Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 184: Calming Down the Farce
Cangzhou Prefecture, Prefectural Government Office,

It was noon and the sun was warm and glorious.

In the classroom, Yue Ling was still flipping through documents behind the desk and handling Cangzhou's political affairs.

The warm sun shone through the window lattice and spread all around Yue Ling. He didn't feel the sun was blinding, but it made his body warm, which concealed the anger in his stomach and made him feel better.

Yue Ling was happy about the warm sunshine, but was also a little worried about the coming hot summer.

As for worry, Yue Ling did not regard the merchants jumping around in the city as his opponents, but he cared more about the lives of the victims in the city.

When touring a place, the most important thing is to comfort the people. The scorching sun in the sky is not a good thing for the people.

If Yue Ling failed to govern well and a plague broke out in the city, the situation would be beyond his control.

Therefore, as early as the first day Yue Ling entered the city, he planned to build houses outside the city, trying to separate the victims and not let them crowd together in one place to avoid the breeding of plague, which was also a preliminary step to rectify the chaos in the city.

Yue Ling has already had some ideas about the development of Cangzhou as a whole in the past few days.

Cangzhou was not like the Nine Frontiers, facing the grassland people's offensive directly, so there was nothing to worry about strategically. Moreover, Cangzhou City was located in the North China Plain, with flat terrain around it. It was a key point connecting the capital and Shandong by land, and it also had the advantage of the canal. With agriculture as its foundation and salt industry as its pillar, it might not be impossible for it to develop into a prosperous city like the current Yangzhou Prefecture.

Therefore, Yue Ling was planning to build a new city without walls for the few miles from the dock to the city to accommodate the victims and provide them with some livelihood.

Work-for-relief is the best means of disaster relief. If we just open the granaries and distribute porridge, no one will be able to feed the victims in the city.

Yue Ling is well aware of this.

When Yue Ling thought about the devastated Cangzhou City, which would become the most prosperous city south of Beijing under his governance, his blood seemed to be awakened. He felt the joy of farming and was full of interest.

Picking up another document, Yue Ling counted on his fingers and said, "Cangzhou is 400 miles away from the capital. It takes five to seven days by boat. It seems that the day to settle accounts with these fleas in the city is approaching."

"It's better to cry all the way than to cry alone. Exploiting these unjust merchants just becomes the nourishment of Cangzhou City."

When he turned his eyes back to the document, he saw Jia Yun walking in in a hurry, with some dust on his robe, as if he had just suffered something.

Yue Ling couldn't help but put down the document and asked, "What happened to you? Did you fall down because you weren't careful when walking?"

Jia Yun looked bitter. "The master is in the back hall, and doesn't know what's going on outside. This morning, the magistrates of the eight counties went home and took a lot of grain from the warehouse. This was seen by someone, and some people with ulterior motives spread the story that the master didn't care about the lives of the people in the city, and in order to appease the magistrates of the eight counties and win their hearts, he first helped the people in the county."

"If you think about it carefully, you will know that this statement is untenable, but the disaster is so severe that they will not listen to any explanation and are now causing trouble in front of the county government office."

"There are so many rumors that they can't stand up to rumors. More and more victims are coming to the government office to seek justice."

Seeing Jia Yun's embarrassed look, Yue Ling couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Jia Yun was indeed clapping his hands anxiously, "Master, you can still laugh. The people can't be stopped from talking, and the warehouse in the palace is indeed out of food. How can this end?"

Yue Ling stood up with a smile, walked past Jia Yun, and patted his shoulder to comfort him, "It's just those wealthy merchants who are causing trouble for me. If I can't handle this little situation, what else can I accomplish in this city? Won't I be looked down upon by others?"

Jia Yun was startled and asked hurriedly, "Master, do you have a solution?"

Yue Ling nodded slightly, "Let's go to the government gate first. To be honest, I want to thank the people who fanned the flames behind the scenes."

Jia Yun was even more confused. "Thank you?"

……

At noon, the weather was dry and hot, and people's negative emotions were difficult to suppress, and they were all very irritable.

At this moment, the gate of the government office was crowded with disaster-stricken people, all of them dishevelled and half-naked.

The porridge stall that is about to be opened is their only hope of survival. If it is not a matter of life and death, who among the originally kind-hearted people would be willing to go against the government?

No one cared to verify the truth of the rumors circulating in the streets, and they all wanted to come to the government office to seek an explanation.

The yamen runners tried their best to maintain order in the venue and prevent the victims from attacking the government office and endangering the back hall.

Public resentment is boiling, and from time to time there are people in the team fanning the flames.

"Why should the grain be transported away? The lives of the disaster victims in his county are lives, but our lives are not lives?"

Someone else asked, "The Imperial Envoy said that the porridge stall will be opened soon. When will it open?"

"Yes, let the Imperial Envoy come out and speak! Are you afraid to speak?!"

"You must give us an explanation today!"

The noise was getting louder and louder, and the yamen runners at the door felt very troubled. They just hoped that An Jinghou would really come out to solve the problem, instead of throwing the mess to them like Park and Ji did.

When the two sides were in a stalemate, several gong sounds were heard from the gate of the government office, drowning out the voices of everyone else.

