Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

After forcing Zhu Tongmeng to make the decision to emigrate, Chen Qiyu gave a response to the official affairs that he valued most:

"Your Majesty has appointed Yang Wenyue to set up the Civil Service Bureau in the Shaanxi Provincial Government, and delegated the authority to appoint and dismiss officials of the eighth and ninth ranks to the local level."

"If Shaanxi's martial law is approved, power will be further delegated to the officials who enforce it, especially in terms of performance appraisals."

"In Shaanxi, a special assessment method will be formulated, which will no longer focus on household registration and taxes, but on the stability of the local area and the results of immigration."

Zhu Tongmeng was overjoyed when he heard this, knowing that the thing he was most worried about had been solved.

After all, if local officials do not cooperate, even as a governor, he will encounter great resistance when enforcing his orders.

So at this time, he sincerely hoped that Shaanxi could be put under martial law. When Chen Qiyu asked him to write a memorial in support, he immediately agreed.

He also planned to send a message to Yang Zhaoji and others to jointly submit a memorial to the court to explain the necessity of martial law in Shaanxi.

Chen Qiuyu inspected Yansui and, with a heavy heart, sent the accompanying Jinyiwei to inform the capital of the news.

Then he went south along the post road to the provincial capital of Xi'an.

Sun Chuanting, the governor of Shaanxi, was now concurrently serving as the governor-general of the three borders vacated by Shi Yongan, and had also obtained the sword from above.

In less than a year, he went from being an unemployed doctor to a well-known frontier official. This made all Shaanxi officials know that Sun Chuanting was in the emperor's favor.

Moreover, Sun Chuanting had more than just the emperor's support in the court. Yuan Shu's father, Yuan Keli, the Minister of War, and Yang Jingchen, the acting Minister of Personnel, were both his supporters in the court. Even if the acting governor-general of the three borders could not be transferred to a real position in the future, it would not prevent him from continuing to serve as the governor of Shaanxi and holding the imperial sword.

Therefore, Sun Chuanting's situation in Xi'an was much better than Zhu Tongmeng's. No one dared to neglect him, whether from top to bottom.

Sun Chuanting knew why the emperor gave him such great power, and he had no doubt about the emperor's intention to quell the rebellion and provide disaster relief.

In fact, when the imperial edict arrived in Shaanxi, it was already mid-May, and the drought in Shaanxi had already shown signs of happening.

After learning that the emperor predicted that the drought in Shaanxi would be severe, Sun Chuanting led Shaanxi officials to fight drought and provide disaster relief in various places.

Under his strict order, all officials in prefectures and counties such as Xi'an, Fengxiang, and Hanzhong were allocated an area to be responsible for repairing water conservancy projects.

In particular, he sent officials of the eighth and ninth ranks who could be appointed and dismissed by the Shaanxi Civil Service Department to the fields to lead the people in irrigation.

Those who were unwilling to do these things were arrested by him under his order to Yang Wenyue, and he appointed scholars and clerks to take their place temporarily.

Even some higher-ranking officials who were unwilling to cooperate were suspended from their posts by Sun Chuanting with the Imperial Sword and taken back to the court for questioning.

Under his vigorous and resolute policies, no official in Xi'an Prefecture and neighboring prefectures and counties dared to shirk their responsibilities.

Except for places that are impossible to irrigate, most of the irrigated land near water sources is irrigated.

As Chen Qiuyu traveled south, he saw rice seedlings in Xi'an Prefecture, which were growing much better than those in northern Shaanxi.

But he still felt heavy-hearted, knowing that although the grain harvest here would not be completely lost, there would still be a large reduction in production.

After all, the land that can be irrigated with water is still a minority, and most of it belongs to wealthy families, so the poor still need relief.

When he met Sun Chuanting in Xi'an, Chen Qiyu first praised his achievements and then asked:

"Your Majesty ordered me to ask Sun Zhitai how much food is needed to keep Shaanxi stable? How many immigrants should be relocated?"

Sun Chuanting had been busy with disaster relief for nearly a month and looked very tired. After hearing Chen Qiyu's words, he was silent for a while, then sighed and said with some frustration:

"I'm sorry I can't answer the question your majesty asked."

"When I received the imperial edict last month, I had already tried my best to overestimate the severity of this drought, but I didn't expect that I still underestimated it." "Ordinary droughts can produce some food through water conservancy projects. Even if the food production decreases, it won't be a total loss."

"But this time, God has given us no chance to survive. From May to now, the drought has been severe."

"The drought during the dog days of summer has caused rivers to dry up. The land that was previously irrigated is now dying."

"This kind of disaster sent by God is beyond our control..."

As he talked about these things, Sun Chuanting, who always appeared very strong in front of his subordinates, burst into tears. Because he really realized that this was an irreversible natural disaster!
Chen Qiyu was silent after hearing this, not knowing what to say. From what he had seen along the way, the situation in Xi'an Prefecture was much better than that in Yan'an Prefecture, but unexpectedly, in Sun Chuanting's view, it was still powerless to save the situation.

This made him feel heavy-hearted and gave him a deeper understanding of the drought.

Sun Chuanting cried for a while, venting his stress, and quickly calmed down and said:
"Many things that cannot be kept secret cannot be concealed for long."

"As long as it doesn't rain, the river will dry up sooner or later."

"By next month at the latest, the hungry people, seeing no hope, will start fleeing."

"Without food relief, there will soon be civil unrest."

This was his estimate, which was agreed by Chen Qiyu.

As a former local official, he knew that even in normal years, the poor would have a difficult period of one or two months before the summer and autumn harvests, commonly known as the "gap period".

In the past, because they could look forward to the autumn harvest, the poor would survive by digging wild vegetables and eating tree bark. Now that the autumn harvest is doomed to fail, those poor people who have run out of food will never stay in their hometowns and wait.

In July, there were probably many disaster victims fleeing famine and in need of food relief.

However, it is impossible for the court to transport grain in large quantities in July.

This was not only due to a severe drought in the capital, which meant the court had no surplus grain, but more importantly, due to road restrictions, it was impossible to transport large amounts of grain over long distances.

So at this time, he agreed more with the emperor's decision to emigrate. There was no other option except emigration.

However, immigrants also need food, and we cannot let the victims starve to death on the road. The post roads near the sea can still transport food from the sea and the canal, but in Shaanxi, there is really no way.

Chen Qiyu asked Sun Chuanting:
"How does Sun Zhitai plan to solve the food and immigration issues?"

"Your Majesty has decided to promote martial law in Shaanxi at the imperial court."

"After the martial law order was issued, Sun Zhitai took control of the imperial sword and took charge of all power."

"Your Majesty has entrusted all the important tasks here to the governor!"

Sun Chuanting had already realized this, and his face was very calm, without any joy of taking control of the power.

He calmly told Chen Qiyu the plan he had been thinking about for some time:

"I intend to ask your majesty to establish a Protectorate in Shaanxi."

"The Shaanxi Dusi and Shaanxi Hujunfu are in charge of military orders and political decrees."

"All prefectures and counties in Shaanxi were converted into military and civilian prefectures and military and civilian guards."

"All the people should be organized into garrisons and migrate overseas in batches." (End of this chapter)