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When Huo Zhengyuan stepped into the main hall of Zhanyuan, he heard Lu De's voice.
"...Your Highness, Yingtianfu Yamen has announced the lifting of martial law and the closure of the city. The dissatisfaction of the people has been greatly alleviated as a result, and they are not as hostile to the imperial court as before...
...At the same time, Yingtianfu Yamen and the Nanjing garrison have also agreed to use part of the grain stored in the official warehouse and the military rations to provide relief to the people...
...At this time of sensitive situation, I, the Lu family, are also willing to contribute. The student has convinced my father to immediately resume the business of various shops under the Lu family's name..."
Obviously, Lu De seemed to be reporting the latest developments in the situation in Nanjing to Zhu Hejian at this time, and it was all good news. It seemed that he could easily resolve the anger of the people in Nanjing.
But in fact, these words were deliberately told to Huo Zhengyuan.
Zhu Hejian was very smart. He guessed that Huo Zhengyuan's request to see him at this time must be because the situation in Nanjing was rapidly getting out of control. He wanted to use the huge supplies controlled by the "United Shipping Company" to reach some secret deals with him and coerce him into certain matters. Compromise.
For example, Huo Zhengyuan must have wanted to have a greater say during the tripartite joint trial and reduce the constraints and resistance of the guarding eunuch Xi Cheng.
Therefore, Zhu Hejian deliberately arranged this scene to hint to Huo Zhengyuan that even without the help of Huo Zhengyuan and "United Shipping Lines", he could still control the situation and stabilize people's hearts.
In short, it is to lower the price.
After hearing Lu De's words, Huo Zhengyuan showed unabashed sneer on his face, seeing through Zhu Hejian's bluff at a glance.
With the arrest and escape of the "Chaofeng" dead soldiers, there is no longer any worry about banditry in Nanjing. Coupled with the public anger among the people, it is inevitable that Yingtianfu Yamen chooses to revoke the martial law at this time. It cannot be done at all. That's good news.
The people in Nanjing are angry mainly because various shops in the city have not resumed business, leaving them unable to purchase supplies and falling into a desperate situation without food and medicine. Therefore, even if Yingtianfu Yamen lifts the martial law, as long as all shops in the city Every shop is still closed, and the people's dissatisfaction will not subside.
As for the Nanjing government's lifting of the city's lockdown order at the same time, this is even less good news.
Because of the floods some time ago, a large number of refugees gathered outside Nanjing. Therefore, when the Nanjing government announced the lifting of the city lockdown order, these refugees would flock into Nanjing, which would further worsen the material shortage in Nanjing. It can be said that there is It does no harm.
Lu De also said that both Yingtianfu Yamen and the Nanjing garrison agreed to open warehouses to distribute grain and provide relief to the people. This statement could only fool laymen, but it could not fool Huo Zhengyuan at all.
The official grain warehouse in Nanjing City was essentially a transfer station. Most of the grain in stock was Cao Liang. Cao Liang was the foundation of the imperial court and no one dared to misappropriate it at will.
What's more, the Jiangnan region has long ceased to produce grain, and instead focuses on growing various higher-yield cash crops. In order to cope with the grain transportation task of the imperial center, a large amount of grain needs to be purchased from the Huguang area every year, so the official warehouse in Nanjing city The grain depot is just an empty shell. On paper, there are countless grains, but in fact, it cannot be taken out at all.
There is also not much food in the Nanjing garrison's military inventory. It can only feed the tens of thousands of soldiers for several months. Even if all the food in storage is donated to relieve the people, for the millions of people in Nanjing, It’s also a drop in the bucket.
Moreover, military stockpiles are also extremely sensitive. Even if Xu Shengying is willing to assist Zhu Hejian in this matter, it is absolutely impossible for him to donate all the military grains. If he is willing to misappropriate one-tenth of the military stockpiles, he is considered generous and has the overall situation in mind. .
After all, after the people were hungry and caused a riot, at least the Nanjing defenders could control the situation. But if the Nanjing defenders were hungry and caused a mutiny, it would be a completely different story.
