After bidding farewell to Fang Xuanling, Zhang San and his party rushed to Xuzhou in a mighty manner. This time, Li Shimin not only arranged for these two people to accompany Zhang San, but also sent a team of soldiers to protect the safety of several people.
"Uncle Zhang County, we will reach Xuzhou in one day's journey. Along the way, we have seen many refugees migrating to Chang'an and other places. It seems that the disaster there is very serious!" While resting at a post station, the supervisor said
Shi Xu Changliang came to Zhang San and said sadly.
"Alas! I saw a lot of crops dried up in the fields along the way. I guess the people knew that waiting was not an option, so they had no choice but to go elsewhere to make a living." Zhang San also sighed.
"We are not yet in the area where the drought is most serious. We don't know what the situation is like there." Yu Mingsheng, the Dushui envoy, also said with a heavy heart.
"Without further delay, let's continue on our way and try to get there as soon as possible." Zhang San stood up and said to the two of them.
"Okay!" The two of them also wanted to rush there as soon as possible. If they stayed here for a moment longer, the victims over there would have to endure another moment of suffering.
When Zhang San and his party arrived in front of Xuzhou City the next day, they saw a gathering of victims scattered around the city wall. Many people looked at Zhang San and his party from hiding in the shade with dull eyes.
"What did Qian Tong do? Don't they set up several soup kitchens outside?" Xu Changliang said angrily when he saw the scene in front of him.
At this time, Qian Tong heard that the inspection envoy Zhang San and his party had arrived in advance, and hurriedly ran to the city gate to greet them, and happened to hear what Xu Changliang and Yu Mingsheng said.
At this time, Qian Tong also expressed his sorrow, and quickly saluted Zhang San and others: "Qian Tong, the governor of Xuzhou, has met several adults, and I hope you will forgive me for not welcoming you from afar!"
"Prince Qian is very polite. I'm the uncle of Wannian County, Zhang San. This is Yu Mingsheng, the envoy of Dushui, and Xu Changliang, the supervisory censor. We are here to inspect the disaster. Please excuse me, Governor Qian, to take us to the inn first, and then talk to us."
Let’s look at the disaster situation.” Zhang San said to Qian Tong.
"Alright, Mr. Zhang, Ambassador Yu, and Yushi Xu, please come with me. The post has been arranged."
Qian Tong was surprised to see that Zhang San was so young and was already the uncle of the founding county, and he also served as the inspection envoy. However, thinking that the imperial court would send such a young person to take charge of the disaster relief, he felt a lot of criticism in his heart.
.
Xu Changliang preconceived the idea, thinking that Qian Tong had no idea of rescuing the victims, and treated Qian Tong with a cold face along the way. Zhang San had just arrived, so he didn't say much, wanting to understand the situation first before talking.
Zhang San doesn’t want to use the letter from the Prime Minister to him yet. He will read it after some time!
After arriving at the inn, before Zhang San could speak, Xu Changliang couldn't help but ask: "Prince Qian, why are there not even a place to give porridge to the victims when I see them outside the city? Don't you care about the lives of these victims?"
?”
"Ouch! Xu Yushi, you don't know something. We have given alms outside many times, but the food is never enough for the victims. Now the granary is about to bottom out." Qian Tong complained with a grimace after hearing this.
road.
"Prince Qian, please tell us what's going on with the disaster now? We saw a lot of people fleeing the famine along the way." Zhang San asked quickly because he was afraid that Xu Changliang would say something unpleasant again.
Of course, those who serve as censors are generally unforgiving. Although their official positions are low, no one wants to offend them, because they have the power to report things based on rumors. If you don’t have evidence, you can go to the emperor to get a copy of your report.
"Alas! This drought has spread too widely. The entire Xuzhou is now almost a piece of bare land." Qian Tong's eyes were red and he said sadly.
"Now the hardest-hit areas are mainly Xiaoxian, Yongqiao, Qixian and other places. We have already taken all the measures that should be taken, but there are too many victims this time, and we have no better way, so we wrote to the court to request funding.
Disaster relief.”
"How long will the current granary have enough food to last?" Zhang San asked.
"If we only maintain food for the current victims, it will only be enough for seven days. Now that there is no hope for the autumn harvest, I don't know what to do." Qian Tong said distressedly.
"It will take eight or nine days at the earliest for the government's disaster relief food funds to arrive, but even if the disaster relief food funds arrive, it is far from enough. We must find a way to make a living for the victims, otherwise the upcoming autumn and winter will be bad news." Zhang
Three said.
"I checked the distribution of the entire Xuzhou water system before coming here. When I come back, I would like Governor Qian to arrange for someone to take me to check it out on the spot. We also need to prepare for autumn sowing, otherwise it will be troublesome next year. If it doesn't rain all the time, that one
I can use the stupidest way to irrigate." Yu Mingsheng said.
"Messenger Yu is right, there is no hope for the autumn harvest, but wheat planting cannot be delayed, otherwise there will be no harvest next year, and it will be difficult for the victims to see a way out," Qian Tong replied.
"The most important thing right now is to raise food and meet the needs of the victims as much as possible. How is the price of food on the market now?" Zhang San asked again.
"Now food prices have generally risen sharply. It used to cost ten cents per dou, but now it has risen to eighteen cents per dou. We have also tried our best to suppress food prices, but unfortunately we have had little effect."
"These merchants will drink blood and eat flesh from the people, and make dirty money." Xu Changliang was worthy of being a censor. When he heard this, he became furious and cursed fiercely.
"Xu Yushi calm down, there is nothing we can do about it. The whole of Xuzhou is now in short supply of food. Even if we put up notices strictly prohibiting private price increases to disrupt the market, we can't stop the victims from rushing to buy food, and they even raise their own prices to fight for it." Qian Tong hurriedly said.
explained.
"Everyone has seen the current disaster situation along the way. There is only one thing before us now, which is to raise a large amount of food. What do you think?" Zhang San asked several people.
If there was a way, several people would have said it long ago. Now when they heard Zhang San ask this question, they all looked thoughtful and said nothing.
After a while, Zhang San said: "Well, let's go out of the city and look around later. Tomorrow we each have to come up with a strategy. Regardless of whether it works or not, we must do our best. We can't just count on the court.
Allocating funds for disaster relief is now a long-term battle, and the disaster relief food funds issued by the court are only a drop in the bucket, so we still have to find ways to let the victims help themselves."
After hearing what Zhang San said, Qian Tong also changed his initial view. He thought that Zhang San came here for gold plating at a young age. Judging from the few questions Zhang San asked after arriving, although this man is young,
It's not all bad.
Especially seeing that Xu Yushi and Yu Shishi seemed to obey Zhang Sanyan, this made Qian Tong put aside his contempt for Zhang San.
Of course, Zhang San didn’t know why these two people were so easy to talk to. As long as he said something along the way, the two of them basically followed it, and everything was centered on Zhang San.