As a large number of cinchonas were transported to the two epidemic areas of Jiulongjiang and Honghe Province, the two places took strong measures to prohibit drinking raw water and open defecation, and the violators were forcibly expelled from the Nanzhong area. Under such a combination of punches, the two epidemics that had spread to the west and south were quickly controlled, which made the Nanzhong Army, which had been plagued by a shortage of labor, breathe a sigh of relief.

"In the future, if someone wants to enter our South Middle School, they will have to be quarantined for a few days to see if there are any dark diseases and infectious diseases. After that, in these days, we have to tell them to pay attention to something here, such as drinking water hygiene, preventing mosquitoes, and not defecating in the open. ”

At the meeting held every ten years, Huang Shi'an, the chief of the household department, took the lead in firing a shot.

That is, now the old people know how to pay attention to hygiene, what to eat, toilet, water, bath, mosquito prevention and so on, but the newcomers do not understand very well. Therefore, walking on the street, among the crowds of people coming and going, that one is an old citizen and that one is a newcomer, it is really obvious at a glance. Even exaggerated, you don't need to look, you can smell it with your nose! ”

The words of Wu Lao Wolf of the Tax Department made everyone laugh, obviously they also felt the same way, the hygiene habits of new immigrants are often gradually developed after living with the old people for a period of time, which is why with the influx of a large number of immigrants, there will be outbreaks of infectious diseases from time to time.

The large-scale movement of people led to the epidemic and outbreak of various diseases, which is difficult to control in modern society where health and medical conditions are much stronger, let alone in the 17th century. The simplest and most practical way to do it. It is to create a quarantine area and implement a short quarantine observation of the flow of people trying to enter their area.

"Okay, this matter will be implemented as a system at various gates and wharves, and on the houses, beds, accommodation, personnel, money and food and other matters in the quarantine area, you will discuss it with the household department and the inspection family, come up with a charter, and discuss it together in the next meeting!"

"My lord. This year's summer grain requisition. How should it be deployed? ”

Huang Shi'an glanced at his notebook and threw out a bombshell again.

The first crop of rice in Chongzhen's fifth year is about to be marketed, although it is due to the locust plague in the northern region at the beginning of the year. Grain and oil crops in the Honghe area may be affected; But. In the area south of Ha Tinh Province. In particular, in the areas south of the Lingjiang River, the Jiulong River, and the Chao Phraya River, the large areas of farmland that were reclaimed in those years have entered a period of stable and high yield. It is expected that the yield per mu this season should be between four and five stones.

If we add to this the intercropping of rapeseed and the corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other crops planted on the slopes of the mountainous areas, this year's harvest will be a crazy number for officials at all levels of the South Central Army.

However, a slight difference from the officials in the interior is that the officials in the interior have to have some minds to do things, and they are worried about the lack of food, which will lead to a series of social problems, while in Nanzhong, because they are worried that the grain harvest will cause the peasants to be cheap, and then because the peasants have no cash in their hands and cannot buy industrial products, a series of problems are something that the officials at all levels of the Nanzhong Army from top to bottom are worried.

"We now have more than 700 tunpus, granges, farms and the like in the Jiulong River, and there are more than 200 places engaged in the cultivation of rice and other crops in the Chao Phraya River area, and these tunpu farms employ thousands of workers, hundreds of cattle and horses, and there are 1,200 people, dozens of buffaloes, and the total cultivated area is 13,270,837 mu and 6 cents before this year's rice planting. It is only calculated according to the sale of one stone of surplus grain per mu, which is also more than 10 million stone of surplus grain. What's more, this number must at least more than double. ”

More than doubled? In other words, in the two new reclamation areas alone, there will be nearly 30 million stone grain and rice to be sold in the market. This number suddenly made the high-level people a little distracted.

"Well, how much money do we have to prepare to buy surplus grain? Also, in addition to the warehouses in various places and Siwucang in villages and towns, where to find a storage place? Also, what happens to the grain and rice after it is purchased? ”

"What's worse is, how to set the grain purchase price? If it is low, the so-called grain is cheap and hurts the farmers, and if it is high, we are afraid that the whole market will be chaotic! ”

At the meeting, people began to argue according to their respective departments and their respective responsibilities. There is only one question around, how to deal with the grain, rice and oil like this sea?

