Don't make trouble, let's build infrastructure!

After Tong Ran left the old woman's house, she took the carriage directly to the county government office.

In fact, he did not need to come personally to build the honeycomb briquette workshop this time, but the severe winter is approaching, and the little tigers raised by his family are shivering from the cold, let alone many ordinary people who are struggling in poverty.

Last year he increased the grain production in Xiaoguo County, and now most households can have a harvest of [-] to [-] tans a year, and basic necessities of life are not a problem.But there are still many families who lack strong labor force, and their annual harvest is less than [-] tan (the ones in the city are those whose money is not enough to buy [-] tan of grain), which is below the poverty line set by the Dacheng court.

Every winter is the hardest time for these people.

Frost has passed now, and the winter solstice will be less than two months away. He has to get ahead of that and make preparations for the winter under his control. He doesn't want to see people freezing to death on the street again.

As soon as Tong Ran's carriage arrived, Gao Zhuo received the news.Immediately, a yamen servant greeted him and respectfully invited Tong Ran in.

Most of the yamen servants in the yamen now know him, and just now he did not behave well in front of the people outside, but now in the yamen, many people have the courage to watch Tong Ran under various names.

Taking advantage of Gao Zhuo's stumbling block, he didn't behave properly, and the brave one even sent things to Tong Ran directly.

"Master Tong, drink tea."

"Master Tong, eat the fruit."

"Master Tong, this is the dried meat smoked by the back kitchen, give it to the tiger cub."

Tong Ran accepted all the orders, fed hot tea and dried meat to the little tiger, and asked Dongqing to bring it a blanket.

After Tong Ran was promoted to the ground level, his five senses became much more acute. When he was feeding the little tiger, he heard someone talking in a low voice outside the hall.

"The little tiger cub is back too, he's still so small."

"It's cute when it's small, I really want to touch it."

"The claw marks on your face are healed? So don't you remember the beating?"

"What's wrong with the many scars on the man's face?"

"Multiple scars don't matter much, but if you look into it and say you were caught by a tiger cub, are you ashamed?"

Tong Ran laughed, these yamen servants were still thinking about petting the little tiger, but he remembered that no one in the county yamen had ever succeeded.If you are lucky, you will be slapped by the little tiger's tail. If you are unlucky, you will get three claw marks on your face.

Speaking of which, cubs are also picky when catching people, and children and old people generally don't swing their claws.It's like when the old woman touched it just now, although it looked unhappy, it didn't attack at all, but if it was a young man like a government servant, then it would wave its paw without discussing it.

It seems that it is still a little tiger with the spirit of respecting the old and loving the young.

Tong Ran coaxed the little tiger to eat and drink, and then wrapped it in a soft blanket. Finally, it no longer looked pitiful and shivering.

Gao Zhuo also finished dealing with the matter at hand and stepped into the main hall.

Gao Zhuo: "I kept you waiting for a long time."

Tong Ran: "It's nothing, I just happened to take a breath."

Gao Zhuo: "My lord, can you buy kapok?"

It's strange to say this, Gao Zhuo couldn't figure it out.Kapok is used by poor families for the winter. Tong Ran didn’t talk about salary, but said that the money he earned from his business was enough to feed him and keep him warm. He didn’t need kapok at all, so why bother to go out and buy it? ?

"I got it." Tong Ran said, "Grandma Su invited me to her house as a guest."

Gao Zhuo: "It's good if you buy it. What do you want to do, sir? I'll send someone to find the master."

Tong Ran: "Where do I want to use kapok to make things, and I can't use it if I do it."

Gao Zhuo: "Then why did your lord go to Grandma Su's place?"

Tong Ran didn't hold back anymore, and said directly: "I'll go and see what the houses of the poor people look like, and how they live their daily lives, so that I can know how serious the next thing is."

Gao Zhuo looked a little more serious: "What's the matter?"

Tong Randao: "In Xiaoguo County and its subordinate villages, how many poor households have an annual income of less than [-] tan?"

Gao Zhuo has been conscientious since he became the county magistrate. At this moment, he said without hesitation: "Last year, there were 98 households, but this year it has decreased to [-] households. Except for one household where two people died of freezing last year, the rest are due to the overall situation in Xiaoguo County. improvement and out of poverty.”

Tong Ran nodded: "Besides those two, how many people died of freezing last year?"

Speaking of this, Gao Zhuo also paused: "A total of 63 people." Of these 63 people, less than half are children under the age of five.

