The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 705 All-Out Disaster Relief
The Little Ice Age disaster is bound to erupt sooner or later.

Emperor Wanli was already aware of this.

He had long been prepared to deal with natural disasters.

Therefore, he did not panic when the natural disaster struck.

However, disaster relief is not just a matter of words.

Such a severe disaster cannot be resolved simply by convening the cabinet and the six ministries and seven ministers and making some arrangements.

The cabinet and the six ministries and seven ministers can only determine the general direction; specific disaster relief matters still need to be handled by designated personnel.

Qin Yiming was sent by him to the Nurgan Regional Military Commission to be in charge of building houses and digging irrigation canals. However, just having houses and irrigation canals was not enough.

On the day he returned, he sent a flying dragon ship to Nurgan Commandery to bring back Zhu Changxu, the Northern Prince, and Zhang Yuande to the capital.

The Flying Dragon Ship was incredibly fast; it took less than four days for Zhu Changxun, the Prince of the North, and Zhang Yuande to take it over.

On the 12th of May, around 5 PM, shortly after Prince Zhu Changxun and Zhang Yuande returned to the capital, he summoned Crown Prince Zhu Changxun, Duke Zhu Yingzhen, Duke Xu Wenbi, Duke Zhang Yuangong, Song Yingxing, Yu Zigao, and others to the Military Council Hall.

He gathered everyone around the huge map of the Ming Dynasty's territory on the table for a while before solemnly saying, "This time, there is a severe drought in the Northwest. We must do our best to provide disaster relief. We must relocate all the severely affected disaster victims to the Nurgan Regional Military Commission."

Moreover, we must ensure that they have a place to stay, enough food, land to cultivate, and that they don't freeze during the winter.

Furthermore, and more importantly, they must produce enough grain this year; otherwise, the imperial court will have to provide them with food for at least a year and a half.

It's already mid-May. In five or six days, I will send naval ships to transport the disaster victims to the Sanjiang Plain. Everything there needs to be prepared in advance.

I have already dispatched Yiming with over a million garrison soldiers to build houses and dig irrigation canals there. The issues of food rations and farmland cultivation must also be resolved, and coal for the winter must be prepared for them.”

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded slightly.

It's not enough to just take the disaster victims there; it's not enough to just provide them with a place to live and land to cultivate. And land isn't something you can just cultivate on a whim.

Moreover, the disaster victims need to have something to eat once they arrive. Even if they can start farming immediately, it will take at least six months before they can harvest the food, and someone will be responsible for providing them with food for the next six months.

Who should be responsible for this?
Emperor Wanli carefully scanned the area, then solemnly said, "Xu'er, I intend to entrust you with the responsibility of providing food for the disaster victims."

You did a great job this time, donating so much smoked meat and vermicelli to the disaster victims. Your Majesty is very pleased. This is how a prince should act. When the country is in trouble, those who can contribute money should contribute money, and those who can contribute their labor should contribute their labor.

Since you've already donated so much smoked meat and vermicelli, you won't have to pay for the food rations of these displaced disaster victims.

The money will come from the imperial treasury. You only need to prepare enough grain, meat, vermicelli, fruits, and vegetables, and then dispatch ships to deliver them to the Sanjiang Plain in a timely manner.

Well, actually I didn't pay for the donated smoked meat and vermicelli.

The Northern Prince Zhu Changxu said honestly, "Father, the donated smoked meat and vermicelli were not actually purchased by your son."

The Empress Dowager said that the money would come from the Imperial Treasury. In the past two years, the taxes from the Liaodong and Nurgan Regional Military Commissions have been used to provide disaster relief without having to be turned over to the national treasury. The Imperial Treasury will advance these taxes to the national treasury.

Therefore, I didn't spend much money. I still have money; it's just that the tax revenue from the Liaodong and Nurgan Regional Military Commissions has been spent by less than one-tenth of the total over the past two years.

The Empress is truly virtuous and kind.

She was trying to establish the image of a virtuous king for the princes who were to be enfeoffed.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Alright, let's do it this way. The taxes of Liaodong Commandery and Nurgan Commandery this year do not need to be handed over to the national treasury. The internal treasury will cover the costs. You just need to focus on disaster relief."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Changxu, the Prince of the North, nodded repeatedly and said, "Your subject understands."

Another problem is farming.

With Xu Guangqi and Song Yingxing both absent, who will take responsibility?
Wanli then slowly scanned the area and solemnly said, "Yuande, you have the most experience in organizing land reclamation and farming. I will entrust you with the responsibility of helping the disaster victims cultivate the land in the Sanjiang Plain."

Once you get back, quickly prepare seeds and fertilizer, etc. The disaster victims need to start planting immediately after they move in, otherwise it will be too late.

It's getting a little too late now.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuande cautiously said, "Your Majesty, the Songliao Plain has already begun cultivation, and the Sanjiang Plain must also hurry up and start cultivating seedlings."

If we wait until the disaster victims have moved away before starting to cultivate seedlings, we'll miss the planting season, and there's no guarantee of a harvest even when the land is frozen over this year.

Should we start cultivating seedlings now?
Upon hearing this, Wanli's face turned solemn as he said, "Yuande, do you mean that we should gather manpower now to help the relocated disaster victims cultivate seedlings?"

Zhang Yuande nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, seedling cultivation takes at least twenty days. If we wait until the disaster victims have moved there before we start cultivating seedlings, it will be too late."

Where can we gather manpower to cultivate seedlings?

