Chapter 2442 The drama of betrayal
If stabbing Lv Yi to death could bring about a fundamental change in the situation, Sun Quan would not hesitate to do so. Because in Sun Quan''s consciousness, he thought that everything about Lu Yi belonged to him, from body to soul. It was Sun Quan who gave Lu Yi everything, such as glory and wealth, authority and salary, a mansion with beautiful women, wine, meat and brocade robes, etc., all were given by Sun Quan, so when Sun Quan wants to take it back, he can naturally take it back.
Lv Yi also understands this. Of course, it is impossible for Lu Yi to say that these things are all given by you voluntarily, why should I take back what my mother earns based on her ability, etc., because this is a transaction in itself. Sun Quan''s remuneration to Lu Yi was beyond the normal range, so the price Lu Yi had to pay was naturally to treat Sun Quan as a dog.
Before that, Lv Yi was a dog who was quite competent. Whether it was looking after the house or catching small prey, he was good at it. But after all, dogs have a place to move. All Lu Yi can see is in Wu County. The surrounding areas, such as the drought in the east of the Yangtze River, caused the soaring of the overall food price, which did not start in Wu County. 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 clearly about the matter, the situation had already moved in an irreversible direction.
When the interests are on the table, the heat and coldness of human relations are torn apart, and only then will the real great danger and malice be revealed. No matter what the beauty was before, at this moment, only the greedy nature and ugliness are left. The face of the big and powerful merchants colluded with one place, entrenched in mid-air, eating and drinking human blood, smashing bones and sucking marrow.
『What did they say? 』
Sun Quan''s voice seemed to come from between his teeth.
Lv Yi fell on the ground, pouted his buttocks high, "They said...there is no food in stock..."
『No, yes, storage, food? ”Sun Quan said almost word for word, and then laughed angrily, “Aha! No food in stock? ! Hahaha…"
In the past few years, the North was first affected by the climate of the Little Ice Age. The climate in the Jiangdong area is relatively stable as a whole, and the harvest is relatively stable.
Jiangdong’s small-scale peasant economic system is the strongest, because from the Yangzhou area to the south, it enters the hilly and mountainous areas. Although the altitude of these hilly areas is not very high, it is not easy to travel, and the land that is suitable for farming, It is also often around the water sources and rivers, so under the current productivity of Dahan, it is easier to form a relatively closed economic circle.
In such an environment, an ordinary farmer may never leave the village he cultivates in his whole life, and the road farthest from home is the one to go to the market.
All the output of these farmers and tenants is concentrated in the hands of the local big landlords, and these grains can only be realized when the merchants pass by, and because of price or transportation, it is not like later generations, um, Even with the transportation conditions of later generations, there are still a large number of agricultural products that cannot be bought, let alone the current big man.
Therefore, in the hands of powerful and powerful households in these places, they often hoard a large amount of grain and grass. Sometimes these grains and grasses have been hoarded for too long, and they can''t even be eaten after they rot and deteriorate, so they can only be piled up in the ravine and burned...
What? If you can''t eat it, why don''t you distribute it to farmers? hehe.
So Sun Quan didn''t believe that these big and powerful families in Jiangdong had no food in their hands. "Didn''t you tell them that if they are willing to donate food and grass, I will give them official positions?" Award! office! 』
『I said it...』 Lu Yi still pouted his buttocks.
Donate more money and food, and get an official position. At least there is a commendation transaction. It has been a lot since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period. It only flourished in the Qin and Han Dynasties. In the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, even the titles were used as anchors. How much food to donate? Just change any title, what can be represented by a place, are all basic operations.
『Rewards, no official position? Sun Quan sneered, "This is killing me!" Hehe, since you want someone''s life, then you want theirs first! 』
Lv Yi lowered his head, not daring to breathe.
Sun Quan''s plans were all disrupted!
It''s not just about a celebration drink!