The severe winter is the saddest every year. Poor people can’t afford charcoal fires, their houses have air leaks, and some are evicted because they owe money. There are all kinds of situations, but the only thing they have in common is their hunger and cold.

When Gao Zhuo was a county lieutenant, he had to take people to collect corpses several times every winter, either freezing to death or starving to death, so when Tong Ran asked about these things, he was particularly touched.

"This year, I want this number to be reduced to zero." Tong Ran said.

"This...how difficult." Gao Zhuo originally wanted to say it was impossible, but in Tong Ran's hands, many impossible things became possible, and he didn't dare to question casually, but this matter is really difficult.

People say that saving the emergency is not the way to save the poor, because poverty is like a bottomless pit, and in many cases there is no way to save it.

Every year, the county government and the wealthy households in the city set up porridge sheds to give out porridge, but there are too many monks and not enough porridge, and some people still die of hunger and cold every year.

Of course, Tong Ran also understood this truth. If he was just an ordinary rich man, it would be kind of him to open a porridge shed to help the poor.But now he is a parent official in a place, and the people in this place are all his people. How can he see the people under his rule struggling with hunger and cold without giving a helping hand?

Of course, there must be a way to help the poor. Simply distributing money and food will not solve the problem.

"We still have two months. The peak of the annual death is after the winter solstice, especially the coldest three-nine-forty-nine. Before that, many things have been settled, and there is still a chance to get through it safely." Tong Ran said.

Gao Zhuo: "Just distributing money and food is not enough. There is not so much food in the county. Where should I start?"

Tong Ran had already thought about it, and said without hesitation: "House. Everyone needs a tile to shelter from the wind and rain. I went to Granny Su's place today. Her house is leaking everywhere. In winter, even if there is a charcoal basin, it will be cold and shivering." , so such houses must be repaired.”

Gao Zhuo was stunned: "Your Excellency is right, I'm going to organize people to repair houses for the poor households in Xiatou village and city."

But Tong Ran stopped him: "The county government must provide people to contribute, but there is no need to rush. You draw up a regulation, and poor households under [-] dan can repair their houses for free, but each household must provide one person. Help in the construction team. These poor households may not have a strong labor force. Women or half-grown children are fine. They can help the team with some chores. Remember to pay for repairs. People who get things for nothing They don't even know how to appreciate it."

After hearing Tong Ran's words, Gao Zhuo felt that it was reasonable: "Your official understands, let's go to draw up the regulations."

After Gao Zhuo left, Tong Ran called Fu Xuan who had been by the side.

Fu Xuan smiled and said, "Does your lord have any good ways to keep warm?"

Tong Ran: "How do you know?"

Fu Xuan said: "My lord said that we need to repair the house, but he didn't say that we would distribute charcoal to make up for it. I just thought that there might be other ways to keep warm. My lord took us to make honeycomb briquettes this morning. Are those things burnable?"

The little tiger drank the tea that Tong Ran handed over, nestled lazily in the blanket, and dozed off on Tong Ran's lap.

Tong Ran put down the teacup: "Then guess what kind of thing it is?"

Fu Xuan frowned: "My lord, you'd better stop being tricky, there is no hint about this at all, where am I going to guess?"

Finally, Tong Ran didn't hold back any more, but took out two blueprints from his bosom.

"These are the drawings of fluted walls and heated kangs I drew. Some homes are suitable for fluted walls and some are suitable for heated kangs. It is best to burn these two with wood, but briquettes are also fine. Just remember to seal them well. If the gas burned by briquettes Accumulation in the house can cause poisoning."

"It would be great if we could use briquettes!" Fu Xuan said.

There are few trees in this generation in Xiaoguo County, so charcoal and firewood have to be transported from outside, which is time-consuming and expensive. It may not be a big deal for wealthy families, but for poor families, even a penny may kill a camel. The last straw.

The raw materials for briquettes are in Heishi Village not far away. Apart from coal ash, they are water and loess, which are much easier to obtain than charcoal. If you can use it, it should be cheaper than using firewood.

Tong Ran gave him the blueprint: "Find a few useful people, go to the county government to find unused houses and try to build them first, and then take people to the county to build them for others after you are proficient. It's still the same rule. People who have more than ten loads have to pay wages, and those who have less than thirty loads must send one person to do the work."

"Understood." Fu Xuan said, happily hugged the blueprint and went to the back.

After explaining the matter, Tong Ran became idle instead.

