In a decent house in Jinan Mansion, Li Zhi and Cui He were sitting in the second hall, preparing to have a meal. Li Zhi now has no office in Jinan, and the official title of Shandong Admiral did not exist before, so there is no such thing as an Admiral's Mansion. Li Zhi asked
They bought several connected courtyards in the north of the city and planned to demolish them and build an admiral's mansion to serve as an office in Jinan.
However, it will take a long time to build a magnificent admiral's residence. For now, Li Zhi can only work in this decent private house and deal with various matters in Shandong.
It was getting dark by now, and the servants lit six copper lamps in the second hall and served various dishes one after another.
Li Zhi was tired after a long day and was indeed hungry. He looked at the table full of food and wine and moved his index finger to eat various dishes.
But Cui He stayed aside, not eating a morsel of food, only staring at the dishes on the table.
Li Zhi was stunned for a moment, turned around and asked, "Don't you want to eat?"
Cui He shook his head and said: "Husband, the people in Shandong are so pitiful. Each person can only eat one pound and eighty taels of sweet potatoes. How many sweet potatoes can we exchange for this table of food and wine? When you finish eating, I will use these leftovers
Wrap it up and take it to the soup kitchen tomorrow to feed the orphans without parents."
Li Zhi smiled and said: "That's right, we have a lot of leftover food every day. It is also a good thing to give the leftovers to the orphans."
When Cui He heard what Li Zhi said, he took out a few old pottery bowls from under the table and began to put vegetables into the pottery bowls, as if he was preparing to use the pottery bowls to serve the orphans.
Li Zhi said: "How about you eat something?"
Cui He shook his head and said: "I won't eat. The one and a half pounds of sweet potatoes I ate today have been given to the two orphans of the Huan family. I have nothing to eat today. That little girl is so pitiful. She hasn't eaten for three days.
.I wonder if the sweet potatoes I gave her will keep her full today."
Li Zhi was speechless. Cui He said that he lost his appetite and put down his chopsticks.
Cui He saw that Li Zhi had also put down his chopsticks and picked up vegetables faster, as if he was snatching food for the poor orphans.
Li Zhi thought for a while and started to help Cui He put vegetables. Cui He took ten small pottery bowls and put them on the table. Li Zhi put the fish, meat and vegetables on the table into those pottery bowls one by one.
While he was doing it, Li Zhi said: "If you take ten bowls of food, you can only feed ten orphans, so that's not an option."
Cui Heyi pursed his lips and said, "I only have so much ability, so what should I do?"
Li Zhi smiled and said: "Next spring, the people will plant wheat, and they will have to do physical work. Just eating one and a half pounds of sweet potatoes will not do it. Madam, don't worry, we will get some grain so that the people in Shandong can eat a few more taels a day.
Food can make you feel full."
Cui He opened his eyes wide and asked, "Really?"
Li Zhi nodded and said, "Of course it's true. Eat a few mouthfuls of food first so you don't get hungry."
Cui He thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll eat half a bowl of rice. You can't lie to me!"
Li Zhi smiled and did not answer Cui He's words. Cui He finally picked up his rice bowl and ate half of it. She seemed to be starving too, and couldn't help but eat another piece of fish. When she was eating fish, she saw Li Zhizheng
Looking at her, her face turned red with embarrassment.
Li Zhi smiled and said: "Madam, you have to eat more fish. If you starve to death without eating, I will also be sad and sick. In that case, the people of Shandong will really have no one to care about. You need to eat more to keep your body healthy."
Well, let’s have more children. From now on, our children will all be important officials in the court and work together for the people of Tianjin and Shandong, and the people will live a good life.”
Cui He blinked when he heard this, nodded, took another piece of fish and took a bite.
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On the first day of September, Shen Congdao was sitting in a house in Yangkou Town, Shouguang County, Qingzhou Prefecture, looking through the latest issue of "Shandong Daily" with a frown on his face.
