Chapter 113 - Drought

What these aristocratic families have never lacked is money, and even a three-year drought cannot shake their foundation. At this time, they will come to Fu Tian to inquire about new rice varieties, just to show loyalty to the emperor.

Fu Tian would naturally not let this group of fat sheep easily.

The price of the new rice seeds has been doubled tenfold. The stewards sent by the family to buy the new rice seeds were dumbfounded after hearing this, and hurriedly went back to tell the master. Although all the looks were not pretty, the stewards were finally sent in. Buy rice seeds.

The emperor personally handed down the imperial commendation, and even the imperial village took the lead in changing the new rice seeds. They didn't change it, it was unclear whether they would not deal with the emperor?

Even if it is a bit more expensive, it has to be changed.

Beginning in mid-February, there was a crop of people holding large amounts of silver tickets to buy rice seeds in the Fujia Rice Shop in West Market. Xiao Qiao's hands were soft when counting money, so he simply opened the warehouse and asked Chang Xi took people in to move the rice seeds. She sat at the door of the warehouse at a table and an abacus, crackling her fingers and collecting money.

This lively scene attracted a lot of people onlookers. The West Market was originally a gathering of ordinary people, and occasionally there would be housekeepers in the mansion who came to buy, but it was rare to see so many together.

Curious people, you ask me and I ask you, are all asking what they are buying, it is so lively, and these servants who usually have nostrils are holding silver for fear that they will not be able to buy it.

At the beginning, no one knew the specific situation, but then I didn't know where the news came out. It was said that new rice varieties were cultivated on the original Kanglehou village, which is resistant to drought and drought, and easy to serve. The harvest is more than ordinary rice. It is said that the Weiguo Gongfu and the Zhuangzi of Zhennanhoufu have changed new rice seeds last season. When the others reduced their production, their Zhuangzi had more harvests.

Some people still don't know where they learned about the imperial edict. After adding it, they said that they have noses and eyes. After all, the emperor has praised the imperial edict, so there must be nothing wrong.

So when the stewards of the aristocratic family dispersed, the people of Qingyang City crowded around the rice shop with curiosity. Some people tried to ask if they could buy some new rice seeds. They were about to be scared away by the vicious second shopkeeper. At that time, the shopkeeper said with a smile: "You don't need money to buy it. If you want new rice seeds, you can just exchange the rice seeds at home. You can change as much as you want!"

The common people were in an uproar, and the family members were also in an uproar.

A few days ago, these people watched the stewards carrying real money in, but now they say they don't need a penny, just exchange the rice seed at home. They are excited and hesitant, but for a while, they don't have the previous excitement. Now, it was Xiao Qiao who came forward to dispel their doubts.

"It is not easy for Kanglehou and Wang Yu to be sympathetic to the people, and they don't want to make everyone's hard-earned money. You planted new rice seeds carefully and survived the disaster year. This is your return to Lord Hou and Lord."

"...And many of the newly harvested rice seeds can be exchanged for white rice in the shop in the future. The replaced rice seeds will be sent to other counties and distributed to the local people for sowing. Now all parts of Da Chu are affected by drought. Rice seeds, maybe they can keep many people alive in the disaster year..."

Xiao Qiao was articulate, and many people were moved by the expression she said, and all the doubts in their hearts were dispelled. While saying thank you, he hurriedly asked his family to go back and bring the rice seeds over for new ones.

As a result, with Qingyang City as the center, many merchants and people from the surrounding counties flocked to this new rice seed that was praised by the emperor himself.

When everyone was beaming, the only people who were unhappy were the families who paid a lot of money. In order to buy the new rice seeds, they spent a lot of money, and even later, Xiao Qiao told them the rest When there were not many rice varieties, auctions began, and the higher price would win.

Everyone was bleeding heavily, and in a blink of an eye they gave away the rice seeds for nothing.

But they can't say anything. If they dare to find it for the benefit of the people, they don't have to wait for King Yu to do it. The two in the palace can solve them directly.

By this time, they had only recollected it, and this 80% was a set that had been negotiated a long time ago, waiting for them to bite.

The painful people sighed a few words, and the more they dared not look down on Kang Lehou.

***

Qingyang is the capital of the Great Chu. With Qingyang taking the lead, the promotion of new rice seeds is fairly smooth, but time is short. In addition, many counties and counties are located in remote areas and the rice seeds are inconvenient to transport. Fu Tian took advantage of the situation. Started opening rice shops in various counties.

When the emperor learned of his thoughts, he made a deliberate decree to allow various counties to open the door to Fu Jia Mi.

With the assistance of the local government, the rice shops have been opened smoothly, and the promotion of new rice varieties in various places has been carried out in an orderly manner.

In such a blink of an eye, July arrived, and the weather became hotter, and the early rice planted in March and April should be harvested.

