Monument Yangmen

Chapter 767 Food shortage
There are more than 200 million mouths to eat, and there is not enough food.

This problem is like a heavy mountain, pressing on the heads of the two monarchs and ministers.

There are more than 200 million people, not more than 200 million cattle and sheep. The daily consumption of food and drink is an astronomical figure.

The most important thing is that even if Yang Qi has money, he can't get food.

Yan State had no food, Liao State had no food, and Song Dynasty had no food.

And Yang Qi's backup granary, Nanguo, was also emptied because of this war.

Reach out to borrow food from others?

That is a fantasy, and now everyone is poor.

What can I eat?

What can I eat?

In the depths of winter, it became the two biggest problems.

It is impossible to dig some grass roots and fresh bark to satisfy our hunger.

Unless you go to eat Guanyin soil.

If the common people were to eat dirt, Yang Qi felt that he would die of shame.

"I've shamed the traverser..."

After several midnight dreams, Yang Qi kept repeating this sentence.

But if you think about it carefully, if you were another traveler, you could only feel helpless when encountering this kind of problem.

Food is a big problem that has plagued the Chinese nation for thousands of years.

If many scientists such as Mr. Yuan Longping hadn't developed various high-yield grains in later generations, I am afraid that the people of later generations would also be troubled by insufficient food.

Yang Qi felt that he needed an old Mr. Yuan Longping right now.

However, he could only imagine.

With the current level of knowledge, it is impossible to train such a great scientist.

But since it happened, Yang Qi had to find a way to solve it.

It is impossible for him to follow Xiao Zhuo's thieves' mother-in-law and drive those who can't support them out of the country, nor is it possible for him to learn from Zhao Defang and let others leave with his own people.

If you can't afford it, you have to throw it away?

Yang Qi would not do this kind of thing.

After Kou Zhun told Yang Qi about the food problem, Yang Qi immediately called his important ministers to discuss the matter.

As the saying goes, one person counts short, two counts long.

However, in this kind of problem, more people are useless.

A group of important ministers gathered together and finally discussed two solutions.

One is to reduce the provision of food and grass for soldiers and horses. All food and grass should be halved to supply the common people, so as to ensure that every common people can have a bowl of gruel or broth every day.

Second, buy food.Although the Song and Liao countries were short of food, the landlords of the Song and Liao countries must have stockpiled food.And you can also ask Zhejia and Caojia for help.As long as you can afford enough money, you can definitely get food from them.

Yang Qi immediately adopted these two methods, and 1000 years in advance, threw out the tradition of big pot rice.

In units of hundreds of people, stir the horse spoon in a pot.

All the officials in Yanjing City were dispatched by Yang Qi to various prefectures to supervise the matter.

At the same time, Yang Qi sent three teams of envoys to Zhejia, Caojia, and Bianjing City to buy grain.

The envoys sent to Zhejia and Caojia to buy grain will go directly to the principals of Caozhe and Caozhe, and directly collect grain from the two places on a large scale.

The envoys sent to Bianjing City went to the Nanguo Money Bank, and then in the name of the Nanguo Money Bank, they bought grain from grain merchants and landlords in the Song Dynasty.

After dispatching the manpower, Yang Qi waited for news in Yanjing City.

Time is pushed back day by day.

The food in Yang Qi's hands was being consumed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Every day, Yang Qi would walk to the construction site and watch those people working with their belts tightened.

And after watching those people who tightened their belts to work every day, Yang Qi would return to his big tent with a deep frown.

It's the end of January in a blink of an eye.

As usual, Yang Qi went out and inspected the construction site.

The captives working on the construction site tightened their trouser belts one by one. The whole person looked like a dumbbell with big sides and thin middle.

"Snapped!"

"Hurry up and work... If you don't work, you have nothing to eat..."

The overseers waved their whips, urging the prisoners to work.

If you look carefully, you will find that since the food is not enough, the whips of the supervisors have rarely fallen on the captives.

They are the people who eat the least in Yanjing City, and they are also the people who work the heaviest in Yanjing City.

Everyone has compassion.

At such a critical moment, no one is willing to inflict pain on others when others are suffering.

Yang Qi noticed this little detail, but didn't pursue it.

On the contrary, he was very happy to see this scene.

If all the people under him become cold-blooded people who only know how to squeeze and take things without limit, then his country of Yan will not be far from being destroyed.

Yang Qi paced around in a circle, and when he reached the gate of the temple, he thought of something, and just as he was about to step in, he heard a scream.

