Xiang Yao almost collapsed, people in Jinling City were panicked, and countless people wanted to buy food but couldn't. How can you, the Minister of Household Affairs, say that there is no food shortage?
Could it be that you, Xia Yuanji, just sit back and watch the lives of the people without caring about them?
Xiang Yao gritted his teeth and begged again but got no result. He shouted angrily: "After the minister has eaten enough, will he not care about the stomachs of the people in the world? Kucheng Lu Jiuzhang knew that the people had no jobs, so he jumped into the sea of fire out of guilt. Dare he ask the minister for his preparation? Jump to where?"
"Be bold!"
Zhu Gaochi, the head of the household department, stood up and angrily scolded Xiang Yao: "Xiangfu Yin, now we are transferring food from other places, one hundred thousand dan at a time, but it is eaten up in the blink of an eye. Have you ever thought about the reason? It is because the court is not doing its best. Aren’t you trying your best? No, it’s the big households that are eating the food!”
Xiang Yao's face turned pale and she didn't dare to refute when looking at the fat Zhu Gaochi.
Zhu Gaochi held a white handkerchief in his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead: "The imperial court also wants to solve the problem, but how can the common people buy more than the big ones? Besides, there is no food for sale on the market, and everything has turned to the dark. I heard that Normal money can only buy two bushels of rice, and if it continues like this, the price of food will eat up the people’s savings of more than ten years!”
Xiang Yao was unwilling to give in: "In the final analysis, there is still insufficient food on the market in Jinling! As far as I know, the Ministry of Revenue still holds one hundred thousand stones of food in hand, as long as..."
"As long as you let it out, you will be eaten by the rich in a few moments!"
Xia Yuanji interrupted Xiang Yao in a deep voice and shook his head: "Who in the ordinary family does not reserve one or two months of food rations, how can it be so easy to be short of food? Now that the court releases food, this batch of food will definitely go to the hands of the rich. inside, not in the hands of the people. When the court really has no food, who will provide relief?"
Xiang Yao was helpless. Having said that, the situation in Jinling City is indeed not optimistic, especially when all kinds of news are flying around. Some people even spread rumors that people are starving to death in the city. When all the food for the imperial court is supplied to the north and there is no food left for the south, people's hearts are worried. Really uneasy.
Xiang Yao thought of a question and asked quickly: "How many days will it take for the food collection teams sent by the imperial court to return?"
Xia Yuanji glanced at Xiang Yao: "You should know that the main force of the navy has been invested in the East China Sea, and the few remaining navy are transporting food and wages to the north. Currently, there are not many naval fleets that can be mobilized. We can only rely on river boats. The documents issued by the imperial court should have arrived in Jiangxi, Huguang, eastern Zhejiang and other places. In another three to five days, I believe that a large amount of food will arrive in Jinling."
Three or five days?
Xiang Yao felt bitter.
When people's hearts are in turmoil, every day is a torment. If someone takes this opportunity to incite the people, it may be a disaster!
Xia Yuanji was really not in a hurry. After all, he had personally inspected the food in the warehouse and knew what was going on.
After Xiang Yao left, Xia Yuanji looked at Zhu Gaochi: "Let people spread the word Shen Yiyuan and Chang Baiye."
Zhu Gaochi was stunned for a moment, then agreed immediately.
Office of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Shen Yiyuan and Chang Baiye bowed and sat down. Xia Yuanji sent someone to serve tea. After a few pleasantries, he said straight to the point: "There is currently a shortage of food in Jinling. I heard that you have a batch of food in your hands."
Chang Baiye and Shen Yiyuan looked at each other, both showing that this was indeed the case.
Shen Yiyuan first replied: "To be honest with Xia Shangshu, the Shen family does have some food in Jinling, but a lot has been sold in the past two days, and the remaining amount is only one thousand dan. If the court needs it, the Shen family is willing to give it half a month." Of
The previous grain prices were transferred to. "
Chang Baiye's mouth moved slightly, not believing Shen Yiyuan's statement of a thousand stones. The Shen family has three major industries, one is silk, the other is grain, and the third is Nanyang goods.
How could a shop that specializes in food only have one thousand shi left in Jinling?
Xia Yuanji didn't criticize anything and looked at Chang Baiye.
Chang Baiye was quite honest: "There has been a shortage of food in Jinling recently. The Chang family is willing to share the worries of the imperial court and donate 10,000 shi of food to the imperial court."
Xia Yuanji said nothing, holding the tea bowl in deep thought.
Zhu Gaochi, who was sitting next to him, knocked on the table and said to Shen Yiyuan and Chang Baiye: "The imperial court is extremely short of food, but you are covering up here. Isn't it appropriate? One hundred thousand shi, you each contribute one hundred thousand shi of food, and each household All purchased at normal market prices."
"One hundred thousand stones?"
Chang Baiye stood up with a very unnatural look on his face. He shifted his gaze from Zhu Gaochi to Xia Yuanji: "Xia Shangshu, we don't have so much food in our hands at all. Even if we obey the imperial court's orders, it will take a long time, even if it's far away." Unquenchable thirst."
Shen Yiyuan was also frightened by the appetite of the Ministry of Household Affairs: "If the Ministry of Household Affairs needs it, we can donate a batch of money to the court. Such a massive amount of food such as one hundred thousand dan cannot be achieved in a short time."
Xia Yuanji still didn't speak, and Zhu Gaochi patted the table: "One hundred thousand stones must be sent to Jinling within eight days. Once Jinling falls into famine, there will be heavy losses. You don't want to see the people starve to death, right?"
