From Jiangning to Chongzhou, it took a post road and a river crossing for 500 miles. Lin Mengde only took two armed guards with him to protect him. In the morning, he received an official letter signed by the inspector Jia Pengyu and left Jiangning without any delay. He spent money on bribes along the way.
The postman only changed horses but not people along the way, so he arrived at Xisha Island before dark.
The two accompanying military guards were both in good health. Although they were tired, they would regain their energy after taking a rest. However, the inside of Lin Mengde's thighs were bruised by the saddle. At this time, they were drugged and lay half on the bed with their legs spread out in an ugly posture.
Go up and talk to Lin Fu.
"Master Cao originally wanted to come over, but over at the river mouth he has the title of village chief and can't leave. I didn't expect that riding a horse for a day would be so painful. I couldn't help you, but I became a burden to you."
"I didn't expect Jiang Li to save Qiao Zhong's family." Lin Fu moved the others aside, pulled up a chair and sat in front of Lin Mengde, "Brothers Hu Zhiyong and Hu Zhicheng are quite capable. With their help, it will be easier."
Young Master, Uncle Meng De, you can come over and give me some advice. I have decided to provide disaster relief here, what do Zi Ang and Little Loach think?"
"You have made a decision, so we will naturally arrange everything based on your decision," Lin Mengde said with a smile, "What do you think?"
"I didn't think it was too complicated at first," Lin Fu said. "The boat was sailing on the river, the wind and waves were bad, and my heart was like a thread. At first glance, it seemed like a disaster. More than 20,000 people drowned, and more than 20,000 people were crying for food. No one who took the slightest responsibility would know how to do it.
Stand by and watch."
"Those who have the world in mind must first have the will to help the world," Lin Mengde said with a smile. "Taking it from a small perspective, Hongzepu has learned from the past. If the short-sighted Chongzhou officials are allowed to do nothing, the victims on the island will really disperse on their own.
Go? I don’t think so. If a person has no way to survive, what else can’t he do?”
"Indeed, I am worried about this too," Lin Fu nodded and said, "Xisha Island is right at the mouth of the Yangtze River. If there is chaos here, the waterway connection between the river mouth and Changshan Island will have to be bypassed from Jiyang Lake and the Dongjiang River. The Dongjiang waterway is narrow.
, the intention to go out to sea is easy for both sides to detect, and it is within the core control range of Ninghai Zhenshuiying, and the Dongjiang outlet is facing the Shengsi Islands where the East China Sea pirates are entrenched, so there is a high chance of encountering the East China Sea pirate ships head-on. In addition,
, If there is chaos in Chongzhou, the She family will benefit the most. If the Donghai bandits take the opportunity to intervene in Chongzhou and control the situation in Chongzhou by gathering the victims of chaos, then the problem will become even more serious and uncontrollable..."
"Master Cao and I received the report in the middle of the night and knew that this matter was not a trivial matter. We immediately sent someone to call Mr. Loach back from the Longjiang Shipyard to discuss it together," Lin Mengde said, "This is what we are most worried about. You are going on this trip.
The purpose of Pingjiang Prefecture is to prevent Taihu pirate forces from being annexed by the She family and the East China Sea bandits. Of course, they cannot allow the She family and the East China Sea pirate forces to intervene among the victims of the Xisha Island."
Xisha Island is located in the middle of the route between Changshan Island and Hekou. The Dongyang cruise ship travels to and from Changshan Island using Xisha Island as a transit point. Its geographical location is so important that there is no need to explain it in writing.
Lin Fu knew that Cao Ziang, Lin Mengde, and Ge Cunxiong could understand the priorities.
"Master Cao accurately predicted what Chongzhou County might do to the victims," Lin Mengde added. "I was afraid that you would not have a disaster relief position in Chongzhou, so he asked me to knock on the door all night and go into the city to find Zhang Yubo, and then rushed to check on him.
At that time, Xiao Xuanchou's house pulled him out of bed. We took three hundred taels of gold from the warehouse and gave it to Xiao Xuanchou as a favor. Originally we only hoped that Xiao Xuanchou would issue an official document to give you a position in Chongzhou. How could I have thought of this?
