Steel Dynasty - Chapter 319

[Chapter 319: Natural Disaster]

In the afterglow of dusk, Zhao Long’s side face turned red due to the red clouds.

After returning from Bowen College, he said to Xiao Ming with a smile: “Your Highness, many students of Bowen College are excited by the announcement and say they want to surpass Lu Tong.”

“Well, these students do need some encouragement, right? You can take this and put it up in every college tomorrow.”

Zhao Long and Zhao Hu followed Xiao Ming every day these days and were always auditors outside the school. Over time, they got to know a lot of people. He looked at it. This is the paper handed over by King Qi.

On this paper are more detailed incentive measures, including scholarships, science and technology creation awards, progress awards, extraordinary contribution awards, etc. Behind these awards is a precise list of the rewards for these awards.

What surprised him the most was the Extraordinary Contribution Award. On it, Xiao Ming wrote that he would be given a residence in Qingzhou City, worth three thousand taels of gold.

Putting away the reward regulations, Zhao Long bowed and left, his heart beating rapidly. This regulation was not only for Bowen College, but also for the entire fiefdom. As long as someone reported their scientific and technological achievements to the government office, the government office would automatically will be assessed.

“If I can get the Extraordinary Contribution Award, it would be enough to marry ten wives.” Thinking of such delicacies, his mouth watered.

But when I was secretly imagining in my heart, I suddenly recalled that King Qi looked a little unhappy just now when he looked at the sunset, and he didn’t know why?

The sunset is very beautiful, especially under this pure sky. The sunset on the horizon is like the colorful colors in a glass ball.

But in Xiao Ming’s opinion, this kind of beauty is very dangerous, at least for his fiefdom.

As the saying goes, the morning glow will not go out, but the sunset glow will travel thousands of miles. This means that it will rain at morning glow, and it will be sunny again at sunset.

Qingzhou is basically seeing sunset now, which also means that Pang Yukun’s prediction may come true, and Qingzhou may face a drought this year.

Since ancient times, Henan, Hebei, and Shandong have been areas hardest hit by drought and locust plagues. Historically, there have been many chaos caused by disasters in these three areas.

During the Kuomintang rule, Henan suffered a severe drought from July 1942 to the spring of 1943. The drought was followed by a locust plague, which eventually led to a major famine in Henan.

At that time, famine spread throughout the province, and countless people starved to death.

Recalling the bloody files, Xiao Ming couldn’t help but feel a chill running down his spine. At that time, the drought coincided with the frontline war against Japan, which worsened the disaster.

And now the Blood Wolf tribe is watching with eager eyes. If the state is merged, the Jizhou generation will be in chaos due to drought and lack of food. At this time, the situation of Dayu Kingdom that he has just restored may take a turn for the worse.

It’s just that he is a human, not a god, and he can’t do anything about this natural and man-made disaster. What’s more, Bingzhou is the fiefdom of King Liang and Jizhou is the fiefdom of King Yong. He can’t intervene and is powerless to intervene.

Now being able to protect his fiefdom from disaster is a blessing from heaven.

“Let it rain, no matter how beautiful the sunset is, it can’t be used as food.” Xiao Ming murmured to himself.

After worrying about this matter all night, Xiao Ming went directly to the Chamber of Commerce the next day to personally supervise the purchase of grain.

“Your Highness, I have already told you to exchange things for things and prepare to purchase a large amount of food.”

Li Kaiyuan hurriedly explained after learning that Xiao Ming was in charge of food.

“It’s not enough. Let all the ships of the Chamber of Commerce go to the south of the Yangtze River to purchase food. There is never enough food in the north, so we can only start from the south.”

Xiao Ming thought about it all night and prepared to go to the south to buy food reserves.

Li Kaiyuan now knew why Xiao Ming wanted to purchase grain on a large scale. He knew the importance of this issue. He suddenly said to Xiao Ming: “Your Highness, there is someone in the Chamber of Commerce that you may want to meet. If he nods, our Qingzhou’s grain should not be There will be problems.”

“Who?” Xiao Ming was stunned.

“Your Highness, this Jiangnan is the richest in the world, but there is a Cao family who is the richest in Jiangnan. Today, some people from the Cao family are coming to buy glass mirrors from the Chamber of Commerce. They said they would visit His Highness later. In this case, why not meet Your Highness now? “Them.”

“Cao family?” Xiao Ming frowned.

Although they have produced a lot of goods since last year, the Cao family has never been slow and does not seem to care about the profits of these goods.

Can the Cao family finally bear it now?

After hesitating for a moment, he said: “In that case, let him come over.”

Li Kaiyuan nodded and went out immediately. After a while, he led a young man in a white satin robe and walked in.

“Cao Zhengyang pays homage to His Highness!”

Seeing Xiao Ming, the white-robed young man was polite and polite, neither humble nor overbearing.

“Cao Zhengyang? A concubine of the Cao family asked a concubine to come to see this king. It seems that the Cao family has never taken this king seriously.” Xiao Ming sat on the chair with a calm expression and a slightly dissatisfied tone.

He deliberately tested this Cao Zhengyang.

Cao Zhengyang set out from Lin’an seven days ago and arrived in Qingzhou today. This time he was assigned by his family to come to Qingzhou.

Hearing this, he said calmly: “It is said that Your Highness is a dragon and a phoenix among people, a role model for the Great Chongqing Kingdom. I didn’t expect that Your Highness would also classify people as concubines. It’s a pity, it’s a pity, I thought that Your Highness was different.”

“Bold, Your Highness is noble. , How can I allow you to criticize at will? If I had known this, none of the mirrors in this chamber of commerce would be sold to you,” Li Kaiyuan said angrily.

Xiao Ming stretched out his hand to stop Li Kaiyuan who was about to continue scolding.

“In Qingzhou, I naturally do not distinguish between legitimate sons and concubines, but among the great clans of the Chongqing Kingdom, the legitimate sons are often respected. When traveling to other places, they must respect the legitimate sons. Do you think you can just give me a high hat? Will the king be fooled?” Xiao Ming sneered.

Hearing this, Cao Zhengyang choked for a moment, and continued: “Your Highness is smart. It’s not that the Cao family despises His Highness, but that my father heard that Your Highness was wise. In addition, the eldest brother was ill in bed, so he had no choice but to let me come.”

“Just tell the truth .”

“Xiao Ming stood up and said, “I don’t like to beat around the bush, tell me, what do you want when you come to Qingzhou this time?”

“Your Highness, please speak quickly. In this case, Cao will not hide it. Yes, Your Highness must know that the Cao family has been serving under the King of Chu.”

Xiao Ming nodded, “Isn’t it true?”

Cao Zhengyang said: “Your Highness, for a businessman, business has no borders, and what the businessman pursues is truth. Gold and silver, so please don’t treat the Cao family as the king of Chu’s dogs and horses.”

As soon as he said this, Xiao Ming’s brows furrowed, because such words should not be said by a businessman from the Great Chongqing Kingdom.

“This is the country of Great Chongqing. What are merchants if they are not the horses and dogs of the powerful?”

“Yes, it is indeed the case in the country of Great Chongqing, but that is the difference between your highness. Your highness is prepared to prosper the country through business, and perhaps he can create a business-like environment for businessmen. A free country.”

(End of chapter)