Three Kingdoms

If stabbing Lu Yi to death would fundamentally change the situation, Sun Quan would do it without hesitation. Because in Sun Quan's consciousness, he believed that everything about Lu Yi belonged to him, from body to soul. It was Sun Quan who gave everything to Lu Yi, including glory, wealth, power, salary, mansions, beauties, wine, meat, brocade robes, etc. It was all given by Sun Quan, so when Sun Quan wanted to take it back, he could naturally take it back.

Lu 1 also understands this. Of course, it is impossible for Lu 1 to say that these things were all given by you voluntarily, why should I take them back because I earned them based on my ability, etc., because this is a transaction in itself. The reward Sun Quan gave to Lu Yi was beyond the normal range, so the price Lu Yi had to pay was naturally to be Sun Quan's dog.

Previously, Lu 1 was a somewhat competent dog. Whether it was guarding the house or catching small prey, he was good at it. But after all, dogs have their own territory. All Lu 1 could see was in Wu County. In the surrounding areas, such as the drought in Jiangdong and the soaring of overall food prices, this was not the first outbreak in Wujun. Of course, Lu Yi had no way to predict it in advance.

When Sun Quan ordered the opening of warehouses to stabilize grain prices, Lu Yi instinctively sensed that something was wrong, but before he had time to think things through, the situation had already developed in an irreversible direction.

When interests are on the table, and the warmth and coldness of human relationships are torn apart, the truly huge danger and malice will be revealed. No matter what kind of beauty you were before, at this moment, only the greedy nature and ugliness are left. With their faces, the big families and powerful businessmen colluded together, entrenched in the air, eating and drinking human blood, breaking bones and sucking marrow.

"What did they say? 』

Sun Quan's voice seemed to come out from between his teeth.

Lu Yi lay on the ground and raised his buttocks high, "They said... there was no food left..."

"Don't have any food?" ” Sun Quan said almost word for word, and then he laughed angrily, “Aha! No food stored? ! Hahaha……"

In recent years, the north has been affected first by the climate of the Little Ice Age. The climate in the Jiangdong area has been relatively stable overall, and the harvests have been relatively stable.

Jiangdong’s small farmer economic system is the strongest, because from the Yangzhou area to the south, you enter hilly and mountainous areas. Although these hilly areas are not very high in altitude, they are not easy to walk, and the land that is suitable for farming is It is also often located around water sources and rivers. Therefore, under the current productivity of the Han Dynasty, it is easier to form a relatively closed economic circle.

In such an environment, an ordinary farmer may never leave the village where he works. The farthest road from home is the one to go to the market.

All the output of these farmers and tenants is concentrated in the hands of large local landowners, and these grains can only be liquidated when merchants pass by. However, due to price or transportation reasons, it is not like later generations, well, Even with the transportation conditions of later generations, there are still situations where a large amount of agricultural products cannot be purchased, let alone the current Han Dynasty.

Therefore, powerful households in these places often hoard large amounts of grain and grass. Sometimes these grains and grasses are stored for too long, and they become rotten and cannot be eaten, so they can only be piled into the ravines and burned...

What? If you can’t eat it, why don’t you distribute it to farmers? hehe.

Therefore, Sun Quan didn't believe it when the powerful powerful families in Jiangdong no longer had grain in their hands. "Didn't you tell them that if they are willing to donate food and grass, I will give them official positions?" Commendation! Official position! ! 』

"I told you..." Lu 1 still stuck his butt out, "I told you everything... but they said that there is really no food and grass. If there is any, they will definitely donate it..."

Donate more money and food, then get an official position, and at least have a commendation deal. There have been many since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, it only flourished. In the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, even titles were attached. How much food should be donated? Just changing the title, being able to represent a place, etc. are all basic operations.

"You don't want an award or an official position?" Sun Quan sneered, "This is killing someone!" Haha, since you want someone’s life, someone will take their lives first! 』

Lu Yi lowered his head, not daring to express his anger.

All Sun Quan's plans were disrupted!

It’s not just about a celebratory drink!

Well, maybe too...

