New Shun 1730

Fortunately, the weather was good and the most worried thing did not happen.

Four days after Bai Yunhang's visit, the merchant fleet had already anchored in Chengshanwei.

Because Japan closed the country and the Japanese pirates no longer invaded, Chengshanwei had been withdrawn, but it was not changed to Rongcheng, and it was still called Chengshan.

It was not a military port, so these merchant fleets could only stay there, and it was also closer to Wendeng Prefecture.

According to the plan, the recruits would not be able to return for a few days.

Liu Yu was also in a good mood because of the arrival of the merchant ship, so he went to Wendeng to do the next thing.

It is said that a three-year drought will not starve a cook to death. This is absolutely true. The restaurants in Wendeng are still open. Liu Yu chose a restaurant that was still open, ordered a few simple dishes, and invited Bai Yunhang.

Outside was a group of hungry people who could not walk on the street and bask in the sun. There was a small table of dishes in the restaurant. Although there were only a few simple egg custards, tofu pudding, etc., compared with the cruel world outside, it was still luxurious.

Bai Yunhang had roughly figured out Liu Yu's personality, at least on the surface.

There was no excessive politeness. Seeing the simple dishes on the table, although he felt that they were a bit simple, he didn't know what to say.

If it were someone else, he might say something flattering like "thrift fosters virtue", but since Liu Yu was the host, Bai Yunhang thought it was just too uncomfortable to say that.

He had heard that a fleet had docked at Chengshan, but he was not sure about the situation, so he had to wait for Liu Yu to speak.

Liu Yu did not speak directly, but scooped a small spoonful of soft and glutinous egg custard with a spoon and put it down.

"Lord Bai, when I saw this egg custard, I thought of something."

Bai Yunhang thought that you ordered this egg custard, but I'm afraid it was not because you thought of something when you saw the egg custard, but because you deliberately ordered the egg custard because you thought of this thing.

He thought Liu Yu was going to tell some allusion, so he also scooped a small spoonful of egg custard with a spoon and put it in his mouth, sucking it gently.

"I read a book before, saying that during the Chongzhen period of the previous dynasty, when there was a great famine and people were eating each other, there was a dish. What dish was it?"

Bai Yunhang still had half a spoonful of egg custard in his mouth. After hearing this story, even though he knew it was indecent to vomit in front of others, he could no longer hold it in.

Ugh... Ugh...

Heaved a few times, and then looked at the egg custard and tofu pudding on the table... The urge to vomit that he had managed to hold back came up again.

"Sir... Please don't blame me... Ugh..."

Half a minute later, the store owner came to clean up the table and served some bland food, but Bai Yunhang couldn't eat any of it.

The "dish" that Liu Yu had just described kept rolling in his mind, his stomach was churning, and his hands were shaking from trying to hold it in.

"Lord Liu has chopped off heads and heads in Heilongjiang. I can't compare, please don't say anything. Lord Liu, I understand what you mean, that we should do our best to provide disaster relief."

"Lord Bai, I was just inspired. I had a nightmare a few nights ago. Many hungry and weak people surrounded me and asked why we had so much food but only provided relief to Wendengzhou? If we took out all the food in the warehouse, maybe we could save Laizhou and Pingdu."

Liu Yu forced a smile, touched the wine in the glass with chopsticks, looked at the ripples on it, and was silent for a long time.

He looked as if he felt guilty, but in fact Liu Yu didn't feel guilty at all.

He had his own account in his heart, and from this he could extrapolate the account of 109 years. All the suffering and misery were a number that could be calculated. It was a number, so it could be compared.

Bai Yunhang didn't know if Liu Yu was really inspired and felt guilty? Or if he meant something else, so he also kept silent with Liu Yu.

In these days of contact, he found that Liu Yu was not as rumored, nor as he imagined.

Somehow, a feeling came up, as if there was always a layer of white gauze on Liu Yu's face, which made him really unable to see through.

After a long time, Liu Yu put down his chopsticks, picked up the wine glass and nodded at Bai Yunhang, saying: "Master Bai, in fact, I helped Wendeng, on the one hand, I was unable to help other counties, and on the other hand, I also had other intentions."

Bai Yunhang didn't even move the wine glass in his hand, as if he had expected it long ago.

If it's just for the grain? Bai Yunhang thought, if it's just to collect that little grain next year, there's no need to go through so much trouble: using money to buy land is reasonable and legal. If there is grain and money in a famine, there will be no shortage of land. If there is no shortage of land, now the rent is one stone and six buckets of rent, is there still a shortage of grain?

If it's to make friends with me? That's even more nonsense. I am just a small governor, in the eyes of this noble family, I am just a small official, and the person in front of me is the Dragon Guard selected by His Majesty. The officials in the Han Dynasty were Huo Qubing, Zhang Qian, Dongfang Shuo and others.

It's not good to say that this Lord Liu has a preference for Long Yang?

Picking up the wine glass and quietly looking at his reflection in the wine glass, Bai Yunhang knew better and was sure that he was overthinking.

"Master Liu, if you have anything to say, just say it."

"Hmm..."

Liu Yu thought for a moment and said, "Master Bai, after this disaster relief, His Majesty should exempt the taxes and grain, right?"

"Hmm, His Majesty is merciful and will definitely exempt them."

