"Chief's words are quite to the point."
"Your Majesty, I have a different opinion. Shaanxi is like this because the imperial court has failed to provide disaster relief!" Qian Xiangkun muttered.”
Cheng Jiming frowned and said,""Hong Zai, watch your words!"
If he said that, it meant that Chongzhen was incompetent and couldn't even do a good job in disaster relief!
Wasn't this a slap to Chongzhen's face?
Cheng Jiming could be said to understand Chongzhen. Chongzhen was not a monarch who could tolerate others saying that he was incompetent.
However, what surprised Cheng Jiming was that Chong Zhen did not think much of it. Instead, he looked at Qian Xiangkun eagerly and said,"It's fine. I'm responsible for the military disaster in Shaanxi!”
"Minister Qian, please continue."
"Yes." Qian Xiangkun paused and continued,""Actually, it's not entirely true that the imperial court's disaster relief efforts are not good. The imperial court gives out all the money for disaster relief every year, but it's still the same.”
"This official has investigated the reason. The main reason is that Great Ming doesn't have food now. Even in the Jiangnan generation, food isn't abundant!”
"Therefore, even if the imperial court allocated silver, there was no place to buy food for disaster relief. This led to the sudden increase in the number of victims and refugees in Shaanxi. In order to survive, they were bewitched by the rebel leader.”
"Hong Zai, are you serious?”Cheng Ji Ming was very surprised." Jiangnan is a land of fish and rice. It is known as the world's granary. Why is there no food?"”
" Chief, it's true. The Jiangnan area has an extremely low grain output every year. The reason is that merchants hurt farmers!" Qian Xiangkun said bitterly.”
"In the Jiangnan area, in order to obtain benefits, many merchants encouraged the farmers in the Jiangnan area to plant crops with profit value, such as cotton, mulberry, etc. Therefore, the grain output in the Jiangnan area decreased!”
Cheng Ji Ming immediately understood the connection.
Chongzhen was also surprised. He rarely paid attention to merchants. He did not expect merchants to affect the foundation of the country!
No wonder the Taizu Dynasty wanted to suppress merchants like this!
Merchants were really a disaster to the country and the people!
In fact, Qian Xiangkun's merchants hurt the farmers. The reason was very simple. Right now, there was only so much land in Great Ming, and there was only so much food produced in a year. The people of Great Ming had enough to eat, and they could still have a surplus.
With the current disaster in Shaanxi, as well as the various other disasters in other places and the court's use of troops, the food supply had become tense.
Jiangnan was originally a land of fish and rice, and its grain harvest was better than other places. However, now that all the rich merchants in Jiangnan were planting cash crops, the grain output had decreased.
This led to a problem. Right now, Great Ming's food was not enough for the people to eat!
If there was not enough food, Shaanxi would not be able to provide disaster relief.
This led to a vicious cycle. The people of Shaanxi could not eat enough, so they could only rebel to survive.
This was also the reason why the bandits in Shaanxi were able to suppress a group and then rise again.
In the end, there was not enough food to eat!
"Your Majesty, ever since the founding of the country, there have been laws to suppress merchants. Now it seems that merchants are harming the country and the people. If the merchants are allowed to continue like this, the food supply of the Ming Dynasty will decrease day by day, and there will be endless trouble in the future!”
"I implore Your Majesty to immediately issue an edict to investigate this matter!”Cheng Ji Ming said in a low voice.
"Your Majesty, it won't be easy to investigate this matter thoroughly!”
"According to my understanding, many of the officials in the court have many connections with the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan. Some of them even have wealthy families. Once this matter is investigated thoroughly, I'm afraid that many of the officials in the court will oppose it!”"If Your Majesty wants to investigate this matter thoroughly, you must deal with it with a foolproof method!" Qian Xiangkun suggested.”
When Chongzhen heard this, a cold glint flashed across his eyes. If it was in the past, Chongzhen would indeed have some misgivings.
However, Chongzhen's mind was filled with Zhu Cixin's words.
As long as he could save Da Ming!
So what if he killed him!
Chongzhen knew that if the imperial court wanted to let those merchants grow food crops again, it would definitely not be that easy!
"Your Majesty, there is one more thing that we must not overlook. All the fields of those wealthy merchants belong to them. In the laws of the Ming Dynasty, there is no clear indication of what their land should be planted with. If it is really as Lord Qian said, I'm afraid that our imperial court will not be able to do anything to them.”
He Ruchong added,"If the imperial court forces them to plant food, I'm afraid it will be detrimental to the imperial court's prestige and lose the hearts of the people!"”
He Ruchong's words were like a bucket of cold water poured on everyone's heads.
If he forcefully used force, it would probably backfire.
Da Ming's situation would probably be even more passive!
With the bandits in Shaanxi and the covetous Hou Jin in the north, the war in Hebei was still undecided.
It could be said that the imperial court was fighting on three fronts.
Da Ming could no longer withstand any storms!
"Dear ministers, do you have any good ideas?”Chong Zhen looked at everyone helplessly.
Cheng Jiming and Qian Xiangkun didn't say anything this time.
He Ruchong said calmly," I know Your Majesty's intentions. The disaster and the merchants in Jiangnan hurting the farmers are inseparable. If the merchants are not resolved, the food problem cannot be resolved.”
"Hurting farmers with merchants is like a soft knife. It can kill people, but it won't be a matter of a day or two.”
"The Shaanxi bandits are sharp blades. If you are not careful, you can take your life.”
"Therefore, I suggest that we focus on suppressing the bandits in Shaanxi, and that the merchants hurt the farmers as a supplement.”
Chong Zhen smiled bitterly. He understood what He Richong meant. Whether it was Shaanxi or the merchants hurting the farmers, it was an unsolvable problem.
He Ru Chong was just avoiding the light.
However, unless the food production capacity was increased, this problem could not be solved at all.
Chong Zhen took a deep breath and suppressed his thoughts.""Since that's the case, we'll do our best to deal with the bandits in Shaanxi!”
"Minister Cheng Ai, you will immediately pass down an edict to Lu Xiangsheng, the right-hand minister of the Daming government. I order him to be the general of the central army in Shaanxi and the left-hand minister of the Ministry of War. He will lead the troops of the Daming, Guangping, and Deshun governments and immediately head to Shaanxi to suppress the bandits together with Cao Wenzhao!”
"In addition, send an order to the Ministry of Revenue to allocate 500,000 taels of silver to support Lu Xiangsheng's military needs. When the order arrives, I will give him a month to prepare food and grass.”
Lu Xiangsheng?
Cheng Ji Ming and the other two were stunned. Who was this?
It took them a while to recall this person.
Lu Xiangsheng was originally just a Jinshi. If it wasn't for the siege of the capital and the court's enthusiasm to give him a military officer position, who knew where Lu Xiangsheng would be now!
"Your Majesty, Lu Xiangsheng has only led the army for a few months. The so-called Tianxiong Army under him is only a temporary recruitment.”
"Isn't it too hasty to let him lead his troops into Shaanxi?”
Cheng Jiming said matter-of-factly.
He didn't trust Lu Xiangsheng because Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army had been formed temporarily. Not to mention how much combat power it had, it was also a problem if it could fight.
If they rashly entered Shaanxi and were defeated by the bandits, then Great Ming would become a joke!
"Zhen believes him!"
Chong Zhen said firmly.
Chongzhen believed that Lu Xiangsheng, who was called the King of Hell by the Shaanxi rebels, would not disappoint him!
This time, he wanted the Shaanxi rebels to meet this King of Hell Lu in advance!
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