Chapter 1218

November 5th, Shanhai City.

In the imperial study room, Zeng Guofan, the second assistant to the cabinet, was reporting the disaster situation to Ouyang Shuo.

Among the six elders in the cabinet, Zhang Liang and Wei Zheng work part-time and do not participate in the division of labor in the cabinet. Jiang Shang was the chief assistant of the cabinet, equivalent to half of the prime minister. When Ouyang Shuo was not in the capital, according to the usual practice, Jiang Shang supervised the country.

The remaining three elders, Kou Zhun, Yan Song, and Zeng Guofan, each had their own priorities.

Kou Zhun is in charge of personnel affairs and is also the first assistant to the chief assistant Jiang Shang. Whenever Daxia lays down a new territory, except for special ones like the Central Plains province that need to be treated with high standards, Kou Zhun usually takes charge of the overall situation.

Of course, if several provinces are conquered at once, it may be that several elders are in charge of each.

In addition, Yan Song was in charge of the court, mainly focusing on the big business of the capital court. Zeng Guofan is in charge of local government affairs, and Zeng Guofan has the most say when it comes to local affairs.

The two cooperated with each other to maintain the authority of the cabinet.

Yan Song is capable, but he likes to cultivate party members. If Yan Song is allowed to take charge of local government affairs, Ouyang Shuo is really worried, but it is not difficult for Yan Song to take charge of the court.

This time it involves local disasters, so Zeng Guofan reported it.

"The natural disaster in October affected 17 of the 22 provinces of the dynasty. More than 13 million people were affected, one million hectares of pastures were affected, and nearly 20 million mu of farmland. Preliminary estimates have caused direct economic losses There are more than 19 million gold coins, and the indirect economic loss is even more immeasurable, and it is still under further calculation."

After hearing this, Ouyang Shuo gasped.

Gaia was really ruthless this time, and directly let the Great Xia Dynasty cut off a piece of meat.

"Which provinces were the hardest hit?"

"Liaojin Province, Central Plains Province, Southern Anhui Province, Jiangnan Province, and North Africa's tutelary government, these five places were the most severely affected." Zeng Guofan remembered it by heart.

After hearing this, Ouyang Shuo didn't know whether it was sadness or joy.

More than half of them are new territories, which is really bad luck.

What made Ouyang Shuo feel a little relieved was that with the three provinces of Central Plains, Southern Anhui and Jiangnan affected by the disaster, if the imperial court generously donated money, the people in the three places would be grateful, and then they would eliminate their barriers and unite with the imperial court.

"Has all the relief food been distributed?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

Zeng Guofan replied: "According to the king's instructions, disaster relief is like fighting fires. The imperial court directly uses part of the grain reserves purchased years ago for disaster relief. After the grain harvest in the unaffected areas is completed, the warehouse will be filled."

Ouyang Shuo nodded in satisfaction.

The Great Xia family has a great business, and this natural disaster is estimated to be the biggest loss for a dynasty in the world.

But it is precisely because of the large family business that Daxia was not affected by the disaster, or there are still many areas that were not seriously affected. The east wall was demolished to make up for the west wall, and the left and right were moved around.

Unlike some dynasties, the territory is small, and once a disaster is hit, the whole territory is hit by a disaster, and there is no room for change.

Not to mention other regions, but in terms of the Huaxia region, the Mongolian Empire on the grasslands, the Great Zhou Dynasty in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and the Tang Dynasty in the upper reaches of the Yellow River were all severely affected.

On the contrary, the Xixia Kingdom and Daqin, which are close to the grassland, have been fed with locusts in the vast grassland, so that the two countries were spared from the plague of locusts and escaped by luck.

What made Ouyang Shuo more vigilant was that the Mongol Empire was a hard-hit area this time, and as a nomadic people, their food source was single, and their ability to resist disasters was weaker than that of farming civilization.

This winter, the Mongol Empire is bound to be very difficult.

With the nature of Genghis Khan, he would never bow his head and admit defeat to anyone. The only possibility is to send troops to go out to plunder before winter, and feed his own people with the blood of the enemy.

