ebookland Chapter 594 Helping in times of need
Chapter 594 Helping in times of need
"Master Liu, Master Liu, the price of charcoal has now risen to ten taels per load."
When County Magistrate Liu was trying to find a solution to the charcoal problem, a bailiff ran in and told him the latest news in the market.
County Magistrate Liu widened his eyes.
Ten taels per load.
My God, what’s the difference between this and robbing money?
No, there is still a difference. At least they gave us a load of charcoal.
Who can afford ten taels of silver for a load of charcoal?
Due to the sudden drop in temperature, the county government had insufficient charcoal fire, and had to use it sparingly every day, so the entire county government burned a pot of charcoal. A pot of charcoal could not block the cold at all, and the entire county government could not feel a trace of warmth. Even so, County Magistrate Liu was so scared that he broke into a sweat.
He had already imagined the scene of refugees attacking the county government office.
His failure to mobilize more charcoal and control the price of charcoal showed his incompetence.
Originally, he was thinking of gathering charcoal from Ningcheng, but Ningcheng was in danger now.
Not to mention Ningcheng, even the entire northern region of Dasheng is difficult to obtain coal.
In winter, with extremely cold weather, who would have extra charcoal to transfer to Pingchuan?
Just when County Magistrate Liu was in a state of panic, Tong Huaqiong asked for a meeting outside the county government office.
County Magistrate Liu didn't want to meet him at first, as he didn't think Tong Huaqiong could solve any problem at this time.
But Tong Huaqiong was, after all, a local lady, and had a close relationship with his mother, so she waved her hand and invited the person in.
Tong Huaqiong walked in and said directly without beating around the bush: "Master Liu, you are worried about the charcoal fire, and that is why I am here."
Lord Liu became excited when he heard the word "charcoal fire".
Aunt Tong arrived at the right time.
But he quickly calmed down. How much charcoal could Aunt Tong have?
"Aunt Tong, do you have charcoal? How much?" asked County Magistrate Liu.
Tong Huaqiong said: "I have 200,000 kilograms."
In order to dispel Magistrate Liu's suspicion that she was hoarding charcoal maliciously, she explained: "I have some spare money, but I don't know what to do with it. It happened that in the summer, I met a charcoal merchant who was selling charcoal. He said that the charcoal was not selling at a good price because of the warm winter in recent years, so he wanted to switch to other business. I thought that charcoal would not go bad, so I hoarded that batch of charcoal..."
At this time, County Magistrate Liu did not even connect Tong Huaqiong with the malicious hoarding of charcoal.
He just felt that Tong Huaqiong was the guardian angel of his official career.
Two hundred thousand kilograms of charcoal!
Where could he gather 200,000 kilograms of charcoal at this time?
These 200,000 kilograms of charcoal are enough to save the people of Ningcheng from the cold.
County Magistrate Liu felt that Tong Huaqiong's 200,000 kilograms of charcoal was a timely help to the people of Pingchuan.
This kind of righteousness is indeed in line with Aunt Tong's style.
County Magistrate Liu said, "That's great, that's great. Aunt Tong not only saved me, but she also saved the people of the whole city."
County Magistrate Liu praised Tong Huaqiong highly.
Tong Huaqiong stared at County Magistrate Liu's fiery eyes and discussed the distribution of charcoal. These 200,000 kilograms of charcoal could not be distributed only to Pingchuan County, but also to each township.
Moreover, towns and villages need charcoal more than county towns.
Because those who can live in Pingchuan County may not be very wealthy, but their lives are definitely much better than those in the countryside.
Many county residents had already bought charcoal when winter began, and the current run on charcoal was mostly caused by rural residents who could not buy charcoal in towns and villages and came to the county to try their luck. A large number of people were deceived by rumors that the extreme cold weather would continue until May next year and wanted to stock up more charcoal.
