The area affected by the disaster in Shandong this time was quite large, and the number of victims was naturally very large, and the first batch of two or three thousand people arrived under the city of Songjiang Prefecture, and according to these victims, there was a considerable number of disaster victims behind them, and most of them rushed to Songjiang Prefecture. This was confirmed in the following days, when a large number of victims rushed to the city every day, and the number soon exceeded the 10,000 mark, and depending on the speed with which the victims arrived, it was likely to exceed 20,000 at the end.

For these fleeing victims, the local government generally has only two choices, the first is to find a way to disperse the victims and let them go to other places, as for where the government goes, as long as it is not with me. However, this practice was forbidden by the central court, and it also had some impact on the prestige of local officials.

The second option is to let the victims stay and the local government will take care of the resettlement. However, the resettlement of these victims is undoubtedly a huge challenge to the local economy, food reserves, public security, and the quality of officials.

The total population of Songjiang Prefecture is only more than 200,000, and now the sudden influx of disaster victims, who account for one-tenth of the total population, is definitely a big trouble for the entire Songjiang officialdom.

For example, Xu Shenzhong's father Xu Guan, as the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, he did not receive any less money that should be collected, so naturally he was not a clean official, but at this critical moment, he withstood tremendous pressure, and on the second day after the victims of Shandong arrived in Songjiang Mansion, he immediately made the decision to open a warehouse and release grain.

However, although Governor Xu made the decision to open a warehouse and release grain, the official warehouse involved the interests of the entire Songjiang officialdom, even if he was the prefect, he did not dare to take out too much grain from it, otherwise the entire Songjiang officialdom would resist him.

It is precisely because of this that while opening the official warehouse to give porridge, the Xu Governor also began to lobby the wealthy merchants in the city, hoping that they could generously give money to the victims. Although rich businessmen are not all rich and unkind, human nature is always selfish, and no one's money is blown by the wind. It's just that because of the face of Governor Xu, they also took out some money after the end.

In the warm pavilion in the front yard of the Zhou family, Zhou Chong, Zheng Jing, Zhang Kuang and Li Zheng were all there, and Xu Shenzhong, who had just befriended him a few days ago, was also sitting in the hall, but at this time Xu Shenzhong was full of anger.

"Phew! For the rich, not benevolent! It's not kind to be rich! There are more than 200 families in Songjiang Mansion with a wealth of more than 10,000 taels, but these people donated less than 5,000 taels, and the Xie family, the Wang family, the Li family and other generous families together accounted for more than half of them, and the vast majority of the remaining rich businessmen only donated more than 1,000 taels of silver, and even some stingy people only donated a few taels of silver. I saw Xu Shenzhong suddenly slap the table and scolded loudly.

Xu Shenzhong, as the son of Xu Zhifu, naturally knows the affairs of the victims very clearly, and these days Xu Zhifu sighs for the donation, and his hair is a little gray, which makes Xu Shenzhong angry with those rich businessmen.

"Brother Shen, it's useless to just scold those rich businessmen now, the most important thing is how to help the victims outside the city, five thousand taels of silver seems to be a lot, but with the arrival of the victims, the price of grain in the entire Songjiang Mansion has risen several times, these silver, plus the grain released in the official warehouse, I'm afraid it can only last until the end of the year at most, if there is no follow-up food, I'm afraid most of the victims outside will not be able to survive this year!" Zheng Jing said anxiously, as a scholar, he has a heart of worrying about the country and the people, and he is also most concerned about current affairs, which is also one of the places where Zhou Zhong and Li Zheng admire Zheng Jing the most.

"Alas, even if you survive the New Year, the weather in the past few years has been so abnormal, it will be warmer for at least two months after the New Year, and these two months are the most difficult!" At this time, Zhang Kuang also spoke, and his natural smile was also a little worried.

"Don't worry about this, my father has written to Nanjing, asking for a batch of grain to come to the disaster relief, it is said that the problem is not big, but it will not be allocated until the New Year, and it is estimated that it will arrive in February of the next year!" Xu Shenzhong said at this time, but when he talked about the most reluctant, his tone was very helpless. Things in officialdom are like this, no matter how urgent things are, everything has to be done according to the process, and as for the time wasted in the middle, it is not a matter for those officials and gentlemen above.

