There was silence on the canal wharf, everyone's eyes were focused on Shen Mo's face, and Shen Mo looked at Hai Rui and said expressionlessly: "What did this official tell you, I am in charge of everything, why do you take my words as a deaf ear?" ”

"Hai Rui, there is nothing to say." Hai Rui closed his eyes and said, "Let the adults deal with it." ”

"Alright then," Shen Mo nodded, "Take it." ”

Two officials came over, and they didn't dare to take him because of Hai Rui's majesty, but they just whispered: "Lord Hai, please come with us." ”

Hai Rui nodded, stood up, and strode out.

"You can't let Hai-sama go!" After all, the common people still distinguish between right and wrong, they all know that Hai Daren is a good official who asks for the people's life, and this time he took the responsibility, and it was all for them, so he had the conscience to find and rush forward, wanting to pull Hai Daren back.

"Stop!" Hai Rui looked back and rebuked angrily: "Do you want to trap your own officials for injustice? This is exactly what he is worried about, or he will not be in a hurry to stand up and take himself hostage to prevent things from getting bigger.

"My lord, we have been out of food for a few days, and if we continue to starve, we will die." An old man couldn't stand it, and bowed down to Shen Mo and said: "Master Hai has no choice, so he took us over to have a look, the original intention was not to rob, but to ......" said and looked at Shen Mo, a little afraid and said: "I just wanted to sell us some grain, but it turned out that it was all sand and stones, and then there was chaos." This is what the old man means, and the old man will reverse the order of the two things of discovering that the food is all sand and stones, and the chaos will cause the blame to be transferred to Shen Mo's head for the most part.

It's as if if it were white rice, there would be no confusion.

Hai Rui frowned slightly, and was about to speak, but he heard Shen Mo say: "Who said that food is all sand and gravel? ”

"How not!" The young men were furious: "Don't believe you! Then he brought a sack to Shen Mo, tore it open, and the sand and stones flowed out.

People all looked at Shen Mo angrily, with disdain in their eyes.

This made Shen Mo's face a little unbearable, and he laughed and said, "Well, what's going on?" ”

Sanchi on the side hurriedly answered: "Master, you forgot, this is the stone we bought in Taihu Lake, ready to be used to repair the government." When he spoke, he also frowned, and he looked even more thief, and he was not a good person at first glance.

Shen Mo patted his head and said, "That's what happened." ”

"If you don't have food, just say it! Don't fool us with pebbles here! "There is always no shortage of people with ulterior motives, hiding in the crowd and shouting.

Shen Mo squinted slightly, "Who said that?" How dare you stand up? ”

Of course, no one dares to stand up, but everyone's face is written with distrust of the government, too, everyone is short of food, you pull some stones and weeds back to make do, when we are Sun Wukong, you can eat iron gall and drink copper juice?

In the face of the public's distrust, Shen Mo seemed to feel very hurt, and said with a sad face: "At the beginning of today, the canal wharf is selling grain, and the official himself is in charge to see if there is any grain!" He waved his hand and said, "Let's go." ”

"What about Master Hai?" People asked worriedly.

"I'm not going to punish him." Shen Mo said sourly, and said in my heart, why don't I have such a good popularity? However, he also knows that Hai Rui is a mass line, and there are many supporters, and those who are high and low with him are not his own passers-by at all.

Seeing that Lord Hai also nodded, the people left with suspicion, and said in their hearts: "Anyway, there is no other way, just believe in the official mansion for the last time." ’

At noon that day, people came from all directions, with a hint of luck, and when they gathered on the wharf, they saw that a simple shed had been erected there, and it was blocked by a cloth curtain, which made it seem that the government was more and more weak.

The officials came out and made a lot of noise for people to line up. Just when they were queuing, people saw a grain boat slowly leaning on the shore, and a sailor carrying a sack of fish came down from the boat, and then it was held by the curtain and was out of sight.

Along the thin corridor sandwiched between two wooden railings, people had to line up in a single row and move slowly forward...... There were five such lines, that is, five grain outlets, but the line was still in sight—while the front had already entered the curtain, the back had not yet entered the dock.

Under the forced maintenance of the officials, the people who made the head went into the curtains in an orderly manner, and saw a lot of sacks piled up behind a long table. There was a morning disturbance and it was discovered that the two sacks were the same.

But when the officials untied the sacks, what was revealed was white rice.

People can't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and it is even more strange, why do they open it is rice, and we open it is sand? Is this a character gap?

Of course, they also thought about it a little, and their attention was attracted by the rice that they were looking forward to.

In the past few months, the grain trade in Suzhou City has formed a characteristic, and people have become accustomed to capitation limits, and they are also accustomed to buying grain with coupons, so there is no need to silence them and bother to speak. Whoever has their turn will hand over the food stamps, weigh three catties of rice, and then buy them and leave.

When they saw that someone really bought rice, the people queuing outside finally relaxed their hearts that had been hanging, and some people quietly broke away from the queue and did not buy rice, so they left quickly.

