On the ninth day of the seventh month, Li Zhi and his generals and officials sat happily in the "Shouzheng Hall" of the Jinguo Mansion, discussing disaster relief. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Taking advantage of this disaster relief, Li Zhi put together the gentry who opposed him everywhere, and he has won a great victory. The gentry had no public morality, and they knew that the drought in Shandong would raise the price of grain, and they wanted to make Li Zhi bankrupt through this despicable means and make Li Zhi's disaster relief fail. As a result, they all fell into the trap set by Li Zhi.

At the end of May, when Li Zhi had not yet replied to the Son of Heaven that he had decided to provide disaster relief, he bought 1 million stone of grain at a cheap price from the southern provinces and transported it back to Tianjin by steamer. At that time, the gentry in the world did not know that Li Zhi wanted disaster relief, and Li Zhi was scattered in many provinces, so the purchase price of these grains was very cheap, with an average of only two taels and five yuan and one stone.

Of course, Li Zhi not only has this million stone grain in his hands. Li Zhi also grabbed 350,000 stone of grain in Zheng Zhilong's Beigang and Dinghai City. In addition, last year, Hsinchu's land rent was transported to Tianjin, and more than 1.4 million stone of rice was also delivered. So at that time, Li Zhi had 2.8 million stone of grain in his hands.

After having enough food in his hand as a bargaining chip, Li Zhi replied to the Son of Heaven and promised that the Son of Heaven would take responsibility for disaster relief in Shandong. Soon, this letter was disclosed after being approved by the Son of Heaven, and the gentry of the world knew that Li Zhi wanted disaster relief and that Li Zhi wanted to buy food.

A mere piece of music was not enough to convince the gentry that they would do what they said they would do, and Li Zhi even used newspapers to publicize his disaster relief capabilities, boasting that he had 30 million silver. Privately, Li Zhi spread the news through Han Jinxin's secret guards, so that the gentry knew that they had begun to purchase grain.

With a multi-pronged approach, the gentry of the coastal provinces were all set. The gentry all felt that as long as the price of grain was raised, Li Zhi could only obediently buy grain at a high price. Otherwise, how can we provide disaster relief? Qiu Kou Li Zhi's 30 million taels of silver, there is no reason not to make money. The gentry frantically flocked to the grain market to raise the price of grain, fantasizing about earning Li Zhi's silver.

In Shandong, the gentry directly raised the price of grain to six taels and one stone, and it was not unruly to attack.

However, Li Zhi is not prepared to rely on the food purchased in the market. Li Zhi pinned his disaster relief efforts on the output of Hsinchu, Taiwan. So when the gentry raised the price of grain to the highest, Li Zhi began to ship. 2.8 million stone of grain was thrown into the market, especially in Shandong, where grain prices are the highest.

The gentry fantasized about sitting on the ground and blackmailing Li Zhi, resisted stubbornly under Li Zhi's selling pressure, and took the initiative to "take over" for Li Zhi. Some of the gentry in Shandong even mortgaged the mansions they lived in, smashed pots and sold iron and hoarded grain. As a result, Li Zhi's 2.8 million stone grain was sold at a high price to these "market-making" gentry.

Because of greed and shamelessness, these gentry did not hesitate to fall into Li Zhi's trap.

Gao Ligong, the "ambassador of the Shogunate's Overseas Affairs Agency," was busy buying and selling grain in the north and south of the river in accordance with Li Zhi's order, and it was the hardest work. His already thin body lost a few pounds. However, after the complete victory in this "food price war", he was in good spirits. He took a sip of tea and said loudly:

"Grandpa Guo, most of our grain was dumped in Shandong this time, some were sold for five taels and five taels, and some were sold for five taels, and the average selling price was about five taels and three cents. At the cost price of 25 taels, our 280 stone grain earned 7,800,000 taels of silver. ”

Hearing Gao Ligong's words, everyone in the main hall was brightened.

Seven million and 8,000,000 taels of silver, which is a huge amount of money that has never been seen in a town in Tianjin. Even if he defeated Zheng Zhilong, Li Zhi only grabbed more than 6.2 million taels of silver. Unexpectedly, a trap was set up for the gentry to drill, and the gentry sent Li Zhi 7.8 million taels of silver.

With this silver, Li Zhishan will earn back at least half of the disaster relief expenses.

Everyone looked at each other for a while and burst out laughing.

