The atmosphere in Hui'an Palace seemed a little stagnant. Wufeng, who was sitting above, looked normal. All the other people looked gloomy and dull. They were obviously in trouble and were not excited and happy because of the news of the great victory in the Indian and De'an wars in the Indian and De'an areas and the southwest.

"Tell me, everything has come, we have to face it, right? Natural disasters and man-made disasters are available in all dynasties and generations. Hehe, just ask me to catch up. Xiao Tang, tell me, is it a bit unfavorable for our Tang Empire to start with?" Half-jokingly wanted to open up the atmosphere, Wufeng stretched his waist and glanced at everyone and said.

"Your Majesty is joking. Now the empire is in its prime. How can we talk about the disadvantages of the year? It's just that this natural disaster comes too frequently, and the empire uses troops from abroad, so the finances are inevitably difficult. Therefore, I think that in the next step, we may have to repair the water conservancy facilities in various places while providing disaster relief. This time, the floods in several areas have sounded a wake-up call for us. If we don't pay attention to it, it will really cause a big disaster."

Xiao Tang smiled bitterly. His mood was always mixed. The smooth pacification of Meli and Indian and German areas was almost no trouble. He always hoped that the empire could rest and breathe. Although he also knew that His Majesty was interested in continuing to use troops in the southwest, he faced a huge drought in the north and abnormal climate in the five lakes, Sanjiang, Tiannan, and Myanmar County. He continued to rain heavily for more than ten days, and the floods were fierce. Xiao Tang once hoped to temporarily suspend the use of troops in the southwest, but was rejected by His Majesty the Emperor.

, Although the war in the southwest has won a great victory, the Wuhu, Sanjiang and Tiannan are already a vast country, with nearly ten million victims displaced, while the north is still drought. There have been no rain in many places for two months. Yanyun and most areas of Beiyuan have lost their harvest, and it may even affect the spring plowing next year. Such a severe situation cannot be covered by a few foreign wars. Perhaps public opinion can cover up the people who have not encountered the disaster, but what about the local governments in the north and south?

Before the floods in Sanjiang, Tiannan and Myanmar counties subsided, the plague began to spread. Qindu, Yushan, Jiangchuan, Zhujiang, Nanfeng, Qinzhou, Guining and Perth all experienced large-scale plague transmission. According to the numbers reported by local governments, at least more than 2,000 people have died of plague, and this situation is still on the rise. Fortunately, there are no signs of plague spreading in the Wuhu area. Otherwise, with the density of the population of Wuhu Lakes, once it spreads, the situation will be unimaginable.

"Well, Xiao Tang, you don't need to hit me indirectly. I have decided to suspend the support of troops from the outside world. Cui Wenxiu's request to the Kustan and Dexin provinces controlled by the Hansen Alliance and the second phase of military use in Melis's southern part have been shelved. The empire is facing such great difficulties. Disaster relief and later resumption require massive funds. All parties have to find ways to raise funds for me to solve the problem. Other construction will be suspended, and military operations will be temporarily cancelled. Everything will be discussed when we get through this level." Wufeng nodded, "Zhengbin, you can talk about the situation in various places first."

"Okay. All the masters of the northern counties have already understood the situation. The seven prefectures of Beiping, Yanshan, Yunzhong, Yulin, Qinghe, Anyuan, and Pinglu are almost out of stock, and the remaining three prefectures have only 30% harvest. In the early stage, the Ministry of Finance of the Empire had allocated a large amount of funds to provide relief, and the relief in various places is also in an orderly manner. The Immigration Department of the Ministry of Economic Development has also carried out some immigration actions, but this is a drop in the bucket and it is difficult to solve the fundamental problem. Now we are about to prepare for next year, the climate is still drought, and the harvest next spring is worrying. I am afraid we will make the worst plan."

"The situation in the four southern counties continued to deteriorate. Although there was no plague in the Wuhu area, due to the large number of lakes and rivers in this area, the most severe disaster situation was the one with 6 million people. The pressure of disaster relief was quite high. At present, a large amount of materials have been transported to the Wuhu area urgently, and the Ministry of Finance allocated the first period of the 60 million imperial gold coins to the first period of relief funds. Especially considering the reconstruction of the homes of the victims after the disaster, it can be imagined that this fund is an astronomical figure. The situation in Sanjiang and Tiannan counties is also quite bad, with the number of affected people being about 3 million, and the first batch of three three counties is also quite bad.

