Ren Kaidi and Chu Lin each carried a sedan chair and paraded along the street.
Under the scorching sun, the people fleeing from the north were ragged and skinny, and they either took care of their children or carried their children on their backs. They all held earthen pots and tiles in their hands and begged along the street. Some starved to death by the wall, and some knelt on the ground, waiting to be fed. There are also those who are willing to sell themselves as slaves.
Although there are many refugees, it does not prevent princes, grandchildren, and children from rich families from singing and playing in the orchestra. On the one hand, there is the sound of sorrow and sorrow, and on the other hand, the sound of bliss. The contrast is so strong.
But I saw an old woman, with a wooden pole, and a granddaughter and a grandson. She wanted to beg in a restaurant, but was stopped by the evil slaves of the restaurant.
The old woman looked disheveled, and she begged with tears in her eyes: "Please, let us go in. If there is any leftover food from guest officials, I can give some to my grandchildren who have been hungry for two days."
The evil slave was shirtless, and said loudly: "If your stench scares away all the guests in our restaurant, what business are we doing! Get out of here!"
The old woman wept bitterly: "If you don't let us in, then ask the store to give us some food, okay? We really haven't eaten for two days."
The evil slave's expression was cruel and ferocious: "It's none of our business if you are hungry! If we give alms to everyone, will we still be able to do business? Go away, or I will be violent!"
The grandson and granddaughter were frightened by the appearance of the evil slave, and hugged the old woman and cried.
"Grandma, let's go!"
The two children became thin and turned into a carrot, and the old woman was really heartbroken. Seeing her knees go limp, she fell to her knees in the dust and kowtowed to the evil slave.
"I beg you to be merciful and give us something to eat! Saving someone's life is better than building a seven-level pagoda. As long as you give us something to eat, we will recite scriptures for you every day and pray for your safety!"
Angry, the evil slave snatched the tile from the old woman's hand and threw it on the street. With a bang, the tiles shattered.
"Go away!" the evil slave growled.
The old woman was crying, she had nothing to do, she sighed, and led her two children to beg elsewhere.
Chu Linqian opened the curtain and asked, "Master Ren, isn't there a porridge place already? Why is this old lady still hungry?"
Ren Kaidi also lifted the curtain: "Oh, Master Chu doesn't know that there are so many refugees, even if there is a porridge market, there is no guarantee that everyone can eat. There are three registered refugees. One hundred thousand. There are still many people rushing here one after another, I don’t know how many days the capital’s grain can last!”
Chu Lin squeezed his chin, with a worried look on his face: "If the food in the capital is all eaten up, we will drink the northwest wind! The country is not a welfare institution, and it cannot endlessly give charity to the people!"
Ren Kaidi felt the same way: "Why don't I think so. I also proposed a good method to the emperor in the Shangshufang, which can alleviate the current crisis, and the emperor is preparing to implement it."
Suddenly, his eyeballs rolled around, and he showed a flattering smile to Chu Lin, "Master Chu, there is a good opportunity for promotion right now, you have to grasp it."
Chu Lin grinned greedily: "Master Ren, please tell me."
Ren Kaidi poked his head out and whispered in Chu Lin's ear: "The emperor has agreed that anyone who donates money and food to the national treasury can get a certain official position. It is well known that Mr. Chu is rich like an enemy. Things, if you are willing to take out some of them to donate to officials... "
Ren Kaidi deliberately did not finish, leaving room for aftertaste.
Chu Lin has plenty of money, so why not use the money to donate officials.
"I'm already the minister of the Ministry of Rites, what kind of official should I donate!"
Ren Kaidi said: "Although you are the minister of the Ministry of Rites, you don't have much power. You might as well donate to someone with power, such as the Ministry of War, such as our Ministry of Households, such as the Ministry of Officials. These are either very fat, or they hold power. Emphasizing power, I don’t know how many times better than you, the Minister of Rites.”
Chu Lin naturally wanted an official position with greater power, but the problem was that neither Rong Chang'an nor Yan Li would allow it.
"The emperor hires according to his talents, how could he sell such an important position! Even if he wants to sell it, he won't sell it to me!"
Ren Kaidi smiled triumphantly: "Master Chu, according to my estimate, there will be not only three hundred thousand refugees in the north in a few days, but an estimated one million! If one million refugees are to be resettled, then I need a lot of money, a lot of food, does the treasury have so much money? If not, I can only follow my method, selling officials to donate money. At that time, it will not be about who has the best ability, but who is the richest !"
Chu Lin pondered for a moment, understood what Ren Kaidi meant, clapped his hands and laughed.
"Master Ren, according to the current situation, only your method can save the country and the people! If I, Chu Lin, can be a Minister of the Ministry of War or Minister of the Ministry of Officials, I will never forget the benefits of Master Ren."
Just as I was talking, there was a commotion in front of me, and the sedan chair didn't leave.
Ren Kaidi shouted: "Hey, what happened in front? Why didn't you leave?"
An officer walked up to the two sedan chairs and reported: "Lord Chu, Lord Ren, there are a group of refugees who just came from the north and knelt in front of us, asking for alms. No matter what we say, they won't leave."
Ren Kaidi said angrily: "Hmph, these dirty fellows are begging on us. What are you doing to eat? If they don't get out of the way, they will be chased away with a stick. I don't believe it. For food, they don't want to Alive!"
After hearing the order, the officer pulled the stick and went to the front and shouted: "Listen to me, this is the convoy of the Minister of Rites and the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu. If you don't move out of the way, we're going to fight! Do you want to get out of the way? "
None of the victims left, they all stood in front, shouting for food.
The officer got angry and raised his stick into the air: "Brothers, hit me! If we don't get rid of them, we will have nothing to eat!"
The aggressive officials raised their sticks and beat the wind and rain, breaking the victims to pieces and flying dust.
"You dog officials, you have eaten the state's salary for nothing, and you don't care about the people's feelings at all!"
"Insensitive things, we're going to the Golden Luan Hall to sue you!"
"You guys must die!"
The sounds of cursing, screams and sticks were mixed together. In a short while, the officials drove the victims to pieces, and some were even beaten to the point of bleeding.
A "Bangzhuang Avenue" was finally cleared by the officials, and Chu Lin and Ren Kaidi's team could finally pass through.
After making a round of inspection like this, Chu Lin and Ren Kaidi finished their condolences and returned to the mansion to have tea and snacks.
Later, Chu Lin asked Ren Kaidi to write a memorial, which listed how many people entered the capital, how much money was needed to buy tents, how much money was needed to buy blankets and bedding, and how much food was needed to cook porridge to help the people.
Originally it was only 300,000 yuan in money and food, but Ren Kaidi wrote it down to 500,000.
Chu Lin was very satisfied with it, dried it and put it away, waiting to hand it over to Yan Li tomorrow morning. At the same time, he ordered his servants to go back to the south of the Yangtze River and hire a fleet to transport grain to the capital by water.
Ever since Yan Li didn't promise Rong Chang'an to build a palace for Zi Xuan, Rong Chang'an was unhappy. For some days, he dared not go to Fengwu Palace to see Zixuan, nor did he dare to grab Zixuan's sachet.