Chapter 298 Saving More People

Chapter 298 Saving More People

If you inflate prices just like them, they will see you as a thorn in their side because you are interfering and stealing their business. If you are a clear stream in a mudslide, they will be even more eager to eliminate and eradicate you because of your maverick ways.

Once a major disaster strikes, the affected areas will become chaotic and disorderly. Even if they take action to remove the obstacles, they can easily shift the blame to the starving and thirsty disaster victims who are willing to do anything to survive.

Not only Jiang Yuan, but Xie Wanniang was also well aware of this. She sighed and stared at Jiang Yuan, "That's why I will recruit a lot of people."

The reason she only diverted a portion of the shop's profits, rather than all of them, was because she still needed to find a group of capable individuals from the border army who could withstand scrutiny in both ability and character.

Even when that time actually came, she would shamelessly go to the Lady of the Marquis and the Lady of the Prefect of Baoding Prefecture to persuade them to lend her at least one tiger skin each, so that her people could travel outside in the name of the Marquis's Mansion and the Prefect.

It's not that her status as a county princess was low, but rather that when faced with interests large enough to make people take risks and abandon their conscience, rank was of no use.

What truly instilled fear in a scoundrel willing to betray her conscience for personal gain was not her title of county princess, but the immense power represented by the Marquis's mansion and the prefect's office.

The Marquis's mansion controlled the northern border troops, and the fact that the Prefect of Baoding was able to serve as the Prefect of Baoding, a strategically important border location, was enough to show how much the Emperor trusted him.

Xie Wanniang was confident that she could persuade the wives of the two high-ranking officials who were favored by the emperor and had an obligation to maintain local stability.

After hearing her outlining her plan, and learning that she was not only strengthening the team's combat capabilities but also intending to use the tiger's skin as a banner, Jiang Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, at the same time, he couldn't help but want to help her gain more leverage so that her situation could improve.

"Why don't you just suggest that the Prefect's wife take the lead in handling this matter, or I can simply ask the Heir Apparent to go and discuss it directly with the Prefect of Baoding Prefecture?"

Xie Wanniang shook her head, "Don't forget that I'm here to do business, not just to provide relief to disaster victims. Neither the Prefect of Baoding nor the Marquis's family can directly get involved in this business."

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that every caravan that dared to do this kind of business had one or two powerful backers that others wouldn't dare to mess with, she wouldn't have sought to leverage the influence of the Marquis's wife and the Prefect's wife.

Jiang Yuan's brows furrowed in frustration. "You don't plan to make money at that time, so why can't you just donate the money and supplies directly instead of organizing a team to do that kind of sensitive business that might give others the opportunity to impeach you and frame you?"

Xie Wanniang sighed, "Because I want more people to be able to survive because of this."

Simply donating money and food, not to mention the normal losses before the money and food reach the disaster victims, and how much the handlers might secretly take away, just consider this: once the remaining money and food are actually delivered to the disaster victims, are the disaster victims who benefit from it really the ones who most urgently need these things?

She delivered the supplies to the Baoding Prefectural Government Office. Whether the Prefect should choose to set up a disaster relief center in Baoding Prefecture or in towns and counties along the way was not up to her to decide.

Regardless of which choice the other party makes, the final result will definitely not be as she wishes, because what she expects is for these supplies to appear between the disaster-stricken area and the first resettlement point set up by the government.

As for how far her people can penetrate into the disaster area, that depends on the severity of the disaster and whether the local government takes any action.

If they respond promptly and take appropriate measures, not only the surrounding areas, but even the core areas where the disaster occurred, may not necessarily become chaotic.

After all, even in a severe drought, an entire county or prefecture wouldn't suddenly lose all its water resources.

As long as the local residents are relocated to places with abundant water sources in a planned manner before the water source in a certain area is completely depleted, and then the Changping Granary is opened in time to provide disaster relief and local and surrounding gentry and wealthy households are called upon to donate money and grain, the vast majority of the people will not turn to crime because they have no way to survive.

If the disaster worsens, as long as local officials report the facts, the imperial court will arrange for surrounding areas to help resettle the victims and will allocate funds and grain for timely disaster relief.

With the support of the imperial court and the assistance of surrounding regions, even if the weather turns bad, the people will not fall into the miserable state of cannibalism and starvation that occurred at the end of the previous dynasty or during times of war.

What is truly frightening is that some foolish and oblivious officials might choose to conceal the disaster when it first strikes, either due to a lack of attention or wishful thinking. Then, as the disaster progresses, they might frantically block all major roads out of fear of being punished by the court, attempting to trap the victims within their own jurisdiction.

Of course, with the new dynasty having been established for less than ten years, even if such officials existed, the emperor's two lines of communication, one overt and one covert, would never allow them to truly control everything.

At worst, the situation will only worsen to the point where people pawn their families or flee with their families, bringing instability to the surrounding areas.

The reason Xie Wanniang didn't take the easy way out and donate the money and grain directly to the government, but instead went through the trouble of going to the disaster area to do business, was because she hoped to stabilize prices so that more people could afford to buy grain.

Even if they buy grain by selling their own family members, Xie Wanniang still hopes that they can exchange their family members for more food.

Only when a living person can exchange for at least fifty or sixty catties of grain will the number of people who harbor evil intentions and treat their own kind as food decrease significantly.

This was a last resort, a choice between two evils made in desperation. If she hadn't been limited in her abilities, Xie Wanniang wouldn't have only thought of going this far.

Hearing her say this, Jiang Yuan, who had also experienced some of the darkest moments during the war years, fell silent.

After a long silence, he took a deep breath. "How much stuff do we still have at home that we can sell for money?"

Xie Wanniang raised her eyebrows slightly, "Most of the items in the storeroom can probably be exchanged for more than ten thousand taels of silver."

Forget about the grain; they and their subordinates also need to eat, not to mention that Xie Wanniang runs a restaurant.

Jiang Yuan nodded to indicate that he understood. "I asked the Crown Prince to help us sell those things for a good price."

Of course, when he approached Chang Yao, he certainly wouldn't have just asked him to help sell his unused items. Since Xie Wanniang was determined to do everything in her power to save people, he couldn't let her have any regrets after giving her all because of her limited abilities.