Seeing that it was Chang Qinglian who broke the tea bowl, Chang Feng's eyes flashed and he asked seemingly casually:
"It's Qing Lian. I remember that you have some friendship with Aunt Wu."
Chang Qinglian quickly knelt down on the ground and said in panic: "Father, Qing Lian... Qing Lian..."
Frightened by Chang Feng's ferocious expression, she was speechless.
Cao Bin knocked on the table and frowned: "Mr. Chang, what are you doing? She is mine now!"
Chang Feng was stunned for a moment, then laughed, and his tone became gentle:
"This officer has lost his composure, please don't blame me!"
"Qing Lian, please get up, I can still trust you."
"It was just a joke..."
Hearing this, Chang Qinglian breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at Cao Bin gratefully, and quickly picked up the pieces of the teacup.
Chang Feng then smiled at Cao Bin and said:
"Uncle, are you satisfied with my daughter?"
"If she makes you angry, she can be beaten or scolded."
Hearing the two people talking about herself, Chang Qingling slowly cleaned up the floor, but did not dare to raise her head.
Cao Bin smiled and said:
"Mr. Chang, you're welcome. Miss Qing Lian is extremely beautiful and considerate. She can be compared to an interpretive flower."
"I want to thank everyone, Mr. Chang..."
Time and space rotate, the sun and the moon fly by, and time soon enters the twelfth lunar month.
The cold north wind also became more and more raging.
During this period, Cao Bin used ruthless tactics to kill the Wu family and Jeju Tongpan.
The most direct benefit is that the Wu family spent more than 100,000 shi of grain purchased from other provinces, but Cao Bin pocketed it in vain.
The Wu family originally wanted to take this opportunity to make a fortune from the court.
But he didn't expect that Cao Bin would steal the crystal directly, and the whole family would be killed.
What happened next shocked the local officials even more. They did not expect that Chang Feng would take the responsibility for Cao Bin's murder.
Those officials and gentry wanted to break their heads, but they didn't understand the reason why Chang Feng did this.
As a result, they were afraid of Cao Bin to their core.
Not only did they not dare to lack daily gifts, they also did not dare to ignore any of Cao Bin's orders.
Chang Feng is the chief official of the border area and their leader.
Even his relatives ended up being executed because of their disrespect for Cao Bin, not to mention others.
Coupled with the huge benefits provided by Cao Bin, these people are full of energy and at the same time always trembling with fear.
Therefore, under such a strange situation, the work-for-relief program was carried out extremely smoothly, and all states and counties sent out supplies without any discounts.
If you work for a day, you will receive two kilograms of grain. If you work well, you will get twice as much.
As long as you save a little, it will be enough for the whole family to eat half full.
As a result, the victims worked feverishly in order to have a full meal.
In addition, officials at all levels are constantly shuttling back and forth to direct planning. People who don't know this might think they are at a huge construction site.
Another ten days have passed, and countless adobe and brick houses have been built, and it is no longer a problem to survive the cold winter.
On this day, the prefect of Jeju came to Cao Bin and carefully reported:
"Uncle, in a few days, the houses for the victims will be built. Do we need to provide work-for-relief services next?"
Cao Bin said casually:
"Of course, after building the residences for the victims, we will build the government offices, county offices, city walls, and canals... Anyway, we can't let them idle."
The prefect of Jeju wiped the sweat from his forehead and said:
"Uncle, the relief food you distributed could have been used until the end of the year, but now it will be used up soon. The same is true for other states and counties."
Cao Bin said indifferently:
"Don't worry, I have collected nearly one million shi of grain, enough to last until next spring..."
"Aren't the grain merchants still transporting grain in a steady stream? Tell them to work harder. I still have more than one million pounds of silver in my hand, so let them transport it!"
"Years ago, I will return to Beijing to ask for money from the court. Their money will definitely be indispensable!"
The prefect of Jeju nodded repeatedly:
"Hey! Don't worry, uncle, I will supervise them."
Seeing the governor of Jeju leaving in a hurry, Cao Bin sneered: If I don't make your pants fall off after the New Year, my surname will not be Cao.
Later, Cao Bin called Shi Qian and asked, "How many people have you recruited now?"
