Lord Liang has not yet arrived in Yizhou, but there is a food shortage in Juzhou City, and this food shortage started from a rumor.

Juzhou belongs to the hilly area, there are few plains, and the arable land is mainly concentrated in the alluvial plain of the Shuhe River. However, it has a large population, with a registered population of more than 198,000 in the state, and a conservative estimate of 400,000 with the hidden population. The cultivated area is about 1 million mu, but about 40 percent of this 1 million mu of land is concentrated in the hands of large households with less than 10,000 people. In other words, 600,000 people in the state need to support nearly 400,000 people.

Of these 600,000 land, less than half of the land can be watered, so that the 600,000 mu of land in the whole state produces less than 500,000 stones, and excluding taxes and seeds, the maximum per capita food ration per year is 1780 catties.

If it weren't for a disaster year, this ration plus wild vegetables and leaves would have been able to barely survive. However, Juzhou is also a place of many disasters and difficulties, with heavy rains in summer, and the Shu River, the only major river in the territory, often overflows, and floods occur in two of three years. However, in spring and autumn, there is drought and little rain, which brings difficulties to spring plowing and autumn planting.

Therefore, there are disaster victims in Juzhou every year, and there is a food shortage every year. At the turn of spring and summer every year, when there is no harvest season, almost every village is hungry and every household is crying. But this season is a grand carnival for the big families in the city. They stockpiled grain, raised the price of food, and forced the victims to sell their sons and daughters, and finally sell their land. If there is nothing to sell, you can only starve to death.

In the morning, at the Dongguan market in the city, Liu Yi heard two vegetable vendors discussing: "Yesterday, I heard from a cousin of mine who was on an errand in the Yamen that now the officials and masters of the Yamen are unable to distribute rice, and the treasury is empty. ”

"Is that really the case? A few days ago, someone said that the Yamen Lumi had not been sent for a long time. It turned out that the feudal treasury was out of food. Then can our people still have food to eat? ”

"Wait for the next set, hurry up to the grain store to buy some, the price of grain will definitely rise in two days."

"Another vendor next to him said, you know it's late, yesterday afternoon the grain store ran out of rice, I heard that the price of grain has risen to one or two or seven dollars of silver."

Liu Yi heard a few hawkers discussing, so he asked them: "Don't listen to those profiteers' nonsense, they do this every year, hoarding grain, driving up grain prices, and taking the opportunity to make a fortune." ”

"This time it's different, I heard from my relative that last year, there was a big flood, flooding hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, and five or six hundred villages were affected, and I heard that there are now more than 100,000 people in the state. Since Lord Yang left office last summer, there has been no governor in the yamen, and no one has taken care of things. Until now, all the autumn grain has been confiscated, so it's no wonder that the officials and masters can send Lu rice. ”

"My mother, is there really a food shortage this time?" Liu Yi was shocked, and then asked: "Then the grain merchants from other places heard that the price of grain has risen here, can they bring grain?" ”

"It can't be transported at all, take the dry road, the road is not easy to walk, there are robbers on the road, the cost of transporting grain is high, and it will rise to one or two hundred or eight dollars of silver and a stone from the south of the Yangtze River to here. The cost of taking the waterway is low, but the Shuhe River is silted up, and it is impossible to travel by boat. So don't expect food to come in for a while. ”

After Liu Yiyi heard about it, he didn't rush to the market, turned around and walked home. When he got home, he said to his daughter-in-law, "Son, how much money do you have in the house?" How many rice noodles? ”

"There is not much rice and noodles, and it is enough to eat for seven or eight days, and there are still two or three taels of silver."

"Hurry up and give me two taels of silver, and I'll go buy rice." I have to save some food at home, and I heard that this time there is really a food shortage. ”

Liu Yi hurriedly came to the Qiji grain store, which was already crowded with a street of people, as many as five or six hundred, but the grain store had not yet opened in the morning.

Liu Yi heard that people were talking about it.

"Did you hear that? After Lord Zhizhou left office last year, we have not had an official in charge here for almost a year, and we don't know when there will be a food shortage in this city. ”

"I heard that the official master has no food to eat at home?"

"Then the emperor still hasn't issued an order for relief?"

"! If you wait for the emperor to know, the people here have already starved to death. ”

"Don't bother with it, let's figure it out for ourselves. If you can't buy it in the city, let's buy it in the countryside. ”

"I can't buy it in the countryside, because last year's flood caused the countryside to suffer, and I heard that there were more than 100,000 victims. If you go to the countryside to buy grain, many people in the countryside are dying of hunger, and it is lucky not to come to the city to grab grain. ”

……

In the grain store, the shopkeeper Guo was asking the second young master of the Qi family for instructions.

Shopkeeper Guo said: "Second young master, there were five or six hundred people crowded in front of the grain store early this morning, how can you sell it today?" ”

"How many grain stores are still open in the city today?"

"The four major grain stores in the city stopped yesterday afternoon, Liu Ji and Zhang Ji. It is estimated that we and Zhou Ji will be here today, and other small grain stores will not last for two days. ”

"Let's open for an hour today, and after selling out the thirty stones in the store, we won't sell them."

"What about the price?"

"What price did Liu Ji sell for yesterday?"

"Yesterday afternoon, one or two or seven cents of silver."

"Let's sell it for one or two or eight dollars today."

"Okay, then I'll let the guy get off the door."

"No hurry, wait. Let the man mix the grain with three stones of sand, mix it well, and then open the door. ”

"Three stones? Isn't it too much? Shopkeeper Guo was taken aback.

