As the saying goes, happy things flash by, but unhappiness will always be with you in your heart.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Liu Mingqi made a big splash and made King Shou famous. Emperor Jinghe also felt a lot of happiness.

First of all, several scholars from Shouwang resigned, claiming that they could not help but teach Shouwang, who was proficient in saints' articles.

Of course the emperor hurriedly tried to keep him.

He knew what this "saint disciple" came from.

It was pulled out by a whip!

Regarding the real knowledge of various piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, Shouwang is still very lacking.

If these teachers don’t teach him, Shouwang would probably be in panic about being fully educated by Liu Mingqi and shouting for help.

It is still necessary to relax and unwind children's education.

But immediately the huge pressure came.

Heavy snow disaster!

Super heavy snow disaster!

By the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the snowstorms in the six provinces continued and became increasingly intense.

The news was summarized through Feige's letters, and the court finally confirmed the fact of heavy snow disaster in six provinces.

Even in the modern world, heavy snow disasters will cause huge social problems, let alone in ancient times.

Originally, most of the imperial officials would have rested until after the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, but at this time they had to come to pay the tax and discuss how to provide disaster relief.

Fortunately, the silver in Emperor Jing He's hand had increased by 15 million taels. Everyone was still very happy about such a big fortune, at least they were much more at ease.

The most important thing in disaster relief is food, just like when disasters come to a major disaster in later generations, it will inevitably be transported to the disaster area with tens of millions of instant noodles.

As long as people have something to eat, most of their emotions can be controlled.

For example, in the Ming Dynasty, Shaanxi has been suffering from bandits and has been struggling for decades. Isn’t it just because there is no food to eat?

Try to give each person a hundred kilograms of food, and they will be able to hold on immediately.

Unfortunately, I had no food, no money, no good deeds, no good deeds, and had no luck in the Ming Dynasty. I also met an emperor who was frantically struggling, and then I sang a sad and cold song.

What the Dakang court did very well was that as early as late December, it had already rushed to Jiangnan with a crazy six hundred miles, and he spared no effort to drive the decree to Jiangnan Governor Liu Renhuai.

Although the message is transmitted by a carrier pigeon, the official orders and decrees issued by the court have always been conveyed by the post station.

Because this is formal, it is not easy to have accidents, and it is even less likely to be confused by those who are interested.

Otherwise, if someone uses flying pigeons to pass letters to local officials in the name of the court, and makes profits for themselves, so what's the difference?

There may be people who dare to attack the messengers at the post station, but is it possible that you ask them to forge a court document or an imperial edict?

These are all special papers and have strict seals to prove that it is almost impossible among the people to achieve such good craftsmanship.

With a speed of 600 miles, the imperial edict was constantly being passed on, and he could run from the capital to Hangzhou and arrive at the Governor's Office in Jiangnan in five days.

At this time, Liu Renhuai should have been actively preparing food and transported to the four nearby provinces.

The east of Zhejiang is Anhui and Jiangxi, and the east of these two provinces is Hunan and Hubei. These four provinces, plus the Jingji area, are the abdomen of Dakang.

Transporting grain from Zhejiang to these four provinces is obviously the most cost-effective.

If there is waterway, you can first reach the Gyeonggi area through the Grand Canal, and then go directly to Hubei from the Gyeonggi area to the south. This is faster than going from Zhejiang to Hubei.

But now is the beginning of the first lunar month, and the Grand Canal is in a dry season, and transportation is basically stagnant, which is not as fast as land.

Moreover, Zhejiang and Jiangsu were not affected at all, and the roads were very smooth, making it the most suitable as the main road artery for disaster relief.

Speaking of which, in this year, the busiest person in the whole world must be the emperor.

But the second place was not Prime Minister Cao Yi, nor Miao Yan, the prefect of the Imperial Capital, who was busy, but Liu Renhuai, the governor of Jiangnan.

The position of Governor of Jiangnan has many responsibilities and faces a lot of environment.

Otherwise, there would be no saying that "the successful Governor of Jiangnan must be the cabinet master."

It is more than enough to be a deputy prime minister in Jiangnan.

Liu Renhuai not only managed Jiangnan in an orderly manner, but also did not be vague about disaster relief.

From the flood in Yunmengze, Hubei in March and April, to the locust plague in July and August, to the heavy snow disaster now, every time, Liu Renhuai actively raises money and grain in Jiangnan and transports it to these areas to ensure the cost of the victims.

Well, I said it was not good to pay.

It should be for them to save their lives.

Being able to keep the lowest-level people alive in the years of great disasters is such a great merit in ancient times.

Liu Renhuai's most beautiful transaction before was to exchange 10 million stones of old grain in Jiangnan for 50 million stones of bran and transport them to various disaster areas.

This is really life-saving food.

Until the time when the prince left the Lianghu area, there were still two or three million stones of bran available in the two provinces.

