Although the supply of food has been restored, the panic and thirst of the common people show no signs of abating. Because the supply is too small each time, not only is the quantity small, but there are also few windows to sell grain, and it takes an average of three days to queue up to buy rice.

It makes a lot of lazy people, simply don't buy rice, and go to the victims to eat relief, although the clear soup and water can't find rice grains, but they can always mix a full water, or it's free, isn't it?

And the food supply at the canal wharf is also intermittent. Lord Fuzun will always find various reasons to stop selling, such as celebrating the birthday of Emperor Jiajing, celebrating Emperor Jiajing's accession to the throne, celebrating the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and celebrating the victory of a certain anti-Japanese battle.

This kind of procrastination and inexhaustible practice shows that he is trying to cover up, as if he wants to cover up the truth.

In this way, rumors are naturally full of rumors in the city, and there are idlers who don't work hard, specifically clamoring for the lack of food in the government, and even in the tavern theater, they have begun to frequently stage the drama of 'Tan Daoji singing and raising sand', which makes people even more panicked, and they are convinced of the government's external strength and middle cadres.

Therefore, the whole family of the common people took turns to go into battle, queuing up to buy food day after night; There are also some big families with ulterior motives, and they also send all their families and servants to participate. Under this kind of crazy rush to buy, even if each person can only buy three catties at a time, at the end of the day, he still has to sell 500,000 catties of grain.

Such a terrifying sales volume made everyone believe that the government would not last long, and the news of Suzhou City's food shortage was just around the corner. Therefore, due to the arrival of the grain ship, the price of grain, which fell to six taels, began to rise again, quickly returned to the historical high point of eight taels, and easily broke through ten taels, rolling up every day, and by the middle of May, it had reached sixteen taels, and the rise was strong, and there was no intention of slowing down.

In fact, this kind of rise has completely detached itself from the correlation between value and price, and has become a kind of crazy speculation, but the common people don't understand it. In this crazy game, they are like a small boat on the furious sea, involuntarily, drifting with the flow, being used by those speculators hidden behind the scenes...... "How much can it go up this month?" Opposite the wharf, on a three-story restaurant facing the street, Lu Ji, dressed in white, stood in front of the window, staring at the black heads on the wharf.

But the voice was hoarse and ugly, as if the iron pieces were rubbing, making people's hairs stand on end, obviously not the water-like Lu Ziyu can emit it.

It was a man who had fallen into a corner, shrouded in darkness.

Lu Ji was already accustomed to his voice, and said without the slightest discomfort: "Twenty taels should be fine." ”

"It's too slow!" The dark shadow said, "The longer it drags on, the worse it will be for us." After thinking for a while, he ordered: "Don't give the Xu family's silver first." ”

"But......" Lu Ji's voice was soft and beautiful, and it turned out to be an authentic female voice: "According to the agreement, it will be paid within a month, and now there are less than ten days." ”

"I can't care about that much." The black shadow hissed: "First concentrate all the silver, put this side up, and wait until the price of grain and coupons is all fried to twenty-five taels, and then we will ship the grain, exchange it for cash and leave!" He nodded slightly and said, "Twenty-five taels is enough to fill the hole in the Xu family." ”

"Ah, don't you care about those big Suzhou households?" Lu Ji said with a low voice, what they originally agreed was that the price was less than thirty taels, and no one was allowed to ship it.

"After such a long fight." The black shadow said slowly: "You should have known how smart that Shen Mo is, if it takes a long time, he may play some tricks, then we will be in trouble." ”

"Let's inform those big households," Lu Ji said softly: "If we retreat first, they will all have to fold inside." ”

"Don't tell them, let them keep going, how can we raise the price without their fools?" The black shadow said: "You still want to share Suzhou City with me, it's just a dream!" Saying that, he grinned and smiled, revealing his white teeth and said, "Suzhou City is all mine, and no one has any share!" ”

"So, you've decided to change your plans." Lu Ji asked softly.