Well, maybe also…
More importantly, Sun Quan originally wanted to take this opportunity to rectify the ills and hidden dangers that have always existed in Jiangdong, and wanted to change the Jiangdong regime, that is, Sun Quan and the Sun family''s core strength did not have strong control over the local area and the army. question.
Under Jiangdong''s military system, the degree of regularization and professionalization of the army is very low, the degree of returning soldiers to generals is too high, and the interests of soldiers and generals are deeply tied, making Sun Quan, the "monarch", not even as good as a certain The general''s order works!
I''m talking about you, Dudu...
But, is there a way to make everything in the world as you wish?
On the day when Lu Su arrived in Wu County and rushed to meet Sun Quan, the price of grain in Jiangdong, the price of one stone suddenly broke through 5,000 yuan!
In a normal year, the most expensive rice per stone is only four hundred dollars. Ordinary millet costs 200 qian, and the price of more rice in Jiangdong is about the same. Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, this price was basically the same, but later when Dong Zhuo minted bad money, the highest grain price was only about ten times that, more than two thousand dollars.
So as soon as the food price came out, the people in Jiangdong immediately cried out.
Affected by the soaring food prices, the atmosphere in those areas in Jiangdong that were really affected by the disaster has become extremely tense.
Although it was said that under Sun Quan''s order, some food and grass had already been transported into the affected area, but the local victims were not appeased and maintained order immediately. Beggars and refugees began to gather in larger towns, unable to eat. There are more and more people, and everyone is looking for food, or looking for food, everything that can be eaten.
This disaster, which was not registered in history, became violent for a while.
Under such circumstances, there are still kind-hearted people.
Like the Lu family.
Besides the old manor of the Lu family, there were hundreds of refugees gathering, and almost all of them occupied the open space outside the manor of the Lu family.
Before the gate of the manor, a thatched shed was built. In the thatched hut, ten large cauldrons were lined up, and the porridge and soup that had been boiled for a long time were steaming, bringing the breath of life to these refugees...
Under Zhuang Ding''s maintenance of order, the refugees patted the long queue and came forward to receive porridge soup one after another, one spoonful per person, whether there was too much, and it was a delusion to be full, that is, to not die of hunger for the time being.
Those who received the porridge and soup, some of them hurriedly picked it up and drank it without saying a word, but most of them would praise the auspicious words of the master of the Lu family, such as unparalleled kindness and longevity, even though most of them did not know the Lu family. Brother, I don''t know that Mr. Lu''s family is not old at all.
But every time at this time, Zhuang Ding, who was standing by the side of the pot and making porridge for these refugees, would immediately say that this is the porridge from General Sun, the lord of Jiangdong, and the Lu family is just waiting for the porridge...
There are almost two worlds inside and outside the walls of the manor.
The tall and thick walls shielded the hustle and bustle outside. Lu Xun was sitting in the hall, drinking tea leisurely.
Lu Hao walked in, frowned and said: "There are more and more refugees outside. I went to see them today, and there are more than forty more. If this continues, when will it be considered a head?" We... we can''t keep giving porridge like this, can''t we? If this continues, it will cost dozens of stones a day... How many days can we last? 』
Lu Xun nodded and said, "It really won''t last long..."
Lu Xun''s voice was flat, as if he was talking about an ordinary thing.
"Brother, you..." Lu Mao frowned, unable to understand what Lu Xun meant.
At this moment, a follower suddenly came outside the door, "Patriarch, **** Changshi is visiting!" 』
『Look, isn’t this here? "Smiled one after another, "Open the middle door, and wait for someone to greet you in person!" 』
When Lv Yi was almost stabbed to death by Sun Quan who was in a rage, Ji Yan, who was also Sun Quan''s running dog, of course couldn''t be idle, and was also sniffing for the scent of the prey...
