Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1612, not afraid of famine

In a corner of the Imperial Palace in the capital, there is a newly built reinforced concrete building. The top of the building is erected with antennas, and the top is densely packed with copper rings.

Inside the building are large and small rooms, the number is very large, and you can see many Jinyiwei in flying fish suits and fans from the East Factory busy inside.

With the emergence of electromagnetic communication technology, the factory guards, as the eyes and ears of the emperor, naturally used this advanced and powerful communication technology in the first time, and quickly set up electromagnetic communication base stations in various places in Ming Dynasty. Pass information so that the emperor can keep abreast of the big and small affairs in various parts of Daming.

Compared with previous means of communication, electromagnetic communication is faster, safer and more reliable, and consumes much, much less manpower and material resources.

In the past, in order to ensure the smooth flow of government orders, successive dynasties would spend a huge amount of money to build post stations for the transmission of information.

On a national scale, to build a post station system covering the entire Ming Dynasty and set up post stations every few tens of miles, the cost can be imagined.

Now with the electromagnetic communication technology, it is possible to spread and communicate rapidly across long distances, requiring much less manpower and cost, and the transmission speed is countless times faster than before.

When there was a flood in the south of the Yangtze River, it used to take a few days to send it to the capital even if it was urgent for [-] li. , it will take several days.

But it is different now. Through electromagnetic communication technology, the disaster situation can be communicated to the capital in the first time, and the decisions made can also be transmitted to the local government or various yamen for execution in the first time. The efficiency is much faster than before. too much.

At this time, Emperor Hongzhi was watching the messages from all over the country in the study room of the Emperor Qianqing.

"Floods in the south of the Yangtze River~"

"Droughts in Henan are exactly as Liu Jin said back then. South droughts and north floods or south floods and north droughts are almost all happening at the same time. As long as there is a slight change in the movement of the monsoon, disasters will inevitably occur."

"This year's situation is like this. The floods in the south are severe, but the northern provinces are extremely dry. Not only Henan, Shanxi, Shandong, Beizhili, Shaanxi and other places have different degrees of drought, the most serious is Henan. "

Emperor Hongzhi stared at the huge map and looked at the information in his hand, thinking of the monsoon that Liu Jin said back then.

Over the years, Daming has always had good weather and weather, but this year it is not smooth, with floods in the south and severe drought in the north.

If it is before, there will inevitably be huge problems.

The south may be better. The climate and environment in the south are not bad. Even if there are some disasters, they can withstand them, but the north.

Once there is a disaster, there will inevitably be starvation and thieves everywhere, and even if the imperial court fails to provide relief, there may be wars and a large number of peasant uprisings.

In the snow disaster that year, the whole area of ​​Beizhili was starved and starved to death. I don’t know how many people died of starvation, which directly exposed the so-called prosperous scene.

But it's different now.

Judging from the feedback from the factory guards in various places, whether it is the flood in the south or the drought in the north this time, it can be regarded as a catastrophe that occurs once in decades.

But the situation in various places is not bad. People have food in their homes, and they will not be without food for a while, and because of the large-scale migration of a large number of people from the provinces inside the pass to outside the pass and overseas.

Therefore, the population density of the original two capitals and thirteen provinces has been greatly reduced. Both Jiangnan and Henan have lost a large number of people.

The result of this is that a large amount of land is not cultivated at all, especially those inferior fields and fields that are prone to drought are even more uncultivated.

Many of the remaining people still went to work in the city, and the land they planted was first-class fields that were easy to irrigate. This kind of fields had good conditions and strong disaster resistance. Even if there was a severe drought, the impact might be Not particularly large.

In addition, the current traffic conditions are much better than before.

In the past, it took a long time to transport grain to disaster relief. The key point is that there may not even be half of the 100 catties of grain left, and it was eaten halfway. Disaster relief is actually very difficult.

This is also one of the important reasons why ancient grain merchants were able to make a fortune in the country.

Because of the inconvenient transportation, especially in times of disaster, it is often difficult for the court to transport food even if it has food. Grain merchants who have food in their hands can naturally raise prices on the ground and make a fortune.

But it’s different now. Cement roads are almost all over Daming, and trains are also connected to many places. If you use trains to transport food, it’s not only fast, but also low-cost. Disaster relief can be very fast and the cost is also lower. Low.

