The dark clouds covered the entire sky layer by layer, and the raindrops that had turned into thick fog covered the scenery 30 steps away with a vague and dizzy shell. The light in the government office was dim and filled with a damp and cold atmosphere, just like Lu Chengxiang's mood now.

This period of time has passed, and Lu Chengxiang has been wondering whether his surname is in conflict with Luzhou or has violated those evil gods. Since he left the prefect of Luzhou, everything has been going wrong.

Lu Chengxiang was a Jinshi in the 22nd year of Guangxu. He served as two magistrates and another magistrate. He took office as the magistrate of Luzhou at the beginning of last year. Overall, Lu Chengxiang's career was quite smooth. However, after taking office as the magistrate of Luzhou in March last year, he encountered floods in May, and all three counties and one prefecture under Luzhou were flooded. Finally, the floods were overwhelmed. In April this year, heavy rains fell in the entire Anhui, and the water levels of large and small rivers and lakes rose. In late April, the Mazha River in the south of Shucheng County was blasted, and most of the county was flooded. After May, Lujiang County and Wuweizhou were flooded one after another. Just 6 days ago, the lake embankment of Chaohu broke, and the whole county was transformed into a vast ocean. Now only Hefei County, the capital of Luzhou Prefecture, was spared due to its high terrain and good river embankment.

It can be said that the situation is even more difficult than last year, because in Lujiang County last year, Shucheng County was still in the process of flooding until July, and now it has flooded again only in May. Why is Lu Chengxiang not anxious?

Of course, just after Shucheng County was flooded, Lu Chengxiang also took urgent measures. On the one hand, he asked the Anhui Governor's Office, and on the other hand, he recruited wealthy families in Luzhou to raise money, rice and grain, and ordered a porridge shed outside Luzhou City to help the disaster victims. Because Lu Chengxiang knew very well that a large number of disaster victims would be generated after a major disaster. If ambitious people shouted at this time, a large-scale riot incident would be formed. If they were not properly handled, they would even lead to more supervision of the dynasty. In history, such things happened repeatedly. Therefore, as long as the court with a little ability, they would provide relief for major disasters.

This was what Lu Chengxiang did last year. Since Luzhou is an important town in Anhui, the Anhui Governor's Office did not dare to ignore it, so he drew 30,000 taels of silver for disaster relief in Luzhou. The wealthy families in Luzhou raised more than 10,000 taels of silver and more than 1,000 stone of grain. The Luzhou Prefectural Office still had about 3,000 taels of silver in stock.

Of course, when the disaster relief funds arrived in Luzhou, there were only 20,000 taels left. The 10,000 taels were detained by the governor's yamen, and the Luzhou Prefect's yamen also drew 5,000 taels of silver from the disaster relief funds. Lu Chengxiang personally obtained the benefits of 1,000 taels of silver. The rest were divided by officials in Luzhou. This is also a practice in the officialdom. All money is exploited layer by layer, and everyone handles it. In the end, 1 and a half can be used for real purposes. Even if it is a good result, it is because,

In the end, Luzhou was able to have about 30,000 taels of silver for disaster relief, which can be said to be quite sufficient. Luzhou Prefecture used 20,000 of silver to buy about 4,000 stones of grain, opened a porridge shed outside the city to help the victims, and finally saved the victims without any major chaos. In September, the flood gradually receded, and Luzhou Prefecture used the remaining 10,000 taels to strengthen the river embankment around Hefei after the disaster, and finally saved more than 4,000 taels.

However, the situation facing Luzhou Prefecture this year is obviously much worse than last year, because the Governor's Office could not afford that money. Last year, the entire Anhui Province suffered severe disasters. As the highest administrative unit in Anhui Province, the Anhui Governor's Office could not only provide relief to Luzhou Prefecture, regardless of other places. Therefore, last year, Anhui spent a total of nearly 200,000 taels of silver for disaster relief, including the 100,000 taels of silver pulled out by the Qing court. Of course, only 50,000 taels of silver were finally dropped into Anhui. As a result, all the treasury of the Governor's Office was spent.

Due to floods throughout Anhui last year, the tax revenue for the whole year was greatly reduced. When Luzhou Prefecture asked the Anhui Governor for help, the Governor's yamen could only pull out 15,000 taels of silver, which was half less than last year. However, the Governor's yamen exploited it layer by layer, and everyone's rules did not change at all. As a result, when the silver was sent to Luzhou Prefecture, there was only 10,000 taels left. Lu Chengxiang recruited wealthy families in Luzhou to let them pay for food and overcome this difficulty. The wealthy families in Luzhou also suffered heavy losses last year, and almost no food was received in the fields, and their business was very depressed. It was indeed a bit difficult to ask them to pay for food.

So Lu Chengxiang could only repeatedly tell the rich people the interests. If the disaster victims were not satisfied, if the trouble became a civil rebellion and broke through Hefei, it would be a situation where both jade and stones were burned. After hearing this, the rich people knew this truth, so they could only grit their teeth and avoid forcefully gathering them out again. 5,000 taels of silver and 300 s of grain, plus the more than 4,000 taels of silver in Luzhou Prefecture, they got a total of about 17,000 taels of silver. However, the prefect of Luzhou did not destroy the rules of the officialdom and drew 3,000 taels of silver from it. Everyone divided it together, and the final use of disaster relief was only 15,000 taels of silver.