"Nothing can't change." The dark shadow said, "I ask you, what is our purpose? ”

"Prevent Suzhou from opening a port, oust Shen Mo from power, and hold Suzhou City in your hands." Lu Ji said softly.

"As long as the goal is achieved, it doesn't matter which way he goes." The black shadow said hoarsely: "It is one way for us to force the government to the end, and it is another way to let Suzhou City fall into chaos, and now the risk of the former is too great, so I decided to take the latter instead!" Because the other party is his spokesperson, he had to patiently explain: "This is why I only let you collect grain with all your might, and let those big households in Suzhou only buy coupons......

"As soon as we throw away the food we have hoarded, prices will inevitably fall sharply. The people of Suzhou City have been suffering from high prices for four or five months, and they have long become frightened birds. Although I saw the price drop, I would definitely be afraid of rising again, so I would definitely take the large number of tickets I had saved in my hand to the shop and ask for exchange. Saying that, he smiled and said, "Haven't you already investigated?" The shops in Suzhou City have withdrawn funds in the past few months to speculate on food stamps? Where do they have the money to buy goods? Once it can't be cashed, it will definitely cause a large-scale run, and then all the shops in Suzhou City will have to go out of business, and the people will not give up, and there will be no less smashing, burning, and looting! Ahem...... Lu Douyin is still waiting in the post house! At that time, it will be Da Luo Jin Immortal, and he will not be able to save him Shen Cunyan! The more he spoke, the more excited he became, and he coughed excitedly.

A trace of concern flashed on Lu Ji's face, and he walked two steps, but he was stopped by him viciously: "Don't come here!" He pulled the bellows and gasped.

Lu Ji sighed and said, "It's not like I haven't seen you, why do you want to avoid me?" ”

"What am I like? I am fine! The black shadow suddenly became angry and said: "Don't show mercy to me, I Lu Ji was born to overlook my life, invincible in the world." Only I have mercy on others, and no one else has mercy on me! "Okay, his name is Lu Ji too.

Lu Ziyu, who was standing, had a trace of pain flashing on his beautiful face, his eyes were misty, and he said astringently: "You are the best, the most handsome, and the darling of the Lu family that everyone envies, and everyone can only look up to you......"

"It's good to know!" Lu Ji, who was sitting, snorted and said, "Go ahead." ”

Lu Ji, who was standing, sighed faintly and nodded, "Okay." And he withdrew.

When he walked out of the door, he heard the sound of ping-pong throwing things inside, Lu Ziyu suddenly became weak and weak, leaning against the door and secretly crying, like a water lotus in the rain...... At the same time, the prefect of the dock on the big ship.

Sitting silently at the table, watching his wife hold a pen and calculate. In the enamel furnace on the table, rosemary imported from the West is lit, which is said to refresh the mind, strengthen memory, and in short, help the brain.

Quietly waiting for Ruohan to finish his calculations, he asked softly, "How is it, how many days can you last?" As he spoke, he handed over the fragrant tea in his hand.

"Eight days." Ruohan took the teacup, smiled sweetly at him, and then said: "200,000 stone grains, it didn't even support it for a month, and the other party's crazy rush to buy it was much beyond our imagination." ”

Shen Mo asked, "How much silver do you have in your hand now?" ”

"Thirteen million taels," Ruohan said, reporting the figures, "all from the sale of grain stamps." ”

"So much...... Shen Mo frowned slightly, "You originally said that they could take out a maximum of 20 million taels, right?" ”

"Almost," Ruohan said, "Considering that they have also invested tens of millions of taels of silver in food, this amount should be their limit." ”

"Hmm......" Shen Mo nodded subconsciously, got up and took his hands, squinting his eyes and pondering. Ruohan was also like him, he didn't speak again, and quietly let him think.