He was greedy for gold and lacked responsibility, so he brought the matter to the inspector Jia Pengyu. At that time, Mr. Cao and I were afraid that Jia Pengyu would make things difficult, so we had to wait for Dongyang's reply. Unexpectedly, Jia Pengyu signed the order without saying a word. After thinking about it,
Jia Pengyu also had other intentions, but he couldn't care too much. He had to wait until Gu Wuchen came back from Dongyang to send a message and then went to Jiangning to draft a formal official letter. It would take at least four days. A delay of four days would be too much for us in Chongzhou.
It’s bad.”
"The main reason I went out to Jiangning was to prevent the Taihu bandit forces from trying to lure the She family, but the big banner I was carrying was to raise military supplies, food, and salaries for Dongyang's local warriors. Dongyang's local warriors also really hope to receive a large amount of military supplies, food, and salaries.
" Lin Fu said, "Jia Pengyu wrote in the official letter that he asked me to use the food and salary raised to help the victims first. This is the problem: Chongzhou County will probably use this as an excuse to throw all the burden of relieving the victims to us. Over there in Dongyang
If they don't get the food and salary that they should get, they will probably blame me for meddling in my own business here..."
"Well," Lin Mengde nodded and said, "Jia Pengyu is about to retire and return home, but an old fox will be an old fox after all."
Lin Fu nodded: "Jia Pengyu still wants to alienate the relationship between me and Gu Wuchen, and the other is to hinder Gu Wuchen from training Xiangyong in Dongyang... The Chu Party is so powerful that these old foxes have to give in, but they are unwilling to give in.
Give in like this."
"Speaking of this, there are some strange rumors in Hekou recently that are worth pondering?" Lin Mengde said.
"What rumors are worth making such a fuss about?" Lin Fu asked.
"If Xun Niang doesn't marry anyone after she is seventeen years old, Gu Wuchen will probably keep her daughter as a bargaining chip to win over you." Lin Mengde said, "The man is unmarried and the woman is unmarried. There is nothing to say. We are also guessing in private.
But this kind of talk is widely circulated in tea shops and streets, and it is deliberately trying to win people's hearts. I'm afraid it's not that simple..."
"Ignore him for now. There are always people who like to play tricks..." Lin Fu frowned. He couldn't deal with such rumors. Yingxiu should have mentioned the intention of proposing marriage to Gu Junxun. This kind of thing must be done at all.
It depends on the attitude of Gu Wuchen and his wife, but no matter what, Gu Wuchen will not kick him away at this time, so he can only ignore it for now.
"Here in Chongzhou, do you think this is a good idea?" Lin Mengde said, "You are only acting in the name of assisting the local government in dealing with the disaster. You can ignore the so-called requirement of 'raising food first to help the victims' in the official document signed by Jia Pengyu."
?”
"You can't have your cake and eat it too, it's so rare in the world to be able to sacrifice harm for gain," Lin Fu said with a bitter smile, "When this official letter reaches Chongzhou County, Chongzhou County will definitely blame the disaster relief work on me. This time
Even if we secretly transfer a large amount of money, some people in Dongyang will still think that we use the food and salary that should belong to Dongyang's local warriors to help the victims here."
"Since we can't take care of both, relief to the victims must be done." Lin Mengde considered the pros and cons and still firmly supported Lin Fu in relieving the victims on Xisha Island. "Other people don't know what happened on Changshan Island. The so-called refugees are not people born to be dispersed.
If these 20,000 to 30,000 refugees can take root in Xisha Island, if changes occur in the future, it will be a great help to Changshan Island. Mr. Cao and I discussed that we can’t just simply provide relief to the refugees, but there are other things to do in addition to raising hopes...
..." Lin Mengde said this, paused for a moment, and said while thinking, "Now that the Hu family has joined you, I think it is best. The Hu family is a local in Chongzhou, and there will be no suspicion if you use the Hu family.
Then the Hu family is worthy of trust. We can take advantage of the relief to help the Hu family move to Xisha Island and take root. In this way, even if things are done here, we can use the Hu family to ensure your long-term influence on Xisha Island."
