You Can't Be Fierce Towards Me!

These aristocratic families have never been short of money, and even three years of severe drought can't shake their foundation. At this time, they would ask Fu Tian to inquire about new rice seeds, just to show their loyalty to the emperor.

Naturally, Fu Tian would not let these fat sheep go easily.

The price of the new rice seeds has been increased tenfold. The stewards sent by the family to buy the new rice seeds were dumbfounded after hearing this, and hurried back to report to the master. Although all the faces were not very good-looking, the stewards were sent away in the end Buy rice seeds.

The emperor personally issued an imperial decree to praise, and even Huangzhuang took the lead in changing the new rice seeds. If they didn't change it, it was obvious that they were not dealing with the emperor?

Even if it is indeed a bit more expensive, it has to be changed, and I don't want the child to be caught by the wolf.

Since mid-February, there has been a succession of people at the Fujia Rice Shop in West Market who have come to buy rice seeds with a lot of banknotes. Chang Xi took people in to move the rice seeds, and she sat at the door of the warehouse with a table and an abacus, counting and collecting money with crackling fingers.

This lively scene attracted a lot of people to watch. The West Market used to be mostly populated by common people. Occasionally, stewards from mansions would come to buy things, but it was rare to see so many families together.

Curious people, you ask me and I ask you, they are all asking what they are buying, it is so lively, and these stewards who usually have their nostrils in the sky are holding money for fear that they will not be able to buy.

At the beginning, no one knew the specific situation. Later, I don’t know where the news came out. It turned out that a new rice seed was cultivated on Kanglehou’s Zhuangzi. It was resistant to drought and drought, and it was easy to grow. It is said that the Zhuangzi of Duke Wei's Mansion and Zhennanhou's Mansion had replaced the new rice species last season. When everyone else's production was reduced, their Zhuangzi had more harvests.

Some people didn't know where they learned about the imperial decree, and after adding it, they said it with a nose and eyes. After all, the emperor has issued an imperial decree to praise, so there must be nothing wrong.

So after the stewards of the aristocratic families dispersed, the people of Qingyang City surrounded the rice shop curiously. Some people tentatively came to ask if they could also buy some new rice seeds. They were about to be scared away by the vicious second shopkeeper. At that time, the big shopkeeper said with a smile: "You don't need to buy it with money. If you want new rice seeds, you can just exchange them with the rice seeds at home. You can exchange as much as you want!"

The people were in an uproar for a while, and the aristocratic families were also in an uproar.

A few days ago, these people saw with their own eyes those stewards who went in with real money, but now they say that they don’t want a penny, and they can just exchange the rice seeds at home. They are excited and hesitant, but they are not as excited as before. It was Xiao Qiao who dispelled their doubts.

"It's not easy for Marquis Kangle and King Yu to be sympathetic to the common people, and they don't want to earn everyone's hard-earned money. You all planted new rice seeds with your heart, and survived the disaster year safely, which is the reward for the Marquis and the prince."

"...And the new rice seeds harvested, if there are more in the future, you can come to the shop to exchange for white rice. The rice seeds will be sent to other counties and counties, and distributed to the local people for sowing. Now Dachu is affected by drought. These Rice seeds, maybe they can keep many people alive in a disaster year..."

Xiao Qiao was eloquent, and many people were moved by what she said, and all doubts in their hearts were dispelled. While saying thank you, they hurriedly asked the family to go back and pull the rice seeds over for new ones.

As a result, with Qingyang City as the center, many businessmen and people from surrounding counties and counties flocked here, all because of the new rice variety that the emperor had personally praised.

When everyone was happy, the only ones who were unhappy were the aristocratic families who spent a lot of money. They spent a lot of money to buy the new rice seeds, and even later, Xiao Qiao told them that the rest When there were not many rice varieties, the auction started, and the highest price won.

Every family was bleeding profusely, and in the blink of an eye they gave away the rice seeds for nothing.

But they can't say anything yet, for the sake of the common people and for the benefit of the people, if they dare to find it and feel unhappy, the two people in the palace can solve them directly without waiting for King Yu to do it.

By this time, they had just come to the realization that this was most likely a trick that the few of them had discussed long ago, and they were just waiting for them to bite the bait.

Everyone who was in pain sighed a few words, and dared not underestimate Kang Lehou even more.

***

Qingyang is the capital of Great Chu. With Qingyang leading the way, the promotion of new rice seeds went smoothly, but the time was short, and many counties were located in remote places, making it inconvenient to transport rice seeds. Rice shops began to be opened in various counties.

When the emperor learned of his thoughts, he made a special decree to let all counties and counties open the door of convenience for Fujia rice shop.

With the assistance of the local government, rice shops have been opened one after another smoothly, and the promotion of new rice varieties in various places has also proceeded in an orderly manner.

