Huo Guang remained silent, saying, "I've already found out that the disaster affected Yanmen, Dunhuang, Yunzhong, and Dingxiang Commanderies. Some areas in Shuofang Commandery were also affected, but I promptly opened the treasury and granaries to send some food to them, so there were no refugees."
Liu Tan sounded a little melancholy. He had been very happy to see the snow before, and even enjoyed it happily with Liu Che. However, he had never expected that this snow might be a death warrant for the people of the Northern Border Kingdom.
These counties are notoriously poor even in the Northern Border. There is not much land suitable for farming, so the population is small. When the population is small, nothing is developed.
So when this happened, he couldn't blame the county governors of these places, especially the Dunhuang county governor. He was happy that Dunhuang County would be better after the trade, but this happened before the trade started.
Liu Tan thought for a moment and said, "Try to allocate some grain and money to these places, so that the people won't have to leave their homes and seek a living elsewhere."
It's not that he dislikes these refugees. It's mainly because of the current weather. They have no houses and may not even have any warm clothes. If they set out on the road like this, they will basically freeze to death on the way. It's better for them to stay in the local area and dig a hole to survive.
Huo Guang smiled bitterly and said, "I do think so, but... the national treasury still needs to be reserved for next year's spring flood..."
Because of the low rainfall, floods in the Northern Border Country are naturally rare. However, this does not mean that precautions are not necessary. After the arrival of spring, it is very likely that the ice in the upper reaches of the Yellow River will melt and a large amount of water will flow to the lower reaches. In this case, floods are likely to occur.
Liu Tan was dazed after hearing this. He had accompanied Liu Che for so many days and the Northern Border Kingdom was fine. He thought that nothing serious would happen. Unexpectedly, all these problems happened after Liu Che left.
Suddenly, as if thinking of something, he looked up at Huo Guang and asked, "Did my father see these when he was handling the paperwork?"
It had been many days since the snowfall, and the snowstorm had also been occurring for many days. The refugees probably had already started to move here during those days. Judging from the time, Liu Che should have seen this when he was helping him handle official business.
Huo Guang shook his head and said, "At that time, I asked Zhu Shanfu to suppress this news."
Huo Guang knew how much Liu Tan cared about his reputation. Originally, the Shuofang City that Liu Che saw was clean, tidy and grand. Even if he had secretly run away, he had seen that the people of Shuofang City were living better and better lives. But then, there were refugees caused by a snowstorm that was not too heavy. Isn't this a slap in the face?
Liu Che might not blame Liu Tan, or even take it to heart, but Liu Tan is very thin-skinned in this regard, and he would probably be embarrassed at that time.
Liu Tan immediately understood why Huo Guang had concealed this matter. He sighed and said, "Forget it. The funds needed for the project to support the refugees this time will be split equally between the national treasury and the government treasury."
However, Huo Guang was very principled. "No, Your Highness. I once said that the national treasury cannot be dependent on the government treasury. I thought so before, and I still think so now. No matter how much money Your Highness has, or how many ideas for making money he has discovered, they all belong to Your Highness. If we let everyone develop this mentality, and then expect Your Highness to pay for things to go wrong, what is the point of the Northern Border Kingdom existing?"
Liu Tan was stunned for a moment, not quite understanding why the Northern Border Kingdom had no need to exist. However, when he looked up at Huo Guang and met his warning gaze, he understood.
The fact that the Northern Kingdom's treasury depends on him is a big problem, that is, the Northern King's control over the Northern Kingdom has reached an unprecedented level of expansion.
Liu Tan had been worried that he had too much power, so he asked him to preside over the palace examination, so that the backbone of the Northern Border Kingdom would be selected by Liu Che in the future, and at the same time to shut up some people in Chang'an.
So he has to continue to maintain that everyone listens to him now because he can bring better things to the Northern Territory, but he must never force the Northern Territory to listen to him.
Liu Tan thought for a moment and said, "That's perfect. I've been thinking before that we can't provide these refugees with free aid. Otherwise, if there's a disaster in the future, everyone will flock to Shuofang City, and Shuofang City won't be able to handle it, and it will easily cause a lot of trouble. To reduce the national treasury expenditure, we should simply let these people work in lieu of relief."
Huo Guang was a little confused: "Work-for-relief? What should they do?"
"Let Chuemuoduo and the others build a big house first. Don't put anything in it. Just give these people a place to shelter from the wind. Then let them build houses for themselves. Even if they can't do the technical work, they should be able to do some physical work, right?"
Huo Guang was bewildered: "Hasn't it already been built?"
Liu Tan said, "We can't let those people gather together in large numbers. It's easy for them to spread various diseases. If the disease spreads to Shuofang City, it will be disastrous."
Huo Guang was surprised: "What kind of disease can survive in winter?"
Liu Tan said earnestly, "That's too many. Even if there aren't any now, what if they appear later? And how big would the house have to be to accommodate so many people?"
Huo Guang did not object, but simply asked, "What kind of building should it be?"
Liu Tan said, "After this incident, if there's a disaster in the future, there will definitely be a lot of people running to Shuofang City. We should just set aside a place as a special refugee resettlement site."
After all, the king in the entire North is now the richest.
Thinking of this, Liu Tan was a little puzzled: "In the past, the refugees would go directly south, but why are they all running to Shuofang City this time?"
Shuofang City may be located further north than some of the disaster-stricken areas and may be colder. Are these people coming here just because Shuofang City is now rich?
But the problem is that even though Shuofang City has changed so much, not many people know about it, right? These days, information travels very slowly between civilians, especially in the Northern Territory, where trade is underdeveloped. There's no one to bring news across. Aren't these refugees too uniform?
Having been cheated once by Gongsun Ao and again by Zhao Po Nu, Liu Tan couldn't help but become more alert, wondering if it was possible that someone else was looking for trouble with him. However, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't think of anyone who could extend his hand to the Northern Border Kingdom, unless... Liu Dan, who was far away in Yan State, sent people to infiltrate the Northern Border Kingdom.
It's just that he and Liu Dan had no grudges against each other. Apart from the well-known blood relationship, they were basically strangers. Liu Dan should not have done this unless he was jealous of Liu Tan being able to receive Liu Che!
Huo Guang seemed puzzled by his question. "Of course, because Shuofang City is the royal capital, if they go south to other counties, the county governors will no longer care about them."
Liu Tan, who was obsessed with various conspiracy theories, said: Ah?
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