Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 277 Life is full of disappointments
April 21st, palace examination.
At 7:00 pm, the big clock in the square outside the Huangji Hall struck seven times, and the newly-appointed scholars walked into the hall under the guidance of officials from the Ministry of Rites. After going through the roll call, taking seats, and distributing the papers, it was already around eight in the morning.
Logically, at this time, either the emperor himself or the regent, the Crown Prince, should have come out. However, at this time, the upper seat in the hall was empty, without a single person.
The officials from the Ministry of Rites were also surprised and had to ask the eunuch Cao Huachun from the Imperial Household Department inquiringly.
Cao Huachun was also puzzled: Having followed the Crown Prince for so many years, it can be said that His Highness is extremely self-disciplined. How could His Highness be late for such an important occasion?
The officials and eunuchs were so confused, and the new scholars were certainly even more bewildered.
It is said that ever since Zhang Yuan, a failed Jinshi in the Northern Song Dynasty, went to Western Xia and helped Li Yuanhao defeat the Song army, and wrote the poem "Xia Song has never been so tall, Han Qi is not surprising enough", the Jinshi who passed the imperial examinations in successive dynasties in the Central Plains were ranked, and there was no longer any demotion. So at this time, the new Jinshi were generally relaxed: after passing the imperial examinations, they had already obtained the qualification of Jinshi, and they were sure to become officials.
Although the mood was generally relaxed, everyone was still somewhat looking forward to it: as a scholar, who wouldn't want to have an article heard by the emperor, be a farmer in the morning, and be in the emperor's palace in the evening, and rise to prominence from then on? Besides, the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty had already formed a new convention: only Shujishi could enter the cabinet. And to become a Shujishi, at least you had to get the second place in the palace examination to be relatively stable!
Therefore, this palace examination is still very important. If one can become one of the top three or even the top scholar, and ride a horse in a parade through the streets, which scholar would not want the honor?
But, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who was supposed to preside over the ceremony on behalf of the Emperor, was late?
About twenty minutes later, there were hurried footsteps coming from behind the Huangji Palace. As everyone was looking forward to it, a young eunuch shouted, "The emperor's grandson is here~~"
The second grandson of the emperor? That must be Zhu Youxiao, the second son of Prince Huiren, right? How could it be him?!
Zhu Youxiao, who was not even eleven years old at the time, had obviously run a long distance. When he entered the hall, his cheeks were red and his breathing was rapid. When many new scholars followed the officials of the Ministry of Rites to pay their respects to him, a quick-witted eunuch served him warm tea.
After drinking it all, Principal Zhu You breathed a sigh of relief: "Everyone, at 12:00 a.m. today, Shandong Provincial Administration reported to Beijing that a large number of locusts appeared in more than 90% of the counties in Shandong. At 12:00 a.m., Henan Provincial Administration reported that a large number of locusts were found in the territory. In addition, it is said that Shuntian Prefecture has also received reports about locusts from some counties in the southern part of Northern Zhili. According to the snowfall last winter, similar reports from Shaanxi and Shanxi are estimated to be on the way... In short, there is a high possibility of a large-scale locust plague in North China this year!"
"ah?"
"When my brother, the regent, heard about this, he immediately convened a temporary meeting of the ministers of state, and even the emperor attended. Therefore, I will preside over today's palace examination. Because I was not in the palace last night, but in Fangshan School. Although I rushed back after receiving my brother's notice, I was still late. I have neglected all the people on the Xingbang. I apologize in advance."
"I dare not. Your Highness has worked hard."
"Well, everyone, although I am young, I also know that the time for this palace examination is extremely limited. So let's start now, everyone, please take your seats."
After everyone was seated, Zhu Youxiao said in a loud voice: "According to the order of my brother, the topic of today's palace examination has been temporarily changed. Please use the locust plague as the topic and discuss the cause of the locust plague, how to prevent it before it occurs, how to kill it after it occurs, and how to deal with the famine after the locust plague. Did you all hear it clearly?"
"Your Highness has made it clear, and we have no doubts."
"Okay, then please start writing your essays. Please rest assured, I am not allowed to grade papers at my age. After you hand in your papers tonight, the examiner will finish the preliminary review. Those with excellent results will be graded by my brother, the regent."
"How dare I? Thank you, Your Highness."
The order in the main hall of Huangji Hall was stabilized, and most of the more than 300 new scholars began to think seriously with a trace of worry. In the back hall of Huangji Hall, all the senior officials who had participated in the State Council meetings since Wanli and Zhu Youdong gathered together, and they all felt a splitting headache.
The North China Plain and the Guanzhong Plain are rare places in the world where locust plagues are most common. In the Ming and Qing dynasties of the original historical plane, these places experienced a locust plague every 2.8 years on average. However, thanks to the vast territory of the Chinese Empire, although locust plagues are frequent, it is still very rare for a locust plague to affect the entire northern part of the empire.
