In early March 329, the discussion on the new official system of the imperial court had come to an end. The "Theory of Social Contract" revised by Zhao Jiaren was also fully released at this time.

This book caused a great sensation among the knowledgeable people in the Song Dynasty. Wen Tianxiang quickly ordered someone to send a set to his third brother Wen Zhang. The letter repeatedly emphasized that Wen Zhang should read it carefully. Wen Zhang carefully read the letter from his elder brother Wen Tianxiang, but did not read the book. After putting it away, Wen Zhang went to inspect the latest granary.

Before he left the city gate, someone caught up. It turned out that it was Wen Zhang's contact secretary who stayed in the official office. He caught up with Wen Zhang and his group of horses and his team and stopped. The secretary said: "Mr. Wen, President Song of the Academy, wants to ask the magistrate to talk about the issue of releasing food."

Wen Zhang rolled his eyes and said angrily: "You said you didn't find me."

After saying these angry words, Wen Zhang also felt that it was inappropriate. Fortunately, the secretary was also very clever and did not move at all. Wen Zhang thought for a while and said in a normal tone: "Tell President Song that as a member of the school, he has his own jurisdiction. If he still had to lend food to the tenant farmers under the landlord, I would not stop him. But he did this by himself, so he would take responsibility for it."

Wen Zhang felt very happy to say this. He found that if he had to say it in person, it would be a complete tear-up. In such a situation, it would at least leave room for everyone to meet again. After saying this, Wen Zhang continued to move forward. The secretary brought Wen Zhang's reply to Song Gongming, the head of Jiangning Academy. After hearing this, Song Gongming just sighed, but didn't say anything more.

On the way to the Agriculture Bureau, Song Gongming couldn't help but think whether it was a bit inappropriate for him not to compete for the new Minister of Rites. Song Gongming used to be a special envoy to Mongolian diplomacy, but he left the Ministry of Rites in disheartened because of his failure in the internal struggle of the Ministry of Rites. He then worked in several departments and worked in the Ministry of Revenue for the past six or seven years. Recently, he was sent to Jiangning to be the head of the society. However, there is no need to fight anywhere. Just like this in Jiangning, the society felt that it should contact the tenant farmers more. Wen Zhang expressed his opposition. Wen Zhang and many officials felt that the tenant farmers wanted to get benefits from both sides. Since this time, let them understand the situation by themselves.

When he arrived at the Agriculture Bureau, Song Gongming presented the documents of the Ministry of Revenue to the Director, which required the Agriculture Bureau to prepare 10,000 stones of grain. In addition, he dispatched some people from here to help transport grain to the countryside.

"President Song, what are you doing in the countryside?" The Director of Agriculture was surprised.

"Lend grain to the people."

"Borrowing grain? Are we taking the initiative to borrow grain?" The director of the Agriculture tried to confirm with a shocked look on his face.

"Yes. We take the initiative to lend food to the people." Song Gongming replied. After saying that, he felt that he was not very clear, so he took the initiative to add it, "Charge 12% annual interest. If you pay it back in advance, you will collect 1% interest per month."

When the director of the Agriculture Department heard the interest, he shuddered. The interest rate in the Song Dynasty is basically starting at 30%, and 50% is nothing. The annual interest rate of this 12% is already low to the level of the Bodhisattva's heart. With this 1% monthly interest rate, it is no different from not having interest.

In order to make sure that he was not wrong, the director of the Agriculture asked again: "I'm releasing food now, but I have to help the people get through this green and yellow misfortune?"

"Yes. Although it is part of the green and yellow, there is part of it because of this plum rainy season. Some people only harvest the food they grow after the plum rainy season." After explaining, Song Gongming said in a relaxed tone: "I think the people also understand the truth and should not be liable for debts. With these interest, even if there are a few who are liable for debts, they will not be liable for debts."

The director of the Agriculture Bureau smiled bitterly and said, "The interest rate is so low, so how much effort does it take to make a living."

"We are planning to rely on the supply and marketing cooperative to do this. Since last year, the supply and marketing cooperative has undertaken part of the grain collection work. This time, letting them help do it, which can save a lot of manpower." Song Gongming said very confidently. The members of the society are not weak without practical experience. When everyone is planning, they naturally know how to consider the investment of labor.

"Why is it that it takes so much effort?" sighed the director of the Agriculture Bureau, "This is too offensive."

Song Gongming shook his head slightly, obviously opposing the view of the director of the Agricultural Bureau, but Song Gongming said something else, "Ofaulting a very small number of people can make thousands of people live better. We have nothing to be afraid of. And don't underestimate this little food, even if it's only ten thousand stones, it may save some people's lives. How can one life be calculated easily with money? Even if it's accumulating some good deeds, what's wrong with it?"