Gao Ligong looked at everyone with a smile, and said, "This is just what we earned. In order to stabilize the price of grain, the gentry in the south spent silver to buy the grain of the small people at a high price, and spent at least a few million taels of silver. All this silver flowed from the gentry's treasury to the pockets of the small people. ”

"Grandpa Guo's strategic planning allowed us not only to earn money this time, but also to do a good deed for the benefit of the people."

Everyone looked at each other, their eyes full of smiles. These bottomless gentry have shamelessly lost a lot of money because of their greed.

Li Xing snorted and said loudly: "Big brother! Now we are waiting for Taiwan's sweet potatoes to arrive and smash the grain price down. The gentry who were crazy about hoarding grain went bankrupt. When these gentry who are ready to make a fortune know that we can solve the food for disaster relief by ourselves, it is estimated that they will have the heart to hang themselves! ”

Li Zhi looked at the scenery outside the hall and nodded with a smile.

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On the dock in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Zheng Hui looked at batches of sweet potatoes loaded on the ship, and he was full of spirit.

I have been working in Taiwan for four years according to the arrangement of Jin Guogong, and now it is finally harvest time.

Zheng Hui was originally an account office in a tavern, barely making ends meet. But after following his distant cousin Li Zhi, he was promoted by Li Zhi all the way and rose to prominence. Nine years have passed, Zheng Hui has been a commander and a general, which can be described as a success.

Because of Zheng Hui's outstandingness, Li Zhi promoted Zheng Hui's brothers and sisters. Now Zheng Hui's relatives are all holding important positions that they did not dare to hope for before following Li Zhi, and they are all expensive. Zheng Hui was very grateful to Li Zhi, the prince of Jinguo.

But compared with the high lord Houlu given to him by the Duke of Jinguo, it is still to contribute to the cause of the Duke of Jinguo, which gives Zheng Hui a sense of achievement.

Since the beginning of June, all 15,000 hectares of fertile land in Taiwan have been planted with sweet potatoes. After the harvest of summer potatoes this season, it will provide ammunition for disaster relief in Shandong and lay a solid foundation for the entry of the Duke of Tianjin into Shandong.

Sweet potatoes are not popular in Jiangnan and have low yields in the north. However, in the red soil of Fujian and Taiwan, sweet potatoes have a yield per mu that is far better than that of rice. In Fujian at the end of the Ming Dynasty, sweet potatoes fed countless hungry people in Fujian.

"Originally planted in Zhangjun, gradually to Quanzhou, and gradually to Pu (Tian)". Its vines spread and stretched, covering the entire southern Fujian laterite belt. A note of the contemporaries recorded: "It is planted everywhere, there are many things and the price is cheap, and the three meals are eaten as meals, and the small people rely on them."

Regarding the yield per mu of sweet potatoes, Yu Guangbi of Dageng Zhi County, Jiangxi Province in the thirteenth year of Qianlong, said: "Three or four thousand catties can be harvested per mu." Lu Yao, the political envoy of Shandong Province, said in the "Record of Sweet Potatoes" written 50 years ago by Qianlong that planting sweet potatoes "can yield thousands of catties per mu, which is several times better than planting grains."

Of course, sweet potatoes are very low in sugar. One pound of five taels of sweet potatoes provides only five taels of calories equivalent to five taels of rice. Therefore, although the sweet potatoes in Hsinchu produce 1,500 catties per mu of summer potatoes in one season, they are only equivalent to 500 catties of rice.

It is pure nonsense to say that the yield of sweet potatoes per mu in the 20th century was only more than 1,000 catties a year. More than 1,000 catties of sweet potatoes are only equivalent to a few hundred catties of rice, if the yield is so low, who will grow such a crop with abdominal discomfort after eating?

One season of spring potatoes and one season of summer potatoes, one acre of sweet potato field in Hsinchu can harvest 4,000 catties, which is equivalent to more than 1,000 catties of rice, and the calories it provides are far better than planting rice.

Summer potatoes planted in June do not ripen until September. The people of Shandong may run out of food in August, and there is a one-month time difference in between. However, fortunately, Hsinchu planted hundreds of thousands of acres of sweet potatoes a few years ago, and there are more than 2 million stone of sweet potato stocks, which can help the victims of the disaster in Shandong survive August.

I think that after this time, Jin Guogong will definitely use himself more!

Looking at the truckload of sweet potatoes, Zheng Hui was full of ambition.