Chapter 334 Conspiracy
Tongzhi Zhi did not take seriously the pedantic scholar who used his teacher status and his daughter to climb up to the Prince of Jin's Mansion. However, this sixth-rank Tongpan whom he despised surrounded and attacked the Mountain Resort at lightning speed.
In just half an hour, the yamen runners and the Imperial City Guards brought by Zhao Lan confiscated a large amount of silver and several antique collections, which were estimated to be worth tens of millions of silver.
A day later, word spread in Songjiang Prefecture that Su Tongpan was going to use the silver to purchase grain and seeds at high prices in preparation for distributing them to the victims.
Some people doubted: "Can an official be so kind as to buy grain at a high price for the people?"
A passerby poked his head in and said, "Okay, why don't we bring a few hundred kilograms of food and try it out and see what happens?"
The person being questioned turned to look at the passers-by with a puzzled look on his face.
Passerby A looked disdainful and said, "If I had grain, I would try to transport a few bags. Even if the price is not high, Songjiang Prefecture will not let me transport it back if it is short of grain. Anyway, I won't lose money."
Everyone: ...It seems to make some sense.
Gradually, these rumors spread like the wind. Is it true? Some merchants thought, I must hurry up and transport the grain while everyone is still confused. Maybe I can get rich.
Zhi Tongzhi had been in prison for several days. He slammed the prison bars and shouted, "Mr. Su, there is nothing but a few paintings and some old books in the Summer Resort. On what basis did you accuse me of embezzling tens of millions of taels? Even if you sold the entire Songjiang Prefecture, I couldn't embezzle so much. How dare you, a thief who relied on your daughter to get to the top, frame me? You will not have a good death. Let me go... let me go..."
In the corridor outside the prison, the jailers and clerks were all trembling with fear. Even the imperial guards had arrived. Things in Songjiang Prefecture had changed. They were very cautious, fearing that they would be caught by the imperial guards if they were not careful.
Until they heard Zhi Tongzhi getting more and more excited in his scolding, someone whispered, "Why doesn't Lord Su try Lord Zhi?"
"How can a sixth-rank judge like him try a fifth-rank official? He must send the person to the Capital Transport Commissioner."
Yes, the head jailer looked around cautiously and asked in a low voice, "I heard that the prefect was confined at home and not allowed to enter the government office."
"Ah? Is this true?"
"Whether it's true or not, we didn't see the prefect go to the yamen."
"Didn't you say you were sick?"
The man smiled meaningfully, "I guess he'll lose his position as an official if he gets sick this long."
In the government's family quarters, the sixty-year-old prefect Shao jumped out of bed. He put his hands on his hips and shouted in the direction of the government, "That bastard surnamed Su, how dare he not let the old lady go to work, he dares... he dares... I'll sue him to death..."
This was his last term as the prefect of Songjiang. He had originally planned to make a fortune, but he was sent to such a messy Songjiang Prefecture, which disrupted all his plans. He originally wanted to hide away and have some free time, but he was unexpectedly blocked at home and couldn't leave.
“No… No…” If he doesn’t leave now, he might not even be able to keep his official position, let alone make money. He shouted, “I want to go out…”
The answer he got was the chirping of birds in the yard.
It’s over... It’s over... Isn’t it said that the Su guy is a weak and indecisive person? Why did he use such drastic measures as soon as he arrived, either confining him at home or arresting the Tongzhi? What does he want to do? Does he want to become the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture in one fell swoop?
In the courtyard of the Tongpan's house, Su Yanli was looking at the map of dredging the river and repairing the dam. Su Ruojin stood beside him and said, "Dad, the people sent by Brother Jin have spread the news. Merchants who want to make a fortune by selling grain will probably come to Songjiang Prefecture one after another starting tomorrow. You have to repair the river quickly. Only when everyone gets moving can the people's livelihood in Songjiang Prefecture survive."
Su Yanli was still a little worried, "What if those merchants are unwilling to donate money to repair the temple?"
