If these legends are true, then it is possible. No one else knows what kind of abilities Huang Qiong's nephew has, but his mind is very active and very imaginative. He was obviously very afraid of his ninth uncle, but he was rambling here and there, as if he was cheating. It's a pity that he basically guessed everything wrong, and his mental age is much greater than his actual age.
His uncle likes women to be mature and charming. This guy was standing outside Huang Qiong's study, thinking wildly. Random speculation as to why Huang Qiong likes older women. He firmly believes that Huang Qiong's preference is due to the lack of love from his mother since childhood. And at this time, Huang Qiong, who was busy writing a memorial in the study, knew how his nephew was thinking about it?
That night, Huang Qiong did not go back to the bedroom, but was busy with something in the study. It wasn't until the early morning of the next day that I put down the pen in my hand. He waved his hand to summon people to put away the things he had written. After a simple scrubbing and a hasty breakfast, Huang Qiong set off for Chang'an, Xijing. Huang Qiong did not take the same route as he came, but went directly eastward from Ningxia Mansion.
After passing through Jingbian and entering Yan'an Prefecture along the Qi-Liao border, we headed south again. Huang Qiong chose this road because he wanted to see the people's livelihood along the way. It was just the desolate livelihoods he saw along the way that made Huang Qiong's brows furrowed more and more. In northern Shaanxi at this time, soil erosion was not as severe as it would be more than a thousand years later. In many areas along the way, there are still primeval forests that block out the sky and the sun, and the scenery is very good.
The living environment of the people is far better than it would be a few hundred years ago. But after a severe drought last year, the people here are still in poverty. And after entering Yan'an Prefecture, Huang Qiong learned that fully 50% of the land here was in the hands of Duke Fushi of Yan'an Prefecture. During the severe drought last year, the Duke of Fushi did not reduce or reduce the land rent by a penny, but instead raised the land rent to 60%.
In addition, the government was unable to provide disaster relief last year, and did not even allocate a grain of grain for most of the year. As a result, most of the victims of the disaster in Yan'an Prefecture went out to become refugees. Forty percent of the victims who poured into Shanxi Road from Shaanxi Road came from the three prefectures and sixteen counties of Yan'an Prefecture. The three counties of Qingjian, Yanchuan and Yanchang in the east of Yan'an Prefecture, and the two counties of Shenmu and Fugu under the jurisdiction of Jiazhou, even have ten houses and nine empty houses.
Although some people came back this year, the people along the way were still poorly clothed and hungry, and almost everyone had something to eat. Although Huang Qiong repeatedly reduced military rations along the way, he only used one meal a day, and each meal only used 2 taels of grain. He used the saved food to help the victims along the way. But even if all the food they carry is taken out, how many people can they help?
What he saw along the way made Huang Qiong feel extremely depressed. After arriving at Yan'an Mansion, Huang Qiong's face never looked good when he saw the officials kneeling by the official road to greet him. The officials who had been kneeling for a long time ignored them and did not even get off their horses. Anyone who is familiar with Huang Qiong would probably know that he is murderous now if they see his face at this time.
After entering Yan'an Mansion, Huang Qiong walked all the way until he got to Yan'an Mansion Yamen and then got off his horse. Later, I saw the officials who the King of England ignored him and hurriedly caught up with him in a sedan chair. Seeing that the King of England had arrived at the prefect's Yamen, he entered the Yamen without stopping, and hurriedly followed him in. Fortunately, after the King of England entered the city, in order to avoid meeting pedestrians, he drove slowly all the way to let them catch up.
If they were galloping all the way, their slow sedans would probably be too exhausted to catch up. Even so, these officials were still out of breath when they arrived at the prefect's Yamen. When these magistrates, tongzhi, tongpan, state and county officials, chief and deputy military envoys, Yansuiyu Bingbei Road, Fenxundao and other officials rushed to the main hall of the magistrate's Yamen, they saw the King of England looking unhappy. Looking at himself and his group.
All the officials, looking at Huang Qiong's livid face, couldn't help but their knees weakened and they all fell to the ground. This British King is really too much of a deterrent to them. Not long ago, a second-grade Jiedushi envoy killed him as soon as he asked. He killed both his father and his son at the same time, without even asking for an imperial edict. What's more, these officials, who are no more than four fourth-grade officials.
Especially now that the King of England's face was ashen, even though he still didn't know why the King of England was so angry, all the officials were so frightened that they kowtowed desperately. When these officials came in, they didn't ask any questions. They just lay there and kowtowed. Huang Qiong felt a headache and touched the bridge of his nose. Could this be the officials of the Qi Dynasty who were selected through four imperial examinations after ten years of hard work?
Thinking of this, Huang Qiong sighed slightly in his heart, feeling speechless for these officials. But on the surface he was still very calm and raised his hands and said: "What do you mean by kneeling there? Get up, you are all court officials, you must understand the dignity that officials should have. When you enter the door, don't ask anything, just kowtow as hard as you can." Morality? I am not a ferocious-looking demon. Is it worth being so afraid of you?"
The King of England spoke. Several officials looked at me and I looked at you. They did not dare to disobey in any way. Although there was some hesitation, they finally got up one after another. After several officials stood still, Huang Qiong asked seemingly casually: "Last year, your Yan'an Prefecture was the most severely affected area in the entire Shaanxi Road. I now want to ask you, last year Yan'an Prefecture died of starvation." How many people have you killed?"
