Half fairy

Chapter 141 Sweeping the goods
"As far as we know, the imperial court ran out of money. In order to make money for disaster relief, Xuan Guogong sent here to wash blood, ransacked a large amount of money to deal with the disaster, and the imperial court tried everything. The 20 million taels of silver that I managed to squeeze out was miraculous, and it disappeared after a short time. What about the money? It was said to be used up!"

"There are some people who are not afraid of death! The imperial court did not dare to ask Duke Xuan to kill all the people who were involved in it. You see, he was afraid that Duke Xuan would be cruel again, so he transferred him back again."

boom!The prefect scolded angrily, "Is it possible for you to discuss the important affairs of the court?"

The solemn warning only got ridiculed by the four patriarchs. When the matter got to this point, it doesn't matter if you lose face, and you can only speak based on your strength.

"We believe that the imperial court has no money. We also believe that the government in the disaster-stricken area has no money. But there are many rich people, but no one dares to expose them. Why don't you ask them for money, only dare to come to pay In our pockets, we only dare to pick up a few grains in our warehouse, are you trying to force us into ruin?"

The prefect gritted his teeth and said, "In this case, I can only forcefully pry open your granary!"

"We have been in Shangwan Mansion for many years, and we have an account of the ups and downs here. There are many people involved, and we can't let whoever wants to control us."

"The prefect wants to forcibly pry open our warehouse? Yes! Just remind the prefect that there are also some nobles in our business to buy shares. If they don't let go, we dare not open the warehouse to release grain. Your lords can punish us, sir. You can force us to confess those noble people, as long as you dare!"

The rhetorical remarks made by the four major families made the officials present sullen and dare not make a sound.

Zhan Muchun tensed his cheeks and breathed heavily.

Cangbu Yang in front of him said: "Prefect, the outside of the city is full of mud soaked by water. Except for some hills and highlands, the victims have no place to stay. They are prone to diseases. First open the city gate and send people to the city. Let it in!"

Before the prefect replied, the patriarch surnamed Wei sternly said, "No way!"

Director Yang became angry, "You neither open warehouses to release food, nor let the victims enter the city. What's the difference between killing them with your own hands?"

Patriarch Wei: "Master Yang's words are wrong. Have you thought about the consequences of letting the victims into the city? Outside Guangfu City, there are hundreds of thousands of victims gathered from far and near. They are all hungry and crazy. You can do whatever you want to eat, but once you enter the city, who will take care of you?"

Patriarch Xu: "As soon as the disaster victims enter the city, they will immediately grab food. There will be a catastrophe in the city in an instant, and the people in the city will not be able to suppress it. At that time, no matter how many heads you have, Mr. Yang, it may not be enough for the court to chop you off." of!"

Director Yang's face sank, his face was full of gloom and he didn't say a word.

Patriarch Jing: "There are still [-] people in the city. Although they have lived through hardships, they can survive the disaster after the disaster. You have to become a disaster victim! If you fail to rescue the disaster, you will add fuel to the fire and overturn Shangwan City. I’m afraid you won’t even be able to keep the head of the eunuch!”

The prefect said angrily: "According to what you said, if you don't care about the life and death of the victims outside the city, and just watch them die, can I keep my head?"

At such a critical moment, being brought in to take over the prefect's position is simply fatal.

The four patriarchs looked at each other, and Patriarch Chen said slowly: "In the event of disasters and famines, there are actually conventions. As long as you follow the conventions, you can't blame the prefect for anything. Everyone does this. There is no reason for the prefect to be the only one." wrong."

"Yes, there is nothing wrong with doing everything according to the old rules."

Zhan Muchun was puzzled, not knowing the old rules.

The eunuch understood immediately, and said in a deep voice, "The rich will live, and the poor will die, right?"

"Although the words don't sound good, there's nothing you can do about it. Those who have money enter the city and can settle down with money, so they won't think about making trouble. Those who don't have money are indeed less virtuous!"

"In previous years, when there was a similar famine, those with two taels of silver could enter the city, but this year's disaster is unusual. The roads outside the city are muddy, and there is still a lot of water in some areas. It is difficult to transport a large amount of food. It is estimated that at least half a year will have to be carried." After the disaster, the price of goods in the city has soared, and if one person wants to spend half a month in the city without five taels of silver, I’m afraid it won’t work.”

The prefect continued to sneer, clearly wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune for the country.

However, there was nothing he could do in the face of these people. He was not Xuan Guogong, so he could not kill these people directly. If he dared to do that, the consequences would not be borne by him.

As the four patriarchs said, there are people behind them.

What's more, he can't kill these four. If he insists on these four, he may not be able to mobilize the people in the city. The four big families have deep roots in Shangwan Mansion.

After calming down, I still have to try my best to get something real for the victims, "You can follow the instructions of the four patriarchs, but I also ask the four big families to show kindness and donate some food, and cook some gruel for them every day. The hungry people outside the city are waiting to be fed, let them last a little longer, even if they have a chance to live a little longer!"

