No way! Fake! It’s all fake!
How can Jingnan be so birdlike and peaceful? It should be dark and full of corpses!
Unable to accept all of this, Governor Taiping gritted his teeth and coughed, saying in a very put-down manner, “Ahem, in order to coax the ignorant refugees to come to Jingnan, Zhu Pingan has put down such a large sum of money ……”
Wang Mang, Peng Cheng and Zhang Wenbo subconsciously nodded their heads as they too did not believe, or perhaps did not want to believe, the scene in front of them.
Xu Hai and Tan Lun looked at the scene in front of them with serious faces and complex expressions, not responding to Governor Taiping’s words.
Zhang Gu Yi swept a glance at Governor Taiping with slanted eyes, his eyes filled with sarcasm, as if he was looking at a fool.
The group continued along the flat official road of Jingnan amidst the complex emotions of shock and suspicion.
After walking for a mile or so, they saw another crowd gathering in front of a high platform, on the high platform there was a person dressed as a Xu official holding a strange trumpet-like tin and shouting, the sound was quite loud and carried far, Xu Hai and his men could hear clearly from a distance of 20 metres or so, and under the platform there were a number of policemen maintaining order.
“Folks, we Jingnan organisation food for work, simply put, as long as you participate in the construction of our county office project, the county office to pay you, per person per day not less than 20 Wen, are the end of the day; don’t worry, the old and weak women and children can do some washing and cooking light work, the wages are the same; children under ten years old, the sick, and more than sixty years of age!Children under ten, the sick, and the elderly over sixty, even if they don’t do any work, are fed free of charge every day, and if they do any light work that they can do, they can be paid for it again. We provide three meals a day in the project area: breakfast for 1 cent, lunch for 2 cents, and dinner for 1 cent. If you want to have a small meal, that’s fine, but it’s a little more expensive, and you can have meat and vegetables for an extra 2 Wen.”
“We are currently focusing on six major projects, including the East Lake Project, the City Wall Project, the Anti-Japanese Fort Project, the River Dredging Project, the Reclamation Project, and the Rebuilding Homes Project, and the wages are all the same, so all of you folks can choose one of them to participate in. After selecting one, report it to the errand boy below us, and just follow the errand boy to resettle in the corresponding flood shelter area.”
“Of course, all of you who come to my Jingnan to participate in the food-for-work programme must abide by the rules. Firstly, obey the discipline, listen to the command; secondly, no cheating, once found cheating, depending on the circumstances of the deduction of wages, if the offence three times in a row, no matter who, no matter what kind of situation, all expelled, and then not reappointed. Also, to the flood zone, to pay attention to hygiene, daily wash, regular replacement of clothing, fixed point convenience, not to urinate and defecate, you folks can not underestimate the health, we flood zone people, now the flood has not receded, if not pay attention to hygiene, prone to triggering the plague, that’s not a joke.”
……
The Xu official on the high platform held a tin horn and impatiently spoke to the people who fled over.
Work for food! Twenty Wen per day for labour! Abide by the rules and be hygienic ……
To Xu Hai, Tan Lun and the others, all this was very new and thought-provoking, and the reasoning was endless.
Especially when they heard about hygiene to prevent the plague, Xu Hai and Tan Lun couldn’t help but glance at the governor of Taiping County. It was probably because of the neglect of this point that the plague was caused by the resettlement area for the victims built by Taiping County. That said, Tai Ping County’s resettlement area for the victims couldn’t have learnt from Zhu Ping An’s flood avoidance area, could it? It’s just that he didn’t even know how to copy it, and he only learnt the skin of it, not the essence, and as a result, he caused the plague! A project for the people, the result has become a harmful project.
Taiping magistrate was already weak, at this moment was Xu Hai, Tan Lun and other people look, can not help but blush.
“Cough cough, since ancient times it has been the direct distribution of food relief to the people to show the grace of the court, Zhu Pingan even forced the refugees to work, and to charge money for meals, is not it showing the indifference of our dynasty? Isn’t this forcing the people to be centrifuged from my court?!”
After blushing, the governor of Taiping spoke out to attack Zhu Pingan’s policy of providing food in lieu of work. As the originator of the impeachment of Zhu Pingan, he had no choice but to go all the way down the road of “Zhu Hei”.
Xu Hai and others did not answer, even Wang Meng and others did not answer.