In this way, it is July in a blink of an eye, and the weather is getting hotter. The early rice planted in March and April should also be harvested.

And this is also the good news that finally came out after half a year of gloom and fog—for those who have replaced the new rice seeds, the harvest this season is not bad. Under the current harsh conditions, the harvest is not much less than in previous years.

The people of Qingyang City breathed a sigh of relief. A harvest means that there is still a way to survive. After harvesting the early rice, they kept their own rice seeds for the next season, and sent the rest to Fujiami Shop to replace the milled white rice.

Exchange rice seeds for white rice, as long as anyone who is not stupid knows which is the best deal, the old farmer who first went to exchange rice was worried that this was just empty talk, but when he dragged a cart of rice to the rice shop, he really got it White rice!

The milled rice exudes the unique fragrance of rice. Holding a handful of rice with trembling hands, watching the white rice grains leaking from between the fingers, the old farmer, who had been terrified for half a year, burst into tears and kept bowing to Xiao Qiao, "Thank you, shopkeeper, for your kindness, and thank you, Lord Hou, for your kindness!"

After Xiao Qiao helped people up and sent the old farmers away, more people came to exchange rice after hearing the news.

From Qingyang City to Nanming County, from south to north, many people who have switched to new rice have benefited a lot, but these are all counties that are closer to each other. In more remote counties, the shadow of drought But never let go.

After May, the local booklets were sent up one after another. First, it was reported that many crops died of drought due to the drought. escape.

Most of these counties are remote and the land is barren. It has been affected since last autumn. This year, the weather has become even worse. After the first season of crop failure, many people heard that other counties did not have such serious disasters, so they packed up. Xiruan, holding on to her only hope, dragged her family and fled to other counties.

The local government tried to stop them, but they almost clashed with the people fleeing the disaster. In the end, they could only watch helplessly as a large number of people were emotionally aroused, and more and more people packed their bags and fled elsewhere.

Chu Fengyuan looked at the memorial in his hand. Although he was angry at the incompetence of the local officials, it was of no avail. He could only knit his brows and sighed deeply, and continued to approve the memorial.

"How many counties like Shanyuan County are there?" Chu Xiangtian asked, he and Fu Tian were both in the imperial study, and Chu Fengyuan often called them into the palace recently to discuss disaster relief matters.

Chu Fengyuan pointed to the booklets piled up almost a foot high on the right hand side, "These are all."

Chu Xiangtian randomly opened a book, and the disaster situation in it was shocking. Thanks to their efforts, Qingyang City and the surrounding counties have gradually improved. At least for now, there is no chaos, but these remote and not rich counties County, but fleeing has already begun, and the situation is far more serious than they thought.

There was almost no harvest for two consecutive seasons, and the people's food reserves were exhausted, so they finally began to look for other ways.

"We must find a way to appease these people."

Chu Xiangtian was also a little worried. If these victims were allowed to flee everywhere, not only would they not be able to provide effective disaster relief, but they might even arouse the emotions of the people in other counties that were originally relatively stable. trouble.

Chu Fengyuan also took it seriously, and took up a pen to write down the decrees that had been discussed in advance.

The government opened warehouses to release food for disaster relief, at the same time recruited manpower to build water conservancy projects, and the government managed food and wages... Successive decrees were promulgated. As long as the local government can do it, it can at least temporarily guarantee the livelihood of the people.

After Chu Fengyuan finished approving the papers, he turned his head to look at Fu Tian who had been silent all this time, "Will Youling's rice shop continue to open?"

Fu Tian understood what he meant, since he had taken the initiative to get involved, there was no reason for him to quit halfway, so he nodded: "Yes, it's just that there is a shortage of manpower now, and there are many vacancies in Mipu's management."

Chu Fengyuan nodded, "I've solved the management problem for you. There are enough idlers in various government offices. I'll allocate some of them to help you first."

Fu Tian was surprised for a moment, and nodded in response.

Now that the imperial court is in a state of desperation, Chu Fengyuan rests no more than three hours a day, and the rest of the time, except for the court, is spent in the imperial study to deal with political affairs. Now Fu Tian is willing to come forward to rescue the disaster, no matter what he will It is to help.

Chu Fengyuan's decree was conveyed one by one. Although the local government was slow to respond, at least it had a response, and slowly brought back the lost victims. After all, no one was willing to leave their hometown when they could see a way to survive.

From July to September, in two months, the drought situation finally improved slowly. Remote areas began to open warehouses for disaster relief, and built water conservancy projects with work relief. The people had hope.

As for the counties and counties that have replaced the new rice species first, the late rice is about to be harvested. The yellow rice has thick rhizomes and full grains.

Except for this increasingly hot weather, everything seems to be full of hope.

However, when everyone was rejoicing, an unprecedented locust plague suddenly broke out in Changliu County.