Rise From the Humble

“As expected, it’s better to save yourself.”

Zhu Pingan rubbed his brows. Although the result was expected, he was still a little disappointed when the dust settled.

Disappointment doesn't solve the problem, it only adds to it.

Zhu Ping'an only rubbed his brows, then cheered up again and sent someone to summon a group of subordinate officials from Jingnan to come to the county government office.

"That's the situation. In the short term, don't expect the court to provide disaster relief or rescue. We can only save ourselves."

Zhu Ping'an read the reply letter from Taizhou Prefecture in front of all the subordinate officials, and told everyone the truth.

"Ah?! What?! You want us to save ourselves?! We just suffered a flood and suffered heavy losses. How can we save ourselves?"

"How could this happen?! This flood has affected most of the south of the Yangtze River. It is so wide in scope and so severe that it has been rare in decades. How can the imperial court stand by and watch! Isn't it afraid that ineffective disaster relief will lead to civil unrest?!"

"When other places were hit by disasters, the imperial court mobilized grain and grass from our Jiangnan region for disaster relief. Why couldn't the imperial court mobilize grain and grass from other places for disaster relief when our Jiangnan region was affected? Is it possible that we were adopted?!"

After hearing the reply letter from Taizhou Prefecture asking for self-help, all the subordinate officials were disappointed, worried and angry.

"Okay, everyone. The imperial court also has its own difficulties. In recent years, the Ming Dynasty has been troubled and disasters have occurred frequently, such as Shaanxi, which suffered from drought for many years. In the first half of the year, there was a flood in Beizhili, a drought in Jiangxi, and a famine in Datong, Xuanfu. Things have come together. The imperial treasury has consumed a lot of money, and for a while, it is difficult to raise money for disaster relief. Before the court raises money and food for disaster relief, we can only save ourselves. We eat the emperor's salary, and we should be loyal to the emperor, share the worries of the saint, and serve the people. When it comes to solving problems, why fear the Tao?"

Zhu Pingan slapped the table, interrupting everyone's disappointment and indignation, and said to everyone with firm eyes.

Everyone's reaction was as expected by Zhu Ping'an. This is also human nature. However, as the helmsmen of Jingnan, how can we be so negative? It is still up to us to steer this big ship out of trouble.

"What the county magistrate said is absolutely true, but we in Jingnan suffered heavy losses in this flood. Countless houses were damaged and property losses were immeasurable. With the current situation, we may not be able to carry out self-rescue."

Under the leadership of Zhu Pingan, although the subordinate officials cheered up, they still couldn't help but feel worried when they thought about the difficulties.

"We in Jingnan worked together and took precautions before the floods occurred. Compared with other counties, our Jingnan suffered much less damage from the floods. To carry out self-rescue, our burden is already greater than that of other counties. The county is much lighter. If we can't bear the burden of 'self-rescue', then other counties and counties can just collectively hang themselves on the southeastern branch. What we have to do is to face the difficulties and overcome them, rather than being overcome by them. "Zhu Pingan twitched the corner of his mouth slightly and teased everyone.

Well, that's true. Let's not talk about the distance, let's talk about the neighboring county Taiping County. The losses they suffered were ten times that of Jingnan.

All the subordinate officials were completely cheered up.

After seeing all the subordinates cheering up again, Zhu Ping'an nodded with satisfaction. This is the state that leaders should have in the face of disasters. Next, Zhu Ping'an asked the subordinates to report on the situation and conduct a thorough investigation of the disaster situation, so that everyone could have a clearer understanding of the current situation in Jingnan.

"Back to the county, sir, the northern suburbs flood refuge area under my jurisdiction currently accommodates a total of 26,23 victims."

"Returning to the county, the Dongshan Flood Refuge Area under my jurisdiction accommodates a total of 11,562 victims."

"Return to the County Zun"

The subordinate officials in charge of the five major flood avoidance areas and the subordinate officials in the county first reported on the situation of the victims. There were 64,673 victims in the five major flood avoidance areas, and there were 26,453 people in the county. In total, there are more than 90,000 people. After hearing this number, everyone couldn't help but feel a lot of pressure.

"Qian Dianli, Zhang Dianli, please tell everyone the current situation of grain and silver storage in warehouses and warehouses."

