Zhu Jiayu's decision to return to Suiping was too sudden, but once she made up her mind, no one could persuade her otherwise. Therefore, the Qiu family could only hold a banquet to send her off.
Before leaving, Zhu Jiayu went to see Shu Lan and Gu Heguang one last time. Then, on the morning of July 18th, he took Lü Zheng and the four guards he had brought from Suiping and boarded the carriage to go home.
However, the disaster in Songjiang eventually affected Suiping and Heling. Countless disaster victims were affected along the way. Every time Zhu Jiayu's carriage stopped at a place, disaster victims would crowd forward and ask them for food.
However, Zhu Jiayu had not anticipated this situation when she returned to Suiping. The food they brought with them was also very limited. Looking at the refugees surrounding the car, Zhu Jiayu raised her voice and asked them, "The Emperor has already sent an imperial envoy to escort government silver and food to Songjiang. Why are you still begging and fleeing here?"
One of the refugees said, “Miss, you don’t know this, but although we poor families have been affected by the flood and lost our houses and food, the wealthy families in Songjiang have not been affected. They have full granaries and are taking advantage of this flood to make a fortune off the refugees!”
"Refugee funds?" Zhu Jiayu asked rhetorically.
"They raised the price of grain, selling it to refugees who still had some money at five or even ten times the original price. With the Songjiang River flooding, surrounding towns had to wait for workers to build roads and bridges to bring grain in. By then, the people in the city would have already starved to death. There was no other way. Those with money could only buy grain from the wealthy. Those without money either risked their lives to escape like us, or they would just wait to starve to death in the city." The refugee was already in tears as he spoke.
He thought of the shocking scenes he saw before leaving Songjiang: the city where the people once lived in peace and prosperity was now a scene of devastation.
Zhu Jiayu, however, had much more on her mind.
Since wealthy households dared to take advantage of the chaos to raise grain prices, the local county officials could not have been unaware of this. The only reason they did not stop it was because the officials and merchants colluded, thus tacitly allowing the situation to escalate further.
At this time, the imperial envoys sent to provide disaster relief were clearly a thorn in their side, an obstacle to their profiteering. Furthermore, once the disaster situation stabilized, the first to be punished would be those wealthy officials who had profited from the refugees.
When people are driven to the brink, they often develop extraordinary courage.
Wei Qinglou's trip is unlikely to be peaceful.
However, Songjiang is closer to Heling than Yujing, and Heling is a land of plenty with abundant produce, so the refugees are probably all fleeing to Heling.
When Zhu Jiayu asked, it turned out to be true.
Therefore, Wei Qinglou is currently unaware of the situation in Songjiang, and he is unlikely to encounter any refugees who have escaped from Songjiang. If he goes to Songjiang City without any precautions, he will probably only be devoured alive by greedy and audacious officials and merchants!
Zhu Jiayu took some of the food from the cart and distributed it to the refugees who were asking questions. He looked at them silently, his heart heavy with an unprecedented sense of sorrow.
She thought of the local officials in Suiping and the wise and dignified magistrate's wife, and finally picked up her pen to write a letter, which she had her guards deliver to the magistrate's residence in Suiping City by fast horse.
She did not suggest that Magistrate Chen open the granaries to distribute grain, but instead asked him if he could temporarily build shelters to take in the refugees, and then provide them with work as a form of relief, paying them with grain as wages each day instead of opening the granaries to distribute grain.
She wasn't sure if it would work out, but that was all she could do. She also dared not tell the refugees in front of her what kind of letter she had written, fearing that after their hopes were dashed, they would be met with disappointment.
Fortunately, they had already traveled for a day and were now not far from Suiping. The guards could ride back at full speed in just half a day.
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, the guard finally returned with a letter written by Chen Rusong. In the letter, Chen Rusong wrote that he had found craftsmen overnight to build shelters, and that the work-for-relief method was feasible, so the refugees could be sent to Suiping for resettlement.
Zhu Jiayu got off the carriage and shook the refugee who was still asleep and had answered her questions earlier: "Uncle, among your fellow villagers, are there any who can read?"
She made quite a commotion, and the refugees who had been sleeping against the tree trunk slowly opened their eyes and stared at her blankly.
They had traveled a long way, suffering from hunger and thirst. The pain in their bodies and minds had robbed them of their senses and cognition. They lost the motivation to think and were left with only the most primal human sensation: hunger.
Hunger, like an invisible hand, seized all their spirit and attention.
The refugee woke up groggily, looked at Zhu Jiayu, and slowly replied, "Yes, yes."
Zhu Jiayu explained the situation to him in detail, and then handed him the letter that Chen Rusong had sent: "Uncle, if you don't believe me, you can find a literate fellow villager to verify it. This is all I can do for you."
Those who were standing around understood what she meant and quickly found a literate scholar. After confirming her identity, they all bowed and thanked Zhu Jiayu profusely.
Zhu Jiayu helped them up and said, "We're not far from Suiping, so I won't say more. We still have a long way to go. Let's say goodbye here."
She bid farewell to everyone, got into the carriage, and then instructed the driver to turn around and head to Songjiang City.
She was going to give Wei Qinglou a heads-up.
...
Two days later, on the evening of Wei Qinglou's arrival in Songjiang, the county magistrate and local wealthy families hosted a banquet to welcome him.
The banquet was held on the site of the former county magistrate's residence. However, the original county magistrate's residence had been destroyed by the flood. What was now called the county magistrate's residence was actually just a temporary house made of blue bricks that the county magistrate had hired to build.
"The lodgings are rather simple; I hope Lord Wei will forgive us." The county magistrate with a mustache raised his wine cup and smiled obsequiously at the imperial envoy from the capital. "When the opportunity arises in the future, I will certainly treat Lord Wei to a proper drink, but for now, Songjiang City is in such a state..."
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