Spring has arrived again, but there is no spring flavor in Bianliang.
Since the Yuan Dynasty, Bianliang has not seen a drop of rain, and the whole Kaifeng Prefecture is like this.
At the same time, memorials from Jingzhao Mansion and Hebei Province were delivered to the court one after another, all with the same voice... There will be a severe drought this year!
There was still plenty of food last year, and it was not yet time for planting, but the danger of famine was already beginning to appear.
The farming season is approaching, but there is still no sign of rain.
First it was Kaifeng Mansion, then the husband in the court, and even Zhao Xi went to pray for rain, but God obviously didn't give the Crown Prince face, and there was still no rain star at all.
The barrel carts that were originally equipped on the river bank have been removed due to the flood season. At this time, there is no need to call the court, and the warden has already equipped the barrel carts along the river bank.
At the same time, they also worked overtime to build it and, in accordance with the court's instructions, sent it to Jingzhao and the prefectures and counties in Hebei Province.
He could see what later generations would call cumulonimbus clouds, but he could only watch them float away. Zhao Xi couldn't do artificial rainfall. Even if he knew that artificial rainfall was a solid nitrogen cannon, he didn't have the ability.
The whole court was filled with sad faces, even those who were waiting to die looked up at the sky and worried.
In fact, no one, no matter the emperor or his ministers, wants the current situation to be turbulent.
Throughout the dynasties, no matter how stupid the emperors were or how cunning their ministers, as long as the people kept their mouths shut, no one would want to rebel or bring trouble to the world.
Famine is often the root cause of civil unrest.
A large part of the three redundancies of the country, redundant troops and redundant expenses came from converting the refugees into Xiang troops, thus increasing the court's expenses.
Over the past year or so, His Highness the Crown Prince's several moves have finally allowed the imperial court to have a surplus of nearly 100,000 Xiang troops. This year I am afraid it will increase again.
At this time, those who came into contact with Duzhi in the court were already aware of some of His Highness’ actions, and the effects were remarkable.
It's a pity that this time the drought will return to the previous situation.
It's been a long time, and Zhao Xi didn't care about getting on track.
Nowadays, water transportation has not yet opened to navigation, and the price of rice in Bianliang has shown signs of rising. Zhao Xi has to focus on rail connection once again.
"When will the track be completed?"
Li Jie was called back. After meeting, they didn't even exchange greetings. Zhao Xi asked directly.
"Back to Your Highness, the trial operation can be completed by the end of April at the latest."
Li Jie has been busy with track laying and has been working on this line for a whole year.
Under the stimulation of money and food, those rotten people who had been slacking off suddenly burst out with unprecedented enthusiasm. Looking back now, there is no trace of what they were a year ago.
"Increase the reward! Try your best to complete it as soon as possible, it will be of great use!"
The original transportation team on Chengdu Fulu Road has never stopped transporting copper and iron ore, which is more than enough for the new Qianjian.
Li Jie didn't understand what His Highness the Crown Prince meant, and he might have sensed His Highness's anxiety.
He almost didn't stop in Bianliang, and didn't even go back to Guancheng, he just went back.
"Uncle Hui, inform the Chengdu transportation team that from now on, half of the personnel will be allocated to transport grain..."
"Zhongzheng, Li Xian, you two will go to Dali, and with my handwriting, we will cross Guangnan from Dali to Annan."
"Tell that Mr. Li Shizun that I need food. And tell him that I can buy it with new coins or exchange it with the classics of the state and dynasty."
I heard that Li Rizun attaches great importance to culture and education. It's very good. We just take what's good and exchange it for some of the food that grows wild in them.
"Your Highness, there have been two consecutive years of good harvests. Changpingcang should be well stocked now, and there should be no need for food shortages."
Zhao Xi's arrangement was obviously due to the lack of food.
Lu Gongzhu felt that this was not the case. Not to mention that the water transportation was about to start, even if it was delayed, there would be no possibility of food shortage in Bianliang.
"Uncle Hui, there is a severe drought in Beijing and a severe drought in Hebei. When the time comes, refugees will flock to Bianliang. This is not the most terrible thing. The most terrible thing is the merchants."
"Once refugees come one after another, what people will see at that time is not how many reserves Chang Pingcang has, nor whether the court can cope with the crisis, but the terrible human heart."
"The greed of merchants, the gathering of refugees, and the fact that grain merchants are raising the price of rice day by day... these will even affect the judgment of the princes in the court, so they will not dare to sell the grain in Changpingcang easily."
"The convergence of many factors is likely to lead to a vicious cycle. Merchants hoard, grain dealers increase prices, people loot, refugees cause chaos, the court tightens, etc. Ultimately, the court has to continue to follow the old practice and convert refugees into Xiang troops."
"At the same time, it is very likely that families that have been relatively prosperous for many years will return to a state of poverty due to this famine."
"This behavior is not intended to make money. Even if it means losing some money, the situation must be stabilized. Of course, if someone intends to cause chaos..."
Zhao Xi did not continue.
If someone wanted to cause trouble, he really didn't mind having a good time.
This is also the reason for making many arrangements.
"Your Highness, you can choose sea transportation."
"It is said that grain is not sold for thousands of miles. The breakthrough of this convention is to form its own transportation team. Just like the imperial court maintains water transport personnel."
"Without our own shipping team, the gain outweighs the loss by trafficking grain from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Annan to Jingdong Road."
What Zhao Xi said can be justified.
In fact, he had other ideas. First, he wanted to avoid all traditional transportation routes, thereby confusing merchants' judgment on grain reserves.
Just like what was done with the new currency in the past, it was used to withdraw funds and teach the businessmen who did not know how to survive or die.
Secondly, he wants to take advantage of this food crisis to bring rail transportation to the forefront, so that the court can see the prospects of rail transportation, thereby guiding the money and goods buried underground in the country to revive.
No one has a grudge against money, and the emergence of rail transport capacity will inevitably guide spare money to invest in rail.
In this way, it can not only continue to solve the problem of converting the Xiang army into civilians, but also promote the construction of the transportation network of the country and the dynasty, and even promote coal mining and steel smelting.
Sometimes people are mean and ask others to do something, and they think it is a trap.
Perhaps it was inertial thinking, or maybe it was a gap in knowledge. When Zhao Xi was laying the track, no one except the Six Family was involved.
In their eyes, only shipping is a transportation method that saves money and has amazing transportation capacity.
Zhao Xi sometimes doubts that God really cares for him. He has been thinking about how to make rail transportation visible to the world, but there is a severe drought this year...
I really can't thank the famine, even if I really have the slightest thought of being grateful for this drought.
The letters written by Lu Gong, including Su Song and others, were taken away by Wang Zhongzheng and Li Xianyi.
Zhao Xi is still planning to do this operation privately.
If it were agreed upon in the court, it would take a long time to talk about it. The key is the confidentiality of the court. Zhao Xi really couldn't believe it.
From an emperor's point of view, this matter should indeed be led by the imperial court. However, the current imperial court is likely to have refugees from Hebei and Jingzhao Prefecture, and it is still unable to decide on specific measures.
The key point is that Zhao Xi feels that he should teach those businessmen a lesson and withdraw some funds.