The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

Chapter 919 Killing three birds with one stone

"That's unreasonable!"

Ao Huang was furious.

"Isn't it okay to do good things for the people?"

"If the Imperial Examination Scholars can spend money to buy things for the people to improve their grades, then the Imperial Examination will be about who has a deeper background, higher family status, and whose family is richer. Even if it is my Fang Family Library, merit will not be included in the Imperial Examination Among them!" Fang Yun said.

Ao Huang nodded helplessly and said: "I forgot. Your human race attaches great importance to etiquette, and there are some rules that cannot be broken. So what should we do? We can't transport it in through normal channels, and we can't sell the food we get from Jiangbei. It can’t be given to the people, everything has been calculated by the Left Prime Minister! The Left Prime Minister is indeed a cunning person. Compared with him, we are all too young.”

Fang Yun said: "There are many high-ranking officials involved in this incident, but Liushan may have only allowed them to do so and did not attend the event himself. As far as I can tell, he has not officially taken action yet."

"What do you mean by this?"

"This incident will bring my farming and people's livelihood subjects down to the third level at most. For Liu Shan, it's not worth ending up in person. Unless..."

"Unless something."

"It's very simple to let Liu Shan end. He found a way to force me out of the palace examination and lose my qualifications for the imperial examination!"

"Impossible, unless he can wipe Ning'an County out of the Shengyuan Continent, there is no force that can force you out of the palace examination! However, the top priority is how to deal with the price of food. Now is the lean month of March, and the people of Ning'an County have always been in shortage Food, no If the habit of storing large amounts of grain continues, I'm afraid it will cause riots! Once serious consequences occur, those grain merchants will naturally be punished, but it will only be a fine, and you will have to pay for farming and people's livelihood and will not be promoted to the second level. cost."

Fang Yun said: "The key is not the ratings of these two subjects. If someone really dies because of this, and I don't dare to buy food and give it to the people for free, then I'm afraid I will have a new nickname, Fang Zhenguo, the murderous county magistrate!"

"It's so poisonous!" Ao Huang's teeth itched with hatred.

Fang Yun said: "Geng Ge hates me deeply and is Liushan's confidant. Even if I go to the Transportation Department, it will be useless. Therefore, I put my hope in the Beimang Army. The Beimang Army is stationed in Ning'an County. Apart from the county government, only the Beimang Army can open warehouses to distribute grain. General Ding is a great man. As long as I sincerely persuade him, he may abandon his factional views and help the people."

"This hope is very small. After all, General Ding cannot disobey General Yingyang's orders."

"It's better than nothing."

As Fang Yun spoke, he raised his brows, opened the curtains, looked out through the gap, and listened.

"Go buy food quickly! The price of food has increased again! It's scary!"

"When I heard about the new grain prices, I quickly went to my house two blocks away to get a bag of rice. When I ran back to the grain store, the price of rice had increased by a full 20%, and it was only two blocks away!"

"What a shame, it's already three times the normal price of food! It's still going up!"

"What is Magistrate Fang doing? Why don't you open warehouses to calm the price of grain?"

"Who knows, maybe he is in the same group as those profiteers!"

"Fart! Magistrate Fang is short of money? Hundreds of millions of taels of silver are used to build a library. How much can Ning'an County earn from selling grain?"

"You people are so ignorant! The human race has long had a plan to make money. In a year of good harvest, if the price of grain is too low, the government will purchase the grain at a normal price, which is called 'Ping Bian'; in a year of famine, if the grain production is reduced, if the price is too low high, official The government sells the grain in stock at a normal price, which is called "Pingyu", so you don't have to worry! There is plenty of grain in the Ning'an County granary. Even if the Ning'an County granary runs out of food, Ying Yangjun will not see us starve to death. ”

"It's about..."

"Huh? Those private soldiers... seem to be Fang Xusheng's vehicles, right?"

"It's so fast, get out of the way, I'm afraid we have to deal with something big."

"Is it related to the price of food?"

Fang Yun's heart was heavy and he said nothing.

Ao Huang whispered: "It seems that those bastards from the Left Prime Minister Party, after confirming that you are unable to calm down the food price and your rating has been lowered, will use Yingyangjun's food reserves to calm down the food price and gain a good reputation."

Fang Yun said: "The grain they used to calm the price of grain is probably the grain transported from the county grain depot last night!"

"These bastards! Is there nothing we can do?" Ao Huang was furious.

"If General Ding gives up helping, there is nothing I can do!" After Fang Yun finished speaking, he sent a message to Ding Haosheng, the general of the Beimang Army.

However, General Ding did not reply for a long time.

Fang Yun's heart sank to the bottom, but he still rushed to the Beimang Army camp.

A quarter of an hour later, Ding Haosheng replied to the letter.

"I went to Yuyang Pass yesterday and was not in Ning'an County. Although I have the intention to save the people, I am unable to do anything and can't help. I hope Fang Xusheng will forgive me."

The biography uses "Fang Xusheng" instead of "Fang County Magistrate", which shows that Ding Haosheng did not do it deliberately, but was in the army and found it difficult to disobey military orders.

"That's all... turn around and go to the County Literary Academy, where I will still give lectures." Fang Yun said.

"Should we... use strong tactics to arrest the people in the grain store just like we did the workshop owners?"

"The workshop owners I arrested were either people who owned workshops in the county, or they were owners of workshops in the county before. Grain shops are private property, and how they set prices is not affected by the government. In other words, The government has the ability to influence pricing, but it must be decided by the cabinet.”

"Then what should we do?" Ao Huang was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

"Although the price of food is high, no one will starve to death for at least three to five days. I will use this time to think about countermeasures. It's just..." Fang Yun looked extremely serious.

"Just what?" Ao Huang asked curiously.

Fang Yun said: "Just, March 19th is the day of the Medical Literary Conference. It can't be such a coincidence... I understand! They suddenly raised the grain price after confirming the date of the Medical Literary Conference, causing the people to live in misery and making many medical scholars disgusted and even disgusted. If the chaos reaches the extreme, it may even lead to the cancellation of the Medical Literary Conference, and then incite the medical family to attack my medical ethics! Once the Medical Palace and the Etiquette Palace determine that my medical ethics are problematic, then no matter how good the medical articles I write in the palace examination are, they will only be B-level in the end, and cannot get A-level."

"This... they are killing three birds with one stone."

"Compared with this time, the way the officials of Ning'an County harmed me before was simply ridiculous!" Fang Yun said.

"Alas... what should I do, what should I do..."

"This matter cannot be rushed, we need to take a long-term view." Fang Yun said, closed his eyes and rested, but in fact he was thinking hard about how to solve the dangerous situation of grain prices this time.

Ao Huang observed Fang Yun carefully and found that although he was calm, he was slightly tired. It can be seen that this situation is very unusual and it is definitely the biggest difficulty encountered in the palace examination.

"Alas..." Ao Huang sighed, "The lecture has been scheduled, I can't not go. If I go, what if someone asks about the price of grain, then... Alas..."

Fang Yun remained silent.

The carriage stopped at the side door of the County Academy of Literature, Fang Yun got off the car and walked slowly towards the Temple Square.