty gentlemen, they were all lying comfortably under the trees, drinking tea and listening to the gramophone. They were very restrained and did not want to help the women in their families at all.
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The women in the family seem to have become accustomed to this. They do their own things and bring cakes, snacks and other things to their men from time to time.
"Sir, in our Golden Continent, all men go on adventures. Looking for gold, silver, and oil. Farming is not what men should do."
The officials under his command smiled and explained to Zhong Bingxiu that this was the custom of Huangjinzhou.
Farming does not make any money at all, that is, you can grow food for your own consumption and feed your livestock. The real money comes from taking risks and looking for gold, silver and oil.
Although there are many wealthy men who have worked hard all their lives without getting rich, this is the tradition of the Golden Continent. If you can't find gold, you can only go home and rely on women to support you.
