Someone in the queue said, "Well done, little brother. I managed to save some money to buy food. I didn't buy any rice or noodles yesterday. My family is already running out of food. You can just sell me a pound of whole grains."
Just take pity on me, okay?"
"I've been queuing for three days, but I can't buy anything to eat. Don't we all stop working and spend all our time queuing in front of your store? You should make it clear how many people you can only sell in a day.
Okay!"
"That's right! After queuing for a long time and saying you won't sell it, aren't you kidding me?"
A clerk with a more flexible tongue said with a smile: "This guest is joking. The most we can do in our grain store is to determine how much grain to store every day. But each guest wants to buy a different share. How can we determine how much to sell in a day?"
Human?"
Someone scolded: "You're just farting! The prefect has already issued a law that one person can only buy a maximum of two kilograms of grain per day. Where do the different weights come from? Please tell me, how many kilograms of grain does your grain store store every day?
?I won’t buy food tomorrow, but I will count at the door how many people you sell to in a day?”
Seeing that he could not persuade the crowd, the boy called a few strong boys and prepared to go back to the shop and close the shop.
Some gangsters hiding in the team took the opportunity to shout: "They are just disobeying the law, hoarding food, and want to starve us to death! Everyone rush in together to see how much food is left in it!"
A few more civilians who were not sure whether they were really persuaded or just stooges who cooperated with the trouble also shouted: "Yes, let's rush in and take a look. He said there is no food left inside. Let's go in and see if there is any food inside."
No, is it a lie?"
As expected, the crowd was incited, crowded forward, surrounded the grain store, and knocked against the doors.
Wu Qiudao saw that something was not going well and there might be a stampede accident, so he asked Zhuxiong and Feitianhu, two two-meter-tall strong men, to rush in and separate the crowd. Then he specifically asked Zhuxiong to keep an eye on the gangsters who were leading the trouble.
Stealth and follow them to see where they go.
Zhuxiong and Feitianhu were tall and powerful, and they waved away the crowd, forcing everyone to retreat. It didn't take long before all the customers who were blocking the grain store were pushed out, and they all glared at these two big men.
Wu Qiudao shouted: "Everyone, listen to me. Your attack on the grain store is against Tang law. I know that you are very anxious, but if you are blindly impulsive, you will only fall into the enemy's trap!"
The clerk at the grain store turned pale with fright from the riot just now. He nodded repeatedly and said: "This hero is right! This hero is right! Don't be impulsive! Otherwise, the government will send bad people.
The one caught is the criminal!"
Someone was dissatisfied with Wu Qiudao's behavior of helping the grain store, and shouted angrily: "You are a foreigner, you are so easy to talk about. Our family has no food. We have been waiting here for so many days without getting a grain of rice. Are you going to give us rice and noodles to eat?"
Wu Qiudao smiled: "Everyone has misunderstood. I just said that everyone should not be impulsive. Attacking the grain store is a violation of Tang law, but a few of us were invited by your Yuzhou prefect to fight against the lawless rangers!"
"If this grain store is hoarding food and not selling it, then they are also lawless elements! So I will open the front of the grain store. If there is really food inside, then they are at fault! Do you think this is right?"
The waiter turned blue with fright: "I can't do it, I can't do it!"
Wu Qiudao ignored the grain store clerk and asked Zhuxiong and An Jingsi, two strong men, to remove the wooden door. Then he looked at the grain store and saw that there were indeed many bags full of grain. It was not sold out as the grain store clerk said.
daily food storage.
So he asked the storekeeper of the grain store: "Well, you guys have made your choice. Do you want to sell all the grain in stock today to you, or do you want me to take the people who delivered the grain store to the government and file a lawsuit?"
The shopkeeper was still stubborn: "You are just kidding me, but I didn't sell out all the grain. How can I be sued?"
Wu Qiudao asked: "That's just right. I'm going to have a chat with Wang Taishou of Yuzhou. Do you want to go with me? By the way, during the drought, what is the crime for hoarding food and not selling it?"
The shopkeeper didn't dare to say anything more, so he could only ask the clerks to sell all the grain in the shop.
Seeing that all the customers in line had bought their food, and Zhuxiong also came back to report the whereabouts of the gangsters, Wu Qiudao nodded and asked Cyclops and Zhuxiong to continue watching. After all, Feitianhu and Zhuxiong didn't look very smart.
Afraid of causing trouble.
Then Wu Qiudao returned to the prefect's mansion and wanted to meet Wang Qin, the prefect of Yuzhou, to discuss how to proceed with the follow-up work.
As soon as they entered the courtyard, they heard Wang Taishou getting angry: "Is the edict sent from Chang'an very clear? Officials from all over the country immediately exempted the people from rent arrears, stopped taxing, and went out to store grain to help the people.
Bad years!"
However, some officials were under pressure and shouted: "I beg your pardon, I cannot agree with you! As the saying goes, military orders are not obeyed when generals are away. How can the imperial court in Chang'an know what kind of situation our subordinates are facing? Prefect, there has been a severe drought for three years.
What! If we open a warehouse for relief, what will happen next? What will we do next year?"
Prefect Wang said: "I have asked the Taoist priest from the Louguan Wenshi sect to build an altar for me to pray for good harvests and a large ritual ceremony in Cairo. This time I will be able to invite wind and rain, and there will be no more droughts!"
The official resisted the pressure of the prefect and retorted: "The sage said: You can't talk about strange power and chaos! The livelihood of the people in Yuzhou should be placed in the hands of some godly men. Praying for rain is really a big joke in the world.
!”
Governor Wang smiled and said, "Zhixian Lin, although you may sound high-sounding, are you really honest in your heart?"
"Three years of severe drought are a natural disaster; official inaction is a man-made disaster! Why are the people in this world willing to pay taxes on money and food to the government? Isn't it just to provide relief in famine years and relief in disaster years? Your Majesty
You are considerate of the people, why are you here resisting the decree?"
Lin Zhixian couldn't bear to take off such a hat, and said bluntly: "Prefect Wang, as the magistrate of Ba County, I have the position of power and knowledge. If you think that I am disrespectful by resisting the decree, I can take off this official hat! But I advise you.
Check how deep the water is before opening a position!”
"Three years ago, when you first came to Yuzhou and took office, you asked big households from all over the country to donate food for porridge. Why did they agree? Because they took the official food from the charity warehouse and sold it to you as a favor. Why did the porridge shed stop last year?
Yes? Because the charity warehouse has been emptied out already!"
"They took out only 10% of the money they gave out to give porridge, but 80% of it was moved to their own homes by the rats. In addition, the people fled the famine and sold the land to big households at low prices. This coming and going has a negative impact on others.
It’s a year of disaster, but for these big households, this is a rare year of good harvest!”
"Prefect Wang! This is the true face of those good people you praise!"