The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 118: Drought in Guanzhong
"Oh, I know."

……

What's the reaction?
Dong Cheng's daughter, who came to inform Dong Bai of the news, and Cai Yan, who was accompanying Dong Bai, were both a little surprised at Dong Bai's calmness about the matter.

"That's what it is."

Dong Bai held her chin with both hands, sat on the bed and shook her legs: "A woman will always get married, it doesn't matter who she marries."

"Marrying the emperor is better than marrying anyone else. Grandfather is in the palace anyway, and Sister Zhaoji will also live in the palace after she marries the emperor. We will all be together, isn't it the same as now?"

Cai Yan didn't expect Dong Bai to see things so clearly. She was indeed worthy of being the daughter of a general.

But then she realized something: "What do you mean I will marry the emperor too! Lord Weiyang, please don't talk nonsense like that!"

"Humph~"

Dong Bai asked, "Why is Sister Zhaoji blushing?"

"Blushing, blushing is very hot."

Cai Yan gently fanned her cheeks and asked, "Why is the weather in Guanzhong so hot this year?"

……

Although he knew that Cai Yan was trying to change the subject again, Dong Bai kicked his feet and lay down without any dreams, "It's really hot. It's not even the beginning of the dog days yet, but it's already as hot as the dog days of summer."

In fact, Dong Bai's house was already filled with ice cubes made of saltpeter, but it still couldn't block the scorching heat outside.

She untied the belt around her waist and fiddled with it casually, trying to create some cool breeze to dissipate the heat, but Cai Yan quickly stepped forward and held down the hem of her skirt.

"Weiyang Jun, please be careful. The myrobalan almost came out just now."

Dong Bai breaks free from his restraints.

"Anyway, the palace is full of women, so everyone looks the same. What is Sister Zhaoji worried about?"

Intensified.

She took off her thick skirt, leaving only a thin layer of gauze, revealing her fair arms and thighs. Dong Bai moved closer to the cool ice basin, and finally squatted down and hugged the basin.

Cool!
"Sister Zhaoji, you are still wearing mourning clothes. Aren't you feeling hot?"

Even if there were no outsiders around, Cai Yan still followed etiquette and always wore mourning clothes.

Dong Bai smiled evilly, suddenly approached Cai Yan, and reached out to grab the belt that tied Cai Yan's clothes around her waist.

"What is Weiyang-kun doing? No! No!"

"Sister Zhao Ji, your waist is so thin and smells so good."

Dong Bai measured Cai Yan's slender waist with his arms in disbelief.

"Weiyang Jun, it's itchy! Itchy!"

The more Cai Yan resisted, the more excited Dong Bai became!
After taking off Cai Yan's clothes, Dong Bai saw the wetness inside, which made him curl his lips and say, "Sister Zhaoji, look, your insides are soaked with sweat. Why are you still wearing these clothes?"

Fine beads of sweat have already covered the skin.

The smoothness of Cai Yan's neck seemed to be glowing, and the inexplicable blush made Dong Bai gently move his nose closer.

"Weiyang Jun, please don't, I'm really ticklish, please don't..."

………………

Compared to Changle Palace, Weiyang Palace was obviously more miserable.

There are no beautiful girls, only three skinny old men.

Jia Xu, Zhong Yao, and Xun You.

There was also Liu Xie who had completely disregarded the emperor's formalities and almost went into battle shirtless...

"Add some more ice! One bowl per person!"

Liu Xie wiped the sweat from his head and put his forehead against the ice basin before he felt some relief.

"This weather... I'm afraid there will be many casualties in Guanzhong today!"

The brief coolness did not make Liu Xie feel comfortable, but made him even more worried.

Although it had been expected that there would be a severe drought in Guanzhong this year.

But I didn’t expect the drought to be so severe!

Liu Xie now has ice to cool off, but he still feels hot and uncomfortable. What about ordinary people?
Several basins of ice were brought up, and Jia Xu and the other two no longer cared about their usual demeanor as celebrities, and moved a few inches towards the ice basins.

"Wenhe, according to the time, the millet and beans that we planted this year should be ready for harvest soon, right?"

Jia Xu loosened his collar and said, "Your Majesty, it is indeed almost time for the harvest. But this year's harvest will definitely not be very good."

The grain production in Guanzhong was already in a rush after the floods, and the crops were not high-yielding, such as millet and beans. It was a blessing that the grain output in Guanzhong this year could reach 70% of that in previous years.

"It doesn't matter if the harvest is smaller, but Wenhe should remind the people not to work too hard during the harvest and to drink more salt and water."

……

"What? Wenhe? Did I say something wrong? The more you sweat in the summer, the more you need to drink salt water."

"Your Majesty loves the people like his own children, which is a sign of benevolence and righteousness. But how can the people in Guanzhong have extra water to drink now? Not to mention the precious salt."

Jia Xu wiped the sweat off his forehead again. "There is a severe drought in Guanzhong. The water level of the Wei River has dropped sharply. The Jing, Feng, Lao, and Wei rivers are almost dry. Even in the Xuanwu Pond in Shanglinyuan, you can see water plants on the bottom of the lake. The fish, shrimps, and clams in it have all died. The wells in many places have basically become useless wells."

"As for salt... the basic livelihood of Hedong has not yet recovered, and the salt administration is still in a state of disrepair. It is impossible to transport large quantities of salt to Guanzhong."

Liu Xie's hand holding the ice basin loosened unconsciously. He knew that the drought in Guanzhong would be serious, but he didn't expect it to be so serious!

