Morning court in Nanyang Palace.

In troubled times, everyone keeps things simple. In the past, the scene of civil and military officials gathering outside the main hall, wearing red clothes and wearing purple moths and crowns, waiting to go to court, is definitely no longer possible. Besides, the small court now only has so much

Man, who are you going to show such a big scene? So the current court meeting is nothing more than three Zhuguo generals plus a limited number of officials such as Ji Shiyou and Xiao Yu sitting together to discuss important matters.

Everyone discussed a feasible solution together, then drew up a charter, and then asked the little emperor to pick up the jade seal and stamp it, and then began to implement it. The whole process was shabby, without so much bickering and intrigue.

Sima Fan turned over the documents in his hand and said: "The envoys sent out have received responses one after another. Liu Kun, Tuoba Lu Yi, Duan Wuwuchen, Zhang Gui, King Langya, Jiangzhou Governor Hua Yi, etc., all

After accepting the canonization from the imperial court, Sima Mo of Guanzhong also came forward to declare himself a vassal... They all recognized His Majesty's legitimacy, and we have gained a firm foothold."

Bei Gongjing asked: "Has Tu Bo's attitude changed?"

A trace of anger flashed across Sima Fan's face: "Dongping County Duke's attitude is still strong, claiming that he is ashamed to be as famous as us juniors. We are without him, and he is without us!"

Li Rui was shocked: "Why is this guy so crazy?"

Bei Gongjing said coldly: "If he wasn't crazy, he wouldn't be called Tu Bo. It seems that there is no chance of winning over Tu Bo. What a pity!"

Sima Fan said: "Yes, there is no chance. What should we do next?"

Li Rui said: "Leave him alone. As long as he doesn't come to provoke us, we won't pay attention to him."

Everyone looked at each other and expressed their approval.

But they didn't know that even if they didn't provoke Gou Xi, Gou Xi wouldn't necessarily coexist peacefully with them, because the small court they supported had already blocked Gou Xi's way. They supported the crown prince

Brother, as long as Sima Quan, the just and legitimate little emperor, reigns for one day, Sima Duan, whom he supports, will not be able to take any further steps. How can Gou Xi be willing to do this? If he blocks someone else's way, he will be damned if he doesn't cause trouble!

Sima Fan opened the second document and said: "Sima Mo, King of Nanyang, sent an envoy to Wancheng yesterday carrying several kilograms of copper and asked to buy 10,000 dendrobium of grain to alleviate the famine in Guanzhong. Do you think this grain should be sold?"

Guanzhong has always been a strange place. When the empire was strong, it was the most prosperous and prosperous paradise in the entire empire. But when the empire fell into turmoil, it was the most terrifying hell for the empire. This was true during the Qin and Han Dynasties, this was true during the Three Kingdoms period, and this was true at the end of the Jin Dynasty.

This was still the case at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the end of the Tang Dynasty. In the past few years, there had been a famine in Guanzhong, and it became more and more serious every year. Cannibalism occurred from time to time. Coupled with the outbreak of plague from time to time, the people were simply in dire straits.

This is actually related to the drop in global temperature. Starting from the Eastern Han Dynasty, the global climate entered the Little Ice Age, getting colder year by year. The most serious situation was during the Liu and Song Dynasties, when the global temperature dropped by almost two degrees compared to the Western Han Dynasty. At first glance

It doesn't seem to matter if you watch the temperature twice. In fact, coastal areas really don't feel it. It's just a little colder. What's so scary? But for inland areas, it's fatal. Coastal areas have such a huge sea.

The temperature regulation system absorbs heat when the temperature rises and releases heat when the temperature drops. Therefore, the global temperature drop has little impact on the coast. However, there is no such regulation system in the inland areas. The temperature in the coastal areas drops by one or two degrees, and the temperature in the coastal areas drops by one or two degrees.

In mainland areas, it may have to drop by seven or eight degrees, and in areas outside the Great Wall that are already dry and cold, it is likely to drop by ten or twenty degrees! Originally, minus 30 degrees in the eastern season is scary enough, but here it is for you

If the temperature reaches minus 50 or 60 degrees, let me ask you if you are afraid! The drop in global temperature will also have a subtle impact on the flow of water vapor. The most intuitive one is that once the Little Ice Age arrived, inland rainfall decreased significantly and droughts occurred frequently.

The ability of farmers in this era to resist drought was very weak, and they were forced to a dead end in a few rounds.

Whenever the Little Ice Age comes, Guanzhong will inevitably experience severe droughts year after year, without exception.

There was still a severe drought in Guanzhong this year, and the vegetation was withered. Sima Mo was really at his wits end, so he melted down bells, tripods, bronze figures and other utensils to make cooking utensils and used them in exchange for food. His main target for food exchange was Liangzhou, where the Qilian Mountains were

, nourished by the snow and water of the Yinshan Mountains, the drought has not affected it yet, and the grain output is quite considerable. However, Liangzhou's grain reserves are also limited. Even if Zhang Gui wants to help him, he is unable to feed the entire Guanzhong. Now a large number of refugees are pouring into Liangzhou. Liangzhou

Sima Mo was also short of food, so he had to send an envoy to Nanyang to try his luck with a large number of bronzes.

However, his luck is as bad as ever.