Therefore, at the State Council meeting at the beginning of this year, although everyone had a premonition of the locust plague due to the warm winter, they did not expect that this locust plague would be a major disaster that swept across North China!
Sitting dejectedly in his seat, Zhu Youdong not only had a splitting headache but also felt like crying: It was not easy at all, he had worked hard for so many years, the country had just seen a little improvement, work in all aspects had just started, but God gave him such a hard slap in the face.
However, after being depressed, we still have to cheer up and work hard: the Little Ice Age is getting more and more severe, and this natural disaster is definitely not the last, nor the most severe one.
"Grand Marshal, where are Yang Hao and Cao Wenzhao's troops now?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, Your Highness. Since our army won a great victory in Zunhua two months ago and beheaded more than 20,000 of Hu Dun Tu Han's men, Hu Dun Tu Han has fled north. Commander Cao led his army to the north to pursue them for more than 700 miles. According to the news I received last night, Commander Cao arrived at Jiesheng Hill, where King Kaiping had been in the past, twelve days ago and offered sacrifices to King Kaiping there."
"Alas... all efforts were in vain!" After a long sigh, Zhu Youdong turned to Wanli and said, "Grandpa Emperor, your grandson's idea is to temporarily recall this army. After all, the daily losses of such an army are extremely alarming, and now the country needs to concentrate all its strength to prepare for disaster relief."
"But, Dong'er, I haven't asked about state affairs for many years. If today's matter was not too serious, I would not bother to come from the Palace of Heavenly Purity. You can just go ahead and make the arrangements next."
"Yes, thank you, Grandfather Emperor." There was no unnecessary courtesy. After all, there were too many things to do now.
"Da Sima?"
"...What a pity! We were just a little bit away, but after this battle, Mongolia will not dare to invade the border of our Ming Dynasty again within 30 years. I understand, Your Majesty, please rest assured, the Ministry of War will immediately issue an order after the meeting, asking General Yang and Commander Cao to prepare for the withdrawal of troops."
"Okay, Da Si Tu."
"Your Majesty, Your Highness, I have been working to transport grain from the south since January this year. Currently, there are 102,530,000 dan of grain in the Taicang warehouse."
"The population census of our Ming Dynasty has been completed. How many people are there in the northern provinces now?"
"Well, if you don't count Liaodong, the five provinces of Northern Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi (including Gansu) together have a population of 36.58 million."
"More than 30 million people, let's be lenient. Even if 20 million people are affected and there is no harvest, the grain stored in the Taicang warehouse plus the grain stored by the people in the five northern provinces is not enough."
"Indeed, I worked out a plan overnight after the meeting and asked the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue to urgently transport the stored grain to Beijing."
"It's still not enough. I've been in Nanjing for many years and I know that famine rarely occurs in Jiangnan, so the grain reserves of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue rarely exceed three million dan. It's April now, and there are only hoppers in the fields, plus the people have some grain reserves at home, so it's not too serious. If it really comes to May or June, the adult insects will flap their wings and fly away, causing disasters thousands of miles away. The people's grain reserves will also be almost eaten up, and that will be really serious!"
"Your Highness, the only option left is to ask the southern provinces to increase taxes."
"No! I am currently rebuilding the Yellow Book. Imposing additional taxes at this time will inevitably hinder the reconstruction of the Yellow Book."
After saying this, Zhu Youdong was inexplicably annoyed again: Damn it! It's really like everything is happening at the same time!
"Your Highness, we have to increase the tax. If we only provide porridge to the people in years of famine, one stone of grain can keep a person alive for six or seven months. But my Ministry of Revenue only has more than 10 million stones of grain in stock now, and this amount of grain has to be supplied to the nine important towns... No matter how you calculate it, it is not enough. After winter, I am afraid that the people who have no harvest this year will die in large numbers..."
Zhu Youdong knew that Xu Honggang was telling the truth. Based on the calculation that a common person only has 10 kilograms of rice per month as food ration (this is really a life-saving measure in the absence of fats and supplementary food), the 20 million affected people will have to hold out from June or July this year until the winter wheat harvest in April or May next year.
By this calculation, at least 35 million shi of grain must be prepared in ten months to ensure that the victims will not starve to death!
Such a huge demand for food was impossible to achieve in the history of the Chinese Empire.
So in the medieval Chinese Empire, which major disaster did not kill millions of people with starvation?
As for the rest? Well, every disaster is a great opportunity for the gentry to expand their hidden households.
But I just completed the census after all the hard work! Could it be that a locust plague would wipe out all my efforts over the years?
No! As a time traveler, if I can't even solve this little difficulty, how can I do other things?
