In the spring of the ninth year of the Apocalypse, after surviving the severe cold of winter, the signs of drought still did not ease at alleviate, and became more serious, spring sowing could not be carried out, seeing that this year's disaster was more serious than the previous year, the price of food began to become more expensive, and the victims living in simple houses began to panic again, they thought that the government would not always provide for them, and many people began to plan to leave, ready to flee elsewhere.

The officials quickly transmitted the information to the capital, in fact, even if they did not return, Zhu Youxiao also knew that the drought had reached an extremely serious point, and the historical Shaanxi peasant uprising began at this time, and soon spread to Shanxi and Henan.

Zhu Youxiao's estimate of the drought was still insufficient, so he had already ordered Niu Jinxing to start participating in the disaster relief, and decided to go all out to participate in the disaster relief work by holding a shareholders' meeting of Tenglong Bank. First of all, it is necessary to expand the recruitment of disaster victims to participate in road construction and water conservancy projects, and not only to manage food free of charge, but also to provide food subsidies to the elderly and children in their families. The second is to let Niu Jinxing mobilize a large amount of grain from the south of the Yangtze River to the north.

Not only are there grain ships on the Grand Canal, but even the railroad under construction has begun to be put into use, all in order to relieve the victims and let them live in peace completely, and the government is their biggest supporter.

The affected area is too large, from Beijing to Shandong, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Anhui is a serious disaster, the need for grain is simply a huge amount, for a while the wind is loud, so that the price of grain in the market quickly doubled, many farmers began to reluctantly sell, which has affected the supply of grain even more, so that Niu Jinxing is more distressed about money.

According to Zhu Youxiao's estimate, the grain harvest in the past few years has been good, especially the large-scale popularization of new crops, which has more than tripled the total output of grain, especially in the southern region, which is very suitable for planting corn, even if it is an ordinary peasant household, there should be two or three years of surplus grain in the family, and the large-scale purchase of grain can also supplement the capital needs of peasant households, and there should not be a sharp rise in prices that doubled to tripled.

In the city of Wuxi in the south of the Yangtze River, about 30 people are meeting in a luxurious garden mansion to discuss how to raise food prices further. They think that now that there is a shortage of food, they should raise the price of food, as the saying goes, scarce is expensive! Since the food supply is starting to be tight now, it means that there is less food now, and it is the right thing to raise prices, but is the food really getting to the point of being very tight? What's more, should people's normal diet be eaten less because of food shortage? In their opinion, this is a problem of the government, it has nothing to do with them, as businessmen, making profits is the meaning of their lives.

Among these merchants, there are two people who are not businessmen, one of them is a middle-aged man in his forties, with a white face, bright eyes, and a superhuman wisdom revealed between the closures, he is Qian Qianyi, a waiter of the Ministry of Rites who has been dismissed. The other is a young man, who looks less than thirty years old, even if he sits there silently, he looks flamboyant, and has an outstanding temperament, but a person who is slightly proficient in face art will see from his eyes that his heart is actually very inferior, and his flamboyant expression and personality are to cover up his inner inferiority, this person is called Zhang Fu, in history, he once organized the "Restoration Society", and became the leader of the Restoration Society, and will become a Jinshi this year. It's a pity that although Zhu Youxiao has not abandoned the imperial examination system now, this method has been semi-abandoned, and few people are still studying and reading dead books.

This luxurious garden was provided by the largest businessman in Wuxi, and he was also the president of the Wuxi Chamber of Commerce, and on another level, he was Qian Qianyi's cousin. As a businessman, the boss of Qian has a very keen intuition, when the drought began to rage north of the Yellow River, he realized that it might cause a food shortage, he decided to start buying grain, and then hoarded it, ready to sell it at the highest price of the most scarce grain, and then obtain excess profits, as for conscience, that is the statement of the reader, it has nothing to do with businessmen, business is to make money.

