Tianjin Wei, General Military Mansion, Yang Hongzhang was discussing with Song Yingxing to revise the real estate development plan of Tianjin City, and a soap Li walked in: "Dashuai, Lord Song, Lord Li of Cangzhou Zhizhou asks to see." ”

Yang Hongzhang glanced up at Song Yingxing: "With a smile, this new Cangzhou governor is not good at trying to find a way to relieve the victims in Cangzhou, what are you and me doing here, isn't it a gift, haha, do you want to receive it?" ”

"Dashuai, a few days ago, I asked people to go to Cangzhou to explain to the Cangzhou Yamen to help purchase grain, it is estimated that I came to report this matter, Dashuai might as well listen to it."

"Okay, sir, when it comes to grain, the grain in Tianjin is indeed a big problem now, and the cost of transporting grain from the south of the Yangtze River seems to be higher, but the drought in Zhili, Henan, and Shanxi, coupled with the impact of the plague, it is estimated that the price of grain will continue to rise." Although Yang Hongzhang has the strong support of the Jiangnan Trading Company, the development of Tianjin City is in an orderly manner, but it can't stand too many Tianjin Wei people, the original aborigines are only 15,000 people, with the arrival of new recruits and refugees, the current Tianjin Wei is 40,000 people, and because of the development needs to gather from all over the businessmen and construction workers.

The two didn't say a few words, and Li Wenhe walked in, this is a scholar in his thirties, but after seeing Yang Hongzhang and Song Yingxing, he didn't show the kind of flattery that stammered with his superiors, but a bitter face.

After the three of them sat down again, Yang Hongzhang glanced at Song Yingxing, he had never been in contact with this Cangzhou governor before, so he hoped that Song Yingxing would deal with it. Song Yingxing comprehended: "Lord Li, Yang Dashuai is busy with official business, you don't have to be polite and just say anything." ”

Li Wenhe glanced at Yang Hongzhang, still with a bitter face: "Dashuai, Lord Song, the officials are incompetent, please atone for the two adults!" With that, he stood up and bowed to the two.

Yang Hongzhang was displeased, this guy looked like a smart person, why did he see the situation so clearly, he had time to ink with him here. Song Yingxing also felt that Li Wenhe was doing too much, so he said: "You and I are ministers of the same court, don't come to these false courtesies, what is the so-called?" ”

Seeing that the two adults were calm, Li Wenhe barely squeezed out a smile: "That's the case, didn't Lord Song entrust 50,000 taels of silver to the lower officials a few days ago, and asked Cangzhou to also take out 50,000 taels from the treasury to buy grain?" Originally, it was almost completed, and nearly 45,000 stone of grain was purchased in Cangzhou. Originally, I thought it would be here in a few days, but ...... A few days ago, the price of grain in Cangzhou City suddenly rose sharply, and it was said that there were grain merchants from other places who came to buy grain, and then the general secretary of the state central government suggested that the lower officials first sell the purchased grain to these businessmen from other places, and then buy the grain after they were gone, and then buy the grain after it returned to its original price, so that there would be a big price difference between the two countries. Xia Guan was also confused for a while, so he agreed, and sold all of them at the price of three taels or four yuan per stone of grain. As a result, in the past ten days, the price of grain has not only not recovered, but has risen steadily, and now it has reached four taels and five yuan per stone of grain, and it is ...... Today's Cangzhou market is already priceless, and most of the people who have grain at home are still waiting and seeing, unwilling to sell. Now that the time for the delivery of grain agreed with Lord Song is approaching, Xia Guan really has no choice. ”

"Okay, you Li Wenhe, you really damn it, and your master book should be damned too! In order to be greedy for personal gain, the military orders of the General Military Mansion and the Prefect's Yamen were regarded as child's play! Now that Tianjin Wei 50,000 people are waiting for dinner, how are you going to deal with it? Do you know that the General Military Office asked you to buy food to supply the recruits, and if you delay the food supply of the new army, how many heads do you have? Song Yingxing stood up before he could finish listening to Li Wenhe's words, pointed at Li Wenhe and scolded sharply.

Li Wenhe shrunk his neck and stammered: "The lower officials know the mistakes, the lower officials know the mistakes, but the price of this grain is ...... If we buy grain at this time, 100,000 taels of silver will be less than half of the original grain, and if we buy a large amount of grain at this time, the price of grain will soar all the way...... Therefore, Xia Guan wondered if the two adults would send troops to assist in transferring the silver taels to other counties to buy grain in other places? ”

"Confused, the six counties and one state of Tianjin Prefecture have all received orders to purchase grain, and the price of grain in Cangzhou is so high, so where can other states and counties in Tianjin Prefecture receive grain, I am afraid that those with stored grain will be transported to Cangzhou to sell!" Song Yingxing immediately interrupted Li Wenhe, and immediately reacted and immediately shouted outside the door: "Someone!" Come! ”

The soap Li who had led Li Wenhe in before walked in again, and Song Yingxing pointed at him and said, "Immediately send someone to inform all the prefectures and counties that all the stored grain is not allowed to be sold to the outside world, and it will be shipped to Tianjin immediately." ”

The soap didn't know what was going on, glanced at Song Yingxing, and then at Li Wenhe who was about to go out, Yang Hongzhang said: "Slow, sir, let the army go to this matter, in addition, this matter is very strange, and someone needs to be sent to investigate as soon as possible." You go and call Yang Sheng. Yang Hongzhang watched Soap Li go out and smiled at Song Yingxing, "Sir, sit down first, Master Li, I'll talk about your sins later, you go on, have you investigated where those grain merchants came from, and how much is the approximate demand?" ”

Li Wenhe finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Yang Hongzhang like this, and when he heard that this young chief soldier was killing people like hemp, he was really worried that the other party would take advantage of this to go crazy and end up like Zhang Shiwen.

