In just one day, the news that Yuan Su was going to hold a charity banquet to raise funds spread from Luanzhou to all the counties and towns in the jurisdiction. [ ] It has to be said that Wang Litong was already familiar with the job of spreading news.
This was done quickly.
As for the auction held at the charity banquet, although Wang Litong was reluctant to do so, he finally dug into his family to find a few antiques and contributed them. Of course, he knew very well that he must not find something to fool Yuan Su. The auction
There will inevitably be experts present. If you cause embarrassment on the spot, it will be a small loss to your own face, but a big loss to Yuan Su's face.
Although the few antiques donated are not priceless, they will always have feelings after being collected for so long. Moreover, they are all genuine things. Although Wang Lantong felt more and more upset, the famine outside the customs had to be shared.
What kind of crime is this in Luanzhou? I comforted myself countless times in my heart, and thought of it as a bribe to Yuan Su, and then I managed to find some comfort.
Yuan Su finally decided to hold a banquet in the conference hall of the Consultative Bureau Building. In addition to the gentry and bureaucrats from various counties, he also invited Dr. Smith, Reynoldson and several other foreigners who came to Luanzhou to mine to attend the banquet to add a bit of fashion to the charity banquet.
. He naturally doesn't care whether these foreigners will donate money. In terms of the Chinese environment of this era, occasions with foreigners present are more formal and mainstream. It's nothing more than inviting a few blond and blue-eyed people to support the scene.
Since the news came, the officials and gentry in Luanzhou, Changli, Tanghai, and Laoting have all felt very depressed. When Yuan Su was running civil defense, everyone spared no effort to raise so much money, but now there is nothing major.
We also need to make donations.
Although everyone knew that something happened in Shanhaiguan, on the one hand, this matter had nothing to do with Zhili Province, and on the other hand, many large merchants were preparing to make a fortune from the disaster. At this time, Yuan Su called on them to donate funds for disaster relief.
Isn't it the opposite? As the saying goes, killing someone's wealth is like killing one's parents. Even if it is the president's nephew, this is a bit excessive. [New]
However, after all, grain merchants are only a part of the family. It cannot be said that all the big families are disgusted and disgusted. The rest of the officials and gentry just feel it is very troublesome, and it is really unreasonable to pay for Yuan Su to become famous.
In addition to these upper-class people, ordinary people everywhere have also heard about this matter more or less.
In the eyes of these ordinary people, Yuan Su's move is naturally worthy of praise. Yuan Hujun attaches great importance to people suffering from disasters in other provinces. When something unfortunate happens here one day, I believe Yuan Hujun will definitely pay more attention to it.
In his free time, Yuan Su also personally visited several wealthy families in the city. Xiaozhi talked a lot with these people emotionally and rationally, and at the same time, he also pretended to be official, hinting at this incident.
It is imperative.
Among the homes he visited, it was inevitable to meet with those big grain merchants. He did not make any strong threats, he just said that this time only a part of the relief materials were collected to prevent refugees from forcing their way through the border in a desperate situation.
Subordinate provinces will inevitably be greatly affected. As for the tens of thousands of disaster victims, they will ultimately have to rely on the Beijing government to take charge of the overall situation.
These words had some effect in the end. If the refugees got out of control and broke into the customs to cause trouble, the food they had worked hard to hoard would be snatched away by the refugees, which would be more than worth the loss. Moreover, after this visit, they also knew Yuan Su very well.
mentality, as long as this Yuan Hujun doesn't want to make a fool of himself, everything else can be discussed.
The charity banquet was held on July 22nd. It was also on this morning that the Communications Office of the First Mixed Brigade received a telegram. Director Chen personally took the telegram to Yuan Su's office and submitted it.
.
"Where did the message come from?" Yuan Su asked Director Chen casually as he was checking the cost arrangements for today's luncheon.
"Sir, this is the message sent by Mr. Chen from Shanhaiguan."
"Really? Get it quickly. [ ]" Yuan Su stood up immediately and couldn't wait to receive the telegram. Chen Wennian spent two days in Changli County preparing. He must have just arrived at Shanhaiguan yesterday and sent back the telegram early this morning.
After reading the telegram carefully, Chen Wennian did not explain too much. He only said that there were indeed many refugees gathered in the suburbs of Shanhaiguan, and people died every day. What was even more serious was that thefts and robberies often occurred in some villages and towns in the suburbs, and many local farmers were arrested.
They were forced to move into the city, and many immature crops and fruit groves were destroyed. All major cities in Shanhaiguan were closed, and the railways outside the customs were forced to be interrupted. The situation was not optimistic, but it was still under control.
"Reply the call immediately. I will personally lead the first group to the pass tomorrow morning. All the relief materials collected locally will be sent to Shanhaiguan within the next ten days." After reading the message, Yuan Su's face was tense and he ordered without delay.
"Yes, sir." Director Chen did not dare to neglect, turned around and walked out the door.
