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Chapter 347
Wang Hua said: "It's very simple. The imperial court counts the amount of grain that can be rationed and the areas where the grain price fluctuates the most. Then the grain amount is printed as food stamps, and the households are counted according to the population. For these actions, all states and counties will post court notices to let the people know how much food stamps they can get.”

This method is still disadvantageous, because the average distribution, rich families and even those who participate in hoarding also get cheap food, and there is no way for fleeing households and tribes to benefit.But it is also a way, at least some aspects have achieved the greatest degree of fairness.

Everyone was at a loss when they heard this. Looking at all the records in history, this kind of practice has never happened before.

In fact, Wang Hua has unconsciously changed their ideas.First, it allowed ships to easily enter the territory of the Tang Dynasty from foreign countries, which broke the Tang Dynasty's ban on people going abroad and foreign ships can only berth in Guangzhou Port.

But the person who was able to climb up to the court and was qualified to participate in the early court, the one who was not a top figure, immediately thought of the benefits brought by Wang Hua's proposal.

And in terms of benefits, if Wang Hua really gave so much grain to the Tang Dynasty at the price of [-] Wen per bucket, there would still be a profit margin of more than ten Wen, so that the court would be able to arrange manpower and material resources to distribute the grain to the states and counties. issued.

The price of more than 200 Wen is still very expensive, but it is much better than the current [-] Wen.The price of more than forty cash will make many people starve, but more than [-] cash will make many people starve to death.There is a big gap in between.

However, Song Jing stood up and said to Wang Hua: "Scholar Wang, although your method is very good, the food gap is still too big."

Hearing this, everyone was sad.

Song Jing's words also made sense.Although a piece of Sui and Tang Dynasties is vigorous, it is too tragic. More than 500 million people participated in the rebel army, and the number of soldiers involved may reach 700 million. But the result?From nearly 900 million households in the Sui Dynasty to only three million households in the Tang Dynasty.But after so many years of rest and recuperation, although it has not yet reached the heyday of the Sui Dynasty, it has recovered more than half.The population has reached around 4000 million, and this does not include the fleeing households that cannot be checked, and the missing households that are deliberately concealed.

At least one-third of the people were affected by this food price, and the most densely populated areas in the Tang Dynasty are from the Chang'an area to the Luoyang Qizhou area, followed by the Yangrun area, and then the Yizhou area .

The place affected by the flood this time is from Hezhong Prefecture to Luoyang, Zhengzhou, Bianzhou, Zezhou, Xiangzhou and other 10,000 prefectures, which are the most important in the world.Not all places were flooded, but that was it. The number of victims reached at least 100+ households, and the population reached [-] million people, or even more.

The 200 million shi of grain that Wang Hua said sounds huge, but it is a problem to relieve these victims.Ordinary people are different from rich people. Because of the lack of "oil and water" in their meals, they eat more. Four shimi a year per person can only be said to maintain their food and clothing.The calculation of this account is to completely control the price of food, at least 6000 million shi or more is needed.

After Song Jing reminded, everyone looked at Wang Hua together without saying a word.

But Wang Hua laughed, and said to Song Jing: "Song Shilang, according to what you said, is there anyone who can produce so much food from other countries?"

There is no statistics, but now the Tang Dynasty may reach half of the world's population. If there is a problem with the Tang Dynasty itself, there is no such condition, but there is such a condition. If there is no preparation several years in advance, using all the power of the world to maintain a Tang Dynasty will not be able to solve it question.

It should be that the Tang Dynasty is still knowledgeable now, the Silk Road has not been interrupted, let them know about Dashi, and even call the Eastern Roman Empire the Big Buddha, and the Middle East as the Little Fusu, but no matter how they are called, they may also like to start from Some things from the West, but in their eyes, these countries are all barbarian countries, unpopular countries!
Occasionally losing the battle is also because the benefits are not obtained, and I don't want to fight the whole country.So what Wang Hua said was not unreasonable.

At this point, Wang Hua glanced at the crowd and said, "Actually, think about it again, how many places are really affected by the cotton storm besides the places affected by the flood?"

