Weng Tonghe was sent away to think about his mistakes behind closed doors, but the affairs of Yangxin Palace still had to be dealt with. Problems did not wait for anyone, and disasters were devouring lives every day.
Emperor Tongzhi took several deep breaths to suppress his emotions. He asked in a hoarse voice, "It's such a big thing. Let's put aside who should be held responsible. The plan for now is how to provide disaster relief and how to solve this emergency." Disaster!"
"If we can't find a way out today, none of you will be able to leave. You'll just starve to death here!"
People stared at each other, hesitating. It wasn't that they had nothing to say, but that the conflict just made them hesitate. When Zai Chun saw this attitude, he became even more angry: "Chengzhi! What are you doing with your wink? Stand up!"
"You are also the prince of the Qing Dynasty. Don't you have anything to say when the country is in crisis?"
Chengzhi trembled in fear and stood up, knowing that he couldn't hide. He blinked and said, "This... this slave is thinking about it... it's better to stabilize people's hearts first..."
"If the imperial court... allocates another eight million in cash to support the market tomorrow, I think the stock market will definitely improve!"
"Nonsense!" Prince Dun saw that Zai Chun was about to go crazy, so he quickly scolded him in advance, "Prince Zheng, are you crazy about money? Do you still want to make money in the stock market at this time?"
"Nowadays, all the problems of the country are disaster relief. Whether it is a snow disaster or a rat plague, the key is food. With food, the people can be stable... When the people are stable, the stock market will naturally bottom out and rebound!"
"Do you still want that index at this time? I suggest that your Majesty temporarily close the stock market trading and let the market inside and outside calm down..."
Zai Chun looked at Chengzhi as disgusted as if he had seen a puddle of stinky dog poop, but no matter how stinky the puddle of stinky dog poop was, he was still a member of the royal family. He gritted his molars and said, "Prince Zheng... you have made enough money in the stock market." Yes! You've escaped half the time in the past two days, and you've all been able to cash in on your high position!"
"The disaster is so serious now...don't you know how to share the worries of the country and the dynasty?"
ah! Chengzhi's knees went weak and he knelt down and cried, "Your Majesty... I really don't have much money left! That bitch Qin Er sold a batch of stocks, but everyone else escaped. I don't know where the deposit certificate is." ?”
"Long live my mercy, my family has no food left!"
"You fart!" Zai Chun yelled, "You Chengzhi followed my reform cause step by step, how many millions have you made? Tell me, how many millions have you made?"
"The more than 4 million in the stock market were all earned from my business, right? Otherwise, you would still be here today!"
"It's really hard to satisfy my desires... Five hundred thousand taels! I know you can get it, so today I will force you, the royal relatives, to serve the Qing Dynasty!"
"Is there anyone in the world who can always take advantage without suffering a loss? You pledge 500,000 taels, and the rest of the royal family, based on their high status, will use this standard as the axis and donate money themselves!"
"No one can do it if he doesn't donate. If he doesn't donate, he will be locked in the Ancestral Temple and let you go and complain about poverty to your ancestors!"
"This big ship of the Qing Dynasty belongs to everyone! If it sinks, it will be of no benefit to anyone. Please donate money to me... No one can escape!"
All the royal family present were about to cry. Chengzhi was blackmailed for 500,000 yuan. Where were the other princes? Prince Lao Li has a high seniority, so why should he get 600,000?
Prince Dun is the emperor's fifth uncle. He is his biological uncle, so he should donate more!
Where is King Yu? Where is Prince Su? And where are the Belles and Beizi from so many royal families? If everyone is forced to donate money, how much money will be collected?
Prince Dun stood up without any hesitation, "Your Majesty... I gave you a batch of stocks, plus the cash at home, the total is more than one million. I donated an integer, one million, and the remaining tens of thousands taels are enough for porridge." !”
"Fifth Uncle..." In the past half day, Zai Chun felt a little warmth from Fifth Uncle, which was a few kind words.
Zai Chun sighed, "You... all study hard... After all, the Qing Dynasty still belongs to us Manchus. We have weathered the difficulties well. Now that the court has money, will you not have any money to spend in the future?"
"How much profit will there be in the industrial reform of the imperial court in the future? Your contribution will be paid back tenfold and a hundredfold sooner or later! Is it so hard to give up good money?"
Prince Lao Li lamented, "I... I still have 700,000 yuan in my family. If you want it, long live the Lord, take it..."
"I have 400,000 yuan in hand...I donated 350,000 yuan..."
If we don't pluck out some hair and draw some blood today, no one will be able to go home. It took these people in the palace just a short time to collect 3.6 million taels of silver.
Almost everyone is bleeding, and everyone is distressed by the trembling liver! But I didn't dare to show it at all.
After Zai Chun extorted 3.6 million taels of silver, he was in a much better mood. "Discuss! Continue to discuss!"
Prince Dun said, "Take away the grain from the Gyeonggi area and transport it south for disaster relief! This is something that cannot be avoided. Now it depends on how much food is left in the Gyeonggi area!"
Master Baojun stood up and said, "The thirteen warehouses of the capital, Lumi warehouse, Nanxin warehouse, old Taicang, Haiyun warehouse, Beixin warehouse, Fuxin warehouse, Xingping warehouse, Taiping warehouse, Chuji warehouse, Benyu warehouse, Fenggai warehouse, etc." Eleven warehouses; there are two warehouses, Zhongcang and Xicang, in Tongzhou. They are collectively called the Jingtong Thirteen Warehouses. The grain transported to the capital from each province is stored in each warehouse according to type or storage purpose. White grains are specially supplied to the inner government and princes. , hundreds of officials, etc. are fed, and the grain is generally used to distribute the Eight Banners official salary, rice, and horse feed."
"The capital's grain is mainly shipped from the south of the Yangtze River and the two lakes. It takes the Grand Canal. There are grain ships transporting it almost every day to ensure continuous supply. Generally speaking, our warehouse grain is not used, and most of the old ones are exchanged for new ones..."
"The main thing is to store food for three months, because there is a three-month freezing period in winter, and the Grand Canal is impassable and we have to go overland!"
"It's now March, and only half of the grain in the warehouse is left, and the new grain is not mature yet. Now we can only rely on the canal to mobilize the grain stocks from various provinces to Beijing, and it will take time..."
"Zhili, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong...the four provinces are suffering from famine. We can't count on the food reserves here, so we can only allocate them from farther south!"
"It's really not enough! I preliminary estimate that the capital can barely squeeze 200,000 shi, which is more than 10,000 foreign tons... This is the limit, and I have to go check the warehouse after I retire from the court..."
It's hard to say what comes next. Everyone knows that there are 'rats' in many official warehouses of the imperial court. Corruption is rampant. God knows whether the accounts of the warehouses are true.
"Only...two hundred thousand stones?"
In the Qing Dynasty, one stone of grain consumed about 50 kilograms. However, in ancient times, poor people consumed very little fat and meat, and the amount of grain alone was very large.
An adult needs to eat one kilogram of grain a day to maintain physical strength for work. So one stone of 100 kilograms of grain can feed an adult for about three months.
Two hundred thousand dan of grain is enough to feed 200,000 victims for three months, 600,000 for one month, and 1.2 million for half a month!
And this disaster obviously cannot be calmed down in half a month, so the court must prepare in half a month!
"This... how many victims do we have now? Who... can estimate it?"
