It has been raining continuously for more than half a month. Today, the clouds finally cleared and the rain stopped. It was rare for people to see the red sun.
The sun shines on the city wall, and the water stains on the wall are gradually evaporated and dried.
A horse was riding fast on the road, coming from north to south.
The city gate official standing on the city gate tower had already seen this fast horse and was sneering and preparing to teach him a lesson. In the capital city, no matter whether you are a wealthy businessman or a prince or minister, it is a serious crime to break through the city gate!
He was about to give the order to stop the fast horse when he suddenly saw a flag flying on the horse's back. His face suddenly changed, and he shouted loudly: "Everyone disperse, let the fast horses enter the city!"
At this moment, the people on horseback also shouted loudly: "Urgent military information, urgent for eight hundred miles... Urgent military information, urgent for eight hundred miles..."
When the officers, soldiers and people at the city gate heard this, they immediately dispersed to both sides, leaving a wide passage for the fast horses.
The speed of the horse did not slow down at all, and in just a few breaths, it rushed through the city gate and rushed towards the palace.
The people on the spot were still watching the fast horses galloping away. As time went by, the people did not realize what happened.
Only the city gate official stood on the tower, watching closely as the horse galloped towards the palace. His heart couldn't help but sink, and a bad premonition suddenly emerged from the bottom of his heart.
...
Han Du had just stepped into the front door of his home, and after walking a few steps, he heard a movement behind him.
His footsteps stopped abruptly, and when he turned around, he saw a eunuch walking quickly and said, "Master Marquis, the Emperor has a decree to summon you to the Wenhua Palace to discuss matters."
When Han Du heard this, his expression suddenly changed. Zhu Biao rarely summoned him in the Wenhua Hall. What on earth happened?
After lowering his head and pondering for a moment, Han Du made a move, and a stack of treasure notes appeared in his hand, and he quietly stuffed it into the eunuch's palm: "May I ask, why did the emperor summon me?"
But the eunuch resolutely tried to push Han Du's treasure back, and said with a wry smile: "Master Marquis, this servant really doesn't know, you'd better take it back!"
Han Du insisted on putting the treasure banknote into the eunuch's palm and said loudly: "I gave it away, when did you see me take it back? Take it, it's not easy for you to make this trip."
The eunuch secretly squeezed a handful and felt that there was a thick stack of treasure notes, almost dozens in number. He wanted to refuse, but he was a little reluctant. A lowly eunuch like him would not be able to earn such money in several years.
Even if the edict is conveyed as it is now, not everyone will be as generous as Zhenhai Hou.
After thinking for a moment, he gritted his teeth and nodded, saying, "Thank you so much, Lord Marquis."
When Han Du walked into the Wenhua Hall, he saw that it was already full of people.
Zhu Biao was sitting in the top position, with six brocade piers placed, just like sitting in rows to divide fruits.
And this is indeed the case. The people sitting on the other five golden piers are all ministers of various ministries.
Han Du hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: "Your Majesty, Han Du, pays homage to the Emperor."
"Han Du is here, no courtesy, sit down quickly!" Zhu Biao smiled and stretched out his hand to signal.
Just these words and actions of Zhu Biao made the five ministers below suddenly have different expressions.
The expressions of Bao Zhao, the Minister of Punishment, and Chen Di, the Minister of Rites, did not change at all, as if the matter had nothing to do with them. The expressions of Qi Tai, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and Zhang Yan, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, suddenly became gloomy. When they looked at each other, they could see the resentment towards Han Du in each other's eyes.
Zheng Ci, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, saw the changes in the expressions of Qi Tai and Zhang Yan, and couldn't help but glance at Han Du, with a hint of worry in his eyes.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Han Du sat down as he was told.
Seeing that everyone was here, Zhu Biao's face gradually became serious.
Han Du noticed something was wrong, so he quickly asked: "Your Majesty, what happened?"
Han Du's doubts are also the doubts of all ministers.
This is the first time that six ministers have been summoned to discuss matters since the emperor ruled the world.
Facing everyone who was looking at him, Zhu Biao took out
A memorial was handed to Han Du and said in a serious tone: "Half a month ago, Daning was attacked by the Tatars. Although the loss of personnel was not large, the Daning warehouse was looted."
No one else listened and had no reaction. Only Han Du's expression suddenly changed.
Qitai is the Minister of War, and the attack on Daning by the Tatars was obviously a military matter. He took it for granted that he, the Minister of War, should speak.
"May I ask Your Majesty, what are the things stored in the Daning warehouse? Are there any ordnance? If there are ordnance, it will be a big trouble."
"There are no weapons."
"Ah... it's fine if we don't have weapons, nothing big will happen." Qitai looked like God was holding him in his arms, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. As long as there is no problem with the ordnance, he can continue to sit in the position of Minister of War with peace of mind.
Zhu Biao glanced at Qi Tai and said, "But Daningcang has 600,000 shi of soybeans and about 100,000 shi of grain."
