Chapter 176 Corvée Labor
“This fake magistrate withheld everyone’s grain in the name of the government, leaving everyone hungry. Today, I have had the grain located and has been brought back.”
"The grain will be delivered in about an hour. No matter how late it is today, we will distribute the grain that belongs to everyone so that you can take it back, eat your fill, and have a good New Year."
Upon hearing that there was grain, the people's eyes turned red with greed, and at that moment, someone finally stepped forward to vent their anger on the fake magistrate.
Seeing this, Ji Yingying didn't care. She noticed that many people were dressed very thinly, so she asked Rong Yi to prepare some down jackets. Anmin County also had down jacket factories, and they had a lot of stock. After all, the government had many places to operate, so there was a large quantity available.
The down jackets arrived one by one, and she immediately had them distributed.
Each household can only receive two items, since there aren't many, but two items will be enough to warm everyone present.
Everyone was overjoyed to receive the clothes and immediately knelt down to thank Ji Yingying.
Ji Yingying quickly told everyone to stand up and said, "Dear uncles and aunts, elder brothers and grandmothers, sisters and brothers, next, we will rid Anmin County of this scourge! Unity is strength, and I believe we can overcome this challenge and ensure our families have enough to eat and drink!"
"I believe that with Magistrate Li leading the way and all of you brothers and sisters working together, we will surely overcome the difficulties and let the sky see the light of day again."
"Wherever there is difficulty, there we will be!"
"Go for it! You can do it!"
Although the crowd didn't understand what it meant, they still shouted, "Go for it!"
Privately, some people asked, "What does '加油' (jiāyóu) mean?"
But the response was a shake of the head: she's a princess, she's an official, she understands.
After the grain was delivered, someone was immediately ordered to cook a pot of it, and each household was given five catties of grain.
This was also tallied in the past two hours. Whether there were many or few people, everyone received five jin (2.5 kg), with no excess. In addition, some wealthy merchants and gentry were also brought out to prevent them from seizing the people's grain.
"Everyone, the food has been distributed. Go home now. It's getting dark, and your families must be getting impatient."
The people all bowed in gratitude and went back home. It was already dark, and when they checked the time, it was already eight or nine o'clock. After Ji Yingying had eaten and drunk her fill, she discussed with Magistrate Li and Ji Jiayu about meeting the wealthy merchant the next day.
The imperial court has already distributed the grain; the rest depends on whether these wealthy merchants can contribute their labor.
"Oh, right, have the people who install the kang (heated brick bed)... you know, the people who install underfloor heating, go and install it for people. Charge each household five copper coins, it has to be five copper coins. Also, add another factory to make down jackets, and recruit workers from the locals. In addition, these two streets need to be restored to normal business operations..."
Ji Yingying gave a long list of instructions, which everyone found appropriate and listened to.
"What about those people from the brothel?"
“Those girls who want to live, send them to Huanchen Residence; those who don’t…” Ji Yingying waved her hand, she didn’t know what to do.
"Those who want to go home, let them go back; those who are bad, interrogate them and then behead them all."
"Rongyi, go and ask the emperor to allocate funds to repair the dike. That dike must be repaired. This is Jiangnan City, which has abundant rainfall. If it is not repaired in time, not to mention winter, even spring will be difficult. We don't want that place to become a dead river."
"yes"
“Magistrate Li, when you collect corvée labor, you should specify that two meals will be provided, each person will be given a set of warm work clothes, shoes, hats, etc., and each person will receive ten copper coins per day. In addition, a batch of gloves should be transferred from the factory. I will design these gloves for you, and you can have the factory make them for the corvée laborers to wear.”
"The pay is ten copper coins a day, paid according to work points. You record how much you do, and the money is paid out in a lump sum at the end of the workday. I'll pay for it."
Ji Yingying knew that people who performed corvée labor did not receive wages; they were lucky if they could eat a few cornbread buns.
"But this is a lot of money."
"Calculate how much it is, and I'll give it to you."
I have plenty of silver notes on me; that should be enough.
"Yes, Your Majesty, on behalf of the people of Anmin County."
"Don't thank me. I'm also working for the emperor. I'll make the emperor pay me back this money sooner or later. It's his business."
Ji Yingying had made up her mind that she would definitely ask the Emperor to reimburse her when she got back. She was just a subject and couldn't do such a thing.
"You should thank the Emperor later, especially with kind words. Say as many nice things as possible, because I need the Emperor to reimburse me."
"Yes," Magistrate Li wiped the sweat from his forehead, keeping his promise to do the job well.
“It doesn’t snow here. Here are some seeds of watercress. They’re easy to grow, all you need is water. Take them and give them to the people to plant. They have no food to eat, and they can’t even have some rice to eat.”
"yes"
"Well, there's another thing. Tomorrow, ask Physician Liu to conduct a free clinic to treat the people and keep an eye on the epidemic. No one is going to the flood-stricken area right now, but that doesn't mean there's no one to do the corvée labor. So, have Physician Liu make disinfectant and go there twice a day to disinfect."
"Rong Yi, remember to inform Judge Liu. This is of utmost importance. We can't afford to lose our lives if an epidemic breaks out."
"yes"
After the discussion was almost over, Magistrate Li left, and An Yi returned.
"Has all the food been distributed in that area?"
"Reporting to young master, no, there are still about a few hundred catties left."
"Keep it and see if we need to use it again. We need to keep backup supplies."
Without backups, if something goes wrong, it's like trying to quench a thirst with water from afar.
[Host, you seem so serious lately, I'm not used to it.]
Haha, who said I was serious? I'm anything but serious!
[Host, those common people can't even afford clothes, how could they possibly spend money to build a kang (heated brick bed)?]
[How can you do it without spending money? If you don't spend money, people will think it's a bargain and become arrogant.]
What about corvée labor? You paid for it.
[If we don't spend money, why would people be willing to come? Even if they're forced to come by officials, they'll end up resentful, and we'll be the ones who get into trouble. It's better to spend a little money to avert disaster.]
But you've given too little.
"That's still not enough. Everyone's poor these days. If they had ten copper coins a day, they'd probably be willing to work. And they'd only work until before the Lunar New Year. Think about how many copper coins they'd have left for the New Year. Who wouldn't be happy?"
"Yes, yes, you're really amazing."
Now all that's left is to deal with those wealthy businessmen and the brothel owners, and oh yes, the army in the mountains.
[This is such a mess. Who on earth would try to harm me and lure me here?]
It was almost dawn when Ji Yingying finally went to sleep; she had been busy all night.
When she woke up again, King Qi arrived with a troop of men. He was quite happy to see her and insisted that she take his pulse.
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