Anti-Qing: Starting from the Reincarnation of the Ming Dynasty

As for what if Annan, Siam and other countries do not sell food to the Ming Dynasty?

Haha, how should I put it, the fleet of the Ming Navy is not a decoration.

If Annan, Siam and other countries were unwilling to accept free trade, then Ming Dynasty could just peel off the skin and put it in his pocket, and then buy it for zero dollars!

As long as a person is shameless enough, there are always more solutions than difficulties.

What the Ming court now wants is food. As for how the food comes from, that is not important.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jiazhuo nodded to Huang Quan on the side and said.

"Wang Shoufu's method is good. Let Huang Shilang take charge of this matter!"

Huang Quan is Huang Yingying's father and is now the shopkeeper of the Royal Commercial House in the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, he also holds the official title of Minister of Household Affairs.

Therefore, Zhu Jianzhuo called him Huang Shilang.

Huang Quan heard this and immediately clasped his fists and said.

"Your Majesty, don't worry. Your Majesty understands and will definitely take care of this matter and not let your Majesty down."

Zhu Jiazhuo nodded slightly, and then spoke again.

"It is indeed a bit laborious for the court to do the disaster relief work alone. In Jing'an's words, the power of the people can also be guided and utilized."

"Send an order to the Propaganda Department of the Ministry of Rites and ask them to arrange for the Ming Dynasty Daily to publicly collect food, clothing, medicine and other corresponding disaster relief materials from the gentry and common people all over the world to prepare for use in supporting the disaster relief work in Henan."

"To this end, the Ming Dynasty Royal Society donated various materials worth half a million silver dollars to serve as a leading example."

Compared with the millions of victims, the relief supplies of half a million silver dollars are not even a drop in the bucket.

However, the significance of these five hundred thousand silver dollars is quite significant.

Because this represents the attitude of the Ming royal family.

Since the royal family has donated money to show its stance, how can the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty not show their support?

The civil and military officials of the entire dynasty have expressed it, and those wealthy gentry families are somewhat proud of themselves, right?

Your family has 1,000 yuan, and his family has 500 yuan. If you add them together, you can collect several million silver dollars at least.

Although the relief materials worth millions of silver dollars are only a drop in the bucket.

But I dare not say more than that. It is definitely not a problem to live hundreds of thousands of people.

It can be regarded as a little bit of Ming's care for the victims!

Although we can't save everyone, we can save as many as we can.

Seeing Zhu Jianzhuo's statement, all civil and military officials in the Ming Dynasty also responded.

Huang Quan was the first to speak.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to donate 400,000 silver dollars to support the court's disaster relief work."

As the representative of the imperial merchants of the Ming Dynasty, Huang Quan also had an industry in his own family.

Ever since he dedicated his daughter to Zhu Jing'an, he has been using his power for personal gain for such a long time...ah, after operating it properly, the Huang family's family fortune has doubled several times.

Although it is still not as wealthy as Guangzhou Thirteen Banks, it can definitely be said to be a wealthy family.

Huang Quan is not stupid. He knows where his glory and wealth come from. If this is the case, then of course he will not miss this opportunity to flatter him.

Now that Zhu Jianzhuo had asked civil and military officials and the world's gentry to donate relief materials, Huang Quan took the lead in donating without any hesitation.

If Zhu Jianzhuo had not donated only 500,000 silver dollars on behalf of the royal family, he, as a minister, would not be able to exceed the number. In order to please the emperor Zhu Jianzhuo, Huang Quan would have gritted his teeth and donated a million dollars.

Huang Quan opened his mouth, and the others followed suit.

Everyone donated money enthusiastically.

……

Regarding disaster relief, Zhu Jing'an envisioned this.

He was not planning to go to Henan to provide disaster relief, but was planning to set up a porridge shed on the bank of the Huaihe River to provide relief to the victims who crossed the river to Huainan.

In this way, it can not only show that Ming Dynasty did not abandon the idea of ​​​​abandoning the victims in Henan, but also control the number of victims coming to Huainan by controlling the boats at the ferry.

In order to ensure that the disaster relief work will not get out of control, millions of victims will not be able to harm the actual control area of ​​the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, doing this can also be said to be a bitch and still want to build a memorial arch...

In addition, Zhu Jing'an is also planning to set up a recruitment point on the south bank of the Huaihe River to recruit a group of simple farmers from refugees to organize an army to make up for the current shortage of troops in the Ming army.

In addition, Zhu Jing'an also planned to encourage the gentry along the Huaihe River to open handicraft workshops, recruit workers, and absorb the labor force.

On the one hand, it can promote the further development of industry and commerce, and on the other hand, it can provide disaster victims with a means to support themselves.

