Early the next morning, Baochu made a decision. He was going to take the money to a pawn shop, and he was going to a pawn shop run by a Chinese businessman. He was going to convert all the money into ordinary silver taels!
Baochu was not a fool, and he would not buy food with money from such collectible handicrafts. What food store would dare to accept the money given as a betrothal gift from the emperor?
Do you want someone to take it and exchange it with the bank? Even after converting it into ordinary silver coins at a one-to-one ratio for consumption, I felt like I was losing money, so I finally thought about it and it was better to just pawn it off!
Live it, don't die! When he comes around, he still has to redeem these silver coins!
According to Baochu's thoughts, Chinese pawnbrokers have broad vision and have seen the world. Coupled with the relationship between His Majesty and Xiao Letian, these gifts of gold and silver will definitely be converted into more silver!
Let’s count it as long as the porridge shed can be opened. With the few thousand taels of silver in hand, we can save everyone’s life!
It was a good idea, but the reality gave him a disincentive. Baochu went to three Chinese pawn shops in a row, and all of them refused!
They were very polite and smiled when they saw the money you had. "Oh... Uncle Guo! Don't take this money out, no one dares to accept it!"
"Every single one of the gold and silver gifts that Long live the Lord gave to the queen's family is a collectible! They are good things, and I won't suffer any loss even if they cost one to two!"
"But who dares? You don't have to take a look at the current situation in the capital. Your Majesty has already wiped out all the underlings in the court. Who dares to twist his lips when mentioning Long Live Lord?"
"Now that we have received gold and silver gifts from Lord Long Live, why don't we wait to die? If Lord Long Live finds out, we will stop doing this business!"
"Don't embarrass me. Why don't you exchange it for an antique? We promise to give you a reasonable price!"
Baochu was rejected by three stores in a row, and each one was more polite than the last, greeting you with a smile that made you unable to get angry!
This is how to do? Baochu stood at Dashilan and stamped his feet anxiously! There are thousands of refugees who have lost their homes outside the city. The weather is getting colder day by day, and it will be frosty in a few days. Even if the cold does not kill them, it will cause typhoid fever!
Even if the emperor doesn't care, he can't get any money from alms in the capital, so what can he do? Do I have to be forced to seek alms from Xiao Letian? Not to mention that this is really a way out. When the city was in chaos, wasn't it Xiao Letian who built the Peace Hotel?
But this thought only lasted in the blink of an eye. What a proud person Bao Chu is, asking you to beg a Japanese devil? Uh-huh...I just spit into the corner!
But at this moment, a rickshaw hurriedly came from the direction of the front door. The people in the car shouted to Baochu from a long way away, "Uncle Guo...here! Uncle Guo, here..."
Baochu looked up and saw that it was Mr. Wen Xiuwen, the penmaster of the Qing Dynasty Times, who he had always made friends with!
"Ouch... Uncle Guo! I wanted to get together with you today, but why did I go out? Didn't you go around raising money yesterday to help the victims? Several of our old friends collected a few hundred taels and wanted to give it to you. come over!"
"Who would have thought that you are so capable that all your hard work and money can be spent in one night?"
"Ah?" Baochu was stunned. "Brother Wen, what do you mean? Why do we have all the money? I'm worried!"
"You don't know? Hey, get in the car and follow me...the people kowtowing have arrived at your door!"
I pulled Baochu onto the rickshaw. The young rickshaw driver was in great shape. The rickshaw was brand new and the butter on the bearings was still clean!
Pulling two adults along, a trot is much lighter than a sedan or a carriage!
As soon as the car arrived at the entrance of the alley, I saw a group of people, numbering forty or fifty, shouting and cheering in front of my house! As soon as these people saw Master Baochu coming, they all rushed over and knelt in front of the rickshaw!
"Master Baochu, Lord Wandai! Thank you very much for saving my life!"
"Kowtow to the adults. Without the adults, we would starve to death and freeze to death..."
The leading elders and elders led the people to kowtow to Bao Chu, which confused Uncle Guo. "What's going on? You... what are you doing?"
"My lord, you are so upright and honorable. You saved the lives of thousands of our victims, but you don't admit that... even the ancient sages can't compare with you!"
"The victims outside Deshengmen kowtow to you. Thank you very much for opening the porridge shed to save lives!"
Baochu said, "I...when did I open the porridge shed? Take me to Deshengmen quickly...quickly, quick..."
At this time, the young man pulling the cart was already out of breath from exhaustion. He ran from the inner city to the south city and back again. No matter how strong his body was, he couldn't withstand it!
"Sir...my lord! I really can't run anymore..."
"Don't be nagging, there is cash here!" Wen Xiu directly stuffed three shiny dragon-patterned silver coins over. When he saw the silver, the driver jumped up with a loud cry, "You can still run! I guarantee it will be delivered to Desheng." Go to the door..."
The rickshaw trotted away and headed straight for Desheng Gate. On the road, there was a blind soldier who wanted to investigate, but when he got closer, he saw that it was Uncle Guo. He was so frightened that he shrank his neck and stopped talking!
After leaving Deshengmen, the driver collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. Wenxiu and Baochu hurried out of the city. As soon as they left the city, they saw a group of figures shaking in the ruins of the burned reed pond in the northwest!
I quickly walked in and took a look, and it turned out to be a porridge shed. Under the shed with straw mats to protect it from the wind and rain, there were firewood cauldrons, and the porridge was boiling in them!
Rice, corn, millet, beans...all kinds of grains are tumbling inside, and you can smell the fragrance of the grains from a distance!
The porridge shed stretches for tens of meters, with twenty large pots cooking. Behind the shed, carts of charcoal and grain packages are being unloaded!
A man who looked like a grain store owner stood on the top of the cart and shouted to the people who were queuing up to receive porridge, "Listen clearly! This is the kindness of Mr. Baochu, the uncle of the country, who has burned down his house and has no home." Poor people are giving out porridge!”
"It's Mr. Baochu who bought the food and charcoal for us to distribute! Don't forget your book when you're full!"
The crowd hurriedly expressed their gratitude and said, "Uncle and prince, the princes and princes will live forever! May the queen be a thousand years old!" Some people kowtow desperately in the direction of the palace.
Because of the Weitang fire and the civil war in the city, there were four to five thousand people displaced. With so many people having three meals a day, there were also people unloading wood and other materials to build straw huts for them to live in!
Such a scale cannot survive without more than a thousand taels of silver a day. It seems that the amount of food can last for more than ten days, plus building a straw shed and donating clothes!
It would be impossible to do this disaster relief without 20,000 taels of silver!
Baochu was dumbfounded. He walked up to the grain merchant and asked, "This boss? Are you sure it's the porridge shed opened by Baochu, the Minister of Sanzhi?"
"Ouch... are you a scholar like you? Are you out of your mind?" The boss scolded him, "Can you tell me Mr. Baochu's name and official position?"
"You don't want to add the word "grandfather"! So disrespectful? That's uncle Guo! Uncle Guo! Uncle Guo..."
