"Father, you don't know. I heard that before Yang Peng's memorial was disclosed half a month ago, Yang Peng had secretly started to collect grain. He bought 300,000 stones of rice and noodles in Beizhili and 100,000 square meters of rice and flour in Zhejiang. He bought 500,000 shi of rice and 300,000 shi in Fujian. The grain merchants in the market didn’t react yet and sold it to him at a flat price.”
"But such a large purchase cannot be concealed, and the news spread quickly." "In the past few days, news came from the capital, and Yang Peng's reply to the official memorial was revealed. From now on, everyone in the world knows that Yang Peng wants to buy enough Ten million taels of silver are enough to buy out several southern provinces. Which Jin gentry who has grain will not raise the price and make things difficult for him? In addition, he announced his family name in the newspaper and said that he has more than 30 million taels of silver. I am afraid that there is no Jin gentry. I will let him go."
Zhang Keli thought for a long time, nodded and said: "Our family can't make this happen. I'll go to Mr. Zheng's place to see what everyone's attitude is." Zhang Keli changed his clothes and rode in a sedan to Mr. Zheng's residence. . As soon as they arrived at the door of Zheng's house, the disciple of Zheng's house smiled and said: "Mr. Zhang is here too, so all the people in Suzhou house are here!"
Zhang Keli was stunned for a moment, then followed the doorman into the second hall. When I walked into the second hall, I found that the famous gentry of Suzhou Prefecture, including the prefect of Suzhou Prefecture, had gathered, and they were all drinking tea there with smiles on their faces.
Zhang Keli pondered for a while, sat on a chair, and heard Zheng Gong say loudly: "This time Yang Peng was so smart that he advertised in the newspaper that he had 30 million silver, can we let him go? The gentry over there in Jinling have already organized themselves Not only did we not let out a grain of our own rice, we also tried our best to buy the surplus grain from small grain merchants in the market. This time we will raise the price of grain in South Zhili to five taels and one stone, so that Yang Peng will lose all his money."
On the sixth day of July, in the courtyard of the Shen family in Fucheng, Qingzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province, Shen Congdao, the head of the Shen family, held a note from the prefect of Qingzhou Prefecture, but he felt that the note was so fragile that he could hardly lift it.
The Shen family has been hoarding food this month, to the point where it has exhausted their wealth. The Shen family has more than 6,000 acres of farmland and more than 100 households of tenant farmers. These lands brought him more than 7,000 taels of land rent every year. As a scholar, Shen Congdao certainly did not pay land tax. However, the Shen family has a big business and a lot of expenses. In addition to the money they pay to the prefect and county magistrate every year, the Shen family has only saved more than 30,000 taels of silver in more than ten years.
Shen Congdao used almost all of the more than 30,000 taels of silver to hoard rice and noodles. The granary in the backyard of the Shen family was filled with warehouses of rice and noodles. Last month Yang Peng published an article in the newspaper, saying that he had more than 30 million taels of silver and wanted to buy more than 10 million shi of silver in the coastal provinces. All of a sudden, the gentry in several coastal provinces became active. Under the organization of famous officials, the gentry purchased and hoarded grains in large quantities, preparing to sell them to Yang Peng at a high price.
In the southern provinces, the gentry still had reservations and only promoted large-scale transactions. I heard that in southern Zhili, the common people went to the grain stores of the gentry to buy more than a dozen kilograms of rice for their own use, but the gentry still sold it at the price of three liang and one stone, which is one cent and six cents of silver per kilogram of rice. But if it is a large purchase of more than 5,000 kilograms, the price will be based on five liang and one stone.
This is a naked price inversion, that is, the wholesale price is higher than the retail price, which is a clear trap for Yang Peng. Most of the stored grain was in the gentry's granaries. As long as the gentry united in thinking and did not sell it outside, they would soon raise the price of grain for bulk transactions. The limited surplus grain on the market in southern provinces was bought up by the gentry. The gentry set up a dragon gate formation, waiting to blackmail Li Zhi severely when he came to buy grain.
