Chapter Eighty-Seven: Grapevine

"Uh...... This road construction, alas, let me tell you so......" Xu Qingdao said: "People have meridians and blood, and the country is ......"

So, Xu Qing spent an hour explaining the importance of roads to local economic construction, and spent another hour explaining the importance of economic construction clearly. Xu Qing saw this effect, and almost didn't scold: You are the worst class I have ever had!

After the arrangement, everyone returned to their own county, preparing to mobilize manpower and material resources to deal with the unexpected wave of victims.

At this time, a rumor quietly circulated in Cangzhou City: the government would buy a large amount of grain and clothing in the near future to cope with the disaster, and in order to prevent merchants from hoarding goods, the government would raise the market price.

The gossip, no one knows where it came from, and when they asked the "people inside", they were silent and very cautious. This time, everyone said to their faces: the gossip is not credible or not, but on the ground, they have made a lot of efforts to transport things to Cangzhou City.

One spread ten, ten spread hundreds, and this news quickly ignited Hebei Prefecture County like the wind fueling the fire. The major grain warehouses and cloth merchants have expressed great concern. The chief of the river came to ask, but there was no follow-up, and the matter became more and more mysterious! And it's getting worse......

Before and after this rumor, it was naturally Xu Qing who was operating. Xu Qing was very glad to accept the words of the little brother of the dog, a child. The message of the high-priced grain was sent out by watching the mouth of this child. Children's words, the wind blows away, no one can follow the source and touch the initiator.

When there are more people who tell lies, more and more people will believe them, and when more people believe, they will become the "truth".

The day after the rumors went out, Xun Xue'er, Huang Shimei, and Xiaoyue came to Xu Qing worriedly and asked, "Xianggong, are you in a hurry to use money recently?" ”

"Huh? No, ......" Xu Qing was very confused, this is to sell loans?

Xun Xue'er said: "Xu Lang, don't lie to us, recently there have been rumors that the government wants to collect grain at a high price, how much money is there in the government, we don't know yet?" ”

Huang Shimei continued: "Xu Lang, you should tell us this kind of difficult thing, you brought back a lot of money from Liaodong, if it is not enough, my jewelry is very expensive, it can be worth some money!" ”

Xiaoyue said weakly: "Yes, yes, yes, I have it too, I also have ......"

Xu Qing saw the anxious appearance of the third girl, she couldn't hold back her snort, and laughed: "Hahaha, I see, haha, it's like this, I'm laughing to death, hahaha......"

"What's wrong?" The three girls were puzzled, and asked together: "Does Xu Lang look down on our women, and we also know that the Qi family governs the country and helps the victims?" ”

"Hahaha......" Xu Qing stopped laughing: "Hello ladies and gentlemen, Xiaosheng is polite......

"Look, he's not serious yet!" Huang Shimei raised her eyebrows and said to the other two women.

"What the hell is going on?" Xun Xue'er asked.

"Did you hear the news that the government was going to spend a lot of money to collect grain at a high price?" Xu Qing asked rhetorically.

"Yes, is the news fake?"

"Is the news true, or did I get it out

However, it's not all true. ”

"Could it be that the grain is real, and the high price is fake? No, Brother Xu, you have to pay attention to credibility in business, even if it is a government ......"

"No, no, no, the high price is also real...... Xu Qing pretended to be profound: "The high price is real, but that large sum of money is fake!" ”

Xu Qing paused and said, "Who said that if you open a high price, you will spend a lot of money?" ”

"What do you mean?" The women said blankly.

Xu Qing whispered his plan: "People must learn to think backwards, the so-called scarcity is expensive, and more things are cheap...... Taking grain merchants as an example, raising prices can attract grain merchants to come with grain, but if they don't sell it, grain merchants will not be willing to leave until they make money, so more and more grain merchants will come. There will be more and more grain, and if there is more grain, it will naturally have to be sold cheaply, and the price will be much less than usual! ”

"Besides, the news of the high-priced acquisition is not written in black and white, and the official seal is just a rumor!"

The third daughter, especially Huang Shimei, was dumbfounded when she heard this, this Xu Qing is simply a profiteer among profiteers......

Three dollars for a bucket, five dollars for a bucket, eight dollars for a bucket! A tael of silver and a stone! One two or three dollars and one stone! The rumors are rooted in everyone's greed, and they are going to kill them. One or two or three coins of silver and a stone of grain, even in the spring famine, it will not be at this price!

The grain merchants who heard the news were stunned...... At present, the general grain price in various prefectures and counties is eight cents of silver and one stone of grain, and of course, when it is sold to grain merchants who buy from outside, the price will increase according to the usual price. In particular, this kind of temporary emergency grain purchase naturally has to be slaughtered.

Now, after all, there is less than a month before the autumn harvest, and the hoarded grain is about to depreciate, and at least it will have to lose money. Moreover, food is such a thing, I am afraid that if I hoard it in my hands, one more day will be lost. Loss!

Although Cangzhou requires grain merchants to transport grain to Cangzhou City, such a distance, in the face of huge profits, what is a little freight?