"Wait a minute." Yuan Su suddenly shouted again.
"Do you have any other instructions, sir?" Director Chen turned around.
"Is there still no news from Beijing?" Yuan Su asked seriously.
"There's no news at all, and I don't know what's going on." Director Chen shook his head helplessly and said.
"Send another telegram to report my arrangements and ask the central government to give instructions as soon as possible." Yuan Su said solemnly.
"I understand."
At noon, Yuan Sugang was about to go out to the Guild Hall of the Consultative Bureau. He Qigong and Du Yu had already gone to the Guild Hall to take care of things early in the morning. It was expected that they would be almost ready by this time. However, before they could go out, Wang Li
A footman sent by the same party hurried to the brigade compound and urged that everyone at the guild hall had arrived and was waiting for Yuan Su to arrive.
So, Yuan Su took several guards and rode horses to the Consultative Bureau Hall with the footmen.
Arriving at the Consultative Bureau Hall, many luxuriously decorated carriages were parked on the street in front of the hall, and there were even two rare foreign cars among them. The gate of the hall was guarded by soldiers from the First Mixed Brigade, coachmen, and footmen.
, the entourage, etc. are all waiting outside the door. It’s not that we don’t arrange meals for these people, but the space is limited, and we can only wait for the home event to end before making other arrangements.
Du Yu had been looking at the entrance to the door. When he saw Yuan Su and his party arriving, he quickly stepped out of the door to greet them and helped Yuan Su hold the reins.
"Sir, everyone is here. All the guests on the list are not absent, and there are also many guests who are not on the list."
"Really? Who are they?" Yuan Su stood up and asked Du Yu curiously. Logically speaking, this matter today is not a good thing. How could there be more guests than the pre-invited guests?
"They are all celebrities, and there are two foreigners who came from Tianjin." Du Yu said calmly while tying the reins of Yuan Su's army horse.
"Foreigner? From Tianjin? Did you just arrive today?" Yuan Su became more and more puzzled. His first thought was whether it was Poincare. However, Du Yu knew Poincare. If it was really him.
When you come, just say your name.
"Yes, they said they came here specially to attend this charity banquet. Moreover, these two foreigners seem to have a good background. Even Dr. Smith and Reynoldson seem to respect these two people very much." Du Yusha said.
Said the matter.
"How is this possible? I asked you to send out invitations just the day before yesterday. How did Tianjin know the news so quickly?" Yuan Su said with a frown. No matter from which point of view, he held this charity banquet and had no relationship with foreigners.
There is no profit at all. Whether it is Reynoldson or Dr. Smith, they have no reason or need to send this news to Tianjin.
Because of this, he had to think deeply about how the two foreigners from Tianjin knew so much about the news here.
"Back to my lord, I am also very puzzled by my humble position. My lord Wang even went up to talk to these two foreigners for a while, but he still didn't find out the details of these two people. And... and there is another strange thing..." Du Yu's expression
He said very confusedly.
"What's weird?" Yuan Su asked.
"Foreigners are all blond, blue-eyed, and hairy. Of the two foreigners who came today, one is not bad, but the other is similar in appearance to us Chinese, with black hair, yellow skin, and thin skin and tender flesh.
, Those who didn't know thought he was an eunuch from the Yi Kingdom's palace." Du Yu said with a look of disgust.
"You are talking nonsense. There are no such people as eunuchs in foreign palaces." Yuan Su scolded him angrily.
"Anyway, sir, you will know when you see me later." Du Yu said helplessly, spreading his hands.
Yuan Su said nothing more and walked towards the gate of the guild hall.
Just as he walked into the courtyard, Wang Liotong rushed out of the lobby after hearing the news, and said in a loud voice: "Master Yuan, Master Yuan, why are you so late? The guests are all here, and they are waiting for you to host."
Woolen cloth."
Yuan Su smiled and said, "Isn't it time to eat yet? Are you in such a hurry?"
Wang Lantong clicked his tongue and said: "Look what you said, many guests came here in the morning and have been sitting in the hall. As soon as everyone heard that it was you who hosted the banquet, who would dare not take it seriously!"
Yuan Su did not expect such a situation. He could only say that his reputation as an army protector had indeed been consolidated.
He didn't say anything more, just nodded slightly, and walked towards the banquet hall surrounded by Wang Litong, Du Yu and several guards. An attendant standing at the door of the banquet hall waited until a group of people approached.
, while instructing the other two attendants to open the door, he sang loudly at the top of his voice: "Master Yuan, the East Zhili Protectorate has arrived!"
The originally bustling banquet hall gradually became quiet. The people who were sitting stood up immediately, and the people who were standing moved their eyes to the door. There were about seven to eighty guests in the entire banquet hall, all of them were well-dressed, with their chests and necks
The upper body, hands and other parts that can show wealth are all dressed in red, green, silver, white and gold.