In Shandong, the destination of this disaster relief, the gentry were even more vicious. There are ten thousand gentry in Shandong who do not want to see Yang Peng successfully enter Shandong for disaster relief. The famine in Shandong was a trivial matter, and those who died were poor farmers who had no food reserves. If Yang Peng were allowed to succeed in disaster relief and take over Shandong, once he collected the land tax in a few years, the gentry would be completely doomed.
The gentry in Shandong all contributed money and efforts to raise the price of grain. Everyone predicts that there will be no harvest in Shandong in the coming year. The food market in Shandong is already very tight, so food prices will skyrocket as soon as the market is incited. At first, the Shandong gentry were a little frightened, fearing that King Yan would suddenly put the butcher's knife on the necks of the gentry who were hoarding grain. But seeing the price rising little by little, the Huben master in Jinan made no movement at all. The gentry in Shandong gradually became bolder.
The gentry in Shandong not only stopped supplying grain to the market, but also purchased grain on the market at high prices, with the price of grain reaching six liang and one stone. The farmers who plow the fields are okay. The farmers eat their own food. Although there is no harvest this year, last year's harvest has not been finished yet, and the province can survive until August or September. But the citizens in the towns were unlucky and had to buy grain at two or three times the original price. The monthly income from work is not enough to buy rice, and the family's savings are about to be exhausted.
All prefectures and counties in Shandong are complaining. The citizens hated the gentry who hoarded grain so much that some even wrote ballads about King Yan on both sides of the street. The two lines of black characters frightened the gentry into searching the city, and finally they caught a twelve-year-old Meng boy and whipped him.
The savings of the citizens were disappearing rapidly, and the life of the gentry was also somewhat unsustainable. Grain prices, which were expected to be easily controlled, were constantly hit at the end of June, and there was almost a feeling that they could not hold on. I don't know who was selling grain on a large scale in the market, dumping it on the gentry who took over the food at a high price.
For example, in Qingzhou Prefecture, a mysterious force transported more than 300,000 shi of grain and kept selling it. Although southern businessmen with different identities brought rice to sell every time, Shen Congdao knew that it was definitely a group of people. This group of people sold grain on a large scale at prices lower than those in gentry grain stores. If the Qingzhou gentry does not buy them all, the food prices that have finally been raised will collapse.
The gentry in Qingzhou Prefecture were all frightened by the mysterious seller's sale, and no one took the initiative to take over the sale. The gentry went to the prefect's office every day these days, and the prefect allocated a share to take over the grain sold on the market.
However, the gentry all understood that food prices across the country were at high levels and this selling force was unsustainable. As long as they eat this food to last until the next famine, the people can only sell the food for ten taels of silver per stone, not to mention six taels of silver, and the people can only buy it by smashing pots and selling iron.
Therefore, every time the prefect assigned various gentry to take over the job, all the gentry gritted their teeth and paid for it. That mysterious businessman dumped a huge amount of grain in Qingzhou City, but the price of grain in Qingzhou has always remained at six liang and one stone. But that mysterious businessman seems to be testing the endurance of the Qingzhou gentry. They will ship to you almost as much as you accept.
Today Shen Congdao received another note from the prefect. In order to avoid being noticed, only the two characters "eight hundred" were written on the note. The prefect asked Shen Congdao to go to the market to pick up eight hundred shi of grain. Eight hundred stones is more than four thousand taels of silver. Shen Congdao looked at this piece of paper and his head was covered with sweat. The Shen family's money has been completely used up. Apart from the seven thousand shi of grain in the granary, Shen Congdao only had the house deed and the land deed. What would Shen Congdao buy for these 800 shi of grain?
But Shen Congdao knew that this game should come next. Nowadays, the homes of the gentry in Qingzhou are full of grain bought at high prices. If the price of food cannot be sustained and falls, the gentry in Qingzhou will lose a large amount of their property. Who is this mysterious businessman, and why is he so ruthless? This is against the gentry of Qingzhou.
Next to Shen Congdao, the accountant of the Shen family took a breath and said: "Master, hold on, you must hold on! As long as you hold on for another month, the farmers will run out of food. At that time, Yang Peng will have to buy it at a high price All the money we spend on food relief will fly back."
