Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 129 Talented people emerge from generation to generation

Zhang Dai knew that Yuwen Rong, as the commander-in-chief of this disaster relief effort, had a wealth of personnel resources at his disposal. Only by gaining Yuwen Rong's support could the disaster relief plan of building weaving workshops be successfully implemented in the disaster area.

So he organized his thoughts and explained his plan again.

Yuwen Rong listened attentively, and after hearing Zhang Dai's account, he continued, "As Zhang Liulang said, with 100,000 strings of cash as capital for the weaving workshops, how much money should be spent on each workshop and each loom? If income cannot cover expenses, how long can the weaving workshops sustain themselves? The quality of the workers varies; if the women weaving are not skilled, should we provide assistance or not? How many hours of labor should each worker perform each day..."

He wasn't just giving a perfunctory answer; he was listening attentively and thinking deeply. The questions he asked were very specific, some of which Zhang Dai hadn't even realized.

"Ten thousand strings of cash is just a minimum; if there is still demand, more can be added. Once the weaving workshop is established, it will at least last until next spring's planting season. However, capital is limited after all. Even if profit is not the priority, to maintain it in the long term, we must ensure that income and expenditure are just right, and we must prioritize those who produce fine weaves..."

Although Zhang Dai initially planned to invest 100,000 strings of cash in Consort Wu Hui's share of the profits, he did not intend to contribute nothing and would continue to invest if needed. He answered all of Yuwen Rong's questions, without giving vague or evasive answers.

“Although Zhang Liulang claims to be providing relief, he is actually employing laborers during the disaster. He hires women to weave workshops, but what about the general labor? Post-disaster recovery and industrial revitalization will involve more than just weaving. Skilled workers will be mostly employed by you. Where will the government find replacements?”

Ultimately, disasters are merely unconventional and special circumstances; local government administration is still based on the land equalization system and the rent, labor, and tax system.

Although the weaving workshops did not aim to make a profit, they essentially took advantage of the disaster to bring the labor force that had left farming and weaving production into fixed locations.

After the disaster, whether these people can successfully return to family production, and how the government can make up for the lost revenue in the process, are all issues that need attention.

Although the government may exempt some disaster victims from taxes and corvée labor during disaster relief efforts, this loss will be reflected in the annual expenditure accounts, and the taxes and expenditures for the following year will be adjusted accordingly.

However, the weavers who joined the weaving workshops were omitted from the budget, so a new category must be created to represent them.

This is similar to attracting investment in later generations, which can exempt businesses from a portion of their taxes. However, it is unacceptable to simply omit this part and not show it in the financial report.

Ten thousand strings of cash is by no means a small sum. If it were invested in disaster relief, it could greatly alleviate the pressure on the imperial court to provide disaster relief.

Despite the soaring prices after the disaster, such as the price of grain which jumped from about 20 coins per dou after the Fengshan ceremony to 50 or 60 coins, and even more than 100 coins in some severely affected areas of Henan, 100,000 guan of cash could provide food and supplies for tens of thousands of people to get through the winter. Not to mention that Zhang Dai also said that more could be added.

In other words, his disaster relief plan will cover tens of thousands of disaster victims, and it is a disaster relief plan specifically for women and children, which means it involves nearly ten thousand households.

Therefore, the statistics of disaster relief population must have a communication channel with the local state and county household registration authorities; otherwise, the increase or decrease of tens of thousands of households and the subsequent resettlement and handling will become extremely chaotic.

Yuwen Rong's primary focus was on population and land, so he wouldn't be easily fooled in this regard. He raised this point in the hope that one of his own judges would be dispatched to oversee the implementation of this disaster relief plan.

To put it bluntly, while Zhang Dai's disaster relief plan was certainly beneficial to the overall disaster relief work he was in charge of, it was a separate program outside of his disaster relief system.

Yuwen Rong's sending people to supervise and even lead the implementation of this plan will also help to incorporate this part of the disaster relief plan into the overall disaster relief work, making it easier for him to coordinate and manage it.

But where is the problem?
Why didn't you let my grandfather coordinate your work before? You have your own team of officials who do whatever they want, even excluding the Secretariat and the Chancellery. Why do you want to coordinate mine now?
Previously, Yuwen Rong separated the land and household surveys from the imperial administrative system as a special task and managed it as his private domain. He then expanded it to the entire scope of the imperial financial management, thus controlling both supervision and finance.

Zhang Dai's approach was to separate the relief efforts for women and children from the overall disaster relief work, partly to make it easier for him to operate independently. If he wanted to fully accept Yuwen Rong's leadership, couldn't he have simply donated money directly?
His plan is meaningful because women and children are a group that cannot be fully covered in traditional official disaster relief work. Therefore, even if he donates this part of the money, the situation of this group in disasters will not be significantly improved.

Unless the imperial court establishes a special management agency for the use of these 100,000 strings of cash and sets up relevant laws to supervise them, which is obviously impossible.

After thinking for a while, Zhang Dai spoke again: "All constructions in weaving workshops, whether for recruiting workers to help the people or for weaving silk and cloth, require looms as their foundation. We can register all the looms in the weaving workshops and levy taxes based on them, so that the losses incurred by the prefectures and counties can be compensated. What does Minister Yuwen think?"

