Chapter 257 Natural and man-made disasters

Chapter 257 Natural and man-made disasters

Chapter 257 Natural and man-made disasters
Yingtian Prefecture, temporary cabinet.

"Son of a bitch, a bunch of son of a bitch!" Huo Jing was in a position to govern. Now that he was the Prime Minister and could enjoy many benefits brought by the reform, he was transformed directly from a conservative leader to a reformer.

The transformation of all this was extremely smooth.

He has no choice but to change, as Lao Liang next to him is waiting to be reinstated at any time.

Damn Lao Deng, he has nothing to do all day, so he just hangs around in the temporary cabinet. Who told Xu Qing to suggest to the old emperor that Lao Liang be given the title of "cabinet advisor"?

Although I don't have the right to participate, it's still disgusting enough to be there next to me.

Huo Jing wished he could ask the cabinet to issue a decree right now, prohibiting the retired Lao Deng from participating in state affairs.

After all, there is an old man named Fang in Yingtian Prefecture who has much more experience than Zhang Tai'a.

But he just thought about it, because Old Huo knew that the day would come when he would retire.

Hey!
But Lao Huo doesn't have time to deal with these troubles now.

There were two difficult issues at the time that made him extremely anxious. One was that the "severe drought in Guanzhong" caused a civil uprising, which was called a civil uprising, but in fact it was a rebellion.

This time, it was the Taoist priests from Xuandu Temple in Guanzhong who led the rebellion.

In fact, Guanzhong has been suffering from drought for many years in a row, and the imperial court does exempt taxes and allocate funds for disaster relief every year.

But in fact, the drought in Guanzhong was far more serious than officials reported.

Now it has reached the point where the land is barren for thousands of miles.

Because of the system of the Great Yu Dynasty, unless the rebellion was too big to be concealed, it would be concealed if possible. For small-scale civil uprisings, local officials would try to pacify them if possible, and suppress them if they could not.

But this time the situation is extremely special.

There is really no food.

As for why there is no food?

That's also because Nanzhili is now investing heavily in infrastructure.

Once this thing starts moving, money and grain will be pouring in.

Moreover, they had to ensure the supply of money and grain to the Capital Grand Canal. In addition, the harvest in Jiangnan had been average in recent years, and this year there was even a drought in Jiangnan.

In addition, the emperor's southern tour consumed a considerable amount of money and grain.

If you don't become a householder, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are.

Huo Jing used to be only responsible for criticizing, but now that he has experienced it personally, he is extremely overwhelmed. He doubts how Zhang Tai'a managed to hold on. Could it be that Zhang Tai'a could conjure up money and food out of thin air?

In addition to the chaos in Guanzhong, there were also problems with the salt transportation in Lianghuai, and the stove owners rebelled!
Today, external threats have almost subsided, and it is time to vigorously develop and boost national strength.

Huo Jing originally thought that he could gain the title of Prime Minister of the Restoration.

Unexpectedly, this natural disaster and man-made disaster could not be avoided.

"Yan Weizhong, go and invite Xu Gongming!" Huo Jing used to look down on Zhang Tai'a and Liang Ge Lao, thinking that they were complete waste because they relied on Xu Qing for everything.

Unexpectedly, after he came to power, he could only rely more deeply!

To put it bluntly, the world can do without the old emperor, and would even be better off without him, but it cannot do without Xu Gongming at all times.

Huo Jing now sighed sincerely. If Xu Gongming had not been here, there would probably be rebellious self-proclaimed kings all over the world. I wonder how many of them would claim to be the only ones and how many would be lonely!
Xu Qing arrived at the temporary cabinet and listened to Yan Shan's general account of the incident on the way.

Xu Qing was also helpless about this.

It is true that the imperial court’s military force is very strong now, but the problem is that even with strong military force, it cannot solve the problem of grain production reduction caused by natural disasters.

Without financial support, the court's military force became a burden, constantly consuming the court's few remaining resources.

People eat for food.

It would be strange if the people did not rebel if they had no food to eat.

In fact, it also shows that the land of the Great Yu Dynasty is indeed overwhelmed and cannot support so many people. In addition, Xu Qing also wants to practice martial arts and Taoism, which will consume a lot of money and food.

Not to mention anything else, the money and food consumed by the emperor's shadow guards alone is comparable to that of supporting tens of thousands of troops.

Don't think this is a lot. This is because there are fewer shadow guards, so the money spent is more effective.

Because the shadow guards are powerful and flesh-and-blood people, they naturally have to take care of their families and be given certain social status compensations. Otherwise, who would work for them?

This investment is continuous and cannot be saved.

Not to mention, there is also the consumption of resources by the Shadow Guard itself.

The previous dynasty implemented the military household system, and the current dynasty implemented the hereditary system of military households. In fact, in the final analysis, they were all intended to save money and food.

But there is no solution to this problem.

People’s desires are insatiable, and they always want more.

Without these desires, history would not move forward.

