The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 245 Selling children is for disaster victims

For two days in a row, Tu Chengyu and his men were causing trouble in the open space outside the South Gate.

During this period, more disaster victims arrived in the capital.

Because preparations had been made in advance, the disaster victims were immediately taken over and arranged by Tu Chengyu's men as soon as they arrived.

Compared to the first few families to arrive, the newly arrived disaster victims looked rather pitiful.

Whether there were many or few people in the family, they all looked pale and thin, as if they were about to collapse at any moment.

Moreover, the clothes they wore were all tattered, and some men even had only half a garment on them.

From what you've shown, it's clear that the disaster victims who have arrived are not as wealthy as Old Du's family.

They must have suffered a lot on the way.

However, Tu Chengyu also noticed some phenomena, namely that among the newly arrived disaster victims, all families with daughters...

Their daughters, however, were all dressed in the best clothes in the house, and it was clear that these girls had just met.

Tu Chengyu glanced at it a few times and found it rather surprising.

Does this mean that the idea of ​​valuing sons over daughters has disappeared in this day and age?

Tu Chengyu simply couldn't believe it.

Tu Chengyu even asked Quan Wenwei about his doubts.

"Mr. Quan, after observing these people for the past two days, I have noticed that among the newly arrived refugees, those with women in their families are all wearing their finest clothes. Why is that?"

Quan Wenwei had just finished instructing his team leaders on how to register and compile records.

Hearing Tu Chengyu's words, he was initially surprised, but then seemed to understand.

Instead of answering Tu Chengyu's question directly, he asked in return:
"Your Highness, most of the girls you saw were in their teens, and there weren't any older ones."

After thinking about it carefully, Tu Chengyu realized that it was indeed true.

He quickly asked, "Mr. Quan, you've noticed this too? What's going on here?"

Quan Wenwei sighed and said:

"Your Highness, they are doing this so that they can sell these girls more easily."

"Sell your daughter?" Tu Chengyu asked in surprise.

Quan Wenwei nodded and said, "Yes, it's for the purpose of selling my daughter."

In years of disaster, selling one's children is something Tu Chengyu has only heard of in both his past and present lives; he has never actually witnessed it.

So he didn't think of that at first, but now that he's heard Quan Wenwei say it, he knows what's going on.

But there was one thing he still didn't understand.

“Since they have fled thousands of miles to the capital and the court has arranged relief, they should be able to survive. Why would they sell their children?”

Quan Wenwei said, "Your Highness, the court's relief can only guarantee that they can barely survive in the capital. But how to return home and how to resettle their families after returning home is a much more difficult matter."

Therefore, they had no choice but to sell their children in the capital so that the whole family could continue to survive.

Tu Chengyu then realized that settling disaster victims and providing them with porridge in the capital was only a small part of the disaster relief work.

The bigger task should be helping them figure out how to survive well after the disaster.

However, the imperial court made no preparations for this task, and it was not even mentioned in the Crown Prince's plans.

Perhaps the Grand Secretary, who is in charge of disaster relief in Jiangnan, would have made such preparations.

However, based on Tu Chengyu's understanding of the officials in charge, there wouldn't be much of a preparation like this.

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu felt a little heavy-hearted.

He asked Quan Wenwei, "Did these girls who were sold by their parents really want to be sold?"

Quan Wenwei said, "There's no question of willingness or unwillingness; they were forced into it. Selling one child can support the whole family, so they had no other choice."

"I have another question. If they want to buy children, why bring them to the capital to sell them? If they could sell them in their hometown, they might not have had to flee so far."

Quan Wenwei said, "Your Highness may not know this, but in years of disaster, the places affected by the disaster are bound to be in complete chaos. If these people, who have no one to rely on, stay at home, it will be very difficult for them to survive."

Therefore, they fled to the capital not only to beg for food but also to escape the chaos in their hometown.

The reason they chose to sell their children in the capital was because the prices offered there were high, which would allow them to return home safely the following year.

