Chapter 334: The Difference Between Prevention and Disaster Relief
There was a commotion in Prince Xing's mansion.
Tang Yin first summoned Zhu Chen, the chief of the royal palace's ceremonial guard, and ordered him to summon the guards and craftsmen to stand by. He also asked Luo Sheng, the deputy of the ceremonial guard, to take his son Luo An and others to rush to the river embankment outside the city to monitor the water level. Then he arranged
Lu Song went to prepare the car and went directly to the west courtyard to find Zhu Hao.
Tang Yin knocked on the door angrily and made a huge noise. Jinghong was so frightened that he almost jumped up from the bed.
"Um?"
Jinghong opened his sleepy eyes and looked around in horror, like a frightened deer.
Zhu Hao went out to open the courtyard door and saw Tang Yin's face glowing red under the light of the torch. As soon as he saw Zhu Hao, he said hurriedly: "Come on, follow me to the embankment. Let's talk about anything on the way."
Just as he was about to reach out to grab Zhu Hao's hand, he found that Zhu Hao took a step back to avoid it.
"you?"
Tang Yin was puzzled.
Zhu Hao acted very calmly and asked, "Is Hong Feng really here?"
"Hong Feng?"
Tang Yin's eyes were full of confusion.
"It is the peak condition that the flood can reach when it passes through, which can also be said to be the maximum flow... Ah, no, at this time, the peak of the flood should not have arrived. Is the Han River rising very much?" Zhu Hao asked again.
Tang Yin said: "You know everything, why are you asking? King Xing asked me to take you up the river embankment. I submitted the river map you drew to King Xing. Yuan Changshi took it to see the people of the state government, and stayed up all night.
Organize people to protect river embankments and dams, it may be too late to raise funds now!"
Zhu Hao shook his head: "I can't help you even if I go. Besides, it's inevitable that you'll be in a hurry to make temporary arrangements. I just want to ask, are the sandbags and the like ready?"
Tang Yin was a little speechless.
Before, you predicted in advance that the local area would encounter a major flood, but no one took your warning seriously. Now that the flood has really come, you have calmed down instead?
Looking at you like this, you don’t want to go to the river embankment to help me!
"What King Xing means is... let us take people to the section of the river adjacent to Wangtian and be prepared at any time. The terrain there is relatively high. As long as the levee is not washed away, the levee will be very safe..."
Tang Yin thought Zhu Hao was worried about his own safety, so he quickly explained.
Zhu Hao was unmoved and said seriously: "I have checked the situation in the Anlu section of the Han River. The embankment near Wangtian of Prince Xingfu has been reinforced at ordinary times. The possibility of the embankment breaking is unlikely. The problem is that now the embankment of Prince Xingfu is guarding
This section of the embankment has no meaning. Even if something happens, the loss of property will be within an acceptable range... Prince Xing’s Mansion must rely on this early warning and emergency repair of the river embankment to gain fame and good reputation among the government and the public."
After hearing Zhu Hao's eloquent talk, Tang Yin was stunned for a moment. He thought carefully but couldn't figure it out.
"What do you mean...?"
Tang Yin's mind was in a state of confusion.
Zhu Haodao: "What I mean is... you can just take people to protect the low-lying river embankments that are in disrepair and are easily breached. I will go home first, ask my mother to come forward, contact the merchants in the city, and then let the merchants
Inform the gentry, who will send people to each village to report the news... The most important thing now is to warn the sleeping people in the village outside the city, isn't it?"
Tang Yin thought for a while.
It seems like that's really what happened.
My own thinking went wrong and I thought that when a flood came, I had to rush to the embankment to repair it. The problem was that the people outside the city did not know that the flood was coming. If the people outside the city did not organize an evacuation tonight, which section of the river embankment would be destroyed by the flood tomorrow?
, causing large tracts of villages to be flooded, and numerous casualties... the trouble would be huge.
"But over to King Xing..."
