The refugees had bright smiles on their faces and worked harder.
But Kou Ji, Cao Yi, and Liu Heng couldn't laugh.
The three people were hiding in the tent. Liu Heng and Cao Yi both looked sad.
Cao Ji hesitated and asked Kou Ji, "Fourth brother, will your method work? It will be bad if the food from the court has not arrived by tomorrow."
Cao Yi knew how much of the mountains of food piled outside the tent were grain.
Li Di sent people to search the Kou Mansion, the Wang Mansion, and the Xiang Mansion. The food they raised was barely enough to feed the refugees outside the tents.
There was not a single grain in the remaining grain bags.
It’s all sand!
When Kou Ji learned that Li Di had sent people to raise food, he asked him and Liu Heng to return to Bianjing City, stopped the steward of the Li family who was transporting food outside the north city gate, hired a large number of carriages, and loaded them with food.
A large pile of sand was hauled outside the north city gate to fool the refugees.
The refugees were indeed fooled by this method.
But this move is obviously not a long-term solution.
By this evening, the food they raised will be eaten.
Tomorrow, the refugees will discover that the food piled outside the tent is made of sand.
When the refugees find out that they have been deceived, no one can predict how big a commotion they will make.
The only thing he could be sure of was that once Kou Ji broke his trust with the refugees, all that Kou Ji had done before would be in vain.
Kou Ji stirred the brazier in front of him and looked at Liu Heng. Cao Yi asked, "Do you have a better way?"
Liu Heng and Cao Yi looked at each other, sighed at the same time, and lowered their heads.
If they had their way, they wouldn't sit here and sigh.
Similarly, if Kou Ji had a way, he would not resort to such a trick.
When things have reached this point, we can only think of ways to stabilize the hearts and minds of the refugees first, and then take steps to do so.
If Ko Ji tells the refugees now that there is no food in the camp where the refugees are placed, then the refugees will definitely riot.
Rather than telling the truth to the refugees now and triggering a riot among the refugees.
It's better to lie to them for one night and buy one night, maybe things will turn around tomorrow.
"I'll go to the south city gate to have a look..."
Liu Heng stood up suddenly, muttered something, and walked out of the tent with a dark face.
If the refugees really rioted, they actually had nothing to do with him.
He just came here to help and did not take over the task of resettling the refugees.
The reason why he was so worried and irritable was because of Kou Ji.
After all, Kou Ji is the main person in charge of resettling the refugees. If the refugees riot, whether it is Kou Ji's fault or not, the court must deal with Kou Ji and give the refugees an explanation to appease the hearts of the refugees.
This is a common trick used by the imperial court.
Cao Yi was also worried about Kou Ji, so after Liu Heng left, he gritted his teeth and said, "I'll go back to Bianjing and have a look... I have many generals who are friends with my Cao family. I'll go to them to borrow some food."
, maybe I can borrow some."
After saying this, Cao Ji bowed his hand to Kou Ji and left the tent.
Cao Yi and Liu Heng tried their best to help Kou Ji, but Kou Ji felt uneasy.
After the two of them left, Kou Ji threw all the matchsticks in his hands into the brazier and said quietly: "You two have tried their best to help me, but I can't just sit back and wait for death..."
Kou Ji came out of his tent, summoned the chief attendant of the Kou Mansion, ordered him to enter Bianjing City, and invited Mu Chong, Qian Le, and Meng Weizhong.
After Mu Chong and the others arrived, Kou Ji invited the three of them into the tent.
After sitting down.
Qian Le held his belly and said with a smile: "Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the three of us have prepared the things you want. Most of the things have been shipped, except for the 10% you temporarily added.
, it’s still on the way, it will definitely be delivered within three days.”
Qian Le is also a fox.
He seemed to have guessed that Kou Ji would do nothing good by asking the three of them to come over at this time, so he was ready to block Kou Ji's words as soon as he opened his mouth.
Mu Chong took Qian Le's words and said with a smile: "Ministry of Industry and Commerce, our promise to you has been fulfilled. I wonder when will your promise to us be fulfilled?"
Meng Weizhong nodded in agreement.
If it were in the past, the three of them would definitely ask Kou Ji if he had any other instructions.
But now, the three of them never mentioned anything about continuing to help Kou Ji.
Kou Ji could hear the thoughts of the three of them from their words.
Kou Ji stared at the three of them and said, "The three of you should already know that Li Xiang sent people to raise food in the city, right? Otherwise, the three of you wouldn't have said such things."
The three of them, Mu Chong, looked at each other and smiled dryly.
Li Di was raising food in Bianjing City and did not hide it.
Because Li Di knew that no matter how hard he tried to hide it, it would be useless. If someone was careful, it would be easy to find out about his efforts to raise food.
