How could Jingnan be so beautiful with birds chirping and flowers fragrant and the years peaceful? It should be dark and full of corpses!
Taiping County Magistrate couldn't accept all this. He gritted his teeth and coughed, and said very heart-wrenchingly: "Ahem, Zhu Ping'an actually spent so much money in order to trick ignorant refugees to come to Jingnan."
Wang Meng, Peng Cheng and Zhang Wenbo heard this and nodded subconsciously. They didn't believe it either, or maybe they didn't want to believe the scene in front of them.
Xu Hai and Tan Lun looked at the scene in front of them with serious faces and complicated expressions, but did not respond to the Taiping Magistrate's words.
Zhang Gu glanced sideways at Taiping Magistrate, his eyes full of sarcasm, as if he was looking at an idiot.
Amidst the mixed emotions of shock and suspicion, the group continued to walk along the flat official road in Jingnan.
After walking about a mile, I saw another crowd gathering in front of a high platform. On the high platform, there was a person dressed as a subordinate holding a strange trumpet-shaped iron plate and shouting. The sound was quite loud and could travel far.
Xu Hai and the others could hear clearly from a distance of about twenty meters, and there were many guards under the high platform maintaining order.
"Dear fellow villagers, our Jingnan organization provides work-for-relief. To put it simply, as long as you participate in the construction of our county government project, the county government will pay you wages, no less than twenty cash per person per day, and it will be paid in cash every day; no need
Worry, the old, weak, women and children can also do light work such as washing and cooking, and the wages are the same; children under ten years old, sick people, and elderly people over sixty can eat for free every day even if they do not work.
You can do some light work that you can do, and you can still get paid. Our engineering area provides three meals a day, breakfast is 1 cent, lunch is 2 cents, and dinner is 1 cent. It's a big meal. If you want to open a small stove, that's fine.
It’s a little more expensive, and you can have meat and vegetables for an extra 2 cents.”
"We are currently focusing on six major projects including the East Lake Project, the City Wall Project, the Anti-Japanese Fortress Project, the River Dredging Project, the Wasteland Reclamation Project, and the Home Reconstruction Project. The wages are the same. You can choose one of them to participate. After selection,
, just report it to our officers below and follow the officers to the corresponding flood refuge area for resettlement."
"Of course, when you come to Jingnan to participate in the work-for-relief program, you must abide by the rules. First, you must abide by the disciplines and obey orders; second, you must not cheat or cheat. Once cheating or cheating is discovered, wages will be deducted depending on the situation. If the situation is repeated, the wages will be deducted.
Anyone who commits the crime three times will be expelled regardless of the circumstances and will not be used again. Also, when arriving at a flood refuge area, you must pay attention to hygiene, wash frequently every day, change clothes regularly, and do not defecate anywhere.
Fellow folks, don’t underestimate hygiene. There are many people in our flood refuge area, and the floods haven’t receded yet. If we don’t pay attention to hygiene, it will easily lead to plague, which is no joke.”
The subordinates on the high platform held tin trumpets and preached impatiently to the people who had escaped.
Work-for-relief! Twenty cents a day! Follow the rules and be hygienic
All this is very fresh and thought-provoking for Xu Hai, Tan Lun and others, and the truth is endless after careful consideration.
Especially when they heard about hygiene to prevent the plague, Xu Hai, Tan Lun and others couldn't help but glance at the magistrate of Taiping County. The resettlement area for victims built in Taiping County was probably because of neglecting this point, which led to the plague.
By the way, the resettlement area for disaster victims in Taiping County is not the flood refuge area imitated by Zhu Pingan, right?! It’s just that I don’t even know how to copy, and I just copy the gourd, only learned the superficial, but not the essence, and ended up in trouble.
There is a plague! A project for the people turned out to be a project that harmed the people.
The magistrate of Taiping County had a guilty conscience, but when Xu Hai, Tan Lun and others saw him, he couldn't help but blush.
"Ahem, since ancient times, food relief has been distributed directly to the people to show the favor of the court. Zhu Pingan actually forced the refugees to work and had to pay for food. Doesn't it show the coldness and ruthlessness of our government?! This is not forcing the people to cooperate with our court.
Is it deviant?!"
After the Taiping County magistrate blushed, he criticized Zhu Pingan's work-for-relief policy. As the initiator of Zhu Pingan's impeachment, he had no choice but to continue on the "Zhuhei" road.
No one from Xu Hai and others answered, not even Wang Meng and others.
