The next day.
Early in the morning, as soon as Guo An walked to the palace gate, he saw Shen Zhuang, with several accountants and several large carts of property, waiting at the palace gate.
On the other side, there is also a group of wealthy businessmen, each with their accountants, clerks, and some belongings, standing in another place.
The two sides are separated by the Jingwei River.
Obviously, Shen Zhuang, a wealthy businessman from the south of the Yangtze River, seemed to have been collectively ostracized by those who were also wealthy businessmen in the south.
However, Shen Zhuang looked proud.
Everyone was a competitor, but Shen Zhuang had the foresight to climb over to Prince Yan's Mansion early and occupy the next Zhuangzi's good rice in Prince Yan's Mansion for the Shen family.
Is jealousy useful to you?
"See Guo Changshi!"
Seeing Guo An, Shen Zhuang's face lit up, and he trotted two steps quickly to come to Guo An, and bowed to Guo An respectfully with a humble face.
On the side, when the wealthy businessmen saw this, their expressions changed, and they scolded the flattering villain with disdain, and then quickly walked over and saluted Guo An.
"Good morning, Member Shen!"
It was still very cool in the morning, so Guo An was in a good mood.
Shen Zhuang said quickly: "Guo Changshi, I have brought five carts of copper coins and thirty thousand taels of treasure banknotes. This is all the property I can take out for the time being. I wonder if Guo Changshi can give me a few days of grace?"
"Not enough money?"
Guo An narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Guo Changshi Yingming!"
Shen Zhuang smiled and bent slightly.
The wealthy businessmen around him were all overjoyed after hearing this.
"Guo Changshi, I brought a lot of money this time. If Shopkeeper Shen doesn't have that much money, we can help Shopkeeper Shen share some of it."
"Exactly, Guo Changshi, I will wait until the money is enough..."
Suddenly, Shen Zhuang glared at these wealthy businessmen. Then, he looked at Guo An nervously.
"It doesn't matter!"
Guo An waved his hand cheerfully, "Don't worry, everyone, especially Member Shen. Just keep the money."
Shen Zhuang's face suddenly became anxious, "I dare to ask Guo Changshi, but what happened? My Shen family can borrow money from Prince Yan's Mansion!"
"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious!"
Guo An smiled softly and said: "This time, you used your money to buy the fine rice from my farm in Prince Yan's Mansion, and you will also use your money to buy the fine rice from the two farms under Prince Yan's Mansion.
Have you ever thought about it, if this happens, our Prince Yan’s Mansion will have no food to eat this year. "
Shen Zhuang and all the merchants couldn't help but be stunned.
Guo An continued: "Therefore, His Highness King Yan decided that this time all the good rice from the two farms will be exchanged for grain, and it must be new grain."
"In exchange for food?"
Shen Zhuang and the merchants frowned slightly.
They are not grain merchants and do not have that much grain on hand.
If they want to exchange for grain, they can only transport the newly harvested grain from their hometown fields all the way, or go to the farmers to buy the grain themselves.
But no matter what, the cost they need to spend must be 10% or 20% more.
"I also know that this matter may increase some costs for you and others, but we cannot allow His Highness Prince Yan to engage in loss-making business."
Guo An smiled slowly, "It's not urgent, it may take three or four days to completely harvest the rice in the farm.
You can think about it slowly, and if you feel it is appropriate, come to the palace to look for us. "
After saying that, he was ready to go in.
Shen Zhuang glanced at the wealthy businessmen standing aside. He must not let these merchants steal his good rice. He hurriedly shouted: "Guo Changshi, my Shen family is willing to exchange ten times the new grain for the good rice in His Highness King Yan's village." ."
A trace of surprise flashed in Guo An's eyes.
But soon, those wealthy businessmen also glared at Shen Zhuang, a bad bastard!
"Guo Changshi, we are also willing to exchange the new grain for the good rice in His Highness King Yan's farm."
"oh?"
Guo An said with a happy face: "Have you all thought about it?"
"Go back to Guo Changshi, I've thought about it all!"
"Then come with us to see His Highness King Yan!"
"Thank you Guo Changshi!"
…
"Are you all willing to exchange grain for good rice?"
In the Cunxin Hall, before Zhu Di could speak, he heard the group of wealthy businessmen express their earnest expressions that they could exchange grain for good rice.
"Exactly!"
Shen Zhuang and a group of wealthy businessmen said quickly.
"Very good!"
Zhu Di was overjoyed and said, "Since you all have this intention, I can give you a 10% discount on the new grain."
"Your Highness, be merciful!"
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
Shen Zhuang and all the merchants were also overjoyed.
Then, thinking of something, Shen Zhuang hurriedly said: "Your Highness, can I get the new grain on credit? When I transport the good rice back to my hometown, I will immediately transport the new grain to Beiping Mansion."
"Can!"
Zhu Di nodded slightly, "Then you'll give us an additional 10% interest."
Shen Zhuang was stunned. Isn't this the original price?
He quickly said: "Thank you, Your Highness!"
"Um!"
Zhu Di nodded with satisfaction.
Afterwards, he called Ma He and signed the deed with Shen Zhuang and others.
Then, let Ma He, several chamberlains, and several scribes take Shen Zhuang and a group of merchants to the two farms.
After everyone left, Zhu Di couldn't help but asked thoughtfully: "Guo Qing, why are these merchants so easy to talk to?"
Guo An replied: "Your Highness, whether it is Shen Village or those wealthy businessmen, either party can buy the good rice from your two farms.
They were also afraid that if they offended His Highness, they would lose this big deal. "
Zhu Di said with some pity, "So, they will definitely make a lot of money by selling these good rice to the south?"
