Chapter 30                                                             �

If Tang Shiying really wanted to be promoted, she shouldn't have been so aggressive to her superiors. Tang Shiying was thinking more about the people in northwest Shaanxi, and later generations such as Gansu, Ningxia, Lanzhou and other places.

This area is different from other places, because the Huashan earthquake caused the chain-lock earthquake. With Ningxia as the center, many places also have earthquakes. Of course, their earthquake magnitude is not as high as that of Huashan. The population density is not as high as that of Guanzhong, but it does not mean that they have lost no losses.

Although the losses are not as big as Guanzhong, it is precisely because of its remoteness and underdeveloped economy that it is easy to become a forgotten corner of the Ming Dynasty. At least Zhou Mengchen did not care much about these corners.

It wasn't Zhou Mengchen's omission, but compared with Tongguan, Huayin, and other counties, and each county has become a ruin, the losses in Ningxia are a little smaller.

Zhou Mengchen said, "Okay, this 500,000 taels will be handed over to you. However, the court's money and food are limited, and there is only this 500,000 taels outside Guanzhong, Shaanxi, and there is no more. Can you do it well?"

Tang Shiying hesitated for a moment and said, "The emperor obeys the order."

Zhou Mengchen also felt relieved and said to himself: "It seems that this Tang Shiying is a reliable person." After all, Zhou Mengchen does not know how to clone his body, and many things have to be distributed to the people below. In fact, once he has ordered the Shanxi Governor and Henan Governor to provide relief to the people in his jurisdiction, and report to him if there are any shortcomings. The person he is directly responsible for is the foot of Mount Hua, where the most serious prefectures and counties in this circle are mostly in Shaanxi.

Zhou Mengchen said, "By the way. I will take out all the gunpowder in Shaanxi Dusi, and I will use it."

Tang Shiying naturally would not fail to cooperate.

Just when Zhou Mengchen handled the matter here in Xi'an and left Xi'an with dozens of carts of gunpowder, Zhou Mengchen also received the first good news. Under the supervision of Qi Jiguang and with the support of the Luoyang Prefect, the Baili Tongguan Road was finally opened.

The passage of Central Plains materials entering Guanzhong is loyal to the smooth flow.

Moreover, the first batch of 100,000 stones of grain began to be shipped and disembarked in Luoyang. It was transported by land and was coming to Guanzhong.

Zhou Mengchen received a letter from Xu Wei. He estimated that one million taels of silver could only be sold for one hundred and fifty stones of grain in Guanzhong. It was not that one tael of silver could only sell one stone and five dou of grain, but that there were miscellaneous expenses such as freight. It can be said that if Xu Wei had not come to do this, it would have been good that one million taels of silver could be transported for one million taels of grain.

After all, although the Yellow River waterway is open to navigation, it is not as good as the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The port throughput capacity and other transport capacity of Luoyang are much worse than before, let alone winter now. It is not the season when food comes down.

In short, due to various factors, the price of grain cannot be suppressed at all.

Zhou Mengchen also made a preliminary statistics. The number of people affected by the Guanzhong area has exceeded one million, and even more. As for the number of casualties, an accurate number has not been counted yet. The reason for this is that the death toll is huge, and more importantly, the basic difference in the population statistics of the Ming Dynasty is too different. In the Ming Dynasty statistics, there are only 60 to 70 million in the world, but in fact this number is several times that of this. The population in Guanzhong is the most densely populated area in the entire northwest. It is unclear how many people there are before the earthquake.

However, although there is no counting how many people died or injured. However, the number of bodies buried in excavations and reported below is a number, about 100,000. In addition, many villages are generally trapped underground, and many people have not excavated at all. Therefore, Zhou Mengchen estimated that at least 200,000 deaths in the core area of ​​the earthquake were killed.

What is this concept? The productivity in Guanzhong has suffered a devastating blow.

In addition, there are so many prefectures and counties around the periphery that the number of casualties and injuries is 300,000. It is estimated that there are some.

