Chongzhen: Why is the emperor's head square?

Chapter 3 The Zhou Family of Liangxiang, People from the Palace Arrive

Liangxiang is not too far from the capital.

Zhu Youjian immediately asked, "Have you found a eunuch to accompany me out of the palace?"

Wang Chengen nodded.

"As Your Majesty instructed, the people I selected are all absolutely loyal to Your Majesty."

After saying this, Wang Chengen hesitated, as if he wanted to say something more.

"What's up?"

"This servant dares to ask, isn't Your Majesty's move to recruit refugees a bit too risky?"

Listen to what Wang Chengen said.

Zhu Youjian was not surprised.

It wasn't just Wang Chengen who had this idea; it's likely that the entire court equated refugees with rebellion.

In fact, some officials, in order to curb the instability caused by the refugees, would secretly eliminate any refugees who appeared.

"Before they lost their livelihoods, the rebels were also ordinary people."

"It was the incompetence of the imperial court that turned them into rebels."

"If survival is an option, who would willingly become a rebel?"

The peasant uprising armies led by Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and others simply wanted a piece of land so that their families could survive.

Now, he has countless uncultivated lands in his hands, but he lacks the ability to cultivate them.

Refugees would be a good option.

In my world, as long as you're willing to cultivate it, you can have as much arable land as you want.

After saying this, Zhu Youjian put on a black robe and led several guards and eunuchs away from the capital.

……

Two days later.

Zhu Youjian, accompanied by eunuchs including Wang Zhong, arrived outside Liangxiang City.

Looking at the skeletons scattered along the roadside and the aimless refugees who didn't know where to go to survive.

The situation was worse than he had imagined.

Zhu Youjian looked solemn.

At this moment, Wang Zhong, the eunuch accompanying Zhu Youjian, came to his side and pointed to a stall not far outside the city, saying, "Your Majesty, what do you think?"

A group of refugees are gathered around a stall.

The congestion was so severe that not a drop of water could leak through.

"Go and ask what happened."

Wang Zhong immediately stepped forward, randomly found a refugee, gave him some copper coins, and asked him why these refugees had gathered here.

Just a moment later.

Wang Zhong returned to Zhu Youjian's side and replied, "Your Majesty, according to the refugees, that place is the Zhou family's soup kitchen in Liangxiang County."

"The porridge is served on time every evening, but the quantity is limited, which is why there is such congestion."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian was somewhat surprised.

The Zhou family were likely local landlords in Liangxiang County.

In this era, it is truly rare to find someone with a kind heart who provides porridge to the people.

If we want to recruit refugees, the Zhou family might be a helpful force.

The essence of being a vagrant is that they are essentially unorganized refugees.

Recruiting refugees themselves would be too much to handle and difficult to manage; recruiting refugees was merely an experiment.

However, the number of refugees recruited this time is at least several hundred, which is not a small number. Recruiting refugees one by one is too troublesome and inefficient.

If the Zhou family had helped, things might have been simpler.

……

The Zhou family residence.

The setting sun casts its rays.

"Brother, how long are you going to keep doing this kind of meaningless charity work!"

Faced with Zhou Qiu's questioning, clan chief Zhou Wei sighed and replied, "I just can't bear to see them starve to death like this."

"It's just a little bit of food, why are you so fussy?"

Seeing his overly kind-hearted older brother, Zhou Qiu felt a sense of disappointment and directly pointed at Zhou Wei, cursing him angrily.

"Just a little bit of food? You make it sound so easy! Do you know how much more land you could buy with the food you give away every day?"

"Natural disasters are frequent. As the head of the Zhou family, instead of thinking about how to buy more land from those farmers, you're concerned about the lives of those displaced people!"

Natural disasters are calamities for ordinary people, but for them, they are opportunities.

If there were no natural disasters, why would farmers sell the land they depend on for survival?

Only then can they buy land from the people at low prices.

Zhou Wei pondered.

Zhou Qiu continued, "Stop your excessive generosity, or the Zhou family will inevitably decline under your watch!"

"The porridge distribution must stop. Saving the people is the responsibility of the imperial court, not ours!"

Seeing that Zhou Qiu was about to stop distributing porridge, Zhou Wei shouted to stop him.

