In addition to war and chaos, famine years caused by floods, droughts, and locust plagues have the greatest impact on people's lives. They can easily cause social unrest, and refugees and thieves are everywhere, damaging the vitality of the country. Therefore, the level of famine governance is an important yardstick for testing the ability of local officials.
The core of the famine policy is to provide relief to the victims. There are three main points. The first is to have food, the second is to have a place to live, and the third is to return. Among them, "returning" is a matter in the later stages of disaster relief, and does not require the county that accepts the refugees.
Considering this, each county only needs to do the first two items, "get food" and "have a place to live", which is enough.
After inspecting the grain depot, the Taoists went to inspect the accommodation prepared for the victims.
This time Sun Daotai finally found an opportunity to attack... He saw that Fuyang County had not designated a residential area specifically for the victims, nor had it built shelters such as mats. He thought he had caught Weizhi County's disobedience and sneered.
: "There is a lot of food in Fuyang County, but it seems that it is not intended to be eaten by outsiders."
"Why do you say this, sir?" Wei Zhixian asked in confusion.
"What about the open space cleared to accommodate the victims?" Sun Daotai snorted coldly: "You haven't even built a shack. Do you plan to let the victims sleep on the street under cover of the sky?"
The other two Taoists didn't say anything, and their expressions were unhappy. They complained in their hearts that Magistrate Wei was so unsatisfactory that their earlier praise had turned into a joke.
"Your Majesty," Wei Zhixian said in his own way: "Students believe that the method of disaster relief in the past was nothing more than gathering the victims in the city and cooking porridge to feed them. This is indeed convenient for government management and relief, but it also has disadvantages.
Not small." After a pause, he said: "If the victims of the disaster gather too densely, it is easy for epidemics to spread and for people to fight each other to seek death. Some people have been waiting for food for several days, and they died on the road when they couldn't get the porridge. This method is nominally
It is to provide relief to the victims, but in fact it is a perfunctory act that does not treat the victims as human beings and ignores their life and death."
"Hmph..." Even Sun Daotai had to admit that what he said made sense: "Do you have a better way?"
"The lower official has ordered the county's government offices, Taoist temples, temples, warehouses and other places to free up space. According to the household level, vacant houses in each township in the county have been requisitioned to resettle the victims." Wei Zhi replied: "The former can accommodate the number of victims.
It is limited, mainly relying on the latter. The county is densely populated, and it is rare to have vacant houses. Therefore, upper-class households only need to buy three rooms, middle-class households will have two rooms, and lower-class households will have one. There are ample houses in towns and villages, and more houses will be available for each class.
One room is more than enough to accommodate 30,000 disaster victims, and the victims are scattered in different households, so they will neither gather to cause violence nor worry about epidemics, which is much better than gathering together."
"Your method is quite novel." Qi Daotai said, "But can the people of Fuyang agree to it?"
"This county has issued a document to all districts, saying, 'The refugees have arrived and there is no place to stay. If they gather in the city, the disease will spread to you. Therefore, the government will come forward to rent residences to treat them.'" Wei Zhi County Road
: "I, the people of Fuyang, are kind-hearted and accept all requests."
"You are talking about leasing." Sun Daotai pointed out immediately with pointed ears, "But many victims' property was destroyed by the flood and they are penniless. How can they have the money to pay the rent?"
"Those who cannot afford to pay the rent will be paid in advance by the county." Weizhi County said calmly: "In fact, free expropriation is also possible, but if the people get some benefits, they will naturally be more cooperative, and we can live more harmoniously with the victims in the future."
"Do I have to pay back the advance?" Sun Daotai asked: "If not, can your county afford it?"
"Of course we have to pay it back, otherwise we won't be able to pay for it." Wei Zhixian said: "It doesn't matter if you can't pay for it, you can use work as relief."
"So that's it." Qi Daotai asked again: "How can we cook porridge when the victims are dispersed?"
"Since we are scattered, we won't make porridge anymore." Wei Zhixian replied: "Instead, we will give rice per head of hair, once every two days."
Several Daotai looked at each other, and it seemed that there was nothing wrong. Although Sun Daotai wanted to find fault, there has never been a law stipulating how officials should provide disaster relief. Whether Weizhi County's new method is good or not depends on the effect... If it is messed up,
Without him participating in the concert, the person named Wei would also be in bad luck.
After checking in Fuyang for most of the day, the Taoists were basically satisfied with the situation... mainly because the Yongfeng warehouse was full of grain, which amazed them. Time was tight, and the Taoists had to rush to the next stop, Lin'an, overnight.
The magistrate of Wei naturally went to the pier to see him off. Qi Daotai, the governor of grains, had a very good impression of the young magistrate. In his impression, such officials who were willing to do practical things were common in the Hongwu period, but now they are becoming more and more rare. No wonder
People in Taiwan are full of praise for him.
