Chapter 181 Chu Huairen arrives in Su, Cai Yanzhi is eager
Outside Suzhou.
The team from Ganzhou arrived at the city gate first.
The food scattered along the ruts along the road was robbed by the refugees, and they even got into fights.
"Food, there are grain trucks coming, it should be the imperial court coming to provide disaster relief!"
The victims outside the city cried with joy, and the people who were dragging corpses from mass graves quickly woke up after hearing this.
"What am I doing..." The person who regained his senses felt cold and nauseated by himself, but he couldn't vomit anything.
"Grain truck, it's a grain truck!"
"The car is full of food, hurry up and follow!"
"The imperial court is providing disaster relief!"
A large number of refugees gathered outside the city, and the city gates of Suzhou were already closed.
They are worried about refugees attacking the main city of Suzhou, or being attacked by bandits. During this period, as long as anyone has something to eat, they can respond to everything, so they must be on guard.
"Look." On the city wall, several people from Lin Bei stood side by side.
He pointed to the group of grain trucks outside the city that he could see at a glance.
"Too few, it's not the imperial court that is providing disaster relief." Although Cai Yan was a civil servant, he had enough experience and had seen real disaster relief scenes.
The grain trucks will be like transporting military rations during a war, and the vast team will be filled with grain trucks.
Lin Bei counted and estimated: "Even if the car is full of food, it will not exceed a thousand dan, which is enough for two meals."
Zhang Feng nodded: "Suzhou had a population of more than 100,000 before the war, and the main city of Suzhou had at least 30,000 people. This food would not be enough even if it were distributed throughout Suzhou."
Lin Bei's deputy general counted on his fingers and said doubtfully:
"General, on average, one person can have about ten kilograms of food. How many days can he live at least?"
"It's impossible that all these grains are for human consumption, and even if they were, they wouldn't be divided like this." Zhang Feng shook his head helplessly.
The lieutenant general was puzzled.
However, Cai Yan understood Zhang Feng's words and said with a clear meaning: "I have seen disaster relief in the direction of Qingzhou... Some people were given hundreds of kilograms of food, and some people could only go to the porridge every day and receive a bowl without chopsticks.
Serve the porridge.”
In one sentence, it expresses the unevenness of this world.
The lieutenant understood, but remained silent.
Lin Bei didn't think it was strange, he had long been used to such things.
"My intuition tells me that it's not that easy."
"Let's go down and have a look."
At the gate of the city, a group of bodyguards armed with swords blocked the rushing refugees.
The victims were too enthusiastic, which made them feel bad and shouted quickly.
"Open the city gate quickly..."
The city gate opened in response, but not for them.
A group of Yulin soldiers came out armed with weapons. The rushing refugees immediately stopped. The corpses of those who dared to attack the army a few days ago were already hanging at the north gate.
Lin Bei brought Cai Yan and Zhang Feng to the grain team and asked:
"Who is in charge?"
"Hey, this is the general." Among the crowd, a middle-aged man with a deer head and rat eyes walked out, dressed in rich clothes and smelling of copper.
The deputy general asked: "Who are you? Tell me your name."
"I am Chu Huairen, a grain merchant from the north."
This person is none other than Chu Huairen, who came from Ganzhou on horseback, bringing food all the way here for a fortune.
Cai Yan was in a trance and said: "I remembered, General Lin, this man is a very famous businessman in the north, and his company name is only second to the Tai'an company in An Daolun."
"Yes, yes, it's me." Chu Huairen smiled and bowed flatteringly.
It seems a little pleasing to the eye, but also not very pleasing to the eye.
Lin Bei nodded: "Businessman? Are you here to sell grain in Suzhou?"
"Exactly, there are official documents from the imperial court, and I am qualified to run the business." Chu Huairen said, and asked the entourage on the side to hand him a memorial-like official document and spread it out for several people to see.
It has the stamps of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ganzhou Prefecture Yamen, so no one would dare to fake it.
"Then let's go into the city." Lin Bei stopped a few people who wanted to talk and signaled to let them go.
Chu Huairen thanked him profusely and led the food team into the south gate of Suzhou City with a smile.
After he left, Cai Yancai said:
"General Lin, why didn't you let me speak just now?"
"What does Mr. Cai want to say?" Lin Bei asked back.
Cai Yan said anxiously: "Of course we need to requisition his food for a temporary emergency, otherwise Suzhou will be in big trouble if he can't wait for the young master to arrive!"
"Requisition?" Lin Bei joked, looking at Zhang Feng aside.
Zhang Feng said: "Mr. Cai, this Chu Huairen belongs to the Northern Chamber of Commerce. He has a big shot in the capital behind him. Do you want to expropriate food from such a businessman?"
"I'm afraid there will be impeachment by the censor over there in the capital. It's a small matter for you to lose your official position, but it will be a big matter for your family."
