Seeing that everyone frowned and remained silent, Yuan Jixian knew that his chief minister had to say something.

He said: "If Sichuan's grain is to be retained as military ration, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan will have to squeeze out some grain.

In addition, although the Hunan spring grain harvest in Jiangxi and Huguang also failed, the situation should not be as serious as that in South Zhili and Zhejiang, right?

If we give up stabilizing food prices and just avoid a major famine, the food gap in the four provinces may not be that big."

Ma Shiying shook his head when he heard this, "Yuan Fu's words are wrong. How can national affairs be pinned on possibility?"

And this year, not only the four provinces of Nanzhi, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Huguang are short of food, but also Henan?

Since the Qing captives gave up the land in Henan, the imperial court has to take it away, right? If it takes over Henan, a large amount of food will be needed to relieve the victims."

After Ma Shiying finished speaking, several cabinet ministers were speechless again.

Although Zhu Yuluo had expected the abilities of this first batch of cabinet ministers, she was still disappointed and felt that none of them were qualified.

She was about to break up the meeting, and when she went over to discuss with Hao Guangming, she saw Lu Zhenfei standing up.

"Your Majesty, as far as I know, when there is a food shortage or famine, ordinary people may not have any food left in their homes, but the gentry and landlords do have some food left.

Therefore, I thought that if the court wanted to alleviate the food shortage, it could do two things.

One is to order local governments to purchase grain from gentry and landlords, then sell it to the people at low prices, or provide relief to release the grain stored by the people.

The second is to order grain dealers not to hoard food and deliberately raise food prices.

As Yuan Fu said, although the harvest in the four provinces this year is poor, it should not cause the price to rise to more than four taels per stone meter.

The imperial court should strictly investigate this matter and punish a group of grain merchants who maliciously hoarded grain and falsely raised grain prices to serve as a warning to others.

Furthermore, various localities were ordered to limit the price of grain. For example, the maximum price for one stone of rice could not exceed three taels and six cents. Violators would be severely punished.

This will definitely bring down the price of grain in the four provinces and alleviate the grain shortage. By holding on until September for the autumn grain harvest, we can overcome this difficulty."

After hearing what Lu Zhenfei said, Zhu Aao was slightly surprised.

There are still one or two capable ministers in the cabinet.

Unexpectedly, she just relaxed her brows, and Zhang Youyu said urgently: "Your Majesty, what Lu Shangshu said is not feasible."

Zhu Aona was dissatisfied, but still asked: "Why is it not possible?"

Zhang Youyu said: "For one thing, natural and man-made disasters have been going on in various provinces for several years. Even if the gentry and landlords have surplus food, they will definitely not have much.

Nowadays, food is precious. Even if the government comes forward, it may not be able to purchase much food from the gentry and landlords everywhere.

Secondly, grain merchants sell grains in various places, and their only goal is to make a profit.

If the government forcibly limits the price of grain, they will not be able to make a profit, so how can they be willing to transport grain to various places for sale?

In this way, people in famine areas will not be able to buy even high-priced food, and more people will starve to death!"

Zhu Ailao frowned and said nothing for a while.

Seeing this, Ma Shiying's heart was moved and he said: "Your Majesty, I think that what Lu Shangshu and Zhang Shangshu said have some truth, and perhaps a compromise method can be adopted.

On the one hand, the imperial court can requisition grain from Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan to support South Zhili and Zhejiang, which have the largest grain shortage.

On the other hand, local governments can also be allowed to purchase surplus grain from gentry and landlords and sell it to the government at a lower price to reduce grain prices.

Finally, a group of grain merchants who hoard food can be punished and the price of grain can be limited.

But the price limit of three taels and six taels is too harsh, and each province may be allowed to decide on its own, with the maximum price not exceeding four taels."

After Ma Shiyingcai finished speaking, Xie Xuelong said: "Your Majesty, I believe that whether we let the local government purchase grain from the gentry and landlords or crack down on grain merchants, it may cause local unrest.

Now that His Majesty has been in power for less than a month, and there is a food shortage in four provinces, the local government must give priority to stability, and all policies that are likely to cause unrest must be carried out with caution!"

However, Zhu Ailao couldn't listen to what Xie Xuelong said, so she didn't give him any face and retorted coldly: "According to what Xie Qing said, the court will do nothing? Let the price of food rise and watch the people starve to death?

Or maybe Xie Qing thinks that with my 700,000 to 800,000 new troops, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong will no longer appear in this Jiangnan area?!"

Zhu Yu'ao's refutation made Jie Xuelong's face turn pale, he bowed deeply and said, "I definitely did not mean this!"

However, Zhu Yulao was too lazy to talk to him any more, and she didn't want to listen to what other cabinet ministers had to say anymore - after having discussed for so long, she had said all she could say.

She waved her hand and said: "It is my decree to order Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian to allocate grain as appropriate to support Huguang, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Nanzhili.