"Lord Liu, the whole city is saying that the cold winter will last until May next year. I think someone is deliberately spreading rumors in order to cause panic and sell the charcoal at a high price." Tong Huaqiong said to County Magistrate Liu, "Although this winter is colder than in previous years, I think it will not violate the season. This wave of extreme cold weather will last until the beginning of spring at most. In order to calm the panic, we must also spread the news and tell everyone that anyone who spreads the news that the extreme cold weather will last until May next year is a profiteer who takes the opportunity to make a fortune."
County Magistrate Liu agreed with Tong Huaqiong's opinion.
In this case, the rumor is more deadly than the cold itself.
For example, some people believed the rumor that the cold weather would continue until May of next year, so they ran out of their homes to buy coal. The constant running around in the extremely cold weather would cause them to suffer from hypothermia and die.
If rumors spread long enough, they will become true and the whole city will fall into panic.
It's not that County Magistrate Liu didn't think that someone might have spread the news deliberately, but he was so exhausted by this wave of cold air that he had no time to think about the ins and outs of it.
Now that Tong Huaqiong has a solution to the problem, County Magistrate Liu's intelligence starts to improve, and he immediately asks someone to investigate who spread the rumors.
......
Tong Huaqiong left the county government office and went straight to Jufulai.
Jufulai released some of the charcoal fire.
Once the news of selling charcoal came out, it would surely attract people from all over the city. Fortunately, Tong Huaqiong had already anticipated this day and had set the charcoal selling rules.
Gu Baishuang and the shopkeeper were on high alert at Jufulai, waiting for Tong Huaqiong's order to start selling.
In order to avoid chaos in the carbon purchasing order, Tong Huaqiong specifically asked County Magistrate Liu to borrow yamen runners to maintain order.
Because the Zheng family raised the price of charcoal to ten taels of silver per load, the people of the city were outraged.
Many common people flocked to the county government office to demand an explanation, requiring Magistrate Liu to control the price of carbon and bring the charcoal merchants who sold charcoal at high prices to justice.
Faced with the most feared scene, County Magistrate Liu walked out steadily, first comforted everyone, and then told everyone that the owner of Jufulai had transferred charcoal from various places.
Before he could finish his words, a crowd of people rushed to Jufulai.
County Magistrate Liu was so shocked that he quickly sent another security team to Jufulai.
Jufulai started selling charcoal, and the price of each load was controlled at thirty-five cents, which was only five cents more expensive than last year.
Word spread quickly and everyone flocked to Xiang Jufulai.
There were more people than when Jufulai opened.
With so many people buying carbon, Tong Huaqiong was afraid of a stampede.
He immediately asked Lian Hengruo for help and evenly distributed the charcoal fire between Lian's shop and the Taohua Dessert branch in the county town, so that people could be diverted.
Otherwise, with so many people crowding at the entrance of Jufulai waiting to buy carbon, how long would it take to queue?
I’m afraid that if the carbon isn’t bought, the people at the door will be frozen into popsicles.
Not only Pingchuan County has adopted a diversion strategy, but Yanguan Town has also adopted a diversion strategy.
Tong Huaqiong distributed the charcoal from Yanguan Town to Taohua Dessert and Huang Yuanwai's shop.
Because Tong Huaqiong's 200,000 kilograms of supplies gave County Magistrate Liu a reassurance, the official began to arrange disaster prevention and control work in an orderly manner without any anxiety.
County Magistrate Liu was very thoughtful. He urgently had sheds built in front of Jufulai and other charcoal shops to block the wind, and had people boil ginger soup and other hot soups and bring them over. This way, people waiting to buy charcoal would not have a hard time under the dual protection of the wind-blocking shed and the hot soup.
In addition, County Magistrate Liu also called on wealthy households in the county to donate charcoal to the poor who could not afford to buy charcoal, and set up porridge stalls to prevent homeless people from freezing to death.
Tong Huaqiong felt that County Magistrate Liu was already a good official for having achieved this.