It turned out that Lu Chengping worked hard in Suzhou Mansion and relied on a lot of relationships to finally buy more than 600 stone of grain, but after buying grain, he could not hire a ship to transport Luzhou, because now the entire Suzhou Mansion already knows that there is a flood in Anhui, and Luzhou is the hardest hit area.

And just when Lu Chengping was helpless, a grain merchant came to Lu Chengping and told him that there was a fleet in Shanghai that was going to Luzhou Mansion, and that he could dock in Zhenjiang and take his grain with him, and he didn't need to pay for the journey.

Lu Chengping has followed Lu Chengxiang for many years, of course, he knows a lot of current affairs, and now Shanghai is not a place under the jurisdiction of the Qing court, but under the rule of East China. Therefore, in the officialdom of the Qing court, East China ** is a taboo topic, even if you want to deal with East China**, you will let businessmen be the middleman, and you will never come forward in person to have anything to do with East China**.

If it was in normal times, of course Lu Chengping would not have anything to do with this fleet, but now he really can't hire a ship, and he also knows that the Luzhou Mansion is waiting for him to transport the grain back to help the victims, but he can't afford to drag it, so at this time, he can only find this fleet to transport it.

However, after Lu Chengping loaded the grain onto the ship, he found that there were more than a dozen ships in this fleet, and most of the pseudo-ships were equipped with artillery, which looked like warships, and the people on board were all gray and blue colorful military uniforms, obviously all soldiers, and this fleet turned out to be a fleet. Lu Chengping couldn't help but regret not falling in his heart, he knew that it was a fleet, so he wouldn't get on the ship if he said anything, because Qiu Bamen is not a reasonable person, and his more than 600 stones of grain are only afraid that they will be sheep into the tiger's mouth, and there will not be even a few bones left, I am afraid that I will not even be able to save my own life.

But now that the grain has been loaded onto the ship and the fleet has set off, it is too late to regret it, and Lu Chengping can only bite the bullet and resign himself to fate. However, after being on the ship for a while, Lu Chengping found that the soldiers were more polite to him, and did not have the arrogant and rude appearance of the Qing court.

The soldiers didn't hide anything from Lu Chengping, and directly told Lu Chengping that they were the People's Army of East China, and this time they were going to Anhui to relieve the victims, because they learned that Lu Chengping was sending food for disaster relief to Luzhou Mansion, so they were willing to take Lu Chengping on a ride.

After listening to the soldiers' speeches, Lu Chengping's heart was both happy and worried, happy to hear this statement, this army does not intend to ask for its own food, and can also send itself to Luzhou, then he not only saved his life, but also completed the task of buying food; and what worries him is that the People's Army entered Anhui Province in the name of disaster relief.

It's just that this matter is not something that Lu Chengping can manage, so even Lu Chengxiang can't manage it, and now as long as the food can be sent to Hefei safely, Lu Chengping didn't pay attention to it, and waited patiently on the boat to arrive in Luzhou.

Although it was against the current, it was all driven by machines after all, so the fleet was still sailing fast, but on the way, two fleets were separated and left, and in the end there were only 3 large and 2 small 5 ships left. Fortunately, the grain purchased by Lu Chengping was on these three big ships, so Lu Chengping was not panicked. The fleet left the Yangtze River near Wuhu and entered the Yuxi River.

Yuxi River was called the water in ancient times, it is the earliest river channel connecting the Yangtze River in Chaohu Lake, so the fleet traveled along the Yuxi River, entered Chaohu Lake, and entered the water through Chaohu Lake, and finally anchored in the east of Hefei City, unloaded Lu Chengping's grain from the boat, and then the fleet continued to set off and swim against the river along the river. After getting off the boat, Lu Chengping ordered people to be optimistic about the food, and hurriedly entered the city to report to Lu Chengxiang.

After listening to Lu Chengping's speech, Lu Chengxiang hurriedly ordered people to organize carriages and horses to go outside the city to haul and transport grain. Of course, Lu Chengxiang knew what it meant for the People's Army to enter Anhui, and even into the territory of Luzhou Prefecture, I am afraid that it was not just for disaster relief.

Others also fell into contemplation at this time, obviously digesting this amazing news, because everyone knows that East China ** had publicly announced at the beginning of the year that it would overthrow the Qing court and establish a new dynasty, but at this time, it sent warships and troops into Anhui, so it would not be believed that it was for disaster relief.

After waiting for a while, Lu Chengxiang said, "What do you think?"

