The atmosphere in Hui'an Palace seemed a bit stagnant. Wu Feng, who was sitting above, had a normal expression. The other people all had gloomy expressions. They were all obviously facing trouble. There was no reason at all because of the Indian region and the I felt excited and joyful at the news of the great victory in the Southwest War.
"Let's talk about it. Things are coming, and we have to face it, right? Natural disasters happen in every dynasty and every generation. Hey, let's call Lianlai to catch up. Xiao Tang, can you tell us if this is the case? This is a bad start for the Tang Empire, isn't it?" Half-jokingly trying to open up the atmosphere, Wu Feng stretched out and glanced at the crowd.
"Your Majesty is joking. Now that the empire is at its peak, how can we say that it is a bad year? It's just that natural disasters happen too frequently, and the empire uses intensive military forces abroad, so it is inevitable that there will be some financial difficulties. Therefore, I think that in the next step, we will provide disaster relief at the same time. We still need to repair the water conservancy facilities in various places. The floods in several areas have sounded a warning for us. If we don't pay attention to it, it will really cause a serious trouble."
Xiao Tang smiled bitterly. He had always been in a mixed mood. The Meili and Indian regions were successfully pacified with little effort. He had always hoped that the empire could rest and take a breather. Although he also knew that His Majesty intended to continue to use troops in the southwest, he was facing Due to the huge drought in the north and the abnormal climate in Wuhu, Sanjiang, Tiannan, and Myanmar counties, heavy rains have continued for more than ten days, and floods are coming fiercely. Xiao Tang once hoped to postpone the use of troops in the southwest, but his Majesty the Emperor vetoed it. Now, although The war in the southwest has been victorious, but the Wuhu, Sanjiang, and Tiannan regions are already a vast expanse of water, with nearly 10 million victims displaced. However, drought continues in the north, and many places have not seen a drop of rain for two months. The harvest in most areas of Yanyun and Beiyuan may even affect next year's spring plowing. Such a serious situation cannot be covered up by a few foreign wars. Maybe public opinion can cover up the people who have not suffered the disaster, but several counties in the north and south What about locally
The plague began to spread before the floods in Sanjiang, Tiannan, and Burma counties receded. Taidu, Yushan, Jiangchuan, Zhujiang, Nanfeng, Qinzhou, Guining, and Perth all experienced widespread plague spread. According to the figures reported by the local government, at least more than 2,000 people have died from the plague, and the situation is continuing to spread. Fortunately, no signs of the spread of the plague have been found in the Wuhu area. Otherwise, given the density of the population in the Wuhu area, the situation would be unimaginable once it spread.
"Well, Xiao Tang, you don't need to beat me around the bush. I have decided to suspend the use of foreign troops. Cui Wenxiu reported that he requested the use of troops against Custan and Dexin Province controlled by the Hansen Alliance and in the second phase, the use of troops in southern Meili. The plans have been shelved by the Federation. At present, the empire is facing such huge difficulties. Disaster relief and later reconstruction require massive funds. All parties have to find ways to raise funds for the League to solve the problem. All other constructions are suspended. Military operations are temporarily suspended. Cancel. We will wait until we get through this." Wu Feng nodded, "Zheng Bin, please talk about the situation in each place first."
"Okay. You all probably already know the situation in the two northern counties. Beiping, Yanshan, Yunzhong, Yulin, Qinghe, Anyuan, and Pinglu have almost no harvests. The remaining three prefectures have only 30% of the harvest. In the early empire, The Ministry of Finance has allocated a large amount of funds for relief, and relief in various places is also being carried out in an orderly manner. The Immigration Department of the Ministry of Economic Development has also carried out some resettlement operations, but these are only a drop in the bucket. It is difficult to solve the fundamental problem, and now we are about to prepare for next year, and the climate It’s still dry and the harvest in early spring next year will be worrying. I’m afraid we are preparing for the worst.”
"The situation in the four southern counties continues to worsen. Although there is no plague in the Wuhu area, due to the large number of lakes and rivers in this area, the disaster is the most serious. There are 6 million people affected. The pressure for disaster relief is considerable. At present, urgent measures have been sent to the Wuhu area. A large amount of supplies were delivered to the region, and the Ministry of Finance allocated the first phase of 60 million imperial gold coin relief funds. Especially considering the reconstruction of the victims' homes after the disaster, it can be imagined that this amount of money is an astronomical figure. Sanjiang and Tiannan two The situation in the county is also quite bad. The number of people affected by the disaster is about three million. The first batch of relief funds of 30 million imperial gold coins has been allocated, and relief materials are also being urgently dispatched. The most difficult problem now is that a large-scale earthquake has occurred here. If the spread of the plague cannot be controlled in time, I am afraid that the entire southern region of the empire will be involved, and the empire will face a huge crisis. I would like to ask your Majesty to pay special attention to this. The situation in Burma County is slightly better, and Perth House is mainly affected by the disaster. Disaster relief Four million imperial gold coins have been allocated, but it may be difficult to transport supplies. Now I have asked Zhongnan County and Nanhai County to transport supplies from the south to provide support."
