The order to temporarily block the city wall of Xi'an was given by Chen Yingyuan, who was afraid that a large number of hungry people would not be able to control it after entering the city.

However, now that it was ordered by the minister, even if something happened, he didn't have to be responsible, so Chen Yingyuan just reminded: "Then you have to be careful, lest those hungry people outside the city flock in and can't clean it up." He waved his hand and motioned for the soldiers to prepare to open the door.

After the conversation just now, Ji Qingwen had already calmed down, and realized that if he wanted to provide disaster relief, he had to maintain order first, so he took a pen and paper, wrote a note, and passed it outside the city, so that Duo Jiugong and Chen Wenzhao under the city were ready to enter the city.

Since the end of the Ming Dynasty, there have been continuous civil uprisings, and Chen Wenzhao has also suppressed many uprisings, so he naturally knows what is at stake, so he divided his two hundred brothers into two teams - one team escorted the silver chariot into the city in front, and the other team walked behind the palace with swords out of the sheath.

Although the hungry people outside the city wanted to enter the city, they were also afraid of death, and when they saw Chen Wenzhao and these people looking murderous, they didn't dare to approach, so they had to watch the Xi'an city gate slowly open, watch the group calmly enter the city, and watch the city gate sink and close.

Seeing that Yinliang entered the city safely, Ji Qingwen fell to the ground with a stone in his heart, and immediately said to Chen Yingyuan: "Silver can't be eaten as food, please Lord Chen organize the rich households in Xi'an City to hold a meeting at the prefect's yamen, and I will pay to buy grain for disaster relief." ”

Chen Yingyuan said: "Lord Ji loves the people like a son, and the officials admire him." But after the adults entered the city, they haven't visited Ling Zun, right? Why don't you go to your home first, and wait for the rich families in the city to get ready, how about we come back tomorrow? ”

Ji Qingwen lowered his head and pondered for a while, and said, "That's okay, I'll go home first, and Lord Chen will blow the wind to the rich families in the city first, and let them gather at the prefect's yamen early tomorrow morning." ”

He turned his head to Zhu Cunshu again and said, "If the prince is free tomorrow, it is better to come over together, and it is good to see the excitement and testify." ”

Zhu Cunshu is a person who has no opinions, and he agrees without thinking about it.

So Ji Qingwen took Li Yuanyin and Xing'er down the city wall, and after making peace with Chen Wenzhao and the Duojiu Guild, who were escorting the silver two, he went to his rather large mansion in Xi'an City.

Ji Qingwen's father Ji Guangming had already received a report from Duojiugong after crossing over to the Ming Dynasty, and he was already waiting for the return of his "son" who had stood out at the door of the mansion.

After talking about the relationship between father and son for a while, Ji Guangming also wanted to hold a feast and invite relatives and friends to come over to wash the dust for Ji Qingwen. However, Ji Qingwen saw that there was a famine outside the city now, and eating and drinking like this would inevitably cause criticism, so he stopped Ji Guangming.

Ji Guangming was already very doting on his son, but now that his son has become a big official, he is naturally even more obedient, and immediately dispelled the idea, only set up two tables of good meals, and called a few close relatives to eat and drink together.

After eating and drinking, it was not early, Ji Qingwen was about to go back to rest, but he heard Li Yuanyin say in his ear: "My lord, now there are a lot of people outside your mansion, what do you think should be done?" ”

Ji Qingwen was stunned for a moment, and said nervously: "When did you come?" Could it be that they are coming to rob me of the 70,000 taels of silver? Did Chen Wenzhao know about this? ”

Li Yuanyin said: "I have inquired, and the people who came over were all officers and soldiers from several guards in Xi'an City, probably on the orders of Chen Yingyuan, who came to guard us." It will be up to them to see. ”

Ji Qingwen pondered for a moment and said, "No! People's hearts are separated from their bellies, and at present, in this world, no one can rely on anyone except the people and horses we brought ourselves. The big-headed soldiers outside knew that we had a lot of money, and when they were provoked, they had some bad ideas. ”

He thought for a while and said: "In this way, you can go with me, send all these officers and soldiers away, and then let Chen Wenzhao pay attention carefully tonight, and arrange for his sergeants to take turns on duty, but there can be no mistakes." ”

So Ji Qingwen went out with Li Yuanyin and Chen Wenzhao, and after rewarding the officers and soldiers sent by Chen Yingyuan with one or two silvers, he asked them to go back to sleep.

