Shandong, Dengzhou, Huang County.

A mixed fleet composed of more than 30 steam wooden ships and ironclad ships slowly sailed into the humble harbor wharf of Huangxian County, the fishing industry in Huangxian County is prosperous, there are many fishing boats, but large merchant ships are rare, especially in the fishing off-season when the Bohai Sea is about to enter the frozen period, the arrival of such a large-scale fleet has attracted the attention and suspicion of many people.

When they saw all kinds of machines unloaded from the ship, the lively crowd was talking, and soon the news spread that this fleet was affiliated with Yuanqi Shandong Mining Company, and their destination was not Huangxian but Zhaoyuan, because they recruited a large number of animals and manpower to transport machines to Zhaoyuan.

As soon as I heard that it was going to Zhaoyuan, the crowd immediately exploded, Zhaoyuan has the reputation of 'the land of gold' since ancient times, what mining company went to Zhaoyuan with such a big movement, it can only explain one problem, Zhaoyuan found a big gold mine, otherwise it is impossible to transport so many machines to Zhaoyuan.

The news of Zhaoyuan's discovery of a large gold mine spread quickly, although there was no disaster in Jiaodong, but the winter was also a farming slack, and Zhaoyuan was not far from Huangxian, many people were moved, and enthusiastically recruited to participate in the transportation of the machine's team, in order to go to Zhaoyuan to see if there was a chance to pan for gold.

The attraction of gold mines is undoubted, and the successive gold rushes around the world are enough to prove people's enthusiasm for gold, and the news of the discovery of large gold mines in Zhaoyuan quickly spread, and before the machines of Yuanqi Mining Company arrived in Zhaoyuan, the news spread throughout Dengzhou, Laizhou, Qingzhou, Jiaozhou and other nearby prefectures and counties.

Jinan, Governor's Office.

Xue Fubao walked into the signing room with an excited face, "My lord, the news of Zhaoyuan's discovery of a large-scale gold mine has been confirmed, and a large number of machines and people from Yuanqi Shandong Mining Company have been stationed in Zhaoyuan, it is reported that not only Zhaoyuan, but also Pingdu and Laizhou have discovered gold mines, and Yuanqi is ready to carry out large-scale machine mining." ”

Zhaoyuan, Pingdu, Laizhou has a long history of gold production, and it is not strange to find large gold mines, Ding Baozhen twisted the goat's whiskers under his chin and groaned for a while, before he spoke: "Yuanqi explored mineral deposits in Zhaoyuan and Laizhou more than ten years ago, if there is really a large-scale gold mine, Yuanqi should have been explored a long time ago, why is it only mined with great fanfare now?" ”

Hearing this, Xue Fubao said suspiciously: "My lord suspects that Yuan Qi is bluffing, but in fact, he has not found a large gold mine?" ”

Ding Baozhen was silent, he did suspect that Yuan Qi was bluffing, in recent years, Yuan Qi has been in full swing to prepare for the implementation of the gold standard, if Zhaoyuan, Pingdu, Laizhou really have large gold mines, how can Yuan Qi delay until now mining?

"Tick bell" The sudden ringing of the phone startled the two of them, Ding Baozhen hurriedly stepped forward to pick up the phone, most of the calls that came in directly were from Jingshi, sure enough, as soon as he reported to his home, he listened to the voice of Gong Wang Yitong from the microphone, "Zhaoyuan has discovered a large gold mine, which is gratifying, and Shandong must actively assist Yuanqi in mining." ”

"The subordinate obeys." Ding Baozhen hesitated before saying, "Zhaoyuan really has a large gold mine?" ”

"Don't doubt it." Yi Yi's voice was faintly excited, "not only Zhaoyuan has a large gold mine, Laizhou also has, and the reserves are very large, conservative estimates, Shandong's gold reserves are more than 2,000 tons, in addition to gold, Shandong's coal and iron deposits are also very rich, from next year, Yuanqi will continue to carry out large-scale mining, full assistance is." ”

Why did Yuanqi choose this time to carry out large-scale mineral mining? Ding Baozhen reacted very quickly, thinking of the lack of rain in autumn and winter in many states and counties, he said tentatively: "Will Shandong continue to be dry next year?" ”

Speaking of the drought, Yi Yi's voice was obviously lowered, "Yes, there will be a rare drought in Shandong next year, and Yuanqi's large-scale import of grain and large-scale mining of mineral deposits are all ....... disaster relief measures." ”

A rare drought! Ding Baozhen's heart sank, "Immigration is also one of the disaster relief measures? ”

There was silence in the microphone for a while before Yi Yi's deep voice came, "The real purpose of the immigrants is just a pretense, the real purpose is to relieve the pressure of disaster relief, it is not only Shandong that suffers, the disaster is more serious than you can imagine...... ”

Putting down the phone, Ding Baozhen was speechless for a long time, importing grain, immigrating, and mining deposits are all for disaster relief, how serious will the disaster be next year? No harvest of grains!