『Lu is engaged! ’Ji Yan smiled, ‘I heard that the Lu family has a reputation for benevolence and virtue, and has always been filial and righteous. Today I see Lu doing relief work here, he is really a national scholar! When this catastrophe is over, I will definitely report to the lord the meritorious deeds that Lu has done, so as to encourage him! A lot of rewards, to encourage after-effects! 』
Lu Xun arched his hands slightly, first asked Jiyan to drink tea, and then said slowly: "Ji Changshi''s words are slightly off... This porridge is not in the name of Lu''s name, but following the command of the lord..."
"Uh? ! 』Jiyan was taken aback.
What''s the situation?
Jiyan thought that this time she grabbed Lu Xun''s braid tightly.
In the face of a disaster, giving porridge can be said to be kind, and I can''t bear to see the people suffer, but on the other hand, it is also intentional to buy people''s hearts, gain fame, recruit people, and have evil intentions!
When Ji Yan came to look for Lu Xun, he had already thought about it, and planned to have one fish, er, one deer and three meals, but he never thought that this plan was just about to be paved, and then Lu Xun stopped him and couldn''t continue. up.
『This…』Ji Yan squeezed a smile, obviously a little more stiff than the previous smile, 『Don’t lie to Lu Zong, the lord has returned to Jiangdong not long ago, why did you ask Lu to do disaster relief? 』
Lu Xun was still smiling, gentle and refined, calm and restrained, "I saw the drought for a long time, so I reported it to my lord... If there is a drought, I would like to share my worries for my lord, donate the food in my family, and rescue the refugees on my lord''s behalf... My lord replied and agreed... Does Ji Changshi want to check the master''s reply? 』
『Uh...this...this is unnecessary...'' Ji Yan didn''t know what to say for a while, and felt extremely embarrassed, and then she couldn''t help feeling a little annoyed, thinking that Lu Xun just dug a hole for him to jump in and watch his jokes.
Just when Jiyan didn''t have much to say, and whoever was going to say a few more words would leave, so as to show that she was not so embarrassed, and that she didn''t come here for the porridge, but she saw Lu Xun took out a bag from his sleeve. A seal 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 still has nothing... This form is a list of the daily expenses since a certain porridge, and please ask the long history to forward it to the lord... Ten days later, there is no food to be given here. Where will the victims go? , and ask the lord to decide...』
Jiyan was not willing to get into trouble during this time period, her eyes rolled twice, and she just shirked that she had other business to do, and would not go back to the city, and let Lu Xun deliver it by herself. After finishing speaking, he said goodbye repeatedly, appearing to be very busy, declined Lu Xun''s farewell, and hurriedly left Lu''s manor while shouting haha.
Although Ji Yan said that there is no need to send them off, Lu Xun still sent them to the gate of the manor. When Ji Yan and his party gradually disappeared, Lu Xun sneered slightly, then turned around and said to the housekeeper who was following behind: The notice was posted, saying that the Lu family''s food storage was about to run out! After ten days, there will be no food and no porridge to serve! Let these people quickly find another way...』
The butler responded respectfully.
Lu Xun walked slowly towards the manor. Before reaching the hall, he heard a loud 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 Mao who had turned out from behind the screen in the inner hall, and said calmly, "Now...do you understand? 』
Lu Mao cupped his hands and bowed, "Brother is far-sighted...Little brother admires..."
The Lu family has suffered heavy setbacks before, and the Jiangdong gentry have made explicit and implicit promises, so Lu Xun is now mainly guarding against Sun Quan and showing weakness first. Although he gave up a lot of food and wealth, it also made the Lu family invincible in this turmoil.
The surplus food and grass of the Lu family has been used for disaster relief, and at the same time, in the name of Sun Quan, others can''t find out if they want to pick the bones in the egg!
At the same time, after this period of porridge, plus a ten-day buffer period, among the refugees, they will know that there is no food and grass here, and they will continue to come here unless they want to rebel and plunder. The manor, otherwise you won''t get anything, it''s better to go to other places, so it is equivalent to the refugees, the Lu family has also obtained "exemption" first...