The land of the Central Plains bears the brunt.

The Mongol Empire did this for a good reason. In this locust plague, the Mongolian prairie has protected the Central Plains from disasters, and it is not a matter of course to charge a little interest.

Therefore, as early as a month ago, Ouyang Shuo sent an order to the northern border army to strengthen the border guard.

What worried Ouyang Shuo was that the Fengxiang Army and the Hedong Army planned to be stationed in the north were still being formed. If the Mongol Empire chose to invade the territory at this time, it would really be overwhelming.

If the situation is urgent, we can only rush the ducks to the shelves.

Putting this matter aside for the time being, Ouyang Shuo told Zeng Guofan: "Right now the price of food is rising, the cabinet must deal with it and control the price of rice, neither let the merchants take advantage of the opportunity to suck the blood of the people, nor let the people hoard too much rice."

Food is the paramount necessity of the people.

Once the price of grain rises, the people will panic, which will easily lead to a wave of panic buying, which will make the rice, which can guarantee a normal supply, become in short supply and give businessmen the opportunity to profit from it.

Stabilizing food prices is the bounden duty of the imperial court.

"Your Majesty, please rest assured that the cabinet has ordered the Commercial Department to send investigation teams to various places to supervise the matter. Once illegal behavior is found, the businessman will be severely punished. The governor's office of the provinces and the governor's office, as well as the imperial court I said hello and asked them to supervise the matter."

Ouyang Shuo nodded, having such an efficient cabinet made him feel at ease.

Zeng Guofan followed up, "Your Majesty, the price of grain has been rising recently. The grain we hoarded years ago, in addition to being self-sufficient, still has a large surplus. Do you want to sell a batch of grain for profit?"

Speaking of this, Zeng Guofan admired the king's foresight.

Years ago, Ouyang Shuo insisted on spending tens of millions of dollars to purchase grain, betting that Gaia's grain production would decrease in six years. At that time, the ministers including Zeng Guofan were very puzzled.

They are also very unimpressed by such a shocking gamble.

It has now been proved that the king's judgment is correct. If this batch of grain is sold, the imperial court can make a net profit of 10 to 20 million gold coins. There is no more cost-effective deal than this.

Sometimes Zeng Guofan also thought, but every king can see things that ordinary people can't see.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why the king was able to conclude that there would be natural and man-made disasters in Gaia in six years based on just a few signs, which would lead to a reduction in food production.

The king's original guesses have now been fulfilled one by one.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head and said with a smile, "How much money can you earn from selling grain? It's just Little Lier."

Zeng Guofan was startled, vaguely guessing the king's intentions, and dared not say it clearly, so he could only expose it, and then mentioned another matter, "Your Majesty, the imperial court is currently in disaster, and the grand ceremony scheduled for the New Year will be held as scheduled?"

"That's natural."

Ouyang Shuo glanced at Zeng Guofan.

The grand promotion ceremony is the biggest event in the Great Xia in the near future. It is related to the dignity of a country. Now that the date has been set, no matter what difficulties you encounter, you will feel that it is impossible to change it.

With Zeng Guofan's wisdom, he would never ask such superficial questions.

Since you asked, there is another meaning.

Zeng Guofan must still feel sorry for the food, and he dared not ask explicitly, so he could only ask in a roundabout way.

Sure enough, Zeng Guofan took advantage of the situation and said: "To be promoted to the dynasty, at least one province needs to be conquered. The king ordered to stop fighting before the end of the year. I don't know how to solve this one less province."

Zeng Guofan is not the only one who has this doubt.

Ouyang Shuo smiled. It was a sense of accomplishment to be able to understand the minds of these ministers. He replied, "The remaining province can be taken without spending a single soldier. What is missing is an opportunity."

Zeng Guofan listened thoughtfully.

…………

On November 10, the Indian Empire traveled thousands of miles and sent envoys to Shanhai City.

Although there is a communication compass and communication breaks through geographical barriers, when it comes to state affairs, the dynasties are still used to sending envoys solemnly to present state affairs as a show of respect.

The Indian Empire came to make a strange request to Ouyang Shuo.