The next day, May 29th, the 25th year of Hongwu, was sunny.

Crown Prince Zhu Biao died on April 25th. Zhu Di received the news on the 28th and set out on the 29th.

It took eleven days to arrive in the capital on May 10th.

On the third day in the capital, Zhu Ying met Zhu Yuanzhang for the first time.

Now half a month has passed.

After the routine inspection of the teahouse, Zhu Ying headed towards the Prince of Yan's Mansion.

He has been feeling a little strange recently. In the past half month, Zhu Gaochi has never come to see him.

According to previous habits, Zhu Gaochi would come every two or three days at most, if not every day.

He had also been preparing how to persuade Zhu Gaochi to find a way to go to the Armory.

As a result, the person disappeared, which was very embarrassing.

In desperation, I had to go there myself.

At this time, in the Ming Imperial Palace, in the Fengtian Hall.

There was also the sound of the eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department leaving the court.

Zhu Yuanzhang had a gloomy face as he left through the back door of the Fengtian Hall and walked towards the Huagai Hall.

"Call the six ministers here for us." Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Liu He, the eunuch who held the seal of the Imperial Household Department.

"I obey your order."

Liu He immediately left quickly to convey the imperial edict.

In a corner where Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't see, Zhu Yunwen watched the emperor leave and went back to Chunhe Hall with some sadness.

Without Zhu Yuanzhang's order, although Zhu Yunwen was now the crown prince, he could not easily participate in the affairs of state.

You can attend the morning court together and sit in.

But after leaving the court, without Zhu Yuanzhang's permission, he could only return to the palace alone in silence.

In the Huagai Palace.

It is almost noon now, which is already past eleven o'clock.

When the six ministers arrived, the Guanglusi had already prepared breakfast and sent it over.

There are said to be six ministers of ministries, but in fact there are only five at present.

Among them, the previous Minister of Rites was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang and there is no one to replace him yet, so the position is temporarily vacant.

The five Shangshu are:

Minister of Works Shen Xi, Minister of War Ru Yan, Minister of Revenue Zhao Mian, Minister of Personnel Zhan Hui, and Minister of Punishment Yang Jing.

"Please sit down and have breakfast first, then I'll have a good chat with you."

Zhu Yuanzhang said in a somewhat unfriendly tone.

He wasn't targeting anyone, it was just that his good mood yesterday was completely ruined.

Zhu Yuanzhang's relationship with his eldest grandson was getting closer and closer, but today when he went to court, something happened that made him very upset.

The problem of flooding.

The Yellow River is the mother river of ancient and modern China, and has nurtured a splendid civilization for five thousand years.

But the Yellow River has also brought great disasters since ancient times, and successive dynasties have struggled to comprehensively manage the Yellow River.

On February 8 this year, the Yellow River broke its banks in Yangwu.

After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Yellow River underwent a major governance during the Yuan Dynasty, but the impact was relatively small.

But in fact, the number of people affected is definitely over one million.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the exemption of land rent in the areas affected by the Yellow River floods.

But for more victims, the problem is not so much the rent of the land, but the lack of food to eat.

These disaster victims had lost their land, and the only way they could think of to survive was to flee from the famine.

Generally speaking, the direction that disaster victims fled to was the capital.

The straight-line distance from Henan to the capital city of Nanjing is about a thousand miles.

The ancient roads were obviously not easy to travel on, as they were winding and the victims could only walk.

But you are not eligible to use the post station.

The average person walks about thirty to forty miles a day.

These refugees fleeing famine had to travel on an empty stomach and sometimes had to beg for food, so they were naturally slower.

After the flood and famine broke out, the first batch of victims took nearly three months to finally arrive near the capital.

As the emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang obviously had to find a way to solve the famine problem.

After this first group arrived, there were naturally a large number of victims following behind.

The difficulty lies in that even if Zhu Yuanzhang is the emperor, he cannot keep them every day, and he must let them go back.

After the flood is under control, they still have to continue farming.

The most urgent task is to keep the victims stable.

According to information reported in memorials from various places, the total number of victims of this disaster was about 200,000.

What does it mean to have 200,000 disaster victims?

The current standing military strength of the entire Ming Dynasty is just over one million, and the number of disaster victims directly accounts for one-fifth of the entire Ming Dynasty's military strength.

Of course, if nothing is done, it is likely that less than half of the 200,000 disaster victims will actually arrive in the capital.

Zhu Yuanzhang was once a refugee and had a deep understanding of this.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, the Little Ice Age arrived and various disasters occurred.

Zhu Yuanzhang also promulgated a set of effective methods for dealing with disasters.

The first thing is to report the disaster and assess the disaster.

In disaster-stricken areas, local officials would first report so that the court could have a rough estimate of the number of people affected and the situation.

The first thing that must be done is to exempt the land rent, and then provide disaster relief to the local area.

Then comes the relocation of disaster victims and the transfer of grain to stabilize rising grain prices in the disaster-stricken areas.

The movement of disaster victims is also under the control of the government, and they are gradually diverted along the way.

A certain amount of food will be given every day.

If you really don't eat anything, few people can survive even a hundred miles, let alone a thousand miles.

Then comes the relief and resettlement measures, such as granting burials, granting land, and so on.

The scene of thousands or tens of thousands of people wandering around is rarely seen and only occurs at the end of a dynasty.

When this situation arose, they immediately attacked the government, rose up in rebellion, and directly rebelled.

When a major famine occurred, the number of victims that local governments could accept was very limited.

Generally speaking, after the local government accepts these disaster victims who have families with them, they will be resettled locally in the form of work-for-relief.

Once the disaster is completely over, the government will provide travel expenses and send them back to their registered place of residence.

After breakfast.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked directly: "Tell me, how should we resettle the victims of this disaster?"

"The autumn harvest has not yet arrived, and there is not much food in the grain depots across the country. As the disaster expands, food prices are now skyrocketing."

"Come and discuss this matter."

The ministers lowered their heads and looked at each other, but they were all silent and no one spoke.

They knew that His Majesty was certainly not asking about the short-term issue of how to deal with the disaster victims.

But how to digest this disaster.

The Ming Dynasty has no shortage of money.

This may sound unbelievable, but it is true given the current situation.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who controlled the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes, could simply print as much silver as he wanted.

Although the Ming Baochao has begun to depreciate at present, its purchasing power is still very strong.

The key is not the money, but the food.

No matter how much silver you have, it is useless if you can't buy food.

The capital's grain reserves are not that much, and grain merchants from all over the country are hoarding goods at exorbitant prices. You don't need to look to know that the price of grain outside has already risen to sky-high prices.

Zhu Yuanzhang wished he could kill all these grain merchants.

However, there are so many grain merchants, both large and small, that killing innocent people will only make the situation more fragmented and cause a big chaos.

After a moment of silence, the ministers spoke one by one.

They talked for more than half an hour, and it was still the same old story, which made Zhu Yuanzhang irritated. In the end, he simply drove out several ministers.

At this time, Jiang Li came in to report: "Your Majesty, Liu Rixin arrived in the capital last night."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up and he suddenly thought of a good idea.

He then ordered Jiang Li: "Call Liu Rixin into the palace immediately."

"I obey your order."