As the head of a county, Zheng Li naturally received news a few days ago that the capital had sent an imperial envoy to provide disaster relief. However, he did not expect that the imperial envoy would come so quickly.
According to his calculations, even if traveling by water, it would take at least ten days to travel from the capital to the land of Yao.
But it is winter now, and the waterways in many places have frozen, making it difficult to travel.
If they took the land route, even if there was no snow around the capital, the road to the heart of Yuzhou would be extremely muddy. Zheng Li couldn't understand how the imperial envoy managed to get here so quickly.
Yinreng was wearing a cloak and riding a horse, hidden in the middle of the team. After seeing Zheng Li, his cold expression softened slightly.
If you trace it back to the source, Zheng Li is certainly not an honest and upright county magistrate.
However, after the disaster struck, he did not take advantage of the disaster to make a fortune and disregard human lives. Instead, he used all the grain reserves in the county government to help the victims. From this point of view, Zheng Li was more competent than the other county magistrates, and even the governor and governor-general of Yuzhou.
Yinreng said calmly,
"Get up and lead the way to the county government office."
Zheng Li stood up with his head lowered, not even daring to look at Yinreng's appearance. He turned around and led his team towards the city.
If nothing unexpected happens, this place will be where he will stay for several months.
As he walked, Yinreng checked the surrounding situation.
The refugees outside the city were intercepted by the army at the gate.
The situation inside the county town was not much better than outside the city. In fact, because of the densely packed buildings, when houses collapsed, they were dragged down with them.
During this time, some people would occasionally hide in corners, picking up rotten beams and wooden doors, splitting them up and burning them for warmth.
Judging from his appearance and clothes, he is many times better than the refugees outside the city.
Seeing the disaster relief team, these people gradually became agitated, but Zheng Li gave them a look and no one dared to step forward.
On the first day of his arrival, Yinreng asked people to set up a porridge stall at the city gate.
In order to prevent the rich people in the city from queuing up to drink the porridge, Yinreng asked people to grind the bran into powder and add it to the porridge.
Afterwards, he personally dealt with several rich and unkind officials.
Yinreng could not be so cruel as to execute nine clans and exterminate three clans, but he could still confiscate property and exile people.
The money and grain seized from these families were worth at least more than 200,000 taels.
Yinzhi was amazed when he saw it.
During this period, there was a man named Chen Yuanwailang who threatened Yinreng arrogantly and said shamelessly that he would let his son-in-law kill Yinreng's entire family.
Yinreng was so angry that he laughed.
Who gave him the courage to threaten the crown prince in public?
Since he was so eager to exterminate his three clans, Yinreng didn't mind letting him get what he wanted.
After finding out who Chen Yuanwai's son-in-law was, Yinreng suddenly understood.
It turned out that this was Mr. Chen's daughter and the favorite concubine of the son of the governor of Yuzhou.
No wonder he speaks so harshly.
But he was afraid he would be disappointed.
The governor of Yuzhou can hardly protect himself now, let alone his son who is not sure whether he is a playboy or not.
Yinreng ordered the soldiers with an expressionless face to drag Chen Yuanwai, his family and clansmen out of the city.
Only then did Mr. Chen feel afraid and begged for mercy again and again.
But Yinreng remained unmoved and chopped off the heads of Chen Yuanwai and his entire family in front of thousands of refugees outside the city.
This not only intimidated the refugees outside the city, but also made Zheng Li terrified.
Fearing that Yinreng would get angry and impulsively cut off his head as well,
Fortunately, until nightfall, he did not hear the young imperial envoy order his arrest.
Zheng Li felt a sense of relief after escaping death.
The next day, Yinreng asked Zheng Li to post notices at the county government office and the city gate, recruiting the people to rebuild the county.
The able-bodied men were provided with two meals a day and a salary of five cents.
Women were forced to cook and clean up the garbage as laborers, and were provided with one meal a day for a salary of three cents.
Anyone who is dishonest or opportunistic will be expelled immediately once discovered and will not be hired.
As soon as this notice came out, the people inside and outside the city were in an uproar.
Kangxi had used the method of work-for-relief to deal with disasters in his early years, so when Yinreng used it again, not many people questioned it, but instead spread the word.
At the same time, Yinreng also asked the accompanying imperial physician to set up a separate tent at the city gate to diagnose and prescribe medicine for the people who were infected with colds.
After distributing the porridge, they asked people to set aside two large pots to boil ginger soup for the victims.
In order to prevent all the refugees from gathering in Yao, Yinreng asked Suo Etu to take one-third of the army to Xinan, and Wei Zhang, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, to take one-third of the army to Linbao.
As for Yinzhi, Yinreng kept him by his side.
Although Yinzhi's thinking was a bit straightforward, his martial arts skills were indeed outstanding.
With him protecting him, Yinreng could feel much more at ease.
After Soetu and Wei Zhang arrived at the place, they first executed the county magistrate who had done nothing in the street.
Then he copied the notice posted by Yinreng exactly as it was.
Mobilizing the victims to take action and letting them see hope, even though snowflakes were still falling from the sky, the number of victims who died from hunger and cold was greatly reduced.
The disaster was effectively controlled in a short period of time.
However, building a house requires a large amount of building materials, which is too difficult to get in a short period of time.
If we only rely on transportation from other places, it will not only consume huge manpower and material resources, but also take too long.
The little disaster relief money allocated by the court was simply not enough to sustain the situation.
Yinreng wanted to try to build a brick kiln outside the county town.
Fortunately, before setting off, Yinreng obtained Kangxi's consent to transfer coal from Shanxi.
The Three Jins region has long had a tradition of burning coal for heating, but burning coal requires ventilation, which most ordinary people are unaware of.
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