Chapter 165 Disaster Relief 2
However, there was no way that the calculations of a few country gentlemen and old farmers could be hidden from a shrewd man like Xiao Yuan, who was not so smart that he could not even see through the strategy of slowing down the enemy's attack.
But gradually boiling the frog in warm water was one of his strategies. Now that people had followed his idea, Governor Xiao naturally gave these elders some face with great reluctance.
The subordinates were somewhat puzzled, and after the others left, they asked the governor if he was taking too risky.
After all, the plague spreads quickly. Burying the bodies one day earlier means less danger. If those people are well fed and have the strength to resist, won't they be even more disobedient?
Xiao Yuan smiled coldly, "Children who have never eaten candy can resist it, but they will be reluctant to let them lick it twice before taking it away.
We have just arrived and have no prestige among the people. We should give them some benefits first to establish the image of being a man of our words, so that we can make better progress in the future.
You help each village to divide the population and assign territories, first separating the healthy people from the sick.
Each team has a doctor, who makes sure our people wear masks and fumigate with wormwood every day to prevent infection.
If any disaster victims ask, just tell them that this is a solution provided by the Imperial Hospital. Anyone willing to help take care of the patients can not only receive a mask but also five cents a day.
The standard is one caregiver for every five patients, both men and women.
You don't have to worry about selecting people. Let the leaders of each village make the selections. They know best who is hardworking and who is cunning."
The series of orders issued by Governor Xiao not only sparked heated discussions among the disaster victims, but also amazed the officers and soldiers who participated in the disaster relief.
These people have participated in disaster relief in the past, but they have never heard of disaster victims being paid for their work.
However, among so many people, not one person raised any objection, and there was not even a case of the officers and soldiers who paid the wages embezzling the money.
How should I put it? They have never saved such a wealthy disaster before.
In the past, disaster relief was all about the government allocating funds and distributing them layer by layer. If only 30% of the funds were put into practice, it was already good enough.
The officers and soldiers said that since they were at the forefront of the disaster relief work, they naturally wanted to get some benefits. If they couldn't get the big profits, they could only make a little money by reselling the disaster relief grains.
But this time, following Governor Xiao in disaster relief was so rich that it was no exaggeration to say that their disaster relief funds were more than enough to fight five more disasters.
Governor Xiao was not a stingy person. All of the more than 2,000 soldiers from top to bottom received benefits. How could they be interested in the huge sums of money in the hands of the victims?
Money makes the world go round. This is indeed a well-known saying. Only when people have enough food and clothing can they have the leisure to follow morality.
After the victims drank the hot thick porridge, their eyes no longer turned blue and their tempers became calmer. Within two or three days, they regained their hope for life.
At this time, a rumor quietly spread among the victims, saying that the emperor attached so much importance to this flood because the master of Huangjue Temple received enlightenment from the Buddha.
The heavens will select souls with immortal fate from among those who died in Xuzhou this time to ascend to the Ninth Heaven. Men, women, young and old will all have the opportunity.
But if you want to go to heaven and be buried, it is not possible. The soul of a buried person has no chance of returning to the underworld.
The Emperor attached great importance to this matter and wanted to establish a good relationship with the immortal, so he was so generous in sending the disaster relief officials.
Otherwise, when have you ever seen people having enough to eat after a disaster? When there is no disaster, can your family afford to eat white rice?
And according to gossip, the imperial envoy brought a plaque written by the emperor himself, saying that a chaste temple and a heroic temple would be built here to enshrine the ashes of all the cremated people.
In this way, no matter who is chosen by the immortals, they will all be grateful for the royal offerings.
As for those who were not elected, they did not suffer any loss. Otherwise, how could a peasant like you have the chance to be worshipped by the governor and receive incense every year?
It's not so bad for wealthier families, but some poor people can't even afford to buy a few pieces of paper money, let alone enjoy the high-quality incense that only the masters can use.
