Lin Zhao and Zhao Yan's worries are definitely not superfluous, the current situation in Hangzhou is indeed very bad!

When the famine has not yet occurred, it is necessary to take precautions, to be precise, to plan for the rain, and absolutely be prepared.

In October of the second year of Xining, the autumn rain in Hangzhou has been continuous for almost two months. Although the rain has gradually subsided, it has the meaning of stopping, but the agricultural time has inevitably been delayed.

Many people grieved as they looked at the paddy that had rotted before it could be harvested. When I went home and looked at the rice bowl that was gradually bottoming out, I was sad. Many people are thinking about where to borrow money, borrow food, buy food. There are even people who think that they can't go out to escape the famine, or go to relatives and friends.

In ancient times, people's concept of the countryside was very important, and no one wanted to leave their homeland unless they were forced to do so. In addition to these people, all kinds of speculation and rumors abounded, and at the beginning, some people said that because there was a problem with the sacrifice, the Dragon King of the East China Sea was angry and it rained heavily. Later, some people even said that it was caused by the unjust soul of Zhao Shiju, who had died by suicide before, and some people even claimed that it was the emperor, the prime minister was immoral, and the sky rained heavily to warn.

The situation is far more complicated than expected, especially at the critical moment when the change begins. There are rumors in Hangzhou that it is because Qiantang and Yuhang tried out the new law, and the anger of the people was the result. Fortunately, there were no heavy rain disasters on Jingdong, Huainan, and Henan roads, so this rumor was only circulated in Hangzhou and did not affect the overall situation.

Faced with such a situation, Lin Zhao, who had been prepared for a long time, immediately opened a warehouse to release grain. Qiantang County became the first county in Hangzhou, the entire Liangzhejiang Road, or the entire Jiangnan region to start opening a warehouse for disaster relief.

Outside the county office, there was an endless stream of people who came to receive food, and they were grateful to the imperial court and their parents, the official Lin County Order, before leaving.

In this regard, Lin Zhao just smiled faintly. The people are very simple, they don't know that it is because of the convergence of cold and warm air, and the rain belt has been stranded in Jiangsu and Zhejiang for a long time. When life is difficult, they may complain a few words and even believe those rumors, but as long as they are good to them and let them be fed and clothed, they will be safe and sound, and they will be grateful to you.

"Childe, it's right to prepare early!" Yu Xuandao: "There are more people who come to receive food today than yesterday, and it seems that there is indeed not much surplus food in the people's homes." ”

Lin Zhao nodded lightly and instructed: "But there is one point, we must do a good job of supervision and restriction, and we can't let people take it off, or take it more!" ”

"Well, don't worry, Childe, this one has a limit, each person receives one liter of food per day, and the child is halved, and it can only be received by the poor." Yu Xuan replied: "Before that, my subordinates had already done an investigation, and there were more than 21,900 poor people in Qiantang County who needed relief. ”

"Good!" Lin Zhao appreciated this very much, Yu Xuan was a careful person, cautious, thorough, and performed quite well. Now it seems that luckily a general was pulled out of the dwarf!

"But ......" Yu Xuan immediately looked embarrassed and said: "It is completely possible to simply save more than 20,000 people, but if the number of people increases, I am afraid that it will be ......."

"What do you mean?"

Yu Xuandao: "According to the current situation, the wealthy families in the city, the upper and middle households are not within the scope of relief, and they can buy their own food to tide over the difficulties. However, there is a very bad situation at present, the major grain stores in Qiantang County have closed their doors, or only a small amount of grain is sold......"

Speaking of which, Lin Zhao has completely understood, what these people do is just four words - hoarding!

In ancient times, when there was a famine, food would become a life-saving thing and become extremely precious. The government or large families will give relief and help to demonstrate virtue. But there are always many people, especially grain merchants, who will seize such an opportunity to hoard and make a fortune!

If these people are just raising the price slightly, they will just make a profit. However, the mercenary grain merchants will not be so polite, and will often raise prices, so that the people who are already stretched thin and have a difficult life have to pay a high price to buy grain, so as to make a fortune.

