Chapter 336: The World of Great Conflict
After the grain transport team successfully left the city, Xue Xu smiled and said to Ji Wuyin, "It's time for me to go too."
At this point, they had escaped unscathed.
Ji Wuyin waved his hand and said, "Let's go, everyone." All good things must come to an end, and he felt melancholy in his heart.
Qin Sheng sent two skilled personal soldiers to escort Xue Xu back to the Li ethnic group's territory. They also hired people to deliver the things that the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce prepared for him.
Of course, they only need to be sent to the outskirts of the Shiwandashan Mountains.
Xie Zhan's guess was correct. The total number of refugees who followed them was approximately 26,000 to 27,000. Most of them had agreed to go north together, while some simply followed the trend.
Along the way, Yue Shu consciously led his men to help Qin Sheng and the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce maintain rules and discipline.
The refugees looked eagerly at the carts of food.
Qin Sheng noticed this scene and lowered his head in thought.
The twenty or thirty thousand refugees following them must be handled with caution, otherwise there may be accidents such as riots and food looting.
When Qin Sheng led the grain team out three miles, he stopped in a bamboo forest.
Liu Erxi began to gather people, build a stove, collect firewood, and cook.
In short, except for the families of the hired personnel, all the refugees who followed and wanted to eat had to help do what they could.
This was their first step in dealing with refugees: ensuring they had enough food. As the saying goes, "A well-stocked granary teaches etiquette; a well-fed and clothed person understands honor and disgrace." It's difficult for a person to develop high moral standards if they don't have enough to eat and wear.
After the meal was ready, they began to distribute the food, "Come, come, come, it's time to eat, everyone line up!"
Each person was given two multi-grain steamed buns the size of an adult's fist and a bowl of porridge.
Each refugee took the steamed bun they were given and began to devour it. This was the best meal they had had in a long time.
During their meal breaks, twenty or thirty large pots were boiling medicinal soup.
These pots were filled with medicinal decoctions to prevent epidemics. These were brewed from the anti-epidemic medicines that Lü Songli had asked them to bring with them when they arrived in the South. She knew that floods were often followed by epidemics.
"Come, everyone take a bowl of medicine soup." The members of the grain team clearly told everyone, "This is to prevent epidemics." Everyone drank it obediently.
While the refugees were eating, Qin Sheng called Yue Shu and other prestigious people among the refugees to a meeting, and also invited Ning Changge.
After everyone arrived, Qin Sheng didn't waste any time and announced something directly, "Our Liaodong Chamber of Commerce has decided to pay the hired personnel three days' wages!"
Because wages were settled in grain, it was equivalent to distributing grain to them in advance.
"What?"
Did they hear it right?
"You heard it right."
After hearing Qin Sheng's answer, some people realized that they had actually spoken out their true feelings.
Yue Shu hesitated for a moment and said, "What if someone gets the food and decides not to accept the offer and continue heading north, but instead chooses to sneak away?"
Qin Sheng said, "It doesn't matter if someone sneaks away, let's do it this way!"
He once heard his wife say that an excellent system must take into account the interests of the majority of people.
Distributing food is the first step to tie everyone together.
Otherwise, the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce had so much food, while the refugees had nothing, creating a natural conflict between the two sides. He needed to change this relationship. Prompting three days' wages was the first step, and he would later provide them with five days' wages, ten days' wages...
Only in this way will they protect the 100,000 shi of grain from the grain team as their own.
This can also be considered a form of screening. Spending a little bit of food can filter out those with bad character first, otherwise when problems arise later, these people will only cause trouble and hinder progress.
As for those who took the food and sneaked away, it would be good if they could survive.
He once heard his wife lament that the population of Dali was still too small.
Ning Changge glanced at Qin Sheng a few more times. He was very curious about what kind of place Liaodong County was. This group of people who came to the Southland had all performed well. Wu Ren was like this, and so was Mr. Lu Liu in front of him. Each of them was a capable person.