Patriarch Wei stood up and said, "Your Majesty, you are serious. The lives of the victims are not up to us, and we can't bear this responsibility. But since your Majesty has said so, we have no objection, but we have to ask the people in the city for answers." If not, how about we follow public opinion?"

And don't want the people in the city to pay for money or food. If the people have anything to say, the prefect immediately agrees.

Soon, people in the city were beating gongs and drums to gather the people to solicit public opinion.

When the four major families informed the common people that there was limited food in the city and they might not be able to last until after the disaster, it immediately aroused public outrage.

"no!"

"no!"

"They are all victims of disasters. Why do I have to spend money to buy them? They don't need to spend money?"

Zhan Muchun's face turned pale and he was shocked by the twittering and boiling opposition. He didn't expect that the people in the city would rather the outsiders starve to death than give food that didn't belong to them.

This was something he never dreamed of, and it gave him a great shock, and it was something he couldn't see even after reading thousands of books.

Facing the boiling public sentiment, the eunuch stared coldly at the four patriarchs who had been leisurely, and finally understood that on this ground, as long as the four major families disagreed, he, the eunuch, would never do anything to make……

Yu Qing was dumbfounded!

A bare mountain, like an island in a sea of ​​mud.

There was no green to be seen on this mountain, and it was eaten up by people. Yu Qing squatted on the top of the mountain foolishly, his eyes were dazed, and his body was filthy enough.

Behind him, there was a group of people on another hillside, a group of unhuman people, who were scrambling for food.

Probably still warm.

It was also a few of their human traffickers who killed them after they arrived.

A group of hungry people on the mountain wanted to snatch their dry food, but Tao Yongli and the other three ruthlessly frightened them and let them eat it by themselves.

He could imagine what the bloody scene of robbing and eating raw was like, and he turned his back and didn't want to watch it again, because he had seen it more than once before.

At the beginning, he was quite energetic when he broke into the disaster area. He worked bravely to protect the dry food of the three of them, and he was a good food protector.

After entering the hardest-hit area, I once saw a group of people cooking and eating around a rusty iron pot. The smell of meat was quite delicious. When I went over and saw a small person stirring in the pot , when someone was still chewing, he almost threw up on the spot.

After that, he saw many horror scenes beyond his imagination.

From then on, he was in a daze. A large bag of dry food on his body was accidentally snatched by a group of hungry people.

He did not expect that within a month of the disaster, people would be so hungry.

He thought that for such a long time, even if they walked on two legs, most people should have walked out of the disaster area.

After arriving at the scene, he discovered that human beings are extremely vulnerable in the face of such disasters, which is not what he thought at all.

It was also through this encounter that he truly realized what it means to be a hungry person.

"Haha, it's okay!"

Tao Yongli, who laughed heartily, walked out of a mountain depression with his trouser belt in his hand, and then changed to Ge Dajun.

Nothing else, I found a little lady who couldn't hide her pretty face even though she was in a mess.

Let the little lady wash a piece of cake and obey them obediently.

The young man squatting next to Yu Qing got up, and moved to Tao Yongli eagerly.

Tao Yongli fastened his trouser belt, took out a large pancake from Yi Lifei's guarded bag, and threw it to the young man.

The young man is the husband of the little lady, and it has been agreed that the little lady will give a piece of cake when she is alone.

Yu Qing could tell from the dirty clothes of the husband and wife that they were supposed to be a couple from a good family background, and they were also a scholarly family by listening to their conversation.

The young man wolfed down the pie with his arms in his arms.

Tao Yongli leaned over and patted Yu Qing's shoulder, "Brother, you, you are not used to it. You can understand it when you do this job for the first time. Just get used to it. From now on, we will focus on this mountain, It’s time to start shopping, and you don’t have time to pick things up slowly, you have to have a good eye for discovery, and you need to be able to tell good or bad from the unkempt face at a glance.”

After finishing speaking, he walked to the side of the young man and patted him on the back, "Eat slowly, eat slowly. Brother, I have something to discuss with you. I bought it for your wife. Do you discuss it with her later?"

The young man was silent, nodded, and continued to eat the cake.

Later, Ge Dajun came back with a smile.

Followed by the little lady who looks extraordinary after washing, she is still hungry and thin, and it is conceivable that she has returned to her normal appearance.

"Brother, do you want to try it?" Tao Yongli gave Yu Qing a piece of cake, motioning him to take it to the little lady.

Yu Qing shook her head again and again without making a sound.

The young man finally went to the little lady, and the two met and discussed for a while, and when they came over, they said that the little lady agreed to sell herself.

Tao Yongli's asking price was to feed the couple, take them out of the disaster area, sell the young lady to him, and then give the young man a tael of silver.

The young man expressed that he wanted to go to the nearby Shangwanfu City, and asked for five taels of silver.

　Thanks to "Idleman ol" for the support of [-] coins!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)