Chapter 306 Lost and Found! (Thanks to the book friend s自由风雨b for the reward!)

After inspecting the resettlement site in Tutang Village, Ye Mingsheng and his team spent another three days spot-checking other resettlement sites. They severely dealt with a number of corrupt officials, and also gave warnings to some officials who were relatively honest but lazy and inactive...

After understanding the actual situation of the people under his jurisdiction and their practical needs, Ye Mingsheng ended his inspection which lasted for several days and returned to Fengzhou City exhausted.

Greeted by officials such as Liu Zhengxian, Ye Mingsheng entered the city and originally planned to return to his general's residence immediately to spend a few days relaxing to relieve his physical and mental fatigue, and by the way, fire the ammunition he had accumulated.

However, when he passed by Caishikou, he was surprised to find that all the beggars who used to beg around Caishikou had disappeared. Not a single person was there. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but feel curious and asked Liu Zhengxian, the Tongzhi of Fengzhou:
“Where did these beggars go?”

"Report to the general, it is now dinner time. Lord Murong's niece opened a porridge factory in the North Third Street in front to give out porridge. These beggars should all go there to drink porridge!" Liu Zhengxian answered respectfully without hesitation:
Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng was a little confused. He turned to Ye Dong beside him and asked:
"Murong Yuliang's niece is in Fengzhou?"

When Murong Yuliang first arrived, in order to find out the news in Murong Mansion, Ye Dong planted a few spies among the slaves and maids that the government was going to give to Murong Yuliang. However, Murong Yuliang was indeed very resourceful. He only picked a few of the servants that the government was going to give him and returned all the rest of the wine.

I don't know whether others discovered that the people Ye Dong bribed were really not good enough and were not favored by others. In short, none of the people Ye Dong planted were chosen.

This made Ye Dong, who had vowed in front of Ye Mingsheng that he could get news about Murong's mansion, very embarrassed. However, Ye Dong was not completely useless. After using some means, he confirmed with Ye Mingsheng that Murong Qingwu did not follow Murong Yuliang to Fengzhou.

After knowing this news, Ye Mingsheng's interest in Murong Mansion suddenly decreased. Apart from asking Huo San to place people in Murong Mansion as usual, he did not pay too much attention to it.

Therefore, when Ye Mingsheng heard that Murong Yuliang's niece actually followed Murong Yuliang to Fengzhou, he was very surprised. Although there were exiled officials like Murong Yuliang who took their wives, daughters, and children to take up posts in other places, it was rare. This was the first time Ye Mingsheng heard of someone bringing his niece...

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, Ye Dong nodded and introduced:

"Murong Yuliang did bring her niece here. It is said that her niece is called Murong Lianyun, the illegitimate daughter of Murong Yuliang's younger brother Murong Wenlin. Murong Lianyun's mother was from Fengzhou and died of illness a few years ago. It is said that before she died, she hoped to return to her hometown after death. So Murong Lianyun followed Murong Yuliang to our Fengzhou in order to fulfill her mother's last wish!"

After hearing this, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly. Although he was still a little surprised that Murong Yuliang would keep his niece by his side, the reason of fulfilling his mother's last wish did make sense.

After all, as the orthodox court, Da Zhou highly respects filial piety, and the people attach great importance to their parents' wishes, especially their last wishes, and usually try their best to fulfill them...

However, in order to fulfill her mother's wish, she traveled thousands of miles from the prosperous Luoan to the remote Fengzhou. This Murong Lianyun was really precious. Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but feel a little curious about this woman and wanted to see what kind of person she was.
Because there was nothing important to deal with next, and it was not late, Ye Mingsheng hesitated for a moment, and then instructed Liu Zhengxian:

"You lead the way and show me where they are distributing porridge!"

Although it was unclear why Ye Mingsheng was interested in distributing porridge, since Ye Mingsheng had already given the order, Liu Zhengxian naturally followed it.

Led by Liu Zhengxian, Ye Mingsheng and his party crossed the street and came to Beisan Street. Seeing the huge crowds of people in front of them, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but frown.

