Coming out of Shan Xiongxin's Great General's Mansion, I found that the bustling streets of the past had become much deserted, and the occasional pedestrians who walked by looked very hurried, and the haze of war was written on the faces of every Luoyang person. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

During this time, he was busy with the affairs of the prisoner, and he had been living on the edge of the Yellow River, and had just returned to the city the day before yesterday. The problem with clockwork has finally been solved, and the progress is quite satisfactory.

But the progress of the Tang army seems to be faster, and Zheng Guo has continued to have bad news.

Cijian was lost, Longmen was lost, Huiluo was lost, Hanoi was in an emergency, and Luokou was besieged......

Tian Zhan, the governor of Xianzhou, led 25 prefectures to descend to the Tang Dynasty, cutting off the connection between Luoyang and Xiangyang; When Derui led the seven states under his jurisdiction to surrender to the Tang Dynasty; Even the prefectures and counties near Luoyang began to surrender......

Wang Shichong's evil results of killing the emperor have finally been tasted by him himself, and those forces that originally chose to stand on the side of Luoyang because of the banner of the Great Sui collapsed in an instant. Wang Mai couldn't understand why Wang Shichong and these people were in such a hurry to become emperors, and Yu Wenhua even had an emperor addiction before he was about to finish.

If Wang Shichong is smart enough, he should learn from Cao Cao to blackmail the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and as long as Yang Tong is still alive, he can at least guarantee a nominal orthodoxy. Emperor Yang of Sui was very cruel to the people, but he was very good to the officials, at least many people who remembered the kindness of the former emperor would choose the side of Luoyang. Now fortunately, Wang Shichong not only lost this banner, but also carried the infamy of killing the king, and the already loose forces were scattered at once. It's stupid......

Unconsciously walked to the vicinity of Nanshi, the time was still very early, but many shops had already closed, but there was a long queue at a grain store in front. Wang Mai walked over and saw that the price of corn had risen more than three times compared to before.

In order to plunder the materials, Wang Shichong issued currency indiscriminately, and the copper content of the five baht coins was less than half, and he was afraid of breaking it if he fell to the ground. In addition, Luoyang has experienced several wars, resulting in the price of Luoyang before the Tang army besieged the city. An ordinary 800 yuan can be exchanged for a piece of silk cloth, Luoyang needs nearly two times, and the man-made inflation is even worse than natural disasters.

Now that the enemy is in the city, prices are skyrocketing, and the lives of ordinary people are even more difficult. Liu Da said that the slave market in Beishi has flourished, and many poor families have begun to sell their sons and daughters when they are unable to make ends meet.

Hearing such news, it is difficult to make people happy, and I just hope that Li Er can be as powerful as the legend and end this war as soon as possible.

"I'm sorry, today's grain has been sold out...... a voice from the grain store interrupted Wang Mai's thoughts.

"Alas......" The people who didn't buy food sighed and dispersed, and tomorrow the grain store will open again, and I don't know how much the price of grain will rise.

"Sir." A familiar cry stopped Wang Mai, who was just about to leave. turned around and looked, only to find that it was Wang February, who I hadn't seen for a long time.

Since Wang Mai was imprisoned last year, there is no husband in arithmetic, and Wang returned home in February to help his father take care of the business, and it has been more than a year.

"February!" Seeing the little fat man again, Wang Mai's mood finally improved a lot.

"Who is this?" Out of the grain store came an equally chubby middle-aged man, dressed in expensive silk clothes, and looked like Wang Eryue seven or eight points.

"Dad," Wang Er turned around and shouted, "this is the gentleman who taught me arithmetic before." ”

"Oh?" The middle-aged man hurriedly looked at Wang Mai, "Your Excellency seems to be a little familiar?" ”

Liu Da said a few words in Wang Mai's ear, and Wang Mai knew that this person in front of him was also one of the suppliers of the winery, and he thought that he had taken pictures before. The two introduced themselves, and Wang Er led the two to sit down in the shop, and made a pot of tea and brought it up. The method of making tea is popular in Luoyang, and now most of the tea merchants sell fried tea, especially these merchants, in order to show their status, they have begun to be vassal.

"Xiao'er has been enrolled in Guozijian for half a year, and his knowledge has improved by leaps and bounds, and I would like to thank Mr. for his hard work." Wang Yuanwai expressed his gratitude to Wang Mai in a standard Luoyang dialect.

Wang Mai didn't even dare to say it. Wang February's original attitude of coming to a technical school, but he taught people scientific knowledge for half a year, which is really ashamed of the students' parents.

However, Wang Eryue finally remembered his father's instructions and asked two sentences about business from time to time, but Wang Mai did not refuse, as long as the students asked, they would answer them one by one.

Wang Yuanwai was pleasantly surprised to find that his son went to Guozijian once, and his business mind surpassed his own, and all kinds of fresh words popped out of his mouth from time to time, and he had never heard of it. After asking carefully, I found that there was a great truth in it, and the level of the gentleman in the heart of the country was high. Now the family's business has slowly been handed over to his son to take care of, he is just taking care of it by the side, if there is anything wrong, he only needs to give a few words.