"In February, why don't they wait until next autumn harvest to deliver it?" Li Zheng, who had the most straight temper, rebuked angrily, Xu Shenzhong mentioned that the Li family who donated the most money was Li Zheng's family, don't look at their family has been a businessman for generations, but they are famous for their kindness and generosity, and they have always been very enthusiastic about donations, and even without waiting for Xu Zhifu to speak, the Li family donated eight hundred taels, which is already a lot of money.

"In this way, when the money and grain in the hands of Governor Xu ran out, it was nearly two months before the arrival of the grain allocated by the imperial court, if the food for these two months was not solved, I was also worried that the victims would be extremely hungry, if they did something like attacking the capital city, I am afraid that the entire imperial court would be alarmed!" Zhou Chong, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly said.

Zhou Chong's words are by no means alarmist, and the most cruel punishment in the world is no match for the taste of starvation, especially a group of people who are tortured by hunger, and they will definitely do anything for a bite to eat. And this kind of thing is not uncommon, many peasant riots in history have been caused by hunger.

Hearing Zhou Chong's words, Zheng Jing and the others also became solemn, among which Xu Shenzhong was the most anxious, after all, his father was the prefect of Songjiang Mansion, if something really happened to the disaster victims attacking the city, then his father would be to blame.

"Two months of money and grain, this is a lot of money, according to the current price of grain, my estimate will be at least 10,000 taels of silver, this is not a small amount, I'm afraid that the Xu Governor will not be able to raise this money in a short period of time!" Zheng Jing said again with a painful face, thinking that the victims outside the city might be frozen and starved to death during the Chinese New Year, he felt a sullen breath in his heart.

"No, I have to go home and talk to my father and uncle about it again to see if I can donate some more money!" I saw Li Zhengyi gritted his teeth and said again, the reason why their Li family donated so much last time was mainly because of his persuasion, and the elders of their Li family also felt that Li Zheng would be an official in the future, and now the family can have a good reputation, which is also a good help to his career.

Li Zheng turned around and was about to leave after speaking, but Zhang Guo grabbed him and said: "Don't worry, your Li family has already donated a lot of money, and disaster relief can't just let your family pay, so I don't think it's better to do this, let's mobilize the students in the school and let everyone use their influence to persuade those rich businessmen, I think it should have some effect." ”

Most of the students in the school are from rich people, plus the friends they know, it can be said that the rich people in the entire Songjiang Mansion have such and such relationships with these students, so if this group of students goes out, it should be said that some rich people donate.

"What Fang Shi said is also a way, but most of the students in the school are focused on their studies, and they usually don't care much about the family's finances, with their influence at home, although they can let those rich people contribute some money, but the last amount may not be very much." Xu Shenzhong was happy at first, but when it came to the worst, his mood couldn't help but be low.

Seeing these close friends worried about donations, Zhou Chong's mind flashed with inspiration, and he thought of a very good way, if he used this method, he might be able to make those rich businessmen who were unwilling to donate more blood, and maybe even let those rich people ask Xu Zhifu for donations.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chong immediately interrupted Xu Shenzhong and the others who were discussing, and then told the method he had thought of, but after Xu Shenzhong heard it, they looked at each other one by one, and their eyes looking at Zhou Chong were also full of incredulity.

"Wenda, your method is good, but isn't it a little too insidious?" Zheng Jing, who had a square temperament, said with a wry smile, just now he thought about Zhou Chong's way carefully, and found that it was indeed very feasible, but he always felt that this method was not very upright and unfair, and it was not the demeanor of a scholar.

"Brother Minglun's words are wrong, I think Wenda's method is very good, to deal with those rich and unkind guys, they should let them know how to be powerful!" Li Zheng has always been on Zhou Chong's side, and he also feels that his family has donated nearly a thousand taels of silver, but other rich people have only donated dozens of taels or even a few taels of silver, so their Li family is really a loss, and they must let those guys who are not benevolent to the rich give some blood!

"I don't care so much, now there are tens of thousands of lives outside the city, as the so-called human lives are at stake, don't worry about small things!" Zhang Guo is a good-tempered and chronic person, but at such a critical moment, he rarely shows a bit of decisiveness.

"It's a good righteousness and informality, the matter is settled, I'll go back and discuss it with my father, I believe he will definitely agree with Wenda's method!" After the last moment, Xu Shenzhong finally made a decision. His father had to do it, otherwise it wouldn't have the desired effect.