Chapter 1235 Food shortage

"Sure enough, I still save myself"

Zhu Ping'an rubbed his brows. Although the result was expected, he was still somewhat disappointed when the dust settled.

Disappointment does not solve the problem, it only adds to it.

Zhu Ping'an only frowned once, then regained his spirits, and sent someone to summon a group of subordinate officials from Jingnan to the county government.

. That's the situation. For a short time, don't expect the imperial court to provide disaster relief or rescue. We can only save ourselves.

Zhu Ping'an read the reply letter from the Taizhou government in front of all the subordinate officials, and told everyone the truth.

"Ah?! What?! We need to save ourselves?! We just suffered a flood and suffered heavy losses. How can we save ourselves?"

"How could this happen?! This flood involved more than half of the south of the Yangtze River. The scope of the flood was so wide and the severity of the disaster was rare in decades. How could the court stand by and watch! Isn't it afraid that the disaster relief will not be effective and cause civil uprisings?!"

"When other places were hit by disasters, the imperial court mobilized food and grass from Jiangnan for disaster relief. Why couldn't the imperial court mobilize food and grass from other places for disaster relief when I was in Jiangnan? Could it be that we were fostered?!"

After hearing the reply letter from the Taizhou government asking for self-help, all the subordinate officials were disappointed, worried, and indignant.

"Okay, everyone. The imperial court also has its own difficulties. In recent years, my Ming Dynasty has had an eventful autumn and frequent disasters, such as the drought in Shaanxi for years, the flood in Beizhili in the first half of the year, the drought in Jiangxi, and the famine in Xuanfu Datong. Yes, the imperial treasury is consumed a lot, and it is difficult to raise relief silver for a while. Before the imperial court raises silver and food for disaster relief, we can only save ourselves. We eat the king's salary, and we should be loyal to the emperor, sharing worries for the sage and the people Solve problems, why be afraid of Taoism."

Zhu Ping'an patted the table, interrupting the disappointment and indignation of everyone, and said to everyone with firm eyes.

Everyone's reaction was expected by Zhu Ping'an, which is also human nature. However, as the helm of Jingnan, how can we be so negative. The big ship of Jingnan depends on us to steer it out of the predicament.

"What the county lord said is very true, but our Jingnan suffered heavy losses in this flood, countless houses were damaged, and property losses were immeasurable. With the current situation, we may have more than enough energy to carry out self-rescue."

Driven by Zhu Ping'an, although the subordinate staff cheered up, they still couldn't help but feel worried when they thought of difficulties.

"Before the flood in Jingnan, we worked together and took precautions in advance. Compared with other counties, our Jingnan suffered much less damage in this flood. To carry out self-rescue, the burden on us is already greater than that of other counties. The county is much lighter. If we can't bear the burden of "self-help", then other counties and counties can simply hang on to the southeast branch collectively. What we have to do is face up to difficulties and overcome them, not be overcome by them. "Zhu Ping'an twitched the corner of his mouth slightly, and teased everyone.

Well, that's true, not to mention the neighboring county, Taiping County. The damage they suffered was ten times that of Jingnan.

All the subordinate staff were completely cheered up.

Seeing that the subordinate staff regained their spirits, Zhu Pingan nodded in satisfaction. This is the state that the helmsmen should have in the face of disasters. Next, Zhu Ping'an asked the subordinate staff to report on the situation, to find out the situation of the disaster, and to let everyone have a clearer understanding of the current situation in Jingnan.

"Respect Huixian, the flood refuge area in the northern suburbs under the jurisdiction of Beizhi currently accommodates 26,230 victims."

"Hui Xianzun, the Dongshan flood refuge area under the jurisdiction of Beizhi has a total of 11,562 disaster victims."

"Huixian Zun"

The subordinate officials in charge of the five major flood shelters and the subordinate staff in charge of the counties first reported the situation of the victims. There were a total of 64,673 victims in the five flood shelters. Those who add up to more than 90,000 people. Hearing this number, everyone couldn't help but feel a lot of pressure.

