At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Cao Ang had been warned by Guo Peng very early on, but after all, he had never seen this scene with his own eyes.

Now that he witnessed this scene with his own eyes, it was difficult for him to adapt at first, and it took him a while to adjust, and he was sure that he was facing a crisis.

And Guo Peng was watching him by his side!

No accidents, absolutely no accidents, must be handled properly to appease the hearts of the people.

He allowed himself to calm down, think carefully, sort things out, and then determined that the first thing he had to do was to appease the officials.

Only after the officials have been appeased can the officials be allowed to come forward to appease the people.

It is necessary to let the officials know that this matter is not their fault, that they are the fish in the pond, and that their psychological burden should be relieved before they can be allowed to do things.

So Cao Ang publicly stated at the meeting that the cause of this incident was not any problem in the Wei state, let alone the mistakes of the officials, but a problem outside the Wei state.

Thousands of miles away, a war between Parthian and the Roman Empire resulted in the defeat of Parthian.

After the defeat of the Parthian Kingdom, it suffered heavy losses. A large number of businessmen who came to the local area to do business either died or were robbed of their properties and could not come.

They can't come, and the locals naturally have no business to do.

Therefore, it is reasonable for those small shops with small size and weak capital to close down first. It is not a so-called war or conspiracy at all.

Cao Ang's statement surprised many officials, and they were the same. They never thought that a war thousands of miles away would have an impact on the economy of the Wei Empire.

But if you think about it carefully, follow Cao Ang's train of thought... Isn't that what it is?

It is because of this situation that no one comes here to consume, and no one consumes. Aren't those small merchants with insufficient assets going bankrupt?

It was the first time for the officials to come into contact with such a thing, and it was the first time they heard such a statement, and they found it very novel.

But what they are most interested in is Cao Ang's other statement, that is, no one is responsible.

This incident was not caused by the officials, but by the wars in other countries. It was because the Anxi Kingdom was too useless and useless to defeat the Roman Empire, which caused the Wei people to lose their business.

So thousands of mistakes are the fault of the Anxi people!

Chapter 1543 One Thousand 460 Big Crisis in the Three Towns West Capital Protectorate

Cao Ang's statement greatly calmed the emotions of the officials.

This brought the panicked officials back to their senses quickly.

They don't want to take responsibility and be punished.

The worst result of taking responsibility would be to lose their official positions and even their lives, which was an unbearable burden for them.

It is common for officials to be afraid of taking responsibility, not to mention officials, ordinary people are also afraid of taking responsibility.

Acting with responsibility behind one's back, one always feels unable to let go of one's hands and feet, afraid to do things here and there, for fear of expanding responsibilities.

Now when they heard that this matter had nothing to do with them, it was caused by the useless Anxi people, and the court would not directly hold them accountable, so they were happy.

Soothe body and mind!

It's not our fault, it's because the An'an people are too bad and has nothing to do with us, so we won't be punished.

wonderful!

The tension and anxiety of the officials group was instantly relieved.

But Cao Ang didn't intend to let them go.

He has a serious face and a loud voice in the enlarged meeting.

"This incident was not caused by us, so the court will not be able to hold us accountable. However, if the follow-up work cannot properly appease the people and lead to civil unrest! That is our unshirkable responsibility!

Once this kind of thing happens, it is possible for me to be the leader, lose my job, or even go to jail. We have one count as one, and no one can escape!So at this moment, it is the time when we need to work together in the same boat, understand? "

Cao Ang shouted that he was full of official authority, and instantly made these officials who had just relaxed tense up again.

Indeed, the economic depression cannot be blamed on them, but once civil turmoil occurs, it is their responsibility.

If this causes social losses, they will be even more unable to escape. One counts as one, and Cao Ang as the leader will all be punished.

The officials have calmed down, and the next step is the second step.

It is necessary to appease these people who are extremely afraid and think that they will be punished, let them know that they will not be punished, and relieve the tension and anxiety of the people.

At the critical moment, Cao Ang showed strong determination and action.

First of all, he decided to postpone the matter of the court's debts, and asked the officials in charge of the Ministry of Finance to actively cooperate and report to the central government first.