He didn't say anything below. There are some places in the Western Regions where cotton is grown. For example, Wang Hua bought some fields, but he didn't manage them. There are very few families in the Western Regions, and many places continue to be deserted.

There is very little planting in the south of the Yangtze River, mainly in the Yellow River area, but there are still many people in this area who grow food.Therefore, accounts cannot be calculated like Song Jing.The real gap is only 500 million shi or 1000 million shi, which is hard to calculate.The autumn harvest has not come yet.But it will definitely not be the huge and terrifying number of 6000 million to 7000 million stones.

Everyone knows why this is the case.If this problem cannot be solved, people with a shortfall of 500 million shi will be able to drive up the price of grain to sky-high prices.But it is precisely this problem that there is no way to solve it.

Everyone dared not make a sound.

This is not the most difficult thing. The most difficult thing is next year, that is, cotton is planted in many places this year, but the profit margin is still not small.More people will plant next year.Unless the price of grain rises to [-] yuan per bucket of rice, the imperial court will let the price of grain rise to this level?
In the final analysis, it is as simple as that, when the state contributes its strategies and efforts, the local powerful families benefit.

Wang Hua added: "Your Majesty, but I have one more thing to report. If there is no accident, I can continue to provide the court with cheap food through some channels next year, and it may reach 500 million shi. But the time will be longer , and it will be next year one after another."

Don't dare to say too much, now Oceania does not lack land, what is lacking is population, but dare not rob too many slaves, although as the number of people grows, robbing will become easier.This year will focus on trying to transport the natives of the Tang Dynasty to Oceania, supplemented by expansion.Similarly, Oceania also has a long rainy season in summer, so there is no guarantee of smooth weather.Although it is possible that the arable land will expand to three times the area next year, which is not difficult, two to three seasons of harvest, but Wang Hua can only say a conservative 500 million shi.

Wang Hua said this number on purpose.Now that there is food in the future, the court has the courage to continue to withdraw in advance and distribute the huge grain storage in Hanjiacang.And if the news gets out, it will also play a role in stabilizing food prices, although the effect may not be too great.

From a personal point of view, although Wang Hua earns less profit, there are many less procedures.Another point is that because of counting on his food, his position in the court has also become stable.

Hearing Wang Hua's words, many ministers really became excited. This is equivalent to 700 million shi of grain operation.Although it is a kind of "futures" and will not be fully delivered until next year, but with these grains as a base, I feel more at ease.

Although it took more than a year, more than a year gave them a chance to breathe.

Many ministers started buzzing about it, and some proposed to continue to increase the tax on cotton cultivation in order to limit the amount of cotton planted, and to force the states and counties to implement the proportion of grain and cotton planting, etc.Wang Hua didn't make a sound.The result could be worse.

This is just like the property market policy in his previous life. Local officials have to sell land to obtain financial revenue. With this premise, no matter what the central government orders to suppress the skyrocketing property market, few local governments below cooperate with the central government.

Now that the cotton tax has been raised, local officials will not actively cooperate with the imperial court's restrictions on cotton planting.This is also their financial income.And under the management of the current opaque system.On the contrary, local officials even secretly encouraged a large number of cotton plantations in various places.Then in the end, in order to deceive the court, the people were ordered to forcibly collect food.But what should the local people do without this food?They had no choice but to go to neighboring counties to buy grain, which ended up buying grain at a high price and handing over grain at a low price.The burden on the people is even heavier.

Although these people are all wise people, they have never experienced such an accident, so they don't know how to prevent it.Tragedy will happen again.

But he was watching with cold eyes, and that was not his job.

But when he thought of the history of cotton in China, he sighed.Cotton has been around in China for a long time and has not been promoted. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang forcibly ordered it to be planted throughout the country.It's the exact opposite of what it is now.

The reason for this is that there is no scientific way of planting, just like the people of Gaochang, who scatter the seeds in the ground and rely on the sky to harvest.The result yield is very low.This is the main reason.

Another is the backwardness of textile technology, so as soon as Huang Daopo's textile machine appeared, the Songjiang area immediately became the wealthiest place in the world.Later, the innovation of textile machinery in Europe led to the enclosure movement of sheep cannibalism.

