Although disasters also occurred during the Tianqi years, they were not so frequent.
Therefore, the Chongzhen period is often called the "Chongzhen Abyss" in later generations, which means a period of time when natural disasters occurred frequently.
Zhu Youxiao also had a headache when he thought about the disasters that would happen next.
Because if the disaster only lasts for a year, it doesn't matter. The court will give away money and food, and the people will be able to endure it for a while, and it will be over.
Even if it lasts for two years and the court provides some more relief, it can get through it, and at most there will only be a small-scale peasant uprising.
But if it lasts for three or four years, it will be a terrible thing.
However, droughts and plagues in the Chongzhen Dynasty all started in five years or even ten years.
Zhu Youxiao felt terrible just thinking about it.
This is also the reason why he has been too strict in governing these years, even at the risk of being murdered, and crazily amassing money and food into the national treasury.
He must allow the future Ming Dynasty to have enough capital to deal with these major disasters that can last for several years, or even avoid such major disasters. After all, locust plagues and plagues often occur because of the failure to solve the initial drought.
In addition, what makes him even more troubled is that the elites of this era will blame the frequent occurrence of natural disasters on the emperor's bad governance, and then use this to incite people's hearts.
Zhu Youxiao knew that he must pay attention to these major disasters next, especially the Shaanxi drought, the first disaster in the "Chongzhen Abyss" recorded in history books.
Because this drought is the root cause of many subsequent disasters.
If the five-year drought had not been resolved, there would have been no large-scale locust plagues and plagues, and there would have been no large-scale peasant uprisings, which would have led to a surge in military spending, a decline in disaster relief capabilities and water conservancy renovation capabilities, and led to Taxes cannot be reduced.
In short, if the initial drought in Shaanxi is not resolved properly, it will cause a chain reaction.
"It seems that the large-scale conquest of the north can only be suspended. In order to prevent large-scale civil unrest, the army diverted to Shaanxi and sent Ma Maocai's report back to the capital. The Ministry of Household Affairs immediately gave a grain adjustment plan to relieve Shaanxi. In addition to the drought, the Ministry of War recommended a minister of the Ministry of War to come here to help recruit troops. Before the officials from the Ministry of War came, Lu Xiang was promoted to serve as the right minister of the Ministry of War to recruit troops for disaster relief."
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao immediately gave instructions to Xiong Tingbi and other retinue ministers.
"Your Majesty is wise! Since the drought in Shaanxi is so serious now, the number of victims in urgent need of relief will inevitably increase. The method of providing relief through work is too slow, mainly because we don't know what projects to build at the moment. It is better to recruit soldiers first, and while recruiting soldiers, determine Projects that need to be built.”
Xiong Tingbi agreed.
After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao nodded: "I do have this intention. When the time comes, these soldiers will be classified as engineering soldiers, and the imperial court will uniformly arrange the construction of corresponding projects."
"According to the order!"
Xiong Tingbi and others replied accordingly.
As soon as the Holy Emperor entered Suidezhou, Shaanxi Province, Zhu Youxiao saw many people dying of hunger along the way, filling the official roads, and the surrounding fields were cracked and hardened.
This is the result of Zhu Youxiao having been exempted from Liao's pay and the world's corvee.
Zhu Youxiao couldn't imagine how serious the situation would be in Shaanxi, which was not exempted from Liao pay and corvee in history. At least there should be bandits everywhere.
"According to the order, prepare to give porridge!"
Xiong Tingbi conveyed Zhu Youxiao's edict.
The 100,000 troops who went on the expedition took action according to the arrangements that had been made long ago and began to participate in this war against natural disasters.
The fire soldiers in the army now became the main force.
A large amount of military rations were temporarily turned into disaster relief rations.
The rest of the main soldiers held flintlock guns with bayonets and formed a human wall to maintain order, forcing the victims not to dare to loot. They had to queue up to receive porridge and were arranged to drink porridge in a centralized area.
After these disaster victims have finished their porridge, they will be called up and directly recruited as engineering soldiers.
Naturally, recruitment is compulsory, rather than asking them if they want to, and letting them go home if they don't want to.
Because these people fled famine because they could no longer survive in their hometowns, this recruitment is equivalent to forcing them to re-employ to prevent them from revolting due to hunger, just like the Song Dynasty when peasant rebels were recruited into the army.
Lu Xiangsheng is responsible for this matter, and the person who specifically does this is the training officer of the Guards.
The instructors of the Guards are all skilled in both civil and military affairs, and they are quite skilled at doing this kind of thing.
