Ji Zi replied: "King, we are now raising the price of grain and must overwhelm the countries, not for the purpose of buying the wheat in the hands of the people now, but for the sake of the unripe wheat in the land of the countries. ”

"As long as the price of wheat purchased by our Qi country exceeds that of other countries before the wheat is ripe, then the nobles and traders of various countries will naturally know that the price of wheat purchased by Qi country is the highest, and they will continue to ship grain to Qi country."

"As for the price, please rest assured. Nowadays, countries are raising grain prices, but they are only planning to restrict the flow of grain into Qi country, once the wheat and rice harvest in Qi country, then there is no shortage of grain in Qi country, and there is no need for countries to control food prices. ”

"Otherwise, the price of food will remain too high for the people to bear. If you add a large amount of wheat and rice gushing out, even with the financial resources of our Qi country, I can't stand it, and the background of each country is far less than that of Qi country, and it won't take a few days for each country to take the initiative to reduce the price. ”

King Qi understood and said with a smile: "Okay, the matter of buying grain, the widow will entrust all the things to Mr. Yu." ”

When Ji Zi heard this, he said: "Please rest assured, the king will live up to his trust!" ”

······

Chu.

Since the price of wheat and rice in Chu rose sharply, Xiong Huai ordered Dou You Chen Zhen to pay close attention to the grain prices of various countries.

By the end of December, news from various countries continued to reach Yingdu.

First of all, Han and Wei countries, before the envoys of Chu returned from the two countries, the price of grain in Han and Wei began to rise sharply, within three days, the wheat and rice in the capitals of the two countries rose to about 70 yuan, and the corn was close to 80 yuan, which was basically the highest official grain price in each country during the famine.

Then, the grain prices of the four kingdoms of Zhaoyan, Song and Yue also began to rise sharply, and incidentally, even the grain prices of Zhongshan and Qin were also affected.

In short, it is a word, the tacit understanding of all countries is not to let grain flow into Qi country.

Xiong Huai was relieved to see that the situation in the world was moving in the direction he hoped.

didn't wait for Xiong Huai to relax for two days, Taifu Yin Douyou and Chen Zhen came to ask for a meeting.

A bucket was walked in by Chen Zhen and the two together, Xiong Huai knew it, and after the two of them were ready, he asked: "The two virtuous ministers came together, but Qi Guo took it?" ”

Chen Zhen nodded and responded, "King, that's exactly the case." After Qi saw that all countries had raised grain prices in an attempt to prevent grain from flowing into Qi State, Qi also raised the price of grain purchased in Linzi. ”

"Up to now, the price of corn in Linzi of Qi State has reached one hundred and twenty yuan, and the price of wheat and rice is five yuan higher than that of my Chu State, reaching one hundred and five yuan."

Xiong Huai was taken aback, the grain price of Qi was two or three percent higher than that of Chu, and this price obviously exceeded his previous expectations.

"The King of Qi is crazy, although the Qi State is rich, but the people of Linzi in the Qi State can really afford such a high price of grain?"

"Of course, the people of Linzi can't afford such high food prices." Chen Zhen replied: "Therefore, now that there are already grievances in Linzi City, many ministers of the Qi State have made suggestions to the King of Qi, trying to stop the King of Qi from continuing to go crazy. ”

"It's just that the King of Qi is unmoved, so in a short period of time, the price of grain in Qi will remain at this price."

Xiong Huai sighed and said: "Okay, continue to pay attention to the situation in Qi State, if the price of grain purchased by Qi State is still so high, then the widow will accompany him to the end and continue to raise the price of grain." ”

Dou You opened his mouth when he heard this: "Great King, although the Qi State can withstand it at present, but the pressure of our Chu State is very great, and the money of Taifu is almost unbearable. ”

Xiong Huai was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly said, "Xianqing, why is this?" ”

"The widow remembers that Taifu still has a lot of money to buy wheat and rice from various countries, and the price of grain in all countries has risen, and it has not flowed into Chu in large quantities!"

