Zhang Zhao was extremely busy. In fact, the Liang Kingdom was not immune to the horrific flood, drought, and locust plague that swept across the Central Plains.
Among them, Qinzhou and Qingzhou, which are close to Guanzhong, were the most seriously injured. Especially in Qingzhou, Dong Zhiyuan, which has always been prosperous, saw its production cut by a terrifying 60%.
At the same time, Wei, Lan, He, Xia, Wei, Hui and other states were also affected to varying degrees. Liangzhou also suffered from drought for more than two months, and the water level of Macheng River dropped significantly.
However, although it suffered a disaster, the disaster in Liang State was not particularly serious.
Because before this, Zhang Zhao built and repaired a large number of water conservancy facilities in order to restore agricultural production in Longyou, Hexi Province and mobilize people in various states so that government power could be transferred to counties.
At the same time, the overall level of integrity of officials in the Liang Kingdom is relatively high. There is no way they can be dishonest! In the countryside of the Liang Kingdom, there are a large number of warriors who own hundreds of acres of land.
The officials did not dare to fish and meat them, but they had knives in their hands. Although it did cause difficulties in governance and trouble in rural security, it did avoid the situation like that in the Jin Dynasty.
Therefore, the degree of disaster damage is lower than that in the Central Plains, there are water conservancy facilities to ensure irrigation and water storage during floods, and there are no man-made disasters caused by exploitation by officials.
The extent of the disaster in Liang was relatively minor. The most serious disaster relief work in Qinzhou and Qingzhou had already begun when Zhang Zhao returned.
Zhang Zhao was not around at that time, and no one dared to open the public and private treasury to allocate food. It was Cao Sanniang who encouraged the Nineteenth Niang to issue an edict to start disaster relief.
As a result, the government, wealthy families and even local wealthy households and merchants donated heavily. Except for hundreds of people who died due to flash floods, basically no one died of starvation.
Don't underestimate the fact that people do not starve to death. In disaster years, almost no people starve to death. In this era, this is an extremely dazzling existence.
....
While Zhang Zhao continued to handle disaster reports from various places, Zhang Xichong and Fan Zhi came together to ask for an audience.
Zhang Zhao knew what they were here for, probably asking him to help the victims in the Central Plains.
This is not a good deal. People's hearts and minds are both valuable and worthless.
If valuable money can be mobilized, it will be an earth-shaking power, but at the same time it is extremely difficult to mobilize.
However, Zhang Zhao still prefers relief, but there is nothing he can do! This is a life-and-death test for millions of people. No matter from which aspect, it is difficult for Zhang Zhao to turn a blind eye.
In the Juxian Hall of Yongxun Palace, Zhang Zhao not only asked Zhang Xichong and Fan Zhi to come in for an interview, but also summoned the right minister Song Shantong, as well as the ministers of the four departments of official, household, punishment, and work, as well as related people, and simply held a meeting
Umrah meeting.
When Zhang Xichong and Fan Zhi saw that Zhang Zhao had summoned so many people, they looked at each other and smiled, with a little more admiration in their eyes. They knew that Zhang Zhao must have made up his mind to summon so many people.
After everyone arrived, Zhang Zhao seated them one by one, and also served fragrant tea and fruit cakes.
He did this on purpose. In this way of civil and military affairs, it is abnormal for anyone to be more noble than others. Therefore, in Zhang Zhao's case, he tried his best to improve the courtesy of civil servants in every detail and try to make their status higher.
Song Shantong and other people in the Liang Kingdom were used to it, but Zhang Xichong, Fan Zhi and some former officials were very useful.
Sometimes a little respect, and being rewarded can make people feel more at ease.
As soon as everyone sat down, Fan Zhi presented the letter in his hand to Zhang Zhao.
"Reporting to the King of Heaven, Zhao Ying, the governor of the National Army in Huazhou Town, has some friendship with a certain person. He secretly sent someone from Huazhou to write a letter somewhere, saying that the locust plague and drought in Huazhou Town were extremely serious.
This summer, more than 9,000 households have become refugees. The autumn grain production has been reduced by more than half, and the harvest is not enough to pay the court and supply the soldiers of the country."
Zhang Zhao was a little surprised, because Zhao Ying was once Shi Jingtang's favorite and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy.
Even after Shi Chonggui succeeded to the throne, Zhao Ying was also with him. How come he is now the military governor of Huazhou Town?
Zhang Liecheng, who had just returned from the Central Plains, stood up and said to Zhang Zhao: "Sir, Zhao Xuanhui was framed by Feng Yu's slander in April this year. The Lord of Jin was not happy, and he was immediately sent out to serve as the military governor of Huazhou Town."
Zhang Zhao nodded and said he understood. In the Five Dynasties, it would be a happy thing if warriors sent their commanders to other places, because sending their commanders to other places was similar to enfeoffing the country.
But the literati couldn't do it, because they couldn't handle the tooth soldiers in Jiezhen. After they were released, they were often coerced by their superiors and lived a miserable life.
