golden scales

Zhu Cihong asked someone to bring out a sand table of the whole province of Shandong, on which the locations of prefectures and counties were marked. He pointed with a wooden whip: "If the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty go south, Dongchang Prefecture will bear the brunt.. In order to open up the north-south water transport, they are also here The target must be captured first. Assigned to the county officials of Dongchang Prefecture, the most important task is to transfer population, transfer resources, and block the canal!"

The price of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the collapse of a dynasty. Since the Sui Dynasty, the importance of this north-south artery has been self-evident, and cannot be underestimated in all dynasties.However, Zhu Cihong announced at this moment that it would be cut off and filled up!

The high-level officials who participated in the discussion had known about this resolution for a long time, and their faces were not shocked, while others were all horrified.

"Your Highness, the canal is not only about water transportation, but also about irrigation of the surrounding farmland!" Wu Weiye, the prefect of Laizhou, got up immediately and said.

Zhu Cihong saw that he was working hard recently, so he gave him face just now, saying: "There are few people in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. In order to dredge the canal, it is necessary to disperse manpower, which can greatly reduce the pressure on our army. We have a large number of people. As long as we can regain our homeland, we don't need to Worried about the consumption of the dredged canal. As for the food, I couldn’t count on it.”

As an agricultural country, the impact on farmland irrigation naturally comes first.It is only June now, and many farmlands in Henan and Hebei need a lot of water to irrigate to ensure a good harvest.Once the canal is cut off, the overflow of the river will cause serious waterlogging and drown the crops, and the cut-off area will cause water shortage in the fields.

"This matter has already been decided, so there is no need to discuss it." Zhu Cihong pressed his hands and said, "Mr. Cai, I want you to sit in Jinan Mansion personally, supervise and govern the county officials, and do a good job in the transfer of people."

"I obey the order." Cai Maode stepped forward and responded.

"Duke Zhou," Zhu Cihong turned to Zhou Yingqi, "The people have migrated to the new land, and I will leave it to you as soon as Yingqi settles down."

Zhou Yingqi hurriedly got up and took orders.He settled the fields in Tianjin to calm the people, and he was quite praised by the people. He was a good official who really planned for the people.It was precisely because of this that Zhu Cihong trusted him, but he only had half of Shandong Province under his command, and it was difficult for senior officials to settle down. This allowed him to patrol Deng and Lai as the governor of Tianjin, guiding those new and tender county officials to govern the area.

"Mr. Zhang," Zhu Cihong shouted, "Food is still the top priority. The army is fighting on the front line, and it is even more important to ensure that there is sufficient food in the rear."

Zhang Shiqi is now the chief envoy of Shandong Province to participate in politics, and he is also on the Lai Liang Road.

He came out and said, "Your Highness, even counting the barley harvested in May, there is still a huge food shortage of [-] shi in the counties and counties of Denglai. And the imperial court has been buying grain from the southeast, which has caused the price of grain to rise by more than [-]%. I beseech you to adjust The ship bought grain from North Korea. Later, the South ship landed from Qingdao, and the North Korean ship unloaded grain at Dengzhou."

As long as he could buy food, Zhu Cihong didn't care where he bought it from.The Korean peninsula lacks resources, but the south is relatively flat, with abundant water sources and a climate similar to that of Shandong, making it an important grain-producing area.In particular, the soil near Gyeonggi-do is fertile and the grain yield is high.

"Yes!" Zhu Cihong said immediately, "We can also consider buying land in North Korea and recruiting Liao people to grow sweet potatoes and other crops."

For the current productivity of North Koreans, the mountainous areas in northern North Korea are basically unable to cultivate food crops.However, the Ming people had crops such as sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes that did not pick the land. They could buy land in North Korea and cultivate it in the name of the Koreans.The imperial court did not expect them to be able to alleviate the food pressure, as long as they could survive.

"Xu Guangqi was studying breeding when he was in Tianjin. How many years has it been?" Zhu Cihong said of high-yield crops, but he couldn't help but take special care: "Don't just focus on buying grain, you have to pay close attention to breeding. Manpower If it’s not enough, recruit more old farmers.”

Zhang Shiqi repeatedly said yes, and he was quite concerned about breeding.He always felt that Xu Guangqi was bragging in the book, how could there be seven or eight sweet potatoes in a litter, and each root was thicker and longer than a baby's arm?However, the crown prince was poisoned by Xu Guangqi, and he was convinced of this, insisting that as long as these crops are well bred, they can produce high yields.But this can't be seen in three or two days, can't it be a year?

