"Throwing sand and gravel into the porridge? Liang Xiao, just forget it if you don't want to give porridge. Why give them false hope!"
The audience arranged by the Duanmu family immediately jumped out to accuse Liang Xiao, and the surrounding area was quickly drowned out by the accusations.
Because of their location, the group of refugees did not see Liang Xiao's people throwing sand and gravel into the porridge to the southeast of Liang Xiao, but they still begged Liang Xiao to hurry up and give porridge.
"What is he doing?" Mu Qinxue and Duan Yunxiu were also surprised.
Liang Xiao ignored the accusing people and asked his men to continue serving porridge.
"Why are there sand and stones in this porridge?"
The refugees looked at the porridge in their bowls and were surprised.
"It's good if you can eat it, so why worry about it! Do you want to eat the bark?"
After an old man severely criticized his children, he picked up the bowl and started eating slowly.
"It tastes really bad!"
There were complaints from the crowd, but most people still drank the porridge while it was hot.
Duan Yunxiu and Mu Qinxue saw this and felt a little bit unbearable. Looking at Liang Xiao who looked calm in the distance, they seemed to have discovered something.
He used to be very decisive in giving porridge and dry food to the refugees, but this time he suddenly...
Liang Xiao then ordered Gu Pingxiu: "Take these refugees who are desperately eating porridge aside. Leave those who can't drink it first, observe them slowly, and then distribute dry food to everyone."
Gu Pingxiu suddenly realized it and made arrangements immediately.
Soon, more than 1,400 refugees were gathered on the other side, leaving less than 100 people standing there, still holding unfinished porridge in their hands.
"Boss Liang has an order to distribute dry food!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire audience looked at the cart after cart of dry food and water bags, wondering: "Wouldn't it be better if we did this earlier? What a trick!"
Only Duanmu Yuncheng and others looked at the small group of people who were separated from a distance, trembling with anger.
Those are their people!
"I see!"
Duan Yunxiu and Mu Qinxue exclaimed in unison.
"He put sand and gravel in the porridge just to see the reaction of these refugees. They are really refugees. They haven't eaten anything in the past few days. They are hungry and don't choose what they eat. They definitely don't care about sand and gravel, even bran-throated vegetables. I’ll gobble it up!”
"And after he clearly distinguished the real refugees from the fake refugees, he distributed dry food to everyone, and blocked everyone's mouth so that others could not accuse him. Even if the real refugees were wronged by him, at least they would have something to eat. Next, he He must be preparing to recruit most of the separated refugees! As for those suspicious refugees, especially those without families, he can slowly send people to observe them."
The two girls looked at their sweethearts happily and smiled knowingly.
Sure enough, after the refugees had eaten their dry food, Liang Xiao announced the recruitment information.
"One tael of silver per month, including food and accommodation? This, this boss is a living Bodhisattva! I'm willing to do it!"
Most of the refugees who were recruited shed tears of gratitude and kowtowed.
Liang Xiao immediately negotiated with the officials responsible for appeasing the refugees at the scene. The officials knew that Liang Xiao was a first-class imperial merchant and did not object. They registered and approved it on the spot.
The eighty or ninety people who stayed had bitter expressions on their faces, looking at the dry food in their hands and the sand and gravel in their bowls, feeling extremely depressed.
They also tried to fish in troubled waters, but they really couldn't eat it. The porridge itself was too unpalatable even without gravel!
Several refugees quietly walked to the shade of the trees, came to Duanmu Yuncheng, and said with a sad face: "Young Master..."
"waste!"
Duanmu Yuncheng became angry, slapped them in the face, and left angrily.
Liang Xiao minimized the number of spies sneaking into his workshop and brought a new batch of refugees into his workshop.
These refugees have suffered so much from being displaced thousands of miles away, and now they actually have a boss who gives them a job and promises to provide food and shelter for up to five members of their family...
There is no doubt that these refugees signed Liang Xiao's confidentiality contract without exception and vowed to follow Liang Xiao's boss for the rest of their lives.
The number of workers in Liangxiao increased to more than a thousand, including more than thirty literate workers, who were given an extra five silver coins per month.
These literate workers were originally scholars from poor families, but due to the war they became refugees with nowhere to live and no one wanted to even do hard labor.
Now, Liang Xiao also gave them several literacy books to let them learn more words, including rare ones. They immediately immersed themselves in reading, hoping to get back to work as soon as possible and earn some money.
Liang Xiao promised them that as long as they did well, they could be promoted in the future and have the opportunity to become shopkeepers, or get the support of the Liang Mansion to obtain honors.
But in the eyes of these literate workers, there is little hope of getting a job and a stable and well-paying job, which can be considered later.
Duan Yunxiu happily ran back to the palace and told his sister about Liang Xiao's "feat" of throwing sand and stones into the porridge.
"Although this move has caused a bit of damage, it is still considered a capable official! What do you think, Prime Minister?"
In the imperial study room, the empress praised him and looked at Zhuge Hui who was presenting the memorial.
Zhuge Hui praised: "In my humble opinion, he may have had no choice but to take this step. But he was able to take this step to prevent his opponent from sending people to infiltrate the interior. It is also a sign of his calmness and tightness. He has a promising future."
"He must have more than a thousand workers. I'm just curious. Does the capital really need so many sugar workers? His goal should not only be sugar, but also movable type printing, right?" the empress sighed.
Duan Yunxiu's beautiful eyes lit up with anticipation.
She also wanted to see what was going on with Liang Xiao Newspaper Agency and movable type printing. Is it really as practical as he said, and could it slowly seize the power of public opinion from the family?
Five hundred workers, under Liang Xiao's arrangement, first settled in Liang Xiao's newly bought mansion, and could learn to make sugar from them the next day.
Some who can't learn well are responsible for cleaning, selling, or publicity.
In a few years, the price of sugar will drop significantly. By then, Liang Xiao's profits will be greatly reduced, so he is indeed making preparations.
Sugar production is just one of them.
The Bai family has sent people to cooperate and negotiate with the purchasers.
Liang Xiao finally fully understood the purchase channels.
A quarter of the sugarcane farmers outside the city are tenant farmers employed by the Gongsun family, and the rest are individual small landowners.
The huge profits from sugar cane come from the resale of the purchased goods by the Bai family, Dingguo Houfu and other families. The cost of growing sugar cane itself is not low, so those aristocratic families basically regard this meager profit as a blessing.
After Dingguo Houfu obtained Liang Xiao's promise to provide sugar stably, he also transferred this part of his suppliers to Liang Xiao.
Liang Xiao personally negotiated with these retail investors, signed contracts with them, and successfully impressed these retail investors with a usual purchase price that was 10% higher than Baihe's and a more stable purchase volume.
These retail investors are small landowners themselves. After negotiating with Liang Xiao, they can also feel that this boss is much more kind than Dingguo Houfu. Looking at Baihe, he can make a judgment.
The remaining quarter belongs to the Gongsun family and needs Liang Xiao to negotiate.
On this day, Mu Qinxue's father Mu Ping finally returned to Beijing.
"What? Sugarcane sells for a penny? Are you crazy!"