More importantly, Sun Quan originally wanted to take this opportunity to rectify the shortcomings and hidden dangers that had always existed in Jiangdong, and to change the political power of Jiangdong. That is to say, Sun Quan and the Sun family's core power did not have strong control over the local area and the army. question.

Under Jiangdong's military system, the degree of formalization and professionalism of the army was very low. The degree of return of soldiers to generals was too high. The interests of soldiers were deeply tied to the generals, making the orders of Sun Quan, the "monarch", even worse than those of a certain general. The general's order works!

I'm talking about you, Dudu...

But, is there any way to make everything in this world go as everyone wants?

On the day when Lu Su arrived in Wu County and hurriedly went to see Sun Quan, the price of grain in Jiangdong suddenly exceeded 5,000 yuan per stone!

In a normal year, the most expensive rice is only 400 yuan per stone. Ordinary millet costs 200 yuan, and the price of more rice in Jiangdong is almost the same. Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, this price was basically the same. However, when Dong Zhuo later minted evil money, the highest price of food at that time was only about ten times, more than 2,000 yuan.

Therefore, as soon as this grain price came out, the people in Jiangdong suddenly started to cry.

Affected by the rise in food prices, the atmosphere in the really affected areas in Jiangdong has become extremely tense.

Although it was said that some grain and grass had been transferred into the disaster-stricken area under the assignment of Sun Quan, the local victims did not receive immediate comfort and order was maintained. Beggars and refugees began to gather in larger towns without food. There are more and more people in the country, and everyone is looking for food, or in other words, looking for food, anything that can be eaten.

This disaster, which is not registered in history, was suddenly very powerful.

Under such circumstances, there are still kind-hearted people.

For example, the Lu family.

Outside the Lu family's old manor, hundreds of refugees gathered, almost all of them filling up the open space outside the Lu family's manor.

In front of the gate of the manor, a straw shed was set up. In the thatched hut, ten large cauldrons were lined up, and the porridge soup that had been cooked for a long time was steaming, bringing the breath of life to these refugees...

Under Zhuang Ding's maintenance of order, the refugees stood in a long queue and came forward to receive porridge and soup one after another. Each person received a spoonful of porridge and soup. If there was no more, it was naturally a delusion to be full, that is, they would not die of hunger for the time being.

Some of those who received the porridge and soup hurriedly drank it without saying a word, but most of them praised the Lu family for their unparalleled kindness, longevity and longevity, etc., although most of them did not know Mr. Lu. Brother, I don’t know that the husband of the Lu family is not old at all.

But every time at this time, Zhuang Ding, who was standing by the pot and cooking porridge for these refugees, would immediately say, this is the porridge of General Sun, the lord of Jiangdong, and the Lu family is just waiting to serve the porridge...

Inside and outside the walls of the manor, there are almost two worlds.

The tall and thick walls of the village blocked out the noise outside. Lu Xun was sitting in the hall, drinking tea slowly.

Lu Hao walked in, frowned and said, "There are more and more refugees outside. When I went to see them today, there were more than forty more. If this continues, when will they be all over?" We...we can't keep giving out porridge like this, can we? If this continues, it will cost dozens of stones a day... How many days can we sustain it? 』

Lu Xun nodded and said, "It really won't last long..."

Lu Xun's voice was calm, as if he was describing an ordinary thing.

"Then brother, you..." Liu Hao frowned, unable to understand what Lu Xun meant.

At this moment, a follower suddenly came outside the door and said, "The head of the family, the chief minister is here to visit!" 』

"Look, isn't this coming? ” They smiled one after another and said, “Open the middle door and wait for me to greet you in person!” 』

When Lu Yi was almost stabbed to death by the furious Sun Quan, Ji Yan, who was also Sun Quan's lackey, could not be idle and was sniffing around for prey...

"Lu is engaged!" "Ji Yan smiled and said, "I have long heard that Mr. Lu has a reputation for benevolence and has always been filial and filial. Today I see Mr. Lu engaged in rescuing people from disasters. He is really a noble man of the country! When this disaster is eliminated, I will definitely report Ming Lu’s meritorious service to the lord for encouragement! Plenty of awards to encourage subsequent results! 』

Lu Xun slightly cupped his hands, first invited Ji Yan to drink tea, and then said slowly: "Ji Changshi's statement is slightly off... This act of giving porridge is not in the name of the Lu family, but in compliance with the Lord's instructions..."

