I have lived forever since the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 369 Natural disasters also come from man-made disasters

South County.

There seemed to be a gap in the sky, and drizzle was falling.

The slanting wind blew by, blowing the cold and wet breath along the cuffs and into the lining, making people feel chilly.

"Master Fu, this road is really muddy." Chen Luo, who had just stepped out of the city gate, looked calm, but his cloth shoes were already covered with wet mud, and they made a snapping sound when he stepped on the ground. .

Nanjun's infrastructure construction is completely incomparable to Chang'an and even Guanzhong.

The only roads paved with bluestones are the main roads in county towns. As for smaller county towns, they may only be paved on a section of road in front of the county government office, and cannot be found in other places.

After all, the polished slate is worth twenty or thirty copper coins in terms of value. If it is laid in an unsupervised place, it may be stolen by thieves.

Therefore, Chen Luo now requested to go to surrounding counties and counties for on-the-spot inspection. He could only walk on such a mud road. It was soaked by rain and the road surface was uneven and had large and small potholes. This was also the reason why he could not ride a horse-drawn carriage.

On Chen Luo's right was the prefect of Nanjun, whose surname was Peng.

Prefect Peng pursed his lips and replied: "Mr. Chen, the rain has not stopped for a long time, and we have no good solution."

Although he was an official with two thousand stones, he did not dare to take a high profile.

Although Chen Luo was only the councilor of Liuqianshi, he was ordered by the emperor to deal with the floods in the south. In addition, he had the power of impeachment, which made the officials of Liuqianshi also feel jealous, fearing that he would go back to participate in the book.

Ignoring such excuses, Chen Luo pointed to some people sheltering from the rain under the shade of trees outside the city gate, and slowly asked: "Master Fu, what's going on with them?"

Most of these people were wearing simple and thin clothes, carrying two or three packages on their backs, and sat together to keep warm.

Their expressions were numb, their eyes were gloomy, and they showed no reaction to Chen Luo and his party walking out of the city.

Only when you completely lose hope in life will you behave like this.

"There is a reason why we restrict the entry of refugees now. Many people can't even produce their biographies and identification documents. If they are put into the city, they will have no food rations and no shelter, which will become a huge hidden danger. ." Prefect Peng explained quickly, fearing that Chen Luo would slap his head and let him put all the refugees into the city.

When something goes wrong, Mr. Chen can just pat his butt and leave, leaving the mess he left behind to be cleaned up by himself.

Moreover, these people are indeed unstable factors, and it is indeed a trouble to appease them.

Therefore, choosing a one-size-fits-all policy may seem like lazy policy, but it is actually the best way.

"Yeah." Chen Luo's expression didn't change much.

Judging by the standards of this era, there is actually nothing wrong with Prefect Peng's handling of this matter.

A large number of disaster-stricken refugees have flowed into the city, which is indeed difficult to manage. When thefts and robberies occur, I am afraid it will arouse dissatisfaction among the residents in the city.

A conflict breaks out between the two parties... hiss, the consequences are disastrous.

But if we really want to ignore the victims outside the city and let them fend for themselves, then what if I went south to provide disaster relief and saved a hammer?

After a pause, he continued: "Master Fu, after all, these people are ordinary people. Perhaps two or three months ago, they were honest farmers and fishermen. The reason why they have fallen to where they are today is entirely because of this." A flood disaster.

They fled their homeland and came to the county government as a last resort. If we did not help them, but dealt with them with an indifferent attitude, I am afraid that after experiencing this disaster, those who survived would no longer trust them in the future. The government is gone. "

The official credibility of the Han Dynasty was accumulated bit by bit through the Wen and Jing dynasties, such as levying corvee and underpaying taxes, quelling unrest, and cracking down on banditry.

It takes decades to build credibility, but it only takes one small thing to destroy it.

Just like after a judge somewhere in later generations said, "Why should you help if you didn't hit me?" no matter what the truth is, the number of people willing to help an old man who fell has dropped sharply. You must first consider whether there is surveillance around you, and whether the other person is It's not a pity. Even if you come forward, you have to ask passers-by to record the video.

As for the repeated incidents of bride price fraud and domestic violence, they have also lowered the bottom line of traditional marriage. These sensitive topics have caused some people to fear marriage.

Therefore, if the government just sits and watches these people freeze to death and starve to death outside the city, it will undoubtedly be a very heavy blow to the government's credibility.

"Hmm..." Prefect Peng looked hesitant.

How could he not know this?

If you don't save these victims, you will definitely be criticized in the future and even become a stain.

But they have no basis for saving people now.

So he gritted his teeth and said, "Mr. Chen, please don't be soft-hearted. We can send people to distribute food to these people, but we must not let them enter the city."

"I didn't say let them enter the city?" Chen Luo looked at Prefect Peng with a strange look, and then said, "There are not enough idle houses in the city, how can we accommodate these residents."

