"Is the grain store open today?"
An old man looked expectantly at the young man coming in from outside, hoping to hear something nice from him. Unfortunately, the young man shook his head sadly, shattering his hope.
"It's been five days, why haven't you opened the door yet?" The old man was very puzzled. The grain store was closed, the street market was closed, so did these people stop doing business? Although there was still some food in the house, if the store didn't open, the old and young in the family would starve.
Such worries pervade every household. Cangzhou is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and there are few fields that can be used to grow crops, which can't support the people of this city. If no one goes out to transport grain back to sell, they will definitely live in hunger every day.
Seeing that the people's questions were increasing and their emotions were getting more intense, Manager Xu, the current head of Datong Commercial Bank, smiled. He only needed to reveal the government's "persecution" of the people when the people were most emotional, and someone would naturally go to the government to seek justice for him. I wonder if this prefect who aroused the people's anger would be able to settle down and serve as his official
"Uncle Jiang, when I went to the street today, I heard something..." Chan Yi put down the basket and said with a worried look on her face.
Jiang Miao was picking vegetables and asked casually, "What's the matter?"
Chan Yi stammered, "It's just... it's about the prince and you. Some people said something unpleasant... saying about you... saying about you..."
Seeing that Chan Yi didn't dare to imitate him, Jiang Miao turned his head to look at her and said with a smile: "Are you saying that we are profit-driven, accept bribes, and oppress conscientious merchants, causing them to be afraid to open their doors to do business?"
"You know everything?" Chan Yi was very surprised. If she knew, why could she sit at home so calmly and not go out to explain it to everyone
Jiang Miao said: "I know, it's not just people outside, people in the back court are also talking about it." He has heard it several times in the past few days.
Chan Yi suddenly realized why no one had come to her house in the past few days. Usually, the maids were very polite to her and would come up to her warmly when they saw her, but in recent days, they didn't even say hello.
"Are you and the prince just going to let them say that?" Chan Yi was very puzzled.
Jiang Miao shrugged and said, "Justice is in the hearts of the people. What's the harm in a few gossips? Sooner or later they will understand." After that, he lowered his head and continued to pick vegetables.
Chan Yi felt that Mr. Jiang was thinking too simply. She wanted to persuade him a few more times, but Jiang Miao suddenly spoke again.
"Those people who went to the south to buy tea seedlings should be arriving in the next few days, right?"
Chan Yi was stunned for a moment, then replied, "It should be soon. When I received the letter a few days ago, the distance was only 300 miles. But they probably didn't buy the tea seedlings."
"That's fine. The tea seedlings in Tuyan Village are already taking root. They can be planted in spring," Jiang Miao said. Most of the plants, whether they were cut or grafted, survived. God had blessed him, a layman who only knew a little bit of the basics, and succeeded.
The topic was gradually diverted, and Chan Yi temporarily forgot what she wanted to say before, and continued to chat with Jiang Miao around the topic of tea trees.
The atmosphere here is harmonious, but the other side is not so easy to talk to.
Pei Che called the people in the government office to discuss the missing case. Although the adults came, they either kept silent or looked at Pei Che with disapproving expressions. Almost no one seriously participated in the topic that Pei Che wanted to discuss.
“… What do you think?”
Pei Che finished his speech and began to solicit everyone's opinions.
No one spoke until a long while later someone said, "Since Your Excellency has already made the decision, why are you still asking us?" Although the voice was small, the complaint and dissatisfaction in the words were clear.
Pei Che said, "What I just said is not my decision. Isn't the reason why I called you all here to discuss this matter? If you gentlemen were not so modest, why would I have to throw out some ideas? Since Lord Li thinks it is inappropriate, why don't you tell me what to do?"
The person who was named was the one who had just spoken. He smiled awkwardly and said, "I didn't mean that. It's just... it's just that I'm really not in the mood to talk about this right now."
Pei Che was a little puzzled: "Master Li, what is your secret? Why don't you tell me?"
Lord Li said, "My stomach is rumbling with hunger, and I am dizzy and dizzy. How can I still think about how to solve the case?"
As soon as he said this, many people followed suit, saying, "We haven't bought food for some time, and we don't have much food left at home, and I'm very worried." Others said, "I don't know what kind of life the people are living now. They are hungry and suffering."
In just a few words, this group of people described Cangzhou as if it had suffered a great disaster, with a scene of widespread grief and misery.
