[Red House] The First Imperial Merchant

Chapter 39 Distributing food relief is trivial

Brother Li made a good start, and told the rest of them together, the six together with Brother Li are 50 taels, and the rice is fifty shi. I don’t know how to make money, so I had to follow the trend and gave 80 taels, but the rice was not given. The few people looked silent, but there was a lot of surplus food. His granary was about the same at the beginning of the drought. Well, there is not much food now, and it would be a joke if it is taken out, so it is better to give more money.

Xue Pan recorded them one by one, reading while writing, the seven people present had strange expressions on their faces, mixed with pain and joy, Xue Pan was amazed at seeing it.

"How much does Brother Hou plan to pay?" Xue Pan laughed.

When several people were rushing to report the number first, Hou Yujia had been thinking deeply, and now hearing Xue Pan’s question, he said: “Master Xue, I still have a surplus of food, help the emergency, and take credit for keeping you beautiful, but—— "

"Brother Hou, just say it. If you say something that doesn't matter, I will be kind to Brother Hou when I see you. You don't need to see each other." Xue Pan was disgusted by his own words, and he couldn't see it with a smile on his face.

Hou Yujia was probably surprised by Xue Pan's thick skin, and after a while, he said: "In the future, how much Mr. Xue knows about the news of the imperial court's business reform, please tell me earlier."

"It's not difficult." It's just a matter of time, the business reform has been implemented, and he doesn't say that businessmen in the world will know about it, but what is needed is a prophet to prepare.Xue Pan nodded, saw Hou Yujia's appearance, and said, "Brother Hou, continue."

Hou Yujia suddenly smiled, the smile was very weak, but it was more polite than before, and he said softly: "Master Xue has a bright future in the future, I hope he will take care of him."

The other seven people suddenly understood that this was to gain ties, and they flattered them all at once, only saying that Xue Pan was young and promising, he would make great achievements in the future, don't forget about them when he is prosperous, Xue Pan naturally agreed one by one.He can be considered to have obtained such a cheap price empty-handed, and it is not a problem to give the other party some sweetness.

The rooster crowed, the sky was slightly bright, and the eight people looked tired but their eyes were shining, and they stepped out of the yamen contentedly. Xue Pan stared at the stewed chicken on the table, recruited soldiers, and ordered: "Take it back to the kitchen and heat it up for you guys." Let's share the food, I will go to rest, and I will continue to look for the second prince's whereabouts."

When Xue Pan woke up, the sun was already in the west. As soon as he opened the door, he heard the soldier saying that the eight people from last night were waiting for him in the main hall.They are here to deliver things, no matter if it is silver or food, Xue Pan will be asked to send troops. Now every household in Ludi is short of food, if private armed forces really dare not push the food carts to the yamen in a ostentatious manner.

When Xue Pan heard this, his spirits lifted.

The six people led by brother Li donated a total of 300 million taels of silver and 80 shi of rice, Fatty Liu added another 100 taels, Hou Yujia donated 850 million taels of rice, [-] shi of rice and new seeds for the coming year Two hundred stones were counted.One stone in Daqing is equal to one hundred catties, and [-] stones is equivalent to [-] catties. Assuming that one person in Ludi takes half a catty of rice a day, and consumes [-] catties a year, the [-] catties of rice will be used for half a year. After this difficult period, as for the donated silver taels, rice can be bought from Jiangnan. In this way, it will be able to last until next year's autumn harvest. Xue Pan only hopes that there will be no drought next year.

Thinking that farmers in ancient times depended entirely on God for food, Xue Pan felt a little headache. He couldn't help but think of several types of crops that are resistant to drought, such as corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. If these seeds can be found, at least they can alleviate the disaster during severe drought.

That night, Xue Pan personally led [-] elite soldiers to the granary to carry the food for escort. They piled it in the granary of the county government, and couldn't fit it into the wing room. Anyway, the current yamen only lives with him and a dozen small soldiers, so it's very easy.

After a whole night of tossing, Xue Pan saw with his own eyes that the empty and spacious granaries and wing rooms were filled, and the money was piled up where he slept.At daybreak, Xue Pan washed his face in cold water, and the county government's original county magistrates of Zhinong County, Guanliang County, and Fumin County were also found. In short, after Xue Pan raised the silver and food, the remaining work was implemented. In order to prevent people from corrupting ink and rioting, Xue Pan decided to send troops to go.