Jia You smiled bitterly and said: "Sell? How can we sell him food? We can hardly eat!"

Li Rui asked: "How much food do we have?"

Jia You said: "This year, a total of 600,000 hu of wheat was harvested, 200,000 hu of which went into the official warehouse, and another 400,000 hu of which were used by the people for their own consumption. Now the population of Nanyang has exceeded 800,000. Even if one person eats half a catty of wheat, it will last a day.

They also have to eat five dry dendrobiums... What's even more terrible is that there is not enough food in Xiangcheng. Two dry dendrobes have to be transported to support every day! Now the grain storage in the official warehouse is less than 100,000 dendrobium, and the private grain storage is probably not enough.

It has reached 200,000 hu of dendrobium, and this amount of grain cannot sustain the autumn millet harvest!"

In Henan, millet is generally sown before and after Grain Rain, and the growth cycle of spring-sown millet is 120 to 140 days, that is, four to five months. Sowing in mid-April can be harvested in late September.

, while waiting for the millet harvest, they were all supported by last year's grain reserves. This is why from the Western Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, officials strongly encouraged farmers to plant wheat. Wheat can be harvested in May, which can be used to feed those

Last year, the grain reserves were used up but the millet was not yet mature, so the unlucky ones were provided with rations to survive. However, the wheat rice was really unpalatable and no one liked it, so the wheat planting area has never been very large.

But now there is only this wheat in Nanyang. If you don't eat it, you can only chew the turf.

The solution given by Li Rui was to quickly build more than 20 water-powered mills in areas with rapid water flow to process wheat into flour for the people free of charge. He also personally demonstrated and taught the people step by step how to process flour into various delicious foods.

Pasta. If you have cooking utensils at home, you can make steamed buns, noodles, and steamed buns. If you don’t have these, you can first make a fire, burn the stones, sand, etc. until it is hot, then put the rolled out cakes in it, bury it with embers, and it will be done quickly.

You can eat it. If possible, you can also add some wild vegetables mixed with oil and salt or even hunted game, which will be more nutritious. Under his leadership, pasta was quickly popularized, especially with

Charcoal-fired pancakes, a convenient and fast cooking method, are extremely popular among the people. Wheat, which has never been popular among people, has become a delicacy.

It's just that the food made by ordinary people is not very delicious. They mix bran and flour together to make pasta. The food they make is rough, let alone it. But no matter how rough it is, you have to eat it, as long as it can fill your stomach.

Better than anything else, in this era where people are so hungry that they want to eat human flesh, ordinary people are not qualified to be picky eaters.

But even if even the bran is eaten as food, there is still not enough wheat. At this consumption rate, this little wheat will never be able to last the autumn harvest.

Li Rui couldn't help but lament: "Why don't they plant more wheat? The weather in Nanyang is going well this year, so there will definitely be a bumper wheat harvest. If we plant more wheat, won't we have enough food?"

Bei Gongjing sighed: "They didn't expect that there would be so many outsiders coming in, and they would go crazy and compete with them for food rations."

Sima Fan frowned: "In other words, we are unable to provide food to Guanzhong?"

Jia You smiled bitterly: "We are seeing a famine, so how can we talk about selling grain to Guanzhong?"

Sima Fan looked bitter: "Poor people in Guanzhong..."

Li Rui was very angry: "His grandma, Jia You, you should immediately draft a decree and ask all counties to plant wheat for me immediately after the autumn harvest! If they don't plant it, I will be severely punished! I would like to see if they choose to be punished.

Or choose to grow wheat!”

Jia You rolled his eyelids and said: "Don't worry about this. Now the people in Nanyang know how to eat wheat. In addition, the yield of wheat per acre is much higher than that of millet. After this year's autumn harvest, everyone will definitely plant a lot of wheat."

Li Rui said happily: "That's right! Plant wheat after the autumn harvest, and then plant millet after the wheat harvest next summer. You have two crops of food in one year. Are you worried that you won't be able to fill your stomach?"

Jia You was stunned for a moment: "Growing two crops of food a year? How is this possible?"

Li Rui said: "How is it impossible? If you plant winter wheat, the harvest will begin at the end of May the next year. After the harvest, you can plant millet and you will be able to harvest at the end of September or early October. How is it impossible?"

Jia You said that I still know a little bit about farming, so don’t fool me: “Theoretically, it’s possible, but the problem is that harvesting, threshing, drying, and returning grain all require a lot of time. Plowing the ground and sowing also require time.

Are you sure that growing two crops of food a year will keep farmers busy?"

Li Rui said: "Farm tools can be improved to increase efficiency. For example, iron plows can be used instead of wooden plows, animal-powered harvesters can be used instead of human harvesting, etc. There are many ways. If it doesn't work, we can use the two-year and three-crop system. Although it is better than one

Two crops a year means one less crop, but one crop more than one crop a year, so it’s quite cost-effective.”

Sima Quan, who had been silent and just listened with open ears, became interested: "How do you become familiar with it three times in two years?"

Li Rui said: "To put it bluntly, wheat is sown at the end of September and harvested at the end of May the following year. Millet is sown in mid-June and harvested in mid-to-late October. Then everyone keeps the grain in the warehouse for the winter. Millet is sown after the Grain Rain in the second year.
Chapter completed!