After lunch, Xu Hai and his investigation team set off for Beijing to report. They had already completed the two main tasks of this trip and there was no need to stay any longer. Zhu Pingan, Tan Lun and others escorted them all the way to the official road.
After seeing off Xu Hai and his party, Tan Lun stayed in Jingnan for more than an hour, accompanied by Zhu Ping'an, and carefully inspected the Donghu project area to learn in detail about various aspects of work-for-relief, precautions, etc. Tan Lun had made up his mind to follow Zhu Ping'an's example in defining grain prices and implementing work-for-relief when he returned.
"Your Excellency, please spare me a moment to talk." Zhu Ping'an saw Tan Lun's determination and spoke to him softly.
Some things are not convenient to say in public, so I can only say them in private, and Zhu Ping'an will not acknowledge them even if I say them.
"Master Zhu, I wonder if you have any advice for me." Tan Lun followed Zhu Ping'an to the side and asked with a smile.
"How dare I ask for your advice. Your Excellency wants to implement work-for-relief, I wonder how much is in the treasury?" Zhu Ping'an bowed.
"There are still more than 38,000 silver coins in the treasury, but not much grain, only about 10,000 dan." Tan Lun knew the situation of the treasury like the back of his hand. The silver in the treasury was saved by him with great effort. Originally, the granary had more than 20,000 dan of grain, but half of it had been consumed in porridge relief since the flood.
Zhu Ping'an shook his head slightly. "Your Excellency, it may be difficult to keep more than 38,000 taels of silver in reserve. Take our small county of Jingnan as an example. We have implemented a work-for-relief program, with each person receiving 20 wen per day. A total of 100,000 civilians and refugees participated. In a month, the wages alone would cost 60,000 taels, and the consumption of grain would be even greater. Even if we charge for three meals a day, each person would only receive about 5 wen per day, which is just a drop in the bucket."
Tan Lun froze when he heard this, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on him. Most of his enthusiasm was instantly dampened.
Yes, work-for-relief has costs. Jingnan, a small county, has to pay 60,000 taels a month, not to mention the entire Taizhou Prefecture, where there are no less than a million people who need relief.
What to do? !
Tan Lun could not help but frowned, but soon his eyes lit up. My city couldn't afford it, so how did Jingnan do it? He immediately bowed to Zhu Ping'an and said, "Master Zhu, what can I do for you?"
"I dare not ask for your advice. But Your Excellency, after the grain price is determined, grain merchants from all over the country will surely make a fortune. They have made a fortune in Taizhou Prefecture, so it is only natural that they should make some contribution to the disaster relief of Taizhou Prefecture." Zhu Ping'an said with a hint of meaning.
"Master Zhu, are you asking grain merchants to donate money for disaster relief?" Tan Lun's eyes lit up, and he shook his head randomly, "These merchants are extremely greedy and penny-wise. They value money as their life. How can they be willing to donate money?"
"If this is the case, I'm afraid the people will not agree. As the parents of the people, we should make decisions for them."
Zhu Pingan said meaningfully.
Everything was self-evident. Tan Lun understood, looked at Zhu Ping'an, and nodded vigorously.
Zhu Ping'an also suggested that Tan Lun should wait until grain prices were determined and grain merchants flocked to Taizhou Prefecture before launching work-for-relief.
Tan Lun understood the message and realized that the success of the work-for-relief policy depended on the dish prepared by the grain merchants.
Soon, when Tan Lun returned to Taizhou from Jingnan, the next day Taizhou Prefecture posted a notice defining the grain price in Taizhou Prefecture as 2,500 wen per dan. At the same time, Tan Lun also issued an official document to all counties. The first part of the document first praised and introduced Zhu Ping'an's experience in flood control and disaster relief in Jingnan, and the second part required all counties to raise the grain price in their jurisdiction to 2,500 wen per dan.
Soon, the explosive news that Taizhou Prefecture raised the price of grain to 2,500 wen per stone spread widely.
As soon as the news spread, it was like a basin of blood poured into a shark pool, and all the sharks called grain merchants went crazy.
On the day when Taizhou Prefecture posted the price of grain, hundreds of grain merchants, both large and small, did their best to transport grain into Taizhou by horse-drawn carriages, donkey carts, ox carts, and ships. They were the first to get the moon because they were close to the water. More grain merchants were coming from farther away.
For a time, grain from all over the Ming Dynasty was transported to Taizhou through grain merchants.
The famine in Taizhou was relieved immediately. Although the price of grain was very high, it was no longer unsalable. As long as you had money, you could buy grain. Although the people of Taizhou had consumed their wealth accumulated over the years, they finally survived the disaster. Taizhou, which had been ravaged by the flood, was developing in a positive direction.
At the same time, Tan Lun also followed Zhu Ping'an's example and accepted all the thank-you gifts sent by grain merchants in the form of disaster relief donations. For those whose amount did not meet Tan Lun's psychological expectations or who did not come to donate, Tan Lun sent staff to the grain shops of the other party to ask them to donate their love for Taizhou disaster relief.
Of course, for some grain merchants who didn't know what to do, Tan Lun sent officers to conduct searches and interrogations in the name of "apprehending bandits", "apprehending thieves", "checking stolen goods", etc. In short, he used high-sounding reasons to prevent you from doing business normally. You know, time is money now, and opening a grain shop is like making money by robbing. If you delay for a while, you will lose a lot of money. How can grain merchants be so hard on money? So, the grain merchants who were taught a lesson became more sensible and obediently made up the donations.
In this way, Tan Lun quickly raised enough silver and food to carry out work-for-relief.
Three days after announcing the price of grain, Taizhou Prefecture issued another announcement - work-for-relief.
Tan Lun almost copied Zhu Ping'an's proposal for work-for-relief, planning a series of sieges including post-disaster reconstruction, water conservancy facilities, repair of city walls, anti-Japanese outposts, and land reclamation, and calling on the people in the country to participate in work-for-relief.
However, in order to show the benevolence of the officials who loved the people like their own children, Tan Lun provided three meals a day for free to the people who participated in the work-for-relief program. Of course, they were just the most basic porridge and steamed bread. In addition, the daily wage was reduced to 15 cents.
In fact, compared with Jingnan's work-for-relief treatment, Taizhou Prefecture's treatment was just fickle.
Because three meals a day are provided free of charge and the wages are relatively low, the enthusiasm of the people is slightly lower than that of Jingnan.
But none of this matters.
Importantly, through the policy of defining grain prices and work-for-relief, the flood situation in Taizhou Prefecture continued to improve.
Influenced positively by Taizhou Prefecture, surrounding prefectures such as Shaoxing Prefecture, Ningbo Prefecture, and Jinhua Prefecture also began to raise grain prices within their borders, or turned a blind eye to the rise in grain prices within their borders and acquiesced in the rise in grain prices.
Grain from all over the country was continuously transported to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the flood situation in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas was also constantly improving. Influenced by Zhu Ping'an, the butterfly, the flood in the south of the Yangtze River recovered faster than in history, with less losses, and countless lives were saved.