In the past, the so-called land of fish and rice, the Hangjiahu Plain and the Susong Taiping Plain, have long since changed from grain export areas to grain import areas because of the large cultivation of cash crops such as mulberry, tea trees, and even rush grass, and they rely on rice produced in the Huguang area.

The neighboring Fujian region, because of the large number of people and the lack of land, has always been a grain import province.

Merchants in these areas, like sharks smelling of blood, have been gathering in several ports in the south and central like sharks for more than a year, intending to buy large quantities of grain and go north to make huge profits.

"The unified export price of our grain is five dollars and one stone, excluding freight, but after these merchants arrived in Guangzhou, Zhangzhou, and Quanzhou, the price more than doubled. It's a good deal! "The wooden tooth dog in charge of the business information room is still a somewhat non-standard official dialect, which always sounds a little strange.

"However, our inspection department has captured a few businessmen who went to nearby prefectures and counties to buy grain and rice, and the villagers reported that the price given by these guys was only five cents of silver per stone! It's really hateful! There are also rumors circulating in the north and south, saying that in recent years, the General's Mansion has been smelting iron, building roads and bridges, and building big sea ships, and the treasury has long run out of money. Although the price of grain given by the merchant is low, it is better than the rice piled up with worms in the barn at home! ”

Bao Zhongchen, the undertaker of the Inspection Division, still has the same face that everyone owes me money.

Hearing that rumors were spreading on his own turf, intent on confusing people's minds, and thus profiting from the impending summer grain requisition, Shouhan suddenly had the excitement of facing a great war, a feeling that seems to be glimpsed only in the various materials describing the Great War between the two whites and the one black at the beginning of the founding of the country.

I have to admit that this rumor is still a bit level and deceptive. It cleverly confuses the grain purchase price with the capital construction carried out in Nanzhong and the construction of the water division. Cleverly combine large and small sea vessels in various ports, roads, bridges and shipyards. The blast furnace of the iron plant was combined with the purchase price of the grain.

Let people understand the various phenomena they see, and instinctively realize that there is no money in the treasury of the official family, and the money is used to build these. I am afraid that the grain purchase prices that were carried out in the past will not be able to be enforced.

In addition, it made full use of the innate conditions of this era, such as the slow speed of information transmission, the relatively closed information, and the incorrect information between merchants and farmers, and spread similar rumors everywhere almost at the same time. Let people only see what is going on near their own homes, and make people aware of it. This year's food prices are likely to fall to the bottom. You may not even have the money to buy it.

When the panic prevailed among the peasants in the villages, these merchants would appear as saviors, buying the peasants' grain and oil crops at prices that could not have been lower.

Sure enough, it's a good means! Good calculation!

Lu Yuju is on the second floor of the teahouse. A group of tea guests are sitting around. Listen to a tea guest talking about it foaming at the mouth.

"I went to the shipyard to see it. On the four slipways, hundreds of people are working there day and night every day, and the boat can't be hundreds of zhang long? Tens of zhang wide? All of them are made of fine steel. First-class cotton cloth is used as sails, and a boat does not carry a few thousand people, at least more than a thousand people are less! There are also dozens of cannon positions, as long as the fire is fired, the large and small artillery cannons rain down, even if it is Da Luo Jinxian, it will be difficult to please him! ”

"Brother Fang Ren, how did you get into the shipyard? When entering the shipyard, you must have a waist card, and you must have a bucket basket. You can't get in by waiting! ”

Fang Lizhi, who is known as Brother Fang Ren, pouted his big mouth that looked like a toad, and blinked his slightly short-sighted eyes, "Where there are people, there is a way to think of it." What is this official building a big ship for? ”

"Didn't you say that transportation and trade were carried out?"

