The lit awning boat rowed across the small river on the street not far away, looking down from the upstairs of Zhuji, there were people passing by on the street. Vendors wave kites in their hands at passing children. The night in Bianliang is getting darker in the swaying starlight.
Ning Yi's fingers tapped on the railing.
"When the Prime Minister's Office considered the candidate for the deputy envoy of Hedong Road, there were several other considerations. But frankly speaking, the situation of rising food prices on Hedong Road is very serious. This time is different from the past, and we want to do disaster relief. Well, many people will be offended. Liu Congming is indeed an old official who has an old relationship with Qin Xiang. He will try his best to help him in this disaster relief, but his efforts are limited. "
He paused for a moment: "I have been fighting for many years in the officialdom. If you say that officials are honest and upright, it is not uncommon. If you say that you have not caught any bad habits, then there are really very few. Liu Your lord doesn't touch the two. Of course, if you want to say that he is a bad official, it is not necessarily true. If it is just a general chaos, with his foundation in running Hedong for several years, he needs to rectify the management of the officials, and even kill a dozen or so. An obedient lower official, he can show this courage, but this time, he is more than enough. Because there will be many people offended, these words are Mr. Yao's evaluation of him. "
"So in the end, the prime minister's side can only take the second place, thinking that if you have an upright temperament, it is best not to be afraid of offending others. Go to Master Liu, and only take care of the most important one. And Master Liu will also be willing to take this matter. I was a little surprised when Prime Minister Qin chose you later. But Prime Minister Qin's reason is simple. In any case, Dexin, you are capable. When the matter is over, even if you offend someone , being criticized and criticized, at least it may save you years or even ten years of hard work... Of course, if you only do things with the mentality of keeping your seat, I am afraid that you will not be able to do your job well, but you are a smart person, you can naturally Understand what I'm talking about."
"Liheng underestimated me." Listening to Ning Yi said this. Li Pin laughed, and he shook his head, "Under such circumstances, it is natural to have to go up a few levels in a row. If I am at this moment, I just want to climb up safely. I am afraid that is the real success. The way of death. But Liheng, it doesn't matter. My generation of people who study, the righteousness reaches, although thousands of people come to me. As in the palace today, the holy man said. This disaster relief is not for the purpose of Being an official is for the sake of the people. It doesn't matter whether you offend others or kill people, if you have the slightest idea of worrying about yourself this time in the north, I, Li Dexin, are more than worthless."
His tone was not high, but his expression was calm. There is a sense of positivity in it. This is not the first time Ning Yi has seen this kind of Confucian temperament, and he naturally understands his mood, so he also nodded, and after a while, he sighed: "There are many people who will die this time. What I want is to die less..."
Li Pin frowned and said, "What is the business way that Liheng said?"
Ning Yi said: "Dexin thinks what is really important in this disaster relief?"
Li Pin thought for a while: "The so-called disaster relief is complicated to say, but in fact, what I can do is only a few points: as long as we can strictly manage officials, the corrupt officials and small officials at the bottom will not dare to enrich their personal pockets in the process of disaster relief. If it can be distributed to the victims, a small part of the matter has been completed. After that, the market price is strictly controlled, so that the merchants are not allowed to sell grain at high prices. Those who maliciously drive up the price of grain should be investigated and arrested and killed. The disaster relief will basically be It has improved. Of course, this way, there will naturally be a lot of people who offend."
After he finished speaking, Ning Yi shook his head: "Most of the disaster relief is done in this way, but this time the situation is too troublesome. In the market, you said that the people spontaneously stockpiled food, and they raised it from behind, with a deep background. , when you go to Hedong Road, Zuo Duanyou's Zuo family is involved, and Qi Yan's Qi family is the main one, they may not come forward, they only act as a protective umbrella behind, you want to investigate, arrest, kill, it is very difficult."
"...On the other hand, more than 1.7 million people who were affected by the disaster this time received relief." Ning Yi said, "At present, the country can really allocate the book grain of the disaster area. 380,000 shi. In terms of the number, there may be many uncounted figures, and food, oh, many may be bad debts or bad debts. We have calculated that we can really take out about half of them, 190,000 shi It looks like the distance between the two sides will continue to widen, and by this time, ten people will be saved by a stone of food."
At this moment, Ning Yi was almost counting his fingers. Li Pin frowned, in fact, the grain unit at this time, the weight of a stone is probably more than 100 kilograms in later generations, about 60 kilograms. He heard Ning Yi say: "This matter has not been put on the table for the time being, but it is already under investigation, and a group of large and small officials will be fired..."
Channel Li: "190,000 stone of food for disaster relief... In theory, there should be a lot of people in the disaster-stricken area who have food. If it is boiled into porridge, it is only for saving lives, it seems... "
Ning Yi laughed: "Dexin is right. We have calculated these things over and over again. To be honest, 1.7 million people were affected by the disaster. That is the number of people who were more severely affected when the price of rice rose. It doesn't count. Among this group of people, only a very small part of their property is actually washed away by the flood. That is to say, a part of these people can eat and save food, sell houses and land, and even sell children and daughters. The means to survive. But the so-called disaster relief, the relief, originally is the lowest part of the people who can't survive."