Furthermore, if the family's daughter is beautiful, she might be sent to a wealthy family in the capital. In that case, not only would they be able to overcome this year's misfortune, but they could also rely on this daughter to make a living in the future.

There are so many intricacies involved in this business of selling children.

This shows that while there was an element of desperation involved in the fleeing people selling their children, there was also a conscious intention behind it.

However, Tu Chengyu believes that regardless of whether they are acting voluntarily or passively, if his current plan succeeds, there is no need to make them sell their children.

So he said to Quan Wenwei:
"If I were to stop them from selling their children, would this matter be successful?"

Quan Wenwei listened with a helpless expression.

From the moment Tu Chengyu began to mention this matter, he knew what Prince Su was planning.

Even now, Quan Wenwei still feels somewhat uncertain about Prince Su.

Sometimes, he felt that Prince Su was an incredibly shrewd young man who could easily see through things, distinguish between advantages and disadvantages, and make the right choices.

But sometimes, he felt that Prince Su was still a naive child who always did some very unwise things.

In particular, as a prince of the current dynasty, he was very harsh on officials and nobles, but very lenient on the common people, which was unlike what one would expect from a prince from the royal family.

Based on this understanding, Quan Wenwei believed that when Prince Su learned that the people were going to sell their children, he would definitely step in to stop them, and now that has indeed happened.

Quan Wenwei sighed inwardly, but said aloud:
"Your Highness, I know you are determined to help the people, but have you considered that your plan has not yet been informed of the Emperor and the Crown Prince?"

It's not certain that things will go according to plan. Once the prince's plan is gone, trying to stop the people from selling their children will be a thankless and arduous task.

Tu Chengyu shook his head and said, "Mr. Quan, you don't need to worry about the plan. Father and the Crown Prince will definitely agree. What I know now is what I should do if I want to stop these things?"

Quan Wenwei said, "Your Highness, don't forget that the people may not necessarily be unwilling to do this, and Your Highness's intervention may not be able to stop it."

Tu Chengyu said with a smile, "I don't care whether they want to or not. I just want to keep things under control and prevent them from causing trouble."

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's request, Quan Wenwei said:

"If that's the case, then it's simple."

"How simple?"

"Your Highness only needs to add a few rules to the existing regulations governing disaster victims," ​​Quan Wenwei said confidently.
"Our current measures are basically able to register all the disaster victims. This way, we'll know exactly how many people are in each family and whether they have children. Once the registration is complete, we can tell the disaster victims that everyone is on file here, and if they want to sell their children, they must register with the Prince."
If they engage in private trading, they will be immediately expelled if discovered, and will then be barred from receiving government relief.

This method is feasible, as it directly controls both buyers and sellers, thus effectively preventing unscrupulous sellers.

However, this method only increases the difficulty and does not actually solve the fundamental problem; those who are going to sell their children will still do so.

Tu Chengyu must find a way to stop those who do not want to sell their children but are ultimately forced to do so.

Tu Chengyu felt he needed to seriously consider this point.

After thinking for a long time, Tu Chengyu felt that if a solution was to be found, it had to be found thoroughly and no hidden dangers could be left.

Thinking of this, he said to Quan Wenwei:

"Tell each squad leader to say that when there is registration later, tell each disaster victim that the imperial court is trying to solve their problem of returning home next year, and that they should not sell their children for the time being."

Quan Wenwei said with worry, "It's no problem to convey two sentences, but the students think that the people won't believe them."

Tu Chengyu replied, "Whether they believe it or not, these words must be conveyed. We can also tell them not to rush, but to see how your court handles things first, and then make a decision later."

After hearing Tu Chengyu's words, Quan Wenwei knew that Prince Su still pinned his hopes on his plan.

To be honest, based on the discussions over the past few days, Quan Wenwei believes that Prince Su's plan is indeed perfect.

This will help solve the problems faced by disaster victims to the greatest extent possible.

The problem is that the plan is too perfect; it takes into account every aspect of the disaster victims' needs.

However, no consideration was given to the officials, nobles, and wealthy families in the capital.

This will inevitably lead to a lot of opposition when the plan is proposed.