“King Xing’s opinion is to protect the river embankments around his fields first, and his thoughts are limited to minimizing his own losses, but my idea is to use this flood to accumulate connections and reputation for King Xing... Who do you listen to?
"
Zhu Hao's question is very direct.
If you listen to King Xing, you lead people to guard the river embankments near the fields of Prince Xing's mansion. If you listen to me, you go to repair the river embankments that are full of dangers. You can only choose one of the two!
Tang Yin wanted to say, why do you want me to listen to you?
Can you handle it if something goes wrong?
But he had already learned from experience that if he didn't listen to Zhu Hao's advice, he would definitely suffer in the end.
"Someone is coming!"
Tang Yin made a prompt decision and really had the demeanor of a general.
Immediately, a guard came over and saluted: "Sir, what do you want?"
Tang Yin shouted sternly: "Hurry up and inform His Highness Prince Xing that I, Tang Yin, will go against his wishes for the time being and repair the damaged section of the river that has been in disrepair for many years. The dam near the fields of Prince Xing's Mansion must be put aside first..."
"ah?"
The guard was shocked.
The staff hired by the royal palace do not first care about their own property, but first protect the safety of the local people? Why do they come to me to report to King Xing so openly?
"Report it truthfully, and ask Zhu Weizheng to come see me and tell me if anything happens on the way..."
After saying that, Tang Yin turned around and walked away. After walking a few steps, he remembered something and turned around to say, "Zhu Hao, please go home quickly and inform the court. I'll leave it to you for the errands that King Xing didn't tell you!"
…
…
Tang Yin followed Zhu Hao's advice and took matters into his own hands. While leading people from Prince Xing's Mansion to repair the severely damaged section of the Han River, he sent Zhu Hao to inform the people outside the city to evacuate.
Anluzhou City became lively because of the sudden warning from Prince Xing's Mansion.
Here Yuan Zonggao went to see Zhang Yezheng. He was very angry at the actions of the state government, because the other party had obviously treated him coldly. He waited for half an hour before seeing Zhang Yezheng.
"Yuan Changshi, you are just an official of Prince Xing's Mansion. Your one-third of an acre of land is not in the prefecture or county government office."
Zhang Yezheng was in charge of the food king and worried about the king. Since he was entrusted by the traitor to monitor and guard against Prince Xing's Mansion, he would naturally not look down upon anyone coming from Prince Xing's Mansion.
Yuan Zonggao said: "I don't want to ask about local affairs. It's just that the palace sent people to find out that the water level of the Han River has surged tonight. I believe that the river will overflow the embankment before dawn, causing serious flooding..."
"Hahaha……"
Zhang Yezheng burst out laughing, and the staff and officials nearby also laughed.
"Although Prince Xing's Mansion does not interfere in local affairs, if a disaster occurs, isn't it normal for Yuan to come and inform the state government? You, Zhang Zhizhou, feel that there are people in the court supporting you, and there is a big disaster in the area under your jurisdiction
, even if you don’t do anything, can your official position be kept stable?”
Yuan Zonggao's tone turned cold, "If it is really because of your dereliction of duty that people are in ruins, Prince Xing's Mansion will definitely impeach the local government and let the court know what you, a state official, did in the face of disaster."
Zhang Yezheng wanted to argue, but the staff next to him said something in his ear.
Although Yuan Zonggao didn't know what he said specifically, he was very likely to give advice, which shows that Zhang Yezheng still had smart people under his command.
Prince Xing’s Mansion wouldn’t look for trouble, so it would send Prince Mansion Chief Shi to the state government office to mess with people in the middle of the night?
All you need to know about floods is to send people to investigate outside the city. Since Prince Xing's Mansion said it happened, it's probably true... It just depends on whether the state government will cooperate with Prince Xing's Mansion.
Zhang Yezheng said: "Thank you very much, Yuan Changshi, for your late night trip. Regarding disaster prevention matters, I will discuss it with the local officials and gentry after dawn..."
Yuan Zonggao suddenly became angry: "Didn't you hear what I said? It's urgent now!"
