Chapter 434 Shocking the Government and Opposition
Hearing his words, Wang Haiquan frowned slightly: "Let them all eat?"
He is not an official but a businessman. What businessmen pursue is to maximize profits. If the victims are fed as Liu Yuanqing said, how much food will be consumed in one day?
Liu Yuanqing said matter-of-factly: "Yes, let them eat three meals a day! These refugees are of great use, so you can't be careless."
After saying this, Liu Yuanqing left to inspect how the preparations were being done.
As soon as he left, the four major grain merchants of Zhou, Wu and Zheng looked at me and I looked at you.
Zheng Dayou clicked his tongue: "More than 100,000 disaster victims are all fed. How much food do we need to eat?"
Zhou Tianyu cheered: "Who knows? Let's do whatever he says."
Wang Haiquan frowned: "You three, now that the south is hit by the disaster, the autumn harvest has not yet arrived. There is not much food in our warehouses. If we really feed all the hundreds of thousands of victims as Master Liu said,
.”
"Based on the calculation of half a catty of grain per person per day, it would cost nearly ten thousand kilograms of grain per day? Can we bear it?"
Wu Yongnian thought about it in his mind: "Indeed, there is a shortage of food now, and people in the north have started to stockpile food. Yesterday, people from Xihu Trading Company ordered 10,000 shi of millet from me."
Zheng Dayou: "Let's take a look first and then talk about it. After all, this matter was handed down by Lord Shangshu. We can only find a way. Besides, doesn't the court allow the victims to make a living on their own? Maybe just feed them for a few days?"
"Then let's do this for now, and then we'll talk about it."
The other three nodded.
At this time, people from the Dongcheng Military and Horse Division had already brought the victims to Wenxuanfang.
Zhang Kai, the commander of the Dongcheng Army and Horse Division, seemed to have exhausted all his energy and shouted loudly: "Everyone lines up, no one is allowed to mess up, as long as you come to our Wenxuanfang, Mr. Liu will give you food!"
"You must remember this, Lord Liu Yuanqing! That is your savior! He is your Lord Qingtian! You will have a good life if you meet Lord Liu!"
The refugees walked numbly, showing no sign of Zhang Kai's impassioned speech. They looked around from time to time, trying to see where the food Zhang Kai mentioned was.
Seeing Liu Yuanqing, Zhang Kai quickly ran forward: "Master Liu, the first batch of 1,365 victims have been brought here!"
"Okay! Take them to Maoer Lane. There is a relief center there!" Liu Yuanqing was overjoyed. He looked at the refugees with no mercy at all.
When they arrived at the relief point, when they saw the steaming rice, all the refugees' eyes lit up and they rushed forward. Zhang Kai and his people tried to stop them, but they couldn't stop the refugees who far outnumbered them.
During the looting, a pot of rice was knocked over, and the refugees lay down on the ground and started eating.
There are no humans here, they are clearly a group of hungry beasts.
Seeing this scene, Liu Yuanqing laughed out loud.
That’s great! The more hungry these guys are, the better it will be for themselves!
Damn eunuch, let me see how you fight me this time!
With a sneer, Liu Yuanqing told Zhang Kai not to worry about the refugees who were snatching food, and to continue bringing the refugees back to Wenxuanfang.
At the end of the day, refugees could be seen everywhere in Wenxuanfang. After finally having a full meal and ending their days of fleeing, many people relaxed their nerves and fell asleep on the roadside.
Some of them were even so hungry that they were afraid that after eating this meal, they would not be able to eat the next one, and they would starve themselves to death.
When Liu Yuanqing heard this, he just frowned and said: "It's a strange thing that these fools can push themselves to death. If the body is dragged away, it will be said that they died of overwork."
After hearing what he said, the others didn't dare to say anything and could only do it.
On the first day alone, 40,000 refugees poured into Wenxuanfang. After eating, they fell asleep.
at night.
Wang Haiquan, a grain merchant, was calculating and recording the total amount of grain eaten on the first day. The more he calculated, the more frightened he became.
Finally, looking at the results on the abacus, I didn't come back to my senses for a while.
"More than 30,000 kilograms have been eaten in one day. If all the refugees come to Wenxuanfang, under this situation, they will be eaten out in less than ten days!"
After calculating the results, Wang Haiquan couldn't help but feel a strong worry in his heart. Early the next morning, he came to the Military and Horse Division to find Liu Yuanqing and informed him of the results he obtained yesterday.
Unexpectedly, Liu Yuanqing didn't care much after hearing this. He laughed and said, "It's only thirty thousand kilograms. The total grain in the warehouses of your four major grain stores must be thirty to forty thousand kilograms. What are you afraid of!"
"It's really not enough. Tell me, I will give you money to buy food!"
Wang Haiquan smiled bitterly: "Mr. Liu, you don't know how expensive food is now. Converted into money, these thirty thousand kilograms can be sold for more than two thousand taels of silver."
"If I say it's no problem, then it's no problem. Continue." Liu Yuanqing was now thinking about using refugees to gain reputation for himself.
How can I listen to Wang Haiquan's words?
Relief efforts continued on the second day as new refugees arrived.
The food eaten today is no less than yesterday, or even much more, Liu Yuanqing thought in his mind.
After these refugees have recovered a little, they can start to make a name for themselves. Then they can get a book of all peoples or something, so that they won't be afraid that they won't be able to raise their reputation.
Fang Chen also heard about the series of operations at Wenxuanfang early in the morning.
Zhou Muzhi said from the side: "The current situation in Wenxuanfang is like this, so Liu Yuanqing did something wrong."
"The four major grain merchants supported him in disaster relief and set up relief points everywhere in Wenxuanfang. The fire never stopped for a moment."
Another scholar next to him smiled disdainfully: "It's not because of his great power, or else the four major grain merchants would help him with grain so easily?"
"That's right."
The surrounding scholars responded, saying that they all knew that Yanghuafang and Wenxuanfang were now in a competitive relationship, so they were naturally on Fang Chen's side.
Zhou Muzhi was a little speechless after hearing this, and said: "No matter what method he used or what his intentions were, he was ultimately rescuing the victims, and his contribution cannot be denied."
"Muzhi is right." Fang Chen nodded.
Then he sighed, and Zhou Muzhi was confused: "Why are you sighing, sir?"
Fang Chen said softly: "I'm sighing, this fool Liu Yuanqing has laid a huge hidden danger."
Everyone around was stunned, and a scholar said: "Sir, what do you say? Why didn't we see any hidden dangers?"
"Just watch, after a while, Wenxuanfang might be in chaos."
Fang Chen stood up: "Muzhi, please accompany me for a walk."
Zhou Muzhi quickly stood up and followed. The two of them walked out of the Bingma Division and onto the street. They could see refugees everywhere on the street.
Zhou Muzhi couldn't bear it and said, "Sir? Aren't we going to rescue the refugees?"