Chapter 532: Natural disasters have evil orders!
The roaring flood destroyed everything. Countless fertile fields were submerged and countless people were displaced.
Looking down from the sky, groups of people were swarming across the plains of Guanzhong.
People passed through the counties in groups, and people fell to the ground from time to time. It was hard to believe that this was Guanzhong.
Among these fleeing people, there were also many small landlords who once served as the cornerstone of the Han Dynasty. Water and fire were merciless, and when the land was swept away by the flood, everything that their ancestors had fought for was instantly wiped out!
"Go to the county, there is food in the treasury."
"Go to the county, where military supplies are stored."
The voices of countless people echoed across the Guanzhong land. They had lost everything and were left with no one to rely on but the imperial court. Food was only available in the cities of the counties and prefectures. They could not just starve to death here.
This is what makes floods more terrifying than droughts. Droughts are a gradual process, and the imperial court can still roughly control the people and disperse them as much as possible. But floods are a sudden disaster, and people will avoid places where floods pass.
Eventually, the current gathering scene was formed.
…
"Has the Prime Minister been here?"
It was not until the next day that Liu Yang recovered from his fatigue and left the palace. The eunuch hurried forward to report what had happened.
Liu Yang was shocked. He didn't expect that the prime minister would come in the heavy rain. When he heard the news that there was indeed a flood in Guanzhong, he felt a black screen in front of his eyes. This was what he had been worried about.
Liu Yang was originally very annoyed about the eunuchs' failure to report the matter, but as the eunuchs had expected, Long Qing said a few words and the emperor let the matter go.
As for the prime minister's behavior, he also lightly passed it over, as if it had never happened.
The flood in Guanzhong caused a huge disaster and was a major blow to the production and living order in the Guanzhong Plain.
Such a huge disaster could even be a crisis that could potentially overthrow the country for the imperial court based in Guanzhong.
Moreover, this is not the first time that Guanzhong has been affected by disasters, and people’s hearts are already very restless.
If disaster relief is not provided in time, it will soon turn into riot suppression!
At that time, it was not people who ate the food, but soldiers who ate the food and then killed people.
An imperial edict was quickly sent out from the palace, in which the emperor clearly expressed his attitude and for the first time responded positively to the court's standard practice in dealing with natural disasters.
“I have heard that in ancient times, when the monarch was wise and virtuous, and the ministers were loyal and capable, the world would be stable, yin and yang would be in harmony, there would always be good weather, and the sun and moon would appear in the right positions.
When there are evil spirits in a country, disasters will occur.
I have heard that God is unwilling to destroy the dynasty that has been blessed by the Mandate of Heaven, so he will send down evil spirits to warn the king and his ministers.
This is what King Su said, 'When a country is about to perish, evil spirits will surely appear.'
This is to make the king and his ministers reflect respectfully.
Now there is a flood in Guanzhong. Isn't this a warning from God?
All of you ministers must not slack off and must find out the cause of the disaster.
In the first year of Lingyou, there was a heavy snowstorm in Liaodong, an earthquake occurred in Guanzhong, and even the tombs of my ancestors were leaking, which made me tremble with fear. In the second year of Lingyou, the big river in Guandong broke its banks and the harvest in Guanzhong was poor. In the third year of Lingyou, there was a locust plague in Yuzhou, and now there is a flood in Guanzhong again.
This is the destiny of the Han Dynasty reminding me, and I am very worried.
Due to years of famine, the savings of the Xuancheng period have been depleted. I heard that the people outside Chang'an have pale faces. This is so sad.
I was hoping for a good harvest in Guanzhong so that the people in Guanzhong could get rid of hunger, but the flood destroyed the farmland and cut off the people's harvest.
My fellow ministers, do you have any solution to this problem?
If so, do not hide it, just tell me in person. Only when the ruler and his subjects are honest with each other can the Han Dynasty be revitalized.
I am here to tell you that my Minister Long Qing has suggested to me that envoys should be sent to various counties in Guanzhong.
Go to comfort the people affected by the flood, and visit the elderly, widows, widowers and the lonely.
Open the royal treasury and the mountains, forests, lakes and marshes, allowing the people to fish, hunt, and pick fruits freely, and give the fertile but vacant land to the poor to cultivate.'
I think Minister Long’s opinion is correct. I am the emperor and father of the people. It is my fault that they cannot survive.
I need such a proposal, and you ministers can also make the same.
I also think that the counties in Guanzhong that were affected by the disaster should be exempted from taxes for the past two years, so that they know that the court has not forgotten them.
I heard that the scholars have some misunderstandings about my attendants, which is not conducive to harmonious relations.
King Su said in "The Way of the King" that "When the close ministers are in harmony, there is no need to worry about anything in the world." Now my attendants and ministers are not in harmony. Isn't this a matter that makes the king and father sad?
This can't happen anymore!
Just announce it according to these, so that everyone in the world knows what I mean."
