Maintaining normal order in Pingshan County is the prerequisite for disaster relief. As long as the order in Pingshan County is not chaotic, Yang Qingyuan can survive for a while with the three thousand stones of food in the city.
The imperial court's grain had already traveled north from the tributaries of the Yellow River, but after reaching Jizhou, many sections of the river were frozen, so it could only be transported by land to counties and counties. The efficiency of grain transportation suddenly dropped.
Originally, a shipload of grain could cost as little as a few hundred dan, or as much as a thousand dan.
After it was time to take the land route, we could only rely on grain trucks to transport it slowly.
"Zhao Juncheng, how much food has the imperial court transported so far?"
"Sir! There is no food. Apart from the first batch of 150 kilograms of corn that arrived, there is no food for aid!"
When talking about this matter, Zhao Juncheng's tone was full of sadness.
Yang Qingyuan's original gaze suddenly became solemn. According to normal calculations, the first batch of more than 300,000 shi of grain transported to Jizhou should have arrived, but in such a long time, only 150 shi were distributed to Pingshan County and Jizhou.
The governor Wang Jing was not a mediocre official, so something must have happened.
"Does the grain dealer in the city have any grain to sell?"
"The grain stores and rice stores in the city still have grain in stock, but the prices can no longer be suppressed! These grain merchants now charge 600 cash for a bucket of rice!"
When this matter was brought up, the county magistrate became extremely angry. These grain merchants formed a group and fought against the government. They drove up prices during the disaster and greatly enriched the country, but there was nothing they could do.
"Six hundred coins?!" Yang Qingyuan's originally calm face couldn't help but be surprised.
The price of food in Pingshan County increased tenfold. After Liu Chang fell ill, no one could stop these profiteers.
In the face of a major disaster, the most terrifying thing is not the natural disaster, but the human heart.
"Is this what happened after Mr. Liu fell ill?"
The county magistrate shook his head, "The price of grain had already started to skyrocket before Mr. Liu fell ill! The leader of the group was Chen Bing, a wealthy man from Pingshan County. This man joined other grain merchants in the county to raise the price of grain to fight against the government.
"
"So the grain merchants are involved?"
The county magistrate shook his head, "There are also a few conscientious people who are unwilling to make a fortune at a time of national crisis, but Chen Bing sent people to buy all these people's grain at a fair price! Then sell it at a high price!"
"Master Liu took his old body to discuss with Chen Bing, but Chen Bing deliberately took Master Liu to a pavilion and sat in the pavilion for an hour on the pretext of discussing. Master Liu was old and frail, and then he became infected.
I can't get sick after the cold."
The county magistrate became furious when he thought of Chen Bing.
"How dare a merchant act so rampant?!" Yang Qingyuan was really scheming when he heard about this man's behavior.
The county magistrate added: "Not only that, Chen Bing is even more ruthless and decisive. When Mr. Liu saw that the negotiations were fruitless, he wanted to send his officers to seize his granary. Unexpectedly, this man became so crazy that he burned fifty dan of grain in one breath, and
He threatened that if Mr. Liu forcefully robbed the food, he would rather set fire to the people and destroy the people's food than let the officials steal the food by violating the law."
"Moreover, this person also has connections with senior officials in the capital, and he threatened to go to the capital to sue Mr. Liu for violating the law and abusing his private power!"
Yang Qingyuan's eyes were filled with coldness, "Is this person famous?"
Merchants alone should not have such courage. Scholars, peasants, industrialists, and merchants were at the bottom of the list. Most of them could become extremely rich. If they were not famous, they would have an official in their family as a backer. Otherwise, they would be killed before they could get rich.
Other gentry divided up the property.
"This person is the person who was elected in the first year of Yong'an."
Yang Qingyuan nodded, this is normal. If ordinary people are the ruled class and scholars are trying their best to get closer to the ruling class, then Juren is the ruling class.
Although the juren cannot serve directly, they have become reserve officials, similar to county magistrates, county lieutenants, or academic officials. If they are well-connected, they may even serve as magistrates of a county.
Once a person who understands the law and is knowledgeable does evil, his destructiveness is far greater than that of an ordinary bandit.
If we really want to do a good job in disaster relief work, we must deal with this evil person who knows the law.
Want to be an outlaw in front of Dali Temple? That doesn’t exist!!
But before taking action on this evil business, Yang Qingyuan still needs to make some preparations.
"Zhao Juncheng, where are the Pingshan County defense troops?"
"Sir, the Pingshan County City Defense Army is led by Colonel Hu Cheng. A county magistrate who is a subordinate is not qualified to interfere in military affairs."
Yang Qingyuan nodded and agreed with the county magistrate's statement. Only a county chief official has the power to mobilize the city defense army.
After Yang Qingyuan waited for the government officials to eat, he took the county magistrates Zhao Jianfeng, Shen Bao, Xiao Tao, Xiao Yang Guo and a group of government officials and went straight to the military camp.
If you want to establish order in this catastrophic disaster, you must have the power to maintain order. This power can only be achieved by Yang Qingyuan and Yamen, but also by the city defense army.
A group of people arrived at the city defense camp in the west of the city.
Five hundred city defense troops were stationed here.
Originally, according to the size of Pingshan County, there should be 1,500 city defense troops, but at this time, King Zhao of Yancheng was already ready to take action. The city defense troops from all counties in Jizhou were transferred to the Shanggu Camp. Among the six armies of the Emperor of Heaven, Tian Part of the main force of Ce's army has also gone south to guard against King Zhao.
"Zhao Juncheng!" Although the two sides did not interfere with each other, the soldiers guarding the gate knew Zhao Jianfeng.
"This is the new Governor Yang of Pingshan County!"
The sergeant in charge of the guard post at the door immediately gave Yang Qingyuan a military salute.
Although Zhao Jianfeng, the county magistrate, has a high official position, he is not their superior, but Yang Qingyuan, the prefect, is different. He can intervene in the military and political affairs of Pingshan County.
Under the leadership of the guard at the gate, Yang Qingyuan and his party entered the camp.
After entering the camp, Yang Qingyuan noticed something was wrong with the atmosphere.
According to the etiquette, Hu Cheng, the captain of Pingshan County, should stand up to greet the prefect of Pingshan County. After all, his official position is much higher than that of him and he has the power of supervision.
But Hu Cheng still sat firmly in the chair, unmoved.
"Captain Hu, this is the newly appointed Governor Yang of Pingshan County!"
Zhao Jianfeng saw this situation and immediately spoke.
Hu Cheng stood up slowly and said, "Zhao Juncheng, you can't make a mistake, right? Mr. Liu is still in office, how come there is a new prefect coming?"
Liu Chang, the former governor of Pingshan County, was old and rarely interfered in the management of the city defense army. Therefore, Hu Cheng could almost dominate the city defense army with one hand and lived a very comfortable life.
Now that Yang Qingyuan has arrived, such a newly appointed governor must control the military power, which touches Hu Cheng's interests.
Although the prefect could mobilize the city defense troops when necessary, the direct superior of the city defense military commander was the state Sima or other state military chiefs, and there was no direct master-slave relationship between the two parties.
So Hu Cheng is not very afraid of Yang Qingyuan.
"Captain Hu, please don't make false claims. I have already passed Master Yang's imperial edict. There is no fallacy."
"oh?!"
Hu Cheng stepped down from his seat, came to Yang Qingyuan, looked around, and then reluctantly bowed his hands.
