Chapter 155: Disaster Relief Preparations

In the pavilion of the Imperial Garden, Queen Zhou and others sat around the stone table.

Zhu Yuli was sitting on the stone bench in the pavilion, staring directly at the pastries on the table, his throat twitching.

The pink cloth shoes that Concubine Tian had knitted for her were hanging around under the table.

Looking sideways at Concubine Tian, ​​I found that she was talking to Queen Zhou in words that only adults could understand, and her hands began to become restless.

Stretching out the hands folded in front of her belly, she quietly placed them on the table. Zhu Auao, who was opposite, looked at her movements and raised the corners of her mouth slightly.

"Mom, it's time to serve the food."

"Well, let's start. Keep your movements small."

Queen Zhou was sitting on the side of the table. After hearing the eunuch's words, she looked at her watch and saw that the time was exactly twelve o'clock.

Zhu Yuli, who stretched out his hand, stopped momentarily and then suddenly jumped up.

"Okay, Father will be here soon! Let's start dinner!"

Zhu Yuli shouted excitedly, and Concubine Tian was startled. She turned back her gaze and reached out to poke her. The little guy immediately sat down obediently.

Her eyes rolled, not daring to look at Concubine Tian. She quietly put one hand into her sleeve, and the bean cake on the table was missing a tip.

"How did mother teach you? You are almost four years old. You need to know etiquette. Your eldest sister already knew how to be prudent when she was as old as you."

"My mother taught me the right lesson, but I realized that I was wrong."

Concubine Tian Guifei stood aside and felt helpless when she saw Zhu Yuli rolling his eyes and speaking in a cheerful tone.

This little daughter has been extremely pampered by the emperor in the past two months.

"I'm making my sister laugh. This child has a temperament like your majesty's. Even if he makes a fuss, he can't be taught well. I don't know if my sister can't teach him."

"Why is my sister so harsh?

Husband, didn’t the shopkeeper say that? Children should act like children, and the princess of the Zhu family should be happy.

Look at Ainao, His Majesty said when he came recently, Ainao is too well-behaved and doesn't look like a teenager at all. She can play music, chess, calligraphy and painting, but she doesn't play well."

When Empress Zhou heard Concubine Tian's words, she looked at Zhu Aina on one side and said, "The words of both of them had different meanings."

Zhu Yulao, who was sitting upright, looked at Zhu Yuli with some envy, her eyes flashing. Recently, this little guy has received too much love from his father.

But she is not jealous, Chongzhen gave him a lot of things, and he often cares about her thoughts recently.

Platefuls of food that had been tested for poisons were brought to the table by the eunuchs. Now that the palace has been cleaned up, there are fewer sources of danger, and the Chongzhen family is no longer as cautious when eating.

The main reason is that the imperial dining room has been installed with surveillance cameras, and those who enter must change into tight-fitting clothes and gloves under the supervision of others in advance, and are not allowed to take them off during the entire process.

Empress Zhou and Concubine Tian became harmonious again. What they just said seemed to be just casual talk. In fact, this was a rare argument between them.

Chongzhen made it clear to them that if the back house is not peaceful, he will not be close to anyone, and flies will not bite the seamless eggs. As long as there is a conflict between two people, no matter whether it is right or wrong, he will find some palace maids but not them.

"Your Majesty has arrived, and your distinguished guest has arrived."

At the entrance of the imperial garden, the eunuchs and palace maids greeted them, causing several people at the table to get up and prepare the table.

Just as Concubine Tian was about to reach out and grab Zhu Yuli, she found that the little guy had already run out of the pavilion.

Chongzhen and Chen Ye walked almost side by side to the Imperial Garden. When entering the garden, Chongzhen stood at the door and signaled to Chen Ye to go ahead.

Chen Ye had the intention to refuse, but Chongzhen would definitely insist, so he could only agree and let Chongzhen enter the garden first.

Wang Chengen on the side looked at him and pretended not to see the nominal supreme leader of the Ming Dynasty. He looked humble and courteous at this moment.

Zhu Yuli ran to the corner of the screen and stopped. She ran too fast to look for Chongzhen several times and bumped into him.

Although Chongzhen didn't care and would even hug her and tease her, Concubine Tian really cared. This meant that she didn't have a good education.

The little guy knows very well that if he bumps into his father, he will lose a lot of etiquette and his buttocks will hurt.

Moreover, her mother did not allow her to tell her father unless he asked.

As soon as Chen Ye and Chongzhen walked past the screen, they saw Zhu Yuli with a small hairpin on his head and blue clothes.

"Hey, hello, uncle manager, father! You are finally here."

"Hello princess."

Zhu Yuli also saw Chen Ye at a glance. He had seen her several times before. He shouted politely, turned around and rushed towards Chongzhen.

"Yili, what kind of food did you hide secretly?"

Chongzhen hugged Zhu Yuli and touched her sleeves while walking with Chen Ye.

"Father, how do you know?"

Zhu Yuli was shocked. She felt that no one knew where she hid her things. She secretly gave them to her father last time.

"Because my father is the smartest."

"Then I want to be as smart as my father!"

Zhu Yuli hugged Chongzhen's neck and said after a sip, which made Chongzhen burst into laughter.

