son-in-law

Chapter 536 Chapter [-]
In mid-October, Bianliang City.

The rustling north wind has been blowing, and the sudden drop in temperature is what happened in the past few days.People in the city have thickened their clothes, but in such a big city where millions of people gather, even if the weather drops a little, pedestrians on the streets will not be rare.While shopping, the merchants are still shouting and selling, taking advantage of the fact that they want to get more business before winter completely falls, and the children are running outside the house, looking forward to the first winter snow.

On the left side of the imperial city is the area where high-ranking officials and large families gather. On this side, there are slightly fewer pedestrians on the road.On the relatively remote Wenyuan Street, a peddler with a sugar cake cart called out a few words outside the mansion of the Censor Zhang. He knew that the grandson of the Censor Zhang, Fang Zhi, was three years old, and the old lady in the family was right. It is extremely doting, and once this hawking arouses the minds of children or old people, it will always gain something.

Most of the pedestrians passing by the street were servants and maids of some high-profile families, and the carriages passed quietly.Not long after, there were also a few people on the other side of the road. The woman at the head was tall and beautiful. Although it was winter, her clothes were quite subtle, but she couldn't hide her beautiful figure. The woman next to her was like her sister, chatting with her, and when it was interesting, she jumped a few times.There are four maids in the back, two of them are of poor appearance, but they have sharp eyes and tall stature.A maid held a basket in her arms.

A group of six people stopped at the back door of the Right Prime Minister's Mansion. After knocking on the door, someone came over to welcome them in.

At this time, it was naturally Yunzhu and Jin'er who lived nearby.Since Ning Yi was in the prime minister's mansion for disaster relief during this period, it was often difficult to leave at noon, so they often came over, sometimes bringing lunch, and sometimes some sugar water.It was still in the afternoon. After entering the Xiangfu's mansion, two female bodyguards dressed as maids were left on the periphery. Yunzhu and Jin'er walked in familiarly. Qin Siyuan, who came over, made a confrontation.The old man was dressed in casual clothes and seemed to be thinking about something. When he saw the two of them, he still smiled: "Come on."

"Grandpa Qin."

"Grandpa Qin."

They saluted, Qin Siyuan smiled and said, "What did you bring? Do you have the share of an old man like me?"

Jin'er smiled: "The Tremella and Lotus Seed Soup is still hot, there's a lot."

"Oh, then give me a bowl later, let's go, I'm looking for Liheng too."

Several people walked to the yard where Ning Yi and others were.Although speaking, the disaster relief work also includes a large amount of intelligence data analysis. In addition to Ning Yi, there are several people who help in the yard, but the atmosphere is not as lively as some financial markets in later generations. Occasionally sum up with Ning Yi.After Qin Siyuan came over, Ning Yi also temporarily let go of his work and sat with the old man in the courtyard for a while.Yunzhu and Jin'er packed the Tremella lotus seed soup one by one and sent them to the staff at work. When they were presented to Qin Siyuan and Ning Yi, the two were sitting here and chatting casually, but the topic was not casual.

"...There is a fight in Pingzhou."

"Armed?"

"The troops were launched a few days ago, and the leader of the army is Wanyanja's mother."

"Aguda's younger brother, but this person is average... What about the attitude of the court?"

"I was happy originally, but now that things are in front of me, the saint is a little undecided. Tong Guan is... scared."

"Tell General Guo to cooperate, you have to fight once..."

"That's what I mean. There are few Jurchens, so it's not easy to go south, but north of Yanmen Pass, it must be fought. Unfortunately... I just want to talk about..."

"How about now..."

"Wanyan's mother's people are not as many as Zhang Jue's, so she can only hope that Zhang Jue will win the battle."

"I think... the court may not send troops, but you can ask General Guo to help. Mr. Xiang, why don't you ask General Guo to submit a letter to the court to invite war?"

"That's what I thought too. I've already been studying and going north... How about the price of food?"

"Both sides are floating around 30 taels."

"The weather is down, but not up?"

"The operation is still effective, but for now, it can only be maintained. The biggest hurdle is after the first snow falls. At that time, whether the court can restore the confidence of the people will be able to see clearly."

It is said that it is a food war and an economic war, but what is really fought is the confidence of the people in the government's disaster relief.The big family and gentry said that the price of food will definitely rise, and there was not much food. The people believed it and went to buy food at a high price.The government said that we will provide disaster relief, we will crack down on illegal grain sellers, and we have a steady stream of food coming in.The final result of the disaster relief depends on the people's trust in both sides, and of course, it also depends on their hunger.