The urban population of Ludi is more than 2, and the suburban villages have more than 3 large and small. If you divide it by household, there are 380 households in Ludi, of which [-] are in rural areas. However, this survey is only three or four. What happened a few years ago can only be estimated one or two times.

Xue Pan asked the master to write a notice to the effect that the grain distribution will be opened tomorrow, regardless of whether the rural household registration or urban household registration is required to obtain a household registration certificate. In the city, it is enough to find ten guarantors to prove it, and then take the certificate to receive the food. If someone is found to have forged the certificate, they will be punished as a felony.

Thousands of copies of the notice were written, and Xue Pan sent people to distant rural villages to notify and post them. In this era, there are many people who cannot read in rural areas. Xue Pan specially recruited soldiers who could read, and beat the gong to read out.

Before dawn the next day, Xue Pan yawned at the bags of rice piled up everywhere in the yard of the yamen after he had been working all night. He hadn’t slept for two days in a row, and now he was very sleepy but was too energetic to fall asleep.The whole courtyard was heavily guarded, and the rooster announced the dawn. Xue Pan asked the soldiers to open the gate, and saw a long line sitting at the gate of the yamen, winding and extending to the crooked corner. The clothes were ragged but the eyes were full of hope. Xue Pan saw He couldn't help but be moved, he has never suffered from starvation since he passed through, and he came to Ludi to relieve disasters for merit and to be superior. Until today, when he saw this pair of longing eyes, Xue Pan felt a turmoil in his heart for a moment. The purpose of being an official is finally clear---

Lanterns were lit in the yard, and two teams of elite soldiers went out with guns. There was a panic in the line at the door. Seeing that the soldiers did not stop them, I felt a little relieved.The soldiers at the gate of the yamen had already set up four tables, beat the gong, and shouted at the top of their voices: "The two teams with urban hukou, the two teams with rural residence, don't be crowded, don't panic."

A long line began to panic and crowd, and the elite soldiers on both sides of the line showed their usefulness at this moment, and soon the four lines were rearranged, and the line was much shorter.

Xue Pan saw that the straw sandals on the soles of many people were worn out, their faces were yellow and emaciated, and they looked like they were about to faint. He ordered the soldiers to set up four large pots at the door to cook porridge, one bowl for each person. Don't wait for a long time to receive the food and faint fall down.

Now it's September [-]th, and the calculations have been made. First, four months of relief food will be distributed to solve the urgent need.According to human hair, one person has half a catty of rice per day, which is sixty catties in four months. A family must have at least three people to go up. In some rural areas, there are as many as seven or eight people in one household. In this way, the entire ox cart cannot be pulled. For this reason, if you can’t finish the food at one time, you can come in batches. The household registration certificate has the name and age of the population. If you get a person’s share, a special stamp will be stamped on that person’s name. It shows that you have received this person's, you can't claim it falsely, and it is still registered in the register. If you fake it, you can find it out.

However, many people don't trust batch collection, and those who don't get it are always not their own, but they can't take it away after receiving it all, so they have to believe that Master Xue will not lie to them.As soon as the cities and towns are nearby, there are basically one round after another, until the four months are completely covered, I am afraid that the food will not be enough.All the middle-aged adults in the village were sent out, and they couldn't leave after receiving the food. If everyone wanted to go back together, they were afraid that someone would snatch it on the way.

Seeing this, Xue Pan arranged for soldiers to record which village they belonged to, and each village sent four soldiers to escort them.

The distribution of disaster relief food has been distributed for six days. Every day before dawn, there are people guarding the door. The team barely dispersed until the sun was about to go down. At noon on the seventh day, the tired soldier with a hoarse voice reported that the distribution The household registration has been registered and counted, and the distribution has been completely completed. This time, it happened to investigate the existing population and household registration of the entire Ludi.

Xue Pan breathed a sigh of relief. The imperial decree from the capital arrived in Ludi that afternoon. The imperial decree naturally praised Xue Pan. It didn't cost the treasury a penny to relieve the victims of disasters in Ludi and solve the disaster for Emperor Pingkang. A lot of headaches, good words come one after the other, adding an official is naturally necessary, directly skipping a level, from the sixth-rank Qingshui Yamen to the fifth-rank official of the Ministry of Industry, Yu Hengqing, and he is Yu Hengqing official The biggest head of the company, although the Ministry of Industry is at the bottom of the six departments, but entering the sixth department is one step closer to the center of power. Of course, at the end, Emperor Pingkang left a sentence to let Xue Pan deal with the disaster in Ludi before returning, and he was not in a hurry to join the job.