Because Xu Qing had written a letter to other prefectures and counties, asking them to help mobilize food and supplies. Other states and counties will definitely not be willing to give up their reserves for nothing, but they just happened to hear the news. As a result, all goods shipped to Cangzhou do not have to pay tariffs!

Now you can imagine how enthusiastic the grain merchants will be to treat this big deal? In the lure of huge profits. Confused, nothing is a problem. The grain merchants are thinking that they want to sell grain, and it is a big deal to run in vain, but if they get it right, they can make a lot of money and have a fat New Year! As a result, bags of grain were taken out of the warehouses of grain merchants in various counties, loaded onto ships, and transported along the waterway to Cangzhou......

On the fifth day after Xu Qing received the Shandong Daowen Migration, the warehouses in Cangzhou City were filled with grain merchants' grain. The grain merchants who came late could only borrow the people's houses and put the grain in the open air.

When the grain had entered the city, the grain merchants, or their shopkeepers, went to the yamen to inquire about it. When the yamen heard the news, they were also confused, so they reported it layer by layer. Some want to arrest those who spread rumors and cause trouble, and some want to buy food according to the plan. When it was reported to Xu Qing's desk, Xu Qing nodded, and the grain would be collected in a few days, and the official would have to turn over some funds......

As soon as Xu Qing said this, from top to bottom, he became jubilant, and the grain merchants in the city also blossomed. This thing is true, Thorn Shi personally agreed!

On this day, from morning to night, there has been an endless stream of grain ships arriving in Cangzhou. Later, the boss and the shopkeeper became nervous when they saw the grain ships next to each other in Cangzhou City.

As soon as I entered the city, I hurriedly went to the major grain stores to inquire, and the reply I got was naturally without exception, all of them were to wait for a night, and wait for the assassin to prepare the money, and collect it together.

The grain merchants were unhappy, but now that there are more wolves and less meat, everyone is afraid of offending the gold owner, not only do they dare not say a word ugly, but they also have to show magnanimity:

"Yes, yes, you have to be considerate of Lord Shi."

"Don't worry, don't worry, ask Lord Thorn Shi for me how ...... are well"

"Lord Thorn Shi is really a good official!"

When the grain merchants saw that it was not early, they looked for green. Lou tavern to eat and drink and have fun. Cangzhou City is a big place, and there are only a few decent green buildings. Lou tavern, no matter which one the grain merchants go to, they will meet a bunch of peers. As soon as everyone met, they were naturally very cordial, and in almost every restaurant, such a scene was staged:

"I didn't expect Brother Ang to come in person, and it was a pity that we couldn't drink together during the Mid-Autumn Festival!!"

"Oh, Brother Xia Xian, you're here too, long time no see, long time no see......"

"Man, add food and wine! Brother, let me introduce you to the proprietors and shopkeepers of the other three grain banks in our county......"

"Look up for a long time!"

Even though I've never seen it, it's even more important to show affection.

"Long up, long up, please take a seat!"

"Please take a seat!" After some false concessions, everyone sat down again, and after three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, they naturally wanted to talk and chat. Everyone is a peer, and they come for the same purpose, going around and around, and the topic will eventually return to this Cangzhou grain harvest. Everyone inquired about the same information, chatted around, and found that there were no new ones, so they talked about their respective goods.

"Brother Ang, how much grain did you bring this time?" Xia Xiandi asked.

"Not much, just a few dozen stones."

"How much can you earn with a few dozen stones, why don't you bring more?"

Brother Wu twisted his beard and said: "The great wind disaster, how many people have suffered, as businessmen, we have goods in our hands, so we naturally have to be generous, who wants that money?" ”

Brother Xia Xian despised it in his heart, since this is the case, then he should bring more.

However, everyone still bowed their hands and said: "What Brother Wu said is yes, if one side is in trouble, all sides will support, and no one will want that money." ”

"Do you know how many victims Cangzhou will receive this time?" Brother Wu asked.

"Oh?" Only then did everyone remember that Cangzhou was collecting grain to deal with the victims! In other words, if there are not many victims, then there will not be much food.

The grain merchants looked at Brother Wu and remembered that he was a local grain merchant, so they respectfully asked, "I don't know, please give me advice ...... Brother Ng?"

"Hehehe......" Brother Wu ate a chopstick dish, put down the chopsticks, and stretched out four fingers: "Forty thousand ......"

"What? 40,000 people...... "Everyone calculated in their hearts, 40,000 people, even if these victims stayed in Cangzhou for two months, the food cost was only more than 3,000 stones! Everyone looked around, weighed the food in their hands, and was frightened, it's over!

Everyone says that there are only a few dozen stones, but in fact there are hundreds of stones, or even hundreds of stones, which is not surprising. And how many grain merchants are there? There are thirty or forty people who can be named, to say the least...... In this way, at least forty percent of grain merchants will have to run for nothing!

And that's not counting the local farmers, not counting the small households......

Suddenly, everyone didn't know the taste of food, and they couldn't drink the wine, and their faces were sad. When Brother Wu saw that everyone was like this, he smiled secretly in his heart, and still persuaded on his face: "Don't worry, it's naturally good to sell, if you can't sell food, you won't lose anything." In addition to dealing with the victims, the government may also have to sell grain to fill the warehouse! ”