Xiong Huai turned his head to look at Jing Li and Chen Zhen on the side, and asked, "Is it true at this time?" ”

Jing Li and Chen Zhen both nodded.

Chen Zhen hesitated and said: "Great King, although this is the case, it does not mean that the King of Qi gave up on himself after being hit and collapsed. The minister got the news from the Qi country, although the Qi country is now extravagant and often holds flour banquets, but the king of Qi comforts the dead and hangs the orphans at the same time, often summons the ministers, the court is never absent, and the ministers abide by their affairs without slackening, so during this period of time, the Qi country is not chaotic. ”

Then, Chen Zhen hesitated for a moment before saying: "Judging from the news collected from all over the Qi country, the Qi country seems to have recovered from the last defeat after this period of recuperation, and the country has begun to reappear prosperous. ”

Xiong Huai was stunned for a moment, and said unconfidently: "The King of Qi has a flour feast, does this mean that the Qi State has mastered the stone mill?" ”

Chen Zhen wondered: "Great King, judging from the attitude of Qi State towards Maimi, it seems that this is not the case. Because Qi did not buy wheat rice on a large scale, Qi State, like other countries, knew that there must be something wrong with wheat rice, so after hoarding a large amount of wheat rice, it only controlled the domestic wheat and strictly prohibited wheat from leaving the country. ”

"If the Qi State also got the stone mill, then with the financial resources of the Qi State, it should be like my Chu State, and the crazy purchase of Maimi is, but the Qi State did not do this."

"What kind of ??? is Qi Guo doing?" Xiong Huai secretly wondered in his heart.

"Do you know what Qi Guo means?"

Hearing King Chu's inquiry, the three of them all shook their heads.

Xiong Huai sighed and said: "Forget it, no matter what Qi Guo wants to do, as long as Qi State does not master the stone grinding technique, then the benefits that Qi State gets from Mai Mi will definitely not be as good as our Chu State." ”

Then, Xiong Huai said to Dou You: "Now that the autumn harvest is not long away, we will start the next step of the plan, and gradually continue to increase the price of wheat and rice in various places." ”

Dou You responded: "The minister receives the order." It's just that, my lord, at what price is the right price for wheat to be raised? ”

What price?

Xiong Huai naturally knew what Dou Yu meant.

Now in the hands of the ordinary people in the Chu State, there is basically no grain available, even if the price is ten times the price, they may not be able to receive much wheat.

The matter of calling on the people to plant wheat and rice has been done many times in the countries of the world before, but the effect is not obvious, because everyone does not eat it until they are forced to do so.

Planting corn, a farmer can easily get a hundred acres of wheat with his family, but planting wheat rice, a grain that needs careful care, a farmer drags his family and grows 100 acres of wheat...

This...

Maybe it's not much easier than a slave, or maybe it's not even a slave, or maybe you can't grow so much at all...

Xiong Huai himself has never farmed, but more or less heard that one acre and three points of land is an idiom, when the field was divided in the past, his own side, each family was less than ten acres of land.

Then the price of wheat is extremely low, even if you want to sell it, you can't sell it, and growing wheat is unprofitable, so as long as you have surplus food in your hands, a fool will go to grow wheat and rice.

In short, the people now do not want to grow wheat.

Whether it is a countryman or a savage, none of them are slaves, of course they will choose the most cost-effective grain, everyone has been farming all their lives, and it is impossible to be stupid and can't tell the difference.

Since it can't be forced, it can only be guided.

The most intuitive way to guide is to increase the price of wheat rice.

Xiong Huai thought for a while and said: "In August, first raise the price of wheat and rice to double the price of corn, and after August, inspect all parts of Chu to see how many people are planting wheat and rice, and then decide whether to raise the price again." ”

Dou You responded: "Only." ”

Then, Xiong Huai said to Chen Zhen: "Xianqing, next is the news that Lao Xianqing will buy wheat from Chu with double corn, and spread it to all countries, luring the people of other countries to plant wheat and rice. ”

Chen Zhen arched his hand and said: "Only"

A few days later.

Xiong Huai received a report from Jing Li, and the Shangguan doctor, who hired a teacher for the prince, finally returned. The prince's teacher, Huanyuan of the Qi Guoji School Palace, returned with him.

"When will Doctor Shangguan and Huanzi arrive in Yingdu?" Xiong Huai asked.

Jing Li replied: "Back to the king, according to the report of Doctor Shangguan, I will arrive in Yingdu in three days." ”

Xiong Huai nodded: "Qing went to prepare, and the widow decided to go to Yingdu to meet Huanzi in person three days later." ”

Jing Li was startled and opened his mouth, but he couldn't refute it.

One is that the king of Chu wants to show his great virtue, and the other is that Huanzi is not only a famous sage in the world, but also a descendant of Lao Tzu, the founder of the Taoist school, in addition to being a Chu person.

Unlike Zhuangzi, who learned from the Taoist school and then took Lao Tzu as his teacher, Huanzi is a descendant of Lao Tzu who is a member of the Eight Classics, and has a very high prestige among the people of the Taoist school of Chu State.

This kind of great sage is not very good in the Qi country, but once he returns to China, it will be very heavy, and now the king of Chu has asked him to be the prince's teacher, and it is not rude to go out of the city to greet him in person.

Three days later, Xiong Huai took the crown prince and some important ministers to Yingdu early.

But when they arrived outside the city, it was empty, and from a distance, there was no one.

I waited for a while, but no one came.

Seeing this, the prince said to Xiong Huai in front of him: "Father, are we here a little early!" ”

The prince was a little depressed, and soon there was another person to discipline him.

Xiong Huai smiled: "Not early, not early, meeting with Daxian, it will only be too late, how can it be early." ”

Time passed little by little, and it was not until the third pole of the sun that I saw a convoy coming from afar.

Not far away, the convoy stopped, and after a while, I saw Dr. Shangguan and an old man walking out of the convoy.

Seeing this, Xiong Huai immediately led the prince to move forward.

When he got closer, Xiong Huai saw Huanzi's true face, and saw that his hair and beard were white but his face was radiant, and his eyes were bright, not like an ordinary old man.

Doctor Shangguan saluted and said: "King, Weichen was ordered to return Huanzi to the country, and now he has fulfilled his mission and has invited Huanzi back from Qi State." ”

Huan Yuan saluted: "The old man has seen the king. ”

Xiong Huai hurriedly helped Huan Yuan up and sighed: "The name of Mr. has been heard for a long time, and I am very fortunate to see Mr. today." ”

Huan Yuan said with a strong Chu voice: "In the past, Qi waited to create a school palace, and specially invited my teacher to preside, and the old man got the news of the teacher, and the green head left Chu to Qi, and it has been decades, and now he is full of white hair, alone in the Qi country, and often hears the singing of the Chu people at night. ”

"Now the king doesn't mind that I have no contribution to the Chu State, and he doesn't think that I am old and useless, and he plans to entrust the crown prince, which is an old honor..."