The path of the villain is not easy

Chapter 74 Disaster Relief Preparations
Changsun Ji lowered his head and thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "I haven't seen it before, the last time you and I got married, I saw that maid who was around sixteen or seventeen standing behind Xingtai.

"Maybe he brought this back from outside this time." Changsun Ji speculated, and then asked again: "What? Why did Zhenyao ask about her again? But there is something wrong with her."

"That's not true. It's just that when we were talking just now, I saw that her words and demeanor were extraordinary, and she knew a lot about ancient books. So I asked a little more, and found out that she was still a proprietress when she was not in the Xingfu."

"She is very knowledgeable. I have been studying classics and history since I was a child. I don't dare to lie and say that she is compared with the world, but she is also one of the best talented women among the ladies in the capital."

"When I talked with her just now, she opened her mouth to talk about the classics of Zishi. I was a little overwhelmed. I thought it was a lady from some scholarly family who had suffered a disaster and fell here. But I didn't really think that she was just a proprietress. So I was a little surprised."

"Really, then brother Xing is really lucky to find such a talented woman when he goes out for a trip." Changsun Ji said casually.

Feng Wan'er saw that Chang Sun Ji didn't care much about this, so she didn't continue talking, but she sighed a little: "There are so many talents in this world, an ordinary proprietress has such knowledge, but I underestimated the people in this world before."

Changsun Ji didn't answer, he was thinking about what Feng Wan'er said just now.Although he didn't seem to care about it on the surface, but he was vigilant in his heart.

He thought about this woman showing off her knowledge in front of his wife, or showing off.What do you want to express, or what you want to get.

Ever since he heard the nursery rhyme in the morning, he has been in a tense state. He has been alert to those who can directly or indirectly contact him, because if he remembers correctly, something big is about to happen. .

…………

The days passed day by day, and seven days passed in a blink of an eye.The eldest grandson Lianyi did not return to the Marquis Mansion almost all day, because of the rain disaster, the 24 counties in the five prefectures of Yan State suffered heavy losses.

In the past few days, the list of victims counted by the counties has been sent overnight. According to preliminary statistics, 23 people died in the flood in the provinces of Yan State, and the number of victims was as high as 800 million.

Emperor Yan has dispatched three batches of inspection officials to rush to the disaster area to check the number of people.You must know that some officials at this time dare to do anything for money.They don't care if the money is life-saving money for disaster victims.

As long as the fat piece of food relief money flows through their hands, he dares to stretch out his hand. If he is timid, he will get stained with oil and water, and if he is brave, he will dare to hug it and bite two pieces of fat.

In order to get more benefits, these officials tried their best to take advantage of the loopholes, for example, the most commonly used method is to lie.

One death is called hundreds of deaths, and he should add a zero after one hundred disaster victims.Don't talk about the crime of deceiving the emperor, just take the whole city of Yanjing as an example, how many people who can meet the emperor face to face dare to say that they have never deceived the emperor.

Of course, there are those who lie about making money, and there must also be those who lie about making achievements.If there are [-] people who die, they will lie about one death, but if there are [-] disaster victims, he will say that there are only [-] people.

In order to show that they were able to command well in this flood, some even snatched the few life-saving food from the victims and donated it to the imperial court for disaster relief.

As for the life and death of the victims under his command, that is beyond his control.Let them fend for themselves and resign themselves to fate.They feel that those worthless human lives can be exchanged for a higher level of success, which is the fate of these untouchables.

The eldest grandson, Lianyi, was lying on the couch tiredly, while Gao was rubbing his temples for him.As the left prime minister of Yan State, he assisted the emperor in managing the government affairs of Yan State.

The allocation of money and food for disaster relief requires him to control it.Although he is very busy now, the grain has not yet been released.It's just in the preparatory stage now.

Changsun Lianyi closed his eyes, opened his mouth and asked, "How many times has the price of grain in the capital increased?"

"Master Hou, the price of grain in the capital is one price a day. It was fifteen times yesterday, and twenty times today."

"The past few years have been quiet. Over time, the people have accumulated some money. Now they can meet their daily needs. But no matter how much savings they have, they can't compare to the doubled food prices. It is estimated that some people will not be able to eat in a long time. gone."

After waiting for a while, seeing that the elder Sun Lianyi did not speak, Gao scolded again: "These unscrupulous profiteers, how can they make such black-hearted money. They should all be killed."

"Hehe, it's all right. Stop talking, I know what you mean. But now the relief food is absolutely not distributed, and this opening cannot be opened, especially at the main gate in the capital." Changsun Lianyi heard Gao's words, Softly said.

"Why?"

Hearing the inquiry, Changsun Lianyi still did not open his eyes, and still said in that tone: "Do you know how many people have been affected by the disaster reported in various places? 800 million. Even if all the money and granaries in the treasury are used for disaster relief It's not enough."

"If the real number of people affected by the disaster cannot be found out, once the food money is distributed, it will be embezzled by all the officials, big and small. At that time, it will be these people who will suffer from the disaster."

"Then you can't just watch these people starve to death like this?"

"There is no way around it. The disaster situation in the capital is relatively light, and the people can still have something to eat. Now in several coastal states and counties, countless people starve to death every day."

"But if we don't find out the number of people affected by the disaster, we won't release food for a day. Otherwise, the number of people who will starve to death will increase several times, dozens of times."

"Hey, I don't know how many people will be killed by this group of damn moths..." A faint sigh came from the room.

Another day came, at Maoshi, the sun was just born.The eldest grandson Lianyi was already driving to the palace in a carriage, preparing to attend the morning court.

There were not many people on the street at this time.Now that there is a shortage of food, some people don't get up early, so they can save a meal of breakfast and rely on a meal of food to maintain their lives a day.

The carriage drove to the gate of the palace as usual, Changsun Lianyi got off the carriage and walked outside the hall to wait.With the announcement of the eunuch, the morning court is just beginning.

The most important thing to discuss these days is disaster relief, and today is no exception.From the amount of vibrating grain, when it will be distributed, who will be sent, and the quotas of each affected state and county.This is a matter of debate among the court officials, and everyone wants to get more benefits from this matter.

Naturally, it is impossible for all these matters to have results in one early court.Some of these arguments were passed, some were rejected, and some were put on hold.

Afterwards, some trivial matters were dealt with, and it was time for Chen Shi. If the emperor had nothing special to do, it was time to retire at this time.

(End of this chapter)