Chapter 374 A Letter Has Arrived
After finishing all these, Lu Songli couldn't help but talk to Qin Sheng about the large group that was about to return.
Lu Songli said, "Mr. Xue and the others will be back soon, right?"
Qin Sheng thought for a moment and replied, "Based on the speed of the main force, they should have returned. But it has been raining for the past few days, and the roads are difficult to travel on. I guess they have been resting here."
There is no way around it. The roads in Liaoxi County are not as wide as those in Liaodong County, and it is even more difficult to walk when it rains.
Fortunately, the main force has arrived at our territory and is almost at our doorstep, so any delay will not be a big deal.
Speaking of this, Lu Songli couldn't help but praise him, "This is a beautiful job."
At that time, 200,000 shi of grain urgently needed to be transported out of the south, otherwise there would be no chance, but the Cao Gang only had the transportation capacity of 100,000 shi.
There are still 100,000 shi of grain left, and it cannot be transported away all at once. If it is left in the south, it will become Xie Zhan's meal. Even distributing it to the victims in the south will be aiding the enemy and benefiting Xie Zhan.
They worked together and came up with a way to use the 100,000 dan of grain to attract a group of high-quality disaster victims to move north.
Yes, Lv Songli was very much looking forward to the upcoming group of disaster victims from the south. These people were undoubtedly of excellent quality. If nothing else, at least in terms of courage, those who dared to go north were stronger than those who stayed in the south.
"Don't you always say that for a place to develop, people must be the foundation? At the time, we thought that if the food couldn't be transported, Xie Zhan wouldn't get any advantage."
No matter what their ideas are, they can find the best solution in difficult situations, which is really amazing.
"Also, the 20,000 dan of grain you left in Qingzhou has been a great help."
Qin Sheng felt a little embarrassed by her praise.
Lu Songli discovered that Qin Sheng had really grown a lot after going south this time.
At this time, a subordinate came to report, "News came from the South, saying that Xie Zhan is very likely to have taken Gu Huaisheng and Lu Fei to Nanyang."
"I see."
"Lili, will Xie Zhan ruin your plan?" Qin Sheng was quite worried. Xie Zhan was quite smart.
Lu Songli shook her head, "It's okay." Xie Zhan could definitely guess that she would not stand idly by.
Lu Songli could guess what he was trying to do. Wasn't he just trying to take advantage of her? Then let's see if he has the ability to do that.
Nanyang
Although food prices in Nanyang were ridiculously high, Zhang Xian's efforts in disaster relief prevented the city from starving to death after the earthquake. However, the victims in Nanyang were all emaciated and lifeless.
In the devastated environment, the victims each found a piece of land, either lying or sitting, and there was no further communication among them.
Unless necessary, the victims were too lazy to even speak.
At this time, a ragged man came back from outside and sighed as soon as he came back, "I heard that the price of food is going to go up again!"
These words were like a drop of water falling into a frying pan, exploding immediately.
"Another increase? It's already 260 wen per dou, and it's still going up?"
"Oh my God, I don't want to live anymore. One dou of grain costs two hundred and sixty coins. How can I survive?" An old lady knelt down holding a child and cried loudly.
"Don't panic. The imperial court is still opening warehouses to provide disaster relief. We just need to tighten our belts and we will get through this."
"But I heard that the grain the imperial court allocated for disaster relief is not much, and I'm afraid it won't last long."
As soon as these words were spoken, panic spread, causing many disaster victims who thought they had become numb to life to burst into tears.
"Oh my God, you are going to drive me to death."
"If that doesn't work, we'll just sell ourselves. Sell ourselves to wealthy landlords and become hidden households." It's good enough to be alive, and we don't expect anything else.
An atmosphere of despair enveloped the entire Nanyang.
Zhang Xian is still working hard today. He took Zuo Anmin with him to Xuchang to meet Che Jiu Ming, the president of the Yuzhou Grain Merchants Chamber of Commerce.
The other party kept joking with him about their purpose.
On the return journey, Zhang Xian was in an unhappy mood.
The Che family, one of the aristocratic families in Yuzhou, has now joined forces with wealthy businessmen in the surrounding area to establish a grain merchant chamber of commerce with the aim of raising grain prices.
Che Jiuming's attitude was very tough, and he clearly wanted to sell grain at a high price and plunder Nanyang's wealth. He completely disregarded the lives of the people of Nanyang, and of course, his own life as well.
Now he was holding up Nanyang, standing in the front line. But all the food he had was only enough to last for about half a month.
If he still hadn't figured out a solution after half a month, the people of Nanyang would be left to be ravaged by the grain merchants. He and Zuo Anmin would also declare their disaster relief efforts a failure.
After Zhang Xian and Zuo Anmin left, members of the Grain Merchants Association surrounded Che Jiu Ming.
"President, I heard that Zhang Xian and Zuo Anmin are the emperor's favorites. Wouldn't it be bad for you to offend them?"
Che Jiuming raised his eyebrows and smirked, "Did I offend them? I'm just being business-minded. He wants us to lower the price of grain, but that's not going to make us lose money. That's unacceptable, isn't it?"
The others smiled knowingly at each other and echoed, "The president is right."
He is sure to get a piece of fat meat from Nanyang!
Nanyang was without food due to the earthquake, but the people had money. Food prices had already started to rise after the earthquake, but because the imperial court provided disaster relief in a timely manner, the people ate free food and held on to their money.
Once all the food that Zhang Xian brought for disaster relief was eaten up, they could use the remaining food to seize the land in Nanyang.
Zhang Xian returned to his residence exhausted both physically and mentally.
The trusted steward came forward to greet him and whispered in his ear, "Master, a distinguished guest has arrived."
Distinguished guests? Was that what he thought? Zhang Xian took a deep breath, "Where did you place the distinguished guests? Lead the way!" He had been waiting anxiously for news from the Lu family father and daughter!
They came to the living room.
Chen Jinshui saw the person coming and immediately stepped forward to salute, "My humble servant greets you, Master Zhang!"
"Please stand up quickly. No need to be so polite."
Chen Jinshui took out two letters from his bosom and said, "Master Zhang, these are letters from Master Lu and Madam Qin Liu. Please take a look."
"Good, good, good!" After reading the letter, Zhang Xian said three good words in a row. His eyes were slightly moist and he couldn't help but raise his head.
After a while, he calmed down his emotions. "Your name is Chen Jinshui, right? From now on, just follow me."
"yes."
Zhang Xian finally looked towards Xuchang and said coldly, "This time, we're going to make Che Jiuming and his grain merchant guild, who are trying to profit from the national crisis, bleed heavily!"
Runan
Xie Zhan, Gu Huaisheng, Lu Fei and others settled in a big house, which was very close to Nanyang and Xuchang, forming a triangular relationship between the three places.
Xie Nan was puzzled. "Master, aren't the people from Liaodong County taking action yet? Isn't Zhang Xian almost unable to hold on?"
Their three major families obtained a total of 200,000 dan of grain and one million taels of silver. Was it all wasted?
Xie Zhan said with certainty, "Liaodong County will definitely take action. We must pay close attention to changes in the situation in Nanyang."
"yes!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