It seems there wasn't enough time to redeploy the garrison troops, because the one million garrison troops he brought back had already been transferred there to build houses and dig irrigation canals.

Of the remaining one million garrison troops, two hundred thousand were stationed in the Western Commandery in North America, two hundred thousand in the Eastern Commandery, and another six hundred thousand were engaged in the construction of the railway connecting the capital to Nanjing.

At this moment, the 600,000 garrison troops have all been sent to Southern Zhili, and they are scattered far and wide. It is impossible to gather them together and bring them to Nurgan Regional Military Commission in just a few days. Wanli thought about it carefully and then asked, "The garrison households of Nurgan Regional Military Commission are currently cultivating their own fields, right? When will they be able to finish cultivating them?"

Zhang Yuande nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, they are all cultivating their own fields. It will take until the end of the month to finish cultivating them all."

The garrison households of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission cannot be transferred; they cannot simply abandon their own land to help disaster victims cultivate seedlings.

The soldiers in Liaodong Town cannot be transferred either, as they are all busy cultivating seedlings and tilling the land right now and have no time to spare.

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "What about the garrison households of the Liaodong Military Command? Have they finished cultivating their fields?"

Zhang Yuande recalled, "When I came by boat, I saw that they had already started planting rice seedlings. Some had already finished, and those that hadn't finished didn't have much left."

Then transfer the military households of the Liaodong Military Command to the area.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slowly, then decisively said, "Yuande, you will take the Flying Dragon Ship to Liaodong Commandery first thing tomorrow morning and gather the garrison troops to cultivate seedlings there."

Remember, regardless of gender, anyone willing to go will receive one or two taels of silver per month. You can determine how many people are needed to cultivate seedlings for 100 million mu of land; that's how many people you'll recruit.

Are you still going to pay me?
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuande nodded, then cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, why don't we also buy the seeds from them? We can just have them bring the seeds directly, saving us the trouble of buying them ourselves."

Wanli nodded without hesitation and said, "You can handle this as you see fit. In short, don't worry about the money. You just need to consider how to get the relocated disaster victims to grow their crops this year."

Zhang Yuande nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Wanli thought for a moment, then carefully instructed, "Yuangong, you are in charge of things like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. As much as the disaster victims need, you should mobilize and transport it over."

Let's not accept money this time; consider it a donation from all the businesses under Wanshengtang.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuangong nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Next came the deployment of naval ships.

Wanli thought for a moment, then asked, "Kemai, is there any problem with the Weiyuan warship entering the Songliao Grand Canal without armor and cannons?"

This seems to have a problem.

Yu Zigao explained in detail: "Your Majesty, this time we used the Weiyuan warship, which is not equipped with armor or cannons, to take the garrison troops to the Sanjiang Plain."

Based on the draft of the Weiyuan warships, I have calculated that each Weiyuan warship carrying a thousand men or a thousand shi of grain should have no problem crossing the Songliao Grand Canal.

The accompanying flying dragon ship has reported back that there were indeed no problems.

However, a full load is definitely not feasible; the Songliao Grand Canal is not deep enough, and if the Weiyuan warship were fully loaded, it would most likely run aground.

I didn't think of that at the time.

At that time, they did not consider that such a huge ocean-going ship would travel through inland waterways.

The problem is that the Weiyuan warships, which are not equipped with armor or cannons, are their main transport capacity. If each Weiyuan warship can only carry about a thousand people, then most of their transport capacity will be wasted.

After thinking it over carefully, Wanli asked again, "Is there a problem with the Liaohe River waterway? The Weiyuan warship can pass through even when fully loaded, right?"

Yu Zigao nodded repeatedly and said, "There is no problem with the Liaohe River waterway. The Weiyuan warship can pass through even when fully loaded."

Then the transfer will be divided into three stages.

Wanli nodded slightly, then decisively said, "You must mobilize all four thousand-plus flying shuttle boats to the Yellow River waterway to pick up the displaced disaster victims."

The Weiyuan warship waited at the Haihekou Wharf. After the shuttle boats picked up the disaster victims, they were transported to the Haihekou Wharf. Once the disaster victims arrived at the Haihekou Wharf, they boarded the Weiyuan warships. Each warship, filled with three thousand people, was then pulled into the Liaohe River waterway.

For the section of the Songliao Grand Canal leading to the Sanjiang Plain, you should arrange for a thousand flying dragon ships to transport the victims, while the Weiyuan warships will deliver the disaster victims to Qingyunwei and then return.

In short, you must act quickly. The seedlings there will only have about twenty days to develop. Before the seedlings are ready, you must get all the displaced people to the Sanjiang Plain.

Upon hearing this, Yu Zigao nodded repeatedly and said, "This subordinate understands."

Wanli thought about it carefully again, and then solemnly said: "Yingzhen and Wenbi, you should call on dukes, marquises and nobles to donate some money."

The Nurgan Regional Military Commission is much colder than the Northwest. Although there is heating there, the disaster victims cannot stay indoors all winter.

"Let the money donated by dukes, marquises, and nobles be used to buy sheepskin coats for the disaster victims who have been relocated there, so they won't get cold when they go out in winter."

This is no small amount of money; after all, there are at least several million disaster victims who have been relocated there.

However, at this time, the dukes and nobles were all wealthy, and there were many dukes and nobles in the Ming Dynasty. It should be enough for each of them to donate a few hundred or a thousand taels.

Upon hearing this, Duke Cheng, Zhu Yingzhen, and Duke Ding, Xu Wenbi, nodded repeatedly and said, "Your humble servants understand."

(End of this chapter)