"I have conducted a preliminary discussion with Mr. Wada on the disaster situation in the north and south. According to the current situation we have, if the situation can be controlled and does not continue to worsen, it is estimated that the first and second phases of disaster relief funds and materials will need to be 200 million yuan. It’s about 50 million imperial gold coins. If you take into account the post-disaster reconstruction of victims’ houses and various infrastructures: it is conservatively estimated that the empire needs to invest another 400 million imperial gold coins.”
Yang Zhengbin's last words immediately caused a group of ministers to whisper. Sixty-five million imperial gold coins is not a small amount. Even if the empire now receives revenue from the Indian Kingdom's treasury, that amount of money is a large part of it. It is a collection of various treasures collected by the royal families of the Indian Kingdom. It is probably worth more than 2 billion imperial gold coins. However, no one can afford this type of treasure, and it is impossible to sell it later. Everyone knows this.
There is less than 600 million gold that can really be used as circulating goods, and the empire has agreed to guarantee the private property of Hyderabad nobles, and it is impossible to collect too much in the Indian region. When Cui Wenxiu handed over the gold, he Military expenditures for the 100,000-strong army stationed in the Central Continent have been allocated, and 130 million imperial gold coins need to be spent in just one year. In the first and second phases of the Indian War and the Eastern Luzon War, The expenditures required in the Meili War reached 150 million. The little gold in the Indian Kingdom's treasury was only enough to support the military expenses of more than four years, and this did not include the requirements for fighting.
And now the construction of the Imperial Navy is also in full swing. In addition to the comprehensive construction of the Eastern Navy and the Nanyang Navy, His Majesty the Imperial Emperor has ambitiously built a Western Navy based on the Meili and West Indian coastal areas, so that the Imperial Navy can It is said that bathing in the sunshine in the Baltic Sea and Aegean Sea was the ambition of the Emperor during his study days. Although many city ministers had objections on this issue, they could not go against His Majesty's interest. But now the Imperial Finance has Now in a dilemma, many people have considered whether to nuclear spending on the imperial government.
"Zhengbin, we are not discussing whether the empire's finances can be sustained. We are asking you, does your Ministry of Economic Development have a detailed disaster recovery plan? What will the north do? How will the south arrange it? How do you plan to control the plague? "Wufeng was a little annoyed. This guy actually came to talk to him about financial issues at this time. Is now the time to talk about finances? Yang Zhengbin is usually quite shrewd, why has he become so ignorant at this time
Yang Zhengbin also had troubles that he couldn't express. Both Xiao Tang and Tian Yi asked him to emphasize the financial issues of the empire when talking about disaster relief issues, so as to lay the foundation for cutting military expenditures in the next step. Yang Zhengbin knew that it was inevitable to mention financial issues at this time. It would annoy His Majesty, but he must obey the demands of his superiors and colleagues, not to mention that he also believed that the empire should reorganize and develop the economy as much as possible before there is no big threat at present, rather than blindly expand military affairs, just like a greedy bear wandering around. Foraging for food also requires a strong stomach to harmonize it, so he expressed his views at an inappropriate time at this time.
"Your Majesty, the disaster relief plans in various places have been arranged and arranged for a long time. The Immigration Department has already made plans for the resettlement of refugees. However, the situation has changed slightly now. Burma County is not suitable for resettling immigrants. Now the immigrants mainly go to the north. Kuiyang and Pamir Prefectures in Luzon. As for the plague, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture, Education and Health have agreed on a plan and have laid it out. The Ministry of Finance has allocated 20 million special funds to purchase various Prevention and treatment drugs, and a large amount of disinfection drugs and equipment have also been purchased and are on their way to the epidemic areas. It is estimated that some areas have received the first batch of drugs and equipment in the past two days. In addition, in order to prevent the possible spring shortage next year, the economy The Ministry of Development and the Ministry of War Preparedness have also contacted and have begun to purchase grain in the Indian and Northern Luzon regions to increase the imperial grain reserves in case of unexpected events," Yang Zhengbin replied.
"What countermeasures does the Ministry of Interior have?" Wu Feng was quite satisfied with Yang Zhengbin's answer, and turned to Zhong Wenjing.
“The Ministry of the Interior has ordered local internal affairs departments to strengthen their vigilance to prevent refugees from taking the opportunity to cause trouble. In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has also implemented martial law measures prohibiting the random movement of people in disaster-stricken and epidemic areas. The Ministry of Interior has also mobilized the Interior Guard and sent them to several disaster-stricken areas. In serious areas, we are always ready to respond to possible disturbances." Zhong Wenjing said concisely and to the point.
"Well, everyone, this time when our empire won a great victory in the foreign war, unprecedented droughts and floods occurred in our country. I am both happy and worried. Fortunately, the war is basically over now, and the people of Western Samoa and Sikkim are The representatives are all on their way to the imperial capital, so we have temporarily stopped military affairs. Now our thoughts are entirely focused on how to minimize the losses caused by disasters and maintain the vitality of the empire as much as possible. All departments must Go all out and once we get through this difficulty, the future of our empire will be bright and bright!"