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Chapter 305 The Butterfly Effect: Mitigation of Military Disasters

At this time in northern Shaanxi, grain prices soared to four taels of silver per shi, and one hundred thousand shi of grain was 40 taels of silver.And to be honest, 40 taels may not be able to buy [-] shi of grain.

After hearing this number, the fat old man fell silent immediately, and the others followed suit.But those sitting outside, because they were a little far away from Hong Chengchou, started whispering.While speaking, some words reached Hong Chengchou's ears.

"so much……"

"Yeah, too many..."

"..."

Seeing that the smile on Hong Chengchou's face disappeared, the fat old man turned gloomy, and said, "Master Zhongcheng, it's not because we don't want to. It's really a famine year. Although we have a little family business, we have a lot of expenses. .In the imperial court, filial piety must also be managed, and food is money, so I really don’t have that ability!”

When the other squires heard this, they all nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Lord Zhongcheng, we are powerless!"

"These days, the landlord's family has no food left!"

"..."

Hong Chengchou could hear that there was a needle in their words, implying that there were also people in the court, so don't force them too much.

He sneered in his heart, trying not to get angry, but said in a slightly stern voice: "If you don't have enough food to send troops to suppress the thieves and let the thieves loot, don't you worry, will the thieves rob you? By then , your money and food, wives, children and daughters belong to thieves, can you keep them?"

These words were quite shocking. After he finished speaking, all the squires fell silent again, and no one dared to say that there was no food.

After a long silence, the fat old man was the first to express his opinion: "Master Zhong Cheng's words are very true, Yan must do his best!"

Speaking of this, he pondered for a moment and then said: "Yan donated five hundred shi!"

Hearing what he said, the squire next to him followed up and said, "I will donate one hundred shi of grain!"

"Fifty stone!"

"..."

Hong Chengchou was not too little, after listening to one, his eyes turned to the next one, and he didn't continue to look at the next one until he donated.After all the reports in the hall were finished, he waved his hand and asked the guards to go down to the hall to count the number of food donations.

"My lord, the hall donated a total of two thousand shi!" The guard replied loudly with an obvious look of anger on his face.

After hearing this, Hong Chengchou stood up, looked around at the gentry present, and said in a cold voice: "The total donation is five thousand shi. It's not that I think it's too little. Don't you really fear that bandits will break into your villages and towns and slaughter your whole family?"

No one answered, Hong Chengchou said again: "Since I invited you to come here, I have made statistics in advance. You have the ability to afford the military rations, but the donated military rations are so little. Maybe you don't know the amount of money in northern Shaanxi? The situation, the official will inform you of the situation just grasped."

Having said that, he slowly talked about the situation of the civil uprisings in various places.The large number and the wide area made many people worry, and their faces were a bit ugly.

"...Everyone, the one that worries me the most is Brother Shen Yiyuan's bandit mainly composed of frontier troops. They have about 2000 cavalry troops alone, and they have been in the army for a long time, and they are proficient in attacking cities. The method of battle formation. According to my estimate, in northern Shaanxi, except for the county towns and above, other villages and castles are difficult to defend against Shen Yiyuan's attack. If I don't send troops, even the county towns may not be safe."

When Hong Chengchou said this, his tone suddenly became a little more gentle: "I guess you have heard about the Shanxi merchants. The court has money, and it has clearly issued a decree. The frontier military salary will be reissued soon. You don't have to worry about it in the future. To donate food!"

Upon hearing this, all the squires present couldn't help whispering.With such a large-scale action in the neighboring province, these squires are naturally more aware than ordinary people, and of course they understand some of the situation.Although they don't quite believe it, even if the court pays the salary, how much money can reach northern Shaanxi.But anyway, there will be some, so they have to reconsider.

Hong Chengchou had a good temper when facing these squires.Because he knew that in Daming, ordinary people could be offended, but these gentry must not be offended.Otherwise, in the original history, he would not disregard Yang He's order to kill and surrender.Because he knew that if the country gentry didn't provide food and only relied on the little relief from the court, those thieves would be surrendered, but they would definitely rebel if they didn't have food to eat.

Seeing that these gentry were thinking about it, Hong Chengchou persuaded again: "The army has no food. When the army can't wait for the payment of the salary and can't bear it, there may be more mutinies. If I have no power, I can only keep Yulin. It's just this town, and it will be too late for you to regret it by then!"

Either they were moved by his words, or their previous discussions had reached a conclusion, and the squires headed by the fat old man started a new round of food donations.The total amount of grain reached about [-] shi.

After the donation was over, the fat old man stood up and bowed to Hong Chengchou: "Lord Zhongcheng, my daughter-in-law is expecting to give birth. The little old man is really worried about it, so I have to go back and look at it. Please, Lord Zhongcheng, please forgive me!"

"Then the official congratulates Yan Lao!" Hong Chengchou replied with a slight smile.

As soon as the fat old man left, another squire stood up next to him: "Master Zhongcheng, my mother is seriously ill, and the students really don't want to have a banquet, so please invite Master Zhongcheng..."

Before he finished speaking, Hong Chengchou said with concern: "Since that's the case, it's my fault. You should go back soon!"

The man was overjoyed when he heard this, and quickly bowed deeply and said, "Thank you, Mr. Zhongcheng, for your understanding!"

Another one left, and the other squires saw that Hong Chengchou was still calm and considerate, so they all found reasons to leave.Hong Chengchou was also the same as before, very considerate of them, as long as you want to leave, he will not stay.

Not long after, all the squires found various reasons strangely, and all of them disappeared.

Looking at the empty hall, Hong Chengchou's personal guards said indignantly: "My lord, they have nothing to do, they are afraid of donating food and ran away!"

"How can I not know!" Hong Chengchou's face returned to gloomy, and he scanned the empty table and said, "I'm poor, so I can save money and food for this banquet, hehe, very good!"

In fact, regardless of whether Hong Chengchou has food or not, as the highest official of Governor Yansui, he has the heavy responsibility of suppressing thieves, so he will definitely send troops.It's just that the difference between having food and not having food will determine his way of commanding troops.

If there is food, he will strictly enforce military discipline. Suppressing thieves is just suppressing thieves, nothing else will happen.But if there is no food, there is nothing he can do. The first thing is to suppress the bandits. As for the replenishment of military supplies, it can only be solved on the spot while marching and fighting.

Originally, in history, soldiers caused more disasters than bandits, but in this plane, because of the butterfly effect, these gentry donated as much food as possible, which allowed Hong Chengchou to somewhat restrain military discipline, and many people escaped disaster.

At the same time, Emperor Chongzhen of the capital is still considering the matter of repaying the military salary, and the progress is behind the previous estimate.

　Thank you Boring Passenger 08 for your tip!If someone has watched the Great Ming Tribulation, they may be familiar with this scene.Sun Chuanting, whom many people are looking forward to, is about to appear.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)