Lin Bei added: "When there was a flood in Jiangnan Road many years ago, the governor of Jiangnan at the time expropriated the granary of a southern chamber of commerce. He was later convicted of plundering and taking advantage of the chaos to enrich himself. He was beheaded and his whole family was exiled."
"..." Cai Yan was silent.
It's not that he didn't know about this case, but he just couldn't help it and wanted to do it.
"We are working outside now, and there is no one in the capital to support us. If the other party accuses us of something, it will be difficult for us to reverse the situation." Zhang Feng said.
The same thing, different descriptions, will have different properties.
Requisitioning grain from grain merchants can be interpreted as robbery by others, and they may also say that you took the opportunity to benefit yourself and want to win the hearts and minds of the people...
As long as you want to blame someone, there are plenty of reasons.
Besides, this is indeed against the law.
There is no law that states that merchants' property can be forcibly expropriated during disaster relief.
There is no such thing as this.
If there is, there will definitely be people who deliberately "rob the rich and give to the poor" during disaster relief. When the time comes, everyone will be in danger, and no one will be willing to be such a fat sheep.
Once businessmen are forced too far, they can do anything. Selling one's country is considered a minor offense, and being a leader has learned lessons from the past.
Moreover, this is not conducive to the circulation of goods and currency, and the country will become poorer and poorer.
So you can't think that just because you are doing a good thing, you can do whatever you want. You have to think deeply.
"Suzhou Yamen, do you have money?" Cai Yan asked with a glimmer of hope.
Lin Bei shook his head helplessly.
The deputy general said: "Master Cai, when the Beiliang army was leaving, even the food was burned. How could you leave money for the Yamen?"
"It can't be requisitioned, and it can't be bought... Then can we make an IOU first and wait until the Ministry of Revenue comes..." Cai Yan looked at a few people.
Zhang Feng directly interrupted his thoughts: "Master Cai, we don't have an administrative officer here, and no one has the power to sign IOUs with grain merchants on behalf of the court."
"If the court doesn't recognize it after the incident, we will be dead."
Cai Yan shook his head: "How is that possible?"
Lin Bei chuckled: "Mr. Cai has been abroad for too long. I don't know how people in the capital can be found guilty of any crime. When the time comes, you and I are required to pay back the money. Who can support it?"
Don't doubt it, those beasts in the capital can definitely do it.
Even if you do something that you have no authority to do, even if you do it right, it is still an act of transgression, and there will be no reward or punishment.
If the imperial court doesn't keep it all, who will pay for it? The combined annual salary of the few of us is less than 800 taels?
"Then Chu Huairen knows that we have no authority, so he won't be willing to sign this idle note." Zhang Feng shook his head.
Cai Yan gritted his teeth: "Then there's nothing we can do?"
Lin Bei shook his head. It was not that he was unwilling, but that he did not dare.
As the commander-in-chief of the Habayashi Army, he has to be responsible for the Habayashi Army and his family.
Once there is any illegal action, it will definitely be found out. At that time, I don't know how many people in the Yulin Army will be demoted and even sent to jail. The exile of his whole family will be a light thing.
Cai Yandao: "I have been a royal censor for so many years, and I have some family property."
"Master Cai, I won't stop you if you want to spend all your family wealth, but Chu Huairen will definitely not sell the grain easily, at least the price won't be too low... Together, we can't buy a hundred shi, which is a drop in the bucket." Zhang Feng tried to dissuade him.
road.
Lin Bei had a high opinion of Mr. Cai. Although he was aloof, he was indeed willing to contribute.
At least not the kind of person who is generous to others.
So Lin Bei also agreed: "Then Chu Huairen came here so quickly, it can be seen that he was well prepared. He did not sell food everywhere in Suzhou, but went straight to the main city of Suzhou... Why do you think Master Cai?"
Zhang Feng slowly shook his head, wondering what he was feeling.
Cai Yan is not stupid, he just cares about chaos, and now he understands:
"What General Lin means is that he knows that the country people have no money, so he goes straight to Suzhou City and wants to take advantage of the situation to rob and plunder the people in Suzhou City..."
"Every one of this person's grain carts is full of grain, and there are no empty grain carts. This means that he didn't drop a grain of grain on the way... He went straight to this city." Zhang Feng analyzed.
Lin Bei also said: "Put it outside the city and deliberately scatter some grain, just to let people know that he has grain in his hands, and the people will naturally coax him to buy it."
"He wants to take advantage of this opportunity to drive up food prices?" Cai Yan said angrily, "How dare he!? This is a serious crime of decapitation!"
Excessively enriching the country has been a capital crime since ancient times.
"However, it depends on who said this crime... If he has a backer in the capital, this is not a crime. It can even be said that he rushed to rescue Suzhou immediately, just to recover some costs... No one can say
Nothing comes out." As a member of the Xuanjian Division, Zhang Feng is used to seeing right and wrong being distorted.
Therefore, Zhang Fengcai has always agreed with Lin Bei's concerns.