Yuanqi Shandong Mining Company in Zhaoyuan, Laizhou, Pingdu has discovered large-scale gold mines, proven reserves of more than 2,000 tons, this exciting news by the "Jinan Daily" soon attracted the attention of the government and the public, no way not to pay attention, 2,000 tons of gold, more than 60 million taels of gold, equivalent to more than 1 billion taels of silver!

The stock market, which was originally falling because of the disaster in the north, was stimulated by this news and quickly rebounded!

Shandong, Tai'an, Feicheng.

The county commander Hong Renshou stood on the east gate of the county seat, looking at the gradually distant migrant team with a complicated mood, although he had enough food in his hands to survive the winter of the whole county, he still had to respect the order to organize the immigrants.

Song Henian, chairman of the county advisory bureau, walked slowly to his side and stood side by side with him, and said softly for a while: "Since the beginning of winter, it has been a melting winter, neither rain nor snow, and there will be a spring drought in the coming year. Then call the squire to collect donations? ”

It is impossible to convene the squire to raise donations again, this year's fundraising is already the limit, Hong Renshou knows this very well, he can't help but sigh secretly, there is no rain in autumn and winter, winter wheat cannot be sown, if the spring drought continues in the coming year, he is a little afraid to think about it, and he was silent for a long time before he said: "What does Speaker Song mean, a large number ......of immigrants?" ”

After a slight sigh, Song Henian said: "There is news from Jinan that there will be a rare drought ....... Shandong next year." ”

"Rare drought?" Hong Renshou turned his head and said in a deep voice: "Really? ”

Song Henian said: "This is an obvious thing, adults are just lucky." ”

Although winter wheat could not be sown, Hong Renshou still fantasized that there would be a few rains after the beginning of spring, and that spring wheat, sweet potatoes, corn, etc. would be sown at that time. ”

Song Henian said disapprerovitically: "At this time and that time, who will stop the migration now, and the disaster victims will spend an extra day of food if they stay for one more day." ”

In the middle of the winter, the scale of immigration in the affected states and counties in the northern provinces began to gradually expand, there was no rain in autumn and winter, and winter wheat could not be sown, which means that there will be a serious spring drought in the coming year, which means that next spring will be more difficult than this winter.

This winter, even Shanghai has become no longer so cold, a winter month has more than half a month of sunshine, Baoshan Wharf on the river, a steam gunboat slowly cruising on the river, on the deck wearing a long shirt and a pair of sunglasses Yi Zhicontent held the side of the ship to watch the dock on the dock on the team of victims orderly board a steam sailing ship or ironclad ship.

Li Hongzhang, who followed behind him, said slowly: "These are all victims from Huaibei, western Henan, and southern Lunan, mainly immigrants from Myanmar and Java. ”

Yi Zhishu took out a cigar and slowly lit it, and then asked, "Is there any statistics on the number of immigrants?" ”

"There are only more than 31,000 people who have gone to sea through Baoshan." Li Hongzhang pondered and said: "There are a little more people who go to sea from Qingdao, there are more than 40,000 people, after all, Shandong is a large immigration province, and there are also people who go to Annam by train, and the statistics have not yet been reported." ”

A rough estimate is only 100,000 people, for this scale, Yi Zhixin is a little dissatisfied, now the immigrants are not the same as more than ten years ago, in the past, the victims went to the sea on foot, now they are basically railway transportation, and the size of the shipping fleet has also expanded several times, but only a few months to see the scale of 100,000.

Seeing that Yi Zhizhi was silent, Zhao Liewen hurriedly said: "There are almost no decent heavy rains or heavy snows in the entire northern winter, the drought in many prefectures and counties is becoming more and more serious, and the scale of immigration is gradually expanding, and after the beginning of spring, immigrants to the northwest, northeast, and Siberia will also set off ......." ”

After pondering for a while, Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "The duration of this migration may be as long as three or four years, and it should also be the last organized large-scale migration in our country.

