Chapter 298: Refugees
In the Jiangnan region, there are three more states to visit: Jeju, Bongju, and Minju.
First go to Fengzhou, which is the closest to Xiangzhou. Even though it is the closest, it will take half a month to get there. Then it will be Jeju and Minzhou.
Jeju and Minju are located in the Xuanhe River Basin, especially Minju, which has been hit by floods over the years and is the most economically backward and poorest. Jeju, because it is close, has also been affected to some extent. There are often refugees stagnating in and around the city, the economic development is not very good, and even the public security is not very good.
By then, the price of goat milk soap in these two regions will have to be relatively lowered. The demand for hair soap and floral goat milk soap is estimated to be relatively low, and the basic and dyed types should sell the best.
In recent years, she doesn't expect these two areas to earn her much money, but after the flood in Xuanhe River is controlled, the economies of these two areas will gradually recover and things will get better slowly.
You County where my eldest brother is located is in Minzhou. The flood season has just passed, and the situation there is hard to describe.
Su Wan brought eight guards with her this time, all of whom were left for her by Jiang Yu. This journey was not as prosperous and peaceful as Yanzhou and Suzhou. She might encounter many refugees and so on. In case of chaos, it was necessary to bring a few more people with her.
Also, the means of transportation should not be too eye-catching and should be as low-key as possible. There was no need to use the luxurious carriage that Jiang Yu gave her, so she bought a slightly smaller one for herself and put a blanket inside. It was enough for her, Liuyun Liuying and her fifth brother to sit.
And Liuyun spent most of the time outside the carriage driving the carriage.
There was also another carriage used to carry supplies and luggage. When resting on the way, pots, pans, firewood, rice, oil, salt and other things were placed in it.
The eight guards were all riding horses, so no one would rush. They just walked normally and stopped to feed the horses when they came across a post station.
This time, with the fifth brother accompanying her, the journey will not seem too boring. He always takes care of Su Wan in every detail and never lets her do anything by herself, treating her like a child who cannot take care of herself.
After staying in Fengzhou for a month, as soon as the shop business was settled, he went to Jeju without stopping.
On the official road near Jeju, many refugees were heading towards Jeju City in groups.
They were thin, their clothes were tattered and covered in mud, and their hair was messy.
Many children aged five or six kept crying to their parents about how hungry they were and how much they wanted to eat, but they had already run out of food and ammunition after fleeing all the way.
After a lot of effort, I saw a group of people and two carriages coming on the official road. The guards were riding tall horses, with swords hanging at their sides, and each of them had a serious expression.
The refugees knew that this was a group of wealthy people, and there might be a lot of food in their carriage, and there might be a kind-hearted man or lady sitting inside.
Some people wanted to take a gamble, so they all knelt down in the middle of the road and begged for food from the master in the carriage.
"Good Samaritan, please give me something to eat."
The sounds of begging came one after another. Su Yi opened the carriage window and looked forward, and found that dozens of refugees were kneeling on the road, kowtowing and begging.
The convoy had to stop, and the guards outside asked Su Wan what to do next.
Su Wan looked out through the tiny gap in the car door. Seeing this situation, she knew that the food they had was not enough to share, not to mention the hundreds of refugees behind them. If the food was not enough to share, everyone would scramble and cause chaos, and they would probably be trapped here.
There must be a limit and a method to being kind. Being soft-hearted for a moment will only cause yourself unnecessary trouble.
But these refugees were blocking the road, and if they were not given food, they would probably not give way. They couldn't kill them for that.
So Su Wan pondered for a moment and came up with an idea. She whispered a few words to the guards outside the window.
Upon hearing this, the guards nodded repeatedly.
Then he shouted to the refugees:
"Our master has said that we have no food to share with you on our carts, but please make way for us and let us into Jeju City. Our master is kind and generous, and will donate food at the gates of Jeju City and run a porridge stall for three days to help the refugees. We mean what we say!"
The guards did not reveal Su Wan's female identity.
When the refugees heard this, they looked at each other and whispered to each other, trying to figure out whether what he said was true or not.
But if you think about it carefully and weigh the pros and cons, you can figure it out. Even if they were cheated, at most they would not get any food. But if it was true, then the porridge stall would have been open for three days in a row. If they arrived as soon as possible, they could live a few more days.
There are far fewer refugees this year than in previous years. This is because the newly appointed Du Shui Ling proposed a work-for-relief method, which provided the people with jobs and allowed them to eat and avoid starvation. After the flood season this year, many people chose to stay and work together to rebuild. With the military and civilians working together, the speed of reconstruction has also been accelerated. Only a very small number of people still have stubborn ideas and want to escape to other places.
Gradually, the refugees in the middle of the road moved to the sides to let the convoy pass.
It takes at most half a day to walk from here to Jeju City, but Su Wan and the others arrived in just one hour.
She did what she said. After entering the city, she immediately asked Liuyun to buy food and prepare to open a porridge stall at the city gate.
This kind of porridge distribution is very common. It does not require government approval. You just need to bring your own supplies. There are ready-made porridge stalls outside Jeju City because the government office distributes porridge every day.
If there are kind people who want to continue providing relief, they can just bring people and deliver food.
There is a war on the border now, and the granaries in each state have to send grain to the border every month. The Xuan River basin is also suffering from floods. The court has already transported relief grain and silver several times, but there are still so many refugees displaced.
All I can say is that after going through layer upon layer of screening, there are always a few brave rats who make a profit from it, but it makes the people suffer.
Jeju's granaries are almost empty, but vendors are driving up the price of brown rice to exorbitant prices.
However, since Su Wan has already agreed to open a porridge stall, he will do what he says.
Porridge is distributed every day at the gate of Jeju City. This is the order of the governor. At least one meal of porridge is provided every day, even if it is just watery soup. We cannot let the refugees starve to death or die of thirst.
Su Wan just needs to send the food she buys directly to the porridge stall, and she doesn't have to worry about anything else.
It is impossible to allow these refugees to enter the city. They can only stay temporarily in the refugee camps outside the city. When Xuanhe is almost rebuilt, they will naturally go back.
Su Wan had someone buy two thousand kilograms of brown rice at one time and had it delivered directly to the city gate. It was enough for two meals a day, which was enough for more than three days.
Nowadays, a pound of brown rice here sells for ten cents, while in Xiangzhou it only costs four cents. The price here has more than doubled.
Two thousand kilograms of rice also cost Su Wan two hundred taels of silver. In Xiangzhou, two hundred taels could buy two thousand five hundred kilograms of japonica rice.
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