"Zhuli, do you know the price of grain in Baima County now." In the flower hall of the White Horse County Ya, Han Gang asked the Yazhong Oshi, who was standing in the center of the hall with his hands down.

Zhu Li's waist bent a little more, and he replied humbly: "The villain knows the way." ”

"It's already the nineteenth day of the lunar month, but the price of grain is still one hundred and thirty-five wen a bucket. If this continues, the people in the county will not be able to celebrate the New Year. ”

Zhu Li remained silent and did not speak, waiting for Han Gang to continue.

"As you may have heard, the grain from the south has now arrived in the city of Tokyo, and it will be sold not only in Gyeongchug, but also in Gyeonggi Prefecture. There is a quota of 300 stone in one day in Hakuba County. Grain was shipped from Tokyo, and in the next day or two, it can be said that the price of grain will soon fall. ”

"I heard that it was thanks to the invention of Masayan."

"If the price of food is going to fall, we must not let it go up again. The county intends to issue a document to set the price of rice in Baima County at 80 wen per bucket. In case someone is treacherous, one person can only buy one bucket at a time. Zhu Li, you are the proprietor of the largest rice store in the county, I wonder if you can take the lead and set an example? Han Gang paused and said, "...... The official does not take advantage of you, as long as you are willing to take this head, the official can reduce your family's taxes for the next year. And as much as you sell, I will give you back as much as I want when the grain arrives. ”

Zhu Li lowered his head and hid the sneer on his face from Han Gang and his three staff members.

Hakuba Prefecture is more than 100 miles away from Tokyo City, but Zhu Li is very diligent in communicating with the guild, and news is transmitted every day. He knew what the situation was like in Tokyo City at the moment.

Han Gang was worried that the people in the county would not have a good New Year, so he almost forced himself to lower the price of grain. But Zhu Li felt that this young White Horse Zhixian should be more worried about his father-in-law now.

Most of the grain that the shipping department had worked so hard to bring from the south was bought by the official households. In several places where the city sells grain, there are long queues that are a mile long. After waiting for a day, they could only buy a bucket of grain, and the people's original expectations turned into resentment, but they were about to explode.

But it is because Wang Anshi is now in a desperate situation that Zhu Li will not be stupid enough to fight with Han Gang. Don't look at Han Gang's pleasant face at this time, with good words. If he doesn't nod his head, the good son-in-law of the prince will use strong means to maintain his prestige. If you are about to succeed, you will be treated as a chicken that is killed for the monkey, it will be too wronged.

Bowing his head and bowing, Zhu Li said respectfully and honestly: "Whatever you say, the villain will do." Zhengyan asked the villain to lower the price of food, and after the villain went back, he changed all the water cards, one Mo and one fight. ”

Yimo is seventy-eight texts, which is two texts lower than Han Gang's requirements. Zhu Li's move can be described as honest and obedient.

But what about selling out the store's stock at a low price? Zhu Li didn't care at all!

He had already stored most of the grain on hand in the Zhuangzi in the countryside for the beginning of spring next year-basically the grain merchants kept the granaries outside the city, and if they were all hoarded in the city, not to mention anything else, the land money for renting land and storing grain would swallow up a large part of the profits--he honestly obeyed the orders and sold out the hundreds of stone rice noodles in the store, and I don't believe that Han Gang can still have an excuse to go to his Zhuangzi to raid his house! As for making up for something, it's best to have it, if not, look at what Han Gang still has the face to ask for himself.

And Han Gang didn't seem to see Zhu Li's careful thoughts, and was very satisfied with his answer: "This is the best, I hope you will implement it as soon as possible." ”

Zhu Li respectfully promised and resigned.

Looking at the back of Zhu Li leaving, Fang Xing immediately turned around: "Seriously, Zhu Li promised so easily, there must be fraud in it!" ”

The corners of Han Gang's mouth twitched, as if he was smiling, but his eyes were as cold as ice in the pond outside the hall: "Of course I know this." ”

Who wouldn't do anything that was contrary to Yang and Yin, even if he didn't disobey his orders, Han Gang could come up with many workarounds for Zhu Li.

"Looking at Zhengyan's appearance, I am already confident, I must have expected this situation for a long time, and I am ready to deal with it, right?" Wei Pingzhen smiled slightly, asked Han Gang, and Fang Xing and You Yu both looked over.

Han Gang nodded: "There are some measures, and when Wang Yuanze came over a few days ago, he had already discussed this." ”

Now the problem of grain prices in the capital is very troublesome. When the grain merchants are working hard to make stumbling blocks, if they want to reduce the price of grain before the New Year's Festival, they must release a large amount of grain in one go.

The catastrophe is still continuing, and the food prices that have been hovering at a high level all the time, every household is not worried about running out of food in the future, and wants to buy more and store it at home. Although the amount of 15,000 stone a day is barely enough to supply millions of soldiers and civilians, it can't stand everyone wanting to buy more.

For this reason, Han Gang estimated - and let Wei Ping really calculate - if he wants to use the sale of grain to stabilize the price of grain, at least he will have to scatter a million stone of grain reserves at once, or even two million stones, so that the high price of grain can be broken at once. Selling as a small stream of water and a long stream of retail sales like this now will not help at all. There are millions of military and civilians in Tokyo, and the official households buy a little, the rich buy a little, and the poor households buy a little more, and the 10,000 or 20,000 stone a day will be divided up in a blink of an eye.

