Compared with the previous dynasties, the Qing Dynasty should be the most guilty emperors, from Shunzhi to Xianfeng, almost all the emperors of the past dynasties have been guilty of their own edicts because of natural disasters and man-made disasters, the only exception is the Daoguang Emperor, Ci'an because of the drought in the north and the edict of the guilty self can be said to be reasonable.

However, the repercussions caused by Ci'an's edict were really not small, Ci'an not only sinned himself because of the great drought in the north, but also clearly affirmed the constitution of the hypocritical monarch and strongly supported the establishment of industry, which made those gentry who tried to attack the cabinet for failing to govern with natural disasters lose their excuse to attack! At the same time, it also poured cold water on the royalists who were about to move!

With the edict of the Empress Dowager Ci'an, rumors from the capital to the local market came to an abrupt end, but the drought in the north did not ease as a result, and the scale and frequency of officials and gentry begging for rain in the northern provinces became larger and more frequent.

Different from previous years, although the officials and gentry of the stricken prefectures and counties begged for rain with 12 points of piety, it still had no effect, even if it occasionally rained, it was heavy thunder and small rain, and often the rain did not even wet the ground, which was extremely disappointing.

With the continuous supply of drilling machines, with the concrete products factories that make concrete wells have sprung up, the machine drilling team has begun to develop rapidly, and the disaster-stricken counties can basically guarantee two or three machine drilling teams.

Although the speed of machine drilling deep wells is much higher than that of manual drilling, and a deep well can be dug in four or five days, it is still a drop in the bucket for large-scale drought-stricken states and counties, but it finally makes people see a little hope, after all, the development speed of the machine drilling team is very fast, and once you have a deep well, you will no longer need to rely on the sky to eat.

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

"This drought is just the beginning, and the later it gets, the worse the drought gets." Yi Zhizu glanced at Zhao Liewen and the three of them present, and said unhurriedly: "How big is the cost of disaster relief, you probably have a number, if you really want to continue to provide relief for four years, even if there is a gold mine in South Africa, Yuanqi will be broken, we must speed up the popularization of machine drilling, and strive to ensure that deep well irrigation is popularized within two years, before the two years before the drought is the most serious!" ”

"The big shopkeeper." Zhao Liewen said softly: "The machine manufacturing factories in Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Qingdao are now working at full capacity and working overtime to produce drilling machines, but the land of the five northern provinces is too vast, and it is almost impossible to popularize it within two years." ”

Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Speed up the construction of machine manufacturing plants in Beijing, Jinan, Taiyuan, and Luoyang, and strive to be put into operation at the beginning of next year, and ensure the harvest of one more acre of land, so as to reduce the pressure ....... our relief." ”

Before he finished speaking, he saw Cao Gensheng hurriedly walking into the room with a telegram, his face was filled with excitement and joy that could not be concealed, he immediately stopped talking and said, "Where is the good news?" ”

"Go back to the treasurer." Cao Gensheng said loudly: "Sakhalin Island has called, and oil springs have been explored in the area where the Okha River flows into the Sea of Okhotsk on the eastern bank of the north, and the amount of oil produced is extremely considerable. ”

Sakhalin Island is rich in oil, and Yi Zhizhi has long known it, so he asked people to explore, but he also does not know the depth of Sakhalin's oil fields, and he is naturally quite pleased to hear that the exploration of oil springs, and the amount of oil produced, he is naturally quite happy, and said with a smile: "This is indeed good news." ”

The discovery of the Sakhalin oil fields is indeed good news, although Yi Zhixin clearly knows the four major oil fields in China -- Daqing, Liaohe, Shengli, and Karamay, but he only knows which province the Daqing, Liaohe, and Karamay oil fields are in, but he does not know the specific location.

The only thing that knows the approximate location is the Shengli Oilfield on the coast of the Bohai Sea in northern Shandong, but it has not been found for several years, it is obvious that the oilfield is buried very deeply, and it cannot be found with the current exploration technology and drilling technology, Nanyang Oilfield, he also has the impression, and he also sent people to explore, but there is no result.

The oil fields in the Persian Gulf have large reserves and are easy to explore, but the Qing Dynasty does not have enough control over the Persian Gulf, and the navy is not strong enough.

In recent years, only two small oil fields have been discovered and exploited in the Qing Dynasty, Yanqing and Yumen, which are obviously not enough for the Qing Dynasty, which wants to lead the second industrial revolution and vigorously promote the popularization of internal combustion engines, and the discovery of Sakhalin oil fields is enough to make up for this shortcoming.

After a slight groan, Yi Zhizhi ordered: "Choose a site on Sakhalin Island to build a port, build an oil refinery, and immigrate on a large scale!" In addition, oil exploration, mineral exploration and ...... will continue to be carried out at depth. ”

The crisp ringing of the phone interrupted him, Zhao Liewen hurriedly got up and walked forward to pick up the phone, and then reported: "The big shopkeeper, it's Ren An, who said that there is an urgent ......." ”

"Let him come." Yi Zhisuffi commanded, Ren An was in charge of intelligence spying, and all the reports were confidential, and Zhao Liewen and the others hurriedly saluted and retired.

Ren An came quickly, and after entering the door to salute, he reported directly: "The big treasurer, the secret report of the Beijing Division, the forbidden army in the western suburbs has secretly held a high-level military meeting for several days, and the content is unknown...... but there is no military movement. ”

Yi Zhi's brows furrowed, what kind of fame is Yi Xun doing? Planning for a restoration? This is not very likely, as far as the more than 100,000 forbidden troops controlled by the royal family are not enough, it is impossible for Yiyun to be so stupid and dare to hit a stone with an egg, besides, Ci'an has just issued an edict against himself, and announced to the world, it is impossible to agree to the restoration.

Ren An hesitated for a moment before he said: "Based on the analysis of his subordinates, it is very likely that Yi Xun is planning to take advantage of the catastrophe in the north and retreat to Shengjing. ”

Retreat to Shengjing? Yi Zhizu nodded slightly, this may be there, and after a slight groan, he asked: "Shengjing and the Liangjing Railway, is there anything abnormal?" ”

"Nope." Ren An said loudly: "The subordinates specially asked, and there was nothing abnormal. ”

Yi Zhizhi said: "Continue to investigate, and report at any time if there is news." ”

Ren An retreated, he lit a cigarette and walked slowly to the window, there was a great drought in the northern provinces, at this time, if Ci'an led more than 100,000 forbidden troops with the little emperor and insisted on retreating to Shengjing, it would not be a general tricky one, and a large-scale civil war could not break out at this juncture, Ci'an may have seen this and dared to take risks!

Perhaps, this is not what Ci'an meant, if Ci'an agrees, Yiyun doesn't need to hold high-level military meetings one after another, nine times out of ten Yiyun wants to hold Ci'an and the little emperor hostage to Shengjing!

Extinguishing the cigarette butt, he quickly returned to his desk, shook the phone, picked up the microphone and ordered: "Take over the Prime Minister's Office, King Gong's office." ”