Zai Chun's question confused everyone present. There was no way to answer it, or even if you guessed the answer, you didn't dare to answer it.
The Qing Dynasty has not conducted a census for many years. No one can tell how many people there are in the Qing Dynasty!
But in Xiao Letian's previous life, when the compensation was paid during the Gengzi period, foreigners said that one tael of silver would be paid to each person according to the population of the Qing Dynasty. The final figure was 400 million taels. At that time, the total population of the Qing Dynasty was only four Around 100 million.
In the Tongzhi period, which had just recovered from the Changmao Rebellion, the population would definitely not reach 400 million, but there were still more than 300 million!
And Zhili, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong... these are all large and densely populated provinces in the north!
The population recorded by the Ministry of Household Affairs of Zhili was checked once in the early years of Xianfeng. It was more than 20 million people. After so many years of reproduction, it must have increased by 2 to 3 million at least now, right?
But no one knows how much it has increased, and no one can calculate it!
Henan has a larger population than Zhili, so there are still about 25 million! Shandong is slightly less, about 2,000, and Shanxi's Ministry of Household Records records a population of 18 million.
Ninety million? As soon as this number appeared in everyone's mind, everyone was frightened!
The total population is 90 million, so how big is the affected area? The disaster in Zhili and Shanxi was relatively severe, with two-thirds of the southern region affected.
Only the northern parts of Shandong and Henan were affected, and the population of the entire disaster area was at least over 30 million!
Excluding wealthy households and the middle class, if the population is reduced by another 10 million, then the final number of victims will be...
Everyone's face turned pale with fright. Twenty million people were affected by the disaster. At least 20 million people were affected by the disaster. But now the court can only provide 200,000 shi of food for disaster relief. What is this enough for?
Without four million stones of food, today's crisis would not be solved at all!
Four million stones of grain, according to the Chinese calculation of metric tons, is 200,000 tons of grain!
Oh my god, where can we get so much food? 200,000 tons…
Zai Chun also guessed the result. He sighed helplessly, "Just say whatever you have to say. I know it's not easy for you either... I'm mentally prepared. Just say it..."
Bao Jun, as the chief auxiliary of the military aircraft, could not escape at this time: "Your Majesty... the number of victims can only be estimated, there is no accurate number at all. Based on the population ratio and the area of the disaster area, I calculated that the number of poor people affected by the disaster should be more than 20 million! "
"To prepare according to the minimum food standards for half a month... we need four million dan of food, and the Chinese metric tons are 200,000!"
"It's really a drop in the bucket. We can only squeeze out 200,000 shi of grain, which is 10,000 tons. The gap is too big!"
"Is there no food in the local treasury?" Prince Dun asked.
Bao Jun said with a bitter face, "There is in the accounts... but who dares to settle accounts now? I can't even believe the accounts of the Thirteenth Cang of the Capital!"
"Well, even if the local warehouse can raise part of it, transfer part from other provinces, and solve half of it...then the imperial court will have to prepare two million shi of food!"
"100,000 tons! Two million stones... Where can we buy it? When the price of rice was the lowest a few years ago, one stone of rice cost six silver dollars. What about now?"
"The price of rice in the capital has long since risen to 12 silver dollars per stone. This price is only due to the low fear atmosphere in our capital... Locally, haha, I'm afraid you can't even buy it for 100 silver dollars per stone!"
There was a bang, and the hall was filled with flies. "Twelve silver dollars per stone? Two million, that's twenty-four million silver dollars? Where can my ancestors get money here?"
"You are stupid. 12 silver dollars is the price in the capital. I'm afraid it will go up in the future. There is no end!"
Chengzhi trembled with distress and whispered, "Either...or don't care about the life and death of these untouchables...Our court has allocated two hundred thousand dan to provide relief at will, which is worthy of them..."
"We can't steal so much food. How about spending more than 20 million yuan at a time to provide disaster relief? Let's stop doing anything and drink from the northwest wind!"
Zai Chun glared at him fiercely, "Shut your mouth! If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will steal your palace to collect money to buy food!"
Chengzhi was so frightened that he didn't dare to say a word! But just because Chengzhi didn't say anything, it didn't mean that everyone didn't think so. The situation was urgent and there seemed to be no other way.
In China, from ancient times to the present, this natural disaster is a way to overcome the calamity, and the people are desperately fighting for good fortune!
If you have a life, live on; if you don't have a life, die! Many disaster relief projects in history were just fake. The imperial court could only open porridge shacks near the lowest level of government, such as prefectures and counties, as well as land and water docks!
No matter how many people survive, the vast majority of rural areas are in a state of giving up. Almost all people have died, and the disaster has been alleviated!
This is also something that can't be helped. The lowest level of the ancient dynasty's government was the prefecture and county. The county seat was the last link of the imperial court's control.
No matter how small an administrative unit is compared to a county, it is basically managed by local clans, powerful people, and landlords who discuss with the county magistrate. As long as the local government has enough money and food, the county magistrate will turn a blind eye!
Most of the people do not hold officials accountable, and the phenomenon of lynching is very serious.
In peacetime, the government cannot go to towns and villages. How do you expect them to go to the countryside to actively provide disaster relief during a major disaster?
Everyone looked around and had something to say. Prince Lao Li hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Your Majesty... Actually, although Prince Zheng's words are unpleasant, there is no solution!"
"Your Majesty, please be clear... This disaster is so serious and covers such a wide area... It is true that we cannot save everyone, because food transportation is also a big problem!"
"What the imperial court can do is to transport relief grains to the county, and then open porridge sheds inside the county...Victims from all over come here to drink porridge to tide over the disaster!"
"Expecting dozens of government officials and dozens of helpers in each county to deliver all the food to the villages? That's impossible!"
"Food transportation also relies on people to transport it. The people who transport the food also have to eat! These are all costs..."
"What I mean is that the imperial court will do its best to collect food and deliver it to the prefectures and counties in the disaster area. You can live as long as you can. No one can guarantee that a person will not die!"
"Hey...it's not that our court doesn't want to save people, it really can't spend more than 20 million silver dollars for disaster relief!"
"Besides...even if we spend more than 20 million silver dollars, can we buy food? Where can we buy food? Four provinces have been affected by the disaster..."
This sentence is to the point. Don't say you don't have money, even if you have money, who are you going to buy food for?
At this moment, Zaichun's mouth was full of bitterness. He thought to himself, should he really give up these tens of millions of lives? This is too much, this is too much...
At this moment, the sky has gradually dimmed. All the courtiers are waiting for the emperor's decision. They can't delay it any longer. After a while, the sky will be completely dark, and the follow-up work will not be carried out at all!
Zai Chun felt bitter in his heart but couldn't express it. At this moment, he regretted it extremely. He regretted the three thousand tons of grain given by his master. Why did he refuse it?
Where are these 3,000 tons of grain now? Can you still lick your face and ask for it?
"Fu Qing... what can you do..." Zai Chun asked tentatively.
