However, no matter how Yi Haoran tried to make inquiries, Zhu Fuyuan still refused to reveal the purpose of his visit. Instead, he boasted about various "good governance" after the Kun thieves captured Guangzhou, which Yi Haoran listened to in a boring way.
But the more he behaves like this, the more suspicious Yi Haoran becomes. At present, the war is in turmoil, riots continue along the west coast, and there is no peace on both land and water. There is no market to speak of, and the roads are not safe. How can there be businessmen coming from Guangzhou to do business?
However, before he could finish his words, Ah Chun and Luo Yangming came back together. Yi Haoran discovered that Luo Yangming was not surprised by Zhu Fuyuan's visit. It can be seen that although the two meet for the first time, they feel very familiar with each other.
This is really rare. Yi Haoran felt increasingly strange. But the boss wants to discuss business with customers, and his accountant has no reason to participate unless he is summoned. I had to go back to the accounting room.
Abnormally like a demon, Yi Haoran closed his eyes and meditated in the accounting room. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Zhu Fuyuan, who had a profound background as a thief, must have some agenda when he came to the local area from Guangzhou, and it was definitely not just for business.
Just as he was thinking about how to get information, Ah Chun came in and asked, "The master ordered me to ask sir, how much money and rice grain inventory are there in the account now?"
Yi Haoran was startled: Is this really a business?
Fortunately, business is slow these days, the accounts are very simple, and he already knows the numbers by heart.
"There are still three hundred and seventy-one taels, nine cents and four cents of silver in the account, and the inventory, regardless of category, totals two hundred and thirty-six shi, seven buckets, one liter, and three liters. Those who owe others are not included... "
"Your number is indeed low." Zhu Fuyuan said after hearing his number.
"To be honest, a person with my small fortune in Wuzhou City is considered a big business now." Luo Yangming sighed, "Xiong Wencan has been in Wuzhou for a month, and the businesses in Wuzhou City have been tortured by him. Many businesses in Wuzhou City have failed to recover, and many have closed down. .”
"The chief told me about this matter. I came here to find out the specific grain storage figures in Wuzhou," Zhu Fuyuan said. "The chief told me about this matter. It cannot be done officially, it must be investigated secretly."
"I can handle this. But there must be a name. Businessmen are all very skilled, and no one is willing to reveal their cards right now." Luo Yangming said with a wry smile, "It's not their fault. We business people, even if we owe a You have so much debt, you have to pretend to be an uncle when you go out...Wuzhou has experienced difficulties, and many brands have suffered losses and are barely holding on."
If your trump card is revealed, others will inevitably take advantage of you. In times of turmoil, there will always be some businesses that survive or even develop by devouring similar businesses. No one wants to be the one being swallowed.
Zhu Fuyuan was born as a shopkeeper, so he naturally understood this truth. He nodded and said: "The chief said, you might as well put a scented bait."
"This bait must be big enough and fragrant enough." Luo Yangming said.
"It's up to you to take control of this matter. It will also be good for your future status."
Zhu Fuyuan came here not to do business, but with a mission.
This task is related to the food supply security of Wuzhou and even Guangdong and Guangxi, so the commerce department sent a special person to contact Luo Yangming.
As soon as the war between Guangdong and Guangxi started, the food problem in Guangdong and Guangxi became the most concerned issue of the Planning Institute. Guangdong cannot be self-sufficient in food and needs help from Guangxi. Once the war breaks out, Guangxi's supply of food will stop.
Trade can be stopped, but people cannot stop eating. This is why even though there were wars and riots all over the place, the Senate still took over Guangxi despite the shortage of military cadres and the weak left and right - at least the areas ruled by exiled officials in Guangxi. Without the food supply in these places, Guangdong's eight million population not only cannot be transformed into productive forces, but has become a heavy food supply burden.
Although Zhu Quanxing's battalion was suppressing bandits everywhere around Wuzhou, preparations for entering Guangxi never stopped for a moment.
But since then, a second problem has arisen. Wuzhou's grain reserves have basically been depleted, and the need for military grain to enter Guangxi is imminent. According to reports from Wuzhou Prefecture and neighboring counties, grain stocks in each county have dropped to the warning level, and they have had to adopt administrative price-limiting orders and a "rationing quota" model to ensure supply. This also created a black market, causing public sentiment to fluctuate.
Because Wuzhou was once the distribution center for grain trade between Guangdong and Guangxi, the grain storage situation is slightly better. However, according to Xie Erren's report, the situation in Wuzhou is also not optimistic. Because Wuzhou not only has a large population, it is also responsible for the on-site delivery of food for frontline prisoners and part of the National Army and Fubo Army. Depleted faster than other counties.
Once the people's hearts are shaken, they will inevitably be taken advantage of by the remnants of the tampering that are causing chaos everywhere. If not handled properly, the original spark may turn into a prairie fire.
After discussion between the Planning Institute and the Commerce Department, in order to maintain the morale of the people, they decided to transfer food to the western Guangdong region to ensure the food supply for the military and civilians in the area. The specific transfer location is Wuzhou.
