Now Zhouyi has a "regular army" and a "reserve". A total of more than 200 troops have to be fed. It is definitely not enough to only have rice and Fuling mustard on hand. Money and silver are also indispensable.
Although Zhou Yi only has 17 taels of silver in his hands now, with unlimited rice and mustard, Zhou Yi has no worries about not being able to make money.
Zhou Yi naturally had to leave the task of taking rice to a nearby county in exchange for real money and silver to his confidants.
So Yang Xiu had another task, which was to lead a team of people to bring the grain and mustard in the warehouse to Pingyang City, the largest county nearby, and exchange them for real gold and silver.
The first time Yang Xiu went to Pingyang City, he went back and forth for seven days. The entire ten carts of grain and mustard turned into ingots of white money.
This time Yang Xiu went to Pingyang County to sell grain and earned as much as three thousand taels of silver.
This is one third more than Zhou Yi originally expected.
In addition, Yang Xiu also brought a piece of news - that is, the entire land of Yongzhou is now in a state of great food shortage.
There has been no rain in Yongzhou for more than half a year. The sun is shining brightly every day, and the fields are dry and cracked. The grain production in nearby Pingyang City and Pingjiang County has dropped by more than half this year.
"Master, when I was selling grain in Pingyang City, the grain was different every day. The grain merchants in Pingyang City could raise the price of grain three or four steps a day!" Yang Xiu said what he had done in Pingyang City. Report everything you saw and heard to Zhouyi in detail.
The people in the border towns are already living a good life. However, due to this year's drought and the poor harvest, these profiteers are still raising the price of food. This is clearly because they do not want to give ordinary people in the city a way to survive.
Zhou Yi asked coldly: "Yang Xiu, you won't follow them and deliberately raise the price of food, right?"
Yang Xiu knew that his master Zhou Yi had a kind heart like a Bodhisattva, and would definitely not allow himself to do things like those profiteers to harm the people.
So he was so anxious that he knelt down in front of Zhou Yi and explained quickly: "Master, I don't dare to do anything that would harm your morality. I just brought those carts of rice and mustard." After arriving in the city, he was found by the grain merchants of Pingyang City and bought all the goods at once."
Zhou Yi hated the iron and cursed: "Yang Xiu, Yang Xiu, you are so confused! There is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and you should work with those merchants to raise the price of food."
When Yang Xiu heard this, he was a little stunned.
"Did I hear wrongly? Isn't the Lord a Bodhisattva who hates the suffering of the people? Why did he change his mind today and start blaming himself for not collaborating with those profiteers!"
Zhou Yi saw the confusion in Yang Xiu's eyes and asked, "Yang Xiu, do you know what our county is lacking most now?"
Yang Xiu thought for a while and said, "Is it money?"
Zhou Yi shook his head!
"Is that weapons and equipment?"
Zhou Yi shook his head again and rejected Yang Xiu's answer.
"You are stupid, please let me know." Yang Xiu directly asked for advice.
"It's the population and talents. Now our county is in desperate need of development. Money and other extraneous things can still be earned in the future. What is most lacking now is the population and talents!"
Yang Xiu was still full of doubts and asked with suspicion: "But what does this population and talent have to do with you letting villains work with those gang of profiteers to drive up food prices?"
Zhou Yi had already talked about it to this point, but Yang Xiu still didn't understand its meaning. Zhou Yi could only explain it to him in detail.
"Yang Xiu, think about it, if food prices in Pingyang City and Pingjiang County are high, but they accidentally discover that food in Pingliang County is extremely cheap, what will happen to the people in the city?"
When Yang Xiu heard this, he suddenly understood, and his eyes immediately let out a different light.
If Yang Xiu, together with profiteers in Pingyang City and Pingjiang County, raises the price of food to a price that ordinary people cannot afford, and then no longer has any objections to release the news that food prices are cheap in Pingliang County, those people will naturally run to Pingliang County.
Yang Xiu praised excitedly: "High, really high! It turns out that you want to use this method to help the people in those two counties!"
"In this way, the people from these two places will move their families and settle in our Pingliang County. By then, many of our problems of lack of population and labor will be solved."
Zhou Yi continued to tell Yang Xiu his plan: "Find a few smart people and go to Pingyang City and Pingjiang County to open a grain shop in a few days, establish a good relationship with the local grain merchants, and then work with them to bring the two places together." The food prices are so high that even the common people cannot afford them."
When Yang Xiu heard this, in order not to delay the major events of Zhouyi, he immediately went to the county to look for smart talents, and Yang Xiu's search led to Bai Sheng, who had been caught drinking porridge among the corvees.
In addition to the plan ordered by Zhou Yi to Yang Xiu, Zhou Yi also began to distribute potato seeds from Kunlun Fairy Mountain to the people in the city.
After learning that potato seeds could produce three thousand kilograms per mu, the people in Pingliang County were all very surprised, but with the precedent of Yongquanjing, the people in Pingliang County now almost unconditionally believe in the county magistrate. Zhouyi.
At the same time, Zhou Yi announced his talent introduction plan to the people in the city.
If someone in the city can recruit a strong laborer to settle in Pingliang County, the settler will receive 100 kilograms of rice as a settling-in allowance, and the local introducer will also receive a reward of 10 kilograms of rice.
If the person brought here has skills such as masonry, carpentry, blacksmith, etc., then the settler will receive 200 kilograms of rice as a settlement fee, and the local introducer himself can also receive a reward of 30 kilograms of rice.
If the person brought in is highly educated and able to write, the settler will receive a settlement allowance of 300 kilograms of rice, and the local introducer himself will also receive a reward of 50 kilograms of rice.
If you attract people to settle in Pingliang County, you can get food rewards. The people of Pingliang County are naturally willing to do such good things. So they all found people in the county who could write and wrote letters to their relatives in Pingyang City and Pingjiang County, asking them to come and settle down in Pingliang County.
The people in Pingyang City and Pingjiang County did not believe the words in the letters from their relatives and friends in Pingliang County at first.
They know that Pingliang County suffered a war a year ago. A Xiongnu force from the north broke into the city across the border. The city was plundered and many people were killed. Even the magistrate and master of Pingliang County were beheaded. His head was pierced on the tip of the spear.
In just one year, it suddenly turned into what relatives and friends call paradise on earth. This is really puzzling.
But as food prices in the city got higher and higher, and more and more people in the surrounding areas received the same letters, the people in Pingyang City and Pingjiang County began to waver.
"How about going to Pingjiang County to have a look?" This idea suddenly appeared in the hearts of the people in these two cities.