"Phew! You're a rammer! You believe whatever the official says? Chai Jing, another tea guest who was very close to Fang Lizhi on weekdays, scolded the tea guest, "Do you know what it means to be happy?" Do you know what it means to be excessive? Do you know what it means to be ruthless? Do you know what it means to be inconsiderate? ”

"Xiao Chai's words have some truth." When Mr. Fang saw someone come out to wave the flag and shout for himself, he was even more proud in his heart, "My generation of scholars is to drum and cheer for the people." Please stop the huge cost of shipbuilding, road building, bridge construction, etc., and rest with the people. ”

"What if the lord insists on going his own way?"

"Alas! A large amount of money, food, and manpower are wasted on these flashy things, let me ask, the sage taught us that the people take food as the sky, but which of these big ships, steel, roads, and bridges are related to the food of the people? Can steel be eaten? Or can the big ship eat? ”

"There are four blast furnaces, each of which costs a lot of money and grain, and thousands of people work there every day, and for these four blast furnaces, tens of thousands of people work there in the mines. Now, Xingu is about to go on the market, but there is a little bit of meaning to open a warehouse to collect grain? ”

"That's it! In previous years, when there was money, by this time, the purchase price of new millet had already been posted! But why hasn't it been posted this year? ”

Fang Lizhi and Chai Jing sang and harmonized like Mr. Suzhou Pingtan, and said a set of sayings and concepts, seeing that the tea guests sitting around couldn't help nodding, their eyes slightly exchanged their understanding of each other.

"Rank, there are still some things to take care of at home, and I will pay for today's tea!"

"Huh! Mr. Fang, you analyze the situation for everyone, how can you spend money! I'm coming, I'm coming! Chai Jing hurriedly took out the money bag on the side, seeing him like this, Fang Lizhi got up and made a circle and said goodbye to everyone.

Chai Jing only took out the money bag there, but he took out the right sleeve of his robe with his right hand, and while competing with everyone, he kept muttering, "Don't rob, don't rob me." ”

There was the one next to him who was sharp and had already taken out the silver dollar to settle the account, and just when the silver dollar was handed over to Dr. Cha, Chai Jing's money bag had just been taken into his hand.

"You people, I'm here to treat you!"

Chai Jing was a little unhappy, turned around and brushed his sleeves away, leaving a group of people on the second floor looking at each other.

"According to what Mr. Fang said, now the official family has no money to collect grain?"

"Almost. But when my eldest son is going to marry this year, it is the time to use the money, and the money used to be used to build a house and buy wasteland, fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds. ”

"Didn't Chai Jing say the day before yesterday that the east is not bright and the west is bright? If the official family doesn't accept it, let's sell it to the grain merchant! ”

Fang Chai and the others stepped into the teahouse, walked dozens of steps on the street one after the other, and turned two small alleys. Come to the back door of a house. The two saw that there was no one left and right. I couldn't help but burst out laughing, "These turtles! Fooled again! ”

"Sir, it's still your Taoist! A few words to get this group of guys in! They don't want to think that the official family pays for the purchase. Where to find such good things? Changed in the mainland. Laugh at! Go and hand over the imperial grain yourself. You have to pay for it! ”

"Chai Jing, let's not care about that, we are scholars. Just collect money and do things for others. It is also when people see that we have a little fame, so they are willing to pay us to let us speak our mouths and say their words, and then they can do things for profit. ”

"Mr. is right, we just collect money to do things, as long as the other party gives money, it is for me to say that my wife is a bitch, and I am right."

"Hmmm! The children can be taught! ”

The master and apprentice laughed a few words, and when they saw that there was no one around, they gently pulled the copper ring at the door, and after a while, the small door of the door opened, and a person dressed as a family member walked out, "Two, you have worked hard today." This is today's anointing silver, which is used by the academy to add lamp oil to the two of them when they are studying. ”

"Thank you! Thanks a lot! ”

Taking the money bag and weighing it slightly with his hand, Mr. Fang's eyebrows showed a smile, "I don't know how many big shopkeepers have any other orders?" ”

"There are no orders, but it is said that you don't seem to be as effective as Mr. Wu, he dares to make up anything, and even if it is exposed in front of someone, he doesn't care at all, you two seem to be inferior to him."