This is not a luxurious folk house. Compared with Shen Congdao's status as a wealthy man, living in such a house is a bit shabby. Farmers pass by the gate of the house from time to time. Looking at the Shen family with the door closed, the farmers look at it. There is some banter in it.
The fact that the Shen family lost a lot of money due to hoarding grain and all the big houses in the city has now become the biggest joke in Yangkou Town. The day the Shen family moved back to Yangkou Town from Fucheng, Qingzhou in embarrassment, half the time People from all over the town crowded at the entrance to watch the fun.
Through the influence of "Shandong Daily" in recent years, the people of Yangkou Town no longer fear the Jin gentry as before. They have dared to express their disdain for the evil gentry who are unkind for the sake of wealth. The people are even more afraid of the evil gentry who are enemies of the Duke of Jin. I hate it very much.
The people of Shandong are not only influenced by the "Shandong Daily" to influence public opinion, but also rely on the Tianjin Duke's court to administer justice. Now they even rely on Tianjin Duke's sweet potatoes to survive the famine. Tianjin Duke saved the people of a whole province by himself. This is also What can I say? The people of Shandong have already been united with Duke Jin.
For an evil gentry like Shen Congdao who tried to obstruct the Duke of Jin's disaster relief and let the people starve to death, the people wanted to stone him to death.
Shen Congdao also knew that he had a bad reputation now and usually did not dare to go out. He thought that when the limelight passed, he would donate a charity school in the town to support scholars and restore some reputation for himself.
However, the trees are still but the wind is not stopping. The wording of "Shandong Daily" has become more and more severe these days, making Shen Congdao a little breathless.
In the second hall, Shen Congdao grabbed the newspaper and read it, sweat broke out on his forehead. The hand holding the newspaper could not help but tremble slightly.
Today's newspaper headline: "Who gave the evil gentry the courage to drive up food prices?"
"When there was a severe drought in Shandong and the people had nothing to eat, the gentry in Shandong guarded their granaries and did not open them to provide relief. Instead, they bought grain on the market to drive up prices. When the government of Tianjin wanted to buy grain for disaster relief, these evil gentry raised the price of grain to six Two and one stone. If the Duke of Jin has no food to provide relief, how many people in Shandong will starve to death?"
"Nowadays, the people in Shandong only have one and a half kilograms of sweet potatoes per person per day to survive. They are all sallow and thin, but the granaries of the evil gentry are filled with rice, flour and rice they have hoarded. I want to ask, who gave them the courage to disrupt the market and drive up rice prices?"
"Is it possible that there is no royal law in Shandong under the rule of Duke Jin?"
After seeing the last sentence, Shen Congdao shook his hand and dropped the newspaper to the ground.
Shen Congdao's first wife did not notice anything unusual about Shen Congdao, and was still playing tricks in the hall. She hugged her thighs and said, "Master, you have to make the decision for me! Today I came back from the county and passed by the town. I was spit on and thrown stones by several teenagers. It was fine that the spit was on the sedan chair, but the stones weighing several kilograms really broke my sedan chair and hit my legs!"
"Master, I have long said that moving back to the countryside is not possible, but you just don't listen to me. Now everyone in the town is laughing at our Shen family's jokes, and you don't even dare to leave the house. How do you think you can live your life like this? ?”
Shen Congdao was originally frightened by the "Shandong Daily". Looking at the unreasonable principal, he couldn't help but burst into anger. He slammed the table and shouted: "You stupid bitch! Stop arguing!"
Shen Congdao's wife was stunned for a moment, looking at the furious Shen Congdao with wide eyes. Suddenly he fell to the ground and rolled on the ground shouting: "Shen Congdao! You scolded me! Did you look at my natal family?" My uncle is a county magistrate, and he married me from my parents’ home in a sedan chair. Now he thinks I’m old and dares to scold me? I’m not going to live anymore!”
