Although the rise in grain prices in the year of disaster is normal, the unscrupulous merchants always raise the prices of grain and take the opportunity to make huge profits. Of course, the same is true for the severe drought in Chongzhen in the 13th year. In the past few months, grain prices have also become higher and higher. Originally, one stone costs two taels of silver, but now one stone costs six or seven taels, or even more.

In fact, until the early days of the Jiajing period, a stone of rice was only worth half a tael of silver. If it was a good harvest, it would be cheaper, even in the early years of Chongzhen, a stone of rice and grain was usually only one tael of silver.

However, in recent years, there have been droughts and locusts everywhere, and the famine has been rampant. In addition, the land bandits have been rampant, and Shandong has been robbed by Jiannu one after another, so the food prices are naturally becoming more and more outrageous. Moreover, in the 13th year of Chongzhen, not only was there a drought in the north, but also Jiangnan, which is known as the hometown of fish and rice, was also in a year of severe drought.

The reduction in grain production across the country directly caused insufficient food supply, and of course further pushed up grain prices.

"...Huang Guisun, who lived outside Jinanmen, worked in a brick factory, handed over the previous day's wages and 80 cents to his wife Huang Li, and told her to go to a nearby "Daiyishun" grain store to buy a liter of grain. When Huang Li arrived at the grain store, the friend told the price of grain had risen to 85 cents per liter. Huang Li, who had been hungry for a few days, jumped into the river in despair. Huang Guisun went home at night and was heartbroken and threw himself in the water with two hungry children."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Guoqiang was stunned for a long time. He did not expect such a tragic disaster to happen. In fact, this kind of thing is really common in historical books.

However, when faced with all this, I still couldn't adapt.

"In Texas, a family of six went on a hunger strike for two days, went out to beg for a whole day, but had nothing to find. The family cooked a little porridge with the remaining grain and arsenic. The next day, at noon, the neighbor found something abnormal and pried in the door. The six of them were lying neatly on the bed, and they had already died."

...

Although Yan Ermei reported only a few tragic events mentioned in the letter from Song Xue Zhu, the horrifying tragic events caused a storm in Zhu Guoqiang's heart.

"How come this happens? Didn't it be that the porridge shed is opened?"

"Criminal, the porridge shed is located in the resettlement office. These people who committed suicide are all the civilians in the city... Now the food prices are getting higher and higher, and the income of ordinary people is really unsustainable!"

Seeing that the prince did not speak, Yan Ermei said.

"Governor Song said in his letter that the current price of grain is as high as 8 taels per stone, which is as high as 67 taels of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River. If this continues, people will starve to death every day!"

"Has the government sold affordable grain?"

Zhu Guoqiang asked.

"Governor Song has ordered all prefectures to release 100 shi of grain every day to stabilize the price of grain. If it weren't for the affordable grain from these governments, I don't know how much the grain prices in Shandong would have risen."

After saying that, Yan Ermei sighed again.

"The prince, the most important thing now is to prevent grain merchants in the province from raising prices. Secondly, they must have food. At the beginning of the year, the prince still had more than 2.6 million shi of grain in Jinan, but now there are less than 1.3 million shi left. These grains need to help refugees, distribute industrial grains, and stabilize grain prices. Sooner or later, if they are used up, if they are used up..."

Before Yan Ermei could finish his words, Zhu Guoqiang said in a deep voice.

"Immediately send a message to all the big grain merchants in Shandong in my name. From now on, Shandong's grain prices, compared with the grain prices two months ago, if the increase exceeds 10%, I will directly send troops to copy his grain store. I will see if they want money or death."

Anyway, for the outside world, he was arrogant for a long time, and Zhu Guoqiang was not worried about the court's punishment. After all, he is almost equivalent to a semi-independent warlord now.

“As for food…”

At this time, Zhu Guoqiang once again thought of Southeast Asia and local rice and grain. In fact, the Ming Dynasty had always had a tradition of exporting rice from abroad. As early as the Wanli period, due to the rapid population increase in the southeast coast and the development of commodity economy, marine merchants imported rice from overseas to alleviate the food crisis. In other words, the so-called "there is insufficient east rice, the water is insufficient, and the water is insufficient, and the water is not sufficient."

"You know, Fujian and other places have a large number of people. What does the people feed on?"

