Chapter 19 Chapter 19 I'm out of breath.
Zhu Song didn't want to listen to Yi Kangning's excuses and directly ordered, "Tell the kitchen to hurry up and cook. If I hear someone say they didn't have a meal, I'll change the color of Lord Yi's official hat."
Yi Kangning replied: "Yes, I will ask someone to do it right away."
Zhu Song turned and walked away. Yi Kangning winked at his men and quickly followed him. When he came forward, Zhu Song asked again, "Where is the refugee center built?"
Yi Kangning replied: "It's over there."
"Go and take a look."
Zhu Song walked over quickly and saw hundreds of people working on a wide flat ground. Looking closely, he saw that there were only a dozen runners from the government office, and the rest were disaster victims.
Yi Kangning said: "The government office was short-staffed and time was tight, so the victims came to help on their own initiative."
Zhu Song frowned as he looked at the refugee shelter, whose main structure hadn't even been erected yet. He was about to step over when a beam suddenly snapped, sending a refugee plummeting from a three-meter drop. He hit a rock and was instantly rendered motionless, his blood washed everywhere by the rain.
Zhu Song frowned and walked over quickly. The people present looked at each other, but no one saw fear on their faces. They just looked at Yi Kangning's expression cautiously.
Zhu Song walked up to the man, squatted down, reached out his hand to feel his breath, and found that he was dead.
Zhu Song stood up and looked up at the broken beam. He saw that the broken part had been eaten away by insects, and moths were flying out of it. Zhu Song's face became even gloomier.
Seeing Zhu Song's bad face, Yi Kangning quickly said, "It's raining, and there's no way to avoid this kind of thing happening."
Zhu Song clenched his fists and ignored Yi Kangning. He just said to the people present: "Don't do it for now."
When they heard they were going to quit, the yamen runners didn't say anything, but the victims were the first to quit, saying, "How can we not do it? If we don't, we'll all die from being drenched all the time." "Sir, we're not afraid of death, just let us do it."
The victims knelt down as they spoke, and the rain, mixed with their blood and tears, flowed down on them, floating and rolling quietly in the muddy and yellow flood.
Zhu Song felt heavy in his heart. He said, "Today I will open the city gates and let you in, but the condition is that you obey my orders."
When they heard that the city gates would be opened to let them in, the victims quickly responded, "We will definitely obey the adults' instructions. The adults are really our adopted parents." "Adopted parents." "Adopted parents."
When Yi Kangning heard Zhu Song was going to open the city gates, he immediately tried to dissuade him, "Sir, there are so many people suffering from the disaster. Where will they go to take shelter if we open the city gates?"
Zhu Song ignored him and said to the victims, "You can go back now and tell everyone to prepare to go into the city to avoid the rain."
When the victims heard this, they kowtowed several times and then rushed to spread the good news.
Zhu Song was also not idle. He immediately returned to the governor's office and asked Yi Kangning to find all the shops in the city and all the surrounding places that could shelter from the rain, and asked Duan Zhenghong to persuade the shop owners to allow them to provide shelter for the victims.
Duan Zhenghong looked embarrassed, "I'm afraid they won't agree to this."
Zhu Song said, "If they agree, I will directly arrange for someone to go. Do you still need to come forward?"
Duan Zhenghong said, "I can say it, but I can't guarantee that they will agree."
Zhu Song said sternly, "You can't do this, you can't do that. I don't think you need to be the governor anymore, Mr. Duan."
Duan Zhenghong was dissatisfied when he heard this. He threw his sleeves and said angrily, "Although Mr. Zhu is a Beijing official, he is only a fourth-rank official. According to the official system, I am still above Mr. Zhu."
Zhu Song remained calm and said coldly, "Lord Duan's rank is higher than mine, but I wonder if he is higher than His Majesty?"
Duan Zhenghong frowned, his tone becoming increasingly cold, "Master Zhu is so arrogant that he even compares himself to the emperor."
