coobybook Chapter 133 Worry about the ending
Chapter 133 Worry about the ending
Xuanbi nodded: "I like it, it makes me laugh."
"No special surprises?"
After recalling the past, Xuanbi found that Zhao Fangyu did not look particularly surprised, so he said truthfully: "Miss Zhao was happy and looked at him for a long time, but she just smiled. There was no excessive reaction."
Zhou Qinghe couldn't help but worry. It seemed that the Zhao family was too rich.
I have to go to the clan residence again tomorrow.
Zhou Qinghe's desire to make money was unprecedentedly intense.
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After the birthday banquet, there was only one year left until Zhao Fangyu's coming of age.
Mei Zhanhui had been to the Zhao family several times, but had never come to the backyard. He only went to the outer study to find Zhao Minshan to ask about some matters concerning the Ministry of Revenue in previous years.
Zhao Fangyu didn't know, but she could sense that the recent business was not declining.
Especially the shops in Jiangnan, their income is getting less and less.
In the past, shops in Jiangnan could receive half of the dividends, and sometimes they could bring in several thousand taels of silver in profit a month. But now the silver they send has decreased a lot, and it is difficult to collect the flowers, even to the point where they can’t collect any at all.
Zhao Fangyu originally thought that someone in Jiangnan had also figured out the skill of making perfumed dew and sold it to the local wealthy families, who then came to grab the business.
But after asking carefully, I found out that this was not the reason.
The shopkeeper who came from Jiangnan was embarrassed: "Before, the Yellow River changed its course, and the flower farm on the outskirts of the city was flooded by refugees. It was not just our family that suffered. The surrounding farms were looted by those people."
"Now those people are still wandering around the outskirts of the city, and the families who were not affected before have also suffered from the disaster, which makes it difficult to collect flowers."
"It's not just Jiangnan. The surrounding areas of Jiangnan were flooded by disaster victims. The places where they originally lived were flooded. The court issued an order to share some of the burden with each village, saying that if there were vacant houses in the village, they would be given new residences. But those people refused to go."
"They roam around the area every day, sometimes snatching property from passers-by. They have no fixed place to stay and roam everywhere. It's hard to catch them, and they don't want to keep them. It's a headache for the government office."
After Zhao Fangyu understood the situation, he sent the shopkeeper back.
"This is not an inquiry, but an inquiry."
Chunshao served tea to the shopkeeper, and Zhao Fangyu then asked about the doubts in his mind.
She remembered that it was Mei Zhanhui who went to Jiangnan. Could it be that Mei Zhanhui failed to handle the disaster in Jiangnan well?
"Could it be that the imperial envoy who went to Jiangnan failed to handle the matter properly?"
The shopkeeper sighed and shook his head: "That's not the case. The Imperial Envoy was busy running around, and the victims were quiet for a while, but when the Imperial Envoy left, the victims started to riot again."
"Those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes. They do not want to be tenant farmers, but instead they laze around on the pipes every day as beggars. They come with their whole family, young and old, and when they see a carriage, they block the road and will not stop unless they are given silver. After they are given silver, they demand more. They even make the escort agencies coming to Jiangnan charge more."
"When the imperial envoy came, he made all the arrangements. There were vacant old houses in the surrounding villages. They could be moved in after repairing and cleaning. Some were given to them for free, and some were willing to sell their houses. But some disaster victims refused to settle down and went to collect the porridge provided by the court every day... They also refused to go to the court's work-for-relief program and just lived on the thin porridge that was not enough to kill them."
Zhao Fangyu understood that these people, having tasted the sweetness, no longer wanted to live a life of working hard in the fields. One or two would be fine, but if there were too many, it would become a trend among the refugees.
If this trend is not eliminated, I'm afraid that mountain and water bandits will arise in the vicinity of Jiangnan.
The days of ease lasted too long, so long that Zhao Fangyu almost forgot that this was a dynasty similar to the Song Dynasty.
If Daliang really ended up like the Song Dynasty... Zhao Fangyu didn't dare to think about his own future.
