The next day.
Zhuang Ming put the strategy he had decided on overnight into a brocade bag and gave it to the three of them.
After the three people retreated.
It's not yet noon.
But Liuhe is here.
"Son."
Liu He gave a salute and said: "My subordinate has important matters and needs to return to his hometown."
Zhuang Ming raised his eyebrows and looked at Liu He.
Liu He has a handsome appearance and a slender figure. He is thirty-six years old this year and in his prime. He only wandered around in the world in his early years and was later conquered by Zhuang Ming. He has not yet married and had children.
Liu He is good at body movements, has high abilities, and has always been quick-witted.
After the ambush and assassination of King Chen's subordinates, this group of people stayed at Qianlong Villa to rest.
On the surface, it was called to recuperate, but in fact, such a move meant that they were temporarily grounded in order to block the news and avoid causing catastrophe.
Liu He's mind has always been sharp, and he must have taken this into consideration, but the matter has not yet passed, and his injury has not healed, so why is he leaving?
"My lord, Liuhe is alone. He has no wife or children. He just received a favor from someone for saving his life in Huaibei in his early years, but he has not repaid him yet."
Liu He looked solemn and saluted: "I heard that north of the Huai River, the disaster was serious. Many people had died due to the heat and famine. Liu He felt uneasy and wanted to see his benefactor and help him..."
"North of the Huaihe River..."
Zhuang Ming frowned slightly, he had also heard about this.
Now, it's summer.
It's just that this summer is hotter than in previous years.
There is already a drought north of the Huaihe River.
As time goes by, the disaster becomes increasingly serious.
Such weather can kill many people and crops will wither.
Many people will die in the summer, but this year's autumn harvest will be fruitless, and more people will starve to death in the winter.
"good."
Zhuang Ming nodded slightly.
In fact, he had just thought about asking Liu He to stay, tell his savior's name, appearance, address, etc., and use people from Zhuang's Trading Company to pick him up.
It's just that Liu He risked his life for the sake of Zhuang's trading company, ambushed the government officials, and risked being beheaded to fulfill his orders with Lu He and others... If he acts like this now, it shows that Liu He cannot be trusted.
Isn't it too chilling?
As Song Tianyuan said, the human heart is complex and unpredictable, and the way to govern is to study the human heart deeply.
Only if Zhuang Ming could trust Liu He did he let Liu He carry out the ambush, and after this incident, he should trust him even more.
"Thank you, sir." Liu He bowed and saluted.
"It doesn't matter."
Zhuang Ming waved his hand and sighed: "When natural disasters occur, people are in dire straits. We who do business can only prosper in peaceful times... In recent years, no matter what natural disasters, Zhuang's Trading Company has always tried its best to do whatever it can, and has never failed to do so."
Don't listen or ask."
As he spoke, Zhuang Ming took something and said, "Take this token with you. I will use the name of Zhuang's Trading Company to provide disaster relief in the Huaiyin and Huaibei areas. You will be in charge of the affairs there."
Liu He said hurriedly: "Lao Bai and Mr. Lu have always dealt with this kind of matter. Liu He is just a warrior, how can he take on such a big responsibility?"
Zhuang Ming waved his hand and said: "Your thinking is no worse than anyone else's, but you are not good at speaking. This time is a good exercise... In the future, Zhuang's business will expand day by day. As the elders, your positions and responsibilities will be different.
It’s not just about drawing the sword.”
When Liu He heard this, he gave a salute and said, "I follow the master's instructions."
Zhuang Ming suddenly asked: "When will you set off?"
Liu He responded hurriedly: "It's afternoon today."
Zhuang Ming looked up at the sky and said, "Go and clean up first. Come see me again at noon."
Liu He didn't know why, but he still bowed in response.
——
noon.
Zhuang Ming took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, as if he wanted to expel all the depression in his heart.
As for the young dragon, after swallowing a snow lotus, he also swallowed a piece of precious jade, and immediately went up to the skylight to breathe in and out in the noonday sun.
"Sir, this is iced sour plum soup."
Shuang Ling brought a bowl of sour plum soup, carefully for fear of breaking the bowl.
It was midday in summer, and there was a drought elsewhere. This sour plum soup with ice cubes seemed even more rare.
The year before last, Zhuang's Trading Company spent a lot of manpower to dig an ice cellar deep in a cool place underground to store ice cubes in winter for enjoyment in summer.
Zhuang Ming responded, took the bowl, and took a sip. He felt it was very cold, which was very refreshing in the hot summer. He breathed out gently, and it seemed to be cold.
"What are you calculating, Master?"
"This year's drought in the north of the Huaihe River has been more severe than in previous years. I just received news of the imperial court's disaster relief." Zhuang Ming paused and said, "I saw that the disaster was so serious. I considered that Zhuang's business would donate money this time.
100,000 taels to provide relief to the victims, but the news came out just now that the imperial court has only distributed 200,000 taels."
"Two hundred thousand taels?" Shuang Ling was startled.
"Two hundred thousand taels is still a huge amount of money, but it is much less than in previous years for disaster relief. What's more, this year's disaster is more severe than in previous years." Zhuang Ming said in a low voice: "My guess is that the imperial treasury
, there may be some problems, this may be the reason why the emperor tried to implement the New Deal... Moreover, this amount of silver has been exploited by officials layer by layer, and eaten layer by layer. How much of it can be implemented, maybe it can be implemented.
