Chapter Sixteen: Refugees and Engineering

  The whole night till dawn, Yang You tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep, with endless scenes churning in his mind.

  Sometimes Yang You thought of himself stepping on the Ji Wu and looking down at the world, sometimes he dreamed of Li Yuan's tiger wolf teacher **Daxing**, and he couldn't sleep.

  "Your Highness, it's early morning." King Xi bowed and carefully woke up Yang You who was half asleep.

  "Ah, early morning." Yang You's mood today was distinctly different from usual. Under Wang Xi's expectant and slightly surprised gaze, he quickly got up to attend the morning court session.

  "I pay my respects to Your Highness."

  After the usual formalities, Yang You thought he could slack off for a bit and catnap in his own seat.

  In a daze, I feel something strange and the atmosphere of today's imperial court seems different. Today's morning court is also unlike usual days, usually many officials would not submit their memorials ahead of time without arguing with each other until they are clear.

  "Your Highness is safe and sound, I have a memorial to present." A green-robed official stepped forward.

  "I have a humble origin."

  "I have a humble opinion."

  Yang You had been thinking about the scene in his dream last night and only suddenly discovered that there were more county magistrates from various counties of Daxing on the imperial court.

  Normally these people won't attend the morning ceremony, to be able to attend the morning ceremony in Daxing you must stay overnight in Daxing the night before, only then will you have a chance to catch the morning ceremony.

  Actually, long before seeing so many county magistrates come, Yang You had already vaguely guessed their purpose.

  The petition is nothing out of the ordinary, all clichés, each county complaining about the difficulties of their projects. For officials, without a project, there's no achievement to speak of, it's not surprising.

  "Humble minister requests that Your Majesty sympathize with the people within the borders of Wan Nian, as the canals within Wan Nian's borders have been unrepaired for many years and are no longer usable. Humble minister requests that Your Majesty permit their repair." County Magistrate Sun Yuhai stepped forward to say.

  As soon as Sun Yuhai's voice fell, four or five green-robed county magistrates hastened to say that there were many refugees in their jurisdictions and more projects were needed to meet the disaster relief needs.

  In yesterday's announcement of the corvée engineering, the people around Daxing were the most numerous and received the largest amount of work. Priority was given to areas near Daxing, so distant counties had less.

  Then these county magistrates, just like flies smelling blood, came to Daxing City without prior agreement.

  "I understand that everyone wants to bring benefits to the people in their own counties, but at present, Daxing has limited funds and can only do so much."

  Yao Si Lian stood up and stopped the dispute of several county officials, "Just yesterday alone, we spent 1,000 guan. Currently, we only have 20,000 guan in funds, plus the estimated payment for the labor relief, which is about 30,000 guan. In total, it's just 50,000 guan, barely enough to sustain us for 50 days."

  Yao Si Lian put all the current difficulties on the table, frankly saying that as long as each county magistrate can solve their own funding problems, all projects can be launched immediately.

  All the county officials were silent and speechless; if they could get money out, who would come here to ask for it?

  "We are guilty, and we failed to appreciate the difficulties Your Highness has been facing." Sun Yuhai led the way in apologizing.

  "All of you are loyal and loving to the people, all for the welfare of the common people, what crime is there?" Yang You said unconsciously in a righteous tone.

  For now, let's just get rid of them first and talk about it later. As for whether or not we need to add engineering, that's a matter for the future.

  "Your humble servant earnestly requests that Your Majesty graciously approve the addition of this project."

  Yang You had just calmed down the various county magistrates when a voice came over.

  When Yang You heard this sentence, he suddenly felt a surge of anger in his heart. He had already calmed down these county officials, how could someone still be undermining him!

  The county officials had already resigned themselves to their fate, after all, without money, nothing can be done. At this time, a sudden sentence brought them hope again, and they looked at each other in surprise.

  Wei Wensheng stepped forward with a heavy expression, holding a memorial in his hand, and bowed to Yang You.

