Professional Ethics of a Concubine

After the lively Mid-Autumn Festival, the weather felt like it had suddenly turned cold.

For someone like Ye Qingzhi who doesn't like to go out, the weather is getting colder and she doesn't want to go horseback riding because the feeling of the cold wind blowing on her face is not pleasant.

There is nothing more comfortable than lying in a warm and cozy house.

Just like that, time passed by inadvertently. When Ye Qingzhi looked up again, winter had arrived and snowflakes were falling from the sky.

"Why did it snow so early this year?" Ye Qingzhi got up early in the morning and looked out the window, wondering,

"Where is your highness? Where did you go so early in the morning? Isn't today a day off?"

"When His Highness left, he said he was going to the Imperial Study." Nanny Zhang said, "This year's snow fell more than half a month earlier than in previous years. I don't know if it will turn into a snowstorm later."

"If it turns into a snowstorm, we won't be affected, but the people will suffer from the cold." Ye Qingzhi said softly with a worried look in her eyes.

"Your Highness will probably not feel at ease after seeing this snow, so go and discuss the preparations for disaster relief with the Emperor."

Upon hearing this, Nanny Zhang didn't know how to respond. In fact, her master didn't need her to talk to him.

Ye Qingzhi looked at the snow outside, which was getting heavier, and turned to ask Aunt Zhang,

"How much money do I have on hand now?"

"My Lord, the amount of silver is about 600,000 taels. If you include the various items in the private vault, it may be a million taels."

When Ye Qingzhi heard this number, she was shocked. She had so much private money!

"Let's prepare 200,000 taels first. Half of it will be donated to the court, and the other half will be used to buy food and set up porridge stalls." Ye Qingzhi said.

“If a snowstorm does occur later, we’ll see what the situation is. I hope we can get through it together.”

Once there is a snowstorm, food is essential, and charcoal fires for heating and winter clothes are also indispensable. This is not a drought. If it happens in summer, the victims can lie on the ground without fear of freezing to death.

Charcoal fire, a new coal mine that has just been opened near the capital, can solve the charcoal problem near the suburbs of Beijing.

Last summer and autumn, there were good harvests of grain, with output much higher than in previous years. In addition, the court reduced taxes, so the people had surplus grain.

But there is really not much cotton and winter clothes.

Although the situation is not very optimistic, with the savings accumulated over the past two years, dealing with this snow disaster should not be a big problem.

Ye Qingzhi was thinking about these things and only ate half of her breakfast. Then she instructed that her meals could be halved in the future so as not to waste food.

Even if she cut the portion in half, she still wouldn't be able to finish it.

Nanny Zhang knew that her master was kind-hearted and not a luxury-seeking person, so she did not persuade him but responded and gave the order.

It was almost noon when Prince Xie Jin returned. The cloak he was wearing was soaked by the wind and snow, and there was no sign of the snow outside stopping.

"Your Highness, it's cold outside. Change your wet clothes quickly to avoid catching a cold and getting sick." Ye Qingzhi looked at him and said.

"It's not too cold." Xie Jin said.

"I just went to see my father and called the director of the Imperial Observatory. The director said that there might be a lot of snow and water this winter, and there might be a snowstorm."

"Yes, I was worried about this just now when I saw the snow falling non-stop. We need to prepare early." Ye Qingzhi also spoke up.

Xie Jin said with a sullen face, "It's not optimistic."

This was indeed the case. A month later, in the twelfth lunar month, the capital city experienced another heavy snowfall that had not been seen in more than a decade, and the situation became serious.

Some dilapidated houses in rural areas outside Beijing were directly collapsed by the heavy snow, and the people directly lost their homes.

They had no choice but to carry their rations and belongings, and rush into the city in panic with their families, hoping that the court would give them assistance and help them survive the cold winter.

What surprised them was that the imperial court had actually been prepared for this a long time ago.

When they entered the city gate, they would first register their household registration, write down which village they came from, the disaster situation in the village, and then record the amount of food rations they had and how long they could last.

Finally, they will be taken to live in a big house.

The big house was already full of disaster victims. There might be five or six people crammed into one room, and they couldn't even turn over in their sleep.

Even the courtyard was filled with tents, so crowded that there was no place to stay.

However, every disaster victim who was arranged to live there cried for joy and were grateful. They kowtowed to the palace and thanked the emperor for his kindness.

Because they had a place to live, the court also provided them with coal. Although it would not make the house very warm, it ensured that they would not freeze to death.

The court also provided a free porridge and meal every day. If you want to have two meals a day, you have to hand in your rations. Someone will record it and give you another porridge and meal when the time comes.

In addition, if someone is sick, there are doctors or female doctors to treat them, and the medicine is free. I heard that this is all provided by the Women's Medical College.

The disaster victims were naturally grateful to the Women's Medical College, and Feng Yuxi gained a lot of merits and points because of this.

Feng Yuxi was silent when he saw that the system was upgraded again. This was the benefit of handing over the system to the prince.

