"Boss, the old man is here again."

"Well, let's serve breakfast."

On the second floor of the teahouse, in Zhu An's private room, Zhu Yuanzhang walked in with ease and asked with a smile.

"What delicious food have you arranged for us today?"

Zhu Ying said helplessly: "You've already eaten my breakfast twice, so there's nothing new here."

"Well, grandson, you haven't eaten either, come, let's eat together." Zhu Yuanzhang sat down and said directly.

Zhu Ying has gotten used to the old man's social prowess.

He always mentioned his grandson and never paid the bill when eating in the teahouse.

He eats and drinks for free and treats me like a grandson. Nobody else can do that.

When he was halfway through the meal, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly sighed: "We are enjoying delicious food here, but those people outside the city are trying to snatch even the bark of the trees."

Zhu Ying rolled his eyes and said, "Old man, if you have something to say, just say it directly. Why beat around the bush like this?"

"Every man has his share of responsibility for the fate of his country. Yesterday I transferred 20 dan of grain to deal with the disaster."

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, then immediately burst into laughter.

Zhu Yuanzhang naturally arranged for the Jinyiwei to pay more attention to the activities in the teahouse.

Just a few days ago, the teahouse suddenly started purchasing large quantities of food.

Seeing so much grain, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately felt that his eldest grandson might be hoarding the food.

After all, Da Sun is also a businessman.

It's not strange to do these things.

But Zhu Yuanzhang found it hard to accept.

I just wanted to give some guidance.

I just didn't expect to get such a result just after I started asking questions.

But he misunderstood his eldest grandson.

"We know that our eldest grandson is completely different from those evil-minded merchants."

Zhu Yuanzhang praised.

Zhu Ying took a bite of the bun and sighed, "I've only done my bit, but it's just a drop in the bucket."

From Zhu Ying's current point of view, everyone in the Ming Dynasty is almost at the same level as his ancestors.

You never know which refugee might be one of your ancestors.

If the butterfly effect caused my ancestors to starve to death, then my future self might not exist.

"Don't think so. Twenty dan of grain is a lot. If it is cooked into porridge, it will take a lot of lives."

Zhu Yuanzhang said affirmatively.

One dan of grain in the Ming Dynasty was approximately equivalent to 94 kilograms in later generations. Zhu Ying's move was more than 3,000 kilograms of grain.

Before the famine, one tael of silver could buy one dan of rice, and two strings of treasure notes.

Nowadays, many grain merchants are hoarding goods and the price is soaring. Ten taels of silver per stone is still unsalable.

There were also many grain merchants who refused to accept Ming Dynasty treasure notes.

Of course, it was not that they refused to accept the grain openly, but they directly announced that they had no grain and secretly traded with silver.

Now twenty strings of cash cannot even buy one dan of grain.

In the market, the government has opened granaries to stabilize prices, but purchases are already restricted based on household registration.

Zhu Ying was able to get so much food to send out, but he had to spend a lot of money secretly.

"It's only treating the symptoms, not the root cause." Zhu Ying sighed.

"These damn merchants are always like this during famines. I really want to kill them all myself."

Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily.

"Forget about it. If someone hides it at home and doesn't sell it, what can you do? Are you really going to rob it? That's no different from robbery."

Zhu Ying said.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded helplessly. Even though he was the emperor, there was nothing he could do in the face of such a situation.

The only way was to print Ming treasure notes and transfer grain from other places.

There are actually some kind grain merchants, but they are mixed and it is difficult to tell them apart.

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Your Majesty, you have become so worried about this famine that your hair has turned white. Seeing this, I feel really bad."

"If we read the history of the Tang and Song dynasties, we will also find such disasters. Since the Yuan Dynasty, this Central Plains has been plagued by disasters. I wonder if this is a punishment from God."

Zhu Ying hesitated for a moment after hearing this. After a brief silence, he said frankly, "In fact, as far as the food supply of the Ming Dynasty is concerned, in the face of various disasters, the total amount of food is still sufficient."

“If everyone is united and works together to overcome the difficulties, there won’t be so many refugees.”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "That's true, but the rich are living a life of luxury while the poor are dying of cold on the streets. Who would be willing to share their food with others?"

"Actually, it's not that there is no solution." Zhu Ying said calmly.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up, and he asked hurriedly, "Grandson, do you have a solution? Tell us about it."

He didn't expect his eldest grandson to really come up with any good ideas.

However, in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart, his eldest grandson would be the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty, so learning how to deal with famine was naturally extremely important.

After living away from home for so many years, Zhu Yuanzhang had no idea how talented his eldest grandson was now.

This time, I came here to test and assess the situation.

"I think you should be very clear about work-for-relief, old man." Zhu Ying asked.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly and said, "Of course I know this."

Just yesterday morning at the court session, he had ordered the gathering of 3,000 laborers to dig up his eldest grandson's tomb in exchange for work relief.

However, he was not very satisfied with his eldest grandson's words. This method has existed since ancient times, but it was ultimately undertaken by the Ming government and was not very meaningful.

"That's good to know. The method I'm talking about is the reform of using work instead of relief."

"Since ancient times, work-for-relief has been recruited by the government. Think about it from another angle. What will happen if the gentry and nobles in the community actually do work-for-relief?" Zhu Ying said slowly.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned even more because he didn't understand.

To Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Ying's words were no different from corvee labor.

The same goes for country roads, which are usually built by villagers led by the village head during the slack season.

Seeing this, Zhu Ying thought for a moment and explained again, "The official roads and post stations of the Ming Dynasty require a lot of funds for repair every year."

"If we give the repair work to the gentry and nobles, and then the government returns it in batches every year, do you think the gentry and nobles will agree?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was smart, but he was puzzled and asked: "Such a good thing should be agreed, but in this case, the government will benefit after all, what is the difference from now?"

Zhu Ying was speechless. It seemed that the old man was not very proficient in business. He had said all this but still didn't understand the meaning.

"Old man, the Ming Dynasty is not short of money, but of food."

"These groups of gentry and nobles are given jobs by the government, so they have to find people to do the work. If they find people to do the work, they have to provide food."

"The government gave us silver, and they provided us with grain. So, it's like the government spent silver, bought grain, and got the job done."

"The government has provided money, the gentry and nobles have provided food, and the people have a way to survive. Isn't this problem solved?"

These words suddenly enlightened Zhu Yuanzhang.

He quickly pondered the feasibility of this countermeasure in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was a brilliant idea.