"Yan Futai, have you said enough?" Ruan Yuan seemed a little angry when he heard this, and said to Yan Rong: "In the eyes of Futai, Jinhua is the only place where there is food? Don't the people of other prefectures and counties

Will you accept relief on the spot where you are? If every prefecture and county has to consider these many situations as you do when providing relief, then even if I prepare two or three times more relief food, it won't be enough for you.

!Or, Yanfutai, you yourself are also a beneficiary who falsely reported and concealed the relief. If I provide relief like this, you won’t get any benefits, right?"

"Ruan Zhongcheng, this... I have absolutely no intention of doing this?" Yan Rong said: "Like Zhongcheng, Xiaguan is doing this disaster relief only for the safety of the victims, and has no intention of swallowing the relief food selfishly. Xiaguan has done this many times these days.

Visit the disaster-stricken villages and towns and conduct more inspections on the relief work. These officials in the lower-level government can all testify for the lower-level official. Even if the lower-level official has selfish motives, he does not have the conditions to do it?" Thinking that Ruan Yuan had no choice but to send his father-in-law to him since he did not trust him.

After pushing it out, he hesitated and said: "If...if Zhongcheng still can't trust Xiaguan, then...then Xiaguan's father-in-law is Mr. Lanquan, who is currently a guest in Zhongcheng's house. Xiaguan's character is determined by his father-in-law.

Do you think Zhongcheng is enough to act as a guarantee?"

"Yanfutai, I didn't mean to say that you have bad conduct." Ruan Yuandao said: "Mr. Lanquan has been my counselor for many years in Hangzhou. I have always been grateful. Before going south, I also asked him about you and learned that you

You are indeed not a coward. You were a Jinshi in the 60th year of Qianlong's reign. It was all because of your hard work in the past five years that you were promoted to the prefect of Jinhua. Therefore, I have no doubts about your talent. But don't forget Yanfutai.

Well, your Jinhua Prefecture has eight counties alone. Can you find out whether the magistrates of these eight counties are honest or not? Even if you know all these, how much do you know about the officials of these eight counties?

You may not have a clear understanding of the situation in these counties. In this case, your empty talk of increasing relief food will only provide convenience for them to secretly seek personal gain! This matter does not need to be discussed further. If the relief food is insufficient, I will take care of it.

There is a way, but there is enough food now, and if there are still people who are not able to provide relief, then it is because you and other county officials are deducting food relief! You said that you have been to the disaster-stricken villages and towns many times on weekdays, so just keep going. The people are suffering from hunger.

You are sitting in the government office, you are a little ashamed, right?"

After hearing Ruan Yuan's reprimand, Yan Rong did not dare to argue anymore, so he had to fire Ruan Yuan and continue to prepare for disaster relief. Jiao Xun felt that Ruan Yuan's words were very different from ordinary words, and he felt puzzled.

Then he asked Ruan Yuandao: "Bo Yuan, when I was in Hangzhou, I heard Mr. Lan Quan talk about this prefect Yan. Although his talents may be slightly inferior to yours, he is not a corrupt person. You talk to him like this.

Isn’t there something..."

"I just said the unpleasant words first to let him prepare." Ruan Yuandao: "Actually, I know what his character and talent are. Maybe he will need more help here for many important things in the future.

But what I said today can only be like this. If he thought that the government still had surplus food, he would not strictly control his subordinates, and it would be inevitable for the county officials to withhold the food relief. Only by putting them to death and reviving can we put an end to those traitorous officials below.

Using power for personal gain?"

"Perhaps what you said makes sense?" Jiao Xun said with a smile: "But after you just said these words, are you also telling him that you will also personally go to the disaster-stricken villages and towns in the near future to conduct detailed inquiries?

Ah? If that’s the case, how about I go and make preparations early?”

"Li Tang knows me." Ruan Yuan couldn't help but look at Jiao Xun and smile, and said: "Actually, I have already made plans to visit the disaster-stricken villages and towns. In two days, I will go to the disaster area for an in-depth inspection. It's just that

...Litang, Yang Ji, although our disaster relief strategy is well-arranged, I am also thinking about whether there are any flaws in it, or... places that can easily be exploited by traitors? We are going south this time.

, not only do we need to inspect the disaster relief situation, but we also need some methods to prevent those who are greedy for personal gain from profiting from this disaster relief?"

