Qing Yao

Chapter 294 Here, this is the prince!
Thank you to "Frosty Claws" for responding to Lord Zhao's call for disaster relief and donating a thousand taels of silver!
Lord Zhao remarked with feeling: "Those like Shuangya are the true role models for scholars."

Fengyang Prefecture City.

Zhao An formally handed over the reins to Jing Daoqian, who had been dismissed from his position as acting provincial governor. Although Jing Daoqian had been dismissed from his position as acting provincial governor of Anhui, the Ministry of Personnel had previously appointed him as the Shandong Denglai Qingdao Circuit Intendant. Therefore, before the court took further action, Jing Daoqian would go to Shandong to assume his post.

The so-called handover was actually just the formal taking over the seal of the Anhui Provincial Governor from Jing Daoqian; all other matters that required the handover of provincial administration, such as money, grain, and treasury, were put on hold.

The reason is that when Jing Daoqian was acting as governor, he did not formally hand over the reins to Chen Dawen, who was recuperating at home. Therefore, there was no question of handover between him and his successor.

With mixed feelings, Jing Daoqian handed over the provincial governor's seal, which he had entrusted to Zhao An for safekeeping. He then gave Zhao An his recent "work log," which described the situation in the disaster area in great detail. It clearly listed all the disaster relief regulations that had been implemented and were being implemented, indicating where funds and supplies needed to be immediately allocated, where they could be delayed, where all the grain reserves had been distributed, and where only one-third had been distributed.
This is a very practical work log. The handwriting in many places is very messy, which is obviously because Jing Daoqian wrote it in a hurry during the "investigation".

Judging from this log alone, Jing Daoqian is a pragmatic official who may have had experience in disaster relief before, and his responses were very organized.

By handing over his work log to Zhao An, Jing Daoqian, the former official, clearly hoped that his young successor could quickly understand the disaster situation in Anhui and avoid spending time on "investigation."

There was no other way; the disaster victims couldn't wait for the "adults" to conduct another investigation!
Currently, the three areas in Anhui most severely affected by the disaster are Fengyang, Yingzhou, and Sizhou, with Fengyang being the most severely affected. During Jing Daoqian's tenure as acting governor, he mainly guided disaster relief efforts in Fengyang, and most of the money and grain allocated from the provincial treasury and other regions were also transported to Fengyang.

It was only because Anhui province was too poor, coupled with the extremely inefficient local government, that the disaster worsened despite the province's best efforts to provide relief.

It's like ten horses pulling a cart with all their might, but the cart still moves slowly and inefficiently.

No matter how the driver cracked the whip, it wouldn't budge.

The most absurd case is Suzhou. Jing Daoqian clearly allocated 30,000 taels of silver and 150,000 shi of disaster relief grain to Suzhou, but only a few days ago did we learn that only one-tenth of the money and grain had been distributed to Suzhou, and the other nine-tenths were just sitting untouched in the warehouse.

Previously, the Suzhou authorities had clearly explained in black and white how these disaster relief funds and grains were used and where they were used to the acting provincial governor.

As a result, the items that had already been distributed in the accounts remained untouched, infuriating Jing Daoqian to the point of wanting to vomit blood.

Unfortunately, he had already been dismissed from his position as acting governor.

Zhao An did not believe that Jing Daoqian was completely unaware of what was happening in Dingyuan County, but the fact that Dingyuan County was still exercising the power of a local official and that people were still starving to death within its borders showed that while Jing Daoqian was pragmatic, he had too many concerns in the face of sudden disasters. To put it bluntly, he was bound by rules and regulations, or rather, he was helpless against the corrupt bureaucratic system.

Unlike Zhao An, who is a hothead and dares to commit illegal murder in a moment of impulse.

"Lord Zhao, I have written everything I need to tell you in this booklet. The people of Anhui are all counting on you."

Although Jing Daoqian's expression was complicated when he said this, his eyes held a hint of admiration when he looked at Zhao An.

The reason for my admiration is that Zhao An, the successor, had already taken the head of a county official before he even received the seal of the provincial governor.

The news had already reached Fengyang, and the officials who heard the news were all shocked. Jing Daoqian was particularly moved. During the disaster relief efforts, he had considered improving the efficiency of disaster relief by punishing some officials who were ineffective in disaster relief, but in the end he chose to urge rather than take drastic measures.

There was nothing he could do; he didn't have the guts to break the law and kill someone.

While admiring him, he also began to re-examine the young successor who had been exposed for embezzling grain from the granary, and suspected that the minor official named Fan Wentong was indeed framing and harming his superior out of personal grudges.

How bad could an official be who would risk his own career for the sake of disaster victims?

He also felt a sense of regret, fearing that the young man who would succeed him would not last long, since killing a local official without imperial decree was punishable by strangulation.

Even if this young man has powerful connections that can save him from the death penalty, he probably won't be able to stay in Anhui any longer.

During times of great disaster, the successive changes of officials are not a good thing for the people.

These things are no longer relevant to Jing Daoqian; let each of them pray for their own good fortune.

