Faced with Zhu Su's unrealistic statement, Wei Guan said anxiously: "No, Your Highness!"
"It is easy to allocate grain and grass to feed the victims at this time."
"But there is only so much food and grass stored in the mansion. We must know that only thin water can flow forever. If Your Highness really does this, how will it be different from fishing in the river?"
"What's more, we don't worry about the scarcity but the inequality... If we give thick porridge now, and then replace it with thin porridge later when the food and grass are insufficient... How can the people be willing to do so? If someone with evil intentions climbs up and shouts, something will happen in the city. riot!"
Why wait until then? The originally empty-eyed group of victims began to make a little noise following Zhu Su's loud orders. When Wei Guan's objection came out, the victims became even more agitated. The victims who should have been quite grateful to the two officials Wei Guan and Ru Taisu, at this time, some people actually looked at Wei Guan angrily.
"Didn't Governor Wei say that there is actually enough food and grass in the city?" Facing Wei Guan who looked anxious, Zhu Su remained unmoved.
"That's enough. Since there is plenty of food and grass, why can't the people eat freely?"
"Only when you are full can you do things and fight against this natural disaster."
"If you can't even eat enough, and you can only starve in that shack and resign yourself to fate all day long, how many people will die by then?"
"This... there is enough food and grass in the city, but it is not in our hands!" The old prefect was so anxious that he jumped a little. "Your Highness doesn't know how difficult it is to get food from those people's mouths! Ru Yushi gave up his official position, offended many people, and only raised enough food..."
"Ru Taisu is Ru Taisu, and I am the king. Do those rich families dare to go against me?" Zhu Su was still very confident.
"Besides..." He pursed his lips towards Wei Guan's back.
"My words have been spoken. If there is no porridge today, these people will complain today and attack your magistrate's palace tomorrow."
"Given the people's plans at this time, Mr. Wei should also follow the good deeds, shouldn't he?"
Wei Guan looked back and saw that many of the victims behind him were glaring at him angrily. He felt a shudder in his heart. It didn't matter whether his residence was hit or not. The Fifth Prince, the fifth prince, was among the victims. , but his small body as the prefect of Suzhou cannot bear it.
After much hesitation, he could only stamp his feet and ask the officers to go to the treasury to allocate grain and grass.
"Whoa whoa!!"
The victims spread the word, and when they heard that they could have a full meal today, they all cheered.
Zhu Su saw that these people's faces finally had brilliance and nodded silently: This is called popularity.
As before, although he was still alive, he was like a walking corpse.
How can such energy be used?
"Your Highness, alas, Your Highness!" Seeing the excitement of the victims, Wei Guan couldn't say anything else. He just got closer to Zhu Su and complained in a low voice:
"Your Highness's move is arbitrary! It's not because I don't want the people to have enough to eat..."
"It's true that His Highness is not a family man, so he doesn't know how valuable firewood and rice are!"
"And your Highness must not forget the Taihu water bandits... That day, it was the water bandits who infiltrated into the victims and encouraged them to attack the warehouses in the county."
"If the victims are strong enough to eat and drink, how can they be willing to live in a corner of this city?"
"Your Highness's decision... is going to cause a big mess!"
Wei Guan beat his chest and complained. Just now, I felt that His Highness the Fifth Prince was treating me with courtesy, and I thought I could listen to some of his opinions.
Unexpectedly, it didn’t take long before the fifth prince opened his mouth and opened a big hole in the disaster relief situation of Suzhou Prefecture!
The key is to speak out loudly among the victims without any discussion.
The prefect, who had used public opinion to coerce him in disguise, had no choice but to agree!
Sure enough, the prefect, Wei, was not just a good old man who refused to let the victims have enough to eat. As expected, he was also worried that the victims would be sat idle all day long and be exploited by Zhang Shicheng's remnants.
Once bitten, twice shy. As expected, Suzhou Prefecture did not just resettle these refugees with good intentions. The reason for placing them in the city is that they can be controlled nearby, and they are afraid that they will be used by the rebels again.
"Prefect Wei, uh, don't worry..." Zhu Su scratched his head when he saw old Wei jumping around anxiously.
"What you are worried about is simply that there is not enough food in Suzhou's treasury."
"Don't worry, don't forget, the largest businessman in Suzhou, Shen, is under my command."
"Can I still handle the rich merchants and merchants in this city who are hoarding money?"
"Besides, as you said, I am worried about the victims being overfed and causing trouble, so I have thought of a way." Zhu Su found a table and sat down and said to him.
"Isn't Suzhou Prefecture short of labor right now?"
"Why do you let these victims stand here without thinking of making good use of them?"
"If these tens of thousands of people can mobilize, why worry about the Taihu Lake floods and Kunshan floods that cannot be controlled?"
"Prefect Wei, have you ever heard of 'relief with work'?"
Zhu Su said these four powerful words with confidence on his face.
"Work...in exchange for relief?" Wei Guan was stunned, and a light flashed in his eyes.
But after thinking about it for a while, he shook his head again:
"Replacing work with relief is a good method for disaster relief that has existed since ancient times. How could I not know this, veteran minister?"
"Your Highness, does he know why all dynasties have known about this remedy but always abandoned it?"
"Uh... Work-for-relief, has it been around since ancient times?" Zhu Su, who was originally full of confidence, was dumbfounded.
"No, there was such a good recipe in ancient times, but it couldn't be widely used in the world. There is no other reason."
"The money and food required for this method is really too high!"
“In disaster years, everything is in short supply, so we use work instead of relief. The money and food consumed are several times the daily needs!”
"Alas! How can my Suzhou government office raise so much money and food?" Wei Guan shook his head and sighed, feeling quite frustrated.
"How much money and food is wasted?" Zhu Su scratched his head in embarrassment.
He originally thought that providing work for relief was a good method of disaster relief that would only be found in later generations. Among the many time travels I have seen in my previous life, as soon as the protagonist who is a time traveler says the four words "relief with work", he can often win a burst of exclamation immediately, making countless court officials, emperors and princes exclaim, "How can this world be so different?" There is such a great talent.
In fact, it is one of the protagonist's ultimate weapons to pretend to be intimidating and bluffing in the court.
But Wei Guan said that using work for relief has been around since ancient times, and it is not feasible?
Looking at Yao Guangxiao with doubtful eyes, Yao Guangxiao immediately bowed slightly and answered for Zhu Su:
"Your Highness, what Governor Wei said is true."
"It is recorded in "Yanzi Chunqiu" that during the reign of Duke Jinggong of Qi, Yanzi once implemented the method of 'replacing relief with work'. The results were quite fruitful."
"It's just that this method consumes a lot of money and food. Throughout the dynasties, only those as wealthy as the Song Dynasty have implemented the method of working for relief many times."
"Even so, what was done in the Song Dynasty cannot actually be regarded as a true 'work-for-relief'. Instead, the victims were organized into an army, which led to the risk of 'redundant troops'."
“People who work hard consume more food than ordinary people. If we want to allow the victims to work for relief, we need to have far more food and grass than usual. We also need to allocate manpower to manage the movements of the victims and resettle the victims to ensure their safety. His body and mind.”
"Even caring for the old and the weak, diagnosing and treating diseases, and burning and burying the dead. Each one of them is equivalent to contracting the care of tens of thousands of retired people during this period."
"The cost is huge. These tens of thousands of victims are indeed beyond what the government can afford."
(End of chapter)
