The new battalion battalion stationed in Rugao County is Wang Meng, a daring soldier in Xishan Town, and now he has also achieved the position of battalion correction. Unlike Xiao Bing, who is only willing to lead troops to fight, Wang Meng is from a wealthy family and knows a little about business.

And Rugao sent by Sihai Commercial Bank is a shopkeeper surnamed Qian, and the cooperation between the two is quite tacit.

But today, the money shopkeeper came looking for him with a depressed face.

"It's so strange, there are suddenly a lot more stove households who come to sell salt for grain today, although each person is only allowed to sell one piece of salt, but half a day's work has consumed more than 1,000 stone of grain, and if this continues, our grain will not last for a few days." The money shopkeeper said with a sad face.

"How so? How many stove households can there be in this Rugao? According to our previous calculations, the food is enough for each stove household to eat for a month. Wang Meng was surprised.

There are more than 10,000 households in Rugao County, and according to the calculation of one salt per household, the grain brought to Rugao is enough to supply each household, which has already been calculated by the Yangzhou Governor's Office.

For each family, the grain exchanged for a piece of salt is enough for their family to eat for more than half a month, and with this time, the grain bought from Huguang will be transported to Yangzhou.

"I suspect that someone has done something and thrown out a large amount of salt to buy our food!" Money shopkeeper said.

Although it was stipulated that each person only needed to sell one piece of salt in exchange for grain, the identity of the salt seller was not registered, and in exchange for grain, the stove households selling salt were likely to sell one piece of salt today and another one day tomorrow.

If this is not too bad, after all, the stove households have at most recently boiled salt in their hands, and the quantity is limited after all, and it is impossible for all of them to come and buy food.

The most feared are those people with ulterior motives, such as those big stoves, because the three major salt merchants stopped collecting salt, they can squeeze a large amount of salt in their hands and do not sell it, if they all come to exchange salt for grain, the little grain carried by the army will not take long to be empty. And those poor stove households who have not exchanged for food still have to go hungry, and if they are hungry, they will make trouble......

Almost in a short time, Wang Meng also thought about this matter clearly.

"We have to think to stop this!" Wang Meng said categorically.

"But how can you stop it? We don't know who the people are sent by the Haozao, and besides, what reason do we stop them? "The money shopkeeper is embarrassed.

"In this way, I will go to see the Rugao County Commander and ask him to send a messenger to help identify which are poor stove households and which are people from the Hao Stove faction." Wang Meng thought about it, but he couldn't think of a way, so he could only say.

"Well, that's all there is to it." The money shopkeeper sighed. He knew that Wang Meng's idea was to send the army to arrest the people of Haozao, but that would inevitably cause turmoil and affect the order of the salt collection site.

But what if not? It's no wonder that the food brought this time was too small.

However, when Wang Meng found the Rugao County Commander and put forward his request, he was categorically rejected by the Rugao County Order.

"Lu Xianzun, this is related to the safety of Rugao, if the salt people can't buy food, they will inevitably make trouble, and everyone will not look good at that time."

Wang Meng's face became gloomy, and he said coldly. Unlike Dongtai County in the north, Dongtai County ordered the death of the riot, and the government had no head, so it could only be managed by the military. However, Rugao County has an official government, and compared with the county order from Jinshi, Wang Meng's battalion does not have much confidence.

The name of Rugao County is Lu Shoutian, who is more than forty years old and is born in the same Jinshi. Facing the threat in Wang Meng's tone, he just smiled faintly.

"I said no, it's General Wang, you can't do this. Since the Governor's Office used grain to buy salt, it could not stop the salt people from selling salt, let alone arrest people without evidence. ”

Lu Shoutian glanced at Wang Meng with disdain, a martial artist is a martial artist, and he can only come up with such a rough way.

"What if not? Seeing that the grain will not last for a few days, and the next batch of grain will take at least 20 days to arrive. Wang said angrily.

"There is a way, it depends on whether you want to get it or not." Lu Shoutian said lightly.

"Is there a way for Lu Xianzun? Hurry up, please say. Wang Meng was overjoyed and hurriedly asked.

Lu Shoutian smiled slightly and whispered, Wang Meng's expression changed, and his smile rippled.

On the second day, Wang Xian of Haozao sent out more than 100 Zhuangke thugs early and asked them to carry salt to exchange grain outside the county. Just yesterday and one day, the bankers under his command went several times in a row and exchanged for nearly 1,000 loads of grain.

Looking at the salt piles that had not decreased much, Wang Xian thought that it would be good if he could replace all the tens of thousands of stones of salt accumulated in the Zhuangzi with grain, and he would simply change to a grain merchant in the future.

However, according to the results of his own investigation, there is not much grain on the grain ships transporting the salt river, and it may not take two days to exchange all the grain in the hands of the four sea merchants. Those stove households can't sell salt and can't exchange grain, will they continue to make trouble? Wang Xian is looking forward to that outcome.

Nearly two hours have passed, and the first batch of grain exchanges should be back. Wang Xian walked to the gate of the manor, and sure enough, he saw a long group of villagers with burdens appearing in the distance.

Something is wrong, why are these people so bitter?

"It's only been a trip to become this bird? Who will put on a stinky face to show it? Wang Xian scolded angrily, he thought that these bankers were unwilling to work hard!

"Isn't it, sir!" Wang Qing, who took the lead, said with a sad face, "We can't change salt at all!" ”

"What the hell is going on?" Wang Xian's expression calmed down.

"The Four Seas Commercial Bank suddenly changed its method of collecting salt, and instead purchased it on a lijia basis. Every purchase point was watched by officials from the government, and people who were not Tongli Jia were not allowed to sell salt at all. Wang Qingdao.

"Stupid, you're not going to sell salt in your Lijia!" Wang Xian said angrily.

"No, sir, we all know who we are, where have we boiled a pound of salt? Wang Xiaoer had just gone to Lijia, where he belonged, to sell salt, but he was caught by the servant who couldn't help but say that he had stolen the salt, because his family's boiling pot had never lit a fire. Wang Qing said timidly, "So we didn't dare to sell salt anymore, so we had to pick it back." ”

"This must be the idea that Lu Shoutian came up with in the dog day! He clearly took refuge in the Governor's Mansion and wanted to go against me! Wang Xian thought about it for a while, and then came up with the approximate cause and effect of the matter, except for the county commander Lu Shoutian, the others probably couldn't think of such an idea.

If only I had been willing to bribe him with some silver, Wang Xian secretly regretted it. Since the salt administration is under the management of the salt transportation envoy, the local government has no right to intervene, and Wang Xian, who has joined the salt transportation envoy, did not take Lu Shoutian in the county to heart, and he couldn't imagine that he was stumbling now!