Zhang Yezheng was unusually cold: "Send off guests!"
…
…
Yuan Zonggao was kicked out of the state government.
The thing happened so suddenly that he didn't expect it... I'm obviously here to warn you, but you also know that I'm not joking, so how can you not take it seriously?
When Yuan Zonggao returned to Prince Xing's Mansion, he learned of Tang Yin's "strange" behavior. He actually went against Prince Xing's order to rush to repair a critical section of the embankment.
Yuan Zonggao thought to himself: "Could it be that Bohu predicted in advance that I would not get any help when I went to the state government, so he took matters into his own hands?"
In any case, Yuan Zonggao went to see Prince Xing first. Unexpectedly, in the study room of the prince's palace, he saw Zhu Hao, who had already returned home and came to see Zhu Youqi with Zhu Niang's wishes.
"Yuan Changshi, you came just in time, what did the state government say?"
Zhu Youqian looked at Yuan Zonggao eagerly.
Yuan Zonggao first glanced at Zhu Hao, curious as to why this boy did not follow Tang Yin to the river embankment, but appeared here. Then he said with some regret: "The state government does not seem to care about the warning from the palace."
Zhu Youqi sighed: "As expected."
Yuan Zonggao was confused. This meant... someone had analyzed the situation with Prince Xing in advance and thought that the local government would not heed Prince Xing's warning?
Zhu Youqi pointed at Zhu Hao: "Zhu Hao, if you have anything to do, tell Yuan Changshi."
Zhu Hao said: "It's like this, Yuan Changshi, my mother is currently doing business in demolished houses outside the city. Most of the merchants in the city can be contacted. When I learned that the flood was coming, I went back to find my mother and the shopkeeper, and then contacted the local Merchants and gentry, ask them to organize manpower to rush to repair the river embankment, and at the same time send people out of the city to remind the people to move..."
Yuan Zonggao stretched out his hand to interrupt Zhu Hao: "Zhu Hao, these things can be done by the government... What kind of argument do you have?"
Zhu Hao looked calm: "Based on Wansheng's understanding of the local Xinzhou Prefecture, he is the kind of person who would rather wait for a major disaster to organize manpower for disaster relief than take the initiative to prevent disasters..."
Yuan Zonggao couldn't help but take a breath after hearing this.
If this was before he went to see Zhang Yezheng, he would not believe Zhu Hao's analysis.
But after a trip to the state government office, he understood that... Zhang Yezheng seemed to be such a villain.
No matter how good disaster prevention is, there will be no success afterwards.
Instead, they did not take precautions and waited for disasters to occur. During disaster relief, the government's disaster relief funds could be misappropriated, and political achievements could also be earned from disaster relief...
Zhu Hao understood Zhang Yezheng's temperament of bullying officials from above and from below very clearly.
Zhu Youqi sighed: "I did not expect that the local government turned a deaf ear to the royal palace's warning and did not care about the lives and deaths of the people. Such officials...should be removed from the court!"
Yuan Zonggao finally recognized the reality and took the initiative to ask Zhu Hao: "As for Zhu Hao, if the merchants come forward, will the gentry... agree and be able to contribute money and efforts?"
Zhu Hao nodded: "A big disaster is coming. If the local gentry doesn't even care about their own land, people and animals, then how can they gain a foothold in Anlu? Officials provide disaster relief for political achievements, while local gentry and people prevent disasters for the sake of their political achievements." To find a way to survive and avoid casualties, the starting point is different."
Although Yuan Zonggao didn't want to agree with this statement, he couldn't help but nod.
After all, Zhang Yezheng was a exiled official and had no property in Anlu. A flood would have little impact on him, but the situation was different for the gentry and the common people.
The land, people, animals, and property are all on the land outside the city. When the flood comes, won't everything be destroyed? Who wouldn't fight to keep people and property safe at this time?
If you feel that Prince Xing's warning is false and you don't believe it, you can send people to the river embankment to have a look. It doesn't take much effort to send someone to verify it.