Although he ordered that the excess grain other than food rations be confiscated from grain merchants, landlords and other individuals at the official guiding price, all grain would be uniformly distributed and supplied according to demand...
This kind of thing that directly infringed on the interests of landlords and grain was naturally strongly opposed by grain merchants and landlords, but Ye Mingsheng turned a blind eye to their opposition and directly enforced it with an iron fist. For those who obeyed the rules, he would give them a sum of silver according to the guidance price of grain, and for those who did not obey the rules, he would not give them any silver and would directly confiscate the grain.

Of course, in order to reduce the resistance to this matter and to win over and divide those who opposed this policy, Ye Mingsheng showed some mercy to the Fengzhou officials and the military officers of the Zhenwu Army under his command. He did not confiscate all the excess grain in their hands, but only purchased most of the grain according to the guidance price.

Even though it was Murong Lianyun who was distributing porridge in name, Ye Mingsheng felt that Murong Yuliang must have been behind this!
Ye Mingsheng originally thought that Murong Yuliang gave out porridge just to gain a good reputation. Plus, there wasn’t a lot of food in Murong’s mansion, so the porridge would only be given to a few hundred people at most…
Who would have thought that it would be on such a scale? In addition to beggars, some residents in the city were also waiting for the free food. Although the exact number of people was unknown, seeing this situation, Ye Mingsheng conservatively estimated that there were at least three thousand people!

To provide porridge to three thousand people, even if it is porridge and not dry rice, the food needed that day would be hundreds of kilograms. If this food is Murong Yuliang's own, then this means that Murong Yuliang has kept too much food privately, which has far exceeded the scope of Ye Mingsheng's tacit approval.

If the grain came from the government treasury, then distributing porridge in the name of the Murong family would be a problem of abusing public power for personal gain, using public grain to gain fame for the Murong family!
Realizing the problem, Ye Mingsheng did not get angry immediately. Instead, he calmed down and asked several of his personal soldiers to take off their clothes, put on ordinary people's clothes, and blend into the crowd to get porridge.

Ye Mingsheng wanted to see the quality of the porridge provided by the Murong family!
The Zhou Dynasty had strict regulations on government porridge relief, requiring that chopsticks not float in the porridge pot. Violators would be severely held accountable.

After a while, the soldiers sent by Ye Mingsheng brought the rice porridge to Ye Mingsheng. Looking at the consistency of the porridge, Ye Mingsheng asked Liu Zhengxian beside him;

"Do you know where the food for this porridge farm comes from?"

"Report to the Lord, these days Lord Murong has found Heshengchang Business, and Heshengchang Business has sold us 3,000 dan of grain at 1 tael and 8 coins per dan. In addition, Lord Murong has also personally invested and purchased some grain. This porridge shop should use Lord Murong's own grain!" Liu Zhengxian bowed and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

Ye Mingsheng fell into a brief thought after hearing this. Murong Yuliang was willing to help Fengzhou with its food problem, so he was naturally happy to see it happen.
As for the price of one tael and eight cents per stone, although it was one tael of silver higher than the one tael and seven cents that the Dalongchang Company sold to Ye Mingsheng, it was not much higher, so Ye Mingsheng did not care. After all, the amount of grain transported from the Dalongchang Company was limited, so Heshengchang's price was a little higher.

Although these 3,000 dan of grain were not enough to solve Fengzhou's food problem, they could at least alleviate the severity of the problem.
The key to the problem is that Murong Yuliang did not hand over the grain he bought from Heshengchang to the government as required, but asked Murong Lianyun to open a porridge factory to provide porridge.
This will be a great test of Ye Mingsheng's political wisdom, and he needs to make a choice!
Just when he was making a decision, a beautiful lady wearing a white veil, accompanied by several Murong family guards and maids, slowly walked towards Ye Mingsheng. At first, Ye Mingsheng, who was thinking, did not notice the approach of the person, until Ye Dong whispered a reminder beside him, Ye Mingsheng came back to his senses from his thoughts and looked at the beautiful lady not far away.

Although Ye Mingsheng couldn't see what the woman looked like because of the veil, looking at her slender figure, Ye Mingsheng had a sense of déjà vu. However, for a moment, he couldn't tell where he had seen her before...
Just as Ye Mingsheng was thinking secretly in his heart, the woman put her right hand on her left hand and placed it on her left waist. She put her right foot behind her and slightly bent her knees. She bowed softly to Ye Mingsheng and said softly:

"Murong Lianyun greets General Ye!"

