I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 39: I Don't Just Want to Be a County Magistrate

Lu Zhi and Yuan Shu were obviously not mentally prepared for this news.

Famine during spring plowing season?

"What? A famine? It's only April!"

Lu Zhi was surprised and asked, "Didn't Sili and Yuzhou have a bad harvest last year? Could it be that the grain stored in the homes of the common people can't even support the summer grain harvest? What's going on?"

Ma Ran looked depressed.

"We also found it strange at first. We hadn't heard of any harvest failures in Luoyang and Yuzhou last year, but famine has indeed broken out, and on a large scale!"

"The price of food over there has also gone crazy. I heard it has increased several times."

Su Chu also hurriedly said: "Now Hongnong has also been affected. Many people have started to hoard food, and food prices have also begun to soar. If this continues, I estimate that food prices in the three auxiliary areas will also rise!"

"Not good. Once the grain price goes up, people will panic. I'm afraid the three auxiliary areas will also be affected!"

Lu Zhi's face tensed, and he looked at Yuan Shu hurriedly: "Mr. Yuan, if someone in the Three Auxiliary Regions takes the opportunity to hoard food and does not sell it, the price of food will inevitably rise. Once the price of food rises, some people will inevitably be unable to buy food and starve, and famine may occur. What should we do?"

"Don't say if, it will definitely happen!"

Yuan Shu's heart tightened, and he said in a cold voice: "Since ancient times, there has never been a shortage of people who make money from national disasters. Famine is a good opportunity to make money in the eyes of some people. We must respond in advance to prevent the famine from spreading to Maoling County. Lord Lu, we must take action."

Lu Zhi nodded.

"Okay, Yuan Jun, you arrange it."

Yuan Shu pondered for a moment and began to give orders.

"First, we need to count how much food we have. There should be a lot of food left from the food we used to help farmers through the winter. I need an accurate number. Then, we must ensure that this food is best protected."

Lu Zhi nodded immediately.

"I'll make arrangements right away!"

After saying this, Lu Zhi took a step and ran away.

"Mr. Su, Mr. Ma, the two of you go and assist Mr. Lu. You must ensure the safety of the food we have. There must not be any mistakes!"

"Here!"

The two of them responded in unison and ran over with Lu Zhi.

Then, Yuan Shu went to find the other eleven members of the Thirteen Guardians and assigned them tasks.

A group of people went to the self-cultivating peasant villages throughout Maoling County to count the surplus grain, registered them according to the villages, and determined the possible food gap before the summer grain harvest.

Some people went door to door to inform every household of the famine, so that they would be mentally prepared in advance and not panic when the famine came. They also told them that there was still a lot of grain stored in the Farmers' Assistance Association, enough for them to eat until the summer harvest.

It is important to overcome the information gap.

The most important way to fight panic is to prepare everyone before it strikes.

Yuan Shu himself was not idle either.

He first went to find Han Jin and told him about this.

When Han Jin heard this, he panicked.

"Famine? There's famine in Sili and Yuzhou? Then the price of grain will definitely skyrocket! It's bad! If things get out of hand, my small county government won't be able to handle it!"

Yuan Shu almost rolled his eyes to the sky.

When it comes to matters of life and death, you are first concerned about whether your own county government can handle the case?
He is indeed an excellent bureaucrat who only knows how to lie down!

In desperation, Yuan Shu could only warn him clearly.

"That's why we have to act in advance, make this matter public first, and then inform the whole county that we have food and are not afraid of famine! Don't let the county residents rush to buy food out of panic, otherwise chaos will inevitably occur!"

When Han Jin heard this, he nodded repeatedly as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw.

"I understand Master Yuan's instructions."

"There is another very important point, County Magistrate Han, the county government must take action. Once there are unscrupulous merchants hoarding grain and raising the price, we must not tolerate it. We must arrest those who should be arrested and punish those who should be punished. We must not allow the treacherous people to take advantage of the opportunity to raise the price of grain and harm the county residents!"

In response to Yuan Shu's instructions, Han Jin, who was watching at the water conservancy project construction site, nodded quickly, saying that he would do it immediately, and then ran back.

As he was running he realized something was wrong.

I am the county magistrate, right?

Isn't it my job to arrange this kind of thing?

Why do I feel that this kid Yuan Shu is more like a county magistrate than I am?
After thinking about it, Han Jin figured it out.

Do you still care about this at this time?

If you can't do things well, you may even lose your head, so why bother clinging to someone powerful?
People must first live, then they can consider other things!