Guo An nodded slightly, "Your Highness is wise, and businessmen pursue profits. However, the price of the fine rice purchased from His Highness is already high enough, and they should not make much profit."
Zhu Di's expression softened slightly.
…
A few days later.
The rice fields in Beiping Prefecture are also almost harvested.
And in the Yan Palace.
Guo An and Zhu Di looked at the grateful gentry in the palace and couldn't help but be surprised.
"Are you here specifically to thank me and His Highness Prince Yan for the cement drying field?"
"Exactly!"
"His Royal Highness King Yan, Guo Changshi, you two also know that we, a gentry family, have quite a lot of land.
Therefore, during the autumn harvest, we are competing with God for time..."
"This year, when I was waiting to harvest the rice, God didn't rain. I was already very relieved..."
"Boom~"
Before the gentry had finished speaking, there was a burst of thunder outside.
Guo An and Zhu Di couldn't help but look weird.
"It's thundering?"
Through the glass of the hall, looking at the sky outside, there were already dark clouds, lightning and thunder, and all the gentry's faces changed drastically and turned slightly pale.
"It thundered unexpectedly. The rice I was waiting for..."
After saying that, these gentry realized that their rice had been harvested and dried, and their faces were filled with joy.
He turned around and saluted Guo An and Zhu Di again, with gratitude on his face.
"Your Highness, Guo Changshi, if you hadn't asked us to build a cement drying field, even if we had harvested all the rice in the fields, the rice would have rotted in the room after this heavy rain."
"What Brother Huang said is absolutely true. The cement drying field is the savior of the gentry like us. Otherwise, this year's rice will definitely rot in the fields."
"Your Highness King Yan, Guo Changshi, the cement drying field you asked us to build was the great savior of our Beiping Mansion. It at least saved our Beiping Mansion's hundreds of thousands of stones of food..."
The gentry's words became more and more outrageous.
At first, Zhu Di felt very comfortable listening to it.
However, the more I listened, the more uncomfortable I became.
"Okay, okay, Guo Qing asked you to build the cement drying field. What does it have to do with me? You can just thank Guo Qing. You don't have to talk about me all the time. I'm not that good. Such a stingy person!"
The faces of all the gentry suddenly stiffened. They glanced at Zhu Di secretly. After realizing that what Zhu Di said was from the heart, they all smiled, and then began to praise sincerely again.
"His Royal Highness has achieved great success and does not live there anymore. He is truly a wise king!"
"With a virtuous king like His Highness Prince Yan in our Beiping Mansion, why should our Beiping Mansion be unhappy?"
"That's right, that's right, His Highness King Yan..."
Above, Zhu Di's forehead darkened immediately after hearing this.
Even Guo An, who usually praised Zhu Di the most, now had his mouth twitching.
Compared with him, these gentry are the candidates for sycophancy.
Fortunately, these gentry were all human beings. After feeling something was wrong with the expression on Zhu Di's face, they quickly changed their words.
"His Royal Highness King Yan and Guo Changshi probably don't know that the drying ground is hard and flat. We can directly knock down the rice by stacking the harvested rice directly on the drying ground.
Then, the rice is spread flat on the drying ground, which is like a big oven. It can be dried directly in less than a day. "
"This will save us a lot of effort."
"The work that originally took four days can be done in one day!"
“In the end, the surrounding farmers and wealthy households who did not have cement drying fields came to rent our drying fields...
Who would have thought that the cement drying field we built would not only allow us to harvest the grain in the rice fields several days in advance.
You can also make some money for me..."
"Hmph, look at those superior officers, how can they still laugh at me!"
"That's right, I will go and offer some sticks of incense to the City God in a while, so that the City God can ensure that my Beiping Mansion has good weather, and that His Highness King Yan and Guo Chang will be free from illness and disaster, and have a long and healthy life..."
"Wow..."
"..."
It started to rain heavily outside the palace.
In the room, Guo An and Zhu Di became more and more helpless as they listened.
Neither of them seemed to want to be so cowardly with these gentry, but it was raining heavily outside, and each of these gentry seemed to be sincerely praising them, and it was hard to drive them away ruthlessly.
Finally, Zhu Di looked directly at Guo An.
Guo An was startled, "Your Highness, now that our Beiping Mansion has had a great harvest, and all the gentry are here, it's time to have a banquet to celebrate!"
"Having a banquet?"
Zhu Di couldn't help but be stunned.
Below, a group of gentry suddenly stopped talking and looked at Zhu Di expectantly.
Seeing this, Zhu Di directly ordered Ma He on the side: "Ma He, pass on, I am going to hold a banquet to celebrate the great harvest of my Beiping Mansion!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Ma He responded quickly.
"Please invite Zhu Changshi and all the officials to come to the palace to congratulate you!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Soon, Zhu Fu walked in with a group of officials and generals.
With officials like Zhu Fu, the gentry all had someone to chat with.
Zhu Di and Guo An suddenly became much quieter.
Especially, after the chef's meal is served.
The gentry were so delicious that they almost bit off their tongues, so they didn't care to say anything else.
With a jar of fine wine poured into their stomachs, Guo An and Zhu Di were completely at peace.
After the banquet, we were full of wine and food.
The heavy rain outside has also dispersed.
The gentry thanked Zhu Di with joyful faces, and then dispersed one by one.
Guo An, Zhu Fu and others can also take advantage of this to rest for a while and wait until the end of the day.
There was only Zhu Di, half lying on a wicker chair, frowning slightly, always feeling that something was wrong?
Suddenly, Zhu Di seemed to sit up directly, stared at Ma He beside him, and asked: "Ma He, did Guo Qing just mention it on purpose because he wanted to have a banquet?"
Ma He: "..."
…
(End of chapter)