.”
"Young master, what you mean is that more silver should be spent on disaster relief?" Shuang Ling asked.
"Silly girl, it's not that you want to give more, but that you want to give less." Zhuang Ming shook his head.
"Huh?" Shuang Ling showed a look of astonishment and said: "The court's disaster relief is less than in previous years. Since the young master pities the victims, why do we need to give less?"
"Have you ever heard that a big tree attracts the wind?"
"I've heard of it."
"The imperial court in charge of the world only gave out 200,000 taels of disaster relief, but we were just common people running some businesses, but we gave out 100,000 taels of silver, which was equivalent to half of what the imperial court gave, and it also brought shame on the imperial court.
Where to put it? And in comparison, those families and other trading houses have been reduced to dust by us..."
"What do you mean, Master?"
"If the imperial court really has a shortage of treasury, and we appear to be so rich and lose the face of the imperial court, our reputation among the people will definitely be better, and it will surpass that of the imperial court. In this case, guess what the emperor is?
Will they attack us? For example, find some unfounded charges to accuse Zhuang's Trading Company to enrich the national treasury?"
"Master, this is also..."
"Perhaps thinking too far ahead can be a bit unfounded, but whenever you encounter problems, it's not a bad idea to look further ahead. At least this little thought will be beneficial and harmless."
Zhuang Ming sighed, and the sound of footsteps came from outside again.
With the young dragon's perception, he had already heard that it was Liuhe.
"Son."
"Come in."
——
Liu He entered the room. He was wearing a long robe and looked tall. He walked with an elegant pace.
He wears a sword on his waist and has an extra burden on his back.
Entering the room, I saw him giving a salute.
"There are no outsiders, so there is no need to stick to etiquette."
Zhuang Ming waved his hand and pulled out a page of paper, which was filled with dense words.
Liu He hurriedly stepped forward and took it with both hands.
Zhuang Ming said slowly: "For the disaster north of the Huaihe River, the imperial court allocated 200,000 taels of silver. I plan to donate 50,000 taels of silver to the government. In addition, in the name of Zhuang's Trading Company, I will distribute porridge and rice to the victims.
stop."
It also requires a lot of manpower and financial resources to implement porridge and rice relief for the victims.
Since half of the silver was reduced openly, we secretly used other methods to help the victims.
Hearing this, Liu He showed respect and said: "Young Master has a kind heart and spends huge sums of money to help the victims. It is really an act of a saint... Your good deeds and virtues will be remembered by the people. They will pray for you day and night for a long and healthy life."
Zhuang Ming couldn't help but burst into laughter, waved his hand and said: "People's hearts are unpredictable. As the saying goes, a favor for rice is worth a favor, and a hatred for rice is against it. These victims don't mind the small amount given by Zhuang's Trading Company, so it would be fine if they don't make trouble among them."
When Liu He heard this, he fell silent. He had been traveling in the world for many years and knew the darkness of people's hearts.
Over the years, some disaster victims have been like ghosts. They no longer have any thoughts of good or evil in their hearts. They only have the thought of survival. They will do whatever it takes to get a bite of food. How can they have any thoughts of gratitude?
"Okay, over the years, Zhuang's Trading Company has also made a lot of money within the Dongsheng Dynasty. Now it is just spending money to earn peace of mind."
Zhuang Ming smiled and said: "You may say that you have good intentions, but in fact they are selfish. It's just that I don't want to see the tragic situation of the victims, and it's just to make myself feel better... Of course, earning a good reputation will be beneficial to our Zhuang firm."
The future development and reputation among the people are also undeniable."
To win the favor of rice is to win the hatred of rice.
There are many people in the world who are grateful, and there are also many people who are ungrateful.
The human heart is complex and the abyss is as deep as the ocean.
In fact, Zhuang Ming doesn't care about what kind of good deeds gain blessings and what kind of good causes lead to good results.
Over the years, he has become accustomed to seeing many different kinds of people in the world.
Some people do evil and are punished, while some do good deeds and gain fame and even benefits. It can be considered that good deeds and evil deeds are rewarded.
But he has also seen many people commit crimes and get away with it.
I have also seen people who did good deeds and accumulated good deeds, but were repaid with kindness and evil, and the entire family died.
There is a saying in the world that good will be rewarded with good and evil will be rewarded with evil.
There is also a saying that goes like this: Kill people and set fire with gold belts, build bridges and pave roads without corpses.
Therefore, Zhuang Ming took these things lightly. His kind deeds were not to make others grateful, but to make himself feel better, nothing more.
But having said that, the word blessing may not be completely unreasonable.
For example, if Zhuang Ming is in trouble in the future, some of the people who have been rescued may recognize his identity and give him a bite to eat, which will be considered a blessing.
Of course, it is also possible that he was targeted because of this incident, and after some time, some gangsters would be ready to kidnap him and demand ransom from Zhuang's Trading Company.
——
Afternoon.
Then someone came to report it.
"Sir, King Chen has sent an invitation to hold a banquet at Gaoyue Tower tonight to entertain the upper class people in Fengcheng."
"I know, let's go down."
Zhuang Ming waved his hand and rubbed his eyebrows.
Once on a boat.
The last time in Mr. Zhao’s house.
This is the third time.
As long as it has anything to do with King Chen, there will be no good banquet.
Chapter completed!