Driven by a strong desire to improve himself and survive, Han Jin and the insects around him burst out with unprecedented energy and efficiency.

After discussing with Han Jin, Yuan Shu went to the Ma family mansion to find Ma Rong, hoping that Ma Rong could restrain the clan members and never allow them to hoard food or raise food prices.

And if necessary, they must cooperate with him and the county government to provide grain to stabilize grain prices in order to stabilize the situation in Maoling County.

Ma Rong was surprised to learn that there was a famine in Guandong and Hongnong County was also affected. After thinking for a while, he nodded.

"Don't worry about this matter. I will not allow the Arima clan to do such a heartless thing. If there is anyone, I will clean up the mess."

"Thank you for your understanding, teacher!"

Yuan Shu bowed to Ma Rong sincerely and was about to leave.

Seeing his hurried look, Ma Rong asked.

"Shu, what are you going to do next?"

"Write a letter to my father to inquire about the specific situation. If necessary, you can ask my father for help."

Yuan Shu hurriedly said: "In short, if you can stabilize Maoling County by yourself, then do it by yourself. If you can't, then ask for help. You can't just sit there and wait for death, watching the treacherous people hoard food and take the opportunity to make money, causing refugees to starve everywhere. That is absolutely not allowed!
My ability is limited, and I cannot take care of the overall situation, but at least I want to protect Maoling County. If I cannot protect Maoling County, all my efforts to help farmers will be wasted, and I will no longer have to think about the path of serving the public."

Ma Rong listened, nodded slowly, and smiled. "Shu, you are more like the magistrate of Maoling County than Han Jin, or in other words, you are far better than him."

Yuan Shu was stunned for a moment, then he smiled.

"Teacher, I don't just want to be a county magistrate."

After saying that, Yuan Shu turned and ran away.

Looking at his departing back, Ma Rong took a deep breath and his expression became serious.

He called the servant beside him and asked him to call several leading figures of the Ma family to a meeting, so as to give them some warning in advance so that they would not cause any embarrassing incidents.

Let it go, but don’t make the same mistake again in the future.

After Yuan Shu left the Ma family mansion, he quickly found Lu Zhi, Su Chu and Ma Ran. Seeing that they had already started counting the amount of stored grain, he joined them and counted with them the amount of stored grain currently controlled by the agricultural assistance action team.

After this statistics, Yuan Shu discovered that the quantity of this batch of grain was quite large.

The source of this batch of grain was somewhat complicated. Some were donated by Ma's disciples, some were donated by Ma Rong, some were provided by Han Jin, and some were provided by his stepfather Yuan Feng.

Not much was previously consumed to help poor farmers survive the winter.

It is true that there were some very poor self-cultivating peasant families who were starving, but a considerable number of self-cultivating peasant families still had some food rations of their own.

Not having enough to eat doesn't mean there is no food. Yuan Shu only needs to provide them with a portion so that they can maintain food and clothing until the summer harvest, and this year will be over.

Yuan Shu himself also paid attention to saving this part of food. He did not spend it lavishly. He was cautious and only provided it according to the standard of food and clothing.

It turned out to be really useful.

A rough calculation of the remaining grain reserves shows that there are more than 1,000 dan of grain. Based on the calculation that one dan of grain weighs 27 kilograms, there are still nearly 60,000 kilograms of grain reserves.

According to the situation during the busy farming season, a strong laborer needs about two kilograms of food to be full, while the elderly, the weak, women and children can be fed with one kilogram of food. Under extreme circumstances, the food consumption can be appropriately reduced, and this batch of reserves can be consumed for a longer time.

With this batch of grain in hand, Yuan Shu had the confidence to deal with the impact.

At the same time, as long as Ma Rong cooperates and suppresses those ulterior motives within the Ma family, the huge and wealthy Ma family will become his ally.

In addition, although Han Jin is the type of player who would just lie down and do nothing, he is obedient, and the county government should have some surplus grain available for use.

After making this calculation, Yuan Shu felt a little relieved.

Su Chu and Ma Ran were well-informed and acted quickly, so they brought the news of the famine in Guandong in advance.

After a few days, more news spread to Guanzhong on a large scale, and Yuan Shu and others realized that this wave of famine was really severe.

The famine in northeastern Luoyang and northwestern Yuzhou was particularly severe. It broke out in March, and a large number of people have starved to death so far. In some places, as many as four or five out of ten people have starved to death, or one out of every two people. It was a human tragedy.

Comparing this fact with Lu Zhi's previous confusion, the cause of the famine was almost figured out.

