Go back to the past and be a schoolboy

Chapter 81
Turn the time back to China, Tongzhou.

After finishing work on the weather station, Zhang Jian and others started disaster relief, which is even more meaningful to the immediate future than meteorology in the future.

Behind the 3000-person protest, at least [-] families are starving. The flood season has arrived, and many surrounding villages have been flooded. Moreover, last year’s harvest was not good. From June to August, two After months of floods, the fields and huts were completely destroyed, and countless people were drowned.

Standing in the gruel shed, Zhang Jian made meals for the victims in the past, and couldn't help but sigh: "Fortunately, it was only a hail disaster. In previous years, most of Jiangsu Province would be destroyed. Now it seems that it is unfortunate." luck in the middle."

Having never personally experienced a catastrophe, Cheng Nuo asked while distributing cakes: "Mr. Zhang, the situation at that time must have been much more tragic than this. I heard that many thatched houses were washed away."

Zhang Jian stirred up the porridge in the bucket and said, "The rivers and lakes rise together, and the mountain torrents occur concurrently. The walls of Yangzhou City alone have been washed down three times. The crying of women and children is unbearable. It is a vast ocean as far as the eye can see. Cheng Zeguo."

"Well, there is a line of floods and a lot of droughts. This is the purpose of our meteorological work." Cheng Nuo sighed, and his work continued uninterrupted: "Come, come, everyone is not crowded, there are still many in the box, one by one."

The rice is porridge cooked with rice, and the cakes are also mixed with various coarse grains. If it is pure refined grains, even with Zhang Jian's financial resources, it will not be able to bear it.

In fact, this situation is already considered good. In other places, well-off families have to cook rice and chaff, while tenant farmers from poorer families eat pure chaff, which is used to feed cattle in previous years. It's useful, and people don't even look at it.As for the poor peasants at this time, they didn't even have chaff, so they could only pick up bark and grass roots. In more serious places, they ate clay, which was called Guanyin soil.

Let me add a word here, why there are always some "exotic products", "red umbrellas and white poles" on the dining table in Yunnan Province. In addition to the relatively rich local area, it is also related to the year of the catastrophe. If you are so hungry, it is really Dare to eat anything.

Disaster relief belongs to disaster relief, which can only be relieved for a while, but not for a lifetime.

After handing over the work in hand to others, Cheng Nuo turned to Zhang Jian who was resting aside to see his follow-up thoughts.

"Mr. Zhang, we have been serving porridge for some time. I think there are only a lot of people. If this continues, it may not be a long-term solution."

"I have three strategies here, the best strategy is pension, the middle strategy is security, and the bottom strategy is relief. Which one do you think is better?" Zhang Jian brought a bowl of porridge and two cakes, and smiled.

The porridge and cakes were the same as the ones just for disaster relief. Cheng Nuo didn't feel disgusted at all, and finished a cake in two bites. After a few mouthfuls of porridge, he felt his stomach feel better. He wiped his mouth and said:

"Naturally, there is no need to talk about the bad policy, which is what we are doing now. I guess it is impossible for Mr. Zhang to control them from now until the beginning of next spring. If so, our cotton farmers will be the first to refuse."

"The central strategy Anji, this is also easy to understand. After the famine, a large number of victims will always be displaced and their fields will be abandoned. The central method of Anji is to induce the refugees to return to their hometowns and resume their jobs, and reduce their rent burden so that they can live in peace against the disaster. This is to give back; to give idle land to the refugees, and to exempt them from rent and taxes so that they will not be displaced, this is to give land; for those displaced by disasters, they must be repatriated through the power of the government, and this is to return.”

Cheng Nuo took another sip of the porridge, and then said: "It is reasonable to say that this is a matter for the public, and it is not easy for us to intervene privately, but the way the county magistrate did in the past few days, I am afraid that there is no hope, and maybe we will be exploited again The last stroke, the effect is hard to say."

Judging from Zhang Jian's trend of local autonomy, coupled with the support of clan forces, he actually has more power than the county magistrate. If he really chooses the middle strategy, the effect will definitely be there, maybe even better.However, from a personal point of view, these disaster victims are also a group of labor wealth in a sense, so it would be a pity to just give up, not to mention that Dasheng Cotton Mill is still in the stage of rapid expansion and requires a lot of manpower.

So Zhang Jian simply nodded after hearing this: "Yes, it is a good way to arrange the refugees to return to their hometowns and give them certain discounts, but I think the best policy is better."

"Shangce's pension has a much longer history, dating back to the Warring States Period. I guess Mr. Zhang's pension mainly includes gruel, sons' redemption, housing and other contents. The concept of people’s aid greatly maintains social stability, and at the same time, adult labor can help us further cultivate farmland, and children can also go to our new-style schools, which is much better than their life when they return to their hometown.”

"Yes, that's the reason. Instead of going back and continuing to suffer from disasters, it's better to follow us and continue to reclaim these wastelands. When the cotton farmers' seeds of the Academy of Sciences are cultivated next year, it's just that these farmlands may not be enough to feed the Dasheng Cotton Mill." Zhang Jian laughed loudly, and told Cheng A few spoonfuls of new porridge were added to Nuo Bowl: "The one just now is getting colder, let's serve some hot one."

