Chapter 286 The Great Wall of Grains
The weather has changed...
Qiao Yan knew better than anyone what this change in the times meant for the current era.
When drought, locust plague and war are mixed together, the damage caused to the people is nothing short of devastating.
Even if only the six words "there was a great famine and people were eating each other" are left in the history books, what they represent is the blood and tears of countless lives.
What a light yet heavy six words.
From Ren Hong's perspective, when she mentioned that the weather had changed, Qiao Yan's expression froze for a moment, and even her grip on the cup in her hand suddenly tightened, and then she slowly loosened it, put it on the table beside her, and picked up a stack of bamboo paper in front of her.
From May last year to now, in about a year and a half, bamboo paper has undergone at least three optimizations. Now, relying on its low paper cost, it has successfully replaced other types of paper and become the mainstream office paper in Chang'an City.
She looked through the data comparison made by Ren Hong one by one and sighed inaudibly.
"My Lord?" Perhaps because she had been silent for a long time, Ren Hong could not help but speak.
In front of those who questioned her ability to be the Grand Historian, she was calm enough, but in front of Qiao Yan, she was always a little nervous.
It was an extremely risky decision for her to predict that the weather might change next year.
You should know that in order to win the position of Grand Historian last year, she had already predicted that there would be a solar eclipse on the first day of the first lunar month this year.
If she said that the weather would change next year and it came true...
I'm afraid people will think it's some kind of sorcery from the theory of prophecies and divinations.
Qiao Yan raised his eyes and looked at her, clearly seeing the hesitation that flashed across her face, and replied: "I believe you, I just suddenly thought of the situation in the sixth year of Guanghe. You are right, the celestial phenomena this winter are indeed too strange."
She had traveled through time in the seventh year of Guanghe, so she only had fragments of what the original owner had experienced in her memory about the sixth year of Guanghe.
But drought and famine had an extremely strong impact even on a patient kept at home, so in Qiao Yan's original memory, the world situation in the past six years seemed particularly bleak.
People depend on crops from the land for their livelihood, and also rely on the favor of weather.
If Heaven is not on my side, and human power is insufficient to make up for the loss of natural timing, what should the people do?
"The weather has changed..." Qiao Yan stood up suddenly, "I will inform His Majesty of this at tomorrow's morning meeting."
"Tomorrow...tomorrow?" Ren Hong almost bit his tongue.
Although she knew that the princess was always decisive and efficient, and that her subordinates had learned from her, Ren Hong was still shocked that such a matter could be brought up directly at tomorrow's court meeting.
You know, the last earthquake in Chang'an occurred in late December.
Even so, because of the disaster relief experience gained from the October earthquake and the fact that the amplitude of the tremors was not strong, it was already the end of December after we completed the statistics of the losses of each household in Chang'an City.
Tomorrow is the first day of the first lunar month!
According to the original procedure, the emperor should first perform the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth tomorrow, and then return to the Purple Palace to start the court meeting.
According to rumors in the capital, it is even better to change the year of the new year to change the style, and it is best not to mention the earthquake so as to prevent various disasters from continuing from last year to this year.
But the prince actually said that he would talk about the changes in the weather tomorrow.
Ren Hong had no doubt that, given Qiao Yan's temperament, since he had to talk about his prediction of the weather, he would probably also have to talk about how to deal with post-earthquake events.
She was just about to ask if she wanted to change the time gate when she heard Qiao Yan say, "There is no snow in winter. If there is a drought, there will be signs in early spring. It will be too late to intervene by then. If there is another locust plague in the middle of the year and there is still no rain in autumn, will the people under your rule have to rely on the grain stored in the previous two years to survive this year?"
Ren Hong's eyes moved, and he heard Qiao Yan continue to say: "There are some things that we must do even though we know what kind of controversy we will face. Isn't this the most important meaning of putting ourselves in a high position?"
She took one out from the box on the bookshelf beside her, handed it to Ren Hong, and motioned Ren Hong to open it and take a look.