"Well? ! ”Jiyan was stunned.

What's going on?

Ji Yan thought she had firmly grasped Lu Xun's pigtails this time.

In the face of disasters, giving porridge can be said to be kind and can't bear to see the suffering of the people. But on the other hand, it can also be a deliberate attempt to win people's hearts, seek fame, recruit people, and have evil intentions!

When Ji Yan came to look for Lu Xun, he had already thought about it, planning to get one fish, er, one deer and three to eat, but he never expected that the plan had just been laid out, but Lu Xun stopped him in the middle and could not continue. .

"This..." Jie Yan squeezed a smile, which was obviously a little stiffer than the previous smile, "Lu Zhizhi must not lie. This lord just returned to Jiangdong not long ago, why did he ask Lu to engage in disaster relief and rescue people?" 』

Lu Xun was still smiling, gentle and calm, "I saw that there has been a long drought, so I reported it to my lord... If there is a drought, I am willing to share the worries of my lord, donate the food stored in my home, and rescue the refugees on my lord's behalf... My lord replied to the letter Promise... Do you want to see the Lord's reply letter? 』

"Uh... this... there's no need for this..." Ji Yan didn't know what to say for a moment, so she felt extremely embarrassed, and then she couldn't help but feel a little angry in her heart. She felt that Lu Xun was just digging a hole for him to jump out of, and watching him joke.

Just when Jian Yan had nothing to say and was ready to say a few words to whoever she wanted to leave, so as to show that she was not so embarrassed and that she was not here just for the purpose of giving soup, she saw Lu Xun take out something from his sleeve. A report came, "Ji Changshi came just in time... There is not much food in a certain village, and it will be exhausted in ten days!" And this refugee is still homeless... This list is a list of the daily expenses of a certain person since he has been giving porridge, and I would like to ask the chief minister to forward it to the lord... Ten days later, there will be no food to give here. It is up to the Lord to decide where the victims will go..."

Ji Yan was not willing to get into trouble at this time. She rolled her eyes twice and excused herself by saying that she had other official business to attend to and would not go back to the city, leaving Lu Xun to deliver the goods himself. After saying that, he said goodbye in succession, looking very busy. He declined Lu Xun's farewell and hurriedly left the Lu family manor while laughing.

Although Ji Yan said there was no need to see him off, Lu Xun still sent him to the gate of the manor. When Ji Yan and his party gradually disappeared, Lu Xun chuckled lightly, then turned to the butler who was following him and said, "Will you?" A notice was posted saying that the Lu family's food reserves were about to be exhausted! In ten days there will be no food and no porridge to feed! Let these people quickly find another way..."

The steward responded respectfully.

Lu Xun slowly walked into the manor. Before he reached the hall, he heard a huge exclamation from outside the manor. It must have been caused by the news that there would be no porridge in ten days...

Lu Xun glanced at Lu Hao who came out from behind the screen in the inner hall, and said calmly: "Now... do you understand?" 』

Lu Hao bowed his hands and said, "The elder brother is so far-sighted... The younger brother admires..."

The Lu family had suffered heavy setbacks before, and the Jiangdong nobles had made explicit and implicit promises. Therefore, Lu Xun's main focus at the moment was to guard against Sun Quan and show weakness first. Although he gave up a lot of food and wealth, it also allowed the Lu family to be in an invincible position in this storm.

The excess food and grass from the Sun family has been used for disaster relief, and at the same time, it is in the name of Sun Quan, making it difficult for others to find any bones in the eggs!

At the same time, after this period of giving porridge, plus a ten-day buffer period, the refugees will know that there is no food and grass in Lu's place, and they will continue to come to Lu's place unless they want to rebel, riot, or plunder. Manor, otherwise you will get nothing, it is better to go to other places, so it is equivalent to the fact that in terms of refugees, Lu has also obtained "exemption" first...