Lin Fu nodded and said: "It is indeed feasible. Let's deal with these two days first, and I will discuss it with brother Hu Zhiyong."
Lin Fu sent a copy of the official letter from the Inspectorate to Chongzhou County that night. The county magistrate Chen Kun still did not show up. Li Shuyi, the secretary of the Household Office, bit the bullet and took a boat to Xisha Island again.
"Master Lin, Master Geng went back and gave Master Chen a hard lesson." Li Shuyi handed the official documents from the county to Lin Fu with a smile on his face and a tearful heart. "This disaster in Chongzhou is not limited to one place. County Magistrate Chen, Chief Secretary Xiao,
Geng County Lieutenant and others all went to other places and asked me to come and obey Master Lin's instructions."
Since the official letter from the Inspectorate mentioned "raising food first to provide disaster relief" and Chongzhou County was affected by more than just Xisha, the county decided to put the Xisha relief effort entirely on Lin Fu's head, and Li Shuyi even left the government office
He didn't even take the official with him, so he brought two family members to the island to help Lin Fu in the disaster relief.
It rained heavily again at night, and the wind and waves surged. Lin Fu chose a slightly higher slope on the Northeast Beach as a disaster relief camp. There were large bushes on the east side of the camp that could block wind and waves, and it was generally safe. But it had not been set up yet.
With enough shacks in place, most of the victims could only stand in the heavy rain and spend the night, except for priority care for injuries and illnesses.
Lin Fu initially wore a raincoat, but it was soon soaked by the rain. He took off the raincoat and wore a soaked official robe to inspect the disaster situation in the heavy rain. Several polders collapsed in large areas due to heavy rains, and the sediment was turbulent.
The river embankment was taken away, as if a large area of land disappeared from sight overnight. However, these dangerous areas were alerted in advance, and the people placed there were evacuated in time, and no casualties were caused.
Relief is easy, but resettlement is difficult. Lin Fu estimates that even if the local governments and counties finally come up with policies and procedures to resettle the refugees, there will still be many refugees staying on Xisha Island; for thousands of years, farmers have been eager for land.
And the depth of passion is unimaginable.
Lin Fu let the heavy rain wet his clothes and stared for a long time at the gap caused by the heavy rain and the waves. Looking from where he stood, the gap was just a deeper black shadow: unstable sandy terrain, summer storms, and barren land.
Xisha Island cannot escape the harsh natural environment, but it is not that there are ways to overcome it. It is just that the local government has not fulfilled its due responsibilities.
In the river in the distance, a huge ship was heaving with the waves. There were still a few wind lanterns at the disaster relief camp that had not been extinguished by the heavy rain. From a distance, they looked like weak fireflies.
Qin Zitan stood in the cabin, ignoring the raindrops floating into the cabin, looking at the firefly-like wind lanterns at the disaster relief camp on the shore in the distance, and stamped his feet in annoyance, but he didn't expect to arrive a step too late.
Qin Zitan knew that Xisha Island was seriously affected, so he rushed from Huzhou without delay and met Du Rong who came from Weiyang in the Yangtze River in Huyang County.
Whether it was instigating the victims of the Xisha Island to rebel, or using the Qingfeng Bank to assist the Chongzhou County Yamen to provide disaster relief and infiltrate the forces of the She Family and the Donghai Bandits in the Xisha Island, they have made great achievements.
Qin Zitan had just contacted the informant deployed in Chongzhou and learned that the hurricane and the intrusion of the tide in Xisha Island had killed nearly half of the refugees. The attitude of Chongzhou County was also clear. The local disaster was also serious, and there was no time to take care of these victims.
Refugees.
Regardless of whether it is a major disaster or a major epidemic, most of the survivors are young and middle-aged people with strong bodies. This disaster can be said to have naturally eliminated an elite soldier base for the She family in the heart of Jiangning. Due to the local support for the refugees,
Due to the hostility and rejection as well as the inaction of the local government, these disaster-stricken refugees who had no other way to survive could have been easily encouraged or won over by the She family. Who would have thought that Lin Fu would take the first step again!
Regardless of the boat bumping in the wind and waves, Du Rong also stared at the island with a gloomy expression. Lin Fu was already a thorn in their hearts.