Jinyi Night Walk

The fleet of Xia Xun and his party stopped near Wu County, and it was impossible to sail any further. The terrain in this area began to gradually rise, and the damage was not particularly serious. The imperial fleet sent people to Wu County to inform County magistrate, Xie Xin, magistrate of Wu County, organized a group of cars in a short while, and came to meet the imperial envoy himself.

County Magistrate Xie is in his thirties, with a thin body and a thin face. He looks smart and capable. Xia Xun didn't care about politeness when he met him. While walking towards the city, Zinao asked about the situation of the disaster.

Naxie County Magistrate said: "Guo Gong, Wuxian County is better, but some of the urban areas are also soaked in water, and some houses have collapsed. The people of these disaster-stricken families are now scattered and housed in the Taoist monk's house, just the county warehouse. The food reserves are limited, but the villages and towns around the county are severely affected by the disaster. Now not only the price of grain and rice has risen, but all necessities, such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, vegetables, and even firewood, have increased several times..."

They walked while talking, one step deep and the other shallow. After a while, Xia Xun could hardly move.The ground was very muddy. Xia Xun's official boots seemed to weigh dozens of kilograms when they were stained with mud. The mud on the ground was also sticky, so it was difficult for him to walk.The magistrate of Xie seemed to have been prepared for a long time, as soon as he greeted, a squad leader picked up a bunch of straw sandals with a scabbard, and the magistrate of Xie said with a dry smile: "Master, look... do you want to change a pair of shoes? It's just these straw sandals..."

Xia Xun couldn't help laughing and said, "Okay! You have already prepared, what's the matter with the straw sandals? Very good, in such a situation, whoever wears official boots is insane, come here, give me a pair!"

When Xia Xun said this, all the other officials changed, and everyone changed their shoes, and imitated Xia Xun's example by tucking the hem of their clothes into their belts and rolling up their sleeves. Skidding, Jin Xiaopin tidying up, walking in the mud is also much faster.

After entering the city, they were not in a hurry to go to the county government office. Xia Xun and others wandered around the city for a while. The city also has ups and downs according to the terrain. There is indeed a lot of water in the low area. Bamboo rafts travel along the water, selling daily necessities, rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar food to residents. From time to time, there are voices of residents and vendors haggling loudly.

Xia Xun said: "Natural disasters can turn into disasters if they are not dealt with properly! Some merchants took the opportunity to hoard and drive up prices. Didn't the imperial court decree to prohibit it? Prices must be stabilized. Some of the merchants' goods are purchased from other places. It is much higher than usual, and it is unrealistic to tell them not to mention anything. In that way, the merchants will not go to other places to purchase and sell. Relying on the relief of the court alone is sometimes not so comprehensive, and there is still a problem of urgency, but the price If it doubles in succession, it's not normal, didn't Wu County control it?"

Magistrate Xie said with a distressed expression on his face: "Duke, the imperial government's decree has been posted. The three classes of government officials are patrolling the streets. Once the behavior of raising prices is discovered, it will be severely punished. It is indeed extremely difficult to implement it. One Otherwise, there is limited grain in the county storehouse, even if all of it is sold at a low price, throwing it out is like throwing a pebble into the flood, and it will not even splash a bubble, so it is difficult to stabilize prices based on this.

Vendors do their best, not to mention the rice purchased from other places. Even if there are some wealthy local merchants, no one knows how much grain they have in their homes. If you order them to sell at a low price, they will say that there is no grain to sell.How much grain is stored in the house, only the other person knows, and he has not committed a crime, and the lower officials can't just listen to the rumors, so they search from house to house and take inventory of other people's granaries. This is really tricky, so...in order to avoid starvation Common people, even if the food they sell is more expensive, the lower officials have no choice but to turn a blind eye..."

The county magistrate Xie said with a bitter expression on his face, but ordinary officials seldom admit that they were forced to compromise in front of the superiors due to difficulties, so his frankness won Xia Xun's favor instead.However, Xia Yuanji and others are familiar with the officialdom and understand this better. Being a county magistrate in a local area is said to be the parental official of a county. I don't plan to stay here for long, otherwise strong county magistrates are rare.

The reason is that the population was not very mobile in ancient times. Aristocratic families settled in one place for hundreds of years, multiplied and thrived, and had power in all walks of life in the local area. Therefore, a county magistrate had to make some achievements in the local area It is necessary to seek the support of these local big families, not to mention putting on the face of officials. During the festivals, there are some festive events, these officials have to give gifts to others to curry favor.

Because such aristocratic families have lived in the area for a long time, they are generally very responsible for the locality. They consider it their duty to build bridges and roads, establish free schools, and provide relief to the village in case of famine. The government's rule is a useful supplement, but once some of them are greedy for profit and want to make money in the country, the local officials also have many scruples and dare not do too much.

