In desperation, Ji Qingwen had no choice but to say: "Ladies and gentlemen, the current situation is difficult for everyone, but the rich families in the city are always much better off than the hungry people outside the city. Please be able to take some food out for the emperor's sake......"

Wang Jiabai said: "Lord Ji, the old man said something about relying on the old and selling the old. You are the biggest and most promising one in the younger generation of our Shaanxi Chamber of Commerce. If you have difficulties, can our Shaanxi Chamber of Commerce not help? ”

As he spoke, he patted his chest and said, "In this way, the old man would rather not eat for a day and donate ten stones of grain to relieve his urgent needs." ”

As soon as his words fell, the rest of the merchants also chimed in: "Since Uncle Wang has donated everything, then I can't lag behind, and I will also donate ten stones!" ”

"I have a lot of family, I donate five stones!"

"If there are more people, you should donate more, and if I have a small family, I will also donate five stones!"

"Seven stones! I'm going to donate seven stones, I'd rather be hungry than donate! ”

Everyone said that it was not lively, but the sum of the odds and bits was only forty or fifty stone of grain, a drop in the bucket, and it was not enough for them to stuff their teeth with so many hungry people outside the city!

So Ji Qingwen turned to the prefect Chen Yingyuan and asked him to come forward to persuade these rich businessmen.

But if Chen Yingyuan can convince them, Ji Qingwen has already persuaded them before he entered the city, so why wait until now?

However, Zhu Cunshu, the king of Qin, looked at Ji Qingwen's face and promised to donate 1,000 stone of grain, and there was no more.

Seeing that things had reached an impasse, at this time, Li Yuanyin suddenly strode in from outside the yamen, handed a few densely written pieces of paper to Ji Qingwen, and turned to stand behind Ji Qingwen, with a cold and contemptuous expression on his face, and looked coldly at the group of rich businessmen in front of him.

Ji Qingwen took the paper, read it back and forth, and sneered: "Okay, everyone, this official will give you another chance, one or two or four dollars and a stone of grain, do you sell it or not?" ”

Seeing that Ji Qingwen was still discouraged just now, the rich people suddenly became alive, could it be that the brocade guard who came in just now gave him courage?

However, the Wang family Baicheng Mansion is deep, although there are doubts in his heart, his face is silent, and he said: "Although we businessmen have a low status, we pay the most attention to honesty and honesty in business. ”

If Ji Qingwen was somewhat helpless in the face of Wang Jiabai just now, then now he looked at this old man as if he was looking at a big hollow radish with a bright surface.

Therefore, he asked again unhurriedly: "This official knows that you are not such a person, but he is afraid that your family will remember the grain stored in your family by mistake when you are in the first year of your great business, so he asks one more question: One two or four dollars and one stone of grain, do you sell it or not?" ”

These words have been picked very clearly, so that the rich businessmen present all felt palpitations in their hearts when they heard it, and they were immediately silent.

Only Wang Jiabai was not frightened by Ji Qingwen, touched the gray beard on his chin, and said, "My lord, I don't understand what I said......

"Humph! Don't cry if you don't see the coffin! Ji Qingwen secretly cursed in his heart.

So he no longer gave face to this treacherous and cunning Wang Jiabai, and read according to the note handed to him by Li Yuanyin: "Wang Jiabai, save 10,000 stones; Liang Kuanju has 5,000 stone of grain; Zhang Ruzong, 8,000 stone of grain; Hu Yushu, 8,000 stone of grain storage......"

This list is dozens long, and the rich merchants mentioned in it have more than 10,000 stone of grain stored in their homes, and some have more than 5,000 stones, adding up to 500,000 stones......

Ji Qingwen finally finished reading this list, and finally breathed a sigh of relief, and said: "I didn't expect you to have such a big hand, seeing that the victims outside the city were so hungry that their chests were close to their backs, you actually hoarded so much food." How dare you cry poor here with me...... Hum! There is a saying that no business is not treacherous, and today I finally understand. ”

It turned out that yesterday Ji Qingwen heard that his "father" Ji Guangming intended to hold a feast for himself, and knew that the rich families in Xi'an City should still have a lot of grain in stock, so he asked the big spy Li Yuanyin to go out overnight to investigate the situation.

