Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 599 Rescue

Using thick wood, they built fifteen or sixteen simple tarpaulin rescue sheds, and took sawdust from the rabbit farm that was originally intended to keep the rabbits warm.

After spreading a lot of weeds on the tarpaulin on the ground, the last batch of people moved in. Minister Li heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that all the people had temporarily found a place to live.

However, the shelter was temporarily solved, but food was not. The county government could not provide so much rice relief at once.

Therefore, Minister Zhang and Minister Li shamelessly asked the wealthy gentry to help with their food expenses temporarily while they were living in their villas. When the time came, the court would report to them and request compensation.

For those who lived in the dugouts, the county government opened its granary to provide relief and allocated staff to help with cooking. Several restaurants in the town also took care of the food problems of some of the people.

Hualei's restaurant also took on the task of cooking for the 1,000 people living in the tarpaulin tents. In addition, the major families also voluntarily set up tents to provide porridge and help the people.

Zhenzhu also represented the Pingyang Marquis's Mansion and set up a tent for five days to cook porridge for the people in the diwozi. Mrs. Chen Shao, who was on good terms with Hualei, and her cousin from her natal family also sent their maids and servants to join in the porridge distribution.

There are many other porridge stalls doing the same thing. Of course, some of them are sincere and some are just seeking fame. However, no matter what, the small town of Mobei has entered a comprehensive disaster relief activity.

In the kitchen of Baiweilou, pots of hot porridge were continuously simmering, and bowls of warm water were also provided free of charge to the people.

The people, who had not had warm food for several days, were finally calmed down by a bowl of hot porridge and a bowl of warm water.

The crying baby finally fell into a deep sleep after drinking the warm rice soup. After the food was temporarily solved, the quilts, clothes and other warm items that the disaster victims needed most were not solved.

As a last resort, the county government transferred a batch from the warehouse, Pei Jingyang borrowed a batch from the military camp warehouse, and Minister Zhang raised another batch from the local wealthy gentry in Mobei.

After mobilizing officials from the capital to donate a batch, they found that it was still not enough. After running out of tricks, they could only ask everyone to understand each other and share one quilt.

Hua Lei walked around her own warehouse and found that there were still a lot of slightly defective fabrics and cotton left that she had purchased when she passed by the capital of Leyang Prefecture last time.

I immediately asked Qingqiqing to draw a few simple quilts. Since there was no time to make cotton quilts, I just spread them on the fabric, quilted them with needle and thread, and sent them to the temporary oilcloth shed.

Although the oilcloth can block wind, rain and snow, the temperature is still lower than in the dugout, so quilts are more needed here. After nearly a hundred quilts were sent, the family was finally able to get one.

In order to increase the temperature in the tarpaulin tent, a wood stove and a matching clay pot were also used. They were placed in a corner to boil water for the people and keep them warm.

Although one wood stove is not very useful, once there are many wood stoves, the temperature inside the tarpaulin tent will rise significantly, and there will even be warm water to wipe the baby's buttocks or something.

By the time everything was almost settled, it was almost midnight. Hua Lei, supported by Qingqi and Qinghua, returned to her own house.

She climbed onto the kang and fell asleep. She was really exhausted these days. However, Rong Jin, Jiang Yunqi and the others were still searching and rescuing people in the village below and had not returned.

Recently, the snow on the road was too deep, making it difficult for horse-drawn carriages to travel. Many of them pulled the carriages or walked. The reason for pulling the carriages was so that if they rescued the people, they could be sent to the clinic more conveniently.

Those who stayed in the town had already started clearing the snow on the main streets around the county government office, especially the streets leading to the clinic, which had been cleared clean.

However, as they walked and worked in the snow for a long time, many of them suffered from snow blindness, with symptoms such as red and painful eyes, fear of light, tearing, eyelid spasm, and blurred vision.

Rong Jin's eyes also became red and swollen, and his vision was blurred. Hua Lei used clean water to clean his eyes, then covered his eyes with clean black gauze and asked him to close his eyes and rest.

When he went out the next day, he asked Rong Jin to cover his eyes with a thin black gauze to prevent the snow blindness from getting worse. It was not until seven or eight days later that Rong Jin's eyes recovered.

On the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, the weather, which had been gloomy for nearly half a month, finally turned sunny. The sun also showed its big smiling face after a long absence. The temperature began to rise and the snow began to melt slowly.

In order to melt the snow on the streets as quickly as possible and prevent people from slipping and falling, Minister Zhang and Minister Li mobilized all their manpower to clear the snow on the streets so that people could return home safely and rebuild their homes.

The cotton quilts that Hualei sent were distributed to the people on a one-per-household basis. The oilcloth, after protecting more than a thousand people and helping them get through the cold snowy night, was returned to the family's warehouse.

Even the wood chips and weeds on the ground were not wasted. All the flower buds that could be collected were also collected, and Uncle Zhongsheng was asked to put them all in baskets and take them back to the rabbit farm.

By the time the last group of people left the town, it was already the 29th day of the first lunar month. Minister Zhang immediately sent officials from the Ministry of Agriculture to the fields to check on the wheat.

When the officials came back, they finally brought back some good news. The wheat was doing well for now. After a while, when all the snow melted and the weather warmed up, they would apply fertilizer to the wheat in time.

It should be able to restore the nutrition of the damaged wheat. Although the yield will definitely decrease, it won't be too serious. Minister Zhang finally put down his worry.

Although all the people affected by the disaster had returned home, the county government was still dealing with follow-up issues. The most urgent thing was to send the memorial back to the capital.

In addition, we need to count the expenses incurred by the county government during the snowstorm, as well as the difficulties encountered by the people afterwards, and the county government can provide support to the best of its ability.

Therefore, Rong Jin has returned to the county government to work these days. However, as for Hua Lei, Minister Zhang may have taken into consideration that Hua Lei is pregnant and it would be inconvenient for her to work too hard, so he did not arrange any work for her.

On the other hand, Hualei took the initiative to provide fodder, which solved the urgent need of the Ministry of Revenue. Now Minister Zhang is very satisfied with Hualei. He has no objection to Hualei resting at home.

During the snowstorm, Hualei was indeed a little overworked. In addition, the ground was slippery due to melting snow in the past few days, so she stayed at home to rest.

By the way, I'll take a look at the restaurant's expenses during the snowstorm.