Qing Yao

Chapter 299 The Lotus of Calamity Approaches, the Ming Dynasty Revives

To get the Green Camp to obey, simply appeasing the soldiers isn't enough; you also need to give the officers benefits.

Because Zhao An had no right to interfere with the appointment and removal of personnel in the Green Camp, he had no right to appoint even a seventh-rank officer.

The old man gave him the Ebilun knife, which was "for killing, not for burying."

This knife could establish his absolute prestige in Anhui's officialdom, but it couldn't help him replace all the officers of the Anhui Green Standard Army.

Since they couldn't be replaced, they could only use the "authority" brought by Ebilun's sword to win over these Green Standard Army officers who couldn't be replaced. Once he had a stable foothold in Anhui, they would try to find a way to replace them or form a new army through local militia to deal with the impending White Lotus Rebellion.

Stability should be the top priority.

If solid wages and benefits can win the support of soldiers, then officers can also be tempted by money. Moreover, Zhao An wields the Ebilun sword, which is the greatest symbol of imperial power in Anhui.

To disobey Ebilun's sword is tantamount to rebellion.

From a human perspective, General Ding Musan is dead. No matter how trusted or favored they were, the officers of the Fengyang Battalion would have to change their ways and distance themselves from Ding Musan, otherwise they would definitely be labeled as rebels by Zhao An.

Unless you really want to rebel, you have to take the initiative to bow down.

Knowing human nature and the weaknesses of these officers, Zhao An timely gave them 20% of the confiscated income. This income was enough to make Zhou Ku and others, who were previously considered Ding Musan's staunch supporters, regard Lord Zhao as their godfather.

With the help of money, the troops stationed in Fengyang remained calm and optimistic, and quickly threw themselves into the disaster relief work deployed by the governor.

The Green Standard Army also quickly rectified its internal situation. No sooner had Zhao An left Fengyang Camp than Zhou Ku and others destroyed all traces of General Ding Musan in the camp, including the words Ding Musan had written, the cups he had used, and the blankets he had covered with.

At the same time, people were sent to notify various places to convey that the Green Camp's responsibility had changed from "blocking and preventing chaos" to "disaster relief and preventing chaos," and to actively assist local authorities in distributing disaster relief food to disaster victims. At the same time, an exception was made to allow some people who could not receive disaster relief food in the short term to be released so that they could go to the nearest disaster relief point to collect porridge.

This small adjustment could save countless lives.

After returning to the Fengyang government office, Zhao An spent most of his time approving and stamping documents.

Whether it was a document concerning the allocation of funds and grain, or an official document ordering various localities to implement disaster relief regulations, Zhao An had to sign and stamp them all.

Thanks to the fact that there was no oversight system for local finances in the Qing Dynasty, Zhao An did not need to report to the Ministry of Revenue in detail about how much money he spent and where he spent it; he only needed to submit a general account afterward.

In other words, every time he stamped a document, the disaster relief funds coordinated by the Anhui provincial treasury and the Ministry of Revenue entered the payment process without the need for any agency to verify them.

The power in having great authority sometimes refers not only to military force, but also to money.

The death of Li Yuan, the prefect of Fengyang, not only set the officials in Fengyang city on high alert, but also terrified the officials in the surrounding prefectures and counties. The efficiency of disaster relief in the entire Fengyang region improved dramatically, far exceeding that during the time when Jing Daoqian was acting as governor.

Reports came from Chuzhou that grain merchants from Jiangning had already transported 300,000 shi of grain to Chuzhou, and Chuzhou is now mobilizing manpower to transport this batch of grain to Dingyuan County, which has been severely affected by the disaster.

Xu Lin's troops, ordered to lead their followers as transport troops deep into Anhui Province, have now arrived at Mingguang Town in Sizhou, a key route from Chuzhou to Fengyang.

Following Zhao An's orders, Xu Lin divided his followers into four groups of 500 men each, stationed along the official road. They served as both the government troops maintaining the road and the grain transport escort.

