Governor Zhao Ding personally inspected the spring plowing, not only bringing some officials with him, but also hundreds of cavalry.
Last year, the war delayed the farming season, and replanting grain was hit by drought, resulting in a severe grain harvest failure in Ningxia. Many grasslands were even withered and yellow. The herdsmen were given livestock but no fodder. They could not produce milk or grow fat. They could only feed one head after another.
Eat them one by one.
"The water conservancy projects in all counties were repaired last year, and two new irrigation canals were dug in exchange for work relief," Jiang Zuoyi, the prefect of Yinchuan, said, pointing to the farmers busy with spring plowing. "The snow has begun to melt, and the water level has gradually recovered. These days it is normal."
Seize the opportunity to irrigate the fields to avoid another spring drought."
Zhao Ding nodded in approval, and then reminded: "It is better to plant some millet, so that you can still get some harvest if there is a severe drought. If you plant all rice, it will be ruined if there is a drought."
Jiang Zuoyi said: "Last year, corn seeds were transferred. This year, half of each household's acres will be planted with rice and half with millet. Many farmers don't know how to plant millet. I urge agricultural officials to teach them step by step."
"Excellent." Zhao Ding praised.
While Zhao Ding continued to inspect the spring plowing, suddenly flocks of birds were circling and screaming, many field mice and rabbits emerged from the ground, and the cats and dogs inside and outside the city also became restless.
No matter the officials, civilians, or soldiers, they all froze on the spot and looked around.
After a long time, Zhao Ding suddenly came to his senses: "In fear of an earthquake, I order the officials, soldiers and civilians to stay indoors for at least the next half month. It is best to sleep in the open space outside the house."
There are officials who go everywhere to deliver orders, but it's hard to say whether everyone will listen or not.
Because there were so many visions, many people were still willing to listen to them that night, and many people inside and outside the city did not dare to stay at home.
In the end, nothing happened.
The next night, many people stopped living outside their houses.
On the night of the third day, many officials went back to their houses to sleep peacefully. Zhao Ding personally inspected inside and outside the city. When he appeared, the officials called the people to come out of their houses. When he left, the officials turned a blind eye.
Fortunately the earthquake happened during the day!
Day four, mid-morning.
Zhao Ding is working in the Governor's Mansion, which was renovated from a pavilion in the Xixia Imperial Palace.
Suddenly the earth shook and the mountains shook. Zhao Ding was so shocked that he stood up holding on to the table, and then quickly ducked under the table to hide.
The temple shook for a while, and the earthquake finally stopped.
Zhao Ding got out from under the table and shouted: "Get out, get out and hide!"
He didn't need to remind him at all, the officials of the Governor's Mansion had already rushed out, and the streets of Yinchuan City were full of people.
The capital commanders, inspectors, prefects, and county magistrates brought people over one after another, and reported in panic that another house had collapsed.
Just when everyone thought it was over, the ground shook again, and it was more violent than before!
Zhao Ding saw with his own eyes that a house collapsed in front of him.
He forced himself to calm down, summoned officials from both the military and political systems, and ordered everyone to immediately appease the people and organize rescue.
All the people inside and outside the city hurriedly moved to the open space in the suburbs and resettled them in units of houses. At the same time, brave men were recruited from the people to dig through the ruins to see if they could rescue survivors. However, houses that had not collapsed were not allowed to approach.
As for the garrison, part of it is responsible for maintaining law and order, and part of it also participates in disaster relief.
"Boom!"
There was another less powerful aftershock, which frightened the soldiers and civilians involved in the rescue and fled to the open space in shock.
After staying in the suburbs for three full days, Zhao Ding allowed the soldiers and civilians to return in an orderly manner after confirming that there were no aftershocks.
Inspector Yan Bingxiao ran to Zhao Ding and whispered: "There is no need to worry about the foreign soldiers and civilians, but the local people are spreading rumors. It is said that the souls of the Western Xia rulers are unwilling to accept the destruction of the country and have come back to seek revenge...
"
Zhao Ding looked serious and summoned military and political officials for a meeting again.