As was customary, Zhao An saw his predecessor off out of the city. Before he got into the carriage, Jing Daoqian hesitated for a moment and told his successor something: the reason why the disaster in Huaibei was so severe was inextricably linked to Governor Zhu Gui.

The reason was that Zhu Gui issued an order requiring local governments and Green Standard Army garrisons to "block and seal off" the disaster victims, preventing them from fleeing the famine and avoiding the local disaster from escalating into a major disaster in Anhui Province, which would then shake the Qing Dynasty's rule in the southeast.

From a broader perspective, Zhu Gui's order was reasonable. In any dynasty, whenever a large number of disaster victims fled to escape famine, it would inevitably cause panic in the surrounding unaffected areas, lead to food shortages in those areas, and create irreconcilable conflict between the disaster victims and the locals.

If the disaster victims are deliberately misled and incited, then it will prove true what the Dingyuan magistrate, who was killed by Zhao An, said: "Disaster victims will become refugees, and refugees will become rioters."

The reason why peasant uprisings led by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were able to quickly stir up chaos in one place and spread to several provinces at the end of the Ming Dynasty lies here.

Like the rebels, the disaster victims did not engage in production. Once their numbers reached tens of thousands, they swarmed in like locusts. If the local government's response capabilities and organization were weak, they would be devoured by the locusts, thus creating new disaster areas and generating new disaster victims.

In other words, it provides a continuous supply of manpower for the rebels.

Zhu Gui's plan to contain the disaster victims was to limit the disaster to Huaibei and prevent it from spreading to the surrounding areas. Once the victims were enclosed, the risk of chaos would be reduced, and the government could concentrate resources on providing targeted relief.

However, Zhu Gui overlooked a crucial problem: the disaster relief efficiency of the Anhui government was extremely low. This caused the original intention of providing targeted assistance to degenerate into a large-scale starvation. People who were able to escape famine to survive were forced to wait at home to die due to government coercion, resulting in a series of horrific human tragedies.

"Lord Zhao is young and promising, and his courage is far beyond what this old man can match. I hope that Lord Zhao can think more about the disaster victims and persuade Lord Zhu a little."

Jing Daoqian sighed and boarded the carriage. He was able to act as the governor of Anhui because of Zhu Gui's strong recommendation. However, Zhu Gui's blocking policy had indeed caused the deaths of a large number of disaster victims. Officially, he should resist Zhu Gui's order, but privately, he could not oppose it. He could only place his hopes on his successor, whose tenure was uncertain.

After seeing Jing Daoqian off, Zhao An returned to the city and did not rush to meet with the officials of Fengyang Prefecture. Instead, he spent half an hour carefully reading Jing Daoqian's work log, and then used the seal of the provincial governor to issue an order.

From this day forward, all prefectures and counties shall, as long as they transport grain and supplies to disaster areas, make their own decisions without having to report to the provincial governor's office; they may simply report afterward.

For those who spontaneously transport food and supplies to disaster areas, all localities along the way shall allow them to pass without any obstruction; those who violate this rule shall be severely punished.

Similarly, all measures introduced by various prefectures and counties in the disaster area for disaster relief purposes must be reported first.

It's the same principle as acting first and reporting later, in order to save time spent on reporting and requesting instructions back and forth.

Time is life, and for Anhui today, this is no joke.

Zhao An did not want the official documents being sent along the way to turn those disaster victims who could have been saved immediately into "corpses".

Delegating authority on a large scale and in all aspects is an important means of disaster relief.

Unfortunately, this method did not become widespread until two hundred years later.

After arranging this matter, Zhao An ordered all officials in Fengyang Prefecture to attend the meeting, regardless of whether they were civil or military officials.

As the newly appointed acting provincial governor, this was to be expected. After all, Zhao An needed these officials to promote the implementation of disaster relief provisions; without their cooperation, everything he did would be empty talk.

The two highest-ranking officials in Fengyang City were Li Yuan, the prefect of Fengyang, who was a civil official of the fourth rank, and Ding Musan, the general of Shouchun Town, who was a military official of the second rank.

The purpose of the meeting was not only to finalize the disaster relief arrangements for Fengyang Prefecture with Li Yuan, but also to discuss the Green Standard Army's mobilization authority with General Ding.

The Green Standard Army in Shouchun Town is currently carrying out the blockade order of Governor Zhu Gui. Zhao An cannot openly overturn Zhu Gui's policy, so he wants to adjust the Green Standard Army's function to "preventing chaos and providing disaster relief" under the pretext of preventing chaos. This requires the support of General Ding Musan.

However, when the meeting was scheduled to begin, Zhao An's entourage was surprised to find that not a single official from Fengyang had come to attend.

The prefect didn't come, the general didn't come, and not even a lowly clerk came.

Baili Yunlong thought the person sent to notify the officials had given the wrong meeting time, so he sent someone to notify them again. However, not a single official came to attend the disaster relief work meeting hosted by the acting provincial governor.

"Are these officials in Fengyang disrespecting you, sir? This is outrageous! I'm going to find out what's going on!"

