Chapter 156 Disaster Relief
These days, Huang Wei feels like his world is about to collapse.
Prime Minister Cui trusted him and sent him to assist the Second Prince in disaster relief.
As a result, the disaster relief efforts were thrown into complete chaos.
Now, the second prince has gone completely mad, suddenly wanting to shave his head and become a monk, escaping into the Buddhist order.
He tried everything to persuade the second prince, from his sense of national responsibility to the dignity of the royal family, until his saliva ran dry, but the second prince was determined to leave, and no amount of persuasion could change his mind.
Watching the Second Prince's resolute back, Huang Wei felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
He, as a prince, simply packed his bags and left. But this subject had to bear the blame for "failing to provide adequate assistance."
He had even imagined that upon returning to the capital, he would likely face only demotion and exile.
His career, painstakingly built over many years, is now completely over.
Just when he was feeling disheartened and wanted to become a monk along with the Second Prince, he suddenly received an order from the Eldest Princess to continue taking charge of the disaster relief work.
This filled him with trepidation, yet he dared not refuse any further.
He was originally sent by the imperial court to oversee disaster relief, and now the "commander" has simply changed from the second prince to the eldest princess. He really has no reason to shirk his responsibilities.
Left with no other choice, Huang Wei had to bite the bullet and accept the task.
After following Princess Chang on business for a few days, he discovered that this princess was far more capable and understood the people's hearts better than he had imagined.
She first set up a "Hongmen Banquet," where she executed Sun Tian and Pang Guang, two leaders of aristocratic families who had led the oppression of the people. With swift and decisive action, she made an example of them and intimidated all the powerful clans.
After that day, not a single prominent family in the area dared to utter a word of dissent, and they all obediently handed over their stockpiled grain and land deeds purchased at low prices.
Immediately afterwards, she issued another order that surprised Huang Wei.
"The imperial court will lend money at low interest rates to all disaster victims so that they can redeem their land deeds from the gentry at the original price."
The moment this order was issued, the homeless people who were previously displaced on the streets suddenly had hope.
Who wouldn't want to return to their hometown and live off the land passed down from their ancestors? Who would want to be a migrant worker who leaves their homeland to make a living?
Almost all the refugees voluntarily borrowed money from the imperial court, redeemed their land deeds, and returned to their hometowns with their families. The refugee problem that had plagued Weizhou for many days was solved so easily.
What impressed Huang Wei even more was that the princess not only resolved the immediate disaster but also considered the long-term consequences.
She personally led a team to survey the terrain and organized disaster victims to dig irrigation ditches and build reservoirs to prevent future droughts.
At the same time, she also promoted "work-for-relief" to ensure that all disaster victims without income could receive wages to make a living and solve their immediate food and clothing problems.
As order gradually returned to Weizhou and the smiles returned to the faces of the disaster victims, Huang Wei suddenly had a thought: following this princess might be more promising than following the unambitious second prince and the power-hungry Prime Minister Cui.
But Li Yuanzhao's methods went far beyond that.
After intimidating the powerful clans, she immediately set about reforming the bureaucracy.
She sent people to carefully investigate the officials of the three prefectures. Anyone found to have failed in disaster relief or colluded with wealthy merchants to resell government grain, regardless of their rank, was dismissed from office and had their property confiscated without any leniency.
In just a few days, more than a dozen local officials were dismissed from their posts.
Instead of transferring personnel from the capital to fill the vacancies left by the dismissal of officials, Li Yuanzhao directly promoted a group of officials from the three prefectures.
Most of these people were minor officials in the county government. They were hardworking and reliable, but because they had no connections, they were never given important positions.
Now that they have been promoted by the Princess, they are all grateful and obedient to her. Whether it is promoting disaster relief or supervising the construction of irrigation canals, they do their best and dare not slack off in the slightest.
Later, she directly appointed him as the Vice Prefect of Weizhou, under the pretext that "Shizhu repented in time and took the initiative to cooperate with the amnesty," making him the deputy to the Prefect and in charge of all matters related to the construction of canals in Weizhou.
This man, Dianthus, already had a strong base of support among the people; the disaster victims trusted him and were willing to listen to him.
This resolved the barriers and conflicts between officials and the people. The previously tense relationship between officials and the people became harmonious because of this one person's appointment.
What surprised everyone even more was that the eldest princess actually used money from her private treasury to set up an orphanage in each of the three prefectures, specifically to take in homeless children.
It is said that the children that the eldest princess picked up on the road were also sent to this orphanage.
This was supposed to be a good thing, but soon everyone discovered that although the orphanage was named "Nursing Children," it only accepted girls under the age of eighteen.
Whether it's a girl who lost her family and became homeless in this disaster, a girl who was previously sold by her parents, or a teenage girl who secretly ran away because she couldn't bear the harsh treatment at home, the orphanage accepts all of them and never refuses them.
Moreover, the orphanage not only hired learned female teachers to teach the girls to read and write, but also invited female masters from all walks of life to teach the girls a skill to make a living.
Many local officials initially complained, feeling that the princess's actions constituted "discriminatory treatment," as she only took in girls while ignoring boys, which was unfair.
Unfortunately, they also knew that most of the displaced people during the disaster were girls.
Moreover, all the expenses of this orphanage came from the princess's private treasury, without using a single penny of the court's disaster relief funds. What grounds do they have to criticize it?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com