In fact, it is not Zhu Pingan’s first creation, “Yanzi Spring and Autumn Annals” will have “Qi famine Yanzi due to the service of the road bed in order to feed the people” record, the Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyong to repair the temple, is also a work to feed. Only Zhu Pingan’s food for work than the ancients, a higher level, both the scale and form of epoch-making pioneering.
The governor of Taiping attacked Zhu Pingan’s implementation of “cash for work” as a sign of the court’s indifference, and that the court was too skewed in the right direction.
Three miles further on, you will see the East Lake project area in full swing. The reason why I know is the East Lake project area, because in the project area erected a tall flagpole, flagpole hanging on a cloth mantle, written on the “East Lake to work in favour of the project area”, covers an area of great, very far away can not see the edge of the rough estimate of at least one or two dozen miles, there are 50,000 or 60,000 people in the inside of the digging soil, soil, earth, soil transport!……Although there are a lot of people, but the engineering area is not at all chaotic, organisation and planning is surprisingly orderly.
The lake slope interval dozens of paces set five carriages, carriages on a box a box of copper money in the sunlight glittering; lake area has a planned kitchen area, there are hundreds of women, children and children are preparing lunch, the smell of rice floats far away; 50,000 to 60,000 people in the copper money and food incentive, one by one, sweating.
A huge artificial lake has begun to take shape, vaguely visible upper and lower two lakes.
Everything was full of hope, everything was so vibrant!
Compared to the other Jingnan areas that were ravaged by the flood and struggling in despair, the contrast was stark, like heaven and hell.
Xu Hai and the others stood at the edge of the East Lake, shocked as they looked at the hot scene inside the East Lake.
“What is Zhu Pingan doing digging such a large lake? He is spending money and abusing the people’s power ……”
Governor Taiping once again opened his mouth to attack Zhu Pingan.
“Well, it makes sense, Zhu Pingan’s move is quite suspicious of spending money and abusing the people’s power.”This time Peng Cheng responded to the governor of Taiping, reluctantly looked at the governor of Taiping, slightly nodded.
Right, this just barely caught the point.
“Old man, may I ask, what are you digging such a big lake for?”
Tan Lun saw an old man passing by carrying a bundle of differences, and couldn’t help but politely stop the old man and ask curiously.
“Hehe, you guys are from out of town, right? You guys ask what this Bamboo Lake is for ah?”The old man was a talkative one, and after being stopped by Tan Lun, he put down the firewood on his back, wiped a handful of sweat with his sleeve, and said smilingly.
“The old man is really wise. Huh, isn’t this called East Lake? How come old abbot called it Bamboo Lake?”Tan Lun arched his hand and returned.
“Hehe, the official name of this lake is East Lake, but we all privately call it Bamboo Pole Lake. The reason why we call him Bamboo Pole Lake is because our big old master Zhi Xian, with his bamboo pole, went over the mountains, went down the river and waded in the water, and stepped on our Jingnan three or five times before he figured out the reason why we have frequent flooding in Jingnan, as if it’s the terrain or something, which the little old man doesn’t understand either. Anyway, it is the county magistrate to figure out the cause of flooding, they chose this place, hand with a bamboo pole as a boundary, circle the boundaries of the East Lake, so we privately known as the Lake of bamboo poles. This lake can ensure that we Jingnan hundred years no longer flood disaster it, when the flood season when the river surges, the flood gates will be opened into the lake, water storage flood; dry period will be the accumulation of lake water back to the river, watering farmland …….You say we know the county grand master is not God! We are all talking about erecting a monument, statue, and shrine to our county magistrate to thankfully commemorate him. However, the Grand Master of the county did not agree, we privately agreed that when the Grand Master of the county is promoted, we will erect a monument, statue, and shrine for the Grand Master of the county, and not only will we be thankful for the memorial, but also our children and grandchildren will remember the Grand Master of the county’s goodness, and recollect the Grand Master of the county’s kindness, and pay homage to the Grand Master of the county year after year.”
The old man’s words were full of respect for Zhu Pingan, in his eyes Zhu Pingan was simply on the same level as a god.
“What? And also erected a monument, statue, and built a shrine for him, Zhu Pingan? Grateful remembrance and yearly worship?!”
When Governor Taiping, Wang Mang, and the others heard this, it was like swallowing a fly.
Is there any mistake? Zhu Pingan colluded with grain merchants, jacked up grain prices, and accepted bribes, shouldn’t he be spat on and cursed by you? Why are you still thankful to commemorate him? Even want to give him a monument, statue, build a shrine! Can’t even refuse?