After Xiao Yuan had someone spread the rumor, he only organized Qingzhuang to start repairing the ancestral temple outside the city but did not urge anyone to burn the bodies. Instead, the elders of the clan began to inquire about the matter in subtle ways.
All officers and soldiers had the same answer on this matter: they didn't know, they were not clear about it, and they hadn't heard about it.
The emperor only said that a temple would be built to commemorate the victims of the disaster and to be cremated, but he also said that it was completely voluntary and there would be no coercion.
It is said that rushing is not a business, Xiao Yuan's move of retreating to advance made these people feel uneasy.
The first people to arrive were a few women who wanted to cremate their dead children.
Children who died young have saddened their parents and are called debt collectors, and their clan will not accept them.
The woman was poor and had no money to buy incense and candles for offering sacrifices because she could not bury her child in the clan land. The mother, who felt sorry for her child, thought of giving it a try.
No matter whether the child's soul can go to heaven or not, at least it has a place to rest. Just burn it. Anyway, they can't afford a thin coffin for a proper burial.
Although the ancestral hall had not been completed yet, a monument to the heroes was built first because there was cement. The bodies of the children were quickly cremated, and the stonemasons also carved their names on the monument.
Zhang Erniu from Zhangjia Village, Li Cuihua from Lijia Village, Wang Ergou from Wangjia Village, Zhao Erya from Zhaojia Village...
The villages in the flood discharge area have always lived a hard life. Only the extremely wealthy gentry could afford to carve stone tablets, while ordinary people could only afford a piece of wood.
Now that the nicknames of several poor children who died young are engraved on such a beautiful tall stone tablet, many people are moved.
They value clan temples so that they can be worshipped after death.
If the name is engraved on this royal stone tablet and officials worship and offer sacrifices every year, wouldn't it be better than offering it in the ancestral hall?
Let’s not talk about what the ancestral hall will look like after it is built. Just the stone tablet with a stone lion engraved on it is something that these peasants will never be able to enjoy in their entire lives.
Once there is a chance of a second one, after the children died, some girls who were infected with the disease also became interested.
If unmarried young girls like them died in their natal family, they would often be arranged into ghost marriages.
It is better to burn yourself to death and fight for a good future than to die in unrest.
Even if I am not chosen to be a deity in heaven, at least there are people who worship me. It is worth it just for the name of the virgin on the monument.
With the promise of becoming a god, many parents were tempted. The daughters had worked hard for so many years without complaint and had never asked for anything, so they agreed to their children's requests for a future.
Perhaps it is true that what you think about during the day will appear in your dreams at night, for two women really did dream that their children told them in their dreams that they were chosen by heaven to be boys, which immediately caused a lot of discussion among the crowd.
Xiao Yuan had not expected that such a low-tech plan would be so useful.
But within just a few days, not only did families of the dead want to bring their ancestors' bones to be burned in front of the monument, but some of those who had already been buried even dug up their ancestors' bones just to get their names on the list.
In the past, the people who worked the hardest during disaster relief were the soldiers who maintained order and the cooks who made fires and cooked. But this time, the people who worked the hardest during disaster relief were the stonemasons.
These stonemasons' hammers are smoking and their chisels are worn out. No matter how many stone tablets will be used in the future, they just keep chiseling every day.
Without the corpses, the epidemic was quickly brought under control. Xiao Yuan left some people to guard outside the city to continue maintenance and led the rest of the people into Xuzhou City.
The fifth prince's uncle was not a good official. Even though he received the news that Xiao Yuan had arrived in the disaster area, he did not dare to go out of the city to greet him when he knew there was a plague outside the city.
Xiao Yuan didn't give him a good look either. How could he like his uncle when he didn't even like Jin Zekang?
It was at this time that Governor Xiao had not heard of the rumors about him in the city, otherwise he would have given the old guy a beating.
Shortly after Xiao Yuan entered the city, three horses galloped on the official road leading to Xuzhou.
Yan Fei looked at the Xuzhou city in the distance and gave a wicked smile.
My husband, I miss you so much!
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