Li You's Tang Dynasty

Chapter 575

Drought was a very serious natural disaster in ancient times. Houyi shot the sun and Kuafu chased the sun. Although these are myths, they are also the earliest memories of droughts by our ancestors. Of course, myths cannot be true. It will not really shoot down the nine suns, but myths must have prototypes. After countless generations of word of mouth, myths have been added and added to form myths. But the key word in these myths is drought, so drought is real.

According to the statistical records in the "History of Famine Relief in China": From 1766 BC to 1937 AD, there were a total of 1074 occurrences, an average of more than once every three years.

This shows how frequently droughts occur. If we look at historical and ancient documents, we will find such tragic records in the historical materials of all dynasties and dynasties.

Ancient China was an agrarian society. The quality of life of most people depended on the natural weather. Therefore, from the common people to the king of a country, the biggest expectation every year is "smooth weather". When it's sunny, it's sunny.

In ancient times when the level of productivity and science and technology were very low, if there was a lot of rain, it could still be relieved, but if there was a drought, there was almost nothing that could be done, and the long-term drought would also bring problems such as locust plagues and plagues.

This is not something that the Tang Dynasty can solve at this time. Even in modern times, it should be 1878. There was also a strange famine. This drought lasted for four years.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this drought is the most serious, because its scope of influence started from the five provinces of Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Zhili, and Shandong, and later spread to northern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, eastern Longdong, and northern Sichuan. About 2 million people across the country were affected by the disaster, accounting for half of the country's population at that time.

What is even more frightening is that at that time, more than 1000 million people starved to death, and another 2000 million people were forced to migrate, and their destinations were first to go north to Mongolia, and second to go south to Jiangnan. Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Shanxi at the time, said that the drought was "unprecedented in more than two hundred years."

"Your lovers have heard about the incidents of Shangmen Village and Xiamen Village, right?"

In the Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin looked at his confidants and asked.

Ma Zhou stepped forward first and bowed: "Your Majesty, the matter of grabbing water in Shangmen Village and Xiamen Village has been resolved, the leaders of both sides have been arrested, the dead have been paid, and the dam has been opened. There is also water available in Gate Village now."

"Well, Wannian County's work is still very fast!" Li Shimin praised, but then changed the subject: "But now we have to consider how many people around Chang'an are still lacking as much as Shangmen Village and Xiamen Village. water village.

And there is some bad news, I want to tell you that according to our measurement, the water level of all the canals and rivers around Chang'an has a tendency to drop, and the Taishi Bureau's night sky observation shows that there is no heavy rain near Chang'an within a month. The time of month coincides with the time when we plant crops around Chang'an. If there is no water, or if there is no water, so many crops cannot be sown, this is the biggest loss for our Tang Dynasty, so I hope everyone can think of a way together. Get through this drought. "

But after Li Shimin finished speaking, all the ministers present frowned slightly.

After all, it is because this drought is really difficult to prevent. In modern times, there are four things you can do to prevent drought. 1. Build water conservancy and develop farmland irrigation;

2. Improve the farming system, change the composition of crops, select and breed drought-tolerant varieties, and make full use of limited rainfall;

3. Afforestation, improve regional climate, reduce evaporation, reduce the harm of drought wind;
4. Research on the application of modern technology and water-saving measures, such as artificial rainfall, drip irrigation, mulching, moisture conservation, and temporary use of poor-quality water sources, including poor-quality groundwater and even seawater.

That is to say, the prevention of drought in modern times should also be done in advance, but there are already droughts in Chang'an. Preserving moisture is not something that can be owned in ancient times.

After the drought in ancient times, the basic method of the court was immigration. Immigration refers to a way of disaster reduction for people to move to a new place with the help of the court, followed by thin taxes. Apart from these, there is no good at all. method.

Moreover, the drought is very destructive, because the drought is accompanied by locust plagues, and the plight of the working people who can barely survive by eating grass roots and bark is even worse.In such a severe natural disaster, the barren land is thousands of miles away, the ten rooms are empty, and even the scenes of "changing children and eating" and "everyone eats each other" can be seen everywhere, which is too horrible to look at.

Among them, the Huaihe River area in the Qinling Mountains was the most severely affected: the Yellow River stopped flowing and the land was dry.

Of course, there were certain signs of drought at the beginning, but the ancient society was dominated by agriculture and animal husbandry, and the people were often unwilling to give up the crops that had been sown, and they still fed the crops raised at home as usual. Livestock, let alone fleeing their homes.

