Chapter 76.1 - Husband and Wife Comes to Visit
Twenty-seventh year of Chong Ming. May 20th. Overcast.
Drought still broke out in Chang Province. Not a single drop of rain fell since the beginning of the year, but this was not the main cause of the drought. The most important thing was the problem of soil erosion and serious vegetation damage.
The Chong Ming Emperor did not care about the situation in Chang Province, and the officials in Chang Province just used their power to seek private gains. Even if there were money allocated for the betterment of the Chang Province, those officials in their cushy seats would just swallow the money and split it among themselves. As a result, the problem was never solved, and the situation grew worse year by year.
After the drought broke out, everyone"s eyes turned from the royal family to Fu Wu Tian, whom they heard had been ordered by the emperor to take care of the disaster in Chang Province.
Although they knew that the jun w.a.n.g was not a simple person, those greedy officials in Chang Province have been blinded by the l.u.s.ter of money and were still eyeing the relief funds with covetous gazes. Some merchants in Chang Province have begun raising prices, waiting for the jun w.a.n.g to buy their rice. But the outcome was beyond their expectations.
Droughts were often accompanied by locust calamity.
Especially in Yi Ping Town. The same situation happened many years ago.
This year, it was predicted that Yi Ping Town was likely to have another locust disaster. There were always signs preceding the calamity of a locust swarm. It could be detected through careful observation. At that time, Yi Ping Town would be hit the hardest.
However, contrary to their expectation, after the outbreak of the drought, not even a shadow could be seen of the so-called locust disaster. Although Yi Ping Town still suffered from drought, the situation was much better than before. The people of Yi Ping Town not only did not have another large-scale migration, but they were also very calm and quiet.
Many businessmen and officials felt that something was wrong. Only after investigating did they find out that the jun w.a.n.g"s subordinated have already entered Chang Province and were providing congee to relieve the victims.
Not only that, after all the common folk were temporarily settled, the jun w.a.n.g issued a series of orders.
For example, people who work would have food to eat.
The royal family could feed them for a while, but they couldn"t feed they for a lifetime, and if the drought in Chang Province was not resolved at the fundamental level, this kind of thing was bound to happen again in the future.
Since the drought was caused by soil erosion, then they would start tackling the problem from this point.
The focus of An Zi Ran"s plan for Fu Wu Tian was how to control soil erosion. Asides from this, there were other problems that also required attention.
Much of the drought in Chang Province was caused by the fragile water conservancy facilities and the inability to conserve water resources, leading to fields that could not be harvested year after year. Some crops, like rice, had a very large demand for water. Once water shortage caused the fields to lose harvest, famine was likely to follow.
Every year in Chang Province, many people died. The people have long been desperate for relief from the Da Ya Empire. This year, Fu Wu Tian"s appearance has brought them hope.
Old people, children, and women could get food without having to work hard, but the young and strong must contribute. Those with a serious and positive att.i.tude towards work could even get double the amount of food. This type of reward stimulated many young people, and even enticed some women to join the work force.
This good development trend caused the businessmen in Chang Province to panic.
Some businessmen were not as keen as An Zi Ran.
But they had "experience." It was foreseeable that drought would occur in Chang Province. Therefore, these merchants started stocking up food before the drought, all for the moment when they could seek more profits.
However, the jun w.a.n.g was prepared long ahead of time. Large amounts of grain were continuously transported from Hong Province to Chang Province, and there was no need to buy food from them.
Well, that was great. All the grains that they had acc.u.mulated could not be sold. What do they do now?
They could only decrease the cost of their rice back to the original price, but even so, their rice could not be sold. They only had themselves to blame for being too black hearted and hoping to take advantage of the common folk.
The merchants finally panicked.
A lot of rice was piled up in their warehouses. If they couldn"t sell it, then it was very likely to grow moldy or become old rice. At that point, the price would just continue to decrease. They would lose all their investments.
All day long hitting wild geese, only to be pecked by wild geese!
This sentence perfectly described these businessmen in Chang Province.
Compared with them, An Zi Ran who went through the back door and used his connection with Fu Wu Tian earned a lot of money.
An Ke Xin was married, and Zheng Bi also moved into the new house. Their attention was no longer concentrated on the An family. Now, asides from the fourth concubine, who was at the moment keeping within the boundary of her role, the An family have finally quieted down.
The things in Chang Province have been carried out albeit in a somewhat unsteady manner. There was no need for Fu Wu Tian to supervise everything. An Zi Ran also handed over the affairs of An Yuan County to Steward Su, so the matter of returning to Jun Zi City was put on the agenda.
But the day before they were about to leave, two unexpected people came to the door.