The fool has become a spirit, and she can speak

Cheng Youning said, "Dad, that's not right. I came here once before when I was doing work for my little grandfather. At that time, the street was quite lively with people coming and going, and I even bought a roasted goose from an old shop. It's only been five or six days, how come this place has become so desolate and dilapidated? We weren't supposed to continue our journey tonight, and I was thinking of staying in this city for a night. Now, does it look like there's no place to stay?"

Cheng Feng looked at Cheng Youning's disappointed face and consoled her, "War is often cruel like this! Ji Yuanqiang and Song Baokang's troops had no food or fodder, so they had no choice but to collect it from the local people. However, after this happened several times, the people could only live on the streets and beg for food."

Cheng Youning was puzzled and said, "Dad, why doesn't the court directly allocate food and grass to them? I see that the food and grass for our southern border troops have always been allocated regularly by my grandfather, and there has never been a shortage of food and grass. I heard that Dalang has a foundation of hundreds of years, so there must be a lot of silver in the treasury. Why don't you give it to Ji Yuanqiang and Song Baokang?"

Cheng Feng said: "Although their Dalang Kingdom has a hundred years of foundation, no one knows whether the treasury is empty. Haven't you heard that the emperor of Dalang Kingdom is still building a hot spring in the palace?"

Cheng Youning nodded, "I have heard about this. Yuhua's husband Chen Qingliao is now in charge of building the hot spring there. Moreover, the blueprint of the hot spring was drawn by my mother herself! According to Yuhua, this hot spring has been under construction for three years. The project is extremely large, and the manpower, material resources and financial resources required for the entire project are inestimable. I heard that it has added a heavy burden to the people."

Cheng Feng said: "So, where does the money for Gai Tangquan come from? It will come from the national treasury. Moreover, the Dalang Kingdom has been in constant war in recent years, and it is hard to say whether the national treasury is in deficit. Even if the court can allocate money, look at this place now, it is a mess everywhere, and there is no place to buy food and grass. In the end, they can only extort money from the people."

Cheng Youning asked again: "Is it possible that such a large country as Dalang State doesn't even have a granary? Besides, don't they have a taxation system? Don't the people have to pay grain and taxes to the court every autumn harvest?"

Cheng Feng explained: "Even if the imperial court is willing to allocate food and fodder, it will take at least a month to deliver it here. If there is not enough food and fodder during this period of time, they will inevitably have to plunder the people in the end."

Cheng Youning said: "The people of Dalang are so pitiful! After all the plundering, many people are forced to beg on the streets. But we beggars also fight all the year round, why don't we never lack food?"

Cheng Feng patiently explained to Cheng Youning, "We have three crops a year here, and we have converted dry fields into paddy fields. In these paddy fields, we raise fish, shrimp, ducks, crabs, and clams. With this combination of various things, not only are fish and shrimp raised well, but the yield of rice has also been greatly increased, so we will not be short of food at the moment."

Cheng Youning looked at the people sitting on the street with dazed expressions, and a wave of pity welled up in his heart. He said softly: "Dad, now these people are also my grandfather's people. Are we just going to watch them starve? Look at the crying child over there, he must be hungry!"

Influenced by his parents' kindness since childhood, Cheng Youning always wants to help homeless people whenever he sees them on the street.

Cheng Feng felt his son's eager gaze, and then turned to look at the two carts of food and drinks that the old butler had prepared for Wan Lianxing. He hesitated for a moment, and finally made up his mind and said, "Forget it, distribute the food and drinks brought to your grandfather to everyone."

At this time, Suiying suddenly found that someone was unloading the goods from the car. He hurriedly stepped forward to ask what was going on: "What's going on? Why are you unloading the goods here? Don't you know that these things are prepared by the old butler for the emperor?"

Facing Suiying's question, Cheng Feng replied calmly: "Don't you see that the people here are almost starving to death? Instead of letting these foods sit idle, it is better to use them to help these refugees. I believe that even if my uncle knew about this, he would not blame me."

After hearing this, Sui Ying frowned and retorted: "Cheng Feng, didn't you notice along the way? There are countless refugees like this in and outside the city. How much can the food and drink in our car do? It's just a drop in the bucket."

Cheng Feng didn't care. He said firmly: "We'll help as many people as we can. We can't just sit there and do nothing." After that, he personally directed the unloading.

Suiying obviously had a different decision from Cheng Feng. It was not that he was reluctant to give up the two carts of food, but he felt that this would cause trouble. He persuaded Cheng Feng: "If everyone rushes over here soon, how can we continue on our journey? Look at these caravans coming and going, who dares to stop and rest easily? They are all afraid that those hungry people will surround them and rob them of their goods!"

Cheng Feng said: "We can't just watch them starve to death."

Cheng Feng responded helplessly: "But we can't just watch them starve to death, right? Besides, we have food in the car. Wouldn't it be too cruel not to take it out?"

Suiying had no way to deal with Cheng Feng, he said helplessly: "Cheng Feng, do you know why Cangman brought back the money to the boss when he went out to sell goods and do business, but you not only didn't bring back a penny, but also lost a lot of money on the way. You are just too kind-hearted!"

At this time, Cheng Youning, who had been listening nearby, couldn't help but interrupt and said, "Didn't my father use the money from selling pearls to redeem the lotus leaf?"

Suiying said, "Young Master, your mother doesn't know how to do the math, so can you do the math too? It only cost two thousand taels of silver to redeem the lotus leaf. Do you know how much your pearls sold for?"

Seeing that Suiying was getting more and more excited, Cheng Feng quickly winked at him, signaling him to stop talking. However, Suiying completely ignored Cheng Feng's hint and continued to talk: "I have to talk even if you wink."

Cheng Youning blinked his big eyes, looking at Cheng Feng for a while, then at Suiying, and asked suspiciously: "What's going on? Where did my father use the money? Could my father have gone to the southern Yan Kingdom to marry me a second wife?"