Drought was a very serious natural disaster in ancient times... Houyi shot the sun, Kuafu chased the sun... Although these are myths, they are also the earliest memories of drought by our ancestors. Of course, myths cannot be true, nor will they really shoot down nine suns, but myths must have prototypes. After countless generations of word-of-mouths, generations of myths have been added to the fire and form myths, but the keyword in these myths is drought, so drought is real.

According to statistics in "History of Chinese Waste Rescue", from 1766 BC to 1937 AD, a total of 1,074 occurrences occurred, an average of more than once every three years.

This shows how frequently droughts occur. If we look at historical books and documents, we will find that there are such tragic records in the historical materials of various dynasties.

In ancient China, it was an agricultural society. The quality of most people's lives depends on the natural weather. Therefore, from the common people to the king of a country, the greatest expectation every year is "good weather". The so-called good weather means raining when it needs rain, and sunny when it needs sunny.

In ancient times, when the productivity and technology levels were very low, if there was too much rain, it could still be drained, but if there was drought, it would be almost powerless. Long-term drought would also bring about locust plagues, plagues and other problems.

This is not just something that the Tang Dynasty could solve at this time. Even in modern times, it should have been 1878, and a strange desolation in Dingwu occurred... This drought lasted for four years.

It is no exaggeration to say that this drought is the most serious, because its scope of influence started from Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Zhili and Shandong provinces, and later it affected northern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, Longdong, and northern Sichuan. About 200 million people were affected nationwide, accounting for half of the national population at that time.

What's even more terrifying is that more than 10 million people starved to death at that time, and more than 20 million people were forced to migrate. Their destinations were to go north to Mongolia and south to Jiangnan. There were countless deaths during the famine. Zeng Guoquan, who was the governor of Shanxi at the time, said that the drought was "not seen in more than 200 years."

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"You all have heard about Shangmen Village and Xiamen Village...!"

In the Ganlu Palace, Li Shimin looked at his confidants and asked.

Ma Zhou took the lead and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, the matter of Shangmen Village and Xiamen Village has been resolved because of the water grabbing. The leaders of both sides have been arrested, the deceased have been paid for the pension, and the dam has been opened. Xiamen Village now has water available."

"Okay... Wannian County is still doing business very quickly...!" Li Shimin praised, but then changed the subject: "But now we have to consider how many villages around Chang'an are as short of water as Shangmen Village and Xiamen Village.

And there is a bad news. I want to tell you that according to our measurements, all the canals and rivers around Chang'an have a tendency to decline in water levels. Moreover, the Taishi Bureau observes the astronomical phenomena at night. There is no heavy rain near Chang'an within a month. You should know that one month is the time to plant crops around Chang'an. If there is no water or water cannot be drawn, so many crops cannot be sown, this is the biggest loss of our Tang Dynasty. So I hope everyone can think of ways to survive this drought."

But after Li Shimin finished speaking, the ministers present showed a frown slightly.

After all, it is because this drought is really difficult to prevent. In modern times, there are four things you can do to prevent droughts: 1. Build water conservancy and develop farmland irrigation;

2. Improve the farming system, change the composition of crops, select drought-tolerant varieties, and make full use of limited rainfall;

3. Plant trees and afforestation to improve regional climate, reduce evaporation, and reduce the harm of drought winds;

4. Research and apply modern technologies and water-saving measures, such as artificial rainfall, drip spray irrigation, mulch covering, moisture conservation, and temporary use of poor quality water sources, including poor quality groundwater and even seawater.

In other words, modern drought prevention must be advanced, but there are droughts in Chang'an now. Even some modern methods are useless. The useful artificial rainfall, drip irrigation, mulch covering, and moisture conservation... are not something that can be found in ancient times.

After the drought in ancient times, the basic method of the court was immigration. Immigration refers to a way to reduce disasters in which the people moved to a new place with the help of the court. They followed by a small tax. Apart from these, there was no good method at all.

Moreover, the drought is very destructive, because there are locust plagues that come with the drought. The dilemma of working people who can only barely support them by eating grass roots and tree bark is even worse. In such a severe natural disaster, there are thousands of miles of land, nine out of ten rooms, and even the scene of "changing children to eat" and "everyone eats each other" can be seen everywhere, which is terrible.

Among them, the Qinling and Huaihe River area was the most severely affected: the Yellow River broke out and the ground was withered.

