This is as clear as day.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was increasingly disliking Zhu Yunwen at this moment, since Zhu Yunwen had already reached the door, he spoke up:

"Come in!"

After Zhu Yunwen entered, he immediately bowed deeply to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand expressionlessly, signaling him to stand up.

Zhu Yunwen was somewhat surprised; he didn't understand why Zhu Yuanzhang had suddenly become so indifferent to him.

"Since you're here, let me ask you one question: take a look at this memorial and tell me what you think is the safest course of action!"

Zhu Yunwen took the memorial, read it carefully, and thought to himself that this was a good opportunity to show his abilities.

The same question must have been asked Zhu Yunwen before. If I can answer it better, I can outshine Zhu Yunwen again.

Then Zhu Yunwen spoke:

"Grandfather, I believe that we should immediately order the Ministry of Revenue to mobilize grain from other counties around Hukou County that have sufficient food supplies, and order officials to open their granaries to distribute the grain to the disaster victims in Hukou County and the surrounding counties."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. This method was commonly used and nothing strange about it.

The grain from the surrounding counties served as a much better measure than transporting grain from more distant places or even from the capital.

After all, the distance is too far. If the grain were transported from near the capital, most of the disaster victims would probably have died.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang felt somewhat helpless. He had originally intended to make Zhu Yuntong the crown prince, but now Zhu Yuntong was unable to utter a single word in the face of important matters concerning the world.

Zhu Yunwen, on the other hand, managed to barely pass the test.

This left him feeling helpless.

However, at that moment, Zhu Yunwen let out a disdainful laugh.

He immediately said, "The idea is good, but I'm sure that some of the more prosperous counties around here will not contribute much grain."

Therefore, this suggestion is too idealistic and probably won't be very effective in practice.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up slightly.

However, Zhu Yunwen glared at him and said:

"This is currently the best method, although it has some drawbacks. But as long as it is strictly followed, there shouldn't be any major errors."

Zhu Yunwen spoke calmly:

"I bet the surrounding wealthy counties, after receiving the order, will only offer a small amount of grain as a token gesture, and will never wholeheartedly follow the order to support the disaster-stricken counties. This will only delay the implementation of better disaster relief methods."

Zhu Yunwen wanted to retort again, but saw Zhu Yuanzhang ask solemnly:

"Yun-Teng, what do you mean by saying that the surrounding counties won't listen to us and fully support the disaster-stricken areas?"

Zhu Yunwen smiled and said:

"It's very simple. These counties also need to guard against droughts that may occur at any time. If they use their grain to help disaster areas, what will happen when disaster strikes in their own areas?"

For an official, the first principle is to protect oneself wisely. As the saying goes, a wise man does not stand under a crumbling wall. If one indiscriminately opens his granaries to provide relief to disaster victims in other places, how will he cope if a disaster strikes in his own region?

Simply put, if a county magistrate with grain reserves were to provide relief to disaster-stricken areas, he would not receive praise or commendation from the imperial court; he would simply be following orders. However, if his region ran out of grain and then experienced a drought...

Then the officials would be punished by the imperial court. The choice is obvious, isn't it? While this is human nature, one can't blame these officials entirely.

Zhu Yunwen's words silenced Zhu Yuanzhang.

From the first year of the Hongwu reign to the present, more than twenty years have passed, and various disasters have occurred in many places.

It's not the first or second time that neighboring counties have been asked to support the disaster area, but the results have always been unsatisfactory.

Only at this moment, after hearing Zhu Yunwen's words, did Zhu Yuanzhang seem to understand where the problem with this method lay and why it was ineffective.

He sighed softly, and his gaze towards Zhu Yunwen held a hint of relief as he said:

"We had never thought about this before, but after hearing what you said today, it suddenly makes perfect sense."

Zhu Yunwen's face was somewhat unpleasant. He hadn't expected that his proposed method would not only fail to earn praise from Zhu Yuanzhang, but would instead give Zhu Yunwen a chance to refute it, leading Zhu Yuanzhang to praise Zhu Yunwen instead.

So, unconvinced, he spoke up:

"So, what's a good way to do it?"

Zhu Yunwen smiled slightly, forgetting to hide his abilities at this moment, and spoke:

"The reason why some surrounding counties are unwilling to provide grain to support Hukou County, as I just mentioned, is because they would not be praised for doing good deeds."

And if a disaster occurs there and isn't handled properly, they will be punished. That's the root of the problem, so my approach is to do the opposite.

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately became interested and asked impatiently:

What does this mean?

Zhu Yunwen said:

"It's very simple. Grandfather Emperor gave an order: have the wealthy counties surrounding Hukou County open their granaries to support Hukou County."

The county that contributes the most grain will have its officials in that county credited for their contributions; the county that provides the most support will receive the greatest credit.

These factors would all be included in the Ministry of Personnel's annual performance evaluation of local officials, serving as bonus points. Conversely, regions that provided less grain support would receive fewer credits, or even none at all.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately smiled and said:

"This method is brilliant! Applying this reward and punishment system to this area is truly ingenious. In this way, these officials, in order to gain extra points in the assessment and pave the way for future promotions, will inevitably provide wholehearted support and be more proactive."

Zhu Yunwen smiled without saying a word, only nodding slightly.

Zhu Yunwen stood to the side, his face grim, and remained silent.