The bright moon is like a wheel, the clear light is like water, and the waves of the river are surging like silver scales. Hu Zhiyong, the owner of Hu's sugar workshop in Dongshe, Chongzhou, is a middle-aged man with a short bushy mustache. The Hu family has been in trouble for more than half a year, and Hu Zhiyong is worried and tired.
Her cheeks were thin and sunken, but her eyes were very different, looking thoughtfully at the full moon in the distance.
It was already past midnight, and for the second time, the full moon was floating in the river and sky. It was unusually orange-red and unusually huge. The silvery-white river waves in the distance seemed to be gushing out of the full moon.
"Dad, we're here. It's in Jiangwanzi in front..."
Hu Zhiyong's eldest son Hu Qiaoyi was a sturdy young man wearing a short-breasted shirt. He squatted on the bow of the boat, trying to identify the topography of the North Beach of Xisha Island under the moonlit night. He pointed to a gap in front and said to his father Hu Zhiyong.
This bay is not big. Hu Zhiyong still remembers that there were independent sandbars on both sides of the bay when he was a child. The big sandbar in the west is the main body of Xisha Island today. The small island in the east is also called Guanyin Island. Over the decades, the river and sea tides have accumulated sand.
After sinking into the land, Guanyin Island was connected with Xisha Island, leaving such a river bay. Chongzhou used to call the northeastern beach of Xisha Island Guanyin Beach and call this river bay Guanyin Bay.
The bow of the ship was straightened and just about to enter the river bay. Two sentry ships came to intercept it. Hu Zhiyong bowed to identify himself. A man came on board with a lantern and said to Hu Zhiyong very politely: "Mr. Hu came here at night? I'll come to you."
lead the way."
Hu Zhiyong did not inquire blindly, and asked the boatman at the helm and oar to obey the instructions here, and he and his eldest son Hu Qiaoyi followed the leader into the river bay and landed ashore.
The heavy rains in the past few days caused a section of the inner side of the river bay to collapse, and the bank was as steep as a chip. Lin Fu asked people to pull the Dongyang to the river beach made of fine sand and soft mud, and made the ship's side directly lean against the collapsed river bank, using pallets.
A sidewalk was built to use the Dongyang's stern cabin directly as a disaster relief camp.
Hu Zhiyong led the passers-by on a detour to the river bank and headed for the relief camp. Zhicheng said that they only concentrated the victims on Guanyin Beach when they left Xisha Island. Unexpectedly, after three or four hours, the relief camp had grown in size, with lanterns and torches.
, the campfire illuminates the campground brightly.
Ropes were used to pull out warning lines in areas prone to collapse along the coast, and ropes and wooden stakes were also used to pull out the boundaries of the relief camps. With the Dongyang's stern cabin as the centerpiece, more than a dozen tents have been set up in the open space near the river bank in front of the ship.
There are flag poles erected in front of each tent, with simple and clear classification flags such as "medical", "account", "guard", "service", "death", and "storehouse" hanging. Two porridge restaurants are located on both sides of the camp.
Outside, thousands of people were building shelters for refuge overnight.
Just looking at it, it is hard to imagine that nearly half of the refugees on Xisha Island drowned due to the hurricane disaster and the intrusion of the sea tide.
To be a businessman, one must be neat and agile. Hu Zhiyong really couldn't imagine what kind of nimble means it would take to set up such a camp in just three or four hours. The so-called army management and camp setting up could achieve this level.
I'm afraid it's rare, right?
"That is my lord..."
Hu Zhiyong looked over and saw that Lin Fu was wearing a short-sleeved Tsing Yi with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and standing in front of a campfire giving instructions. He frowned and seemed dissatisfied with other people's work. He squatted down and picked up a branch.
, he even writes down instructions with gestures, and only asks others to understand his intentions before letting them do the work.
Lin Fu is much younger than expected; Lin Fu has just passed his prime, but his actions and prestige will give others the wrong impression. Even though he is so young and still wearing commoners and straw sandals, others listen carefully to his orders.
His appearance made him look very authoritative, and the seven or eight armored soldiers guarding him made him look majestic.
Hu Zhiyong noticed that someone nearby named Lin Fu was looking this way. He bowed hurriedly and saluted, introduced himself to his family, and said: "Hu Zhiyong from Chongzhou pays homage to your lord..."
"Oh, I thought you could only come here at dawn. Are the storms and waves in the river still calm at night?" Lin Fu came over and took Hu Zhiyong's arm, asking him not to make such a big ceremony.
"It's calm in the river for the time being. I don't know if there will be another storm before autumn passes. Considering the extreme shortage of supplies here, how dare Zhiyong delay the disaster relief work?" Hu Zhiyong said, looking around.
, eagerly looking forward to seeing Qiao Zhong.
"Let's go in so we can talk..." Lin Fu invited Hu Zhiyong and Hu Qiaoyi and his son into the tent. He had never thought about letting the meat boy and his family meet in the river so early. There was nothing he could do, but he still had to be careful and not let anyone
There was no chance that the news would be leaked, so he walked into the tent and ordered people to find Hu Qiaozhong.
"This place is very shabby, and we won't make tea for Mr. Hu anymore. If you are thirsty, there is cold water here," Lin Fu took a wooden spoon and poured a bowl of cold water down his stomach, and said to Hu Zhiyong, "Here
The disaster relief is urgent, so why should I be rude to you? Whatever supplies you brought with you on the ship, I will send someone to do the accounting right away. I beg you that the disaster supplies will be used immediately..."
