Rise From the Humble

Thousands of miles south of the Yangtze River became the country of Ze, and half of the people were victims of the disaster. The people who survived the flood not only had to bear the pain of losing their loved ones, but also faced a severe survival crisis, being displaced, hungry and cold, and crying endlessly.

The people in Jingnan are luckier than most of the victims. At least they don't have to bear the pain of losing their loved ones.

"Our first priority now is to resettle the people and disaster victims. We should build more temporary houses in the flood refuge areas, including thatched houses. Having a shelter from the wind and rain will give the people a sense of security. If the people can Without assistance, under the instigation of some well-intentioned people, potential forces of unrest will form. There are countless examples of riots by victims in history. In the final analysis, the rescue is not timely."

Zhu Ping'an summoned all the subordinate officials in the county government, organized them into several groups, and arranged for them to be responsible for resettling and rescuing civilian victims in different flood avoidance areas. Before leaving, he emphasized to them the purpose and significance of rescuing the common people.

"Don't worry, your Majesty, this is a critical period, and we will do our best to complete the tasks assigned by your Majesty."

Zhang Tongsheng, Liu Fuzi and other subordinate officials accepted the orders one after another. They also knew the importance of rescuing the people after the disaster. In addition, they are also natives of Jingnan, so they are naturally very concerned about resettling the villagers.

"There is another point that must be paid special attention to. As the saying goes, after a major disaster there will be a major epidemic. After the flood, houses, ditches, livestock pens, etc. are all submerged. All kinds of filth and stolen goods are spread everywhere. Rats and mosquitoes are rampant. It is easy to breed a variety of epidemics and spread among the crowd. While arranging the people, you must do a good job in epidemic prevention. First, plan toilets in the flood avoidance area. People and disaster victims are strictly prohibited from urinating anywhere. They must use the planned toilets. ; Second, the water source should be well water drawn from deep veins, followed by well water seeping from rivers, and ditches third. It is strictly forbidden to drink raw water, and it must be boiled before drinking; third, the people and Disaster victims should keep clean and hygienic, change clothes frequently, and take a bath once every two days. Herbal medicines such as Perrin can be mixed into the bath water to prevent plague; fourth, if any people or victims are found to have fever, dysentery, etc., they must be isolated Fifth, if any of the victims make trouble or make trouble, they will be severely punished. Well, that’s all I can think of for now. If you have any good measures and suggestions in practice, please report them to me in a timely manner.”

As a modern person, Zhu Pingan fully understands the importance of post-disaster epidemic prevention and instills modern epidemic prevention experience into them.

"As commanded."

Zhang Tongsheng and others accepted the order one after another. They didn't think so much, and they couldn't help but be more impressed by Zhu Pingan.

"County Lord, food and grass are indispensable for relocating and rescuing the people. The autumn harvest grains stored in the people's homes have been basically soaked by the floods. The rations they carried with them during emergency evacuation are limited and have basically been exhausted. If the supply of food and grass is insufficient, the people will be hungry. Laulu, in order to fill my stomach, I might change.

Master Liu raised his hand and said that he was more worried about the food problem. In history, when ordinary people rebelled, they mostly rebelled because they had no food to eat, could not survive, and were desperate. For example, the Yellow Turban Uprising during the Three Kingdoms period.

"Yes, Lord County, this is the same as marching before the soldiers and horses use food and grass."

When Master Liu mentioned the food problem, everyone else felt the same way and were equally worried about the food problem.

The reason why they are so worried about the food problem is because they all know that in order to cash the bounty for the young men who defended the city, Zhu Ping'an, the county magistrate, not only emptied his own personal pockets, but also stored grain in the county government warehouse of 12,000 stones. All were converted into silver taels and the bounty was cashed in for everyone. This matter was well known to everyone in Jingnan. Everyone praised the county minister and said that he was true to his words and praised the county minister full of praise.

It is indeed commendable for the county minister to do this! But clinker thought, what if it’s flooded now? ! In years of famine, food is very important. The county magistrate converted the grain stored in the warehouse into silver taels and gave it to everyone to cash in the reward. Then wouldn't the grain in the warehouse be gone? ! Now is the time to use food. How can we not worry?

