What to do if you have too many golden fingers? Walk sideways!

Chapter 123 Opening a warehouse to release grain

There was no movement in the warehouse.

Just as the guards were hesitating whether to rush in, "Gu Ming" and "Gu Butler" pushed the door open and walked out.

"Butler Gu" walked out with a sandalwood carved box in his hand, followed by "Gu Ming", then locked the door of the warehouse, cleared his throat, and said to the guards:

"Guard them all well. If anything goes wrong, you will be held responsible!"

The guards accepted the order and continued to guard the empty house conscientiously and responsibly.

"Gu Ming" and "Gu Butler" walked away.

The guards were left with confused looks on their faces. What happened tonight was too bizarre and they couldn't figure it out no matter how hard they tried.

Gu Xi and Chu Zhao walked to the main hall in the front yard. At this time, Shi San had been arranged by Gu Ming to rest in the guest room, and several brothel girls were sent to accompany him.

Chu Zhao pointed at a servant and said:

"You, go and call the master."

In fact, he didn't know whether the county magistrate Gu had a legal advisor, but usually he did. If not, he would go to the accountant.

The servant nodded and ran out.

Chu Zhao and Gu Xi had been busy all night, and performing Qinggong was very tiring. They were both hungry now. Gu Xi said to a little maid:

"Go cook two bowls of noodles."

The maid responded.

Although she didn't understand why the master wanted to eat noodles now after having just had a feast and a few drinks, it was not something she, a servant, should be responsible for.

When the master arrived, Chu Zhao and Gu Xi were slurping noodles each.

The master frowned, thinking that Butler Gu was too rude for eating at the same table with his master.

But as a subordinate, he couldn't say much, he just bowed and said:

"Sir, why did you call me here so late at night?"

That sounds a bit arrogant. Can't I call you over late at night?

Chu Zhao ignored him and finished his noodles first. Besides, leaving him alone would be more intimidating.

It was not until he burped that he said to the master:

“How much grain is left in the county’s granary now?”

The master immediately said respectfully: "My Lord, there are 3,000 dan of grain in the granary."

One load is one hundred kilograms, which means there are three hundred thousand kilograms of grain.

Chu Zhao and Gu Xi both felt depressed. There was so much food, but instead of giving it to the refugees, they were feeding it to rats?

The master observed the expression and asked cautiously, "Are you planning to sell the grain now?"

"Sell your ass!" Chu Zhao said angrily, "Can't you see there are so many refugees outside the city? Take out all the food and distribute it to the refugees."

After thinking for a while, he said, "In addition to the refugees outside the city, there should be quite a few in the village. How many refugees are there in our county?"

The lawyer was puzzled, wondering why his master seemed like a different person.

The refugees have been gathering at the city gate for a long time. Why did he think of helping them now?

But seeing the adults' expressions, he did not dare to ask any more questions. He immediately bowed and said tremblingly:

"Your Excellency, there is a severe drought in the whole county this year. Farmers have almost no harvest. There are 30,000 farmers in the county."

Thirty thousand people share 300,000 kilograms of food, but each person only gets 10 kilograms, which is too little and will not last until the autumn harvest.

While the lawyer didn't dare to look up, Gu Xi poked Chu Zhao's arm, then opened the sandalwood box and took out a pile of deeds to farms, shops, and houses.

This thing was also copied from the ancient mansion’s warehouse, but it’s useless and you can’t take a dead object away.

Seeing Gu Xi's eyes, Chu Zhao immediately understood and said:

"You are to do three things right away: First, call all the yamen runners to transport all the grain from the granary to the city gate overnight. If there are not enough people, the servants and guards in the mansion will also be under your command;

Second, send some more people on fast horses to each village to notify the villagers to rush to the county town gate to receive relief food.

3. Send someone to notify all the grain store owners in the county to come here immediately. I want to borrow grain from them."

The lawyer's face changed drastically. Are you serious, sir?

"But sir, the court has not yet sent relief grain. Aren't we going to sell the grain in our granary at a high price?"

The lawyer had even thought about how to make some money from it, so how did it end up being distributed to refugees?

Gu Xi and Chu Zhao looked at each other.

What the hell? This Gu Ming actually wants to sell the public grain. He is really an expert at making money.

Is he going to starve all the people to death? What a piece of shit.

Gu Xi rolled her eyes, thinking that she would have to use an electric baton on Gu Ming when he woke up.

Chu Zhao's face darkened, and the aura of a superior oppressed him so much that the master did not dare to raise his head.

"Are you the county magistrate or am I the county magistrate?"

The master was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and said, "I dare not."

Chu Zhao thought about it, and in order to motivate the master to do a good job, he made up a reason to explain:

"Now the confidant of the Minister of Personnel is visiting my house. If I can't solve the problem of the disaster victims, I'm afraid I'll lose my job. On the contrary, if I do my best to feed the refugees, the Minister will naturally look at me differently, and I will be promoted in no time. Compared with promotion, money is nothing. You should do it quickly. If I get promoted, won't you also be able to rise with me?"

So this is what the adults were thinking.

The lawyer thought about it and found no logical problem, so he immediately went out to do what "Gu Ming" had asked him to do.

He does have some abilities, otherwise he would not be valued by Gu Ming.

Chu Zhao and Gu Xi waited for a while, and the grain store owners came over one after another. They all had sleepy faces, and some of them were dressed in messy clothes. They were probably pulled out of their quilts.

Chu Zhao glanced at everyone and said seriously:

"Yanzhao County is suffering from a severe drought, and the people are displaced. I have decided to open the granaries to release grain, but the grain is still not enough. You are all conscientious merchants in this county. I hope you can lend a hand and transport all your stored grain to the city gate to help the people overcome the difficulties together."

Upon hearing this, the grain store owners' faces changed drastically and they began to whisper to each other.

One of them was brave enough to stand up and say:

"Sir, we want to help, but there isn't much food in the store."

Giving the grain to the county magistrate is like throwing meat buns at a dog, isn't that just throwing meat buns at a dog?

Chu Zhao frowned slightly and said:

"I know it's not easy for you, so I won't let you pay in vain. The relief money from the imperial court will arrive in our county soon. If you don't believe me, I will use the land deeds of my ancient mansion as collateral. I'm not asking you to donate grain, but I'll sell grain to our county at a fair price. Moreover, I will give certain rewards to all merchants who donate grain, and I won't let you suffer any loss."

As he spoke, he slammed the thick stack of deeds in his hand onto the table.

The grain shop owners finally breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the county magistrate did not take it by force, they would sell it to the government at a fair price. Although they would not make much money, they would not lose money either.

So they said:

"Your Excellency is truly an honest official. It is a great blessing for the people of Yanzhao County. We dare not hide anything and will immediately transport the grain to the city gate."

Although they didn't understand why this county magistrate, who had always loved money like his life, suddenly became a good official who cared about the country and the people, they still had to flatter him.

"Okay!" Chu Zhao nodded with satisfaction. "Each of you take a few deeds back and report the amount of grain you have in stock to Steward Gu."