Moreover, this number has been growing. Although the earthquake has passed, various disasters are still continuing. Not to mention anything else, many villages in the Qinling Mountains have not yet contacted the foot of the mountain, and I don’t know what the situation is. Zhou Mengchen has no time to go to the mountain to find them.

First, Zhou Mengchen's hands were limited, and second, the situation of Tongguan Road was definitely not isolated. To be honest, Tongguan Road, as an ancient road that has been used by humans for thousands of years, is a road that can pass through the army, and is not as narrow as ordinary people imagine. But even so, the road is not covered and covered. We have to clean it up.

Not to mention, what the roads in the Qinling Mountains, such big roads and small roads will look like after the earthquake. Zhou Mengchen was not willing to imagine it. There are priorities and urgent matters. Zhou Mengchen has sent people to explore the problems of the surrounding roads. But he really has no experience in caring about these small roads in the mountains.

I can only pray that they will be blessed.

Zhou Mengchen thought to himself: "With the first batch of food, they can feel at ease."

To be at ease, the people will be at ease. Only when the people are at ease can other things be done. The first batch of 100,000 stones of grain will be placed on millions or even more victims, but it will not take long for the first time. However, when the people see that there is food in Guanzhong, they will be at ease. Zhou Mengchen can make further plans.

Zhou Mengchen thought about it and immediately conveyed several orders. He asked several counties such as Tongguan, Huayin to immediately elect temporary county magistrates, directly under the jurisdiction of Zhou Mengchen, and formed a county government to clarify the three data: how many people in each county, how much grain they have, and how long can they last after the food security distribution? Under this, we can achieve unified allocation of food. By the way, the news that the first batch of grain was released to Tongguan.

Then he sent an order to Qi Jiguang, so that he would not be able to find him and go directly to Chaoyi and prepare to explode the Yellow River.

When Zhou Mengchen came here with gunpowder, Qi Jiguang had already arrived.

Zhou Mengchen immediately asked, "Have you seen it?"

Qi Jiguang said: "I have seen it. It's not a big problem to blow it up, but this is just on the river surface. I don't know what is going on under the river. The disciples think that you need to spend more time digging a well from above. The deeper the better, so that you can ensure that there are no reefs left as much as possible. However, in this way, the person who dugs the well will be too dangerous."

Zhou Mengchen also knew that this mountain was a mountain of earth. He probably would be washed away by the Yellow River water over time. But he still could not guarantee how long it would take and whether there would be any residue. After all, you have to know that this section of the river can be navigated. From Tongguan to Hukou Waterfall, it can be navigated. It is also an important transportation line between Qin and Jin. If there are any remnants left here, the natural waterway here will become a gate of hell on the water. This will be a huge loss.

Zhou Mengchen said, "Do as you say. Every person who digs a well will give you a hundred taels of silver. If you can't come back, the government will give you a pension of 100 taels, and the total of 200 taels of his wages will be guaranteed to his son. They will be raised until they are eighteen years old."

Qi Jiguang said: "The teacher is kind-hearted."

Zhou Mengchen said with some self-deprecating self-deprecating: "This is a life-long money, I'm still willing to spend it."

The reason why Qi Jiguang said this is because a life of less than 200 taels of silver these days, especially after the disaster, I don’t know how many families are in extreme distress and reaching the end of nowhere. More than 10 taels of silver are enough for a man to work hard.

Human life is priceless when it is said to be priceless, but it is also very cheap at the same time.

Qi Jiguang received Zhou Mengchen's order and personally organized people to dig wells on the earthen mountain. This method is very dangerous. The exposed part on the river surface is fine, but digging downwards. Who knows what the situation is, whether it is digging out water or a trivial matter. If you accidentally, the entire earthen mountain will crack at the well dug, and the people on the earthen mountain will save their lives.

Fortunately, Qi Jiguang did his work meticulously enough. Although one or two craftsmen fell into the water, they were all good at water. After soaking in the cold Yellow River water for a while, no one could die. After several days of intense work, the gunpowder was placed inside the mountain. Everything should be done and everything should be calculated has been calculated, but what remains depends on God's will.
Chapter completed!