The Three Spirit Stones

Chapter 160 Undercurrent

If it were based on the temperament of the old Cheng Yu, he would never allow someone to deliberately target him like this.

He once had a thousand years of accumulated wisdom and magical martial arts that were beyond the comprehension of ghosts and gods.

Who dares to mess with him?

Unless he doesn't know, who is that bastard if he finds out?

hum!

The simplest and most brutal way is to go directly to the door to settle the account, which is often the most effective.

That's why he got the nickname "Evil Star".

But now Cheng Yu's thousand-year memory and Yuanling Zhenqi have been sealed.

He's just a wonderful normal man.

For a mortal to be able to hold on until now in the face of so many complicated emergencies is already amazing!

The railway was destroyed and the grain could not be transported in time. This was a very serious matter.

People can go without food for a maximum of seven days. If the time is exceeded, something bad will happen. The most likely thing to happen is a riot.

There are more than 300,000 disaster victims here. The consequences of a riot are chilling to think about!

Now, in addition to repairing the railway, the most important thing is to immediately transport it by other means, such as horse-drawn carriages, mule carts, etc.

But these are too slow, the fastest one takes half a month.

Not to mention water transportation, the day lilies will be cold by the time they are transported.

The other is to seek help from the imperial court and force them to release some grain at all costs.

For this matter, Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Zhao Heng, specially discussed the matter in the court.

The Transportation Department made all the grain storage account books public in the court.

At present, the grain reserves in Bianjing City are not sufficient. If it is only used to supply the hundreds of thousands of people in the city, it can be used for nearly a month. However, if it is used to supply the victims of Cheng's Industry, it will take at most half a month.

Although a large amount of grain has been brought into Beijing via the Grand Canal, it will take at least a month to reach Beijing.

If half of it is divided up, will the city residents have nothing to eat for the remaining half a month?

Without food, there might even be riots in the city.

This is the emperor's territory, how could such things happen?

Therefore, many court officials opposed distributing grain.

However, it is impossible to watch 300,000 disaster victims starve to death.

At the court meeting, Kou Zhun, Li Di, Fan Zhong'an and other ministers argued with reason.

They proposed that the residents in the city were the people of the Song Dynasty, and the disaster victims outside the city were also the people of the Song Dynasty.

If a riot breaks out, they might flood into the capital.

How can the eggs be completed under the whole nest?

Even though there are city walls, are we just going to watch them starve to death?

Helping the victims is not only the obligation of Cheng Industry, but also the unshirkable responsibility of the imperial court.

As for how to solve this urgent problem, Fan Zhongyan proposed that the data provided by the Transportation Department was the storage of the court. There were many grain merchants in the capital who also held a large amount of grain. He proposed that the court should invest in purchasing grain from grain merchants for disaster relief.

Another point is that many buildings in Bianjing City have collapsed and are in urgent need of repair. Some of the disaster victims can be hired to help them through work-for-relief.

In addition, he also proposed that wealthy families in the city should be encouraged to seize the opportunity of sufficient manpower to build large-scale projects, because labor is cheap now and it is a good time to employ workers, otherwise they will miss the opportunity.

It must be said that Fan Zhongyan was indeed a famous minister who governed the country. The methods he proposed were very practical.

After hearing this, all the court officials nodded in praise!

The general plan was finalized. The first task was to send officials to buy grain from grain merchants and transport some of the grain to Cheng's Industry three days later.

At this time, Cheng Yu was slightly relieved, because their food reserves were only enough for three or four days.

After the court session, he was about to return to the industrial park. Before he was halfway there, he received a message from Sun Yuechan.

The food sent from Yanjing was intercepted, and Yelu Yuan had led his men to deal with it.

……

……

In Zhuozhou, a long team of mule carts were moving forward, loaded with life-saving food.

This is Li Sanleng's transportation team. As soon as he received the mission, he immediately led the team to Yanjing.

As soon as the flood in Bianjing City receded, Cheng Yu issued an order, asking Li Sanleng, who was in the Yanmen Pass area at the time, to transport grain from Yanjing to Bianjing by mule cart. Zhang Fugui, Zhao Zhuangzi and other transport teams in Suzhou and Hangzhou were also required to transport grain from there.

Although there was rail transport at the time, he issued this order in accordance with the principle of mobilizing all forces.

Now that the railways are paralyzed, these foods may be the only thing that can save lives.

The mule caravan was about to reach Waqiao Pass, which was within the territory of the Song Dynasty. It would take another five or six days to reach Bianliang.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the front team, followed by the sound of horse hooves. A group of Liao soldiers stopped their convoy.

"Anan, go to the front and take a look,"

Li Sanleng ordered his men,

"Yes, Master Li,"

Anan rode forward immediately, and soon he came back to report, "Master, there are Liao Zhuozhou officers ahead, they said that our grain has not paid customs duties, so it can only stay in the Liao territory and is not allowed to be shipped to the Song Dynasty."

"what?"

Li Sanleng frowned. He had transported so much grain over there by steam train before, but he had never heard of this. Why are there suddenly tariffs now?

He rode forward and was met by a Liao man who looked like an officer. He dismounted, saluted, and asked,

"General, we are the transport team of Cheng's Industry. We have suffered a flood. These grains are life-saving grains."

"It was our Lord Cheng who personally ordered us to return as quickly as possible. Please be flexible, General."

Li Sanleng felt that if he mentioned Cheng Yu's name, they would be afraid of him.

But the officer said, "No one's food is enough. We in Liao don't even have enough food to eat. How can we sell food to you?"

"But, sir, we at Cheng's Industry used steam trains to transport a lot of food back home before. Why can't we do that now?"

"How dare you say that? It's because you bought so much of our food that we are short of food."

"So how can we get going?"

"We bought these grains with real money, we can't just refuse them, right?"

"You have to go back to the capital to get the customs clearance approval. Once we see the approval, we will let you pass."

Li Sanleng felt that something was very wrong. How could he not know how powerful the Marquis was in the Yanyun area?

Now these Liao people dare not even give him face?

This was very unusual, so he immediately sent the message back using the Saker Falcon.

When Sun Yuechan got the news, she immediately discussed it with Yelu Yuan. Yelu Yuan also felt that the situation was unusual and immediately led his men to Yanjing.

In the city of Yanjing, the situation is turbulent!

Some of Cheng's assets are being quietly liquidated.

For example, some key personnel in Yanjing Supermarket would be arrested by the local government on charges of certain crimes, and then some leaders would be parachuted in after a while.

For example, some technicians at the Zhuozhou Wool Factory would disappear for unknown reasons for a few days and then come back, while some never came back.

In addition, party struggles also occurred at Yenching College.

All these things showed that things were going to change in Yanjing.

Du Hui's intelligence network immediately reported these matters.

Although Li Yunze was already over seventy years old, he still keenly felt that this was a conspiracy against Cheng Yu.

He also has a general understanding of the current situation of Cheng Industry. All things are happening at the same time, there must be a dark hand behind the scenes stirring up the situation!