As for providing relief through work?

Haha, this trick sounds good, but in this era of relatively scarce production materials, it only sounds good.

It actually doesn’t work at all!

How to put it this way, the prerequisite for working-for-relief is that you have to have enough food on hand.

During disaster relief, the amount of food needed to keep a person alive and not starving to death is not at all of the same order of magnitude as the amount of food needed to allow someone to work for relief.

If you can barely survive, a bowl of gruel a day and a half-dry but not watery meal every three to five days will suffice.

But if people are asked to work, then at least they have to work hard every day.

All in all, if the food needed to feed one person through work-for-relief is just used to support people, it can feed at least five or six people.

This is the difference!

Therefore, using work for relief was actually not feasible in ancient times.

There is no other reason, underdeveloped productivity, lack of food, that's all!

It can only be said that providing work-for-relief services in ancient times was too taken for granted.

Zhu Jing'an has been almost dying of worry lately.

The court has not yet responded to how he should provide relief to the victims.

But as time passed, the news that the Ming Dynasty set up porridge sheds in Huainan to relieve the victims gradually spread, and more and more victims poured into Huainan from Henan.

If Feng Sheng's 200,000 stones of grain in Fengyang had not alleviated the temporary needs, I am afraid that even the Ming army itself would have run out of grain...

Zhu Jing'an was sitting at the table eating dinner. His dinner today was very simple, a bowl of gruel and a portion of stir-fried vegetables.

Nothing else.

Basically there is no trace of meatiness at all!

Compared with the food he used to eat in the past, Zhu Jing'an's recent food is much simpler.

There is no other reason than lack of food!

No matter how short of food he is, it won't be enough for him.

But whenever he visited the refugee camps on the banks of the Huaihe River, he saw the bodies of the refugees that had become skinny and bones due to hunger.

Look at the hundreds of hungry people who are taken out of the refugee camps and thrown into mass graves every day.

Even if Zhu Jing'an was put delicacies from the mountains and seas in front of him, he wouldn't be able to eat them.

As a qualified ruler of the feudal dynasty, Zhu Jing'an thought that he was not a good person.

But he still has some conscience.

Hundreds of victims outside were starving to death, but he ate large amounts of fish and meat, delicacies from the mountains and the sea. Zhu Jing'an could not do such an animal thing.

At the dinner table, he just sipped the porridge in small sips. It was obvious that he didn't have a very good appetite.

However, at this moment, there was a burst of chaotic footsteps outside.

Zhang Jin held a report document in his arms and quickly came to Zhu Jing'an.

Before he could open his mouth to report, Zhu Jing'an turned his head and asked.

"How's it going? Have you calculated the statistics? How many more people are there in the refugee camp today?"

Zhang Jin heard this, thought for a while and said.

"Back to Your Highness, according to reports from several refugee camps set up by our army on the south bank of the Huaihe River, a total of 3,214 refugees arrived in Huainan today." Zhu Jing'an couldn't help but take a deep breath after hearing this.

He asked immediately.

"How much food did you consume today?"

Zhang Jin said without thinking.

"Today, the refugee camps consumed a total of more than 8,000 kilograms of food, and tomorrow the food consumption will only be even more."

"Your Highness, if the imperial court does not send food, our army will be able to last for another half month at most with the food it has in hand..."

When saying this, Zhang Jin's face was very solemn.

Because he knows the consequences of running out of food!

Nowadays, several refugee camps set up by the Ming Dynasty on the south bank of the Huaihe River are inherently unstable due to food shortages. People often make troubles, fights, and even kill people and eat meat.

Thanks to the military suppression and Zhu Jing'an trying his best to ensure the basic food needs of the refugee camps, no major troubles occurred in those refugee camps.

However, once there is a complete lack of food, riots will inevitably break out in the refugee camp. By then, no matter how hard the army suppresses them, they may not be able to suppress them.

Hearing this, Zhu Jing'an took a deep breath and said.

"When will the emergency food from the imperial court be delivered?"

Zhang Jin heard this and replied.

"Your Highness, Nanjing is already urgently raising food and transporting it from Jiangnan and Huguang."

"But the food transportation work is quite complicated. It will take at least a month before the food can be transported to Fengyang."

Zhu Jing'an took a deep breath and couldn't help showing an unbearable expression on his face, but he finally spoke.

"Send an order to our navy to blockade the upper and lower reaches of the Huaihe River and temporarily prohibit all ships from traveling to both sides of the Huaihe River."

"Gu, I'm sorry to the people of Henan..."

Now, Zhu Jing'an felt guilty.