This kind of person is very hateful, there have been all dynasties and dynasties, and now they appear in Qiantang County. The situation was already very bad, if these grain merchants were allowed to take advantage of the fire to rob, it would be even worse, Yu Xuan was also worried about this, and Lin Zhao naturally did not want such a situation.

"Is it serious?" Lin Zhao asked in a deep voice.

Yu Xuandao: "At present, the impact is not too bad, but those grain merchants have ill intentions, and they are still buying grain while hoarding Juqi, or it won't be long before the price of grain in Qiantang County will skyrocket!" By the way, the Meng family grain store is still selling grain at a flat price as usual......"

Lin Zhao smiled heartily, the Meng family is a scholarly family, and has always had a kind heart, and has been sincerely and benevolent for many years, and has a very good reputation. Meng Ruoying naturally would not disobey her ancestors' teachings and take advantage of such a major disaster to make ill-gotten gains! Yesterday, he also told himself that a batch of grain would be transported from Jiangning, and Lin Zhao knew that Meng Ruoying was using her way to share her worries!

Yu Xuan reminded: "Childe, it is necessary to let Miss Meng be careful, but the Meng family's grain store is a thorn in the eyes of those grain merchants, a thorn in the flesh!" Maybe someone will stumble behind their backs, which is not good for the Meng family! ”

Lin Zhao snorted coldly: "Hmph, if you don't know whether you live or die, you can just try!" "Whoever dares to be detrimental to the Meng family under his nose will definitely not be spared.

"Well, but be careful!"

However, in a word, Lin Zhao appreciated Yu Xuan even more, and at the same time secretly blamed himself for being careless, these things were a little negligent. The last time Meng Ruoying was kidnapped by Chen Hong, she had already encountered danger once, and this kind of thing must not have a second time.

Lin Zhao said: "Since they are silent and have not yet moved, it means that there is room for negotiation!" ”

"What do you mean by ......?"

Lin Zhao smiled: "Talk to them!" ”

"But they may not sell their son's face!" Yu Xuan was not afraid to refute Lin Zhao's face, tell the truth!

"Don't be afraid!" Lin Zhao smiled: "Aren't they hoarding Juqi just to sell it for a high price?" When the time comes, let them lose all their money and go bankrupt! ”

"Childe is planning to ......?" Yu Xuan had already vaguely guessed Lin Zhao's thoughts.

Lin Zhao smiled: "That's right, my conversation with Zhao Zhizhou is still secret, they won't think that it will be unexpected when the time comes...... Hey! ”

"Childe is smart!" Yu Xuan also smiled, it was already conceivable that there would be many people crying with sad faces at that time. Then he reminded: "This method is very good, but the prince had better say hello to the official family and the prince Wang!" ”

"Don't worry, I've already played to the official family!" Lin Zhao was a little worried about what kind of attitude Zhao Ji and Wang Anshi would have, and hoped that he would go to Bianjing as soon as possible to see what the replies of the two bigwigs were!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ near Suzhou, the Jiangnan River was originally relatively gentle, but because of the recent heavy rain, the water surface has become a little turbulent, and it is much more difficult to sail on the water. Recently, there have been fewer boats on the river, and not many people are willing to take the risk at this time.

Of course, there are always exceptions at any time, such as official ships that carry official letters at the imperial court's post station, or some things that are really important.

On the river, a large cargo ship is coming from north to south, and the waterline of the ship is very deep, which shows that the cargo on board is very heavy. Sailing in such weather and hydrological conditions places high technical demands on sailors and helmsmen. Seeing that this ship is going so smoothly and steadily, it can be seen that there are extremely experienced masters on board.

The flag on the bow of the ship has been soaked in rain and is a little blurred, but it can be vaguely seen that it is the word "Meng".

That's right, this ship is owned by the Meng family in Jiangning, and it is grain that is being transported on board. The Meng family's business involves a wide range of restaurants, cloth, grain, and shipping.

