Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

One strategy after another was rejected, and no matter how slow-witted the officials were, they realized the difficulty of disaster relief in Shaanxi.

If a major disaster really happens in Shaanxi, it would be difficult to provide effective relief given the surrounding conditions.

Some people even thought of the reason why Chang'an, the capital of the Han and Tang dynasties, did not become the capital again later.

It was really too difficult to transport grain to Chang'an. When Shaanxi could no longer afford the grain needed for the capital, it was only a matter of time before it was abandoned as the capital.

Even in the Tang Dynasty, due to food shortage in Chang'an, the emperor would lead all officials to Luoyang for food from time to time.

Therefore, when the Ming Dynasty was founded, although Taizu once intended to establish the capital in Chang'an, this idea was quickly abandoned after he sent Prince Yiwen to investigate.

Given the current transportation conditions, it is very difficult to transport grain to Shaanxi.

The most effective way may be to learn from the Tang Dynasty and bring a group of people from Shaanxi out to find food.

But this method is impossible to implement.

One reason is that the Grand Canal no longer passes through Luoyang, and the Bian Canal used for water transport in the Northern Song Dynasty has disappeared, making it difficult to transport grain to Kaifeng, let alone Luoyang.

Second, given the court’s current financial situation, it cannot afford to support more people.

So the matter is stuck here. Some officials outside Shaanxi have already been complaining about the emperor looking for trouble. It is hard to say whether Shaanxi will experience a severe drought. Even if there is a severe drought, it is enough to pretend to provide disaster relief. Why should we put so much effort into discussing it in the court?
Shi Fenglai, a native of Jiaxing, Zhejiang and the second assistant of the Cabinet, said:
"I think the most important thing in disaster relief is to save ourselves, and we need the local people to contribute."

"Your Majesty, please inform the Shaanxi officials and order the Shaanxi gentry to contribute grain and the people to contribute labor, build water conservancy projects and reclaim wasteland, and the famine will naturally ease."

"Next year, when the spring comes and the flowers bloom, perhaps there will be good weather and a good harvest!"

The core idea is to let the people of Shaanxi save themselves, and the court can just issue a few orders as a show.

This idea was agreed by many people, especially the officials in Jiangnan. They were more concerned about the grain of the five prefectures in Jiangnan, and wanted to take advantage of the emperor's move against the Guanglu Temple to exempt the grain from being collected.

How could the imperial court possibly provide vigorous rescue efforts to Shaanxi and provide support to the disaster victims there?
Isn't there any disaster report now? Just pretend that this thing doesn't exist and wait until it happens.

If there is still no solution by then, there is nothing we can do!
Zhu Youjian was disappointed when he heard these remarks. If the drought in Shaanxi was so easy to solve, would he need to call a special meeting of ministers?

Especially after he repeatedly emphasized it, some officials in Jiangnan still ignored the overall situation and wanted to give up Shaanxi.

This made him disappointed, and he even thought of Yang Shiqi, who was born in Jiangxi, and his comments on the scholars from the north and south:

"People with great talent and ambition all come from the north; although people in the south have talent, they are often frivolous."

With a prejudice in mind, Zhu Youjian decided to ask a northerner, asking the Minister of Revenue Bi Ziyan:

"Bi Qing is the Minister of Revenue, do you have any good ideas?"

Bi Ziyan had been thinking about this matter since the emperor talked about the severe drought in the capital and Shaanxi. Hearing this, he immediately replied:

"If there is a severe drought in the capital and Shaanxi, there will definitely be drought in the middle area of ​​Shanxi as well."

"By then, it is likely that more than just Shaanxi will need assistance."

"The most urgent task is to reserve food in the affected areas and check the granaries in various places."

“If the storage is insufficient, it should be replenished as soon as possible.”

This is a very urgent matter. Zhu Youjian looked at Guo Yunhou, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, and asked:

"You are the Minister of the Imperial Household Department. The matter of grain storage is now in the charge of the Imperial Household Department."

"Can the reserves in Beijing, Shanxi, and Shaanxi cope with a major disaster?"

Guo Yunhou did not dare to guarantee it, and said:
"Since the Wei rebellion, the court affairs have been in chaos."

"The Taifu Temple has just been established, and there are many things that are unclear about the local granaries."

"I request that you send officials to inspect the granaries in various places!"

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly. Although he was not very satisfied with this answer, he knew that Guo Yunhou was still willing to do his job, so he ordered:

"The Ministry of Revenue and the Censorate sent officials to inspect granaries in various places."

“Let’s start with the granaries in Shaanxi, Shanxi, the capital, and along the canal.”

"If any shortage is found, local officials should make up for it as soon as possible."

"If they can't make up the difference before August, we will remove them from their posts and confiscate their property to make up the difference!"