Zhu Song bowed and said, "Lord Duan, please be careful with your words. When I left the capital, I was given the Imperial Sword, which allowed me to act as I see fit. Let alone dismissal, even if I kill you, no one would dare to stop me, a mere fourth-rank official."
Upon hearing that the Imperial Sword had arrived, Duan Zhenghong hesitated and said, "Since you have the Imperial Sword, I will naturally obey Lord Zhu's orders."
Zhu Song was also very flexible and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Master Duan."
Seeing his good attitude, Duan Zhenghong felt more at ease. "I dare not." Then he turned around and walked out.
Yi Kangning was left feeling uneasy and asked, "Then, Master Zhu, what should I do?"
Zhu Song looked at him and smiled, "Master Yi is very useful."
Yi Kangning looked at him and smiled, "Please tell me, Master Zhu."
Zhu Song said, "Please, Lord Yi, calculate the number of people that can be accommodated based on the size of the shops in the city."
Yi Kangning looked embarrassed. He wanted to say that there were many shops in the city and the registration at the government office only counted the first floor. To sort it out, he had to go to the scene and check them one by one. But when he remembered that Duan Zhenghong had not gotten anything good from him just now, he didn't dare to say anything. He just agreed and was about to leave.
Zhu Song stopped him and said, "Master Yi, time is running out. You must give it to me before tonight."
The words of refusal were on the tip of Yi Kangning's tongue, but after a pause, he swallowed them back.
"yes."
After everything was arranged, Zhu Song said to Zhu Lingye and Zhu Lingwang, "Lingye, go investigate the flood that destroyed the refugee camp, and Lingwang, check the account books."
Zhu Lingye knew that Zhu Song suspected something was wrong with Yi Kangning and Duan Zhenghong. "You knew they had problems, but you still let them do it. Are you planning to let them make amends?"
Zhu Song replied, "This is making the best use of everything. Stop being poor and get to work."
"yes."
The two of them went about their own business. Zhu Song walked out of the room and stood under the eaves, looking at the white rain curtain covering the sky. He couldn't help but think of what he saw outside the city. Didn't Wen Fengxuan go to Suzhou? Why was he here?
But Zhu Song didn't intend to think too much about it. This was not what he should care about right now.
Zhu Song found Zhang Wanping. In the past, people from the Imperial Observatory would be brought in to deal with natural disasters to predict the weather. Zhu Song came to find him for this matter.
Zhang Wanping was standing on the stage, holding an umbrella and looking up at the sky. Zhu Song walked over and called out, "Master Zhang."
Zhang Wanping retracted his gaze and looked towards him, smiling slightly, "My dear nephew, you are welcome."
The young lady of the Zhang family that Meng Xiaohe asked Zhu Song to meet before was Zhang Wanping's daughter Zhang Qiyun, but Zhu Song was too busy to go. Gu Huaiyu was also very busy because of him, so he didn't go either.
The Zhu family and the Zhang family had no personal relationship. It was only in recent years, when Zhang Qiyun became famous as the most beautiful woman in Beijing, that Meng Xiaohe became closer to the Zhang family.
Zhu Song asked, "I wonder how long this rain will last?"
Zhang Wanping leaned back with his umbrella, looking up at the sky. Rain and mist lashed his face, a melancholy and deep expression. Zhu Song followed his gaze upward. The sky was a gray haze, a thick gray tinged with inky black clouds, creating a depressing feeling. The large raindrops splattered against the oil-paper umbrella, making a crackling sound.
After a long while, Zhang Wanping finally said, "The rain is heavy but there's no thunder, and the sky is dark. This indicates a continuous downpour, with no sign of stopping." He then turned his gaze back to Zhu Song, and with a worried tone, he reminded him, "My dear nephew, you need to make long-term preparations."
Zhu Song nodded and continued chatting with Zhang Wanping. "I just went outside the city and saw disaster victims everywhere. There wasn't even a place to take shelter from the rain, and many people were sick."
