This is actually a very cruel thing.
When large-scale natural disasters occurred in ancient times, especially when they occurred in major production areas, the government often only provided porridge to the victims in the first one or two months.
The reason is very simple. Even the landlord’s family has no food left.
The court had to consider more than just the immediate disaster. The failure of the harvest in the main production areas had already made the court foresee a future famine that would last until the following autumn.
At this time, people become numbers.
An increase in grain taxes can help these victims survive this winter, but they will definitely not survive the beginning of spring.
However, due to the failure of the previous year's harvest and the additional grain tax imposed on people in non-grain-producing areas, their remaining grain reserves would not be able to survive the next autumn harvest.
This is a choice that allows everyone to survive the winter and most people to survive this disaster.
In fact, there is one more thing that Liang Yi did not say.
That is, these additional grain taxes will change hands many times during the transportation. If the amount collected is 30% of the original amount, it is considered that the officials along the way are honest and honest.
But even if Liang Yi didn't say this, the other three people here should understand it.
At this time, the three of them were lost in thought.
What Liang Yi said makes sense. Increasing grain taxes can indeed relieve urgent needs, but it will also make it difficult for more people to survive.
Chu Mengde, who was originally thinking about his very thorough plan, was now very anxious. When he raised his eyes, he saw Liang Yi looking calm and composed.
Suddenly I felt happy.
Could it be that the prince has some idea?
He quickly asked: "I wonder if the prince can do anything?"
He is now urgently ill and seeking medical treatment. Liang Yi has just come into contact with these things today, how could he find a solution so quickly?
If this happened before, he probably wouldn't even look at Liang Yi.
Seeing the three people looking at him, Liang Yi felt a little embarrassed.
"There is a general strategy, but we need to know more about how to operate it."
"Tell me quickly!" Emperor Zhou said anxiously.
Liang Yi opened the memorial again, pointed to the section on the four libraries in Shangjing and said:
"The four warehouses in Shangjing are short of food for a total of 300,000 shi, which is the place with the largest food shortage."
"Three hundred thousand stones is not a small amount. If we can recover it and spend it sparingly, then my plan to build the outer city can be realized."
"Furthermore, the goal of transporting 300,000 shi of grain out of Beijing is too big, so we can only send it out of the city in batches bit by bit."
"It's even said that at such a critical time, it's very risky to send food out, so I plan to wait until the limelight has passed before selling it!"
Wang Deshui's pupils shrank.
"What do you mean, the prince, this batch of food is probably still hidden somewhere in Shangjing?"
Then he turned to look at Chu Mengde.
"Mr. Chu, how is the investigation going to the Fourth Treasury in Beijing?"
Chu Mengde immediately replied:
"After I traced Jing Zhaoyin's possession, I could no longer find any trace of this batch of grain. I also wondered how they sent it out."
Liang Yi nodded. It seemed that his guess was correct. This batch of grain was still on its way to Beijing and had not been sent out at all.
"In short, we can collect grain from Sichuan first. Although it takes a little longer to deliver it, it is better than sucking out the bones and marrow in the south."
Originally, grain could be transported from central Sichuan via the Yangtze River waterway, then docked at Xiangyang Prefecture and sent to Jingzhao.
However, due to the flooding of the Yangtze River, the original route was no longer usable and had to cross the Qinling Mountains.
"Let's find out where this batch of food is, and also check the ministers involved in this matter."
Emperor Zhou nodded and was about to draft an edict when Liang Yi spoke again.
"If we want to provide complete disaster relief, I will definitely not have enough food for these 300,000 dan. If we want to survive this natural disaster, we still have to recover the remaining 700,000 dan."
"Oh? What good ideas does the prince have?"
Emperor Zhou asked with a smile. He was obviously relieved that the food problem in Beijing could be alleviated.
"I can't tell you how. I just hope that Mr. Chu and Mr. Wang will not use the lack of food in the four warehouses as an excuse when investigating the case, so as not to alert the snake."
Chu Mengde and Wang Deshui nodded. The rest of the food was not in Beijing. If they wanted to recover it, they couldn't let them know that the court was already investigating the matter.
As for whether the grain has been sold to merchants, that's not their business.
Purchasing grain from the imperial court is already a serious crime, how dare you claim compensation?
As for whether it has been sold by the merchant.
Now that the price of grain has not reached the highest price, these grain merchants will never give up a penny of profit.
Emperor Zhou, who was sitting on the soft couch, pondered for a moment, and then ordered Wang Deshui:
"Wang Aiqing, go check the official roster and find a few careful and talented young people to manage them."
Chu Mengde looked shocked.
"Your Majesty, you want to..."
Emperor Zhou nodded and said slowly:
"It is decreed that from now on, Zhan Shifu will be re-established!"
Zhan Shifu was originally an agency responsible for the prince's internal affairs and commanding the prince's subordinate officials.
The original purpose of its establishment was because the emperor valued the prince's education, so he established a fairly complete institution to educate the prince.
But because this institution is too complete, it operates like a small court.
Therefore, in most dynasties, after the prince ascends the throne, the original subordinate officials of Zhan Shifu will be directly promoted to the court and become the prince's team.
After the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, Liang Yong, the crown prince of Emperor Wu, rebelled. After Emperor Wu put down the rebellion, he abolished Zhan Shifu.
Nowadays, the prince's internal affairs are handled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while the prince's education work is done by officials from the court and central government who are appointed as the prince's tutor to educate the prince until he reaches adulthood.
By the way, the current Crown Prince and Grand Master is Han Qi, the imperial censor, a first-rank official, an old man with a weird temper.
To be honest, if Liang Yi was not the prince, Liang Yi would probably curse him for being stupid when faced with Emperor Zhou's actions.
The second prince and the fourth prince reached out everywhere without stopping, which made the prince weak. Now the ministers of the court and the central government have lined up, waiting for the emperor to depose the crown prince.
But now, the second prince and the fourth prince would definitely not be willing to reopen Zhan Shifu.
And the civil and military ministers who have invested a lot in them will not give up.
Party strife will intensify.
Didn't you see, during the dispute between the two palaces of Soochow in the Three Kingdoms, the prince Lu died and the other was deposed, and countless ministers in the court were implicated. Even the prime minister Lu Xun died of anger.
But, Liang Yi's current identity is the prince.
Emperor Zhou's reopening of Zhan Shifu undoubtedly gave Liang Yi the opportunity to establish his own team.
Moreover, this team is not restricted by the court.
It can train the prince's ability to the maximum extent.
"The matter of tracking down the disaster food will be given to the Crown Prince. Chu Aiqing must assist the Crown Prince to complete this matter."
Before the three of them could react, Emperor Zhou continued to give instructions.
"The sons and ministers (ministers, etc.) receive the decree."
Chu Mengde and Wang Deshui bowed and left the side hall.
Liang Yi was also about to leave, but he remembered something and turned around to bow to Emperor Zhou again.
