The ark lowered its sails and moored in deep waters with enough room for maneuver. Bags of rice were put into the sampans and sent to the mountain. The young and strong men on the mountain worked together to transport the food into the temporary granary in batches, and the clerks nearby were responsible for recording the amount of food stored. The surrounding militia patrolled back and forth to prevent the victims from gathering in groups to rob or steal food. After a few days, the temporary relief point had formed a relatively complete order and operation mode. Xiang Fangsu and others often heard the name of Liang Qu when they walked around the camp. In addition to complaints about not having enough food on the boat and being easily thrown off the boat, there was no lack of praise for him, such as Prince Chi descending to the earth. Xiang Fangsu asked, "How many relief centers have we passed along the way?" Ran Zhongshi opened the document he carried with him: "There are four in total, all four Ah Shui have been here, and the current relief centers have sent 3,216 disaster victims, a large number." "Ah Shui did a good job." Ke Wenbin praised, "He can send more than 3,000 people here, Ah Shui has at least a large fleet. With a fleet rescuing people, there is definitely a passing line. If you can make another disaster feng shui map, no one dares to gossip."
Xiang Fangsu agreed: "Wei Lin sent Wei Shao, I didn't hear his name much along the way, maybe Ah Shui did a better job than Wei Shao." It depends on whether you are outstanding or not. In the realm of Liangqu running horses, it is successful if you are not inferior to Wei Shao. Ran Zhongshi closed the document: "Send us the supplies quickly, according to what the inspector said, we can meet Ah Shui tonight!" ... Outside the boat window. Young and strong people and villagers waded through the water to release water to the rice fields. Liang Qu retracted his gaze, licked the ink and continued writing. "From mid-August to September this year, there were more rains than sunny days. Even if there was a day of slight sunshine, it could not withstand the continuous downpour. The water depth on the flat ground was several feet, and the low area was more than ten feet. It was a vast ocean, with only willow branches and corners of houses visible. The summer rice failed because it was about to mature, and the seedlings were damaged before they were planted. The people's strength was exhausted in many ways, and they had no plan. However, the water level was getting longer and longer, and there was no time for the dry season to return. I am afraid that the autumn harvest will be disappointing... One disaster damaged two harvests, and the people were extremely miserable." Liang Qu compared the manuscript sent by his subordinates and copied it word by word. He had read little, so he had to look at the templates of previous years to write properly. After a slight modification, a consolidated disaster report was freshly produced. After writing the name, Liang Qu put down his pen, and there was a commotion outside. Liang Qu shouted, "What happened again?" The fighter stood on the mast and shouted, "Sir, there seems to be a fight in Ganquan Town! There are many people!" "There are so many things every day!" Liang Qu dried the ink, closed the book and put it in the cabinet, took Fu Bo, a big bow, and a quiver, got on a sampan and rushed to the town.
The sampan was swaying, and the shop in the southeast corner was surrounded by villagers. The villagers rushed to the second floor with sickles and rakes in their hands, smashing and looting. The door of the second floor was wide open, and furniture was thrown out from the window from time to time. Two people holding small bags of rice were squeezed out and rolled down along the eaves, submerged in the water, stained with a pool of blood, and large pieces of rice grains floated up. Liang Qu shouted. "Enough!" The overwhelming pressure rolled over the small building, and the people waving wooden sticks felt stuffy in their chests and pale in their faces, as if their hearts were firmly grasped by someone, unable to pump blood, and they were in great pain. The uncontrollable civil unrest stopped in an instant, and many people looked at Liang Qu with fear in their eyes. Chen Jiechang and Li Libo, who were trying to maintain order in the crowd, saw Liang Qu coming and hurriedly squeezed out of the store. Liang Qu pointed to the small building: "What's going on?" "They are robbing food!" Chen Jiechang took two deep breaths and covered his purple forehead. "They rushed in and beat everyone they saw. Libo and I were both hit by two sticks." Li Libo pushed the crowd away and fished out a floating plaque from the water, on which the words "Rice Shop" were clearly written. Liang Qu understood. The most serious problem of the flood is naturally the shortage of food. Chen Jiechang and others had just arrived and didn't know much. Liang Qu had encountered many looting and smashing along the way. Most of them were because the rice shop had raised prices sharply, causing public anger, or because some people were barefoot and were not afraid of wearing shoes, inciting others to take risks and make trouble to rob food. Liang Qu shouted, "Where is the rice shop owner?" "Here!" Lu Xinqing jumped out from the second floor, holding a bruised old man in his hand, followed by Kou Zhuang, who also carried an unconscious middle-aged man, splashing a lot of water when he landed. The old man tried hard to open his swollen and purple eyelids, and saw Liang Qu's official uniform, and cried loudly: "Your Excellency, you must make decisions for the people! These unruly people! Unruly people!" "It's not up to you to decide whether they are unruly or not, you are the rice shop owner?" The old man nodded repeatedly. "Then let me ask you, how much does this rice shop sell rice for?" "Ten cents per catty!" the old man shouted, "My master is kind-hearted and gives a fair price!" When this was said, even those who were frightened by Liang Qu's power stood up and cursed: "Bullshit! Twenty cents per catty of rice! It has more than doubled! How dare you say it's ten cents per catty?" The old man was not to be outdone: "Not ten cents? The pockmarked man over there! Let me ask you, should I sell it to you for ten cents? You are so conscienceless and want to rob it together, right?" Liang Qu raised his head, and the pockmarked young men in the crowd lowered their heads, not daring to refute. It's actually true! Li Libo was confused: "What's going on? Why are there people selling for ten cents and twenty cents?"
