The one who benefited the most from the devastation of the war was Zhao Xiaopin. This boy had just built temples and houses to turn serfs into masters, and he had lived a good life early.
Zhao's mother did not work as a helper at the Wanda Chamber of Commerce, and her health was getting worse every year, so she went home early to take care of herself.
One good thing about Zhao Xiaopin is that although the golden sign is now open and there is a letter of appointment personally awarded by the Ministry of Industry, they have not raised the price. The price of the contract work is still as close to the people as ever, and under Zhao Xiaopin's control, they will not cut corners. Even if you build a chicken pen, you have to do your best, for fear of damaging the trust of the officials.
This time, the engineering team of their Zhao family class heard that the prosperous Qingyuan County had been attacked by pirates and suffered heavy losses. Zhao Xiaopin, without waiting for Liang Chuan's instructions, personally organized people to come to Qingyuan to help rebuild!
Zhao Xiaopin has been unpopular since he was a child, and has lived a life where people dislike dogs. However, meeting Liang Chuan, a noble man in his life, changed his situation and changed his values.
Liang Chuan values love and righteousness, and the people around him are all decent and humble. Making money is important, but you must also know how to be grateful and repay the society. Although Liang Chuan does not say it in words, he has been practicing it in his body. Such people will be recognized by society. With recognition, money will continue to flow.
Today, the number of people in the Zhao family class is also quite large. After Zhao Fafa retired, most of the children in Wangsun Village have followed the Zhao family class to make a living. The men learn trades and become craftsmen, while the women either help or take care of the men. The money they earn is already enough to live a good life, but no one will just wait to die, they all work hard.
Zhao Xiaopin first took the initiative to contact Duan Peng and offered to help rebuild several damaged city gates. The most important thing is that the Weiyuan Tower, the symbol of this city, must be rebuilt!
Qingyuan Port has an advantage. It is the place where department stores from all over the world gather. Once there is demand, there will be no shortage of business.
Building a house requires building materials, and the surrounding wood and bamboo are in short supply, as well as sand and gravel. The merchants have a very keen sense of smell, and they quickly pile the required materials on the dock and wait for price.
There are so many things needed in the city, and it almost feels like the city needs to be rebuilt. From daily necessities to furniture and department stores, the Wanda Chamber of Commerce has begun to list products and import them from all over.
A serious problem right now is that there is actually a shortage of food.
In troubled times, one tael of gold could not exchange for half a dou of food. Although the merchants in Qingyuan made a lot of money, the residents had not experienced war. The arrival of the pirates caused a huge shadow to the residents of Qingyuan County and nearby counties!
Xinghua County is okay. The Lin Julin rebellion made the locals know that southerners can also fight. Several other counties have not fought much wars since the Tang Dynasty. There are bandits and they have not caused any waves. Who would have thought of the sea? Will anyone else call?
No one can guarantee whether there will be another enemy attack. No one has a bottom line. Money can't buy anything during a war, and goods can't come in. The only thing that can save one's life is enough food. It's up to you to survive. of!
On the first day after the pirates retreated, the residents first grabbed medicinal materials to treat illnesses and save lives. Duan Peng was afraid that the residents would cause unnecessary panic if they grabbed it like this, so he sent high-purity medicinal materials to the market to control the source. Fortunately, the owner of the medicinal materials was Zhuang Xiang. This man still had a conscience and would not make a big fortune for the country. The medicinal materials were not good at all. There was no price increase, but it just couldn't stop residents from grabbing it.
Gao Chun captured a few people, but he couldn't suppress the situation at all. Starting from the next day, more terrifying rumors spread, that is, pirates would attack from the sea again soon!
This unfounded rumor is quite convincing, and the people completely believe that these pirates will come back!
Even the Weiyuan Tower of the government was blown up, and Tong Xuan died on the battlefield. Officials can't even take care of themselves, how can they save the people?
The consequence of this is that many people have begun to pack up their belongings and move their families to seek refuge with their poor relatives far away in the mountains!
In previous years, relatives from far away in the mountains would rush to Qingyuan, where they would have enough money to live for a few days. Qingyuan was also afraid of poor relatives from the mountains coming to visit. It would cost a lot of money.
Who knew there were benefits to staying in the mountains!
Living in the mountains these days, like Helu Village behind Fengshan Mountain, if Liangchuan hadn't crossed it, there wouldn't even be a decent road into the mountains. How could it be so easy for outsiders to enter the mountains?
Relatives will also be surprised. The sun is rising in the west. Why are these rich people so elegant this year? They come to their mountains to eat wild vegetables. After asking about it, they find out, oh, there is a war along the coast!
This is not the most frightening thing. The most frightening thing is that after running out of medicinal materials, residents began to frantically grab salt and food.
Quanzhou is located on the southeast coast. There are many salt fields here. Boiling the sea to make salt has brought the government a lot of profits. However, when the war broke out, the salt fields were immediately closed for fear that the salt would be destroyed or robbed, which would cause great losses.
