367, Food
367, Food
After the autumn harvest, the news of the late emperor's death reached Beijun, and the people in Li County also learned of the news.
In the past few years, four emperors have been replaced in succession. Not only is the court in turmoil, but even the people are feeling uneasy, worried that chaos will break out here as well.
They are located at the border, and there are Hu people in the north. If chaos breaks out on both sides, they will have nowhere to escape.
"Fortunately, the city wall of Li County has been built. If the Hu people really attack us, we can close the city gate and hide here for a while."
"Can I hide for a while? Can I hide for a while?"
"What else? What else can we do?"
“…”
The people in the teahouse were talking quite loudly.
Lu Mingfei, who was sitting on the second floor drinking tea, could also hear the voices of people talking downstairs on the first floor.
Yes, what would they do if the Hu people attacked? Li County was surrounded by a city wall, but the villages around Li County had no protective measures at all.
Now that Zhao Lang is in charge of Kyoto Prefecture, it won't be long before they find a way to transfer him back to Kyoto Prefecture. He came to Li County and couldn't leave anything behind for the people there.
This was his first transfer, and the people here were all under his jurisdiction. As the local leader, he had to fulfill his responsibilities and ensure the safety of the people. Whether it was now or in the future, he still had to find a way to solve the problems that worried the people.
With this thought in mind, he stood up from the stool he was sitting on, "Let's go back to the government office."
"Oh, yes, sir." Guard Ma took out the tea money from his pocket and put it on the table, then followed their lord away.
After returning to the county government office, Lu Mingfei asked someone to find a few seniors and subordinates from the government office to come for a meeting.
The next day, he sent people to pick up the village heads and village heads from each township and bring them to the city. He held a seminar with these village heads and village heads to discuss the merger of villages and the joint construction of a city wall by several villages.
He also promised on the spot that as long as these villages provided people and his government provided materials, they would build the city wall together.
The result was pretty much as he expected. Almost none of the village heads and lizheng officials disagreed with this good thing. The few who hesitated simply said they would go back and discuss it with the villagers before giving a reply.
In early August, construction of the first outer city wall began.
Because the late emperor passed away not long ago this year, Li County did not hold a grand Lantern Festival during the Mid-Autumn Festival like last year.
Knowing that this year's grain harvest was good, some families with surplus grain would want to sell it for money. So early on, Lu Mingfei had people set up stalls at the city gate to collect grain.
In addition, several teams were organized to go to the countryside to collect grain.
Of course, they paid for the grain, not for free. The price they offered was fair, so many people were willing to sell their grain to them.
The money used to collect the grain was from the public account, so the purchased grain was stored in the county government’s granary and kept as reserve grain for the entire county.
After Lu Mingfei took over as magistrate of Li County, the granary at the county government office was empty, with no grain at all. This would be fine in a good year, but if there was a bad year, it would be a disaster if the granary at the government office had no grain at all.
The most terrifying thing is that this situation is not limited to Li County, but the entire Dayan, including the granaries in the Fengtian Prefecture government office in Kyoto Prefecture, which are probably so empty that horses can run through them.
This is not surprising. Whenever droughts, floods, or food shortages occur in any area, people will starve to death. To prevent this from happening, the government's granaries must be stocked with food. At the very least, when faced with natural or man-made disasters, the food in the granaries can provide a temporary solution to the urgent need.
Throughout the past year, the shops and workshops he opened in the name of the government office had made some money, but compared with the expenses, the income was not enough to break even.
So he is still the biggest creditor of the government office and Li County.
The creditor is the creditor, and the money can only be recovered slowly.
Seeing the small county town undergoing earth-shaking changes under his hands, he felt very happy and proud.
***
I saw Zhao Rui again on the third day after the Mid-Autumn Festival.
On this day, Lu Mingfei was handling official business in the backyard of the yamen, and Zhao Rui came in directly to find him.
"Lord Lu, long time no see."
"This humble official greets the young general."
The most infuriating thing was that when he saw Zhao Rui swaggering into his territory, not only did he not get angry, but he had to stand up and salute him.
Zhao Rui walked up to Lu Mingfei, staring at him with narrowed eyes like a venomous snake, and asked, "I heard that Lord Lu knows my good second brother. What is your relationship?"
Did this person know about his relationship with Zhao Lang? Or did he know that he was the one who threatened him with a snake and wanted to cripple him?
More than half a year has passed since he went to Pingzhou. If Zhao Rui had figured something out, he would have sent someone to cause trouble for him long ago. It would be impossible for him to endure it until now.