When leaving, he pushed aside the others and walked to a corner of the pier with Wei Zhixian to talk alone.
"Wenyuan," Qi Daotai asked softly, "do you know why you are so anxious about inventory?"
"According to the regulations of the imperial court, before opening the warehouse to release grain, the chief secretary and the inspector must verify the amount of grain stored..." Wei Zhixian replied: "It should be a request to the imperial court to release grain."
The patrol road, the guard road, and the grain supervision road cannot be regarded as independent administrative agencies, but are the dispatched agencies of the chief secretary and the inspector. Changpingcang cannot be opened casually to release grain. It must be approved by the imperial court.
The Chief Secretary is responsible, and the Supervisory Secretary supervises to strictly prevent anyone from engaging in corruption in the name of disaster relief.
"That's right." Qi Daotai nodded and said: "Before I set off, Zheng Fantai had already rushed eight hundred miles to report to the court. At the same time, he asked Lord Tang to send naval warships to transport the affected people to various counties for treatment.
Food." After a pause, he said: "The three of us are the ones who are standing in front of us. According to the constitution of the feudal lord, one county is verified and one county is resettled. Now that your Fuyang County is ready, the victims will arrive one after another the day after tomorrow at the latest."
After Qi Daotai finished speaking, he looked at Wei Magistrate County. Seeing that he had no reaction, he had to continue: "Wen Yuan is not worried that once the county opens warehouses to release grain, it will cause dissatisfaction among the local people?"
"Well, I'm worried." Wei Zhixian nodded sincerely and said: "The people have always regarded the food in Changpingcang as their own life-saving food. Now they have to use it to help the population in other counties. There are still so many people. There must be some
Emotional.”
"What is even more unacceptable to the people is that they handed over the grain in Yongfengcang, but they did not have a share in the distribution of the grain." Wei Zhixian emphasized: "Once there is a confrontation, I am afraid it will lead to civil war.
The chaos ruined the feudal government's disaster relief plan."
"It seems that you are also conflicted." Qi Daotai smiled and said, "I won't tell you if I don't ask."
"The difficulties in the province are greater," Wei Zhixian said calmly: "What the county needs to do is to share the worries rather than add to the chaos."
"That's right, there are so few officials like Wenyuan!" Qi Daotai praised: "I will definitely convey these words of yours to Master Zitai." After a pause, he said: "You just have to look at the overall situation. You
I know that even though the emperor has been in power for nine years, there are still many people who are convinced and unconvinced. This great turmoil in Zhejiang is really rare, and those people are going to say weird things again. The people in Fantai are under great pressure. If they cannot provide disaster relief and appease the people in time,
, to minimize the impact of the disaster, the emperor will definitely be blamed."
"Yes." Wei Zhixian nodded and listened to Qi Daotai continue: "I know this matter is very difficult, but there is no way. Eight of the ten grain depots in Hangzhou City were flooded, and the losses were extremely heavy. We had to let everyone
The county is helping to feed a group of people. The strong wind knows the strength of the grass. At this time, grit your teeth and help the feudal government tide over the difficulties, and you will be rewarded generously in the future!"
"I am not asking for anything in return. Although the victims are not citizens of this county, they are citizens of the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, they should be rescued together." Weizhi County said solemnly: "I just hope that the province will provide a charter so that the county can be comforted.
People in Fuyang, please resettle the victims and let them coexist peacefully."
"Of course." Qi Daotai said solemnly: "Didn't Master Fantai's letter say that all counties that receive disaster victims will work with the affected counties to ask for exemption of money, food, taxes and services. And before I come, Master Fantai has three points.
The requirements are: first, don’t kill people, second, don’t cause riots, and third, don’t let the victims leave the country. As long as you can do these three things, feel free to do it, and all consequences will be borne by the province.”
Seeing that Wei Zhixian had no reaction, Qi Daotai said again: "The official document from the province will be issued soon. You will know it as soon as you see it."
"Yes." Wei Zhixian bowed deeply and said, "I will definitely live up to the trust of the vassal and Taoist officials!"
.
At noon two days later, a navy ship sailed from the lower reaches of the Fuchun River. On board were thousands of victims with their families. Their homes were destroyed by the tsunami and they were left penniless. Many of them even had no clothes on.
The whole body was shivering in the cold wind and rain.
What's even worse is their mood. Before the seawall was repaired and the sea water receded, they were homeless. They had no choice but to be driven away by the government. They boarded ships under the supervision of officers and soldiers and were transported to all directions for resettlement. The officers and soldiers were rude along the way.
They have been treated until now without food, leaving them hungry, desolate, and full of fear and resentment for the refugee life that is about to begin...
