Chapter 273 Military food helps the people and stabilizes the rear
At this time, the Yellow River diverted the Huai River to flow into the sea, and its outlet was in the East China Sea. This was the first time since the Hongzhi period that Huanglinggang was built and the Huai River was used to receive the entire Yellow River water. This was also the fifth major change of the Yellow River's course, and it entered the sea near Binhai in later generations.
"With this division, the smaller half of Huai'an Prefecture will be included in Haizhou Prefecture."
"I feel that if the Xuhai Sea is also included in Jiangsu, the distance from Songjiang in the south to Xuzhou in the north is more than a thousand miles. The Yangtze River and the Yellow River are too narrow. And if we add the sea north of Huai'an It would be better if Xuzhou and Haizhou were allocated to Anhui. In this way, Anhui would still have the outlet of the Yellow River and a coast."
Zhu Yihai smiled. If we really want to say that it is narrow and long, then if Xuzhou is assigned to Anhui, it will be a full 1,500 miles from Wuyuan in the southwest of Anhui to Xuzhou in the north.
However, he agrees with giving Anhui an outlet to the sea. It would be good to give the Yangtze River estuary to Jiangsu, and the Yellow River estuary to Anhui.
"Okay, then Xu Hai will be included in Anhui, and Huaiyang will be included in Jiangsu."
"Shen Youlong was appointed governor and governor of Jiangsu, governor of Wu Yi's water transportation, Huang Daozhou governor and governor of Anhui, Wang Yongzuo, the former governor of Su Song, was changed to governor of Southern Jiangxi, and governor of Huaiyang was changed to Hubu."
"Chief Assistant, you and the cabinet will sort out the patrols and patrols in each province as soon as possible, select and appoint officers to each department, and arrange for suitable officials to take office in each department."
After walking around the main island of Zhoushan and looking at the artillery factories, gunpowder factories, silk weaving factories, shipyards, armor factories, iron smelting factories, etc. that were under construction one after another, Zhu Yihai was very satisfied.
He even made a special trip to the fields. The Mid-Autumn Festival had passed by now, and the late rice in the fields had already been dyed golden. It would not take long for the autumn harvest to be harvested.
"After the late rice is harvested, you can plant some radishes or rapeseed."
On the corners of some hillsides, many sweet potatoes and potatoes are planted. These crops from the Americas have saved countless lives due to their drought tolerance and high yield. They are also very good for raising pigs and cattle and horses.
They do not occupy arable land and require little water. These crops are very good and are now being vigorously promoted.
At the port, fishing boats return to the port, fully loaded with fishing goods.
There is a strong smell of fish in the port, and fish and shrimps can be seen everywhere. Fish are dried and salted everywhere, and there are large nets for drying.
Full of life.
"Nowadays, a large number of people are pouring into the Zhoushan Islands. Is there enough food? What is the price of food?"
"Polished rice now costs three liang of silver and one stone, but brown rice is much cheaper, and wheat sorghum is even cheaper. At present, Zhoushan has sufficient grain supply, and the price of grain is still gradually falling. When the autumn grain harvest is completed, it is expected to drop to 20 taels. One stone, or even less.”
Three-two-six-yuan grain was extremely expensive, and Zhu Yihai also knew that he had no choice. After all, it was wartime, and there was another drought this year. With the combination of natural disasters and military disasters, grain prices would inevitably rise sharply.
However, there are also some human factors involved, such as grain merchants deliberately hoarding and raising prices.
"We started sorting out local debts, didn't we fine a lot of grain from the landlords? Why are grain prices so high?" Zhu Yihai frowned.
The tax rectification that started in Yanzhou has spread to eight prefectures in eastern Zhejiang, and even a wave of tax collection was also carried out in Hangzhou and other places in western Zhejiang, and a lot of grain was obtained.
"It is true that a lot of food has been cleared, but we are currently storing all this food in military warehouses in various places and earmarking it for the exclusive use of the army to ensure military food and supply the needs of the war. We dare not touch it lightly."
Zhu Yihai frowned again.
"Is this a lot of food?"
"It can guarantee military supplies and officials' lumi, and there are also some reserves."
