Tang Dynasty: The pot is tied to the duck nest, the little rhinoceros is here!

"Set up soup kitchens? Your Majesty, those are for storing military rations. What if something happens..."

As the governor, it is my duty to offer a word of advice to His Majesty. Whether His Majesty listens or not is His Majesty's business.

"I know. Just do as I say. First, take out 200,000 shi of grain to help the disaster victims."

Just then, Jiang Fan interjected, "Setting up soup kitchens can solve the immediate problem, but..."

But inevitably some people will try to take advantage of the situation and go to the soup kitchen to eat and take for free.

I have an idea—to add a little sand or gravel to the porridge…

"What? You...who are you? How dare you utter such outrageous and depraved words! You...you..."

Liu Shouzhong immediately lost his composure. If the emperor hadn't been there, he would have drawn his sword and beheaded Jiang Fan.

The army was given perfectly good military rations to save the people, and you, instead, mixed sand and gravel into them.

Isn't this wasting food? Is this something a human being would do?

Li Shimin also looked at Jiang Fan with suspicion, waiting for him to give a reasonable explanation.

"Uncle, think about it, what if the government set up soup kitchens to distribute porridge?"

Wouldn't those wealthy families with surplus grain have some ideas? Since there's free porridge to drink,

Why don't they just go and get a bowl themselves? If they do that, will the disaster victims who really need relief still be able to eat their fill?

But if sand or pebbles were added to the porridge, those wealthy families certainly wouldn't be able to swallow it.

But the disaster victims didn't care about such things—they'd even eaten clay, let alone sand, so what were a few pebbles and sand to them…”

After listening to Jiang Fan's words, Li Shimin nodded solemnly: "What Jiang Fan said makes sense."

Opening granaries to distribute grain to disaster victims is a good thing, but wealthy households that do not lack grain will inevitably follow suit and demand more.

If the grain was mixed with sand and gravel, they naturally wouldn't be able to eat it, and that would only cause suffering for the disaster victims.

"Compared to starving to death, would disaster victims care about a little sand and gravel?"

They only use sand and gravel as a condiment to accompany their meals.

Besides, relief is only a temporary measure; ultimately, the disaster victims must be able to cultivate the land themselves and support themselves.

Liu Shouzhong, the governor of Liangzhou, listened to Jiang Fan's words and couldn't help but wonder:

"This person is His Majesty's nephew? How come I've never heard of this name before? Could it be that he has been away from Chang'an for too long?"

Li Shimin then instructed Liu Shouzhong: "Liu Shouzhong, go and make preparations as Jiang Fan said."

When setting up soup kitchens to distribute soup, staff should be assigned to maintain order.

We must not allow disaster victims to quarrel or even fight over a bowl of porridge. At the same time, we must arrange for people to dig wells and prepare to store water.

"I obey your decree——"

Liu Shouzhong walked backwards to his horse, bowed to Li Shimin, mounted his horse, and rode away.

At this moment, Li Shimin shouted loudly to the disaster victims: "Everyone, there is no need to go out begging anymore!"

"I have ordered the government to set up soup kitchens and distribute porridge. You may all return home and await further instructions from the government to collect your porridge from the soup kitchens!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the people were all stunned.

Some people even suspected they were dreaming, pinching their arms hard and feeling the pain, before they were convinced that what they were seeing was not an illusion.

It is unclear who took the lead in kneeling down and shouting "Long live the Emperor!" to Li Shimin.

This quickly attracted a crowd, and the people outside the city gate who were preparing to flee the famine knelt down.

They kowtowed and bowed to Li Shimin, some even saying they would go back and erect a longevity tablet for the emperor—where can you find such a good emperor? He must live to be a hundred and live a long and healthy life.

……

Watching this scene, Jiang Fan whispered to Li Shimin, "Uncle, it seems you are very popular as emperor."

"They are all my subjects, and I cannot bear to see them fleeing the famine."

Leaving aside the question of whether they could find food in other places, are the other prefectures and counties really that much better than Liangzhou?

Li Shimin was well aware of the plight of the people in the Tang Dynasty. After a year of hard work, the common people could barely make ends meet in good years; having surplus grain? That was extremely difficult.

After all, ordinary people have to pay taxes; otherwise, how would the country's army be supported?

In addition, the grain yield in the fields was not high to begin with, and these disaster victims went to other prefectures and counties to beg, but it was very difficult for them to get a bite to eat.

Cheng Yaojin then spoke up, "Your Majesty, shouldn't we enter the city?"

Before Li Shimin could reply, Jiang Fan spoke first: "There's no rush to enter the city. Let's wander around first and find a suitable place to launch rockets."

Rainfall depends on the clouds and moisture in the sky—after all, our purpose in coming here is to get rain!

Li Shimin nodded in agreement: "Jiang Fan's words are exactly what I think. Zhijie, let's not enter the city yet."

"Let's take a walk outside the city first, Sizi. Let your elder sisters take you into the city to rest."

"Grandpa, I want to follow you, Daddy." The chubby little Sizi immediately grabbed Jiang Fan's big hand with his small hand.

"Alright then!" Li Shimin's envious lips twitched involuntarily.

Then Li Shimin let the people go home.

Having received the emperor's promise, the people were naturally grateful and went home to wait for the government to open the granaries and distribute grain.

After Jiang Fan and the others got into the car, they headed straight for a small hill not far from the city.

This earthen mound is about thirty meters high and its shape resembles the burial mound of an imperial tomb.

As for whether there is an imperial tomb below, Jiang Fan had no idea.

This place is perfect for launching rain rockets—it has a wide field of vision and no obstructions on any side.

After the car reached the top of the hill, Jiang Fan saw several willow trees at the edge.

It is about ten meters tall, with a thick and lush canopy that provides just the right amount of shade.

After getting off the bus, Jiang Fan walked straight to the tree and gazed into the distance.

A canal was discovered about ten miles north of Liangzhou City, but the river is now almost dry, with only shallow puddles remaining.

At this moment, Li Shimin also walked over and followed Jiang Fan's gaze to the canal.

He sighed, "The drought has reached this point; the rivers and canals have dried up. What about the crops... alas—"

"Uncle, why not mobilize manpower to build a dam and a reservoir on the canal? This way, we can regulate water resources and reduce floods, achieving multiple benefits in one fell swoop."

"A reservoir? Jiang Fan, are you referring to a weir or irrigation canal?"

Upon hearing this word, Jiang Fan immediately understood—in the Tang Dynasty, there was no such term as "reservoir."

"Yanqu" is the name for a reservoir, but it is much smaller in scale.

After all, there were no mechanized operations in the Tang Dynasty; everything relied on manual labor, with chisels and loads carried by hand.

Jiang Fan nodded: "That's right, it's an irrigation canal. With it, water can be drawn to irrigate farmland during droughts."

In the event of waterlogging, it can also hold back the floodwaters, preventing them from overflowing and causing disasters that damage crops and people.

"I would like to, but as you can see, the people can't even fill their stomachs, so how easy is it to build a canal?"

"In that case, let Governor Liu set up the soup kitchen on the construction site."

They hired local people to work here building irrigation canals, paying each person a fixed wage per day.

They were allowed to participate in work relief, which solved the famine problem for the people.

At the same time, it allows for the construction of irrigation canals, which is a win-win situation for you, Uncle!