Out of the Hezhou Prefecture, Wang Huan did not stay, and immediately ordered Zubian to return to Chongqing Fucheng with 3,000 Shizhu soldiers, and at the same time ordered Ma Long and Ma Xintian to chase and suppress the remnants of the army should not be too far, especially not to enter Shunqing Mansion, which is Zhang Xianzhong's territory, and now is not the time to start a war with him.

That night to Chongqing Fucheng, Wang Huan directly lived in the barracks of the general soldier, slept in Zeng Ying's bedroom, Zeng Ying is so luxurious, the general soldier's residence is as luxurious as a palace, the curtain light yarn, silk and satin, everything, the furniture is a complete set of yellow wood lacquer, the shadow of the person. There are a lot of old mothers and little maids who are waiting, but they are all let go back to their hometown by Wang Huan, replaced with personal soldiers, and use their own personal guards as serving servants, with peace of mind, and Wang Huan is not such a poor and exquisite person, he likes to do everything by himself, and he doesn't need many people.

Early the next morning, Wang Huan convened Meng Zhiyu and others for a meeting, and made a series of deployments, Zeng Ying's new defeat, and the news could reach Zhang Xianzhong's ears within a day, originally Emperor Yongchang of Daxi did not put the Southern Ming army in his eyes, Zeng Ying went, he would definitely be more fearless, as long as the western Sichuan could free his hands, he would definitely transfer troops to pounce, and he would fight with him sooner or later, and he had to prepare early.

Under the Ming military system, under normal circumstances, there are only 5,000 soldiers under a general soldier, and after this number, the imperial court will not have more head salaries. However, in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, which of the total soldiers who could fight was not the scale of tens of thousands? The military salary of the imperial court is just a drop in the bucket, and they all rely on their own ways to raise it, and there are all kinds of methods, such as tax extraction, extortion, and extortion, all of which are pediatrics, and those who directly cut the path and sweep the road to do the robbery and make a living, and even tear off the fig leaf and do more crazy murder than thieves.

Zeng Ying is like this, otherwise he would not be able to raise so many soldiers, although compared to Zuo Liangyu, he is still good, at least he did not kill people and rob things openly, and he was more or less covered up, but under his rule, the common people still had a hard time.

Therefore, the people of Shuzhong, both are sad, Zhang Xianzhong in the west and the Southern Ming warlord in the east, one is like a wolf and the other is like a tiger, they are all ordinary people who eat people and do not spit out bones, such as compared with the two, Wang Huan is a living Bodhisattva.

Since it is a living Bodhisattva, it is necessary for all people to know that they are living Bodhisattvas, Wang Huan's orders are as follows: first, at the gates of Chongqing Mansion, Kuizhou Mansion and Zhucheng of Xuzhou Mansion that have taken refuge, as well as on the traffic arteries, erect stone tablets and engrave the three laws of civil affairs under the rule of the general army of Kuizhou. Second, all the displaced people who are willing to settle in various prefectures and counties under the rule of the Kuizhou General Army, as long as they fill in the household registration in the local armor protection office, they can open up wasteland for farming, and the newly opened fields will not be paid for three years; The third is to set up an official treasury, so that if each household has surplus grain, it can sell it to the official treasury at a price not higher than the market price.

These three decrees shocked Meng Zhiyu almost jumped up, and he didn't care about the humility of the upper and lower levels, and shouted: "My lord, my lord! No, no! ”

Wang Huan looked at him indifferently, took a sip of tea and said, "Why not?" ”

Meng Zhiyu waved his hand, shook his head and said: "My lord, in the newly recovered place, one year of exemption from land tax is enough, and it is even more ridiculous if the newly opened land does not pay grain for three years, how many military horses do you have under your hands, how much rice and grain do you have to eat in a day, and how much is it in a month?" The new homeless people open up the wasteland to farm, and there is no rice before the harvest, so they have to be fed, right? How much food does it cost in a month on this day? Over time, over and over again, even if adults can make money every day, they can't stand this kind of sitting and eating empty! And the establishment of the official treasury, buying and selling grain from the people, doesn't that put our necks on the knife edge of the grain merchants? Grain merchants can completely store grain, control the price of grain on the market, raise the price of grain, so that we have nothing to collect, but the grain of the people is collected by them at a price higher than that of the official treasury, and finally when we need food, we must rely on the grain merchant to breathe, this is a big taboo! ”

Seeing Meng Zhiyu's sad look, Wang Huan was very pleased, for this county, Wang Huan was not very relieved, after all, he was not a person from Shizhu Wanshou Valley, and his loyalty needs to be tested, but at this time, Meng Zhiyu's nervousness has already shown that he has tied all his net worth to Wang Huan's chariot, and he is desperate to follow him to the dark, even if he is an enemy of the rich grain merchants.

"You're right, and you're right." Wang Huan put down the teacup and said faintly, with a cunning tone that made people feel uncomfortable when they heard it: "You said so much, in fact, there are two problems, the turnover of grain and the stability of prices. ”

"First question, we raided Zeng Ying's old nest and seized all the military rations he left in the rear, this good boy, he has tossed a lot of good things in the past year, do you know how much hoarded food he has in his official warehouse?"

