Chapter 559 Well Prepared
A huge army of refugees rushed towards Shuozhou.
In Pingyang County, which is a must-pass road, every household keeps their doors and windows closed, and the road leading to Wudu County is flat and unobstructed.
The attitude of the Pingyang County Magistrate was very clear, and he was eager to send these refugees to Shuozhou as soon as possible.
Such a commotion naturally could not be hidden from the eyes of Yunzhou.
At this moment, in the Shuozhou Governor's Mansion, Cui Sanlun was giving lectures to young officials such as Niu Jinyi.
Gu Nanxi makes use of young students. The advantage is that these students dare to think and act, are full of drive, and are not bound by the bad habits in officialdom.
The downside is that these young students have too little governance experience and tend to act impulsively.
Cui Sanlun's arrival has greatly made up for this shortcoming.
Cui Sanlun was sitting on a chair, with a group of students and officials sitting below him, concentrating attentively.
"Today, we are mainly talking about how to stabilize prices. Among them, food prices are the one that concerns the people the most."
"At the beginning of the Great Zhou Dynasty, in the fourth year of Kaibao, rice was expensive in the market, so the government set a fixed price of seventy coins per dou of rice."
Cui Sanlun cast his gaze towards a student below, who had just proposed to fix the price of rice in Yunzhou and Shuozhou.
"But the price is too low. If grain is shipped to Kyoto at this price, grain merchants will lose money. As a result, no one is shipping rice to Kyoto."
"The city is unwilling to sell the rice it has stored, and the price of rice on the black market is getting higher and higher. If it were you, what would you do?"
The student who proposed a fixed price for rice hung his head in embarrassment.
He originally thought that the decision he proposed was foolproof, but he didn't expect that someone had already tried it before.
This happened so long ago that Niu Jinyi and others had never heard of it.
Although they had learned various documents and historical policies in the academy, they only looked at the big picture and rarely focused on subtle details such as practical operations and grain prices.
Niu Jinyi's eyes sparkled: "Crack down on hoarding, set an example, and hold the relevant officials accountable."
Cui Sanlun waved his fan and said, "At that time, Emperor Taizu of Zhou did the same thing. But until October, the price of rice still did not drop."
Niu Jinyi and his companions looked at each other.
Seeing that they had no other ideas, Cui Sanlun continued, "Later, we organized 100,000 dan of Jianghuai rice to be transported to Kyoto, which eased the crisis. After the canal was built, the annual grain transport volume reached 5 million dan. Kyoto had abundant grain reserves, and grain prices fell sharply."
"By the second year of Emperor Taizong of Zhou's reign, the market price of rice had reached as low as ten coins per dou."
Cui Sanlun raised another question for everyone to think about: "But low grain prices hurt farmers. Farmers work hard for a year, but after deducting taxes and converting them into money, the grain they grow is not even as much as a merchant's profit in a month. This has led to fewer and fewer people being willing to farm. If it were you, how would you solve this problem?"
Niu Jin was thinking hard, but before he could figure out a clue, someone came to report.
"A large number of refugees entered Shuozhou from the direction of Hezhong County."
Cui Sanlun immediately dismissed the get out of class and asked everyone to deal with government affairs.
Shuozhou, from top to bottom, had already made preparations to deal with these refugees.
At the gate of the county town, several iron pots were set up to cook porridge.
The porridge is very thin and can only ensure that people will not starve to death. It is absolutely impossible to eat enough.
Next to the porridge stall, there is a special person in charge of registration.
What were the refugees' original occupations? Were they farmers, blacksmiths, or carpenters?
After a simple test and verification, they are assigned to the relevant factories.
In this way, they can give full play to their strengths and avoid the refugees from the same hometown or even the same family from getting together, which increases the difficulty of governance.
As for those who have no special skills, they will be sent to the mines in Shuozhou, and the other majority will be sent to Yunzhou.
The infrastructure of Yunzhou was severely damaged, and the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun and a large grassland in the middle were all included in the scope of Yunzhou.
The entire Yunzhou urban construction planning has to start from scratch.
Wang Buxi and Pu Chang have been leading people to resurvey the land of Yunzhou.
There are also minerals on the grassland, especially open-pit coal mines.
Therefore, when carrying out urban planning, these minerals must be taken into consideration.
The fifth edition of the Yunzhou city planning map has been approved by Gu Nanxi.
However, since the construction plan was too large, Gu Nanxi decided to adopt a plan of building, developing and planning at the same time.
Such a large number of refugees is enough to supplement the labor force of Yunzhou.
Everything was originally in good order, but after a group of people from the Red Lotus Sect arrived, the disaster relief order was disrupted.
"Sir, those followers of the Red Lotus Cult gather in the Tianlong Temple and send people to snatch the rice porridge every day."
Niu Jin's eyes flashed with anger. These Red Lotus followers really didn't know what was good for them! Where else in the world could be like Shuozhou, willing to take them in?
Niu Jinyi complained to Gu Nanxi: "They didn't dare to cause trouble at the gate of the county government, so they intercepted refugees who were returning from collecting porridge along the way. If you are willing to join them, you only need to provide half of your rations. If you are not willing, not only will your rations be taken away, you will also be beaten up."
Gu Nanxi frowned. Normally, if these refugees were given a chance to survive, it would be difficult for them to unite as one.
"Have you sent anyone to investigate?"
Niu Jinyi became even angrier: "Wudu County has sent people there, and they asked Shuozhou to follow the policy of the Great Zhou Dynasty and exempt monks with certificates of ordination from corvée and taxation. They also want to allow the Red Lotus Sect to preach in Shuozhou."
Gu Nanxi blinked, not quite understanding what this meant: "Certificate of Ordination? Isn't this something only Buddhist monks have?"
Niu Jinyi: "They say that the Red Lotus Sect is a branch of Buddhism, and the Red Lotus Goddess they worship is the biological mother of Jin Chanzi."
It's totally off the mark!
Buddhism knows a lot, but do you have a branch of the Red Lotus Sect? !
Gu Nanxi knew without thinking that this person was either a figure like Huang Chao, or there was someone behind the scenes directing him!
Gu Nanxi was more inclined to the latter, because the Red Lotus Sect's doctrines and organizational structure were extremely crude and could not withstand scrutiny at all.
If it was really Huang Chao, it would be impossible for him to do things so crudely!
…
Inside the Tianlong Temple, the leading monks were drinking porridge and eating meat from the pot.
"Duke Yun is quite kind-hearted. Although the porridge is not thick, there is not a single grain of sand in it."
Another person said in a muffled voice, "Do you want to surrender to Duke Yun? Just give up on this idea. Didn't you see how Duke Yun dealt with these tyrants? If she knew what we did, even skinning us alive would be a light punishment."
"I'm just saying it. What the lord wants us to do is not easy to do. Such a small county town has soldiers patrolling every day. The local people are very convinced of Duke Yun."
The fat monk in the lead narrowed his eyes and said, "All the wealth in Shuozhou is in the warehouse of Duke Yun. As long as we take a little bit and find a place to hide, no one will be able to trouble us!"
As for whether the ordinary believers of the Red Lotus Sect will be liquidated, it all depends on God's will!
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