The basic principle is like this, but when it comes to the details, it is thousands of times more complicated.The process of suppressing food prices in the north and the south has been going on for a month, and the food price fluctuations in the two places have remained at around 30 taels, which is enough to surprise Qin Yuyuan.But as Ning Yi said, the real decision will be after the first snow falls. At that time, either the court’s disaster relief methods will collapse, or the psychological limit of the big family will collapse. Before that, both sides are constantly Use various means to increase your bargaining chips.

In the south, in the past two weeks, even a grain ship was scuttled, and the murderer has not yet been found.Not long ago, a county magistrate of Qin Siyuan's faction in Huainan caused a backlash due to his honest character and fierce disaster relief measures.A large grain farmer wanted to take advantage of this famine year to expand his strength, and blindly ate a lot of delivered grain.He thought that he would make a steady profit without losing money, and absorb high prices. Who knew that the subsequent fluctuations in food prices were beyond his expectations, and there was a faint trend of decline.

This is also due to Ning Yi's intense suppression measures in the first stage. Although it seems that the total amount of food that can be mobilized is not as good as expected, Ning Yi's investment in the first stage is still very courageous.He is too experienced. This kind of stud-like gambling in the mall, no matter whether he is fat or not, he must first slap his face.On the other hand, the enemy this time also has a ladder-like level. First of all, it will boost the appetite of some big households, increase their psychological burden, make them collapse in advance, and flow out the food as soon as possible to intimidate people at higher levels. It was Ning Yi's plan.

On this level, the small and medium-sized gentry in the countryside were Ning Yi's opponents.Ning Yi controlled the entry of grain. After receiving the order from the Prime Minister, the county magistrate also enthusiastically cooperated with public opinion by administrative means, and began to suppress the price. At the same time, he was also threatening these big households to spit out the grain.He did so well that the big family's psychology collapsed like this. One day, he shouted: "If you don't let me live, I will let you die."

The county magistrate was originally from a poor family. He was an honest and upright official. When he was killed, he was distributing his rations to the hungry people outside, and his family members could only drink porridge every day.

After the murder, the big family secretly asked someone to release the news that the county magistrate was killed by Wang Qing's subordinates who were in chaos nearby, but the arrester quickly found the murderer.At this time, it was the power of Chengguo Princess Mansion who was in charge of the disaster relief in the south. Zhou Pei happened to be nearby, and even told the county magistrate about the disaster relief strategy. The whole family of the big household was arrested, and the people who were involved in the grain harvesting and the immediate family members of the big household were screened out and thrown into prison.Then she and the angry princess Zhou Xuan wrote a letter to Zhou Zhe together.

After this incident, the Prime Minister's mansion immediately issued an order to accept the affairs of the county government with people from the Secret Investigation Department.The rest of the people were stunned, and they dared not stock up under such high pressure, but it caused a hole in the local food price.

In this case, it is said that after the big family was thrown into the prison, Zhou Pei rushed into the prison on the first day, snatched all the meals for the family of the big family, and drank the gruel in the prison on the spot. A bowl, saying "how can such a good porridge be given to animals", "must let them starve to death", "whoever dares to give them porridge, I will kill him".People from the royal family intervened, and even if the family were killed on the spot, no one would dare to speak.I just heard that Zhou Pei vomited in the room the night he ate porridge, and almost fell ill the next day.

Later, the trial announced that the family had been starved for four days. It was not until Kang Xian issued an order that Zhou Pei should stay away from this matter, and at the same time, they were given a meal of porridge a day, barely hanging their lives.But it is conceivable that they will rarely die after that.

Qin Siyuan said this with a low tone, and Ning Yi's expression also seemed indifferent.

"The Magistrate Geng's family has already asked the Secret Investigation Division to help make arrangements... Zhou Pei still asked him to go back, where Wang Qing was in chaos. Although Xin Xingzong and the others have already set off to suppress it, it is not peaceful after all. And... a Even if the price of grain in the county drops a little, it will not benefit the overall situation. You can't take the lives of good people to pay for it, and you have to prevent this kind of thing from happening in other places..."

Although Ning Yi's tone was indifferent, but thinking about these things, he finally felt compassion.Qin Siyuan shook his head: "This is a war, it is inevitable. Hard knives don't cut flesh, soft knives hurt more. Recently, the pressure from below is not small, but if you really want to do things well, you have to show a fighting attitude. Otherwise, once you think about self-protection and compromise once, you will inevitably continue to compromise. I will spread the word about Geng Qianzhi to the world in a newspaper to tell them the evil of these food hoarders, and I must... kill them!"

Ning Yi thought about it and nodded: "It's just that I'm a little indecisive..."

