Chapter 148 The disaster relief effort ends, and Wei Zheng falls ill.
Hu County.
While carrying out rescue operations, Wei Shuyu also sent teams to search for food in the ruins.
It would take the Imperial College army about two or three days to travel to other prefectures to catch up on grain.
Therefore, Wei Shuyu had to solve the problem of food supply for the next few days on his own!
At this moment, Wei Shuyu was bargaining with dozens of landlords and gentry...
"Do you have any objections to the imperial court purchasing your grain at half price?"
What?
The landlords were immediately in an uproar.
One by one, they began to criticize Wei Shuyu...
"No way, you're taking advantage of our misfortune!"
"We've worked so hard to grow this grain, how can we sell it cheaply?"
"Yes, we're already doing a good deed by not raising prices, and you expect us to lower them? Dream on!"
"I think you, little censor, are just trying to cheat us out of our grain."
"Yes, we're not selling. In this case, unless you offer a higher price to buy it."
The landlords became increasingly agitated, and their ramblings became more and more outrageous.
Wei Shuyu wants to lower the price, but they still want to raise it...
"Now that the people are suffering from disaster, are you all unwilling to do your part?" Wei Shuyu smiled indifferently.
"This is our own food, and we have the right to choose whether to sell it or not!"
"Yes, the price isn't right, we won't sell!"
Why don't you do your part, however small?
"The Duke of Zheng's mansion is so large, why doesn't he donate some of his grain..."
The landlords and gentry became increasingly aggressive in their remarks.
They all knew Wei Zheng's character; he would never rob the people of their grain.
That's why they dared to bargain with Wei Shuyu.
"hehe……"
Wei Shuyu smiled nonchalantly: "You all have quite the silver tongue."
"General Liang, then let's just throw their grain back into their warehouses."
Um?
The landlords and wealthy men were puzzled.
However, Wei Shuyu's nonchalant demeanor gave off a bad feeling.
"What do you mean?" one of the landlords asked.
"It's not very interesting."
Wei Shuyu shrugged: "Just restore them to their original state as they were during the earthquake."
The landlords pondered for a while.
Throwing it back into their ruined warehouse would only result in some damage, which is still more cost-effective than selling it at half price.
"Cough cough..."
Just then, an elderly landlord stepped forward: "Young Censor, General Liang, I am willing to sell to the court at half price and accept an IOU."
These words caused an uproar among the landlords.
"Old Huang, what do you mean?"
"We agreed to argue our case together, why are you so fickle?"
"Traitor, utter traitor!"
Old Huang ignored everyone and continued to wait for Wei Shuyu's reply.
"The old gentleman is of noble character."
Wei Shuyu cupped his hands in a warm gesture: "I will petition His Majesty for you to receive credit."
"Thank you, Junior Censor."
Old Huang returned the greeting respectfully.
"Old Huang, what exactly do you mean?"
One of the landlords who had a good relationship with Old Man Huang secretly tugged at Old Man Huang's sleeve.
"You guys..."
Old Huang shook his head: "In the face of the overall trend, why care about the price? It's good enough if we can sell it at all."
"What does this mean?" the landlords still asked, puzzled.
"The people are starving to death, do they care about your status?"
Swish.
The landlords' expressions changed drastically.
The people are starving to death, so they don't care about anything else.
If an uprising were to break out and attack their food supplies, they certainly wouldn't be able to hold on.
Moreover, they offended Wei Shuyu and Liang Jianfang.
Did they really expect the other party to help them guard their grain?
Won't!
Liang Jianfang even sent a team disguised as disaster victims to forcibly rob them...
At that point, let alone half price.
We won't get a single penny!
"Young Censor, I misspoke just now. I'll sell it to you for half price!"
“I sell too.”
"I sell too..."
In an instant, the situation changed drastically.
Landlords began vying to sell their grain.
"oh?"
Wei Shuyu raised an eyebrow: "You changed your mind so quickly?"
"Hu County is our hometown, and it is our honor to contribute to our hometown!"
"I didn't force you, did I?" Wei Shuyu said with a smile.
"Young censor, what are you saying? When our fellow villagers are in trouble, we should do our part. If it weren't for the fact that we have elderly parents and young children to support, we would gladly give away all our wealth to help them."
A landlord clenched his fist and spoke with righteous indignation.
"Then Wei Shuyu thanks you all."
Wei Shuyu cupped his hands in greeting, then turned to Liang Jianfang and said, "General Liang."
"What's wrong?"
Wei Shuyu took the paper and pen and handed them to the other party: "Write an IOU?"
"What?"
Liang Jianfang was shocked: "You want me to write it?"
"Nonsense, you're the commander-in-chief of this operation. If you don't write it, who will?"
"No, no..."
Liang Jianfang absolutely refused, shaking his head like a rattle drum.
The entire Hu County has at least tens of thousands of people.
Once this IOU is written, will I have to pay for it with my life?
Li Shimin would absolutely not pay back the money for him.
Why are you panicking?
Wei Shuyu said disdainfully, "Won't there be grain in a few days?"
"this……"
Liang Jianfang still hesitated.
Choi Shin-ki and his ilk seem unreliable no matter how you look at it.
What if I don't manage to get any food in the end? Wouldn't I just be dead?
"hurry up!"
"I can sign it, but you have to sign it too."
Liang Jianfang's eyes darted around.
Wei Zheng's reputation was still very useful.
"Do you have to be so timid?"
Wei Shuyu rolled his eyes: "If you still don't pay up, why don't you just kill all these landlords one by one?"
The landlords were all dumbfounded.
So you really are this kind of person?
Thank goodness we backed down early, otherwise we would have died in the middle of the night without even knowing how.
"I don't care, I won't sign if you don't," Liang Jianfang insisted.
"Alright."
Wei Shuyu nodded in agreement.
After some effort, Wei Shuyu finally managed to acquire some grain.
But this amount of food is merely a drop in the ocean.
How could a warehouse full of grain belonging to landlords and wealthy people possibly feed tens of thousands of people in the entire Hu County?
Fortunately, by saving money and living frugally, we finally made it through three days...
"Big Brother, we're back..."
Choi Shin-ki and his friends returned excitedly.
Behind them, wagons loaded with grain followed closely.
"Not bad, not bad..."
Wei Shuyu finally breathed a sigh of relief: "I'll give you guys extra chicken drumsticks tonight!"
Liang Jianfang's lips twitched.
Such a great achievement, and you just let it go with a chicken leg?
Once the food arrived, the people had the energy to work.
The next step was to begin rebuilding Hu County.
A few days later, after the imperial court's grain supplies arrived, this food crisis was finally truly over...
This day.
Wei Shuyu was leading the people to rebuild their homes, with a large group of people following behind him to listen to his opinions.
There were officials, merchants, workers...
After spending some time together, everyone was completely convinced of Wei Shuyu's abilities.
Just then, Liang Jianfang rushed over...
"Young Censor Wei, something terrible has happened!"
An official wanted to reprimand him, but upon seeing that the visitor was Liang Jianfang, he immediately swallowed his words...
"News has come from the Duke of Zheng's residence: Attendant-in-Ordinary Wei has fallen ill!"
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