Li Mao didn't want to get entangled in this matter, smiled, and asked Hu Sijin with a relaxed expression: "There are so many beggars in Youzhou, is it that my parents are too incompetent" Hu Sijin said: "This has nothing to do with the marshal, I inquired, most of them are wandering from other places, I heard that Youzhou is peaceful, there is no war, and there is something to eat, so I helped the old and the young to come over, and there was no place for a while, so they could only gather in the city to beg for a living." ”

Li Mao said: "Is there a gang called the Beggar Gang among them?"

Hu Sijin said: "I don't know much, there may be in Dafengfang, there should be no Stinky Water Street, there are all helping the old and the young to come to Youzhou to escape the famine." As for whether there is, ask the Internal Security Department or the Security Bureau, they must know. ”

Li Mao nodded silently, and suddenly asked again: "There are good people in the city who give porridge and rice."

Hu Sijin shook his head: "There are not 10,000 beggars in the city, but also thousands, who has such a lot of financial resources, they have to eat poor." Even the local government did not dare to release grain at will, there were too many people. ”

Li Mao said: "You go and see if Mr. Wen is asleep, if not, ask him to come over." ”

Hu Sijin looked out the window: It's just that when the lamp is in hand, the clerk will sleep so early

After returning to the city, he lay down in his clothes for a while, a bunch of worries, and couldn't sleep well, just holding the lamp and struggling to get up again, washed his face with cold water, sat in the official room, heard Li Mao's invitation, and hurriedly put down his pen and walked out.

The snow on the ground was half a foot deep, and it was surprisingly cold.

On the way, the clerk asked Hu Sijin if Li Mao had a break after returning to the city, and Hu Sijin said: "There should be none." He lowered his voice and reminded: "Let me go to the city in the afternoon to see how many beggars there are, I went to Dafengfang and Stinky Water Street, there are really a lot of people in both places." It is said that the world is peaceful, but why are there still so many victims? If it weren't for the desperation, who would be willing to leave their hometown and run to this cold and bitter place, they would all scold Youzhou for the bitter cold, but Youzhou still has something to eat. ”

The clerk didn't listen to his chatter, but he was shocked in his heart, Dafengfang and Stinky Water Street are both located in the south of the city, which is a slum area, and he has long heard that there are many beggars gathered there, but he has not been able to take the time to take a look, and he doesn't want Li Mao to know, who told him this, and what is the intention

With a sense of apprehension, the clerk walked into Li Mao's study, Shi Kong was commanding a few guards to burn the earth dragon, and his hands were black, and when he saw the clerk, he just nodded,

Li Mao was full of smiles, Yintang was shining, and as soon as he saw the clerk, he greeted: "Come on, come here, come and bake, the snow will be so cold when the sky changes, it really costs people's lives." ”

The clerk took off his cloak and took the initiative to say: "Yes, the sky is suddenly cold, and I don't know how many people will freeze to death on the street this night." Tomorrow, the state and county will be busy again. ”

The clerk is humble and has a good relationship with the people around Li Mao, Li Mao expected that Hu Sijin had given him something.

He didn't care, and followed the words of the clerk and said: "Youzhou is now a blessed land, and people from other places have dragged their families to join us, but we have left people in the ice and snow to suffer from freezing and starvation, which is unreasonable." ”

The clerk withdrew his hand from the brazier, frowned, and said in embarrassment: "In the past two years, the military reclamation of Youzhou has not kept up, and the food has been tight, and now it is necessary to use troops against Hengzhou. ”

Li Mao knew that what Wen Cheng said was the truth, the military reclamation in Youzhou had just started, and it would be two years later to see the benefits, once the troops were used on the southern front, the grain was transferred in the ice and snow, and the loss was surprisingly large, but the situation in Hengzhou was changing, and no one could guarantee when it would deteriorate. The grain stock in Youzhou is only enough to cope with external troubles, but the victims in the city can't take care of it.