This is the box used to hold lucky money that I saw at the beginning of this year.
Perhaps in order to show a more formal attitude in giving blessings to subordinates, it was packaged again.
However, Junhou's pragmatic attitude has not changed at all. Maybe he just produced enough boxes last year and continued to use them this year.
Ren Hong opened the box and, as expected, saw that inside was the lucky money that was supposed to be distributed tomorrow.
But when her eyes fell on the pattern of the lucky coin, her expression changed.
As a native of Bingzhou, she had certainly seen the Yinshan Mountains and the Great Wall that meandered on the Yinshan Mountains. What appeared before her now was not a mountain, but a "mountain" composed of one each of millet, wheat, rice, sorghum and beans. On this special mountain, the appearance of the Great Wall was carved.
Although both the grains and the Great Wall were outlined with extremely simplified strokes for the convenience of printing coins, it is still not difficult for people to see the connotation.
This is……
"Without the people, without food, there would be no Great Wall. This was originally meant to celebrate last year's good harvest, but now it can also be used as a warning."
Qiao Yan spoke word by word, "The Great Wall was never built on empty words. Now that the crisis is imminent, do we still need to whitewash it?"
She delayed sending troops to attack Yuan Shao, stored food for several years, and gradually built up the trust of the people in Guanzhong in the Chang'an court and even in herself, just to prevent such changes.
"If there is accountability, I will take it."
Now that she has taken the position of Grand Marshal, she will not allow anyone to interfere with her actions in this matter!
On the second day, before the city of Chang'an entered a bustling scene as every household got up, the officials of the court had already gathered in the Purple Palace to congratulate the arrival of the New Year.
After the emperor announced the arrival of the new year as per custom and his ministers greeted them, the stage of planning for the new year began.
Since the reconstruction of Guanzhong in the first and second years of Jian'an was almost entirely presided over by Qiao Yan, this scene was naturally handed over to Qiao Yan by Liu Yu.
But what the ministers present had never expected was that the general meaning of Qiao Yan's first remarks was -
There may be a severe drought this year. In order to prevent serious consequences, the Grand Marshal's Office unanimously decided to inspect and expand the canals in various places again between January and March, and to add reservoirs to ensure sufficient water.
As soon as this was said, someone immediately jumped out and asked, "Why is the Grand Marshal so sure that there will be such a disaster this year?"
Qiao Yan glanced in the direction of the voice and saw Guanglu Doctor Chunyu Jia.
This person was selected from the Hongwenguan and has been serving in the court for nearly two years.
Actually, this man had been a local official in his early years, but he resigned and became unemployed after Dong Zhuo caused trouble in the court. He only came out in the past two years. Therefore, although he was not one of the first officials in Chang'an, his qualifications were not low.
There is even such a saying in Chang'an City that if one of the three highest officials were to step down now, considering that both Grand Herald Chen Ji and Minister of Rites Zhao Qi are already old, he would most likely take over the position of one of the three highest officials.
No wonder he dared to jump out and ask Qiao Yan questions at this time. Perhaps it was this quasi-Three Dukes' statement that gave him the confidence.
His first words were indeed quite polite, but before Qiao Yan could present all the meteorological evidence to him, Chun Yujia immediately followed up with a question: "Is the Grand Marshal really preparing for a possible famine in case of a change in weather, or is he deliberately delaying his advance?"
Qiao Yan's expression suddenly turned cold. "What does Guanglu Doctor mean by this?"
"It means exactly what it says." Chun Yujia felt that what he was about to say made sense, and he didn't pay any attention to the dissuading looks from his colleagues around him. He just thought that he was telling the truth at this moment, which was the most courageous behavior.
Others need to give some leeway to this Great Sima who is second only to the emperor, but he has to make a clear argument with the other party.