Pei Che listened to them with great interest, and even smiled. If he hadn't known in advance that people from Datong Commercial Bank had secretly sent food to some people's homes, he would have really thought that they had been hungry for a few days.
"Sir, don't you want to say something?" Someone finally couldn't stand Pei Che's nonchalant look. He was clearly the instigator of this incident, but he was still sitting there with an innocent look on his face.
Pei Che looked up innocently: "What?"
"Forgive me for being frank, but this matter was caused by you, sir. The people of the entire Cangzhou are implicated. I wonder if you can sleep well at night?" Big Beard Xu had a bad temper and finally couldn't bear it anymore.
"I can sleep well at night and have a full stomach. Thank you for your concern, Lord Xu. But I don't understand what you said. What do you mean that this is all because of me? Have I ever informed these merchants to stop opening their businesses?"
Xu Da Huzi said angrily: "If it weren't for the lord who sent the yamen runners to cause trouble all day long, how could the caravan not open? How could the grain store not open?"
Pei Che chuckled and said, "Making trouble? I sent people to investigate the case, but I didn't ask them to close the store. Besides, the place where the case is being investigated is far away from the grain store. How can the closure of the grain store be blamed on me?"
Xu Da Huzi was speechless. He was also confused. Yes, why did the caravan stop doing business and the grain store was also closed
Zhou Xu, the deputy governor, said, "Sir, please don't talk about other things. Regardless of the reason, if the current situation is not properly handled, it may arouse public resentment. It will be difficult to find a way to deal with it then. Cangzhou just suffered a setback, and I am really worried that if this matter gets out of hand, it will cause the emperor to be furious."
The others nodded. They had been demoted one level. Although their titles remained the same, their treatment was different from before. If they caused any trouble again, they were afraid that they would not be able to keep their false titles. That would be a real joke.
"Mr. Zhou, you are too serious. Not to mention that the situation has not yet developed to such a serious level. Even if it is really as you said, I have my own way to deal with it, and I will definitely not let the people of Cangzhou take any action."
Zhou Xu looked at the high-spirited young man in front of him, with some helplessness in his eyes. Young people are good in everything except being too conceited. However, when the situation is really out of control, they can only do nothing.
This meeting ended unhappily. After everyone left, Pei Che asked, "How long will it take for them to come back?"
The room was empty. After Pei Che asked this question, a man came out from nowhere and said, "You can enter the city tomorrow morning."
"Okay, what about those people?"
"The grain store is as usual, and the caravan people are spreading the news everywhere, trying to stir up the anger of the people."
"Add more fuel to the fire and make the matter even bigger." Pei Che ordered.
"Yes." After answering, Pei Che was the only one left in the room. He opened the official document at hand and began to handle government affairs.
"Have you heard? The caravan may not come to our Cangzhou to do business in the future!" said one person.
"What? Why did they just stop coming? I was counting on buying more cheap food when the caravan came!" Those who heard it were shocked.
"That's right. After they left, only the high-priced grain was left." Someone sighed.
The man who spoke first said, "What do you mean by expensive grain? I heard that the Datong Trading Company is going to close soon. Didn't you see that it has been closed for the past few days? If you dislike the expensive grain now, it will be too late to regret it later when you have nothing to eat."
"Are you serious? What about the mountain product shop? It's going to close too? Why?" This was even more shocking news than the caravan not coming.
The man looked around and whispered, "I heard this from a relative of mine. Don't spread it. It is said that the newly appointed prefect accepted bribes..."
"… blackmailing the caravan manager…"
“… smashing up shops…”
“… the governor… plundered the people’s wealth…”
The rumor spread further and further, and the content became more and more outrageous, describing Pei Che and his group as evil people who committed arson, murder, looting and all kinds of evil. It seemed that their arrival was just to persecute the people of Cangzhou and leave them with no way to survive.
Some people in the Datong Trading Company felt that something was wrong. They did send someone to spread the news, but it spread much faster than they thought. They thought it would take at least a few days to ferment before it would take effect. Now, it seems that the people are extremely resentful.
"What's so strange about that? With that person's greed, other local businesses would have been driven out of business by them a long time ago. Isn't it normal for him to take advantage of the situation and push the business?"
That was what he said, but he still had doubts in his heart. Things seemed to be going too smoothly. He hoped that all this was just his illusion.
(End of this chapter)