After receiving the decree to thank you, the father-in-law who came to announce the decree said with a smile: "Our family still has an imperial decree, which is awarded to the eight major charitable merchants. I also ask Mr. Xue to send someone over to announce the decree together."

Hearing this, Xue Pan was relieved. This is more important than his own promotion. Back then, he cheated people of money and food, but now he paid off the praise of the Holy One. He immediately sent someone to invite him. labor fee.

When the eight people arrived, their faces were full of joy, the incense burner table in the yamen had already been set up, and the eight people knelt down to receive the order.Emperor Pingkang's face became more embarrassing this time, not to mention the words of praise, each of them also rewarded a calligraphy, and even awarded the title of president of the chamber of commerce to Hou Yujia. After receiving the order, Xue Pan asked Only now did my father-in-law know that the newly-appointed president of the chamber of commerce was officially certified, and he received a salary every month, which was pitifully small, but merchants didn't care about that, what they wanted was face.When Xue Pan heard this, he realized that the officially certified president of the chamber of commerce was only in Ludi, and it was proposed by Mr. Strict and Qingyan. Taking this opportunity, the prelude to the commercial reform will be tried in Ludi first.

The president has the responsibility to manage the market. For example, the price cannot fluctuate too much, and there must be no merchants maliciously driving up the market price to hoard live animals and sell them at high prices. These are the most basic, and more qualified to recommend merchants with excellent quality and honest goods to become imperial merchants, etc.. .....

The old eunuch said incompletely, when asked by Xue Pan, he could only wipe off his sweat and smiled, and explained: "Our family doesn't understand the details of Mr. Xue's question. Maybe there will be regulations for the new pilot site set up by Mr. Yan in the future. We can’t tell the specifics about it.”

Xue Pan smiled apologetically and said, "I'm the one who was impatient, don't take offense, father-in-law."

Everything in Ludi has entered into order, and the new Ludi county magistrate is also in place. People drag their children and take care of their children, and the backyard of the yamen is also small. Xue Pan is not good at occupying the magpie's nest. Looking for a place to live, the army given to him by Emperor Pingkang had already gone back with the old eunuch who issued the decree. There was a disaster in Ludi, and the soldiers and horses needed to eat and drink. No sense of security.

Xindier is a house under the name of Hou Yujia. It is across the street from the Yamen. The yard is bright and large. The most important thing is that the front yard is convenient for working.

At the beginning of October, the second prince who had been out of touch for a long time finally got news. It turned out that he fell off a cliff that day and was rescued by an Orion, but his left leg was broken and he was unable to walk an inch. In addition, there was a famine, and the Orion family was running around for food and clothing, so naturally they could not take care of the Second Prince. , the second prince had doubts and did not reveal his identity, fearing that if it leaked out, it would attract murderous intent.Xue Pan sent people to the village where the Orion lived. The second prince was suspicious and did not call for help. He waited until he was able to walk. In addition, Xue Pan's various behaviors did not look like the first prince, so he showed his identity.

At the end of November, the 480 million taels of disaster relief money was used to exchange 400 million taels for food, and the remaining 80 taels were calculated as about ten taels per head. If a family with a large number of people got it, it would be enough for Xue Pan’s salary for a year. To put it bluntly, if the drought in the coming year is enough to get through it safely, at least there will be no phenomenon of changing children and eating.The grain exchanged was stored in the granary of the Yamen. The new county magistrate, surnamed Mei, was in his 40s. He was a thin middle-aged man with a strong backbone. Don't worry, besides, the government offices in Ludi don't have much money now except for the surplus food and money they got in exchange.

The first heavy snow fell at the beginning of December, and the auspicious snow heralds a good year, which is a good omen. It fell for three days, and the heavy snow covered the dry and cracked land. The people wept with joy when they saw it.

On the day when the heavy snow stopped, Xue Pan set off for Beijing with fifty soldiers.

The author has something to say: this chapter is written very slowly, and I need to do calculations and check it out. To be honest, Chrysanthemum’s math is taught by a physical education teacher. If there is any miscalculation, I hope everyone can help Chrysanthemum to correct it, okay? clatter!