Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 271 Pu Xin's Fire Dragon Burns the Warehouse

Suzhou City, Shen Family,

As a prestigious gentry in Wu County, the Shen family immediately began donating food and rice to help their neighbors as soon as the disaster struck.

A porridge stall was set up outside the courtyard gate, and many neighbors gathered there.

While everyone was praising Shen Yishu's merits, they also praised his foresight.

"If we were as far-sighted as Patriarch Shen, and had dug the ditches to protect the fields earlier and built the embankments higher, perhaps we could have saved some losses."

Shen Yishu consoled him, "You work hard to cultivate one acre of land. My family has extra money to hire someone to dig ditches. How can the fault be yours?"

"I thought things were simple. I should have dug more ditches and helped you a little."

"Master Shen, the price of food in the city has skyrocketed today. I am very grateful that you can give us some porridge to drink."

Shen Yishu shook his head and smiled bitterly. Seeing the villagers suffering from the disaster, he seemed to be quite reluctant.

"Now that the houses have collapsed and the fields have been soaked, what are you going to do in the future?"

Shen Yishu couldn't help but worry about everyone's future.

No one had any idea and they all shook their heads.

Suddenly, someone in the crowd asked, "Master Shen, you are knowledgeable and experienced, why don't you show the villagers a way out?"

Someone took the lead, and someone immediately agreed, "Yes, that's right, Master Shen, please tell us."

Shen Yishu seemed to be in a dilemma. He thought for a long time before saying, "It's not that I can't help you. It's just that it's a bit difficult for you guys."

"I can barely survive now, and my whole family is waiting for food. What else can I worry about?"

Shen Yishu nodded and said, "In that case, let me tell you a way. Let's hear it out. Now everyone's flooded fields cannot be dealt with in a few years and cannot be recultivated. It's better to sell them first and exchange them for food."

"Now the Xu family in the city is offering grain to buy land, and it is ten stones, which is enough for you to survive the winter."

As soon as this was said, there was an immediate objection, "Master Shen, this is not right, it's only ten stones, before the flood it could have been sold for at least fifty stones?"

Shen Yishu shook his head and said, "You also said that it was before the flood, and there was still a harvest. It is very difficult to deal with the flooded fields, not to mention that it will delay the harvest for several years. Ten stones is already a lot."

"Besides, the Xu family has a limited amount of food. The flooded fields in the city, if not millions of acres, must be hundreds of thousands. When others exchange their fields for food, how are we going to survive guarding the flooded fields?"

Someone else asked, "Master Shen, the farmland is our lifeblood. If we sell the farmland, how will we survive next year? When the ten shi of grain is eaten up, won't we just beg on the street?"

Shen Yishu shook his head repeatedly, "That's wrong. The Xu family is not a bad family. You can sell your land and go to work there next year to earn some food to support your life."

It sounds easy, but the glorious transformation from farmers to tenants is still hard for everyone to accept at first.

But now it seems there is no other way to go.

"According to what Mr. Shen said, we have taken all the advantage. Isn't the Xu family suffering a great loss?"

Shen Yishu continued to explain: "The Xu family wants to plant mulberry trees on the rice fields. One acre of land can earn several times the profit. How can they really lose money? Moreover, if they have mulberry trees, they need to raise silkworms, extract silk from cocoons, and weave silk. This requires a lot of temporary workers. By then, everyone can have a job to support themselves."

The grand blueprint was well planned and the atmosphere was just right. Seeing that Shen Yishu, who was always nice to others, served as a guarantor, the neighbors were willing to take the risk.

Just when everyone was about to start signing the land sale deeds, a group of people came up on a boat from the river.

The gong rang loudly, and the boatman shouted, "Outside the city, at the foot of Xuanmu Mountain, the Cao Gang is providing relief to the victims. You can get a year's worth of food for free. First come first served!"

"What, free food? Come on, let's go and take a look."

The crowd gathered around Shen Yishu disappeared in the blink of an eye. A wind blew up from nowhere, picking up a fallen leaf and blowing it past Shen Yishu's eyes, making him look a little desolate.

The dishes and chopsticks were thrown all over the floor, and the front door of the Shen family was in a rather messy state.

Behind the porridge shed, the cook asked in a trembling voice, "Master, are we still going to open this porridge shed?"

"Set up a bullshit!"

Shen Yishu was extremely furious, the matter was about to be accomplished and he was going to get a share of the Xu family's profits, but it was messed up by the Cao Gang.

"Come here, quickly report today's incident to the head of the Xu family. It is no longer possible to change the policy to provide relief at the same time!"

……

The situation in Suzhou changed rapidly. In the early morning, the dike collapsed and destroyed the rice fields. Hundreds of thousands of people were affected and displaced.

By night, the flood had subsided a little, and most people had been resettled and even received food. They began to try to return to their homes, collect the furniture that had been soaked by the water, and prepare to repair their houses.

A large army of ducks even came to Suzhou City, filling the city with "quack" sounds, which made several people in the government office feel annoyed.

Sun Yicai, a doctor of the Executive Secretariat, Xu Yaozu, the head of the local wealthy Xu family, and Zhen Yingjia, the supervisor of the Suzhou and Hangzhou Weaving Bureau, gathered in the hall again.

The originally flawless plan of reform and relief turned out to be like hitting cotton, with absolutely no effect.

