I became the son of Renzong

Chapter 247 Plan ahead
Another year of spring came, but there was no taste of spring in Bianliang.

Since the first day, Bianliang has never seen a drop of rain, and the whole Kaifeng mansion is like this.

At the same time, the memorials from Jingzhao Mansion and Hebei Road were handed over to the court one after another, all with the same voice... This year's drought!
Last year's grain was still abundant, and it was not yet time to plant it, but the danger of famine had already begun to appear.

Seeing that the farming season is approaching, there is still no sign of rain in the sky.

First it was the Kaifeng mansion, then the minister of the court, and even Zhao Xi had gone to pray for rain, but God obviously didn't give His Royal Highness any face, and there was still no rain at all.

The barrel car that was originally equipped on the river bank has been unloaded due to the flood season.At this time, there is no need to greet the hall, and the general prisoner has already equipped the drum cart along the river bank.

At the same time, it also worked overtime to build, and sent it to Jingzhao and the prefectures and counties of Hebei Road in accordance with the instructions of the court.

You can see the cumulonimbus cloud that later generations call, but you can only watch it drift away.Zhao Xi can't do artificial rainfall, even if he knows that artificial rainfall is a solid nitrogen cannon, he doesn't have that ability.

The whole court is full of sad faces, even those who are just eating and waiting to die, look to the sky and worry at this time.

In fact, no matter whether it is the emperor or the ministers, no one wants the current situation to be turbulent.

Throughout the dynasties, no matter how stupid the emperor was or how treacherous the ministers were, as long as the common people kept their mouths shut, no one would want to rebel and bring trouble to the world.

Famine is often the root cause of civil unrest.

A large part of the country's three redundant forces, redundant troops and redundant expenses came from the increase of court expenditure by turning refugees into Xiang troops.

Over the past year, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince moved several times, finally allowing the court to have a balance of nearly [-] troops, which may increase again this year.

At this time, those who came into contact with Duzhi in the court had already understood some of the actions of His Royal Highness, and the effect was remarkable.

It's a pity that this time the severe drought will return to the past.

It's been a long time, and Zhao Xi didn't care about the track.

Today's water transport has not yet opened to navigation, and the price of rice in Bianliang has already shown signs of rising.Zhao Xi had to put his focus on the orbital connection again.

"When will the track be connected?"

Li Jie was called back, and he didn't even greet him after meeting, so Zhao Xi asked directly.

"Returning to Your Highness, at the end of April at the latest, the test run can be completed."

Li Jie has been busy laying the track, and has been on this line for a whole year.

Stimulated by money and food, those rotten people who were slack at first burst out with unprecedented enthusiasm. Looking at it now, I can't find a trace of a year ago.

"Increase the reward! Do your best to complete the work as soon as possible, it will be of great use!"

The original group of transportation teams on Chengdu Fulu had never stopped transporting copper and iron ore, which was more than enough for the new Qianjian.

Li Jie didn't understand what His Highness the Crown Prince meant, and he might have heard His Highness the Crown Prince's anxiety.

He hardly stayed in Bianliang, and he didn't even return to Guancheng, so he went back directly.

"Uncle Hui, inform the Chengdu Fulu transportation team that from now on, half of the personnel will be allocated to transport food..."

"Zhongzheng, Li Xian, and you two went to Dali, and took my handbook, from Dali to Guangnan, to Annan."

"Tell that Li He Rizun that I need food. And tell him that I can buy it with new coins, or exchange it with ancient books from the dynasty."

I heard that Li Rizun attached great importance to culture and education.Very good, whichever is the best, just exchange some of their wild food.

"Your Highness, for two consecutive years of good harvests, the Changping warehouse should be fully stocked now, and there should be no shortage of food."

Zhao Xi's arrangement was obviously aimed at the lack of food.

Lu Gong thinks it will not be so, not to mention that the water transport is about to start, even if it is later, there will be no possibility of food shortage in Bianliang.

"Uncle Hui, there is a severe drought in Jingzhao, and a severe drought on Hebei Road. At that time, refugees will flock to Bianliang. This is not the most terrible thing. The most terrible thing is the merchants."

"Once the refugees came one after another, what people saw at that time was not how many reserves there were in the Changping warehouse, nor whether the imperial court could cope with the crisis, but the terrible people's hearts."

"The greed of merchants, the gathering of refugees, and the fact that grain merchants raise the price of rice every day... These may even affect the judgment of the court officials, so they dare not easily sell the grain in the Changping warehouse."

"The combination of many factors is likely to lead to a vicious circle. Merchants stockpiled, grain merchants raised prices, people looted, refugees rebelled, the court tightened up, etc. In the end, the court had to continue to follow the old practice and change the refugees into Xiangjun."

"At the same time, it is very likely that households that have been relatively well-to-do for many years will return to a poor situation due to this famine."

"This behavior does not intend to make money. Even if it is to lose some money, the situation must be stabilized. Of course, if someone intends to make trouble..."

Zhao Xi didn't continue talking.

He really doesn't mind having a go at it if someone wants to mess with it.

This is also the reason for making many arrangements.

"Your Highness, you can choose to ship by sea."

"The so-called not selling food for thousands of miles, the break of this practice lies in the formation of our own transportation team. It is like the imperial court raising water transportation personnel."

"Without our own shipping team, it is not worth the loss to transport grain from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Annan to Jingdong Road."

Zhao Xi said so, but it can be said in the past.

In fact, he has other thoughts.First, he wanted to avoid all traditional transportation routes, thereby confusing merchants' judgment on grain reserves.

Just like the practice of the new currency at the beginning, it is used to withdraw funds and teach merchants who do not know how to live or die.

Second, he wants to take advantage of this food crisis to push rail transportation to the fore, so that the court officials can see the prospect of rail transportation, so as to guide the money and goods buried in the country to live.

No one has a grudge against money, and the emergence of orbital capacity will inevitably guide spare money to invest in orbitals.

In this way, it will not only continue to solve the problem of the conversion of the Xiang Army and the Imperial Army, but also promote the construction of the country's transportation network, and even promote coal mining and steel smelting.

Sometimes people are mean, and if they beg others to do something, they think it is a scam.

Maybe it's inertial thinking, or maybe it's a gap in knowledge.When Zhao Xi was laying the track, no one except Liujia got involved.

In their eyes, only shipping is a mode of transportation that saves money and has amazing capacity.

Zhao Xi sometimes suspects that God really cares for him.He has been thinking about how to make rail transportation appear to the world, but this year there has been a severe drought...

I really can't thank the famine, even if I really have such a thought of being grateful for the drought in my heart.

The letters written by Lu Gong, including Su Song and others, were taken away by Wang Zhongzheng and Li Xian.

Zhao Xi still planned to do this operation in private.

If it is agreed in the court, it will take a long time to talk about it, the key is the secrecy of the court, Zhao Xi really can't believe it.

From an emperor's point of view, the court really should take the lead in this matter, but the current court may not be able to decide on specific measures when refugees from Hebei and Jingzhaofu have arrived.

The point is, Zhao Xi thinks that those merchants should be taught a lesson and get some funds back.

(End of this chapter)