Thinking of this, Zhang Zhao asked Fan Zhi, "Is this Zhao Xuanhui no longer able to control the soldiers and generals below?"
Fan Zhi smiled bitterly and nodded, "Heavenly King, a scribe like Zhao Xuanhui has no experience in leading troops, and he has never controlled the Zhenguo Army.
As soon as the autumn grain harvest in Huazhou was harvested, the soldiers of the Zhenguo Army snatched most of it. Zhao Xuanhui persuaded them, and they just agreed to pay 55,000 dan to be sent to the court."
Zhang Zhao frowned, "In this case, what do the people of Huazhou eat? They don't leave even a grain of autumn grain? How can they be so cruel?"
"What can you eat? It's nothing more than grass roots and tree bark. If it doesn't work, just change the seeds and eat them!" Song Shantong, Zhang Zhao's uncle and right minister, said with a long sigh.
Guo Tiance on the side frowned and suddenly asked: "Scholar Fan, this letter from Zhao Ying, can you ask for help? Is there anything else you can say?"
Fan Zhi shook his head slightly, "Apart from explaining the situation, he didn't mention anything else, not even reminiscing about the past."
Guo Tiance immediately turned to Zhang Zhao and said: "King of Heaven, I have read the files of the Jinyi Messenger. Zhao Ying has always been known for being cautious.
He would not write such a letter to Master Fan for no reason, and he did not mention any other requests, which seemed to be a sign of scruples.
Huazhou is backed by the Jinghe and Weihe rivers, with Huashan in front, Tongguan on the left, and Lantian Pass on the right. It is the key to blocking the pass. It has always been a battleground for military strategists. For us, Huazhou is in hand.
It is important to capture Chang'an."
Zhang Zhao's eyes lit up, "You are saying that Zhao Ying has a desire to seek refuge, but is too cautious to reveal it. If we can help the people of Huazhou survive this disaster, he will definitely come to seek refuge?"
Fan Zhi had never thought of this before, but now that he thinks about it, it is indeed possible.
Zhao Ying's temperament, apart from being cautious, is actually a bit timid. This attitude is very consistent with Zhao Ying's acting style.
"The King of Heaven, what Academician Guo said is indeed possible. Back then, Emperor Gaozu of Jin Dynasty launched an army in Jinyang, and everyone agreed. Only Zhao Ying showed fear on her face. In addition, this person has a careful mind, which is indeed very similar to his actions."
Zhang Zhao stood up suddenly and said, "There was a great disaster in the Central Plains. The land was red for thousands of miles. Everyone in the Jin Kingdom was guilty, but the people were not guilty.
Although Daliang was also hit by a disaster this year, we still have food left over. I have decided to take the refugees from the Central Plains to Hexi for resettlement. Can someone calculate how much food can be allocated?"
While Fan Zhi was a bachelor of Qionglin Academy, he also served as the Minister of Household Affairs. The data was almost in his mind, but after thinking about it carefully, his face suddenly became sad.
"King of Heaven, we in Great Liang have been fighting all these years except the year before last.
The public funds are just enough, and Taicang has not much grain stored in it, and it has to be reserved for the coming war. There is really not much food that can be allocated to rescue the refugees, let alone the people who have to move all the way from the Central Plains.
come over."
"Ahem!" Speaking of this, I, King Zhang, also felt a little embarrassed.
Although the scale of his military campaigns was not large, the frequency of his campaigns was not low. Indeed, every year the government's spring and autumn taxes were basically collected and spent quickly.
As for his personal internal funds, there is indeed a lot of money, but Zhang Zhao will not use it easily. It is better to distinguish between public and private.
This group of courtiers must get used to it. The scene of the Ming Dynasty emperor being blackmailed by courtiers is vivid.
"Why should the King of Heaven worry about money and food? Although the public treasury and Taicang don't have much money in food, we have a lot of people in Great Liang.
Over the years, thanks to the improvement of water conservancy facilities and the deployment of agricultural doctors in rural areas, private grain reserves have been abundant.
I heard that around Liangzhou, there is already a phenomenon of using beans and wheat to feed livestock, why not raise food from the private sector?"
Zhang Zhao looked at Zhang Xichong, a little confused, "What does the Left Prime Minister mean by asking us to learn from the Jin State and borrow food from the people?"
"Of course!" Zhang Xichong nodded, but seeing that Zhang Zhao didn't look very good, he quickly said: "But our borrowing of grain is completely different from that of Jin.
Nowadays, the price of food among the people in Daliang is so low that it cannot be sold in many places. The people hold a house full of food, but they cannot exchange it for much salt, tea, and sugar.
It would be better for the Ministry of Household Affairs to borrow grain from the private sector, and then purchase a piece of salt and sugar tea from the Hexi Chamber of Commerce at a low price, using the salt and sugar tea to offset the price of the grain.
In this way, the people have benefited, and we can get hundreds of thousands of dan of grain at just over half the price."