Now that we are facing emergency disasters, these two to three million stone brans have really played a huge role.

Two times before, Liu Renhuai effectively supported disaster relief with extremely high means and rapid efficiency. Not only was the emperor very satisfied with him, but several ministers also praised him.

If there is no accident, Liu Renhuai will enter the cabinet directly in one or two years at most, becoming the new deputy prime minister. This probability is higher than that of the Gyeonggi Governor Xiong Wenqing.

Now it is time to test Liu Renhuai again. The emperor is very confident in him and knows that he will do his best to ensure the disaster relief work in the four provinces.

So, there are still two provinces left, which are beyond the reach of the Jiangnan region and must be managed by the court himself.

Sichuan.

Xikang.

Both provinces are in the Sichuan Basin, and except for a few roads, they are basically isolated from the outside world.

This situation is the most troublesome. Once a major disaster occurs, it will be too late to rescue it.

But as mentioned above, Sichuan is the granary of the three southwestern provinces, and Xikang is related to the security of the core area of ​​the empire and cannot be left alone.

"As of November last year, after Sichuan's new grain was put into storage, the data reported was 18.75 million stones of grain stored." Wang Feitenghui, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, reported: "Considering that Guizhou itself also has a certain grain harvest, so at least before April, there is no need to allocate grain to Guizhou.

Then there are only two provinces in Sichuan and Xikang. Generally speaking, if you use the grain storage, you can still support this year."

"no."

Prime Minister Cao Yi directly denied it, "Sichuan's grain storage is related to the three southwestern provinces and the security of the Gyeonggi area. At least five million stones of grain storage must be maintained for the most difficult time. Now is obviously not the most difficult time, so we must actively transport grain from outside."

"But I can't send it for the time being." Wang Feiteng smiled bitterly, "Feige came to Shaanxi yesterday to send letters. They wanted to send honeycomb coal and honeycomb coal stoves from the plank road three times in a row, but they were hindered by heavy wind and snow."

"Actually, there is no need to be nervous." Nangong Ji here suggested, "Last year, our bran porridge method was very good. There were countless landlords in Sichuan and many fertile land. They must have a lot of stored grain and bran. Let's let Sichuan exchange stored grain for three times the bran and transport it to Xikang Province first, otherwise Sichuan can still hold on, so they won't do it."

It is very good that a province in Sichuan can save 18.75 million stones of grain.

But when you consider that these grains are for use in Sichuan, Xikang and Guizhou provinces, you will immediately feel that they are not that much.

Xikang is really one of the poorest places in Dakang. Except for some areas in Ya'an, there is almost no grain output.

If Sichuan hadn't transported them a batch of food every three months, the garrisons there would be no way to live, whether it was the ordinary people.

Some people say that since Xikang is not suitable for people to grow food, but has military needs, it is better to just build checkpoints and guards. Why do civilians still have to live there and waste food in vain?

First, where people live is naturally formed over the past thousands of years. If you want to let more than two million people in Xikang come out and live in Sichuan, they will definitely not want to.

Then the second reason is that even if they come out, Sichuan people are willing to do it? Are they willing to let them occupy their own land? It’s impossible!

For the last reason, the court also hoped that places like Xikang would be a little popular, so as to be an active supplement to the border army. Otherwise, only the border army would be there, and it would be easy to live without a fireworks - because there was no smell of fireworks at all.

Besides, most of the personnel of the border army have to be selected on the spot.

If you choose Sichuan people to go to the Xikang border to fight, even if Sichuan people are good at fighting, they may not be so desperate, right?

It would be different if Xikang people came to defend the city by themselves.

Behind are my wife, children, parents, and my brothers and sisters. Can I retreat? Do I dare to retreat?

So this is also why Liaoning, the three northwestern provinces, must have a population.

Therefore, at least one-third of the more than 2 million people in Xikang Province are family members of border soldiers, and they all eat their military rations.

The man worked hard outside to guard the border, but you didn't even feed my family. What would you think about the border army?

The world has been suffering for a long time!

Maybe they colluded with Tubo or Uighur tribes and turned against each other.

Therefore, no matter how hard the imperial court has been in the past few years, it has never transferred a grain of Sichuan.

Just as the locust plague in the two lakes was so severe and tragic last year, the court also mobilized grain from Jiangnan to seek far away.

Now it is Sichuan's turn to be affected by the disaster, so naturally we have to do our best to help.

Nangong Ji's statement was approved by the general direction of the ministers present.

However, Feng Yuqiang, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, had different details: "Bran bran must be exchanged, but it must not be all bran bran when transported to the border areas. The soldiers will feel disappointed... Half the grain and half bran!"

"Well, I agree with Lord Feng's words." Deputy Prime Minister Ma Haoqiu said: "The more you are, the more you need to soothe their panic. Just relying on bran can only save your life. Where can you fight?"

Look!
To be continued...