"Not only that, we also want to make a big profit. We sold all the grain we bought for five taels and five taels to Yang Peng for six to seven taels and one shi." Shen Congdao wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded. He was wondering where to borrow the more than four thousand taels when he saw his servant Shen San running in with sweat on his face.
"Master, the merchants who sell grain to the market have said that they will also accept the house deed. We can use the house deed as money to buy them grain." Do you want a house too? These businessmen want to kill the Shen family. Shen Congdao seemed to have heard bad news, his face turned pale, and he fell heavily on his chair.
On the ninth day of July, Yang Peng and his generals and officials were sitting happily in the "Shou Zheng Hall" of Prince Yan's Mansion, discussing disaster relief matters. Taking advantage of the east wind of disaster relief, Yang Peng arranged for the gentry who were always against him to join forces, and now he has achieved a complete victory. The gentry had no moral integrity. They knew clearly that there was a severe drought in Shandong and they still wanted to drive up food prices. They wanted to use this despicable method to bankrupt Yang Peng and make Yang Peng's disaster relief efforts fail. In the end, they all fell into the trap set by Yang Peng.
At the end of May, before Yang Peng replied to the officials about his decision to provide disaster relief, he bought one million shi of cheap grain from the southern provinces and transported it back to Cangzhou by ship. At that time, the gentry in the world did not know that Yang Peng wanted to provide disaster relief, and Yang Peng scattered the purchases in many provinces, so the purchase price of these grains was very affordable, with an average of only two taels and five yuan per stone.
Of course, Yang Peng not only has this million stones of food in his hands. Yang Peng also grabbed 350,000 shi of food in Liu Xianglong's Beigang and Dinghai City. In addition, last year, more than 1.4 million tons of rice were transported from Hsinchu land to Tianjing New Town. So at that time Yang Peng had 2.8 million shi of food on hand.
After having enough food as a bargaining chip, Yang Peng replied to the officials and promised them that he would take on the responsibility of disaster relief in Shandong. Soon, this memorial was revealed after it was approved by the officials. The gentry all over the world knew that Yang Peng wanted to provide disaster relief and everyone knew that Yang Peng wanted to buy grain.
A memorial alone was not enough to convince the gentry that disaster relief was true to its word. Yang Peng even publicized his ability to provide disaster relief through announcements - boasting that he had 30 million silver. Privately, Yang Peng spread the news through Han Jinxin's secret guards to let the gentry know that he had started purchasing grain.
With a multi-pronged approach, all the gentry in the coastal provinces fell into the trap. The gentry all felt that as long as the price of grain was raised, Yang Peng would have no choice but to buy grain at a high price. Otherwise, how to provide disaster relief? There is no reason why the enemy Yang Peng's 30 million taels of silver should not be earned. The gentry rushed to the grain market to drive up grain prices, dreaming of earning Yang Peng's money.
In Shandong, the gentry directly raised the price of grain to six liang and one stone, and they were very cruel. However, Yang Peng is not prepared to rely on food purchased on the market for disaster relief. Yang Peng pinned his disaster relief measures on the output of Hsinchu, Taiwan. So when the gentry pushed the price of grain to the highest level, Yang Peng started shipping. 2.8 million shi of grain was thrown to the market, especially to Shandong, where grain prices were the highest.
The gentry fantasized about extorting Yang Peng by raising prices, and resisted Yang Peng's selling pressure, taking the initiative to "take over" Yang Peng's business. Some Shandong gentry even mortgaged their mansions to sell iron and stockpile grain. As a result, Yang Peng's 2.8 million shi of grain was sold at a high price to these "market making" gentry.
Because of their greed and shamelessness, these gentry did not hesitate to fall into Yang Peng's trap. Gao Ligong, the "ambassador of the Overseas Affairs Office of the Shogunate", was busy buying and selling grain in the north and south of the Yangtze River according to Yang Peng's orders, which was the most difficult. His already thin body lost a few pounds. However, after winning the "food price war", he was very energetic. He took a sip of tea and said loudly:
"Your Majesty, most of our grain was dumped in Shandong this time. Some were sold for five taels and five taels, and some were sold for five taels. The average selling price was about five taels and three taels. Based on the cost price of two taels and five taels, we The two hundred and eighty shi of grain earned me a full 7,800,000 taels of silver."
