Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

After the emperor used the theory of Taizu and Chengzu's dreams to determine the cause of the natural disaster, although the ministers were still skeptical about whether a famine would occur in Shaanxi, they felt that it was not a bad idea to prepare in advance.

After all, famines did occur frequently in the Ming Dynasty in recent years, and the emperor has decided that the evaluation of local officials in the future will first focus on disaster relief and quelling rebellions.

So they were all very positive about this and put forward various opinions.

Zhu Youjian also put forward the various solutions he had previously thought of for discussion among his ministers.

After discussion among the ministers, they first rejected the proposal to restore the system.

First, the Ming Dynasty is now in flames on all sides. There are wars in the northeast and southwest, and a civil unrest has just occurred in southern Jiangxi. It is really not appropriate to provoke border conflicts and open another front.

Second, most of the Mongolian tribes had surrendered, and although there were occasional minor frictions at the border, no major wars had occurred. We could not attack those tribes on the grassland at will and cause unrest in the nine borders.

Third, there are hundreds of miles of desert between Shaanxi and Hetao, making it extremely difficult to send troops and provide supplies, and it is difficult to stay there for a long time.

If the imperial court wanted to regain the Hetao, it would need capable and skilled soldiers, as well as food and fodder to support the area for several years. This would give the court time to repair the Hetao water conservancy project and achieve self-sufficiency.

This time is too long and the risk is too great. Given the current situation of the court, it is simply not affordable.

Apart from Hetao, there are few places around Shaanxi that can be developed, and the climatic conditions are not as good as those in Shaanxi. When Shaanxi encounters drought, the disasters in those places will only be more serious.

Therefore, opening up borders to divert conflicts is not feasible in Shaanxi. Even the border troops in Shaanxi have to be on guard against the surrounding ethnic minorities invading the borders when disaster strikes.

Zhu Youjian's proposal to restore the system was quickly rejected by the ministers.

Then he asked Zheng Zhilong and others to recruit refugees from Yunyang to go to Dongning and other places to open up land.

All the ministers agreed with this point. They had long felt that the refugees from Yunyang were a big trouble. Rather than keeping them there, it would be better to let them go overseas.

But this has nothing to do with Shaanxi. Bi Maokang, the Minister of Military Affairs who once served as the governor of Yunyang, said:

"Many of the refugees in Yunyang have been bandits for many years. If we want to relocate them, we must do it in batches."

"Not to mention that there are not many refugees in Shaanxi right now, even if there are refugees, we can't let them go to Yunyang immediately."

"Once the bandits in Yunyang are supplemented by refugees, I am afraid that civil unrest will occur."

It can be seen that he was very wary of the refugees from Yunyang, and even thought that soldiers should be sent to watch over them during their migration to prevent any unexpected incidents from happening during the migration.

As a result, this road was also blocked. Only after most of the refugees in Yunyang were relocated, could the refugees from Shaanxi go to Yunyang and take this road to go overseas.

As for when the refugees in Yunyang can be dealt with, it depends on when Zheng Zhilong's fleet arrives and how well the local officials cooperate.

In addition, Dongning also needs to prepare land, houses and food for these refugees to live in.

Therefore, this speed is unlikely to increase.

In order to speed up the process, Zhu Youjian decided to urge Zheng Zhilong and at the same time increase the enthusiasm of Yunyang's governance and let him actively cooperate.

Thinking about the division of Huguang in later generations, Zhu Youjian said:
"If the refugees in Yunyang are completely resolved, there will be no need to set up Yunyang government in the future."

"I intend to change this position to the Governor of Hubei, responsible for the prefectures and counties north of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake in Huguang."

"From now on, Yunyang Prefecture, Xiangyang Prefecture, Chengtian Prefecture, and Hanyang Prefecture in the Han River area will all be under the jurisdiction of Yunyang Prefecture."