The local governments were ordered to try to purchase surplus grain from the gentry and landlords and sell it to the government at low prices to provide relief to the victims and alleviate the grain shortage.

We will also order all localities to strictly investigate grain merchants who hoard food, and severely punish those who falsely raise grain prices!"

Having said this, Zhu Aona paused and then said: "Well, that's all for now."

After listening to this, all the cabinet ministers couldn't help showing strange expressions.

One is because Zhu Yu'ao actually asked Sichuan to also provide grain support - this is understandable: Sichuan probably had a good harvest of grain, and it was still able to support other provinces in addition to supplying military grain.

The second reason is that Zhu Aolao did not even mention limiting grain prices.

In response, Lu Zhenfei asked directly: "Why doesn't Your Majesty set a limit on food prices?"

Zhu Yu'ao said: "The price of grain is of great importance. I will issue an order after investigation."

This was what Hao Guangming suggested.

The court can set food prices, but they must be within a reasonable range, otherwise it will be self-defeating.

It is irresponsible to issue an imperial edict to stipulate a specific number based on hearsay information that several ministers heard from unknown sources without conducting any investigation.

After the cabinet ministers left, Zhu Yuyao disappeared from the dragon chair in the main hall of Wuying Palace.

When she returned to her old house in Zhulin, she no longer suppressed her emotions and said angrily: "I'm really pissed off!"

Hao Guangming came over and hugged her and advised: "Don't be angry - think about the performance of your ministers when your father was in power. These ministers of yours are already pretty good. At least Lu Zhenfei put forward some positive ideas.

Actionable suggestions.

Besides, given this situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty, do you really expect them to come up with any good solutions?

If I really want to solve the problem, I have to rely on your golden finger."

Zhu Yuyao still frowned and said: "Goldfinger... I have contacted Zheng Zhilong, but even if he agrees immediately, it will probably take two or three months to wait for his fleet to transport grain from Southeast Asia to South Zhili. Where?

Can it solve the immediate emergency?"

Hao Guangming smiled and said: "That's because you haven't used your golden fingers enough."

"Do you have any other ideas?" Zhu Yasuo turned her head and almost touched Hao Guangming's nose.

Hao Guangming let go of her, took her hand and sat on the sofa together.

"Actually, I was also inspired by what Lu Zhenfei said just now.

Even if there is a food shortage or food shortage, there must be a considerable number of gentry and landlords who have stored a lot of food.

In fact, at your time, the share of land owned by ordinary people was already very low. Most of the land was in the hands of the gentry and landlords. In this way, no matter whether it was a good year or a bad year, most of the grain harvested was also in their hands.

If the people have enough fields, even if there is a famine year, there will not be a food shortage in summer, after all, the spring grain has just been harvested at this time.

Therefore, although the main cause of the food shortage in your area is natural disasters and military disasters, the low land occupation rate of ordinary people is also an important reason.

You should know that even if there is no famine or war disaster, some ordinary people in the late Ming Dynasty will flee the famine due to lack of food and become refugees."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuyao, who had been influenced by various information in modern society for more than a year, couldn't help but clenched her pink fists and said in a cold tone: "Then I just flip the table and directly send troops to fight against the local tyrants in the south of the Yangtze River to divide their fields.

Use their stored grain to help ordinary people!"

"Don't worry." Hao Guangming said, "What I just said is all inference after all. You can't tell how much food the Jiangnan gentry and landlords over there have now.

Besides, the situation is not so critical that this must be done.

If you really do this, the provinces south of the Yangtze River will most likely be in chaos. Even if you can finally pacify it, the country will be greatly weakened and its development potential will be lost."

Zhu Yuyao said angrily: "Then just ignore these gentry and landlords? Let them occupy most of my land in Ming Dynasty?"

"Of course not." Hao Guangming found that Zhu Yurao's angry look was quite cute, and patiently explained: "Our previous reform of the Household Department, as well as the upcoming new policies such as clearing land, dividing the land into acres, and canceling the tax-free privileges of the gentry, are not all

Is it to 'transform' them?

If they are unwilling to accept 'transformation', it is not too late to eliminate them - the time should be more suitable at that time.

It should be noted that although you have ascended the throne as emperor now, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi, Yunnan, even Huguang, Guizhou and other places have not yet fully grasped the situation."

Zhu Yu'ao also didn't want to destroy the territory south of the Yangtze River - she rushed to South Zhili at the beginning of the year, wasn't it just to prevent the Qing army from going to the south of the Yangtze River and destroying the south of the Yangtze River?

So he said: "Ms. sir, don't be too tight-lipped. If you have any good ideas, please tell me as soon as possible."

After hearing this, Hao Guangming smiled humbly and said: "I can't say it's a good idea, I can only say it's a strange move."

Then, Hao Guangming deliberately leaned into Zhu Yuluo's ear and explained in detail the strange move he had thought of.

The more Zhu Aelao listened, the brighter her eyes became...
Chapter completed!