In Hejian County, Yingzhou, tens of thousands of large tents have been set up in the wilderness, stretching as far as the eye can see. The momentum is extremely spectacular. More than 300,000 disaster victims are currently living in this temporary tent.
There is a large camp in the distance, which is where 10,000 troops are stationed. In the camp for victims of the disaster, there are teams of soldiers everywhere, maintaining order in the camp.
Wei Kaijiang, the commander of the Disaster Victims Administration, is accompanying Liu Yan, the Minister of Civil Affairs, to inspect the disaster relief camp and brief him on the management situation.
"We have divided the camp for the victims into seven areas, separated by trenches and fences. Fire is not allowed in the camp. We will provide hot water, rice and porridge uniformly. Any illegal use of fire will be severely punished!"
Liu Yan nodded. The tents in this kind of big camp are all tents, and they are most afraid of fire. Once a fire breaks out, the entire camp will be burned, at least tens of thousands of people will be killed or injured. Strict control over the use of fire is merciless, and one size fits all is the best option.
A good idea is to confiscate all fire tools and be merciless.
This is the experience and lesson learned by the Disaster Victims Administration for more than ten years. Back then, they were transporting victims from Hebei to Hexi. Because they were inexperienced, they failed to control the victims' use of fire. As a result, a fire broke out in a large tent on the way. Dozens of large tents were burned down, killing and injuring nearly a hundred people.
After learning this lesson of blood and tears, the Disaster Victims Administration has extremely strict control over the use of fire. All fire tools must be turned in. Anyone who dares to hide it secretly will be fined 10,000 yuan, which is ten thousand yuan. This is a good thing for ordinary families.
It cost a lot of money, but the effect was immediate and there has never been another fire since.
"Are there any signs of the epidemic?" Liu Yan asked again.
"Nothing has been found yet. We have strictly controlled drinking water and excretion, built a large number of latrines, sprinkled quicklime around them, and equipped each tent with a urinal. Soldiers patrol day and night. Except for the occasional children urinating everywhere, basically no traces were found anywhere.
Regarding excretion issues, and drinking raw water is not allowed, we provide boiled drinking water every day.”
Liu Yan is actually not worried about the management of disaster victims. The Disaster Victims Office has rich experience and various strict systems. As long as it is done step by step, there will basically be no mistakes. The key is that material support must be timely, with sufficient human, financial and material resources.
, disaster relief will be done well.
Liu Yan came to Hebei this time mainly to deal with the follow-up resettlement of the victims and resettled the victims to Liaodong.
But in fact, this is a very big project. It cannot be solved by the disaster victims in Hebei Province. Liaodong Province must also be prepared to accept it. For example, where will the victims be resettled? How will the land be allocated, how will the houses be built, and what will be the road traffic conditions?
wait.
Therefore, Yan Quanming, the minister of the Ministry of War, rushed to Liaodong with dozens of officials to coordinate the reception and resettlement issues in Liaodong.
Liu Yan asked Wei Kaijiang again: "What difficulties are you facing now?"
"There are no material difficulties for the time being. The biggest problem now is the unstable public sentiment!"
"Why is it unstable?" Liu Yan asked with a frown.
"They wanted to go back to their hometown, but their hometown was all flooded. Some people went back and saw that after the flood receded, the land became saline-alkali land. It would take a few decades to recover. They also knew that they could not return to their hometown, so they would come to ask questions every now and then.
, how to arrange them in the future?”
"Who are these people coming to ask?"
"A group of old people, about thirty or forty people in number, it is said that they are all elected, and they are sitting in front of the government office. They can't be driven away."
Liu Yan nodded, "I can talk to them!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier ran over in a panic to report, "Reporting the order, those old people are here again, making a lot of noise in front of the office's big tent!"
Liu Yan smiled and said, "Let me go and have a look!"