Wuzhou is an important commercial town in western Guangdong and has a natural commercial network radiating to western Guangdong. As long as the Planning Institute transports food to Wuzhou, it can be distributed through commercial channels here, thereby alleviating the current food supply difficulties.
This decision is undoubtedly very difficult, and it is equivalent to further exacerbating the tense situation of food supply and a series of problems such as price surges and transportation capacity congestion caused by the surge in imported food. The management of the mainland strategy is relatively smooth, but land, population, natural resources and markets cannot be immediately transformed into usable wealth. But the cost the Senate has to pay is getting bigger and bigger.
"Right now, the number of accounts receivable of our company is constantly rising, and the profit and loss statement is very good. But our cash flow is starting to have problems." Cheng Dong said at a secret meeting between the Planning Institute and the Ministry of Finance and Economics said.
Even so, we still have to bite the bullet and raise food from various sources to put on the market. The purpose is nothing more than to maintain the stability of social order.
This matter cannot be left to Xie Erren. He has no business channels at all, and he does not understand the grain trade. Most of the time, government officials will only be deceived by businessmen. Therefore, it was decided that Luo Yangming, "one of our own", would handle the grain transportation this time.
According to the ideas of the Planning Institute, Luo Yangming came forward to organize merchants from the Wuzhou Rice and Grain Guild to jointly raise funds to purchase grain in batches and then distribute it to various counties. Grain supplies are provided by Dachang Rice Store.
"...This job is very important," Zhu Fuyuan said solemnly, "We import these rice from Nanyang. Although the CIF price is much lower than that in Guangdong, the cost of transporting it thousands of miles to Wuzhou is not small. . We must reduce the waste and embezzlement of intermediate links as much as possible.”
"Is that why you want them to buy it?" Luo Yangming said, "Spending money to buy goods is doing business, and everyone will be careful. If it is relief, then it has to be done. You have to eat and vomit first." He asked: "First When will the batch arrive? Approximately how much will it cost? What’s the price?”
"The first batch of 10,000 shi," Zhu Fuyuan said, "will arrive around July 1st. The price has not been determined yet. We need to refer to the prices in various places to determine a number. I wonder what the price of food is in Wuzhou now?"
Luo Yangming frowned and said, "Although there are orders not to increase prices, the prices have still risen. Before Xiong Wencan arrived in Wuzhou, the price of local brown rice was only one tael per stone, and when it was very high, it was only one, two, four, five yuan. Later, during the war, The tone has risen to more than 20 taels, and now one stone of brown rice in retail has reached 20 taels and eighty cents. To be honest, at this price, ordinary people can basically no longer afford to eat."
"There's a lot of public dissatisfaction, right?"
"How can it not be big? However, we have implemented a household-based allotment. As long as there is a local household registration, each person will be provided with a fixed quota of registered rice at a price of one cent and five cents per dou every month - otherwise there will really be a famine." Luo Yangming said, "Now Wuzhou's business is at a standstill and all industries are in depression. Chief Xie wants to revitalize industry and commerce and calls us to a meeting to discuss countermeasures. But there is war all around, and no one dares to do business. There are many unemployed people and they have to rely on relief to survive." "
"I see there are no people begging for food on the street..."
"They are all taken into custody. They are locked up in Sanhezui and given a bowl of porridge to prevent them from starving to death. They are then asked to do some simple work."
"What's the price?"
"Our rice practice is fair. We don't have a large market at the moment. The small market will be released at 2, 24, 5 cents per stone of brown rice."
"So the gross profit of small businesses is only three cents and five cents."
"That's right, fortunately, the price below is higher. I heard that some can be sold for three to two or four dollars on the black market... The price is too high, and the people are all scolding the mother of the Senate..." Luo Yangming sighed, "But To be honest, for the brown rice sold at this wholesale price, we lose one stone for every stone we sell. So we don’t sell it for a few stone at most, just to cope with the city government’s order..."
"Where's Chief Xie?"
"He is pretending not to know." Luo Yangming shook his head, "To be honest, what can he do? A clever woman can't make a meal without rice. Now he can only take the idea of the big Jin gentry people and ask them to pay a reasonable burden. You also know the big Jin gentry people. They are all iron roosters. After all, Fubo Army’s reputation is so great that these big business owners are willing to take out some of it. This can make up for some of the shortcomings.”
Zhu Fuyuan nodded without saying anything. The situation Luo Yangming told him was similar to the background information report he read before coming here. No wonder the chief minister is so anxious for this special supply.
"In that case, what do you think the price will be for our enlargement this time?" Zhu Fuyuan asked.
Luo Yangming raised his head and thought for a moment: "Brown rice costs one or two taels per stone. If it is to be distributed, the price must fall, and there must be room for profit and room for the merchants below..." He suddenly thought of something, "Can this rice be continuously supplied? ?”
"Yes." Zhu Fuyuan said affirmatively, "You know how the Senate handles things. Since you have to do it, you must do it well and never give up halfway."
"This makes me feel relieved." Luo Yangming felt relieved. "Since ancient times, people have been unstable without food. If there is another problem with food, it is hard to say whether we can be stable in Wuzhou City..."
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