He, the emperor, actually made the mistake of "Why not eat meat porridge" without realizing it.

After all, how could the people in the palace, who were holding a basin of ice, imagine that other people couldn't even drink water or afford salt?

Moreover, Liu Xie only had to handle government affairs in the palace, while the people had to work in the fields with their faces to the earth and their backs to the sky.

The feet are steaming with hot earth energy,
The back is burning with scorching sunlight.

After such hard work, they couldn't even drink water. No wonder Guanzhong became a barren land for thousands of miles in the future.

Liu Xie sighed slightly.

For the first time, he felt how insignificant human power was in the face of nature.

"Try to keep some officials who are proficient in hydrology busy, and have them find more places where we can dig wells and get water, and dig new wells."

Human power is simply unable to resist the power of nature.

That is why we must do our best in everything we can do.

"It's true that people will die if the weather gets hotter, but if people don't have enough to eat in the future, even more people will die!"

Liu Xie couldn't control the weather, but he could control food.

"This year's grain production is bound to decrease, and next year's harvest will not be much better, so Guanzhong is destined to purchase a large amount of grain from outside."

"The imperial court can collect the ramie and kudzu from Guanzhong and use them to purchase grain from outside."

And the first person to purchase grain must be Liu Biao.

"Jingzhou is rich and a land of plenty. Liu Biao has always respected the imperial court. If we just want to buy some food, I'm sure Liu Biao will not refuse."

Liu Xie could sell not only ramie and kudzu, but also iron and war horses, these strategic resources to Liu Biao.

Anyway, Liu Biao was a staunch ally of the imperial court, and unlike Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei, he was not too far away from Guanzhong. Apart from anything else, as long as Liu Biao became strong and could suppress Yuan Shu and the forces of Jiangdong, then these irons and war horses would have their value.

"Also, the previous monetary policy has been maintained almost completely. The imperial court still has a surplus of five-zhu coins, which can be used to purchase a large amount of grain."

Liu Xie made a rough estimate in his mind that he could purchase more than 100,000 dan of grain just by relying on these trades.

But this does not mean that these hundreds of thousands of shi of grain can be eaten by the people in Guanzhong.

The consumption of grain transportation has been extremely horrific since ancient times.

Not to mention that there was no waterway to transport grain from Jingzhou to Guanzhong, so it could only be transported through the narrow and rugged Funiu Mountain Road.

Transporting grain along mountain roads...

According to historical records, when Zhuge Liang led the Northern Expedition, for every stone of grain he transported to the Guanzhong front, he would have to consume four stones of grain on the road.

Although the Funiu Road is not as difficult as the Shu Road and will not cause such great damage, even if we make an optimistic estimate, I am afraid that half of the food will be consumed on the road.

It was a blessing if more than 100,000 shi of grain could be transported to Guanzhong and 70,000 to 80,000 shi could be loaded into the treasury of Guanzhong.

Therefore, it is obviously unrealistic to curb the disaster in Guanzhong simply by purchasing grain from Jingzhou.

"It would be great if Hanzhong was still in the hands of the imperial court."

Hanzhong was well-stocked with food and grass, and was a natural granary. Coupled with the moisture of the Han River and the barrier of the Qinling Mountains, the disaster in Guanzhong could not reach this place where the Han Dynasty was founded.

Not to mention, if Hanzhong was acquired, the grain from Shu could be continuously transported to Guanzhong, which would provide Guanzhong with an additional source of income.

Unfortunately, Zhang Lu frequently killed Han envoys, so there was no possibility of negotiating with him.

"Zhang Lu? The Five Pecks of Rice Sect? Sooner or later, I will overturn your lair!"

Liu Xie only complained verbally. After all, the imperial court was already short of food, so how could it have extra food to attack Zhang Lu?
Seeing that Liu Xie was worried about food, Zhong Yao suddenly stood up.

"Your Majesty, I have a plan. I wonder if Your Majesty can agree to it."

"What's the plan?"

"Buy food from Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others."

?

what are you saying?
Liu Xie smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Why would they sell grain to Guanzhong? Did Yuan Chang forget? They just surrounded Guanzhong not long ago and wanted to commit treasonous acts. How could they be willing to help the enemy at this time?"

Jizhou occupied by Yuan Shao and Yanzhou occupied by Cao Cao must have abundant food, even more than Jingzhou occupied by Liu Biao.

Moreover, there are several waterways that can be used to transport grain from Jizhou and Yanzhou to Guanzhong, which can greatly reduce the damage caused by grain transportation... If we can buy grain from them, it will naturally be of great benefit to Guanzhong.

But neither Yuan Shao nor Cao Cao were fools.

Guanzhong is short of food. It's good enough that they don't add insult to injury. How can we expect them to sell food to save their lives?
If they were really such great saints, the world would have been peaceful long ago and would not have been in the situation it is today.

"Your Majesty's words are wrong."

Zhong Yao asked: "Guanzhong is short of food, but don't they also lack salt?"

"Although Yuan Shao occupied Jizhou, the salt-producing areas near the sea were all in the hands of Gongsun Zan."

"Cao Cao occupied Dongjun, but Liu Bei, who was still in the plain to the east, prevented him from obtaining sea salt."

"Especially Jizhou and Dongjun, both have large populations and prosperous people. Their urgency for salt is no less than your majesty's urgency for grain."

"And salt... is available in Hedong!"

"And there are a lot of them!"

(End of this chapter)