Stepmother in charge: Making a fortune through farming and raising her children to fight back

In the county government office.

Everyone stared blankly at the young man who suddenly appeared. Those with better eyesight could vaguely tell from his stubble that he was from the Xu family.

The Xu family is usually very domineering in doing business, and now they are the first to take action and give so much silver. If they give less, it will definitely not work. It really makes them look bad, and they feel even more dissatisfied with them.

County Magistrate Wang ignored all this and walked down with a smile: "Master Xu is still able to distinguish right from wrong. He has the country and the people in his heart. This is also a blessing for our Yunding County. I hope everyone can follow Master Xu's example and donate more money and effort to help our entire county overcome the difficulties..."

Now that things have come to this, what else can the other merchants who have not expressed their opinions say?

First, Ruyi'an risked his life to invent a new recipe, and then Xianyan Baonu donated 5,000 taels of silver. As people from Yunding County, they had no reason to refuse again.

I could only raise my hand and quote the price one by one.

"Laifu Inn, donate one thousand taels of silver."

"Li's Shop donated eight hundred taels of silver."

"Liuji Commercial Company donated one thousand taels of silver."

"The Old City Teahouse donated five hundred taels of silver."

"Fuding Inn, donate three hundred taels of silver."

"..."

Each shop donated more than three times the tax it should have paid each year. Although this amount is not a lot, it is acceptable.

After hearing their offers, County Magistrate Wang relaxed his brows and spoke gently, "With everyone's support, we don't have to worry about money anymore. The next step is to consider purchasing grain. If there are grain shop owners here, they can contribute their own grain reserves. If others have channels, they can also bring it up. We will buy it at twice the market price. This time it's voluntary."

When County Magistrate Wang said this, everyone present was stunned.

Although there was a clear ban on merchants hoarding large amounts of grain in this dynasty, as merchants, they would still carefully hoard grain in portions. Almost everyone present had several small warehouses for storing grain.

Especially this year's new crop of potatoes. After trying them, they found that they were very filling, so during the harvest season, they sent people to the countryside to buy a lot of them at the high price of eight cents per pound and stored them.

I just thought that when I have time, I can sell the grain far away, or store it at home for consumption. Either way, I won't lose money.

Nowadays, the county magistrate actually buys grain at a high price, with a purchase price of eight cents and an selling price of sixteen cents, which is directly double the price.

Even if they were to sell it, it would certainly not increase in value by that much under government control.

"Sir, my family is quite large, so we have a lot of surplus food. I will go back and bring it over. Please check it."

"Sir, I have quite a bit left over from my family, so I'll give it to you as well. I'll also bring you the donated silver."

"My Zhang family can send a hundred dan of grain. Please check it out, sir."

"..."

Everyone present expressed their opinions and then left one by one to go home and prepare food and banknotes.

The chief clerk behind him silently gave the county magistrate a thumbs up.

Your Excellency's move is very clever. Without spending a penny, you can make these rich businessmen give up the grain in their homes. When the settlement comes, there will be a lot of extra money, which can be used to buy grain from other places.

Soon.

Long queues formed one after another in front of the county government office.

These are all wealthy businessmen who came to deliver food. Those who are nearby are already prepared, and those who are a little further away will rush here soon.

Cartloads of grain were transported into the granary. Although it was impossible for merchants to store too much grain, if you counted each household, the total amount of grain was 5,000 shi.

As the county government was receiving grain, it gradually darkened. Everyone lit torches and carefully checked the accounts.

outside the city.

Lu Yunfeng was personally holding a spoon to serve porridge to the refugees.

Unlike others in the past, he would not just serve the clear soup, but would stir the porridge evenly and distribute it spoonful by spoonful, so that each person would get a bowl of porridge that was substantial and could last them longer.

The two siblings in front of him were so hungry that their faces were pale and their bodies were thin. They looked to be no more than ten years old. Lu Yunfeng couldn't hold back his sadness and gave them another half spoonful of food.

The two siblings looked at the full bowl of porridge and immediately looked at him with gratitude.

After eating two big bowls of food today, I’m definitely not as hungry as before.

Just as he was about to serve porridge to the next person, he suddenly heard a commotion not far away.

They handed the spoons in their hands to the yamen runners next to them and walked over with their men.

The brother and sister who had just been so happy and carrying two bowls of porridge were now kneeling on the ground, crying, hugging a man's thigh and begging: "...Please give my porridge back to me. I'll give you the other bowl, okay? Please leave one bowl for us two. We're relying on this porridge to survive today. If you take it all, we will really die. Please..."

"Get lost! Only children make choices. I want both bowls of porridge." The man raised his foot and kicked the two siblings to the ground. "If I hadn't protected you all the way here, would you two little green shoots have made it here alive? Now that life is better, I just want two bowls of porridge from you. Why do you have to argue with me? Be careful, I'll kill you..."

As he was speaking, a younger brother behind him came up and dragged the two children away.

The older boy struggled hard with him, but he was only about ten years old after all, and was restrained by the other party's two hands. The little girl was so scared that she didn't know what to do and could only cry loudly.

There were many people watching around, but no one dared to step forward to help.

They had come all this way together and knew how vicious this strong man was. If they dared to lend a hand now, their lives would be difficult in the future.

"What are you doing?"

A cold voice came from behind.

Lu Yunfeng stepped forward and glared fiercely at the group of people who were committing violence. "How dare they bully the weak in Yunding County? They even shout for violence and killing at every turn. They simply don't care about the law. According to the law, they should be severely punished with twenty lashes of the cane and then imprisoned for investigation."

Lu Yunfeng had been busy outside the city for a whole day, and everyone naturally knew that he was the county magistrate, whose power was second only to the county magistrate. Among this group of refugees, he was an unattainable existence.

The men exchanged a glance and tactfully knelt on the ground. "Sir, this is all a misunderstanding. We were just too hungry, so we played a joke on this little brother... We've all come here together, we're all brothers. How could we possibly steal their things? We were just playing a prank on the two kids to teach them how to protect their things, don't you agree..."

Lu Yunfeng didn't care about him confusing right and wrong, and looked directly at the brother and sister: "I'm here, if you have any grievances, just tell me, I will definitely make the decision for you."