Recently, Hangzhou grain is in short supply and the price is good. Meng Ruoying planned to transfer some grain from Jiangning to Hangzhou, so as to sell it at a good price, and come to help Lin Zhao. However, the Meng family just didn't hoard Juqi, just made normal profits.

Recently, the water in the south of the Yangtze River has risen, and the water transportation is inconvenient, but it is not very difficult for the experienced Meng's boat line, and there are several masters who are very experienced and very familiar with the water conditions of the Jiangnan River, and they can completely control it. It is precisely because of this that Meng Ruoying dared to transport grain from Jiangning.

The cargo ship set sail from Jiangning, all the way down the river, crossed the Zhenjiang River into the canal, and smoothly crossed the Taihu Lake.

However, the masters did not dare to take it lightly, and still watched the water conditions and steered calmly.

"Master Sun, there's a ship coming from the other side!" A boatman reminded the helmsman Lao Sun in time.

Lao Sun stood in a robe, stood at the bow of the boat, squinted his eyes and took a closer look, and said: "It's a fast boat from the imperial court's post station, pay attention to this, be careful to avoid it!" ”

The imperial court had a rule that government ships, especially the post boats carrying official letters, passed through, and other ships on the river had to give way in time. Although the river is not crowded today, the tide is flat and the banks are wide, and the closer you get to the river, there may be debris, or the tidal flats are hidden underwater, and there is a danger of running aground. Therefore, the boats will be accustomed to coming and going close to the middle of the river, and the boats going in the opposite direction will inevitably pass by.

Master Sun is very experienced in this regard, and there is no problem at all! But just as the post boat came rapidly and the two ships gradually approached, there was a sound at the bottom of the big cargo ship, and then it began to tilt!

"What's going on?" Lao Sun hurriedly called someone to check!

"Master Sun, it's not good, the bottom of the boat is leaking!" When the boatman saw it, he was immediately frightened.

"What?" Lao Sun was shocked, he was very familiar with this passage, it was impossible to hit the rocks, how could it leak well?

Before he could come to his senses, the ship tilted more and more, and it shook violently, and then began to sink. The boatmen were terrified, they couldn't plug the leak, and the sinking of the ship was inevitable!

"Quick, jump!" The shipwrights knew that the sinking of such a large ship would create a very large whirlpool, and if they sucked it in, they would be dead and alive, and now there may be a chance to escape. Old Master Sun couldn't help but smile bitterly, looked up to the sky and sighed, feeling deeply guilty, and now he has no shame to go to see the eldest lady.

The speed at which the ship sank was beyond imagination, and Master Sun knew that the boatmen who jumped down could not escape. If you ask for your own surname, you will sink with the ship! But his eyes inadvertently fell on the river in the distance, and when he saw a few black lines crossing under the water waves, Lao Sun seemed to understand something.

Unable to help but show a look of resentment, he immediately picked up a wooden plank and jumped into the river. The moment he fell into the water, he told himself that he had to live, live to Hangzhou, and go to see the eldest lady!

The large cargo ship sank, creating a huge whirlpool on the river, and many of the shipwrights did not have time to escape. All of them were sucked in, wailing, struggling, and disappearing in an instant.

It was not only the boatmen of the Meng family who were unlucky, the imperial court's post boat was moving at a fast speed, and the speed was too fast, and they did not notice the abnormality of the cargo ship at first. By the time it was discovered, it was too late, and the partial cargo ship sank very quickly, and it couldn't escape at all, so it was directly involved in the whirlpool, so that there were a few more victims of the shipwreck!

Both the cargo ship and the stagecoach sank, and after a while, driftwood, cloth bags, and corpses occasionally appeared on the surface of the river...... There are also some book-like things, if you look closely, you may be able to recognize them, they are the concertans given to the emperor by the officials!

It didn't take long for the waves to hit one by one, and the mess either sank to the bottom of the river or was washed away......

(To be continued)