This is still a gradual process, but it is strange that the world is not full of turmoil when I introduce the most advanced planting method and the sub-advanced textile machine at once.

Moreover, under his own influence, some people are quietly changing their thinking and concepts. For example, the Li family in Longxi launched a textile machine with higher efficiency last year.But because of its simple principle, it was quickly stolen by other families.This is undoubtedly another fuel to the fire.

In short, this is a good thing, but everyone is not ready yet.This is where the problem lies.

Of course, all agricultural technology is still backward. The same land, which fed more than one billion people in the previous life, now only feeds one-thirtieth of the population. It is still so difficult.Compared with the Song Dynasty, the territory was much smaller, but the population reached more than 1 million at the most, and their lives were more moist than those of the Tang Dynasty.This is also a matter of technical reasons.Another point is that the Tang Dynasty’s abnormal possession of land was related to the taxation method that was based on the head instead of the land. Many big families annexed the land and would rather leave it barren than hand it over to tenants for cultivation at a low price.

While everyone was discussing lively, Wang Hua had already quietly sat back in his seat.

Sure enough, Chen Zuo came up with suggestions one by one, which were adopted by Li Xian one after another, and then sent to various places as imperial edicts.For example, raising the tax on cotton fields again is not only a way to restrict cotton planting, but also increases the income of the imperial court, so everyone agrees.

There is also the control of the proportion of grain and cotton seed value, while reducing the proportion of cloth in rent modulation, increasing the proportion of grain, and so on.

After Wang Hua heard these orders issued, his expression was cloudy and uncertain.

But he doesn't know whether it is good or bad. The development of the textile industry has played a major role in promoting the innovation of the entire country and the arrival of new technologies.This is a good thing, and it is also something Wang Hua is looking forward to.But if something happened in the middle, even he couldn't grasp and control it.

Finally, there is the amount of cheap food.After disputes and negotiations among the ministers, they finally agreed to distribute 220 million shi of cheap grain to the states and counties in accordance with the food shortage.In addition, 80 shi were distributed to the disaster-stricken areas for relief, and three meals a day were relief porridge.Prevent more people from starving to death.

Nearly one million people have been affected, and the number is still expanding because the rainy season does not seem to be over yet.However, some of the victims were slightly affected by the disaster, some of the victims did not need assistance because their families were rich, and some of the victims could support themselves through other means.Therefore, the number of disaster victims who really need relief is lower, depending on the number of escapees in each state.Otherwise, if you throw away the fleeing households, it may be reduced by half.

With so much food, although they can't let them eat warm, the gruel with clear soup and little water can keep them alive.

But Wang Hua couldn't laugh or cry.

What made him depressed was that he had just calculated the accounts, and with 45 Wen in, 80 Wen out, [-] million shi of grain, the profit from transportation costs and management was just enough for the capital of [-] shi.The imperial court is equivalent to subsidizing some interest.Small abacus is very self-satisfied.

But this also shows that although most of the ministers in the DPRK and China do not want to get close to him, they believe in his credibility.Because this is equivalent to withdrawing the 100 million shi of grain he brought to the court next year.This also prevents the threat of spring famine next year, otherwise the number will be even greater.

It can be seen from the current scene that this group of elites of the Tang Dynasty were eagerly thinking up and supplementing or discussing various feasible strategies, but few of them spoke to Wang Hua.But the basis of all these strategies rested on Wang Hua's ability to bring back 700 million shi of huge grain.

But when it came to who distributed the 80 shi of grain, everyone focused on Wang Hua again.

On the surface, it seems like a good job, and helping the people can bring great reputation, but it is not the case.This time the affected areas were scattered and spread over [-] states, with a length of several hundreds of kilometers and an area of ​​hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. The severity varies. Some are large areas and some are small areas. According to the current technology, there is no way to count them, and There is also not enough food, so if it is not done well, it will cause chaos.

Wang Hua lowered her head, but remained silent.

Li Xian looked at Wang Hua and said, "Wang Qing, Wang Qing."