Meng Zhiyu shook his head, Zeng Ying's granary was in the barracks, where Wang Huan asked Ma Xintian to block it, even Meng Zhiyu never went in.

Wang Huan mysteriously stretched out three fingers.

"Thirty thousand stones?" Meng Zhiyu was surprised: "Where did he get so much food?" ”

Wang Huan pouted: "You guessed wrong." ”

Meng Zhiyu breathed a sigh of relief, and said in his heart, I said, if you really want to peel the skin of the common people, you can't get so much food, and three thousand stones is still possible.

Before he could close his mouth in relief, he was immediately excited by Wang Huan's next slow and leisurely words, which was big enough to stuff a duck egg.

"You guessed wrong." Wang Huan repeated: "After cleaning and measuring in the official warehouse, there are enough 300,000 stones of grain. ”

Meng Zhiyu's jaw was about to fall to the ground, a pair of eyes were almost bulging out of his sockets, and his body stood up with a "whoosh", and there was a sound of "hehe" in his mouth, but he couldn't speak.

Wang Huan didn't care about him, and calculated to himself: "A person eats half a catty of grain a day, which is fifteen catties a month, and 100,000 people will need 1.5 million catties a month, which is 9,375 buckets, and he will get 110,000 stone of grain a year, and I have more than 300,000 stones here, counting the surplus grain of the people, it is enough for more than 300,000 people in the three prefectures of eastern Sichuan to eat this year, and it can also raise an army of tens of thousands of people." ”

Every word that came out of his mouth was like a shot of chicken blood into Meng Zhiyu's heart, making Meng Zhiyu's originally pale face redder and redder, and under the huge surprise, his face was as red as a ripe cherry in May.

"My lord, is that serious? Can the person who supervises the number be able to measure clearly? Is there really 300,000 stones? Meng Zhiyu said with a mouth that was almost dislocated just now, as if he couldn't believe it, and then saw Wang Huan nodding and shouting even more happily: "In this way, everything is worry-free!" ”

"So, we solved the first problem, in the form of Zeng Ying's gift." Wang Huan also laughed: "That husband offended the landlords and eunuchs in eastern Sichuan, and the grain he collected was so cheap for us." ”

"The second question is a bit more troublesome." Wang Huan continued, but he put away his smile and put on a serious expression: "The price of food is related to the country, after all, the people take food as the sky, and if they don't have food, no matter how honest they are, they will rise up to rebel. And the sky is unpredictable, who knows if Sichuan will also have a disaster, so the grain must be monopolized and operated by our government. ”

When Meng Zhiyu heard this, he was a little puzzled, came back to his senses from the ecstasy, and asked: "I understand what the lord means, but this official treasury sounds no different from the current official warehouse, how can it monopolize the grain trade?" ”

Wang Huan smiled: "Of course, there is a difference, the official warehouse is based on the levy, and the annual field endowment farmers must be handed over, whether you want to or not, you have to pay it, and the excess grain, the government does not care, which provides an opportunity for all kinds of grain merchants, and the court is corrupt, there are countless rats, and the management of the official warehouse is also full of holes, to be honest, the grain supply of the Ming Dynasty, there are countless official warehouses controlled by the imperial court on the bright side, in fact, the official warehouse is empty, just so much is moldy grain, and it is not used at all at critical moments, a large amount of grain, are all controlled in the hands of many big grain merchants, in other words, the grain merchants in the south of the Yangtze River and the Jin merchants in Shanxi, one south and one north, pinching the throat of the Ming Dynasty. ”

He looked at Meng Zhiyu: "You say, can this kind of thing be born to us?" ”

Meng Zhiyu returned to a state where he couldn't speak with his mouth wide open.

Wang Huan said categorically: "Of course not! Food is the lifeblood of life, and no one can control it except ourselves! In the future, there will be no other grain merchants on my Wang Huan's territory, and all the grain can only be bought and sold by us, which is called official businessmen, and the institution that comes forward is the official treasury! ”

Meng Zhiyu closed his jaw with his hand, woke up from the shock, and a thought exploded in his mind: Competing with the people for profit, this is competing for profit with the people!

At this moment, he remembered countless historical events, that scene was similar to Wang Huan's actions, from Wang Anshi to Zhang Juzheng, the bloody lesson appeared in front of him, Meng Zhiyu was terrified, the end of this made him feel terrible when he thought about it, this is equivalent to snatching food from the tiger's mouth, and it is equivalent to being the enemy of the world's corporal clan.

"My lord! Absolutely not, absolutely never, an official is an official, how can he do business? This is not in keeping with the teachings of the saints......"

Before he could say what he said in a hurry, he was interrupted by Wang Huan: "It's just competing with the people, right?" Hmph, I think it's a competition with officials! The grain merchants in the world have boundless ability, and can even influence the appointment and dismissal of the big officials in the imperial court, instead of letting the merchants master the business of determining the lifeblood of the world, why can't we come? Striving for profit, the world is bustling, all for profit, the world is bustling, all for profit. I nationalize the grain trade, which is a matter of interest for a thousand years, and you don't know that in this troubled world, the key to controlling the food supply is crucial. ”

What Wang Huan remembered in his mind was the huge role played by the state-run grain store founded by the great man in the later generations in such a special period, and there was an example first, and he would definitely succeed if he followed the path taken by the great man!