Qi Tai felt a little guilty when the emperor saw him, and couldn't help but ask: "How come there are so many beans and grains?"
Han Du knew exactly what was going on.
After Naha was pacified, I set up a guard station in Liaodong, preparing to take this black land into my pocket. But the people here are very complicated. There are not only Han people who have surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty, but also Mongolian people who have just surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.
Originally, Lao Zhu planned to set up a garrison to control the Liaodong area militarily, and did not plan to develop it. But Han Du was reluctant to part with this fertile black land, so he told Lao Zhu to open up wasteland and cultivate land in Liaodong.
Lao Zhu agreed, but he was afraid that with the fertility of the black land, this place would quickly become a place with a high yield of food. After all, Liaodong is too far from the capital. Once the food here is obtained by the residual Yuan forces, it will be a great threat to the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Han Du proposed to plant soybeans in Liaodong, so that local people could exchange soybeans for the food and material supplies of the Ming Dynasty.
Although soybeans can be made into delicious tofu, it requires certain skills. However, the Meng Yuan tribe did not master this technology.
In addition, although soybeans can also be eaten directly after being fried, they can even temporarily replace grains. But there is a huge difference between them and grains, that is, although soybeans are rich in protein and a variety of essential amino acids, they contain almost no digestible starch.
In other words, soybeans can replace meat, but they cannot replace grain.
Perhaps when food is plentiful, soybeans can be used as a miscellaneous grain to reduce people's absorption of starch and sugar to achieve the purpose of losing weight. But when people are generally hungry, if they only eat soybeans without rice and flour, if they eat too many soybeans in their stomach, they will be bloated to death.
Therefore, soybeans are valuable to the people of the Ming Dynasty, but they are of little significance to the people of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty.
Zhu Biao's face was a little gloomy, and he looked at Qi Tai coldly: "The beans are the harvest of the three guards of Liaodong this year. As for the grain, they are going to be used to exchange beans with the people of Liaodong."
Chen Di suddenly said: "Your Majesty, does that mean that the people in Liaodong have not received food this year?"
Zhu Biao took a deep breath and seemed to acquiesce. After a moment, he nodded and said, "That's right."
Chen Di immediately raised his voice and said: "The court needs to prepare quickly and transport another 100,000 shi of food there as soon as possible. Otherwise, once the snowstorm closes the mountain, the food will not be transported."
If the people in Liaodong have no food, how will they survive this winter? Basically there is no way to get through it.
At the beginning, in order to avoid rebellion in Liaodong, Handu directly banned the cultivation of food there, and could only grow soybeans. Use soybeans to exchange grain with Ming Dynasty. If the people now have no food to eat, they will definitely rebel!
Han Du pondered for a moment, then raised his head and said, "If we transport food from Peiping, it will be more than a thousand miles away. Even if we start to collect food now, I'm afraid it will be too late by the time we get ready to set off. I think it's better to leave. Let's go by sea. The navy will transport the grain to Liaodong. Even if it starts from the capital, half a month is enough.
. "
Beiping's food supply relies on the land in the south of the Yangtze River, and there is not much food in stock. If one hundred thousand dan is transferred, it may be necessary to drain Beiping's food supply.
Therefore, food must be requisitioned from around Peiping.
But this will inevitably waste a lot of time.
You must know that the people of Liaodong cannot afford to delay. The food they have is carefully calculated by the court every year. Now they only have about one month's rations at most. If they requisition food from Peiping, it will obviously be too late.
Moreover, the Tatars raided Daningcang, and this news would inevitably reach the ears of the people in Liaodong soon. They didn't know whether the imperial court would send them food again, so they naturally became panicked.
If someone spreads some rumors at this time, the mentality of the people in Liaodong may be shattered in one blow.
But it is different if grain is mobilized from the capital. There are more than a dozen granaries in the capital, and the grain stored reaches millions of dan. This is to cope with the grain famines in various parts of the Ming Dynasty.
Mobilizing a mere 100,000 shi, it’s just a drizzle.
"According to what Han Du said, the Ministry of Revenue will immediately send 100,000 shi of grain and be escorted by the navy to Liaodong." This was the best and only way, and Zhu Biao issued the order without hesitation.
It's not that Chen Di didn't know that shipping could be done by sea, but he had always had a grudge against the sea. Therefore, he subconsciously excludes shipping. Now that he saw the emperor's decree and knew that shipping had penetrated into the emperor's heart, he could only sigh silently and suddenly became silent.
After taking care of the food rations for the people in Liaodong, Zhu Biao felt better and asked: "Then let's talk about why the Tatar tribe attacked Daningcang."
Seeing that Han Du's impressive performance just now, Qi Tai didn't want Han Du to be in the limelight again, so he spoke before Han Du: "Your Majesty, could it be that the Tatars mistakenly thought that Daningcang was the stored grain?"
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