After hearing Gao Ligong's words, everyone in the Shouzheng Hall's eyes lit up. Seven million eight hundred thousand taels of silver, this is a huge amount of money that has never been seen in the Cangzhou area. Even if he defeated Liu Xianglong, Yang Peng only got more than 6.2 million taels of silver. Unexpectedly, he set up a trap for the gentry to get through, and the gentry sent Yang Peng 7.8 million taels of silver.
With this money, Yang Peng can make back at least half of the money spent on disaster relief in Shandong. Everyone looked at each other for a while and laughed. Gao Ligong looked at everyone with a smile and said, "This is just what we earned. In order to stabilize grain prices, the gentry in the south spent money to buy grain from the common people at high prices, spending at least several million taels of silver. All this money flowed from the gentry’s treasury into the pockets of the common people.”
"Your Majesty's strategizing allowed us not only to make money this time, but also to do a good deed that benefited the people." Everyone looked at each other with smiles in their eyes. These bottomless gentry lost a huge sum of money because of their shameless greed. Ye Qi Guanyin laughed loudly and said loudly: "Brother! Now let's wait for the sweet potatoes from Taiwan to arrive and bring down the price of food. The gentry who are crazy about hoarding food will be ruined. When these gentry who are preparing to make a fortune for the country know that we can If you provide food for disaster relief by yourself, you will probably want to hang yourself!"
Yang Peng looked at the scenery outside the hall, smiled and nodded. At the dock in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Zheng Hui looked at the batches of sweet potatoes being loaded onto the ship, feeling very high-spirited.
I have been working hard in Taiwan for four years according to the arrangements of King Yan, and now it is finally the harvest season. Zheng Hui was originally a cashier in a tavern, barely having enough food and clothing. But after following Yang Peng, he was promoted by Yang Peng along the way and rose to prominence. A few years later, Zheng Hui was already the commander-in-chief of the capital, and he was able to stand out as a general.
Because of Zheng Hui's outstanding performance, Yang Peng promoted all Zheng Hui's brothers and sisters. Now Zheng Hui's relatives all hold important positions that they did not dare to dream of before following Yang Peng, and they are all rich. Zheng Hui was very grateful to King Yan Yang Peng. But compared to the high rank and salary that King Yan gave him, Zheng Hui felt more fulfilled by contributing to King Yan's career. Since the beginning of June, all 15,000 hectares of farmland in Taiwan have been planted with sweet potatoes. The harvest of summer potatoes this season will provide ammunition for disaster relief in Shandong and lay a solid foundation for King Yan to take control of Shandong.
Sweet potatoes are not popular in the south of the Yangtze River, and the yield in the north is very low. But on the red soil of Fujian and Taiwan, the yield per mu of sweet potatoes is far better than that of rice. "It was first planted in Zhang County, gradually spread to Quanzhou, and gradually reached Pu (Tian)." Its vines spread out and cover the entire red soil belt in southern Fujian. A note from a person at the time recorded: "There are crops everywhere, and things are plentiful and cheap. They eat three meals a day, and the small people depend on it."
Of course, sweet potatoes are low in sugar. A pound of 5 taels of sweet potatoes only provides the same amount of calories as 5 taels of rice. Therefore, although Hsinchu's sweet potatoes produce 1,500 kilograms of sweet potatoes per mu in summer, they are only equivalent to the calories of 500 kilograms of rice. It is sheer nonsense to say that the annual yield of sweet potatoes in the 20th century was only over 1,000 kilograms per mu. More than a thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes are only equivalent to a few hundred kilograms of rice. If the yield is so low, who would grow such a crop that causes abdominal discomfort after eating it?
With one season of spring potatoes and one season of summer potatoes, one acre of sweet potato field in Hsinchu can harvest four thousand kilograms, which is equivalent to more than one thousand kilograms of rice. The calories it provides are still far better than growing rice. Summer potatoes planted in June will not mature until September. People in Shandong may be out of food in August, and there is a one-month gap in between. Fortunately, hundreds of thousands of acres of sweet potatoes have been planted in Hsinchu in the past few years, and there are more than 2 million kilograms of sweet potatoes in stock, which can help Shandong victims survive August.