On the one hand, their power is limited, and confrontation with local big clans would be a lose-lose situation at best.On the other hand, they still want to be officials here. Once they tear themselves apart, without the support of local gentry in the future, the issuance of government orders and the collection of food and taxes will become big problems, so it is difficult to make an overly firm decision. .

And these are of course not a problem for Xia Xun. What he wants is the efficiency of disaster relief. The higher the efficiency, the fewer people will die. The gentle method is not feasible now.Xia Xun sneered and said, "My Duke also knows a little bit about these things. You still want to be an official here. My Duke won't make things difficult for you. This villain, I will do it!"

He turned to Yu Shiji and ordered: "Xia Shilang, start the disaster relief immediately, tell the local people that the imperial court's food relief will arrive soon, and sell the food brought in part at a low price, and set up porridge sheds for the people whose homes are all flooded; Royal envoy, strictly investigate those who hoard and raise prices, because of the famine, there are looting, looting, fraud and stealing, and they will be severely punished!"

Yu Shiji is not stupid, he heard Xia Xun's implication clearly, and immediately bowed and said: "Your Majesty obeys orders!"

With this sentence, any big family who hoards strange things, and can't catch him for a while, just find any witness and point out that there are criminals who have fled into the mansion, and they can search the mansion openly. It is also a commonly used method.

The disaster situation in Wu County is not very serious. At least the rescued victims can be resettled to a certain extent. Although the increase in prices is abominable, it is just that people who have no food at home have exchanged their savings for many years for food, and some profiteers have made a lot of money. The bowl is full, at least the people who escaped the flood will not starve to death again, which relieves Xia Xun a lot.

He personally walked the streets to let the people in the whole city know that the imperial envoy had arrived, the food relief would be in place immediately, and people's hearts could be calmed down. Then he settled down in the magistrate's yamen and planned to stay here for a day to listen to the report on the disaster relief measures, leaving some personnel behind. Supervise the disaster relief matters, and then rush to Suzhou Prefecture, which is Dachengfu, and the disaster may be lighter than Wu County, but due to the influx of a large number of affected people, the disaster relief matters may be more complicated.At the same time, the dredging of the river must also be done by the Suzhou government. A small Wu county does not have that strength.

When Xia Xun stayed in Wu County for a short time, and then quickly rushed to Suzhou Prefecture to actively deploy disaster relief matters, and waited for the food to be delivered to start a series of disaster relief operations, Qingzhou City, Shandong Prefecture was also bustling.

In the past few days, many foreigners have poured into Qingzhou Mansion, and more and more people are coming.These people all went to the funeral of Peng's family. It is impossible for Peng's house to accommodate so many friends, and besides close relatives and best friends, it is not suitable to live in Peng's house, so they all stayed in various inns in Qingzhou city. , The inn couldn't accommodate them, and even Peng's martial arts gym, car dealership and other places were full of people.

The Peng family has too many friends of all ages. They have been operating in Qingzhou for decades, not to mention out-of-town friends, but they have friends from all walks of life in the local area. The old man of the Peng family has a funeral, so naturally they have to come to think about it.There are also many friends from other places, such as business partners and friends from the rivers and lakes who drive horses, open martial arts gyms, and engage in transportation; in Huaixi, the Xiangtang, which is affiliated to the Shanmen of Peng Zihao, is an important disciple of the altar; Friends from the rivers and lakes; and partners in the business field after the Peng family started to get involved in shipping and inland trafficking...

These guests are not only from the top three religions, but also tens of thousands. Ximen Qing from Yanggu County came, and even Xie Chuanzhong from Beijing sent people to attend with rich gifts, which shows that the Peng family has a wide range of friends.The old lady of the Peng family had to stay for seven to seven days for the funeral. Such ample time left enough time for the arrival of the guests. Because of this, Peng Ziqi took his daughter all the way to the north. Don't be in a hurry to catch up.

Chen Yunan, a hundred households in brocade clothes, pretended to be a businessman, led Li Renhu, Liu Lintao, Shan Ting, Li Leming and his confidantes, and quietly followed Peng Ziqi to Qingzhou. When Peng Ziqi arrived in Qingzhou, he went to Pengjiazhuang without stopping. After chasing all the way to Pengjiazhuang, he had to find a place to live in Qingzhou City.

Unexpectedly, most of the inns in Qingzhou city were already full, and several people wandered around for a long time, but they couldn't find a place to stay. Finally, they found an inn, and it seemed that there were still two vacant rooms. Said: "There are two more rooms? We want it!" Chen Yunan couldn't help being furious when he heard this!

It was Lin Yuqi from Putai County who was speaking. Apart from his two confidant brothers, there were also Su Xinchen, a little girl from Qingtang in Dezhou, and Tang Saier, a little girl now. Help, now that Mrs. Peng has passed away, he should come to kowtow and burn incense.

Su Xinchen is now an adult, and she looks even more beautiful, dressed as a young woman, while Tang Sai'er has grown from a baby in the swaddle to a girl with white lips, red teeth, picturesque eyebrows, pink cheeks and a smile, everyone loves her. little girl.

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