A black-lit canoe rows across the small river not far away, and from the upper floor of Chuk Kee, the street is bustling with pedestrians, and a cart selling noodles and fried dough passes through the crowd, and the vendor under the big tree next to him shakes his kite at the passing children. The night of Bianliang is darkening in this 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, along the way to Hedong, the situation of rising food prices is very serious, and this time is different from the past, and if you want to do a good job in disaster relief, there will be many people who will be offended. Liu Congming, the transfer envoy of Hedong Road, is indeed an old official who has an old relationship with Qin Xiang, and if he wants to help cooperate with this disaster relief, he will do his best, but this effort is also limited. ”

He paused slightly: "After many years of experience in the officialdom, it is not impossible to say that there are people who are honest and upright, and if you want to say that they have not been infected with bad habits, there are really very few." Lord Liu is not touched by either, of course, if you want to say that he is a bad official, it is not true, if it is just an ordinary chaos, with his foundation of running Hedong for several years, he wants to rectify the rule of officials, and even kill a few dozen disobedient officials, he can take out this courage, but this time, he has more than enough heart and not enough strength. Because there will be a lot of people who will be offended, these words are Mr. Yao's evaluation of him. ”

"So later, the Prime Minister's side could only retreat to the second, and felt that there should be a person with an upright temperament, and it was best not to be afraid of offending people, so he went to Lord Liu's hands, and only took care of the most important one. And Lord Liu will also be willing to put down the power of this article. Later, when Qin Xiang chose you, I was a little surprised. But Qin Xiang's reason is also simple. In any case, Dexin, you are capable, and when the matter is over, even if you offend people, be blamed and criticized, at least it may be exempt from your hard work for several years or even more than ten years...... Of course, if you only do things with the mentality of keeping your position, I am afraid that you will not be able to do good work, but you are a smart person, so you can understand what I am talking about. ”

"Liheng underestimated me." Listen to Ning Yi say this. Li Pin laughed. He shook his head, "In such a situation, if you are promoted a few levels in a row, you naturally have to do things." I'm going to be two-sided and three-pronged at this point. I just want to climb up safely and safely. Fear is the real way to death. But Liheng, these don't care, my generation of scholars. Where righteousness goes, although tens of millions of people go to me. As the Holy One said in the palace today, this disaster relief is not for the officials, but for the people. Whether it is offending people or killing people, if I have the slightest idea of worrying about myself when I go north this time, I, Li Dexin, will be innocent. ”

His tone was not high, but his expression was full of anger, and there was a sense of righteousness in him. This kind of Confucian temperament Ning Yi is not the first time to see it, 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, and what the Prime Minister asks for is to die less......"

Li Pin frowned and said, "What is the business path that Liheng said?" ”

Ning Yi said: "What does Dexin think is really important about this disaster relief? ”

Li Pin thought for a while: "The so-called disaster relief is complicated to say, in fact, there are only a few things we can do: as long as we can strictly govern the officials, so that the corrupt officials and petty officials at the bottom do not dare to fill their pockets in the disaster relief grain link, and the grain can be distributed to the victims, the matter will be half done, and then the market price will be strictly controlled, so that merchants cannot sell grain at high prices, and those who maliciously raise grain prices will investigate and arrest a group and kill a group, and disaster relief will basically improve." Of course, in this way, there will naturally be a lot of people who are offended. ”

After he finished speaking, Ning Yi shook his head: "Most of the disaster relief is done like this, but this time the situation is too troublesome. On the market, it is the people you said spontaneously stockpiled grain, coaxed behind it, with a deep background, you go to Hedong Road, and the participation of the Zuo family is the Zuo family of Zuo Duanyou, and the big head is Qi Yan's Qi family, they either won't come forward, only as a protective umbrella behind the back, if you want to check, catch, and kill, it is difficult. ”

“…… On the other hand, more than 1.7 million people affected by the disaster have received relief. Ning Yi said, "At present, the whole country can really allocate the book grain in the disaster area, and the total sum of zero and zero is only 380,000 stones. In terms of the number of people, there may be a lot of uncounted, and food, heh, there are many may still be bad debts, bad debts, we have calculated, what can really be done, is about half, 190,000 stones, the distance between the two sides will continue to widen, by this time, it is ten people who rely on a stone of food to save their lives. ”

At this time, Ning Yi was almost folding his fingers. Li Pin frowned, in fact, the weight of a stone in a grain unit at this time was about more than a hundred catties in later generations, about sixty kilograms. He heard Ning Yi say: "Regarding this matter, it has not been put on the table for the time being, but it is already being investigated, and a group of big and small officials are about to be dismissed......"

Li Channel: "190,000 stone of disaster relief food...... Theoretically speaking, there should be many people in the affected areas who have food in stock. If it is boiled into gruel, just to save lives, it seems to be ......"

