usatvline Chapter 195 Refugee Planning
Chapter 195 Refugee Planning
After dinner, An Qiao and a few others changed the words on all the notice boards to "Temporarily closed".
Why didn’t An Qiao explain the reason this time?
After all, this is the only major event happening in Kyoto right now, and others will know it if they see it.
Now the refugees in the south are frantically heading north, and the imperial court is extremely busy every day.
Kyoto Prefecture is the most important city in the entire country. If nothing happens, it would be easy to deal with. But if a large number of refugees pour in, resettling them will be a big problem.
But the bigger problem was that they all went north because of the plague. If they were to carry the bad virus with them to Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture would soon fall, not to mention how many cities and mansions they would have to pass through along the way.
The emperor was extremely anxious and mobilized almost all his men.
"How are we going to resettle these refugees? If you don't come up with a solution, we'll almost reach Kyoto Prefecture, and every city is making excuses for us. Many civilians have died along the way. They are all my people, how can I just ignore them?" The emperor was so anxious that his mouth was sore.
The ministers below were unable to utter a word, and Eunuch Wei beside him was scratching his ears and cheeks anxiously.
The emperor hasn't slept well for several days and doesn't feel like eating much. It would be bad if he were to ruin his health.
But now the emperor was in a meeting, and he couldn't remind him to eat something or drink some water. He could only look at the bowl of small hanging pear soup that was gradually cooling down and feel anxious.
Gu Qingyun spoke up, "If the refugees come to Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture must accept them, otherwise the people will lose their confidence and the situation will become irreversible."
"Shaoqing of the Dali Temple, don't be so careless. Who among us doesn't know what you said? But what the emperor asked is how to resettle them? How to resettle them?" Another minister has been working non-stop for days, and his resentment at this moment is greater than that of a ghost.
"Of course, those who can be resettled outside the city will be resettled outside the city, and those who really can't be resettled will be resettled inside the city. We have to find places inside and outside the city for them to stay first. As for whether they should stay in Kyoto Prefecture or return to their hometowns in the future, it all depends on everyone's wishes." Gu Qingyun said again.
In fact, this is just a common method of resettling refugees. All good emperors in every dynasty did this, but they really didn't know where to resettle them.
After all, this is a plague, not an escape from some other disaster.
"What exactly is this epidemic?" The emperor was actually not very clear about it. Since the outbreak of the disease, the emperor has sent several court doctors over.
We learned from the officials and imperial doctors there that this was a plague of moderate severity, extremely contagious, and had a high mortality rate at the beginning, mainly because the doctors in the south rarely saw such a plague.
The south is mostly hot and humid, with eczema and even miasma...but such a highly contagious plague has almost never appeared, and for some reason it appeared in the south.
"Your Majesty, this was sent back from the epidemic area." Xiao Pingzi stepped forward holding the memorial.
The emperor hurriedly opened the scroll. "It was said before that this disease is not incurable, and the mortality rate is not high. The symptoms are similar to smallpox, but it is not as likely to cause a high fever as smallpox."
"That's good, the situation can still be controlled." said a minister in charge of dealing with the epidemic area.
He has dealt with many cases of people being displaced due to natural disasters and man-made tragedies in the past ten years and is well aware of this.
"Then how do we resettle these refugees? In fact, the mortality rate of this disease is not that high, and we can't let them wander around aimlessly." Another minister spoke up.
"We still have to keep them outside the city. Otherwise, we will not be able to resolve this problem if we enter the city. As more and more people are infected, our losses will become greater and greater." The governor of Kyoto spoke.
The minister nodded when he heard this, thinking that what he said made sense.
Apart from other things, most of them have families and children living in the city. If the plague is accidentally allowed to enter Kyoto Prefecture, more people will suffer.
"But is there any place outside the city to accommodate these refugees?" Compared with the city, the area outside the city seemed a bit empty.
"The Dali Temple does have quite a few shops and farms on hand, all of which were confiscated by people who committed crimes in recent years." Gu Qingyun paused and said, "But if there are few people, these things can indeed be placed. If there are many people, we have to send medicine and food, and I'm afraid there won't be enough manpower and material resources."
The emperor also understood what he meant and nodded, saying, "Now that I think of it, I suddenly remember that there are still many such manors and shops in the national treasury. It shouldn't be a problem to temporarily house some of the refugees."
"That's right. If the disease is cured, I don't know where to put them." Gu Qingyun threw this hot potato away.
He has already taken charge of the accommodation, so he cannot be responsible for everything else. Moreover, these farms and shops can still be sold. If refugees were to live there, I don't know how long it would take to suppress them before they could be sold.
"Food and drink are easy to solve, but what about the medicinal materials?"
"How can we solve the problem of food and drink? Cooking a few pots of porridge is not a problem, but how can we deliver it to them? People in our house will be infected with diseases if they go there."
"If you don't even have this spirit of sacrifice, why are you still an official for the people? I think you should just resign from the emperor and go home to retire."
"You have a spirit of sacrifice, so why don't you send it off?"
"Where did I say I wouldn't send you off?"
……
"The chattering is giving me a headache." The emperor finally spoke helplessly.
"As for the food, we have five or six charity organizations on hand, and we can let them take charge. But if they can't handle it, you all can take turns to cook the porridge." The emperor rubbed his brows. The national treasury was empty and they could only live frugally.
"Let the imperial kitchen count the medicinal materials needed. If there are not enough, use the court's money to buy them. Stop arguing and go home." The emperor was really annoyed. He had no sleep or food for the whole day, and was chattering non-stop. When asked if there was any solution, they all acted like turtles and refused to speak.
"Yes." Seeing that the emperor was really upset, everyone dared not to offend him.
Only a few ministers were still frowning. Cooking a few pots of porridge was a small matter, but giving it to the refugees was a big deal. If they didn't eat well, they would blame it on their family. If they ate well, not only would they not get much gratitude, they would even be blamed again.
Different thoughts were written on everyone's face, and they all walked out of the project in silence.
"Young Master, the shop that this young lady runs must be the charity house." Xin Hai himself was not qualified to go to the palace, but because he was an official appointed by the imperial court and had a relationship with Gu Qingyun, he had been accompanying Gu Qingyun in the palace today.