Lord Duan's measures were effective, as he purchased large quantities of medicinal herbs from other state governments.
Free preventative herbal medicine was distributed, and rat catching and trapping were in full swing.
In order to get the people to cooperate with the prevention and control of the plague, the prefectural government specially organized a propaganda team to give speeches in various places in the four cities of the east, west, south and north every day.
The people, holding the free herbal medicine, were moved to tears and actively cooperated with the rat extermination campaign.
As for who paid for the free medicine, it certainly wasn't Lord Duan who paid for it.
The fundraising was extensive; the Zhao family also donated three hundred taels.
Including the repair of that huge pit, another five hundred taels were donated, bringing the total donation from the Zhao family to eight hundred taels.
This is just right; the Zhao family has some assets, but not a lot.
After buying the house and making donations, and calculating the overall income, in Master Duan's eyes, the Zhao family has already given away everything they have.
I was deeply moved. Each family that donated was presented with a plaque inscribed with "A Benevolent Family" by the prefect himself.
Well, with this plaque up, everyone who passes by will know that this family is kind-hearted.
As a result, the business of the shops run by the family is much better than before.
Those who are reluctant to donate money naturally do not have this sign.
We're both doing business, but their business has been approved by the prefect, while yours hasn't. What does that mean? It means your family is morally flawed.
If that's the case, why don't we buy things from families with good morals?
Since it costs money anyway, a few extra steps are nothing.
Later, these wealthy individuals who wanted to donate money offered to Lord Duan, but he initially refused to accept it.
They simply stated, "People's lives are stable, and post-disaster matters have been basically completed, so there is no need for donations at this time."
Unfortunately, these "conscientious" wealthy people were so sincere and their genuine feelings moved Lord Duan.
They donated twice the amount of money they had expected before they received a plaque that read "A Family of Kindness." This shows that there is a difference between being benevolent and being a person.
This one is clearly from the second tier. Why is it different? It's simple.
"We made two batches of plaques. The first batch was taken by someone else. First come, first served, so we'll just have to make do. I'll replace them for you when we have the chance later."
Our prefectural government office has to be very careful with its finances; you don't know the cost of living until you're in charge.
There's not much difference, just one character. As long as they sound the same, isn't that fine?
Lord Duan is just that shameless and petty.
All the counties and towns under the jurisdiction of Lingnan Prefecture were arranged in a very fast manner, radiating outwards from the prefectural city. In about half a month, all matters such as post-disaster reconstruction were properly arranged.
Considering the possibility of corruption among lower-level officials, Lord Duan specifically dispatched many trusted confidants to assist the various county magistrates in resolving the reconstruction work.
Therefore, Lord Duan sent secret letters to all the county magistrates under his jurisdiction. The content was very simple: do a good job and don't be greedy for money. I will definitely give you your share of the benefits.
Indeed, in the post-disaster reconstruction report, the county magistrates were highly praised, their respective contributions were clearly listed, and rewards were requested on their behalf.
But it moved the county magistrates under its jurisdiction to tears. With a three-year term, who wouldn't want better comments in their performance evaluation?
However, there are always those who are not afraid of death. The county magistrates may be honest and incorruptible, but the towns and villages below them may not be so.
After the disaster, each household and each person received a subsidy of 15 jin of grain, which was a generous amount for the entire Lingnan Prefecture.
Hu Enke, the head of Chunfeng Town under Qingrao County, and his brother-in-law Chen Xiaoquan, the head of Baihua Village, were placed under special observation.
Hu Enke is the one who's best at complaining about being poor.
For example, when paying taxes each year, the amount is always less than that of other towns, with countless reasons, but in short, it's because the people are suffering, there is a shortage of labor, and the harvest is poor, etc.
Incidentally, they also had to request various forms of assistance for the people, such as road repairs, canal digging, and all sorts of other projects.
He acted as if he loved the people like his own children, and Magistrate Bailun trusted him greatly.
The bailiff sent by Lord Duan to assist Magistrate Bai Lun was named Deng Xinzhou.
This man was skilled in physiognomy. While Lord Bai was holding a meeting with the village and pavilion chiefs below, Deng Xinzhou was observing them from below.
The saying "appearance reflects the heart" is not as simple as it sounds. Deng Xinzhou filtered everyone through, and the first villages he wanted to inspect were Chunfeng Town and Baihua Village.
Bai Lun believed that Deng Xinzhou had completely misjudged the situation. This Hu Enke was the most promising village head he had ever had in recent years. He could say that anyone else was morally flawed, but Hu Enke was the only one who was not.
He even made a bet with Deng Xinzhou out of spite, but Deng Xinzhou refused, insisting that the investigation still had to be conducted.
Since it was an inspection, it couldn't be a cursory glance; Bai Lun, Deng Xinzhou, and the others were all dressed in coarse farm clothes.
Even if you take a horse-drawn carriage, you have to get off at a distance from the village entrance at each village and then walk to the village.
Find someone from your hometown and start asking them what they want to know.
Upon arriving at Baihua Village, we entered the village using the same method.
When they arrived in the village, they found that it was truly poor. The collapsed houses had not yet been fully repaired, and the children were barefoot digging for wild vegetables in the fields.
Deng Xinzhou has a baby face and looks like a teenage boy.
Seeing a group of little children carrying baskets on their backs, their little faces dirty, I walked up to them and smiled, "Hello, children."
"I'm from Baishu Village next door. What are you all doing here?"
A boy named Zaizai was quite bold and replied,
“We’re going to dig for wild vegetables. We just don’t have enough to eat without them. Our family is surviving on wild vegetable soup right now.”
"Oh, didn't the government distribute grain? Didn't your family receive any?" Deng Xinzhou asked.
The little boy pouted.
"We received it. It was distributed yesterday. Each family gets ten catties of coarse grains, and they're still unhulled. Do you think that's enough for a few meals of thin porridge?"
Deng Xinzhou immediately sensed something was wrong, stopped the child from leaving, and handed him a small packet of maltose.
"Little friend, tell me, how come a family only has ten jin of whole grains with husks? In our village, each person gets 15 jin of grain!"
My family has 12 members, and we received a total of 180 jin (90 kg) of grain. How come you received so little?
Deng Xinzhou's words confused the little one.
"No way, I must have misheard. But my dad only brought back that one small bag."
My family has twenty people, so wouldn't that require at least several sacks of grain?
I'll go home and ask."
The children who were going to dig for vegetables with me ranged in age from five or six to eleven or twelve. They could understand everything I said, so they all rushed home in a swarm.
Deng Xinzhou stopped him.
"Little one, can I come home with you? Otherwise, your father might say you're talking nonsense."
As she spoke, her gaze drifted toward the malt candy that the little one was holding in his arms.
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