That night, the lobby of Jinxia Affairs Bureau was abuzz with excitement.
In less than half an hour, officials from various departments were aware of the unexplained rise in food prices in Shenzhou. Even the princess rushed to the city from the villa and sat in the lobby to listen to the response meeting held by Xia Fan.
The biggest question is whether this is an accidental fluctuation, or whether there is someone behind the scenes.
If it is the former, it will undoubtedly be enough to issue an announcement to appease people and allocate part of the food to stabilize food prices.
But if it's the latter, the situation becomes complicated and troublesome.
Among the officials present, the only experienced one was Wei Wushuang.
Faced with everyone's repeated questions, he was obviously a little overwhelmed, and he became less convinced.
After all, Wei Wushuang has never experienced such a battle. No matter what decision he made in the past, it would ultimately affect only one person, and at most a large grain store. But now his words will affect the decisions of hundreds of thousands of people. If there is a misjudgment, it will obviously cause a big blow to the reputation of Jinxia City.
At this time, it was Hong Siqi who helped him speak.
The former prefect stood up, bowed his hands to the princess and Xia Fan, and then said loudly, "Everyone, please listen to me. I have experienced three famines, and I can be considered an experienced person. Sometimes famine is not If there is a real famine, panic is the main cause of the disaster. People cannot know the real situation and rob food, while sellers see profits and hoard them. Under the mutual influence of the two, the final result is that food cannot be bought at high prices, and in the hands of grain merchants There is still a lot of food left.”
He paused and held out two fingers, "So I propose to deal with it in two steps. It should not only appease people's hearts and make a confident gesture, but also prevent people from deliberately raising prices and seeking benefits from it."
This analysis instantly reduced the discussion in the lobby by several percent.
Xia Fan looked at Hong Siqi, "Based on Mr. Hong's experience, how can we appease people's hearts?"
"Master Hui Xia, the main thing is suppression, supplemented by relief." He said decisively, "Arrest the rumor makers and those who spread the rumors, and kill them on the street to serve as a warning. For relief, send out a special team to give out porridge in the center of the town. water, effectively reducing the number of hungry people.”
"Then I'll leave this matter to you." Xia Fan nodded, "But there's no need for suppression. You only care about relief, not arresting people."
"My lord, rumors are the root of the problem!"
Hong Siqi had already noticed that Xia Fan had an inexplicable regard for the people under his rule. He did not hesitate to deal with his enemies, but he always seemed "timid" when facing these ordinary people.
In his opinion, it would be difficult to suppress the limelight without ruthlessly killing a few bad actors.
"Have you ever thought that this might not be a rumor?" Xia Fan asked.
"No way... There was no sign of food shortage in Baihe and Anshen cities before. Even if the merchants wanted to raise the price, they would just refuse to sell the food at most. What Master Xia means is... "
"If it's just a business operation and someone wants to make huge profits, there won't be a real shortage of food." Xia Fan said in a deep voice, "But don't forget, our opponent may be the Privy Council, and behind them is the entire Kyushu. .”
These words condensed the atmosphere at the scene.
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.
It's not like no one can think of this.
But this point is too harsh, and people who think about it will refuse to think deeply about it.
There is indeed a surplus of food in Jinxia, and there is no problem in sustaining it for a year even without supplies, but for the entire Shenzhou realm, it is just a drop in the bucket.
"Do they really dare to do this? What if they are recorded in the history books..." someone whispered.
"Those who were recorded as massacres in the history books were also traitors, and the Privy Council might even describe themselves as saviors."
Eunuch Li coughed twice and broke the silence and said, "If things really develop to that point, we can only abandon the towns outside Jinxia."
The idea of choosing the lesser of two evils is not wrong, but it is also a helpless choice.
Just as Xia Fan was about to speak, an announcement suddenly sounded outside the lobby door.
"Come in."
A clerk walked into the lobby and dictated the latest telegram from Baihe City to Xia Fan.
"Sir, the situation has become troublesome. Just now, there was an explosion on the streets of Baihe City, and a grain store was robbed. Branch personnel who went out to promote were also attacked secretly. A woman named Wei Ruoyan The woman was stabbed. If she doesn't receive timely treatment, I'm afraid..." He hesitated, "She won't survive tonight."
Obviously, Baihe City does not have first aid conditions.
Xia Fan made a decision immediately and said, "Transport her back to Jinxia City for treatment. You call back and ask them to wrap up the wound first and be prepared. Olina will go to pick her up."
If a dragon takes the journey of two to three days, one or two hours will be enough.
Moreover, it can also be equipped with an alchemist with the character attribute Dui to take care of it all the way - there are quite a lot of life-saving alchemy in Dui Shu, and the effect is far stronger than that of herbal medicine.
"yes!"
"What happened?" Ning Wanjun asked.
"The situation in White River City is deteriorating rapidly," Xia Fan roughly recounted the dangers that occurred there. "I guess other places will become like this. It's just a matter of time."
"This is... too fast." Wei Wushuang clenched his fists and said, "It seems like someone wants to deliberately provoke a riot."
"There is no doubt that our opponent is not an ordinary businessman. The Privy Council has already begun to take action." Xia Fan looked around the scene, "Everyone, giving up other towns can certainly save Jinxia, but it is equivalent to letting the entire winter's efforts go to waste. And there is no In Shenzhou, it is not much easier to win the war with one city than to fight against famine."
"But if the entire Shenzhou is short of food, how are you going to save it, Mr. Xia?" Hong Siqi said in disbelief, "That's food for millions of people!"
Eunuch Li also frowned and said, "From the current point of view, the surplus grain in Jinxia City is enough to meet the needs of the main towns in Shenzhou for one to one and a half months. In the summer, the winter wheat will mature, and there will be relief for a while, and then the mountains in autumn will The county has a bumper harvest—but the premise of all this is normal supply and demand. The rush is tight and then loose. The peak consumption in the first month will be far greater than the normal value. With some people secretly causing trouble, Jinxia City will not be able to survive the relaxation period. Coming. Unless... there are five times this amount of food in stock."
"Don't say five times, it's impossible to even double it."
"Jinxia City's food reserves are already abundant, and it is too difficult to increase them from this base."
There was a murmur in the venue.
Xia Fan was unmoved, "It is indeed not easy, but Jin Xia must not take a step back in this battle. It is both a crisis and an opportunity - the only way to deal with it is to face the enemy head-on. If we can defeat the enemy in a head-on confrontation The enemy’s intentions and who is in charge of Shenzhou Realm will be self-evident! As for Eunuch Li and Master Hong’s concerns, I can understand them, but you have also overlooked some things.”
"The figures you are referring to are the normal reserves of Jinxia City on weekdays, but you have not seen the potential it has during extraordinary periods. All the previous changes and policies are to prepare for the arrival of this day."
Although it is still immature, although it still has many flaws, it is a new city that is ahead of its time. When the machine called national will started to operate, Xia Fan also wanted to see what kind of power Jinxia could unleash - he spread his hands and said, "Everyone, I want to see its true power."