The area south of the Yangtze River was flooded, and half of the people were victims of the disaster. The people who survived the flood not only had to endure the pain of losing their loved ones, but also faced a severe survival crisis, being displaced, suffering from hunger and cold, and crying.
The people of Jingnan are luckier than most of the disaster victims. At least they do not have to endure the pain of losing their loved ones.
"Our first priority is to resettle the people and the disaster victims. We should build more temporary houses in the flood shelters. Thatched houses are also fine. With a shelter from the wind and rain, the people will feel more secure. If the people cannot get help, they will become a potential force of instability under the instigation of some people with ulterior motives. There are countless examples of disaster victims rioting in history. In the final analysis, it is because of the lack of timely help."
Zhu Ping'an summoned all the clerks in the county government, organized them into several groups, and assigned them to be responsible for the resettlement and rescue of the victims in different flood shelters. Before leaving, he emphasized to them the purpose and significance of rescuing the people.
"Don't worry, County Master. This is a critical period. We will do our best to complete the task assigned by the County Master."
Zhang Tongsheng, Liu Fuzi and other clerks all accepted the order, as they also knew the importance of helping the people after the disaster. In addition, they were all native Jingnan people, so they were naturally very concerned about the resettlement of the villagers.
"There is another point that must be paid special attention to. As the saying goes, there will be a great epidemic after a great disaster. After the flood, houses, sewers, animal pens, etc. were all submerged, and all kinds of filth and stolen goods spread everywhere. Rats and mosquitoes were rampant, which easily bred various epidemics and spread among the crowd. While you are resettling the people, you must do a good job of epidemic prevention. First, plan toilets in the flood shelter area. It is strictly forbidden for the people and disaster victims to urinate and defecate anywhere. They must go to the toilet in the planned toilets; second, the water source is the well water from the deep earth veins, followed by the well water infiltrated from the rivers, and the ditches are the worst. It is strictly forbidden to drink raw water. It must be boiled before drinking; third, the people and disaster victims must be kept clean and hygienic, change clothes frequently, take a bath every two days, and add herbal medicines such as Perilla to prevent plague in the bath water; fourth, if people and disaster victims are found to have fever, dysentery and other symptoms, they must be isolated. Fifth, if there are people who make trouble out of nothing or cause trouble among the disaster victims, they will be severely punished without mercy... ... Well, that's all I can think of for now. If you have any good measures or suggestions in practice, please report them to me in time."
As a modern person, Zhu Ping'an is well aware of the importance of post-disaster epidemic prevention and has instilled modern epidemic prevention experience into them.
"Yes, sir."
Zhang Tongsheng and others followed the order without thinking too much about it. They were even more impressed by Zhu Pingan.
"Your Excellency, food and grass are essential for the resettlement and relief of the people. The autumn harvest grain in the people's homes has basically been soaked by the flood. The rations they brought with them during the emergency evacuation are limited, and they are basically all gone now. If the food and grass supply is insufficient, the people will be hungry, and they may change their minds in order to fill their stomachs.
Master Liu bowed and said that he was more worried about the food problem. In history, most people rebelled because they were hungry, couldn't survive, and had nowhere else to go. For example, the Yellow Turban Rebellion during the Three Kingdoms period.
"Yes, County Master, this is the same principle as sending food and fodder before the troops move."
As soon as Master Liu mentioned the food problem, everyone else felt the same way and was also worried about the food problem.
The reason why they were so worried about the food problem was because they all knew that the county magistrate Zhu Ping'an had not only emptied his own pockets to pay the bounties to the young men who defended the city, but also converted all the 12,000 dan of grain stored in the county government warehouse into silver to pay the bounties to everyone. This matter was known to everyone in Jingnan, and everyone praised the county magistrate for being trustworthy and praising him endlessly.
The county magistrate's actions are indeed worthy of praise! But what if there is a flood now? ! In a year of famine, food is extremely important. If the county magistrate converts the grain stored in the warehouse into silver and gives it to everyone as a reward, then the grain in the warehouse will be... gone? ! Now is the time to use grain, how can everyone not worry
"Don't worry, Mr. Qian. Please tell us how much grain is left in the warehouse."
