How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

On this day, the last wave of refugees from central and southern Yizhou finally arrived in Jiangdu County.

At this point, all 30,000 Yizhou refugees had gathered.

They raised their tired and lifeless eyes and looked into the distance at the tightly closed city gate. They were terrified and uneasy, and prayed that Jiangdu County must have enough disaster relief food.

If there is no food in Jiangdu County, it means that they will lose most of their chances of survival and can only drag their tired and hungry bodies to embark on the road of fleeing famine again and go to the nearest provincial capital to receive relief.

If there were only a few refugees, it would not be bad, but looking at the huge crowds at the city gate begging for food, the last wave of refugees who arrived were almost in despair.

Which state capital would be willing to accept so many foreign refugees?

They were all deceived by the county magistrate. They should not have come to Jiangdu County. If they had chosen to go south or to the county town in the east, they might have had a chance of survival...

Many refugees who had realized the reality knelt on the ground, looking sad but not daring to cry out loud, for fear that they would get hungry if they spoke, or get thirsty if they shed tears, but they had no food left to eat.

"Please God, give me a chance to live..."

"The elderly man in my family had his leg broken by rocks from a mountain torrent, and we have run out of food. Can I still make it to the next county town?"

"My child is still young. She was just born. She managed to escape the mountain torrent, but her mother was drowned while trying to save her..."

Some people kowtowed with their hands clasped together towards the closed city gate, gazing at the deserted city wall, the alert soldiers and runners, and the rows of barricades blocking the road, holding on to a glimmer of hope, hoping that the prefect would have mercy on them and find a way to solve the problem of famine.

But, I'm afraid only gods can solve this natural disaster?

"Look, someone is coming!"

Suddenly, someone shouted from the crowd.

Countless refugees suddenly raised their heads, but were blinded by the scorching midday light above their heads. After their vision recovered, they saw a dark red, slender figure slowly walking towards the edge of the city wall.

The scorching sun at noon was tilted above His head, and the golden and dazzling sunlight poured down on Him as if God favored Him, casting a layer of dazzling light and shadow on Him, making it impossible to see His face and expression.

But, inexplicably, people feel that He must be extremely beautiful, like the compassionate Bodhisattva covered in golden light, which makes people fascinated.

The refugees who were close could even see His long eyelashes drooping, His lips as red as the blood of life slightly parted, and His clear, ethereal voice was like holy music ringing in their ears, just like the stream water rushing down the cliff after the ice broke in spring, and the green young grass struggling against the confinement of the land to grow towards the sun.

"Open the city gate!"

These three short words were like the last straw that saved the lives of all the refugees, making them so excited that they couldn't help but burst into tears.

Jiangdu County actually decided to take them in!

“Merciful Bodhisattva…” Someone knelt down again, with tears in his eyes, and clasped his hands together in prayer towards the sacred figure covered in golden light, “Thank you, merciful Bodhisattva…”

The city gate creaked open, the sound was still heavy, but this time, it carried the weight of "life". More and more refugees knelt on the ground, with tears in their eyes, thanking the compassionate Bodhisattva for releasing them, which gave poor people like them an extra way to survive!

On the city wall, looking at these kneeling refugees, Xie Chengze silently took a step back.

What are you doing? So many people are kneeling down. Won’t this shorten your life?

However, these 30,000 refugees have finally arrived, and his city lockdown plan has finally been fully launched!

This time, he, Xie Chengze, wants to block all 30,000 refugees outside Jiangdu City to prevent the incident of refugees robbing grain trucks in the original book from happening again!

What? He was wrong? Should it be blocked in Jiangdu City?

joke!

Where the grain cart is, is where Xie Chengze is.

And the place where Xie Chengze is is the real city!

Refugees! You have been surrounded by me, Xie Chengze! Put aside your brains and obey the instructions, then you can become rich and become a Buddha right here!

Inside the city, villagers who had memorized the speech by heart came from all directions, carrying steamed buns and sacks on their backs, and walked towards the refugees with shining eyes and rubbing their hands ready.

