Chapter 1269 Prosperous
At the end of the autumn of the 31st year of Jiajing, floods in the south of the Yangtze River were in the ascendant. When Taizhou Prefecture was ravaged by floods and struggling, Jingnan County kicked off the "work-for-relief" program. On this day, a total of six projects were under construction at the same time in Jingnan County. Zhu Pingan personally led the largest relief-for-work project - the East Lake Project.
In order to carry out the work-for-relief smoothly, Zhu Ping'an had sent people to nearby Taiping County in advance to exchange 60,000 taels of silver. All of them were converted into copper coins and placed in the county government treasury. After the work started, horse-drawn carriages pulled carts of copper coins to various project areas. The carts of copper coins dazzled the eyes of the people and refugees, making them put their hearts in their stomachs and no longer worry about their work wages. No more wages.
Of course, the carriage is guarded by sword-wielding guards, and no one who is short-sighted would dare to attack the carriage.
The East Lake Project Area is the key project of Zhu Pingan’s work-for-relief project.
Zhu Ping'an checked the county annals and found that floods occur frequently in Jingnan. A small flood occurs every three to five years, and a major flood occurs every seven or eight years. The people of Jingnan are always faced with the threat of floods.
Before and after the flood, Zhu Pingan climbed over mountains and ridges, waded into rivers, calculated the relative drop of the river bed, and surveyed the topography of Jingnan two or three times. With the help of modern geographical experience and knowledge, he finally figured out Jingnan's terrain. This is the reason why southern China often suffers from floods. The main reason is the terrain. Jingnan is surrounded by mountains and faces the sea. The terrain is generally higher in the west and lower in the east, gradually sloping from west to east. Mountains in the west are continuous, with thousands of meters of peaks rising one after another, hills are gentle in the middle, and plains and tidal flats are wide in the east. The rivers in Jingnan are winding and winding, and the flow direction is generally the same as the terrain, flowing from west to east into the sea. The riverbed in the eastern mountains has a larger drop, the water flow is turbulent, the flood peaks are high and large, and the water level naturally rises and falls; the hills and plains in the central and eastern areas The terrain of the area is low and flat, and the river flow speed suddenly slows down. During the flood season, the rapid river water and flash floods coming from the western half often have no time to vent, so it is easy for the river to overflow and cause floods.
After Zhu Pingan investigated the reason, he came up with the East Lake Project.
Fifteen miles east of Jingnan County, close to Sanli River and Tiaoxi River, an East Lake with a circumference of more than ten kilometers will be excavated. When the flood season comes every year, when the river water surges, the floodgates are opened and released into the East Lake to store water for flooding; during the drought period, the water levels of Sanli River and Tiaoxi River drop, and when the water level of East Lake is higher than that of Sanli River and Tiaoxi River, the accumulated lake water can be returned at any time. Sanli River and Tiaoxi River. In this way, Jingnan can be protected from floods for a hundred years, and the surrounding fields can be irrigated. It can be said that it serves multiple purposes with one stone.
"East Lake is divided into two parts: Upper East Lake and Lower East Lake. The planned perimeter of Upper East Lake is 18 miles, and the planned perimeter of Lower East Lake is 20 miles. The Bajiao Pavilion of Dongwang Township is the eastern boundary, and the western boundary is Lingyu Village Babao The southern boundary of the temple is Duobao Mountain and the northern boundary is Lingxiao Pavilion. There is no boundary between Upper East Lake and Lower East Lake."
"East Lake is related to Jingnan's century-old plan. During the construction process, we must pay attention to quality and don't be greedy for speed."
Before starting construction, Zhu Ping'an called the accompanying subordinates and servants to the front, unfolded the construction plan and construction drawings, and laid out the details of East Lake. The construction plan and the precautions for working-for-relief were carefully explained to them.
"Don't worry, your Majesty, we will live up to your expectations and dig the East Lake." The subordinate officials and servants took the order one after another.
For the sake of accuracy, Zhu Pingan, Liu Mu, Liu Dadao and others took the lead and marked the boundaries of the East Lake by inserting bamboo poles. The boundaries of the East Lake were clearly visible with bamboo poles about a hundred meters apart.