Lu De also said that during this sensitive situation, the Lu family was willing to contribute and immediately resume operations of all the stores under the Lu family name. This statement was even more ridiculous.
Not to mention that the Lu family is a scholarly family with a family background, and has never been known for its rich financial resources. The stores under the Lu family's name are better than nothing in terms of scale and quantity, even if the Lu family's financial and material resources have reached the level of the Song family. , and it is absolutely impossible for one family to meet the huge needs of a million people in Nanjing.
Therefore, all the good news mentioned by Lu De is insignificant and cannot affect the overall situation. If Zhu Hejian wants to stabilize people's hearts as soon as possible and successfully solve the imbalance of supply and demand in Nanjing, he can still only place his hope on the forces of the Jin gentry or "unity" The boat is sailing".
After seeing through Zhu Hejian's bluff, Huo Zhengyuan not only laughed openly, but also added insult to injury in an extremely mean and vicious manner.
Huo Zhengyuan walked quickly to Zhu Hejian, bowed and praised loudly: "After seeing the anger of the people in Nanjing, I was originally worried, so I came to Zhanyuan to discuss countermeasures with His Highness, but he didn't Thinking that His Highness has everything in mind and has found various ways to stabilize the situation, he is worthy of being a virtuous prince who is well-known in both the government and the public... In comparison, it seems that he is just making a fuss and making a false alarm!"
Afterwards, Huo Zhengyuan said with a smile: "However, I also have good news to report to Your Highness! Your Highness's heroic deeds of personally going to danger last night and exchanging himself for many hostages in Nanjing Shantang have spread throughout the world in a very short period of time. In the city of Nanjing, the people of Nanjing all praise His Highness for his benevolence, and they all regard His Highness as a noble man who cares for the people and helps the world. In the hearts of the people of Nanjing, His Highness's reputation is at its peak!"
After saying that, Huo Zhengyuan gave Zhu Hejian a thumbs up.
After hearing Huo Zhengyuan's praise, Zhu Hejian's smile was extremely forced.
Of course, Zhu Hejian hopes that his reputation in the government and the public will be as high as possible. His decision to take the initiative to become a hostage last night was largely to attract fame and increase his reputation.
But in the temple, for politicians, the timing of doing things is far more important than the effect of doing things.
For example, now, Zhu Hejian's reputation has greatly increased, which seems to be a good thing, but because of the wrong timing, Zhu Hejian's situation has become even more passive.
The people of Nanjing all regard Zhu Hejian as the great master of the sky. When people are angry, they will first think of Zhu Hejian and count on Zhu Hejian to stand up and uphold justice for them.
As more and more Nanjing people come up with this idea, more and more Nanjing people will come to the garden to plead their grievances, and it will become increasingly difficult for the Nanjing defenders and Jinyi guards to stop them. Once the people are After breaking through the obstruction of the Nanjing defenders and Jin Yiwei, Zhan Yuan would be surrounded layer by layer by the people who were asking for help and calling for grievances.
By that time, the situation in Zhanyuan will definitely not be much easier than that of Yingtianfu Yamen, and Zhu Hejian will definitely be more and more anxious, and will no longer have the energy to take care of other things.
What's more, in this world, the situation of "good people" is always extremely difficult. "Bad people" can become Buddhas immediately if they put down their butcher's knife. If they do a little good deeds, they are considered to have good conscience and have some merits. But "good people" are You need to maintain your own image at all times, and you always need to be thorough and perfect. Otherwise, once someone catches you, you will be questioned a lot and even be regarded as a hypocrite.
After Zhu Hejian's reputation rose because he took the initiative to become a hostage last night, he was already regarded as a good person by the people of Nanjing, and he was also given higher expectations by the people.
Under such circumstances, once the people came to visit the garden one after another, Zhu Hejian had no choice but to avoid it. He had to directly face the petitions and grievances of the people in Nanjing, and he had to properly resolve the people's demands, otherwise the people would be greatly disappointed. The public reputation he has finally accumulated will be greatly reduced in a short period of time, or even come to nothing in a bamboo basket.