"Those who need medical attention, come this way! Those who can't move, come here, there's a stretcher!"

"Men and women who still have the energy to work, come here! Those who help with the work can get another portion of rice porridge!"

"If you have children under one year old, come here. There is a wet nurse here!"

"Fellow countryman! You must be starving! Come on, come on, come over here and have some steamed buns!"

"Don't eat his! Eat mine! I still have pickled vegetables here! Even though they've only been pickled for a day, these vegetables were just grown in the fields of rich people, and they're so juicy!"

"Hey, you shameless guy, don't rob people--"

As the city gates were closed again, a large-scale brainwashing, ahem, persuasion to work campaign was underway intensely.

……

At 11 p.m. that day, merchants from all over the north arrived in Jiangdu County.

These merchants had already met each other at the Yizhou Pass, and at that time they knew that there were so many merchants coming to Yizhou to sell grain. However, it was not a big problem. Nearly half of the counties in Yizhou were affected by the disaster. Even if there were many merchants, the grain price would be slightly cheaper than the estimated price at most, but they could still make a lot of money.

However, standing outside the city gate, smelling the stench of excrement left by the refugees as they wandered around, and looking at the tightly closed city gate with no one entering or leaving, the northern merchants frowned and twisted their noses, completely confused.

They came to Jiangdu County specifically because a Lord Shen said that in order to facilitate confirmation of the amount of grain needed by each county, Prefect Liang had gathered the county magistrates of all the disaster-stricken counties in Jiangdu County. At that time, they would arrange for these merchants to enter the city, distribute them to various counties, and ensure that all the grain they brought would be sold out.

How come they are locked outside the city now that they have arrived here?

Some merchants went to ask the gatekeeper, but the only answer they got was "wait".

Okay, let's wait a little longer.

While waiting, the merchants were not idle. They got off the cars and chatted with other merchants, spying on each other, planning to wait for Governor Liang to come out and sell the grain at a good price.

In the end, I waited all night but still nothing happened.

It was not until noon of the next day that merchants from Li and Yu states came over, dragging a long line of grain carts that seemed to have no end.

After arriving in Jiangdu County, they saw the northern merchants who were already waiting there, and the merchants from Li and Yu states also showed confusion in their eyes.

Why are there still people coming here to sell food?

Both sides visually estimated the number of each other's grain carts, then their hearts sank and they thought to themselves: It's bad.

Too much food!

I was fooled by Liang Wanda!

As the saying goes, things are valuable because they are scarce. In a county town suffering from famine, food is a rare commodity, so naturally its price would be extremely expensive. It was for this reason that they came all the way to Yizhou, intending to drive up the price of food and make a fortune.

But nowadays, merchants from all over the country come here to sell grain. Grain is no longer a rare commodity, and may even exceed the amount of grain needed by Yizhou. The price will naturally plummet, resulting in not much profit to be made in the end.

They came from far away, so naturally they don't want to see this result.

Now, if you still want to make a fortune, you must leave Jiangdu County and go to other disaster-stricken counties immediately to sell grain to the rich and the victims!

The two teams looked at each other and saw the same idea in each other's eyes. Without hesitation, they turned around and stepped onto the carriage, "Let's go! To other counties!"

Unexpectedly, just as he finished speaking, a loud voice and laughter rang out, "Boss, please stay! I am late because of something. Please forgive me, hahahaha——"

The merchants' backs stiffened slightly, and they quickly pretended not to hear anything, got into the carriage and refused to come out.

Liang Wanda, who was originally lying on the corner of the city wall and peeking secretly, was then pulled down by Shen Yuan with one hand. After slightly adjusting his loose belt, he raised his right hand nonchalantly.

The soldiers behind him immediately stepped forward with swords in hand and surrounded the merchants' carriages. The sound of swords being drawn scared the brown horses pulling the carriages so much that they stamped their feet nervously.

Liang Wanda stood in front of the carriage with a smile on his face. The upturned corners of his lips made him look kind and hypocritical, very strange and coordinated. "Boss, why don't you get off the car?"