Chapter 192 I am not a rich man
"Master Hou..."
Zhao Xin quickly ran into the dilapidated Yamen. Chen Cao and Yu Shimin had just returned from inspecting the fields in Puxi on the other side.
"How's it going? How's it going?"
Zhao Xin glanced at Yu Shimin who was standing on the side. Yu Xiancheng still knew what was going on. He quickly bowed and retreated without participating: "Master Hou, the matter is settled. As expected by Master Hou, Huang Shijing and his fellows took over all the 40,000 refugees in Qingpu and Huating." They gathered together and said that the imperial court had ordered the construction of Shanghai County, which not only took care of food and accommodation, but also paid wages. The refugees were overjoyed and have already arrived, and they will arrive at noon at the most."
Huating County is only thirty miles away from the current Shanghai County. The refugees who have been suffering for many years have to run over when they hear this sound?
"Go and unload all the food on the ship and place them one by one on the pier in Pudong. Let Jin Yiwei and Zhang Fengnian send people to guard them. If there are any refugees who attack, they will be killed without mercy."
"Okay, then how should the Marquis' plan be implemented?"
Chen Cao patted the dust on his python robe and said, "Just throw it at me with money. I'm not a rich man. If Suzhou Prefecture hears this news, Yang Weizhi will definitely move all the refugees in Suzhou Prefecture. You say, How much food do hundreds of thousands of people have to eat every day, and how much food do we have to prepare to fill this hole?"
How many? Based on the simplest ten cents per person per day, it would cost at least ten thousand taels of silver per day, not counting those who ate and took.
"Huang Shijing wants to..." Zhao Xin said and gestured on his neck.
"Hey..." Chen Cao knocked on Zhao Xin: "You kid, don't always fight and kill. Sometimes you work with such corrupt officials. That's a good thing. Don't you see Zhang Heming is like this? ? As long as I have money and no worries, it is a trivial matter for Huang Shijing to give me a concubine. If I have money, I will marry another one..."
"What the Marquis said makes sense..."
"Xin Zhao, come here and I'll teach you a song. You have to be responsible for teaching those people and getting them to sing..."
.
There were a little more than 40,000 refugees, all from northern Shaanxi. Their Qin opera on the Loess Plateau made Chen Cao's ears uncomfortable. However, under the threat of the bright long swords and muskets of the Jin Yiwei and the Jia Ding team, they stood on the white line. The location never got any further.
"I am Chen Cao, the Marquis of Dingwu in the Ming Dynasty. I will say the first sentence. The imperial court has not opened a warehouse to release grain, and I have no obligation to help you, but..."
Chen Cao raised the earthen loudspeaker in his hand: "I believe that you are also human beings and citizens of the Ming Dynasty. Although the court did not help you, I couldn't bear it, so I opened a warehouse to store grain at my own expense. , listen, each person can receive one corn bun and one bowl of porridge, three times a day, and they are provided on time. Also, you must queue up to receive them. If anyone dares to jump in line..."
'boom...'
A thunderbolt sounded on a sunny day, frightening the refugees to shrink their heads one by one.
"Muskets are your final destination..."
"Line up and get ready to put out food..."
Eating is a good thing, and now these hungry refugees are scrambling to grab a seat. Judging from their past reception of disaster relief from the court, if they are at the end of the queue, they will most likely not be able to eat thick gruel and rice. Steamed buns.
Besides, in the past, the court provided only gruel for disaster relief, so where could the steamed buns come from for people to eat.
There are ten porridge shacks placed on the Pudong Pier, all lined up neatly. There are guards and servants standing guard on the white line in front of each porridge shack. The refugees were frightened by the muskets before, and they were relatively honest. .
Chen Cao and Zhao Xin stood far away from the porridge shed together. Chen Cao frowned and watched the people rushing to pour the freshly cooked porridge into their mouths. Some people even poured the hot porridge directly into their clothes. , then stand in the back and line up again.
"Master Hou, you didn't say anything..."
"What did you say?" Chen Cao turned to look at Zhao Xin: "At this time, are you talking about the kindness of the imperial court to these peasants in northern Shaanxi? Or do you want them to simply be grateful to me? Or are you taking the opportunity to win people's hearts?
Haven't you seen those people who have queued up two or three times? Look at the old and weak people at the back of this line who are still holding their children and waiting for the people in front to move faster, but those few still keep cutting in line? "
"My subordinates will go and find them out now..."
"Don't worry..." Chen Cao calmly looked at the scene in front of him, and then said with a smile: "This person's breaking point is not reached. Whatever you do and say is in vain. If you want the people to remember you, It's not just about buying people's hearts when you have enough food. If that's the case from the beginning, these people will go to other places after they're full, because they feel that once there are more people, the court will definitely not abandon them and get something for nothing. I think so. ah..."
Xin Zhao nodded thoughtfully: "That's why the Marquis doesn't talk about building the city."
"Well," Chen Cao touched his bare chin: "If you don't clean out those moths, these people can't use them. They Shaanxi people are born to be strong. If they are used well, they are a sharp sword. If they are not used well, they are a sharp sword." , maybe I’ll cook you and eat it..."
Sun Chuanting's Qin army beat Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang, who were running around. Although they were from Shaanxi at the same time, they were killed by fellow officers and soldiers and almost jumped into the river. Even among Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong army, there were many Shaanxi refugees.
