"It's still self-help..."
Zhu Ping'an rubbed his brows. Although the result was as expected, he still felt a little disappointed when the dust settled.
Disappointment does not solve problems, it only adds to them.
Zhu Ping'an just rubbed his brows, then cheered himself up again and sent someone to summon all the clerks from Jingnan to the county government office.
"... ... This is the situation. In the short term, don't expect disaster relief or rescue from the imperial court. We can only save ourselves."
Zhu Ping'an read out the reply from Taizhou Prefecture in front of all the clerks 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 affected most of Jiangnan. The scope and severity of the disaster are rare in decades. How could the court sit idly by? Aren't they afraid that the failure to provide disaster relief will cause a civil uprising?!"
"When other places were hit by disasters, the imperial court mobilized food and grass from our Jiangnan area for disaster relief. Why couldn't the imperial court mobilize food and grass from other places for disaster relief when Jiangnan was hit by a disaster? Could it be that we were adopted?!"
After hearing the reply from Taizhou Prefecture asking for self-help, all the clerks were disappointed, worried and indignant.
"Okay, everyone. The court also has its own difficulties. In recent years, our Ming Dynasty has been in troubled times, with frequent disasters, such as the drought in Shaanxi for years, the flood in Northern Zhili in the first half of the year, the drought in Jiangxi, and the famine in Xuanfu and Datong. All these things happened at the same time, and the court's treasury was depleted a lot. For a while, it was 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 salary of the emperor, so we should be loyal to the emperor, share the worries of the emperor, and solve the problems of the people. Why should we be afraid of the Tao?"
Zhu Ping'an slammed the table, interrupting everyone's disappointment and indignation, and spoke to everyone with a firm look.
Zhu Ping'an expected the reaction of the crowd. It is also human nature. However, as the helmsman of Jingnan, how can we be so negative? It is up to us to steer the ship of Jingnan out of the predicament.
"What the county magistrate said is very true, but our Jingnan suffered heavy losses in this flood. Countless houses were destroyed and the loss of property is immeasurable. Given the current situation, I am afraid that we are unable to carry out self-help."
Under the leadership of Zhu Ping'an, the clerks cheered up, but they were still worried when they thought about the difficulties.
"Before the flood occurred, we in Jingnan were united and took precautions in advance. Compared with other counties, our Jingnan suffered much less damage in this flood. By carrying out self-rescue, the burden on us is much lighter than that of other counties. If we can't bear the burden of 'self-rescue', then other counties might as well just hang themselves collectively. What we have to do is to face difficulties and overcome them, rather than being overcome by them." Zhu Ping'an curled the corners of his mouth slightly and teased everyone.
Well, that's true. Not to mention far away places, just take our neighboring county of Taiping. The losses they suffered are ten times that of Jingnan.
All the clerks were completely alert.
After seeing the clerks regain their spirits, Zhu Pingan nodded with satisfaction. This is the state that the helmsmen should be in when facing a disaster. Next, Zhu Pingan asked the clerks to report on their work and conduct a survey of the disaster situation, so that everyone can have a clearer understanding of the current situation in Jingnan.
"My Lord, the northern suburbs flood refuge area under my jurisdiction currently accommodates 26,230 disaster victims..."
"My Lord, the Dongshan flood shelter under my jurisdiction has accommodated a total of 11,562 disaster victims..."
"Return to the county lord..."
The clerks in charge of the five major flood refuge areas and the county town first reported the victims' situation. There were 64,673 victims in the five major flood refuge areas and 26,453 people in the county town, which added up to more than 90,000 people. Hearing this number, everyone couldn't help but feel stressed.
"Qian Dianli, Zhang Dianli, please tell us about the current storage of grain and silver in the warehouses and storehouses."
Next, Zhu Ping'an asked Qian Dianli and Zhang Dianli to explain Jingnan's financial situation to everyone.
"My Lord, as of this morning, I still have 17,286 dan of grain in my warehouse."
The warehouse clerk Qian Dianli stood up first and reported.
"Uh...it's only been five days and we've already consumed nearly three thousand stones of food?!"
Upon hearing this, the clerks could not help but exclaim in surprise; they had not expected that the food would be consumed so quickly.
"Everyone, this is because there were relatively few refugees who fled here in the past few days, and the food consumption was less. Judging from the current daily increase in the number of refugees, the daily food consumption will increase by hundreds of stones in the future. According to preliminary estimates, the food stored in my warehouse can only last about 20 days. After 20 days, I will have no food left in my warehouse." Qian Dianli, the warehouse clerk, couldn't help but said to everyone with a worried look on his face.
"Uh... ...there is no food. What can we do? Food is the most important thing for disaster relief."
All the clerks were filled with worry.
Only Zhu Ping'an looked calm, "Zhang Dianli, please tell everyone how much silver is left in the treasury."
"My Lord, there are currently 380 taels of gold and 12,656 taels of silver in our county government's treasury." As the treasury clerk, Zhang Dianli was familiar with the county government's gold and silver reserves, and he stood up and reported.
These deposits were mainly obtained by confiscating the property of Zhang Xiancheng, Yao Zhubu, Li Dianshi and others. Some time ago, more than 10,000 taels of silver were spent on flood prevention, dredging ditches, purchasing building materials, and building and repairing dams. At present, these gold and silver are the only ones left in the county government's treasury.
After hearing about the amount of gold and silver deposited in the county government, the clerks felt a little relieved, as the county government's finances were still relatively good.
"If you have any ideas, feel free to speak up," Zhu Ping'an said to everyone.
"County Master, I suggest that the gold and silver in the treasury be taken out to purchase food. Food is the basis of disaster relief."
Old Liu, the clerk in the etiquette room, suggested.
"I second the motion." Zhang Dianli, the clerk in the Ministry of Personnel, echoed.
"Liu Dianli, Zhang Dianli, you don't know the price of grain." Liu Fuzi, the Dianli of the Household Department, shook his head and sighed, "At present, the price of grain in Jingnan has increased three times a day. The price is different in the morning, noon and evening. Before the flood, that is, five days ago, the price of a stone of rice was only 400 coins; as of this morning, the price of a stone of rice has risen to 1,200 coins. In just five days, the price of rice has tripled, and the price is still rising. I can guarantee that the price of grain has risen again as we speak. The prices of grain in other counties such as Taiping County and Linhai County are the same, and they have all risen ridiculously. All the deposits of gold and silver in our county government can only buy about 10,000 stones now."
"We have to buy it." Old Man Liu and others said.
Upon hearing this, Mr. Liu, the clerk of the Household Department, could not help but sigh again, "Even if we want to buy, there has to be someone selling it. Now the grain shops in the county are selling grain in limited quantities. The grain sold every day is very limited. Each time the store opens, it is only enough to sell for about an incense stick of time. If you go late, you can't buy grain no matter how much money you have. The situation in other counties is the same, and it is not even as good as our situation in Jingnan."
"These black-hearted profiteers, regardless of the lives of the people, are driving up grain prices. They only know how to make money from the country's misfortune. Their consciences have been eaten by dogs. They limit the amount of grain they sell every day just to drive up grain prices!"
"These black-hearted grain merchants who raise prices crazily should be severely punished. In my opinion, County Lord, we should bring these black-hearted grain merchants to justice. It would be best if we chop off a few heads in public to serve as a warning to others, so that we can curb grain prices."
Upon hearing this, all the clerks could not help but feel indignant, and they even wanted to tear these unscrupulous businessmen to pieces.