Daming: Brother, there is no future for monks, let's rebel

Chapter 472 This Is Robbery

"The lord's methods are brilliant, and this humble minister admires him."

Liu Song stood up, brushed off the cuffs of his official uniform with both hands, and bowed deeply to Zhu Han solemnly.

He is not the kind of flatterer, the reason for this is indeed because he admires Zhu Han's methods.

If Zhu Han just took advantage of the high grain prices to lure those merchants to Datong, Liu Song would certainly think that Zhu Han's methods were brilliant.

However, that was all, it was impossible to salute Zhu Han so solemnly.

As a traditional scholar, Liu Song is still a literati at heart.

No matter what they do, righteousness is the most important thing, and they look down on Zhu Han's practice of talking about benefits and not talking about benefits.

However, what Zhu Han did was not just about profit.

While luring them with profit, they did not forget how to make ordinary people live better.

This comprehensive method has completely transcended Liu Song's previous cognition.

For what Zhu Han did, Liu Song also admired it from the bottom of his heart.

"Master Liu." Zhu Han said with a smile: "Since you have understood the painstaking efforts of this king, then for the next period of time, I will leave the affairs of Yanjing to Lord Liu."

Liu Song was taken aback when he heard the words: "My lord, this is..."

Zhu Han stood up and said with a sassy smile, "This king is the prince of Daming."

"Right now, the people of Datong are in dire straits. Naturally, this king will not sit idly by."

"So, this king is planning to go to Datong and share the joys and sorrows with the people of Datong."

"This Yanjing City, I will leave it to Mr. Liu."

"Although there are many things to do, I believe in your ability, Mr. Liu."

Liu Song looked solemn: "My lord, please don't worry, I will definitely live up to my lord's hope."

Zhu Han nodded slightly, and patiently explained to Liu Song.

"I don't have any other requirements for the official affairs. As long as you act according to the law, Mr. Liu, there will be no problems."

"As for the construction of Yanjing, it's enough to leave it to those businessmen. But Mr. Liu, there is one thing you must remember."

Zhu Han said very seriously: "The construction of Yanjing can certainly be done freely, but you must not trust those businessmen."

"There must be proper supervision, and it must be strictly enforced. In this regard, there must be no slack."

"As long as there are any omissions in the government's supervision, those businessmen will firmly seize these loopholes for their own benefit."

"Master Liu, your integrity, I absolutely believe in it. But other officials..."

What about the other officials, Zhu Han did not directly explain.

However, Liu Song already understood what Zhu Han meant.

In this world, there are only a small number of truly honest and law-abiding officials.

The vast majority of officials can be bought with money, it is nothing more than the amount of money.

And the most indispensable thing for those businessmen is silver.

"I understand." Liu Song replied seriously: "Please rest assured, my lord will never tolerate those who dare to go wrong!"

Wu Zhen, the prefect of Datong, can be said to be living like a year recently.

Although at the beginning of this year, there were signs of severe drought, Wu Zhen had already made preparations.

But he never thought that the drought this time would be so severe.

Almost three-quarters of Datong Prefecture has no crops, and there are victims everywhere.

Since the outbreak of the drought, Guancang has almost completely bottomed out.

Every day, he would send a memorial to the court requesting disaster relief.

But Wu Zhen himself knew that this kind of memorial was nothing more than a comfort in his heart.

It is not to say that the imperial court will not spare no efforts in disaster relief.

It's just that it will take a few days for this memorial to arrive at Yingtian Mansion.

Then Yingtian will mobilize the grain and transport it to Datong Mansion, which will take a long time.

If it's normal, it's not too important.

But now in the whole of Datong, I don't know how many mouths are waiting to eat.

Every day it drags on, I don't know how many people will starve to death.

Wu Zhen actually doesn't expect the imperial court to provide timely relief.

What he hopes is that His Royal Highness Zhu Han, the king of England who presided over the construction of the new capital in Yanjing recently, can show mercy and help them reunify.

After all, everyone knows that in order to build a new capital, the imperial court allocated funds to Yanjing quite generously.

Mainly Zhu Hanken, food is definitely not a problem.

It's just that Wu Zhen didn't know whether King Zhu Han would lend a helping hand.

