Shen Feng's brow furrowed tightly upon hearing the news, clearly having already considered a more dire situation.
The Chuan Yu region now possessed the ability to produce grain thanks to Chang Jianyi's capabilities, but this ability had its limits. If more refugees appeared, it would be impossible for them to maintain the current situation, even if they wanted to.
Therefore, Shen Feng's only option was to block these people from entering. Otherwise, once they entered the Chuan Yu region, there would be endless disasters. Times were different now. In the past, population was a resource, but now, with food production being difficult everywhere, the population had become a burden.
When Shen Feng brought this matter up for discussion at the meeting, most people supported blocking these individuals from entering, as they could not afford such a massive burden!
Even among the common people in Yu Zhou, the sentiment was similar. People were selfish. When they had surplus resources, some would choose to use their wealth to help others in need. But was such behavior truly selfless? Some people helped others for the sake of their reputation, as helping the weak could earn them a good name.
It was just that in the past, everyone had some surplus resources, so naturally, some considered their reputation. But in the current great ice age environment, even the people of Yu Zhou were struggling to survive. In such a situation, who would be willing to give away their own surplus resources?
Thus, there was a saying among the common people: "These outsiders must not be allowed to enter easily. Otherwise, we can still eat one dry meal and one watery meal a day. If they come in, we won't even be able to eat one dry meal!"
"That's right, we work hard not to feed these freeloaders!" others chimed in.
Even ordinary people understood a simple truth: limited resources could not support too many people. Therefore, if refugees entered, the amount of food the original inhabitants received would be even less. For their own sake, they had to restrict these people from entering!
After hearing the report from the meeting, Shen Feng fell into deep thought. He was once again at a loss. Every time he needed to make a decision, he felt immense pain because many things had no right or wrong. Perhaps a decision was correct for one group of people, but it might not be friendly to others. After much calculation, it seemed there was no other choice but to calculate benefits.
"Turning away millions of people, that would kill them. Moreover, if people in the future discuss this matter of mine, I will be nailed to the pillar of shame!" Shen Feng said in a low voice.
The others at the meeting quickly advised, "City Lord, you cannot be soft-hearted! In fact, some elderly and weak people in our remote areas have already starved to death, but there are no news reports. If large numbers of people flood in, we truly will have no food to produce!"
This time, everyone was determined to persuade Shen Feng, as this matter had already threatened their lives.
"But what other choice do these millions of people outside have besides starving to death?" Shen Feng still had this question in his mind, so he asked it directly. The people at the meeting fell silent.
Because everyone knew that if they let the millions of people outside starve to death, their sin would be too great. Even after a thousand years, people would still curse them for this matter. They had no other solution at the moment, so they could only remain silent.
In fact, it was very simple to block these refugees who wanted to enter the Chuan Yu region. Because the terrain here was relatively rugged, as long as they guarded the various road junctions, these refugees would not be able to advance at all. If they wanted to take other small paths, they would have to cross mountains and traverse ridges. For these weak refugees, entering Yu Zhou through the forests would be practically impossible.
However, these people also knew the consequence: if they blocked these refugees outside, these refugees would inevitably starve to death tragically.
Even hospitals knew not to let patients die at their doors, as it would attract attention from all sectors of society. Therefore, everyone was very hesitant about the dead. Now, millions of people were crying out for food. If their situation could not be resolved, it would be a huge blow to their reputation.
Seeing that no one answered, Shen Feng could only lean back in his chair, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling, as if contemplating something.
So, everyone began to discuss privately, wondering how to solve the problem of these refugees. They had thought that since these people were separated by vast distances, they would not travel so far just to get food. But reality had given them a heavy slap in the face. The truth was that other places could not stabilize their production capacity. Even if they wanted to plant beans, they ultimately could not feed too many people. Although it was now the height of summer, the average temperature in the air was only around 20 degrees Celsius, which was too low.
Therefore, in such a situation, even if someone had to crawl, they would crawl to Yu Zhou because they had heard that there was food here. For many people, this was hope. As long as there was hope, they would not give up.
At this moment, Tu Xuhuai seemed to understand something, and he said to Yang Chang beside him, "Mr. Yang, I heard before that you and the City Lord knew each other before you rose to prominence, and that you eliminated some insignificant minor characters for him. Is that true?"
"That's indeed true. I don't know where you heard this, but it was indeed me who did it. I may not have other skills, but I am absolutely loyal and execute orders without compromise, which is why I gained favor. Actually, the City Lord and I were classmates. At that time, there was a student union president who was a rich second-generation heir, and he wanted to play dirty tricks to cause trouble. So, we lured him out with a trap and killed him. I was responsible for the killing. This matter is nothing major, it's all in the past anyway," Yang Chang said.
