What Feng Zhixian said was very particular.
What he said was that "Prefect Chen" was rude to these grain merchants. He did not say how he personally treated these grain merchants. This sentence was to tell these grain merchants that although he, Feng, was handling this matter, the actual situation was It was requested by Master Chen, and it had nothing to do with him as the magistrate of Jiangdu County.
After saying this, Mr. Feng looked at the dozen or so grain merchants sitting there, then focused on a fat man with a similar build to him, and said with a smile: "Outside of Ma Yuan, in Jiangdu Grain Store, there are several Your Ma family has the biggest business, so you should express your stance first."
Ma Yuan's nickname is Ma Jin, and he is the leading grain merchant in Jiangdu and even the entire Gyeonggi Province. This time, the price of grain in Jiangdu skyrocketed, and it was Ma Yuan who was also the one who took the lead. His purpose was very simple, which was to get back the money the court "purchased grain" from the people. deficit.
Hearing Magistrate Feng's roll call, Ma Yuanwai slowly stood up. He first bowed his hands to Magistrate Feng, and then said: "Master County Master, it's not that we want to increase the price, it's really the imperial court that bought it from Jiangdu." There is too much food, and our several food stores each have no food."
Foreign Minister Ma Yuan sighed, with a worried look on his face: "The imperial court spent money to buy the food for me. Originally, even if there was no food, we just didn't sell it, but we really couldn't bear to see our fellow villagers starving, so we could only Spend money to buy food from other places.”
Having said this, Ma Yuanwai glanced at Feng County Lord and sighed again: "The County Lord should also know that this time the imperial court buys food not only from our Jiangdu Prefecture, but also from the entire Gyeonggi and even nearby provinces. We have provided food to the imperial court, but our Jiangdu is short of food. There is no reason why the prefecture should not be short of food. If you want to buy food, you can only go to other provinces to buy it."
"Master, the mountains are high and the water is far away."
The horseman looked worried: "Don't talk about how much it costs to buy these grains. The price of transporting them to Jiangdu is a big expense. Mr. County, you are a foreigner, and Mr. Fu is also a foreigner, but we These grain merchants are all locals..."
Master Ma said sadly: "My ancestors have been living here for generations. In the future, the county master and the government master will be promoted to other places. We will still live here and do business here."
"As long as there is some way, we will never raise food prices and harm our fellow villagers..."
Ma Yuanwai's words were very beautiful.
When other grain merchants heard this, they stood up and echoed.
Some people even nodded and clapped their hands and said, "What Mr. Ma is saying is that if we had some way, we wouldn't be able to raise the price like this!"
"In the final analysis, the imperial court still buys food..."
Someone whispered this.
Mr. Feng was drinking tea in front of the old man, and at the same time he despised these profiteers in his heart. After hearing these words, the county gentleman stood up slowly, glanced at these grain merchants coldly, and said coldly: "Who said it was all because of the imperial court buying grain? Are you trying to slander the imperial court!"
This charge was a bit serious, and all the grain merchants present suddenly stopped talking.
Feng Zhixian had no expression on his face and said in a deep voice: "The imperial court is buying grain, not requisitioning grain from you! Besides, the imperial court is buying grain to defend against the Northern Barbarians. If the Northern Barbarians move south, you will all fall into ruin. slave!"
"Who dares to slander the imperial court at this time, let alone Chen Fuzun, this county cannot sit idly by and ignore it. Even if you have a big family and a big business, I'm afraid you are not strong enough to fight against the government!"
"Don't dare, don't dare..."
The horseman waved his hands repeatedly. He glanced at Master Feng and whispered: "Master County, there must be a solution to this matter, right? The price we sell grain now is basically the lowest price. There are several The grain store is still selling at a discount. If the government insists that we lower the price of grain, even if I have some property, I am afraid that the subsidies will be bankrupt in a short time. If this is the case..."
Ma Yuanwai looked back at his colleagues and sighed: "If the government insists on doing this, we will have no choice but to temporarily close the grain store."
Although Ma Yuanwai's words were humble, his attitude was very tough. His meaning was very simple. If your government does not allow us to sell grain at a high price, we will simply stop selling it. Although the price of grain is high now, there is still food at least. You can buy it. Once they stop selling food, Jiangdu City will be in chaos within ten days.
Feng County Zun had no expression on his face and said coldly: "Is Ma Yuanwai threatening the court?"
"Don't dare."
Ma Yuanwai turned around and looked at several grain store owners. Several people took out banknotes from their sleeves, held them in their hands, and handed them to Magistrate Feng.
The horseman lowered his head and said respectfully: "Mr. County Master, you have been in Jiangdu for more than four years. I have never failed to show my respect to you. It's just that this matter is really difficult to handle. Can you please give me some time?" day…"
He was a good person and continued: "Of course, we don't dare to embarrass the government. We will lower the price of food, but the reduction may not be much..."
"The autumn harvest is about to begin. After the autumn harvest, food prices will definitely fall back to their original prices..."
"autumn harvest?"
Magistrate Feng glanced at the bank's exchanges, then glanced at Ma Yuanwai, and said calmly: "It's not June yet, and the autumn harvest will not start until the end of August or September at least. What Ma Yuanwai means is, Are you still going to raise prices for two or three months?”
As he spoke, he glanced at the exchanged votes again and continued: "Again, don't talk nonsense. This county has never accepted any filial piety from you."
“You must listen to this county!”
Although County Magistrate Feng was a little fat man, he became serious now and spoke with a bit of momentum. He took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "This time the imperial court is collecting food, it is not in Jiangdu. Why haven't we seen it in other prefectures?" To raise prices like you did? In just ten days, the price of food in Jiangdu quadrupled!"
"If you continue to sell like this, you won't need to go to other places to buy grain. Grain merchants from other places will come to Jiangdu to sell it themselves!"
"Now, Mr. Fu Zun is already borrowing grain from the nearby state capital. This county will give you three days."
Magistrate Feng spoke with an upright tone.
"Within three days, the price of food in Jiangdu will drop below four cents per pound!"
"In three days, the county will personally lead people to patrol the city. If there are people selling grain at high prices again, the county will personally seal your shop!"
"Big deal."
Mr. Feng spoke with great force: "At worst, the government will buy grain from other places and sell it in Jiangdu. If the people of Jiangdu lose you, I'm afraid they won't starve to death!"
After saying this, the county magistrate snorted: "This is the end of the county's words, you can take care of yourself."
After saying this, Master Feng walked away.
After Mr. Feng left, only these ten grain merchants were left in the county government's side hall. The grain merchants looked at each other, and then gathered around the horseman.
"Master Ma, you are our backbone, please make up your mind..."
"That's right, Mr. Ma, if you say anything, we will all do it with you!"
"If the government hadn't forced us to buy our food this time, we wouldn't have raised the price. Now that the benefits have gone to them, they still want a good reputation! How can such a good thing happen?"
The fat horseman was surrounded by everyone. He squinted his eyes first, and then sneered slightly: "Two foreigners are far from being able to become the leader of Jiangdu in Jiangdu! He wants to sell grain in Jiangdu ?”
The horseman's voice was hoarse.
"Is he worthy?"