Listening to Ruan Yuan's question, Yang Ji also took the initiative to interject: "Bo Yuan, in fact, I think your public notice method is indeed very carefully arranged. If you talk about ordinary county officials and county officials, I think even if they have selfish motives, it is extremely rare."

But in those days when I followed the Zheng family's associates all the way south, I also heard them talk about some previous disaster relief efforts. They said that there were some people with evil intentions who often falsely reported the disaster situation to the police after there had been disasters before.

Those who suffer from less disasters insist on pretending that there are more disasters, thereby defrauding them of food relief. If they take more food, won't the people who are really affected by the disaster receive less?"

"Then other people won't report such a thing to the county magistrate?" Ruan Yuan asked.

"I heard that many times, it really doesn't happen. After all, most of the county officials who come down to distribute food relief are unwilling to do this work. Who wants to take care of so much? And sometimes, the damage to the fields is not

It can be seen at a glance. The common people only know that everyone has suffered losses, but no one wants to pay attention to the exact amount of losses." Yang Ji said.

"Bo Yuan, I think this is indeed a problem." Jiao Xun also added: "I have lived in the countryside for a period of time before, and I understand their thoughts. Ordinary people are not people who are knowledgeable about books and etiquette.

Who doesn’t have some minor problems? So if someone really sees others hiding the disaster and goes to report it, then the person who reports it will become a thorn in the eyes of other people. Maybe in a few days, his minor problems will be revealed.

They will be exaggerated and made into a big deal. As long as the government makes a slight mistake, most of the people who report will be in danger of being sentenced to prison. It is not worth risking their lives and property for a piece of food relief. So even if you have

For this kind of thing, many people know that someone is pretending to be receiving food relief, but they want to save trouble and are unwilling to speak up."

"Litang, what kind of people are these people pretending to receive food relief? If they are wealthy households in the countryside, they probably don't care about the government's food relief, right?" Ruan Yuan asked.

"It is true that there are not many rich households. They have their own food. They come to eat porridge with the poor peasants and have no face. Most of them are middle-class families who can still support themselves." Jiao Xuandao.

"If that's the case, then maybe..." Ruan Yuan pondered for a long time, and gradually came up with a solution, and asked: "Litang, Yang Ji, you go first and ask if there are any places around here that have recently started to announce the amount of food relief.

If there is a village, we will start from there. In this matter, we have to kill one to serve as a warning to others, and we can break it in one place, and then the Jinhua government can provide relief, and we can get twice the result with half the effort."

Yang Ji and Jiao Xun looked at Ruan Yuan and seemed to have an idea. They had worked with Ruan Yuan for many years and naturally believed that Ruan Yuan would get results once he made up his mind. Therefore, they did not ask any more questions and went separately to inquire.

After hearing the news, Ruan Yuanze continued to send the Fuyuan Zuoza Secretary Office in civilian clothes to various villages and towns to investigate the relief situation.

Two days later, Jiao Xun and Yang Ji came to tell Ruan Yuan that Shoukang Village in Pujiang County had just recently launched a public announcement, and food relief had just been distributed to the county government. It was a place where bad governance could be investigated again. Ruan Yuan and others left Jinhua Fucheng and headed for Pujiang.

The next step of work began.

But for the next two days, there was no movement from Ruan Yuan.

Until the third day, Ruan Yuan suddenly announced that he would go to Shoukang Village in person to investigate the disaster relief matters and personally intervene in the people's relief matters. It was only five o'clock that day, and Ruan Yuan and his party set off immediately. After walking for thirty miles, before noon

Arrive at Shoukang Village.

When the people of Shoukang Village heard that the governor was visiting the village, they were in a sensation. Even before Ruan Yuan and his entourage entered the village, they lined up at the entrance of the village to welcome Ruan Yuan and others. Seeing this, Ruan Yuan also asked the accompanying government officials to inform them that this trip would be subject to an inventory

There was no need to be so gracious in order to provide relief. As for the temporary inspection place, everything was kept simple. Only the largest ancestral hall in the village was selected and a seating tent was set up outside the ancestral hall door. Then the officials brought the torture stick and prepared to find out the village

Anyone who pretends to receive relief food will be executed on the spot and punished.

The villagers saw that Ruan Yuan was friendly and yet did not lose his dignity, so they were naturally relieved. Although Ruan Yuan tried to persuade him first, many people still followed him and gathered outside the ancestral hall to see how the new governor of Zhejiang administered his policies.