Chang Baiye wanted to say hello to Fatty Zhu. You didn't look at your body shape, and the famine didn't make you thinner. We are businessmen, not subordinates of the Ministry of Household Affairs, not government servants who take orders from the Ministry of Household Affairs!
Shen Yiyuan didn't understand it. This was not like Hubu's style at all.
It's not like the Ministry of Finance can do this kind of thing. Besides, even if you want to harvest wool, you can't just hold on to our two families and recruit more wealthy households...
gone.
Chang Baiye and Shen Yiyuan walked out of the door of the Household Department with doubts on their faces. They always felt that the invitation from the Household Department was a bit inexplicable. This apportionment-style arrangement was even more confusing.
But no matter what, we still need to raise food.
Just when Chang Baiye and Shen Yiyuan were gathering grain and arranging their clerks to go around to buy grain, a group of mysterious businessmen appeared near Jubao Gate, Sanshan Gate, Jiangdong Gate, Jinchuan Gate, etc.
Wang Su, a wealthy businessman, was enjoying a wonderful dance with Zhang Daheng outside the Jubao Gate.
The door was pushed open, and the shopkeeper Wang Xun walked to Wang Su and whispered: "Someone is selling food. It seems that there is a lot of it."
"Eat it, eat it all, and don't allow any food to enter the hands of the people."
Wang Su ordered without thinking.
Wang Xun understood this and led people to rush to buy grain. The price of 30,000 shi of grain was 200,000 guan. Wang Xun gritted his teeth and bleeds. After paying the money, he ordered people to transport the grain away.
These are the magic weapons to control Jinling in the future. Whoever can provide the food to stabilize Jinling can win the hearts of the people. Even if Zhu Yunwen died at this time, no one would care. Compared with Zhu Yunwen's life and death, everyone's stomach problems are the most important.
Wang Xun had just finished his work when he heard news that a foreign merchant ship had brought 20,000 shi of grain into Jinling and had now arrived at Jiangdong Gate. After Wang Xun notified Wang Su, he raised another sum of money and bought it at a high price. I bought this batch of grain...
That night, there was surprisingly much food.
Until daybreak, Wang Su and Zhang Daheng were a little numb, and they had eaten all night
After losing 300,000 kilograms of grain and spending nearly a million kilograms of money, I and a group of other wealthy households now became paupers except for the mountains of grain...
I can't stay at Qinhuai Red Mansion anymore. You can't watch a dance, rent a room, and order people to pay the bill with two bags of grain. I don’t know how much food the Red Mansion has stored, but they just don’t panic.
Wang Su and Zhang Daheng have no money, so they will ask others for money. After all, the task cannot be completed, and if the sun is not changed, no one will gain anything.
As a result, a group of large households gathered together and each took out their property. Some even took out the land deeds, house deeds, and farm deeds, and handed them over to the Central Bank of Jinling.
The central bank is crazily lowering prices, saying that the things in the area are not valuable. After all, it is not in Jinling, so why should they give you a high price? The land deed can still be used to resist it to some extent.
The big households suffered blood losses, but they didn't mind. Anyway, it was a temporary resistance. Once they had the money, they could redeem it immediately. You must know that the price of food changes three times a day, and it might be possible to sell it at gold prices someday. By that time, everyone will be prosperous and their worth will increase more than ten times.
At noon the next day, the Ministry of Revenue released another 5,000 shi of grain. The people didn't buy much, so these big households swarmed in and divided it up.
The amount of grain released by the Ministry of Household Affairs was very small, which also "confirmed" the rumor that the court was out of grain.
At dusk that day, mysterious merchants appeared again in Jinling. I don't know where they got the grain. They actually sold another 400,000 dan in one night. The big businessmen Wang Su and Zhang Daheng had also been dumbfounded. They had just got the food from the Central Bank. The money disappeared after just one night...
Guys who hang out with this group of people
There are endless complaints and complaints.
You must know that most of this food is on the ship. People can drive the ship to your designated location or help unload the goods, but the total amount of food is hundreds of thousands of stones. This is not something that only a few people can unload. Last night The goods have not been unloaded yet. Another batch of grain has arrived tonight. Who can bear to work day and night?
Dai Wangfu.
Zhu Gui almost went berserk when he heard that another batch of grain had appeared on the Qinhuai River.
Damn it, where did so much food come from? It’s not that there is no food to be requisitioned in Suzhou and Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang. It’s not that the food in Huguang and Jiangxi will still be available for seven or eight days. How come there is so much food suddenly?
In order to ensure that people's hearts would continue to be chaotic, Zhu Gui had no choice but to order the wealthy merchants to risk everything and buy up all the grain that appeared.
Before one night passed, these big business owners were completely out of money. The reason is simple. The price of food tonight has increased...
300,000 stone grain, asking price of 2 million guan.
These big businessmen gathered in Jinling are not top businessmen. They are not as rich as the Shen family and the Chang family. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in one night and basically didn't have much left...
Zhu Gui had no choice but to order people to withdraw money from Dai Wang's palace to buy grain.
At dawn, another batch of grain appeared on the black market. The amount was not large, 30,000 shi. Dai Wangfu ate it and had not digested it. Another 30,000 shi of grain appeared in another place. Dai Wangfu continued to buy it, and then another batch of grain appeared. …
Zhu Gui looked at the sharply decreasing numbers on the books and felt something was wrong.
Why does the food in Jinling keep popping up? Is it going to end?
With more than one million stones of grain, do you think you are the one who opened the Jinchuanmen granary? Who took out the grain? like
This massive amount of food is definitely not something ordinary people can produce!
When another news came that 30,000 shi of grain appeared outside Tongji Gate, Zhu Gui vaguely felt that this was a trap, a trap for himself...