"Name?"
"Zhang Xianzhong!"
"Where are you from?"
"A native of Weidingbian County, Qingyang, Yan'an Prefecture."
"What have you done before? Have you joined the army? What crimes have you committed? Are you literate in reading? Are you good at martial arts, riding, and shooting?"
"He served as a frontier soldier and was later dismissed. He knows a few words and can ride and shoot."
At this time, the training officer Yang Zhan asked the name of a rather burly, red-faced man and registered him.
However, the Zhang Xianzhong of this world has not yet had time to become a rebel.
Yang Zhan, who was born as a Sichuan landlord, did not know that the Shaanxi disaster victim standing in front of him would be his future opponent in the late Ming Dynasty in another world.
"You are assigned to the first team of the third flag team of the third battalion of the first town of the first army of the Engineering Corps, the second division of the sixth bureau. Please go over there with your cotton coat and number plate."
Therefore, Yang Zhan did not directly let him be the team captain.
Zhang Xianzhong took the initiative to ask at this time: "May I ask this military master if there will be porridge for you later? To be honest, the common people are not full."
Zhang Xianzhong smiled humbly.
Yang Zhan glanced at him and said: "After joining the army, I will take care of you directly, so bear with me for now!"
"Hey! That's good, thank you, Master Jun!"
Zhang Xianzhong stepped back with a flattering smile, and then went to get the cotton-padded clothes and number plate.
…
"Your Majesty, the number of victims currently recruited has exceeded 30,000. The drought in Shaanxi seems to be very serious indeed, especially in the Yan'an area. Most of them are farmers who came from Yan'an, and many are even large households with their own fields. , and there were even border troops whose grain harvest failed and could not repay Shangguan's loans."
Xiong Tingbi reported to Colonel Zhu You here.
After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao nodded and asked Ma Maocai, the governor of Shaanxi who had come to Suidezhou to see him: "How much food is there in the official treasury of Shaanxi now?"
Ma Maocai replied: "Your Majesty, the drought lasted from last year to this year, and this time the scope of the drought is so large that the usable grain has long been used up, but there is still grain from the canal for transportation, but naturally this cannot be touched, otherwise If the people are short of food, even if they riot, they can easily suppress it. But if the border troops have no food, once they riot, it will endanger the country. Even if I have a hundred heads, I would not dare to misappropriate it."
"Shaanxi doesn't have any grain reserves now?"
Zhu Youxiao asked.
"Not really. As far as I know, many large households still have some, but they are unwilling to sell more to the government, so that they can raise the price and make a profit when the government provides relief."
Ma Maocai himself is from Shaanxi. He is from a wealthy family in Shaanxi, so he naturally understands people of his own class. However, because he accepted the philosophy of Xingming Society and had a sense of responsibility and mission for his hometown, he chose to tell the truth.
Of course, as the governor, he could actually force these large households to provide food, but he didn't do it, naturally because of his nostalgia.
But now that he can take the initiative and hope that Emperor Zhu Youxiao and others in the court will do so, it is very rare for him who also belongs to a wealthy family in Shaanxi.
Zhu Youxiao also understood this, so he did not blame him. He knew that the big households were hoarding, but he did not dare to punish him severely to prevent natural disasters from being aggravated by man-made disasters.
Zhu Youxiao only said: "In emergency situations, emergency measures should be used to immediately draw up a decree. From now on, in areas affected by major disasters and wars, and where the imperial court has sent ministers for disaster relief and peace and security, temporary wartime rationing orders can be issued for all populations. , money, food, livestock, houses, etc. should be forcibly distributed by the imperial envoys. Anyone who disobeys the order will be executed first and then punished!"
As Zhu Youxiao spoke, he said to Zhu Youjian, the letter king in his entourage: "Brother Yu, as the deputy censor of the left capital and the chief soldier of the engineering corps, you will supervise the disaster relief and peacekeeping matters in Shaanxi for me and leave them to others. I'm not worried. Remember, try your best to ensure that one less person starves to death or even one person goes hungry before the food arrives in the capital. Because as long as one less person is hungry, there will be one less rebel, and our Ming Dynasty will have one more share. Guarantee, don’t be afraid of offending the Jin gentry, how can I kill the royal family because of them?”
At this time, Zhu Youxiao knew that he had to use the royal family, because the royal family cared about the stability of the society as much as he did, and he was not afraid of retaliation because of his status. At the same time, he could also reduce the possibility of being supported by the gentry because of his royal status by offending the gentry.
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