Next, Zhu Ping'an asked Qian Dianli and Zhang Dianli to tell everyone about Jingnan's family background.

"Back to the county magistrate, as of this morning, I still have 17,286 dan of grain in my warehouse."

The warehouse administrator Qian Dianli got up first to report.

"Uh, in just the past five days, nearly three thousand stones of food have been consumed?!"

When the subordinate officials heard this, they couldn't help but expressed surprise. They didn't expect that the food would be consumed so quickly.

"Everyone, this is because there were relatively few victims who fled in the past few days and the food consumption was small. Judging from the current daily increase in the number of victims, the daily food consumption will increase by hundreds of dan in the future. According to preliminary estimates, our warehouse currently has The grain storage can only last for about twenty days. After twenty days, there will be no grain available in my warehouse." Qian Dianli, the warehouse administrator, couldn't help but said to everyone with a worried look on his face.

"Well, what can we do if we don't have food? The most important thing in disaster relief is food."

All the subordinate officials were very worried.

Only Zhu Ping'an looked calm, "Zhang Dianli, please tell everyone how much silver is left in the warehouse."

"Returning to the County Lord, there are currently 380 taels of gold and 12,656 taels of silver in our county government's warehouse." Zhang Dianli, as the warehouse clerk, is very familiar with the county government's deposits of gold and silver. , stood up and reported back.

These deposits of gold and silver were mainly obtained from the properties of Zhang Xiancheng, Yao Zhubu, Li Dianshi and others. Some time ago, more than 10,000 taels of silver were spent on preventing floods, clearing ditches, purchasing building materials, building and repairing dams, etc. At present, these gold and silver are all that are left in the county government treasury.

After hearing the amount of gold and silver deposited by the county government, the subordinate officials felt a little more at ease. The county government's finances were relatively good.

"If you have any ideas, it's okay to say it." Zhu Pingan said to everyone.

"Your Excellency, I suggest you withdraw the gold and silver from the warehouse to purchase food. After all, food is the basis of disaster relief."

Old man Liu, the official of the ceremonial room, suggested.

"I second the proposal." Zhang Dianli, the official in charge of the office, agreed.

"Liu Dianli, Zhang Dianli, you don't know the price of food." Liu Fuzi, the housekeeper, shook his head and sighed, "Currently, the price of food in Jingnan is rising three times a day, in the morning and at noon. The price was different from that in the evening. Before the flood, that is, five days ago, the price of one stone of rice was only 400 Wen; by this morning, the price of one stone of rice had risen to 1,200 Wen. In just five days, the price of rice The price of food has tripled, and the price is still rising rapidly. I can guarantee that as we speak, the price of food has risen again. Other counties such as Taiping County, Linhai County, etc. The prices of grain are also the same, and they have all increased ridiculously. All the money and silver deposits in our county government can only buy about 10,000 shi now."

"Then you have to buy it." Old Man Liu and others said.

Hearing this, Mr. Liu, the household administrator, couldn't help but sigh, "Even if we want to buy it, someone has to sell it somewhere. Now every grain store in the county sells grain in limited quantities, and the grain sold every day is very limited. It only takes about a while to sell one stick of incense when the door is opened. Those who arrive late will not be able to buy food no matter how much money they take. The situation in other counties is also the same, and it is not even as good as our situation in Jingnan."

"These evil-hearted profiteers, regardless of the life and death of the people, know that it is difficult to make money for the country, and their consciences have been eaten by dogs. They sell limited amounts of food every day, not to drive up food prices!"

"These black-hearted grain dealers who are crazy about raising prices should be severely punished. I say, county magistrate, in troubled times, we should use heavy punishment. We should bring these black-hearted grain dealers to justice. It is best to chop off a few heads in public to scare the monkeys. That's it. Only then can food prices be suppressed.”

When all the subordinate officials heard this, they couldn't help but be filled with righteous indignation. As they spoke, they wished they could tear these profiteers to pieces with their hands.

I wish all book friends a happy and safe Year of the Rat. I pay tribute to the vast number of book friends in Wuhan. I believe that everything will be fine.

PS: You must wash your hands frequently, remember to wear a mask when going out, and try to avoid going to closed public places. Health is the most important thing.