"Dianli Qian, Dian Zhang, tell everyone about the current storage of grain and silver in warehouses and warehouses."

Next, Zhu Ping'an asked Dianli Qian and Dianli Zhang to explain Jingnan's family background.

"Return to the county, as of this morning, I still have 17,286 shi of grain in my warehouse."

Warehouse Dianli Qian Dianli got up first to report.

"Uh, nearly three thousand stones of food have been consumed in the past five days?!"

A group of subordinate officials couldn't help being surprised when they heard the words. They didn't expect the food to be consumed so quickly.

"Everyone, this is because there were relatively few victims who fled in the past few days, and the food consumption was small. Judging from the current daily increase in the number of victims, the daily food consumption will increase by hundreds of stones in the future. Preliminary estimates, currently my warehouse The food storage can only last for about 20 days. After 20 days, my warehouse will have no food to use." Qian Dianli, the warehouse clerk, couldn't help but said to the crowd with a worried expression on his face.

"Eh, there is no food, what should I do? The most important thing for disaster relief is food."

All the subordinate officials were worried.

Only Zhu Ping'an looked calm, "Officer Zhang, tell everyone how much silver is left in the treasury."

"Hui Xianzun, at present, there are three hundred and eighty taels of gold and twelve thousand six hundred and fifty-six taels of silver in our county government treasury." , stood up and reported back.

These deposits of gold and silver 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 preventing floods, dredging ditches, purchasing building materials, and building and repairing dams. At present, only the gold and silver are left in the county government treasury for depositing gold and silver.

After hearing the amount of gold and silver deposits in the county government, the subordinate officials were a little more lenient, and the county government's finances are still good.

"Everyone has any ideas, but it's okay to say." Zhu Pingan said to everyone.

"Master Xian, I suggest taking out the gold and silver deposits in the warehouse to buy food. After all, food is the basis of disaster relief."

Liu old man suggested.

"I second the proposal." Zhang Dianli, the bureaucrat's official, echoed.

"Dianli Liu, Dianli Zhang, you don't know the price of grain." Master Liu shook his head and sighed, "The grain price in Jingnan is currently rising three times a day. The price is different from that in the evening. Before the flood, that is, five days ago, the price of a stone of rice was only 400 Wen; by this morning, the price of a stone of rice had risen to 1200 Wen. It was only five days. The price of grain has tripled, and the price is still skyrocketing. I can guarantee that the price of grain has risen again as we speak. Other counties such as Taiping County, Linhai County, etc., The price of grain is also the same, all of which have risen ridiculously. All the gold and silver deposits in our county government can only buy about 10,000 shi now."

"You have to buy it too." Old man Liu and others said.

Mrs. Liu, the household pawn, couldn't help sighing again, "Even if we want to buy, someone has to sell it. Now every grain store in the county sells grain in a limited amount, and the grain sold every day is very limited. It only takes about one stick of incense to open the door for the first time, and if you go late, no matter how much money you spend, you can't buy food. The situation in other counties is the same, and it's not even as good as our situation in Jingnan.

"These black-hearted profiteers, regardless of the life and death of the people, know that they are making money for the country, and their consciences are eaten by dogs. They sell food in limited quantities every day, not to drive up food prices!"

"These unscrupulous grain merchants who are crazy about raising prices should be severely punished. If you want me to say, the county lord, in troubled times, we should use heavy penalties. We should bring these unscrupulous grain merchants to justice. It is best to chop off a few heads in public and kill chickens to make an example. To keep food prices down."

When all the subordinate officials heard the words, they couldn't help being filled with righteous indignation, and they wished to tear these profiteers apart.

I would like to wish all book friends a happy and safe Year of the Rat, and pay tribute to the vast number of book friends in Wuhan. I believe everything will be fine.

PS: You must wash your hands frequently, remember to wear a mask when you go out, and try to avoid going to closed public places. Health is the most important thing.

(end of this chapter)