.Suzhou Prefecture, Changzhou County Government, and in the lobby, under the plaque hanging high with a clear mirror, Hai Rui and Gui Youguang sat opposite each other.

Hai Rui's official uniform is no longer as bright as when he first took office. The edges and corners are a little worn and the color is a little black. It is hard to imagine that it has become like this after only a few months of wearing it.

But if you look at his tired face, which is becoming thinner, you will understand from the blisters at the corner of your mouth and the blood in your eyes, you will understand how strong he has been working on the job these days.

It is described as the sixteen words "day and night, forgetting to eat and sleep, worrying and thinking hard, and working hard". It is very appropriate and not exaggerated at all.

"How many days can the food in the city last?" His voice was hoarse and dry, not as confident as before.

Gui Youguang was stunned. At this time, he was asked suddenly and replied in a hurry: "There is still one day."

Hai Rui asked, "The Lord of the Mansion is not here, but Suzhou Prefecture is the head of the master. Now I must come up with an idea. What should I do if the food is cut off in one day?" The whole city and outside the city were full of food. From the perspective of the Lu family's extortion, the food was sold out. If countermeasures were not taken to stabilize the people's hearts and the people would be in chaos, it would be a disaster.

Gui Youguang has also been under great pressure recently. After having mouth sores, his old hemorrhoids have recurred. He stared at his red eyes and said, "Before leaving, he said, the food will be transported back tomorrow at the latest."

"What if we can't get it tomorrow?" Hai Rui said with a stern face: "When the civil unrest occurs, what should we do?"

"What do you think you should do?" Gui Youguang is a decent person, even if Shen Mo talks with him. He is very polite. Now that Hai Rui is treated like this, he is quite unaccustomed to it.

"Borrow grain from the big households! I am the magistrate of Changzhou. I will borrow the big household in Changzhou. It depends on you in Wuxian." Hai Rui could not refuse and said, "Don't borrow too much, just borrow enough food for three days."

"Borrow grain? That's not OK!" Gui Youguang shook his head and said repeatedly: "My lord has repeatedly advised to keep the stability of Suzhou City. Isn't this loan telling the common people that the government has no grain?" Since Shen Mo got the 70,000 stone of grain, he announced that in view of the special situation, the grain store in Suzhou City was temporarily taken over by the government, and the grain was concentrated in the official warehouse for sale, and grain coupons were sold in a unified manner; of course, the grain coupons originally sold were also valid.

In this way, the people do not have to worry about which store will go bankrupt. Moreover, they are blindly trusting the government, and there will be less panic buying, which is beneficial to the stability of the people. For all the merchants of the Grain and Oil Chamber of Commerce, it is naturally a good thing to be able to throw this big bag that is almost crushing to death to the government. Because Shen Mo asked them to take out two million taels of silver, he would take all their bad debts and ensure that even if they collapsed completely, the government would bear it and have nothing to do with them. At the same time, he also guaranteed that after the incident was settled, the government would not invade whoever had the store or who would have the store.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't care so much." Hai Rui sighed and said, "It is precisely because of this kind of mediocre heart that today's situation is happening... tomorrow, food will be out of stock. What else can I cover up when the facts are revealed in the world?" He said, "Will the victims and the hungry people go to attack the big households by themselves and cause riots?"

Gui Youguang is a guy who is good at planning and short of execution. When he heard Hai Rui say this, he immediately had two big heads and said distressedly: "Okay, how can we borrow?"

"We borrow it in the name of the yamen, and we will borrow it, and the Lord of the Mansion will repay it." Hai Rui said irresponsibly: "So just borrow it. No matter whether it is a pit or a confusion, as long as you can borrow it."

"Okay, I'll try it." Gui Youguang said wanderingly: "But I, I'm not sure I can borrow it."

"If you can't borrow it, just take your family and run away." Hai Rui's expression seemed to have not changed for thousands of years. He picked up his official hat, stood up, and strode out.

"Why is this person like this?" Gui Youguang muttered depressedly, then picked up his black hat and walked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After leaving the county government, the two went their separate ways and borrowed food from the wealthy households according to their own style...

Hai Rui's method was very simple. He led the brigade of yamen runners and hundreds of ordinary people to visit them in turn according to the ranking of wealthy people in the county...

‘Dangdang…’ Hai Rui knocked on the door.

"Who?" asked Menzi.

"Hai Rui, the magistrate of Changzhou."

The door quickly opened the door. When he saw so many people, he wanted to close it, but was stopped by the left and right yamen runners.

"My master is not at home." Menzi said cowardly.

"Even if the master is not here," Hai Rui said while pushing open the door and walking in, "Then there should be a second master. Even if the master is no longer there, there should be someone in charge and ask him to come out to see me!"

Seeing that the yamen runners and the people followed in rumblingly, the doormen and the servants who rushed over to hear the news quickly stopped them: "You can't trespass on the private house!"