"what!"

All eyes fell on the place where the screams came from.

Someone even started running over.

Yang Qi frowned, and quickly ran over.

When Yang Qi walked over, he saw a group of people gathered in front of a freshly laid bluestone foundation.

Yang Qi ordered Zamahe Qingmu to separate from the crowd, and when he walked in, he saw a person lying on the ground, dead already.

That's a captive.

The eyes of the captives around were a little red, as if they were going to riot anytime, anywhere.

Lu Mengzheng, standing in front of the captives, was constantly persuading the surrounding captives, while secretly signaling the supervisors to be vigilant.

Yang Qi turned his head away, leaned close to Zamahe Qingmu's ear and whispered, "Go and pass on our military order, dispatch [-] soldiers and horses to guard outside Yanjing City."

Zamahe Aoki hesitated for a moment, "Your subordinate will leave, who will protect you?"

Yang Qi grinned, "Do you think the people here can kill me?"

Zamahe Aoki was stunned for a moment, remembering Yang Qi's heroic appearance on the battlefield, nodded slightly, and withdrew from the crowd.

Yang Qi continued to move forward, and arrived at the corpse in a short while.

"What happened?"

Yang Qi opened his mouth to ask a question, and Lu Meng just saw Yang Qi coming here.

Lu Meng hurriedly led a group of supervisors to salute, "I see Your Majesty..."

"My subordinates see Your Majesty..."

"..."

The captives subconsciously set their eyes on Yang Qi.

Their eyes became redder.

As if Yang Qi didn't see their eyes, he frowned and asked Lu Mengzheng, "What's going on?"

Lu Meng was grimacing, and said in a low voice, "I'm starving to death..."

Yang Qi frowned, and asked coldly, "Did you deduct their food?"

Lu Meng smiled wryly and said, "How dare I, the amount of food distributed to them every day is fixed."

Yang Qi frowned, "Since it is distributed according to the amount, why would someone starve to death?"

"This……"

Lu Meng was hesitating and speechless.

In fact, Lu Mengzheng didn't know why the prisoner starved to death.

Seeing Lu Mengzheng's reaction, Yang Qi guessed that Lu Mengzheng probably didn't know about it. He looked at the overseers and asked coldly, "Did anyone of you rob them of their rations?"

"Shu~"

The head supervisor suddenly clasped his fists, and said in a deep voice: "I guarantee with my head that none of my soldiers will rob them of their rations. Not only that, but some brothers secretly donated their own rations to them."

Yang Qi frowned even tighter.

The captives around obviously didn't believe their words, and none of them let go of their hostility.

Yang Qi knew very well that they would not lie.

Because these people who supervised the work in Yanjing City used to be members of the Renaissance Army, and many of them have seen the scene of cannibalism outside the Fuxing Pass.

They understand the horror of hunger better than anyone.

Yang Qi fell into deep thought.

Although Yanjing City's stockpile of food has reached the point of being stretched, but a bowl of gruel every day can barely last for half a month.

Due to insufficient food, Yang Qi has repeatedly reduced the workload of the prisoners.

It stands to reason that no one should starve to death.

Yang Qi subconsciously looked at the corpse again, then raised his head along the corpse, and looked around at the others.

Suddenly, Yang Qi discovered a strange phenomenon.

Among these captives, the young captives were full of spirits; while the old captives had sloppy steps and pale faces.

Yang Qi squinted his eyes subconsciously, remembering a rumor about the prairie people.

Because the grasslands often suffer from snowstorms, and grassland people rely on grazing for a living, once a snowstorm occurs, a large number of cattle and sheep will be frozen to death.

When this kind of disaster strikes, the old and weak on the grassland will become victims.

In the coldest and hungriest time.

The old and the weak will no longer be given food.

When warming up, the young and strong prairie people will gather around the middle of the fire, while the old and weak will be at the outermost edge.

In the end, the old and the weak must be the first to be frozen to death.

Respecting the old and loving the young does not exist at this time.

In order to inherit, all grassland people will choose to let the young and strong live at this time.

Obviously, these Liao people who established and worked in Yanjing are implementing this method.

Perhaps they are not just for inheritance.

It is very likely that he wanted to take this opportunity to feed the young and strong, and then took advantage of the weak and hungry soldiers under Yang Qi's command to riot and escape.

Thinking of this, Yang Qi raised his head calmly, stared at Lu Mengzheng and shouted loudly, "Okay Lu Mengzheng, you really think I'm a fool? If you didn't secretly withhold their rations, how could someone starve to death?
Come, take Lu Mengzheng to me and take him back to my camp. I want to interrogate him myself. "

"His Majesty?!"

