Today, Zhao Huan is tinkering with his steam locomotive in the palace. This locomotive was specially made for the emperor by the Royal Academy of Sciences.
The workmanship is much better than all previous versions. Although it is still slow and sometimes wobbles, it can barely run.
Zhao Huan sat on it and strolled around the open space of the palace.
At this moment, it felt as if I had returned to before I traveled through time.
It felt like sitting in a car and sightseeing.
Before anyone knew it, Zhao Huan had been in the Song Dynasty for almost six years.
He also completed the counterattack against the Jin Dynasty, and then carried out a large-scale purge of stubborn old forces within the country, and implemented a series of reforms in social structure, culture and education, and science and technology.
The Great Song Dynasty is now preparing to take off on its trajectory.
In four years, the imperial court will solve the problem of food and clothing for half of the Song Dynasty's population, and his achievements will reach the pinnacle of ancient dynasties.
Food is the most important thing for people. In ancient times, what ordinary people lacked most was food. The problem of eating was a major issue.
Thinking about it, he still felt quite accomplished.
As May approaches, the leaves on the trees are beginning to grow thick and lush.
The Yellow River has been relatively calm this year, without any major disturbances.
Zhao Huan felt that this year should be the most peaceful and stable year he had experienced since coming to the Song Dynasty.
He had already made his plans; he was about to promote literature and art in Tokyo.
In fact, the literature and art of the Song Dynasty represent the pinnacle of ancient Chinese culture.
However, Zhao Huan planned to promote it among the common people, as they also needed culture and spiritual entertainment.
This is something worth doing.
However, reality soon slapped Zhao Huan in the face. In late May, Jiangling Prefecture reported a worrying piece of news: the Jianghan Plain had not seen a drop of rain for half a year!
The Jianghan Plain is the granary of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, possessing not only vast and fertile fields but also a network of lakes.
However, due to the lack of rain for half a year, the crisscrossing lakes along the Jinghu North Road, known as the "Road of a Thousand Lakes," are now nearly dry.
The seedlings planted in spring have all withered and died!
Even many of the fish in the pond died of thirst!
Even more frightening is that Jinghu North Road may face famine this year!
When Zhao Huan learned of this news, he felt that God was simply playing a cruel joke on him.
He had barely begun to feel smug when this happened.
Last year, when Hebei and Jingdong were hit by disasters, some of the grain was transported from Jinghu North Railway.
The Central Plains will continue to rely on the South for food for several more years before it can gradually reduce its dependence on the South.
However, this year, Jinghu North Road has been hit by a drought!
Zhao Huan thought to himself, "Agrarian civilization is no match for this; relying on the weather is not a sustainable solution."
Random natural disaster attacks are outrageous!
He's a hundred times more shameless than Liu Yanzong and Qin Hui combined!
Xu Churen offered a solution: immediately divert grain from Jinghu South Road, and at the same time, increase the diversion of grain from the southwest.
Because the southwest is mountainous and has many rivers, transportation efficiency is very low. Therefore, the only option is to use grain from the Jinghu South Road as an emergency measure.
The grain supplies from Jiangnan West Road and Liangzhe Road must be prepared for the Central Plains, otherwise many people in the Central Plains may starve to death this year.
The only way to fill the food shortage now is to increase the amount of grain transferred from Guangnan West Road and Jiaozhou Road.
This was a macro-level regulation of grain, and the emperor also gave Xu Churen a strict order that grain prices in Jiangling Prefecture must not be raised.
The market supply and demand have been disrupted; not raising prices would go against market principles.
However, under the will of the government, Keynes' free market principles can only be used as a reference; in special circumstances, mandatory macroeconomic control is necessary.
For example, Xu Churen was very clear that if any bastard in Jiangling Prefecture dared to abide by market rules at this critical juncture, he would be in deep trouble.
Moreover, in order to further alleviate the potential food crisis, the State Council was forced to order that the food rations for all officials be halved this year.
To silence the officials of the Song Dynasty, the emperor personally issued an order: the imperial family's monthly rations would be cancelled.
After this news came out, almost all members of the royal family were restless.
For example, Prince Ji, Zhao Xu, eagerly went to find Zhao Huan and said that the monthly rations for the imperial clan members could not be canceled. His reason was that it was a rule set by Emperor Taizu, and that the imperial clan members were entitled to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. How could the monthly rations be canceled?
He broke down in tears, bringing up the examples of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong, but was severely reprimanded by the emperor and left in disgrace.
Subsequently, Zhao Zhongcong, who was in charge of managing the affairs of the imperial clan, was summoned by Zhao Huan for a detailed discussion. From then on, the imperial clan no longer received monthly rations.
Zhao Huan almost took the opportunity to cancel the monthly allowances for the imperial clan. In his eyes, those imperial clan members who were just eating, drinking, and waiting to die were parasites on the Song Dynasty.
In mid-June, just as the imperial court was preparing for a possible drought, news came from Luoyang: Zhao Zezheng, a member of the imperial family, had starved to death!
This news reached Tokyo and the Imperial Palace quite normally, causing shock in the court.
While the entire court was reportedly shocked, the emperor himself showed no shock upon hearing of Zhao Zezheng's death; instead, a cold glint appeared in his eyes.
On the second day, Zhao Zhongcong brought up the issue of abolishing the monthly rations for members of the imperial clan again in court.
Following this, some ministers also expressed their opinions on the matter. In short, the monthly rations could not be canceled, otherwise it would lead to deaths.
Now that someone has died, it has damaged the royal family's reputation.
For the sake of the imperial family's reputation, the ministers all agreed to restore the monthly rations for the imperial family.
Of course, there were also those who opposed it. Ministers led by Liu Yanzong firmly opposed restoring the monthly rations for members of the imperial clan.
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