So when Li Di sent people to the Kou Mansion to borrow food, Mu Chong and the others knew about it.
This incident also led to the inference that something went wrong with the imperial team escorting grain and grass.
They discussed it privately and felt that Kou Ji's job of resettling the refugees this time might be a failure.
They have spent so much money and supplies, and it is very likely that they will also be in vain.
The reason why they were willing to hand over the last 10% of the supplies to Kou Ji was because they had some ideas.
Facing Kou Ji's question, Mu Chong smiled and said: "I know something... Li Xiang was raising food in Bianjing City and did not hide it, so many people in Bianjing City knew it."
Meng Weizhong said in a deep voice: "It's just that the major grain merchants in Bianjing City no longer have grain to sell to Prime Minister Li. Even if they have grain, they are secretly hoarding it in preparation for making huge profits in winter.
Therefore, Li Xiang did not raise much food.
Without the food supply, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce may be in big trouble."
Qian Le pointed to the outside of the tent and said: "If the Ministry of Work and Industry is willing, we can find a way to help the Ministry of Work and Industry support the young and strong people among the refugees outside."
"This is the only way we can help the Ministry of Industry and Industry now."
Mu Chong added.
What the three of them said was beautiful.
But Kou Ji heard their thoughts.
Kou Ji raised his eyebrows, stared at the three of them, and said in a deep voice: "Do you want the 40,000 young people from outside?"
The three of them, Mu Chong, nodded in unison.
Kou Ji said coldly: "Forty thousand young men already meet the troop requirements of an army."
The expressions of Mu Chong and the other three people changed.
Mu Chong hurriedly said: "Ministry of Industry, we have no other ideas. We just don't want all the things we invested in the early stage to go to waste, so we agreed to get those young men.
We just want to use the 40,000 young people outside the tent to build several large iron forging workshops as soon as possible to forge the kind of iron you mentioned by the Ministry of Industry.
In this way, all the things we invested before will be considered to be in vain."
Qian Le and Meng Weizhong nodded in unison.
They also have this thought.
Kou Ji also guessed the thoughts of the three people, so he was not surprised when he heard Mu Chong's words.
They do this to stop losses.
At the same time, maximize the benefits obtained.
This is in line with their business style.
It's just that Kou Ji's purpose is not just to build a forging iron workshop or a textile workshop.
From the very beginning, his purpose was to resettle these refugees and promote his skills through the hands of these refugees, so as to build up the reputation of the Ministry of Works and let the Ministry of Works take back the generals as supervisors and the Shaofu supervisors.
that power.
"no……"
Kou Ji decisively rejected Mu Chong's proposal.
The faces of Mu Chong and the other three instantly turned livid.
Mu Chong gritted his teeth and said: "Ministry of Industry and Commerce, we are businessmen. The reason why we agreed to help you resettle the refugees is to make money with the help of the refugees. Now that the issue of resettlement of the refugees has gone awry, it is obvious that we will lose everything.
If we don't find a way to stop the loss, all the money we invested will be wasted."
Qian Le nodded and said: "You are an important minister in the court. You have to protect the court and the people. The three of us have nothing to say. But since we have invested money, we cannot watch it go down the drain.
Although we are businessmen, we are also common people and your collaborators, and you must protect us."
Kou Ji stared at the three people and said seriously: "I need to feed the refugees for one day now, and the food from the court will arrive in one day. As long as we get through this difficulty, tens of thousands of refugees will help us by then."
Work and help us make money.
You can't just focus on the immediate interests, you have to look at the long term.
You know very well whether 40,000 refugees help us make more money, or whether hundreds of thousands of refugees help us make more money.
You have invested so much in the early stage, and now you should not give up halfway."
What Kou Ji said makes sense and is very heartwarming.
But the three of them, Mu Chong, seemed to suddenly not like money, and had no interest at all in the pie drawn by Kou Ji.
The three of them just looked at Kou Ji and smiled awkwardly, saying nothing.
Kou Ji frowned and felt something was wrong.
He said in a deep voice: "Do you know something?"
Mu Chong and the others hesitated again and again, but did not speak.
There are some things they can't say. If they say it, they will break the rules. They will want to do some business later.
Kou Ji had a gloomy face and asked in a deep voice: "Tell me!"
Mu Chong stood up first, cupped his hands, said nothing, and prepared to leave.
The same is true for Qian Le.
After Meng Weizhong stood up, he cupped his hands and hesitated for a long time, then gritted his teeth and said, "You'd better send someone to check Changpingcang in Kaifeng Mansion."
Kou Ji's eyes widened in vain.
Mu Chong and Qian Le stared at Meng Weizhong and shook their heads.
