December 15, the sixth year of the Apocalypse (1626 AD), Xi'an.

The early risers noticed something strange.

The bell tower and drum tower of Xi'an were draped in the same huge colored cloth overnight. The colored cloth depicts a smiling peasant woman holding a yellowish solid in her hand and rubbing it on the collar of a basin, the water in which the water is full of foam.

What happened to the bell tower and drum tower?

What is the meaning of this painting?

There are many question marks, deep in the hearts of every Xi'an person, those well-informed people began to ask around, what happened to Xi'an?

Those who were eager to know the message were in vain, for no one told them what had happened, and even the people of the various yamen were asking about the strange colored cloth.

Around midnight, the number of children on the street gradually increased, they clapped their little hands, sang and danced, and all the children sang the same lyrics:

"You shoot one, I'll shoot one, Haiyue soap can do laundry;"

"You shoot two, I shoot two, Haiyue soap hand washing cover;"

"You shoot three, I shoot three, Haiyue soaps and washes the sheets;"

"You shoot four, I shoot four, Haiyue soaps and washes cotton clothes;"

"You shoot five, I shoot five, Haiyue soaps and washes the copper drum;"

"You shoot six, I shoot six, Haiyue soap washes Su embroidery."

…………

Some sensitive people finally remembered that on Dongguanzhong Street, a shop called "Haiyue Soap" had just appeared, and these strange things must have something to do with them.

One after another, people went to Dongguanzhong Street to see what was going on. Sure enough, on the left side of the door of the shop of "Haiyue Soap", an inconspicuous red notice was posted.

There are three main points in the content of the notice:

1. Haiyue soap is a special effect material for laundry, which is distributed free of charge today, a small piece per person, a total of 100 people, until the end of the distribution;

2. The price of each piece of soap is 50 copper coins;

3. In the afternoon, there will be 10 women who will perform the washing method for free, and customers can take their own clothes to wash;

Fourth, the sale of soap will officially start at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, and there will be only 300 soaps for sale tomorrow.

What's even more interesting is that the notice specifically states that soap is not bought with copper coins and silver, but with grain. According to the price of one tael of silver and two stones of rice, fifty wen can buy eleven catties of grain, so the price of each piece of soap is eleven catties of grain, and there is no credit or owe.

More and more people gathered in front of the "Haiyue Soap" shop, and the open space in front of the shop was completely occupied, and passers-by had to take a detour.

"Don't crowd, get in line. Well, you stand in line, or I won't be able to hand out soap. "The guy is directing the crowd waiting to get the soap.

His words are very threatening, and if someone does not stand in line and will guide the shops not to hand out soap, then he is a collective sinner.

In the face of interests, the people are still very obedient. The noisy crowd quickly stood in a long line, and the men counted the number of people, from front to back, exactly a hundred.

"Now give each of you a small receipt, and go to the back warehouse to get soap."

The 100 people in front of them all received the small tickets and went happily, but the people in the back stopped doing: "We are also standing until now, why don't we have it?" ”

"Again!"

"Again!"

"Again!"

……

The crowd began to riot, especially the people who were standing in the 101st and 102nd positions just now, and the noise was particularly fierce, as if they were in arrears.

"We have a notice that only the top 100 have soap hair." The man tried desperately to explain, but his words were quickly swallowed up by the stream.

If someone in front is making trouble, the people in the back are going to fish in troubled waters, and maybe they can get a small bar of soap.

The soap propaganda meeting is about to turn into an unmanageable bloody case, and the guys have no way to control the situation, and their explanations are so weak that it seems to add fuel to the fire.

The people who besieged the front of the shop, without any responsibility, and maybe there were benefits, which people were not scrambling?

Those who had received soap, when they returned to the shop, also hid it in their pockets and joined the army of appeals.

Upstairs in the store, Liu Kun has always been very satisfied with the customer's reaction, how did he know that the people of Xi'an reacted so violently? When the crowd began to riot, he frowned and said to the guy who was following him, "Activate the emergency plan." ”

"Bang!" The door of the shop opened, drawing people's eyes to it.

A group of heavily armed soldiers, coming out of the room with their heads held high, separated the surging crowd from the shop, and at the back of the soldiers was a sturdy officer.

"Which of you are making trouble here?"

The officer's gaze swept around the crowd, especially on the people who had made the most trouble just now, and stopped for a short time.

The people were so frightened that they bowed their heads nervously, for fear of being recognized by the officer.

There was silence in front of the shop, except for the officer's voice, and even the proprietor of the nearby shop pù craned his neck and waited for the officer's next step.

"Ahem, ahem." The officer adjusted his breathing and tried to calm his tone as much as possible, "People's shops benefit the people, free soap is distributed, and the notice is clearly written, you are late, and you have wronged others?" ”

"The bandits in Shaanxi have just been exterminated by His Royal Highness King Xin, do you still want to become a new bandit?" The officer's voice suddenly raised an octave.