"Good afternoon, father! Good afternoon, uncle, the shopkeeper."

"Good afternoon, husband. Welcome, owner."

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty. Welcome, owner."

After everyone saluted, lunch officially began. The dishes were very simple, and it felt like eating in a hotel.

"Innkeeper, originally we were having a banquet today, so we should prepare some delicacies, plus various lost and unique dishes from your side, to make it a royal banquet.

It’s just that there are many places to spend money in the world, so I didn’t specially order some famous dishes. Please bear with me and I will give you a quick agarwood pendant later.”

"Lao Zhu, you said this is polite. Do we still need these polite words between us? And you still haven't forgotten your true feelings. I'm very pleased."

What Chen Ye admires most about Chongzhen is that this guy can really endure hardship.

Don't look at it now. Through Chen Ye, Chongzhen can order all kinds of treasured things for future generations, and it can even be said that he can enjoy them in various ways.

But in the face of those things, he always kept enjoying them, did not buy too many enjoyment items, and ate what was considered normal, according to the personal standard of two hundred yuan a day for future generations.

Even if hundreds of thousands of taels were bought and sold, the expenses in the palace continued to decrease. For a king of a country in ancient times, this level could not be considered thrifty.

"By the way, Lao Zhu, disaster relief should also be put on the agenda, and Sun Chuanting cannot stay in the Royal Army forever.

Now that there is no war, the peasant army is severely suppressed, and Li Zicheng cannot make a move for the time being..."

"Shopkeeper, what do you think we should do?"

Chongzhen took a bite of vegetables and talked while eating. They discussed that the issue of disaster relief had always been a concern for him.

Rebellions in various places are caused by the failure of disaster relief. Everyone just wants to put down the rebellion and not provide disaster relief. Do you really think he doesn't know why?

"Husband, I suddenly remembered that there is still a stir-fried potato shreds that I haven't made yet. My wife and sister, let's go together."

"Yes, that's right. When my sister mentioned my concubine, I also remembered it. Yuli, come down quickly and excuse yourself to your father."

When Empress Zhou heard this, she stood up and confessed to Chongzhen, and she and Concubine Tian got up to fry potatoes.

Chongzhen did not stop them and continued to ask after they had walked a certain distance.

"Shopkeeper, I see that throughout the ages, disaster relief has been nothing more than work-for-relief, immigration, or relocation. Which one do you think is better?"

"Why do you have to choose? Since each has its own advantages and disadvantages, adults must want them all.

For extremely serious land annexation, take them away from their place of origin and directly recruit workers, so that those who are annexed will not even have people to farm. Anyway, in the later stage, wasteland tax and excess land tax will be levied.

For those whose landforms and rivers have been diverted, we will organize immigrants to reclaim wasteland, provide food subsidies, and provide farming tools.

For those young people who have broken families, young children, they will be absorbed into the Royal Army. From now on, they will fight with the Royal Army from south to north and become your loyal supporters."

"Wonderful, shopkeeper, you are right. Why should I stick to one method? I can implement them all.

It’s just this money and food, hey, shopkeeper, how are the prices of lumber lately?”

Chongzhen's sudden question made Chen Ye stop and think about it for a while.

“Recently, the price of timber has increased compared to before, because our offshore group has been established, and now we don’t need to post it from others.

Moreover, the wood you gave us is good quality, does not carry pests for future generations, is easy to enter the port, and is old.”

"Is that so? I have worked hard and haven't collected much of the bloodstones. Shopkeeper, please calculate how much it will cost to provide disaster relief for at least five million people in a year if we follow your plan.

I, I demolished half of the harem. Many of these woods are fine nanmu.

There is also agarwood, I have collected a lot of it recently, if the value is calculated, it is hundreds of millions."

After listening to Chongzhen's words, Chen Ye quickly stopped.

"No, your palace won't be worth anything if it's demolished. This is a future treasure.

Besides, are you that poor? Now that the company is on the right track, every day you send mountains of high-end luxury goods, and the total price must exceed several billions."

"How many billions? I am already so rich??"

Chongzhen was secretly stunned. He remembered that it had just exceeded one billion half a month ago. During this time, he was busy arranging rituals and newspaper promotions, and didn't pay much attention to it.

When I opened the system and looked at the transaction details and valuation, I was stunned.

"The total estimated value is 8.2 billion? I am about to become a billionaire?"

"That's right. Now you're still worried about having to demolish your house because you don't have money? You're a waste of time. Do you know how much money future generations will spend every year to protect the palace?"

Chongzhen looked at Chen Ye blankly and shook his head blankly. He never quite understood why later generations had such a persistent desire to protect their Zhu family's house.

"Let's settle the accounts. According to the standard of ten tons per day for ten thousand people, one million people is one thousand tons.

One hundred thousand tons can ensure that one million people can eat for one hundred days."

"Well, with the current international grain prices, buying 100,000 tons of wheat, which is more than 800,000 shi, would cost about 400 million.

If we buy another 200,000 tons of insect powder, it will be 400 million, and 800 million can guarantee the supply for Ming Dynasty disaster relief."

"Only 800 million."

Chongzhen murmured to himself, instantly feeling that the money was too valuable.
Chapter completed!