Whether it is Henan or Jiangnan, the trains have already been connected, and a carload of grain can be directly pulled there, and the disaster relief is easy and the cost becomes very low.

It is very difficult for grain merchants to make money in national calamity. How can you rely on grain to make money in national calamity with the cartloads of grain coming here?
In addition, the high-yielding crops introduced from the Golden Continent, corn and sweet potatoes, are very drought-resistant, easy to grow, and have high yields. They are absolutely appropriate disaster-resistant weapons.

As long as you plant some, you don't have to worry about being hungry.

In addition, capitalism in Ming Dynasty was developing rapidly, and factories everywhere sprung up like mushrooms, and a large number of peasants went to the cities to work and became the earliest workers.

When working in a factory, you are naturally not afraid of whether it will rain or not. As long as the factory has an order, you have your own factory, your salary is in hand, and you don’t have to worry about food and drink.

Under many factors, even though there are floods in the south of the Yangtze River and drought in the north, there are still no problems in the livelihood of the people in various places.

These two places do not produce grain, but some are produced locally.

The conditions in Liaodong are very good, and the grain production is very sufficient. Even the grain produced in Liaodong is enough to feed the entire Ming Dynasty, and Liaodong has already passed the train.

With an order from the imperial court, truckloads of grain were directly transported south from Liaodong to the northern provinces, and then to various places in the south of the Yangtze River. Don't worry if there is no production for a year, even if there is no production for a few years.

There are also trains in the Western Regions and Hezhong. The output of grain and meat here is so large that there is simply not enough food to eat. Truckloads of grain can be transported continuously.

To the south, the grain output of the Nanyang provinces is also extremely high. Through the current developed shipping system, it can be directly transported to various places in the south of the Yangtze River through the Yangtze River to ensure the stability of grain in the south of the Yangtze River.

"It's better now!"

"These years of hard work are finally paying off."

Emperor Hongzhi showed a smile on his face, and he was not at all worried about the famine as before.

In the past, whenever there was a famine in a certain place, Emperor Hongzhi would be worried.

On the one hand, they are worried that the famine will be serious, and the people will suffer from the disaster. On the other hand, they are worried that the government’s disaster relief money will be swallowed up by local officials, or that there will be man-made disasters in the barren land, so that the ground will be full of starvation, and children will be eaten instead. Wait for the tragic image to appear.

The point is that Emperor Hongzhi can't do anything, he can only save some money from his own internal funds to relieve the disaster, and he has to keep praying that the officials below should not embezzle too much, and how much should be given to the people below Keep some.

Now, Emperor Hongzhi laughed.

Because even in a famine year, he doesn't need to worry about anything, the situation in the barren land is still very good, and the people who come here have food and drink, so don't worry.

The imperial government's disaster relief can also become easier. One train, one train of grain, and one telegram can be sent to the disaster area. Emperor Hongzhi can also grasp the disaster relief situation in various places in the disaster area in real time.

Whether the officials are careful, whether they have embezzled disaster relief money, etc., he can grasp it in time, and can also make timely deployment and adjustments.

Emperor Hongzhi felt that this feeling was very good.

Everything in the world is under his control.

So he can laugh, and he doesn't need to worry about the people in the famine. The people have food and drink, and their jobs are stable. Whether there is a famine has little impact on them.

Even here in Northern Zhili, a large number of fields are already barren. Everyone goes to work in the Beijing-Tianjin area, and the fields are uncultivated. Even if you suffer from drought, it is the same. Anyway, they are all deserted. If you want to grow some sweet potatoes and corn And so on, and it is very drought-resistant, and it will have little effect for a while, and it will be enough to pick up some water and pour it.

"Well, this road needs to continue to be built, not only to connect the provinces, but also to build the roads between the state capitals and counties, and the railway needs to be built even more. It is necessary to make sure that all provinces have railways to form a network. rail network."

"At that time, we don't need to be afraid of any disasters, and everything in the world can be quickly transferred."

Emperor Hongzhi looked at the huge map of the Ming Empire, and in his heart he was also planning to continue building the railway. The infrastructure construction cannot be stopped and must continue.

Now they are able to enjoy the benefits of the infrastructure. If the infrastructure of Daming is further improved, the future of Daming will be even more fearless.

(End of this chapter)