"Father, the Zhou family hasn't increased the price today, but it has begun to limit the amount, and it is estimated that there is not much food." The second son, Qi Yuye, said.

"But their family has been flowing like this, and it is not good for our family to raise prices again. In a few days, the rumors will be broken, and the price of this grain will fall. Qi Honglie said.

At this time, Qi Yuwang said: "This is easy to do, tomorrow I will take a few people to the Zhou family grain store and smash his *mother*." ”

"Fart! You know that if you smash it, you won't use your brain? Qi Honglie scolded, this little son makes trouble every day, and finally stopped a little in the past few days. At this juncture, he didn't want him to cause trouble. Silver still has to be earned, but it must be done secretly, and no flaws can be exposed.

was scolded by his father, Qi Yuwang was silent.

At this time, Qi Yujia continued: "Father, if you want to say this rumor, it is indeed a rumor, but the actual situation in Juzhou City is not much better than the rumor. There are about 50,000 people in the whole city, and 15,000 stone of grain is consumed a month. At present, every household does not have much grain in stock, and it is also true that officials cannot distribute rice. Second brother, as far as you know, how much grain is stored in the four major grain stores in the city? ”

"Liu Ji estimated that there were more than 2,000 stones, Zhang Ji estimated that it was only about 1,000 stones, and our family still had less than 3,000 stones. It is estimated that the grain inventory in Juzhou City will not exceed 500 stones, and other small grain stores will not exceed 500 stones, and the whole city will not exceed 7,000 stones. Big brother, don't ignore the big families in the city, they have a lot of food. Qi Yuye reminded.

Qi Honglie laughed and said proudly: "Those big families in the city don't have to worry, they are not good at business, and they will only wait for the opportunity to buy land cheaply. At this time, they can't react, and when they wake up, we'll make enough. ”

"If this is the case, we will have a lot of room for operation, and we will continue to release rumors tomorrow, saying that Zhou Ji does not have much food in stock, and it will not last for a few days. The shortage of grain in the whole city will continue for more than half a year, and it is estimated that there will be a shortage of 100,000 stone of grain in the city. In this way, the price of grain will definitely soar, and when it rises to more than two taels of silver, we will start selling it again. Qi Yujia said.

"It's a pity that our family has too little grain in stock, if we can have 10,000 stone to store grain, we will earn more than 10,000 taels of silver this time." Qi Yuye was not greedy enough and said regretfully.

"I'll figure it out." Qi Yujia said. Then he said to his father: "Father, I think it's not impossible for the third brother to say that way. But ...... do it."

"Well, be secretive and don't show flaws." Qi Honglie said: "As long as there is no evidence for the surname Zhou, his son is the prefect, what can he do to me?" ”

Early the next morning, there was still a crowd of people in front of the Zhou Ji grain store, and the number of people buying grain did not decrease in the slightest.

At two o'clock, the grain store opened on time, and the crowd flocked to the store like ants. Shopkeeper Li looked at the crowd outside the store, frightened, and kept muttering, don't have an accident, don't have an accident.

But the strange thing is that none of the officials who said they were good did come. Shopkeeper Li suddenly felt at a loss, so he asked the guy eagerly: "What about the officials, why didn't you see them today, didn't you say that you would come over today?" ”

"The shopkeeper, early in the morning, an official came and said that they were in the yamen today to arrest the thieves, and they couldn't come."

"Huh?" In an instant, Shopkeeper Li felt that something was wrong, there were so many people, without them to maintain order, if there was a mess, how could it be good? Hurriedly said to the guy next to him: "Go and talk to the owner, and ask him to transfer people from other stores to help maintain order." ”

As soon as the tea was done, Zhou Xuhai hurried over. When he came to the backyard, before he could sit down, the shopkeeper Li came over and hurriedly said: "Boss, the situation today is not good, there are more people than yesterday." ”

"How much food is left in the store now?"

"It is estimated that it is only more than 100 stones, and it has only been more than an hour since the door opened, and more than 60 stones have been sold. If the grain truck does not come in the afternoon, it is estimated that there will be no grain to sell, and I am afraid that by that time, people will not be able to buy grain, and there will be chaos, and there will be a possibility of smashing the store. ”

"Let the guys at the counter move slower and delay as much as possible. If it's fast, the grain truck will be there before dark. ”

At the same time, rumors spread throughout the city.

"Big cousin, let me tell you something, don't tell outsiders. I heard my younger brother who was on an errand in the yamen say that there is a great shortage of grain in our city now, and three of the four major grain stores have closed, and only Zhou Ji is still open, but the daily limit is 200 stone of grain. A person can only buy two buckets at a time. The whole city has a population of 60,000 or 70,000, and it has to consume nearly 20,000 stone of grain in a month. I heard that Chang Ping and Shecang together can't make up 10,000 stone of grain. That Zhang Tongzhi didn't care about anything, even if the old man Zhizhou came, there was no food to put away. It is estimated that there will be a shortage of food for at least six or seven months. We'll have to find a way to get more food to store. ”

"Then where are we going to buy food?"

"I go to the grain store every day to keep an eye on, as long as the door is opened, no matter how expensive it is, no matter how good it is, as long as it is food, I will buy it back."

"I'll ask my family to inquire more."

"You should also be careful, you have money on you, and when the grain store opens, you will buy it immediately."

"Don't tell outsiders about this. If you know more, you won't be able to buy it, and if you have more eyes, you won't lose anything! ”

"Yes, yes."

