Sichuan, Chengdu.

This is the core seat of the land of abundance, located on a rare plain in the province of Sichuan, including the entire southwest, where the people of this land, like the people of the so-called land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, have lived by farming for thousands of years.

The change of dynasty and the change of the times have never affected the people of this land.

Stable and peaceful, male ploughing and female weaving.

Li San is one of the countless farmers in this land, living a life of sunrise and daily income every day, and when it comes to the day of collecting grain, he finds the village chief to pay the money in a proper manner, and then goes home to make children happily with his daughter-in-law.

But today, Li San couldn't be happier.

He and his friends in the village carried grain into the city, thinking about selling it for money, buying a pound of meat and going home to open meat, and when he arrived at the nearest rice shop, he found that the latter's front door had been surrounded by water, and countless farmers like him were standing in front of the door with carts and burdens.

"What's wrong?"

Li San found the neighbors of the neighboring village in the crowd, and hurriedly stopped and inquired.

"The rice shop said that it will not accept rice this year."

Li San was stunned at that time: "What are you talking about?" If we don't accept rice, then which one will we sell this grain to? ”

"Not really."

"The old lady in this family is sick, so she points to selling grain to buy sub-medicine, and if she doesn't collect food, isn't she forcing people to die."

One of the young men was about to cry, looking at the two large bags of rations at his feet in pain.

Every year into the city to sell grain, most of them are the same village into the city together, although these years the local robbers Road Tyrant has knocked out a lot, but there are still robes who go up the mountain to make a fortune, and the big guys can also keep a safe place when they enter the city in a group, and it has become a habit so early from generation to generation, so the guy is anxious, and the relatives around him have followed to denounce the wrongness of the rice shop.

"Ladies and gentlemen, wow, not only here, but also the rice shops in the whole city are gone."

Someone hurried over and reported a big bad news as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Don't think about it, it must be this group of unscrupulous profiteers who have colluded to suppress the grain, and when we are in a hurry, we can take the opportunity to lower the price of grain and collect our grain."

An old man was well-informed and stood up: "This kind of bad heart, over the years, Lao Tzu has seen a lot, they want to lower the price, so we will not lower it." ”

"Hush."

A guy at the door of the rice shop sneered disdainfully, and said with a mocking face: "The old thing doesn't take himself as a character, and he will tell you, don't say that you don't reduce the price, that is, you cut half of the waist, and we won't accept this grain." ”

"What are you talking about?"

"That's it, why don't you collect grain?"

In an instant, countless farmers like Li San made a fuss in the city.

"Why don't you take our food?"

The big guys united and shouted at the doors of the major grain merchants, shouting to see the shopkeeper, but they were doomed to be useless.

Because at this moment, all the major grain merchants in Chengdu gathered at the Yamen of the Political Envoy for a meeting.

Kuang Yihe, the political envoy of Zuo Bu, who only took up his new post at the beginning of this year, personally met with these grain merchants.

"A few days ago, the rank began to refuse to accept grain, and even the official knew that some people even secretly poured grain and destroyed grain."

Kuang Yihe said with a smile, but it made a large group of grain merchants sweat on their foreheads.

"Lord Fantai, how can I have the courage to destroy the grain, it is all the people below who are careless, which leads to the problem of this granary, the food is damaged, and our hearts are also dripping blood, but the reason is in ourselves, and we can only admit it, so we big guys, it is a price increase that does not dare."

A grain merchant stood up and replied, and then saw Kuang Yihe shaking his head and laughing.

"This official knows your careful thoughts, and also knows what the reason for you to do this, our Sichuan is close to the southwest, and a lot of news has already been transmitted, what you are worried about is nothing more than the batch of Indian grain like mountains and seas, right."

Kuang Yihe said sarcastically: "This official also knows that not only us, but also Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Nanzhili, Henan, and other places, have destroyed grain without permission, the purpose is to quickly sell out the grain stored in their respective warehouses before this batch of Indian grain arrives in our Ming Dynasty, so as to reduce their own losses."

But you may not know that this batch of Indian grain will not reach us. ”

All the grain merchants suddenly changed color in unison.