Shi Qian took out a notebook and said:
"Uncle, I selected a thousand teenage boys from the disaster victims. They are all very clever."
"Now they have been assigned to various states and counties. I plan to train them through experience."
Cao Bin nodded and said:
"Well done, just what I wanted."
"Next, I plan to recruit some victims to build restaurants, tile houses, and theaters for the future."
"This can not only solve the food problem of some disaster victims, but also expand the industry of the Hou Mansion. It can be regarded as the best of both worlds."
"This matter will be left to you. When the time comes, you should seriously promote it. It is best to involve the local wealthy households."
"... Try to reduce the burden on the court as much as possible."
Under Cao Bin's planning, the disaster relief work has gradually got on the right track as he expected.
...
Eight hundred miles away from Liangshan Mountain, there is a piece of land with undulating mountains called Liao'erwa.
There is a small city on Liao'erwa, called Wanzi City, which has always been occupied by grass bandits and robbed merchants.
At this time, Heavenly King Chao Gai and Shiyu Song Jiang were sitting side by side in the Juyi Hall, discussing matters with their brothers.
If Cao Bin saw this situation, he might have doubts.
When he left Beijing, Lin Chong was still safely serving as an official in Tokyo.
Logically speaking, Chao Gai and Song Jiang should not have occupied Liangshan so early.
When it comes to this matter, Song Jiang himself is also very depressed.
He was working well as a superintendent in Yuncheng County. Although he often helped friends in the world, he had never done anything illegal.
Who would have thought that when a person is sitting at home, a pot comes from the sky.
One day, the county magistrate suddenly told him.
Duan Wang Zhao Ji and Taiwei Gao Qiu want to secretly arrest a person with the bandit name "Timely Rain".
Song Jiang was surprised at first, but then he just said it was a coincidence. After all, he had never done anything extraordinary.
However, what the county magistrate said next was unacceptable to him. Not only did the wanted man have the same nickname as him, but also the prefix "Gongming".
How can this be said to be a "coincidence"? It clearly points to him himself.
Fortunately, the Yuncheng County Magistrate had a good personal relationship with him, so he did not capture him directly, but informed him of the news first.
Song Jiang didn't know why Zhao Ji wanted to arrest him, but he could only run away overnight.
This is different from the original work. He just killed Yan Poxi by mistake, and there is still hope of waiting for pardon.
After offending Zhao Ji and Gao Qiu, he had no way out.
After running out of Yuncheng, he thought about it for a long time, but he never thought of where to settle.
Fortunately, Chai Jin pointed out a clear path for it - Shuibo Liangshan!
After arriving at the foot of Liangshan Mountain, he began to murmur again, feeling that if he only went up to Liangshan Mountain, he would be alone and despised by Wang Lun.
So he thought of Chao Gai, his friend in Dongxi Village.
After all, Chao Gai and others did not have his exquisite heart, so they were easily dragged into the dirty water by him, and they defeated Wang Lun and became the Lord of Liangshan alongside him.
Nowadays, there is a severe drought in Shandong, and bandits like them are not having a hard time, and their food reserves are in jeopardy.
Chao Gai said in a low voice: "It seems that we have to go down the mountain. Nowadays, there are grain merchants in Shandong, so it shouldn't be difficult to grab grain."
Wu Yong, who was downstairs, shook his feather fan and shook his head: "We can't rob these grain merchants."
"Now the Tiger Wing Navy is on the shore of Shuibo, and there are tens of thousands of Changfeng soldiers guarding Jeju City. We, Liangshan, are not our opponents for the time being."
"These grain merchants are appointed by Cao Bin and Chang Feng, and they are colluding with each other. If we rob them, we will definitely attract the full revenge of the entire Shandong gentry!"
Chao Gai said irritably: "What should we do? We can't let our brothers starve to death!"
Wu Yong confidently shook his feather fan and said with a smile: "I have received news that a batch of grain is on the way in Licheng, Qizhou, and will pass by Liangshan within a few days."
"This batch of grain was sent by Yan Chasan. He is not on good terms with the Shandong gentry. We just took the opportunity to take action."
Song Jiang nodded and smiled: "The military advisor is right, that batch of food contains more than 300,000 dan, which is enough for us to eat until next autumn harvest..."
