The scope of this locust plague is very wide. In addition to Qingzhou Prefecture, Xuzhou Prefecture was also affected.
However, Cheng'an County in Qingzhou Prefecture was the least affected. Most of the more than 20 villages here used the herbs developed by Du Wanchun.
A few days ago, Zhou Ruiyuan and Prefect Li mentioned this herbal medicine to the prefect of Xuzhou Prefecture, but they did not believe the Zhou family. They felt that the Zhou family, as traders, wanted to take this opportunity to sell herbal medicines to make money.
However, it was not until the locusts came that they realized they regretted it.
Due to widespread disasters in many places, there was a shortage of food.
One by one, they rushed to Zhou's rice shop to buy rice. ?.?????.???
Not only was Zhoujia Mipu not affected by the locust plague, its output remained undiminished, so the lives of the villagers in more than 20 counties in Cheng'an County continued to get better and better.
Du Wanchun saw that Xuzhou Prefecture was seriously affected by the disaster, so he proposed to Zhou Ruiyuan to provide porridge for disaster relief.
After hearing this, Zhou Ruiyuan immediately sent people to set up porridge sheds in more than ten counties in Xuzhou Prefecture.
Du Wanchun took people to deliver porridge in person, and also distributed locust-preventing herbs to the villagers.
When the villagers received the herbal medicine, they realized that there was such a good thing. Later they learned that it was the former prefect of Xuzhou Prefecture who rejected the good intentions of Prefect Li of Qingzhou Prefecture and Magistrate Zhou.
They all regretted it. If they had known that they had let the Zhou family take the herb, all their food would not have been eaten by locusts.
Du Wanchun did not stay in the porridge sheds. She took a carriage and checked each porridge shed before preparing to go home. However, on the way, she was stopped by someone from the former prefect.
"Shopkeeper Du, our Lord would like to invite you to my house." The person who came was a young man, with his chin raised and a look of arrogance on his face.
After Du Wanchun thought about it, he smiled and said, "Well, I'll ask this little brother to lead the way."
The boy turned around and asked someone to hold Du Wanchun's horse and bring her to the former magistrate's house.
The former magistrate was neither a good nor a bad official in the past. He usually took care of the people below him, but when it came to major events, he would be timid and only focus on himself.
It was because of such trust that he was unwilling to send people to Cheng'an County to get the herbs that could drive away locusts.
This time he asked Du Wanchun to come here because he actually had something to ask for. Several villages near them were out of food, and just giving porridge was not enough. He hoped that Du Wanchun could come up with some money and let him help these victims.
However, when the capital city learned that there was a locust plague here, it had already allocated 200,000 taels of silver, which was enough for him to rescue these victims.
However, the former master saw that he was the most powerful person in Xuzhou Prefecture, so he secretly embezzled the money and planned to ask Du Wanchun for some more money to show off to the people in the capital.
When Du Wanchun walked into the house, the former magistrate personally greeted him, "Shopkeeper Du, you are here, please take a seat."
After saying that, he ordered the maid behind him: "Quick, go and pour tea for Shopkeeper Du."
"Yes, sir." The maids quickly stepped back and turned around to pour tea for Du Wanchun.
Soon a good cup of Longjing was served.
Du Wanchun picked up the cup, took a sip and said with a smile, "Master Yuan, your tea is not bad."
The former magistrate said quickly: "It's just some old tea, not really good tea."
Du Wanchun half-squinted his eyes and smiled slowly: "It seems that Mr. Yuan still has good tea here. Usually the best tea is Longjing, which our Zhou family can only drink a few times a year."
The former magistrate was stunned for a moment, looked at the cup on the table next to Du Wanchun with cold eyes, and then secretly gave the little maid a fierce look.
The little maid was so frightened that she quickly lowered her head.
Du Wanchun changed the subject and asked bluntly: "Why did you come to invite me to the mansion?"
The former magistrate put aside the coldness in his eyes and said with a smile: "I heard that Shopkeeper Du is a well-known good man. Now more than ten counties in Xuzhou Prefecture are affected by the locust plague. I wonder if Shopkeeper Du can make a difference. Be kind and give some money to help these victims."
Du Wanchun picked up the tea cup and took a slow sip of tea, but did not reply for a long time.
The former magistrate narrowed his eyes and continued: "It is said that shopkeeper Du has a lot of money, so it should be easy for him to come up with some money."
Du Wanchun put down the cup in his hand, "Master Yuan, you may have forgotten that our Zhou family's porridge sheds are located in more than ten counties in Xuzhou Prefecture. These porridge sheds of mine should have saved many disaster victims here. , when it comes to showing kindness, I should be extremely benevolent."
The former magistrate seemed to have known that she would say this, and continued to smile: "This porridge shed is a porridge shed. Your Zhou family has so much rice, it shouldn't cost much money, and you have to work hard. Why don't shopkeeper Du give me the money directly? Let me do it.”
A sneer appeared on Du Wanchun's face. This former prefect was really good at making wishful thinking.
If she pays for it, will he get the good reputation?
She decisively refused and said: "Sir, in terms of money, our Zhou family is also powerless. In addition, since we run the porridge shed, our Zhou family will be responsible to the end, and we don't need your intervention, sir."
The former magistrate's face gradually became angry as he listened. He really didn't expect that shopkeeper Du was so sharp-tongued.
His face gradually darkened, and when he looked around, seeing Du Wanchun alone, he suddenly had other evil intentions.
"Shopkeeper Du, don't jump to conclusions yet. Stay in our house for a while and then think carefully about what to say."
He just wanted to hold her here.