Here, small businesses are allowed to go bankrupt, let them stop losses, record them, and then let them go home and wait for news.

The debt belongs to the imperial court and the Central Ministry of Finance. Cao Ang has no control over such matters, and even Guo Peng here cannot intervene immediately, and can only wait for the imperial court's decision.

So leave the troublesome matter to the Central Ministry of Finance and the emperor. They will first stabilize the local sentiment and restore normal production and living order.

Cao Ang quickly ordered that the entire Zhenxi City be divided into eight districts, and the eight main officials of the Duhufu were each in charge of one district, and preached and posted notices in the districts to inform the people of the reason and truth of this matter.

No one will be caught, no one will be punished, this is the first priority!

The reason for this happening is that the defeat of the Anxi Kingdom caused serious damage to the Anxi merchants, so they stopped coming. All in all, it is the fault of the Anxi people who are too useless, not our Wei people's fault!

Thousands of mistakes are because Anxi people are too useless, we have not made mistakes, so please don't worry!

Spread such a statement throughout the city, and even the entire Zhenxi Protectorate, and let everyone know.

Use the method of diverting contradictions to shift everyone's attention to the Anxi people, so as to ease the contradictions and gain time to solve the problem.

Give the Central Ministry of Finance and the Zhenxi Protectorate a little respite, let them coordinate and argue with each other, and try to solve the problem.

Just do it.

For the sake of their official positions and future, the officials of the Zhenxi Protectorate's Mansion exploded into action. They rushed to the area they were in charge of, preached vigorously, posted notices everywhere, and announced the truth of the matter with drums and gongs.

It's the Parthians' fault!

Not our fault!

Thousands of mistakes are resting in peace, we are implicated, we are innocent!

Busy from noon to sunset, they finally managed to initially control the situation in Zhenxi City, allowing everyone to blame Anxi on his head and unify their voices.

Those merchants who can't sustain themselves are also allowed to close their stores and go home to live, while waiting for news.

Cao Ang came forward to assure them that they would not be questioned, would not be punished, and had no additional responsibilities other than repaying the loan!

Because it's not their fault!

Because the thousands of mistakes are the fault of the Parthians who are too useless, as long as they fight hard enough to beat the Romans back, wouldn't it be over?

Pooh!A bunch of trash!

So everyone shared the same hatred, and vented all their grievances, fears and worries to the Anxi Kingdom thousands of miles away. The whole city scolded the Anxi people for their waste, and Zhenxi City really regained its calm and harmony.

Of course, those Anxi merchants who came here to take refuge before were really trembling, hiding at home and not daring to come out.

I was afraid that people would know that I was an Anxi man, and then I would not be able to reason after being beaten up.

I am even more afraid of being asked to compensate the merchants in Wei State who have suffered losses.

Of course, it is not without the officials of Zhenxi Protectorate's Mansion that they confiscated the properties of Anxi merchants to subsidize the losses of merchants in Wei State. This behavior was rejected by Cao Ang.

We are officials, not robbers. We know that such a thing has nothing to do with Anxi merchants, but we still do this, which will damage the reputation of the country.

The big man does something and does not do it. In order to alleviate the conflict, it is the limit to throw the blame on the Anxi people. It is unnecessary to further damage their property and personal safety.

If this is done, it will affect the Anxi Kingdom's reluctance to come to Wei State for trade after it returns to normal in the future. Wouldn't it be a greater loss for the country?

Cao Ang rejected such behavior.

But it didn't end there.

This is just the first step in a chain reaction.

Hotels and restaurants collapsed, and some people downstream who had commercial cooperation with them also lost their source of business.

The Anxi merchants stopped coming, and the demand plummeted. Some people who made handicrafts, made wine, and provided food and vegetables to restaurants and hotels in the city also had no business.

The economic model of Zhenxi Protectorate or the entire Wei Empire is relatively simple.

It is mainly agriculture, and some commerce and handicrafts have been developed on top of agriculture.

Tuntian farms are scattered around the city, carrying the main population and main production tasks. There are some commercial shops in the city, relying on agricultural products to operate business. They spend money to order products from the farms outside the city to meet their needs. need.