There was no need for him to complete tasks to earn points anymore, but whenever there was an opportunity, the prince would always remember to give him some credit.

He was used to the inexplicable increase in points, but he was shocked when the sudden increase was so large that the system had to be upgraded again.

Later, through correspondence, he learned that this was because his medical school was helping the victims.

Let me get back to the point.

The victims’ housing, food and medical care are all guaranteed, and at least their lives are no longer in danger.

However, with so many disaster victims gathered together, and you provide them with food and drink, but don't require them to do anything, then expect all kinds of criminal cases to arise.

It's a waste to just leave so many laborers there and let them eat and drink all day long.

Moreover, they have to rebuild the collapsed houses, but they can't do it now because they don't know if there will be heavy snow again.

After the New Year, when spring comes and the weather warms up, it is time to rebuild the house.

So where do the stones and wood for building houses come from?

Therefore, after eating, the strong laborers among these disaster victims would go to the mountains near the outskirts of Beijing to quarry stones and cut wood under the leadership of the soldiers, in order to rebuild their homes after the spring.

There is no need for further incentives, because they are building a house for themselves and everyone has the strength to use.

Working so hard, you can sweat even in the winter.

Moreover, as long as the strong laborers go out to work, they will be provided with another meal when they come back, free of charge, and they do not need to pay for rations.

The strong laborers go out to quarry and cut wood, and the women can't stay in the house idle for the whole winter.

The imperial court also responded to this by arranging a job for them that could make money, making clothes and shoes for the soldiers in the army.

Of course, there were special people to handle the military supplies before. However, because the court planned to increase the number of troops and provide benefits to the soldiers, the military supplies also increased.

These are considered the newly added orders, which the original workers could not complete. Now they can be used at this time and hiring these women is a win-win situation.

The managers in charge of this area first selected some women with dexterous hands and asked them to go to a special place to cut the cloth. Then the clothes they cut were sent to other women for sewing.

Moreover, this is piecework wages. A pair of shoes costs fifteen cents because it takes longer to make the soles, while clothes only require cutting and sewing, which is relatively simple and less labor-intensive due to the division of labor, so they cost five cents each.

When the women heard that there was such a good thing, that they didn’t have to go out and suffer the cold and could even earn money, they were so excited.

Many of them are capable and can earn twenty cents a day, which means six hundred cents in thirty days.

After doing the math, the old women were so excited that they went crazy, but the old men felt a little uncomfortable.

What is this?

They work hard and do physical labor all day long, just to earn a free meal.

But the old women at home are not exposed to the wind or the cold, and can actually earn more than ten cents a day.

How come this woman can make more money than men?

So, an interesting phenomenon emerged.

In the past, when the men came back from work, they would curse their wives and mothers and ask them to pour them hot water so that they could soak their frozen hands and feet.

But now, looking at their wives and mothers working hard, the men just go and pour hot water by themselves without saying a word.

If you serve yourself, won't you be unable to make money? Won't you earn less than others? That would be a loss.

You should just do it yourself. It’s not impossible.

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The victims have money, a place to live, and are full of hope for the future, so they are willing to spend.

There are tens of thousands of disaster victims, and it is also the New Year period, so their spending power cannot be underestimated.

At first, the people and merchants in the capital were very disgusted with these disaster victims coming to the capital to seek refuge. They thought that they would steal things, hurt people, make them panic, and even urinate and defecate everywhere, which was disgusting.

However, after a period of time, small merchants in Beijing were pleasantly surprised to find that their business had improved and their profits had doubled.

These newly emerged purchasing powers are the victims they had previously excluded.

As for theft, robbery, and harming others, these rarely happen.

There is no other reason. The lives of the disaster victims are too full. They have no time to make money, so who has the time to cause damage? Besides, there are often soldiers to maintain order.

As for the issue of urination and defecation, this was something the court had thought about long ago. They even set up a temporary department and hired people specifically to do this, and there were also rules and regulations.

The first is the punishment mechanism. Anyone who dares to urinate or defecate anywhere will not only be fined 100 coins, but also beaten with ten boards. Under such a heavy punishment, no one dares!

The second is the guarantee mechanism. There are special buckets and special people to collect feces and urine every morning, and then they are taken to the suburbs for composting, which can then be used to fertilize the fields.

From any perspective, these disaster victims have brought benefits, not just trouble.

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In this way, even though there was another heavy snowfall behind the capital, as long as the disaster victims in the suburbs of dozens of miles away successfully came to the capital to take refuge, almost no one starved to death or froze to death due to the snowstorm.

Not only did they not starve to death or freeze to death, they even felt that this winter was exceptionally comfortable and they even made some money.

When the Chinese New Year came, due to the snowstorm, no victims left the capital, so everyone celebrated the New Year together.

There was even a little meat in the New Year's Eve dinner, and they also watched the brilliant fireworks together.

Such gorgeous fireworks were a beauty they had never seen before. It dazzled their eyes and warmed their hearts.

Everyone's face was filled with smiles, and they had visions and hopes for future life.