Chapter 1269： thriving

Chapter 1269 Thriving

At the end of autumn in 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 opened the prelude to "relief with work". On this day, a total of six projects in Jingnan County were under construction at the same time, and Zhu Pingan led the largest work-for-relief project—the East Lake Project.

In order to carry out work-for-relief smoothly, Zhu Pingan has sent people to the nearby Taiping County to exchange 60,000 taels of silver in advance, all of which were converted into copper coins and placed in the county government's money bank. After the start of work, a cart of copper coins was pulled by a horse-drawn cart to each project area. 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 the work. Less than wages.

Of course, the carriage is guarded by guards with knives, and no one dares to hit the carriage without a good eye.

East Lake Project Area is the key project of Zhu Ping'an's work-for-relief project.

Zhu Pingan checked the county annals and found that floods often occur in Jingnan. There will be a small flood every three to five years, and a major flood every seven or eight years. The people of Jingnan are always facing the threat of floods.

Before and after the flood, Zhu Pingan crossed mountains and ridges, went down rivers and waded, calculated the **** of the river bed, surveyed the topography of Jingnan two or three times, learned geographical experience with the help of modern times, and finally figured out the reasons for frequent floods in Jingnan up. The main reason is the terrain. Jingnan is surrounded by mountains and facing the sea. The overall terrain is high in the west and low in the east, gradually sloping from west to east. There are continuous mountains in the west, with several kilometers of peaks and peaks. The rivers in Jingnan are meandering and meandering, the flow direction is generally the same as that of the terrain, and flow into the sea from west to east. The terrain in the area is low and flat, and the flow rate of the river suddenly decreases. Whenever there is a flood season, the rapid river water and mountain torrents 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 found out the reason, there was this East Lake project.

In a place fifteen miles east of Jingnan County, next to Sanli River and Tiaoxi River, an East Lake with a circumference of more than ten kilometers was excavated. When the flood season comes every year, when the river surges, the gates are opened to release floodwater into the East Lake to store water and floods; during the dry season, the water levels of the Sanli River and Tiaoxi River drop, and when the water level of the East Lake is higher than that of the 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, which can be said to serve multiple purposes.

"The East Lake is divided into two parts, the upper East Lake and the lower East Lake. The planned perimeter of the upper East Lake is 18 miles, and the planned perimeter of the Lower East Lake is 20 miles. The Bajiao Pavilion in Dongwang Township is the east boundary, the west boundary is the Babao Temple in Qingyu Village, and the south boundary is Duo. Baoshan, the northern boundary is the Lingxiao Pavilion, and there is no boundary between the upper East Lake and the lower East Lake.”

"East Lake is related to Jingnan's century-old plan. During the construction process, we must pay attention to quality and not be greedy for speed"

Before the construction started, Zhu Pingan called the accompanying subordinates to him, unfolded the construction plan and construction drawings, and explained to them the construction plan of East Lake and the precautions for work-for-relief.

"Don't worry, the county lord, we will live up to the expectations of the county lord, and we will dig the East Lake well." The subordinate officials took orders one after another.

For the sake of accuracy, Zhu Ping led Liu Mu, Liu Dadao and others to mark the boundary of the East Lake by inserting bamboo poles. The bamboo poles with a distance of about 100 meters were used as the boundary of the East Lake, which was clear at a glance.

After the lake boundary was marked, the "East Lake Work-for-Relief Project" started vigorously. A total of more than 50,000 people participated in the siege of the East Lake with work relief. Men and women, carrying earthen baskets and dustpans on their shoulders, holding hoes and iron rakes, digging the lake, and building embankments with grass and mud; women, children and children in the planned kitchen area , preparing lunch, everything is full of hope. Because bamboo poles are used as the boundary of East Lake, the common people call East Lake "Bamboo Pole Lake" in private, saying "Zhu Qingtian rode his horse around the lake, and Jingnan County will no longer suffer from floods".

In addition to the East Lake project, there are five other projects carried out in different places in Jingnan, including repairing city walls and rebuilding villages. The six work-for-relief projects mobilized almost all the 100,000 people and refugees in Jingnan.

After the East Lake project was on the right track, Zhu Pingan took Liu Dadao and others to inspect and supervise several other work-for-relief projects.

The reconstruction project of Dongwang Township is right next to the East Lake Project, and is in charge of Mr. Liu, the housekeeper and Mr. Zhang, the storeroom official. The reconstruction project of Dongwang Township is to rebuild the destroyed houses and buildings in Dongwang Village.

The first stop of Zhu Ping'an's inspection was the reconstruction project of Dongwang Township.

The total number of people in the Dongwang Township reconstruction site project is more than 8,000, which is as hot as the East Lake project.

The project is advancing in an orderly manner, and the people and refugees are working hard, and the order is in order. Zhu Ping'an nodded in satisfaction.

"Xianzun, 20 Wen per person per day, isn't it a bit much? There are nearly 100,000 people in Jingnan County participating in work-for-relief, and each person is 20 Wen per day. This day, the wages alone cost 2,000." Two taels of silver, 60,000 taels a month. This does not count the consumption of grain and grass. It is just the "donation" received by the county lord from the grain merchant, plus the surplus in our county government warehouse, it is just enough It's only one month. According to the plan of the county lord, this work-for-relief will take at least two months to complete. It's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice. After one month, the subordinate warehouse will no longer be able to produce a copper. I implore the county to think twice, reduce wages, and limit the number of people who use work as relief."

While accompanying Zhu Ping'an to inspect the project, Mr. Qian, the treasury official, suggested to Zhu Ping'an in a low voice.

"Master of the county, now is an extraordinary period, and it can be slightly reduced by 30%." Master Liu, the housekeeper, also agreed.

"No." Zhu Pingan shook his head resolutely, and said to them earnestly, "If you want the horse to run, you must let the horse eat breakfast. The daily salary of 20 Wen is the bottom line and can only be improved. It cannot be lowered."

"But the county lord, this money." Qian Dian is not sure.

"Dianli Qian, Dianli Liu, you don't have to worry about money. First of all, we organize old and young women and children to cook big pot meals for people on the construction site. This meal is not free. The standard breakfast is 1 renminbi, lunch is 2 renminbi, and dinner is 1 renminbi; For the supply of small stoves, there is an additional charge based on the number of meat and vegetable dishes. Through the meal, each person can recover about 5 Wen per day; secondly, more and more grain merchants come to Jingnan to sell grain, and we "receive" it. There are also more and more donations. I will send someone to collect this kind of donation once a month. If you don’t make some contributions to distribute the flood disaster wealth in Jingnan, it’s okay. So, you don’t have to worry about money. At least we can make ends meet.”

Zhu Pingan said with confidence.

"Ahem, county lord, sending people to the grain store to 'raise donations' every month, wouldn't it damage the reputation of the county lord."

Master Liu said worriedly.

"How much is a reputation worth?" Zhu Pingan twitched the corners of his mouth indifferently, pointed at the working people and refugees, and said to Master Liu, "It is right to rule the people to eat their stomachs."

Zhu Pingan, whose soul grew up under the red flag, is different from the scholar-bureaucrats in the feudal era, being pragmatic rather than unrealistic.

It was said that Master Liu, Mr. Qian and the accompanying subordinates all paid deep respect to Zhu Ping'an.

County respect bears the burden of humiliation, does not seek fame and fortune, and serves the people wholeheartedly, how great

With the joint efforts of the whole county, the work-for-work projects in Jingnan are getting better and better. People have work to do, money to take, and food to eat. The whole county is thriving.

(end of this chapter)