Wang Hua sighed and had no choice but to come out. He looked at the officials again and said, "Everyone, I have said that I am thinking about my mistakes behind closed doors, and I have no ability to deal with political affairs. Why are you all looking at me?"

But he also said: "If Your Majesty insists that I go to deal with this difficult matter, I am willing to go, but Your Majesty must promise to give me an official position."

Everyone was stunned, but they had no choice.

"What official position?" Li Xian also laughed.

"Your Majesty, please give me the seventeen prefectures economic strategy transfer operation field appeasement inspector ambassador, and also give me one person, let the prince accompany the minister to go there in person, and also give the seventeen prefecture economic strategy inspector appeasement governor."

Such a long name confuses everyone.

Economic strategy envoys were established in the early Tang Dynasty to be in charge of border security and the army, needless to say, appeasement envoys were also drawn for the king. This is an official position for inspecting war or disaster-stricken areas. Consolation, one is observation.As for the nature of the ambassador and the governor, there are also slight differences. One is mainly civil, and the other is mainly military.

In fact, the Seventeen States mainly distribute disaster food and appease the victims, and have nothing to do with the military.In addition, it was rumored that Li Chongjun and Li Gu'er were at odds.Wang Hua proposed to let the prince Li Chongjun be in charge, this is to avoid suspicion.Wang Hua wanted more rights so that he could properly deal with the people in the disaster area, but because of the vast territory and the core area of ​​the Tang Dynasty, and Wang Hua's use of troops in the spring, the ministers had to be afraid.Therefore, Li Chongjun took this position to constrain and supervise Wang Hua.Therefore, Wang Hua lacked the words "yingtian" and "transshipment" in his post.But everyone didn't understand, what is this camp and transfer envoy?
Li Xian asked this question.

Wang Hua replied: "Your Majesty, the transshipment envoy is in charge of the transportation and cashier of goods, financial resources, grain, etc. in the region. The camp envoy is in charge of farming and land arrangements."

After hearing this, everyone suddenly realized that this was Wang Hua's big move, not just distributing disaster food.

But everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. If they agreed to Wang Hua's position, they would all have the right to enter into disposal arrangements for officials below the governor's level.

At this time Wei Yuanzhong suddenly said: "Your Majesty, the old minister agrees."

Following Wei Yuanzhong's second proposal, Song Jing and others followed suit.The voices of this group of people are not loud, but they are all from the mainstay of the Tang Dynasty.So Li Xian also passed.

But it's not that after taking up this official position, all affairs are handled immediately.Cutting wood does not waste sharpening knives, Wang Hua immediately called some accompanying officials to discuss all the details.

There was only one person, and Li Chongjun was stunned when he heard the appointment.

He came to Wang's house and asked Wang Hua, "Scholar Wang, why are you looking for me?"

The main thing in his heart was suspicion, fearing that Wang Hua would harm him.

Wang Hua replied solemnly: "I have said these two words, what is right is not what is right, public is public, private is private. Don't doubt the prince, you and I will work together to get this matter done, and it will be helpful to your future .”

Li Chongjun was silent after hearing this, and left suspiciously after a long time.

Wang Hua looked at his back, and a gleam of light appeared in his eyes.

But on the second day, Wang Hua asked to go to Shangyang Palace to meet Wu Zetian. This trip, I don't know how many months it will be before returning to Luoyang.

Li Xian didn't stop him either.

After meeting Wu Zetian, Wang Hua didn't say anything, and continued to tell the story until the poem about a group of girls fighting chrysanthemums. This poem is also one of the famous poems in "A Dream of Red Mansions", and Wang Hua mostly remembered it.

But by this time, "Dream of Red Mansions" had only entered No.30 eight chapters, and it was still very early to end.But it was getting late, and Wang Hua had to get up and leave.He was thinking in his heart, wondering if he would have the opportunity to finish telling the old lady this novel in the future.

When Wang Hualin left, he knelt down respectfully.

Lao Wu said: "Go."

Wang Huacai stood up and left Shangyang Palace.

Busy and busy, on the ninth day of July, Wang Hua set off, and the first stop was Bianzhou, the hardest-hit place.

(End of this chapter)