Segmented escort.

After the grain was transported from Chuzhou to Fengyang, it was escorted by Xu Lin's troops, who relayed it from station to station like a relay race, trying to shorten the transport time as much as possible.

The grain transport authorities are also mobilizing all their resources and organizing manpower to transport grain from various places to the disaster area using several still navigable waterways within Huaibei.

Considering that more than half of the two million shi of grain promised by Fuchang would be transported from northern Jiangsu to Anhui, Zhao An wrote to Ding Jiu, asking him to use his connections with the canal transport guilds to request assistance from the canal transport guild branches in Huai'an and Xuzhou to help transport the grain and minimize the time the grain would be stuck on the canal and at various docks.

At the same time, a map of the Huaibei grain transport artery was drawn up, and the principle of ensuring the "three supports" was established.

The so-called "three branches" refer to the Jiangning, Chuzhou, and Fengyang transportation lines; the Yangzhou, Sizhou, and Fengyang transportation lines; and the Huai'an, Sizhou, and Suzhou transportation lines.

As long as these three main grain transport routes are kept open, the grain can be transported in a timely manner. In order to achieve this, in addition to the role of the grain transport guilds and grain routes, the provincial governor also sent letters to the local governments and Green Standard Army garrisons along these three routes, requiring them to ensure that the transport routes are kept open.

The wording was very harsh; whoever caused the problem would have their head chopped off.

Zhao An meticulously planned and vigorously promoted every possible disaster relief method he could think of and implement. At this point, there was actually not much he could do; he only needed to sit in Fengyang Prefecture and command the relief efforts.

But Zhao An couldn't sit still and still chose to go to the front lines of the disaster area.

It's not that he's trying to create an image of an upright official, but rather that bureaucracy has a major flaw: it doesn't value places that leaders don't go to, but it values ​​places that leaders do go to very much.

In other words, wherever the provincial governor appears, the local bureaucracy will be in a frenzy, and the disaster relief efforts in that area will increase exponentially.

For the disaster victims, this was no different from a godsend.

Along the way, besides reporting to the old master that he had executed a county magistrate, a prefect, and a general, Zhao An also requested the old master to exempt all taxes in the severely affected prefectures and counties, postpone or delay the collection of taxes in the moderately affected areas, and appropriately reduce or exempt taxes in the lightly affected areas.

At the same time, an order was issued to the relevant agencies of the Anqing Provincial Governor's Office to send people to purchase grain seeds from various places. Once the drought subsided, the work of restoring cultivation and rebuilding the entire disaster area should begin. We must not allow the disaster to worsen or cause further disaster.

On this day, the team headed to Huaiyuan County. When they arrived in the county, Zhao An was in a fairly good mood because although he had seen corpses along the way, the number was much less than what he had seen in Dingyuan County. Local gentry were organizing the people to bury the corpses. After inquiring with the people, he learned that the county had also distributed disaster relief grain once or twice. Overall, the disaster relief measures in Huaiyuan County were much more comprehensive than those in Dingyuan County.

Although there are still many shortcomings, it is undoubtedly commendable. After entering the city, it was learned that the county magistrate, Cui Yinghuai, was an honest official recommended to the court by the former Jing Daoqian, and had previously been a candidate for magistrate of Huangshan County.

Cui Yinghuai was far more honest and pragmatic than Chen Zhiyuan, the magistrate of Dingyuan County. Perhaps because he was a candidate for official position through donation, Cui Yinghuai had a great understanding of the hardships of the people. After taking office in Huaiyuan County, he immediately began disaster relief. Although the disaster in Huaiyuan was also very serious and people starved to death, the overall situation was much better than that in Dingyuan County.

All the reports and expenditures of money and grain were to Zhao An's liking, and he couldn't help but praise them in public. The next morning, Zhao An went to the east of the city to check on the distribution of porridge.