Li Pin stayed silent here, and said, "... We also need to reduce the loss on the road, the interception of officials, and the secret intervention of the big family."
"Let's cut it by half here." Ning Yi said, "One hundred thousand shi, regardless of the uneven distribution of food, Dexin, even if all the officials in the several roads become cruel officials, the food that really ends up in the belly of the disaster victims, About 50,000 shi. And the food can’t be distributed yet, so it can only be made into porridge to provide relief, because if it is distributed directly, it will only be cut off by the big households. In the middle, everyone can eat wild vegetables and dig tree roots, etc. In short, the Right Prime Minister The government made a total, and after removing various considerations, the number of people in the whole country who were starved to death by this increase in food prices was more than 100,000. If these people died of starvation, there were 400,000 to 500,000 people in various places. People's fields will be annexed by big households, and then they will become servants, tenants, and beggars. If we can control this number, we can be regarded as effective in disaster relief."
The numbers are cold and cold, but with a heavy atmosphere.
After being quiet for a while, Ning Yi smiled, and there was also a cold sarcasm in the smile: "Don't think this is a big number, even in Jiangning, in winter. On average, 20 people freeze to death every day, it snows for a month, beggars , the poor and the elderly froze to death by 600, which is already considered to be peaceful. This figure does not include normal deaths. Jiangning is a big city, and there will be fewer people in other states. The Wu Dynasty went up and down, one winter, 100,000 people had to freeze to death. This time A catastrophe, saying that 100,000 starve to death is an optimistic attitude, if it is not good, 300,000 and 500,000 are also possible."
Li Pin thought about it for a long time, and then said in a dry voice: "What is the Xiangfu going to do?"
"Administration and commerce should go hand in hand. But commerce should be the mainstream." Ning Yi didn't hesitate, "The people who really starved to death were those who no longer had any belongings. After the disaster relief food was boiled into porridge, they were released and saved. That is their life. Those who still have property in the family. They can buy their own food, even if they sell their fields. Their lives can always be saved."
He said, shaking his head: "To be honest, the shortage of grain in these places is not as much as imagined, and the phenomenon of no harvest is there, but it is more because everyone has started to stock up on grain, resulting in inflated grain prices. Before the road, the price of grain was only two and a half dollars per stone. Now it is ten times the price of thirty-two and one stone. However, there is still not much grain in circulation on the market, and everyone is still waiting for it to rise. The extent is possible, and at that time, some people will starve to death, and some people will rebel.”
"The prime minister wants to put food into the market?" Li Pin asked, but when he opened his mouth, he knew it was impossible.
Ning Yi shook his head: "It's just over 100,000 shi of grain, and if you put it in, you can't even turn a single blister. According to the past, my family could buy it all, even if it's ten times more. The wealth of those big families can be swallowed up in one bite, and they can be sold more expensively when they change hands. So what I consider is to rely on merchants from other places to impact the market that has been affected by the disaster. The business is coordinated by the government.”
Li Pin frowned in thought. Ning Yi continued: "Led by the Prime Minister's Mansion and cooperated with the forces of the Princess Mansion, we will lobby large and small landlords and businesses. As long as there is food at home, we will explain to them the price of food in the affected area, and then Make plans for them, how to assemble, transport, and resell. If they are in other places, their food will not be able to sell at this price, but if they leave their hometown, they will build their own trade network, and they will inevitably be bullied by local snakes. With us There are many small landlords who will be willing to make a contribution and earn it back, and at the same time, we can also tell them that this is for the country and the people, and thousands of families are born Buddhas.”
Li Pin's eyes lit up slightly: "I heard that the people from Zhuji went out to help people do business. Could it be that they were preparing for this?" He thought for a while, "Speaking of this, I also have a few acres of land in my family, and some If you save food, you can repair a book and go back…”
"It's not mainly for this, but it's also a benefit." Ning Yi said, "The influence of Zhuji is only around the capital for the time being, it's just a small head, and to be honest, it really depends on lobbying rather than relationships. Yes, most of the people who will be persuaded are some small and medium-sized landowners. They are really big and big, and they also have their own relationship channels. These people have to rely on Qin Xiang, Nian Gong, and Master Jue Ming. , plus Kang Xian and Princess Chengguo from the south, it is estimated that if they can continue to smash more than 500,000 shi of grain into it, they should be able to flush out the entire hoarding market."
"Once the artificially high food prices are suppressed, the distribution of disaster relief food will be further reduced. Next, we will cooperate with investigation, arrest, and killing, rectify the administration of officials, and oppress the market. The final expectation is to hope that it can be The price of food will be reduced to less than 12.1 stone, and the number of people dying of starvation will be reduced to 50,000 or even less. This is... I hope you can maintain the meaning of the Hedong Road trade route."
Ning Yi smiled slightly, this time there was no irony: "For this matter, you will set off within three to five days. Within ten days, Prime Minister Qin and Taishi Cai and the others have finished saying hello, the whole plan will be launched, and we will contact us. Including the gangs involved in transportation, including the fastest route to various places, and the plan for dumping grain. Within a month, the first batch of grain will enter the field, and before the snow falls, the price of grain will be suppressed. If you maintain it for a period of time, there will be many people, and you will be able to survive..."