Chapter 606 Disaster Relief

"The six-part system of the three provinces has been completed, and the military music has also been reorganized." After appeasing Wei Yan, Ma Chao returned to his position and frowned and said, "But have you finished planning for the natural disaster next year?"

"Lord," as soon as Ma Chao finished speaking, Meng Da stood up and said loudly, "The statistics of the household department have come out. The Ma family has an income of 2277 billion yuan this year, and the property you brought back from Yuwu is about the same as the one-year tax income of Yongzhou. In Yongzhou counties, a total of 427 million stones of grain are in stock. After occupying Chang'an, the warehouse stored 2.32 million stones of grain, and the money was almost zero..."

These figures are Meng Da's remaining inventory after subtracting Ma's military expedition, funding of the Huns and Dong Zhuo's old troops. With the territory of Yongzhou, such a rich inventory can be said to be the only one in the Han Dynasty. However, Ma Chao still frowned and said, "Zidu, the household department is managed by you, and everyone knows the hard work. However, this relief does not need such a detailed number. You just need to tell everyone that the inventory of Yongzhou and Sili is enough for the people to eat?

"Lord, according to the figures from Luoyang's order, plus the number of people in Chang'an, there are more than 370,000 people in the whole Sili area." Speaking of this, Meng Da couldn't help smiling bitterly, spread out his hands, and said helplessly, "And all the grain stocks of Yongzhou and Sili are only enough for Sili people to eat in a month..."

"Only one month?" Ma Chao's eyebrows frowned deeper, rubbed his temples fiercely, and asked painfully, "If you exchange all the money for grain, what can you support?"

"If it is the autumn harvest, the grain is about 300 yuan per stone. However, Si Li was poisoned by Dong Zhuo, Xiongnu, Li Wei, Guo Yan and others one after another. In addition, at the end of winter, I'm afraid there is nothing to buy..." At this time, Meng Da felt that the words in his mouth weighed a thousand catties. Every time he spit a word, he had to try his best: "And in the areas of Hanzhong, Yizhou and Liangzhou, etc., they have bought a lot of grain. If they buy from these places, they may cause Han Sui, Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang to coveted them. If the three people plotted against the Ma family, there is no doubt It's even worse..."

"It doesn't matter," Ma Chao's shadow of the snowy night appeared in his mind and said with a smile, "I have contacted other merchants, and the grain should be enough. You just need to say how much grain can be exchanged for all the property of the Ma family.

"If according to the normal grain price, 300 yuan per stone, the Ma family can only deal with the people in Sili area for three months. No matter how much, you will have to survive the autumn and wait for the new food to come out..."

"Three months?" Ma's eyebrows seemed to be unresolved and muttered, "Even the Ma family's fastest mature winter wheat, potatoes and other things need to be at the end of June. In this way, far water can't quench the thirst..."

Ma's annexation of the Sili area is a very important strategic step. But at the same time, for the Ma family, the pace is too radical: the whole seven counties of Yongzhou, with a population of less than 700,000. In the area of Sili, even after the bloody rule of Dong Zhuo, there are still more than 3 million people.

If there is no natural disaster next year, the Ma family will also need to buy grain to support it until the end of summer. Then after a year of hivering, it can make a smooth transition. However, next year is doomed to be a natural disaster, and the Ma family will be overstretched. The words of the two made everyone's hearts heavier and heavier. After a long silence in the Deyang Hall, Jia Xu sighed slightly and reluctantly cheered up and said, "Gentlemen, there is no other solution to this matter..."

Jia Xu stood up, arched his hand to Ma Chao, and then turned to face His Highness: "Genie, in fact, we have been ignoring one thing before - we have been worried about relief, but have you ever thought about whether we must use rice to provide relief? !"

The officials were stunned, and His Highness whispered to each other, and they didn't understand what Jia Xu meant.

Jia Xu smiled. He looked up at the snow outside and seemed to fall into his memory. Then he flicked a little dust on the skirt of the bullet jacket and said lightly, "Don't be afraid of laughing. Jia also experienced famine and drought when he was exiled everywhere. At that time, people were no different from animals. It was common for people to eat each other and cut meat and fruit. Among them, it was not that the victims had no humanity, but because human flesh could also be eaten! Disaster victims can eat anything in order to survive!!"

After saying that, Jia Xu's face was a little cold, as if he was still immersed in the painful memories at the beginning. However, Fa Zheng on the side understood Jia Xu's meaning and suddenly felt cheerful in front of him and blurted out, "Yes... Disaster victims can eat anything... Weeds, bark, Guanyin soil... As long as they can survive, they will eat it!"

Ma Chao also woke up at this time, cut off Fa Zheng's words, and nodded, "Yes, now our purpose is to make the victims barely survive, so that most of the stronger people can survive until the end of summer - as for what to eat, it doesn't matter!!"

Meng Da also patted his thigh: "Yes - we don't have to buy grain. As long as we can eat, we can collect and buy it, such as war horse feed, weeds and other things, accompanied by other miscellaneous grains, which can also be eaten. In this way, the possibility of people's survival can be greatly increased..."

It seems that the mountain that covered everyone's eyes suddenly moved away. The atmosphere in Deyang Hall suddenly became lively. Everyone discussed loudly. Some people said that they can go up the mountain to hunt in winter and go down to the river to fish when the spring tide comes. Others said that Ma Chao could also lose his face last time. He wanted a batch of animals from the Qiang people outside the plug, and then repay them after the critical period. What's more, I even thought of those rich people in Chang'an...

Yes, in Chang'an, the gap between the rich and the poor is too obvious. Although Dong Zhuo has killed a lot, there are still many great warriors preserved in the foundation for hundreds of years. Especially after Ma Chao released those hundred officials of the imperial court, few of them moved to Xudu. Still in Chang'an, I hope to enjoy the new policy of the Ma family...

And this force is also what the Ma family had to prevent when the natural disaster came. Ma Chao and others are the performance of these people during the natural disaster. If you are willing to work together with the Ma family, the horse will return the favor, and if you still want to take the opportunity to make a lot of money, hey... Ma's knife is this kind of master who recognizes money and doesn't recognize people!

For a long time, Yang Xiu raised his head from the copywriting and handed over the minutes of the meeting to Ma Chao. Ma Chao took a look and found that the grain-raising matter seemed to be solved on the surface: first, transport grain from Yongzhou to Sili immediately; second, mobilize the whole army to hunt and fish, collect wild animals, and hoard them for natural disasters; third, led by Meng Da of the Ministry of Household, supplemented by Zhong Yu and Dong Zhao, to negotiate the purchase of grain and fodder from all over the country. 4. If the victims are turbulent and difficult to control, they will move part of it to the Yongzhou border for relief in advance.......

Ma Chao looked at the writing on it, and his heart calmed down slightly. However, after frowning, he still said, "Civil Affairs has a lot to do with it, and it can't be implemented immediately if you have an idea... Pound, after you arrive in Luoyang, remember to guard against it to avoid riots. In particular, I told Yang Feng, Liao Hua, Zhou Cang and Liang Xing to keep the two levels of tiger prison and water!"

"No!" When Pound took the order and was about to retreat, he heard Ma Chao add another sentence: "Also, the Xiongnu in the north, you should pay more attention to it, hum! Yuvro, don't think I don't know the good thing he did secretly!!"