Seeing the backstage boss say this, the two had to admit their shortcomings in a whisper, "Yes, yes, yes!" The lesson of the gentleman is that he will definitely correct it when he goes back next time. ”

When the family closed the door and heard a noise of footsteps gradually disappearing, Fang Chai and the others turned around and walked out of the alley. Kankan walked to the mouth of the alley, there was a dazzling sunshine in front of him, and he was about to stop to get his eyes used to the dazzling sunlight, when he suddenly felt that it was dark in front of him, and several figures flashed from the side, blocking the vision.

"You, who are you?! In broad daylight, do you still want to block the road and rob it? ”

"That's it! Hue is a place where there is a royal law! Get out of the way, or I'll have to call for inspection! ”

Seeing that the few big men blocking the way looked hideous and strong, he knew at a glance that he was definitely not a good type, even if Chai Jing had a habit of breaking his sleeves like Longyang, but in the face of so many strong men, he couldn't help but feel a little weak.

"Two, but you've just had tea? Although Lu Yuju's tea is good, drinking too much is not good for the stomach. We prepared a light meal for the two gentlemen, and asked them not to refuse. ”

In the crowd, a slightly thin man whispered a little bit of the playful attitude of the beast in front of him, and explained the intention of the two of them.

After a few muffled sounds, a carriage that stopped at the mouth of the alley to transport groceries, a few people dressed as guys, threw a few broken baskets onto the carriage, "Go!" ”

This kind of thing was staged in different parts of Nanzhong, and a total of more than 100 people were secretly arrested by the Statistics Office and the Inspection Department.

"They're all spineless guys! Lao Tzu didn't beat them, nor did he scold, but he just took them into the interrogation room, stripped them of their clothes, tied them to a wooden stake, and then the little ones in charge of the torture moved in one by one the torture instruments, and a few guys began to confess in a hurry! ”

Niu Qiandao from the statistics office mentioned this interrogation and found it not challenging at all.

"Lord, according to the confessions of these people, they are all employed by a certain academy, or a school or something, nominally these academies and schools give them silver and let them do their studies in my Nanzhong, but in fact, they are fanning the wind and lighting the ghost fire, writing exposés and creating rumors."

"The purpose is to disrupt the market, create panic, and make farmers everywhere sell their rice, oil and other goods at low prices. They're profiting from it. ”

"In addition to wandering around the teahouses and wine shops every day, these people are a bit of a cheat to eat and drink, and take the sheep with their hands."

Alas! Literati have been immoral since ancient times!

Listened to this. Shouhan immediately hung this line of golden characters high in his mind.

"What's more, this year, there was a heavy snowfall in the winter, and after the beginning of spring, there were locusts and smallpox, and even the lord's son was not spared, and not long ago there was malaria, which is God's warning to the lord's behavior."

"A warning from heaven? What kind of police are they in? ”

Everything else is easy to say, but the fact that Shouhan's eldest son died of smallpox greatly stung Shouhan. The people of this era. Nearly thirty years old, there are no heirs, but it is a very strict thing.

As the saying goes, you don't slap people in the face, and you don't expose your shortcomings when you scold people. This group of people slapped Shouhan in the face again. and exposed his shortcomings.

This hatred. But the knot is big!

"What is the origin of the academy behind these people?"

"This academy is not our Nanzhong!"

Several academies are probably the remnants of the Zheng family back then, either hiding on the Mo family's territory, or simply floating into the sea to escape. In the past few years, seeing that the momentum had passed, the Nanzhong army guarding the Han Dynasty was too lazy to pursue them, so they started to carry out activities, and in Liangguang, Fujian, Qinghua and other places, in the name of the academy, they recruited shameless literati like Fang Chai and others, and quietly sneaked back to Nanzhong to carry out similar activities.

"In addition to the remnants of the Zheng family, there are also mainland businessmen involved in it, contributing money and efforts, it seems that these things, mainland businessmen are the people behind the scenes!"

That makes sense!