After the lake boundary was marked, the "East Lake Work-for-Relief Project" started with great fanfare. A total of more than 50,000 people participated in the East Lake Relief for Work attack on the city. Men and women, carrying earthen baskets and dustpans on their shoulders and hoes and rakes in their hands, dug soil and dug lakes, and built embankments with grass and mud; women, children and children were in the planned cooking area. , preparing lunch, everything is full of hope. Because bamboo poles are used as the boundary of East Lake, ordinary people privately call East Lake "Bamboo pole Lake" and say, "Zhu Qingtian rode his horse to circle the lake, and there will be no more floods in Jingnan County."
In addition to the East Lake Project, five other projects are being carried out in different places in Jingnan, including repairing city walls and rebuilding villages. Six work-for-relief projects mobilized almost all the 100,000 people and refugees in Jingnan.
After Zhu Ping'an got the East Lake project on track, he took Liu Dadao and others to inspect and supervise several other work-for-relief projects.
The Dongwang Township reconstruction project is located next to the East Lake Project. It is responsible for two people, Mr. Liu Fuzi, the house official, and Mr. Zhang, the warehouse official. The Dongwang Township reconstruction project is to rebuild the destroyed houses in Dongwang Village Town. House building.
The first stop of Zhu Ping'an's inspection tour was the Dongwang Township reconstruction project.
The total number of people working on the Dongwang Township reconstruction project has increased to more than 8,000, which is as enthusiastic as the East Lake project.
The project was progressing in an orderly manner, with the common people and refugees working hard, and the order was in order. Zhu Pingan nodded with satisfaction.
"My lord, 20 Wen per person per day is a bit too much, isn't it? There are nearly 100,000 people participating in the work-for-relief program in Jingnan County, and each person is 20 Wen per day. After one day, The labor cost alone is 2,000 taels, which is 60,000 taels per month. This does not include the consumption of grain and grass, including the "donations" received by the county officials from the grain merchants, plus the accumulation of our county government warehouse. More than enough, just right It's just enough for one month. According to the county's plan, this work-for-relief project will take at least more than two months to complete. It's hard for a good woman to make a meal without rice. After one month, the subordinate's warehouse will no longer be able to produce a copper. I sincerely ask the county magistrate to think twice, lower wages, and limit the number of people who can use work for relief."
Mr. Qian, the clerk of the warehouse, quietly suggested to Zhu Pingan when he accompanied Zhu Pingan to inspect the project.
"Your Majesty, this is an extraordinary period, we can lower it by 30%." Liu Fuzi, the household administrator, also agreed.
"No." Zhu Ping'an shook his head decisively and said to them earnestly, "If you want the horse to run, you must let the horse eat breakfast. The daily wage of twenty cash is The bottom line can only be raised, not lowered.”
"But the county magistrate, this money." Qian Dianli was confused.
"Qian Dianli, Liu Dianli, you don't have to worry about money. First of all, we organized old, young, women and children to cook a big pot of rice at the construction site and provide it to people. This meal is not free. The standard breakfast is 1 cent and lunch is 2 cents. , dinner is 1 cent; small stoves are also provided, and additional fees are charged based on the number of meat and vegetable dishes. Through meals, approximately 5 cents can be recovered per person per day; among others. This time, more and more grain merchants came to Jingnan to sell grain, and we collected more and more donations. I would send someone to collect these donations once a month. It’s impossible not to make some contributions to the flood disaster in the south. So, you don’t have to worry about money, at least you can balance the balance of payments.”
Zhu Ping’an said confidently.
"Ahem, county magistrate, sending people to the grain store every month to 'collect donations' will damage the county magistrate's reputation."
Master Liu said worriedly.
"How much is reputation worth?" Zhu Ping'an twitched the corner of his mouth indifferently, pointed at the working people and refugees, and said to Master Liu, "It is the right thing to govern the people to have full stomachs."
Zhu Pingan, whose soul grew up under the red flag, is different from the scholar-bureaucrats in the feudal era. He is pragmatic rather than pragmatic.
Hearing this, Master Liu, Mr. Qian and the accompanying subordinates all paid deep respect to Zhu Pingan.
How great it is that the county has endured humiliation and shouldered heavy burdens, without seeking fame or fortune, and dedicated itself to serving the people
With the joint efforts of the whole county, Jingnan’s series of work-for-relief projects are gradually getting better, and people can still live. There is money to work, there is food to eat, and the whole county is prosperous. (End of chapter)