Cheng Luojie pondered for a moment, smiled apologetically, and said: "Brother Yi, it's not that I don't help, it's just that the task given to me by Queen Kaibao is only to investigate the theft of palace treasures, the matter of the Su family last time was said by the way, Queen Kaibao has already said in the approval to me that she doesn't want to participate in political affairs, so, in the future, this kind of thing, report to the Yushitai through the local yamen, don't report to her again, otherwise she will be very embarrassed, I just didn't tell you about it." ”

Leng Yi nodded slowly: "I can understand, it's just that my official position is too small, if I don't pass Empress Kaibao, others won't listen to it at all." The previous prefect already had a precedent of going unheeded by the report. Now the situation is very urgent, and if it rains heavily for a few days in a row, I am afraid that there will be flooding! So I'm afraid it's too late to go through the normal way. ”

Cheng Luojie looked at him softly and said, "Okay, I'll be cheeky and help you report again." Even if I am blamed by Queen Kaibao, I am willing to do it for you. ”

"Thank you!" Leng Yi hugged her and kissed her.

Cheng Luojie hesitated for a moment, and then said: "However, I still remind you that since this matter is very important, you should be prepared in many ways." Because now the imperial court is using troops in the north, it is the time when money and food are urgently needed, so even if the queen is willing to help, she may not be able to help. It's better to be more prepared, so as not to succeed here and miss a big thing. ”

Leng Yi nodded: "You're right, I'll make other preparations at the same time." ”

Sending Cheng Luojie away, Leng Yi sat in a daze for a long time, thought about it again and again, and finally called Master Dong to his office.

Leng Yi got straight to the point and asked: "If the floods in Bazhou are flooded, the farmland is submerged, the grain is not harvested, and disaster relief is needed, how much food is needed to basically be enough?" ”

Master Dong looked at him, as if he was thinking about the meaning of his words, and after a while, he said slowly: "The population of the entire Bazhou is nearly 100,000 households, about 400,000 people, if the entire disaster needs relief, it will need 1.8 million taels of silver per year!" ”

Leng Yi's spine was cold, he originally intended to use his money to buy grain reserves in case of emergency, but after listening to it, he found that he currently had five hundred and fifty taels of gold, that is, five thousand five hundred taels of silver, which was less than one percent of the relief money needed, and he couldn't help but be a little discouraged.

He rolled his eyes and thought of Bai Hong, why not go to her to borrow money? If you can't borrow money, you will take Bai Hong's task. The reward for that task is 100,000 taels of gold, that is, 1 million taels of silver, in this way, at least it can be sold on credit to the people for half a year, and it can last until the imperial court disaster relief arrives!

Leng Yi decided to ask Bai Hong about the situation of this task first, if he could, he would advance some money first, buy food as a reserve, and wait until the task is completed, and the remaining money can continue to be used for disaster relief.

Leng Yi asked Master Dong again: "If you have money, where can you buy so much grain?" ”

"The closest one is Huguang. Brought in by water. However, now is the time of the green and yellow, and the price of food is much more expensive than usual. Speaking of this, Master Dong glanced at Leng Yi's uncertain face, hesitated for a moment, and said in a low voice: "Dong Weng won't think about it...... Buy food reserves out of your own pocket, right? ”

"As a last resort," Leng Yi said, "As a parent official, I can't watch the people starve to death without relief." Of course, this is just a precautionary measure, and it may not necessarily cause a major disaster, but if it does, it can be life-saving. Isn't it better than locking it up in a cupboard? ”

"But, Dong Weng, have you thought about it, you took out this money to give it to the people, didn't it go to waste?"

"Naturally, I wouldn't just give away money and food for nothing. If there is no disaster, I will use the grain to make money by lending money when the harvest is scarce. If the disaster really happens, I will distribute food relief to the people in the form of credit, and this credit should be appropriately added with a little interest, and the borrower's land will be used as collateral. If the contract is insured, the five households are mutually insured. After the calamity, the land of the people was harvested, and then it was gradually recovered. In this way, you shouldn't lose money, and you can make a little bit of money. Of course, not to mention the return of 10,000 yuan, even if you can't get a penny back, if lending food can save the lives of hundreds of thousands of disaster victims, it's nothing, who let me be this official. ”

Master Dong arched his hand and said: "Dong Weng really loves the people like a son, he is willing to take risks, and he also has to share the worries and solve problems for the people." ”

Leng Yi said: "It's hard to say whether it can solve the problem, there is no shadow of this money." I'll figure it out first. It's hard to say if you can raise it. ”

Master Dong sighed a few more words and left.

After the yamen was dispersed, Leng Yi came out and went straight back to his house next to the yamen.

According to the previous practice, he went to Bai Hong after dark, but this time it involved flood fighting, rescue and disaster relief, and in order to grab time, he could only go during the day.

He returned to the inner house, told Zhuo Qiaoniang that he wanted to sleep in the house, let others not disturb, and then entered the house alone, closed the door, changed into a robe, put on a human skin mask, came out of the back window, and after observing no one, he climbed over the wall.

