Seeing that some grain shops in the city were seized, Fan Yongdou knew that he couldn't fry anymore.

The increase in the price of grain in Huguang and the panic of the people in the city finally attracted the attention of the government, and once the government wanted to make a move, the businessmen were generally incapable of resisting, unless there were bigger officials behind them, otherwise the family would inevitably be ruined.

This is the norm of society in the past dynasties, and it is also the main reason why businessmen are keen on collusion between officials and businessmen, because ordinary businessmen, no matter how powerful they are, if the violent organs want to rectify you, it will be like killing an ant, so Chinese businessmen have always liked to find backers in politics.

Fan Yongdou has a strong backer in the Qing Dynasty, but in Huguang, he is just an outsider, so he naturally has to be careful.

At this time, in Yuezhou City, the governor He Tengjiao was in the line, and Yang Wenyue of Beifu sat in the hall, frowning and saying to He Tengjiao, who was drinking tea above: "Governor, these grain merchants are really not like words, the price of grain for two taels per stone was actually fried by them to twelve taels, completely ignoring the people's livelihood, and the lower officials thought that they should be severely punished, and used thunderous means to crack down on hoarding and raising prices. ”

He Tengjiao put down the cup, but his face was very calm, and said with a smile: "Yangfuyuan, this matter is not in a hurry, let them fry first, and when they are finished, the governor will send someone to catch these profiteers, which can just solve the salary of the soldiers in the towns of Huguang!" ”

Yang Wenyue was slightly stunned, his brows were tightly locked, He Tengjiao's abacus was so good that he thought about it, it was tantamount to letting the profiteers sweep the wealth of the people first, and then he copied these profiteers, and the profiteers speculated on the income, and all the money from the speculation was returned to the Huguang Third Division, which solved the problem of lack of money in the government, but it suffered the people and lost the hearts of the people.

Although the Nanjing court got rid of the burden of the north, the court and the central government were still the world of the southeastern gentry.

Gao Mingheng put forward a bill for tax reform, hoping that the imperial court could learn the lessons of the Chongzhen Dynasty, reduce the burden of the people, and increase commercial taxes.

Nowadays, because the tax system has not changed, the financial situation of the Nanjing court has not improved, and it is unable to maintain the operation of the entire Southern Ming court, and it is often in arrears of official salaries and salaries.

Not long ago, Huguang wrote many times, asking the imperial court to allocate a sum of food and salary to supplement the towns of Huguang, and the imperial court delayed again and again before transporting a batch of food, but when he arrived in Wuchang, he was stopped by Zuo Liangyu, and several towns in Hunan had been owed half a year's salary.

Although Yang Wenyue is also very anxious about food and salary, he is a little disdainful of He Tengjiao for collecting money in this way.

Yang Wenyue said with a calm face: "Governor, the official of Yuezhou Mansion has already seized several grain shops, and the lower officials think that the price of grain must be killed, otherwise the people will not be able to bear it."

On the edge of the dock, Fan Yongdou saw the government's move, and he knew that he would accept it when he saw it, and he couldn't be greedy anymore.

The official is black, but it is much more powerful than the bandits, and if you find a crime, you can deal with the businessmen who have no power and have nothing to do with it.

Fan Yongdou had a hard relationship in the Qing Dynasty, but it didn't have much to do with it in the Ming Dynasty, especially these Huguang magistrates, one by one, they were like the soil emperors, and there was no place to reason if they killed him.

At this time, he was just about to let people sell the grain, ready to cash it out and leave the market, and then wait for the price of grain to fall back, and then bring back the grain sold at a high price at a low price, when there was a sudden commotion on the dock.

Fan Yongdou frowned slightly, walked to the window and looked out, I don't know when, hundreds of people had gathered on the dock, and they were noisily pushing and shoving a few Fan family guys.

"What's going on?" Fan Yongdou couldn't help frowning, and a sense of ominousness rose in his heart.

At this time, a fellow suddenly stumbled into the house, "Owner, a group of helpless people came on the dock, saying that we robbed them of their work, not only beating up their people, but also driving away all the coolies we recruited." ”

"What?" Fan Yongdou was immediately shocked when he heard this, he was also a person who had seen the scene, how could he not see that someone was making a ghost.

At this time, a group of people suddenly came to block him, and the other party obviously had a purpose.

"Not good!" Fan Yongdou exclaimed, "They want to stop us from throwing food." ”

At this moment, a guy stumbled in and said in a panic: "Boss, it's not good, the price of food in the city is starting to fall!" ”

Fan Yongdou instantly broke his heart and gall, he started to collect six taels, and received twelve taels, once the price of grain fell to seven or eight taels, he would not make money, and when he fell to six taels, he would lose so much that he would vomit blood, and if he fell back to two taels, then he would have to jump into the lake.

"Hurry, hurry! Go and tell the officials to get rid of these scoundrels, and then sell the grain immediately. ”

In the city, the people queuing up to buy grain soon found that the rice and grain sold in the grain stores began to increase, and the speed of grain sales was greatly accelerated, and the price of grain in various places was slowly falling.

The people were frightened by the previous price increase, afraid that the price of food would rise, and they were still rushing to buy, but for those small businesses that followed the trend and hoarded food, they smelled the danger.

Some of them, because they participated early, began to buy from three taels, and now it has risen to twelve taels, which has quadrupled, and for the sake of insurance, they began to ship.

Some people who have only begun to be attracted by profits from five or six taels, or even about ten taels, and can't help but participate in speculation, see that others have made four times as much, but they themselves have earned too little, and feel that the price of grain has not been speculated to a high point, so they are unwilling to ship, but continue to eat, and bet that the price of grain will rise again.

But soon, their illusions were shattered, as the number of grain out became faster and faster, the grain put into the market increased greatly, they found that the price of grain formed a diving trend, soon from twelve taels, to eight taels, and then to six taels, and continue to fall, and they have used up all the money in their hands, and they can not put the plate next at all, so they can only panic and flee, so that the price of food finally collapsed.

Fan Yongdou asked someone to go to the government to report the case and ask the officials to drive away the scoundrels who made trouble.

About half an hour later, the guy hurriedly ran back, "The owner, Chen Zhutou said, this is our private matter, let us negotiate and settle it." ”

Fan Yongdou couldn't help sweating on his forehead, and instantly became angry, "I can solve it, what else do I want to do with the government?" ”

After all, Fan Yongdou is a northerner, it is impossible to bring a few hundred guys over, he only has more than ten people in Yuezhou, and the rest of the coolies are mainly hired with silver.

As far as he is now, there is really no way to face the local hooligans.

Hearing the report, the price of grain continued to fall, Fan Yongdou couldn't help but look like ashes, he didn't expect the local businessmen to be so scoundrels.

When he was angry, the money shopkeeper who went out to negotiate came back with a blue nose and swollen face, and said with a frightened face: "The owner, the big thing is not good, the grain depot is on fire!" ”

Fan Yongdou was stunned for an instant, and then he was furious, "Who is it?" Who did it? ”

(End of chapter)