Dou You opened his mouth, was silent for a while, and thought again and again before he sighed: "Great King, the grain of various countries naturally did not flow into the Chu State. The reason is that in the past 10 days when I went abroad, the big businessmen who had a large amount of grain in their hands saw that the price of grain was rising, and under the pretext of contributing to the country, they sold the wheat and rice in their hands to Taifu at a price 20% lower than the market price. ”

"Because this batch of grain is huge, more than 300,000 stones..."

300,000 stone of grain···

Xiong Huai was stunned, the state of Chu has very strict control over grain, especially wheat and rice, even if the people have very little in their hands, so it is impossible for those big businessmen to gather 300,000 stone wheat and rice in a short period of time.

Because time is so fast!

The merchants simply did not have time to adjust the grain.

And with this strength to take out such a large sum of food, Xiong Huai instantly thought of the feudal monarchs in various places, only they have such strength.

Thinking about it, Xiong Huai suddenly hated the root of his teeth.

When this group of guys was in trouble in the state of Chu, once Yingdu asked them to send food and people to fight, they would push and procrastinate.

Now they know that there is no shortage of grain in Chu State, and the purpose of raising grain prices is to prevent grain from flowing into Qi State, but as a result, they actually took the opportunity to sell grain to Taifu and take advantage of Taifu.

If the Chu State is really short of food, even if it does not buy these grains at full price at a discount, Xiong Huai will admit it, and will be grateful to them, but now the Chu State is not short of food at all!

Seeing a fierce light in the eyes of the King of Chu, Dou You arched his hand and said: "King, because this time the increase in grain prices is true, and the grain collection is fake, so the minister did not store a large amount of money in the Taifu in various places, which caused the copper coins in some local government treasury to be quickly exhausted and the purchase was broken. ”

"Now that the grain is still being purchased normally, only the Pingguang Mansion in Yingdu is left, and as for other places, the ministers have ordered the closure and suspension of operations when they see that the opportunity is not good, so as not to give the feudal monarchs a chance to take advantage of it."

Xiong Huai breathed rapidly several times when he heard this, his chest rose and fell one after another, and then, he took a long breath and laughed angrily: "Okay! Loyal to the monarch to serve the country, it is really good, Taifu Yin, there are those people who are worried about the country and the people, and take the opportunity to share the worries of the widows? ”

Dou You suddenly didn't dare to look at Chu Guo, bowed his head and was silent.

He knew who the King of Chu really wanted to ask was, not those big businessmen on the surface, but the feudal nobles behind these businessmen.

As Taifu Yin, who is in charge of Chu State's finances, he naturally knows who is making a fortune behind.

Seeing this, Xiong Huai was furious and said, "What, can't the widow know what they did?" ”

Dou You was terrified when he heard this, and bowed his head and said: "Back to the king, what the ministers have found at present, and those who are related to this matter are the six feudal monarchs such as Dongjun, Zhan Yangjun, and Lu Jun. ”

"Good! Very good! Xiong Huai couldn't help sneering, Jianghan and Jianghuai all have them, although there are only six feudal monarchs, but who knows if it is Dou You who closes the Pingguang Mansion in various places quickly, or if the others are one step slower!

Seeing that the King of Chu was furious, Chen Zhen immediately spoke: "Great King, the news that the ministers have received from all over the country, not only our Chu State, but also other countries, has also encountered the situation of powerful people colluding with merchants and taking the opportunity to sell grain to their own country, such as Sanjin, Yan, Song Yue and other countries!" ”

The world is as black as a crow!

Xiong Huai cursed secretly in his heart, but when he heard that the bad luck was not a country in Chu, he suddenly felt a lot more comfortable!

Then, looking forward to it and said with a smile: "Now that the price of grain in Qi is the highest, there must be many powerful people in Qi who are worried about the country and the people, and sell grain to the king of Qi, right?" ”