In fact, there is another way to solve these problems, which is to kill everyone in the world to reduce the population by half, and many problems will naturally be solved.

After all, it is not unreasonable for Xu Qing to go against the trend of heaven.

Without Xu Qing, the Dayu Dynasty would have entered the normal late stage of the dynasty, relying on various natural or man-made factors such as plague and war to complete the metabolism of the historical cycle.

There can only be order when there is chaos!

But Xu Qing refused to believe in evil and insisted on taking a third path, which was outward expansion.

Since the land of the Dayu Dynasty cannot support the current population, just move away.

If it really doesn't work, then wait until we deal with the Black Mountain Demon, and then plow the world again.

It is not Xu Qing's character to shrink back from difficulties.

Because life is a game. If it is too easy, it will soon lose its fun.

It is better to be a little difficult and fun, so that you are not easily trapped in nothingness.

The demons are also emotional creatures, and this aspect is even more obvious than that of ordinary people.

It’s just that Xu Qing is used to controlling his emotions.

Xu Qing knew very well that if he did not restrain himself, it would do harm to others and himself rather than good.

It's a very simple thing. Although he can be aware that it exists in the "human heart", the demon body is not indestructible. Lao Fang can deal with his demon body, let alone the creator like the Black Mountain Demon.

Now Xu Qing's Heavenly Demonic Art has reached the Martial Saint level, which is the highest level.

Even if Lord Fang did not take action, the power in the old emperor's hands alone was enough to destroy Xu Qing's demonic body.

Then there may not be a second chance for the Heavenly Demon to attack the Seven Evils and help Xu Qing to refine the Heavenly Demon Spirit again.

What's more, if the old emperor gave the order, Xu Qing had no doubt that Lord Fang would take action against him.

Of course, only a mad old emperor would want to get rid of the donkey at this time.

The world is still far from being peaceful.

Xu Qing came to the temporary cabinet leisurely.

When Old Huo saw Xu Qing's arrival, he immediately became calm as water, with the bearing of a prime minister!

Then he calmly discussed the current difficulties with Xu Qing.

Whether it was the peasant uprising caused by the severe drought in Guanzhong or the rebellion of the kitchen owners, the most fundamental problem was money and grain.

After all, even if you want to kill everyone, you need funds to mobilize the army.

For a martial saint or even a martial arts master, if they kill like flying a kite, the killing power will indeed be comparable to that of a large army. However, since ancient times, there has been a saying that if too many ordinary people are killed, bad things will happen.

This is also a kind of restraint and balance of the way of heaven.

Of course, you can choose not to believe it. But apart from the unscrupulous seekers of truth like the Black Mountain Old Demon, there are very few martial saints who can really kill without any psychological burden.

On the other hand, the fact that such people really do exist but they have not survived to this day is enough to explain some problems.

After all, nature is a place where the fittest survive.

In the world today, there is only one Black Mountain Old Demon, and there is no more. Everything is a balance after natural selection.

On the way, Xu Qing had already thought of many countermeasures in his mind, and said: "The matter of Guanzhong is not a top priority. We should first send troops to block the exit of Guanzhong and order neighboring provinces to take strict precautions. In this way, the losses can be minimized. For now, we should solve the problem of the rebellion of the stove households."

If the salt-burners rebelled, it would naturally endanger the salt transportation in Lianghuai.

Although Xu Qing helped with the reform, the annual salt tax was still the largest source of revenue for the imperial treasury. Without this basic source of income, the benefits of the reform could not fill the gaps in the imperial court.

Why did the kitchen owner rebel?

This issue is very complicated and we have to start with the decline of Kaizhongfa.

Because of the corruption of the Kaizhong Law in this dynasty, the salt permits now tend to turn into futures. As a result, naturally some salt merchants hoarded salt and manipulated the market, making the salt transportation in Lianghuai extremely difficult, and the salt tax collected by the court also decreased year by year.

But salt tax is the bulk of the court’s income, how can it be given up?

Therefore, many burdens fell on the kitchen owner.

Originally, salt-burning was a good livelihood for the salt-burners, as they often had extra salt left over to supplement their household expenses.

Some kitchen households even lived better than lower-level officials.

But as the salt law deteriorated, those good days were gone forever.

The most direct impact is that the stove owners have to bear the part of the salt tax that they should not bear.

Why is this?
Because it is easier to collect taxes from stove owners.

In fact, this has always been the case in our country. When there is a shortage of money, we do not collect taxes from rich people, but rather from groups that are good at collecting taxes.

In this world, you are not right and will not be sympathized with just because you are weak.

In this land, the master will only reason with the people who pick up knives, and will never reason with cattle and horses.

Cattle and horses are reasonable, and can only be controlled by a steel whip.

But the people have already picked up knives, why should we still talk about reason?

Why not take a chance and become the master directly?

If you lose, you're just dead. You only have one life, if you lose, you lose, if you win, you make a lot of money.