The briquettes were dried the next day, so he went to the briquettes shop to have a look.Gao Zhuo was already recruiting workers, and it was clearly written in the recruiting form that people from Xiaoguo County were given priority.Tong Ran went to ask him, and he said that it would be better to give the people in the county one more way to make money than the county government to help them over and over again.

Gao Zhuo is not a pioneering person, but as long as he approves of an idea, he will faithfully implement it.It was a good idea, and many people who were off the field after the autumn harvest applied for the job that day.

Another day later, in the afternoon, Fu Xuan came to build the kang.

Tong Ran told him to look back, and there were two houses that had been remodeled by him, one was built with a heated kang, and the other was built with two fire walls.Fu Xuan also concluded: "This fluted wall is suitable for rich families and can be built in the hall. The heated kang is suitable for poor families. In this way, I set the price of building a fluted wall higher and the price of the heated kang lower."

Tong Ran: "Please write a charter for me to read. Don't worry about making money, the county will also provide subsidies."

Fu Xuan: "Alright!"

Fu Xuan was also a quick mover, and the regulations came out very quickly.The price of the heated kang is really set very low, barely enough for workers’ wages, and the county has to subsidize materials and so on, and the fire wall has more than doubled directly, but because it is a welfare project in the county, it must be cheaper than hiring people outside. cheap.

Gao Zhuo's house repair has also started, and his thinking is similar to that of Fu Xuan.The cheap one will ensure that your house will not collapse and not be damaged by the cold winter wind. If you want to renovate it beautifully, the asking price will be high. If there is no schedule, you will not accept it.

The counties for these two projects need the county treasury to subsidize more or less. Because of the road construction in Xiaoguo County, there is not much money left, so Tong Ran asked someone to transport it from Jinhe Supervisor.

After Tong Ran took over, Jin Hejian's ironmaking business gradually shifted from using charcoal to using coke. The cost dropped a lot and the quality of iron was also good. Huang Tai and others introduced many customers after tasting the sweetness from him.Tong Ran did not deliberately lower the price when selling it to the outside world, and basically kept the price similar to other iron ore mines. Only relying on the quality and reputation, the business was booming.

The cost has been reduced, but the price has not. In this way, it is not an exaggeration for Jin Hejian to say that he is making money every day.

Jinhejian is the subordinate yamen of Xiaoguo County, and there is nothing to criticize for transporting money and food to Xiaoguo County, but Ding County, which is also affiliated with Jinhejian, is a bit sour.

Around the beginning of winter, a series of measures implemented by Tong Ran in Xiaoguo County spread to Ding County. The county magistrate of Ding County complained about the injustice, and wrote a long speech overnight denouncing Tong Ran's partiality.After pouring out his blood, he sealed the document and prepared to hand it to Tong Ran the next day.

However, as soon as he opened his eyes the next day, a yamen servant rushed into his house to send a message: "Gu Lan, the deputy inspector of the Jinhe Supervisor, brought workers and money, and has already had tea in the hall of the county yamen."

"Quick, quick, change my clothes!" Dingxian county magistrate almost jumped out of bed.Who said Mr. Tong is biased?This is not sending both people and money!

Before Gu Lan went to Ding County, he had already been to Xiaoguo County. Tong Ran let him observe the work of Gao Zhuo and Fu Xuan's subordinates, and then sent him a few familiar hands.With the experience of Xiaoguo County, after Gu Lan arrived in Ding County, he learned about the situation in the county with the magistrate of Ding County, and then started the project of helping the poor and preventing cold in Ding County.

On the other side, Ke Yang and Sang Le also returned to Jinhe Supervisor with the order of their acquaintances and Tong Ran. They wanted to organize manpower to rebuild the poor residential area in the mining area.

Xiaoxue was not too cold that day, but when it snowed heavily, the temperature dropped sharply.

Granny Su's daughter-in-law brought freshly cooked porridge into the room. She put the porridge on the table and pinched her earlobe with her fingers to cool down.

The county organized an engineering team to repair houses and kangs. At first, they didn't have much hope. Later, when they heard that poor households under [-] dan could join the engineering team to do handymen to compensate, they got excited.

She is in poor health and cannot work every day. Her mother-in-law has bad eyesight and many things are inconvenient.

So the two of them have always taken turns to go. If she goes, she will help cook for the workers. If the mother-in-law goes, she will go to the construction site to help with some light work. Take advantage of the county.