Or perhaps this person had discovered something but had been holding it in until now? But no matter what the reason, Zhao Rui's sudden visit to him made Lu Mingfei feel that his behavior was not normal.
At that moment, several doubts flashed through his mind, but he remained calm and replied, "I once studied in Kyoto Prefecture and met the prince twice."
"In my opinion, he gave you his personal jade pendant. It's not just a simple acquaintance between you two, right?" Zhao Rui sat down on the chair, staring at Lu Mingfei with a pair of vicious eyes.
Lu Mingfei winked at the nervous guards beside him, telling them not to be nervous.
"I wonder why the young general has come to Li County today? You came to see me, not just to find out what my relationship with the prince is, right?" This was his territory, and he really wasn't afraid of Zhao Rui. With so many secret guards here, it wouldn't be difficult to keep Zhao Rui at bay.
Of course, the prerequisite is that he can withstand Prince Ding’s wrath.
"Lord Lu is a wise man." Zhao Rui looked at the young official in front of him, his mind revolving around the man who had kidnapped him along with Zhao Lang. The scene in his memory overlapped with the man before him, and he began to doubt him.
Why are these two people so similar?
However, he had come to Lu Mingfei today for something more important. Once he had brought Zhao Lang down, wouldn't it be easy to deal with the people around Zhao Lang?
Zhao Rui suddenly smiled and said, "Sure enough, talking to smart people is the easiest."
Lu Mingfei sat down on the chair opposite and did not respond, waiting for Zhao Rui to continue.
He was thinking about one thing in his mind: why would Zhao Rui come to him?
...Suddenly, a possibility flashed through his mind, it should be!
Sure enough, Zhao Rui's next words confirmed his guess.
"I heard that you have a good grain harvest this year?" Zhao Rui asked.
"It's just the hard-earned money of the people." Hearing this, Lu Mingfei already knew why Zhao Rui came to him. This man came for their food.
But this is not surprising. Given the current situation outside, there are so many people in the Zhenbei Army, and there is never enough military rations.
Moreover, there should be many factions within the Zhenbei Army. For example, Zhao Lang also has to take care of the food problem of his soldiers. So when it comes to Zhao Rui, if Zhao Rui wants these soldiers to follow him wholeheartedly, he must find a way to ensure that these soldiers who follow him have enough food.
However, isn't it a bit shameless for Zhao Rui to come to him and ask for food?
Prince Ding doesn’t have that much face, so who is Zhao Rui!
Zhao Rui looked at Lu Mingfei's cold face, and his mood actually brightened up. "I am short of food here, and I want to borrow some from Lord Lu to solve my urgent need."
"What are you talking about lending it or not? The young general is too distant with this humble official." Lu Mingfei was so angry that he almost laughed when he saw Zhao Rui's shameless look.
He actually laughed out loud.
"Straightforward! I like people as straightforward as Lord Lu." Zhao Rui thought that when he came to Lu Mingfei to ask for food, Lu Mingfei would refuse him.
He didn't expect Lu Mingfei to be so understanding. As soon as he opened his mouth, Lu Mingfei agreed to give it to him.
Isn't this man his good second brother's man? Could it be that he wants to join him? Zhao Rui touched his chin and looked at Lu Mingfei with a pair of inquiring eyes.
This guy... looks like a pretty boy. Could he have a hobby like that? He's never slept with a man before, so with someone like Lu Mingfei, it's not a problem for him to sleep with him, right?
Meeting Zhao Rui's gaze, Lu Mingfei felt disgusted. With a sneer on his face, he asked Zhao Rui, "Since this humble official is straightforward, shouldn't the young general be a bit more straightforward as well?"
"Oh, how do you want me to be happy?" Zhao Rui asked.
"The little grain I have is not something I picked up for free. I bought it with real money and left it to the people of this county as a food reserve. We are short of workers here right now. I can give you food, but you have to give me people."
"Young General, how about exchanging 30 kilograms of food for each soldier under your command?" Lu Mingfei put forward his conditions. He could give the food, but not for free.
He also knew that if he refused to give the food, Zhao Rui would definitely accuse him of all kinds of things. It would be better for him to use the food to exchange for people. The people he got in return could work for Li County and also help to reduce the military strength under Zhao Rui.
"One person in exchange for thirty kilograms of food? Lord Lu, you really know how to do business!" Zhao Lang's face suddenly fell, and his eyes scraped at Lu Mingfei like a knife.
If looks could kill, he would have already killed Lu Mingfei.
Today's update.
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