When I entered the city, I saw that more and more disaster victims were being resettled outside the city. The tents were already built densely, and there was a lot of noise and fighting and scolding inside.
"This is not a solution. Gathering them all here is unsafe and can easily lead to infectious diseases."
The servant has seen this happen before.
"This winter, they can only do this. They will go back and rebuild their houses after the spring thaw. This is what happens every time there is a disaster."
"Can't we disperse them? If we keep them all together like this, conflicts will definitely arise. I'm afraid there won't be peace every day, and it will easily breed disease."
"Indeed, with such a mixed crowd, some people will always take the opportunity to cause trouble, which is why we can't arrange for them to enter the city. Whenever there's a disaster, these refugees like to run to the Imperial City. With the Emperor around, the victims' survival is guaranteed, but that's not necessarily the case in other places. Therefore, these people can't be driven away, and we can only let them stay here.
Just like what the master said, when there are too many people, there will be too many troubles. There will always be some unscrupulous people mixing in and causing trouble. We can only arrange guards in the capital to monitor and maintain order in different areas. As long as nothing serious happens, they will not intervene too much.
If he were to take care of that matter, it would be too much. This family would get more, that family would get less, and the shed he lived in would be either bigger or smaller.
In some families, the food they distribute is only for the boys to eat, and the girls can only drink some thin porridge. The winter clothes they distribute are also only for the boys, who cry, quarrel and fight all day long.
At this time, many families sell their daughters, and many girls die of starvation or disease. But how can such things be managed? The guards can't intervene in other people's family affairs."
There was no need for him to explain. Bai Zhiyue had seen too much along the way. The preference for boys over girls was not only common in this era, but also in modern times.
Everywhere you look, you can see people buying things, trying to get money, and all the people they buy are girls.
"The Emperor has ordered the prefect to summon several doctors to watch over the situation. If you get sick, you can consult for free, but you still need to pay for the medicine."
Even if they had money, many families wouldn't spend it on medical treatment for their women and children at this time. If they could get through it, they would endure it; if not, they would just take the mat and walk away. The money would be saved for the next spring when they returned home to buy household expenses and rebuild their houses.
Bai Zhiyue no longer cared about the things at the city gate
"Have the King of Qi and his men returned?"
"Everyone has returned. You are the last group to come back. Look at the tents on the south side of the city gate distributing porridge. They belong to the Princess's Mansion and the Prince of Qi's Mansion. There are also a few on the north side of the city gate. There is also relief food distributed by the emperor, so the victims can eat almost enough.
We didn't do it because there was no one in charge in our house."
"No one is in charge? Where's Yan Dong?"
The servant's face looked strange
"What happened? Tell me!"
"Butler Yan was beaten and is recuperating in the mansion. He was unconscious for the first two days but is feeling better now."
"Who hit me?"
"They were thugs under Manager Li. They were furious because their grain was sold at a low price. So, when there was no one else in the mansion, they led some men to attack Manager Yan. They beat him up pretty badly. The doctor said his internal organs were injured."
"Heh, you bullied the people in the mansion while I was away. This matter is not over yet!"
He rode his horse back to the mansion, but suddenly remembered that he still had to report on the bandits.
"Qinglian, report the banditry to Yingtian Prefecture and have him report it to the Emperor immediately. Send more people to the villages close to the bandit den to check if there are other bandits entering the village. The more difficult the village is to reach, the more we should check."
"Yes, I will tell Master Zhang everything I remember."
After returning home, Bai Zhiyue went to check on Yan Dong's condition first. There was no serious problem, but he just needed to recuperate for a while.
"Who does Shopkeeper Li belong to?"
"That grain shop is ostensibly owned by Manager Li, but in reality, the Minister of Personnel is behind it, which is why he's so arrogant."
"Okay, I get it. Take good care of yourself. I will definitely avenge this!"
"I should have brought a few more people with me. I bought the grain from Manager Li's grain shop at the original price, but then everyone took the opportunity to buy out all his grain at the same price. He must be extremely angry with me because I knew he wouldn't give up!"
"Oh, buying food at the fair price will offend them. Very good, if you want to make a fortune from the disaster, I will make sure they don't earn a penny!"
But the most important thing now is to get a good night's sleep and get some rest.
The next morning I was woken up by the noise outside.
"What's going on outside?"
"Master, a few people are causing trouble in our house!"
Qi Mingguang, the deputy sent by Yan Dong, came forward to report.
"Whose people are they?"
"They're from a few grain shops. After Manager Li's shop was sold out at a flat price, two more shops were sold out in the same way. This infuriated them. Now that they know you're back, they're all making trouble, demanding we compensate them for their losses."
"They are raising prices arbitrarily and they are justified?"
"They rely on the people behind them. I heard from Butler Yan that one family is backed by the eldest prince's mother, and the other two families are also backed by powerful people.
I heard someone reported you to the court, saying you competed with the people for profit, robbed their grain, injured civilians, disregarded the lives of others, disrupted business order, and caused losses to grain merchants."
"Tell me the details. Which group is causing trouble? Who's behind it? Who's the one who reported me to the higher-ups?"
"yes"
He first recounted what happened on the day he bought the grain, and then told Bai Zhiyue about what had happened recently.
"Butler Yan bought half of his family's grain at the regular price, not a penny less. Many people were present at the time, and the weight, measurement, and payment were all signed by the shopkeeper.
Many people followed suit and bought the grain. The grain was sold out and those who came later were unable to buy any, so they gathered outside the other two grain shops and demanded that they sell their grain at a fair price.
These unscrupulous merchants would rather close their shops than sell at a fair price, which aroused public indignation and a scramble for goods. Some people took advantage of the chaos to steal things and ran away. Later, the newly appointed Yingtian Prefecture Governor Zhang sent people to maintain order, which prevented the shops from being robbed and recovered some of the losses.
After this happened, several other stores did not dare to raise prices too much, nor did they dare to close their stores for fear of being snatched away. So they sold at a slightly higher price than usual, and there were no more problems.
So the first three families held a grudge against our house. The first one was the Zhao family of the Minister of Personnel, one was the Luo family of the Marquis of Zhenxi, and one was the family of the eldest prince's mother, the Concubine Xian, and the Wan family of the Vice Minister of Rites.
Besides these three families, there is also a certain Censor Li who is impeaching you. I heard that he supports the eldest prince's lineage, so he was the first to impeach you, and he also fabricated most of the charges against you."
"What does the Emperor have to say?"
"The Emperor has been busy with disaster relief efforts lately, so he has no time to listen to their nonsense. He suppressed it and instead issued an order that if the price increases by more than 30%, the shop owner will be arrested and flogged in Yingtian Prefecture. If the price increases by more than that, the shop will be closed.
They are angry that you have cut off their source of income, so they are making such a fuss. They are using the incident of beating people and forcing them to buy grain, and adding that the losses of the other two families were caused by the common people imitating our practices, to force the emperor to give an explanation.
"Okay, I understand. Have the palace guards arrest all the troublemakers outside and send them to Yingtian Prefecture!"
"yes!"
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