"Hmm." Just at this moment, the middle-aged man brought out by Kou Zhuang opened his eyes in a trance and woke up from his coma. Shopkeeper Mi Xing hurriedly broke free and hugged the middle-aged man: "My boss, my boss, are you okay?" Seeing that the man was awake, Liang Qu stood on the sampan and asked, "Are you the owner of this rice shop?" Lin Zishi was feeling dizzy and did not reply immediately. He was stunned for a while, looked around to understand the situation, and with the help of the old man, he reluctantly stood up and bowed to Liang Qu. "Lin Zishi, a grass-roots man, pays homage to your lord. I dare not deceive you. The rice line here belongs to the grass-roots men." "Let me ask you, how much does your rice business cost?" "If it's just rice, it's ten to eighteen cents per catty." Lin Zishi said slowly. It turns out that the price increase is real, and the price parity is also real, but they are just divided among people. On the first day of the flood, Lin Zishi summoned the neighbors and promised that as long as the villagers could help guard the Lin family's rice warehouse, the rice in the store would be sold to the villagers at a fair price. However, for outsiders, the price increase was true. double. In this way, Lin Zishi felt that he could prevent his rice shop from being robbed, protect himself, and earn income along the way. Who would have expected that today, someone led a large number of disaster victims from other places and went to Mihang to rob people. There were so many people on the other side that the neighbors couldn't get there in time, and the people nearby couldn't stop them, so they switched sides on the spot and started looting together with the victims. After the chaos, the villagers who came from behind gradually joined in to grab rice, completely forgetting their previous promises. Buying rice at a low price is not as cost-effective as grabbing it directly. Liang Qu picked a few more strangers to question. He was tall and well-dressed, and with the previous intimidation, no one dared to hide it. "Someone told me that there were profiteers in Ganquan Town who had made fortunes from disasters and wanted to go there to do justice for heaven... As soon as I thought it would be beneficial, I followed..." "There are profiteers who are making money regardless of our life and death, so why not go out and do it..." "I feel unhappy, so come with me..." When you ask, it’s all because of someone’s instigation. As for who led the instigation, everyone identified each other and formed a large network, but there was no source at all. It's like a no-brainer case. "Weird, so complicated..." Li Libo was stunned. Liang Qu's temples were beating, every time he encountered something bad. Lin Zishi, a native and a foreigner, each possesses unique skills.
"Lin Zishi!" "The grassroots are here." "I order you to sell every square meter, and then sell miscellaneous grains! Each person can buy half a catty of rice at a flat price every day with chips. If you want to buy more later, you can buy as much as you need." "Sir, my house was destroyed by the flood, and I have no firewood or stove." "Yeah, there's no fire to cook." someone shouted, eliciting a response. "Have I finished?" Liang Qu lowered his eyes, regained his power, and stopped the noise, "You need to sell cheap porridge twice in the morning and twice at noon every day. To buy cheap porridge, you need to buy chips first, and then use the chips to receive the porridge. . There are four types of chips, the big one can get three big bowls of porridge for ten coins, and the winning one... there will also be a free 'pai porridge', where the extremely poor will receive porridge for the porridge, and the village elders from all over the country will be responsible for coordinating the planning. As for you..." Liang Qu glanced at the people present, and if there was any truth, he said: "Everyone will receive ten blows! Next time, I will kill you without mercy! Don't think that you are not afraid of treatment if there are many people. If you are brave, you can give it a try!" Lin Zishi bowed and said: "Your Excellency is wise!" "Your Excellency is wise." The people responded in twos and threes. "Kou Zhuang, Jiechang, you two stay here to carry out the execution. Libo, Lu Xinqing is coming with me." Liang Qu turned around and left. The rest of the people looked at the burly Kou Zhuang and the "skinny" Chen Jiechang. Mazi smiled forward: "Sir, can you choose?" "Okay." Chen Jiechang smiled and said, "Choose fifteen boards or twenty boards? Thirty boards is not impossible." "..." On the sampan, Li Libo flattered him and said, "Brother Shui is great. He solved it in one go. Those four kinds of chips..." "Bullshit! It's all in the book." Liang Qu took out the "General Survey on Embankment Construction" from his arms and threw it to Li Libo. The book not only covered how to repair the dam, but also dealt with the resettlement of the victims. He read it exactly as it was, and the price of each item remained the same. The above even emphasized that you must not receive porridge directly, but must set up measures to receive cards first. Li Libo felt as if he had found a treasure and read and studied it on the spot. The burning clouds dimmed, casting long oblique shadows on the river. The sampan docked and Liang Qu was about to get on when several more shouts came from the distance. Not long after, a group of people ran over in a panic, and the leader turned out to be Lao Songtou. "What happened?"
Old Songtou's face turned red. I don't know whether it was the red glow or the blood rushing to his face. He pointed to the distance: "Master Liang Qu, go and have a look. Someone has found a red arowana!" "Red Arowana?" "A giant treasure fish that has been rare to see in the Blackwater River for decades! It is red all over and has dragon scales and beards. I heard that if a wise man appears, it will appear in this world." Old Songtou paused for a moment as he spoke. He glanced up and down at Liang Qu and danced excitedly. "I understand! I understand! Master Liang is that wise man!"