Rise From the Humble

"Oh, you said you are so smart, what's wrong with you, that you want to be a corrupt official who doesn't care about the life and death of the people." The demon girl Ruonan glared at Zhu Pingan and said angrily, "Don't say I don't keep my word, you are too quick. "Fang, I'll only give you a cup of tea, if you want more, the dagger in my hand won't agree to it."

"Yeah, I'm so smart, how could I be a corrupt official who doesn't care about the lives of the people?"

Zhu Pingan nodded and said.

"Young poor man! I hate self-righteous scholars like you the most. Anyway, I only give you tea time. If you like to be talkative, then be talkative. You have wasted your time. Don't blame the dagger in my hand for drinking blood in a hurry. ." The demon Ruo Nan sneered, shaking the sharp dagger in front of Zhu Pingan.

"The reason why I raised food prices is indeed for the sake of the 100,000 people in Jingnan. Don't stare, time is precious, just listen to what I have to say."

Zhu Ping'an didn't waste any time and opened his mouth to explain. After saying a word, he saw the demon girl Ruonan glared and sneered, as if she was going to ridicule him again, so he stretched out a finger and waved it gently in front of the demon girl Ruonan. Said to her.

"If you fart, let it go." The demon Ruonan sneered.

"The reason why raising food prices at this juncture is a last resort. There are two reasons for not doing it. The first is that the imperial court was unable to rescue Jingnan floods for a while. I have made many requests to Taizhou Fucheng since the floods in my study. There are a total of 12 copies of official documents from the imperial court on rescue and disaster relief. Taizhou Fucheng issued a reply document two days ago, stating that the imperial court was temporarily unable to rescue the floods, and ordered all counties and counties to actively provide relief on their own. If you don’t believe me, go to my study. You'll know it when you see it."

Zhu Pingan explained slowly, with a clear conscience on his face.

"Hmph, Taizhou Prefecture asked you to provide self-relief, so you raise the price of food? How is this relief? You are clearly taking advantage of the situation, adding fuel to the fire, and adding fuel to the fire! I know that other counties and counties have followed the example of Taizhou Prefecture in arresting profiteers, beheading them, and imprisoning them. Distributed and confiscated the army, and used thunderous means to reduce the price of food. The price of food in other places has been reduced to 500 yuan per shi. Only you, a puppy official, went against the grain and issued a document in the name of the government to forcibly raise the price of food to 2 yuan per shi. Thousands and five hundred yuan, you are trying to force the common people to death!"

The witch Ruonan gritted her teeth and glared at Zhu Pingan, getting angrier and angrier as she spoke. The veins on the back of her slender hand holding the dagger were exposed, and she almost couldn't control herself from poking several transparent holes in Zhu Pingan's heart.

Hate iron but not steel!

I was quite optimistic about this little dog official at first, but I didn't expect that I was blind, and it was difficult to paint the bones of a tiger with paint. I know people and their faces but not their hearts. This little dog official turned out to be a maggot in human skin with a dark heart!

"This means that the second one is unacceptable." In response to the gnashing of teeth by the demon Ruonan, Zhu Pingan said calmly.

"I see how you confuse right and wrong." The demon Ruonan looked on coldly, twitching the corner of her mouth with disdain, as if she had seen through Zhu Pingan, quite similar to the way Teacher Fan Wei deceived him one after another.