Su Ruojin pursed her lips and smiled, "Dad, don't worry. These merchants probably already know that Brother Yan Jia is the son of Minister Fan. They are eager to find an opportunity to get close to Brother Yan Jia. Now that there is such an opportunity, even if they know that he has something in common with you, Dad, they will give it a try. It's just a little money. It's worth it to show off in front of Lord Fan's son. But they don't know that whether it's repairing a temple or repairing a river embankment, they will be listed on the merit wall or named the river embankment according to the donation ranking, which will arouse their competitive spirit, and the silver we get in the end will definitely not be less."
Su Yanli sighed, "If the money for digging the canal hadn't been raised, I wouldn't have borrowed Lord Fan's name to let Yan Jia show up."
Seeing that her father was blaming himself, Su Ruojin comforted him, "Dad, if Lord Fan knew that you were doing this for the people of Songjiang Prefecture, he would definitely be pleased."
Hopefully, in order to break the deadlock of no one in charge in Songjiang Prefecture, he can only catch up.
Sure enough, just as the daughter expected, although they went to the teahouse with the attitude of giving it a try, under the encouragement of Fan Yanjia, the third place winner in the imperial examination, the big merchants rushed to pay money in order to have their names ranked first on the wall of merit, and in the blink of an eye, they raised ten thousand taels.
As soon as the starting money for repairing the embankment arrived, a notice was immediately posted: All laborers who participated in digging the embankment would be paid by the day according to the size of the work, and would receive copper coins if they started work in the morning and finished work in the evening. A skilled worker would receive eighty copper coins a day, an unskilled worker would receive fifty copper coins, and teenagers between the ages of twelve and fifteen would receive thirty copper coins.
As soon as the notice came out, people rushed to try it out regardless of whether it was true or not. As a result, they really received the money that day, and the whole Songjiang Songfu was in an uproar.
As temples and river embankments were built, surrounding businesses instantly prospered, such as small vendors selling food, blacksmith shops selling tools, carpenters repairing carts... and so on.
The first group of merchants who heard that Songjiang Prefecture wanted to buy grain at a high price did sell at a high price, and the buyers were those grain merchants who wanted to monopolize the local grain market. As a result, because the first group of people made money, countless merchants from the surrounding areas heard the news and came. The price of grain never went up again and remained almost the same as usual.
The grain dealer who heard the news said: ...Where is the high price you agreed on?
The local big grain merchants who hoarded grain: ...Wouldn't it be that their grain was hoarded in vain? No, no, it's all thrown away.
how so?
Not only that, it was heard that Prince Zhao liked Songjiang Prefecture. Because labor costs were not high during the disaster years, he built a villa in Songjiang Prefecture. This market trend was quickly sniffed out by some wealthy businessmen, who also followed the temple and Prince Zhao to repair houses and build granaries.
For a moment, the gray and dilapidated Songjiang Prefecture seemed to have regained new vitality.
Su Yanli stood on the city gate tower, looking at the bustling crowds inside and outside the city, as if he understood his daughter's logic.
Songjiang Prefecture belongs to the south of the Yangtze River. It is already prosperous, and the wealthy and powerful have accumulated a lot of wealth. However, because of the disaster, these wealth were tightly held in their hands. They stayed at home motionless, just waiting for the disaster to slowly pass.
They have money and can afford to wait, but ordinary people do not. If they have no money to buy food, they will starve to death. So we can only find a way to make them pay the money and then let the money flow into the hands of ordinary people. When ordinary people have money, they can buy food to fill their stomachs.
As a local official, as long as he can find a way to take the money out of the pockets of the rich and let it flow to the common people, the whole situation will be revitalized.
Su Ruojin stood beside his father and smiled slightly. The scene of dike construction in front of him could be summed up in two words in later generations - infrastructure.
Is infrastructure just about building embankments? Of course not. Building embankments, temples, and houses is a whole industry chain! From a small basket for digging mud to a large stone for a temple, no industry is not involved. The common people have food to eat, and the merchants make money. Everyone wins.
In just one month, Songjiang Prefecture not only returned to normal, but also became more prosperous than before because the acting prefect, Lord Su, continued to engage in infrastructure construction.
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