Accompanied by Du Ziteng and Wu Wei, Jiang County Prime Minister and Director Diao stood in the No. A grain warehouse.
There is still half of the rice in the warehouse, but this is also the last half of Yongfeng warehouse...
"Can this rice be used for a day?" Jiang County Cheng frowned and asked.
"Follow the eldest master's instructions, everyone's quota will be halved." Du Ziteng said with a sad face, "So it's barely enough."
"What about tomorrow?" Jiang County Cheng asked.
"You can only eat my 1,670 kilograms..." Du Ziteng said at his wits' end. This weight would definitely make a fat man in the Ming Dynasty, and it seems that he will never be hungry enough to be in charge of the warehouse.
"It's not enough to fill the gap between teeth." Jiang County Cheng snorted and turned to Wu Weidao: "If you delay it any longer, the people will starve."
"I don't want this even if I'm in a humble position." Wu Wei said with a grimace, "But the big boss thinks I'm being cheap, and the big business owners are unwilling to increase the price. The two sides are deadlocked. What can I do as a small pawn?"
"Is there no agreement at all?" Jiang County Cheng asked.
"For the lot that has been completed, we reluctantly agreed on the price of four stones and five acres," Wu Wei said: "The difference lies in the more than 7,000 acres that have not been completed. The elder insisted on a price, saying that it was already sold at a low price and could not be sold at a lower price.
Cheap. And it must be paid in one lump sum, and you cannot pay a deposit first.”
"The differences are quite big..." Jiang Xiancheng sighed: "At least the agreed settlement should be completed first? The world is big and the most important thing is to eat, and we can't let the common people have no food!"
"The big investors refused to agree, saying that the government had previously said that one acre of completed land and four acres of unfinished land must be fully negotiated before they are willing to deliver." Wu Wei said with a depressed look.
"This is taking advantage of the situation." Jiang County Cheng said angrily: "Threatening the government to submit by cutting off food!"
"You can't say that..." Director Diao, who had been silent for a long time, now said: "Food for big families doesn't fall from the sky. In these famine years, rice is precious. If you don't pay a high price, why should you let others do it?"
Providing food?" He paused and said, "Besides, don't they also open a porridge restaurant?"
"Don't mention their porridge shop." Du Ziteng spat, "The rice soup is so thin that it can be used as a mirror. A dozen rice particles in a bowl is good."
"Is that an exaggeration?" Wu Wei sneered: "There are... more than twenty pills."
Listening to their strange voices, Chief Diao knew that they thought he was sitting on a crooked buttocks, but this time he was confident and snorted: "It's a good deed to open a porridge restaurant. Don't talk about it here. If it weren't for the master's ability,
, if we have to focus on helping the victims, why do we Fuyang people eat bran-pharynx vegetables?"
"Indeed." On this matter, the Prime Minister of Jiang County and Chief Diao agreed: "Other counties are trying their best to protect the people of their own county first. I heard that in Chun'an and Jiande counties, from the beginning,
Just give porridge once a day at noon, no matter how old or young, one bowl per person, as long as you don’t starve to death.” He rubbed his face depressedly and said: “There is no one like our elder, as long as he is willing to work, the whole family will be fed...
…”
"So people can still persist, but our county is about to run out of food." Diao said: "Among the dozen or so counties that have received disaster victims, our Fuyang is the first to run out of food, right?"
"It's not over yet." Wu Wei emphasized in a low voice.
"Shut up." Master Diao has been putting up with him for a long time! Ever since Wang Xian became the head of the household, the department that should have been under the control of the chief clerk has completely ignored him as the master of the third government office. Even if Wang Xian is not here in Fuyang
At that time, Wu Wei also reported directly to Weizhi County and did not take him seriously at all! "The old man has lost his mind. It's the ecstasy soup that you and that Wang Er poured out!"
"Okay, okay." Jiang County Cheng persuaded Master Diao: "Now we should work together and not start internal strife."
"I don't want internal strife," Chief Diao said excitedly: "I want to let the county magistrate understand that he can no longer be manipulated by the villains around him. He must quickly cooperate with the big households to solve the problem of people's food rations, otherwise something big will happen!
"
"Yes." Jiang County Cheng nodded with deep feeling. Ever since Ma Dianshi was seconded to the government, Jiang County Cheng was responsible for the security and prison affairs in the county. He could clearly feel that since the rumors of food shortage in the county
Especially after the government halved the ration quota, the local people's resentment towards the foreign victims quickly intensified. Cases of various provocations and beatings of victims emerged one after another every day, and even several deaths were reported, which made him feel extremely stressed.
"When the magistrate comes back in the afternoon, you and I will go to him and persuade him to make concessions to the big family."
"It should have been like this a long time ago!" Master Diao said happily.
.
The county government signed a deposit for the house. Magistrate Wei will come back for half a day every two days to handle the accumulated official affairs. This afternoon, it happens to be his office time again. Before handling a few official matters, Jiang County Magistrate and Director Diao came together.
to.
"Don't even think about it!" After listening to the two people's persuasion, Wei Zhixian's reaction was still strong, "This county has spent huge amounts of money and food, and tens of thousands of people have worked hard and sweated. We can't all be taken advantage of by those wealthy gentry!"
