Wei and Jin cooks

Xiaoman's "full" refers to the abundance of rain, which is when rivers and fields are filled with water. The so-called "xiaoman" is dissatisfied, and the awns are left alone.

Under normal circumstances, the rain in this season is either insufficient or overflowing. After all, in addition to rivers that can hold water, the land can also absorb a large amount of water resources.

You know, there are underground rivers hidden underground.

Therefore, Director Wang didn't take it seriously at first when it rained heavily in Jiangnan, even though the rain was a bit heavy.

But after five consecutive days of heavy rain, he became a little worried, especially in the north where the rain was also heavy, so he immediately sent a telegram to Luoyang.

Zhao Hanzhang could only order him to be careful to prevent disasters, keep an eye on food prices, and do a good job of appeasing the people.

During the heavy rain in the south of the Yangtze River, the rain in Luoyang took a break and the sun briefly appeared for two days. Zhao Hanzhang personally went to the countryside to go to the fields.

The winter wheat planted last autumn and winter was flooded a lot, and farmers are draining the floodwaters in an attempt to save it.

On the other hand, the sorghum sown last month was planted in a slightly higher place because it was resistant to drought. It was already a finger long. Although there was still water in the ridges at this time, it penetrated quickly, and as soon as the sun shone, it It feels refreshed and looks supple and tender in the sunshine.

Zhao Hanzhang exhaled and asked Li Zheng, who was following him, "How much sorghum do you plant?"

Li Zheng said happily: "On average, a family can farm about seven acres."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, "Although the yield of sorghum is not high, seven acres is enough for the people to survive."

Li Zheng said worriedly: "But the taxes are not enough. I don't know if it will be sunny today. In the eleventh day, it will be the time for pawn planting. If the floods stop here, then we can plant rice, and we can also replant." Some wheat and corn.”

Zhao Hanzhang thought for a while and then said: "When I go back, I will ask Guo Shaoqing. The weather will be published in the newspaper and the Yamen will inform you and others."

Li Zheng responded quickly.

Zhao Hanzhang ran back to find Guo Pu.

Guo Pu and Fu Tinghan are calculating the amount of rainfall and the capacity of rivers in various places based on the number of rainfall drops reported in various places.

Hearing Zhao Hanzhang ask about the weather, Guo Pu walked outside, looked up at the sky, counted with his fingers and said: "It will be sunny tomorrow, and it will be sunny the day after tomorrow. Don't ask me about the rest. I don't know whether it will be sunny or rainy."

Zhao Hanzhang: "Is this settled?"

Guo Pu glanced at her and said, "This is not difficult. Well, what Ting Han is calculating is difficult."

Fu Tinghan shook his head and said: "I don't think my calculation is difficult. Your ability to calculate with just one finger is more difficult."

Zhao Hanzhang stepped forward and asked, "How about it? Can the Yellow River hold all this rainwater?"

"It doesn't seem to be a big problem at the moment. Summer has just begun and the Yellow River is still filling. It is the largest river in China, so its capacity is no problem. The problem is that the rain is too heavy, and the loess has poor water penetration capacity and is soft. , heavy rains will wash a large amount of sediment into the Yellow River." Fu Tinghan said: "Fortunately, we dredged the Yellow River, otherwise even if the Yellow River could absorb the water, it would rush out of the river bed under the accumulation of sediment and flood the farmland of the villages."

"However, after this year's heavy rain, the dredging work will probably go back to the original point, and we will have to dredge it again at the end of the year."

Zhao Hanzhang walked around in circles, "Let's talk about it when the time comes. As long as we can save people and fields at this time."

She said: "The awn seeds are coming, and I still want them to catch the seeds. Otherwise, if they miss the awn seeds, all that can be grown in the ground will be soybeans. I have given up hope for this year's summer harvest."

The courtiers also had this idea, so the next step was to drain the floods and cultivate the land.

Ming Yu went to the front line to fight the flood. Zhao Hanzhang took a look at the civil and military officials of the court and sent many people to the fields to persuade farmers to teach farmers. Even the generals were not spared.

Except for some of the high-born generals who followed Zhao Hanzhang, most of them were rough men, but rough men also had their own ways.

They went directly back to the military camp, whipped out several hundred soldiers and dispersed them into the fields, asking them to help the people plow and sow the fields.

When the sun is shining, they work hard in the fields with a grimace. When it rains, they happily run to the eaves to take shelter with the other villagers.

Seeing that they were half-grown teenagers who had no worries, the generals swung their whips and cursed angrily, "Why are you happy? Why are you happy? I think you are just lazy and don't deserve to be whipped. Let me hear your laughter next time. I will Beat you to death!"

The villagers on the side quickly stopped and put in a good word for them, "Working is a joyful thing. The general can't let the children cry while working, right?"

"You see, the children came to help and were scolded. I feel even more sorry."

