With mixed feelings, the two rode into the city, and instead of heading to Count Eliot's castle, the caravan went to the headquarters of the Combined Chamber of Commerce of the Land, Sea and Air in Pantuo City.

The sheer size of the caravan immediately attracted the attention of the people, and when they heard that it was a grain convoy from Gannan Province, the people rushed home and took out all their money to buy grain, and many of them wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make a profit.

Except for fools, everyone knows the importance of food in the future, and I am afraid that money will not be able to buy it in the future.

After transporting the grain into the warehouse, arranging for the protection of men, and strictly ordering the grain not to be sold, Merman followed Major Ronner to meet with Earl Eliot.

The residents I saw along the way were all dressed with vegetables, and after asking, I learned that the food rationing system had been implemented in Pantuo City two weeks earlier.

However, the food distributed is not free and costs money to buy it.

The sergeants ate a big pot of rice, and they were still able to ensure that they would not go hungry.

Ordinary residents can only eat fifty percent full, those who have money are eight points full, and those who have no money are only hungry.

If you don't want to go hungry, you can venture into the mountains and forests to beg for food.

However, the dangers in the mountains and forests are incomparable, and in addition to the terrible demons, there are countless bandits and rogues, and there is a good chance that two or three out of ten people who enter will not return.

When Merman heard this, he couldn't help but sigh, vaguely remembering the past thirty years ago.

He was just a teenager at the time, just in time for the outbreak of the demonic plague, so he ran with his family to take refuge in the city of plenty.

I thought I would be safe when I entered the city, but I didn't know that that was the beginning of the nightmare.

Famine and plague killed his parents and brother in just a few months, but he barely survived when he was drafted into the camp to work as a laborer.

Those days...... It's really unbearable!

Merman and Major Ronner had their own hearts and minds, and were not in the mood to communicate, so they walked silently.

They soon reached the garden in front of the castle, and when the soldiers in charge of the guard heard of their intentions, they immediately ran to Count Eliot to report the good news.

After waiting for about two minutes, Commander Eliot, led by the guards, came to greet him personally.

When he saw Merman's costume of the Gannan Provincial Cavalry, the other party was impatient

walked up and greeted: "This is Colonel Merman, right?"

Facing the feudal officials whose status was comparable to that of his own governor, Merman didn't dare to put on a show, and hurriedly saluted: "My subordinates have seen His Excellency the Commander. ”

Count Eliot returned the salute and invited him into the castle with great enthusiasm.

Major Lonner, who was traveling with him, also followed suit, and had the honor to visit the lord's castle.

Count Eliot led the two to the side room, instructed the servants to prepare tea and snacks, and then began to chat.

However, due to the different status of the two parties, they are not friends, and there is nothing to talk about.

After a moment of greeting, the topic slowly shifted to business.

Major Lonner saw that the two were talking about business, and knew that he was redundant, so he left under the pretext of guarding the city defenses.

Count Eliot held him back and ordered him to be sent out of the castle.

Then it was time to get down to business, and he asked Merman, "I heard that Your Excellency has brought 2,800 tons of grain this time?"

Hearing this, Merman put down his teacup and replied truthfully: "That's right, there were originally 3,000 tons, and the halfway people ate a lot of horses, and when they passed through Cam Ranh County, they caught up with a torrential rain, and a lot of grain became moldy, so they sold it on the spot." ”

Count Elliot nodded, knowing that this was normal attrition.

After a pause, he asked again, "Did Governor Renard say what this grain was used for, I mean he planned to sell it to the inhabitants of the city in pieces, or did he plan to sell it to our military in packs?" ”

In fact, this sentence is a bit redundant, unless the military issues an order to the Chamber of Commerce in advance, how can there be excess grain to sell to them.

However, Merman has been crawling and rolling for so many years, so he naturally knows what the other party has to say, and thinks of the military control of Pantuo City today, and instantly understands how to answer.

He said with a smile on his face: "I am only responsible for transporting grain to Pantuo City, as for who to sell to, I don't know, and the chief has not explained before coming, so whoever wants to sell it to whoever has the right price can sell it to whom." ”

He didn't say that the highest bidder would get, leaving room for the rest of the conversation.

Count Eliot is a good man, so he naturally understands the way of this.

People say that whoever bids the right price will sell it to whomever it wants, and the subtext is: as long as the price is not too high, it doesn't hurt to sell it to you.

Of course, this is not Merman's own opinion, but Leopold explained before leaving: if the military requisitions food, it can be sold at a minimum of 20% off the market price.

Obviously, this business-minded person had long expected this to happen.

After thinking about it, Count Elliot asked, "May I ask what kind of grain you have brought?"

Because the price of each grain is different, you must ask clearly before setting the price, otherwise the flour will give the price of corn, and the two sides will have to pinch it.

Merman replied: "500 tons of sweet potato flour, 500 tons of soybean flour, 500 tons of potato flour, 500 tons of corn, 500 tons of cornmeal, 500 tons of wheat flour. ”

Then he added: "We consume sweet potato flour halfway, so there are only about 300 tons of sweet potato flour now. ”

They all have military rations, they can stay in shops along the way, and most of these sweet potato flour are fed to livestock.

If the inhabitants of Pantuo City knew that all such precious food had been fed to the animals, they would have to fight with him.

Earl Eliot raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, "Why are they all ground into powder?"

It makes sense to grind corn and wheat into flour, but what kind of flour do you grind for sweet potatoes, soybeans, and potatoes?

Hearing this, Merman replied calmly: "It's just convenient for transportation, and the space occupied by grain after grinding into flour is small, and each carriage can pull hundreds of pounds of grain." ”

Count Elliot nodded knowingly: "No wonder hundreds of carts can pull three thousand tons of grain." ”

Seeing this, Merman secretly pouted, it is indeed convenient to transport the grain into powder, but the most important thing is to facilitate the mixing of things into it.

For example, if you mix sweet potatoes with sweet potato seedlings and break them, you can't see that there are other things mixed in them, and the original 200 catties of sweet potato flour can become 300 catties in an instant.

What's even more powerful is wheat flour, in fact, it is directly broken off and crushed, without any deep processing, the original 200 catties of wheat flour can grow to 3670 catties.

This is not to say that Lei Ye is black-hearted, it is just an expedient measure.

If we don't mix something else with food, the price of food won't go down at all, and I don't know how many poor people will starve to death.

In addition, there is not enough food to eat, so this will ensure that more people can eat.