After a long while, Shen Mo stood still, exhaled a long breath and said, "I feel that we can't drag it out any longer, we should close the net in advance." ”

"Won't you wait any longer?" Ruohan said softly: "The price of grain will obviously rise, and it should be able to rise to twenty taels by the end of this month." Said with some regret: "And I estimate that eighty percent of them will raise the price of grain to more than twenty-five taels, otherwise it will not be enough to fill the pit that was pitted by the Xu family." "She is worthy of a prestigious business genius, and she actually guessed the line of the Lu family at once.

Her thinking is business-oriented, while Silence thinks more from a political perspective. He said softly, "I'm afraid that if it's any longer, we'll not be able to end it." As he spoke, he explained softly to his wife: "You said that every time the price of grain rises by one tael, those people will lose one million taels more, and even if the net is closed now, those people will have to lose tens of millions of taels, which is enough for them to bear." He touched his wife's smooth face and said, "If the price of food is allowed to rise again, I think they will all go bankrupt, which is not in our interest." ”

In the final analysis, this Suzhou City is still the Suzhou City of the big households, if the big households are eliminated, is it still called Suzhou City? Shen Mo was even more worried that if he hurried to kill him, it would cause the gentry in Jiangnan to be shaken, so that the government and the opposition would be disgusted, and the beautiful image that he had built up with great difficulty would be ruined...... So far, he has been playing a bitter role, whether it is the Jiangnan gentry or the officials of the DPRK and China, they are full of respect for the champion who fought against the maritime group alone, and of course more sympathy. Especially those officials of science and Taoism and the ministers of Qingliu all saw the shadow of Zhu Kun in him, and they wrote to support Shen Mo, asking the court to mobilize grain and grass to crack down on lawlessness and help him get through this difficulty.

But how can the power of the Nine Great Families be underestimated? Although their side could not stand up and blatantly attack Shen Mu, they finally occupied the superstructure and suppressed the voices of solidarity, and the two sides were deadlocked, but they could not tell the winner.

It's just that being an official and being a person pays attention to proportion, and if it is excessive, it will be annoying. The reputation of the ruthless hand, although it doesn't sound too bad, is a big taboo in officialdom. Because this officialdom pays attention to leniency, it is a sedan chair carried by everyone, if you always force people to have no way to live, you often have no way to walk.

This is the experience of Shen Si in politics, and he is willing to act on it.

"You're in charge, of course I'll listen to you." Ruohan didn't ask the specific reason for the silence, since he said that he would start it earlier, then start it earlier, so he smiled and snuggled into his arms.

Gently hugged his wife's soft and boneless shoulders, and silently commanded softly: "From tomorrow, you tell Gu Rundong and them not to grind anymore and secretly speed up the shipment." I will order Qi Jiguang and Wang Yongji to start shipping the goods we have hidden in Taihu Lake to Suzhou in batches! ”

The next day, although the canal wharf was still the same on the surface, the people who bought the grain clearly felt that the grain sellers were no longer grinding, and they were buying the grain much faster.

In the afternoon of the same day, after a day and a night of wild running, Tiezhu finally arrived at the shore of Taihu Lake, a hundred miles southwest of Suzhou City, jumped on a fast boat at Dongshan Wharf, and arrived at a large island connected by three peaks in less than half an hour.

This beautiful island, called Sanshan Island, was originally inhabited, but since the trouble, it has been emptied back to the city, and it is said that there should be no trace of it.

But before the iron-pillared clipper could get close to the island, an arrow struck the side of the ship, and several small boats rowed out of the reeds, and a group of men armed with bows and arrows, dressed in various miscellaneous clothes, but still neatly looking, surrounded him.

Tie Zhu hurriedly raised the order flag in his hand and said, "Envoy of Lord Fuzun, take me to see your general!" ”

The men put away their weapons, changed their formation, and escorted him close to the island, and entered through a heavily guarded gourd-like port, where they saw countless grain ships anchored quietly in the afterglow of the sunset, with no edge in sight...... The boat docked, and there were also three steps and one post on the shore, and one sentry in five steps, and these officers and soldiers were very neat, solemn and quiet, in sharp contrast to the scattered disorder of other armies of the Ming Dynasty.