Zhu Cihong was also very helpless.The food gap is calculated based on the minimum average daily consumption of all registered population, which means that as long as there is a gap, someone will definitely starve to death.In fact, even if the gap is filled, considering that the distribution of resources cannot be completely balanced, some people will still starve to death, but there will be no large-scale famine.Moreover, the eastward migration of people from western Shandong and the influx of refugees from Gyeonggi, Hebei, and Henan will inevitably increase food consumption.

If a large-scale battle is to be carried out before the autumn harvest, the food pressure will be even greater.

After Zhu Cihong announced the end of the meeting, he went out through the back door before everyone got up to salute.In the opposite wing room, a room full of generals and school officers had already been seated.Most of these people are staff officers of various ministries, not including military chiefs.In such a tense period, Zhu Cihong did not dare to send the chief military officer back easily.

You Shiwei was eventually awarded the rank of lieutenant general and served as the chief of the general staff, but the sacrifice of wine in the martial arts hall became an insignificant part-time job.This military meeting was actually a staff meeting initiated by him, and one of the topics was the impact of the southeast bandit suppression on alleviating food pressure.Seeing that the staff department was also considering the issue of "food pressure", Zhu Cihong naturally wanted to attend.

"I won't wait for the auditorium in the future." Zhu Cihong came in, and saw that everyone was whispering to each other for a small meeting, and did not start a formal meeting, so he hurriedly said: "Let's start."

You Shiwei got up from his seat, led the officers to salute Zhu Cihong, and then walked to the map, tapped a bamboo whip on his palm, and said sternly: "The summer harvest is busy until the autumn millet harvest. The progress of village bravery training is slow. The training staff of each army must do their best to ensure the completion of daily queue training." Although You Shiwei is very disdainful of "staff officers", he believes that real generals do not need so many people to assist them.When he himself became the head of the staff, he soon realized the importance of this position and devoted himself very much to it, so he never said anything about abolishing it.

Although Xiangyong has existed in the past dynasties, it is not a real combat power here in the East Palace, but a supplement to the battle losses of various ministries.These village braves who take into account both production and combat readiness are trained by veterans drawn from various ministries as village instructors.If there is a large battle loss that cannot be replenished by new recruits, these township heroes will be used to supplement the troops.In principle, "Whoever trains will be compensated", so the ministries also attach great importance to the training of village bravery.

You Shiwei was quite proud of seeing these young school officials restrained by his general prestige, and continued: "Everyone can look at the map." He pointed to the enlarged Da Mingkun map hanging high, and continued: "Now start the topic: First, after the Shun bandits were defeated, bandits ran rampant in Henan, Hebei, and Gyeonggi, and the General Staff suggested that the task of suppressing bandits be handed over to the reserve battalion. Do you have any objections?"

All present here are representatives of the staff of various ministries. If they fought against the Manchurian captives, they would fight for it, but they were not very enthusiastic about suppressing bandits.And the reserve battalion should indeed see blood, and suppressing bandits is just right for them.

Zhu Cihong himself also had this arrangement. Hearing You Shiwei's proposal in advance and discussing it, he was even more satisfied. He only waited for this suggestion to be submitted before handing over the order.

Seeing that the proposal was approved, You Shiwei continued: "Item [-]: Send the Duli guerrilla battalion to the south for food, and relieve the pressure on Shandong's military rations. Do you have any objections?"

Zhu Cihong cast his eyes on Zhu Jiajun.He remembered this second lieutenant who was injured in the battle of Ruyang. Because of his hard work, he became a typical example of "turning from war to participation" and was publicly praised.If he did not raise any objections, the staff officers of other battalions and departments would certainly not have any opinions.

This opinion was actually put forward by the Duli Guerrilla Camp. Zhu Jiajun, as the advocate, certainly has no objections.

"What if there is a conflict with other friendly forces?" A major raised his hand and asked.

Although the plan in You Shiwei's hand contained plans to deal with various situations, he still looked at Zhu Jiajun and gave him the right to explain.

Zhu Jiajun understood, stood up and saluted the crown prince first, then walked to the front of the stage, took a bamboo whip, and knocked it on "Xuzhou" accurately.