Zhang Zhao nodded slightly, this was a bit like a protective acquisition for later generations.
In this way, the problem can indeed be solved. The people will sell the food they can't eat, and the government will pay half of the money, and the problem can be solved.
However, there will still be a victim in this process, and that is the businessmen.
Doing this is equivalent to eliminating their intermediate links. By then, the market demand for salt, sugar and tea will be saturated, and merchants selling these three items will probably suffer a huge loss.
As a traditional literati, Zhang Xichong had always had limited favor with merchants, so he did not consider their interests at all. However, Zhang Zhao still had to consider the impact, and he turned back to look at Cao Wantong.
"Notify the Chamber of Commerce to limit the amount of salt and sugar tea sold to local vendors in Longyou, Hexi Province. When appropriate, let the public know that it is okay to lose a little, and don't make people jump into the river because of the loss."
"I know, the big businessmen selling salt, tea and sugar in Longyou, Hexi Province are all members of the Chamber of Commerce. The King of Heaven has an order, and losing a little money is nothing."
This is the advantage of the government controlling the supply of goods, and tightly controlling businessmen from all over the country.
However, corruption within the Hexi Chamber of Commerce is another problem. It is said that some people have done something outrageous, but Zhang Zhao has never been able to get around to sorting it out.
However, at this time, Right Prime Minister Song Shantong had different opinions.
"The daily consumption of salt, sugar and tea is limited. It is estimated that we can raise three to four hundred thousand shi of food, which can only save the current emergency.
When the victims of the disaster arrived in Daliang, they basically had nothing to live on, and they needed food for at least half a year to survive, and it was also a difficult problem where to relocate them."
Song Shantong was actually most worried about the latter, because the two roads of Hexi and Longyou in the Liang State were Zhang Zhao's core territory and source of force, and there were hundreds of acres of homes for soldiers everywhere.
If a large number of these disaster victims are resettled in Longyou, Hexi, they may eventually become servants and tenants of these government soldiers, which would be bad.
There are many Fubing families with hundreds of acres of land, which is a benefit, but if they are allowed to grow too wildly, they won't be able to survive anywhere.
Zhang Zhao only looked at Song Shantong's hesitant expression and knew what his uncle meant. I, Zhang Tianwang Khan, am also afraid of the imperial guard election law!
Moreover, he is not willing to make the population in Longyou, Hexi, especially Lianglan, Hewei and other prefectures too dense.
It is in his interest to form small landowners with a few hundred acres of land in these places, because this can provide him with stable military support at any time.
Although there is still a surplus of land at present, it was actually left by Zhang Zhao to the descendants of these soldiers. It was necessary to ensure that there would be enough land to distribute property within three generations at least.
If we distribute them to the refugees now and keep them all at once, it will reduce the quality of the soldiers and is not cost-effective.
Moreover, there are many barbarians in these places. Putting too many miserable Han refugees there will lower the aura of the Han people.
Therefore, Zhang Zhao was more willing to give land to the brave warriors among the Han people than to the refugees.
"This matter is actually not difficult." Fan Zhi took out a thick stack of memorials from his wide sleeves.
"King of Heaven, I have a plan to resettle these refugees and provide them with enough food for half a year."
"Oh? Tell me quickly!" Zhang Zhao waved to Fan Zhi in surprise. Fan Zhi was also a famous person in history, so he should have two brushes.
"There are still tens of thousands of the Suzhou Long family who have not yet moved back to Yanqi, so why not take this opportunity to move them all away.
Most of the Yellow-headed Uighurs south of Ganzhou will also move back to Qiuci, and they can also move together.
Ningyuan's land is vast and sparsely populated, and tens of thousands of people can be moved along with the caravans.
Lingzhou party Xiang Tuoba Yanchao's tribe has been restless near Lingzhou, so it is better to take this opportunity to move several tribes to Juyanhai.
In this way, one Suzhou, most of Ganzhou, and half of Lingzhou can be freed up, enough to accommodate the victims.
These relocated people have a lot of property that they cannot take with them, but we can distribute it to the new arrivals.
And they can go to Yanqi, Qiuci, and Ningyuan to make up for it.
These three places also have enough food this year, especially Ningyuan, which is rich and can afford it. Isn’t it true that one stone kills two birds with one stone?”
Zhang Zhao's eyes lit up, and it turned out to be a solution. In fact, Fan Zhi saw it accurately. The Liang court was not without food, it was! It was huge!
The Jin Kingdom of Khotan, especially Ningyuan, had a vast territory with sparse people and rich land, so there was an endless supply of food. However, they were too far away and could not be transferred to Longyou in Hexi Province.
Fan Zhi's method was to move the Long family, Uighurs and some party members in Longyou, Hexi Province, and let them go on the road with only food rations, and then compensate them when they arrived in Anxi, and then use the Central Plains disaster victims to fill the vacancies they moved away.
What a great idea! Not only does it solve the problem of money and food, it can also increase the number of Han people in Longyou and Lingwu, Hexi.