Hu Maoshen was originally very opposed to it. Now that he has come to Jiangnan, he has nothing to do with this matter.
Even if the disaster relief work is now led by General Gu Chengyu, once the emperor takes the blame, he will have nowhere to escape.
But now when he heard Gu Chengyu said that there was a way to return the food, he was filled with curiosity, and then he asked: "Then do you have any good ideas? You also know that this matter is not trivial. Without the order of the court, we opened a warehouse privately and embezzled it.
If the imperial court blames you for the food, we cannot afford it. Even if you are highly regarded by the emperor, those courtiers will not let you go."
Gu Chengyu naturally understood the power of it. How could he have opened this mouth easily if he was not sure? He was not stupid.
"Master Yang, just do as you are told. If you have anything to do, I will take care of it."
Gu Chengyu naturally had this confidence. In fact, the food in his space was piled up in mountains, but he had no reason to take it out.
But this problem will be solved soon, and the time has come.
Yang Chaoying opened his mouth to speak, but then thought about it and said nothing more.
Gu Chengyu knew that he agreed. After getting along with him for the past few days, he found that Yang Chaoying was a good person.
In fact, he is bold and careful, but his appearance is dull, and it seems that he is more than his appearance.
"Next, you put down the work of diversion of the river embankment and hand it over to Dr. Duan and the others. We have business to do!"
Gu Chengyu's eyes gleamed, and the corners of his lips were slightly raised, as if he had everything in mind.
Hu Maoshen and Yang Chaoying looked at each other and saw some doubts on each other's faces.
"Shopkeeper! All the people gathered in front of our rice store and refused to leave, saying they still wanted to buy rice."
A waiter touched the sweat stains on his forehead with his sleeve and ran into the inner room to report.
The shopkeeper hurriedly stepped forward and opened the curtain a crack. He saw that the people outside were still staying in the shop and refused to leave, while the clerks were busy driving people out of the door. The shopkeeper became even more worried.
When he lowered the door curtain, the shopkeeper was so anxious that he was all over the place.
He had told his boss before not to sell grain now, but his boss didn't listen at all. He knew that his boss was kind-hearted and couldn't bear to stockpile grain. He watched the people suffer from hunger, but his arms couldn't twist his thighs!
Xia's Rice Shop has opened many stores in all major cities, isn't it now going out to collect grains?
Are they doing it to sell? Or are they just trying to keep it so that they can make a fortune after the price of food rises?
How can other Mihang dare to go against the Xia family? Aren't they all just following the Xia family's lead?
Only the Li family and the Zhang family in the west of the city sell some grain every now and then, otherwise the people in the city would have been cut off.
But the Li family and the Zhang family are just small families, and the Li family relies on the influence of their ancestors to make a living. Now the Li family is deteriorating, and they have become a family of small and medium-sized merchants in the city, not as good as the generation of their ancestors who made a fortune.
Can such a small family be able to withstand a behemoth like the Xia family? That is simply a fantasy.
If the Li family hadn't been so good at doing business over the years, they would have been squeezed out of existence by those wealthy families.
Even so, it is really uncomfortable to live in the cracks!
"Call you shopkeepers out. If you don't sell rice, why should you open a rice shop? What do you want? We are all done. If we don't buy rice, we will starve to death. Where is your conscience?
Are you like other families who want to stock up on food so that they can raise prices?"
A young man dressed as a scholar was filled with indignation. He was holding an empty cloth bag in one hand and banging the folding fan on the counter hard in the other hand.
"Yes! Call your shopkeeper to come out. Every time we buy rice, we go to your rice store. We are all familiar faces. Your shopkeeper and the boss are not doing things right this time!"
There were also people on the side who responded. They were all regular customers of Li's Rice Shop. He came three times and never tried to grab it once.
Seeing these people's attitude, the shopkeeper became angry.
He opened the door curtain and went from the inner room to the outside, "Everyone, please be calm for a moment! Everyone in the whole city is going to ask, except our Mihang and Zhang family, who is still running a shop now? In order to prevent the common people from being tolerant.
Starving, the boss made a lot of determination and opened the rice store as usual. For this, he also paid a lot of money. We, the Li family, don’t have much in stock, so in order for everyone to buy rice, we also paid a lot of money.
We went around collecting food and offended a lot of people. What you said really made us Mi Xinghan feel sad!"
Shopkeeper Li almost burst into tears when he said this.
He is the son of the Li family. His father almost starved to death back then. If the Li family hadn't taken him in, where would he have come from now?
Now that he is old, he has been put out of the house as a steward, which gives him some dignity. Such a good master is really hard to find anywhere.
Although the Li family is a family of merchants, the owner's family is benevolent and kind, and everyone in Hangtianfu has a good reputation.
Now that he was so wronged by these people, Shopkeeper Li was so angry that he was trembling.
Seeing that shopkeeper Li was so angry and everyone in the shop was a little embarrassed, everyone couldn't help but become quiet.
In fact, they don’t know that what they are doing is completely unreasonable. But if they don’t have food to eat, aren’t they going to starve to death?
How many days can adults endure it, but children cannot?
"Shopkeeper Li, we also know that your boss is a good person, but we are also always in a hurry and speak unscrupulously. Please forgive us for this!"
One of the old men came out, his face slightly red and his expression even more ashamed.
The entire Hangtian Mansion dare not say that no one in the city knows Li's name? I heard that Li was giving porridge to the victims outside the city gate a few days ago. This is indeed a philanthropic family.
It is indeed unjust and ungrateful for them to persecute others in this way.
"Yes! It's our fault, but we are also forced to be anxious. Seeing that there is no rice for cooking at home, and the two-year-old child has lost a lot of weight due to hunger, I am very anxious! Please be kind to your boss before selling
Some rice."
One person suggested it, and everyone agreed. They really had no choice. The other rice shops were managed by General Tie, and only the Li family and the Zhang family sold rice from time to time.
The Zhang family's shop was sold out as soon as it was taken out. Only Li's could have a little more rice and grain, but it was just a drop in the bucket.
"Everyone, it's not that our Li family doesn't want to sell rice, it's that our Li family has no more rice. Everyone, please go back!"
Gu Chengyu rushed out of the city in a carriage. He had to first understand the situation of the victims in the past few days, but there was still a tough battle to be fought next.
When the carriage arrived at Xicheng, Gu Chengyu heard the noise in the distance.
He opened the curtains and took a look outside, and found a crowd of people crowded around in front of a shop. He then looked at the signature Li's Rice Shop above.
"Ming Mo! Go over and take a look!" Gu Chengyu ordered in a deep voice.