"When the refugees in Yunyang are dealt with, I will cancel the Yunyang administration and replace it with the governor of Hubei." This decision, combined with the previous statement that "Huguang is prosperous, the world is prosperous", some people have guessed that the emperor wants to improve the status of Huguang.

After all, "when Huguang is prosperous, the whole world is well-fed", Huguang's food is too important to the current Ming Dynasty. Such a place needs to be governed by important officials.

The establishment of the Hubei Governor was a preparation for the establishment of the Governor-General.

This made the officials from Huguang very excited. Yang Sichang, the Right Counselor of the Ministry of Public Administration and a native of Wuling, said:

"Hubei has a governor, and Hunan should also have a governor."

"Because of the rebellion of Bozhou and She'an, Hunan had a Pianyuan governor. I think it should be re-established."

The post of Pianyuan Governor was once held by Min Mengde, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War. He also believed that this position should be re-established to cooperate with the Governor-General of Sichuan and Guizhou Zhu Xieyuan in quelling the She'an Rebellion.

After Zhu Youjian considered it, he said:
"The post of Pianyuan Governor should indeed be re-established, and from now on he will be responsible for the area south of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake, and will be called Hunan Governor."

"As for the Governor of Huguang, he will be changed to the Governor-General of Lianghu, who will govern Hubei and Hunan."

Taking this opportunity, the word "Guang" was officially removed from the area of ​​the two lakes, completely distinguishing it from Guangdong and Guangxi.

Later, Huguang Province was divided and the name left over from the Yuan Dynasty was completely abolished.

In this way, the scope of the Huguang Township Party will be smaller, so that when the population grows larger and larger, more officials from the same province will not form very powerful parties.

The Chu Party that had appeared before had already made Zhu Youjian very alert. Splitting the big province into small provinces was a way to deal with the township party.

However, there is another problem. The proposed title of City God of Huguang Province for Zhang Juzheng has to be changed to City God of Hubei Province. Another person needs to be selected for the City God of Hunan Province.

But this was just a small matter. Zhu Youjian looked at the officials of Huguang in the court, all cheering for the establishment of the governor. He had no idea that the Huguang province would be split up and the local party would be weakened.

As for the other officials, they were not very happy about the emergence of the Governor-General of Hubei and Hunan, and the Governor of Hubei and the Governor of Hunan, but they would not oppose it either. After all, with more official positions, they would have more choices.

After ordering the governor-general of the two Hubei provinces and the governor of Hunan to be elected in August this year, Zhu Youjian proposed a third solution, which was to transport grain for disaster relief.

But this is also difficult. Although Huguang and Shaanxi are adjacent, the roads between the two provinces make it difficult to transport food. Otherwise, there would not be refugees in Yunyang at the border.

As for transporting grain from Sichuan, that was even more impossible. The road to Sichuan was as difficult as climbing to heaven. Even if there was grain in Sichuan, it would not be able to rescue Shaanxi.

Not to mention that Sichuan had just experienced the destruction of She Chongming and was still recovering. The army that was suppressing the She An Rebellion also needed Sichuan's support for food and grass, and there was no way to transfer food out.

Shanxi's land is barren and Henan has a large population. There is not enough food in the two places, and it is impossible to transfer food there.

So if you want to transfer grain to Shaanxi, there are only two options.

One is to use the canal to transport the grain to the middle of the canal and then transport it from Henan. However, since it is impossible to transport the grain to Kaifeng via the Bian Canal as in the Song Dynasty, the loss of grain along the way will be very large, and the court is unlikely to be able to afford it.

Another way is to transport grain from overseas to the capital, and then transport it via the land routes of Shanxi and Shaanxi, and through the channels for transporting materials to the nine borders.

This route has greater losses and may also be coveted by grassland tribes.

After all, if Shaanxi encounters a drought, the drought on the grassland will only be more serious, and they also need food. If they find an opportunity to rob, they are likely to be tempted.

So this path is also very difficult. (End of this chapter)