"In the first year of Jian'an, the grain stored in Chang'an Prefecture exceeded 8 million dan. In the second year of Jian'an, the population in Guanzhong increased by more than 20,000 households, and the grain yield per mu increased. Although the taxes of Yangzhou were transferred to Hailing, the taxes of Yizhou were stored in Hanzhong, and Liangzhou and Bingzhou each stored grain in the prefecture treasury, the taxes paid by Guanzhong and Jingzhou were combined, and the grain stored in the prefecture treasury still reached more than 15 million dan."
"But it has been nearly two years since the Grand Marshal sent troops to Hanzhong to conquer Zhang Lu and intimidate Liu Yizhou in the first year of Jian'an. With such a large amount of food, why haven't they started the war yet? Are they waiting for Yuan Benchu to learn everything about the court in Chang'an and narrow the gap with us through years of management, so that he can attack us first?"
In Chunyu Jia's opinion, with 15 million dan of stored grain, more than 100,000 soldiers could be recruited.
Even if they had to carry the wounded and killed soldiers out of Taihang Mountain, or first enter Luoyang from Chang'an, advance to Yanzhou and then go north to Jizhou, or go through Henei County and enter Wei County, then everyone could drown Yuan Benchu with a spit.
Once there is only one orthodoxy in the world, no matter how many troubles there are, they will no longer be troubles!
But look at what Qiao Yan did?
For nearly two years, apart from creating those gimmicks in Chang'an, she was also investigating and filling in the gaps in the various disasters that occurred in Chang'an last year. She even made the court in Yecheng laugh at them for being a fake dynasty that was despised by God.
People all say that the Grand Marshal of the current dynasty is a man who is good at fighting and has extraordinary courage. Otherwise, she would not have been able to fight outside the Great Wall first, force Dong Zhuo to flee Luoyang, and then pacify Liangzhou and Guanzhong, and welcome the current emperor back from Youzhou.
But from the time Chunyu Jia took office in Chang'an until now, it is clear that Qiao Yan has only been avoiding battle.
Even deploying troops in Taihang Mountains was just a move to intimidate others without any actual intention of advancing!
Two years of time and a full treasury, isn't that enough for Qiao Yan to launch an attack on any place under Yuan Shao's command?
In the second year of Jian'an, Yuan Shu, who had just finished recuperating from his injuries and raising his troops, threatened to defeat Yuan Shao and leave only one imperial court issuing orders in the world. So he sent troops to attack Chenliu County in Yanzhou.
Although he was defeated by Cao Cao who had been prepared there, it was also characterized as an act of retaliation against the Gao family of Chenliu, but at least he took action.
In the same year, Sun Ce of Yangzhou completed the recovery of Kuaiji County, and most of Yuzhang County fell into his hands. He only needed to wait for a decisive victory in the early spring of this year, and perhaps he would be able to kill Huang Zu and avenge his father's death.
While pacifying the internal situation in Yangzhou, he could also provide support to Zhang Yi in Xuzhou, allowing the latter to gain a foothold north of the Yangtze River and south of the Huai River.
However, after nearly two years of silence, Qiao Yan said that there might be a drought this year, and in order to avoid greater losses, it was necessary to continue to invest manpower in the construction of the canal.
What's the difference between this and her directly saying "I don't plan to send troops this year either"?
If this were true, Yuan Shao would probably wake up laughing in his dreams!
Chun Yujia said, "If the Grand Marshal feels that he is not sure about sending troops to Yuan Shao, the court in Chang'an has been based here for two years now, and there are many generals who have the ability and courage to go to war. In the past, Wang Zhongxuan wrote a poem about a goddess sending off troops, which won the Grand Marshal's favor and allowed him to enter the palace to take charge of paperwork, but where is this sending off troops?"
This last accusation was even more merciless towards Qiao Yan.
But he did not see any anger on Qiao Yan's face. Instead, he only saw her smile, and there was a hint of sarcasm in this smile, which was actually a mockery directed at an ignorant person.