"Why don't they rebel with those people?"
Chen Cao was also thinking about this issue. Perhaps it was similar to the speculations of later generations. It was related to the natural feudal servile system, or it was related to the serious crime of rebelling against the nine tribes, which made some of these people willing to risk beheading to gain wealth.
And from the refugee rebellions in the late Ming Dynasty, it is not difficult to see that the failure of those refugee regimes was ultimately due to their completely different compositions. Just like those people who ate and took in front of Chen Cao now, they all like to get something for nothing, breaking into cities and looting. If Li Zicheng could implement feudal landlordism under his rule before taking Beijing, it would be a big question mark whether the Manchus could unify China.
Just like what Chen Cao said back then, when the people lose confidence in the court in front of them, they will choose to rebel, elect a new emperor, establish a new dynasty, and continue to live their feudal life, but at least the world After reshuffling the cards, only a few will benefit.
"Master Hou, how many days will you leave?"
Chen Cao stretched his body and said, "Let it go for three days in a row. After three days, after the emotions of those who have suffered a loss have accumulated, I will teach them an important lesson in life."
Chen Cao has not been idle these three days. He and Li Maocai, who came with him, are planning land in Puxi. Although there are many rice fields in Puxi, they are all hidden fields of local landlords in Qingpu, and they are all high-quality paddy fields. , and although there are many fields under the jurisdiction of Shanghai County, most of them are uncultivated.
"Approximately how many are there in this area?"
Yu Shimin has become the acting magistrate of Shanghai County, and Chen Cao's official documents have also gone to the Nanjing Civil Affairs Bureau. In up to three days, Yu Shimin will be able to get the official documents from the Nanjing Civil Affairs Bureau appointing him as Shanghai County Magistrate.
"Going back to the Marquis, the Puxi side from the tributary of the Wusong River in the south to the fields in Chuansha Castle are under the jurisdiction of Shanghai County, but there is no one in the county. These lands are ownerless wasteland, and only the Chuansha Castle area is under the jurisdiction of Shanghai County. There are four thousand acres of Weisuo land;
Even excluding those Weisuo fields, there are nearly 40,000 acres of land available in Puxi. "
"Only 40,000 acres?" Chen Cao shook his head: "Too little, Li Maocai, keep the Puxi Pier at least three miles away, and then the fields behind it are up to 30,000 acres. How many cement houses can be built? How many people can be accommodated? ?”
"How many refugees do you expect, Lord Marquis?" Li Maocai turned around and saluted.
"It's still a hundred thousand..."
Li Maocai held the drawings in his hand. He was no longer a big boss now. He was the chief engineer of a high-level construction team: "According to my official opinion, it is possible to accommodate 100,000 people, but the houses must be built into two-story buildings." , Now the steel bars refined in the workshop according to what the Marquis said are enough to be used as gravity pillars, and there is no problem with bearing the second floor."
"How long do you estimate it will take to build these houses?"
Li Maocai frowned and thought for a while: "If we look at the progress of the workshop, it will take at least five years..."
"Then if 100,000 people help, how long do you think it will take?"
"If it comes quickly, two years will be no problem."
Chen Cao knew it well, and then looked at the candidate magistrate Yu Shimin: "Master Yu, who owns the paddy fields across Puxi?"
"It's a field in Qingpu County. The owner is a former head of the Nanjing Household Department. Several of his family's descendants have been elected, and tenants in Qingpu donated it."
Yu Shimin didn't hide it, he also knew how this kind of thing could be hidden from Marquis Dingwu, who was born in Jinyiwei.
"There are so many fields for a small boss, but the preferential treatment given to scholars out of good intentions by the imperial dynasty has become an excuse for them to eat up the Ming Dynasty." Chen Cao said and pointed to the land in front of him: "Circle three miles away from the pier. , this area will be set up as a construction area for the workshop, and this area will be managed militarized in the future."
Li Maocai interrupted and asked, "Master Hou, are you going to move the factory here?"
Chen Cao shook his head: "A new workshop will be opened here just in case." Then he pointed to a harbor in the north: "That side is circled separately. The size of the place is based on the Longjiang Shipyard. From now on, it will be the new workshop." The shipyard."
"Master Hou..." Zhao Xin, who came by boat, quickly ran to Chen Cao after landing: "It's starting to cause trouble..."
.
"My lord, please be kind. This baby has not eaten for two days. You don't have to eat. The baby can't stand it. My lord, please be kind and give me something to stutter..."
After Chen Cao landed, he stood in his original position. At this moment, an old man and two four or five-year-old boys were in front of a porridge shed, begging the captain of Fangzhou to get them another steamed bun or a bowl of gruel.
"Go away, go away. The Marquis has an order. Each person has three meals a day. Each meal only has a bowl of gruel and a steamed bun. Old man, I have personally given it to your family three times. What's wrong, do you want to die?"
The old man from northern Shaanxi cried and said: "Sir, please do me a favor. Your food has been taken away by others. If you don't eat this baby, it will be bad. Please do me a favor and give them tomorrow's food first." Please give me some cushion, please..."
The old man and his two grandsons knelt down and kept kowtowing to the captain. However, the captain serving the porridge received the order and stood behind the cauldron indifferently.