The rain was heavy, Leng Yi was walking in the alley with an umbrella, the water in the low-lying part of the street had reached his ankles, and the rain on his head hit the oil-paper umbrella, as if the war drums kept beating, and his heart tightened. The rain has been going on for nearly a month, and the danger of flooding is looming. You have to find a way to do it as soon as possible.

Leng Yi came to Xinghuang Restaurant, and the shopkeeper immediately invited him to the private seat upstairs, and then invited Bai Hong.

Bai Hong was still dressed in white, wearing a human skin mask, and she couldn't see the expression on her face, but she could feel a faint sadness in her voice, and she must have not recovered from that incident.

Leng Yi said: "To make a long story short, I came today to borrow money from you." I don't know if it's possible? ”

Bai Hong didn't ask him why he borrowed money, but simply said, "Yes, how much do you want to borrow?" ”

"One million and eight thousand taels of silver!"

Bai Hong was stunned for a moment, and slowly shook his head: "I'm sorry, I can't lend you so much money." ”

"Why?"

"Because you can't pay it yet."

Leng Yi smiled astringently and said, "How do you know?" ”

"I know that you borrowed money for disaster relief, and this is a very loss-making business."

Leng Yi smiled again and said, "You are very smart, how did you guess?" ”

"It's very simple, you have just been transferred to Bazhou General Judge, rescue and disaster relief is your responsibility, this year's rain is particularly long and very much, it is likely to cause floods, many people have seen this, I naturally understand. If you ask me to borrow so much money at once, you can only use it for disaster relief. However, you will most likely not be able to pay it back. So for me, it's a risky loan. I am a businessman, and you are willing to do good deeds, but I am only willing to buy and sell, including borrowing. I won't trade at a loss. So I can't lend you so much money. ”

"It's okay to borrow less. Once a disaster strikes, the victims are very miserable. ”

"I'm sorry, I won't lend it to you if you use it for disaster relief. I'm a killer, and I have no sympathy. - Unless, you make money from me yourself. ”

Leng Yi smiled bitterly and said, "Okay, tell me about that task and I'll see if I can complete it." ”

"As I've said before, you can do it, and only you can do it. That's why the offer is so high. As for the specific task, I can only tell you before I carry it out, you just have to kill the person I want to kill according to my request. I promise, that guy should definitely be killed, or you can kill me. I'm at your disposal. ”

Leng Yi said: "In that case, can the honorarium be advanced?" ”

"You can advance 10%."

"Ichisei?" Leng Yi was disappointed, "Isn't it possible to advance half of it?" ”

"Sorry, that's the ceiling, not of course you can advance half of it. The exact amount of advance is up to me. Now, I know what you are going to do with this money, and I can't give you so much advance. A maximum of 10% can be advanced. ”

Leng Yi smiled bitterly: "You are really good to me." But I took the task, and the money was mine, and I should be able to use it at will. ”

Bai Hong stared at him and said slowly: "If you don't complete the task, the money is not yours." You are given an advance just for the convenience of completing the task. What's more, I can't bear to watch the money you desperately exchange for go down the drain! ”

"I don't know how to do it, I know it."

"That's not going to happen."

Leng Yi was helpless, thought for a while, and said, "Yicheng, that is, 100,000 taels of silver?" ”

Bai Hong nodded. Seeing his depressed appearance, he hesitated for a moment, and finally said: "Let's advance so much first, if the imperial court really stands by and watches, it will be good to continue to advance you at that time, so it's always okay, right?" You can't wrap it all up. ”

Leng Yi nodded helplessly and said, "Okay, one achievement." Now that you know what I'm going to do with the money, let's open the window and talk. The one hundred thousand taels of silver, can you pay me with grain? ”

"Yes, but I advise you not to do it."

"Are you still afraid that I'll be in trouble?"

Bai Hong shook his head and said, "I'm afraid that you will suffer disaster!" ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"Even if it is a percent, it is a huge amount of money, and you use this money to buy a house, buy land, marry a wife and take a concubine, there are no major problems. Because I know that you didn't have money before, and now there are very few people who have money, so just avoid them and spend money. However, if you take it out to buy food for disaster relief, it will inevitably cause a sensation in the imperial court, and at that time, many people will know that you are so rich, and you can know that you didn't have much money before without too much careful inspection. So how did this huge sum of money come about? I'm afraid that when the time comes, gossip will fly, and the Yushitai will come to you for trouble. Do you still have a good time? ”

Leng Yi smiled, indeed, 100,000 taels of silver is equivalent to 100 million yuan! If a magistrate suddenly spends 100 million yuan on disaster relief, people will definitely have an opinion. He had already thought about this question in his heart. There was another serious consequence of coming forward to pay for disaster relief by herself, Bai Hong didn't say it, because she didn't know. That is, the county is a fake! Once the court is boiling and everyone is watching, sooner or later it will show its feet, at that time, pretending to be an official of the court, hehe, I'm afraid that I won't be able to eat and walk around.

However, Leng Yi had already thought of a way to deal with this, and said with a smile at the moment: "I asked you to pay with food, just considering the seriousness of this problem." After you bring the grain, help me find a big family to come forward to release grain for disaster relief, and stand out for me, and I will work behind the scenes, so that the rich businessmen and big families will do good deeds to release grain for disaster relief, and others will not pay too much attention. ”

(To be continued)