Hu Zhiyong also felt ashamed. He knew that both Qiao Zhong and Qiao Guan were still alive, taking shelter from Lin Fu, the prisoner of Jinchuan, who had become famous in Jiangning recently. He was anxious to come over to see Qiao Zhong, but Zhicheng reminded him to pack some on the ship.
Rice, firewood, charcoal and other disaster relief materials came over. When Lin Fu asked about it, he replied: "I came in a hurry. All the shops in the county have been closed. Zhicheng stayed in the county and knocked on doors. I will save the money at home."
They all came with the boat, not much, just three thousand kilograms of rice, two thousand kilograms of firewood, salt, sugar, some oil, and two live pigs that were temporarily slaughtered, and the rest will have to wait until tomorrow morning..."
"It's really an emergency. We are all still hungry," Lin Fu said to Zhou Pu. "There is no other manpower. Mr. Zhou, please go there yourself and lead people to move all the relief supplies ashore. Do heavy physical work."
The sick and injured were given rice, vegetables and meat, and the others were given vegetables and porridge. Let the dining room do the same. Let's get through the night first. When things are done, bring me a bowl of vegetable porridge. Give all the sugar to Doctor Zhou.
Go prepare..."
Zhou Puxun went out to make arrangements.
Refugees gather on Xisha Island to reclaim wasteland, and they all live close to the water. This time, there are almost no families who are not affected by the disaster. They are all crying for food and relief. Many people have been starving since the typhoon passed by the day before yesterday.
While setting up a disaster relief camp in Guanyin Bay, Lin Fu sent people to various parts of the island to notify the victims to gather at Guanyin Bay. Lin Fu had no plans to go to sea this time, and it was a hot summer. The food on board was very limited, so he just
The three-to-five-day rations for nearly 300 people on the ship were simply impossible to take care of everyone. The victims gathered about 5,000 to 6,000 people, and the food reserves were exhausted. They were waiting for the big loach master Ge Cunxin and the Hu family to come to the rescue.
At this time, there are more than 10,000 victims gathered in the disaster relief camp, and 3,000 kilograms of rice can barely keep the adults through tonight; tomorrow, more victims will gather, and almost 40,000 kilograms of rice will be consumed in one day. Chongzhou is
In a medium-sized county with less than 1,000 households, it would be considered good if Zhongmi City in the county has a grain storage of 300,000 to 400,000 kilograms. What's more, Chongzhou is not just a place in Xisha Island due to this storm, and a large amount of disaster relief grain is still needed.
Shipped from elsewhere...
Lin Fu was thinking about disaster relief matters in his mind. He raised his head and saw Hu Zhiyong still sitting there, and said: "Sit down quickly and talk. I didn't expect you to come here at night. Qiao Zhong led people to the West Island. There is a river across there.
Use the boat to ferry people over and send someone over to replace him. Qiao Zhong will be back soon, you don’t have to worry."
"Don't worry, don't worry, Qiao Zhong is learning how to do things from adults, there is nothing to worry about..." Hu Zhiyong said hesitantly, but did not sit down.
"What's wrong?" Lin Fu asked in surprise when he saw Hu Zhiyong looking strange.
"My lord has shown great kindness to the Hu family both times. Zhiyong kowtows to thank you..." Hu Zhiyong pulled his eldest son Hu Qiaoyi to kneel down on the ground and was about to kowtow to Lin Fu.
"What are you doing?" Lin Fu held Hu Zhiyong's arm to stop him from kowtowing, "Sit down and say something if you have anything to say."
Hu Zhiyong refused to get up and insisted on kneeling on the ground, crying: "The Hu family is just a small family. From the time when Qiao Zhong and Qiao Guan were wiped out, it fell into pieces. The operation of the workshop has become increasingly decadent, and it can barely survive with debts. It has been raining heavily for days.
They knew that it would be risky for an old ship to sail on the Yangtze River during this season, but they just wanted to let Zhicheng and Qiao Cheng transport sugar to Danyang because the price of sugar in Danyang during the rainy season was 20% higher than before. Fortunately, they met the righteousness of the adults.
We were able to survive through the help of each other, and I was overjoyed to know that Qiao Zhong and Qiao Guan were safe. However, the world is unpredictable, and if you think about it carefully, the Hu family in this world is like a broken ship sailing in the stormy waves.
, there is such joy today, but it may suddenly overturn at any time, destroying the family. The Hu family has no qualifications to ask for help from the adults, but apart from the adults, the Hu family can’t find any other way to survive, so Zhiyong shamelessly asks the adults to protect the Hu family, so that
The Hu family has been serving adults as their leader for generations..."
Hu Zhiyong broke free from Lin Fu's support and insisted on putting his forehead to the ground to salute him.
The Hu family had little choice. When Hu Zhicheng returned, he analyzed the situation clearly to his brother. The Hu family's sugar workshop, which had only a dozen or twenty employees, was on the verge of bankruptcy and was not qualified to compete with the mighty Ninghai Town.
Once the news of the battle between Shuiying commanders leaked out, Xiao Yuantao could casually send dozens of his cronies to pretend to be rogue pirates and kill all the twenty-odd members of the Hu family.
The Hu family is so insignificant. Even if they want to seek shelter from the powerful, there is no powerful family with enough weight to protect the Hu family. Besides, those high-ranking officials and powerful people are the same as Xiao Shouyuan, and it is not worth it at all.
Trust. Although Lin Fu does not have a good reputation in Qingliu, because he showed no intention of repaying the kindness he showed to the Hu family twice and did not avoid the disaster on Xisha Island this time, he is much more trustworthy than those high-ranking officials and dignitaries. The Hu family took shelter.
At least his subordinates don't have to worry about being sold to him one day.