Because there are so many houses to be repaired, there is a unified arrangement in the county.There are old people and children in his family, and he received some special care, and it was repaired when Xiaoxue was young.

The appearance of the house has undergone some changes. The original crooked roof has been straightened, and the air leaks everywhere have been blocked with cement and bricks. The gaps in the roof have also been repaired. The charcoal basin can also give birth to some warmth.

When repairing the kang, the county's engineering team connected the fire outlet of her kang to the stove. Just turn on a small switch, and heat can flow into the house when cooking.

She had just cooked the porridge, and the room was still warm at the moment, Su's daughter-in-law closed the door and called her son to eat.

She did some sewing at home in the afternoon, and Granny Su came back near evening, carrying a basket.

"The briquettes distributed in the county." Granny Su put down the basket and said, "Master Tong issued an order that all families with less than [-] tons of briquettes can receive a basket of briquettes every five days when they can breathe white. "

"This relieved the family's emergency." Su's daughter-in-law lifted the cloth covering the basket, and it turned out that there were briquettes that had recently become popular in the county.I heard that if the briquettes are saved, they can burn all night. This basket is so fast that it can be worth several loads of firewood.The firewood at home is about to run out, which is an urgent need.

"That's right, several other poor households in the village also said Mrs. Tong is good. In addition, the county supplies cheap briquettes rationed in winter, and other families can also buy them." Granny Su said.

With these briquettes, as well as repaired houses and kangs, although their clothes are not warm enough, they will no longer be frozen.

When the cold wave came, Tong Ran also set up a porridge shed to help the poor.Local wealthy households will also do these things. After all, this is a good way to cultivate righteousness through the way of being kind and charitable.

As a result, Xiaoguo County finally had no people who died of freezing on the streets this year, and the situation in Ding County was much better than in previous years, with a sharp drop in the number of people freezing to death.

After the cold wave passed, after the year, he went to court, and the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs made a report. In the court, he counted the amazing achievements of Xiaoguo County in the past two years, especially this winter when no one died of freezing, which can be described as a great achievement.

"Besides ancient times, people will definitely die in winter. Even in the capital, poor households often freeze to death. This year, no one in Xiaoguo County died of freezing, and the number of people dying of freezing in Ding County, which is next door, dropped from more than [-] last year to seven. I couldn't believe it when I heard about it. Later, when people inquired, it turned out that Tong Ran, the inspector of the Jinhe Supervisor, introduced a series of measures before winter to help poor households repair their houses, repair the kangs for heating, and distribute carbon supplements. The number of people who froze to death in Jinhejian in winter this year is far less than that of other prefectures and counties.” Hubu Shangshu said.

As a local official, Tong Ran mentioned it many times in court these days, and Hubu Shangshu's words immediately attracted a lot of attention.

Fu Lin stood straight and did not speak. He sent people to Fu Xuan's place a few days ago, and his people reported to him a series of things Tong Ran did.There is nothing wrong with those things, but there is always a sense of uneasiness in his heart. It is abnormal for Tong Ran to be so provocative. He has a conservative temperament and is naturally wary of people who are out of the norm. Not to mention, His Majesty also attaches great importance to him.

But now Tong Ran is doing things that benefit the country and the people, so he has no further action, just wait and see what happens.

After hearing the words of the Minister of the Household Department, Chu Jun didn't say much, but said: "What do you think?"

Everyone couldn't see what the emperor meant, so they were cautious and dared not speak, and what they said was nothing more than conventional remarks. It was nothing more than Mr. Tong's achievements in politics, and he was a pillar of the country.

Chu Jun was noncommittal.

Finally, Ruan Zheng stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty Tong is very good at governing. It should have been passed on to him to go to Beijing to report on his work and pass on the experience of my colleagues, but in terms of learning experience, on-site inspections are the best choice. I ask Your Majesty to set up a learning center." The regiment, composed of officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry, went to Jinhe Supervisor to study and then went to various places, so that all the locals could learn from it, and ensure that there will be fewer deaths and injuries in the winter after my Dacheng.”

Hearing Ruan Zheng's suggestion, Chu Jun finally made a move.

"What Ruan Aiqing said is very reasonable. You are ordered to select people to form a team now, and to go to Jinhe Supervisor for inspection and study in five days."

The author has something to say: Thank you for the land mine that is Li not Li, and I love you~

I originally said it was nine o'clock, but since I finished writing it early, I will post it earlier~

I will try my best to return to update at [-] noon tomorrow.

Thank you for your support, okay!