"We must speed up the training of the new Jinshi candidates and prepare them to go to the local areas for disaster relief." The ministers were terrified when they heard this, knowing that the emperor was threatening the court officials with the expanded Jinshi candidates.

If they do not obey, new officials will naturally replace them.

This finally made them more proactive. Li Congxin, the Minister in charge of the river, said:

"I think that since we are facing a drought, we should build water conservancy projects and encourage local people to fight drought."

"As long as we can achieve a little success, it will alleviate the disaster relief pressure on the imperial court."

Xue Fengxiang, the Minister of Works, also agreed with this point. He also proposed a solution, which was to use work instead of relief and launch large-scale projects so that the people could make a living and avoid displacement and rebellion.

Zhu Youjian was quite impressed by this method, as he knew that work-for-relief was a common method of disaster relief.

Guan Zhong in the Spring and Autumn Period said: "If there is a bad year with drought or floods, and the people lose their livelihood, then we should repair the palaces and terraces."

Dong Xuan, a Song Dynasty scholar, also wrote in his book “Rescue the Famine and Save the People”: “When refugees arrive… the best thing to do is to repair dikes, dredge rivers and develop water conservancy projects, which will benefit both the public and private sectors.”

When the Ming Dynasty provided relief to disaster victims, it often implemented work-for-relief.

So after Xue Fengxiang proposed this method, Zhu Youjian asked him to sort out the previous relief measures and formulate a complete system. He also planned several projects to recruit refugees to work.

Under the leadership of the two, more and more ministers expressed their opinions and proposed many effective solutions.

Yuan Keli, the Minister of War, thought that he could recruit soldiers from Shaanxi and send them to Liaodong to fight. This would reduce the proportion of local people in Liaodong and ensure their combat effectiveness.

After all, it was well known that Qin soldiers were good at fighting, and wars often broke out in the Sanbian area, so many soldiers had combat experience.

In view of the fact that the border troops in Shaanxi had been fleeing, Yuan Keli thought that some soldiers could be transferred there, and some strong refugees could be recruited to go to Liaodong to receive salaries and fill the gap in soldiers.

Zhu Youjian was quite pleased with this proposal and advised:

"Detailedly explain the implementation of the well-field system in Liaodong to the border troops and people in Shaanxi."

"As long as they have made military achievements, they will be granted at least one well field after recovering Liaodong."

"besides……"

After a moment's hesitation, Zhu Youjian expressed his thoughts to his ministers:
"Droughts will be very serious in the next decade or so, especially in Shaanxi. It will be almost impossible to solve them locally."

"My idea is to relocate the victims."

"But we need to relocate them. Where do you think can accommodate tens of millions of disaster victims?"

When the ministers heard this, they were shocked. They thought the emperor had been worrying too much about this year's drought, but they didn't expect that he would have to prepare for droughts in the next decade or so.

When the ministers thought of the number of tens of millions, they all felt their scalps tingling. Because in their understanding, the population of the Ming Dynasty was only more than 50 million, and they really couldn't imagine what kind of natural disaster would require the relocation of tens of millions of people?

Some even thought that the emperor might be crazy and was talking nonsense.

But the emperor's behavior did not seem crazy. So the only explanation was that he was really dreamt by Emperor Taizu and Emperor Chengzu, who predicted that droughts would occur frequently in the next few decades.

This inference made many officials silent. They were unwilling to believe it. But they couldn't imagine why the emperor would deceive them in this matter.

This is of no benefit to the emperor.

So they can only assume that droughts will happen in the future and they need to find a way to solve them.

However, it is difficult to find a solution to a major disaster that affects tens of millions of people.

If there are hundreds of thousands of disaster victims, it would be easier to deal with them. We can find an island like Dongning to relocate to.

But a population of 10 million would require the area of ​​at least one province. The dynasties had already opened up all the places that could be opened up, and it was difficult to find a place to open up a new province around the Ming Dynasty.

Some people thought of Jiaozhi and Korea, but these two places have large populations, and if they were conquered, not only would rebellions often occur, but relief might also be needed.

Otherwise, Taizu would not have listed them as unconquerable countries and prevented future generations from attacking them.

This was proven by the fact that Chengzu captured Jiaozhi but soon lost it during the reign of Xuanzong.

Therefore, after looking around the Ming Dynasty, the officials found that there was only one place that could open up a new province and possibly accommodate tens of millions of disaster victims.

The place of Liaodong caught the attention of all the ministers.

Some officials thought of the military merit and the division of well fields mentioned by the emperor before, and gradually understood the emperor's intention. They thought that the emperor wanted to pacify Liaodong as soon as possible and open up a new province in Liaodong. (End of this chapter)