But it's a pity that Boss Qian is a human being and not a god after all, and Zhu Youxiao has long been prepared for this. Therefore, when Boss Qian began to buy grain, he found that someone was already buying it on a large scale. Who could have acted earlier than Boss Qian? It is the Ming Royal Trading Company, under the order of Zhu Youxiao, Niu Jinxing began to buy grain in Jiangnan after the autumn harvest, whether it is rice, corn, sweet potatoes, etc., as long as it is grain, and it is always about a penny higher than the market price.

Boss Qian found business opportunities after the winter, but at this time, Niu Jinxing had purchased enough food to meet the needs of the victims for the winter, and stopped the purchase during the Spring Festival, while Boss Qian had been buying, and began to raise the price of grain, and when Niu Jinxing purchased grain again after the Spring Festival, he found that the price had doubled, which aroused Niu Jinxing's vigilance, and he told Zhu Youxiao directly about it.

Zhu Youxiao called Niu Jinxing to the study, smiled and said, "Old Niu, do you know how to play dice?" Have you studied the tricks here? ”

Niu Jinxing was stunned for a moment, what is the emperor going to do? Hurriedly replied: "No, I have never liked this thing, I heard others say that gambling is a loser, only the casino is the final winner, not to mention that His Majesty treats me well, gold and silver treasures are spent casually, I never want to go to the casino to try my luck, so I won't play this thing." ”

Zhu Youxiao then smiled: "Actually, it's not that there is really not enough food to eat, but that some people are trying to take advantage of this natural disaster to make a fortune, but in this way, we will suffer a big loss, they want to gamble." Old Niu, how about we go with them to gamble? ”

Niu Jinxing replied: "Some people actually want to gamble with the Lord of Long Life, I think they are purely looking for death." Your Majesty, let me do it. ”

Zhu Youxiao's face changed, and he said in a deep voice: "Well, from now on, you will raise the purchase price of grain, but it should be noted that it is a little lower than the market price, just so that people who are trying to hoard grain feel that you are rushing to buy, and let them increase the price after letting them, you will continue to raise the purchase price, so you will keep pushing the price of grain up and letting them eat it, even if someone takes out a loan to buy it, don't care." The second is that you don't have to come forward in this matter yourself, your reputation is too big, it will scare them to death, let Liu Laocai do it, you can take the helm in the back. ”

Niu Jinxing asked: "Your Majesty, what should we do with the food we provide to the victims, we can't starve to death." ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "This is easy to do, you can send people to buy large quantities from Annam, Luzon, Siam, and other places, but what should be noted is that this action should be concealed, do not land in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, and then land in Tianjinwei after camouflage, and then transport it to all parts of the north, and wait until the grain hoarded by those unscrupulous merchants to more than five times the price, and then take a large amount of grain directly from Shanghai County in Songjiang Prefecture to Hankou Town, and then go overseas to buy grain with great fanfare after unloading the grain, so that the grain prices in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas will completely fall. In this way, you can catch them all. ”

Niu Jinxing said with a smile: "Long live Lord, I'm afraid that your move will make the merchants of Jiangsu and Zhejiang lose money, if the banks in Jiangsu and Zhejiang lend to them, they will also go bankrupt, aren't you afraid that they will repay their debts?" ”

Zhu Youxiao sneered and said: "Since they want to make ill-gotten gains, let them understand the truth of being a man." The ancients said well, a gentleman loves money and takes it in a good way. They are looking for their own death, and they can't blame others. ”

At this time, Boss Qian was discussing how to raise the price of grain, and each businessman had his own plan, and Boss Qian wanted everyone to raise the purchase price at the same time, but some people were worried that they would lose money, and if they couldn't make a move in the end, it would be a big loss.

At this time, Qian Qianyi spoke: "According to my experience as an official in the capital, the price of grain will definitely rise, the grain output in the north is low, and a large number of breeding farms have been developed in recent years, whether it is for people to eat or raise livestock, a large amount of grain will be needed, as for everyone who does not believe it, you can investigate it yourself." ”