bookrandom Chapter 175 Self-reliance leads to abundance.
Chapter 175 Self-reliance leads to abundance.
Yinzhuo's words were absolutely true. His current condition was beyond miserable. He had been eating and sleeping in the open along the way, and his eyes were stinging from the white snow all around. Of course, Yinzhen's condition was not much better than Yinzhuo's, but it must be said that he was a tough guy. Despite his red eyes, he kept going.
"Fourth Brother, tie this on, otherwise I'm afraid we'll go blind before we even get to Lincheng."
Starting a couple of days ago, Yinzhuo's eyes started to feel strained. At first, it was just a little light sensitivity and tearing, but in the last two days, his eyelids have become red and swollen, and his eyes are painful. Since there were no sunglasses or anything like that available, Yinzhuo had no choice but to have someone find some thin black gauze and make some eye masks to distribute to everyone. Although wearing these things looked a bit strange, it didn't matter compared to the discomfort in his eyes.
"Thank you, Sixth Brother. If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have dragged you here in the first place. Now you've been in trouble..."
Yinzhen's words weren't just polite words to Yinzuo; he was genuinely regretting it. They had only gone a short distance from the capital, yet the disaster here was already so severe. He feared the situation in Lincheng would be even worse. His sixth son was likely to suffer more than he had in the past ten years...
While Yinzhen was filled with worry, Yinzuo, the one being worried about, was quite optimistic. In any case, the current situation was one of taking it one step at a time and dealing with things as they came. There's a saying that goes, "Even a living person can be killed by holding in their pee."
If Yinzhuo was forced into this situation when he arrived, he felt no reluctance when he saw tens of thousands of disaster victims in the snow outside Lincheng. The situation here was far more serious than they had imagined.
"This humble official, Sun Zhaojie, the magistrate of Lincheng County, greets the Fourth Prince and the Prince Zhao."
Ever since he learned that the imperial court had sent two princes to the city, Sun Zhaojie would bring people to guard the city gate every day, no matter how busy he was. Today was really lucky. He had only been there a short while when someone came to report that people sent by the capital had arrived. And since it was two princes, he dared not be negligent. So he hurriedly went out to greet them and just happened to meet Yinzhen and his entourage who were entering the city.
Yinzhen was always a man of action. The scene he had just witnessed outside the city left him with no interest in exchanging pleasantries with Magistrate Sun. He gestured to dismiss Magistrate Sun's formalities and then beckoned for someone to accompany him back to the county office. All he wanted to know was what was going on in Lincheng.
As Yinzhen had predicted, the situation in Lincheng was even more severe than they had anticipated. While the city wasn't actually lacking in food supplies, their greatest need was for medicine to treat colds, warm clothing, and shelters to house the refugees. With the year drawing to a close and the weather growing increasingly cold, many people outside the city were freezing to death every day. If these problems weren't resolved, the tens of thousands of people outside the city might face certain death…
"Magistrate Sun, tell me how you previously planned the disaster relief efforts."
Ever since learning about the situation in Lincheng, Yinzhen's brows had been furrowed. Magistrate Sun was already somewhat nervous in front of them, and seeing Yinzhen's furrowed brows made him even more nervous. At this time, it was freezing cold outside, and although there was a brazier inside, it wasn't very warm. However, even in such cold weather, Magistrate Sun was sweating profusely.
"Your Highness, at the beginning of the snow disaster, I ordered people to set up soup kitchens at the two city gates. Later, as the number of disaster victims increased, I added more soup kitchens outside the city. After that, many people inside and outside the city fell ill, so I ordered people to set up medicine stalls at the city gates. Every day, we would brew some ginger soup and medicine to treat colds. If the disaster victims needed it, they could go and get it themselves..."
Yinzhuo had initially thought Magistrate Sun hadn't done anything, given his sweaty and guilty appearance. But now, seeing his arrangements, wasn't it all good? So why was he so guilty?
"Besides these things, have the people outside the city been living in the open like this all this time?"
Well, now Yinzhuo understood why this Magistrate Sun felt guilty. But to be honest, he couldn't blame him. Wasn't Kangxi and the others also worried about this problem before? So many of them couldn't come up with a good solution, so how could Magistrate Sun possibly solve it?
"Alright, Fourth Brother, stop scaring him. I think I understand now. The current situation in Lincheng is that there is a lack of medical care and medicine, not enough manpower and no money. Here's what we'll do: you're in charge of getting money and supplies, and I'll be in charge of organizing manpower to build dugouts so that these disaster victims can move in before the end of the year."
Yinzhen had no objection to Yinzuo's division of labor, but he was very curious about where Yinzuo was going to find people. Don't even mention the few people they brought. There were tens of thousands of disaster victims inside and outside the city. If they relied on the few people they brought, even if they worked day and night until they died, it would be impossible to build this dugout in a short time.
"Xiao Liu, I agree with what you said. Our division of labor can indeed improve efficiency. But you should know that neither I nor Magistrate Sun have anyone to help you. With your few guards, you won't be able to dig out this dugout even in half a year, let alone before the New Year."
Yinzhu nodded upon hearing this, and then stared at his fourth brother for a long time, until Yinzhen was getting impatient with his gaze. Only then did he stand up and say to his fourth brother, "I'm sorry." Goodness, these words immediately shut Yinzhen up. No, why are you apologizing? What are you planning to do?
The reason why Yinzuo apologized to Yinzhen was because if he said those words, he would really steal Yinzhen's future credit. After all, as his fourth brother said, what could the few people he brought do? After understanding the current predicament of Lincheng, the only thing he could think of was the measure that his fourth brother had once promoted—work relief.
"Fourth Brother, this is what I'm thinking. Since we're short-handed, why not use the money to hire those disaster victims outside the city to work for us? Rather than letting them sit around doing nothing all day, it's better to get them moving. Once they're moving, they won't be disaster victims waiting for relief anymore. There's a saying, 'Self-reliance leads to abundance.'"
You have to admit, Yinzhen is really smart. He understood Yinzuo's simple explanation. At this moment, the way he looked at Yinzuo was different. He got up, walked to Yinzuo's side, and patted him on the shoulder.
"Work-for-relief is a good idea. Sixth Brother, go ahead and do it. Fourth Brother will fully cooperate with you."
What the hell? Who's cooperating with whom? Fourth Brother, have you forgotten that you're the one in charge of this disaster relief effort?