Food?
The originally noisy port was so noisy that one could hear a pin drop. Tens of thousands of onlookers widened their eyes and their breathing began to quicken.
The western countries once again began to seal Great Qin and banned the export of food to Great Qin. This despairing news had already spread throughout Great Qin, causing the 15 million people of Great Qin to feel incredibly terrified. They were all considering whether or not to migrate.
Great Qin was a small island country with a developed industry. There was a limited amount of farmland, and its food production was negligible. After all, most of the land had been used to build factories, roads, and airfields, so how could there be any free land to grow food?
As such, the western countries 'ban on food was a disaster for Great Qin. It was a disaster that was even more terrifying than the plague that had occurred a few years ago, and it was only a matter of time before Great Qin perished.
However, the government seemed to be prepared for this. They immediately announced that His Majesty the Emperor had decided to distribute food, oil, and meat for free from January of next year until the crisis was resolved.
Originally, most people did not believe it. After all, Great Qin had a population of 15 million, and the amount of food it consumed every day was an astronomical figure. No matter how much food the government had, they could only last for three to five months at most.
If they couldn't buy food from the outside world, wouldn't they starve to death at home when the food reserves were used up?
However, it seemed that His Majesty did not lie to the people. The government really had the ability to provide enough food for free.
"Food! It's really food. I told you the boxes were filled with food, hahaha!"
After a few seconds of silence, a tall and strong young man in the crowd laughed and raised his chin proudly.
Just now, his guess that it was food was refuted by others. Now, it was irrefutable evidence.
Seeing that the surrounding people were still dumbfounded, he shouted excitedly.
"There are 300 or so cargo ships filled with food, which is at least 10 million tons. That's enough for Great Qin's people to eat for three to five months.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd immediately erupted into an uproar.
Yes, more than ten million tons of food was enough to last them for a long time.
"Long live His Majesty, long live Great Qin!"
"Your Majesty is still the best. The white pigs of the West want to starve us to death. Dream on! Hahaha!"
"Long live Your Majesty, Great Qin is saved. Damn it, I want to see what other tricks the white pigs have.”
"Milky Way Trading Company. I've never heard of it. Which country is it from?”
"Who cares where it comes from, as long as there's food.”
"Yes, yes, yes. Long live Your Majesty!"
"Look, the Prime Minister is here.”
The sharp-eyed townsfolk saw Prime Minister Li Xiong appear on the dock and exclaimed. The crowd stopped cheering and looked at Li Xiong with burning eyes.
At this moment, Li Xiong was helpless!
Because Qin Zhen had instructed that the news of the purchase of food was temporarily kept secret. The purpose was to wait for those snakes, insects, rats, and ants to take advantage of the food crisis to jump out and incite the people to revolt. Then, he would announce that he had stored a huge amount of food to appease the people and take the opportunity to catch all the snakes, insects, rats, and ants in one fell swoop.
In the end, the worker accidentally smashed the container and the rice spilled all over the ground. The surrounding citizens saw it and could not hide it even if they wanted to.
After consulting Qin Zhen, Li Xiong braced himself and rushed to the scene.
Zhang Zhongyi, the commander of the Imperial Guards Division, walked over with a microphone and placed it in front of Li Xiong.
"Prime Minister, that's enough."
Li Xiong nodded and took a step forward. He took a deep breath and began his speech.
"Hello everyone, I am Prime Minister Li Xiong.”
No one said anything. They held their breaths and waited for the next sentence.
"As you can see, the supplies sent by the Milky Way Trading Company are indeed rice, a total of 10 million tons. In addition to rice, they also sent 200,000 tons of cooking oil, beef, mutton, pork, and mutton.”
"Starting next month, the Milky Way Trading Company will send five million tons of rice, 100,000 tons of cooking oil, and meat every month to meet the needs of Great Qin's 15 million citizens.”
"These grains, oil, and meat are all paid for by His Majesty himself. After a long negotiation, he reached a cooperation with the Milky Way Trading Company to buy them. I ask the citizens to uphold the virtue of thrift and not waste this hard-earned food!”
Li Xiong explained with a smile.
"Disperse. Don't block the port and affect the loading and unloading of goods.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd exploded.
Five million tons of rice and 100,000 tons of edible oil and meat were all bought by His Majesty the Emperor himself?
My God, how much is this?
The onlookers were stunned. They all sucked in a breath of cold air in unison. They could not believe that this was true.
"Hiss, everyone knows that the royal family is rich, but I didn't expect them to be so rich!”
"That's normal. Ever since Great Qin was established, it has been developing maritime trade. The royal family also controls the banks, shipping, water and electricity, roads, and railroads, shipbuilding, real estate development, heavy industry, and military industries.”
"What? So what if the royal family is rich? If it wasn't for the fact that the royal family controlled the economy, Great Qin would have been destroyed long ago.”
"That's right. The previous emperor was a good emperor. During the three years of the plague, did you pay a single cent of tax or spend a single cent on medical treatment? No way! The medical expenses were all borne by the royal family, and they even opened the national treasury to distribute relief food. The current emperor was even better. He bought so much grain, oil, and meat and distributed them for free. He truly took what was taken from the people and used it by the people!”
"Long live His Majesty, long live Great Qin!"
"Hurry up and go home. Let's go. Don't disturb the government's unloading.”
"Haha, let's go, let's go back and have a drink. Yesterday, I was worried that I would starve to death at home. Now, it seems that my worries were unnecessary.”
"What are you worried about? Even if the sky collapses, there will be someone taller to hold it up. His Majesty the Emperor is not a pushover that can be easily manipulated by the western countries, and Great Qin is about to rise again.”
"Fuxing, as long as the country needs it, I will definitely join the army and go to the battlefield!”
"If you're afraid of death, then you're not a citizen of Great Qin. Damned white pigs, sooner or later, we'll have to take revenge on these filthy pigs!”
The crowd dispersed one after another. They walked in twos and threes while chatting and swearing as they walked towards Urban area.
The soldiers in charge of security heaved a sigh of relief. They left a portion of them to continue guarding while the rest carried guns and helped unload the supplies. The port was a busy and lively scene.
In a building not far from the port, more than a dozen middle-aged men stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and watched the giant freighters filling the port. Their faces were so gloomy that they could drip water.
"Marquis of Jingan, what should we do? Qin Zhen actually bought food!"
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