Of course, droughts had certain signs at the beginning, but in ancient times, it was a society dominated by agriculture and animal husbandry. People were often unwilling to give up on the crops that had been sown and still feed the livestock raised at home as usual, let alone fleeing their hometowns.

Such practices often lead to extremely serious and fatal consequences: long-term drought and rain-free crops will inevitably dry up and die on a large scale. As seeds have been sown, there is very little food in people's homes, and people and animals lack basic water for daily use and fall into a weak state. It is already a dream to escape at this time. Maybe they have fallen into a coma due to lack of water and food as soon as they walked out of the village.

When a severe drought occurred in Guanzhong during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the central government used disaster relief measures to transfer the victims of Guanzhong to Luoyang and other places to eat and drink.

Sitting on the dragon throne, Li Shimin sighed as he looked at the ministers who had not spoken, because he also knew that these ministers had no better way. After all, I have not known how many times I have studied this drought problem.

Finally, looking at the frowning ministers, Li Shimin thought for a while and said, "The drought is still the beginning, so we should still have a chance. Now I will issue a recruitment order to the whole country to solicit solutions to prevent and resolve drought. Anyone can offer suggestions. Once adopted, they will be rewarded with a thousand gold and promoted to the third level...!"

"yes...!"

A group of ministers bowed immediately.

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"Not bad...not bad..."

In Qinglongfang, Li You walked in front, followed by a large group of people. These people were the people who built houses in Qinglongfang, and Zhou Zhou was their manager.

Hearing Li You's praise, Zhou Zhou on the side also smiled and said, "Young Master, we still have to do it too quickly. We can only rush to finish the work. If we give us some more time, we will definitely do better."

"Haha..." Li You smiled and said, "It's already very good. I thought it was impossible to build a place where more than 10,000 people live in such a short time, but you still did it. Manager Zhou, you have to remember the first merit this time, but I can't let you rest because you will soon be involved in the construction of the college.

Have you read the drawings of the academy this time?"

When talking about the academy, Zhou Zhou immediately showed an excited expression: "I have seen it, it's really shocking. There are thirteen five-story buildings in total. I expect that it will take five years to complete them all...!"

"It's true...but we will do part by part and build three of them first. How long does it take for these three buildings?" Li You asked.

"If the three buildings are at our current speed, we can complete it at the end of this year..." Zhou Zhou said confidently.

"That's good... as long as we build three buildings first, our college will be able to recruit students next year. We will continue to build the rest slowly, so that we can recruit students while building them, and we can do a two-pronged approach."

"Young Master is wise..." Zhou Zhou nodded and looked at Li You with confidence.

"Your Highness..." At this moment, the news of Li You's arrival aroused the cheers of the people of Qinglongfang. A large number of people of Qinglongfang rushed over at this time. You should know that the people of Qinglongfang are no longer the people of Qinglongfang in the past.

In the past, the people of Qinglongfang would not have any feelings for Li You. They just wanted to steal things from Dunhuafang. However, now the people of Qinglongfang are all the people saved by Li You, and they have a deep relationship with Li You.

When a group of people knew that Li You was coming, they put down their work and ran over, wanting to see Li You with their own eyes. However, this scared Yao Yu on the side and quickly shouted to the guards beside them: "Protect Your Highness..."

Thirty guards surrounded Li You directly in the middle, but Li You did not stop him because no one knew whether there were people among these people who were unfavorable to them. Fortunately, even if there were walls, the people did not lose their enthusiasm for seeing Li You.

"Your Highness, your Highness is safe..." A blessing was shouted from the people of Qinglongfang at this time. Li You waved to the people present at this time, and then asked: "Do you eat well and live well..."

The people shouted in unison: "Okay...!"

When Li You heard the people say yes, he smiled: "It's good... You have come to follow me from thousands of miles away. If you don't eat well or live well, I, Li You, will be uneasy... As long as you eat well and live well, your children will work hard to train, and I can rest assured.

So if you feel bad about something, let me tell you the first time, and I will solve it for you immediately. Soon... We will also build a factory in Qinglongfang so that everyone can have a job and get a monthly salary, so that everyone will have a better life. Do you think it's okay?"

"good...!"

Li You's promise made the people of Qinglongfang cheer happily. These people will later become Li You's most determined supporters. One day in the future, these people will accompany Li You. No matter where Li You go, the people of Dunhuafang and Qinglongfang will depend on each other in life and death, which is Li You's greatest reliance.

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Chapter completed!