Baili Yunlong was so angry that he wanted to take his men to the prefectural government office to find out the truth. Even though Shaojun had committed the capital crime of killing a local official without authorization, he was still the acting governor until the imperial decree was issued. Why were these corrupt officials in Fengyang treating Shaojun like this?

Zhao An waved his hand and sneered, "No need. A fallen phoenix is ​​no better than a chicken. The fact that they dare not come shows that they have confidence and are not afraid of me at all."

It's no surprise that the "collective" rejection of him, the acting provincial governor, by the Fengyang officialdom was a direct side effect of his arbitrary killing of the Dingyuan magistrate.

They were convinced that the imperial court would deal with him severely, so who would care about an acting governor who was about to step down?

Going to their doorstep will not only fail to solve the problem, but will also make them lose even more face.

Because Zhao An is currently powerless against the officialdom in Fengyang.

He only had a hundred or so followers pieced together from various sources, which posed no threat whatsoever.

However, this incident also shows that Zhu Gui has a great influence in Fengyang. Otherwise, no matter how much the Fengyang officials disapproved of him, Zhao Youlu, they would not have done something so disrespectful.

There wasn't even a single attendee at the meeting, and Zhao An was at a loss for words.

The lack of cooperation from the officials in Fengyang effectively sidelined him as the acting governor, rendering his orders ineffective at the post stations.

It seemed that all he could do was stay in the post station and wait for the court's decision.

And indeed, Zhao An spent two days idly at the post station.

During this period, apart from the post station providing him with normal food, clothing and other necessities, no officials came to visit him.

On the third day, to Zhao An's surprise, someone came to visit him.

It was none other than Fu Chang, the provincial governor of Jiangning.

Fu Chang had just returned from Yingzhou. He didn't want to go, but the court ordered him to continue investigating the murder of Fan Wentong. Helpless, he had no choice but to go to Yingzhou and meet with Zhu Gui.

Nothing was found. Zhu Gui not only kept everything perfectly under wraps, but also demanded that Fuchang thoroughly investigate the truth behind Fan Wentong's death and clear Zhu Gui's name.

This caused Fu Chang a great deal of trouble. Upon hearing that Zhao An had been temporarily appointed as the Provincial Governor of Anhui by the imperial court, he hurriedly left Yingzhou and came to Fengyang to discuss with "Brother Fu" how to close the case.

Unexpectedly, halfway there, I heard that Zhao An had killed the county magistrate of Dingyuan County without asking permission.

Terrified, he spurred his horse and hurried towards Fengyang. Upon seeing Zhao An, he complained, "Brother, you've done something really foolish this time! Do you think you can just kill that magistrate like that!"

“That Dingyuan County killed tens of thousands of people. I cannot quell my hatred without killing this man.”

Zhao An is definitely stubborn; deep down, he doesn't think he did anything wrong.

Fu Chang pulled him aside and whispered, "Foolish! Even if you wanted to kill him, you could have simply written to the governor's office and asked Zhu Gui to do it. If Zhu Gui didn't kill him, you could have impeached him for protecting an incompetent official. Why make yourself into this mess? Now look what's happened. Who in Fengyang City cares about you, brother?"

It's likely that Fuchang knew no one was attending Zhao An's meeting.

Zhao An said helplessly, "Lord Fu, for the sake of the imperial court and the disaster victims, you must help me out no matter what!"

"What do you want me to do?"

Fu Chang was somewhat exasperated, and besides, he wasn't an official from Anhui; he had only come to Anhui to investigate a case. What could Fu Chang do even if he talked himself hoarse?

"Lord Fu is, after all, an imperial envoy. As long as it's you, sir..."

Zhao An wanted to use Fu Chang, the imperial envoy, as a shield. If Fu Chang cooperated, he could more or less deceive the officials in Fengyang City into obeying his orders. Otherwise, how long would it take to get the imperial decree?

He's been really worried these past two days.

He wasn't worried about his own career, but about the starving people in the disaster area.

"That's it,"

Although Fu Chang had always supported Zhao An, he handled the "Five Blessings" matter rather carelessly this time. He was not an official in Anhui, and the duties of an imperial envoy were limited to investigating grain-related cases. If he rashly intervened in the struggle between "Five Blessings" and the Anhui officialdom, he might be impeached.

Just as they were hesitating, a group of guards in yellow jackets on horseback rushed in through the gate of the post station. Seeing their menacing appearance, they charged in before anyone in the post station could react. When they saw Zhao An standing with Fu Chang, the leading guard immediately stepped forward and asked, "Who is Zhao Youlu?"

Zhao An's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stepped forward and said, "That's me."

The guard nodded slightly and cleared his throat: "Imperial decree: Zhao Youlu, the acting provincial governor of Anhui, is granted the Ebilun sword. The Emperor said that no matter whether an official is corrupt, incompetent, or incompetent, Zhao can use this sword to execute them first and report later!"

Before he finished speaking, an unassuming waist knife was presented to Zhao An.

"."

Fu Chang's expression was beyond words; if one had to describe it, it could probably be summed up in two words.

fuck!

(End of this chapter)