"I have a question about this. Why didn't the City Lord take action when these internal enemies needed to be killed back then? From what I know, he was leading people to advance elsewhere at the time, so he had no knowledge of what was happening in the rear. But if he didn't know about this, how could he have made arrangements?" Tu Xuhuai continued to inquire.
"I'm only telling you this, don't go spreading it around!" When Yang Chang heard the question, he immediately lowered his voice, preparing to reveal the truth.
"Feel free to speak. No matter what it is, I will keep it confidential. You can rest assured about that!" Tu Xuhuai gave his assurance.
"To put it bluntly, the City Lord did know, but he didn't want his hands to be stained with blood. This is because he and his wife had already made a plan early on. They had a strategy for their subordinates: a combination of kindness and might. The kindness needed to be shown by him, while the might needed to be shown by us capable individuals under him. Especially for many internal enemies, if the City Lord killed them, it would look bad, so it required people like us to act. However, this was also according to his wishes!" Yang Chang said in a low voice.
"But I roughly understand. This is also a good choice. If someone plays the good cop, someone else needs to play the bad cop, and the City Lord must play the good cop, showing his benevolence. Then, his subordinates must also play the bad cop, right? Just like now!" Tu Xuhuai said.
Yang Chang had initially thought that the other party was merely asking about some trivial past events and had spoken casually. But after being pointed out, he suddenly realized that this was not simply talking about the past, but rather that he needed to step forward to resolve the current predicament.
"Are you asking me to take the blame now?" Yang Chang asked.
"As a qualified subordinate, it is normal to share worries with your leader. Perhaps your actions today will offend most people, and you will not have a good reputation in the future. But so what? As long as you step forward and take on this task now, you will be heavily relied upon for the next few decades!" Tu Xuhuai said.
"You're really putting me on the spot. If I don't step forward now, I'll really be letting you down!" Yang Chang did not expect that he had been outmaneuvered in just a few exchanges with the other party.
Thus, Yang Chang could only stand up and say, "City Lord, I believe I can handle this matter. I hope you can delegate the authority to me to handle it! As for your usual busy schedule, you certainly don't have time to deal with these trivial matters. So, you don't need to worry about this."
The moment he stood up, he became the focus of everyone at the meeting, as everyone looked at him with disbelief, thinking that this person actually stood up at this moment, showing immense courage. Wasn't this asking for trouble?
However, at this moment, some people saw a clue. Yang Chang should not have done such a thankless task at this time. But now the situation had changed, because he had actually done this thankless task, and seemed very willing to do so. This seemed very strange, as it was not his usual style.
Shen Feng, who was being troubled by these trivial matters and could not resolve them, was naturally happy to be freed when someone stepped forward to share the burden.
Shen Feng also knew that the current dilemma was not something he could easily resolve, because no matter what he did, he would not be recognized by everyone. There would always be a group of people dissatisfied with his decisions.
Now, Shen Feng looked in Yang Chang's direction, then nodded and said, "This matter will be handed over to you. By the way, I need to inspect the construction of the wind power generation station, so I will not be in the city during this period. You handle this matter properly!"
Shen Feng was very satisfied with Yang Chang at this moment. Because he was finding it difficult to deal with these trivial matters, it was fortunate that Yang Chang had stepped forward to help him solve this problem. This was truly rare. Although this task was thankless and would incur resentment from many people no matter what, as long as he was willing to step forward now, Shen Feng could extricate himself.
With their exchange, the task was transferred to Yang Chang, and everyone else suddenly understood.
"The City Lord truly cherishes his reputation. He doesn't want any dirty water to stain his hands, and Yang Chang's ability to guess his thoughts has reached perfection! If only I had stepped forward to take on this task before him, wouldn't I also be heavily relied upon?" someone thought to themselves.
Thus, after the matter was decided at the meeting, everyone immediately began to act. Others pretended nothing had happened, while Yang Chang led tens of thousands of troops to block all the major traffic arteries in the east, preventing anyone from entering Yu Zhou. Due to the treacherous terrain in this area, a few checkpoints were enough to block the roads. As for other areas, they were rugged mountains and ridges, and with the strength of these refugees, it was impossible to cross them.
Countless refugees were blocked outside the checkpoints. In desperation, some gathered a group of people and rushed directly towards the inside, trying to force their way through the checkpoints and enter to eat.
However, Yang Chang did not care about these matters. He was here specifically to resolve this troublesome issue. Since his hands were going to be stained anyway, he didn't care how dirty they became. Thus, he ordered his men to open fire and kill all those who tried to force their way through the checkpoints.