In this way, the more secret the rumor spread, the faster it spread, and it didn't take half a day for the whole city to know the news. There were more people on the street, one by one, like wolves foraging for food, staring at the large and small grain stores. But apart from Zhouji, none of the grain stores were open.

Just after dawn, Zhou Xuhai was just about to wander in the backyard of the grain store for a while, when Shopkeeper Li knocked on the door. Zhou Xuhai chuckled in his heart, nothing would happen. He quickly got up, opened the door, and let Shopkeeper Li in.

Shopkeeper Li gasped and said, "Boss, it's not good. The grain truck was robbed by the victims halfway through! ”

"What?" Zhou Xuhai exclaimed: "Tell me what's going on?" ”

"This morning, the grain truck had just arrived in Juzhou, walking on the official road, and suddenly a big truck in front of it sank into a big pit, and the grain was spilled on the ground. The cart was parked in the middle of the road, and the grain cart behind it couldn't go. After being discovered by the nearby villagers, four or five hundred hungry victims, more than a dozen carts, and two hundred stones of grain came at once, and they were all robbed in a while. ”

"Hey, two hundred stone grain is a small matter, this is out of stock, loss of trust, is a big deal. Let the guys on the counter move more slowly, no matter what, you have to survive today, and find a way tomorrow. ”

However, Zhou Xuhai and Shopkeeper Li never thought that they would not be able to survive today no matter what, and a greater disaster was brewing.

In the box on the second floor of a restaurant opposite the Zhou Ji Grain Store, Qi Yuwang sat at the table, drinking a little wine leisurely, while looking through the window at the crowd of people buying grain in front of the Zhou Ji Grain Store.

A tall and thin man knocked on the door and whispered in Qi Yuwang's ear, "Third Young Master, that's done." ”

"What do you do? Don't get me a tail. Qi Yuwang asked.

"Lisso! Those poor ghosts, needless to say, heard that there was food, and rushed over in a swarm. None of our people did anything, and there wasn't a single flaw. ”

"Alright, let's start here. The master instructed that he could only smash and rob, but he could not kill anyone. Go ahead, do a good job, do a good job, this young master will reward you heavily, and then you will hide in the field, and come back after the limelight. ”

"Okay, you'll see." After saying that, the family left the box excitedly and went downstairs.

In front of Zhou Ji Grain Store, the tall and thin family led a group of people, scolding, pushing and shoving to separate the crowd and come to the store.

When everyone saw it, this group of people did not look like the people who were serious, and they dodged again and again.

As soon as the guys in the store saw the behavior of this group of people, they knew that they were not good at stubble, so they hurriedly greeted them and said, "This guest officer, are you buying rice?" ”

The tall and thin man threw his pocket on the cabinet and said, "Nonsense, what are you doing here without buying rice?" Measure me five buckets of rice. ”

"This guest officer, this store can only buy two buckets per person at a time."

"What is the rule, two buckets are two buckets, quickly measure the rice for me."

"Okay, please understand, the guest officer, in two days our store will be unlimited, you can bear more." The guy said as he measured the rice.

"Guest officer, this is your meter. A total of 300 texts. The man handed the rice to the tall and thin man.

The tall and thin man took the bag of rice, said nothing, took it and walked back. At the door of the store, another person exchanged the same half bag of rice with him, and then the man slipped into the crowd.

These two thought they were secretive, but they didn't expect to be seen clearly by Liu Yiyi's daughter-in-law on the side, and she also knew this tall and thin family.

The tall and thin man suddenly put down his pocket, opened his pocket and looked inside, and then shouted: "Come and see, everyone, Zhou Ji has a black conscience, and the rice he sells is mixed with so much sand." Dare to sell such rice, it's really a black conscience! ”

As he spoke, he carried half a bag of rice and poured it on the floor of the store.

In addition, those who were with him also shouted loudly: "Zhou Ji is a black shop, selling rice mixed with sand to make money." Come to a sticky end! ”

"Call your treasurers."

"Quick, call your shopkeepers."

"you&, you can't get out, if you don't come out, we'll smash your black shop."

The guys on the counter knew that these people were scoundrels, but they were outnumbered, and there were hundreds of people watching outside. So I didn't dare to argue, so I could only say good things one by one. It means that the rice is exchanged and the money is refunded to compensate Yunyun.

At this time, Liu Yiyi's daughter-in-law, who was unknown, couldn't stand it. opened his mouth and said: "Wu Ergou, I obviously saw that you exchanged rice bags with others, why did you still slander other people's grain stores?" You can't break your conscience! ”

"Fart, who is Wu Ergou, you recognize the wrong person. Which eye did you see me exchanging rice bags with someone else?! Are you in league with this grain store?! The tall and thin man denied it, and took a bite back.

The rest of the family members also questioned and intimidated Liu Yiyi's daughter-in-law: "I said you stinky girl, are you in league with the grain store?" Be careful that I beat you to death! Get lost! ”

Liu Yi's daughter-in-law was so frightened that she hurriedly got into the crowd and left.

At the same time, there was also a group of people outside the crowd, who were also shouting loudly, and poured out rice mixed with sand for everyone to see.

"Everyone, come and see, this is the rice I just bought in Zhou Ji, almost half of it is sand."

"Look at it, this kind of rice is worth three hundred wen?"

The common people didn't know the situation inside, and when they were provoked by these people, they were immediately indignant.

"I didn't expect Zhou Ji to blacken his conscience and mix half of the sand in the rice."

"Smash it!"

"That's right! Smash it! ”

The anger of the common people was ignited by these families, and in an instant, the Zhou Ji Grain Store was surrounded by angry people, and people poured into the store, and the crazy smashing and looting began......