When they heard the gong sound, everyone stopped making noise, knowing that an important official had arrived.

Yue Ling walked in front of the crowd, looked around at the people around him, and said in a deep voice: "I am the imperial envoy. The porridge shed will not be abandoned, and it is being renovated in the near future. In less than two days, we will start distributing porridge together." Yue Ling first said what the victims wanted to hear most, and then slowly unfolded the rest of the words.

"There are now 70,000 to 80,000 disaster victims pouring in from all directions. The porridge stalls originally set up in the four corners of the city are simply not enough. I have ordered the repair of more than ten porridge stalls in the city, and you should be able to see them."

"Besides, the porridge is only distributed twice a day. To be honest, it can only fill your stomach. If anyone wants to eat dry food or find a living, please sign up at the gate of the government today."

"Register your name, place of origin, and whether you are good at anything. I want to turn the situation around in Cangzhou Prefecture, and I'm short of manpower. The porridge stall will give priority to the elderly, the weak, women, and children. If you have some strength, come work for me, you'll get two meals a day, and you can get some food, which should be considered a way out."

Working for the family means providing meals and food, which is a good thing that can help support the family.

When everyone heard this, their eyes lit up.

At the right time, someone asked, "Sir, what is considered as being good at something?"

Yue Ling looked in the direction of the voice and explained, "Carpenters and bricklayers can go build houses. Those who are strong can do odd jobs. If you were a farmer in the past, then you are good at farming. If you have learned martial arts, that would be great, you can directly apply to join the army. When you join the army, you will have greasy meals every day and meat once every seven days."

Everyone looked at each other.

Seeing that the imperial envoy spoke with certainty and it seemed that he was not joking, everyone became excited.

Two large tables were moved out behind Yue Ling and placed on the side of the road. The clerk in the government office took out paper and pen and began to register the names.

"There are a limited number of openings, first come first served, everyone needs to seize the opportunity! Don't push, don't push, the table will be overturned soon!"

"I'll do it, I'll do it. I'm the best Bajiquan master in Taiping Village! I should join the army and serve my country!"

"Go play with the mud, Taiping Village is full of old, weak, women and children, anyone who goes there will be a master! My family is the one that has the real heritage, the Miao Dao technique passed down from our ancestors!"

"..."

The originally turbulent public sentiment was still turbulent at this moment, but it was just that the public was clamoring to do things for Yue Ling.

Behind the crowd, at an alley entrance, two people looked at the grand scene in front of the government office and discussed, "How dare Yue Ling brag like that? He hired so many people to work and gave them dry food. They would have to eat dozens of stones of food a day."

Another person added, "Let's see how he blows his own trumpet! There's not a single grain of rice in the city's warehouses. Can he feed the entire city with his empty talk?"

After spitting, the two men seemed to have not seen the excitement they had originally wanted, and they rode in a sedan chair with a "yellow" banner on it with little interest, and slowly disappeared into the alley.

……

The news that food would be available in two days had spread throughout Cangzhou City. The victims were waiting for the imperial envoy from the corrupt officials' rule, and the city's preparations for disaster relief were also well done, so they didn't mind waiting for another two days.

As nervous as the victims were the merchants in the city who were hoarding food.

If the matter about grain was true, then they would have to sell the grain they had in stock quickly in order to make a profit.

Grain is not easy to store. Even with good ventilation and proper handling, rice can only be stored for one to two years at most. But if Cangzhou City is on the right track under Yue Ling's rule, all the grain will have to be left in hand, waiting to go moldy. By then, all the money will be lost and the family will be ruined.

Not to mention that the grain merchants in the city had just paid a huge amount of back taxes, and they did not have much cash to support the operation of the industry.

The grain merchants didn't want to gamble, but they had to.

On the Grand Canal,

One after another, official ships have entered the territory of Cangzhou.

There are many ships on the Grand Canal, and official ships are very common. These dozens of official ships flying the Cangzhou flag are not conspicuous in the river.

As the captain of the canal in the Cangzhou section, Zhang Changhe originally had considerable power on this road. But now he can only stand on the deck and smile, feeling very aggrieved.

Shi Ding held the railing and looked at the river, and asked the people around him: "Captain Zhang, how long will it take us to Cangzhou?"

Zhang Changhe responded with a smile, "It should be here tonight."

Shi Ding nodded slightly, quite satisfied with the answer.

At that moment, a soldier on the deck came to report, "General, someone claiming to be from the Huang family of Cangzhou City is here to look for Zhang Changhe, the river patrol captain."

Shi Ding frowned and looked back, "Is he an old friend of Captain Zhang?"

Zhang Changhe shuddered and cursed inwardly, "What on earth are these idiots doing here? I just hope they don't say anything outrageous and get me killed!"

Zhang Changhe couldn't chase him away, otherwise it would seem like there was something fishy going on. At this moment, he could only smile awkwardly and said, "We can't be called old friends. We're just people from Cangzhou Prefecture who have met each other a few times."

Shi Ding nodded and said, "Then let's call him over. I want to hear what this merchant who is hoarding goods in the city wants to say to Captain Zhang."

Shi Ding's words made Zhang Changhe shudder, and his body trembled slightly...

(End of this chapter)