After all, the money in his hands was used to build the capital, and if the construction of Yanjing was delayed, that would be Zhu Han's problem.

But the disaster in Datong has nothing to do with Zhu Han.

In just a few dozen days, Wu Zhen lost a lot of weight.

If you are not very familiar with people, I am afraid that you will not recognize this magistrate.

"How long can the food in the official warehouse last?" Wu Zhen asked in a deep voice.

Wu Zhen's master also looked much older at this time: "Master Huifu, if the number of victims does not continue to increase, it can last for about twelve days."

Knowing that my master is a euphemism.

Now the number of victims outside the city is increasing day by day.

And it can be expected that the number of disaster victims will continue to increase in the next two weeks.

Ordinary people don't have much knowledge. After this kind of famine, they will subconsciously run to the surrounding big cities...

This has caused, on the contrary, more and more food shortages in cities.

If the growth of victims of disasters is also counted together.

Wu Zhen secretly calculated.

The food in the official storehouse may only last for another six days at most.

Just like this, it is still the case that the common people drink the gruel that is so thin that a few grains of rice can hardly be seen every day.

"Have all the gentry from Datong come?" Wu Zhen asked in a deep voice.

The master forced a smile: "Master Fu, those gentry are very unlucky, either they have something to do or they are sick."

"These moths." Wu Zhen couldn't help cursing, "Are they willing to stir up civil uprisings?"

"Do they think that once there are rioters, they can protect themselves wisely?"

When the drought broke out, Wu Zhen invited these local gentry.

As for the purpose of inviting them.

One is to ask him to donate money and food so that he can survive the famine.

As for another reason, of course, it is hoped that they can control food prices during the famine years so that the people can live a better life.

And those gentry did not disappoint Wu Zhen.

All these big local landlords in Datong, all of them added up, donated no more than a thousand taels, and the food was only [-] shi.

It sounds like a lot, but now outside the Fucheng, there are almost more than 5000 people just waiting to eat.

These silver and food are simply a drop in the bucket.

As for controlling food prices...

Each of these people patted their chests on the surface and agreed happily.

On the surface, the price does not seem to be very high.

But the problem is that all the grain shops in Datong add up to not sell much grain.

The common people had to go to the grain shop to line up before dawn, but they couldn't buy grain at all at night.

Unlike the grain shop, the grain trade on the black market is in full swing.

According to Wu Zhen's knowledge, the price of one stone of grain on the black market has reached three taels of silver.

Although his teeth were itching with hatred, Wu Zhen didn't dare to do anything to the black market at all.

With this black market, ordinary people can still buy some food for survival.

But if it is really ruthless, the black market will be banned directly.

The people affected by the disaster couldn't even buy food.

Just when Wu Zhen was so anxious that he felt the urge to hang himself.

Suddenly received a message from Yanjing.

This is a letter written by King Zhu Han himself.

"Hurry up and bring it here for me to read!" Wu Zhen was ecstatic, grabbed the letter and read it.

At this time, as long as there is news from the King of England, it must be good news.

Otherwise, King Ying Zhu Han just ignores him.

At that time, you can shirk that he doesn't know anything.

Since he replied to the letter specifically, he must have expressed something.For the current Datong, whether it is food or silver, as long as it is available, it is better than nothing.

Just now when he opened Zhu Han's letter and saw that the food was already on his way to Datong, Wu Zhen burst into laughter from ear to ear.

But soon, Wu Zhen's smile froze on his face.

The master next to him has never seen his own mansion so full of joy and anger.

I am also curious about the contents of the letter.

It wasn't until Wu Zhen finished reading the letter that the master asked cautiously: "Fu Zun, what does His Highness the King of England mean? Why does Fu Zun look like..."

Wu Zhen's complexion was as dark as the bottom of a pot, and he directly handed the letter to his master.

The master was curious for a long time, so he quickly took the letter and read it.

At the beginning, his performance was similar to that of Wu Zhen, and he was also full of joy: "It's great, the food is already on the way."

"Besides, the prince actually used the train to deliver a batch of grain first. Now we can finally breathe a sigh of relief."

Although the railway is still under construction, it cannot reach Datong directly.

