Manchu traitor, how can you let me be the emperor of the ages

Chapter 95 Civilian United Front
Yan Shifan widened his one-eyed eyes, listened carefully to He Shen's reaction, and wondered if he might take the opportunity to make a fortune.

"Not just disaster relief."

Speaking of business, Yan Song's expression became serious: "The Yellow River has cut many holes, but the deadliest one is in Xingyang."

"Let the silt of the Yellow River rush, and the area from Xingyang to Bianzhou suffered disasters. The silt, sand and sundries piled up, and the river became more and more blocked, and it was almost level with the shore."

"From Bianzhou to Songzhou, at the beginning, it was flooded with floods, and thousands of hectares of fertile land along the river were washed away, and countless refugees fled. The most important thing is that the Tongji Canal from Xingyang to Bianzhou merged with the Bian River. "

"The silt from the Yellow River not only blocked the Tongji Canal, but also silted up the Bian River! Therefore, after the initial flood, the water level of the Tongji Canal downstream began to drop, and the river might dry up!"

"A few days ago, the State of Zheng sent envoys to the imperial court to ask the imperial court to help them with disaster relief and dredge the channel of the Ji Canal."

Speaking of this, he saw that He Shen was still confused, so he continued: "If we don't clear it up, this year's water transport will be gone."

Water transportation!

He Shen was shocked, and suddenly came to his senses.

The imperial court has several lifelines, and water transportation is one of them.

Although the grain production in the Guanzhong Plain area where the capital is located ranks among the top in the country, it is simply unable to provide food and clothing for its huge population.

The annual food consumption of Beijing official Milu, court craftsmen, common people, and the imperial guards in the capital alone is a huge number, and the grain production in the Guanzhong area can only maintain more than half of the consumption.

They can't even be self-sufficient, let alone supply food and salaries for the five imperial guards farther north.

Such a huge food gap is mainly smoothed out by two sources.

One is that the imperial court has several grain-producing counties in the south, and their grain is transported northward.

The second is the symbolic tribute paid by the vassal states every year.

The process of transporting grain from the south of the imperial court to the north and transporting grain from the southern vassals to the north is called water transport.

Due to the scattered distribution of the vassal states, there were multiple starting points for water transport in the south, but no matter how it was transported, it was inseparable from the Tongji Canal from Xuyi to Xingyang.

If there is a problem with the Tongji Canal, the water transportation will be cut off.

If the water transportation is cut off, so many people around the capital will not be able to eat food, there will definitely be a big mess, if it goes further and the food supply of the frontier army is also cut off, it will even cause a mutiny, and the big work will be over by then.

He Shen suppressed the discomfort in his stomach, and cast a wicked look at Yan Song.

If the soldiers of the frontier army mutinied, they would first have to cut off the head of Yan Song, the Minister of the Household Department, when they returned to the capital.

Of course, he and Shen couldn't run either, it's just the difference between going on the road earlier and going on the road later.

Thinking that he was about to be beheaded, He Shen shivered: "This year's Shanshui is so fierce?"

Hearing what Yan Song said was so serious, the Bianhe River has been filled up, and it is a question of whether the water transportation will be able to pass within this year.

"The embankment of a thousand miles will not collapse in a day."

Yan Song said slowly: "This year's rain was early, and the peach blossom flood in February was extremely ferocious. Fortunately, the counties and counties along the coast worked together to fight the flood and kept the embankment."

"In April, when wheat yellow water came out, it caught up with the torrential rain for three consecutive days. Although several embankments were washed away this time, the county magistrates commanded the embankment day and night, and the officers, soldiers and common people were united. Working together, there was no big mistake.”

"With so much rain in spring, I thought that this year's rain was over. No matter how fierce the summer flood is, it will not exceed Maihuangshui."

Speaking of this, Yan Song sighed softly: "Master He, do you remember the rain in the capital a few days ago?"

"Naturally remember."

He Shen seemed to realize something: "Xingyang is also down?"

"Two days after the heavy rain in the capital, not only Xingyang, but also Luoyang in the upper reaches, it rained heavily. The water level in the upper reaches skyrocketed.

"Xingyang has just experienced two floods, and the dam has loosened and cracked, and two months is not enough to repair it, so... it is out of control."

hiss~
Master He gasped, thinking about the scene was terrifying: "But the official department has not received the relief letter!"

"That's because the old man and the right minister have been discussing specific matters."

In the distribution of power in Dagan, the six ministries of Shangshu Province are the executors, while the Zhongshu and Menxia provinces are the ones who make the decisions.

But He Shen is a person who has the ability to screw up their decision, so they also have to consider He Shen's opinion.

Yan Song raised his eyelids: "After discussing for so long, I already have some ideas."

It's just that He Shen is obviously a little out of shape today. He just feels that his stomach is churning all the time, and he really wants to cut the mess quickly: "Mr. Yan, who will be sent to dredge the Jiqu, it's not up to me to decide?"

For such a big event, an imperial envoy must be sent.

"We can't just dredge the relief canals, but also provide relief to the victims."

Yan Song frowned and said: "The number of civilian workers needed to dredge the canal is countless, and the disasters along the banks of the river have been severely damaged. The imperial court is no longer able to recruit civilian workers there."

"We can only repatriate those fleeing disaster victims and let them build the river!"

He Shen suddenly understood Yan Song's thoughts: "Yan Xiang said...relief with work?"

"Not bad!"

Yan Song nodded: "This is the only solution for the present, and this is also the consensus reached by the old man and Prime Minister Qin."

He Shen kept frowning, firstly because he felt the noodles in clear soup in his stomach struggling to run away, and secondly because of what Yan Song said.

Relief-for-work generally refers to letting the victims of disasters work to rebuild their homes, and in the process, pay them to maintain their livelihoods.This was first proposed by Yan Zi of the Qi State, but this thing is not applicable in all places.

On the surface, it seems to kill two birds with one stone, rebuilding their homes and allowing the victims to live, but there are some minor drawbacks in actual operation.

To give an example, we know that an ordinary adult disaster victim needs a piece of corn cake a day to barely hang his life and survive.

But if he was asked to do the work of repairing embankments and opening rivers, three corn cakes a day might not be enough.

The difference is three times as huge. Putting it on one person does not add more than two pancakes a day, but putting it on tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of victims will consume an extra 100,000 yuan of pancakes a day.

And that's just one day!
If there is no food, how can it be possible to play this work-for-relief?

Now that the canal is blocked, how can the imperial court get food? ?

But Mr. He felt that since Yan Song and Qin Hui could come up with this method, they must have a solution.

"What Yan Xiang said is right!"

He Shen nodded solemnly: "Tomorrow, I will definitely discuss this matter with Prime Minister Yan! But today, I still have a lot of official business, so I won't do more to accompany you."

He Shen really couldn't stand it any longer. He even felt that every time he opened his mouth to speak, he would face the risk of losing the pass.

It's not the lower pass, which hasn't been digested so quickly, but the upper pass.

Forcibly stuffed those two bowls of noodles, and the adults almost vomited.

Yan Song was taken aback, he didn't expect He Shen to be so anxious: "That's right."

"Such a big matter, it is difficult to decide in a hurry, we should wait for the detailed discussion at the court meeting tomorrow."

Small matters should not be discussed at the court meeting, but this kind of major issue that is not easy to coordinate should be discussed clearly at the court meeting.

Moreover, this incident also involved generals. Yan Song mentioned it now, just to communicate with Heshen, at least to establish a civilian united front.

(End of this chapter)