Thinking of this, the smile on Zhu Hejian's face became more and more forced, but after all, he did not lose his composure and politely invited Huo Zhengyuan to sit next to him.
After sending someone to offer fragrant tea to Huo Zhengyuan, Zhu Hejian tried his best and said: "Scholar Huo's concerns about the situation in Nanjing are not unreasonable. The common people have suffered a lot of losses due to various changes during this period. It can be said that public opinion is overwhelming and people's hearts are shaking." Want to change, so we must appease and maintain stability as soon as possible! Although I have urged the Nanjing government to lift the martial law and city closure orders, and have also found a large amount of supplies from official warehouses, military depots, and the Lu family, etc., if the 'United Shipping Company' If you are willing to resume business as soon as possible, it will undoubtedly be even more powerful, and the situation in Nanjing can be restored to stability more quickly, but I wonder what Academician Huo wants?"
Huo Zhengyuan looked hesitant, shook his head and said: "Your Highness, you also know that the 'United Boat Line' has been firmly opposed to the martial law closure of the city from beginning to end, so it has been organizing people to gather in protest in the past few days, but this kind of protest behavior is undoubtedly Violating the government ban, a large number of people were arrested and convicted by the government... Under such circumstances, even if the major shops under the name of 'United Shipping' are willing to open their doors, they will still be short of manpower!"
Zhu Hejian immediately promised: "I will send people to all the major yamen now to ask them to immediately release those related people of the United Shipping Company who were arrested for gathering crowds to protest. Regarding the behavior of the United Shipping Company that gathered people to protest a few days ago, I’ll definitely not pursue it again, how about that?”
Huo Zhengyuan shook his head again: "Over this period of time, the 'United Shipping Company' has suffered heavy losses, not only because of the martial law and city closures of Yingtianfu Yamen, but also because of those gangsters of unknown origin! These gangsters have repeatedly committed crimes in Nanjing City. A serious crime was committed, causing people to panic. Many shops of the United Shipping Company were also robbed, and a large amount of valuable goods were lost...
Of course, the people who took advantage of the fire to rob and steal the goods may not be the gangsters, but after all, it was the chain reaction caused by the gangsters, so the 'United Shipping Company' naturally hated those gangsters!
After Qian Lai, the Nanjing boss of United Shipping Company, learned that Xiaguan had captured many gangsters alive and participated in the subsequent tripartite joint trial, he strongly suggested to Xiaguan that he must severely punish those gangsters and take the opportunity to torture and retaliate, so that he could Let's take a good breath of bad breath... but I don't know if His Highness agrees? "
Huo Zhengyuan's statement was obviously intended to play a greater role in the tripartite joint trial and take the opportunity to ask Zhu Hejian for more say.
The so-called "severe punishment of violent bandits" and "torture and revenge" actually mean severe torture.
It was naturally impossible for Zhu Hejian to agree to Huo Zhengyuan's request.
But Zhu Hejian must force Huo Zhengyuan to compromise as soon as possible, because the situation in Nanjing may further deteriorate at any time.
In desperation, Zhu Hejian had to show his trump card.
This trump card originated from Hu Xiao's confession, and Zhu Hejian had just mastered it.
In short, it is a matter of the "Zhao Party" secretly colluding with foreign forces.
Of course, Zhu Hejian will not reveal this trump card completely. He will only reveal a little bit of information to Huo Zhengyuan, which will make Huo Zhengyuan feel afraid and compromise with him. He will also not cause Huo Zhengyuan to be too vigilant and eliminate it in advance. All traces of crime.
Then, Zhu Hejian suddenly changed the topic and said: "By the way, after Academician Huo handed over Yishi Hu to the junior for treatment, the junior has not reported the current situation to Academician Huo... Please rest assured, Academician Huo, although that Yishi Hu He was seriously injured and still unconscious, but his injuries have stabilized! However, when Hu Yishi was unconscious, he mumbled a lot of sleep talk, but it aroused the curiosity of the younger generation! "
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PS: Chongzi recently caught a cold and hasn’t recovered yet, and his head is dizzy. The last chapter was chapter 1489, but it ended up being chapter 1849. I’m very sorry.
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