"Why don't the city people leave, so we country people are forced to leave our homes?" Such angry complaints were heard everywhere on the boat.
"We don't have enough food to eat, and we don't want us country bumpkins to crowd up Hangzhou," an old man said with a sneer: "Of course we will be sent to various counties."
"The county is willing to accept them? They are not the ones suffering from the disaster," the victims said worriedly.
"We are just annoying burdens." The old man said angrily: "How can any government like the victims of the disaster?"
"So, we are definitely not welcome." The mood of the victims became increasingly depressed.
"It would be good to have some porridge to eat." The old man said quietly: "I'm afraid that if it's too thin and there aren't even a few grains of rice, then people will starve to death..."
As he said this, the elderly people couldn't help but recall that there was a severe locust plague in the early years of the country. They also escaped from the famine. In the end, only half of them returned home. A small number of the rest died of starvation, and most of them died of the plague.
The misery is indescribable.
"The worst thing in the world is to flee from famine..." The pessimism became more and more intense, and many victims started to cry because they were afraid and hungry.
"What are you crying for!" The officers and soldiers held whips and yelled loudly: "Fuyang is here, get out of here!"
The victims couldn't help but look towards the shore and saw sixteen large red characters written on the archway of the pier. There are many literate people in Zhejiang, and many people's eyes lit up and they read out loud:
"When others are hungry, we are hungry; when others are cold, we are cold; we share weal and woe; we provide disaster relief and show compassion to our neighbors!"
The so-called "a kind word can warm the winter" is what it means. Even if it is just a pretense, it makes the victims feel much more comfortable.
The boat docked with difficulty, and the officers and soldiers got off the boat. After a while, a group of local officials came up. The leader was a young man wearing a seventh-grade official uniform. He was undoubtedly the magistrate of the county.
Before Zaoli could sing loudly, the people on the boat knelt down and kowtowed to the county magistrate.
"Everyone, please get up quickly." Wei Zhixian supported an old man and said: "We are going to kill this county."
"Please have mercy on me, Sir," the gray-haired old man insisted on kowtowing to him and said, "Give us a way to survive!"
"Please have mercy on me, sir, and give me a way to live..." The victims echoed in unison, and all of them, men, women, old and young, kowtowed vigorously.
Wei Zhixian's eyes were moist. He had said many high-sounding words to the victims before, but in fact he was still thinking about his official reputation and political achievements. But when he saw the victims begging so humbly, just for a way to survive, he finally felt deeply.
Shocked.
Feeling the heavy responsibility on his shoulders, he personally helped several village elders and said, "Everyone, get up quickly and listen to me." When he got to the highest point of the building boat, he pointed to the sixteen characters on the shore and said: "
Did you see those words?"
The victims nodded.
"Do you know what it means?"
The victims nodded again.
"When you are hungry, you are hungry, when you are cold, you are cold, share weal and woe, and provide disaster relief to your neighbors!" Weizhi County loudly said: "This is the promise Fuyang County makes to you!"
Hearing the promise of the county magistrate, the cold and desolate hearts of the victims suddenly warmed up, and they kept shouting "blue sky" and "Bodhisattva".
Magistrate Wei waved his hand, and the victims became quiet and listened to what he continued:
"Please remember that you came to Fuyang not to flee, but to live. The moment you set foot in Fuyang County, your identity is no longer a disaster victim, but like the people of Fuyang, you have a house to live in and food to eat.
, the common people protected by the government!" Wei Zhixian said loudly:
"For this reason, the 110,000 people in this county have vacated 7,000 houses for you. After you go ashore and register later, you can each receive three days of rations and follow your landlord back to rest!"
The victims thought it would be nice to have a shack and some gruel when they arrived, but unexpectedly they found a house to live in and food to eat. They were moved to tears...
But some mature people asked: "What should we do if we finish eating the rations for three days?"
"According to the regulations, it is a loan," County Magistrate Wei said: "But you have to go back to your hometown for as little as three or two months, or as long as half a year, so ordinary relief loans are not feasible." After a pause, he said: "So we use work-based loans.
Relief."
"Work-for-relief?" The victims looked at each other, and someone asked: "Do we still have to work?"
"Don't you sweat your own sweat and eat your own food when you are in the countryside?" Wei Zhixian said calmly.
There were no rich people among the victims. Those who had some financial resources had all gone to Hangzhou. Therefore, the whole boat was filled with ordinary people who sweated and ate, so naturally they were speechless.
"This county does not treat you as disaster victims. Naturally, you will have to work like the people of Fuyang for food, clothing, housing and transportation..." Wei Zhixian said solemnly: "We had taxes before, but you can't support your family? Now the imperial court
It’s no big deal that I’ve exempted you from your money, food, and servants!”