  "Wei Shi, please speak. I don't know what Master Wei has to teach me." Seeing that it was Wei Wensheng, Yang You relaxed his tone and said.

  "The King's Mansion is kind and generous, issuing orders to open the gates and save the people, saving countless lives. The common people all know of the King's benevolent name." Wei Wensheng said in praise of Yang You.

  At this time, no one interrupted because everyone knew these were empty words and the real words had not been spoken yet.

  "With the spread of news about the relief efforts by the crown prince, a large number of refugees entered the border yesterday. According to statistics from various checkpoints, more than 5,000 refugees entered Daxing territory just yesterday."

  "Five thousand people!"

  "This, how can there be so many refugees in just one day!" Yang You was also stunned, and the number of refugees had increased too quickly in just one day!

  Everyone was shocked by this number. The total number of refugees in Daxing is only around 200,000, and it has increased by a quarter in just one day.

  Each county magistrate was also shocked in his heart. In fact, they had also received news of refugees entering their jurisdictions, but they did not expect that the total number would be as many as five thousand.

  Involuntarily scolding the county magistrate in his heart, so many refugees entered the border, they are not to be blamed, it must be these county magistrates who heard about the great disaster relief and desperately lured the refugees into Daxing.

  After all, for every refugee who settles in Daxing, there will be one fewer refugee within their borders.

  "Yao Shiren read, considering the current situation, how long can the disaster relief budget support?" Yang You had to make those officials understand that there was not much budget here, although he got a treasury that could be called rich and powerful yesterday, but it couldn't be wasted!

  "Your Highness, yesterday's total relief funds amounted to 1,000 guan, and the total relief funds are 500,000 guan. At this rate, in less than half a month, there will be nothing left of the budget." Yao Si-lian quickly stepped out of the crowd, bowed his head and replied.

  "Your Highness, I just received news that there will be even more refugees pouring into Daxing in the next few days. Your benevolence is great for the country, but perhaps not enough for Daxing." Wei Wensheng was anxious and worried, he had not expected things to develop to this point, it had exceeded his expectations.

  "How much more is there?" Yang You asked with a expressionless face.

  "I don't know the specifics, but I'm afraid it will far exceed what Daxing can bear. Wei Wensheng was also uneasy in his heart, this matter had already gotten out of control, and no one had expected it to end up like this!"

  "You are all important officials of the country, can you say something about this situation?" Yang You had a bottom line in his heart since he got the treasury of the Crown Prince's mansion. Of course, if things could be done well without spending his own money, Yang You would definitely not want to spend his own money!

  "Your Highness, with a large number of refugees, it is inevitable that there will be trouble. I request that Your Highness issue an order to seal off the various counties and prohibit the refugees from entering Daxing directly. This way, Daxing can be protected without worry." As Pan Wenlin was Wei Wensheng's most trusted disciple, he naturally understood Wei Wensheng's intentions. He was the one who had initially suggested this plan, but had not anticipated that it would lead to trouble, and now wanted to eliminate the problem.

  "Your Highness, I humbly suggest that we should increase the labor and tax levies. The refugees have already entered, and it is impossible to seal them off; otherwise, it will inevitably lead to a peasant uprising. Only by increasing taxes can we collect more money and avoid disaster."

  As a military man, he naturally thought things were simple and didn't think that the increase in corvée and taxes would provoke the discontent of the residents of Daxing!

  "Your humble servant earnestly requests that Your Majesty issue an order to open the Yongfeng granary, to relieve the victims of the disaster!" As soon as Li Xiaochang, the county magistrate of Huayin County, spoke these words, the court fell silent.

  Yes! Yongfeng Warehouse is the only large grain warehouse in the Guanzhong area. Located in Huayin County, it can be said to be the lifeline of Guanzhong, so when Sun Hua rebelled in Fengyi County, which borders the northeast of Daxing, Yang Guang immediately ordered the construction of Yongfeng Warehouse into a city.

  The Yongfeng granary stored 8 million dan of grain, enough to support the consumption of refugees.