01, February 17, the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, the day before Chinese New Year's Eve.

Early in the morning, the capital, which had been silent all night, was noisy again, and this day was very different from yesterday.

On this day, more people took to the streets, but there was no trace of joy on their faces, but one by one, full of decline and pain.

However, the men in the city saw that Chinese New Year's Eve was approaching, but there was still not enough food at home to get them through the year.

By this time, they no longer had the luxury of expecting food prices to come down. And the imperial court has just returned, and there is no extra time to take care of food prices.

Therefore, on this day, more people chose to go out of the city and hunt in the mountains dozens of miles to the north. Regardless of whether you can hit the prey in the end, at least you can't sit still, right?

There are also some men wandering the streets, and every time they see a convoy of merchants, they rush forward to ask if they need help.

But in response to them, there were one disappointing answer after another.

The convoys didn't need manpower at all, and the people who wanted to go out of the city to hunt found something that made them even more desperate, because the capital was already closed.

Although the gates of the city were wide open, they were not allowed to enter or exit, and a large number of soldiers guarded them, so that they did not even have the courage to theorize.

At this time, what appeared on their faces was the expression of helplessness, sadness, and helplessness.

Some people have been without food for three or four days, and they are already hungry and faint, but they have never been able to buy enough food.

It's not that they don't have money in their hands, who doesn't have a few hundred dollars in their hands? But how much grain can a few hundred Wen buy in the capital now?

With the depreciation of silver in recent years, the price of grain has soared from 100 wen a liter a few decades ago to 300 wen a liter.

Recently, the turmoil near the capital has been continuous, which has made those grain merchants earn a lot of money, and the price of grain has doubled, reaching 600 wen a liter, which may not be able to buy, and those profiteers will often refuse to sell on the grounds of insufficient stock, but at this time, as long as someone buys at a premium, those profiteers will immediately take out the grain.

"My lord, we are all ordinary civilians, please let us go out of the city to hunt, we have been without food for three days, if we have no food, our family will starve to death......" A man in his forties, his hair was slightly gray, and his body was supposed to be quite worthwhile, but he was slightly bent, wiping the tears on his face, and kneeling on the ground, hoping to get the pity of these soldiers and let him go out of the city to hunt.

After the company commander in charge of guarding the city gate saw this scene, his face became slightly gloomy. He was not angry because the people knelt down in front of him, but because of the price of food in the capital.

Although he had the intention of letting these people out of the city to hunt, and even had the intention of arresting and shooting those unscrupulous profiteers.

But after all, it was just his idea, he was allowed to enter and not to leave, this was an order issued from above, and as a company commander, he only had to obey it. Moreover, after a series of wars and a great deal of war lessons, he did not think that his mercy would bring them much good luck, on the contrary, because of his kindness, it might bring them even greater disasters.

"My lord, please give us a way to live......" Just as the company commander hesitated, hundreds of people fell to their knees in unison, their voices were very chaotic, but they could hear what was said clearly.

"Everyone, let's go back, if I let you leave the capital now, I'm afraid that before you all get out of this city gate, my head will not be protected, and the military order is like a mountain! Don't push me! The company commander sighed helplessly and persuaded him.

"Adult ......"

Hundreds of people burst into tears after hearing the other party's refusal.

If it was before, the people living in the capital would not be unable to afford the current food prices, after all, they are all honest and dutiful people, and they are even more frugal on weekdays, and their families still have some savings.

However, after the coalition troops entered the city, most of the money was searched except for a small number of hidden deposits that were not found by them.

And now that the price of grain in the capital is so high, this is obviously beyond their affordability. Besides, who can not keep some money for spare? Only when they have no choice but to use this life-saving money will they use it.

But now, this life-saving money, which is only a few hundred yuan, can't buy much food at all, and it's not even enough for their family to eat for three days.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Just when the company commander was in a dilemma, another team suddenly appeared at the rear of the team, this team was not large, there was only one squad of soldiers, but the soldiers of this squad had a yellow list in their hands.

The people who knelt on the ground subconsciously made way for these soldiers to open a passage, so that the soldiers of this squad could calmly walk to the front.

The soldier holding the imperial list is the squad leader of this squad, but he is holding the imperial list with both hands, and he can't salute, so he can only stand up and report: "Report to the chief, the first battalion of the eleventh regiment, the squad leader of the fourth company and the sixth squad swim in the sea, and is ordered to post the imperial list!" ”

The young company commander returned a military salute and then motioned for them to go to the city wall to post the imperial list.