Last year, the grain harvest in various parts of Sili and Yuzhou must have been very poor, but local officials deceived their superiors and concealed the news, so that Luoyang did not receive accurate information.

In addition, the temperature dropped sharply during the cold winter last year, people needed more calories to maintain their lives, and food was consumed at a faster rate, making the already insufficient food supply even more unsustainable.

Farmers in some places even cooked and ate the seed grains, which solved the immediate problem but did not allow them to be preserved until the next spring.

After barely making it to March, the farmers' grain stores finally collapsed, and at the critical juncture of spring ploughing, famine broke out.

Battle reports can deceive people, but battle lines cannot. Sili and Yuzhou are located in the heart of the Central Plains. They have always been rich and are very close to Luoyang. However, such a severe famine still occurred. This shows the weakening of the central imperial power and the rise of local forces.

The bureaucracy's habit of reporting good news but not bad news, deceiving superiors and concealing the truth, and exaggerating the facts were also important factors in the famine.

Yuan Shu had reason to believe that when the famine first broke out, the government must have tried every means to cover up the news. If there were not so many starving people that the government could not suppress them, the news of the famine would not have reached Luoyang at all, and the emperor would not have known about it at all.

Now Emperor Huan Liu Zhi knew about it and was furious. He ordered the three dukes and officials of the three dukes' offices to leave Luoyang and go to various places to provide relief to the victims. But it was too late. Those who died of starvation would not be resurrected.

The more news he got, the worse Yuan Shu's face looked. In addition, Su Chu and Ma Ran kept bringing news from Hongnong, and Lu Zhi, the Thirteen Guardians and other members of the Farmers' Assistance Association were also very depressed.

Nowadays, the price of grain in Hongnong County has also begun to soar. It has doubled and is still rising.

The main reason was not natural disasters or attacks by famine victims. The famine victims in Sili and Yuzhou did not migrate to Guanzhong on a large scale. It was mainly because the imperial court transferred a lot of grain from Hongnong for disaster relief.

Yuan Feng, his cheap father, also wrote to Yuan Shu, saying that the court also planned to requisition grain from the three prefectures to provide relief to the victims. If the situation turned bad and the victims rebelled and attacked the government, the court might even have to send troops to suppress them.

Yuan Shu was not surprised at all.

Since ancient times, masters have made two preparations for famine relief: one is to use food, the other is to use knives. On the whole, in the eyes of many masters, using knives to relieve famine is the most effective and can put an end to all problems once and for all.

Who cares that those hungry people just want to have a bite of food in the end?
If these gentlemen had done something humane, or even been a little more humane, the situation wouldn't have gotten to this point.

With Yuan Shu's request, the latest news was always sent from Hongnong as quickly as possible, allowing Yuan Shu and others to know the situation in Guandong.

The three officials' inspections began, more and more people starved to death, the famine became more and more serious, and no matter how much food was put in, it seemed like a bottomless pit.

In the end, it was the Grand Marshal Chen Fan who proposed that the merchants who hoarded goods should be curbed. He personally executed more than a dozen merchants who hoarded goods, opened the warehouses and released grain, and the situation improved.

As a result, Yuan Shu, Lu Zhi and others also realized how much of this so-called famine was a natural disaster and how much was a man-made disaster.

It’s just a pity that so many lives were starved to death in this season full of vitality.

By May, news of the rising grain prices in Chang'an City also came. Grain prices in the Five Tombs rose accordingly, with Pingling and Anling seeing the largest increases, almost doubling.

The news of rising food prices further exacerbated the panic.

People were frightened by the famine and the thought of going hungry. When they heard that food prices were going up, they immediately rushed out to buy food regardless of their lives.

This caused a bank run and a further rise in food prices. Rumors were flying around that millions of starving people were about to enter the country, food prices were about to skyrocket, and food reserves were insufficient in various places.

Local governments were overwhelmed and unable to cope with this, even my stepfather Yuan Feng found it difficult to cope with it.

Because of the large crowds, Chang'an City became the center of all kinds of rumors. As a result, the price of grain in Chang'an City was pushed higher and higher. People were scrambling for food everywhere, and there were incidents of trampling, injuries, and even deaths.

Amidst this huge wave of rising food prices and frantic food rush, only the situation in Maoling County was relatively stable, like a reef as steady as an old dog in the huge waves.

It’s not that the people in Maoling County have such good qualities, are so wise and calm, and are not afraid of rumors.

Instead, Maoling County is guarded by Yuan Shu, a young divine beast.

(End of this chapter)