The chiefs and security guards of each village did not dare to neglect, and immediately set up a household review office, ordering all the refugees in the village to come here to be questioned and handed over to the scribes to fill out the records. The Hunan people have visited the porridge factory many times in the past few days to investigate the livelihood of the refugees, respond at any time, and report the information they know to the officials.
When Chen Tongpao saw that there was nothing else in the letter, but that refugees needed to be careful about fleeing, he told Jie Wenwu Dao: "Hunan people say that the security in Kao City is very tight, but there are still many fleeing people in other prefectures and counties. , you should be careful."
General Jie Wen glanced up and down, then laughed loudly and said: "Although the court's kindness is not enough, it is still not like this. If the two provinces really fall into this situation, won't the world be in chaos? This must be the county magistrate. In order to ask for relief money from the imperial court, he deliberately deceived the Hunan people, so the minister must not believe it easily."
"Jie Gong, always prepare for the worst in everything," Tongpao Chen said with a smile, "Besides, Sixing is not so easily deceived."
"Then I will believe you for once," Jie Wenwu folded the letter, "What do you want to do?"
A flash of light flashed in Chen Tongpao's eyes, and then he asked: "If the Ministry of War mobilizes the Beijing army out of the capital, will others be suspicious?"
Jie Wenwu smacked his lips quickly, pondered for a moment, and then replied: "Of course you can't do anything without authorization. You must wait for the emperor's approval; unless...there are special circumstances, I can make adjustments on my own."
"What good reason can I find today?"
Jie Wenwu stroked his beard and said slowly: "What's the name of 'preventing flow'?"
"Please tell me more specifically."
"We did not report the disaster situation in the two provinces. We only said that it was difficult to harvest food in the winter months and farmers could easily abandon their crops. We should take precautions before they happen and send troops to guard key passes to maintain order and prevent people from fleeing into exile."
Chen Tongpao nodded and said: "The idea of introducing the Ministry of War is a good one. The two of us happened to go discuss it with Mr. Liu and make a decision as soon as possible to implement the matter."
After three days of hard work, the chiefs of Kaocheng finally finished compiling the booklet. Following the rules of the Hunan people, they all came to the empty room to deliver it and sat down on the bench.
The Xiang people took the book and saw that it listed the extremely poor, moderately poor, and slightly poor, and divided the refugees accordingly. This was consistent with his initial expectations.
"With this thing, the disaster survey will be easier to carry out," he closed the booklet with satisfaction. "The poorest people are still the majority, so the situation is not too serious."
"This is based on the old rules of household review. In fact, some poor people will soon fall into extreme poverty due to insufficient food rations." Hong Lichang added.
"That's why we need to provide relief as soon as possible and don't let this list expire." After Xiangren said this, he turned to the county magistrate and asked, "What do you think is lacking in the disaster relief in Kaocheng?"
The county magistrate was silent and handed over his hands in shame.
"The most important thing is regulations! It's a mess now. I think it's better to open a relief ticket to the refugees first, and just follow the ones on the booklet. The extremely poor will receive the amount, the less poor will receive the amount, and we will set a rule. A rule."
"Don't shirk the excuse that there is not enough food," Xiang people observed the expression on the county magistrate's face, "If it doesn't work, you can borrow it from the prefectures and counties that are less affected by the disaster. It is better than letting the dead pile up in mountains, right?"
"Ah, I understand." The county magistrate wiped the cold sweat from his head.
Under the supervision of Guoxiang people, each village began to distribute relief tickets, and the refugees all enthusiastically received the porridge and rice. In just one day, the tragic situation of countless deaths in the previous days was slightly reversed.
The livelihood of the refugees was gradually guaranteed. The county magistrate and others believed that the time was ripe and repeatedly invited Hunan people to speak out and call on everyone to return to their hometowns. The Hunan people made an agreement with all the people. All those who have made a living by themselves will be sent back to their hometowns. Those who are young and powerful but have no land can move to other provinces to cultivate wasteland. The rest, the old, weak, sick and disabled, will stay in Kaocheng to recuperate.
With this policy, nearly 10,000 refugees left Kaocheng, and officials throughout the county felt relieved. The county magistrate was naturally grateful to the Hunan people and did not hesitate to use fifty taels of silver notes in his private pocket as a thank you gift. The people from Hunan were also sensible and took it with a smile.
"You are such a good man." The two of them stood at the gate of the county seat, looking at the last batch of refugees being sent away. "If you hadn't stepped forward to clean up the mess, I'm afraid my head would have fallen to the ground. "
'If the county magistrates are all such idiots, it's no wonder why there are so many refugees...' At this point, the people in Hunan are too lazy to criticize him anymore, so they can only thank him for his kindness: "Thank you also, sir, for your support these days." , otherwise why would I order the gentry to come here?"
Just as he was about to say goodbye, a government official suddenly bumped into him and interrupted the conversation: "Your Majesty, the prefect has accepted the governor's order and asked you to pay attention to the disturbances around the county recently and not to let people in or out easily."
The county magistrate had an angry look on his face, but his expression suddenly turned into surprise: "What do you mean by this...?"
"It is said that several groups of refugees escaped from Kaifeng, with a crowd of 50,000 to 60,000 people, and fled north. No one has been captured so far."
"It's amazing, it's amazing," the county magistrate rubbed his palms together, "If it runs around the capital, wouldn't it cause a big disaster?"
After all, Xiang people are young. When they heard this news, their hearts pounded. They pinched their fingers several times and looked at the Kaocheng County Magistrate anxiously. They spoke less energetically: "Are you okay?"
The county magistrate had no intention of paying attention to his expression: "It's okay, it has nothing to do with Lianghou. You can take the high road and return to Beijing with peace of mind. Don't worry about the county anymore."
"Okay, okay..." Xiangren said a few words absently, but turned around and did some calculations, and he didn't expect that it was less than three days before the December Festival.
Chen Tongpao had been waiting in the Ministry of Civil Affairs for several days, but on the morning of the December Festival, he still hadn't seen the Hunan people come back. The servants in the palace have carried the statues and scrolls of the past emperors to the Ancestral Temple. The emperor is probably wearing court clothes and yellow robes in front of the palace. No one will show any mercy and leave him any more time to wait.
At this time, the comrade looked up and saw that Jie Wenwu and Liu Mian had arrived together. They each saluted him and the officer Gao Jizhi.
"Gao Shangshu, our articles have been polished and will be presented to Your Majesty," Liu Mian said with a smile, "You are the only one among the six."
"The people from Hunan haven't come back yet, have they?" Jie Wenwu asked from the side.
"No," Gao Jizhi answered on behalf of Chen Tongpao, "That's why I am particularly worried that some news has not reached the ears of the second prince, which will lead to changes in the government and the public."
Liu Mian sighed: "I don't know if the refugees in the two provinces will ever be stable... If it is exposed, it will be a serious crime of deceiving the emperor."
The three of them were still bored, but the secretary of the Ministry of War took the memorial first.
"Put it there," Jie Wenwu winked at him, "I want to discuss it with you adults before taking it to the Ancestral Temple."
"Sir," the clerk said with a smile, "there is a new official document here. I didn't dare let Minister Ye see it, so I sent it here together."
Jie Wenwu heard what he said was strange, so he hurriedly asked to have a look. After checking it a few times, he was so shocked that he broke into a cold sweat and slapped his thigh continuously: "We're in trouble!"