"Criminal?"

""There is insufficient east rice, so the squid is enough to help it. If the squid is insufficient, the squid is insufficient, so the squid is too much.", the squid is not enough to help it."

After a pause, Zhu Guoqiang said.

"We have been consuming foreign rice in the southeastern areas of Fujian and other places for decades. I heard that the rice grains in Siam and other places are sufficient and the value is also low. You can buy rice for a stone for a few coins of silver. Although the journey is long, there is still a profit to transport it. Well, I will notify the navy again and ask them to draw a few ships to Siam, and try to transport hundreds of thousands of stones of grain to stabilize the price of grain..."

After thinking about it, Zhu Guoqiang said again.

"Also, the reclaiming of the estuary area must also be included in the plan. Although mosquitoes are growing in the Mekong Delta, the land is extremely fertile, so it is better to use it to reclaim rice. Buying grain is not a long-term solution. To solve the problem, it still depends on growing grain. The food is still in your own hands to keep the safety of the food!"

In another world, the Mekong Delta with fertile soil is extremely suitable for agricultural production. The local terrain is low, densely populated by water and dense farmland. It has always been the region with the highest yields of rice in Asia. Now, there are only a small number of Khmer people living in this area, which is completely a borderless land.

This good place that can support tens of millions of people, I am really sorry to God if I don’t have it! As for tropical diseases, there is no problem. You can introduce some cinchona trees to Taiwan to plant. In any case, in the Japanese occupation, Taiwan was the main production area of ​​cinchona trees. It is the quinine produced in Taiwan, which supports the Japanese army's southward movement.

Before the cinchona tree grows, you can buy a few tons of quinine tablets. With the medicine... naturally, you don’t need to worry about malaria anymore.

After thinking about this for a while, Zhu Guoqiang said again.

"Yongqing, I plan to establish a settlement department in the General's Mansion, and you will be responsible for overseas immigration and overseas colonization. I wonder what you think?"

"Dare you dare not obey? It's just..."

Yan Ermei bowed and said worriedly.

"The prince, whether it is buying foreign rice or expanding the Western Ocean (1), it is still far-reaching water cannot quench near thirst. The most urgent task at the moment is food. I estimate that according to the current demand in Shandong, at least more than two million stones of food is needed!"

"One million stones!"

Zhu Guoqiang sighed.

"If it is based on the current price of grain, it will cost tens of millions of taels of silver..."

Yan Ermei's sigh made Zhu Guoqiang say.

"You said, I donated so much food, how many others donated?"

"Criminal Master, Qian Qianyi raised 360,000 taels of silver in Nanjing earlier, and Governor Song also raised more than 20,000 stones of grain in Shandong..."

"More than 20,000 stones, these people are so generous!"

The prince Yan Ermei had a strange look in his eyes and said with a smile.

"I'm not stupid, I'm going to do things that can cause trouble. This time I just want to start a fundraising event to get the rich to contribute."

In the late Ming Dynasty, the court was poor and the people were poor, but the landlords, rich businessmen and officials were not poor, but they were all rich. It can be said that most of the wealth of the entire Ming Dynasty was in the pockets of this small group of people.

Zhu Guoqiang wanted to take a handful of these people's pockets. Of course, he could not rob them, he could only raise funds and ask them to give money. However, as for how to "beg", he had the final say.

"Fundraising, what if they don't want to donate?"

Zhu Guoqiang said:

"It doesn't matter whether they are willing to donate or not, the most important thing is to let them donate their food!"

Yan Ermei asked, "The prince plans to force a donation?"

"Forcing donation? Am I that person..."

Zhu Guo laughed and then explained in detail to Yan Ermei.

"I will let them take out all the food willingly at that time."

After hearing this, Yan Ermei asked in surprise:

"They willingly took out the food. This matter is probably not that easy. Do those people have any families who know the current affairs?"

Zhu Guo is powerful and domineering:

"If they don't know the current affairs, I will tell him to know the current affairs!"

To be honest, we are afraid of everything, but we are not afraid of them not knowing the current affairs. For Zhu Guoqiang, he is not afraid of those people not knowing the current affairs. The more arrogant they are, the easier it is to deal with them.

(1) The word "Western" in the Ming Dynasty contains the meaning of overseas countries.
Chapter completed!