"No! So many people outside the city are surviving on our meager food supply. If we stop distributing soup kitchens, there will be hundreds more corpses outside the city in three days!"

"What does that have to do with me!" Zhou Qiu stared coldly at Zhou Wei: "Brother, if you are still so stubborn, then I will have no choice but to... separate from you."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Wei hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

He recalled his father's dying words: with chaos looming, the family must not be divided; the brothers must weather the storm together.

If the family were to split up, it would undoubtedly be a blow to the Zhou family, especially since Zhou Qiu controls many of the family's businesses and is very capable.

He was able to become the clan leader thanks in no small part to the support of Zhou Qiu and others.

If Zhou Qiu leaves, he cannot guarantee the prosperity of the family, and he will probably lose his position as patriarch soon.

Looking into Zhou Qiu's resolute gaze, Zhou Wei sighed and compromised: "Haven't you always wanted to be the clan leader?"

"I can give you this location, but on the condition that the soup kitchen cannot be demolished."

Zhou Qiu was utterly incredulous upon hearing this.

"You're utterly hopelessly stupid to abandon your family business for a bunch of refugees!"

After hurling insults, Zhou Qiu silently stared at Zhou Wei.

After pondering for a long time, Zhou Qiu asked helplessly, "Do Zhou Liang and the others know?"

Zhou Wei had three sons and two daughters. Zhou Liang was the eldest son, and if nothing unexpected happened, he would be the one to inherit the position of clan leader after Zhou Wei's death.

As Zhou Wei gazed at the setting sun, he murmured, "I am the clan leader. There are many things I have no choice in, but this is something I can choose."

As he spoke, Zhou Wei took out the seal symbolizing the Zhou family patriarch from his pocket.

After a moment of silence, Zhou Qiu took the clan leader's seal from Zhou Wei's hands.

"The soup kitchen will only be open for another two years at most."

After saying that, he turned and left.

After Zhou Qiu left, Zhou Wei stood in the corridor for a long time.

Two years is fine, but my actions have probably already made many people in the clan dissatisfied.

Every extra day we can give is a day we can give.

After a while.

Zhou Liang, Zhou Wei's son, came before Zhou Wei.

Zhou Wei was not surprised by Zhou Liang's arrival.

"Your second uncle is more capable than me to take over the family's responsibilities."

Zhou Liang nodded slightly: "I'm not here to blame my father."

Zhou Wei was somewhat surprised: "And who are you?"

"Someone outside the mansion requests an audience."

"Seeking an audience? A beggar? Let them go to the soup kitchen."

The Zhou family's deeds had already spread far and wide.

As a result, people often came to the Zhou family mansion to beg.

Although he was kind-hearted, he also knew that if begging at the Zhou family mansion was effective, then in a while the gates of the Zhou family mansion would be full of beggars.

This door must not be opened.

Zhou Liang shook his head: "I don't know, but in my son's opinion, these people are not simple."

"He doesn't look like a beggar who came to beg."

Zhou Wei was somewhat surprised: "Not simple?"

"Yes, all of them were men, but some of them spoke in a strange tone, neither like a man nor a woman, but more like a child's voice."

Hearing Zhou Liang say this, Zhou Wei understood.

Someone whose tone of voice is neither masculine nor feminine? There's only one type of person like that.

Eunuch.

There are two types of eunuchs: those castrated from childhood and those castrated after reaching adulthood.

Castration after adulthood generally doesn't cause significant changes in voice; only castration from childhood can result in a voice that is neither male nor female.

The fact that they were castrated from a young age suggests that this group of people likely came from the palace.

Only in the palace would there be eunuchs who were castrated from childhood.

"Why would someone suddenly come from the palace?"

Zhou Wei looked serious and immediately told Zhou Liang to bring the others into the mansion.

If they are indeed people from the palace, we must not be negligent.

If they are not careful and offend these people, the Zhou family will perish.

A moment later, Zhou Wei entered the main hall.

Looking at the young man sitting in the second seat on the right, I felt a little strange.

Only one person was sitting, while the other eight were standing.

Clearly, the one sitting down is the leader.

Zhou Wei quickly stepped forward and bowed respectfully: "I am Zhou Wei, the patriarch of the Zhou family. May I ask if you serve in the palace?"