The general immediately said: "Since you can't let go, let's plant more crops. You can grow more sorghum and millet."

"Forgetting the millet, it's too late to plant sorghum now, right?"

"There's time, there's time," the general said, "We asked the people at Sinong Temple before we came here. We can plant anything within ten days before and after planting the awns."

When the villagers heard this and saw their bright eyes, they could only nod their heads, "Okay."

It’s just that you need to select more seeds.

Once the seeds are picked, there will be less food stored in the home. When the awns are planted, many people will have no food in their homes.

In previous years, winter wheat has been harvested at this time. Even if the harvest is not good, there will be no food left. But this year's winter wheat...

Although the rain no longer falls continuously, it comes every now and then, and it continues to this day. The winter wheat does not have enough sunlight, so the ears are not harvested well. In addition, after the heavy rain, many wheat are sick, and very few can be harvested.

Most people have failed to harvest any winter wheat.

Therefore, because of the rapid rise in grain prices that Mangzhong had ignored for a long time, Di Bao reported the next day that Yuanli arrested three families in Ji County who were maliciously driving up grain prices. Not only did they confiscate all the properties of the three families, but they also killed the leader on the spot. One person, the rest of the men from the three families have all gone to serve in the army.

Of course, Di Bao will report this matter because someone impeached Yuan Li for abusing lynching and went beyond the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple to settle the case.

Zhao Hanzhang changed hands and handed the impeachment letter to Zhao Yunxin and published it directly in the newspaper.

In order to explain Yuan Li's evil deeds, the censor enumerated his faults, but also described Yuan Li's raids on the three families in immersive detail, the punishment he used, the misery of those who were tortured by the three families, and the innocence of those implicated. It is also written in great detail, making sure to arouse Zhao Hanzhang's feelings of pity.

It really aroused Zhao Hanzhang's pity, so she handed the article to Di Bao for publication, then demoted him from the official of the Procuratorate to an adjutant, and punished him to patrol various counties and counties to investigate the hoarding of unscrupulous businessmen in various places, so as to make meritorious deeds.

Then the county government of Ji County was ordered to redistribute the Koufen and Yongye fields to the three families whose property had been confiscated, and to halve the men's sentences for military service.

As soon as the article was published, the people were not afraid of Yuan Li. Instead, they complained about him, saying: "The profiteers who have made it difficult for the country to make money should be beheaded. General Yuan did not do anything wrong. Why did the censor impeach General Yuan?"

"The general is so soft-hearted that he even gave them some land. If you ask me, the whole family should be sent to the army."

"You damn profiteer, the price of food has risen to thirty-eight cents per dou, and my family can no longer afford food."

"You can buy it as a whole village, one stone at a time. It's cheaper that way."

"I asked about the price, and it's not much cheaper. One stone is 375 Wen."

"I think with this momentum, food prices will continue to rise."

What surprised the people of Luoyang was that the price of food not only did not increase the next day, but was even lower by a penny.

As the news spread out, local food prices also fell.

The common people thought that food prices had reached their peak and were about to come down, and they were all very happy. Only officials in the court and some scholars saw this because some people were afraid.

The impeachment letter published by Zhao Hanzhang was clearly a rebuke to Yuan Li, but in fact it was a threat to those who hoarded food and drove up food prices.

The price of food in Luoyang briefly paused at thirty-four cents for two days, and then began to quietly rise to thirty-five cents.

The common people sighed, glanced at the meager copper coins at home, and finally resisted the urge to buy food, and began to lead their families to the fields and foothills to pick wild vegetables.

As soon as a large number of people picking wild vegetables and leaves appeared outside the city, Zhao Hanzhang knew it immediately. She called Tinghe and Chengbo and said: "Notify all places that the grain we have accumulated can be sold out. The price is limited, and one bucket of grain is two Twelve coins, one person can only buy one bucket at a time."

Ting He and Cheng Bo responded.

Ting He mainly stayed in Luoyang, while Uncle Cheng went to inspect the surrounding counties. Of course, the news was not delivered by people, but by telegram, and Uncle Cheng went out after the news.

After giving instructions to Ting He, Zhao Hanzhang called for Ji Yuan, Chang Ning and other ministers and said, "The court's disaster relief food can be distributed."

Chang Ning, who had long proposed to distribute disaster relief food, breathed a sigh of relief and immediately went to make arrangements.

They have already prepared, the regulations have been decided long ago, and the manpower is ready, including students from Taixue and various schools.

There is no need to transport disaster relief food in cash. When buying it before, Chang Ning had planned it and put it into storage on the spot. The Ministry of Household Affairs would send people to count it and send soldiers to guard it.

At this time, you only need to send a telegram, and Ming Yu, Zu Ti, Zhao Shen and others in the disaster area with the radio can telegraph to hand over to the grain depot and organize local disaster relief.