In fact, Zhu Ping'an was not the first to use work for relief. "Yan Zi Chun Qiu" has a record of "Yan Zi helped the people because of the hunger war in Qi Dynasty." In the Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan recruited workers to build temples and also used work for relief. Zhu Ping'an was the only one who
Compared with the ancients, the work-for-relief program has reached a higher level. It is epoch-making and pioneering in both scale and form.
Taiping County Magistrate criticized Zhu Ping'an's implementation of "relief for work", which showed that the court was cold and heartless, and his butt was too crooked.
After walking about three miles further, we saw the bustling East Lake Engineering Area. The reason we knew it was the East Lake Engineering Area was because there was a tall flagpole erected in the engineering area, with a curtain hanging on the flagpole that read, "East Lake is known as the East Lake Engineering Area."
"Relief Project Area" covers an area so large that you can't even see the edge from afar. It is roughly estimated that it is at least ten or twenty miles away. There are a full 50,000 to 60,000 people inside digging, carrying, and transporting earth.
There are many, but the engineering area is not chaotic at all, and the organization and planning are actually orderly.
There are five carriages spaced dozens of steps apart on the lake slope, and boxes of copper coins on the carriages are shining in the sun; there is a planned kitchen area in the lake area, where hundreds of women, children and children are preparing lunch, and the fragrance of rice is wafting.
It was so far away; motivated by copper coins and food, the 50,000 to 60,000 people scrambled one after another and sweated profusely.
A huge artificial lake has begun to take shape, with an upper and lower lake vaguely visible.
Everything is full of hope, everything is so vibrant!
Compared with other Jingnan areas that have been ravaged by floods and struggling in despair, the contrast is sharp, like heaven and hell.
Xu Hai and others stood on the edge of the East Lake, looking at the lively scene inside the East Lake and were shocked.
"Why did Zhu Ping'an dig such a big lake? He was wasting money and abusing people's power."
The magistrate of Taiping County once again criticized Zhu Ping'an.
"Well, that makes sense. Zhu Pingan's move is quite suspected of wasting money and abusing people's power." This time Peng Cheng responded to the Taiping Magistrate, looked at the Taiping Magistrate encouragingly, and nodded slightly.
Right, I just managed to catch it.
"My father, may I ask, why are you digging such a huge lake?"
Tan Lun saw an old man passing by carrying a bundle of food on his back, he couldn't help but stopped the old man politely, and asked curiously.
"Haha, you are from out of town. What is this Zhugan Lake for?" The old man was talkative. After being stopped by Tan Lun, he put down the firewood on his back, wiped his sweat with his sleeves, and smiled.
said.
"My husband is really wise. Hey, isn't this called East Lake? Why is it called Zhugan Lake?" Tan Lun cupped his hands and replied.
"Haha, the official name of this lake is East Lake, but we all call it Zhugan Lake privately. The reason why we call it Zhugan Lake is because our county magistrate, leaning on a bamboo pole, climbed over mountains and ridges, waded into rivers, and stepped on our Jingnan
After checking it three or five times, I finally figured out the reason why Jingnan often suffers from floods. It seems to be the terrain or something, which I don’t understand. Anyway, the county magistrate chose this place after he figured out the reason for the floods.
Bamboo poles are used as boundaries to circle the boundary of the East Lake, so we privately call it Zhugan Lake. This bamboo pole lake can protect our Jingnan from floods for a hundred years. When the river water surges during the flood season, the gates are opened to release the floodwater into the lake.
The lake stores water for floods; during drought periods, the accumulated lake water is returned to the river to irrigate the farmland. Do you think our county magistrate is a god? We people all say that we should erect monuments, statues, and build ancestral halls for our county magistrate.
It’s a thanksgiving commemoration. However, our county magistrate doesn’t agree with it. We have agreed privately that when our county magistrate is promoted, we will erect a monument, a statue, and build an ancestral hall for him. Not only do we express our gratitude and commemoration, but our descendants
Future generations should also remember the goodness of our county magistrate, remember the kindness of our county magistrate, and pay homage to him every year."
The old man was full of respect for Zhu Pingan in his words. In his eyes, Zhu Pingan was on the same level as a god.
"What?! Build a monument, a statue, and an ancestral hall for Zhu Ping'an?! Give thanks and commemorate him, and worship him every year?!"
When Wang Meng, the magistrate of Taiping County, and others heard this, they felt as if they had swallowed a fly.
Is there anything wrong?! Zhu Ping'an colluded with grain merchants, drove up grain prices, and accepted bribes. Shouldn't he be despised and cursed by you?! Why are you still grateful and commemorating him? You even want to erect a monument, a statue, and build an ancestral hall for him?!