"That's it, I love to buy it or not, and I won't even have such food in two days." Qi Yuye replied arrogantly.

The shopkeeper Guo scolded in his heart, my heart is black, the second owner is darker than me, thirty stones of grain mixed with three stones of sand, can this grain still be eaten? But scolding is scolding, and it still has to be done.

At three o'clock, it was past the time to open the door, but the door of the Qi Ji Grain Store was still closed, and there was no sign of opening for business at all.

At this time, the people waiting outside were anxious and stepped forward to slam the door.

"Open the door! Open the door! ”

"Are you still selling it today?"

Outside the store, there was a lot of people talking about it. The longer the time drags on, the more people panic. Is it that Qi Ji has no food to sell today?

When the hour came, the door of the grain store finally opened, and the people rushed forward.

The people who crowded into the store asked the guy, "What is the price of rice today?" ”

"One hundred and eighty wen a bucket."

"Wasn't it still one hundred and seventy yesterday?"

"The money has risen today, and it will rise tomorrow, will you buy it?"

"Buy, buy! Bring me five buckets. ”

The guy took the pocket and began to measure the rice for the customer.

The customer looked at the measured rice and was shocked. said, "Wait. Why do you have so much sand in this rice, do you sell rice or sand? ”

"Today's rice is like this, buy it or not, don't buy the next one."

At this time, the people behind also began to urge: "Hey, I said, if you don't buy it, let it go." ”

The man had no choice but to say, "Buy, I'll buy." Measure me three buckets. ”

In this way, in the noisy and scolding between the guys and the customers, the rice in the grain store also decreased little by little.

In less than an hour, the rice in the grain store began to bottom out, and the people who bought grain outside heard the wind and began to squeeze it desperately.

Guo's shopkeeper and his buddies shouted desperately: "Customers, neighbors, there is indeed no rice in this store." Everyone, don't squeeze anymore, it's really gone. Let's go and see it elsewhere. ”

"When will the rice be sold?"

"It's hard to say, there is a shortage of food in the city right now, and as soon as the food arrives, we will open our doors immediately. Let's all go back, we're closed. ”

Liu Yi dispersed with the disappointed crowd, he also felt a great panic, there is not much rice and noodles at home, if he can't buy food in ten days, won't the whole family starve to death? There are only four big grain stores in the city, and one is closed today, I don't know if there is any rice in Zhouji? Thinking of this, he hurried to the Zhou Ji Grain Store.

At this time, the front of Zhou Ji Grain Store was already crowded. Boss Zhou personally sat in the backyard of the grain store. Shopkeeper Li ran over and said, "The owner, there are too many people, I'm afraid of chaos." ”

"How many are there?"

"It's estimated that there are thousands of people, and many more are coming here. I heard that Liu Ji, Zhang Ji, and Qi Ji are no longer for sale, so let's stop. ”

Zhou Xuhai exclaimed: "So many?!" Hurry up and send men to the yamen to ask the officials to maintain order. ”

"It's gone."

This time the food shortage was something he did not expect, the food shortage occurs every year, but it has never been so ferocious this year. He originally agreed with the He family to use the opportunity to solve the problem of the disaster victims to invest in the construction of several more workshops. But I didn't expect to be disrupted by this food shortage.

"How much food is left in the store now?" Zhou Xuhai asked.

"And two hundred stones of rice, eighty stones of wheat, and twenty stones of millet, a total of three hundred stones. At today's rate, it won't last more than two days and will be sold out. ”

"Hurry up and send someone to Qingzhou to transfer grain. There are still more than 800 stones of grain in stock, so I will bring 600 stones first. ”

"Owner, do we still sell it for one or two and a half dollars and a stone? The other three have all risen to one or two or eight. ”

Zhou Xuhai thought for a while: "The price increase now is bound to cause greater panic." In this way, you and your men go out and shout, from now on you are limited to two buckets per person, and within ten days a large amount of grain will be delivered, and you will not be starved. ”

"Will there be a large shipment of grain in less than ten days? Is it possible? ”

"I said it was possible, go ahead and do it."

In the afternoon, near evening, with the last door panel closed, the door of Zhou Ji Grain Store was finally closed. Shopkeeper Li repeatedly told everyone that the business will definitely open on time tomorrow, and the grain will definitely not be sold out, but it is just a few days of nervousness.

Liu Yiyi finally bought two buckets of rice, plus rice and noodles at home, saving food, enough to eat for 20 days.

The daughter-in-law saw that he had bought back the grain, and her hanging heart was slightly relaxed. After he went home, he told his daughter-in-law, tomorrow I will go to work, and you will go to the Zhou Ji Grain Store to buy rice.

"Didn't you buy it today? It's enough to eat for ten days and a half months. ”

"You know a fart, this time it's a real food shortage, Lord Zhizhou doesn't know when he will take office, there is no chief official in the whole state, I heard that there are more than 100,000 victims outside the city, and now only Zhou Ji still has grain to sell, but he can only buy two buckets at a time. I don't know when this food shortage will be, so I will continue to buy it tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Save more food at home and feel at ease. ”

In fact, ordinary people are like this, buying up but not down. The more panicked, the more desperate to stock up. The people in the entire city are the same, and Liu Yiyi is just a microcosm. It is said that some people have five or six hundred catties of grain stored at home, which is enough for a family to eat for three or four months, and they still desperately buy grain. This is the classic herd mentality. And those black-hearted businessmen are taking advantage of the psychology of ordinary people to make a lot of money.

At night, the four fathers and sons of the Qi family were plotting in Qi Honglie's study, and a larger conspiracy was being planned......