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At this time, the price of grain in northern Shaanxi soared. It was already four taels of silver per stone, and one hundred thousand stones of grain was equivalent to four hundred thousand taels of silver. And really speaking, 400,000 taels may not necessarily buy 100,000 shi of grain.

After hearing this number, the fat old man suddenly fell silent, and the others also fell silent. But those sitting outside, because they were a little far away from Hong Chengchou, started to whisper. While talking, something came to Hong Chengchou's ears.

"so much……"

"Yeah, it's too much..."

"..."

When the fat old man saw the smile disappear on Hong Chengchou's face, his face darkened, and he said: "Master Zhongcheng, it's not because we don't want to. It's really this year of famine and disaster. Although we have a little family fortune, our expenses are also high. . In the imperial court, filial piety must be taken care of. Food is just money. I really don’t have that ability!”

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

"Yes, Lord Zhongcheng, we are helpless!"

“These days, landlords don’t even have enough food left!”

"..."

Hong Chengchou could tell that there was a hint in their words, implying that there were people in the court, so don't push them too hard.

He sneered in his heart and tried not to be angry, but his voice was a little colder and he said: "If there is no food and we send out troops to suppress the thieves, and we let the thieves plunder, don't you worry, will the thieves rob you? By that time , your money, food, wife, children and daughters all 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 expressed his position first: "What Mr. Zhongcheng said is absolutely true. Yan should do his best!"

Having said this, he pondered for a moment and then said: "Yan donated five hundred dan of food!"

After hearing what he said, the squire next to him followed up and said, "I will donate a hundred dan of grain!"

"Fifty stones!"

"..."

Hong Chengchou was not too little. After hearing one thing, his eyes turned to the next one, and he continued to look at the next one until he donated. After everyone in the hall had reported, he waved his hand and asked his guards to go down to the hall to count the amount of donated food.

"Master, I will donate a total of two thousand dan of food!" The guard replied loudly with a look of anger on his face.

After hearing this, Hong Chengchou stood up, looked around at the squires present, and said coldly: "The total donation of food is five thousand dan. Isn't this too small for me? Are you really not afraid that thieves will attack your villages and towns and massacre all of your families?"

When no one responded, Hong Chengchou continued: "Since I have invited you all to come, I have made statistics beforehand. You all here have the ability to afford these military rations, but the donation of military rations is so small. Maybe you don't know about northern Shaanxi yet?" I will inform you all of the situation that I have just grasped."

Having said this, he slowly recounted the situation of the civil commotion in various places. The large number and vast area made many people worried, and their faces were a bit ugly.

"...Everyone, the group that worries me the most is the bandits of Brother Shen Yiyuan, which are mainly composed of frontier troops. They have about two thousand cavalry troops alone. They have been in the army for a long time and know how to attack. The method of city battle formation. According to my estimation, in these places in northern Shaanxi, except for the county towns and above, other village castles will be difficult to defend against Shenyuan's attack. If I don't send troops, even the county towns may not be safe. "

When Hong Chengchou said this, his tone suddenly softened a little and said: "I guess you have heard about the Shanxi merchants. The imperial court is rich and has clearly issued a decree. The border army's salary will be reissued soon. You don't have to worry about paying it back in the future. We need to donate food!”

Upon hearing this, the squires present couldn't help but whisper. For such a large-scale operation in the neighboring province, these squires naturally have better ears and eyes than ordinary people, and of course they have some understanding of the situation. Although they didn't quite believe it, even if the imperial court paid them, how much money would they have to reach northern Shaanxi? But at least there will be some that make them have to reconsider.

Hong Chengchou had a good temper when facing these squires. Because he knew that in the Ming Dynasty, ordinary people could be offended, but these squires could never be offended. Otherwise, in the original history, he would not have surrendered despite Yang He's instructions. Because he knew that if the squire did not provide food and only relied on the small amount of relief from the court, even if the bandits surrendered, they would definitely rebel again if they had no food.

Seeing that these squires were thinking about it at this time, Hong Chengchou advised again: "The army has no food. When the military pay is issued and it becomes unbearable because of hunger, I am afraid there will be more mutinies. If I am powerless, I can only save Yulin." It’s just this town, by then it will be too late for you to regret it!”

Either because they were moved by his words, or because their previous discussion came to a conclusion, the squire headed by the fat old man started a new round of food donation. The total amount of food reached about 50,000 shi.

After the donation, the fat old man stood up and saluted Hong Chengchou and said: "Master Zhongcheng, my daughter-in-law is expecting a baby. I am really worried about it, so I have to go back and watch. Please pay attention to it, Master Zhongcheng!"

"Then I would like to congratulate Mr. Yan first!" Hong Chengchou replied with a slight smile.

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

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

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

Another squire left. Seeing that Hong Chengchou remained calm and considerate, the other squires found reasons to get up and leave. Hong Chengchou was also very considerate of them as in the beginning. As long as you wanted to leave, he would not stay.

After a while, all the squires came up with various excuses and disappeared.

Looking at the empty halls, Hong Chengchou's personal guards said angrily: "Sir, they don't have anything to do, they are just afraid of donating food again and run away!"

"How could I not know this!" Hong Chengchou's face returned to a cold expression, and he glanced at the empty table and said, "I am poor, so I can save money and food for this banquet, haha, that's great!"

In fact, regardless of whether Hong Chengchou had food or not, as the highest official in the governor of Yansui, he had the heavy responsibility of suppressing bandits and would definitely send troops. It's just that the difference between having food and not having food will determine how he will lead his troops.

If there is food, he will strictly enforce military discipline and suppress thieves, nothing else will happen. But if there is no food, then he has nothing to do. The first thing is to suppress the thieves. As for replenishing military supplies, he can only solve it on the spot while marching and fighting.

Originally, soldiers caused more disasters than bandits in history, but in this dimension, due to the butterfly effect, these squires donated the maximum possible food, which allowed Hong Chengchou to restrain military discipline to a certain extent, and many people escaped.

At the same time, Emperor Chongzhen of the capital was still considering the issue of reissue of military pay, and the progress was lagging behind previous estimates.

Thanks to Boring Passer 08 for the tip! If anyone has watched The Ming Dynasty, you may be familiar with this scene. Sun Chuanting, whom many people are looking forward to, is about to appear.