Ning Yi laughed: "Dexin is right. We have all counted these things repeatedly, and to be honest, 1.7 million people were affected, which is the number of people who were more severely affected when the price of rice rose, and the light ones were not counted. Among this group of people, only a small part of them really suffered from the flood and all their belongings were washed away, that is to say, some of these people can eat and store grain, sell houses and land, and even sell their children and daughters, which can be regarded as a means of survival. But the so-called disaster relief, the one who gives relief, is originally the bottom of the most unsurvivable part of the people. ”

Li Pin was silent and said, "...... It is also necessary to reduce the wear and tear on the road, the interception of officials, and the covert interference of large households. ”

"Cut it in half here." Ning Yi said, "100,000 stones, regardless of the uneven distribution of food, Dexin, even if all the officials in several roads become deadly cool officials, the food that really hangs in the stomachs of the victims is about 50,000 stones." And the grain can't be distributed yet, so it can only be boiled into porridge and then given to it, because the direct distribution will only be cut off more by the big households, and in the middle, everyone can eat wild vegetables and dig tree roots and so on. In short, after removing all kinds of considerations, more than 100,000 people in the whole country will starve to death due to this rise in grain prices. Except for those who died of starvation, 400,000 to 500,000 people will have their lands swallowed up by the great families, and then they will become servants, tenants, and beggars. If we can control this number, we can be regarded as a disaster relief force. ”

The numbers are cold and cold, but with a heavy aura.

After being quiet for a moment, Ning Yi smiled, and there was a cold mockery in his smile: "Don't think this is a big number, even if it's Jiang Ning, it's winter." On average, 20 people freeze to death every day. After a month of snowfall, beggars, poor people, and old people froze to death 600, which is already considered a level of singing and dancing, and this figure does not include normal deaths. Jiangning is a big city. There will be fewer people in other states. Wu Dynasty up and down. One winter. 100,000 people had to freeze to death. In this catastrophe, it is said that 100,000 people will starve to death, which is an optimistic attitude. If you don't get it right, it's possible to get 300,500,000. ”

Li Pin thought for a long time before he spoke in a dry voice: "What is the Prime Minister going to do?" ”

"Administration and business go hand in hand, but business has to be mainstream." Ning Yi didn't hesitate much, "The people who are really starved to death are those who no longer have any belongings. If they still have property in their families, they can buy their own food, even if they sell their fields and land, their lives can always be saved. ”

He said, shaking his head: "To be honest, there is not as much grain as imagined in these places, and there is a phenomenon of no harvest, but it is more because everyone has begun to store grain and the grain price is inflated. Life-saving food, once it snows, it is possible to go to any extent, and at that time, some people will starve to death, and some people will rebel. ”

"The Prime Minister wants to put grain on the market?" Li Pin asked, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he also knew that it was impossible.

Ning Yi shook his head: "It's only more than 100,000 stone of grain, and if you put it in, you can't even turn over a blister." According to the previous two more than one stone, my family can buy them all, but now even if it is ten times more, with the financial resources of those big families that are rich and rival the country, they can swallow it in one bite, and when it changes hands, they can sell it more expensive. So what I considered was to rely on businesses from other places to hit the affected markets, and this time the business was coordinated by the government. ”

Li Pin frowned and pondered. Ning Yi continued: "With the Prime Minister's Mansion as the leading, with the inevitable power of the Chengguo Princess's Mansion, we will lobby the landlords and merchants, as long as there is grain in the family, we will explain to them the price of grain in the affected areas, and then make a plan for them, how to assemble, transport, and resell." If they are in other places, their grain will not be sold at this price in any case, but if they leave their hometowns, they will establish their own trade network, and they will inevitably be bullied by the local snakes, with our lobbying, there are many small landlords who will be willing to make a contribution to earn it back, and at the same time, we can also tell them that this is for the country and the people, and ten thousand families will give birth to Buddhas. ”

Li Pin's eyes lit up slightly: "I heard that the people of Zhuji went out to do business for others, could it be to prepare for this matter?" He thought for a while, "Speaking of which, I also have a few acres of land at home, and some grain is stored, so I can repair the book and go back to ......."

"It's not mainly for that, but it's a benefit." Ning Yi said, "Zhuji's influence is only in the circle near the capital for the time being, just a small head, and to be honest, it really depends on lobbying rather than relationships, most of the people who will be moved are landlords in some small and medium-sized places, who really have big businesses and big businesses, and they also have their own relationship channels, these people have to rely on Qin Xiang, Nian Gong, Master Jueming, plus Kang Xian in the south, Princess Chengguo, etc., it is expected that if they can continue to pry more than 500,000 stone of grain into it, they should be able to wash away the entire hoarding market." ”

"And once the inflated food prices are suppressed, the distribution of relief food will be further reduced. Next, we will cooperate with the investigation, arrest, and killing, rectify the rule of officials, and oppress the market. The worst expectation is that the price of food will be pushed back below 10,000 stones, and the number of people dying of starvation will be reduced to 50,000 or less. This is...... I hope you can maintain the significance of the Hedong Road Trade Road. ”

Ning Yi smiled slightly, this time there was no sarcasm: "For this matter, within three to five days, you will set off." Within ten days, Qin Xiang and Taishi Cai will greet them, and the whole plan will be launched, and we will contact 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, and as long as the most critical period after the snow can be maintained, many people will survive......" (To be continued......