This Li Yuanyin is really a good hand at reconnaissance and intelligence, and immediately got in touch with the Jinyi Guards who stayed in Xi'an City, took out his Jinyi Guard's command of affairs, and ordered him to investigate the grain stocks of all the rich households overnight - the list in Ji Qingwen's hand was the result of Li Yuanyin's whole night.

Over there, Wang Jiabai was still holding on, and said: "My lord, your list is conclusive, but it is just the words of a family, and there is no real evidence. Unconvincing ......"

"Humph! Don't have real evidence? Li Yuanyin on the side said, "Our Jinyiwei has always been well-documented and sure. Even if there is no proof of death, we can still show evidence. If you really want to rely on it, you can naturally go with me to the Jingshi Prison. ”

Wang Jiabai, who was still talking about it just now, was suddenly frightened when he heard these words-of Jinyiwei's reputation and the legend of the edict, of course he had heard of it, and he was unwilling to use his old and weak body to verify it himself.

I only heard Ji Qingwen say again: "Mr. Wang, you have a good eye for business!" According to Jinyiwei's investigation, you collected and hoarded a large amount of grain before the disaster, totaling 100,000 stones, but you don't know where to hide it, so this note can only register the amount of grain you have stored in Xi'an City. ”

Wang Jiabai was already difficult to ride a tiger, gritted his teeth and said, "So what? The imperial court did not allow merchants to sell salt, tea, copper and iron without authorization, but it never forbade the purchase of grain. Old decay shouldn't have broken the law, right? ”

Ji Qingwen turned his head and asked Li Yuanyin: "Commander Li, in "Da Ming Law", what crime can be convicted of profiteers who hoard and accumulate strange things in disaster years?" ”

Li Yuanyin said with an embarrassed face: "It's not ...... However, adults can ask for a conviction. ”

"Petition for conviction? It means to write a recital to the emperor and send it from the city of Xi'an to the Beijing Division, and then the emperor approves it, and then sends a decree to send it back to Xi'an from the Beijing Division. It will take half a month to go back and forth, and by then half of the hungry people outside the city will be dead! Ji Qingwen reprimanded.

Li Yuanyin looked aggrieved and replied: "Lord Ji, I didn't mean that, think about your current identity!" ”

Ji Qingwen suddenly realized, with a smug expression on his face, and said to Wang Jiabai: "Mr. Wang, you are my elder, so I was going to discuss some things with you. But since it can't be discussed, then don't blame me for not being big or small. ”

He coughed lightly, cleared his throat, and suddenly got up and said, "I, Ji Qingwen, am now the Weaving Admiral of Suzhou and the Minister of the Qin Mission." This time I came to Xi'an to help the victims at the emperor's behest. I bought grain from you at a price of one or two or four dollars, and in fact, I didn't let you suffer much loss, but you couldn't get a needle in it or splash water, and you still wanted to donate only a few dozen stones of grain to perfunctory me! ”

Speaking of this, Ji Qingwen was already angry, and sneered: "Hmph, I have a sentence that has always been on my lips: 'I can live a comfortable life, everyone can live a comfortable life; I can't live a comfortable life, so you can't even live an awkward life.'" Since you refuse to pay for the grain I pay, then I will use the letter of the Chin Cha Yin to order you to hand over all the grain hoarded free of charge. If you don't pay it, it will be disobeying my orders, disobeying the orders of the ministers, disobeying the will of the emperor, and deceiving the king! It's going to kill your head! ”

Wang Jiabai and the others panicked when they heard this, and said, "My lord...... If we hand over all the food, we will lose money, and there will be so many people in our family up and down, but we will all starve to death......

"Humph! If you are human, you will starve to death? Ji Qingwen scolded, "Then those people in the city are not people?" Won't you starve to death? ”

These few words immediately made Wang Jiabai speechless.

Chen Yingyuan, the prefect of Xi'an, who had been silent for a long time and had not spoken, got up at this time and persuaded him: "Lord Ji, this is not good. It's all these rich businessmen who are ignorant, and now after the enlightenment of adults, they must have figured it out. Why don't you buy grain from these rich businessmen according to the original regulations of the adults, one or two or four dollars and one stone of grain? ”

Chen Yingyuan said these words, not because he did not mean to excuse these profiteers, but because he himself was the parent official of Xi'an Prefecture, and he did not want to see the situation of tension between the minister and the local wealthy businessmen.