At this time, Chen Hezheng said: "My lord, according to the opinion of the lower officials, this matter is very important, and it should not be delayed, and it should be reported to the governor's yamen immediately, and the governor should be asked to decide." ”

Lu Chengxiang frowned, and said: "Inform the governor Yamen now, is it too early, where is the fleet of East China's **? Maybe they will go back again." ”

Song Changhui said: "My lord is right, in the opinion of the lower officials, it is better to send people to visit nearby first, and wait until the East China ** fleet is discovered, and then discuss it after seeing what they mean. ”

Lu Chengxiang nodded and said, "That makes sense." ”

Chang Qingde said: "Dong Weng, now that there is new grain, do you want to use more rice to make porridge tomorrow to reassure people's hearts!"

Lu Chengxiang thought for a while and said, "Okay, according to the standard of a few days ago, these 600 stone grains can only temporarily relieve the urgent need, so they can't be used indiscriminately." In addition, the defense of the city should not be careless, and the victims of the disaster should not be allowed to enter the city. When everyone saw Lu Chengxiang say this, they didn't say anything, so they got up and left.

The next day, the quality of the porridge in the porridge shed opened by the government outside Hefei increased greatly, although it did not meet the normal standard of porridge and chopsticks, but a bowl of porridge was mostly rice grains, so in the past few days, because the porridge was too thin and the people who were quite resentful have calmed down a little. And Lu Chengxiang's heart has also settled down a lot.

However, just two days later, Lu Chengxiang's mood was changed again, because he received news that the fleet of the People's Army had stopped ships and landed in the area of Sanshigang, about 30 miles northwest of Hefei, and set up camp on the shore. There are still a few villages in a higher area northwest of Hefei, but there are still large areas of wasteland due to the undulating terrain.

In the following days, Lu Chengxiang sent people to 30 Gangs to inquire about the situation of the KPA camp, and he received news that the scope of the camp was getting larger and larger, and more tents were built, and facilities such as walls, watchtowers, and wharves were also built, and the victims were actually sheltered. Lu Chengxiang also felt a little surprised, could it be that East China ** really came to disaster relief?

On the 6th day, the second fleet arrived at 30 Gang, the size of this fleet was much larger than the first fleet, a total of 12 ships, not only sent a large number of personnel, of course, including a lot of soldiers, in addition to a large number of building materials, and food supplies, it seems that it was intended to take root in 30 Gang, and at this time the number of people sheltered in the camp has been about 300 people, and it is still increasing, because every day ships are sent out to rescue people in various villages and towns that have been affected by floods.

Lu Chengxiang really couldn't figure it out, could it be that East China really came to Luzhou to relieve the disaster? So why did they do this? Although it is said that disaster relief can gain a good reputation, Lu Chengxiang also knows that disaster relief is an extremely expensive thing, and it is possible that East China really has too much money to spend? However, it is also possible, because I heard that East China has demanded a large amount of compensation from Britain, France, Japan, Russia and other countries, and it is said that there are more than 100,000 taels of silver, so East China ** It's really not bad money, so it's not impossible to spend some money and buy a good reputation. East China has publicly announced that it wants to destroy the Qing Dynasty and establish a new dynasty, so establish its own image of benevolence, righteousness and love for the people, buy people's hearts, and show that it is in line with the will of heaven and the people's feelings to change the dynasty, which is what every new dynasty will do.

Thinking of this, Lu Chengxiang couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, and the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it became, because Lu Chengxiang was an official born through the imperial examination and was familiar with history books.

So Lu Chengxiang found his staff Chang Qingde and told him his thoughts. In fact, in the past few days, Chang Qingde has also been thinking about this problem, and the result is similar to Lu Chengxiang, because the two of them have received the same education, so their thinking is basically the same, but Chang Qingde has gone one step further than Lu Chengxiang, that is, the first disaster relief in East China, in addition to buying people's hearts, I am afraid that it is also staring at the land of Anhui. As soon as the flood recedes, due to the good reputation of disaster relief and helping the people in East China, I only need to raise my arms and shout, I am afraid that I can get the land of Anhui without blood.

However, Chang Qingde did not say to Lu Chengxiang that Bi Jing was not the time yet, but suggested to Lu Chengxiang that it was better to send people to the camp of the People's Army to thank the fleet of the People's Army for sending food, one is to go to the camp for a close observation, which is much more detailed than sending people to peep from afar, and in addition, you can also test the tone of the People's Army to see what they plan to do this time, and then make plans.

When Lu Chengxiang heard it, he also felt that this suggestion was good, so it would be good to send someone to find out the truth first, after all, the two sides still have such a relationship. However, this kind of official face can't come forward, so he can only send the people below, Lu Chengping, as the party concerned, is naturally sure to go, but although Lu Chengping has been with him for many years and is quite capable, he is still a little hot to do this kind of thing, so Chang Qingde is also hard, and Bi Jing Chang Qingde is still more sophisticated.

And Chang Qingde also knew that if he made this suggestion, he would definitely not be able to get away with this trip, in fact, he also wanted to go on a trip to see the gas image of East China, so he didn't shirk it.