From afar, one could see Magistrate Cui Yinghuai leading his staff to supervise the distribution of porridge. The porridge pots were all neatly arranged with chopsticks stuck in them, and the disaster victims receiving the porridge were not scrambling or complaining. Everything seemed orderly, which made one think highly of Cui Yinghuai and remember him.

Although he prioritizes unity in his personnel appointments, employing anyone who serves his interests, whether corrupt or not, what official wouldn't prefer an honest and pragmatic one?

Upon seeing the arrival of the Provincial Governor, Cui Yinghuai and the others hurriedly tried to pay their respects, but Zhao An waved his hand and said, "The disaster victims are the most important. You all go about your business and don't let me delay the distribution of porridge."

"Yes, sir!" Magistrate Cui responded and, together with the other county officials, continued to supervise the distribution of porridge.

Zhao An inspected the various shelters. Due to the large number of disaster victims, Huaiyuan County built two relief camps in the east of the city, which could provide porridge to about 20,000 disaster victims every day.

The county's grain reserves have long been depleted, and the county is now relying on grain donated by wealthy merchants in the city to sustain itself. Magistrate Cui has even taken the lead in calling on government officials to eat only one meal a day in order to save grain for disaster victims.

After taking a tour and sending people to conduct a secret investigation, Zhao An concluded that Cui Yinghuai was a rare and good official. He was very satisfied and wrote a note to Cui Yinghuai, instructing him to send someone to Fengyang Prefecture to collect 20,000 shi of grain for emergency use.

"Right now, the entire province is facing difficulties, but these difficulties are temporary and can be overcome. As long as you, the county magistrate, wholeheartedly provide relief to the disaster victims and prevent the disaster from worsening, I, as the head of this local official, will do everything in my power to deliver grain to you!"

After saying this, Zhao An prepared to set off to continue north. He inadvertently glanced at a woman in the distance who was holding up her skirt with both hands to catch porridge. The servant serving the porridge did not even look at her and poured the scalding porridge directly into the woman's skirt. The woman did not feel wronged at all, but instead looked grateful.

Zhao An frowned and approached the constable. He didn't scold the constable, but simply asked someone to bring a bowl. He then ladled a full spoonful of porridge into the bowl and handed it to the woman. Only then did he turn to the stunned constable and say, "If it were your own sister or younger sister, would you serve them porridge like this?"

"I"

The constable was both ashamed and afraid, and dared not raise his head.

Seeing this, Magistrate Cui was also filled with shame and hurriedly apologized, saying, "It was my oversight. I will have someone collect more bowls from the city. Rest assured, sir, if this happens again, I will resign!"

"None of your business,"

Zhao An shook his head, looked at the woman holding the porridge bowl, and at the countless disaster victims who didn't even have bowls, and sighed softly: "Everyone says that we officials are like parents, but the people are our parents."

There was no reprimand for Magistrate Cui, nor was the minor official whipped, because saving a life was a great achievement, and oversights in details were inevitable.

After leaving Huaiyuan County, Zhao An's next destination was Suzhou, the northernmost city in Anhui. When he passed through a large town, the locals were also organizing the distribution of porridge. However, the secret agents sent by Zhao An discovered that a minor official had poked a hole in the bottom of the rice bag for the relief porridge, allowing the rice grains to leak into his own pocket. He then distributed the porridge to the disaster victims with watered-down porridge.

Zhao An remained calm and ordered the clerk in charge of distributing porridge to cook twenty more pots. When the iron pots were red-hot, he suddenly asked the clerk, "Do you know what's cooking in these pots?"

"You scoundrel,"

The minor official was so frightened that he dared not answer.

Enraged, Zhao An shoved the minor official into the boiling porridge pot, shouting, "What's being cooked is your audacity to embezzle!"

Further investigation revealed that a local grain merchant surnamed Zheng colluded with this minor official to steal and sell disaster relief rice, and even mixed moldy rice into the relief grain.