It's just that I never imagined that Mr. February turned out to be one of the owners of the famous "Immortal Brew" in Luoyang, and I had seen it once or twice when the winery had convened suppliers to talk about things before, no wonder my son's ability to do business was so progressive, and the decision to stuff my son into the Guozijian was really worth it.

"Wang Yuanwai, the price of grain has risen sharply recently, is there still more grain in the grain store?" Wang Mai asked.

"Sir, don't worry, there will be no problem with the supply at the winery." Wang Yuanwai also thought that he was concerned about the supply of the winery, so he hurriedly made a guarantee.

"I am worried that once Luoyang is besieged, there will be famine again." Wang Mai explained.

Even if the price of grain rises tenfold, the cost is not a problem for the winery, after all, the sky-high profits are there, and the fairy brew is not for the common people to drink. Song Laosan wanted to expand production, but was stopped by Wang Mai, and now it is the best, and he can also take money from those noble lords for other purposes. Moreover, scarcity is expensive, blindly increasing production is not a good thing, and it may also cause a decline in profits.

"Alas......" Wang Yuanwai sighed, "The grain road from Tiger Prison to Luoyang is fighting, and it is difficult to transport grain from Shandong counties. ”

"Wang Yuanwai is really a kind-hearted person." From a business point of view, Wang's father could have hoarded grain and waited until the price rose to the highest level before selling it, and the profit was the greatest. In the years of famine in history, there were always some profiteers who sat on the ground and raised prices, preferring the grain in the granary to rot rather than sell it cheaply.

"Our family has lived in Luoyang for generations, so naturally we can't do those things that make people poke their backbones. It was only when those grain merchants who attached to the government heard that the war was about to break out that they began to hoard grain, which led to the fact that the war had not started and the price of grain had begun to rise, which was really hateful. ”

Wang Mai also heard about this, most of these grain merchants are related to Wang Shichong's people, they buy cheap grain from the official warehouse but do not sell it, they are really a bunch of beasts. Wang Shichong is simply lustful for profit, and now that the catastrophe is coming, he still wants to use this to make money. If it weren't for the fact that the local grain merchants in Luoyang didn't want to see the tragedy happen, and intermittently released grain, I'm afraid that there would have been a famine in Luoyang by now.

"This year's autumn harvest is not good due to the impact of the war, and now the Tang army has not yet begun to attack the city, once the war starts, I am afraid that the granary at home will not last for the New Year." Wang Yuanwai said worriedly.

Worried, I returned to the house and checked the food in the house again, which was enough for the family to eat until the middle of next year, but I was still not happy.

"Ah Lang, there is a man named Ma Zhou outside asking to see you." The servants in the palace informed.

Wang Mai hurriedly asked people to invite Ma Zhou in, Ma Zhou's face was ugly, and the whole person lost weight: "Mr. Wang, I didn't want to ask for help in the next place, but now that the price of grain in Luoyang is high, it's really because I am very hungry......" stopped halfway through the words.

He is arrogant by nature, and he will not ask for help unless he has to, especially because of the problem of eating, which is even more despicable to him. But the taste of an empty stomach was about to torture him crazy, and it was useless to keep drinking water, and his eyes were fixed on the book for a day, and he didn't read a word.

Wang Mai was busy ordering people to serve food, and Ma Zhou couldn't care about his image at this time, so he grabbed two steamed buns and stuffed them into his mouth, and as soon as he ate two bites, he began to burp non-stop.

Afraid that he would choke to death, he hurriedly walked behind him and patted him on the back: "You eat slowly and drink two more mouthfuls of soup." ”

Ma Zhou wiped out six steamed buns, two dishes, and a big bowl of soup like a whirlwind, but he was still unsatisfied. Wang Mai was afraid that he would die, so he didn't dare to ask him to eat it again.

After a while, Ma Zhou felt that the hunger in his belly had left him, thinking of the embarrassed appearance just now, his face turned purple as red as fire: "It's rude to ...... below."

"How long has it been since you've eaten?" Wang Mai looked at him as if he was looking at the reincarnation of a starving ghost.

"To be honest, the last time I had dinner was the day before yesterday." Ma Zhou replied honestly.

"Aren't you going to Chang'an? Why are you still in Luoyang? Wang Mai asked in confusion.

"In the next moment, I was greedy for the books in the bookstore, and I wanted to finish reading them before leaving, but who would have thought that after I finished reading one, the bookstore added two more...... In this way, it has been delayed until now. Now the coils on my body have been exhausted, so I ......"

"Knowledge is like the ocean, how can there be a day when it is learned?" Wang Mai really obeyed him, and this person was really dead-eyed.

Now that the library is in a period of development, the number of books is increasing day by day, and even if he has four eyes, he can't keep up with the speed. If he were allowed to enter the library of the Hereafter, he would not die in it.

"That's right...... But ......"

"No, but, since you like to read, you will be given a position as a librarian, will you do it? At least I can eat every day and don't delay reading. As the saying goes, it is better to teach people to fish than to teach them to fish, and if this kind of person with high self-esteem gives money directly, he will probably be rejected by him, and he must be allowed to eat according to his own ability.

"So there is Mr. Lao Wang." Ma Zhou bowed deeply to Wang Mai. He was smart-hearted, and naturally saw Wang Mai's intentions, and was grateful to Wang Mai for taking care of him, and vowed to repay today's kindness in the future.