Chapter 222: Releasing Grains
For three consecutive days, Han Ruzi and Yang Feng visited the private school in the alley. Each day they met more people – students from the Imperial University and the College of National Scions, scholars who were not yet appointed in official positions, and officials of various ministries. Though none held high positions, they all understood court politics well and were passionate about helping the common people.
Han Ruzi wanted to clarify one thing: how did the government normally handle disaster relief?
Gradually, the workings of the court became clearer to him: When disasters occurred locally, officials had to quickly gather information and report the severity to relevant ministries and the Chancellor’s office. For minor disasters, local officials could handle them directly, only needing to report their solutions and costs. For moderately severe disasters, local officials couldn’t make decisions alone but had to propose solutions for superiors to approve. For very serious disasters, local officials could only plead guilty and await court orders.
The solutions were always the same – opening granaries, borrowing grain, encouraging farming, controlling merchants, reducing or exempting rent, etc. But they required imperial approval to demonstrate imperial grace and authority.
Since autumn of the previous year, disaster reports had reached the Ministry of Revenue and the Chancellor’s Office. When the palace was still processing memorials normally, localities had done what they could, though it was far from enough. By the time large-scale grain distribution was needed, the palace had stopped issuing edicts.
Han Ruzi found turning this major undertaking into reality extremely difficult.
On the third day, Han Ruzi received initial estimates from Prince Donghai regarding the Tan family’s capabilities. They could directly distribute grain in dozens of counties and coordinate with wealthy merchants in over 300 counties to participate in disaster relief, covering about 60% of the affected areas. However, their capacity was limited to no more than 100,000 people and could only last for one or two months. According to Ministry of Revenue statistics, there were nearly 500,000 refugees nationwide.
That afternoon, Han Ruzi finally met a higher-ranking official – Liu Zeqin, Vice Minister of Revenue. As one of the ministers eligible to select the emperor, meeting the Weary Marquis was a great risk. Upon meeting, he immediately said, “I’m not here to support you, Lord Marquis, I just want to do something for the people.”
“I’m not here seeking support either,” Han Ruzi smiled.