Chapter 122 You can’t just raid everyone right away

It hasn't been long since he became the Grand Tutor!

The person who was originally standing in front of him and saluting him has now completely turned around and he is the one saluting him.

Cheng Zhizhi came back to his senses and asked hurriedly, "Sir?"

Shen Shilang said calmly: "Wei Zhaoxian has a very high reputation in Chong'an. The people of Chong'an saw that my behavior was a bit extreme, which was expected. He was so hungry, who would expect him to assassinate me?"

Shen Shilang ordered: "Let him go."

"Yes." The soldier released the man. "Sir, please be merciful. I will let you go this time. If you do it again, you will be severely punished!"

The man looked at Shen Shilang hatefully, and did not feel the slightest gratitude towards Shen Shilang for his forgiveness.

"Your Highness, sir, you have been exhausted from the journey. Please go into the hall and rest first." Cheng Zhidao said.

Shen Shilang brought the fifth prince into the inn and said to Cheng Zhidao, "The matter of disaster relief cannot be delayed. I will not rest."

“I won’t rest either. The people outside are not getting enough food, and I can’t feel at ease either.” The fifth prince followed.

"Prefect Cheng, please tell us about what happened recently." Shen Shilang said.

"Yes." Cheng knew that he and Shen Shilang had adapted to the change of their identities relatively quickly, so he told Shen Shilang about the recent disaster.

"These are the same as what is written in the memorial." Shen Shilang said, "But a lot of time has passed since the memorial was handed over to His Majesty and then to us. It is impossible that they have not changed at all."

"It has changed, but for the worse." Cheng Zhidao said, "Chong'an is the largest and richest place in the northwest. Many disaster victims are coming to Chong'an. But Chong'an really doesn't have the capacity to accommodate more disaster victims. And a large number of refugees coming in will also cause chaos in Chong'an."

"Therefore, I can only guard the city gates and refuse to let the victims in. But we have also set up resettlement sites outside the city so that the victims can stay outside the city." Cheng Zhidao sighed and said, "The farmers in the villages outside Chong'an City have no harvest and can only come to the city to beg and line up at the porridge stalls to get some porridge to fill their stomachs."

"Those farmers were the first to come. At that time, Chong'an was still able to accommodate nearby farmers, so I did not stop them from coming in at first. Later, when disaster victims from other places came, I had to turn away the later victims from the city."

"This time we brought disaster relief grain issued by the court, but the grain is limited and can only last for a period of time." Shen Shilang said in a deep voice, "Besides, the mountains are high and the roads are long, and we can't always count on the court to keep sending food here."

"Yes." said Prefect Cheng.

"What is the current situation of grain stores in various places?" Shen Shilang asked again.

Cheng Zhidao didn't expect Shen Shilang to ask such a sharp question right from the start.

Whenever there are natural disasters, merchants will hoard goods and sell them at high prices.

I think Shen Shilang had already expected this.

Cheng Zhidao said, "At the beginning of the drought, before it became a disaster, some merchants had already started hoarding large amounts of food. They collected a large amount of food from farmers and stored it instead of selling it outside. Now that the disaster has occurred, they have started to raise the price. The price changes every day, and it keeps rising every day."

"Even if the local government intervened, it would be useless." Cheng Zhidao said, "Rich families gritted their teeth and bought it, but ordinary people couldn't afford it. But the grain they stored was getting less and less, and the rich families also needed to eat, so they had to buy it even if it was expensive. If there were people buying, the grain shop would not be worried about not being able to sell it. They kept raising the price, and there were always people buying it, which made it even more impossible for ordinary people to afford it. As a result, the rich families didn't have much grain, so they had to eat tightly, and the ordinary people... could only starve."

"The government can't do anything about it?" Shen Shilang raised his eyebrows. "That's really hard to believe."

Cheng Zhidao bowed to Shen Shilang and said, "Those merchants who dare to hoard goods and sell them at high prices have their own forces behind them. We dare not do anything to them easily."

The fifth prince asked in surprise, "Prefect Cheng, you are a high-ranking official of the fourth rank. Do you have to be wary of the power behind them?"

Cheng Zhidao bowed to the Fifth Prince in shame, "I am a fourth-rank official, but in the eyes of the forces behind them, I am not worthy of respect at all."

"Who is the power behind them? They are so rampant!" The Fifth Prince said unhappily, "It's ok for them to make some money normally, but in the face of natural disasters, how dare they take advantage of the fire and make money from the national disaster!"

What should Cheng say about this? Even if he knew, he couldn't say it.

By then, the Fifth Prince and Shen Shilang will just leave, but he will have to take care of the mess.

Shen Shilang glanced at the Fifth Prince, then moved his gaze to Cheng Zhidao and said, "There is no need to investigate the forces behind this for now."

Cheng knew this and breathed a sigh of relief.

The Fifth Prince didn't quite agree in his heart, but he didn't say anything and continued to listen to Shen Shilang's ideas.

"Just pretend you don't know what forces are behind them." Shen Shilang asked Cheng Zhidao, "Master Cheng, do you know the forces behind them?"

Please...collect 6...9...books...!

Cheng Zhidao was stunned for a moment, then immediately shook his head, "I don't know."

"That's right, but ordinary merchants dare to hoard goods at this time." Shen Shilang picked up the teacup and used the tea lid to push the tea leaves to the side a few times before taking two sips slowly. "Notify all places and tell them that the grain allocated by the court is still not enough. We need the cooperation of grain merchants from all places to hand over the grain in their warehouses."

"The court will not take advantage of them." Shen Shilang put down his teacup and continued to speak slowly, "We will buy their grain according to the market price before the disaster, and take as much as they have."

"After deducting their costs, we can still make a profit for them." Shen Shilang said, "The relief grain from the imperial court can last for a while."

"During this period, Prefect Cheng, you should arrange for people to distribute porridge in various places to solve the problem of food and clothing for the people first." Shen Shilang said, "Give those grain merchants five days."

"There's no need to say much to them. Just tell them that any shop that delivers grain to the court within five days will receive a plaque of commendation from the court in the future." Shen Shilang said.

"What if they don't deliver food within five days, or if they only deliver a small amount of food and don't deliver a lot?" Cheng Zhidao asked, "They use the excuse that they only have this much food in their warehouse."

Shen Shilang smiled slightly, "Each shop has five days to hand over at least 100 shi."

"I don't believe this is all they have, but take your time, don't rush." ​​Shen Shilang said, "We can't just rob them right away, that would scare them."

Cheng knows: "..."

What you said is quite scary.

"These five days are the face I gave them." Shen Shilang said calmly, "After five days, any shop that has not handed over the grain will be directly closed down. Take out all the grain in their warehouses, leaving not a single grain behind."

(End of this chapter)