Such an approach often leads to extremely serious and fatal consequences: long-term drought without rain will inevitably cause large areas of crops to dry up and die in the farmland, and because people have already planted the seeds, there is very little food in people's homes, and people and animals lack basic domestic water. And falling into a weak state, it is idiotic to want to escape at this time, and he may have passed out due to lack of water and food as soon as he walked out of the village.

When there was a severe drought in Guanzhong during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the central government once took the disaster relief measures of transferring the victims in Guanzhong to Luoyang and other places for food and water.

Sitting on the dragon chair, Li Shimin looked at the ministers who had been silent all this time, and sighed, because he also knew that these ministers had no better solution. After all, this drought issue had not been studied for a long time all over.

Finally, looking at the frowning ministers, Li Shimin thought for a while and said: "The drought is still in its infancy, so we should still have a chance. Now I am sending out a recruitment order to the whole country, soliciting solutions to prevent and solve the drought. Anyone can offer advice. As long as it is adopted, it will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold and promoted to three ranks!"

"Yes!"

A group of ministers bowed immediately.

"Not bad!"

In Qinglongfang, Li You walked in front, followed by a large group of people, these people were the people who built the house in Qinglongfang, and Zhou Zhou was their steward.

Hearing Li You's praise, Zhou Zhou on the side also smiled and said, "My lord, the demand is still too fast. We can only rush to finish it. If you give us a little more time, we will definitely do better."

"Haha.!" Li You smiled and said, "It's already very good. I thought it was an impossible task to build a place where more than 1 people lived in such a short period of time, but you still have to do it. It's done, Manager Zhou, this time you have to remember the first merit, but I can't let you rest, because you will soon have to invest in the construction of the college.

Have you read the drawings of the academy this time? "

As soon as the academy was mentioned, Zhou Zhou immediately showed a look of excitement: "I've seen it, it's really shocking, there are a total of thirteen five-story buildings, and I estimate that it will take five years to complete them all!"

"Indeed. However, let's do it part by part first, and build three of them first. How long will it take for these three buildings?" Li You asked.

"Sandong, with our current speed, it can be completed by the end of this year!" Zhou Zhou said confidently.

"That's good, as long as we build three buildings first, then our college will be able to enroll students next year, and we will continue to build the others slowly, so that we can recruit students while building, and we can do both."

"My lord is wise!" Zhou Zhou nodded quickly and looked at Li You trustingly.

"Your Highness!" At this time, the news of Li You's arrival caused the people of Qinglongfang to cheer and cheer. A large number of people in Qinglongfang rushed over at this time. You must know that the people of Qinglongfang now are not the Qinglongfang of the past. the people.

In the past, the people of Qinglongfang did not have any feelings for Li You, they just wanted to steal things from Dunhuafang, but now the people of Qinglongfang are all the people Li You saved, and their feelings for Li You are very deep of.

A group of people knew that Li You was coming, so they put down their work and ran over, wanting to see Li You with their own eyes, but this scared Yaoyu on the side, and quickly shouted to the guards beside him: "Protect Your Highness! .!"

Thirty guards directly surrounded Li You, but Li You didn't stop him, because no one knew if there were any people who were unfavorable to him among these people. Yu's enthusiasm.

"Your Highness is thousand years old, Your Highness is safe!" A blessing was shouted from the people of Qinglongfang at this time, Li You also waved to the people present at this time, and then asked: "Is your food good? Did you live well?"

The people shouted in unison: "Good!"

Hearing the people say yes, Li You also showed a smile: "Okay, you come to follow me from thousands of miles away. If you don't eat well and live well, I, Li You, will feel at ease. As long as you eat well and live well Well, your children will also train hard, and I can sit back and relax.

So if you feel bad about something, come and tell me the first time, I will solve it for you immediately, and soon we will also build a factory in Qinglongfang, so that everyone can have jobs and get monthly income. Pay, so that everyone's life will be better and better, do you think it is good? "

"it is good!"

Li You's promise made the people in Qinglongfang cheer happily. These people will later become Li You's most staunch supporters. Someday in the future, these people will accompany Li You, no matter where Li You goes, The people in Dunhuafang and Qinglongfang depend on each other for life and death, and this is Li You's greatest reliance.

　I'm sick again. At this juncture, I take too much medicine. My body is getting worse and worse. The temperature in Wuhu is messed up again. I wear sweaters today and cotton clothes tomorrow. Work hard and keep updating, thank you Subscribe, thanks for the reward!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)