Liu Yang's meaning was very clear. The reason why there are so many disasters now is definitely because a monster has been born. There may be something wrong with me as the emperor, and you, the ministers, cannot escape either. You are all grasshoppers in the same boat.
We cannot control natural disasters, but we can deal with their consequences. If we can't do that, then we should get out.
The emperor's edict was promulgated not only by the court officials but also by the embroidered robes directly issued at the places where the refugees gathered. The effect achieved was very good.
At least it immediately calmed the emotions of many refugees and diverted the people's attention away from the royal family.
Recruiting the poor to farm the royal land is actually somewhat similar to the orphans of the Yulin Army. In later generations, there were so-called imperial farms, which were actually a kind of personal dependence relationship.
The status of these people changed from Han people to the emperor's private tenants, and they could avoid paying taxes to the court and instead go directly into the emperor's treasury.
Even without mentioning the political benefits that a close relationship with the royal family can bring, the difference in taxes alone is enough to make people excited, because there are no officials or middlemen to exploit them. Even if the taxes are several times heavier, the final result is still that the taxes on the imperial farms are light, and there is no arbitrary corvee.
This is why many people would rather become tenants of wealthy families and become a "non-existent person" than be registered as citizens of the imperial court.
The problem of royal prestige was solved, but problems arose in the court's handling of the flood, because after a series of natural disasters, the court was actually about to lose the ability to deal with the flood.
Just as the emperor said in his edict, the continuous natural disasters made the people look pale, which was actually because the court did not have enough food.
The imperial court always kept some grain in reserve in its treasury, especially in the military supply warehouse.
If there is a rebellion in Guandong and the barbarians on all sides invade, and the court has no food to prepare for the expedition, it will be a disaster.
Natural disasters have occurred frequently in recent years, and the lives of the barbarians have also been difficult, especially after the heavy snow in Liaodong. The Donghu tribes that once submitted to the Han Dynasty would fight fierce battles with the Han Dynasty from time to time.
They were determined to rob whatever they could, and consume the population if they couldn't rob anything. They were fearless and this made the Han court suffer a lot.
On one side are the lives of the people, on the other side are the lives of the court. There is no right or wrong, so the only thing that can be done is a fierce fight!
The imperial court selected the good families in the counties, especially those who were originally from the military and had participated in conscription, and then cracked down severely on the remaining non-imperial united front targets, such as ruffians, who were considered potential dangers by the court.
The Guanzhong land, which had just experienced a flood, soon welcomed a wave of blood. The army sent by the imperial court suppressed it without hesitation. The people's resistance was fierce, but after all, it was too weak and was quickly defeated by the armored imperial soldiers.
After the organized refugee organizations were broken up, they quickly gathered in the mountains and forests of Guanzhong and became a long-standing profession - thief!
Commonly known as bandits!
There are not many bandit organizations in Guanzhong. But in Guandong, due to successive natural disasters and the serious land annexation by powerful people, there are too many bandits in the mountains.
There are as few as a few hundred people and as many as tens of thousands. Some of these people do not produce anything and make a living by looting, while others grow crops on small plots of land in the mountains, like an independent kingdom.
The Han Dynasty court was very secretive about these people, because it would remind people that in the past, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty also led a group of people who could not survive and went into exile in the mountains.
Finally, he led the ordinary people to rise up in arms and overthrow the Qin Dynasty!
Is this the second Qin Dynasty?
People of insight see the ills of the world, but they also believe that the world today is not as chaotic as it was at the end of the Qin Dynasty. "During the time of Emperor Liu Dan, there were millions of refugees in Guandong. At that time, the Han Dynasty had not yet fallen. Although there are many refugees now, they are not very many if you look closely."
This is the fluctuation of human heart.
Some enthusiastic scholars tried to solve this problem, but they soon returned to land annexation and the contradiction between population and land.
The ancients were only limited by history; their wisdom was completely the same. The disadvantages of land annexation were very clear, and scholars from various schools began to clamor for a solution to the problem of land annexation.
Some radical scholars even said directly: "The poor cannot survive, which is a sign of the Qin Dynasty's demise. The tyranny of Emperor Li was caused by one person, and the annexation of land was caused by the whole world!
"The disaster of Emperor Li can be solved by Emperor Xiaoxuan! Who can save the world from disaster?"
————
Guanzhong was in a state of depression, and the people were wielding sharp swords. The emperor sighed and said, "The Book of Songs says: Whenever the people are in mourning, they crawl on their belly to save them.
Why do the Han people turn their swords against each other? "
So he sent an envoy to inquire about it, and the county officials and subordinates said: "Jie and Zhou were tyrannical and cruel, and the people could not bear their fate, so they used war to reform.
Your Majesty is merciful and has done his best, but he still cannot be saved. This is God's will, not the country's fault."
The emperor remained silent, and bandits rose up in the various counties of Guanzhong, just as they did in Guandong.
(End of this chapter)
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