Late Tang

50 shi of grain, this is not a small number, if you save it, it can even feed 30 people for a year.But this is the first request made by Li Jing since he took over Dengzhou, which makes every family have to think carefully.

However, Dengzhou is no better than the mainland of the Central Plains. Dengzhou is an important port in the north.Every year, a large amount of grain from the south of the Yangtze River is transported to Dengzhou by sea, and then enters the Central Plains and the north, and even Silla, and Dongying have grain shipped.Compared with the Grand Canal, the food transported from the south is almost the same.Therefore, the price of grain in Dengzhou has always been cheaper than that in the Central Plains, and even cheaper than in Guanzhong.

When the price of food was the cheapest, it cost four or five dollars for a bucket of rice in Guanzhong, but only two coins in Dengzhou.Dengzhou does not produce much grain, but there is a lot of grain hoarded in Dengzhou Port.

As Li Jing expected, all the families finally complied with his request. The 50 shi of grain was shared by families of all sizes in Dengzhou. The figure was drawn up on the second day, and then from the third day onwards, each family sent grain to the warehouse in Dengzhou one after another.

Seeing this result, Li Jing was very satisfied, which showed the recognition and support of Dengzhou for him to take over Dengzhou.To be honest, in the past half a year, Li Jing has purchased a lot and exchanged commodities for food, so it is not really a shortage of food.Although Song Wei was given a lot last time, Li Jing actually built a granary city on Daxie South Island. The granaries in it all have a capacity of 150 shi, and Li Jing has 120 such granaries.And there are more than 30 seats full of grain, and there are more than 210 million shi of grain, and in the three cities of Beisha, Qingnicheng, and Shamen Town, Li Jing has 100 shi of grain in storage. , Li Jing owns 300 million shi of grain.Now, plus the 100 million shi just received, Li Jing has [-] million shi grains, which is enough to feed [-] million people for a year.

However, Li Jing didn't plan to use the grain this time. For two consecutive years of famine, everyone would think that if they persisted until next summer, they would be able to overcome the grain shortage.But what they don't know is that there will only be more food shortages in the future than now.Li Jing had already received the news that Wang Xianzhi had turned against him, leading ten voters to gather [-] people in Changyuan, and broke through Changyuan County.This news has not reached Dengzhou yet, and even if it did reach Dengzhou, I am afraid that not many people will really care about this group of people now, they will only think it is a small group of rebellion.

But Li Jing understood that the troubled times had finally come.And from now on, food will become more expensive.

The 120 million shi grains stored in Daxie village are the war reserve grains, which Li Jing will not use unless it is absolutely necessary.Of the 100 million shi of grain just received, 50 shi of grain deducted will also be stored in Cangcheng.

With 160 million shi of grain in reserve, Li Jing can truly have no shortage in his heart.During this period of time, the goods produced in Shamen Town have basically been traded for grain, a small amount of traded materials, and rarely received money.In this way, through trading and suppressing bandits, etc., this batch of grain was saved.

Now there are 160 million combat reserve grains, plus 90 shi of grain, enough to supply the Zhendong Army.As for the earthquake disaster, there is now 100 million shi of grain, which is completely enough.

The food has been received, and the earthquake disaster will start on a large scale.

However, Li Jing did not intend to simply distribute the food. Li Jing summoned the civil and military officers of the Zhendong Army, as well as the San Shangzuo and Liu Cao officials from Dengzhou.On the state side, there are only 23 high-ranking officials, and in the counties below, there are only a few high-ranking officials.

In the lobby, there are nearly a hundred civilians and battalion-level generals on the Zhendong Army's side, which is obviously more powerful than the prefecture and county side, which only has more than 20 people.In addition, representatives of many aristocratic families in Dengzhou attended today's disaster relief meeting.

This time, all the noble families have shed a little blood, and Li Jing naturally reciprocated them.Many families asked for some young children in the family to join Li Jing's Zhendong army, and Li Jing accepted them all after a brief assessment.In order to reflect the importance attached to these families, Li Jing created a new battalion for the children of these families, imitating the establishment of the officer guard battalion, and the new family children who entered the camp were all awarded as corporals, instead of starting from the lower ranks.

In addition, for some scholars in those families, Li Jing also appointed them preferentially, recruited according to their talents, and arranged them into the yamen of one prefecture and four counties in Dengzhou.

All the families are obviously very satisfied with Li Jing's arrangement.Only when the interests are shared can the alliance be truly consistent.

"About this earthquake disaster, what plans do you have?" Li Jing asked.

"Open warehouses to release grain, and distribute rations according to the population of each household." Changshi Han Anmin said.In his view, with enough food, disaster relief could not be easier.

Others almost thought the same way. Li Jing shook his head when he saw it, and said, "It's not a good idea to simply distribute the grain. Have you ever thought that under the current situation, it is difficult to grow Xiazhong?" .Then the common people will have nothing to do, which is not only easy to cause accidents, but also a waste of manpower."

"Then Li Shijun's intention, how to shake up the disaster?" Xiao Dingbang asked.

"Replace vibration with work!" Li Jing said directly.