"Gu Ye knows that everyone wants to give priority to ensuring military supplies, but under the current circumstances, we cannot sit back and watch the people starve without caring. How many people can afford to eat rice that costs three taels of silver and one stone?
Even if you add wild vegetables and grains, you won't be able to survive without rice.
This food is taken from the people, and must also be used for the people. The landlords and gentry were already very dissatisfied when they were asked to pay back. If we cannot provide this food to the people now, then there will be resentment on both sides, and civil strife will break out.
, then we will be in trouble." Zhu Yihai said decisively, "Immediately transfer a batch of grain from the military warehouses in various places to supply it to the people."
"Your Highness, given the current situation, even the food in the military warehouse cannot meet the needs of the people."
"Do it first, and of course you have to pay attention to the method. I would like to make a few suggestions. First, the food from the military warehouse should be supplied to the people nearby, but it cannot be directly put on the market or distributed. Instead, it should be supplied in limited quantities. For example, each household should sell the food in a limited amount, one at a time.
We only sell three to five days' worth of grain, and we can even charge no money for this grain at first, record it in the account, and wait until the autumn harvest to pay back the grain. It would be good to pay back two liters more when one bucket comes, or we can wait until things get better next year before paying it back."
If you sell grain directly, it may be bought by grain merchants and then hoarded without selling it, so this precious grain must be distributed carefully.
"While ensuring military supplies, the grain in the warehouse should be used as much as possible to help the people tide over the current difficulties."
Although the autumn harvest is about to begin, no one can last more than three or five days without food in their belly. Moreover, given the current situation, not everyone can harvest food from planting.
There are a large number of unemployed people in Jiangnan, engaged in manufacturing and other industries, and they all rely on buying food.
"For those grain merchants, we cannot blindly suppress them, we must allow them to increase prices."
Song Zhipu was a little confused. The profiteers took the opportunity to drive up the price of food. Why were they allowed to increase the price?
"Because if we force them to sell grain at low prices, no more merchants will ship grain, because it will be unprofitable and they will even lose money."
"So what we have to do is not to forcibly suppress food prices, but to start from other aspects, such as prohibiting food from various places from leaving the areas under our control. East Zhejiang is the front line, then encourage Fujian and Guangdong and Guangxi in the rear to transport food, and encourage businessmen
Transporting grain from the north to the south, as long as they are willing to transport grain, they will not be afraid of selling it at a high price."
"But there is one thing. When the grain arrives, it can be sold at a high price, but it must be sold, not hoarded without selling."
"In areas where food is scarce, the outflow of food must be strictly prohibited, and landlords must be prohibited from hoarding food without selling it."
The food needs to be circulated instead of piled up in warehouses.
No matter how expensive you sell it, it is only due to the relationship between market supply and demand. It cannot be infinitely expensive. The more expensive it is, the greater the profit will be, so more grain merchants will bring in grain, and grain prices will fall back.
On the other hand, no matter how expensive food is, it is still food. At critical times, gold and silver are dead, but food can survive.
During the siege, one liter of grain could sometimes be sold for more than ten taels of gold. Isn't that why?
If the government forcibly prohibits food price increases, it will be a disservice, because this is a mistake that the government has made after major disasters in the past. Forcibly suppressing food price increases in disaster areas, as a result, no grain merchants will be able to bring food in, and the court alone will sometimes often
The required amount of food could not be achieved, thus exacerbating the food shortage.
Many smart officials have discovered this rule long ago.
For example, someone has actually done research and found that many times when food prices rise, it is not really a shortage of food, or it is not a shortage to that extent. It is just that some people are hoarding and not selling or restricting sales.
Therefore, to deal with high grain prices, there are no more than two methods, one is to increase the input supply of grain, and the other is to supply local grain stocks.
The current situation in eastern Zhejiang is not bad. At least it has not suffered too much war. Compared with Guanshan, Henan and other places, it is much better. When there is a famine in those places, you can't find any grass and can only eat dirt.
, and here in eastern Zhejiang, it’s just a matter of price.
The Lu Jianguo court now has a lot of money and grain in its hands. The supply of military supplies must be given priority, but the people must also be taken into consideration. Otherwise, if a peasant uprising breaks out in the rear due to famine, it will be a slap in the face and threaten the foundation.