Zhang Wanping followed Zhu Song's lead and sighed softly, "Now that my dear nephew is here, I'm relieved."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Song knew that Song Shunran was not at all concerned about disaster relief. "I never heard that Lord Song was ill while in the capital, but now that he's here in Jizhou, he's fallen ill. It's really heartbreaking."
Zhang Wanping listened to his ambiguous words and said, "Master Song, you may not be used to the local climate."
Zhu Song nodded. "So that's how it is. I thought he was sick from working day and night for the disaster victims."
Zhang Wanping fell silent. The situation in the capital was unclear, and Song Shunran was the cousin of Prince Su Wen Yi, so no one dared to offend him easily.
Zhu Song didn't ask any questions. Many things can be known at a glance without asking. Evidence is only used to convict.
"I have something else to do, so I'll leave first. Please inform me of any situation, Master Zhang."
Zhang Wanping responded, "That's natural."
After Zhu Song returned to the main hall, he spent the whole afternoon looking at the account books with Zhu Lingwang. After dinner, Yi Kangning and Duan Zhenghong both came back.
Yi Kangning handed the list to Zhu Song, "I've found that there are 268 shops in Jizhou City. Based on the calculation of three square meters per person, the total capacity is 7,622 people."
Zhu Song asked him, "How many victims are there now?"
Yi Kangning couldn't answer, so he could only say, "About 7,000 or 8,000. The number of victims increases every day, and I haven't counted them exactly."
Zhu Song didn't waste any more words with him and looked at Duan Zhenghong, "Where is Lord Duan?"
Duan Zhenghong replied, "Today, we gathered all the shop owners to discuss taking in the victims. One hundred and twenty-six were willing to take them in, but they would charge a fee. Ninety-six were unwilling to take in the victims, and another forty-six were out and have not returned."
Zhu Song asked, "Where are they now?"
Duan Zhenghong replied, "They are all in the government office now. If Lord Zhu wants to see them, I will have someone call them over."
"Call them over."
Duan Zhenghong agreed and gave the order. At the same time, Zhu Song was whispering in Zhu Lingwang's ear. After listening, Zhu Lingwang nodded and left.
After a while, 268 people came over. Zhu Song took a look and saw that there were quite a lot of people.
After everyone arrived, Zhu Song asked, "Who are willing to accept the disaster victims? Stand on the left."
With a loud noise, a large group of people stood on the left.
Zhu Song then asked, "Who are those who are unwilling to accept the disaster victims? Stand to the right."
With a clatter, another group of people stood on the right.
After the distribution, there were still some people left, so Zhu Song asked, "Are you the ones the shopkeeper sent out?"
Duan Zhenghong replied: "Yes, the shopkeeper is out, and they are his confidants."
Zhu Song nodded, looked at the person in the middle and said, "This is an urgent situation. Since the shopkeeper is not here, we can just requisition it."
When the people in the middle heard about the requisition, they immediately refused to work. "Sir, you can't requisition it. Our boss is a mysophobe and can't accept disaster victims." "That's right, sir, the things in our building are very valuable and can't be used for free." "Sir..." "Sir..."
Zhu Song nodded continuously, his eyes sweeping over them. "Split it up among you. Those who don't want to accept it can go to the unwilling side, and those who want money can go to the money side."
A group of people were chattering and Zhu Song was getting impatient. "Hurry up, it's getting dark, if you still don't line up, then we'll just requisition you."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone immediately split up, some going in different directions. In the end, there was still one person who stayed. Zhu Song asked him in surprise, "Are you willing to be recruited?"
The man replied sincerely, "Yes."
Zhu Song didn't say much, but patted his shoulder and pursed his lips slightly. However, Duan Zhenghong looked at him with an extremely unpleasant look.
Zhu Song took his hand back and asked him, "Who are you from?"
The man replied, "Your Excellency, I am Zhou Yannian from Tianyue Inn."
"Find a seat."
"Thank you, sir."
Zhu Song glanced at everyone present and asked again, "Are you sure you don't want to change it?"
Everyone replied in unison: "It's confirmed, no changes."
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