mesbooks Chapter 446: Worry about Food and Money
Chapter 446: Worry about Food and Money
Of course, if there are refugees who are unwilling to participate in building reservoirs, digging canals, and earning hard-earned money with their own hands, and are unwilling to support themselves with sweat and labor, and just want to stay at the city gate every day and live on the two meals of porridge provided by the government.
Such refugees are not worth helping at all, and he will not help such people.
Because after the government posted a notice informing the refugees that they would build reservoirs and dig canals, the government stopped providing porridge after the work officially began.
If refugees want to survive, there is only one way to go, and that is to join the water conservancy project construction team.
In this way, refugees who flee to Wuning County can not only fill their stomachs with food for themselves and their families, but also save some money.
As long as we work hard, I believe that in three years many people will be able to own houses and land and truly settle down in Wuning County.
It is also possible that some refugees have a sense of nostalgia for their homeland and are unwilling to settle in Wuning County. For these people, once the water conservancy project is completed, these people can be gathered together and the government can send officers and soldiers to escort them back to their hometowns.
These were all said by Li Mengyue, but he felt that they made a lot of sense and were more thoughtful than he had imagined. He couldn't find any reason to refuse.
Although the plan was perfect, he also had some concerns, namely food and money.
Not to mention food, which you may not be able to buy even if you have money nowadays, but each person has to be paid ten cents a day, which is not a small amount of money.
Ten coins per person, ten coins per person is one hundred coins, one hundred people is one tael of silver, one thousand people is ten taels of silver, and ten thousand people is one hundred taels of silver.
Assuming there are 40,000 refugees in Wuning County, the daily wages alone would be 400 taels, not counting other expenses.
However, if 40,000 people were to work together to complete the construction of the entire Wuning County water conservancy project, it would take at least two months.
After two months, the wages would amount to at least 24,000 taels of silver.
Twenty-four thousand taels of silver may not seem like a lot, but these are just the labor expenses. To complete the water conservancy project for the entire county, the money spent is not only the labor costs, but also the tools, including ox carts, carts, baskets, etc., and food and vegetables also have to be counted. In this way, money is spent like water every day.
However, Wuning County's annual tax revenue is only 8,000 taels. The wages paid to the refugees will use up three years of Wuning County's tax revenue. If other expenses are added, it is estimated that all of Wuning County's tax revenue for the next five or six years will be used up.
He was not very worried about this because he believed that under his governance, the people of Wuning County would become richer and richer, and tax revenues would increase.
What he was worried about was food. Mainly because since he learned that there were refugees, he immediately asked people to buy food, but the result was not satisfactory.
The price of grain has risen sharply compared to before the locust plague. The price of coarse grains that used to cost three cents per pound has risen to fifteen cents, and the price of fine grains is twenty cents per pound.
The key point is that even at this price, you can’t buy a large amount of food. Buying only a dozen or twenty kilograms will not solve the problem.
However, what he didn't expect was that when he expressed his concerns, both Xie Ruiyuan and Li Mengyue remained calm and didn't take it seriously at all.
He was extremely anxious, but the two men seemed to be fine and comforted him, saying, "It's a small matter, don't worry, there will be food."
How could food-related issues be trivial? In his opinion, let alone planning to start the water conservancy project in the entire Qingshan Prefecture, even the one in Wuning County would be difficult, after all, the amount of food consumed by the refugees every day was not a small amount.
But since those two are not in a hurry, why should he be in a hurry here?
But to be honest, seeing how calm Xie Ruiyuan and Li Mengyue were, he was more or less influenced and was no longer so anxious.
In fact, Li Mengyue was not really worried about the food problem. After all, the mountains of food in the space were not just piled up, but were actually going to be used and delivered to the refugees.
Only when the refugees are saved and go from despair to hope, will they be truly grateful to the people who saved them and pulled them out of the quagmire. She will also gain more gratitude and will not have to worry about failing to complete the mission.
As for Xie Ruiyuan, he still had some headaches about food before Li Mengyue gave him one million kilograms of grain.
Even though his cousin had left Xinghua Village and mobilized all his connections to get food, he was still a little worried.
After all, the burden on him is not light. In addition to preparing a large amount of food for disaster relief, he also has to support 300,000 troops.
Otherwise, when Li Mengyue asked him for silver, he would not have been unable to take out even a few thousand taels of silver. He was really short of money.
Regardless of the palace's open business, the secret business, or the business managed by his cousin, all the money earned was used to maintain the army.
You have to know that even though he is the third prince, the food and fodder allocated by the Ministry of Revenue every year is only enough for 100,000 troops, and the remaining 200,000 troops all depend on him.
Of course, the 200,000-strong army was not open to the public, and only his father knew about it, so he had to be willing to shoulder the burden of supporting an army of 200,000.
As a result, there would be no extra food and fodder to provide relief to the refugees.
Fortunately, the princess he chose was capable and could easily give him a million kilograms of grain to help him solve his urgent problem.
He didn't know where the food came from, and he had asked people to investigate, but there was no clue.
You know, he found out that Li Mengyue left the capital and it took her a month to reach Xinghua Village.
She has lived in Xinghua Village for more than three months now. During this period, Li Mengyue's life has been transparent, and she has basically been in the city and town.
Later, when there was a locust plague, he went to the other six counties in Qingshan Prefecture and led the duck army and the people to kill the locusts.
These are all well-known facts. Just ask anyone in Xinghua Village and they will be able to tell you.
But this made him very confused and he didn't find out anything.
Another point is that the Li Mengyue he knew and the Li Mengyue in the Prime Minister's Mansion in the capital had completely different temperaments, as if they were two different people.
He couldn't explain this doubt clearly, so he asked people to stop the investigation.
Since Li Mengyue is the princess he has chosen and he will be with her in the future, if there are no problems in their relationship, they should not be suspicious of each other.
Besides, he believed that everyone had secrets, not to mention Li Mengyue, but he was the same.
Therefore, he believed in Li Mengyue and believed that Li Mengyue would not let him down. The food that was currently giving him a headache was naturally not a big problem.
It was just as Xie Ruiyuan thought. Not to mention feeding hundreds of thousands of refugees, there was also plenty of food on Li Mengyue's side as well as the entire Qingshan Prefecture.