Qin Siyuan laughed: "A gentleman is like a beast. When he sees his life, he can't bear to see his death; when he hears his voice, he can't bear to eat its flesh. Therefore, a gentleman is far from a kitchen. Liheng acts cruelly to himself and others. Only To always have compassion for the people around you is exactly the way of a gentleman."

Ning Yi thought for a moment, then sighed: "A good person should be rewarded. We often say that someone who does good deeds and accumulates virtue will die for others and will not be rewarded. In the end, it often gives people the feeling that good deeds are guaranteed. Those who want evil retribution, if they don't get evil retribution, they often appear to be impure in doing good deeds. This kind of propaganda is not good."

"There is no such thing as Liheng said." Qin Siyuan was slightly surprised, "I have seen some stories and strange novels in the world today, saying that this person is either filial or chaste, and often ends with good things. If you are a woman, you will be able to meet Ruyi Langjun eventually. There are not many people who say that good people get bad rewards."

"Uh..." Ning Yi was stunned for a while, and then he couldn't help laughing, "Haha, I thought it was wrong, don't blame Qin Xiang."

Qin Siyuan also smiled, and then he became solemn: "The soft knife I said, Liheng must guard against it."

Ning Yi nodded: "I know that now, the officials sent from the north and south are mostly under pressure, or lured by money, or forced by power, just to make them turn a blind eye. , In this regard, the Secret Investigation Division has been asked to increase the intensity of the investigation, and the other officials are nothing more than a few lines on the north-south commercial road, which cannot be sloppy."

"Someone has already extended their relationship to Beijing and left my relationship." Qin Siyuan's face was gloomy, "Sooner or later, they will find Liheng's side, and Liheng must make some preparations."

Hearing him talking about this, Ning Yi showed a smile on the corner of his mouth: "This, I'm mentally prepared, Qin Xiang can rest assured."

Qin Siyuan sighed: "I'm not worried about you. As I said just now, Liheng is cruel to himself and others. I just sigh about this world..." After a pause, he laughed, "Oh, right , Dexin and Zhouhai are in the north, and they seem to be doing well.”

Ning Yi nodded: "Brother Cheng is very powerful. With him and Dexin teaming up, those people can't make any waves."

"Well, Zhou Hai's tactics are too ruthless, which is somewhat similar to my early years, but when it comes to doing things, it is indeed comprehensive, but I'm not so worried..."

As the old man said so, he actually had high hopes for Cheng Zhouhai, a disciple with great tactics...

****************
The reason why Qin Siyuan and Ning Yi talked about Chengzhouhai was because Chengzhouhai was originally in charge of military rations in the north. After the disaster relief began, he temporarily took over the affairs of the Secret Investigation Division in the north. After that, he connected with Li Pin. lines, which cooperate with each other.

Then a few days ago, on Hedong Road, the first violent rebound of the big households came from the Guo family in Xiaoyi County.

Since Li Pin went to Guo's house to threaten to release grain, Guo Mingli went to discuss with Zuo Jilan, and Zuo Jilan went to Qi Fanghou from Qi's family. After the two sides combined, two staff members, Wang Zhizhen and Xu Mai, gave Guo Mingli the first plan .

Afterwards, on the second day after Guo Mingli returned home, under the guard of his servants, he went outside and said something tearful to the hungry people: Because the government believed that the Guo family had been giving out porridge, they must have food at home, so they threatened the Guo family. To release more food, he had to make some last resort concessions.At the same time, it was announced that this day would be the last meal of porridge for the Guo family.

He wants to... incite civil unrest, and directly point at the government!

No matter how big Li Pin's official is or what kind of backstage he has behind him, if his first measure after he came to power causes civil unrest, with the influence of the Zuo family and Qi family in the capital, his official... It can't be done anyway.

On this day, perhaps because it was the last day of the porridge, the Guo family cooked very thick porridge, which also gave the hungry people the strength to digest the news.The hungry people were dumbfounded when they heard Guo Mingli's words.

The riots are about to get up.Someone shouted from one side of the crowd: "He lied!"

　Looking back on some ancient books, being a good man and a filial son can become the champion and the emperor's appreciation. Now, the propaganda is often that good deeds will die. This person who does good deeds is so desolate.And due to the generally poor ability of social people to discriminate logically, it finally turned into an atmosphere: if the person did not die or lived a miserable life, then the good things he did would not count, or the person did it for the first time. interests of good deeds.Motivation theory makes all of us generally polite but unreasonable, and makes a society that generally needs goodwill but cannot get goodwill.Just like Chen Guangbiao, if he did a good thing and wanted to show it off, why not?Why can't you be praised for doing good deeds?Society needs kindness, and people who do good do need some motivation to keep doing good. Among them, praise is really the humblest reward.Well, this is a little emotion in boredom.

　
(End of this chapter)