He knew that after he issued this order, he didn't know how many people who were hopeful of reaching the Huaihe River and trying to cross the river to get relief from the Ming Dynasty were blocked to the north of the Huaihe River and died in despair, turning into corpses of starvation and bones.

However, he really has no choice!

However, Zhu Jing'an ordered to block the Huaihe River, but it only prevented the number of refugees in the refugee camp from increasing significantly in a short period of time.

But the food gap still exists.

After speaking, he took a deep breath to calm down his emotions, and then continued.

"Send someone to help Gu to invite the wealthy gentry from Fengyang Mansion. Gu will hold a banquet to entertain them."

In the end, Zhu Jing'an was still prepared to borrow grain from the gentry to alleviate the current urgent need.

Zhu Jing'an thought, relying on his own prestige, if he could put down his face and ask the gentry, it would not be a problem to borrow some food for emergencies.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jin nodded to express his understanding, then resigned and left.

Zhu Jing'an also slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, and then ate the few remaining rice grains at the bottom of the bowl...

In the past, he didn't care much about wasting food.

But recently, he suddenly felt that he had wasted so much food before, and he was really not a big deal!

……

Nanjing, Qinhuai River!

As the southern capital of the Ming Dynasty, it goes without saying that Nanjing’s prosperity will be one of the popular choices for the capital of the Ming Dynasty in the future.

Even though Nanjing had just been recaptured by the Ming Dynasty for more than two years and the war had just ended, Nanjing's markets had already returned to prosperity.

The Qinhuai River, as one of the most prosperous areas in Nanjing, is decorated with flowers and cooked with fire.

In a restaurant next to the Qinhuai River, several young men dressed as scholars were holding girls in their arms, drinking, talking and laughing, looking cheerful.

On the table in front of them, there was a table of delicacies and a jar of fine wine exuding mellow fragrance.

While several scholars drank happily, they discussed the government affairs and gave advice on the country.

The high-spiritedness that belongs to young people cannot help but attract people's attention.

"If you ask me, His Highness the Crown Prince won the battle at Fengyang so beautifully that even the Tatar Imperial Envoy was captured alive. It really increased the prestige of our Ming Dynasty!"

One of the princes said loudly with a thick neck and a red face.

"Yes, yes, the Battle of Fengyang can be said to have laid the foundation for our Ming Dynasty to regain the country and unify the world in the future. It has a lot of people's hearts."

"After this battle, it won't take long before the Central Plains will be recovered. Whoever wins the Central Plains will win the world. This has always been the case!"

The people on the side echoed loudly.

The victory in the Battle of Fengyang greatly inspired the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Most of these young scholars are passionate at heart, and they are naturally excited to learn that the imperial army has won a great victory.

At this moment, a short and stocky scholar at a table next to him also spoke.

"Haha, we scholars are deeply blessed by the country. When it comes to serving the country, we cannot let the warriors in the army be the best."

"I have decided that if I don't do well in this year's imperial examination, I will not take the exam. I will simply sign up for the military academy and join the army."

"Today's world is in a turbulent situation. Even if I can't be a trend-setter in the historical wave, I still want to leave my name in this history."

These days, although the social atmosphere of favoring civility over martial arts is still severe.

However, now that the Ming Dynasty has just returned to the country, it is the time when the power of the nobles is the strongest.

And most of the nobles who have military merits will naturally not look down on warriors.

Since then, the status of the current Ming warriors has been improved.

Scholars are also very interested in joining the army to serve the country, using military exploits on the battlefield to win a title of glory, wealth, and even retirement with the country.

However, at this moment, someone suddenly said something inappropriate.

"It would be great if the imperial court could win the Battle of Fengyang, but it is a pity that the Yellow River has burst and Henan is suffering from disaster. I heard someone say that people in Henan have already changed their sons and eaten..."

"If I were a high-ranking member of the DPRK, I would never turn a blind eye to this!"

There was some resentment unconsciously in this man's words.

Scholars have been like this since ancient times. After reading some books and broadening their horizons, they think they understand everything, and they can't help but want to criticize the current shortcomings and point out the country.

The dangers of half a bucket of water sloshing around!

It's impossible for you to expect him to praise you all the time.

Generally speaking, when scholars discuss government affairs, they mostly complain and complain.

No matter how well you do, they can find faults.

Of course, the main reason why this scholar said this is because he is from Henan.

It is his hometown that is suffering now!

Therefore, some resentment is understandable.

However, after hearing this, the short and sturdy man who had just spoken retorted.

"Are you making sense? Henan was hit by a disaster, but now Henan is under the rule of the Tatars, and the Tatar court should provide relief. What does it have to do with our Ming Dynasty?"

"Is it possible that I, the Ming Dynasty, will come to rescue the victims on behalf of the Tatars?" (End of this chapter)