However, officials at Wu Zhen's level have already personally experienced the power of trains.

This kind of monster can be called terrifying when it transports supplies.

Even if less than a quarter of the railway from Yanjing to Datong has been built, it can greatly reduce the burden of transporting food.

Wu Zhen still had a cold face: "Don't be too happy, keep reading."

The master understands that the most important part of making his family's respectable face so ugly should be the later content.

Be patient and continue to look down.

But after only reading a few words, the master couldn't help exclaiming: "Is King Ying crazy?"

After saying a word, the master realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly covered his mouth.

This is the all-pervasive Jinyiwei under the command of His Royal Highness the King.

Once my words are known to His Royal Highness...

He is only a master, so he probably doesn't know how he died.

Even Wu Zhen, the magistrate, couldn't protect him.

Fortunately, there are only him and Wu Zhen in this room.

What he said in a momentary gaffe just now should not be known by others.

"Fu Zun... this..." The master held up the letter and was at a loss for a while.

Zhu Han even defined the price of grain in Datong Mansion as a minimum of four taels of silver per stone.

Now the price of grain on the black market in Datong Prefecture is only three taels of silver.

What is King Zhu Han doing here?
Could it be that they want to take advantage of the chaos and force the people of Datong to rebel?
The more I thought about it, the more the master thought it was possible.

From ancient times to the present, whenever there is a large-scale natural disaster, it is often the time when some people want to take the opportunity to do something.

Oh my goodness, they must have been involved in some terrible incident.

The two have worked together for many years, and Wu Zhen knew what his master was thinking just by looking at his master's expression.

He hurriedly stopped and said: "Don't think about it, the things you think about are absolutely impossible to happen."

Once some thoughts pop up, it is not easy to suppress them.

But Wu Zhen's master also knew how powerful it was.

No matter what you think in your heart, it will never show on the surface.

"My lord, what does His Royal Highness mean by this? At this time, instead of thinking about how to stabilize food prices, they used the power of the imperial court to actively help those profiteers raise food prices."

"As soon as this price comes out, you will be infamous for the ages, Mr. Fu."

Wu Zhen felt that he must have a headache.

Why is it so difficult for him to be the magistrate?

Not to mention the once-in-a-thousand-year drought during his term of office, but there is still a guy with a problematic head like King Zhu Han, who is messing with wind and rain.

After being depressed for a long time, Wu Zhen waved his hand weakly.

"His Royal Highness stated in the letter that he has asked His Majesty to directly set the price of grain, and the imperial decree will arrive soon..." After a pause, Wu Zhen said with difficulty: "Let's make an announcement."

"Fu Zun..." The master still wanted to persuade.

Wu Zhen said in a deep voice, "Go."

After all, he is not an official like Liu Song, and dare not directly offend His Royal Highness today.

Sure enough, just as Wu Zhen thought, the whole Datong erupted as soon as the notice to define the price of grain came out.

Ordinary people were outraged.

"Does the imperial court intend to give us little people a way out?"

"Four taels of silver and one stone of grain, this is simply a bandit."

"Hehe, the robbers will leave a way for people to survive. The imperial court is trying to force us to death."

"Let's go to the government office, the government official must give us an explanation!"

"If everyone goes together, I don't believe that the imperial court will just watch us starve to death."

Compared with ordinary people who are excited.

The gentry and grain merchants in Datong Prefecture were all shocked and couldn't believe their ears.

"What? The minimum is four taels? Is the court crazy?"

"Could it be that the news is wrong, it's four taels of silver instead of four taels of silver?"

No wonder the gentry and grain merchants didn't believe it.

According to past experience, the imperial court must have tried their best to lower the price of grain at this time.

How could it be possible not only to not control the price of food, but to take the initiative to help people like them raise the price of food?

The price on the black market is only three taels now, and they still sell it secretly.

Now as soon as this announcement comes out, they can directly sell it at a sky-high price in their own grain store.

After many inquiries, when the gentry confirmed with the grain merchants, the price was real and effective.

And not long after, even after the imperial decree was issued, their eyes were all red.

This is an opportunity authorized by the imperial court to openly steal money!

(End of this chapter)