A once-in-a-century drought has filled the land of China with dead souls.
But amid the wails of the wronged souls, there is a state and county that seems to have been born in another world.
That's right, it's the same Yanzhou that was ridiculed by the princes before, "I've never seen water or food!"
Although Yanzhou also experienced a terrible drought,
However, thanks to the previously built reservoirs, cisterns, water wells and other defense fortifications, this area was able to harvest some food.
Coupled with the fact that the Chamber of Commerce is almost frantically buying food everywhere, it is actually not difficult for Boss Cao to survive this year.
But now there is another problem that is bothering them, that is, "refugees!" which will inevitably occur in years of famine.
In the governor's mansion of the state,
The civil servants and military generals who stood in sequence were now completely convinced by Cao Cao.
Some people even worshiped Cao Cao's outstanding foresight and foresight as a god.
Ignoring the flattery and praise of those below, Cao Cao waved his hand to calm them down and asked Xun Yu: "Wen Ruo, how badly have the various counties been affected by the disaster?"
After hearing Cao Cao's question, Xun Yu immediately went out and said: "Back to my lord, all the counties strictly followed your request and established relatively complete prevention and control measures before the river stopped flowing.
The most severely affected area now is Taishan County, but there is no news of anyone dying of starvation."
"Okay!" Cao Cao nodded with satisfaction.
"Chenliu County, Yingchuan County, and Dong County are the three counties with the best protective measures. Not only did the people not suffer from famine, they even harvested at least 60% of the food!"
"Very good!" Boss Cao nodded much louder.
After Xun Yu finished his report, Xi Zhi suddenly left work and said:
“My Lord, thanks to Sir’s warning, I, Yanzhou, can survive this crisis safely.
But my lord, should we accept those refugees from other states and counties?"
After a period of recuperation and exercise, Xi Zhicai's health has improved a lot now. With Lu Yan's permission, Cao Cao let him go and continue working. However, Xi Zhicai was still strictly required to work only two hours a day.
...
When the issue of refugees was mentioned, even Cao Cao couldn't help but feel a little confused.
Historically, Cao Cao invaded Xuzhou, and in order to solve the problem of refugees and food shortages, he massacred Xuzhou directly... But now, he has never even thought of such a simple and crude method.
But if the refugees are accepted,
As long as it is received once, it will be received a second time, a third time, or even countless times.
Our own food is only enough to satisfy our hunger. If we distribute the food to the victims from other places, the people under our rule will go hungry.
But what if you don’t accept it?
Those are also the people of the Han Dynasty. Can we really watch them starve to death under our city walls?
Cao Cao was a little undecided, but he thought of one person immediately.
"Mr. Lu, do you have a reply?" Cao Cao asked Xi Zhicai.
"I haven't replied yet." Xi Zhicai shook his head regretfully and replied.
"Since Sir can come up with a way to deal with the drought, he must also be able to find a way to deal with the refugees, right?"
At this moment, a messenger came from outside to report: "Report! Lord! A letter from Lu Yan, the prefect of Chenliu County!"
"Bring it here!" Cao Cao ignored the messenger who handed the letter to him. He took two steps and grabbed the letter from the messenger.
Unfolding the silk, it begins with, "Refugees, as many as there are, collect them!"
After reading the first sentence, Cao Cao couldn't help but be stunned and said: "Sir, how can you be so confident?"
When Cao Cao returned to his seat, the anxious Xi Zhi asked: "My lord, what did you say in your letter?"
Cao Cao was reading the specific measures to deal with the refugees later. After hearing Xi Zhicai's words, he couldn't help but admired: "Mr. Lu is really a god!"
After finishing speaking, Cao Cao handed the silk to Xi Zhicai.
Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, Dong Zhao and others immediately surrounded him with cheers.
“Cash for work?”
"This method is wonderful!"
"This Lu Changsheng always has fantastic ideas, and he really deserves to be hailed as a god by his lord!"
This group of people praised Lu Yan in various ways, completely forgetting the sarcasm and ridicule they had when they heard Lu Yan say there might be a drought.
But Xun Yu saw a hidden problem here. He said to Cao Cao: "My lord, this method of immortality is very good, but if this happens, our money and food will be overwhelmed!"
Xun Yu did not read all the contents. When he asked this question, Xi Zhicai, who had read the entire letter, suddenly shouted to him: "Wen Ruo! Mr. Xun Yu said that with the money and food provided by the work-for-relief, he
Everyone in Chenliu County is out!!!"
Silence!!
You can hear the needle drop!!!
At this moment, all the voices in the meeting hall disappeared!
Xun Yu turned around in disbelief and asked: "I...did I hear wrong just now?"
Boss Cao rubbed his stiff cheeks and replied: "That's right, Mr. Lu said that Chenliu County gave out all the money and food provided by the work-for-work relief!"
"absurd!"
This is the first thought that pops up in everyone’s mind,
But when they thought about the drought that Lu Yan had warned about, their hearts began to waver again, "What if he can really do it?"
"There are more than a million victims? That's a lie!!!"
"But how can Chenliu get so much money and food from just one county?" Dong Zhao said to himself in confusion.
At this moment, Cao Cao suddenly remembered Lu Yan's previous establishment of the Chamber of Commerce, "Could it be... no way..." He couldn't believe it, but he very much hoped that it was true.
At the same time, another messenger broke in,
"My lord! A letter from General Cao Ren, the governor of Yingchuan!"
"Zi Xiao?" Cao Cao was a little confused when he heard Cao Ren's letter, "Did something big happen in Yingchuan?"
Thinking of this, Boss Cao lost his composure and said, "Send it over!"
After receiving the letter from the messenger, Cao Cao unfolded it and almost threw it away when he saw the content of the letter for the first time...
Seeing Boss Cao's panic, Cheng Yu hurriedly asked: "Master?! Is something big going to happen?"
Cao Cao finally calmed down. After hearing Cheng Yu's words, he took a deep breath and said:
"Zixiao wrote to say that Chenliu County has so much grain that the granary can no longer hold it, and now he wants to transfer part of the grain to Yingchuan County.
But the problem is that Zi Lian has also filled up the granaries in Yingchuan County... so Zi Xiao asked me if there is any extra space for food in Juancheng..."
"..."
"Did I not wake up?"
"The grain...the granary...can't be piled up anymore?"
"It's absolutely crazy!"
After reading the letter, Cao Cao handed it to the anxious Xun Yu and said, "Do you still remember what I told you before about Lu Yan's establishment of a chamber of commerce?"
Xun Yu nodded and returned: "I remember. At that time, Xun Yu also teased Chang Sheng, 'not doing his job properly'."
"Yeah... Lu Changsheng is not doing his job properly..." Thinking of this, Cao Cao inadvertently showed a smile and said: "These grains were bought hard by the Chamber of Commerce from all over the world!"
"But where did he get so much money to buy food?" someone asked aloud.
Asked on point...
Boss Cao couldn't help showing a heartbroken expression and replied: "Where does the money come from? It's not all earned by the Chamber of Commerce!"
"Wow!" Everyone roared!
"What kind of business do you do? Is it so profitable?"
"My lord, the taxes in Chenliu County are not high! Where does he get the money?"
"Did they do something embarrassing..."
Facing all kinds of doubts, Cao Cao's expression of heartache became clearer, "At the beginning, I exempted Chenliu County from taxes for five years except for grain... The business tax from the Chamber of Commerce was not included in the tax..."
"???"
"!!!"
When Cheng Yu heard this, he couldn't help but slapped himself on the forehead and said: "My lord, you have fallen into Lu Yan's trick!"