"The second failure is to save ourselves from food shortages. Jiangnan was originally the granary of the Ming Dynasty, and more than half of the world's food was exported from Jiangnan. However, this time, most of Jiangnan was affected by the disaster, the food was destroyed, and the granary became a food shortage. The remaining grain in Jiangnan, They couldn't hold on for ten days and a half. Only by transporting grain from Shandong, Sichuan, Sichuan and other places with relatively rich grains to the south of the Yangtze River could the millions of people in the south of the Yangtze River be saved. The imperial court was unable to provide relief for the time being, so private grain merchants could only transport grain. . Grain merchants need to cost money to transport grain. The journey is thousands of miles, the consumption of people and horses along the way, plus employment work and nursing homes, each of which is a big expense. On the way, they also face risks such as bandits, bandits and even victims of disasters, etc., and Grain in Shandong and other places has also increased to 500 wen per stone. If the price of grain is forcibly reduced to 500 wen per stone, or even 400 wen, then which grain merchant will lose money and risk transporting grain?! If so, when the grain reserves in Jiangnan are exhausted, how many grains will be lost? Millions of people have no choice but to starve to death! Therefore, I raised the price of food to 2,500 wen per stone, and used heavy profits to induce grain merchants to transport food to Jingnan, so that the hundreds of thousands of people in Jingnan who are waiting for food can have a way to survive. "

Zhu Ping'an sighed and re-explained what he had explained to the county government officials.

After Zhu Pingan finished speaking, the demon girl Ruonan suddenly became quiet, and the sarcasm in her eyes slowly faded away.

"Then" Soon, the demon Ruonan seemed to have thought of something and was dissatisfied.

"Then there's no need for me to raise the price of food so high, right?" Zhu Pingan knew what the demon Ruonan wanted to say at a glance, so he interrupted the demon Ruonan's words and spoke directly for her.

"Hmph." The demon Ruonan snorted, acquiescing.

"In this case, the price is not high. In extraordinary times, only heavy profits can drive the grain merchants to continuously transport grain to Jingnan. Is this price expensive compared to the lives of 100,000 people?! The land south of the Yangtze River is relatively rich, and it is not a poor and weak place such as Shaanxi and Gansu. Ordinary people have little savings after decades, especially in Jingnan. Because I warned in advance, the people had time to react and took everything with them when they fled. In the year of famine, what they need is food. Although the current price of food is 2,500 yuan per stone, they can still afford it for a while."

Zhu Pingan waved his hand and explained slowly.

"It is precisely because the above two are not possible, and it is precisely because of the actual situation in Jingnan, that I have raised the price of food. The above three are indispensable. If the imperial court had been able to provide disaster relief, and if there was no shortage of food in Jiangnan, I, Zhu Pingan, would have been the first to do so. One chops off the heads of those grain dealers who are driving up grain prices, and forcefully lowers and stabilizes grain prices; if Jingnan had not always been relatively wealthy and could afford it, I, Zhu Pingan, would not have raised grain prices."

Zhu Pingan sighed helplessly.

The witch Ruonan was quiet again, this time for a long time. After a long time, she snorted coldly, "Although what you said sounds very reasonable. But how do I know if it is your sophistry?!"

"This is not sophistry, this is a fact! If you don't believe it, wait for one month. Within one month, the food in other counties, especially Taizhou's capital, will be exhausted. There will be no food to sell on the market, and the price of food on the black market It will soar and skyrocket. It is not surprising that every stone will cost three to five thousand or even seven or eight thousand coins. Moreover, it will often be priceless and marketless. Even with gold, you will not be able to buy food. Famine will come, and death will not happen. By chance, the picturesque Jiangnan will turn into a hell on earth.”

Zhu Ping'an closed his eyes and said weakly, with tears streaking at the corners of his eyes at the end.

"You are a grown man and you still cry. Are you ashamed?" The demon Ruonan was a little at a loss.

"Sorry, I made you laugh. I just thought about countless people starving to death, but I was powerless. I couldn't control myself for a while. The people were innocent and I was powerless." Zhu Pingan took a breath, opened his eyes, and looked at the demon Ruo Nan calmly. , said calmly, "I'm done, you can take action."

After saying that, Zhu Pingan closed his eyes.

In my heart, silently count 123

Sure enough, when Zhu Ping'an counted to three, he heard the witch Ruonan say, "Humph, forget it, let's lend my head to your neck for a month, and I'll see if things are what you said. If I find that you lied, I, hum, don’t blame me for being ruthless, I will definitely cut off your head with my own hands.”