The Disaster Control Administration also has a temporary official office in the camp, which consists of one hundred tents, surrounded by a camp fence, and all kinds of disaster relief food and materials are stored in the tent.
At this time, dozens of old people were sitting in the open space in front of the main tent. None of them spoke, sitting on the ground with gloomy faces.
Hundreds of soldiers surrounded them, fearing that they would rise up and cause trouble.
At this time, a soldier shouted, "Liu Xiangguo is here!"
More than a dozen officials came surrounded by Liu Yan. Only the senior officials called Liu Yan and others Minister, but the middle and lower-level officials and local officials all called them Xiangguo. After all, they were assistant prime ministers and had the title of Pingzhangshi under Zhongshu, so they were also called Xiangguo.
No problem.
Liu Yan walked in, took a look, and said with a smile: "Everyone, if you have anything to say, let's go into the big tent and say it!"
An old man asked: "Can this official take charge?"
An official next to him said sternly: "This is Liu Xiangguo, who has just come from the court."
Several old men loudly said: "We don't care about the Horse Prime Minister or the Sheep Prime Minister. Only a good Prime Minister can solve problems!"
Liu Yan was not angry and said with a smile: "If you have something to do in the big tent, sitting on the ground won't solve the problem."
Everyone looked at each other in astonishment. They all stood up, patted their butts and walked into the tent. The officials quickly brought a bunch of small horses and asked the old people to sit down. Liu Yan also sat down on a horse.
He smiled and said: "Who can tell me first, what do you want?"
A thin old man raised his hand and said, "Let me say a few words first!"
"My father, please tell me!"
The old man said: "We have been here for almost a month, and we can't go back home. The land is rotten, and everyone is a little anxious. How the court plans to resettle us, at least give us an explanation!"
Liu Yan nodded and said: "The Emperor cares about you all the time. I am here to express condolences to you on behalf of the Emperor. At the same time, I am here to tell you how the imperial court will be arranged in the future. Please don't be impatient."
Everyone fell silent and looked at Liu Yan longingly. Liu Yan slowly said: "There are four plans. Everyone can choose. The first plan can be placed in other prefectures and counties in Hebei. Each family will be given half an acre of homestead land."
There is no more. I can only be a tenant, and I have to pay rent every year, keeping about 30% of the profit, and then I will be exempt from taxes for one year, and I will start paying taxes the year after."
Everyone started discussing together, and several old men said anxiously: "Why can't we be given land? Doesn't the government have a lot of land?"
Liu Yan shook his head, "If we allocate land to you, what will happen to the local people? The land belongs to the imperial court and is given to outsiders. If it is not given to them, of course the people will rebel and make trouble. Moreover, who will allocate the land to disaster relief in the past dynasties? We must stay in Hebei.
There will definitely not be any land, and half an acre of homestead land is already a special pension from the emperor."
Everyone was silent. At this time, the thin old man asked: "Is there any plan to divide the land?"
Liu Yan nodded: "Of course there are. I just said there are four plans. I only mentioned the first plan. The next three plans are all about allocating land. The second plan is to move to Beiting and settle in Yizhou and Xizhou.
In Hetingzhou, each household will be given two hundred acres of land, tax-free for fifty years; the third plan is to resettle in Liaodong, which will also give each household two hundred acres of land, tax-free for fifty years; the fourth plan is to go to Datang overseas.
Territory, 300 acres of land per household, tax-free for 100 years, there are four options in total, everyone can choose by themselves, the government will not force it."
There is a discussion below. First of all, overseas is excluded. People in Hebei are relatively conservative. Unless they can no longer survive, no one will choose to go overseas.
Then Beiting was also excluded, because the conditions in Beiting and Liaodong are the same, and Beiting is so far away, so it would be better to choose Liaodong than Beiting.
In fact, there are only two options, either stay in Hebei and become a tenant, or go to Liaodong and become a small landlord. For these farmers who have been exploited for a long time, two hundred acres of land is a large area, which is the level of landlord.