Although we produce salt ourselves, after the sales are controlled, there is not much salt on the market, and it is a government exclusive. People have no other choice at all. Private salt is still available, but the price difference can be imagined. This kind of necessity The prices of daily necessities have skyrocketed like snowflakes!
The scariest thing is food. If you don’t eat salt, you can still make do with salted fish, but if there is no food, you will not be able to survive.
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
As soon as the war started, various rice shops announced a price increase. A bucket of rice originally cost about 30 cents, but it doubled all of a sudden. The higher the price went up, the more people grabbed it. The rice warehouses of several rice shops were still very expensive despite the high prices. It was almost sold out and after making enough money, Mihang didn't care and immediately put up a stop-sale sign!
There’s no rice left!
When the news came out, the residents became even more panicked. No matter how much rice they had at home, they would eventually run out. Who wouldn’t want to store more rice? And the fact is that there is not much food stored at home. Who would save rice when they have nothing to do? If they don’t eat new rice, they will eat old rice? That's for feeding chickens, ducks and livestock!
Residents were horrified to find that Quanzhou Prefecture, a place where they had no worries about food and rice before, was now running out of food and even if they had money, they couldn’t buy it!
It's over now. If there's another war, if you don't get killed by the pirates, you'll starve to death!
Unable to buy food, it quickly turned into a grab for food!
If it continues to evolve, there may even be riots in the city!
Gao Chun quickly reported the situation to Duan Peng. Duan Peng now had two leaders, and he needed to coordinate all the affairs in the city. The most terrifying thing was to cause civil unrest again. If there was internal chaos, it would be dangerous for the enemy. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the hat that was taken off at that time was really big!
It's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. Duan Peng is an upright official, not a strong official, and he has no way to solve such economic problems. In the final analysis, this is a people's livelihood issue!
There is not much rice in the official warehouse, let alone military rations. Whoever touches it will die. If there is a fight, the people can starve to death. If the soldiers die, the place will fall!
Zhao Xiaopin helped Duan Peng re-establish the government office, which solved one of his urgent needs. However, there were too many problems that Duan Peng could not cope with at the moment. He had already reported many problems and sent a quick horse to report to Fuzhou about the Japanese invasion of Quanzhou. Sooner or later, I will report to Bianjing, and many problems will be solved, but not so quickly.
The reply from Fujian Road Transshipment Service was quite fast.
All kinds of materials are being transported to Quanzhou, mainly soldiers and equipment. What the imperial court wants is to guard the country first, and the place will not fall before other things can be discussed. Otherwise, the place will be gone, and transporting money and food to Quanzhou Prefecture is not sending supplies to the bandits. ?
Rumors from all walks of life came one after another. People heard that the government was still sending more troops to Quanzhou, and they were even more convinced that the battle still had to be fought. Otherwise, why would the troops be mobilized? Now the Quanzhou Prefecture was even more chaotic, with dozens of people looting every day. There are not a few cases of food disputes and beatings to death!
If he doesn't control it, it will cause a big disaster. Duan Peng really can't think of a way, but Gao Chun comes up with an idea for him. Liang Chuan is a businessman and has a ship at hand, so why not let him think of a way!
Duan Peng shouted and immediately called Liang Chuan over.
As soon as Liang Chuan arrived at Duan Peng's residence, he was immediately treated as an honored guest by Duan Peng. Now that Duan Peng knew Liang Chuan's identity, he guessed that this boy must have certain connections on the road. It would be better if he was asked to think of a way. Do it yourself!
"Sanlang is telling you the truth, there is trouble in the city!"
"Sir, whatever you say, I will try my best to help you!"
"Right now, the food in the city is in short supply. Businessmen from all walks of life outside dare not approach Qingyuan. The people in the city are struggling to survive. Sanlang, do you have any idea? Send a few sea ships out to transport food!"
This is what happened!
Nowadays, we are afraid of Japanese pirates at sea, and we will be robbed as soon as we go to sea. Unless we send warships to protect us, it will definitely not be peaceful. Going to sea at this time is not as risky as usual. .
"I see that there is not much rice in the city. If this continues, many people will definitely starve to death. Rescue from the court has not yet arrived, in case the pirates come to kill again."
Liang Chuan had no idea in mind, but looking at Duan Peng's sad face and his sunken eyes, he knew that Duan Peng must be having a hard time these days. He had to make decisions about everything, and there was no time to rest.
I helped him get into this seat with his own hands, so I couldn’t trick him no matter what!
Liang Chuan comforted Duan Peng and said, "Please be patient, sir. I will go back and discuss this matter with my subordinates to see how to deal with it best. Even if it doesn't work, I can send people overland to the surrounding counties to collect food. Don't worry!"
Duan Peng was overjoyed and expressed his gratitude to Liang Chuan!
"It would be great if we could buy rice from the surrounding area, and the people in the city would be able to feel at peace!"
"Sir, I think what the common people are afraid of is not the lack of food, but if the pirates come again, people will be worried, so we still have to find a way to calm people's hearts!"
Duan Peng sighed and said: "I also know this truth, but it's not easy to do. Now that the city has lost many generals, people are panicking. Fuzhou's soldiers have not arrived. No one knows what will happen tomorrow!"