In ten days, the entire Lu family will be completely free from this crisis!

All that was paid was some stale food and grass from the manor...

Of course, not everyone can have a strategy like Lu Xun, who can find the most advantageous path in a chaotic situation. There are still many people who are greedy for money, and even want money at the expense of their lives.

Expansion of disasters. As conflicts became increasingly acute, bloodshed inevitably occurred.

Of course, the death of ordinary people would not have much impact. It was the death of the Anwu County Magistrate that plunged the entire Jiangdong into hopeless chaos...

Anwu is located in the south of Jing County. The magistrate of Anwu County was a newly promoted son from a poor family by Sun Quan. Naturally, he wanted to do something in front of Sun Quan. After receiving the order to allocate grain and grass, he immediately read out an administrative order to the local big households, requiring them to pay the grain and grass immediately. .

How could a big business be willing to do so? At first, they would drag it with them neither softly nor hardly, nor salty nor bland, and then they would just say they were sick and disappear.

The magistrate of Anwu County was anxious. Seeing that he could not complete the task, he was afraid that he would be hated by Sun Quan. He was furious and prepared people to attack the big family. However, he did not know whether it was because he came from a poor family and did not have much experience in internal politics of the family. , the county magistrate of Anwu was not prepared enough for his subordinates, and the news quickly leaked out.

When the powerful family saw that they could not do anything good, they kept doing nothing and hired assassins to directly kill the magistrate of Anwu County.

In the Han Dynasty, it was not uncommon for local powerful families to spend money to assassinate officials. Historically, Liu Bei, Tai Shici and others were assassinated. Fei Qian also encountered assassinations before. As for the magistrate of Anwu County, First of all, he lacks martial prowess, secondly, he has no expert guards, and thirdly, he is not as famous or benevolent as Liu Bei, so it is inevitable that he will die.

After the murder, people from the big family spread the news, saying that the county magistrate was killed by the refugees. They originally wanted to close the case, but this matter was smelled by Jie Yan, who had a problem with Lu Xun...

Jian Yan, who was worried that there was no breakthrough, immediately felt that he had found a breakthrough. He set off overnight and led his troops straight to Anwu. Without saying a word, he captured the whole family of the big family and collected a lot of them. With the "relevant" evidence, the entire families of these wealthy families were escorted back to Wu County.

Originally, there was indeed something wrong with the big family in this matter, but the problem was that Lu Yi, who received the follow-up trial of this big family's case, wanted to involve more people from this big family as if he had found a treasure...

Then there were rumors that Lu Yi immediately rushed into the prison after the big family's whole family was thrown into Wu County Prison. Not only did he use severe punishment, but he also had people bully the big family in front of him. His wife and daughter suppressed the big family both mentally and physically, not only to coerce the big family to plead guilty, but also to bite other people.

This kind of behavior that obviously crossed the line naturally caused a bigger disturbance...

Normally speaking, not all the Jiangdong nobles are fools. Even the big man who was arrested knew that one should not drain the lake to catch the fish. After eating a lot of food, these people will spit out some leftovers and pretend to be kind to settle the victims. They may even come out to donate rice and porridge like Mr. Lu. After all, some people still need to be saved. It is also in the interests of large households to facilitate continued farming after the disaster year.

Under the disaster relief provided by the government, the victims cannot be completely resettled. Due to various circumstances, there are always some people who have to change from self-cultivating farmers to selling themselves into slavery, or becoming tenants or proletarians, putting aside their dignity to ask for help. It is difficult to survive, and large local households also take advantage of this opportunity to complete further land acquisition and capital accumulation.

Therefore, if Sun Quan is willing to put down some interests and carry out disaster relief, this disaster will end soon.

It's a pity that Sun Quan, who was in a rage, didn't want to give in at all. Even if Lu Su tried to persuade him, he would not listen. Ji Yan and Lu Yi, who had found the "evidence of the crime", began to arrest them. Suddenly, the prison was overcrowded.

As a result, a vigorous betrayal drama was staged again in Jiangdong...