xymnovel Chapter 48: The Test
Chapter 48: The Test
Large, dense snowflakes blanketed the sky and the earth.
There wasn't a breath of wind; the snowflakes fell softly, less romantic and more solemn.
The heavy snow fell for a full day and night, covering the world in a blanket of white.
The snow outside was so deep it reached above an adult's chest.
In this era, such heavy snow is nothing short of a disaster.
Countless houses will collapse under the weight of the heavy snow.
The imperial court was operating at full speed, formulating disaster relief regulations, assigning tasks, and mobilizing resources, keeping itself extremely busy.
In the following days, disaster victims began to appear outside the capital.
Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Emperor Yonglong had dinner with his children.
These past few days, Emperor Yonglong has not had a good rest because of the disaster relief efforts. He is in poor spirits and has developed dark circles under his eyes.
After finishing his meal, he looked at the snow-covered landscape outside and couldn't help but sigh:
"These past few years, our Great Qian has been plagued by disasters! The Northwest is experiencing severe drought, the South is experiencing torrential rain, and now winter has brought snow disasters."
"Who knows how many people will be displaced, how many will freeze or starve to death!"
Upon hearing this, Xia Chengxu said, "We are willing to do our best to help our grandfather."
"My four brothers, why don't we go out of the city ourselves to provide relief to the disaster victims and help Grandfather alleviate some of the burden?"
This was a plan that Xia Chengxu and his group came up with to deal with Xia Chengzong.
In their studies, they could hardly catch up with Xia Chengzong, and they all gave up on competing with him in this regard.
However, they did not give up looking for an opportunity to surpass Xia Chengzong.
When the disaster victims appeared, they felt the time had come.
We acknowledge your academic prowess, but what about your practical skills?
Most people who excel in academics are bookworms, completely ignorant of practical matters.
Moreover, Xia Chengzong was imprisoned for seven years and only just got out this year. How much experience could he possibly have?
If you put him in charge of disaster relief, he will surely mess things up very quickly.
This way, the Emperor can see clearly that he is only good at empty talk.
However, Emperor Yonglong was also intrigued when he heard Xia Chengxu's suggestion.
After a year, he became increasingly satisfied with Xia Chengzong.
However, this grandson is good in every way, but he has experienced too little and has never been in contact with ordinary people, so he has no idea about their hardships.
This is detrimental to his development.
This time, letting these little ones take charge of disaster relief on their own is a good opportunity for them to learn and grow.
Whether they do well or not is not important; what matters is that this experience will allow them to learn a lot.
Thinking of this, Emperor Yonglong said, "Your filial piety makes your grandfather very pleased."
"This time, it can also be considered a test from your Grandfather. The five of you will each set up a separate porridge distribution point."
"Grandpa Emperor will give you all the same resources and manpower. In the end, we'll see who performs the best."
Xia Chengxu and the others were overjoyed to hear Emperor Yonglong's agreement and hurriedly said:
"Your Majesty, please rest assured, your humble servants will certainly live up to your high expectations!"
Emperor Yonglong said, "Very well, then starting tomorrow, each of you five will choose a place."
"Your grandfather will allocate supplies to you from the imperial treasury; this is your training."
"After the disaster relief, everyone wrote a reflection and insight to give to Grandfather."
"Yes, Grandfather."
The group rubbed their hands together, eager to try their skills and ready to make a big splash the next day.
After Xia Chengzong returned to his courtyard and entered his study, Xia Bei handed him a message with both hands.
"Third Master, this is the information we've gathered about the disaster victims. Please take a look."
Xia Chengzong is gradually training Xia Bei, and often sends him to gather various information.
After the snow disaster, Xia Chengzong asked him to find out about the victims.
I didn't expect it to come in handy so quickly.
Xia Chengzong took the note and examined it carefully.
Currently, more than 20,000 disaster victims have gathered outside the capital.
Fearing that the disaster victims would cause chaos if they entered the city, the Jingzhao Prefecture kept them outside the city.
The imperial court then organized relief efforts.
As for the porridge distribution points of Xia Chengzong and his five grandsons, they were all counted as spontaneous disaster relief efforts by the people.
Even the supplies were taken from Emperor Yonglong's own private treasury, and had nothing to do with the overall relief efforts.
Even if they do poorly, or even if they make a mistake, it doesn't matter.
Emperor Yonglong wanted to train them, not make them take the blame.
The officials of the Jingzhao Prefecture set up wooden sheds outside the city to separate the disaster victims and prevent them from gathering together and causing trouble.
If subsequent disaster relief efforts are effective, these victims will be sent back to their hometowns.
However, if disaster relief efforts are affected, they may have to be brought into the city for resettlement.
Winters are so cold; living in wooden sheds, I wonder how many people will freeze to death.
The five princes were each in charge of one of the five shed areas.
They were in charge of small shack areas, each with a thousand disaster victims.
After learning this news, Xia Chengzong began to make plans.
He didn't treat it as just an ordinary test; he felt responsible for these thousand disaster victims.
He lived two lives, though he had no experience in governing a region.
However, amidst the information overload, there is an abundance of experience in providing relief to disaster victims.
Of course, almost all of these experiences come from online articles or short videos.
Most of these are probably just figments of imagination and haven't been tested in practice, but they still have some points of reference.
He sorted through these experiences, selected the most useful ones, and compiled them into a set of rules.
The next morning, he sent Xia Dong out.
After the meal, the group went to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Before Emperor Yonglong, they selected the shed area.
Xia Chengxu was the eldest and was the first to be chosen.
He smiled and said, "Brother Zong is the youngest, so let him choose first."
The others chimed in.
They did this to make Xia Chengzong accept defeat wholeheartedly, leaving him with no excuses.
After some initial hesitation, Xia Chengzong opted for a shantytown area outside the East Gate.
Next, Emperor Yonglong assigned thirty eunuchs to each person.
They were given a slip of paper instructing them to collect silver and supplies from the imperial treasury.
Xia Chengzong saw that the approval slip included one thousand taels of silver, one thousand cotton quilts, and one hundred thousand catties of charcoal.
The emperor's private treasury does not store grain; the silver is used to buy grain for them.
The cotton quilt goes without saying, and the charcoal is used for heating.
As for charcoal, only they have it; other relief points don't.
Historically, disaster relief efforts have almost never included distributing charcoal to victims; it was considered good enough if they were kept from starving.
This was also because Emperor Yonglong was afraid that these little ones would freeze to death among the disaster victims and ruin their image, so he specially added charcoal for them.
One hundred thousand catties of charcoal sounds like a lot, but if divided among a thousand disaster victims, each person would only receive about one hundred catties.
Even with the most frugal approach, a hundred pounds of charcoal won't burn for very long.
After the shed area was divided, the five brothers separated and went their separate ways.
Emperor Yonglong's private treasury was managed by Dai Quan, and they went to Dai Quan with the approval slip to collect the supplies.
Dai Quan dared not delay, first giving each person a thousand taels of silver, and then promising that other supplies would be sent directly by someone.