Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 217 Seeing his life, he can't bear to see his death
"Your Highness really wants Lord Ru to stop meddling in disaster relief?" Wei Guan hurriedly stepped forward two steps, catching up with Zhu Su who was walking ahead. "Master Ru, sitting among the disaster victims, has contributed a great deal to calming the hearts of the people. Is this..."

"Does Master Wei think that this king is going to ignore his achievements?" Zhu Su gave Wei Guan a strange look. "I want merit and it's useless."

"His achievements will be judged by the official department. This king just wants to do a good job in disaster relief."

"Ru Taisu treats me so childishly, so I have no choice but to get rid of it."

Wei Guan muttered for a while, hesitated to speak, and finally heaved a sigh.If it is said that the Fifth Highness is purely out of public interest, he absolutely does not believe it.

Ru Taisu had offended the Fifth Highness before, and later, in order to gather supplies, he plundered the wealth of the Shen family under his command... If he was sincerely not angry, why would he use such an angry method of oppressing others face to face?
That's all.Wei Guan shook his head.It's a big deal, I usually follow this highness and watch, if this highness wants to do something shocking to the world, I can find a way to stop it.

Left and right, this Highness respects Wei Guan very much.I can hear it even if I think about it...

"My lord has already smelled the aroma of porridge from afar... Where is the porridge shed?" Zhu Su sniffled through the mask, catching the direction of the scent of porridge and rice in the air. "But it's ahead. His Highness the Fifth Highness came with the veteran." Wei Guan, who had regained his senses, led the way.

A group of people passed through many messy ruins and bamboo huts. There were many refugees on the road, and they went in the same direction as Zhu Su and others.Seeing that Zhu Su and his party were well-dressed and there were a large number of people, the refugees did not dare to approach, but only moved forward and looked at them from a distance.However, there was not much warning in his eyes.

"Ru Taisu's presence here is indeed meritorious." Zhu Su thought to himself.Maintaining stability in this situation is the most difficult.If the people's minds are disturbed and they see the officials and family members, the people should look hostile.

The porridge shed is located in the middle of the west of the city.Here, however, there was an open space, where many yellow and thin refugees lined up in rows. Carts filled with porridge buckets were pushed to the middle, and several guards stood beside the buckets, scooping and porridge. Distributing porridge and rice to the refugees.

Wei Guan waved his hand so that the guards who wanted to see him did not have to come forward.Zhu Su looked at the refugees and nodded, "It's considered orderly, only a few servants in this area gave porridge, and the people didn't push and push."

"The common people are simple, how can they not recognize good people." It was Luo Guanzhong who was beside Zhu Su and sighed. "But being able to have a mouthful of porridge and rice is far better than previous years in Qianyuan."

Zhu Su remained silent.

Approaching the porridge cart, he signaled the guard to continue serving porridge. Zhu Su probed into the porridge bucket and saw that the porridge in the porridge bucket was not very thick.

Stirring it with a spoon, he couldn't help feeling a little unhappy and said: "This porridge is too watery, can this kind of porridge fill people up?"

"Your Highness, please calm down. This porridge has already exhausted the entire Suzhou government." Wei Guan smiled wryly.

"It's winter now, and there is no food production. If we don't save some money, how will we survive until next year?"

"Although this porridge is not too thick, it can still satisfy your hunger. Two meals a day are enough to survive this winter."

"Amitabha, Wei Zhifu's words are correct." Zhu Su's inquiring eyes turned to Yao Guangxiao and Luo Guanzhong behind him. Yao Guangxiao glanced at the porridge, and then interceded for Wei Guan.

"The poor monk has seen disaster relief in other places. It is indeed not easy to have this porridge in a disaster year."

"But... just eating such a small amount, where does the strength come from?" Zhu Su frowned.It's no wonder that all the disaster victims as far as the eye can see look listless and powerless.

It turns out that the roots are here.

"There's no way, that's all we have for our food reserves. We can survive until next year's spring plowing by saving money on food and expenses," Wei Guan said. "The Ming Dynasty has not been established for a long time, and there is not much food and grass in the warehouse. Most of it was borrowed by Ru Yushi who personally showed affection and reason to the merchants in the city..."

Zhu Su twitched the corners of his mouth. The spring and autumn brushwork of these officials is indeed the basic skill. Where is Ru Taisu? Kou closed the stores of merchants in the city for reasons and forced them to provide food and grass before allowing them to open stores.

But this is harmless, Zhu Su might do even better if he were to do it.Therefore, Zhu Su didn't delve into it further, but asked: "Could it be that those wealthy households dare to risk the world's disgrace by hoarding in this disaster year?"

"...Businessmen value profits. Seeing this opportunity, they naturally don't want to sell grain and grass lightly." Wei Guan replied with a grin on his old face. "But rest assured, Your Highness, I, Suzhou, have always produced food, and there is actually enough food in the city."

"Even the food for these victims has been calculated by us. Although the porridge eaten is thinner, it is enough to last until next year's spring plowing."

"Hmm..." Zhu Su looked at the powerless victims and tapped the folding fan in his hand.If the victims cannot eat enough, they will have no strength, and if they have no strength, they will be unable to do anything. They can only hide in the shacks and tremble and suffer.

This is quite different from the disaster relief strategy he thought.

"Master Wei, you are saying that there is enough food in the city."

"It's just that they were hoarded by big households and they didn't want to flow out, so these victims can only eat porridge, right?"

"...There is no mistake in the general idea." Wei Guan was stunned, and nodded after thinking about it, but he was a little suspicious in his heart, what did the little Highness ask this for?
"If those wealthy households are willing to donate grain, the grain and grass in the city will be enough for the people in this city to eat?" Zhu Su asked again.

"If you think about it...it's enough..." Wei Guan looked hesitant. "I have a lot of grain in Suzhou. If it weren't for the heavy tax and grain, the grain in the 'preparation warehouse' (equivalent to the 'Changping warehouse' in other dynasties, which was ordered by Hongwu three years to prepare for shortages) would have been exhausted." enough……"

"so……"

Zhu Su looked at the refugee line in front of him who was queuing up to get the porridge.The ones at the front of the line happened to be a pair of mother and son.The child gulped down the porridge distributed to him with bright eyes, but he was still crying hungry.

The mother next to her looked sad, and handed her bowl of porridge to the child, and smiled for him to eat quickly...

Zhu Su frowned.

"Now it's the twelfth lunar month. If you eat such thin porridge alone, in case the temperature drops suddenly or the disease spreads. How can such a body that is not full of food be able to resist the cold winter and the invasion of disease?"

"Master Song once gave me 'The Analects of Confucius' in the past, asking me not to forget the five characters of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith. Since this king has seen the lives of these people today, how can he bear to see the deaths in other days?"

"Prefect Wei, I ordered you to send someone to fetch food and cook it on the spot."

"From today onwards, the porridge cooked by the disaster relief must stand upright without falling over!"

"You can't just talk about eating to eat, but make sure that these people can have a good meal!"

As soon as this remark came out, Wei Guan was startled, the yamen servant who was giving out the porridge was shocked, and even the disaster victims who were queuing up to receive the porridge like walking corpses were also startled.

Wei Guan never expected that Zhu Su would make such a move all of a sudden. He thought that the prince should know the seriousness, but he never thought that he would say such inappropriate words in front of many disaster victims here.

"Your Highness...Your Highness can't! Please take it back, Your Highness!" Wei Guan said anxiously.

(End of this chapter)