Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 155: Tide of Refugees
In this era, many people had no idea what 200,000 people were. To put it simply, the population of the capital Nanjing was only 510,000, and the second capital Lin'an had only 370,000 people.

The current permanent population in Fuliang County is about 47,000. Adding these more than 200,000, the total number would be almost 250,000.

In fact, 250,000 people already far exceed the capacity of a county. Normally, a county can accommodate 15,000 to 20,000 households and about 50,000 to 70,000 people.

The sudden influx of more than 200,000 people is almost equivalent to increasing the capacity of four or five counties, and these are new populations.

Not only do they have to solve the problem of feeding these people, but they also have to solve the problem of their subsequent resettlement. This is a huge mountain on the head of any county magistrate, a mountain that is enough to make them breathless.

The county magistrates of forty-seven counties came to the Grand Theater under the guidance of Xia Lin, but they were not here to watch the show today, because holding meetings here would be more effective.

Old Guo and Prince Teng were not there. Xia Lin knew where they had gone just by thinking. But it didn't matter after all, their symbolic significance was greater. The main people in charge of the migration of refugees this time were the young prince and the Minister of Revenue Yang Anfu.

The first to speak was the young prince. He looked serious and said to his subordinates, "Everyone present here is the head of a county. The migration of refugees is a serious matter. I hope you can be careful and prudent. Anyone who refuses without reason will be punished according to military law."

After he finished speaking, he glanced around and said, "Lord Yang from the Ministry of Revenue will personally supervise you all this time. Please..."

As he was saying this, he suddenly heard a snoring sound coming from below. The interrupted little prince looked over, and everyone looked in that direction as well. They saw Xia Lin leaning against a seat in the last row, sleeping soundly with his head tilted back.

A kind-hearted county magistrate nearby shook him, and Xia Lin woke up when he touched his face. He sat up straight with a wry smile, and the people around him laughed with a gloating look on their faces.

However, in such a solemn occasion, the young prince did not intend to blame Xia Lin. Instead, he pointed a finger and said, "Go, cover him with a blanket to prevent him from catching a cold."

The county magistrates below burst into laughter, and even the Minister of Revenue Yang couldn't help but shook his head.

Xia Lin quickly waved his hands: "Thank you, Your Majesty. I am really a little sleepy. Sorry."

"No problem." The little prince chuckled, "If you are tired, go back and rest first. Things here will be fine."

I originally thought it was a sarcastic remark, but who would have thought that Xia Lin actually stood up and walked to the last row, pulled over a curtain hanging at the back, spread it on the ground, and fell asleep.

At this moment, the young prince was explaining to others: "County Magistrate Xia has been working hard for the refugees these days and has not slept for two days. You should follow his example and do your best. Now that the 47 counties in Jiangnan Road have worked together, they will definitely be able to overcome the difficulties. Lord Yang, will you say a few words?"

Minister Yang stood up and walked to the front of the stage, saying with a smile: "This time, the court attaches great importance to the diversion of refugees. Your Majesty, the central government, and the officials of various departments are all watching. If there is any deviation, there will be blame. But if you can properly settle them, the court will naturally reward you. The Ministry of Revenue will also decide on tax reductions based on the acceptance of the counties. Now, please report the situation in the counties to me."

Minister Yang was a very humorous man, and the sound of "Bai Li Hou" made the atmosphere on the scene less depressing. Naturally, the county magistrates handed in the relevant information, and he began to look through them in front of the stage.

As he flipped through the book, he said, "Do you know that accommodating refugees is not just about putting them into the county? We also need to consider issues such as public security, plague, and education after the influx of foreigners. It is definitely not something that can be achieved overnight. Please understand, don't be surprised if the county becomes a mess."

The vacancies given by these county magistrates ranged from 300 to 500 to 70 to 80, which added up to no more than 20,000 vacancies, barely a fraction of the more than 200,000.

Minister Yang kept shaking his head. At this moment, the young prince came over and took a look. His brows furrowed when he saw it.

After picking up a few more copies and examining them, his brows furrowed even more. He then raised his head and shouted, "Is this how you guys share the country's worries? You bastards!"

The county magistrates all bowed their heads, and now Minister Yang tugged at the young prince, turned his head and whispered, "Your Highness, please don't blame me. It is indeed difficult for a single county to accommodate non-regular people. Not to mention farmland, even housing is hard to come by. It is already very good to be able to accommodate 500 people."

The young prince put his hands behind his back and sighed, "Let's wait until Xia Daosheng wakes up before we talk."

Minister Yang opened his mouth and wanted to say something but nothing came out. He had just been parachuted in from the border to become a minister not long ago, and he didn't know much about how the court worked. He just knew that Xia Lin was indeed capable, but he didn't know why the Crown Prince was so polite to him.

This cannot be said to be polite, it can even be described as tolerance. He is the crown prince and the future emperor, but now he has to wait here for a county magistrate to wake up before discussing anything.