What about the grain of thousands of sea ships, but Kuang Yihe said that he couldn't do it, could it be that it sank into the sea?

"This batch of grain is rotten and spoiled, and it will be life-threatening for people to eat it, and the cabinet has made an inventory, and it is still usable and kept for brewing and breeding, and the rest has been burned."

Grain, all burned?

All the grain merchants were completely stunned, and then their hearts ached.

I knew this was the case, why would the big guy destroy his own grain reserves.

The silver of the white flowers is all gone.

Some couldn't accept the reality, and even sat on the ground and cried.

This is why Zhu Yunwen, or the cabinet, did not deal with the grain merchants who burned grain in the provinces, because they had already 'punished' themselves.

All the businessmen who want to take advantage of the unequal status of obtaining information to cut the leeks of the common people are all cutting themselves in the end.

Who would have thought that the imperial court would be so bold and burn all the huge amount of grain?

And what really made this group of food desperate was Kuang Yi and his next words.

"This official also knows that a few days ago, he has been looking for ways to sell land at a low price, and he has made a lot of achievements, and he has sold hundreds of thousands of mu before and after, so I will tell you a not very good news, the cabinet came to Chengdu the day before yesterday, and asked my Sichuan political envoy to expropriate 5 to 8 million mu of land this year and next year to temporarily return farmland.

And those who hold the land deed can get compensation silver from the imperial court, and as for the strength of the compensation, it is very large. ”

What does it mean to shoot yourself in the foot?

Seeing the virtues of this group of businessmen wailing all over the wilderness, Kuang Yihe was happy in his heart.

In ordinary days, these businessmen are five or six people, relying on the money in their pockets, swaggering through the market all day long, drunk and gold-obsessed, and now they are all playing around, which is not the wealth has shrunk by more than half, and all the people who buy land are cheap.

"The official is not here to laugh at you, the official is going to pull you along."

After reading the jokes and feeling comfortable, Kuang Yihe said straight to the point.

"This official knows that you still have a lot of acres of land in your hands, and all of them will be eaten by the political envoy and the Yamen, although the policy is two percent higher than the market price, but as a punishment, this official will now give you a maximum of one percent, presumably to make up for some of your respective losses.

However, the official also has a request, that is, your major rice shops are now immediately open to collect grain, so that the people can not be sold at a low price because they are anxious to sell it, if anyone harms the people, then don't blame the ruthlessness of the national law, the official wants your head. ”

The group of grains looked at each other, and nodded to Kuang Yihe Crazy.

At the moment, he can make a little bit of money, in case this Kuang Yi and he repents and turns his head to buy land from the people, they, the grain merchants, will lose even the last chance to return to their capital.

The grain merchants who were sick and rushed to the hospital no longer suspected him, and they got rid of the land deeds in their hands one after another, and then left the yamen of the political envoy in a hurry and began to collect and buy grain separately.

After the group of pot-bellied grain merchants left, Kuang Yihe burst out laughing, but the master beside him said with some hesitation.

"Fantai, the cabinet is to increase by 20%, and we will collect it at a premium of 10%, I am afraid that the officials of the Household Department will think more about it at that time."

The batch of two percent is issued into one percent, and the household department suspects that Sichuan is enriching its own pockets.

"This official is frank and open, what is there to be afraid of."

Kuang Yihe waved his hand indifferently: "Yicheng who is rich, we subsidize the people in other places, since the court has approved the money, then I don't plan to go back, this refusal incident, the people have suffered a lot of losses, and they should be compensated as appropriate." ”

"My lord really loves the people like a son."

The master gave a thumbs up, Kuang Yi said humbly, and arched his hand to the east.

"If you want to say that you love the people, it is also the emperor's grace, and our ministers are just a little bit of light left and right.

Not to mention this, now the cabinet of ministers to guide the work of returning farmland supervision group has also come, you notify the master of the house to come to visit, let's work with the supervision group to draw up a charter for returning farmland as soon as possible, the people's livelihood plan, must not be put on hold for a long time. ”

Just after the major grain merchants in Chengdu began to open up the collection of grain, a new plaque was hung outside the door of the Chengdu government office.

"Daming Household Department Sichuan Farmland Returning Supervision Division."