"Your Highness really wants Lord Ru to stop intervening in disaster relief?" Wei Guan hurriedly took two steps forward and caught up with Zhu Su who was walking in front. "Sir Sir Ru, sitting among the victims, doing his best to calm the people's hearts is really a great achievement. Does this mean..."
"Master Wei, do you think this king is going to ignore his achievements?" Zhu Su gave Wei Guan a strange look. "I want merit but it's of no use."
"His achievements will be judged by the officials. I just want to provide disaster relief."
"Ru Taisu treats me like a child, so I have no choice but to do something else."
Wei Guan murmured for a while, hesitated to speak, and finally sighed. He would never believe that His Highness the Fifth Prince was purely motivated by public motives.
Ru Taisu had offended the Fifth Highness before, and later plundered the property of the Shen family under his command in order to collect supplies... If he really had no anger in his heart, why would he use such an irritating method of overwhelming others in person?
That’s all. Wei Guan shook his head. The worst thing is, I usually follow His Highness around and watch. If His Highness wants to do something shocking, I can just find a way to stop him.
Around this time, His Highness still respected Wei Guan quite a bit. I can hear it even if I think about it...
"I have smelled the aroma of porridge from a distance... Where is the porridge shed?" Zhu Su sniffed through his mask, catching the direction of the aroma of porridge and rice in the air. "But in front. His Majesty the Fifth Prince is coming with the old minister." Wei Guan, who had recovered his senses, led the way.
The group of people passed through many messy ruins and bamboo sheds. There were many refugees on the road, heading in the same direction as Zhu Su and others. Seeing that Zhu Su and his party were well-dressed and large in number, the refugees did not dare to approach them. They just moved forward from a distance and looked at them. However, there was not much warning in his eyes.
"Ru Taisu's position here is indeed meritorious." Zhu Su thought to himself. It is most difficult to maintain stability under such circumstances. If the people are confused and meet the official's family, the people will be hostile.
The porridge shack for serving porridge is located in the middle of the west part of the city. There was an open space here, where many sallow-looking refugees lined up in rows. Carts containing porridge buckets were pushed into the middle. Several officers stood beside the buckets, spoonfuls of porridge. Distributing porridge and rice to the refugees.
Wei Guan waved his hand, telling the officers who wanted to see him not to come forward. Zhu Su looked at the refugees and nodded, "It's quite orderly. There are only a few officers giving porridge, but the people didn't push them."
"The people are simple, how can they not recognize good people?" Luo Guanzhong, who was beside Zhu Su, sighed. "But having a mouthful of rice and porridge is far better than in previous years."
Zhu Su was silent.
Approaching the porridge truck and signaling the guard to continue serving porridge, Zhu Su looked into the porridge bucket and saw that the porridge in the porridge bucket was not very thick.
Stirring it with a spoon, he couldn't help but feel a little unhappy and said, "This porridge is too thin. Can such porridge satisfy a person?"
"Your Highness, calm down. This kind of porridge has already exhausted all the efforts of Suzhou Mansion." Wei Guan smiled bitterly.
"It's winter now, and we're not producing enough food. If we don't be more frugal, how will we survive until next year?"
"Although this porridge is not too thick, it can still satisfy your hunger. Two meals a day is enough to survive this winter."
"Amitabha, what Governor Wei said is true." Zhu Su's questioning eyes turned to Yao Guangxiao and Luo Guanzhong behind him. Yao Guangxiao took one look at the porridge and then interceded for Wei Guan.
"The poor monk has seen disaster relief in other places. It is indeed not easy to have this porridge in disaster years."
"But... just eating so little, where will the strength come from?" Zhu Su frowned. No wonder all the disaster victims as far as the eye could see were listless and weak.
It turns out the roots are here.
"There is no way, this is the only food reserve. Only by living frugally can we survive until next spring plowing." Wei Guandao. "The Ming Dynasty was not long established, and there was not much grain and grass in the warehouse. A large part of it was borrowed by Ru Yushi personally because he showed affection and reason to the merchants in the city..."
Zhu Su twitched the corner of his mouth. The Chunqiu calligraphy skills of these officials are indeed basic skills. How can Ru Taisu know how to use emotion and reason... He had heard that the Shen family had complained. It was Ru Taisu who took the servants to prevent it. Kou closed the shops of merchants in the city for this reason and forced them to provide food and grass before allowing them to open stores.
But it doesn't hurt. If it were Zhu Su who was in charge, he might be able to do even better. Therefore, Zhu Su did not delve further, but asked: "Does it mean that those wealthy households still dare to risk the disapproval of the world and hoard in this calamity year?"
"...Businessmen value profits. When they see this opportunity, they are naturally unwilling to sell their grain and grass easily." Wei Guan replied, twisting his beard, and his old face was like a ravine. "But don't worry, Your Highness, Suzhou usually produces food, and there is actually enough food in the city."
"Even the food supplied to these victims has been calculated by us. Although the porridge they eat is thinner, it is enough to support the plowing until next spring."
"Well..." Zhu Su looked at the weak victims and knocked on the folding fan in his hand. If the victims don't have enough to eat, they have no strength. Without strength, they can't do anything. They can only hide in the shacks, trembling and suffering.
This was completely different from the disaster relief strategy he had in mind.
"Master Wei, you are saying that there is enough food in the city."
"It's just that the big households are hoarding it and don't want to sell it out, so these victims can only eat gruel, right?"
"...It's not wrong." Wei Guan was startled, thought for a while and nodded, but he was a little suspicious in his heart. Why did the young highness ask this?
"If those wealthy households are willing to donate food, and the food and grass in the city can be eaten by the people in this city, will it be enough?" Zhu Su asked again.
"I think...it's enough..." Wei Guan looked hesitant. "We in Suzhou have a rich grain production. If it were not for the excessive taxation, the grain in the 'preparatory warehouse' (equivalent to the 'Changping warehouse' in other dynasties, which was ordered to prepare for shortages in the third year of Hongwu) would have been exhausted." enough……"
"so……"
Zhu Su looked at the group of refugees queuing up to receive porridge. At the front of the queue was a pair of mother and son. The child's eyes were shining and he drank up the gruel distributed to him in one gulp, but he still complained that he was hungry.
The mother next to her looked sad and handed her bowl of porridge to her child, forcing him to eat it with a smile on her face...
Zhu Su frowned.
"It is already the twelfth lunar month. If you only eat such thin porridge, the temperature will drop suddenly or the disease will spread. How can a body like this, which is not full of food, resist the cold winter and the invasion of diseases?"
"In the past, Master Song gave me the 'Analects of Confucius' and told me not to forget the five words of benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom, and trust. Now that I have seen the lives of these people, how can I endure the death of others?"
"Prefect Wei, I order you to send people to get food and grass to cook on the spot."
"From today onwards, the porridge cooked for disaster relief must be set up with chopsticks without falling over!"
"We can't just talk about filling our stomachs, we must ensure that these people can have enough to eat!"
As soon as these words came out, Wei Guan was shocked, the government servant who was serving porridge was shocked, and even the victims who were waiting in line to receive the porridge like zombies were also shocked.
Wei Guan never expected that Zhu Su would suddenly make such a move. He thought that the prince should know the seriousness, but he never thought that he would say such inappropriate words in front of many victims of the disaster here.
"Your Highness... Your Highness, no! Please take back your life!" Wei Guan said anxiously.
(End of chapter)