"The top priority right now is disaster relief and rescuing people. Those whose houses have collapsed, organize manpower to rebuild their homes as soon as possible, and provide work relief to absorb the people who have no food."
"The second is to bury the corpse. The old people of Xixia worship Buddhism and they are willing to cremate it. Burn the corpse quickly to avoid plague after the disaster."
"The third is to prepare for rebellion. Those tribal chiefs and herdsmen, whose pastures and fields have been confiscated and divided, are very likely to take the opportunity to spread rumors and start trouble."
"The fourth is to appease people's hearts. Not only to appease people with disaster relief, but also to use poison to fight poison and take the opportunity to publicize. Let's say that this earthquake was caused by the overthrow of Xixia Sheji and the complete cutting off of the dragon vein. After the earthquake, the Xixia dragon vein was cut off, and Xixia could never recover.
Country! All disasters and disasters are blamed on Xixia. I, the Ming Dynasty, are here to save the people."
The Yinchuan Prefecture quickly arranged everything, and at the same time sent these four decrees to various states and counties in Ningxia by couriers on flying horses.
Yinchuan Mansion, where the governor was located, quickly calmed down.
Unexpectedly, twenty days later, there was another earthquake, and the center of the earthquake moved to Xiazhou.
The ground in Xiazhou cracked and springs gushed out!
Then there was an unprecedented sandstorm, and the yellow sand piled up into twenty-meter-high sand dunes. The sand dunes connected the sand dunes, like long embankments, and thousands of people were buried in the sand and dust.
Historically, this series of disasters led to widespread banditry in Xixia and uprisings spread over nearly half of the country - in Xingqing Prefecture alone, more than 10,000 people died in the earthquake.
If Ju Ming had known about this kind of thing, he would definitely not have sent troops last year, and would have waited until various disasters occurred before taking action.
Now it is like receiving a hot potato, and a lot of energy and money have to be spent on maintaining stability!
…
Eastern part of Mingsha County.
As early as the Xia and Shang dynasties, the area was fertile and wild, and the Qiang and Rong ethnic groups were nomadic here.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, people from the Guandong region migrated here one after another to cultivate land.
After that, the dynasties changed, sometimes grazing, sometimes farming, eventually forming half farming and half pastoralism.
Soil and water loss has gradually become serious, and many places have turned into bare loess mountains.
In the early decades after the founding of Xixia, the government organized people to dig irrigation canals. Over the past few decades, the irrigation canals have long been clogged and abandoned, and the crops have gradually changed from wheat to millet.
In June, the drought became more severe.
The three tribal chiefs here jointly summoned more than a dozen former large herdsmen and landowners to discuss rebellion.
Chief Xingduo Baozhong said angrily: "We surrendered in Lingzhou last year. Although we didn't get much credit, we did a lot of hard work. We helped stabilize public security, carried luggage, and worked so hard, but what did we get in return? That abominable magistrate of Xuanzhou,
The state magistrate and the commander called on our tribe to dredge the irrigation canals, but only the irrigation canals on both sides of the Yellow River were dredged. None of the irrigation canals here were dredged!"
"I have already inquired about it. Other tribes dredged irrigation canals in Lingzhou and received much more food than we did! We here worked hard digging canals and could only receive a little food to survive. There is also Lingzhou subsistence
The seeds and livestock given to the people are many times what we have here. People in Lingzhou give us hoes and sickles, but we don’t have any of them here!”
"Everyone here is a big herdsman and a big landowner. After surrendering, there will be no reward, but our pastures and farmland will be taken away. This was the case in the first year of the Ming Dynasty. Will it not become more and more difficult in the future?"
"I heard that disasters are happening everywhere in the northwest and northeastern states and counties. This must be the return of the heroic spirits of the emperors of Great Xia. They will protect us and drive away the Ming army. We are raising troops here, and there are other tribes elsewhere.
Raise an army and then elect a clan to revive Daxia!"
Similar scenes occurred in various places in Ningxia, but the circumstances were different.