Zhu Ping'an knew what everyone was worried about. He smiled calmly and said to Qian Dianli standing beside him.
"Everyone, our county government warehouse currently has a total of 20,000 shi of grain in stock." Qian Dianli was the only one among the crowd who was not worried about food. After Zhu Ping'an finished speaking, Qian Dianli stepped forward and said to everyone.
"What, 20,000 shi? Didn't the county magistrate convert all the grain in the warehouse into silver and give it as a reward to the young and strong men guarding the city?" Upon hearing this, everyone opened their mouths in surprise, and their surprise was beyond words.
After years of accumulation, Jingnan's warehouse had only accumulated 12,000 dan of grain. They thought the warehouse had no more grain, but unexpectedly there were 20,000 dan of grain. One dan of grain is about 150 jin, and 20,000 dan of rice is 3 million jin. For a county, 20,000 dan of grain is a huge number. Generally speaking, a county government warehouse with 10,000 dan of grain has already met the standard. The counties that can store 20,000 dan of grain are all well-known large counties, and there are no more than 50 of them in the entire Ming Dynasty.
"Mr. Qian, is this true?"
Happiness came too suddenly. After the surprise, everyone couldn't help but feel a little skeptical and didn't dare to believe it.
"How can this be false? After the autumn harvest, the county magistrate said that we should store grain for famine preparedness. While rice was plentiful and cheap, he ordered my warehouse to buy 20,000 shi of rice and store it in the warehouse as reserve grain for the county government, in case of emergency. Half a month ago, when the continuous rains just started, the county magistrate ordered my warehouse to make preparations 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 did not lose a single grain of rice in this flood." Qian Dianli vowed to everyone.
After getting the confirmation, the clerks finally relaxed. As the ancients said: If you have food in your hands, you won't be worried.
After all the clerks left, Zhu Pingan sighed. Food... Food is a big problem.
After the autumn harvest, he learned from the experience of past dynasties in storing grain for famine preparedness, and took advantage of the abundant and cheap rice, and used the reward money confiscated from Eunuch Qian and others to purchase 20,000 shi of grain, and stored it in the warehouse in preparation for famine.
Although 20,000 dan of grain is equal to 3 million jin, it seems like a lot.
However, for the people of Jingnan County, this amount of food is not much left due to this flood.
Jingnan is a large county, with a total population of more than 60,000 people, including the mountain people.
Since Jingnan's flood prevention measures are more effective than those of neighboring counties such as Taiping County, and a flood shelter has been set up, many displaced disaster victims in Taiping County and other neighboring counties have fled to the flood shelter near Jingnan after hearing the news. According to preliminary statistics, there are currently as many as 5,000 to 6,000 people, and the number is still increasing. As the news spreads, the number of people fleeing to Jingnan every day may increase exponentially.
Based on the calculation that a common person consumes six taels of grain a day, these 20,000 dan of grain can only last for about a month.
This is still an optimistic estimate.
A month may seem like a long time, but in ancient times, the imperial court’s response time for disaster relief was not as fast as it is today.
Of course, this is not the most important thing.
What Zhu Ping'an was most worried about was the court's inability to provide relief for the floods in the south of the Yangtze River. In recent years, disasters have occurred frequently in the Ming Dynasty. There have been severe droughts in Shaanxi for many years. The court has provided relief for many years, and the treasury has consumed a lot. In addition, there were floods in Zhili, droughts in Jiangxi, and famines in Xuanfu and Datong in the first half of this year. The court was already embarrassed when providing relief. Zhu Ping'an had inspected the Taicang silver treasury and knew how empty the Ming treasury was. Although he uncovered the Taicang deficit case and Emperor Jiajing fined him a large sum of silver, before he could even warm his hands, the northern barbarians and southern Japanese military pay and supplies beckoned. Now, I'm afraid that the court is willing but unable to provide disaster relief for a while.