Hearing Murong Lianyun's voice, Ye Mingsheng reacted instantly. A wonderful feeling of regaining what he had lost filled his chest, and a strange look appeared in his eyes when he looked at the woman in front of him.

However, Ye Mingsheng at this time had already developed a deep scheming mind. Although his emotions were turbulent and it was difficult to control himself, Ye Mingsheng still restrained his emotions and asked Murong Lianyun calmly:

"Miss Murong, do you know Ye?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, Murong Lianyun shook her head and said, "Lianyun, this is the first time I've met Lord Ye!"

Ye Mingsheng seemed to have thought of something when he heard this. A faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth and he asked:

"Oh? If this is the first time you see me, how do you know I'm General Ye?"

"Although Lianyun has never met Lord Ye, I think that in Fengzhou City, the only person who can have so many personal guards is probably Lord Ye Mingsheng!" Murong Lianyun continued in a neither humble nor arrogant manner:
Hearing Murong Lianyun's words, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help laughing. After shaking his head slightly, he couldn't help but look at the woman again. Although he couldn't see her face clearly, Ye Mingsheng could feel the bookish air that was integrated into her bones...
"I heard that this porridge factory was opened by Miss Murong? Miss Murong is so kind-hearted. I, Ye, would like to thank her on behalf of all the people in this city!" After saying that, Ye Mingsheng smiled and bowed to Murong Lianyun.

"Lord Ye, you are too kind. Although Lianyun is a woman, she is willing to contribute her humble efforts to the people of Fengzhou. Moreover, my uncle is the governor of Fengzhou, and it is his job to govern the people!"

Hearing that Ye Mingsheng, the general, was going to represent the people of Fengzhou, Murong Lianyun frowned slightly behind her veil and said softly:
Understanding the hidden meaning behind Murong Lianyun's words, Ye Mingsheng did not get angry and continued to ask:
"Does your uncle know that Miss Murong has opened a porridge factory here to give out porridge?"

"My uncle has been very busy lately with the government affairs in Fengzhou, and he often lives in the government office. I just want to help him share some of the burden..." Murong Lianyun spoke unconsciously with a hint of concern. It was obvious that she was very worried about Murong Yuliang's physical condition and whether he could cope with it.

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng suddenly realized that it was Murong Lianyun who did it alone. He said that Murong Yuliang, an old fox in the officialdom, would not make such a low-level mistake!

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng looked at Murong Lianyun and said:
"Miss Murong, after you run this porridge factory today, you won't have to run it tomorrow!"

Suddenly hearing that Ye Mingsheng would not let her distribute porridge, Murong Lianyun was extremely confused. She couldn't figure out why Ye Mingsheng would do this. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She directly asked Ye Mingsheng:
“General Ye, why are you doing this? These poor people need these…”

"Starting tomorrow, the government will open a porridge factory to provide porridge! I won't bother you, Miss Murong!" Ye Mingsheng said calmly:
After hearing Ye Mingsheng's answer, Murong Lianyun behind the white veil seemed to have some different opinions. She bit her red lips lightly, remained silent for a moment, and decided to refute:
"Master Ye, as the general, you may not know that the Fengzhou government has not prepared to distribute porridge!"

Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"There's none?"

"Then it starts from this moment!"

"Right? Liu Tongzhi?"

Liu Zhengxian, who was standing beside Ye Mingsheng, heard Ye Mingsheng mention him, and immediately stood up, bowed and said:

"Your Excellency is right. Tomorrow I will open three porridge factories in Fengzhou City and provide two meals of rice porridge every morning and evening!"

Seeing Liu Zhengxian was so sensible, Ye Mingsheng nodded with satisfaction, and then explained:
"The quality of the rice porridge must be on par with that of Miss Murong. The court has regulations, and violators will be severely punished!"

"Yes, sir!" Liu Zhengxian said loudly without looking away:

Seeing Ye Mingsheng and Liu Zhengxian singing the same tune, Murong Lianyun was still a little unconvinced and wanted to continue to say something, but Ye Mingsheng did not give her a chance to speak this time. He looked at her seriously and said:

"Miss Murong, do you know that Fengzhou has issued a regulation that the government will purchase all excess grain from individuals at the guidance price? This grain will be supplied by the government and distributed according to demand?"

(End of this chapter)