Ruan Yuan also ordered people to fetch two brochures and said to the people: "Everyone here needs to see clearly today. The two brochures I have taken today. One of them is the report of the disaster suffered by everyone before. Who should receive rice four

The month, who is in March, are all written down clearly. Secondly, everyone has registered all the fields in the government, or the number of fields farmed by servants. I sent someone to record a copy of this register from the government, and attached the information on the fields in the village that were affected by the disaster.

Furthermore, if it is true that your farmland has been affected by the disaster, and the amount of relief you have reported is consistent with it, then there is nothing to hide. Today, my subordinates will announce the amount of porridge you give each day at the entrance of the village. But if it is

Among you, there are those who have received relief that does not match the severity of the disaster, or who have concealed the disaster situation, misrepresented no disaster as a disaster, or misrepresented a minor disaster as a severe one. I have also requested the court's regulations here, the National Law.

I will not spare you any mercy! Are you clear about my intention?"

"It's all clear!" the villagers agreed one after another.

"Well, since you are waiting clearly, I will give you an opportunity. Are there any of you waiting who concealed the suffering of the disaster before, or falsely increased the amount of food and rice they received? If there is such a person, you should come early now

If you stand up, I can forget the blame. If I take part in the investigation later and you are found to have falsely reported the disaster, then don't blame me for being merciless!" Ruan Yuan seemed to be worried that the people were hiding things from each other, so he deliberately

I emphasized it again. However, no one among the villagers voluntarily surrendered.

"Okay, in that case, I have to check them one by one!" As he said, Ruan Yuan opened two books, put two pages of yellow paper with the same name together, and said: "The first household today is the village king of Shoukang.

Mountain, can it be here?”

"Reply to the lord, the common people are here." A villager walked out from among the people and knelt down in front of Ruan Yuan. According to the practice of the Qing Dynasty, ordinary people with no meritorious status had to kneel down before meeting the county magistrate. In this way, before meeting the governor,

, the ceremony of kneeling can only be more solemn. Therefore, after Wang Shan knelt down, he kowtowed three times in a row to show his sincerity.

"Wang Shan, please get up. We need to hurry up and count the victims today. The people behind us will not have to pay homage to you. Please answer me first, how many acres of land do you have at home, and how many have been affected by the disaster?"

?Based on the number you reported, how many months should I receive relief?" Ruan Yuan asked.

"Returning to the lord, the common people are tenants, and their servants cultivate fifteen acres of the land owned by the master of this village. The land affected by this disaster is... twelve acres. The disaster is quite serious. According to the example of the official, the common people should

...should receive food for four months." According to this disaster relief plan, only the most severely affected victims can receive food for four months. When Wang Shan said this, he was not only a little worried, but also worried that Ruan Yuan would think that his land was not seriously affected.

Therefore, the relief food he should receive will be deducted.

Unexpectedly, Ruan Yuan was extremely tolerant to him and said warmly: "Countryman Wang Shan below, I have sent people to investigate the amount of land you said and the extent of the disaster. They are all true. You did not deceive the government. As for you, you were uneasy just now."

, when I think about your disaster-stricken field, which only has eight points, it is not appropriate to receive four months of food. However, when I issued the disaster relief order, I also made a separate statement that if the disaster is more serious, the food relief will be increased for one month. What about you?

Twelve acres of land does appear to be a serious disaster. If you receive food for four months, there is nothing wrong with it. Go down." Then he said to the officials around him: "Starting from him, write down the food that everyone should receive one by one.

There must be no mistakes on the wooden sign!"

"Thank you so much, sir!" Wang Shan couldn't help but feel excited when he heard Ruan Yuan treat him calmly. He knelt down again and kowtowed repeatedly. He didn't stand up until the officials around Ruan Yuan came to take him back.

.

"Okay, starting from the next person, there is no need to salute, just answer truthfully." Ruan Yuan continued: "The second household, villager Xu Qing, has arrived today?"

"Reply to the great master, Xiaomin is here."

…

After questioning eight households in this way, the number of acres reported and the amount of grain affected by the disaster were all consistent with Ruan Yuan's customization. After Ruan Yuan checked one by one, he let everyone return to the ranks of the people. After a while, it was written that the first eight households had been affected by the disaster.
Chapter completed!