Rejuvenation of the Han Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 24 Put gold on your face
Lu Xiong didn't expect Liu Qi to say this in public, and he suddenly looked embarrassed.

However, Liu Qi also saved his face and allocated more than half of the credit for the disaster relief proposal to himself, which Lu Xiong could barely accept.

Seeing everyone looking over, he could only cough lightly and said, "There are so many refugees from all over the country, they are coming one after another, but driving them away is not a long-term solution, and I'm afraid they will be scolded by my father! I think it's better to settle them properly than blocking them."

When everyone heard that Lu Xiong supported Liu He, the audience fell silent and were all stunned.

After all, Liu Qi was old-fashioned, and with a few words, he held the most prestigious Lu Xiong and made him stand with Liu He, which immediately disintegrated the previous alliance of the major families.

Then he said: "If we want to drive out the refugees, Captain Lu could send troops half a month ago, but he hasn't moved for a long time, just thinking of a surefire plan."

Lu Xiong was unable to get off the tiger, so he had to laugh and said: "Because the magistrate of Zhuoxian County is vacant and no one is in charge of the overall situation, everything has been delayed so far. Now that Liu Bingcao is willing to take the initiative to take up the important task, it is for the safety of the people and Zhuoxian County, The same goes for him doing it for me."

You can really put money on your face!

Hearing that Lu Xiong said that he was doing things for him, Liu He sneered in his heart.

To put it bluntly, Lu Xiong is still not courageous enough. Otherwise, with the prestige of the Lu family and the official position of captain, he would have been able to preside over disaster relief. Even because of Lu Zhi's power, everyone would respond in one fell swoop.

But he is also worried about the problems caused by this. For example, more and more refugees will come, and the crisis will be even greater. He only wants to provide disaster relief, and he has no way to resettle these people, let alone bear the consequences, so he has been In hesitation.

At this time, Liu He suddenly stepped forward to do something, and he regretted it again. After thinking about it, it seemed that he could also do this, so he was very annoyed by it.

At this time, Liu Qi caught him with words, so he had no choice but to force Liu He to do things for him, which was to save the last bit of face.

But Liu He doesn't care about Lu Xiong's rhetoric, as long as he can get things done, what he wants now is these people and their talents.

But when they heard that Lu Xiong actually supported the disaster relief, the people who came with him were caught off guard and lowered their heads to think about countermeasures.

Mr. Zhao immediately changed his tone and said: "Mr. Liu, it's not that we are unwilling to help the disaster. It is because the family is in short supply of food and we will be planting the land soon. How can we have enough food to open a porridge factory?"

"That's right, my family's food is only enough to last until summer, and I'm still counting on buying some food with the remaining money!"

For a while, everyone shook their heads and complained. Some said that there were too many people in the family and not enough food. Others said that there were too many refugees and it was impossible to save them. Instead of provoking them, it would be better to expel them as soon as possible.

Seeing that everyone was pouring bitter water and talking as if they were about to lose the pot, Liu Qi glanced at Liu He helplessly. This situation had already been expected by him.

Liu He smiled calmly, clasped his fists to Lu Xiong and said, "Since Captain Lu said to do some practical things, I wonder if the Lu family can support him or not?"

Lu Xiong secretly gritted his teeth and said with a smile: "Although my family is not rich, we still have some food left over. I will open a porridge shed and help more than a hundred people every day."

Liu He nodded and said with a smile, "I've already chosen a location outside the city to open a porridge factory. Captain Lu just arranges people to come, and he will reserve a place for himself."

Mr. Zhao immediately said again: "Since Captain Lu wants to open a porridge shed, although my Zhao family has no food left, I can donate some cloth money."

Li Maocai also changed his words: "Lieutenant Lu is worthy of being Duke Lu's successor, and he is indeed a role model for us. In order to help the poor people, our Li family has to scrape together some food to save money."

Everyone agreed again, but they all said it very reluctantly. All the families donated their life-saving family wealth, which seemed righteous.

Liu He came here today to witness the true colors of these people. Originally, he hoped that there would be one or two good families, or someone like Lu Su who had a long-term vision and was able to dissipate his family's wealth.

Now it seems that such people are indeed rare, and they are all philistines who only care about immediate interests. Even Lu Xiong, the situation is not very big.

Soon everyone gathered around Lu Xiong to toast, complimenting him on his benevolence and righteousness, as if Lu Xiong presided over the disaster relief work, completely leaving Liu He aside.

Liu He smiled helplessly, got up and said goodbye to Liu Qi: "There is still work to be done in the porridge shed, so I will take my leave first."

Liu Qi raised his glass to see them off, but Lu Xiong said loudly at this time: "I am busy with military affairs, and I will help Liu Bingcao to complete everything."

Is it over?
Liu He's expression turned cold, and he clasped his fists and sighed, "The people outside the city are suffering from poverty and hunger, living and dying. If they can eat such a feast, why bother to save them?"

After speaking, he led Gao Cheng away, and the hall suddenly fell silent. Everyone was very embarrassed with their wine glasses, and silently put them on the table.

Liu Qi sighed softly, got up and said, "This is the end of today's banquet, send all these meals outside the city, and use them for the soldiers who built barracks!"

Everyone looked embarrassed and hurried away with their heads lowered, leaving Lu Xiong looking at Liu Qi. The two of them looked at each other silently with complicated expressions.

A young man who had only arrived for less than two months took the initiative to carry out a major disaster relief project for thousands of refugees in Zhuo County. In fact, both of them were disgraced.

Everything went well outside the city. Two days later, three porridge sheds and a row of simple barracks were built. The refugees who had heard the news earlier all gathered here, and some of them who still had the strength spontaneously stepped forward to help.

Liu He first asked officials to count the number of people and arrange the refugees according to household, male, female, old and young. He also invited all the doctors in the city to treat the injured and sick people. Otherwise, if they were infected, the consequences would be disastrous.

Candidates for conscription first voluntarily sign up from men aged 20 to 35, and wait for them to eat, drink and recuperate for a few days to recover their physical strength before selection.

In addition, as long as there are skilled people, no matter male, female, old or young, all craftsmen are registered separately, even if they can weave bamboo baskets, blacksmiths, carpenters, etc. must be listed in particular.

The rest of the adults, regardless of gender, as long as they have physical strength, have to help in the porridge shed first, but you can't feed these people with free food every day.

The refugees had already ordered when they moved into the tents that anyone who fights and makes trouble or disobeys the dispatch will be driven out and no food will be given to them. Since they still have the strength to make trouble, there is no need to eat and drink here.

The official porridge factory opened for three days, but Lu Zhi's family was the only one in Zhuo County who volunteered to open the porridge factory.

The rest of the families only donated a small amount of food and cloth, some gave some money, and even sent a few servants to help, all of which were just to deal with it, and it was a face for Liu Qi.

From this point of view, Lu Xiong is relatively fair in the overall situation. Although he was robbed of the limelight by Liu He and held back by Liu Qi, he still asked his brother to bring people to build a porridge shed himself. Much admiration.

A piece of land was allocated for them to the west of the barracks, and the servants sent by each family were sent to help in the Lu family's porridge factory. They knew each other well and were more willing to follow the Lu family's orders to avoid deliberately causing trouble.

(End of this chapter)