Xu Yaozu slammed the table and stood up. "What should we do now? The people have food, why would they sell their land? And what about those damn ducks? How can you raise ducks in flooded fields?"

"How about sending people to dismantle the Cao Gang's stall?" Sun Yicai said hurriedly, "No, no, the government office is already notorious now. If I continue to obstruct the Cao Gang, I'm afraid the mob will really rush in and beat me to death!"

"So what do you think we should do?"

Sun Yicai pondered for a long while before saying, "How about we try to poison all those ducks? Without the ducks, the people will have to mortgage their land to the Cao Gang, but the people will definitely not want to bear the loss. They will definitely prefer to get food to sell the land."

"When the time comes, it will be the Weaving Bureau or the head of the Xu family who will negotiate with the Cao Gang."

Zhen Yingjia shook his head and said, "It's too difficult. If the fields we want are poisoned with ducks, and the ducks are raised freely in the fields, wouldn't the water in the fields also be poisoned? How can we grow mulberry trees?"

"Also, although the Cao Gang is a small righteous society that has not been around for many years, it has the support of Cangzhou and the Marquis of Anjing. No one can argue with them."

Sun Yicai was stunned. "Could it be that Marquis An Jing is coming to Suzhou, and the Cao Gang is paving the way for him?"

Zhen Yingjia nodded, "Very likely."

Xu Yaozu couldn't let go of this anger. He picked up the tea and put it down again, and said angrily: "What should we do? The food that my Xu family has saved has arrived now, and we are just waiting to buy land. If there is no land to buy, will all the food rot in my Xu family?"

Sun Yicai said again: "Otherwise, Patriarch Xu can sell the grain to recover some of the losses."

Xu Yaozu said angrily, "We are here to cultivate the land, not to trade grain! Aren't those people in Cangzhou who trade grain miserable enough? Do you think that An Jinghou will target my Xu family as soon as he arrives?"

Zhen Yingjia sighed, "Now we can only raise the price and buy land. The Cao Gang can't move so much grain on their own. The city is suffering from disasters now, and they can only help 30% of the land."

"Thirty percent is 500,000 dan of grain. How can we get more?"

"Nowadays, we can't make a lot of money. We can only make less money."

Xu Yaozu closed his eyes and sighed, "Master Zhen, I respect the Zhen family of Jinling, but I have to say that it is not my family that makes money from converting rice into mulberry trees."

"My Xu family can't say much, but we can do it. From the prime minister to my family, we all have to make money. We have to send a portion to the national treasury. The cost of land and labor has increased. Who will make up for the shortfall?"

"Who is willing to cut off some meat to fill this vacancy?"

Zhen Yingjia frowned and said, "Then you tell me, what should we do?"

"Fire dragon burns the warehouse!"

Xu Yaozu uttered these four words with an extremely sinister look on his face.

Sun Yicai's heart trembled, and his lips trembled, "Burning the Cao Gang's warehouse?"

Xu Yaozu nodded and said, "That's right. The Cao Gang said that there are 500,000 dan of grain at the dock. Even if we distribute it all day today, it is impossible to distribute more than half of it. Most of it must still be in the warehouse. Let's go and burn it. Without the grain, we can sell more land."

"You can even buy at a high price first. The first seller will get 50 dan per mu and buy the land at the original price. The later sellers will get 30 dan, 20 dan, 10 dan, and the land they can buy will definitely be several times more."

Zhen Yingjia nodded slightly, thinking that it was somewhat feasible.

After all, this is Suzhou's home court. It would be easy for the government to do such a thing, and it is even difficult to directly suspect the government.

"If this is the case, you must be careful in your actions. If someone catches you, the consequences will be disastrous."

Xu Yaozu took a deep breath and said, "I still need Lord Sun's help to make this easier for me."

Sun Yicai remained silent and did not even express his opinion, because although he was the highest-ranking official, his statement at this time was insignificant.

Behind Xu Yaozu are high-ranking officials from the Xingzhongshu Province, and behind Zhen Yingjia are the palace.

Looking at Zhen Yingjia, Xu Yaozu said again: "Second Master Zhen, there is one more thing that requires your help."

Zhen Yingjia calmly scraped the tea foam, took a sip, and said, "Go ahead, don't keep me in suspense."

Xu Yaozu said, "This land cannot be entirely in my name. I can provide grain, but the land must be transferred to the Weaving Bureau. After all, changing rice to mulberry is a national policy. If our family takes it all, An Jinghou will be suspicious."

The weaving bureau itself has mulberry fields that produce silk, but now there are many spinning wheels and insufficient silk, so they keep purchasing it from outside.

Of course, silk and satin, such as those supplied to the royal family, still had to be produced by themselves.

It was not uncommon for the land to be placed under the name of the Weaving Bureau.

"Okay, I'll take charge of this matter. I promise you."

Xu Yaozu was ecstatic inside, but his expression did not change.

Zhen Yingjia breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Don't worry too much. Don't panic. Marquis Anjing is not a monster."

"However, we must be attentive when entertaining him, and we must not let him dislike us first."

Xu Yaozu was confident, "Don't worry, Second Master. I have already spent a lot of money, nearly 30,000 taels of silver, to select the best actors and actresses in the city."

As he spoke, Xu Yaozu gestured and said, "Twelve people, all young, all virgins."

Zhen Yingjia nodded with relief.

(End of this chapter)