It is better to have selfish intentions. In fact, the Qing Dynasty was the historical period with the most frequent famines among all dynasties. In the nearly 1616 years from the establishment of the Qing regime in 1911 to the demise of the Qing regime in 300, there were 1121 disasters, with an average of one disaster every March. Most of the local officials turned a blind eye to the disaster, passively provided disaster relief, even concealed the disaster and did not report the disaster, or underreported the serious disaster.

For example, embezzlement of money for construction of water conservancy projects leads to poor quality of water conservancy projects and poor repair of river works. Once the rainfall is too large, floods are prone to occur, while the rainfall is too small and there is no water for irrigation, increasing the possibility of disasters.

After learning from the disaster relief methods of later generations, Cheng Nuo came up with a better idea. He put the coarse grain cake on the chopsticks and said, "Mr. Zhang, since I have chosen the best policy to provide for the pension, I have another policy to supplement it. The effect of implementation depends on it." better."

Zhang Jian became interested, subconsciously stroking his beard and smiling, "If it's slowing down or lending, then it goes without saying. We still have our own principles. Interfering with local taxation and usury is still inappropriate after all."

Cheng Nuo shook his head and said, "No, I think we can carry out agricultural relief, and its characteristic is the combination of 'rescue others and self-rescue'."

Zhang Jian put down his hand and asked in confusion, "Nongfu? Tell me."

Cheng Nuo stood up, walked to his side and said, "Agricultural relief is to distribute seeds and fertilizers to the disaster-stricken areas; use money sold and low-interest loans to buy farm tools and help them recover their vitality and production capacity. For example, the disaster victims They can reclaim wasteland in Tongzhou as sharecroppers, and Dasheng Cotton Mill can lend them seeds, fertilizers and farm tools, or low-interest loans, and they only need to slowly recover from next year’s harvest.”

Zhang Jian immediately stood up from his chair in surprise after hearing this: "Farm relief is good. This can greatly mobilize their determination to cultivate. In order to repay the loan, they will definitely devote more energy to agriculture, which is beneficial to both parties. .”

In fact, there was no similar relief method before the Republic of China, and its creation had to wait until the Jianghuai flood in 1931, which was widely considered to be the first natural disaster with the largest number of deaths in recorded history. Accept it and get good results.

Now it is a last resort to take it out in advance, because he is always suffering from disasters in the Republic of China.

As Cheng Nuo guessed, most of the victims were unwilling to return to their homeland. When they mentioned the names of the local parents and officials, they all gritted their teeth and shook their heads. Who would want to go back and suffer that crime.

Now I heard that there is a large piece of wasteland waiting for them to reclaim, and whoever reclaims it will be contracted to whoever it is. Except for those who only need to work hard, all other Dasheng spinning mills have been contracted. There is a situation where who comes first and who comes second.

If you have land in your hands, you don't panic. With land, your heart can take root in the land of Tongzhou. Even girls can go to school, which is a great thing that I have never heard of.

When there are too many people, there are also lazy people. It is better to eat and wait for death than to work barebacked. The corn seeds that are handed out may even be secretly cooked porridge. In the method of labor relief, only the working people have food, and the women, children, elderly, sick and disabled are not counted.

After this incident, the enthusiasm of the victims to work became even higher, and even those who were not affected by the disaster came to reclaim the wasteland with their families, and the scene became even more lively for a while.

Zhang Jian's self-governing place in Tongzhou was also Cheng Nuo's experiment and learning place.He is learning the experience silently here, especially the experience and lessons are worth recording and learning. Behind every one is the blood and sweat of everyone. With this small book, he can avoid detours when he is in charge. Exempt some unnecessary "tuition and miscellaneous fees".

"Uncle, how many pancakes are you going to take today, or take half as usual?"

Cheng Nuo flipped through the record book, which recorded the data of each victim's labor accumulation and daily food intake. The excess points can be accumulated and exchanged for farm tools and other things.

The middle-aged man waved his hand at the cook, and said with a simple smile, "Let's take one today."

"Oh, you are finally willing to eat. If you want me to watch your physical work, how can you eat half a cake and a bowl of porridge for a meal? I am so skinny and I have to eat two." The cloth on the frame was lifted, and a hot cake was taken from it: "It's still a little hot, how about I wrap it in something for you?"

"No, I'll just take it and eat it, thank you young man." The middle-aged man showed his teeth, and smiled with a trace of restraint: "This gentleman is your second boss, he looks really good, thanks With your second master, we have a place to stay."

"He's not our second master, but he's much better than our second master." The man leaned closer, put one hand behind his mouth, and said cautiously.

Of course Cheng Nuo noticed this scene, but he didn't expose it. He put down the notebook and said politely, "Uncle, is it not enough to eat one cake for a meal?"

Seeing Cheng Nuo coming over, the middle-aged man wiped his hands on his body quickly, and wanted to share half of it with Cheng Nuo, but he refused, so he smiled nervously: "Enough is enough, enough for me to eat for a day."

The guy was stunned immediately, and couldn't help asking: "Uncle, is this cake your daily meal?"

The middle-aged man said with a smile: "There are still a few mouths in the house. If I eat less, they can eat more. It's just that it's weird these days, it's always sloppy, and I don't know why."

(End of this chapter)