Meng Weizhong sighed, cupped his hands to Kou Ji and said, "Please also ask the Kou Ministry of Industry to keep it a secret for me and don't tell outsiders. I was the one who told it."
After saying this, Meng Weizhong cupped his hands to Kou Jigong and left the tent first.
Mu Chong and Qian Le also left.
After they left, Kou Ji stood there blankly for a long time.
Meng Weizhong's words were heard by others, and it may take some guessing to understand the deeper meaning.
But Kou Ji understood the meaning of Meng Weizhong's words almost as soon as Meng Weizhong finished speaking.
He suddenly rushed out of the tent, grabbed a guard of the Kou Mansion, and asked the guard to ride a horse and lead him to the south gate of Bianjing City.
"Where's Prime Minister Li?!"
Kou Ji arrived at the south gate and shouted loudly.
Li Di's heart skipped a beat when he heard Kou Ji's shouts. He dropped the spoon he was using to distribute porridge to the refugees and ran up to Kou Ji.
"What happened? The victims found out that they had no food? Did they start to cause trouble?"
Li Di stared at Kou Ji on the horse and asked anxiously.
Kou Ji jumped off the horse, rushed to Li Di, grabbed Li Di's arm, gritted his teeth, and asked in a low voice: "Grandpa Li, have you sent someone to look at the Changping warehouse in Kaifeng Mansion?"
?”
Li Di didn't understand what Kou Jiwen meant at first, but when he came to his senses, he asked in astonishment: "What do you mean by that?"
Kou Ji glanced around and saw someone secretly watching him and Li Di, so he took Li Di to a deserted place and said in a deep voice: "Someone told me that there might be no food in the Changping Granary in Kaifeng Mansion.
.”
Li Di's old hands trembled and he said in shock: "How is it possible? If there is no food in the Changping warehouse of Kaifeng Mansion, then where did the first batch of food come from?"
Kou Ji gritted his teeth and said, "Maybe there is only the first batch of grain in the Changping warehouse in Kaifeng Mansion?"
Li Di stared at Kou Ji with wide eyes.
Kou Ji continued: "The first batch of grain was delivered on time under the urging of the imperial court. However, the second batch of grain was looted on the road and burned.
Isn't there something fishy in this?
I didn't feel anything was wrong before.
But after I heard someone say that there was no food in Changping Granary in Kaifeng Prefecture, I realized something was wrong.
Since the thief named Sai Bodang is a victim of the disaster, he should know the value of food.
The common people know the value of food best. Even if they risk their lives, they will not give up food.
If he were a disaster victim, he would not be able to burn the food easily.
If he was a victim of the disaster, it would be impossible for him not to cry out for injustice when you beheaded him."
The more Kou Ji spoke, the heavier his voice became.
The more Li Di listened, the more frightened he became.
His mouth trembled, his beard trembled, and he said in a trembling voice: "This... this is impossible..."
He said it was impossible, but in his heart he believed Kou Ji's words.
Kou Ji said gloomily: "Nothing is impossible."
Li Di's face turned pale, "The third batch of food is on the way. I will send someone to investigate right now."
Li Di tremblingly found the Forbidden Army soldiers, selected some whom he had supported, supported, and trusted, and followed the official road for transporting grain and grass to receive the third batch of grain.
After people are sent out.
Li Di found Kou Ji and took Kou Ji to the gate building of the south city gate.
When they arrived at the city gate building, Li Di chased after Kou Ji and asked, "What's going on?"
Kou Ji gritted his teeth and said, "Someone told me in a vague way that there is no grain in the Changping Granary of Kaifeng Mansion."
"who?!"
Li Di said eagerly: "Tell me who it is, and I will go to him personally to find out."
Kou Ji shook his head and said, "I promised him not to tell others his identity."
Li Di beat his chest and said: "It's about the life and death of hundreds of thousands of victims, and you still want to stick to this promise?"
Kou Ji gritted his teeth and said nothing.
Li Di cursed several times angrily, and suddenly seemed to have thought of something. He stared at Kou Ji and asked, "Are they those businessmen? It has always been common for officials and businessmen to collude and resell Changpingcang grain.
They must have resold the grain in the Changping warehouse, so they know this, right?"
Li Di's words are roughly the same as Kou Ji's guess.
But Kou Ji still didn't speak.
If he had revealed Meng Weizhong's name, Meng Weizhong would not only be unable to engage in grain trading in the future, but his life would also be threatened.
After all, reselling Chang Pingcang's grain is an illegal act.
This matter is obviously going to make a big fuss, and when the court kills people with knives, they will not show any mercy.
Meng Weizhong risked beheading and was willing to tell him this, which was a kindness.