Some of the cowardly people who happened to be on the edge began to sneak away, while the people in the center of the shop pù did not dare to move, as if they would become bandits themselves if they moved.

"Haha, the general's words are serious, they are all good citizens." Liu Kun walked out of the shop, clasped his hands into fists and saluted the people: "Everyone, I know you just like the soap sold in our store, don't you?" ”

"Yes, yes, we are all good citizens." The bold man made a sound, and the timid man kept nodding his head. This Liu Kun is simply their savior.

"Okay, then I'll make a temporary announcement that a distribution campaign will be added. You guys line up, we start the prize touching activity, and the five people who touch the prize will get a whole bar of soap. "A whole bar of soap is the kind of soap worth fifty yuan, which is much more than the soap distributed earlier.

The crowd was silent, neither against nor in favor.

"What? You don't mean it? Liu Kun didn't know if they were scared stupid.

"Originally, we do." There's soap to distribute, don't be a fool.

"Okay, then you guys line up." Liu Kun said to another man: "Go and check the number of people." ”

Under the temptation of Liu Kun's prize and the deterrence of heavily armed soldiers, these people lined up in turn.

"The proprietor, four hundred and eighty-two people in all." The guy quickly figured out the number.

Liu Kun whispered a few words to him, and the guy turned around and went back to the store. After a while, he came out with a one-foot square cardboard box.

"Everyone." Liu Kun pressed down with both hands, stopping the noisy and curious crowd, "I'll announce the rules now." There are 482 cubes in this cardboard box, which is exactly the same number as you. Each of you will find a square of wood from the cardboard box, but only five of the square blocks are marked with the word 'award', and those who touch these five square blocks will get a whole bar of soap. Do you understand? ”

"Understood." The voice was agitated but uneven.

"If you touch the prize, you will make a promotion for the store; If you can't touch the prize, there is no loss, so don't be disappointed, the store will carry out the prize activity from time to time in the future. Liu Kun waved his hand at the guy, "Now let's start touching the prize." ”

The guy walked past the crowd with a cardboard box in his hand, and everyone touched a square block.

"Now the prize is redeemed, and those who have the word 'prize' written on the square wooden block, please come forward to claim the prize." Liu Kun had already taken out five pieces of soap and was waiting to claim the prize.

The five lucky winners, in the envious eyes of everyone, held their respective prizes like babies. Such a large piece of soap is worth fifty copper coins, or eleven catties of rice. According to the value of the hereafter, it should be more than thirty dollars.

"Everyone," Liu Kun looked at most of the disappointed eyes, "Tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning, our store will start selling soap, this first batch, the quantity is limited, and those who plan to buy it should come early." Of course, we don't want silver, just food. ”

"Proprietor, why don't you want silver?" Some people are very puzzled by Liu Kun's approach, in Shaanxi, in Daming, there is no silver to buy.

"I'm sorry, this is the secret of our store, I can't say it for the time being, in the future, we will still collect cash." Liu Kun was extremely satisfied with today's propaganda activities, and this satisfaction was transformed into reverence for Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen, who is far away in Yansui, is worried about the New Year for the people of Yansui, there is no food, the market is deserted, and there is no festive color of Xinyuan at all. Nowadays, most people have some money saved at home because they help the government build roads or work in mines, but there is no food in the market, and it is useless to have money.

On December 24, Zhu Youzhen exchanged more than 10,000 catties of grain for 1,000 pieces of soap in Xi'an, and all of them were transported to Yansui. Coupled with the more than 5,000 catties of grain distributed to Yansui by the imperial court, a total of 150 stones.

As for the distribution of grain, Zhu Youzhen had already summed up with Gao Yingxiang.

Yansui Prefecture has jurisdiction over Jiazhou, Suide Prefecture, as well as Fugu, Shenmu, Mizhi, Wubao, Qingjian five counties, in addition to Jingbian, Dingbian, Huaiyuan three military forts.

The army and the military fort were paid separately by the imperial court, and Zhu Youzhen and Gao Yingxiang were concerned about the remaining households.

According to Gao Yingxiang's latest statistics, there are only 58,000 households in Yansui City, or more than 8,600 households. According to the ten catties of grain per household, eighty stone of grain is shared, and the remaining seventy stone of grain is distributed to five counties and two prefectures, and each state and county can receive ten stones.

None of this food is free for disaster relief, but is sold to the people at a parity price. If the people's families are really poor and cannot afford to buy them temporarily, the local head of the household will guarantee the grain and take it back for the time being, and then return the money for the grain purchase when they have earned money from working in the new year.

Zhu Youzhen did not participate in the grain distribution, and he racked his brains in order to raise new dollars of food for the people. Now that the food has arrived, he feels very tired, so he rests at home, and enjoys the service of Wan'er and Hu Xinxue by the way.

Li Jun led two squads of the special combat team to participate in the grain distribution work in Yansui Prefecture and temporarily supervise the implementation of the government. Fortunately, Gao Yingxiang personally participated, and the grain distribution went on smoothly.