A few days before he was too busy, after everything was on the right track, Lu Zhen finally didn't have to keep staring in front of the porridge shed, and could find time to do other things. However, he still did not go to the embankment to check on the situation, because such an urgent action might attract the attention of others, and at the same time, in his opinion, there was a more important thing that needed to be done first, that is, to find the two local grain merchants and try to buy enough food from them to last enough for Lu Renjia to send the grain.

So in the afternoon of this day, Lu Zhen came to the outside of the Zhu family's mansion in Xicheng as a businessman Zheng Lu and asked to meet the grain merchant named Zhu Xuan. Originally, with his current identity, it would be difficult for such ordinary businessmen to see him, but now his identity is not easy to disclose, and if he asks for others, he can only surrender his identity to visit the other party.

Fortunately, Lu Zhen has become somewhat famous for giving food and disaster relief in the county town during this time, so this request was not troubled, but only delayed for a while in front of his mansion, and was led in by his subordinates.

Walking on the path of the Zhu family's courtyard, looking at the gorgeous decorations around him, Lu Jin's heart was bored. Now there are people who are suffering from cold and starvation everywhere in the county, but look at this Zhu family's house, it is very luxurious, but he didn't take out some money and food to help the victims, and a sentence of being rich or unkind is not enough to describe their cold-bloodedness.

But today is not to criticize the other party, when Lu Zhen saw Zhu Xuan, who looked like a shrewd businessman, he could only force himself to suppress this dissatisfaction, and accompanied the smile to the other party and said: "Boss Zhu, I am polite in Zheng Lu." I should have come to visit you, a local colleague, early next morning, but the busy chores have dragged it out until today, so please don't be surprised. ”

Zhu Xuan looked at it with a look of arrogance, although he also had a smile on his face, he was obviously smiling: "Boss Zheng is polite, I have heard about what you have done in my Xingze County, to be honest, it is also quite admired." In today's world, there are not many people who are willing to give money and food so selflessly to help unrelated victims. ”

In this way, the two first exchanged a few words of gossip that praised each other, and then Zhu Xuan asked, "I wonder what Boss Zheng took time out of his busy schedule to see me for today?" That's right......" As soon as he said that, he clapped his hands, and saw a subordinate come in with a tray, Lu Zhen turned his head to look, and saw that there were more than a dozen ingots of silver on the tray.

I only heard the other party say again: "Boss Zheng must have paid a lot of money and food to help me with the victims of Xingze County this time." My Zhu Xuan's family property is naturally far inferior to that of Zunjia, so I can only take out this hundred taels of silver to talk about my heart, and I hope you don't shirk it. ”

When Lu Zhen heard this, his face suddenly sank. This one put it mildly, but in fact, he was clearly sending himself away as a beggar. Although a hundred taels of silver is a huge amount of money for ordinary people, how can he care about this amount of silver when he spent tens of thousands of silver on disaster relief? What's more, now that the whole territory of Henan has been hit by a disaster, even if you have silver, you can't buy food, what use can a hundred taels of silver be?

However, after Lu Jin's years of experience, the city government has long been there, and his expression only changed, and then he returned to normal, and said with a smile: "Boss Zhu is polite...... In fact, although I am not talented, I still have enough money on hand, and I didn't come here today to fight the autumn breeze in your mansion. ”

"Oh? So why did Boss Zheng come? Zhu Xuan asked curiously.

"I'm here to make a deal with Boss Zheng." Lu Zhen said: "Zunjia is also in the grain business, so he naturally knows how much food he needs to consume to help the people of this city. Although there are some preparations for the next time, it is far from enough. As far as I know, there is a lot of food hidden in your house, so how about you raise your hand and sell some of it for my disaster relief? Of course, I won't ask Boss Zhu to make you suffer. ”

Zhu Xuan narrowed his eyes, and his tone was cold: "Boss Zheng, where did you get this fake news?" Although my Zhu family had a lot of grain in store before, but this time the flood had already washed away the grain, and we couldn't get the grain at all, so how could we sell it to you? ”

Seeing that the other party denied it, Lu Zhen shook his head with a smile: "Boss Zhu, there is an old saying that there is no impermeable wall in this world." You hid the grain early in the morning, and now the news that you have enough for the people of the county for more than half a year has long been known to many people, do you think you can really hide it? There's really no other way to do it, so I want to turn to you for help. ”

Seeing that the other party actually spread out the words so directly, it made Zhu Xuan feel stunned for a while. Generally speaking, people in the business field don't like to beat around the bush the most, why doesn't this one play according to the routine? He didn't know that Boss Zheng in front of him was not a businessman at all, and he didn't have the heart to go around in circles with him, so he directly revealed his hole cards.