"His Majesty!"

Lu Meng was bewildered.

The leading overseer general yelled.

Although Lu Mengzheng has not been in Yanjing City for a long time, but he has rules and justice in handling things, and he has gradually become one with everyone.

Everyone knew about Lu Mengzheng's character.

How can a person who skimps on other people's rations not even have enough to eat himself.

Yang Qi didn't let them talk, and snorted coldly: "What? You want to be taken away together? Or do you want to follow my order? You are soldiers, not literati. As your leader, you only have my orders. obey."

The leading overseer general gritted his teeth, lowered his head heavily, and cupped his fists: "No~"

The bewildered Lu Meng was being taken away by Zamahe warriors. Yang Qi waved at the others impatiently, "Whatever you look at, I have already arrested the villain. Why don't you go to work quickly? Want to be arrested too?"

Someone topped the tank to let the captives vent their anger, and it was naturally impossible for them to surround them any longer.

Under the urging of the overseer, all the prisoners dispersed.

Yang Qi hurried back to his camp, and as soon as he entered the camp gate, he saw Lu Meng crying, and shouted: "Your Majesty, I really did not withhold their rations! Your Majesty, please check."

Yang Qi rolled his eyes while walking to his seat and said, "I know..."

"what?"

Yang Qi sat down in his seat, and said seriously: "If you really deducted their rations, can I still let you live till now?"

Lu Meng was looking at Yang Qi blankly, "Then you..."

"Hey~"

Yang Qichang sighed, and told Lu Mengzheng his guess carefully.

After listening to Yang Qi's words, Lu Meng froze on the spot, took a deep breath for a while, and said solemnly: "Hearing what you said, Your Majesty, I thought about it carefully, and it is indeed what you said.

If that's the case, then it's not good..."

Yang Qi nodded and said, "If you hadn't immediately blamed you, a riot would have been inevitable. Although their riot would not have much impact on us, it is hard to find so much free labor. .”

Lu Meng was nodding his head, and said solemnly: "What should we do now? And... when will the food arrive? If the food can't be delivered before we run out of food, a riot may be inevitable. At that time, not only Yan There will be riots in the capital, I am afraid that those with bad intentions in Yan Kingdom will also take the opportunity to make trouble."

Yang Qi said in a deep voice: "I have already sent someone to buy grain, and there should be a reply in a few days. You stay in my camp for a day. Go back in two days, and pretend to be pitiful.

After returning, we must manage the young and strong and the old and weak among the captives separately.

Let those young and strong do the heaviest work, and let the old and weak do the easy ones.

Separate everything from them and keep them from touching.

I want to see how they give me red eyes in a few days. "

Lu Mengzheng bowed and said, "I understand."

As the saying goes, a house leak happens to rain all night.

Good things are rarely in pairs, but bad things will always appear one after another.

Three days passed.

The situation in Yanjing City became more severe.

And the grain purchasing team that Yang Qi placed high hopes on finally got an answer.

In the camp.

Yang Qi looked at the three urgent letters and almost smashed the tent.

The Zhe family was busy fighting in the northwest, and was short of food.

The Cao family was busy digging gold and silver in Dali. Most of the people had become miners. Not many people farmed the land, and there was a shortage of food.

Nanguo Qianhang spent a lot of money to buy grain in Song Dynasty, and it took several days to get grain that could not afford 100 million yuan.

And it's still a bit hard to pick out from the tiger's mouth of the Song Dynasty court.

100 million tons, enough for what?
Under Yang Qi's rule, there were millions of people waiting to be fed.

How much can 100 million dans of food be distributed to each person?

Yang Qi didn't dare to calculate carefully.

Allies can't count on it, and big countries can't count on it either.

The predicament once again went back to the original point.

Everything still depends on oneself.

But in this severe winter, where would Yang Qi get enough food for millions of people?

Hesitating alone, Yang Qi walked to the tent where Cao Lin's four daughters were temporarily staying.

As soon as he arrived in front of the tent, Yang Qi could smell the aroma of rice.

　Thanks to 'Smile Liuxin' for the reward of 1 book coins!Thanks to 'Ye Hongyan' for rewarding five hundred book coins!Thanks to 'Xintian [-]' for rewarding one hundred book coins! (I've been a little stuck recently, and I'm getting slower, sorry for the stuck...)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)