It was no different when Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang three times at his cottage. It is really shocking to talk about it.

At that time, Minister Yang was thinking in his heart: "Does this boy really have the ability of Kong Ming?" Before he finished thinking, he saw Xia Lin stood up in a daze and staggered to the front: "Sorry..."

He rubbed his temples, yawned, and said, "I'm really tired these past few days. I'm sorry. What do you think about the refugees?"

The young prince pointed at Xia Lin and said, "If you have something to say, just say it."

Xia Lin nodded, walked to Shangshu Yang, picked up the things on the table and began to look at them. Among the people present, except for the young prince, Shangshu Yang and several provincial governors, he was the highest-ranking official, a county magistrate of the fifth rank, so he did not need to be polite to the county magistrates under him.

"You have accommodated more than 20,000 refugees, and there are more than 200,700 people left. What do you think of these people?"

Xia Lin glanced around and saw that some of the county magistrates below had white hair and beards, but they all looked submissive and silent.

"You all know that these 200,000 people are no different from the locusts, and you just let them move around like this?"

At this moment, some people were not convinced. One of the younger county magistrates raised his head several times to speak, but did not open his mouth because of the presence of Minister Yang and the young prince.

"If you have something to say, just say it." The young prince pointed at the man and said, "Speak."

"Since Your Highness has said so, I will speak directly." He stood up and thought for a while, then said, "Your Highness, Lord Yang, I have something that has been on my mind for a long time. What the Fuliang County Magistrate said is indeed true, but as we all know, Fuliang is one of the richest counties in Jiangnan. Our other counties are actively preparing for the refugees, but we haven't seen any action from Fuliang. I wonder how many thousands or tens of thousands of people Lord Xia's Fuliang County can accommodate?"

As soon as his words were spoken, they were immediately recognized by the other county magistrates. After all, they saw Xia Daosheng pretending to be cool, shaking his head and yawning, and now he was even educating them.

This is a joke. No matter how powerful Xia Daosheng is, he is just a fifth-rank county magistrate. He cannot have any interaction with them. Why does he stand above them and teach them a lesson? This is simply nonsense.

Besides, how many people should be allowed to stay depends on the actual situation of each county. Is there anyone who can take in these 200,000 people in one go?
Seeing these people whispering to each other, Xia Lin sneered, and paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, saying, "You are right. Fuliang County has indeed not taken any action. It's not that they are unwilling, but that there is no need. And you gentlemen may have misunderstood what I meant. What I meant is that since these disaster victims cannot be left to move around, you can choose the rest, and I will accept them all."

As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked. Even Minister Yang was stunned. He looked up at Xia Lin and said, "Master Xia, this matter cannot be joked about. If there is a mistake, it will be a big disaster."

Xia Lin turned around and bowed to Minister Yang, saying, "Don't worry, Minister. The refugees will arrive in two or three days. We just need to wait."

The officials below naturally didn't believe it, and they all started whispering to each other. Even the little prince leaned over and whispered, "Are you absolutely sure?"

Xia Lin nodded gently: "My estimate is 300,000 to 500,000. This 200,000 is not enough for my estimate. Don't worry, Your Majesty."

However, his arrogant attitude really made the other county magistrates lose face. They gave him so many cold looks that many people even thought that he was just a young man's competitive streak and were planning to watch a big show with loud drums and gongs.

Xia Lin saw their expressions and only smiled slightly. He just felt that they were ignorant and pitiful, but he didn't know that in the distant future, two hundred thousand people? Two hundred thousand people is just the management level of a large-scale concert tour organizer.

He was a talented person whose main job was diplomacy and sideline job was spy. He had served as an advisor to Middle Eastern princes, a planner for African chiefs, led guerrilla warfare, and also taught black uncles how to grow crops.

Oh, speaking of teaching Uncle Hei how to grow crops, Xia Lin felt that it was the biggest challenge in his life. It was even harder than killing a traitor who was protected by layers of protection when he was in the anti-traitor team. Teaching Uncle Hei was like teaching a gorilla.

"You may think that I, Xia Daosheng, am arrogant, which is normal. But in two days, you will see whether I, Xia Daosheng, am really arrogant or not."

At this moment, Prince Teng and Lao Guo were lying in the hot spring, drinking grape wine comfortably and enjoying the gentle hands kneading their acupoints behind them.

"Oh, it feels so good~" Prince Teng leaned over and asked Xiao Cui who was massaging next to him: "Xiao Cui, has anything happened at the dock recently?"

Lao Guo was stunned for a moment: "No, old man! Your brother is plotting a rebellion, and your brother is dealing with refugees, why are you thinking about your broken dock?"
-
I may be in a bad state these days, please forgive me. After all, my good home was suddenly demolished. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I have been writing for too long and neglected it.

To borrow a line from the movie "Dying to Survive", "There is only one disease in the world, and that is poverty." If you really have money, then there will be no problems.

(End of this chapter)