Seeing that Zhu Xuan was silent, Lu Zhen thought there was a play, so he said again: "In this way, now the market price of grain is between twenty or thirty Wen, but because of the disaster here, the price of grain will always increase, I will pay the price of fifty Wen a bucket to buy grain from you, so that Boss Zhu will not feel a loss, right?" ”

This price is indeed quite fair on the market, even in the disaster areas where there is a shortage of food, doubling the price of grain is the bottom line that ordinary people can accept. But as a result, Zhu Xuan shook his head without hesitation: "There is really no grain to sell in my hands." ”

"One hundred wen and one bucket!" Seeing this, Lu Zhen immediately stretched out a finger and gave a sky-high price. He really didn't have the heart to argue with the other party, so he simply came up with a price that could make almost all the merchants happy. If the other party really accepts it, this one alone will be enough to cover his profits for several years.

What is surprising is that even if the price is so high, Zhu Xuan is still unmoved, just shaking his head lightly: "I'm sorry, this business can't be discussed." ”

"You ......" Lu Zhen was really annoyed at this time, stared at the other party and said coldly: "Boss Zhu, hoarding Juqi also has to talk about a rule, aren't you afraid of being poked in the backbone by sitting on the ground and making a fortune from the victims like this?" ”

In the face of Lu Jin's threat, Zhu Xuan didn't care, but just sneered back: "The food is mine, what I want to do with it depends on what others will?" To tell you the truth, I have never intended to sell this grain for money. ”

"You want to trade it for land?" Lu Zhen came over and asked.

Zhu Xuan nodded without hesitation: "Not bad." It's just that those people have always refused to exchange the land deed for food, so I can only wait. Maybe when they really can't survive and are about to starve to death, they will exchange land for food. ”

"You ......" Lu Zhen only felt a surge in his breath, and he was almost about to scold the other party for losing his conscience, what is the difference between doing this and killing for money.

Zhu Xuan didn't care about Lu Jin's attitude at all, but just smiled and said, "Boss Zheng, in fact, I can understand your feelings about wanting to help the victims, and I am willing to help you achieve your wishes." But you'll have to do me a favor. ”

"What are you asking me to help you?"

"It's very simple, now your boss Zheng has won the hearts of the people because of his righteous act of giving food to help the victims, as long as you come forward to persuade them, those victims will definitely change their minds. If you let them take out the land for food, and then I will get the land, and the people will have food, and you will be famous, will they not all be happy? Zhu Xuan smiled and said his thoughts. This is the reason why he is willing to see Lu Zhen today, that is, he wants to use the reputation created by the other party's kindness for the people.

"Haha......" Lu Zhen suddenly looked up to the sky and smiled: "Your Excellency is really good at wishful thinking, as long as you don't need money." For you know that this land will be exchanged for an infinite amount of silver in the future, and it will be much better than taking only one sum of silver now. But do you think I'm so easy to coax? Besides, don't you think you're too greedy? Be careful that people's hearts are insufficient, and in the end you will lose both food and money! By the end, there was a clear threat in his tone.

Seeing him so threatening, Zhu Xuan's face also sank, and he replied: "Does Boss Zheng want to use force?" Although my house is not big, it is not for anyone to enter if they want to! ”

With his words, several men with big shoulders and round waists walked to the door of the hall, and they only had to look at their tendons and flesh to know that they had good martial arts. Moreover, Lu Zhen also faintly found that these people still had the unique murderous aura of people in the army, which made him a little more puzzled in addition to curiosity.

However, he still said: "I'm just a businessman, so naturally I don't dare to break the law and discipline." However, the victims of the disaster in this city may not have so many concerns. If you do drive them to a dead end, you should know the consequences. ”

"You don't have to worry about this, Boss Zheng, I still have yamen and officers and soldiers in Xingze County." Zhu Xuan said indifferently.

"Do you think the county government will help you?"

"It's not a feeling, it's an affirmation." Zhu Xuan replied confidently: "Do you think that under such circumstances, why can the county officials and soldiers of this county still maintain the status quo?" It's just because of me and Gong Chen's family that they contribute money and food to support them! If something goes wrong with my two families, they'll be as hungry as the victims. ”

Lu Zhen was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly came over again. Before, he wondered what it was for the Yamen of Xingze County to continue to operate as usual under this situation. Now I know the answer, it turns out that they are supported by these two major grain merchants, no wonder they can be so arrogant.

It's just that in this way, the current situation is becoming more and more tricky, and trying to get them to take out the food has almost become an impossible task!