He immediately spread out the paper, thinking about how to make the silver in his hand come alive.
If that day really comes, she will run away with the eldest lady and others no matter what.
But she didn't remember much about the Song Dynasty. She only remembered that it seemed that there was an invasion by foreign tribes at the end. Almost all of the royal family was taken captive to foreign territories. The emperor was kept in captivity, and the concubines even lived a life worse than that of prostitutes...
Zhao Fangyu counted the silver in her hand. The Fourteen Prefectures had been open for a long time, and with the tea shop and the five thousand taels that Zhao Fangjin gave her as a dowry, she had almost twenty-seven thousand taels in her hand.
If that time really comes, I will definitely not be able to stay in Shangjing, and I can't go to Longxi either, as the journey is too far.
Jiangnan is a good place to go, but there may be bandit riots around Jiangnan...
Zhao Fangyu sat by the window for a whole day. Chunshao sent her a message in the evening: "Miss, are you unhappy about the Fourteen Prefectures?"
Zhao Fangyu shook her head, there were many things she couldn't say. She was too weak to do it alone, and for a moment she was at a loss.
After much thought, Jiangnan is still suitable. At worst, it should be somewhere near the sea. If there is really something there, we can just take a boat out to sea and no one will be able to find her.
But how could she get a big ship by herself, and how could she go to the coastal city alone?
I'm afraid I'll be charged with treason as soon as I do these things.
Zhao Fangyu was lying on the bed, while Chunshao was sleeping on the soft couch by the window. Outside the window, there was the sound of banana leaves rubbing against each other, which used to be a good sound for falling asleep, but today it was particularly annoying.
Zhao Fangyu couldn't sleep. All he could think about were the marketing accounts he had seen in his previous life, which talked about the tragic ending of the Song Dynasty royal family.
Zhou Qinghe... should be able to send her away at the critical moment, right?
Zhou Qinghe's face flashed through his mind, and then the so-called sheep-leading ceremony flashed through his mind. Zhao Fangyu became more and more annoyed. He felt that no matter what had to do with the royal family, it would be extremely annoying.
Zhao Fangyu couldn't sleep, so he sorted out the information he knew bit by bit in his mind.
There was drought in Chenzhou and Quzhou, the Yellow River in Jiangnan changed its course, and there is a suspicion of banditry in the future.
It would take three days for a fast horse to travel from Shangjing to Jiangnan by speeding day and night.
He opened a perfume shop and a tea shop in the capital, and in Jiangnan... he could also open a rice shop.
Salt and iron are not allowed, but rice and grain can be used, and they can be useful at critical moments.
In times of chaos, gold and silver are no different from lumps of iron; food and medicinal materials are the most important strategic materials.
Zhao Fangyu told the first lady about her plan to open a grain shop in Jiangnan. The first lady poked her forehead with a smile and said that she was a money-grubber.
Zhao Fangyu hugged the eldest lady's waist and spoke in a voice so soft that water could drip out: "I also want to open a rice shop. If we encounter disaster victims and provide porridge, we don't have to buy rice from other places like we did before."
When the disaster victims from the south of the Yangtze River gathered in Shangjing, the noble families helped to provide porridge to help the victims. All the rice shops in Shangjing were sold out. The only grain shop under the control of the eldest lady was also empty. In the end, they had to buy rice from other places and transport it to Shangjing continuously.
Zhao Fangyu's statement was tenable, so the eldest lady let her do it.
"The scenery in the south of the Yangtze River is beautiful. We don't have to go to the farm to cool off. It would be great to go to the south of the Yangtze River. We can buy a big garden in the south of the Yangtze River and live in it with our whole family. I don't know how comfortable it would be."
The eldest lady did not take Zhao Fangyu's childish words seriously, but she agreed with Zhao Fangyu's idea, and even planned to open a few more rice shops.
She owns many shops and knows more news. The situation on the border is not very stable and the imperial court cannot send out much grain now. There may be a risk of food shortage.
There shouldn't be any problems in Shangjing, but she is worried about Longxi.