After thinking about it this time, King Yan will definitely use him more! Seeing the carts of sweet potatoes being transported, Zheng Hui felt confident.
On July 11th, Liu Mengqi stood on the lucky boat loaded with sweet potatoes and sighed. Liu Mengqi is transporting sweet potatoes for her enemy Yang Peng, King of Yan. After the collapse of Liu Xianglong's power, Liu Mengqi changed from the "Prince" of the "Fujian King" to an unknown citizen. Although Yang Peng gave Liu Mengqi one hundred taels of silver to start a small business, Liu Mengqi had been living in a private house in Quanzhou, getting drunk every day and living in dreams.
Although a man is capable of stretching and bending, Liu Mengqi could not adapt to the reality of her family's decline in such a short period of time. Although Liu Mengqi was a scholar, it was Liu Mengqi's teacher who communicated with the county magistrate and allowed Liu Mengqi to get it cheaply. Liu Mengqi had not actually read the book of saints for a few years. What Liu Mengqi longs for in her heart is to gallop on the sea like Liu Xianglong and establish a career as a man.
But after the Liu family was defeated by Yang Peng, Liu Mengqi's dream was shattered along with the Liu family. It would be impossible for the Liu family to make a comeback. If Liu Mengqi becomes a pirate again or goes to sea, she will probably be killed mercilessly by Yang Peng. Liu Mengqi didn't want to be a rotten scholar who shook his head, nor was he willing to be a small businessman who bargained for a few pennies every day. After Liu Xianglong died of illness, he had been depressed and drunk every day. Liu Mengqi's performance disappointed his mother and siblings. Originally, these relatives hoped that Liu Mengqi would cheer up and revive the Liu family.
Until Yang Peng's people approached Liu Mengqi and asked Liu Mengqi to contact the ship to transport sweet potatoes to King Yan. Sweet potatoes are low in calories, and living off them requires a lot of consumption. This time Yang Peng wanted to transport more than 30 million shi of sweet potatoes to Shandong, but Yang Peng alone could not do it with the 63 merchant ships and ten armored ships he owned. Relying on Yang Peng's own merchant ships, Yang Peng could only transport more than 10 million shi of grain a year.
Relying only on ship transportation, the people of Shandong would starve to death, so Yang Peng had to hire external merchant ships. Of course, Yang Peng could contact the navy in Dengzhou and Shandong, and hundreds of sailboats could be mobilized. But Yang Peng knew that the officers and soldiers of the navy were sluggish, the ships were dilapidated, and the boatman's skills were rough. If they went to the long sea, something might go wrong.
So Yang Peng thought of Liu Mengqi. Although Liu Mengqi's father Liu Xianglong was not killed, Liu Xianglong died because of himself. Moreover, the sailors of the Liu family are all experienced water thieves with excellent skills. If Liu Mengqi takes the lead and mobilizes more than a hundred large ships with 5,000 materials to transport sweet potatoes for Yang Peng, the transportation can be guaranteed to be foolproof.
Yang Peng sent Gao Ligong to find Liu Mengqi, who was drunk every day, and told him his thoughts. Yang Peng promised to give each of the boatmen hired by the Liu family 2 taels and 5 taels of silver per month, and the leader 3 taels and 7 cents per month. This transportation lasted for a year, and Yang Peng paid each ship a "shipping fee" of 1,500 taels.
When Liu Mengqi heard this proposal, she threw down her wine bowl without saying a word and agreed. After Liu Xianglong's death, the Liu family fell apart, and the sailors of the Liu family were deprived of food and clothing. If you want to go to sea, you have no capital. If you want to be a pirate, you are afraid that Yang Peng will come and destroy you. Now that Yang Peng has given the sailors of the Liu family a way to survive, Liu Mengqi will of course lead the sailors to work.
