Chapter 93: Either a good minister or a good doctor
Fan Zhongyan's proposal involves Wusongjiang, Baimao, Qianjing, Hupu, Xiazhang, Qiya and other rivers, and is expected to call for at least 100,000 laborers and supporting local troops.
The so-called local Xiang army is the standing army of each state capital. Most of the main components of the Xiang army are hungry people and some are exiled criminals.
Although it is named "Army", the Xiang Army hardly undertakes combat tasks, and its main tasks are mostly miscellaneous items.
The Xiang Army is not so much an army as it is a state-owned engineering team. Local tasks such as building cities, building roads and bridges, transporting grain to reclaim wasteland, and making weapons are all under the Xiang Army.
Although the overall number of the Xiang army is not large, when it is spread to the state capitals, the number is not large. It is difficult to complete such a large project with the strength of the Xiang army alone.
Therefore, Fan Zhongyan’s memorial contains a request to recruit civilian husbands.
Of course, the proposal in the memorial is not simply about recruiting civilian workers, but more like providing work-for-relief.
Working-for-relief is actually not a groundbreaking proposal. Historical examples of working-for-relief can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
It is recorded in "Yanzi Chunqiu" that during the reign of Duke Jinggong of Qi, the country suffered from famine. Yanzi asked for millet for the people, but the Duke refused.
In order to relieve the disaster, Yanzi went to great lengths to save the country, using the excuse of building buildings used by the monarch, so that the hungry people could receive relief food.
In the pre-Qin period, Guan Zhong also took measures to replace relief with work.
Therefore, Fan Zhongyan's argument of "relief through work" is not new, nor is it surprising enough to Liu E.
What really surprised Liu E was that Fan Zhongyan dared to propose such a bold proposal.
Fan Zhongyan's memorial not only requested the recruitment of civilians and Xiang troops, but also requested an additional 200,000 shi of grain.
Today, the price of rice in Beijing is about 300 yuan per stone.
Two hundred thousand shi of grain and 60 million yuan, which is 60,000 guan (if the amount is sufficient).
Sixty thousand guan was obviously not enough to support the construction of such a huge water conservancy project. This was just the money and food for the first batch of hungry people.
According to common practice, the conscripted civilians must consume at least two liters of rice every day. For 100,000 people, that is, 200,000 liters.
Ten liters and one bucket, ten buckets and one stone, the daily food consumption of one hundred thousand people is 2,000 stones.
All in all, 200,000 shi of food is only enough for one hundred days.
That's it, not counting the loss of food transportation and other expenses of recruiting civilians. It's impossible for the civilians to eat only corn every day, right?
Besides, two liters a day is still the ideal situation.
In the Song Dynasty, one stone was equivalent to 92.5 Song Jin, and one Song Jin was about 604 grams. According to conversion, one stone of rice was 59.2 kilograms, which is 118.4 kilograms.
Continuing with the conversion, one liter in the Song Dynasty was about 1.2 kilograms, and two liters was 2.4 kilograms.
2.4 pounds seems like a lot.
However, the diet structure in ancient times was no better than that of later generations, the stomachs were seriously lacking in oil and water, and the laborers did heavy physical labor.
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It’s not surprising that I eat more than two kilograms a day.
(PS: In the Song Dynasty, the daily ration for civilians who transported food to the army was two liters. Li Fuyou, a poet of the Song Dynasty, wrote: "A man carries six buckets and a coir raincoat, and rice is for two soldiers, and they feed themselves. For high and low, the daily allowance is two liters, six buckets."
Only available for ten days')
After a while, Li Jie put down the note in his hand and sighed slightly.
"Fan Zhongyan is indeed a good official. The Suhu area has suffered from disasters all year round. It is time to repair the water conservancy."
Hearing this, Liu E frowned slightly.
"Brother Six, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to recruit civilian husbands at this time, right?"
Recruiting civilian husbands has always been an act of disturbing the people in all dynasties, especially this time, one hundred thousand civilian husbands need to be recruited.
The late emperor had only ascended to Xia for a long time, and he wanted to recruit civilians on a large scale.
In addition, it is not appropriate for an official to do this just after he ascends the throne.
"Madam, national affairs come first. If we miss this winter, we will be delayed for a whole year next year."
"In recent years, it has been rainy in the Jiangnan area. Maybe the Suhu area will be hit by another disaster next year."
In ancient times, when recruiting civilians, seasonal issues were usually taken into consideration. If it was a busy farming period, such as spring plowing or autumn harvest, it would definitely not be suitable for recruiting.
Unless necessary, recruitment is mostly done during slack periods.
For example, when we built the mausoleum for Zhenzong before, we had no choice but to recruit people during the busy farming period.
"This matter needs further discussion."
Liu E's attitude was very firm. On this occasion, it was indeed not a good time to recruit civilian husbands. However, she did not completely deny it, but added something.
"Tomorrow, I will discuss this matter with the ministers at Chengming Palace."
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Suzhou.
Looking at the mighty Taihu Lake in front of him, if it were another time, Fan Zhongyan would probably be so inspired by poetry that he could compose a poem.
But now.
He just felt annoyed.
Taihu Lake covers an area of 30,000 hectares. No matter how beautiful the scenery is, he has no time to appreciate it.
Suzhou is considered Fan Zhongyan’s hometown. Since he came here, he naturally wanted to do something for the folks in his hometown.
It was precisely because of this that he took the risk of getting a job in building water conservancy projects.
In fact, Fan Zhongyan also knew very well that the current time was not suitable for large-scale recruitment of civilians.
As early as the moment he submitted the letter, he was already prepared to die.
At the same time, he was also prepared to be punished.
There is always a kind of person in the world who knows that something cannot be done but does it anyway. He knows that there are tigers in the mountains and prefers to go to the tiger mountains.
Not for fame, not for profit, but for a clear conscience.
There is no doubt that Fan Zhongyan is this kind of person, otherwise, he would not have written the poem "worry about the world's worries first, and rejoice after the world's happiness".
Zhang Lun, who was standing aside, glanced at Fan Zhongyan helplessly and sighed.
"Xiwen, why are you doing this?"
Zhang Lun has been visiting various places to investigate the disaster situation in the past few days. It was not until today that he reunited with Fan Zhongyan.
"Thank you for keeping me safe."
Fan Zhongyan smiled indifferently, turned his eyes, and looked at the boundless mist of Taihu Lake.
"Of course, if it can't benefit the people, why does Xiwen need this official uniform?"
In the past, before Fan Zhongyan became a Jinshi, he went to the temple to ask for a fortune.
The first question is: "Will he be able to achieve a similar position in the future?"
No!
Repeat the prayer.
The second question: "If not, I would like to be a good doctor."
Not allowed either.
Both wishes failed, so Fan Zhongyan sighed.
[If a husband cannot benefit the people, that is not the ambition of a true man in his life]
Although more than ten years have passed, Fan Zhongyan has never forgotten the vision he made as an official.
In other words, to put it more modernly, if you are an official and do not make decisions for the people, it is better to go home and plant sweet potatoes.
"well."
Hearing Fan Zhongyan's response, Zhang Lun couldn't help but feel helpless.
Obviously, he knew about Fan Zhongyan's pursuit, but Zhang Lun still wanted to persuade Fan Zhongyan that it would not work to be an official.
Although Zhang Lun was not in the capital at this time, he could clearly imagine how the ministers would react if they saw this letter.
This piece of writing will probably give Fan Zhongyan ten more years of talent selection.