After the beginning of spring, the cash-for-work project, mining deposits, construction of factories and other projects will be gradually unfolded, when the difficulty of resettlement will be greater, these months must expand the scale of immigration as much as possible, this is a double thing, not only to stabilize the frontier, but also to reduce the pressure of disaster relief. ”

Kyoshi, Prime Minister's Office.

Yi Yi threw a stack of reports on the table with a gloomy face, glanced at Su Shun and Wu Changqing, and said in a calm tone: "Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu have all experienced serious droughts after the autumn, and there are more than 100 counties affected by the disaster, but so far, there are less than 100,000 immigrants. ”

After a slight sigh, Su Shuncai spoke: "Since the constitution was established, equality and freedom have been advocated, and the disaster victims are unwilling to immigrate to the frontier, so they cannot be forcibly driven away, not to mention that the local gentry are worried about the loss ......of population, which will lead to a sharp drop in the price of fields and field rents, and most of them are actively engaged in disaster relief, and the local officials are caught in the middle, and they are in a dilemma. ”

Wu Changqing glanced at the two of them and said: "On the one hand, the local gentry oppose and obstruct immigration, and on the other hand, the imperial court regards immigration as the content of the overall assessment. ”

"That's a good idea!" Su Shun blurted out: "In this way, the state and county officials can confidently encourage immigrants, and the local gentry will not discourage immigrants too much from considering their own interests." ”

There is indeed no better way now, Yi Yi groaned slightly, and said: "The local state and county officials are afraid of being evildoers, this king will be this wicked person, and the provinces and provinces must reach 30% of the disaster victims, otherwise from next month, the relief money and grain will be halved!" Failed to complete the immigration task for two consecutive months, and canceled the relief money and food! ”

Half the money and food for relief! Cancel the money and food! For the disaster-stricken prefectures and counties, this is absolutely unacceptable, although the money and grain provided by the imperial court is not much, but it is also the main source of disaster relief, after all, it is impossible to rely only on the local gentry for disaster relief, there is no rain in autumn and winter, and the drought in the spring of the next year will be serious.

Despite the uproar in the government and the opposition, the effect of immigration was immediate, the scale of immigration in the affected prefectures and counties expanded rapidly, out of consideration of their own interests, the local gentry not only did not hinder the immigration but began to actively encourage the people to emigrate, and the willingness of the victims to emigrate was also strong, everyone knew that once the imperial court cut off the relief, what was waiting for them was a dead end!

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

"King Gong's move is really ruthless." Zhao Liewen chuckled: "In this way, the scale of immigration has expanded rapidly, but King Gong is afraid that he will also be criticized by the government and the opposition." ”

Li Hongzhang said: "The criticism is only temporary, if the drought continues next year and the year after, the government and the opposition will inevitably praise in unison." ”

"Praise is only temporary." Zhao Liewen said: "After the drought, the state and county gentry whose population has plummeted will still be criticized. ”

The two of them raised the bar, and Yi Zhizhi smiled and said: "History is a little girl who can be dressed up, why should you care too much about the name before and after you?" As he spoke, he got up and walked slowly in front of the large map hanging on the wall, "There is a catastrophe in the northern provinces, and the projects and funds for work must be tilted towards the north. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "The big shopkeeper plans to take this opportunity to build a highway network in the north?" ”

Yi Zhizhi nodded and said: "Railway construction requires a lot of steel, steel can't keep up, it can't be built, water conservancy projects, the construction of mines and factories can't consume much manpower, only the road network can maximize the use of the manpower and material resources of several provinces." ”

Li Hongzhang said without hesitation: "Now no one in the government and the opposition can realize the importance of highways, and now the automobile has not developed at all." ”

"Build the road first and then sell the car." Yi Zhizhi said: "There is no road suitable for cars, how can cars be marketed?" Saying that, he looked at Li Hongzhang and said: "We must be good at looking at the problem from the perspective of development, the automobile is not developed now, but when the highway system in the north is established, the automobile should also be put into production, and we can't wait until the automobile can be mass-produced to build the road." ”

Li Hongzhang muttered softly, "A lot of asphalt is needed to build roads, and now the asphalt needed for the reconstruction of cities in various provinces is not enough." ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled contentedly, "Road construction is not limited to asphalt, cement can also be used, first build the dirt road, and then pave the asphalt or simply build the cement road when the conditions are ripe, and by the way, it can also stimulate the development of the cement industry." ”