jdhmnovel Chapter 242 Magistrate Yang's Response Arrangements
Chapter 242 Magistrate Yang's Response Arrangements
"Have someone go to the clinic and bring Yang Qing and his apprentice Wang Hu to the county government office. Bring out as much of the prepared medicine as possible, especially the common medicines for treating colds. Leave the rest for now."
"The county will leave a few people behind for emergency response, and the rest will be sent to patrol the streets."
“Send someone to the Thousand-Household Office in the south of the city and ask them to send a Hundred-Household Office into the city to help maintain order, and also send another Thousand-Household Office to keep an eye on the road construction workers.”
"..."
As Magistrate Yang galloped towards the county government office, he kept issuing orders loudly.
After rushing back to the county government office, Limpy Wu had made arrangements for all the yamen runners, and Magistrate Yang finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
I've already made arrangements for everything I can think of. As for the final outcome, the scale of the earthquake, and whether Ningyang County can withstand it, these are all beyond my control. I can only do my best and leave the rest to fate.
Just as Magistrate Yang was pondering this in the county office, the Qianhu garrison, which was not too far south of the city, also became noisy.
"Deputy Commander Zhang, take the former Hundred-Household Office and head to Ningyang County immediately. You must ensure the safety of Magistrate Yang at all costs. If necessary, you can forcibly take Magistrate Yang out of Ningyang County."
"Deputy Commander Wang, along with the Left and Right Hundred Commanders, will go with the Front Hundred Commander. Once inside the city, maintain order. Anyone who dares to cause trouble will be killed on the spot without exception."
"The garrison commander should take the Hundred Households Office to the road construction site and keep a close watch on the laborers. Anyone who tries to escape or cause trouble should be killed on the spot."
"I will stay here with the remaining five centurions. If there are any special circumstances, send someone by fast horse to report, and I will assign you other personnel."
After a series of orders, Zhao Xiangyu, the head of the Thousand Households, directly instructed Zhang, the deputy head of the Thousand Households, "Remember, you must ensure the safety of Magistrate Yang no matter what. If anything happens to him, all of us will be in trouble."
Deputy Commander Zhang, Deputy Commander Wang, and the pacification officer immediately clasped their hands and replied, "Yes!"
After the three men left with the centurions from the front, left, right, and rear centurions, Zhao Xiangyu addressed the remaining five centurions: "Tell the brothers to stay alert. It's precisely at times like these that we mustn't lose our composure. We'll wait for my instructions, understand?"
……
Just as Magistrate Yang was standing on the open ground in front of the county government office, pondering what other aspects needed to be considered, the ground shook again, though the tremor was much milder than the last one.
"Perhaps Ningyang County was not the epicenter of the earthquake?"
"Or perhaps Ningyang County was the epicenter of the earthquake, but the magnitude of this earthquake was not high?"
Magistrate Yang had never personally experienced an earthquake and did not know how to determine its magnitude and origin. Even the series of orders he had just given in response to the earthquake were merely a rough summary he had made after watching too many movies and TV shows.
However, Magistrate Yang guessed that the earthquake that Ningyang County had experienced this time should not be too serious. After all, the strongest tremor was only enough to make people sway from side to side. On the way back to the county office, there were no signs of houses collapsing or being destroyed. At most, there were one or two cracks on the road. And the tremor just now was indeed just a slight tremor, at most enough to make ripples in the water in a cup.
Then, after relaxing a little, Magistrate Yang began to have wild thoughts.
If Ningyang County is the epicenter of the earthquake... As the saying goes, the people are struggling to make a living, and they have just suffered from the earthquake. Shouldn't I, as the magistrate of Ningyang County, ask Lao Deng for some subsidies for the people under my jurisdiction?
If Ningyang County wasn't the epicenter, then it's fine. Judging from the two tremors I just felt, if the epicenter was far from Ningyang County, then the damage at the epicenter must have been much greater. Ningyang County wouldn't be able to ask Lao Deng for subsidies; it might even have to allocate some supplies to help the prefectures and counties at the epicenter with disaster relief.
Ningyang County has quite a few resources that can be mobilized, such as cattle, horses and mules in the livestock farm, grain in the four reserve warehouses in the city, and some tools such as shovels in the county government warehouse. We will send someone to take inventory of them later.
Magistrate Yang only stopped his wild thoughts after the constables he had sent out returned one by one.
"Reporting to the magistrate, the Confucian Temple has been notified to close for one day."
"Reporting to the magistrate, the guards for the four reserve warehouses in the city have been in place, and a crack has appeared in the wall of the reserve warehouse in the west of the city."
"Reporting to Your Excellency, all workshops in the eastern part of the city have been notified to close for one day!"
"Reporting to the magistrate, all the residents of the villages in the east of the city have been evacuated."
"..."
As one constable after another returned to report to Magistrate Yang, Magistrate Yang gradually gained a comprehensive understanding of the situation in Ningyang County.
The only thing we can't determine is exactly where the epicenter was.
After pondering for a while, Magistrate Yang simply summoned several yamen runners and instructed them: "You shall each make a trip to Yanzhou, Qufu, Wenshang, Feicheng, and Jinan to see if these places have been affected by the disaster, and where the disaster is most severe."
Since we don't know the magnitude of the earthquake or where the epicenter is, judging from the tremors felt in Ningyang County, either the magnitude was not high or it wasn't the epicenter.
Therefore, Magistrate Yang could only use the most rudimentary method: sending people to check in several directions around Ningyang County to see which direction was the most severely affected, which would indicate the direction from which the earthquake originated.
If the tremors felt in these directions are similar to, or even less severe than, those in Ningyang County, then it means that Ningyang County was the epicenter, but the magnitude was not high.
Only after determining one of these two judgment conditions can Magistrate Yang make targeted arrangements.
After thinking it over again, Magistrate Yang turned his attention to Limpy Wu once more and instructed, "Have the women in the steamed bun shop move the pots and steamers to the open space, and find someone to help them build a few earthen stoves so that they can cook some hot soup in the evening."
"Send someone to the breeding farms and livestock ranches to take a look."
“Summon all the students from the Confucian Temple to the county government office and let them help maintain order and appease the people.”
After Limpy Wu left to receive his orders once again, Magistrate Yang turned his attention to Wu Yanhu, Chen Mo, and Lü Peng, who were temporarily serving as county magistrate, registrar, and clerk, respectively.
"I will go and appease the people in the west of the city. The three of you will each go and appease the people in the south, east, and north of the city."
"After the students from the Confucian Temple arrive, have each of the young scholars take two students to the eight communities outside the city to appease the people of each community."
"Remember, put the safety of the people first, and put houses, food, and livestock second. Ningyang County must not be thrown into chaos because of a landslide."