Qin Sheng made a decision, and Liu Erxi, Yang Wei and others took action immediately.
When the refugees heard that the grain team would pay their wages in advance, they were excited and lined up one by one to receive the grain as required.
At the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce, when weighing the grain, they took out more than a dozen small scales.
Using this kind of scale to weigh grain is much faster than using a rod scale.
The refugees looked around curiously.
As more and more refugees received food, the food trucks in the food trucks were emptied one after another.
The refugees who received the food were all very satisfied. God knows how long they had lived in a state of constant anxiety, constantly worrying about the future after today's meal. Now that they had food in hand, they felt relieved and finally saw a glimmer of hope.
Qin Sheng's decision made many refugees grateful, but it also made some people with ulterior motives grit their teeth!
"Strengthen patrols and defense tonight." Qin Sheng and several confidants including Yang Wei, Liu Erxi, and Yue Shu said.
They looked at each other and nodded.
Qin Sheng knew that mere appeasement wouldn't work; it had to be followed by drastic measures, commonly known as using courtesy before force. Without the protection of drastic measures, appeasement was nothing but weakness.
Qin Sheng has his own ideas about these two or three thousand people.
"Yue Shu, come here, I want to talk to you about something." Qin Sheng greeted him.
"Sixth Master, what's the matter?"
"It's like this..."
The more Yue Shu listened, the wider his eyes widened. How could this be possible?
Yang Wei and Liu Erxi on the side were laughing secretly. Brother Yue Shu had only known them for a short time. After a long time, he would realize that it was just a trick of the water army and nothing to worry about.
On the first night, as expected, some people quietly left with the food they were given.
Some people also set their sights on stealing the grain from the grain carts. A dozen or so thieves, used to stealing things, went to the grain carts, but were subdued before they could even touch the grain. They tried to shout and create chaos, to encourage everyone to grab the grain, but they were all stuffed with rags, mute.
These dozen or so little scoundrels were dealt with in public by Qin Sheng early the next morning in order to make an example of them.
Almost all the refugees felt they deserved it. The Liaodong Chamber of Commerce was so kind! All they had to do was work, get food, avoid starvation, and survive. The Liaodong Chamber of Commerce gave them hope. These ungrateful people, ungrateful and ungrateful, deserved their fate.
Some elderly refugees advised each other, "Let's be more vigilant in the future. If we notice anyone acting strangely, report it!"
"Yes, everyone, please pay attention. We can't let those people mess around and steal the food from the grain team. Everyone knows that the food we get is all from the grain team. If the grain from the grain team is stolen, we will starve and have to go back to our old lives!"
When everyone heard this, they were shocked. Originally, they didn't think too much about it and just thought it had little to do with them. But when the old man pointed it out to them, they realized that they were wrong.
Qin Sheng saw all these scenes, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
On the night the Liaodong people completely evacuated the South, the sky was filled with dense nebulae. In the east, the previously bright Ziwei star had dimmed slightly. Meanwhile, several bright stars appeared in the north and south.
At this time, on a hill somewhere in the Central Plains, an old man in a long robe and a Taoist bun, after burning incense and bathing, observed the stars at night. When he saw the starry sky at this moment, he couldn't help but be speechless, "This - this -"
The boy next to him asked, "Master, what's wrong?"
"It's a mess."
"What's the mess?"
The old Taoist ignored the boy and only murmured thoughtfully, "The Purple Stars are gathering, Pojun and the comet are leading the way, Tiankui and Tianyue are delivering the orders, Tianxiang, Wenchang, Wenqu and other subordinates are appearing, and Zuofu and Youbi are scattered across the star map. This is clearly a sign of troubled times."
He knew that a time of great conflict was coming, but he didn't know when this chaotic era would end once it began.
The astrological signs at this time show that Lu Cun and Tian Fu will meet in the north, while Qi Sha will be given power in the south.
The old Taoist looked at the imperial stars of varying brightness in the sky and felt extremely worried. He just hoped that the war would not be too brutal so that the common people would have a way to survive.
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