The uprising of the three tribes in the east of Mingsha County was indeed forced by the government. Although the lower-level farmers and herdsmen were allocated farmland and pasture, the relief grains, seeds, and livestock they received were seriously insufficient. The government did not even bother to distribute a single farm tool.
.Relief for work was used to repair water conservancy projects, but only on both sides of the Yellow River. Nothing was harvested from the barren loess land here.
From top to bottom, all classes were incited to rebel!
Besides, things are different in Shizhou.
As soon as the leaders started to instigate, some small herdsmen came to report to the officials.
It is not the shepherd who reports to the official, but the young shepherd reports to the official.
In agricultural areas, there are large landowners and small and medium landowners.
In the grassland areas, there are also large herdsmen and small and medium-sized herdsmen. This is the case in the Liao Kingdom and the same is true in the Xixia Dynasty.
Small and medium-sized herdsmen are similar to the "good family" on the grassland, and they are the main group recruited. At least half of the elite troops in Xixia's larger establishments come from small and medium-sized herdsmen's families, because they have the financial resources to maintain war horses, weapons and armor.
Liao and Xixia suffered from the same disease.
Due to frequent wars, corruption, and intensified mergers, the backbone of society (small and medium-sized herdsmen) have become increasingly poor and their numbers are decreasing day by day.
As a result, tax sources and military resources were affected, and the combat effectiveness of the recruited troops was seriously reduced.
You can understand it as the middle class in a modern country is shrinking in number and becoming poor!
There are even many small shepherds who are so poor that they have to work as shepherds for other shepherds.
In other words, small landowners went to work as tenants for others.
Last year, the Ming Dynasty deprived of pastures and fields, targeting only large landowners and large herdsmen.
The larger number of small and medium-sized landowners and herdsmen did not actually move. Although their assets remained unchanged, their taxes and military service were reduced, and they felt relaxed and hopeful.
Now that the big landowners and big herdsmen are inciting rebellion, how can it be possible that all the small and medium-sized landowners and herdsmen are willing to follow?
Some people were incited to the point of losing their ability to think.
Some people heard the instigation, but were so frightened that they quickly reported it to the official!
The commander of Shizhou received the report and immediately led his troops to kill them. Before the big landowners and herdsmen could complete the connection, they were all caught by the Ming garrison and dealt with as if they were rebels.
To be honest, as long as the civil servants and military officers in various prefectures and counties don't mess around, those remnants of Xixia will not be able to cause trouble.
Because the Ming government united the majority, small and medium-sized landowners, small and medium-sized herdsmen, farmers and herdsmen, all stood on the side of the Ming Dynasty!
Maybe they didn't dare to openly reject the rebellion, but some people definitely went to the government to report it, and the government could quickly mobilize troops to suppress it.
Which state or county is causing trouble, there must be problems with the civil servants and military officers there.
The chaos in Mingsha County was so great that nearly ten thousand rebels crossed the mountains and fought their way to the fertile areas on the east bank of the Yellow River before being discovered.
Before this, there was no one to report to the official.
The people on the east bank of the Yellow River were either coerced into joining the rebels or were killed if they refused to rebel.
Some of those killed were even immigrants from Shaanxi. They didn’t even have the right to choose, they were singled out and beheaded directly!
When the rebel army crossed the river, the people on the west bank fled to the city one after another, but the county magistrate refused to open the door because he was afraid that spies would be mixed among the people.
Countless people had no choice but to flee to other counties, or drag their families into the mountains.
That night, Pu Quan, the commander of Xuanzhou, came with 500 soldiers on horseback. They directly attacked the camp at night. More than 10,000 rebels were killed and routed. They chased them to the north for dozens of miles and killed countless people.
Yang Yuan came to be the governor of the state through Qin Hui's relationship.
There were also state magistrate Yan Shunqing and the magistrate of Mingsha County, who reported their merits together with the commander Pu Quan.
With only single-digit casualties, they eliminated more than 10,000 thieves. This was truly a great achievement.
But there are also flaws, thieves burned down several warehouses!
