The domestic guard is a little sweet

Chapter 85 Disaster Relief

There was endless quarrel inside and outside the imperial court about who would go to the disaster relief. All the factions wanted to send their own people to this key position, holding a large sum of disaster relief funds. It should be a fat post.

For three days in a row, the noble ministers in the past were also arguing red-faced. The emperor had a headache and got angry twice, but still had no effect.

But when these people are chasing the position of disaster relief envoy, no one thinks about how many victims of the disaster will die every day, and how many people are selling their children and daughters in the midst of hunger, just in exchange for meager food live.

There are even some places where people eat just to be able to have a bite of something. This is definitely not empty talk.

This rare epidemic in 50 years is wider and worse than Zhao Jin expected.

Under the severe drought this time, the farmland on Zhao Jin Zhuangzi was so carefully taken care of, and the yield was still reduced by about [-]%, while other places rarely rained, and the harvest was almost non-existent.

Among the many sad news, the only good news is probably that Zhao Jin's trip to Guangdong and Guangxi, passing through various counties, towns and towns, left a lot of sweet potato seeds, which were properly bred and planted on the ground.

Although the drought has affected the harvest, the sweet potatoes are still growing well, and the harvest can barely satisfy the hunger in a few days.

During the harvest this summer, Zhao Jin was worried about this situation, and ordered all the villas under his banner not to sell grain to the outside world.

Most of Zhao Jin's hands are rice, wheat and other fine grains. He specially ordered people to go to the grain merchants to replace the fine grains with coarse grains, and then threshed and smashed the newly harvested corn. Sent to several counties and townships most seriously affected by the disaster.

At this time, not only need to allocate a large amount of grain and money for disaster relief, but also control the local grain merchants, and don't hoard them to raise prices. Part of Zhao Jin's grain will be allocated to the worst-hit areas.Open rice and grain shops, maintain the stability of prices, and supply the quantity of grain to the local people.

As for the other part of the food, Zhao Jin will send someone to become a businessman to accumulate blessings and give porridge.And by the way, gather local young children who have lost their parents, relatives and friends, and those children who have been cruelly sold by their families.

Although Zhao Jin has hoarded a lot of food during this period, but in the face of the epidemic situation in various places, the food is completely a drop in the bucket. The huge court is the root of the victims of the disaster. Zhao Jin can only do some small things. .

The imperial court had quarreled up and down for 5 days, and finally decided to go south. Zheng Yushi, one envoy and two envoys, the envoys are the emperor's cronies, and the deputy envoys are from the families of the eldest prince and the second prince's mother. people over there.

Although the emperor is in his prime, he caught a cold this spring and has been ill for a long time. Although he is in good health now, people inside and outside the court still have some plans.

The battle between the two princes for the reserve position became more and more serious.

In the past dynasties, the disaster relief money issued by the imperial court has been exploited by local officials at various levels, and half of them can fall into the hands of the victims, that is luck.

Zhao Jin didn't have the ability to manage it, and he really couldn't intervene.

This sensitive topic, if he is a little careless, his cheap emperor brother will think about it, and the gain outweighs the loss.

The disaster relief team in Beijing finally set out, and Zhao Jin sent people to secretly send out the food that had been prepared before.

The names of businessmen from all over the place are all listed, without revealing himself at all, and Zhao Jin doesn't want to get this reputation into trouble.

As news reports from various places continued to spread, and the actual situation in the disaster area gradually spread to Beijing, the face of the first emperor became darker and darker. During this period of time, the court was as quiet as a chicken, and even the people in the harem Empress, those are also obediently nesting in their own palaces, let alone being jealous.

Zhao Jin has been nesting in a farm in the suburbs of Beijing these days, painting an acre of land and cultivating rice. Although he is not an agronomy major, he has seen a lot of popular science about hybrid rice online in his previous life, although he may not be successful. But it's always good to try.

After more than two months in such a careless atmosphere, in the blue sky, the chief and deputy envoys came up one after another, asking the emperor to ascend to pray for the world.

It was like this in ancient times. Once there was any geological disaster, such as the flood that did not happen in a hundred years, emperors like Han would issue the most urgent documents to inform the world and worship the heaven and earth, so that they could pray for rain and show peace.

I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but after the emperor ascended the height to offer sacrifices, the heavy rain poured down, and different degrees of rain fell in various places, and the drought was relieved. The anxiety in the air due to the dry heat was also washed away by the rain. , dissipated little by little.

People in the capital city, which had been suffering from drought for a long time, rushed out of their homes one after another to welcome the rare rain, with bright smiles on their faces.

Because they know that this year's snow will not be affected, and the winter wheat can be planted as scheduled, and they can look forward to next year's harvest.

Zhao Jin's tense nerves were finally calmed down. Whether it is the mighty power of nature in ancient or modern times, human beings have no choice but to pray and accept it.

In this severe drought, sweet potatoes have indeed played a pivotal role. The drought-resistant characteristics have allowed the harvest of these sweet potatoes to be planted to be good, not only meeting the food rations of the local people, but even benefiting the surrounding people. This allowed the county magistrates who planted sweet potatoes to be rewarded one after another.

After this incident, the emperor also paid special attention to sweet potatoes, and ordered that this year the Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry must plant a large area in Huangzhuang. Two kinds of sweet potatoes are cultivated and distributed to all parts of the country, so that the common people can grow sweet potatoes and eat sweet potatoes.

As for the novel overseas seeds that Zhao Jin handed over from time to time, the emperor also attached great importance to them at this time, and would send special personnel to plant them, and observe and taste the taste and effects of various foods.

After all, Empress Dowager Dong is getting old, she was worried about the drought with the emperor a few days ago, but now she is sick again, and people who have been sick for a long time have also become haggard.

Zhao Jin visits him in the palace from time to time, and the old man doesn't know where he thinks that he insists on making Zhao Jin a lady from a famous family as his concubine.

This frightened Zhao Jin. Although he said he had been detoxified, Empress Dowager Dong didn't know. Wouldn't it be harmful for him to marry a woman to come in now?

Fortunately, many of the seeds offered by Zhao Jin in recent days have been valued, and there are not small achievements. The emperor is grateful for his contribution, so he interceded with the Empress Dowager Dong, so that Zhao Jin was not given a marriage. .

Although the emperor stood on his side this time, he was indeed quite taboo about the dark twelve beside Zhao Jin.

Although Zhao Jin used words to prevaricate it several times, everyone knew after so long that there was only An Twelve by Zhao Jin's side, and he was the only one who was always by his side at any time, and there was no one who warmed the bed. It is enough to see the position of the other party in Zhao Jin's heart.