Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 218 Zhu Su Disaster Relief
Facing Zhu Su's unrealistic statement, Wei Guan said anxiously: "Your Highness, no!"

"At this time, it is easy to allocate food and grass to feed the victims."

"However, there is only so much food and grass in the mansion. You must know that only fine water can flow long. If His Highness really does this, how is it different from fishing when the lake is exhausted?"

"Besides, we don't suffer from scarcity but from inequality...If we give it thick porridge now, and then replace it with thin porridge when there is insufficient food and grass...how can the people be willing? riot!"

Why wait until then?Following Zhu Su's loud and loud order, the team of victims with empty eyes had already started to make a little noise.When Wei Guan's objection came out, the victims became even more agitated. The victims who were supposed to be grateful to the two officials, Wei Guan and Ru Taisu, suddenly glared at Wei Guan.

"Didn't the prefect Wei say that there is actually enough food and grass in the city?" Facing the anxious Wei Guan, Zhu Su remained unmoved.

"That's enough. Since there is plenty of food and grass, why can't the common people let go of their stomachs to eat?"

"Only when you are full can you do things and fight against this natural disaster."

"If you can't even eat enough, you can only endure hunger and hunger in that hut all day long and resign yourself to fate, 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 magistrate jumped a little anxiously. "Your Highness doesn't know how difficult it is to get food out of those people's mouths! Ru Yushi gave up his official voice and didn't know how many people he offended, and he only raised enough food..."

"Ru Taisu is Ru Taisu, and this king is this king. Those wealthy households, do they still dare to fight against this king?" Zhu Su was still very confident.

"Besides..." He pouted behind Wei Guan.

"The king has already said what he said. If there is no porridge that can't be poured with chopsticks today, I'm afraid these people will complain today, and they will attack your magistrate tomorrow."

"For the sake of the people at this time, Mr. Wei should also follow the good advice, right?"

Wei Guan looked back and saw that there were many people glaring at him at the disaster victims behind him, and his heart trembled. It didn't matter whether he was hit or not. His Royal Highness, the prince, is now among the disaster victims. However, his small body, the prefect of Suzhou, was absolutely unbearable.

After hesitating again and again, he could only stomp his feet and let the guards go to the treasury to allocate grain and grass.

"Whoa whoa!!"

The disaster victims spread the word to ten, ten to hundreds, and they all cheered when they heard that they could have a full meal today.

Seeing that these people's faces finally had brilliance, Zhu Su nodded silently: This is called popularity.

As before, although he was still alive, he was like a walking dead.

How can such spirit be used?

"Your Highness, alas, Your Highness!" Seeing the excitement of the victims, Wei Guan couldn't say anything more after all.He only approached Zhu Su, and complained in a low voice:

"Your Highness is acting arbitrary! It's not because the old minister doesn't want to let the people have enough to eat..."

"It's really His Highness who is not in charge of the family, and doesn't know the price of firewood and rice!"

"Also, Your Highness, don't forget about the Taihu water bandits... That group of water bandits mingled with these disaster victims that day and encouraged them to attack the warehouses in the prefectures and counties."

"If the victims are full of food and drink, how can they be willing to live in a corner of this city?"

"His Royal Highness's decision...is to, is to cause big trouble!"

Wei Guan beat his chest and stamped his feet, complaining endlessly.Just now, he thought that His Highness the Fifth Highness treated him fairly, and he thought he could listen to his opinion a little bit.

However, it didn't take long for His Highness the Fifth Highness to poke a big hole in the disaster relief situation in Suzhou Prefecture!

The point is, without any discussion, speak out loudly among the victims.

In a disguised form, the prefect had to agree to coerce himself with public opinion!
Sure enough, the magistrate old Wei was not simply a good old man who didn't let the victims have enough to eat. Sure enough, there was also a factor of worrying that the victims would be full of food all day long, doing nothing, and being used by Zhang Shicheng's remnants.

Once bitten, twice shy.For these refugees, the Suzhou government did not simply resettle them with good intentions.The reason for placing them in the city is probably to control them nearby, fearing that they will be used by rebels again.

"Prefect Wei, uh, don't worry..." Zhu Su scratched his head seeing the old Wei jumping anxiously.

"What you are worried about is that there is not enough food in the Suzhou treasury."

"Don't worry, don't forget, the biggest businessman in Suzhou, Shen Shi, is under the king's command."

"Is this king still unable to deal with the rich merchants in this city who are hoarding?"

"Besides, as you said, I am worried that the victims will be full and cause trouble, and this king has also figured out a way." Zhu Su found a place to sit down and said to him.

"Isn't Suzhou Mansion currently in short supply of labor?"

"Why did you let these disaster victims sit here, but didn't think about making good use of it?"

"If these tens of thousands of people can move, why worry about the floods in Taihu Lake and Kunshan that cannot be treated?"

"Prefect Wei, have you ever heard of 'relief with work'?"

With confidence on his face, Zhu Su threw out these four words with full weight.

"Work...for relief?" Wei Guan was taken aback, his eyes flashed.

But after thinking about it, he shook his head again:

"Working for relief is a good recipe for disaster relief that existed in ancient times. How can the old minister not know?"

"It's just that Your Highness knows, why all dynasties and dynasties know that there is such a good recipe, but they always discard it?"

"Uh... Work for relief, did it exist in ancient times?" Zhu Su, who was originally confident, was dumbfounded.

"That's right. There was such a good prescription in ancient times, but it couldn't be widely used in the world. There is no other reason."

"It's really the money and food that this method needs to spend, it's too expensive!"

"There is a shortage of everything in a disaster year, but instead of work, the money and food consumed are several times what we need on weekdays!"

"Hey! My Suzhou government office, how can I raise so much money and food!" Wei Guan shook his head and sighed, rather disheartened.

"It costs a lot of money and food?" Zhu Su scratched his head in embarrassment.

He originally thought that labor relief is a good method of disaster relief only available in later generations.Among the many time-travel novels I read in my previous life, as soon as the protagonist who is a time-traveler utters the words "relief with work", he can immediately win a lot of amazement, making countless court chiefs, emperors and princes exclaim, "The world There is such a great talent' endless.

It is indeed one of the supreme weapons for the protagonist to pretend to be bluffing in the court.

But Wei Guan said that work-for-relief has existed since ancient times, and it is not feasible?
Looking at Yao Guangxiao with puzzled eyes, Yao Guangxiao immediately bowed slightly and answered Zhu Su:
"Your Highness, what Wei Zhifu said is correct."

"It is recorded in the "Yanzi Spring and Autumn Annals" that during the time of Qi Jinggong, Yanzi used 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 who are as wealthy as the Song Dynasty have practiced the method of using work for relief many times."

"Even so, what was done in the Song Dynasty can't really be regarded as a real 'relief with work', but an army composed of victims of disasters, and there was a problem of 'redundant soldiers'."

"The daily food of the laborers consumes more food than normal. If the victims are to use work for relief, they need far more food and grass than usual, and they need to allocate manpower to manage the movement of the victims and resettle them. its body and mind."

"Even raising the old and the weak, diagnosing and treating diseases, and burning and burying the dead. The piles of piles are equivalent to contracting the birth, old age, sickness and death of tens of thousands of full-time people during this period."

"The consumption is huge. The tens of thousands of disaster victims are indeed not something that a single government can afford."

(End of this chapter)