The relief funds for tens of millions of imperial gold coins have been allocated, and disaster relief materials are also being transported urgently. The most difficult problem now is that there is a large-scale plague here. If the spread cannot be controlled in time, the entire southern part of the empire will be involved, and the empire will face a huge crisis. I am very grateful to your Majesty for this. The situation in Myanmar County is slightly better, and Perth Palace is mainly affected. The disaster relief funds of four million Empire gold coins have been allocated, but the transportation of materials may be difficult. Now I have asked Zhongnan County and Nanhai County to transport materials from the south to provide support."

"Mr. Hotan has made a preliminary discussion on this disaster in the north and south. According to the situation we have at present, if the situation can be controlled and not deteriorated, it is estimated that the funds and materials for the first and second phases of disaster relief will be around 250 million imperial gold coins. If we consider the post-disaster reconstruction of the houses and various infrastructures, it is conservatively estimated that the empire still needs to invest 400 million imperial gold coins."

Yang Zhengbin's last sentence immediately caused whispers from the ministers. The 650 million imperial gold coins were not a small amount. Even if the empire has obtained income from the vault of the Indian Kingdom, a large part of the funds were various treasures collected by the royal families of the Indian Kingdom in history. If it were said that the value would be more than 2 billion imperial gold coins, no one could afford this kind of treasure, and it was impossible to sell it. Everyone knows this.

There are less than 600 million gold that can be used as circulating currency, and the empire has agreed to ensure the private property of the Hyderabad nobles, and it is impossible to collect too much in the Indian and German areas. When Cui Wenxiu handed over the gold, he had already issued military expenditures of the 800,000 troops stationed in the Central Continent. In just one year, 130 million imperial gold coins were required. The expenditures required in the first and second phases of the Indian and German war, the East Luzon War and the Meli war reached 150 million. The little gold in the Indian and German kingdom treasury was only enough to support the military expenditures of more than four years of garrison, which did not include the war.

Now the construction of the Imperial Navy is in full swing. In addition to the comprehensive launch of the construction of the Oriental Navy and the South Ocean Navy, His Majesty the Emperor of the Empire is already ambitious to build the Western Navy with the Meli and the West Indian and German coastal areas as bases, so that the Imperial Navy can bathe in the Baltic and Aegean Sea at will. It is said that this is the ambition of His Majesty the Emperor's study time. On this issue, although many ministers have objections, they are not good at rebelling against His Majesty's interest. However, the imperial finances are now in a dilemma, and many people have considered whether it should be considered on the issue of imperial military expenditure.

"Zhengbin, it's not a question of whether the imperial finance can support it. I'm asking you, does your Ministry of Economic Development have a detailed disaster relief plan? What should I do in the north? How did the south arrange it? How do you plan to control the plague?" Wu Feng was a little annoyed. This guy actually came to talk about financial issues to himself at this time. Is it time to talk about finance? Yang Zhengbin is usually quite smart, but why does he become so ignorant of the importance at this time?

Yang Zhengbin was also indescribable. Xiao Tang and Tian Yi both asked him to emphasize the financial issues of the empire when talking about disaster relief, so as to lay the foundation for reducing military expenditure in the next step. Yang Zhengbin also knew that mentioning financial issues at this time would definitely annoy His Majesty, but he must obey the requests of his superiors and colleagues. Moreover, he himself believed that the empire should do the best to rectify and develop the economy before there is no big threat at present, rather than just expanding military affairs. It was like a greedy bear for food everywhere, but it also needed a strong stomach to digest it. So he also explained his views inappropriately at this time.

"Your Majesty, the disaster relief plans in various places have been arranged and have been arranged long ago. The Immigration Department has already made plans for the resettlement of refugees, but the situation has changed slightly now. Myanmar County is not suitable for resettlement of immigrants. Now immigrants mainly go to the two prefectures of Kuiyang and Pamir in Northern 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 the plan and have also arranged it. The Ministry of Finance allocated 20 million special funds to purchase various preventive and therapeutic drugs, and also purchased a large amount of disinfection drugs and equipment. It is being transported to the epidemic area. 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 spring shortage that may be faced next year, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of War Preparation have also contacted them and have begun to purchase grain in the Indian and German and Northern Luzon areas to increase the imperial grain reserves in case of accidents." Yang Zhengbin replied.

"What are the responses of the Ministry of the Interior?" Wufeng was quite satisfied with Yang Zhengbin's answer, so he asked Zhong Wenjing instead.

"The Ministry of the Interior has ordered local internal departments to strengthen their vigilance to prevent refugees from taking the opportunity to cause trouble. In addition, the internal departments have also implemented martial law measures to prohibit the arbitrary movement of population in disaster areas and epidemic areas. The Ministry of the Interior has also mobilized the Interior Guard to send it to several areas with severe disasters and epidemics, ready to deal with possible riots at any time." Zhong Wenjing said concisely.
Chapter completed!