"Guanglu Dafu, I hope you understand the principle of finishing one thing at a time."
Without even raising her eyelids, she spoke calmly, "Preparing for drought disasters and attacking Yuan Shao are two completely different things. If you think there was an opportunity to send troops last year, you could have just said it now and discussed it with everyone present, so that I can hear how I missed the opportunity. Or if you think someone can beat me in marching and arranging military operations, you can also let him come and compete with me in person. Instead of-"
"Here you are showing off something you think you have!"
Qiao Yan's words were not harsh, but they carried a sharp edge.
"You said that Yuan Benchu would catch up with us in the few years when he stopped sending troops, but I only saw a group of people who were just sitting there doing nothing but working themselves into a pile in Yecheng. They were content with the so-called high-ranking family name and the increase in yield per mu from three to four stones. Meanwhile, our court in Guanzhong was thriving. If there were no natural disasters this year, seven stones per mu would not be the end point."
"Those in low positions have a way to rise, and those in high positions do not forget the common people. Merchants gather in Chang'an, and those who work in the fields have their granaries filled. During the winter, they wear cotton clothes, and there are few bones of people who died of freezing on the road. Those who have left their hometowns live and work in peace here. In particular, I ask the letter writers to write to the elders of the village and invite them to live with me in Chang'an. This is the current situation in Chang'an."
"If all this still makes you think that Yuan Benchu is going to wake up from his dream with laughter, why don't you just go into his dream!"
After she finished her stern questioning, she did not even give Chun Yujia any extra glances, but bowed to Liu Yu, "Your Majesty, please make a wise decision. Natural disasters cannot be diverted by human will, and cannot be avoided by virtuous policies and benevolence. In the current situation, it is better to be cautious and prepare for drought and famine in anticipation of spring ploughing."
Liu Yu replied: "Let's follow what the Grand Marshal said."
Liu Yu, the emperor, has already spoken, so even if Chunyu Jia has something to say, he has to swallow it first.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that in the current situation, the Chang'an court was a one-man show of the Grand Marshal, and the emperor Liu Yu was merely a title used by Qiao Yan to issue orders.
Even though Qiao Yan had never shown any disrespect to Liu Yu, in the eyes of people who didn't like her very much, such judgment should not be based solely on what she did, but on the outcome of the matter.
Even this drought, which was only a speculation, was finally confirmed and preparations were launched. God knows whether it would be a waste of manpower. Isn't this enough to prove Qiao Yan's unique authority in Chang'an?
Chunyu Jia left the Purple Palace with a sigh, thinking that he would have to find another opportunity to make another move.
However, Qiao Yan didn't take his actions to heart at all.
Why bother about what this person, who is not even qualified to be her opponent, thinks!
Compared to worrying about whether Chunyu Jia's guy would cause any trouble, it was obvious that two other things were more important.
One of them was the disaster preparedness that she had already informed the court about.
They have a lot to do before spring plowing.
Especially for checking and filling gaps in water storage and water transportation.
Fortunately, since the first year of Jian'an, Bi Lan, Fu Shou and Jia Mu have been engaged in this work, and the construction of these canals in Bingzhou and Liangzhou has not been started in recent years.
And the other thing is...
She had some students from Leping Academy taken to Chang'an.
Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Sima Yi, Lu Lingju, Lu Yi, Guo Huai and others, the oldest of whom was sixteen years old and the youngest was only twelve years old, all appeared in front of her when she returned to the Grand Sima's Mansion after leaving court.
Although they are young, compared to when I first saw them a few years ago, these young people are growing at a rapid pace, like bamboo shoots. Whether it is their height, appearance or temperament, they are no longer as immature as they were in previous years.
Just like she did to Ren Hong, she handed the lucky money from the third year of Jian'an to each of them.
Then she looked at these people one by one, and vaguely thought that Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Xu Shu, and Cai Zhaoji also appeared in front of her at the same age.
Qiao Yan calmed himself down and said, "I have a task for you to do."
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