Borrow the day to change the day

Early the next morning, before Zhong Jinwei set off for the Forbidden City, his servant came to Xingguo Duke's Mansion to pass the decree, asking him to enter the palace immediately for an audience.

Zhong Jinwei was taken aback, thinking that another accident had happened.As he left in a hurry, he asked the edict servant who went back to the palace together, what happened.

But the servant didn't know about it, and there was no such thing as an urgent delivery. It was just that the emperor made this decree after discussing the matter with Wen Tiren, the chief assistant of the cabinet, early in the morning.

Zhong Jinwei had no choice but to rush to the Forbidden City with doubts, and met Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren in the Wenhua Hall.What was different from what the servant said was that at this time there was an additional household secretary, Bi Ziyan.

"Master Zhong, the matter of allocating grain and grass has come to an end, and there is some other news. After discussing with Wen Qing, I will bring you here to discuss again, so as not to go back and not know where to find you, and delay time." When the Emperor Chongzhen saw Zhong Jinwei, he explained to him why he was recruited into the palace.

He said this because Zhong Jinwei is now only the Duke of Xingguo, with only a title and no position.Theoretically, there is no need to go to the palace every day to discuss matters, and you can enjoy the happiness at home.

In the past, Zhong Jinwei was going to various research institutes to inspect the situation. Emperor Chongzhen was afraid that if he went today, he might not find anyone else, so he sent his servants to recruit Zhong Jinwei into the palace early.

Zhong Jinwei had already inspected several important research institutes yesterday, and originally planned to enter the palace early this morning, so Emperor Chongzhen actually did nothing more.

Zhong Jinwei is very concerned about the allocation of grain and grass. Whether Liaodong can stabilize, whether it can start rebuilding in a short period of time, and resettlement of military households from all over the country to Liaodong is very important.

Therefore, as soon as Zhong Jinwei listened to Emperor Chongzhen's words, he immediately asked, "Your Majesty, how about the grain allocation?"

Emperor Chongzhen did not answer directly because there were professionals on the scene.He nodded at the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Bi Ziyan introduced to Zhong Jinwei: "After receiving the order, the lower officials will allocate food and grass from various places. At present, some have been allocated and are ready to be sent to Liaodong. However, the amount is not large, and it may be only Adhere to the use of Liaodong military and civilians, including the original population of Liaodong for two months."

"Why only two months?" Zhong Jinwei frowned when he heard this.

Bi Ziyan knew what Zhong Jinwei would say, and he immediately explained: "Xing Guogong's battle in Liaodong was quick, and the various places were basically undamaged. This is a good thing. But it also brought another problem. The population of Liaodong It has not been reduced much because of this war..."

When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he guessed what he wanted to say.Because Jianlu itself was short of food, and because of the policy of strengthening the walls and clearing the wilderness, the food reserves were even less.In addition, there was no harvest due to the war this year. Although it has received a demographic dividend, it has also added a huge food burden to Daming.

What was originally a headache for Huang Taiji has now been transferred to the court.As the territory controlled by Daming in Liaodong continues to expand, this pressure will increase.

Sure enough, what Bi Ziyan said next was the reason Zhong Jinwei had in mind.Emperor Chongzhen interjected at this time and added: "I have also ordered Zhenbei Bo to suspend the expansion to the north. As for Kerber, because the city needs to be built first, it will not expand first, but it also needs to consume a lot of food. "

The key to everything is food.Zhong Jinwei thought for a while, and then asked again: "Can some of them be allocated later?"

"It can only be allocated as much as possible and diverted from various places. If the harvest in the second half of the year is good, it may be able to solve this year's food problem." Bi Ziyan thought for a while before answering Zhong Jinwei.

When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he couldn't help but smile wryly, how could the harvest be good!This was during the Little Ice Age, and there wasn't much snow at the end of last year. The drought in northern parts of the country is now more severe than in previous years.

Wen Tiren didn't speak just now, but just listened.At this time, he added: "Mr. Xingguo, according to the news from the grain opening in various places, the situation is not optimistic. The original exchange price for salt and grain has been difficult to attract grain merchants. The imperial court is under your control. When going to Liaodong, the exchange price of salt and grain has been adjusted once, but the effect is not obvious."

Emperor Chongzhen also nodded when he heard it, and then added: "I discussed with Wen Qing in the morning, and we will also let Liaodong implement the grain opening method. No matter how much, we can increase the grain supply, but we can't place too much hope on it."

In Liaodong in the near future, there will be a large increase in population, that is, the soldiers eliminated from the northern provinces and the military households of various guards.One is to enrich the Han people in Liaodong, and the other is to reduce the food pressure in the northern provinces.After all, these provinces were all severely affected by the disaster, and it would be best if they could be resettled in Liaodong, because at least there was a lot of land that could be allocated for planting.

While talking about the matter, Emperor Chongzhen frowned even tighter, and he said to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, we have discussed it a few days ago, and now is the best time to solve the problem of the northern army, so various matters have to be resolved again." There is no delay. There is also the construction of large supply points everywhere, and there is no delay. And all of these need food."

Having said that, he had another glimmer of hope, looked at Zhong Jinwei and asked, "Master Zhong, have you gained anything?"

One of the original tasks was to let Zhong Jinwei inspect new crops, because he was most familiar with this content.

Zhong Jinwei saw that the three people in the hall showed great concern, and couldn't help but smiled slightly: "There is a harvest, but it is of little help to the current situation. It may take a few years for a large-scale harvest to be possible."

Having said that, Zhong Jinwei took out a memorial he had summarized last night and asked his servant to forward it to Emperor Chongzhen.

After hearing Zhong Jinwei's words, Emperor Chongzhen already showed disappointment.No matter what happens in the future, what the imperial court needs most is to get through the present few years first.

After reading it quickly, he asked the servant to transfer it to the other two courtiers, and he said to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong's suggestions are very good, I will arrange someone to do them immediately, but these are not short-term effective .”

After reading it, Wen Tiren also said, "Yes, the promotion of farming technology and the construction of water conservancy facilities will take time to show results."

After Wen Tiren finished speaking, Bi Ziyan reminded the people in the hall to add insult to injury: "The construction of this water conservancy facility requires a lot of money and food, which is also a problem."

Emperor Chongzhen had a bit of a headache, and he said helplessly: "If after a few years, new crops have been harvested on a large scale, supply points have been built everywhere, and vassal kings start to feudalize North America, which can relieve some domestic pressure, water conservancy facilities, and farming. Technology can also have a result, and I believe that the food problem will be greatly alleviated by then, and the difficulty now lies in the present!"

All the conflicts were focused on the immediate food issue. After Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, several people in the hall did not speak, and the Wenhua Hall fell silent.