Since it's impossible to entrust personnel and finances to Yuwen Rong's people for supervision, then you can manage the looms. Anyway, once the looms are seized, nothing can be done. I'm handing over my lifeline to you.

Upon hearing this, Yuwen Rong's eyes lit up. He was adept at creating new pretexts to bypass the original management system. The question he raised earlier wasn't to seize Zhang Dai's disaster relief plan, but simply because without a management indicator, this part of the disaster relief work couldn't be quantitatively evaluated.

The indicator proposed by Zhang Dai is undoubtedly intuitive and convenient for statistics. The loss of rent and taxes for the people who entered the weaving workshops is reflected in the loom tax. It is not that a loom tax will actually be levied, but rather that such a financial record will be included in the subsequent statistics.

This loom tax, as a new fiscal item, will not be reflected in the expenditure accounts of local prefectures and counties. Even if it is formally established and levied in the future, it will naturally be included in the envoy system led by Yuwen Rong.

In other words, although Yuwen Rong did not directly participate in the management of this matter, this personnel system still fell under Yuwen Rong's management scope and was an affiliated unit under him.

“Zhang Liulang has ingenious ideas and does not follow the old ways, which is truly rare. You can select one of your talented disciples to lead this matter and recommend him to me. I will then request that he be appointed as the agricultural advisor and be in charge of the weaving workshops and mulberry planting in the disaster-stricken prefectures!”

Yuwen Rong already appreciated the plan and knew who was behind Zhang Dai. Today, Zhang Dai's answers were to his liking, so he readily offered his support.

Zhang Dai was overjoyed to hear this. He had been hoping to gain Yuwen Rong's support, which would prevent him from being evaded or dismissed when dealing with the various judges under Yuwen Rong's command. However, he hadn't expected Yuwen Rong to be so generous, directly offering him the position of judge.

Although this judge position had no official rank, as a judge under Yuwen Rong, he naturally wielded considerable authority when dealing with prefectures and counties, making it much easier for him to carry out his duties.

However, this incident also revealed another flaw in Yuwen Rong's character: he was too rash.

Although the position of judge was not a formal court title, it allowed direct access to local governments to handle government affairs. As a result, Yuwen Rong made the decision in just a few words, with little consideration for the disastrous consequences of appointing the wrong person.

Most of Yuwen Rong's trusted confidants likely came from this group.

Zhang Dai was unsure whether they were capable of fulfilling their duties, but by observing their words and actions alone, he could determine that at least several of them were habitual flatterers.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that these sycophants are indeed exceptionally talented, but their nauseating flattery also shows that Yuwen Rong's team has a rather diverse style. Without rigorous monitoring and evaluation, it is impossible to completely eliminate the possibility of mediocre individuals filling positions.

Zhang Dai wasn't deliberately nitpicking; rather, he wanted to use Yuwen Rong's team management as a reference to avoid making similar mistakes in the future.

When it comes to the overall planning and coordination of personnel, Yuwen Rong is very professional. He pointed to the people in the hall and gave them instructions. Soon, a huge disaster relief personnel plan was formulated, which covered everything from providing relief to disaster victims and repairing river canals to organizing the resumption of production, and even plans to expand production in the coming year.

However, Zhang Dai knew that the disaster situation and the scope of impact next year would be greater than this year. Therefore, he was not optimistic about restoring production in the disaster area. Instead, the right plan was to send the existing manpower to unaffected areas such as Youzhou for reclamation and production.

He raised his hand in the hall to express this view, and Yuwen Rong simply nodded and said, "I have also read the plan that Duke Yan previously devised, and I agree with it. However, after the great disaster, people's hearts are unsettled, and moving from the center to the border will inevitably cause chaos, so we should still be cautious."

Talented people are usually more opinionated and more persistent in their judgments, so although Yuwen Rong did not object to this, he did not attach too much importance to it.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai could only sigh inwardly and prepared to try his best to encourage the male members of the disaster-stricken families covered by his disaster relief plan to go to the border to avoid being left in the countryside to suffer a second wave of massacres.

"After a major disaster, there will inevitably be a major epidemic. While providing relief for the current disaster, it is also crucial to remember the need for epidemic prevention. With the floods passing through and many cattle and horses drowning, the people have lost their livelihoods and may not comply with the government's orders to promptly dispose of the animal carcasses. After you arrive in the prefecture, you must also thoroughly investigate this matter and report any signs of an epidemic as soon as possible..."

Yuwen Rong then brought up another topic with a serious expression.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai's heart stirred. Wang Maozhong had silently helped him deal with Yao Hong, so he should also do his part. He suggested that Wang Maozhong inform him of this and recommend that he transfer a batch of veterinary medicine for disease prevention and treatment from the Longyou pastoral area for future use.

If a livestock epidemic were to occur, having sufficient medicine would be the most important thing; price would be secondary. Moreover, if Wang Maozhong hoarded medicine and set prices too high, it would become a stain on his record, and other officials would naturally impeach him, and the emperor would likely have to reprimand him as well.

(End of this chapter)