These officers and soldiers were rewarded with silver, and they didn't have to be on duty here, so they were naturally elated, and they didn't even ask for instructions from the upper peak, so they collected their troops and went back.

The night was peaceful.

The next morning, because there was something important to do, Ji Qingwen got up early, called Li Yuanyin and Chen Wenzhao, led his subordinates to practice two hundred regiments, and escorted tens of thousands of taels of silver to the prefect's yamen.

In the prefect's yamen, many wealthy businessmen in Xi'an have come one after another.

They received a notice that they only said that the minister of the Qin mission had convened them to discuss important matters, but they did not expect that this so-called "minister of the Qin mission" was actually the original son of the Ji family. Therefore, although they are 120 points respectful on their faces, they are 240 points unconvinced in their stomachs.

When all the businessmen arrived, and the current Qin King Zhu Cunshu was also late, Ji Qingwen signaled everyone to sit down, and said openly: "You are all old-timers of the Shaanxi Chamber of Commerce, and under Ji Qingwen, you must all know each other." You are all the elders of the lower officials, so although I am a minister, there are some things that I still have to discuss with you before I can handle them......"

After a slight pause, he saw a person get up from his seat and arch his hand: "What Lord Ji said is very true, it is better to take a charter first, and we can handle it according to the regulations." ”

This person is fifty years old, with a gray-white goatee under his chin, dressed as a Confucian student, and although he speaks politely, he has a serious look on his face that does not smile, and he does not seem to be very easy to deal with.

This person Ji Qingwen knows - he is the president of the Shaanxi Chamber of Commerce, Wang Jiabai, known as the leader of the Qin merchants.

Wang Jiabai has profound qualifications and fairness, and most of the businessmen in Shaanxi regard him as the leader, so as long as he is convinced, he can win the support of the entire Shaanxi Chamber of Commerce, and he is naturally handy; On the contrary, if he explicitly opposes it, or secretly obstructs it, then Ji Qingwen's disaster relief will be hindered everywhere and the result will be half the effort.

However, in the half a year since Ji Qingwen left Xi'an, he has dealt with Emperor Chongzhen, Wei Zhongxian, Sun Chengzong, Qian Qianyi and other people, no matter how powerful Wang Jiabai is, he can't be compared with the above people.

So Ji Qingwen had no stage fright, and said bluntly: "It's very simple. I brought money with me to buy food from you to help the victims outside the city. Because this matter is a major matter assigned by the emperor, and it is a good thing that can accumulate yin virtue, so please sell the grain to me at the price of grain in ordinary years......"

Ji Qingwen had already settled the account last night.

There are nearly 100,000 hungry people outside the city, and each person eats half a pound of grain every day, and he needs 15 pounds of grain a month, and ten people are 150 pounds of grain in one stone. Therefore, 100,000 people need to eat 10,000 stone of grain a month, and 30,000 stone of grain is needed for at least three months of disaster relief depending on the year.

According to the grain price in ordinary years, one stone of grain is about one tael or four pieces of silver, and thirty thousand stone of grain is worth forty-two thousand taels of silver.

In addition to those who plan to spend their own expenses, Ji Qingwen brought 50,000 taels of silver this time, in addition to buying grain, if you buy grain at the usual price of grain, then you can use more than 8,000 taels to reward the officials, which is quite enough.

However, Ji Qingwen's own abacus is exquisite, but Wang Jiabai's abacus is even more sophisticated.

He knows that now that there is a great drought in the northwest, the price of a stone of grain has risen to four taels of silver - with the face of the minister, the Shaanxi Chamber of Commerce may be able to give a seven-fold or eight-fold discount and sell it for three taels of silver, but if it is sold at the price of one or four cents, it will be too much of a loss.

Wang Jiabai thought so in his heart, but Ji Qingwen had no choice but to take advantage of it, so he could only say: "The adult loves the people like a son, and the villain also admires it." However, now that there is a severe drought in the northwest, our rich families are also living hard, and there are many people inside and outside, and the grain storage is also stretched. Not to mention selling it to adults at the usual price, even at the current price, there is not much that can be sold. ”

Ji Qingwen originally thought that Wang Jiabai would bargain with him, but he didn't expect that the meaning of his kind words was very resolute and clear: Grain, four taels of silver and one stone, may be able to sell you some; One tael or four pieces of silver, not a single grain of grain!