Xu Qing sorted out his thoughts and continued in an orderly manner: "The problem in Lianghuai will also endanger the canal transportation. Once the canal transportation is in trouble, it will affect the livelihoods of millions of people. I was ordered by Your Majesty to control the flood before, and I know the interests of the canal. So if this move is not handled properly, it will immediately become a huge disaster."

Xu Qing is not exaggerating.

The people cannot survive, and no matter how good his reputation is, it cannot stop the people from rebelling.

Only when the granaries are full can there be morality and etiquette. If the stomach is empty, there is only the instinct of beasts.

There are still many evil spirits lurking in the world today. Once the country's fortune falls below a lower limit, evil spirits are bound to emerge everywhere and chaos will fall into the world in an instant.

This is not a good thing for Xu Qing, because as the country's fortunes decline, the old emperor will not be able to help him fight against the Black Mountain Demon and will have to act as a shield!
Even if there is a change of dynasty in the future, the problem of the Black Mountain Demon must be completely resolved first.

Xu Qing still has a sense of the overall situation, unlike the insects in the court.

"What do you think should be done?"

"First, issue a document to reduce the salt tax on the stove owners. When the incident first happened, not all stove owners wanted to rebel. Many people were coerced and had to participate. We must first divide and win over this group of people." Xu Qing's method was not new. Dividing the masses and mobilizing the masses to fight against each other were treasures left by our ancestors, and they worked every time.

Alas, he also felt that his appearance was becoming more and more hateful, but he was not a true saint after all.

In this world, only those with a thick face and a black heart can have a future.

Huo Jing understood everything immediately and couldn't help but praise: "Gong Ming is indeed a capable minister who can govern the country. He solved a big problem with just one word."

Xu Qing said without comment: "Only by solving the problem of salt law can we solve the current troubles from the root. It's too early for Lord Huo to be happy."

Huo Jing was naturally eager to resolve the problem. Otherwise, if the matter got out of hand, he, as the Prime Minister, would be the first to bear the brunt of the blame. Not to mention retiring in a dignified manner, he would even have to forget about his reputation after his death.

"What do you think we should do?"

Xu Qing: "Stabilizing the salt farmers is only a temporary solution. In the final analysis, it is the salt merchants, gentry, and nobles who have corrupted the salt law. The person who caused the trouble must be the one to untie it. If the problems of these people are not solved, where will the salt tax be collected? We will have to increase the taxes on the salt farmers, forcing them to rebel."

Huo Jing certainly understood, but he didn't dare.

Xu Qing smiled and said, "I won't let Elder Huo do anything that involves bloodshed. Don't worry, I know my limits."

He then said to Yan Shan, "Wei Zhong, I will dictate it once, you write it down one by one, and then give it to the elder to draft."

Huo Jing's face flushed red.

Forget it, just be a mascot. After all, he is the Prime Minister.

Xu Qing’s meaning was very clear: if you can do it, then do it; if you can’t, then listen to me and stop complaining.

Of course Huo Jing couldn't do that.

How can old Lao Deng do this?
Huo Jingfu is getting old!

If he was young.

Well, at that time, I was still working as a retainer for the wealthy and powerful merchants!

Xu Qing's countermeasure is very simple. First, reduce the salt tax on the salt households, and then take action against the wealthy merchants who hoard salt permits. In fact, the wealthy merchants who can hoard salt permits are just gloves, and the powerful people behind them are the real werewolves.

Xu Qing's plan was to follow the clues and take out this small group of people.

Although they are just a small group of people, in fact, these guys basically take most of the benefits, and if they continue, they will take even more.

Because human greed is unrestrained and will only lead to one's own explosion.

Xu Qing's countermeasure was to stabilize the kitchen households first, then start with the fattest pigs and give concessions to other parties with interests in salt transportation.

It can be said that this is the most appropriate solution at the moment.

But the soil for corruption is still there, and such things will happen again sooner or later.

Xu Qing knew clearly that the root of the problem lies in people's hearts.

Even if he could kill all the gentry in the world now, new gentry would appear. These new gentry would be his relatives and friends. Should he kill them or not?

Governing the world is an extremely difficult task, and governing the world and people's hearts is almost impossible.

Problems can only be solved during development, but new problems will arise during development.

Xu Qing did not feel tired, but full of motivation.

He now feels more and more that life is full of fun.

If it were in the previous life, I would never have had the ability and opportunity to change the world.

For him, mountains of gold and silver are not as fun as changing the world.

Men always care about the world, even the stars and the sea.

If you lie down and do nothing, it's because you have no choice and there is no chance.

After listening to Xu Qing's complete countermeasures, Huo Jing had to admit that young people are indeed aggressive. This is Xu Qing's usual style.

See the mind and understand the nature, be straightforward.

To put it bluntly, if these powerful people had not forced the kitchen owners to rebel, there would be no current problems.

Xu Qing would never clean up the mess for these bugs.

Just do it!

(End of this chapter)