"Don't worry, Mr. Qian, please tell us how much grain is left in the warehouse now."

Zhu Ping'an knew what everyone was worried about, so he smiled calmly and said to Qian Dianli on the side.

"Everyone, our county government warehouse currently has a total of 20,000 shi of grain." Qian Dianli was the only one among the people who was not worried about food. After Zhu Pingan finished speaking, Qian Dianli stepped forward and said to everyone.

"What, twenty thousand stones? Didn't the county magistrate convert all the grain stored in the warehouse into silver taels and give it to the young man who defended the city to cash in the reward?" Hearing this, everyone opened their mouths in surprise, and the surprise was beyond words.

After years of saving, the Jingnan warehouse had only accumulated twelve thousand shi of grain. They thought that there was no grain stored in the warehouse, but they didn't expect that there were 20,000 stones of grain stored in it. One stone of grain is equivalent to about 150 catties, and twenty thousand stone of rice is equivalent to 3 million catties. For a county, 20,000 shi of grain storage is a huge amount. Generally speaking, if the county government warehouse stores 10,000 shi of grain, it has reached the standard. The warehouses can store 20,000 shi of grain. The counties that can do this are all the big counties that have been famous for a long time. There are no more than fifty in the entire Ming Dynasty.

"Mr. Qian, is it true or false?"

Happiness came too suddenly. After the surprise, everyone couldn't help but feel a little doubtful and couldn't believe it.

"How can this be true? After the autumn harvest, the county magistrate said that he would accumulate grain to prepare for shortages. Taking advantage of the abundant and cheap rice, he ordered me to buy 20,000 shi of rice in the warehouse and store it in the warehouse as a grain reserve for the county government in case of emergency needs. Take precautions before they happen. Half a month ago, when the continuous rain started, the county magistrate ordered my warehouse to be prepared for flood prevention and waterlogging. We followed the county magistrate’s instructions and made sufficient preparations. It is no exaggeration to say that my warehouse is here Not a single grain of rice was lost in this flood." Qian Dianli vowed to everyone.

After receiving the confirmation, all the subordinate officials relaxed. The ancients said: If you have food in your hands, you will not panic in your heart.

After all the subordinate staff left, Zhu Pingan sighed. Food. Food is a big problem.

Although after the autumn harvest, I drew on the experience of previous dynasties in accumulating grain to prepare for famine. Taking advantage of the abundant and cheap rice, I used the confiscated Eunuch Qian's stolen money and the money from the confiscation of Zhang Xian Cheng and others to purchase 20,000 shi of grain, and stored it in the warehouse to prepare for famine. .

Although 20,000 shi of grain is 3 million jins, it seems like a lot.

However, due to this flood, for the people of Jingnan County, there is not much food.

Jingnan is a large county, with a total of more than 60,000 people including the mountain people.

Since Jingnan's flood control measures are more effective than those in neighboring counties such as Taiping County, and flood refuge areas have been set up, many victims who were displaced in Taiping County and other neighboring counties recently fled to flood refuges near Jingnan after hearing the news. district. According to preliminary statistics, there are currently between five and six thousand people, and this number is still increasing. As the news spreads, the number of people fleeing to Jingnan every day may double.

Based on the calculation of six taels of grain per person per day, these 20,000 shi of grain can only last for about a month.

This is still an optimistic estimate.

One month seems like a long time, but in ancient times, the court's response time for disaster relief was not as good as in modern times.

Of course, this is not the most important thing.

Zhu Ping'an was most worried about the court's inability to relieve floods in the south of the Yangtze River. In recent years, disasters have occurred frequently during the Ming Dynasty. There have been severe droughts in Shaanxi for many years. The imperial court has been providing relief for many years, which has consumed a lot of money. In addition, in the first half of this year, there were floods in Zhili, drought in Jiangxi, and famine in Datong in Xuanfu. Showing embarrassment. Zhu Ping'an had inspected Taicang's treasury and knew how empty the Ming Dynasty's treasury was. Although he uncovered the Taicang deficit case and Emperor Jiajing fined him a large amount of silver, his hands were not yet warm. Just beckoned. Now, I'm afraid that the imperial court wants to provide disaster relief, but for a while it is unable to do so.