And this is also the good news that finally came out after more than half a year of misery. For those who have changed to new rice varieties, the harvest of this season is not bad. Under the current bad conditions, the harvest is not much less than in previous years.

The people of Qingyang City breathed a sigh of relief. The successful representatives still have a way to survive. After harvesting all the early rice, they will keep their rice seeds for the next season and send the rest to Fu Jiami. Shop for the milled white rice.

To trade rice seeds for white rice, as long as anyone who is not stupid knows which is cost-effective, the old farmer who first went to change rice was worried that this was just empty talk, but when he dragged an ox cart to the rice shop, he really did it. White rice!

The milled rice exudes the unique fragrance of rice, and trembling hands held up a handful of rice, watching the white rice grains leak from between the fingers, and the old farmer, who had been scared for half a year, was in tears, and he kept moving towards Xiao Qiao. "Thank you for the great kindness of the shopkeeper and the great kindness of Lord Hou!"

After Xiao Qiao helped the people up and sent the old farmers away, more people came to exchange rice after hearing the news.

From Qingyang City to Nanming County, from south to north, many people who have switched to new rice varieties have benefited a lot, but these are counties that are closer, and in more remote counties, the shadow of drought It never fell apart.

After May, local Zhezi were delivered one after another. First they reported that they were affected by the drought, and many crops died of drought. In July and August, the disaster situation was getting worse in the Zhezi delivered, and even people started to go to other counties. Escape.

Most of these counties are remote and the land is barren. They have been affected since last fall. This year, the weather was even worse. After the first quarter of the grains were not harvested, many people heard that other counties did not have such serious disasters, so they cleaned up. Soft, holding the only hope to drag the family and flee to other counties.

The local government tried to stop it, but almost clashed with the people who fled. In the end, they could only watch as a large number of people were emotionally driven, and more and more people packed up and fled elsewhere.

Chu Fengyuan looked at the zhezi in his hand. Although he was angry at the incompetence of the local officials, it was of no avail. He could only sighed deeply and continued to criticize the zhezi.

"How many counties are there like Shanyuan County?" Chu Xiangtian asked. He and Fu Tian were both in the imperial study room. Recently, Chu Fengyuan often called them into the palace to discuss disaster relief matters.

Chu Fengyuan pointed to the piles on the right hand side that were almost one foot high, "These are all."

Chu Xiangtian opened a copy at will. The disaster situation in it was shocking. With their efforts, Qingyang City and surrounding counties had begun to gradually improve. At least for now, there is no disorder, but these remote and not rich counties The county has already begun to flee, and the situation is far more serious than they thought.

There was almost no harvest for two consecutive seasons, and the people ran out of food, and finally began to find another way.

"We must find a way to comfort these people."

Chu Xiangtian was also faintly worried. If these victims were allowed to flee around, not only would it not be able to effectively rescue the disaster, but it might even stimulate the emotions of the people in other counties that were originally stable. Once this panic and fleeing emotion is driven, it will inevitably lead to great trouble.

Chu Fengyuan also thought it so, and wrote down the decree that he had discussed in advance in Zhezi.

The government opened warehouses to release food for disaster relief, and at the same time recruited manpower to build water conservancy projects, the government took care of food and wages... Successive decrees were promulgated, and as long as the localities could do so, they could at least temporarily guarantee people's livelihood.

After Chu Fengyuan approved Zhezi, he turned to look at Fu Tian, ​​who had not spoken, "Does Youling's rice shop continue to open?"

Fu Tian understood what he meant. Since he had already taken the initiative to blend in and quit halfway without any reason, he nodded: "Go, it's just that there is a shortage of manpower now, and there are a lot of vacancies for rice shops."

Chu Fengyuan nodded, "I've solved the problem of stewardship for you. There are enough idlers in the local government offices. I will allocate some of them to help you first."

Fu Tian was surprised for a moment and nodded in response.

The imperial court is now in desperation. Chu Fengyuan takes no more than three hours a day to rest. Except for the upper court, he spends the rest of his time dealing with political affairs in the imperial study room. Now Fu Tian is willing to stand up for disaster relief, no matter what he does. I want to help.

Chu Fengyuan's decree was conveyed one by one. Although the local response was slower, it did somehow, and slowly brought back the lost victims. After all, no one was willing to leave their homes when they could see a way to survive.

From July to September, in two months, the drought situation finally improved a bit. Remote places began to open warehouses for disaster relief, and the people were looking forward to the construction of water conservancy projects instead of work.

In counties and counties that changed new rice varieties first, the late rice is about to be harvested. The rice has become yellow with thick rhizomes and full grains. When it grows up, there is no need to worry about life next year.

Except for this increasingly hot weather, everything seems to be full of hope.

However, when everyone was rejoicing, Changliu County suddenly broke out an unprecedented locust plague.