When the grain merchant Zheng was brought over, he learned that the minor official who had colluded with him had been scalded to death. Zheng was so frightened that he collapsed on the spot.

"If you want to make a fortune from rice, then I'll make sure you eat rice until you die!"

Still not satisfied, Zhao An ordered Zheng to be buried in the cellar with moldy rice, leaving only Zheng's head exposed, and forced him to chew the moldy rice until he vomited blood and died.

In his memorial to the old master, Zhao Anyi reported these two matters truthfully, and wrote at the end: "Treating a disaster is like treating a carbuncle; one must cut away the rotten flesh so that new flesh can grow."

Upon arriving in Suzhou, Zhao An, as usual, instructed Baili Yunlong and others to secretly investigate the disaster relief situation in Suzhou. However, Baili Yunlong brought back extremely serious news: the disaster victims outside Suzhou were secretly singing a folk tune.

"Folk tunes?"

Zhao An was taken aback. What kind of time is this to have disaster victims singing folk songs?

Ask Baili Yunlong what the disaster victims were singing.

Baili Yunlong hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth: "What they sang was something like, 'Talking about Fengyang, Fengyang is a good place. Since the Tartar soldiers came... since the Tartar soldiers came, nine out of ten years have been barren. First there were Mongolian bandits from the plateau, then the Manchu Tartar gang. Burning, killing, looting, and raping, the Han people have suffered.'"

At this point, Baili Yunlong dared not continue singing, because the folk song sung by the disaster victims clearly expressed their dissatisfaction with the Qing Dynasty and their desire to rebel against it.

Zhao An, however, remained unmoved: "Keep singing."

"what?"

Helpless, Baili Yunlong continued singing: "Ordinary families sell their children, those without children flee famine; they compose a little tune to express their suffering, but the Manchu Tartars won't let them sing it. The Qing soldiers forced them to change the lyrics, wanting to curse their ancestors, which chilled their hearts. The Fengyang Flower Drum spread far and wide, and a wise ruler shed tears."

After the song was finished, Shaojun said with great interest, "Oh, I know, this is Fengyang Flower Drum Opera."

It was Fengyang Flower Drum Opera, but Zhao An had heard a different version.

To be precise, there are three versions of Fengyang Flower Drum Opera: one is the Ming Dynasty version that praises the opera, one is the Qing Dynasty version that smears the opera, and the other is the version of dissatisfaction that Zhao An is hearing now (the White Lotus version).

However, the version of Zhao An's previous life that was most widely circulated was the smear version, because this was the official revised version of the Qing Dynasty, or rather, the version that was encouraged to be circulated, because this version did everything possible to smear Zhu Yuanzhang, which was in line with the needs of the Manchu rule.

The other two versions were banned due to inaccuracies, and very few people know about them.

The fact that even the disaster victims dared to privately sing "The Tartars' Gang, the Wise Ruler's Tears" shows that the problem in Suzhou was very serious, so serious that the flames of rebellion had probably been burning in the hearts of the disaster victims for a long time.

It lights instantly!

It's possible that Zhao An didn't come to a disaster area, but rather to a war zone.

"Sir, the Suzhou government couldn't possibly be unaware of this matter. Should we summon the prefect?"

Baili Yunlong was worried about the young lord's safety and suggested that they not enter Suzhou City first, but go to the nearest Green Standard Army garrison so that they could protect themselves in case of trouble. He also suggested that troops be dispatched to Suzhou as soon as possible to prevent any accidents.

As Zhao An was deep in thought, a Blue-feathered guard from Qingyao's Hound Division rushed over to report that he had seen a group of people huddled together and talking furtively. He sneaked over to listen to what they were saying and overheard them talking about the impending calamity of the Lotus and the restoration of the Ming Dynasty.

"The White Lotus is about to arrive, will the Ming Dynasty be restored? Has the White Lotus Sect finally revealed itself?"

Zhao An looked up at the distant city wall of Suzhou, his gaze deep.

(End of this chapter)