Shouhan threw the report of the statistics office and the inspection department on the table, thinking that it was the mainland businessmen who paid the money, and the remnants of the Zheng family took the lead, and the two partnered, the purpose of the businessmen was to make profits, and the purpose of the Zheng family was to restore their own country, even if it could not be restored, it would add a little disgust to Li Shouhan!

Since you want to play, then I'll play with you!

was stabbed to the most painful scar in his heart, and Shouhan's murderous intent suddenly surged.

Waving his hand to signal Niu Qiandao and Bao Zhongchen to go down, Shouhan sat on his chair a little dejectedly, speechless for a long time.

Li Peilin didn't know when he walked in from outside, "My lord? ”

"Brother Zong, look at this."

Shouhan handed Li Peilin the letter from the statistics office and the inspection department, and motioned for him to understand the situation.

"Lord, are we going to start summer grain requisition too?"

After reading the post at a glance and ten lines, Pei Lin expressed his opinion.

Shouhan nodded, whether it was from the solar terms, or from the market, and from the hearts of the people, they were going to start requisitioning.

"How much is the price? Bumper harvests have been reported everywhere this year. ”

From the seedlings planted into the paddy fields and the seeds sown in the soil, the Nanzhong Army required all localities to report on the growth of crops, once a month. From the emergence rate, to the situation of the seedling stage, pests and diseases, flowers and ears, and even to the number of rice grains on each ear of rice, there must be a more detailed number to report, so that those things that report that there are Jiahe and auspicious somewhere are eliminated, but from another point of view, the approximate yield of each year, each season, and each piece of land can be estimated and analyzed from these numbers.

This is also one of the benefits of training village officials and agricultural technicians.

"People outside say that we build steel and big ships, which is a great achievement, regardless of the people's livelihood! Well, starting this year, our grain procurement will be updated with a new trick! ”

"What is the price of food in the market?"

"The river is a little lower, and the Hue and Kowloon rivers are slightly higher, but when you pull it down, it should be three cents of silver and one stone."

"Three cents of silver, these guys are really generous!"

"In order to ensure the interests of the people, starting from this year, that is, the summer grain season of the fifth year of Chongzhen, our southern Chinese army has carried out protective purchases in various localities, purchasing all kinds of grain and oil crops at three times the market price. Half of the cash will be paid, and half will be discounted by the various commodities produced in our southern middle school, including steel products, wrought iron products, cotton spinning cloth, etc., and the bills can also be used to redeem various processing items in various places. ”

Wu Yonghai listened to his son read the news published in the Nanzhong Business Daily, and carefully looked at the pattern of the bill attached to it, "Industrial coupons? ”

On the front and back of the industrial voucher are the words "industrial voucher" representing your identity and an explanation of the face value.

"In addition to what iron tools you can use this industrial voucher to buy, you can also buy salt, sugar, and muslin that my mother likes, and if you plan to go to the oil mill to squeeze our rapeseed into vegetable oil, you can also use this instead."

Wu Yonghai's eldest son explained to his father the purpose of the voucher in a language he could understand.

Wu Yonghai slapped his thigh, isn't this thing the same as the Nanzhong Tongbao in his hand!

"Daddy, it seems that it is still a little different, according to what the newspaper said, if you buy this thing and pay with industrial coupons, it seems that you can also increase the denomination of industrial coupons by one percent. In other words, if the industrial voucher of 100 wen is used to buy things, it can be used as 110 wen. ”

In contrast, grain merchants use the purchase price of 30 wen per stone to buy rice, although the moisture content of rice is not so high, but it seems that it is more cost-effective to sell it to the government family in terms of buying those wives and children and things that they like in large quantities and cheaply with industrial coupons.

Even if the official family has no money, the official family has what we want!

The Wu family father and son did not notice that on the other page of the newspaper, there was an official document that read: "In order to protect the interests of the peasants and prevent grain merchants from defrauding and harming the peasants, those who have not handled and paid the grain purchase deposit at the household department are prohibited from going to the countryside to buy grain." The peasants have the right to send to the village inspection offices for severe punishment when they encounter merchants who cannot produce grain purchase permits. ”

A grain purchase tooth slip is not expensive, and a deposit of 10,000 taels of silver must be paid. (To be continued......)