Even the Emperor and the Crown Prince may not support Prince Su's plan.

These concerns have been lingering in Quan Wenwei's mind for the past two days.

However, as a staff member of Prince Su, he could only support Prince Su's plan, even though the plan was fraught with difficulties.

Thinking about all this, Quan Wenwei said:

"I will summon them here and convey His Highness's instructions."

After saying that, Quan Wenwei sent his servant to call over the captains and squad leaders.

The "team leaders" and "team captains" were management groups that Tu Chengyu and Quan Wenwei divided up to better manage the disaster victims in the future.

So far, a total of six brigades have been established, with ten squads under each brigade.

The six candidates for captain are Xiao Xuanzi, Jia Lian, Jia Rong, Quan Xu, Su Xuanbao, and Lao Yao.

Then they each chose someone they were familiar with to be their team leader.

Then, set Quanwenwei as the general manager to oversee all the work.

To be honest, Tu Chengyu's arrangement is somewhat overstepping his bounds.

Because in the entire resettlement of disaster victims, he was only responsible for maintaining order; how to properly resettle them was the Crown Prince's job.

However, Tu Chengyu thought that the Crown Prince was so busy that he might not have time to consider these things.

Why not make arrangements for him first, so that he can smoothly take over when the Crown Prince is free to do so?

If the Crown Prince is willing to use the people Tu Chengyu has arranged, he can continue to use them. If he is not willing to use them, he can simply arrange his people according to the current framework.

It was with this idea in mind that Tu Chengyu dared to make bold arrangements.

Since there are relatively few disaster victims now, the various teams are not too far apart.

So they were quickly summoned.

Once the dozens of team leaders had gathered around, Quan Wenwei repeated Tu Chengyu's words to them.

These team leaders, both senior and junior, were all selected from among the more astute individuals, so after being told twice, they had basically memorized everything.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, Jia Lian encountered a problem.

"Your Highness, Mr. Quan, according to what you just said, does this mean that from now on, we should intervene in every matter involving the sale of children, and even prevent people from doing so?"

Jia Lian was quite perceptive and fully understood Tu Chengyu's meaning.

Tu Chengyu said with satisfaction, "That's exactly what I mean. We should try our best to prevent people from selling their children. If they really want to, they should register here."

Furthermore, if the buyer is unpleasant, no matter how much the people want it, they will prevent it from happening.

Tu Chengyu said this because he realized that, besides wealthy families, the main people who liked to buy pretty girls were brothels.

If these brothels were to buy girls, wouldn't that ruin their lives? Tu Chengyu had to stop this.

No sooner had Tu Chengyu finished speaking than Jia Lian spoke up, his voice tinged with urgency.

"Your Highness, if that's the case, then I've failed in my duty."

"Huh?" Tu Chengyu was quite surprised. This matter had just been decided, how could he have failed in his duty?

So Tu Chengyu asked, "What happened?"

Jia Lian quickly said, "Yesterday at noon, my husband and I came to a family's house. They had a very beautiful girl."

So as soon as he arrived, he was spotted by those who were eyeing to buy children, and several families immediately went to discuss it with him.

According to what I've heard, this family chose a family last night and are going to send the girl over today.

This is such a coincidence; we just started talking about it, and it's already happened over there.

That's good too, Tu Chengyu can take this opportunity to use it as a case study.

So he asked, "Do you know which family the buyer is? Has the girl been delivered yet?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian looked at the squad leaders behind him and said to one of the middle-aged men:
"Captain Lin, that family is under your command. You answer the prince's question."

The squad leader surnamed Lin was a servant of the Jia family, sent by the Jia family to work specifically for Jia Lian.

Upon hearing Jia Lian's words, he quickly replied:

"Your Highness, I haven't asked who the buyer is, and I don't know. However, among the people who came yesterday, there were a few from brothels, and they were the ones who offered the highest prices."

Upon hearing that people from a brothel were coming, Tu Chengyu frowned.

He asked again directly, "Is the girl still here?"

(End of this chapter)