Therefore, the grain merchants with the support of the clan can keep the grain price at a high level as steadily as Mount Tai, which is forcing Wang Anshi to open a regular position. As soon as the regular position is opened, they immediately reduce the price.

However, for the current predicament, Wang Anshi, Wang Yan, Han Gang, and the New Party have not predicted it. The corresponding countermeasures are prepared.

The struggle between officials and merchants lasted for thousands of years. Officials do not necessarily meet businessmen with no background background, and officials and businessmen are the most common situation. How to defuse the attacks of businessmen with clan backgrounds, the New Party naturally has a plan to take precautions. Han Gang's words to Zhu Li were just a part of the plan.

Facing the three pairs of curious eyes, Han Gang smiled, "I don't have to hide it from you at this time." The solution was very simple, that is, all the grain that arrived in the capital was sold at a fair price to the grain merchants, who resold it. ”

…… So that the stumbling block will no longer be a stumbling block.

……………………

"Sell to a grain merchant?!"

As soon as Lu Huiqing said this, the hall was in an uproar. Although there are rules in place, many officials can't help but let out a low surprise.

In the imperial history, Deng Juan stood up, stood up from his small chair behind the palace gate, and swept the hall viciously, "How dare you make a noise in front of the king!?" Know the sin of disgrace! ”

Only the imperial history of the rope correction of hundreds of officials can interject loudly at the court meeting and suppress the officials.

The head of the Imperial History was furious, and the palace suddenly fell silent. But the doubts in people's hearts are difficult to dispel.

I only heard Lu Huiqing continue: "Nowadays, when people want to buy official food, there are only a few places to go, and they often have to buy a bucket from morning to night. How can food prices be lowered in this way? Therefore, in the opinion of Weichen, it is better to order the city to sell the newly shipped grain to the grain merchants for 70 wen a bucket. The price of rice in and around Tokyo was set at 80 bun per bucket. The difference between these ten documents is the fee paid to the grain merchant for consignment. ”

It's a compromise! This is a concession!

After hearing Lu Huiqing's suggestion, every minister thought so. Seeing that there was no way to suppress the price of grain, Wang Anshi went to sell those profiteers in order to protect his position!

One bucket gives Li Shiwen, one stone gives Li Baiwen, 15,000 stone a day is 1,500 guan, if it lasts for two months, it is almost close to 100,000 guan. Wang Anshi instructed Lu Huiqing to give 100,000 yuan to the grain merchants, and use the money of the imperial court to buy this profiteer who colluded with the clan and no longer make trouble!

Immediately, someone stood up and "sat back and watched the profiteers exploit the people and did not control them, but instead joined them in the same stream." This is a treacherous act! ”

Even Feng Jing was puzzled for a while, 'Wang Anshi is trying to make peace with the grain merchants?!' ’

'This is a tiger skin! Wu Chong shook his head secretly, not expecting Wang Anshi to be so unwise. 100,000 is like a million? I'm afraid that if the grain falls into the hands of those profiteers, it will be up to Wang Anshi to decide.

But they cast their eyes on Wang Anshi, who was standing at the front, as serious and heavy as ever. The original judgment gradually wavered, which is not in line with Wang Anshi's personality at all!

Suddenly, a flash of realization flashed in their hearts: 'Is it ......?'

……………………

After listening to Han Gang's words, after a period of silence, Wei Pingzhen suddenly sighed: "This plan of Wang Xianggong and Zhengyan is very meaningful!" ”

You Yu and Fang Xing both nodded, completely agreeing with Wei Pingzhen's statement. After a few months of getting along, the three of them already understood Han Gang's temperament, and they knew that he would never bow to the grain merchants. They can already guess exactly what they will do.

Han Gang said with a smile: "This is just for four words." ”

You Yu immediately asked, "But is benevolence and righteousness exhausted?" ”

"Do you want to be the first to take the lead?" Fang Xing said.

Wei Pingzhen said in a deep voice: "It's a plan for arrogant soldiers. ”

Han Gang laughed twice, but did not answer who was right and who was wrong, "Soon the answer will be revealed, let's wait and see!" In any case, since that dry grain merchant provoked a war, there is only one outcome for you to live or die. ”

Although Han Gang said with a smile, the content of what he said made Wei Pingzhen and the three of them feel as if there was a cold snap coming.

- Han Gang even defined the battle for food prices as war!

Han Gang definitely played a big role in the planning of this counterattack. What he said can basically be said to be what Wang Anshi meant. Since it is a war, then as Han Gang said, the result is only you to live and die! This means that Wang Anshi will never be lenient to the grain merchants.

It was getting late, and Han Gang sent Wei Pingzhen and the three of them away, and then returned to the flower hall and sat down. Their answers were actually all sidelined, but they were only evaluations of the means used, and did not go to the essence.

In the tranquil flower hall, the charcoal in the brazier is lit with a faint blue fire. Occasionally, charcoal crackled in the fire, and there was no noise other than that, only Han Gang's voice was low: "Actually, it's more appropriate to coerce public opinion!" ”