Huang Qiong seemed to ask casually, but it frightened the officials so much that their faces turned pale. The leader of the Yan'an Prefecture quickly knelt down and said: "To return to the King of England, Yan'an Prefecture was indeed the most drought-stricken area in the entire Shaanxi Province last year. The entire Yan'an Prefecture belongs to three states and sixteen counties, except for Suidezhou and Ganquan County. There is still some water in the rivers and the big and small Lishui Rivers, and the sweet springs are helped by the Luoshui River, but the situation is a little better. In other states and counties, all the rivers are cut off. Even the Yanshui River is cut off in the same way. "
"Except for Suidezhou and Ganquan counties, the rest of the prefectures and counties had almost no harvest last year. Your lord, we managed not to starve to death a single person here. Although in some eastern prefectures and counties, the people had to flee as many as ten houses. Jiukong, this Yan'an Mansion is a bit ugly, but the people can survive. In order to make it easier for the people to go to Shanxi, Xiaguan specially prepared ships at Yanshui Pass."
"Although the official's investigation may not be accurate, some people may starve to death. But the official can guarantee that even if there are, they are definitely not many. Your Majesty, the drought has eased slightly this year, and after the imperial court has allocated food relief, I will be the first to When the time came, I sent people to Shanxi to mobilize the refugees from Yan'an Prefecture to return home. I also tried every means to raise seeds and some cattle for loaning to the people."
Having said this, the fourth-grade prefect sighed deeply when he thought of last year's drought. I just didn't expect that after listening to his words, Huang Qiong was not angry but smiled and said: "Oh, your way of overcoming the disaster is good. My family is suffering from a severe drought. I don't want to think about relief and organize people to fight the drought. Instead, I mobilize the people to flee. For the sake of convenience When people fled, free ferries were arranged on the Yellow River."
"Your method of fighting drought is really good. When there is a famine, you will drive your people into other people's homes. Have you ever thought about how they took in so many victims at once? Originally There is enough food for ten people, but a hundred and ten people came all of a sudden. Do other families have the ability to bear this? You are smart, should I give you a big credit?"
Seeing that Huang Qiong had a smile on his face but spoke in a cold tone, the prefect hurriedly kowtowed and said: "Back to the King of England, I have no choice but to come up with this idea. Logically speaking, within Yan'an Prefecture, There are quite a few rivers. On weekdays, the water volume is acceptable. But last year, except for the Wuding River in Suizhou Dezhou and the Luoshui River in Ganquan, almost all of them stopped flowing."
"In the entire Yan'an Prefecture, there was not a drop of rain from spring to winter. Not to mention the rivers, even the wells have dried up. Yan'an Prefecture is the largest prefecture on the Shaanxi Road, and it belongs to 3 prefectures and 16 counties. There are dozens of victims. One hundred thousand. Just relying on the little grain stored in the treasury, even if we take it all out, it won't last for many days. What's more, no one knows how long the spring drought that started in spring will last."
"We can't keep any grain in the treasury. Otherwise, in the most difficult winter, something big might happen. So I had no choice but to let it go, and even mobilized people from the eastern states and counties to flee to Shanxi according to the old tradition. . The limited grain reserves will be pooled to provide relief to the people in the western states and counties. In this way, we can ensure that Yan'an Prefecture does not have a large number of people starving to death."
"Your Majesty, the eastern prefectures and counties are only separated from Shanxi by the Yellow River. Their ancestors have been affected by disasters and have the tradition of going to Shanxi to seek livelihood. But the western prefectures and counties are not able to do that. They are too far away from the Yellow River. Except for Beiliao, they are almost all the hardest-hit areas. Even if they want to flee, they have no place to escape. Under the situation that the available food reserves are limited and can only guarantee some people, the lower officials have no choice."
Regarding the prefect's words, Huang Qiongang wanted to say that there was something he couldn't do, so why didn't he report it to the Shaanxi Comfort Envoy Department and the Xijing Household Department? However, I immediately thought that when the drought broke out last year, the granaries of Shaanxi Road and Xijing Hubu had long been stolen and sold out. I tried my best to get some food from those clans, and they resold it among themselves.
He is also separated from the Shaanxi Comfort Envoy and the Xijing Household Department. According to customs, he can only report the drought situation to these two departments to request for the allocation of grain. Since Xijing itself has a household department in the capital, he has no right to report directly to the household department. As for the person from the Household Department in Xijing who has become the Shuo Shu, and now has his head attached to the Secretary of the Household Department, where is the food allocated to him?
Although this guy's method was a bit messy, in any case, it ensured that a large number of victims did not starve to death. Thinking of this, Huang Qiong's anger subsided slightly: "Then you haven't considered lending some grain from some large local families? And Suidezhou and Ganquan County, since the drought is relatively weak, why don't you think of ways to adjust it? Some food?"
In response to Huang Qiong's two rhetorical questions, the prefect hesitated for a moment, and finally said: "Back to the prince, most of Sui Dezhou belongs to Fushi County. As for Ganquan County, 60% of the land belongs to Qingcheng. From the Duke’s Palace. After the drought, Xiaguan rushed to the Fushi County Palace as soon as possible, hoping to lend him 200,000 shi of grain. However, Xiaguan didn’t even get in."
"Fushi County Duke also sent someone to tell him that he was also affected by the disaster last year. When the imperial court came to provide relief food, it would also give him tens of thousands of dan of food relief according to his disaster situation. If he didn't give it, he would not let his official Yan'an The prefect sat down. Last winter, he sent people to forcibly take away 10,000 shi of the relief grain that the imperial court finally allocated. Zhang Qiancheng, who was in charge of the grain relief, was beaten until his nose was bruised and his face was swollen."
"I vomited blood profusely and am still bedridden. You know, last winter the imperial court allocated a total of 60,000 shi of food to Yan'an Prefecture. There are still 7,000 shi of which have not been received yet and are still in the ledger. Hang on. In one fell swoop, he snatched away 30% or more. My lord, it’s not that I haven’t thought of a way, I’ve actually thought of all the ways that I could think of.”