But Hai Rui forced him back with a knife-like gaze: "They are my entourages, why can't they come in?"

"Master Tai Zun, how many hundred followers do you have?" Menzi said with a bitter face.

"I am very arrogant." Hai Rui said a few words and walked into the hall, sat down with a big sword and a golden horse. Fortunately, the hundreds of people did not follow in, but just stood in the yard outside, staring at the hall with a fierce look.

This is not a visit, it is obviously a forced palace, so the disciple had no choice but to order someone to come and report it to the back.

After a while, a gray-bearded old man came with him. After saluting Hai Rui, he introduced himself as the housekeeper in the mansion, and then asked about Hai Rui's purpose.

"I am here to borrow food." Hai Rui said without blinking.

"Borrow grain..." The housekeeper laughed dryly: "The food has been in short supply for so long, and the Han family has been exhausted. Now, from the master to the servant, I can only eat two meals a day. I also have to ask the government, what's going on!"

"What's going on?" Hai Rui looked at him coldly and said, "You know better than me. If it weren't for your master's group, who had hoarded goods and raised prices, how could Suzhou City have no food?" He said in a stressful tone: "Listen to me. Today, the grain is said to be borrowed, and it is also a forced loan. You have to give it or not!"

"I have never heard of forced buying and selling, but I have never heard of it. I have to force someone to borrow money!" The butler said in a muffled voice: "The master of the Han family is not here, I, a butler, can't do anything. I should come back another day." As he said that, he was about to leave.

But with a 'bang' sound, Hai Rui slapped heavily on the table, shaking the teacup. The old housekeeper was so scared that he shivered. He turned around and said in anger: "The Han family is the family of officials. The second master is the governor of a province. Please respect the magistrate."

"I am here to waste your conversation with you just to give your face!" Hai Rui stood up and pointed to the crowd outside the door and said, "These people are helping me transport food. If you don't borrow it today, the Japanese officials in Ming Dynasty will not come, but they will still come. I will not be responsible for what happens at that time."

"You..." the butler trembled with anger: "Do you want to incite them to rebel?"

"Wrong!" Hai Rui said in a deep voice: "This is to prevent them from rebelling." As he said that, he slowly approached two steps, his eyes were like a knife, staring at the old housekeeper and said: "Listen, I will repeat it to your master later - there is still one day left in the official warehouse. If you don't borrow food, Suzhou City will be in chaos tomorrow. With this today, they will not come to me, Haigangfeng, tomorrow, but will definitely come to you, the wealthy and poor people who are hoarding goods.

What happened, even if you burn all your family, it would be just a word of "civil chaos"! Even if you were lucky enough to not hit your family, in order to calm the public anger, the court may have to take action with your family - should we take out a thousand stones of grain now, or wait until tomorrow to let them come and take it for yourself!" As he said, he looked at the sky and said, "Reply to me within a quarter of an hour, and it will not be time to go." Then he sat down again, looked at the messy table with cups and plates, and said in a deep voice: "Change tea!"

Two quarters of an hour later, the food was delivered. When Hai Rui saw that it was obviously not enough, he frowned and said, "But only five hundred stones, right?"

"Sixty thousand kilograms of grain." The housekeeper said angrily: "It is already the limit of the Han family, so don't force people too much."

Hai Rui pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "Forget it this time." As he said that, he waved his hand and said, "Carry it away?" The yamen runners and the people scattered and carried the 150-pound sacks to the big cart outside.

Seeing this scene, the butler sighed: "Master Hai, you have never been an official since ancient times."

"You have forced us to a dead end." Hai Rui looked at him contemptuously and said, "Rules are used for people with rules, not those of you who do evil."

"Have you considered the consequences?" asked the housekeeper: "The horrific crime of trespassing into a private house and harassing officials and gentry is enough to ruin your future."

"Far future." Hai Rui spat and then left.

Lord Hai continued to knock on each family like this. Fortunately, with the first one, the ones behind him dared not to borrow grain. Your family had 300 stones and my family had 200 stones. After half a day, he borrowed more than 9,000 stones.

When the grain was removed to the warehouse in the middle of the night, Gui Youguang also came with the grain. When the two met, Wuxian borrowed more than 7,000 stones, "I have a monthly profit of three cents. At that time, I only need food for money." Gui Youguang said: "I have to persuade you and ask my grandfather to sue my grandmother, and I have given so much." Only academic leaders like him can do this. He gathered more than 200 disciples, and each assigned a task to ask them all to go home to ask for rice. Youdao is that the master has something to do, and the disciples obey their efforts. Most of the students are from a wealthy family, and every family can take out food.

He found those literary friends again and asked for borrowing them. After all, the literati of this era still had to write their faces. No one had the nerve to refuse him, so he lent him this one to eighty stones and that one to thirty or fifty stones.

In the end, he used more than 200 IOUs to exchange for more than 8,000 stones of grain. Although he would have to pay more than 10,000 stones in one month, it was the adult's business, not his.