That's what happens in good times.

Farmers outside the city and merchants in the city formed an alliance of interests, supplying goods while giving money.

When supply exceeds demand, farmers will also try to expand the scope of cultivation under the organization and encouragement of the government, and reclaim more wasteland to meet the needs of merchants in the city.

As a result, the economic depression came, the merchants collapsed, and the products produced by the farmers were not bought, so they could only be kept at home and stare blankly.

The food can still be stored, and it is not a problem to store it for a few years. It can always be eaten up, and if it cannot be sold, it will not be sold.

But vegetables and fruits are not easy to store, they are expensive, and they occupy the land for growing food. Once they are not eaten in time before they rot, it will be a blood loss, and the loss is not even a little bit.

Grain is the main food these days, and the people who can eat vegetables and fruits have never been ordinary people, but rich people, not to mention that the productivity of the Western Regions is far lower than that of the Central Plains.

Farmers in the agriculturally developed areas of the Central Plains are no longer a problem of food and clothing, and they can eat meat and fish every now and then to satisfy their cravings. Farmers in the Western Regions can only eat vegetables, fruits and meat during the festivals. They usually eat grain and salted vegetables to fill their stomachs.

They don't want to eat vegetables and fruits at all. They usually sell them to merchants in the city for foreign merchants. They use them to make money. They are almost equal to cash crops. It is a waste of cash crops to eat by themselves.

Not to mention the shelf life is very problematic.

As a result, many old farmers went to the city and yelled at the merchants in the city, saying that they were heartless, useless, outrageous, and so on.

But the merchants pushed [-]—it was all the fault of the Anxi people, and they have no money now.

The old farmer had no choice but to curse and admit that he was unlucky in the end.

After all, food is mainly produced, and vegetables and fruits are a minority.

Eat it, and you won't lose much.

No one buys the excess agricultural products, so they can only eat and solve it themselves. There is no problem with the stomach, and they can eat enough to prevent them from starving to death, but the farmers have no money left.

Without money, there is no way to expand production and promote consumption, which further leads to economic recession in the city, and more merchants encounter a crisis of declining business volume.

The overall economic trend has begun to decline, and a vicious circle has formed. The economic development momentum of Zhenxi Duhufu has been hit so hard that it cannot be revived.

As a result, large merchants with relatively strong capital and who will not encounter operating crises in the short term also complained.

They scolded themselves for being greedy, scolded the Anxi people for being useless and useless, and secretly said that those officials who encouraged them to do business were too impatient.

Now there is no business to do, the cost has to be pointed out constantly, the profit is pitifully small, and even maintaining the operation is not an easy task.

All in all, a lot of resentment.

From the day when the rumors were suppressed, Cao Ang realized that his psychological preparation for the economic depression was far from enough to cope with such a severe impact.

Troubles came to him one after another, chasing after his buttocks one after another, kicking his ass and forcing him to keep moving forward, making him flustered.

Even if part of the conflict was diverted by using the Parthians, the huge pressure was still on him, making him unable to breathe.

All kinds of unexpected news and unexpected situations will test his adaptability.

He couldn't even eat well, or he didn't have the time and thought to eat a good meal at all, he was as busy as an ant on a hot pot, and couldn't stop at all.

Zhenxi Protectorate is facing the biggest crisis since its establishment.

Chapter 1544 One thousand four hundred and sixty four Cao Ang's courage and responsibility

This crisis has nothing to do with military politics, but it is equally destructive and not much better than a political and military crisis.

For Cao Ang, it was just as dangerous, and if he was a little careless, he would be torn to pieces.

The only good thing is that the mainstream of the economy of the Wei Empire is still a self-sufficient agricultural economy. No matter how chaotic the business is, the supply of food is still stable, and the price remains unchanged.

So no matter how panicked people are, there will be no real turmoil.

The government has food and money, and everyone has something to eat.

The widespread agricultural areas around the city provided a good buffer zone for the economic crisis, absorbed a large number of agricultural population, and made it possible for the commodity economy of the Wei Empire to have a soft landing.