"Huh?" After receiving the unexpected answer, Prefect Peng was stunned, "Then what should we do?"

If these people are not allowed to enter the city and are allowed to live outside the city, it will actually be quite cumbersome to rescue them, requiring a lot of material resources, and may not achieve the desired results.

However, looking at Mr. Chen's confident appearance, he was not sure whether the other party had an idea in mind.

Chen Luo rubbed his chin and thought as he walked.

The pamphlet I wrote on the road was too idealistic and deviated from reality because I had not seen the actual situation.

Once I saw the victims outside the city and learned about the specific carrying capacity of the county, I knew that everything must be based on the actual situation.

Therefore, Chen Luo did not rest and rushed to surrounding villages and counties to investigate. About half a quarter of an hour later, Chen Luo slowly said: "Well, let me tell you my humble opinion. If there is anything unreasonable, please feel free to point out the error.

Although these disaster victims are gathered around the county government, they are too scattered, so the first step we have to do is to gather these people together and manage them centrally.

In this way, all costs are greatly reduced, whether it is the construction of the camp, the loss of transporting food, or the related manpower that needs to be mobilized.

The issue of identity confirmation allows people from the same village to act as guarantees for each other. If one party commits an offense, the other party will be equally responsible.

In unconventional times, it is feasible to use such unconventional means.

As for the second step in my plan, I need to temporarily borrow grain from merchants in the city. The county government's grain reserves are not used as a last resort, so don't use them for the time being.

As for the grain from those merchants, I will repay it in full after the grain shipment arrives in Guanzhong.

With food and a place to live, these victims will not cause trouble, and the next thing will be much easier to handle.

In the third step, we can arrange for doctors to be stationed in the camp to avoid large-scale gatherings of people and the impact of floods, which may lead to large-scale epidemics.

After a month, when the impact of the flood disappears, we can gradually arrange for people to return to their hometowns and places of origin.

As for whether surrounding counties can also adopt such a plan, I think it should be demonstrated through on-the-spot investigation.

After all, most county towns do not have so many disaster victims gathering like the county government. So maybe the county town is enough to accommodate the victims, and there is no need to let them live outside the city.

As for whether this method is effective, it still needs to be proven through practice in the actual process, and corresponding repairs must be made. "

Such a long talk is because Chen Luo, after thinking about it, turned the contents of the booklet into reality, no longer so biased towards theory, and has more application value.

In later generations with complete disaster relief plans, this set of guidelines is not even a foundation. However, in ancient times when disaster relief relied entirely on the experience of local officials, the contents proposed by Chen Luo were actually quite advanced.

For example, arranging doctors to prevent epidemics was something that Prefect Peng had never thought of.

But does this set of guidelines make sense?

At least it has no fundamental errors and will have no negative consequences when implemented.

After hearing the entire plan, Prefect Peng lowered his head and started thinking.

If what Chen Luo said was ridiculous, he could just laugh it off, but now that there was a possibility of implementation, he couldn't be careless.

After a long time, Prefect Peng raised his head and said: "Mr. Chen's plan is very complete, but in my opinion, it does lack a foundation, making this plan like a castle in the air and too vain."

In his opinion, there was nothing wrong with Chen Luo's arrangement.

But there is a rather fatal flaw.

"Master, please tell me." Chen Luo is not the kind of person who doesn't listen to opinions and will get angry at the slightest objection.

If the suggestions put forward by the other party are reasonable, they can play a role in checking and filling in the gaps and improving the plan you have made.

Upon seeing this, Prefect Peng only responded tactfully: "Mr. Chen, if you want to build a camp for these victims that can provide enough shelter from the wind and rain, you will need at least a hundred craftsmen to be able to do it in a short time. Complete this task.

The county town can barely hire so many craftsmen who have been requisitioned, but if it lasts for a long time, I am afraid it will not be able to supply them. As for the other county towns in Nan County, what should we do?

They don't have that many craftsmen in their area, and they can't recruit that many people even if they want to recruit them. Moreover, I'm afraid there are not enough warehouses, so they can't ask the craftsmen to bring their own dry food, right? "

This question is fundamental.

If the camp cannot be built, then the follow-up arrangements in Chen Luo's plan will all be illusions and cannot be implemented.

Chen Luo was startled at first, but then he smiled and gave a solution: "Why don't you look at the victims and let them fend for themselves?"

"Huh? What does Mr. Chen mean?" Prefect Peng didn't understand.

Chen Luo gently uttered four words, "Relief with work."

Prefect Peng could understand its meaning directly without going through complicated explanations.

"What a genius idea." He took a big step forward and almost tripped over the mud.

But he didn't care at all.

The problem has a complete solution.

The basic contradictions I raised no longer become obstacles at all.

Relief for work can not only ensure the implementation of relief food, but also make infrastructure construction without difficulties.

And the most important point is that the "relief for work" program can be promoted on a large scale.

(End of this chapter)