Song Yingxing was anxious, but he also knew that this matter was not in a hurry, and Yang Hongzhang's dispatch of the army was the fastest and most reliable, those magistrates dared to disobey themselves and the others in the prefect's yamen, but with Zhang Hu's actions in Cangzhou, the magistrates did not dare to be a little sloppy about these soldiers.

Li Wenhe saw Song Yingxing sit down and continued: "Xiaguan has also sent people to investigate, there are more than a group of businessmen coming to Cangzhou, several of them have Shanxi accents, there are also Beijing accents, and there are also Baoding accents, I think the drought losses this year are relatively large, so ...... That's why it's so impatient to buy grain at a high price. ”

"It is related to this year's drought but it is certainly not the main reason, even if the entire Zhili and Shanxi grains are not harvested, and it is only ten days to transport grain from the south of the Yangtze River, and the cost has increased by a few dollars at most. Sir, how long can the grain stockpiled by the prefect's yamen supply the migrant workers? ”

"Ten days at most! At the beginning, it was because I was worried that too many purchases at one time would cause fluctuations in grain prices, so I went down to purchase them in batches. ”

"Hmm. There is still a lot of food in the barracks, but if the prefect's yamen runs out of food, 30,000 people will not be able to withstand the military food for a few days. ”

Song Yingxing and Li Wenhe looked at Yang Hongzhang a little puzzled, Yang Hongzhang smiled: "If the news of the lack of food in Tianjin Mansion spreads, I'm afraid that those people who fled will be able to run away overnight, right?" At that time, even if we buy food, where will we recruit so many people? Even if they don't run, Minzhuang will instantly become refugees, and refugees will become homeless if they have no food, and then we will all have to go around for a long time. ”

Hearing this, both of them had a drastic change in their faces, especially Li Wenhe, if that situation really happened, if there was a food shortage, there was no need to think that Yang Hongzhang would definitely be the first to cut him. A Zhang Hu dares to attack a Zhizhou, not to mention this general soldier who was spoiled by the emperor.

Song Yingxing was about to speak, Yang Sheng walked in, and when he saw Song Yingxing there, he stepped forward to say hello: "Young master, Mr. Song." ”

Yang Hongzhang waved his hand and interrupted Yang Sheng, who was about to continue to greet Li Wenhe, and said: "You quickly go and inform Xia Dongwei, the two of you will divide the work and take your subordinates to go to the other six counties except Cangzhou, and inform the local magistrate to transport all the purchased grain to Tianjin Weilai, and the remaining silver will be purchased as soon as possible. In addition, let Zhang Hu take 500 people to accompany Master Li back to Cangzhou! ”

"Yes, young master!" Yang Sheng turned around and left, but Li Wenhe's body began to tremble, he remembered that it was Zhang Hu who went to Cangzhou last time, and he brought three hundred people, so he directly took Zhizhou down, what is this Yang Dashuai going to do, is it also to take over Cangzhou directly?

"Master Li, you have to find an opportunity to make up for your mistakes, otherwise in the future, even if the court does not hold you accountable, this commander will not be spared." Yang Hongzhang was no longer polite when he saw him like this, and directly threatened.

"But by the command of the commander, but by the command of the commander." Li Wenhe got up again and bowed to Yang Hongzhang.

"In this way, after you go back, continue to organize soap to buy grain, but don't be too fast, collect a little every day, and spread the news out, just say that there are 50,000 people in the Tianjin Acropolis, and the grain storage is only three days, and now you can't buy grain everywhere."

"Dashuai, this ......" Li Wenhe looked at Yang Hongzhang with a puzzled expression. He can still understand that the army of 500 people has to eat every day, and the Cangzhou treasury has not much grain in stock, at least the consumption of these people every day is to be bought. But wouldn't the release of such news make food prices rise even faster?

"Although he did what Ben Shuai instructed, Ben Shuai would come to Cangzhou in person to meet those rich businessmen and tycoons for a while. During this time, you should send someone to find out the details of the merchants who came from other places, including where they lived, how much money they came, how much money they brought, and the daily food in and out, the more detailed the better! ”

"Yes, yes!" Li Wenhe saw that Yang Hongzhang didn't seem to be joking, so he had to nod again and again.

"Go back quickly, remember to discuss anything with Zhang Hu, and let him come forward if necessary."

"Your Excellency, you mean?" Li Wenhe got up from his seat again when he heard this, and Yang Hongzhang's sudden words really startled him again.

"Don't worry, Zhang Hu is a soldier of the commander, a soldier of the imperial court, and he will not do anything that violates the law and discipline, but if you think it is necessary but it is inconvenient to come forward, just let the tower do it, Zhang Hu went to Cangzhou mainly to assist you in maintaining order, once the price of food continues to rise, it is inevitable that there will be troubles among the people."

"Yes, thank you Marshal, the lower officials will definitely do their best to make up for their mistakes."

"I hope it will succeed in the end, or you won't be able to save your head! Let's go, hurry back to Cangzhou to do your business. Yang Hongzhang waved his hand impatiently, not caring at all that Li Wenhe's body began to tremble again.