Even the iron pillar was infected by this atmosphere, and he couldn't help but puff up his chest and stride along with the guide with his head held high.

In a small room by the port, he met Wang Yongji, who had not been seen for a long time, and Qi Jiguang, who had not been seen for a long time, and conveyed the silent order to the two adults.

After reading the order, Qi Jiguang handed it to Wang Yongji and said: "Brother Runlian, your hard work for more than a month is finally going to come in handy today, and you will escort the first wave of twenty boats of grain." ”

I haven't seen you for more than a month, Wang Yongji's face has lost a lot of weight, but his spirit is vigorous, and his elegant face is full of excitement and said: "General Qi is polite, this is not my credit alone, if it weren't for your subordinates and the Cao Gang, we wouldn't have done so beautifully!" ”

Qi Jiguang said with a smile: "But in the final analysis, it is still Lord Fuzun who has the ability!" Said with a look of admiration: "The face is big, the relationship is deep, and the road is wide, who can hold it down?" ”

"Yes, there is a way to be a good man, three gangs, a fence and three piles," Wang Yongji nodded with deep feeling: "This is true." ”

In the dock outside, there are a total of 100 grain ships and 300,000 stone grain!

Among them, there is the silent uncle, Tang Shunzhi, the prefect of Shaoxing, who supported 50,000 stones; The 30,000 stone of grain supported by Tan Lun, the prefect of Taizhou, who was sympathetic to him, was indeed withheld by Ruan Yi, the governor of Zhejiang. But Shen Mo wrote a handwritten letter, asking his subordinate Ruan Zisong of Jiading Zhi County to bring him over to plead with Ruan Yi.

Ruan Zisong is Ruan E's own nephew, and when he saw him, he naturally had no difficulty, and handed the silent letter to Ruan E. There was no request in the letter, but only a description of the 34th autumn of Jiajing, Ruan Zhongcheng...... At that time, he was still the deputy envoy of the school, served as the chief examiner of Zhejiang, and pointed to the five kui of Shaoxing, so that their seven sons could enter the department together, so that there was a title on the gold list of seven people later, and the story of Qionglin Society was famous all over the world.

Seeing this letter full of literary brilliance and fresh breath, Ruan Yi suddenly got rid of the darkness of the battlefield and the political arena, and he realized that although Shen Mo had a good relationship with Hu Zongxian, he was the Xie Yuan in his own handwriting! In other words, the first element of the big three yuan was given to him by himself! This kind of relationship is not trivial!

"What is the status of silence in your gang of peers?" Ruan Que asked.

"This individual is young and old, righteous, and affectionate." Ruan Zisong said: "Not only those Shaoxing, but even we are very convinced of him." ”

"What do you say......" After listening to his nephew's words, Ruan Que asked again: "If I have a conflict with Hu Zongxian, who will he help?" ”

Ruan Zisong smiled: "If you help him this time, then do you need to ask?" ”

"Hehe......" Ruan Que suddenly found that he was a fan of the authorities, and couldn't help but smile and said: "What you said is right, since this is the case, I will return the 80,000 stone grain to him." As he spoke, he waved his pen and said, "The good man will do it to the end, give him another 20,000 stones, and make up a whole number!" ”

Ruan Zisong smiled: "I thank Uncle for my humble words." ”

"Less politeness!" Ruan Yi waved his hand and said, "Ship it immediately!" ”

"Humble words also instructed me." Ruan Zisong said: "If you want to give it, I hope to send it to Taihu Lake by water in the name of allocating military rations for the Yu family's army." "Yu Dayou's army is resting in Taihu Lake, which is a good reason.

"That's fine, it's all on board." Ruan Yi smiled after speaking: "It seems that your noble person is trying to put them together." He said in a deep voice: "He is not afraid that I will not agree, and I will tell him a secret?" ”

Ruan Zisong smiled and said: "My nephew is a guarantee, you can't hurt me." ”

"You stinky boy...... Ruan Yi couldn't help but laugh.

(To be continued)