Overnight, disaster relief officials scattered throughout the country obtained the location and quantity of grain depots, as well as detailed disaster relief plans.

Xun Fan was grieving over the difficulties in people's livelihood. "After one disaster comes another, except last year the weather was more favorable. Why is it so difficult for people to survive?"

Yu Hong, who was sitting with him, sighed and was about to speak when a clerk rushed over with a piece of paper and said, "Sheriff, General Zu just sent a letter from the camp saying that the disaster relief food has arrived. Let us go to receive it tomorrow and prepare it." Disaster relief matters.”

Yu Hong and Xun Fan were refreshed. They immediately took the paper and looked at it. They were surprised to see that the grain warehouse was in the county. "I knew that this warehouse was requisitioned by the garrison, but I didn't know that it was used to store grain."

After speaking, he frowned and said, "Since the imperial court has food stored here, why didn't it send relief food earlier?"

Xun Fan thought quickly, "At this time, the grain seeds have just been sown for about ten days, and they are still just small seedlings. It will take at least three months to harvest. If the grain relief is provided early, it will take another three months." what can we do about it?"

"Yuanli killed the chickens to scare the monkeys. He raided three houses but failed to stop the rise in food prices. If the imperial court had sent out all the food in hand early, wouldn't it mean that the grain merchants would have to do whatever they wanted in the next three months?" Xunfan pinched the paper and said: "The general endures the infamy in order to keep the flow of water flowing and allow more people to live."

Food prices had soared before, but the people were not at the end of their rope. Because the treasury was empty and there were rumors that the court would not provide food relief, no people dared to eat more food. Even when farming was busy, they could only maintain a state of not starving to death.

This allowed them to get through the lean months of March and April in one breath, and then passed the Ear Grain. It was almost the summer solstice, and all the winter wheat in the fields had been harvested.

Those who were lightly affected by the disaster had food stored at home, and those who were severely affected also showed it, including those who picked wild vegetables and leaves outside. They wanted to provide disaster relief, so they knew who to give the food to.

Yu Hong sighed: "She really planned every step and everyone."

Xun Fan said softly: "There are many people with this wisdom, but there are very few people with this wisdom and high positions who can endure the remonstrances and insults of the court officials."

It started raining in mid-March, and it has been raining intermittently for three months now.

In the past three months, her desk had been filled with official letters requesting the imperial court to provide disaster relief, letters from officials from various places requesting food for disaster relief, and impeachments accusing Zhao Hanzhang of acting recklessly and exploiting disasters to eliminate dissidents.

But as if she couldn't feel the anxiety and anger of the courtiers, she handled government affairs as usual, then forced them to go out to drain floods and provide disaster relief, sent people around to arrest wealthy grain merchants, fined them, and even confiscated them...

In the eyes of the courtiers, in three months, she had clearly fined so much money and plundered so much money. Every time she took away the money for disaster relief, the treasury was empty.

This can't help but make people suspect that she kept the money for herself and was just being stingy and conservative rather than willing to provide funds for disaster relief.

If Ji Yuan and Chang Ning didn't know her plan, they would be so suspicious.

After all, her grandfather was Zhao Changyu, and she had the blood of being stingy and keeping money.

The imperial court began large-scale disaster relief. People who were unable to receive relief grains were dissatisfied and worried. New grain shops were opened on the streets. When they opened, they sold twenty-two coins per dou, and each person was limited to one dou.

They immediately ignored their sadness and ran home to get the money. They took the whole family with them, each took a cloth bag, and pretended not to know each other to buy.

After one person finished buying, he turned around and went to the back of the queue, wanting to buy again, but the guy who collected the money had very sharp eyes. As soon as he saw the person, he said, "Why are you here again? This is already the second time." There are so many people in your family, and each person has a dou, so you have bought seven or eight dou, right? It is enough for your family to eat for a month."

"Nonsense, I'm the only one in my family."

"Don't think that I can't tell if you don't talk to each other. You and those two little ladies look exactly the same. Do you dare to say that they are not mother and daughter?" The man advised: "Let's go, let's go, don't worry. I have a lot of food stored at home, I’ll buy it tomorrow.”

"Your family really has so much food in stock, why do you want to limit purchases?"

"The purchase limit is for your own good. Otherwise, if a grain merchant comes and buys it all in one go, then sells it to you at a higher price, will you cry?" The clerk said, "Do you know who our boss is?"

People queuing up to buy food shook their heads together.

The clerk said proudly: "Our boss is the mother of the general! Madam pities the people, so she spent all her family property to buy grain and sell it to you at a low price. Don't worry, the grain in our grain depot is piled up to the roof. It's enough." The whole county will eat for half a year."

"real or fake?"

"The general's mother's business, can it be fake?" If Uncle Cheng hadn't said that the girl's name cannot be used, he would have used the girl's banner long ago.

Two chapters combined into one, see you tomorrow