"Otherwise, what can we do?" Jiang County Cheng persuaded earnestly: "Is human life more important, or are these properties more important?"
"The grain bought from Huguang will be returned to Dahe soon." Weizhixian said in a dull voice.
"What if we can't arrive..." Master Diao warned, "The hungry people will vent their anger on the victims, which will lead to civil unrest and we will lose our heads!"
"Not that..." Wei Zhixian shook his head. Just as he was about to say something, he heard hurried footsteps outside. Wei Zhixian frowned and asked, "Who is it?"
"Sir, Mr. Hu is here. It's urgent." Chang Sui quickly reported.
"come in."
"Sir, something bad has happened," Hu Buliu said anxiously as soon as he came in. He didn't bother to salute Eryin and Sanya, "I don't know who took the lead. The people in this county began to drive away the victims and refused to let them go."
Live at home!”
"What!" Wei Zhixian's heart thumped and he thought to himself, 'What are you really afraid of?'
"The victims of the disaster are not living in vain, they are paying rent. Moreover, the people are exempted from taxes for a year, so how can we drive them away!" Jiang County Magistrate was immediately anxious. If there was any trouble, he would be the first to run away.
"The common people don't know any truth." Chief Diao made a sarcastic remark: "They know that the official warehouse will soon be out of food, and they will be hungry. There is no reason to be without white rice, sir!"
"Go and have a look first!" Wei Zhixian stood up with a dark face, took the black gauze offered by Hu Buliu, and put it heavily on his head.
.
The sedans of several officials stopped at the gate of the government office. Magistrate Wei opened the curtain of the sedan chair and saw that hundreds of victims had gathered outside the gate, and people continued to come towards the county government office with their families.
When they came to the eight-character wall, they didn't make any noise or fuss. They all knelt quietly in a dark place.
The county government officials and archers, all armed with weapons, nervously watched every move of the victims through the gate.
There was a dead silence in front of the entire Yamen, and the atmosphere was extremely solemn.
Until Wei Zhixian's sedan appeared at the gate, everyone's eyes turned to Wei Yuan, Fuyang Zhixian, who was sitting inside.
Magistrate Wei also looked at them. He saw melancholy, anger and fear in the eyes of the victims, while the victims saw melancholy and heaviness in his eyes.
"Master!" Zhang Mazi stepped forward and knelt down to report: "After these victims were evicted by their landlords, they gathered in front of the county government office! How should we deal with them?"
"Withdraw the troops." Wei Zhixian said calmly.
"Ah..." Zhang Mazi was stunned.
"Don't you understand?" Wei Zhixian said with a frosty face.
"Yes!" Hu Buliu responded quickly, waved his hand and said, "Quickly withdraw!"
A group of archers and civilians withdrew from the gate.
"Open the gate." Magistrate Wei ordered again.
"Absolutely not!" Jiang Xian Cheng and Chief Diao were both frightened, and quickly stopped them: "Our family members all live in the county government office! What if..."
"There is no chance," Wei Zhixian said solemnly: "I understand them, they just have nowhere to go and come here to seek shelter!"
Weizhixian said this with confidence, because he and the victims had been getting along day and night for almost two months, and they had already established trust with each other. The victims had won his trust with their hard work and simplicity, and he had also won the trust of the victims with his honesty and integrity.
.
If you are both sincere and courageous, why should you be afraid?
"Vacate all the rooms to accommodate these victims who have nowhere to go." Wei Zhixian ordered.
"This..." Jiang Xian Cheng and Chief Diao said in disbelief: "How is this appropriate?"
Seeing that the officials were still unwilling to move, County Magistrate Wei said coldly: "I allow you to take your family members and move out of the county government office during this period of time until you are sure it is safe."
After saying that, ignoring the officials who were looking at each other, Wei Zhixian strode to the gate and opened the door with his own hands.
Hu Buliu rushed forward and unlocked the gate for him.
The gate slowly opened, and there was finally no barrier between the victims and Weizhi County.
However, they did not stand up, but looked up at Wei Zhixian, with their eyes weeping silently.
There were also two traces of tears on Wei Zhixian's face. He took a deep breath, clasped his fists and bowed deeply to the victims: "Do you still believe me?"
"Believe!" the victims said in tears.
"Thank you for not having any conflict with the landlord," Weizhi County said sincerely, "Thank you for your love and care for me!"
A white-haired old man, who was their leader, said in a gray voice: "How has the eldest master treated us? We can learn from it! We have nothing to repay. We can only accept the situation and not cause trouble to the eldest master..."
"Ashamed..." Weizhixian had just wiped his eyes with tears again: "There may be some misunderstandings here. Please stay at the county government office temporarily until they are resolved!"
"We can't live in the county government office. What kind of behavior would that have to do with the boss?" The victims were unwilling to affect his government office.
"If you are allowed to sleep on the street, how can I, a great master, behave like this?" Wei Zhixian helped the white-haired old man up and said to everyone: "Follow me, you don't need me to invite you one by one!"
The victims shed tears again, but this time they were moved tears...