Soon, the soldiers of that squad walked to the corner of the city wall, and the two soldiers quickly smeared the paste on the city wall, and then the other two took the squad leader's hand in a hurry and posted it in the place where the paste had been smeared before.

"Sir, the above ordered us to tell the people the contents of the list after posting the list, and please forgive me!" Swim in the sea and walk up to the young company commander and ask for instructions.

The young company commander glanced at the content on the emperor's list, and immediately a smile appeared on his face, and he secretly said in his heart, it seems that the above has done it after all.

With the consent of the young company commander, You Dahai glanced at the people who were still kneeling on the ground, and shouted loudly: "Time is pressing, I won't say more than anything else, those who are literate can come and see the list by themselves later, and it doesn't matter if you are illiterate, I will tell you the general meaning of the list, now listen carefully, don't wait for the limited troops to be wasted because of your problems." ”

After talking about the precautions first, You Dahai cleared his throat slightly, and then continued: "Lord Qincha knows the suffering of the people in the city, so he made a special appointment with the grain merchants in the capital yesterday and forced the grain merchants in the city to sell grain at the specified price. The highest price shall not exceed 2271 stone, if the people find that the price is higher than 227, or not enough, the grain is not sold, you can directly find the patrol team on the street to report, if it is found to be true, the award is five liters of rice, if there is a false report, the penalty is twenty! ”

"What? Two, two, seven, one stone? The people who fell to their knees looked surprised.

What does two-two-seven-one stone mean? It means that only 270 wen money is needed (the exchange ratio of silver and wen money is relatively confusing, so for the convenience of reading, 1,000 wen is used here.) You can buy one liter of rice, which is 5.6 catties of rice.

That's enough for a family of five to save three days, or even four days.

Although the money on them is not enough to feed their families, it is clear that the current price has been reduced to an acceptable range.

"This ...... Is this true, my lord? Many people can't believe it, after all, this price is more than double the previous price, and it is no wonder that these people who have been poisoned by profiteers can't believe this price.

"Could it be that the emperor will deceive you?" You Haihai asked rhetorically.

'Coaxing ......'

The words of swimming in the sea seemed to stir up a thousand waves, which instantly detonated the emotions of the people who had been suppressed for a long time.

Many people kowtowed to the people in front of them, although they also knew that the price of food was not suppressed by these people in front of them, but at least the news was conveyed by them.

These ordinary people can't see Lord Qincha, let alone the emperor, so they can only show their sincerity to these soldiers.

"Alright, alright! It's not easy for the people who have been implicated in this war, so let's go buy food as soon as possible, remember what the emperor said, if it is higher than two or two seven stones, immediately find a patrol to deal with it. The young company commander said to the people below.

The above can suppress the price of food in the capital, which is undoubtedly equivalent to a good thing for them soldiers, after all, this can relieve their pressure, and it can maintain the stability of the capital, so that their defensive pressure is also reduced.

At the same time that those people were running towards the grain store like crazy, Qin Chunfeng was also leading the soldiers to ask for the silver and food that they had promised yesterday according to yesterday's list.

Of course, as Sun Laoliu, who gave Wang Sirui the most trouble yesterday, he was naturally the first person Qin Chunfeng came to the door.

And Qin Chunfeng, who originally planned to take Sun Lao Liu's first knife, found that he was hit with an iron fist on a pile of cotton, Sun Lao Liu not only prepared 100,000 taels of silver, but also prepared 50,000 catties of grain, and his attitude was even better to make people can't believe it.

In desperation, Qin Chunfeng had no choice but to order someone to transport the silver and grain away, so as to move on to the next family.

For a whole day, Qin Chunfeng led his regiment to run around the capital, and from time to time returned to the barracks with hundreds of carts.

And in the course of this day, they received nearly two million taels of silver and one million catties of grain.

However, in the face of a good harvest, there is still a problem that plagues Qin Chunfeng, because not every merchant has the ability to prepare those materials in a short time, Qin Chunfeng even ordered people to search their homes, shops, and warehouses, and indeed found no excess grain and silver, and finally after consulting Wang Sirui, he could only temporarily let go of these merchants.

But these people did not have an easy time, and when they had collected the remaining arrears and food, the army would be mobilized.

(In 1900, the normal grain price was about 2.8 taels and one stone, and the Qing system was 28KG, that is, 56 catties, once it was ten liters.) Due to the huge population of the capital and the lack of food in the surrounding areas, a batch of food will be shipped from other places, so the price of grain in the capital is slightly higher than that of other regions. In 01, the Yangtze River basin suffered a catastrophic flood, so food prices continued to soar, but now there is no flood at this time, so food prices will still be set according to 00. (To be continued.) )