Gui Youguang was quite proud, but thought to himself that I could borrow food with such great face. You, Hai Gangfeng, had the energy to offend people all day long and didn't even want to borrow the food door. So he asked with some bad taste: "I wonder how much Lord Hai borrowed?"

"Nine Thousand Stones." Hairui Ancient Well Buhadao.

"Ah..." Gui Youguang said in surprise: "How much interest?"

"No interest." Hai Rui took off his official hat, scooped water from the water tank and poured it into a basin, washing his hands and face.

"I don't believe it. Let me show you the IOU." Gui Youguang felt very hit.

"No IOU." Hai Rui wiped his hands and face, then took a black cake from the plate, and ate it hard... This kind of bread made of wheat bran and black bean noodles cannot be bitten even if you can't bite it. I don't know how Hai Rui could only eat this kind of thing once every ten days.

Looking at this guy who always had a look, Gui Youguang felt indescribable, and I don’t know if he should admire or blame him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But no matter what, with this grain, Suzhou City lasted for another four days. Until the fifth day of dusk, the two looked into the distance by the river, but still did not see any trace of the grain ship.

It has been four days since Shen Mo promised to return. There was no food in the grain warehouse, and the victims outside the city stopped cooking. The commotion in Suzhou City was finally impossible to suppress. In just one morning, five incidents of people beating the injured official officers... Without food, Hai Qingtian's name was no longer useful. He rushed to calm the situation and was scolded by the people, saying that he was a big liar, and he knew to fool the people.

This made Hai Rui, who was wholeheartedly considering the people, was very hurt. He sat on the big bluestone by the dock, with the past firmness in his eyebrows missing, and replaced by a faint sadness. This expression appeared on the face of a man, which was particularly sad.

This time, Gui Youguang was also a complete rooster. He squatted on the edge of the dock and hugged his head and said, "It's over, it's over. If you don't come today, it will be completely in chaos tomorrow." He knew very well that the anger of the people of Suzhou City had them suppressed them in various ways for two months. If it broke out, it would be enough to destroy everything in the entire Suzhou City.

"Why should we borrow some more food?" Gui Youguang suggested.

"Who will still borrow it?" Hai Rui said with confusion: "This kind of thing can only be done once. They must have hidden the food now. Can't we really search the house?" As he said that, a trace of harshness flashed across his face, and he gritted his teeth and said: "If you search the house, just search the house! It's better to let them be aggrieved than to make the people mess up!"

"It's better not to do this unless it's absolutely necessary." Gui Youguang sat down beside Hai Rui and said, "It's not the Mongol Yuan anymore. It's a big taboo for this dynasty to confiscate the house for no reason. Even the emperor wouldn't do this."

"Why did the house be searched for no reason?" Hai Rui said angrily: "They hoarded goods!"

"How do you prove that they have hoarded?" Gui Youguang said in a deep voice: "I found out that the food they hoarded was not in Suzhou City at all, just to prevent us from jumping over the wall."

"At worst, you can burn your jades and stones." Hai Rui said angrily: "You can't let the evil people be free and make the people unable to even eat!"

"Hey..." Hearing his frustration, Gui Youguang sighed and changed the subject: "Why are you saying that the lord hasn't come back yet? Didn't you buy food?"

"I'm afraid I'll run away," Hai Rui is a powerful person, so he has a lot of objections to the guy like Silence who doesn't return on time: "Two million taels of silver can be used to eat and eat every life whenever he goes."

"That's what you said!" Gui Youguang shook his head and smiled, "If you have confidence in the adults, he will not be able to do that."

"Then come back quickly!" Hai Rui said angrily: "Two million taels of silver can be bought with market price rice in various prefectures and counties, right? Is it true that Suzhou has shortage of food, so why haven't it sent it back yet!"

He was gestured excitedly, but saw Gui Youguang staring blankly in the northwest direction, as if he was possessed by a demon.

Hai Rui's heart moved, and as he looked over, he saw a big ship in the fiery sunset, with three sails rising high and coming with the wind! Looking at the back of the big ship, the grain ships were covered with sails, covering the entire river.

When he saw the word "Suzhou" hanging high on the big ship that was leading the way, Hai Rui's heart was almost bursting out, and Gui Youguang burst into tears and shouted excitedly: "Here, come, I'll say, sir, haven't abandoned us!"

When the fleet landed, the people who had already arrived at the dock were crowded with people who had heard the news. People looked up at the lanterns with white background and red letters on each ship. The eye-catching word "grain" was discussed excitedly, and most of them were extremely happy and relieved... Of course, there were also those who had ulterior motives, who were like losing their parents and could not help themselves.

Hai Rui and Gui Youguang quickly transferred all the soldiers to face the people and formed a solid cordon to prevent bad people from taking the lead in robbing.

After everything was arranged, the two of them went over to pay a visit to the adults excitedly.
Chapter completed!