At this time, outside Hefei City, victims had begun to gather. Lu Chengxiang ordered people to build shacks outside the city, set up pots and cook porridge to help the victims, and sent people to buy food. At the same time, he ordered the city gate to be strictly guarded and the victims were absolutely forbidden from flooding into the city. Once he found signs of victims wanting to enter the city, he would immediately close the city gate.

However, there were more and more disaster victims outside the city. At the beginning, there were only a few hundred people, and soon it exceeded 1,000. At this time, the number of victims gathered outside the city had exceeded 3,000, and the more than 300 stones of grain offered by the wealthy households were almost used. Although Lu Chengxiang sent people to buy food, the entire Yangtze River Basin suffered a disaster last year, and the grain output was greatly reduced. Not only did the grain price rise sharply, but there was also a market price, so it was not easy to buy food. Of course, there was also the reason for the East China **. In order to prepare for the Far East War, East China ** has been purchasing a large amount of grain in recent years, resulting in a significant reduction in the private surplus grain.

Of course, Lu Chengxiang was anxious. Seeing that the victims outside the city gathered more and more, and the food on his hand had been used almost all, it would be better to boil the porridge as thin as possible and make the food more useful for a while. But that's the case. Now the food in Hefei is only enough for 2 days at most. After 2 days, if the purchased food has not arrived yet, the porridge outside the city will be interrupted, and it is hard to say what will happen to the 3,4000 victims outside the city will cause. So Lu Chengxiang also recruited officials from the prefect's office and his staff to discuss countermeasures.

The magistrate Song Changhui said: "Do you want to inform me and cook the porridge more thinly, so that you can last for two more days."

Lu Chengxiang's aide Chang Qingde hurriedly said, "No, compared with last year, the porridge is now cooked so thin. If it continues, there will be only water left. The victims will not be able to eat enough, so how can they not cause trouble?"

Tongzhi Chen Yuzheng said: "Then close the city gate and lock the victims outside the city. As long as the victims are not allowed to enter the city, the safety of the people in this city can be kept."

Lu Chengxiang shook his head and said, "It's not appropriate. Once the city gate is closed, it will definitely cause civil unrest. At that time, we will not be able to escape."

Chang Qingde said: "Dongweng, according to the students' opinions, he would like to find the big households in the city to give them some more grain. As far as the students know, there is still some surplus grain in the homes of the big households in the city. If they get it together, they can also get 3,50 shi of grain. This will allow you to spend more time and wait until the purchased grain reaches the level, and you will be free of worries."

Song Changhui said: "But when will the food I bought arrive?"

Chang Qingde said: "I think it's going to be soon. I've been there for more than 10 days. In another 3 or 5 days, it's going to arrive."

Chen Yuzheng shook his head repeatedly and said, "Now all parts of Anhui are flooded and the roads are flooded. Who knows what will happen on this road?"

Lu Chengxiang sighed and said, "It's better to delay a few more days. Now, it's a day to delay a day."

At this moment, a family member ran into the lobby and said, "Master, Master, Cheng Ping is back, Cheng Ping is back."

When Lu Chengxiang heard this, he couldn't help but stand from the chair. Even his hands were trembling with excitement, and he kept saying, "Hurry, hurry, call him in, call him in."

The "Chengping" mentioned by this family is called Lu Chengping, who is a brother of Lu Chengxiang's clan. Since Lu Chengxiang became an official, he has followed Lu Chengxiang as a personal family member. He is also quite smart and capable, and has won the trust of Lu Chengxiang. Lu Chengxiang has many important things left to him. This time he went to buy food, which is of great importance, so Lu Chengxiang sent Lu Chengping to take charge. Now that he has come back, he must have bought food back.

I saw a middle-aged man in his 40s walking into the lobby. His clothes were almost wet, and half of his body was covered in mud and water, and he wore a few mud marks on his face. This trip to buy food was quite hard.

Just as Lu Chengping was about to greet Lu Chengxiang, Lu Chengxiang waved his hand and said anxiously: "No need to be too polite, how about it? Have you bought food? How much food did you buy?"

Lu Chengping hurriedly said, "I bought it, and it has more than 600 stones. Now it has been transported outside the city. I am afraid that the master will be anxious, so I rushed into the city to tell the master."

Lu Chengxiang added his forehead with his hands and said, "Thank God." The others were relieved. Because with these more than 600 stones of grain, Luzhou could last for at least a period of time, and everyone could feel at ease for a few days.

Lu Chengxiang said again: "Okay, okay, Chengping, you have made great contributions this time! I will definitely reward you heavily. By the way, did you buy the food there?"

Lu Chengping smiled bitterly and said, "Master, you can't buy food in the entire Anhui now. Not to mention Anhui, you can't buy food even in Jinling. The villain asked along the way and did not buy food until Suzhou Prefecture."

Chang Qingde, who was on the other side, was also surprised and said, "Suzhou Prefecture is more than 800 miles away from Luzhou. Why did you come back so soon with so much food?"
Chapter completed!