Datang: I am so happy to marry a disfigured princess!

Chapter 124 People who starve to death
"Prefect Zhou, there is no need to be polite. We are here just to deal with the disaster. If it is convenient for Prefect Zhou, we can try our best to explain the situation in Songzhou."

Zhou Bingren looked excited, nodded vigorously, stood up and asked his servants to arrange for the convoy to enter the government office, and then settled down.

After everything was settled, Zhou Bingren took Lin Heng and others to the study.

The magistrate, the largest official in a state, ended up in this state. Everyone saw it and it caused quite a stir in their hearts.

Zhou Bingyi said: "Your Majesty has heard of the name Lin Consort for a long time. The early Quyuan plow made farming in our state several times easier, and then he sent an envoy to the Turks to regain the Hexi Corridor. He is really a hero in his youth, and now His Majesty has Send Prince Consort Lin to provide disaster relief, and there is finally hope for the north!"

Lin Heng chuckled and shook his head: "Prefect Zhou, there is no need to say more polite words. Let's just talk about the current situation in Songzhou."

Seeing this, Zhou Bingyi no longer concealed anything: "The original Songzhou was actually not like this. Henan was not affected by many disasters last year. It should have been a good harvest this year."

"A month and a half ago, the victims of Shandong disasters passed through the border. Our local area was even able to provide some food relief to them so that they would not waste the food in the fields. They are all people of understanding. Seeing that their problems could not be solved in Henan, those people decided to We left and continued to the south. Although we suffered losses here, the losses were not huge."

Chu Suiliang frowned tightly, seeming a little confused: "But Mr. Zhou, the situation outside seems to be different from what you said."

Zhou Bingren shook his head: "But then, food prices suddenly skyrocketed."

"It used to cost seventy or eighty cents per kilogram of rice. Since the price increased, it has now cost two kilograms. There are very few farmers here who store grain. Most of the land belongs to local wealthy households and landlords. Although many tenants are We were given food, but the quantity was simply not enough!”

"In addition, the landowners were harvesting grain aggressively, and farmers had less grain. Only then did they realize that the grain they had sold for ten times the normal price was now being bought back for twenty times the price. No one could buy it. Get up!"

As soon as they heard the price of two coins and one stone, everyone's expressions changed drastically. They had guessed that the price of food would be higher than the price reported to the court, but they didn't expect it to be so much higher!
This is more than 20 times more expensive than the usual price of food!

Lin Heng took a deep breath and said, "Prefect Zhou, please continue."

Zhou Bingyi shook his head: "So this is what you see now. Farmers have nothing to eat. They can only eat leaves, dig grass roots, and even the insects in the land are dug out and eaten. This is the situation in Songzhou, but it is not the case in other places. Even"

"I don't dare to ask for anything. Consort Lin has already seen what he should see. This is the city of Songzhou, and the villages outside are even more miserable. I only hope that if Consort Lin can, he will definitely deal with this matter." Tell your Majesty!"

Lin Heng glanced at Chu Suiliang, Cheng Huaiyi and others, and said slowly: "Let's go out separately to see the situation."

Cheng Huaiyi nodded and said: "Brother Lin, we will go out of the city to take a look. You and Chu Suiliang will stay in the city to take a look and pay attention to safety."

Lin Heng nodded: "It's best to come back before dark to avoid anything happening."

Cheng Huaiyi and Yuchi Baolin laughed: "What can happen to us, but Chu Suiliang, just don't hold back Lin's consort, let's go."

Chu Suiliang waved his hand helplessly. Seeing this, Lin Heng patted him on the shoulder: "Let's go out and take a look first."

He then looked at Su Dingfang: "General Su, please take care of the two princesses, especially Princess Changle. Don't let her act recklessly."

Lin Heng said this in a rather elder-like manner, which made Su Dingfang laugh. He then nodded: "Don't worry, Prince Consort Lin, I will not let anything happen to the two princesses."

He was not worried about Lin Heng. After all, he could compete with Cheng Huaiyi in sword fights. Even if he had to deal with some refugees, it would be no big deal, let alone these refugees who had been hungry for too long and couldn't even eat enough.

After leaving the government office, the two of them went directly to the street. The streets and alleys that should have been bustling for a long time now looked desolate.

There are not many pedestrians on the street. The only ones you can see occasionally are a few richly dressed landlords with shiny smiles on their faces.It seems that he is not affected by this famine at all, and even wants to make this famine last longer.When it comes to things like food, landlords, as the representative role in feudal society, often have the most in their hands. The total number of landlords in the world is no more than [-] people, but they have more food than tens of millions of people combined. They are There is never any shortage of food.

Some landowners and wealthy households will take advantage of high grain prices to sell grain to desperate grain merchants to earn the price difference. This is actually an act that contributes to the skyrocketing grain prices, although they can avoid legal punishment in this way. , but if it is really investigated, they will actually be connected.

However, more landowners will never take out the grain at this time. They cherish their lives for fear of being exposed to a little harm. Especially at this time, if they don't take out the grain, they will really use the low price of the grain. The pattern has been consolidated.

Lin Heng even hoped that these people would sell the food. After all, only with food prices can the price be brought down. This can actually be considered a part of disaster relief.

As for how to get these people to mobilize the landlords to get grain, it depends on the operations of Fang Xuanling and others. He has already asked the shopkeepers stationed in various places to mobilize, including the Anxiang branch in Jiangnan and Chang'an. How much you take out also depends on luck.

Lin Heng suddenly said: "Dengshan, have you had any experience as an official in other places in these years?"

Chu Suiliang shook his head: "I had some experience in the military in the previous dynasty, but I was not a local official. I actually don't know much about local people's conditions."

Lin Heng pointed at the landowner not far away and said with a smile: "The yield per mu in Henan is about two to three hundred kilograms. Most of the tenant farmers rent the land, with a [-]-[-] split. For one acre of land, these landowners can get about one stone of grain."

"There are many landowners with a thousand acres of land at home. Within a few years, they can produce a thousand dan of food."

"They can't eat much themselves, and they don't dare to sell much in this situation. If the grain in the granary becomes moldy, they will burn it on fire without selling it."

When Chu Suiliang heard this, he was very puzzled: "This is already the situation. They would rather burn the grain than go out to sell it? Isn't this a great loss?"

Lin Heng pointed to his head: "These people always cherish their lives, but now with the consent of the court, as long as these local people can be mobilized to sell food, as long as they sell it, the people will have a way to live. "

Chu Suiliang immediately looked serious and said seriously: "Consort Lin intends to use commercial methods to bring food to the market and then lower the price of food?"

Lin Heng nodded.

Lin Heng knew that Chu Suiliang was from Changsun Wuji's side. However, during this period, he saw that Chu Suiliang sincerely wanted to do something for the country and the people. In order to avoid some misunderstandings in the future, Lin Heng Heng still planned to take the initiative to tell the matter.

After all, there are not many people he can trust in the north now. What he will face in the future is the treacherous mystery of the entire Henan officials. There must be someone he can trust behind the scenes.

Chu Suiliang is a very suitable person. Although Cheng Huaiyi and others have a good relationship with him, they still find it difficult for Wufu to deal with such officialdom and business affairs, so he will not talk about it.

Chu Suiliang pondered for a moment: "Don't worry, Consort Lin, I won't reveal this matter."

Lin Heng nodded.

Not far away, a miserable cry came.

Someone spread white paper in the street and carried a starved, skinny body out of the city.

This was the first time the two of them saw someone dying of starvation, and they both thought they were stunned.

"Old man..."

(End of this chapter)