"After the exemption, it's a fresh start. I want to help Master Bai measure the number of acres of land in Wendeng Prefecture while the disaster relief is in progress. All of them. Master Bai, don't worry, I have thought of all the reasons you can think of. First, I have a group of officers who have studied surveying and geometry; second, I now have tens of thousands of people, and I have been familiar with Wendeng for several years."

Hearing the topic of "measuring the acres," Bai Yunhang felt as if someone had hammered him in the heart. He smiled awkwardly and said, "Since Mr. Liu wants to help measure the acres, of course it's good. But...but what should we do?"

"Of course His Majesty is here to provide relief and provide disaster relief. It will be convenient for distributing seeds for next year."

The flesh on Bai Yunhang's face trembled, and he thought to himself: What I'm asking is what you're doing, not what you're pretending to do.

Liu Yu knew that Bai Yunhang wouldn't believe it, so he laughed and said, "I have an idea, let's tell it to Mr. Bai for his review."

"Speaking."

"Check the acres of land, and spread the capita tax among the acres. The tax will remain unchanged, reduce the taxes for poor households, and increase the taxes for rich households. By the way, help Mr. Bai check the acres of land, and give Mr. Bai an increase of ten thousand taels. The amount of tax paid.”

Bai Yunhang was startled and asked subconsciously: "Sir, why are you helping me again?"

Liu Yu laughed and said, "Why, Mr. Bai is not shocked by my idea of ​​sharing a small family with his family? Instead, he is shocked by the purpose behind me?"

"Mr. Liu...I apologize for my stupidity. Your Excellency has a wonderful idea. Taking advantage of the opportunity of going deep into the village during the disaster relief period to measure the acres of land and use the land to provide seeds for disaster relief, there is no doubt that the timing is perfect. However, Why are you so helpful?"

Liu Yu asked back: "Then why did Yue Wumu serve the country with all his loyalty?"

Bai Yunhang was stunned for a moment, then seemed to understand, and asked: "Serving the country with loyalty is for the sake of serving the country with loyalty?"

Liu Yu smiled and then nodded.

"That's right. What Mr. Bai said is absolutely true. I did this just to do this. Sir, just say whether this idea is feasible?"

Bai Yunhang is a speculator, but he is also a capable official. He thought it through almost instantly and said with a smile: "Isn't this just going down the same path as Zhang Taiyue?"

While laughing, he was covered in cold sweat.

Before Liu Yu helped him, he really thought that Liu Yu was just "if you, Master Bai, hadn't come up with the lesson plan, I, Liu Yu, would not have had the chance to stand out, let alone replace the missionaries in expanding the three thousand miles of China's border in the north."

Later, I felt that this reason was not very reliable, and thought that maybe Liu Yu really wanted the hundreds of thousands of shi of grain for next year. After all, this amount was indeed huge, so it was strange that he had to accept the gift and not accept the invitation. These hundreds of thousands of shi of grain were worth ten thousand The two-gold level may really mean "I won't accept it unless it's right, but you can't afford to give me that much."

After today's dinner, when these words were spoken, all previous thoughts were overturned.

Thinking about Zhang Juzheng's fate, Bai Yunhang and Liu Yu communicated with each other for a long time, and they became more courageous. He smiled and said: "So you don't want to have your body opened in a coffin after death. Seeing that I, Bai, have a broad waist and a broad back, I just happen to bear this big blame." ?”

After that, he smiled bitterly and said: "If you had said this to me when we first met, I would have been scared and pretended to be stupid. But now, you have given me a chance to stand out from the crowd and let me see that I am about to enter the capital." There seems to be a slight possibility of becoming a Beijing official, or even becoming a minister of the Sixth Government in the future... If I say this now, at least I won't be scared and pretend to be stupid immediately, and I will have to think carefully. "

"If I can only be a state shepherd in this life, I won't even consider it. But now... it's really worth considering. Did your Excellency start plotting against me at the beginning of the disaster?"

Liu Yu saw that Bai Yunhang didn't pretend to be stupid or object, but smiled and gave an ambiguous attitude, and he understood something in his heart.

"Master Bai, if you say that, you have wronged me. I am a dragon ban, and I am a military attache. I am not a county magistrate, nor a state pastor. As the saying goes, if you are not in my position, you will not be in charge of the government. I don't know how to do it. Regarding local affairs, even if you have this idea, it is impossible to know whether it is a clever strategy or just rhetoric. "

"It would be extremely difficult to do this from scratch. Without a major disaster, tens of thousands of troops stationed nearby, and hundreds of people who know how to do surveying and mapping and have no connection with the local area, it would be impossible."

"Now that Wen Deng has completed all three, and when there is a chance of escape, he prepares in advance at the right time. Are you right?"

Regarding this issue alone, Bai Yunhang had to admit that it was indeed the case.

If one of those three conditions is missing, it will be difficult to try. If nothing else, let’s talk about the third point. If you want to do something elsewhere, where can you find so many subordinates who have nothing to do with the local area but are capable?

After carefully considering what Liu Yu said just now, he made sure that there was no dangerous or deeper hole in it, and then he nodded and said: "It is true what the Lord said. These three points can indeed prepare everything like a thunderbolt. "

"So Master Liu thought of luring me into the wok at the beginning of the famine and adding sesame oil to make me not want to escape. When the temperature of the oil rises, will it be impossible for me to escape if I try to escape?"