The rice merchants looked at each other, sweating profusely.
Liang Xiao resumed his serious look and drank tea calmly.
Fifty coins and one stone of food are really not expensive to use as military rations.
In other areas of the Great Zhou Dynasty that produce less grain, it is normal for one stone of grain to start at 60 gold.
If grain is transported from other areas to the front line, the shipping cost for one stone of grain is even more horrifyingly high.
According to the "Strategy for the Peace of Jungar", during the Qing Dynasty, the shipping cost for each stone of military rations that could reach the front line was about thirty taels, or even higher. Considering the different price levels, it was still a quite shocking figure.
War is all about logistics, so the army's expenditure on obtaining local grain is the lowest. It is conceivable that the route to take grain from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the northwest is long and the freight is high.
He arranged for the governor's palace to open a warehouse to stock grain. Although he had the need to appease the people, he also had his own considerations.
Only by giving up can you gain.
If these people have daily rations, they will not be stupid enough to buy more than 150 yuan per stone!
Only in this way can we continue to exert pressure.
In contrast, if the people were not given rations, but the food from the prefecture was sold normally, the people might panic and hoard a large amount of food. It would not take long for the more than one million stones to be snapped up.
The world is prosperous, and everyone is here for profit. The world is full of hustle and bustle, all for the benefit of others.
These businessmen want to make money, let alone lose money. Faced with such a situation, they will make rational choices.
At this time, Qin Baili and others were sitting next to Liang Xiao waiting, looking at Liang Xiao with more and more admiration.
Looking at the Zhou Dynasty, Liang Xiao is definitely the first governor who can control rice merchants like this!
The group of rice merchants were whispering, each one more anxious than the other.
The grain carts on display at the Prefect's Mansion destroyed their last bit of luck!
Fifty cents, at least it is profitable. They come from different regions, and the profit per stone of grain ranges from five cents to ten cents.
Normally, this kind of profit would be absolutely unacceptable to them.
But if you don’t accept it now, you will definitely face losses.
Rice merchants are one of the most well-informed groups.
There are more and more rice merchants from other places coming to Yanzhou, and the time is coming soon.
Liang Xiao was right, the offer of fifty coins was enough for the Prefect's Mansion to take special care of them.
The only tools a rice merchant could use to threaten the governor were the rice on hand and the power behind him.
It is simply ridiculous to threaten the prefect with "not doing business in the future", because rice merchants, like salt merchants in the past, are what many people want to do.
After the noisy discussion, the scene fell into brief silence.
After a while, a rice merchant finally couldn't stand it any longer and raised his hand first, with an eager look on his face: "Thank you, Prefect, for your kindness! I'll sell it!"
"I sell it too!"
The first rice merchant to speak out was like a falling domino, causing the rice merchants behind him to scramble to speak out and release grain.
Now they just want to sell the food in their hands as soon as possible!
Liang Xiao accepted the order without saying a word.
All qualified grain was purchased at fifty cents per dan, and unqualified grain was used as livestock feed.
One million one hundred thousand stones of grain, equivalent to two and a half thousand taels of silver, can be paid only after acceptance.
After everyone signed the contract with the prefect's mansion, they went back to wait for the news.
After Liang Xiao sent them away with a smile, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He had made complete preparations before coming to Yanzhou. If more accidents occurred, the worst result would be to buy grain at high prices and sell it to the people at low prices. No matter what, Yanzhou must ensure stability.
The northern and western regions are not stable enough and are areas where the Great Zhou Dynasty has relatively little tax revenue. Fifty-five thousand taels is already a huge sum of money for the Yanzhou treasury.
"Today's incident in Yanzhou will affect the various counties in the future. I believe that rice merchants across the country will not dare to raise prices maliciously. After all, no one can guarantee whether the next prefect will learn from Lanlinghou!"
Among everyone in the Prefect's Mansion, Lin Xiu smiled the most happily and wildly.
Everyone couldn't help but laugh.
happy!
The surplus grain in the prefecture exceeds 2.5 million dan, which is enough to strangle all rice merchants from aristocratic families and make them submit obediently!
Even if they have the determination of a strong man to cut off their wrists and burn all the food, it will not change the fact that the food shortage in Yanzhou has been lifted.
"The people of Yanzhou no longer need the food in the hands of those aristocratic families, but our army does." Liang Xiao said with a smile.
Everyone's hearts trembled.
He really eats people without spitting out their bones...
In the afternoon of that day, several more rice merchants entered the city one after another. After understanding the situation, they panicked and went straight to the prefect's mansion to request negotiations.
Liang Xiao accepted the order at fifty cents per stone and won a total of two hundred thousand stones of grain.
In this way, the remaining grain in Yanzhou's treasury exceeds 2.7 million shi, ranking first in Yanzhou's treasury in peacetime!
"Those rice merchants, all sold??"
When Dugu Chen received the news, his pupils shrank sharply, he sat down and muttered to himself.
"The deliberate plans and careful arrangements of several of my great families were resolved by him with such cruel means..."
To them, Liang Xiao's methods were cruel.
This is because Liang Xiao used his power and stored grain to win over other rice merchants, and then isolated them, rice merchants from aristocratic families.
They have always been the only aristocratic families to isolate others. How have they ever suffered such a disadvantage?
The surplus grain Liang Xiao has on hand is enough to support the entire Yanzhou through the autumn harvest, which means that there is no need for food from their family...
But now it is even more unrealistic for them to transport the food in their hands to Beihu.
Originally, these grains were specially used to destroy the people's livelihood in Yanzhou and create chaos.
When the Beihu cavalry went south, they often chose to raid, and there were almost no sieges.
In other words, the food in Yanzhou's treasury is enough, and no matter how much more there is, it will not have any impact on Beihu.
"Master, why don't we sell it? These surplus grains can be stored in the treasury of Yanzhou. When the Beihu people go south and capture Yanzhou, they can also be used as supplies for the Beihu people?"
A helpless sigh sounded in his ears, and Dugu Chen followed the sound and saw that it was Dugu Yan, his own rice merchant.
At this moment, Dugu Chen just wanted to cry but had no tears.
Duanmuyan was already getting restless.
They were also afraid that the food would rot in their hands and it would be a pity to burn it.
The key is, burning it will not cause any trouble to Yanzhou anymore...
For a long time, Dugu Chen looked up to the sky and sighed: "Go! Inform the other rice merchants that the situation is over, it is better to stop the loss in time..."
That night, rice merchants from these big families visited Liang Xiao and expressed their willingness to sell grain at a price of fifty cents per stone.
Liang Xiao glanced at them and said: "How much food do you have on hand in total? It must be qualified, and shoddy food will not be counted."
Duguyan gritted his teeth and said, "The food we have on hand totals two million dan..."
The sound of everyone in the Prefect's Mansion suddenly taking a breath was heard at the scene.
Two million stones! !
With the support of the empress, Gongsun Yue could only raise one million dan of grain from surrounding states and counties!
And in Yanzhou, they purchased two million stones for thirty cents, which they couldn't do even with money alone!
Now they finally understand how Yanzhou's food shortage was created by this group of aristocratic families.
It’s been planned for a long time!