"You can't get food in the public treasury, you can think of a way from the private treasury, people say that our Youzhou is a bitter cold place, even the rich are also poor and afraid, there are many rich people in our city, their warehouses are piled up with grain, why do you want to make so much food, that is, I am afraid that I will not eat, and I have no confidence in the future. Now we have to give them confidence to take out some of the grain, because it will be bad if the grain is piled up in the warehouse and not eaten. Even if it's not bad, insects bite rats, and the loss is surprisingly large. ”

The clerk smiled bitterly twice, Youzhou City has been tossing and turning in the past few years, the rich families are either ruined, or they have to go to another country, there is not much left, and the limited few are all related to Li Mao, who can move them, let them spit out some benefits to solve their urgent needs, how easy it is to say

The clerk said: "A Quartet is not having a good time, if Youzhou treats people too generously, I am afraid that the wandering people from all over the world will come over, and there will always be a day when we will be overwhelmed." Second, there are not many rich families left in the city, and the few that remain are not great, and if it were not for ill-gotten gains, we would have deserved it. ”

Li Mao said with a smile: "Youzhou and Liaodong are vast and sparsely populated, and there are many people who are afraid of something, so organize them to reclaim the wasteland." As for your statement that the rich men of the city have come clean with their goods, I think there is a great deal to discuss. ”

Clerical Cheng shook his head and sighed: "Not to mention whether their money is clean or not, it's just that there is no big fault at the moment, why do you want them to pay for good deeds, isn't it difficult for strong people?"

Li Mao said: "I didn't force them to pay for it, people say that they are poor and have no ambition, and they have a good conscience, don't think that the rich are so evil." You don't believe that they are willing to do good."

The clerk shook his head decisively.

Li Mao said: "Okay, let's make a bet." As long as the local government comes to urge, they will definitely rush to stand up and do good deeds, and there is no reluctance at all. ”

The clerk said: "Bet on it, I am not afraid of anything to bet, I will accompany you to the end." ”

The clerk is full of confidence, but his confidence is pretended, Li Mao is going to take the powerful in the city, he wants to use a bloodless knife to force them to spit out some benefits, which can not only appease the people, buy the hearts of the people, but also effectively reduce the financial burden, share the worries and solve problems for the government, and can also calm down internal doubts, ensure the advancement of financial reform, and atone for their own sins, which can be said to be counted in one fell swoop.

With Li Mao's methods, Wen Cheng did not doubt that he could do this, but this was only a strategy to cure the end, scatter the floating wealth they had obtained from doing evil, but not dig out the root of their evil, if this root is not dug out, the tumor attached to the male body will only grow bigger and bigger, sucking the essence of the male body, corroding the body of the male body, until one day the tail is too big to fall, dragging the male body alive, and then going to destruction together.

Whether Li Mao can't see this step, or is he deliberately pretending not to see it because of the situation, and he doesn't want to make this judgment prematurely, everything needs to be tested by time.

Everything was as Li Mao predicted, and when the wealthy families in the city learned that there were a large number of homeless people gathered in the south of the city, they immediately had a kind heart, built porridge sheds everywhere, gave up porridge and rice, and vacated idle empty houses to settle the displaced people.

The victims and beggars in the city were rescued by the good men, and this winter, they could be sure that they were warm, and at the same time as the good intentions of the good men came the second stewards of more than 20 granges and workshops organized by the government, who were ordered to select the people among the refugees, and sign contracts with the hired ones, which were stamped by the government, registered, and justified.

At the same time, the government promised that all hired people could apply for a settling-in allowance after living in Youzhou for three years.

While properly resettling the displaced people in the city, the Security Bureau dispatched elite soldiers and strong generals to join the security forces to carry out a powerful sweep of the beggar forces entrenched in the city, dismantle their organizations, search for their leaders, and punish all their young and strong members as coolies to serve in the army. The old and weak moved to the grange outside the city to settle down, and were given acres of land to cultivate and support themselves.

The news of the vigorous resettlement of displaced people and the arrest of beggars in Youzhou City reached Hengzhou, Wang Chengsu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, he finally put his mind at ease, and it was rumored that Li Mao was going to interfere in Hengzhou, which did not seem to be true, his family had a big business, and he was most afraid of chaos in Hebei, as long as he started fast enough, accurate enough, and ruthless enough, and got rid of Wang Tingcuo in one fell swoop, it is expected that Youzhou will not interfere too much.

Wang Chengsu pinched his fingers and rattled, he was ready to do a big job.

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