Ten thousand stones of grain were not taken away at one time, but a total amount. At the beginning, I only took a few hundred stones of grain. After a week, I didn’t lend it much. Song Gongming was not discouraged. The society had also considered this kind of thing at first. When the people saw such low interest, they were afraid that there was a trap inside. The government had always collected money and grain from the people, so why did it suddenly change like this?

The next week, news came from supply and marketing cooperatives in various places, asking them to provide food immediately, and a large number of people in the country began to borrow food.

It was at this time that Wen Zhang had inspected the construction of the granary. Once he returned to Jiangning, he saw a large bag of grain transporting out of the grain warehouse in the city. Wen Zhang remembered the matter under the leadership of Song Gongming, and had no choice but to send someone to invite Song Gongming. Wen Zhang did not want to discuss the matter with Song Gongming about lending grain to the people, but he had no idea of ​​interfering in this matter. He now just wanted to warn Song Gongming that blatantly transporting grain to the outside world in broad daylight would definitely cause panic. If someone was interested in promoting something at this time, he would be afraid that there would be a possibility of robbing grain.

The secretary came back and told Wen Zhang that Song Gongming had personally escorted the food to the countryside and had been away for more than a day. Wen Zhang couldn't help but ask the secretary suspiciously, "Song Gongming is indeed out for more than a day?"

Before, Wen Zhang deliberately ignored Song Gongming. The secretary knew that Wen Zhang was worried that Song Gongming was also playing this trick, so he replied: "Prince Wen, I am also worried about President Song's idea. I went to several other departments to ask and confirmed that President Song had been away for more than a day."

Seeing this, Wen Zhang could only sigh. After all, he and the school society did not belong to the same person. The school society was under the jurisdiction of the government. The Jiangning government could not directly issue orders to the school society. This matter could only be discussed first.

Three days later, news suddenly came in Jiangning. It was said that water was coming from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and many victims had occurred. The imperial court mobilized grain from various places to provide relief. The grain from the city these days was for this purpose. After that, other derivative news appeared immediately, saying that the price of grain in Jiangning would rise and that the purchase of grain was also restricted.

Wen Zhang was furious after hearing this. Some of the anger was naturally directed at the people who spread rumors. They were really bad, and they probably made trouble. Some of them were targeting Song Gongming, who was simply looking for trouble. The granary that Wen Zhang went to see this time was in a good location, not flooding, and was relatively fire-proof. At the same time, it was a new granary built in a place with convenient transportation.

When grain goes in and out of the city, it is easy to think of something, and it has a basis for spreading rumors. However, the population in Jiangning City has increased significantly, and it is very troublesome to transport grain from outside. Therefore, some temporary storage points have been set up in the city. Now things have come out. Isn’t this a disaster?

Fortunately, the telegram network has been opened now, so I immediately sent a message to the telegram station below, and finally contacted Song Gongming. After a brief exchange between the two sides, Song Gongming sent a telegram to Wen Zhang, which briefly and clearly introduced the solution, "Organize the people in the city to visit the grain warehouse in the city."

This suggestion made Wen Zhang very angry. If the matter did not happen, if the people were not allowed to visit the grain warehouse, many people would not know that such a thing was happening. Going to visit the grain warehouse with great fanfare is not telling everyone that something happened, wouldn’t it make the people feel that there is something wrong? If you invite others to come and see your own family, the people will definitely think there is something tricky.

Two more days later, Song Gongming arrived in front of Wen Zhang. After meeting, he immediately asked: "Can the Prime Minister Wen ask the people to visit the grain warehouse?"

"No!" Wen Zhang replied to the culprit in anger, "Have President Song not seen the people at the entrance of the grain shop on the street? They were in a long queue and were buying grain."

"Then we must let the people go and see the granary as soon as possible." Song Gongming insisted on his opinion.

"Aren't you adding fuel to the fire? President Song, it shouldn't be that everyone should forget about this matter at this time. Why do you have to provoke this matter again?"

"It is related to the people's pockets, how can they forget it? If the people know that there is a lot of food in the city and know how to view the supply of food, they can only be relieved. Even if they can't let it go, they also know how to judge. It's better to lose it than to block it."

Wen Zhang finally couldn't help but blame Song Gongming directly, "This is not that it's better to be out of blockage, but that you let the people see the big carts and small carts of food out of the city, and of course they think there is something wrong."

"It is normal for big and small trucks to transport food inside and outside the city. Now that Jiangning City has so many people, this kind of thing will definitely be seen frequently in the future. If you don't take this opportunity to explain it to the people of Jiangning clearly, they will still feel uneasy in the future." Song Gongming and Wen Zhang still took completely different methods.

Wen Zhang couldn't stand it, so he simply shouted: "Why do we send a telegram to the court and let the court decide."

"Yes." Song Gongming did not give in at all.
Chapter completed!