Li Jing's plan is actually very simple. In the current situation, the land cannot be planted.If it is simply to distribute food, then the common people have nothing else to do.Nothing good happens when this person is idle, and if tens of thousands of people are idle, accidents are more likely to happen.And for Li Jing, tens of 10 people spend food for nothing and do nothing, which is really a waste.

Replacing work with work means not giving food in vain, but taking advantage of the current opportunity to organize these common people.For example, you can repair city walls, dredge rivers and ditches, build dams and reservoirs, etc. In addition, you can mine, fish, work in workshops, and so on.The people participated in these labors, and the government distributed food according to the work.In this way, the people can have food to eat, and the government has completed many projects that require a lot of manpower.

As soon as Li Jing's proposal came out, many people immediately understood and nodded.

"The current severe drought is a good time to dredge rivers and ditches and build dams and reservoirs. This year's harvest is gone, but if the water conservancy is done now, there will be a good harvest next year. In addition, we can organize people to build bridges and roads, repair The city walls, fishing in the sea, etc., these things used to be conscripted Yao labors, and now it is time for the common people to work together to replace them. In this way, everyone has both food and food, and it also saves everyone from being helpless. Things happen."

Everyone agreed with this, and finally they unanimously agreed to the plan of replacing vibration with work.The next thing is much simpler. Some major projects need to be drawn up, such as which roads to repair, which bridges to repair, and which city walls to repair. Dams, reservoirs and other water conservancy facilities.According to the counties and townships, the manpower is calculated for the planned projects, and then the grain is pulled out.

People who participate in these projects can get food.However, because the purpose is to revive disasters, all young and strong men have to participate in labor.Even the women have to mobilize and work together.In addition, the elderly and children don't need to work, so Kexin can get rations directly.

"Since labor is used to replace income, the rations must not be reduced. Young and strong men and women who participate in labor are given at least one liter of rice a day, and pickles are also distributed. As for the old and young who cannot participate in labor, each person is given half a day. Liter of rice."

There is no objection to this.Simply distributing grain to relieve disasters is different from substituting labor for disaster relief.

On the same day, after the meeting, Li Jing sent people to post notices around the state and county, announcing the decision of the state capital.And sent a lot of cavalry to inform the displaced people everywhere in Dengzhou to suspend the collection of previous arrears and exempt the two taxes for this year.

And let the people from all over the country return to their homes immediately and go to Dengzhou before their original place.The young and strong participate in projects in various counties and townships, and the old and young can also distribute disaster relief rations according to the checked list.

The rations for disaster relief are given out every ten days, one liter per day for young and strong, and half a liter per day for young and old.In addition, for young and strong men and women who participated in hard labor, some wages will be paid according to their performance.Of course, because it is disaster relief work, the wages are only symbolic, only [-] Wen per day.Six hundred Wen a month can also be exchanged for ten catties of rice at the end of the month.

After the notice was posted, at first the refugees couldn't believe it was true.The government was able to open a porridge shed, and they were already very happy to serve two bowls of porridge every day. Now that they returned to their hometown, they could still receive food according to the head.If you work hard, you can even earn ten catties of rice a month.Such a good thing has never been encountered before.Last year was also a severe drought, but the government only opened a porridge shed.

Many refugees thought that the government only wanted to trick them into returning home, so they refused to leave.

The incident was reported to Li Jing. After thinking about it, Li Jing went out of the city to the south of the city in person, looking at the people who gathered together, all of them were yellow and hungry.

"Zhang Lushi, distribute ten catties of food to every villager here, so that everyone can return home with peace of mind." Li Jing knew that facing such a group of hungry people, it would be superfluous to say anything reasonable, so he directly asked Zhang Hong to distribute food.Many people fled here from their homes all the way, and now even if they can receive food from their hometown, it will be troublesome for them along the way.Only when real food is delivered to them can they trust the government's arrangements and return home.

Zhang Hong immediately led people to fetch carts of grain from the warehouse. The common people were in a commotion when they saw the bags of grain. If it wasn't for the soldiers from a battalion of the Zhendong Army to maintain order on the spot, this group of people didn't know how long they hadn't had enough. The hungry people who have eaten are likely to rush to rob.

When the first white-haired old man took a sack containing ten catties of grain from the official's hand, and looked at the yellow corn in the bag, he was so excited that he burst into tears.While crying, the old man directly knelt down towards Li Jing and kowtowed loudly.

"Li Shijun's benevolence, righteousness and virtue, the virtue of regeneration, the grassroots and others will never forget it!"

One by one, the refugees believed the government's words at this time, knowing that they had finally met a very good official.They all knelt down and kowtowed to Li Jing.

Li Jing hurriedly stepped forward to help people up one by one, but he helped one up, and the other knelt down again.Ordinary Shengdou people, although they have their ignorant and narrow-minded side, they are all the most simple. Li Jing's action to revive the disaster is sincerely for the benefit of the people, and they clearly distinguish it.

Li Zhen stood behind Li Jing, stroking his long beard and nodding frequently, the hearts of people in Dengzhou, after this incident, already turned to Li Jing.

(To be continued)