For Liu Mengqi, this is a good opportunity to revive the Liu family. Although the Liu family can no longer dominate the sea as before, even if they are attached to Yang Peng and serve as a transportation brigade, it is much better than the whole family falling apart, right? So Liu Mengqi summoned one hundred and forty-six Dafu ships worth 5,000 materials with conflicting feelings, and twenty-five boatmen for each ship - Yang Peng would not allow the Liu family's fleet to be re-armed. , so apart from the lack of cannons, gunners and sailors on the ship, twenty-five boatmen were enough to operate the ship.
In fact, Fuchuan sails mostly with the wind, and rarely goes to sea in seasons when the wind direction is unstable. It cannot run the sea without stopping for 365 days like a ship. Because when the wind direction is chaotic, the lucky boat is easily blown out of the channel by the turbulent wind, and it will be troublesome if it gets lost or runs aground on the rocks.
Yang Peng's solution was to use the seventy-three ships as tugboats for later generations. Each ship used cables to drag two Fu ships forward. The cable pulled out from the ship was tied to the main mast of a lucky ship, and then tied to the main mast of a lucky ship behind. With the ship towing in front, the Fuchuan can move forward steadily on the channel like a ship, and its speed can also be increased a lot.
King Yan Yang Peng proposed and Liu Mengqi agreed. He understood that this was what Yang Peng meant for him to forget the past and start over. Of course Liu Mengqi still hated Yang Peng in her heart: Yang Peng defeated the Liu family and made him fall from the high clouds into the soil. But at this time, she had to rely on Yang Peng's breathing to keep the Liu family fed, and Liu Mengqi had to give up this hatred. Liu Mengqi thought of her mother's words: "Everyone has his or her own position, so what's the point of hatred?"
In fact, a few days after joining Yang Peng's fleet, Liu Mengqi understood Yang Peng's methods of doing things and even admired Yang Peng, King of Yan. Liu Mengqi knew that Yang Peng's disaster relief work in Shandong was entirely conducted with private funds. In the next year, the people of Shandong will eat free food provided by Yang Peng, King of Yan. Yang Peng saved more than 10 million people with one person's power. How powerful is this? Without Yang Peng, what kind of hell would Shandong become?
Before sailing, Liu Mengqi stayed in Hsinchu for a few days and learned a lot about the local situation. Liu Mengqi knew that Yang Peng asked all Hsinchu farmers to grow sweet potatoes this time, and also used private funds to purchase sweet potatoes from Hsinchu farmers. Excluding 60% of the land rent, 40% of the output of Hsinchu farmers belongs to the farmers themselves. Yang Peng purchases these sweet potatoes from the farmers at the price of three yuan and one stone.
In this way, a farmer who grows 20 acres of sweet potatoes in a year will get the same income of 50 taels as rice. Although Yang Peng controls Hsinchu, he loves his people like his own children and will never let his people suffer. Liu Mengqi has also eaten sweet potatoes and knows that more than 10 million people in Shandong need to eat at least more than 30 million tons of sweet potatoes a year to avoid starvation. Based on the price of three qian and one stone, Yang Peng's disaster relief will cost nearly 10 million taels of silver. Yang Peng paid all of this money himself.
Yang Peng was not only good at using new crops to do things that others couldn't do, but he was also so generous to the people, which surprised Liu Mengqi. To say that Yang Peng is a hero is not enough to describe the greatness of this disaster relief effort. Liu Mengqi is also a chivalrous person. He feels that Yang Peng can even be regarded as a hero, a hero who saves the country and the people.
Compared with a hero like Yang Peng, his father Liu Xianglong's background and behavior seem very dirty. Liu Mengqi sat on the deck of the poop, and in a daze she seemed to have forgotten her hatred for King Yan, and actually admired Yang Peng.
The ship in front gave out a long whistle and slowly sailed out of Hsinchu Port, dragging two lucky ships towards Shandong. The lucky ship Liu Mengqi was on raised its hard sail, and as the ship cut through the waves, it opened a new channel. Liu Mengqi's younger brother Liu Du's eyes were moist. He grabbed Liu Mengqi's sleeve and said, "Brother! Our Liu family is alive again!" After sighing, Liu Mengqi looked at the Liu family flag flying high on the fortune ship. Although he felt aggrieved, and even though he was just a transport team, no matter what, he allowed the Liu family to survive again.
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