Ten days later, the entire Lu family will be completely free from this turmoil!
What I paid was nothing more than some stale food in the manor...
Of course, not everyone has the strategy of Lu Xun, who can find the most favorable path under the chaotic situation.
We spread by disaster. After the conflict became increasingly acute, bloodshed inevitably occurred.
Of course, the death of ordinary people does not have much impact. It was the death of the magistrate of Anwu County that plunged the entire Jiangdong into hopeless chaos...
Anwu is in the south of Jing County. The magistrate of Anwu County is a son of a poor family newly promoted by Sun Quan. Naturally, he wanted to do something in front of Sun Quan. After receiving the order to fully mobilize grain and grass, he immediately read an administrative order to the local big households, requiring them to pay for grain and grass immediately. .
Where would the big family want to be? First, they were neither soft nor hard, nor salty nor bland, and then they simply said that they were sick.
The magistrate of Anwu County was in a hurry. Seeing that he could not complete the task, he was afraid that he would be hated by Sun Quan, so he threw a tantrum regardless, and prepared manpower to make a big family, but I don''t know if it was because he came from a poor family and didn''t have much experience in house politics. , Anwu County Magistrate was not prepared enough for his subordinates, and the news leaked out quickly.
Seeing that they couldn’t do anything good, the powerful and powerful family kept on doing nothing, and hired an assassin to directly kill the magistrate of Anwu County.
In the Han Dynasty, it was not uncommon for local tycoons to spend money to assassinate officials. In history, Liu Bei, Tai Shici and others were assassinated, and Fei Qian was also assassinated before. For the county magistrate of Anwu, Firstly, he lacked martial prowess, secondly, he did not have expert guards, and thirdly, he was not as famous as Liu Bei, with the name of benevolence, so he could not escape death.
After the murder, the big family let out rumors that the county magistrate was killed by refugees. He originally wanted to close the case, but this incident was heard by Ji Yan, who had run into trouble with Lu Xun...
Jiyan, who was worrying that there was no breakthrough, immediately felt that she had found a breakthrough, and set off overnight, leading her men and horses straight to Anwu, arresting the entire family of the big family without saying a word, and collecting a lot of them. The "relevant" evidence, together with the whole family of these big families, was escorted back to Wu County.
Originally, this matter was indeed a problem with the big family, but the problem was that Lu Yi, who had received the follow-up trial of the big family''s case, wanted to involve more people from the big family as if he had found a treasure...
Then there were rumors that after the big family and his family were thrown into the prison in Wu County, Lu Yi rushed into the prison immediately. Not only was he severely punished, but he was also bullied in front of the big family. The wives and daughters of the big family oppressed the big family both mentally and physically, not only to coerce the big family into a confession, but also to bite other people.
This obviously cross-border behavior naturally caused a bigger disturbance...
Normally speaking, Jiangdong gentry are not all fools. Even the big family who was arrested knows the truth of inexhaustible water. After eating the big head, these people will spit out some leftovers and pretend to be kind to resettle the victims, and they may even come out to donate porridge and rice like the Lu family. After all, they still need to save some population. It is also in the interests of large households to facilitate continuous farming after the disaster year.
Under the government''s disaster relief, the victims cannot be completely resettled. Due to various circumstances, some people have to change from self-cultivated farmers to slaves, or become tenants, propertyless, and put down their dignity to ask for help. It is difficult to survive, and the local big households also take this opportunity to complete further capital accumulation of land mergers.
So, if Sun Quan is willing to put aside some interests and carry out disaster relief, this disaster will end soon.
It''s a pity that Sun Quan, who was furious, didn''t want to give in at all. Even Lu Su refused to listen to his persuasion, so Ji Yan and Lv Yi who had found "criminal evidence" began to arrest them wantonly, and the prison was overcrowded for a while.
So, a vigorous betrayal drama was staged in Jiangdong again...
(end of this chapter)