The men walked through the streets and alleys into a nondescript courtyard, and soon some men rode out and walked unhurriedly out of the city.

The man on horseback went out of the city, crossed the stone roads and alleys of the ancient town of Fengqiao, and soon came to a monastery with blue tiles and yellow walls. The temple is located in the green trees, and in front of the main hall stands a large bronze tripod, on which are written the four big characters of 'a serious book'. The man handed the horse to the little novice, and walked through the main hall by himself, and entered the backyard, only to see green pines and cypresses, and winding paths.

The man walked along the path, and a figure seemed to appear among the flowers and trees, but when he saw the comer, he fell silent.

At the end of the path, there was a hexagonal pavilion with heavy eaves, and the man reported his name inside and outside the door, and the door opened, and the door opened to the long-disappeared humble gardener, the prince of the Wang family.

After entering, I found that Peng Xi, the head of the Peng family, Pan Tuo, the head of the Pan family, and Lu Ding, the patriarch of the Lu family, were all present, in addition to the four of them, there were several people who were also the heads of the big clans in the city!

Since the outbreak of the food crisis, they have all left Suzhou City, and they did not expect to hide in the Hanshan Temple outside this Gusu City.

As soon as they saw the messenger come in, all the gentlemen asked, "How is it?" ”

"Back to the old man's words." The messenger said: "There is indeed rice, and it has begun to open five teams, three catties per person." ”

"Didn't you say the ship was full of sand?" The prince made him nervous and said, "Why did you run out of rice again?" ”

Still old Lu was calm, only to hear Lu Ding ask: "Is there rice on other ships?" ”

"I don't know." The messenger shook his head and said, "Only one grain ship is docked to unload, and the rest are anchored in the middle of the river." ”

"Let's go down." Seeing that he couldn't ask anything, the old man waved the messenger away, closed the door and put it together...... "What do you think?" "It is generally the Dana who asks this...... It was Lu Ding who spoke.

After thinking for a moment, Peng Xi said: "I think of a play, singing and measuring sand, have you heard of it?" ”

"Nonsense," Pan Tuo's temper was not very good, and he frowned: "We are not illiterate, who hasn't read Tan Dao Jichuan?" Only then did he understand what he meant, and said, "Are you saying that he is imitating Tan Daoji?" ”

The so-called Tan Daoji sang the amount of sand, talking about the famous general Tan Daoji of the Southern Dynasty, who was surrounded by the enemy at one time. He ordered his subordinates to be stationed in places that were easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the opponent's attack effect was very poor, and when he was about to withdraw the army, some of his subordinates defected, revealing that the Song army was out of food.

The Wei army sent scouts to inquire about the truth, but when they saw that the Song army was singing and counting the piles of 'grain', they thought that the Song army had enough food and grass, so they killed the Song soldiers who surrendered as spies, and then quietly withdrew.

In fact, what the traitor said was indeed the truth, but Tan Daoji took the lead of the enemy and ordered his soldiers to cover the only grain on the sand, pretending that the food was sufficient, so as to confuse the Wei army.

"According to me, although they have food, they don't have much, so they use real and false methods to pretend that they have enough food!" Peng Xi said: "It must be like this, it's not bad!" ”

"It does make sense." Lu Ding bowed his head and said: "The abnormality after Shen Zhuoyan came back can be explained. Then he asked, "Then what is he for?" ”

"To kill three birds with one stone." The prince said in a deep voice: "Pretending to have enough food can make the people feel at ease; second, it can relieve his pressure, so that he can have more time to prepare food; After a pause, he said: "This third, I think it is also his main purpose, which is to mislead us!" ”

"What's the misleading law?" Everyone asked in unison.

"Let us mistakenly think that he has enough food," Prince Jean affirmed with certainty, "to cause us to panic - if we think that the price increase has failed, we will inevitably sell a large amount of grain and rice." Once that happens, his crisis will really be solved, and we will really fail. ”

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but nod and said, "What a clever method, one move to sing and measure the sand, it almost traps us all." Now that I think about it, I can't help but be afraid...... When they heard that Shen Mo had returned with a mighty grain ship, their alliance, which was already weak, almost fell apart immediately.

But because of the murderous danger of those people, they did not dare to act rashly, so they had to press down their anxious mood and frequently inquire for news. It's just that Shen Mo protected the canal wharf too well, ordinary people and others couldn't get close at all, if it weren't for Hai Rui's two hundred and five, holding Tongzhi Guan Defense, and piercing this layer of window paper, these people really didn't know how to deal with themselves.

"Okay, it's safe for now." Pan Tuo didn't say well: "What's next?" Do you continue to be a shrunken turtle? Everyone looked at Lu Ding, and they also wanted to know the answer.

Seeing that everyone was looking at themselves, Lu Ding sighed and said, "How can I do it?" It's a day, right? Can you get down on this thief ship? ”

Everyone sighed, they were forced by those people for seven points, three temptations, and they were blasted out of Suzhou City, and they didn't know when they would be able to go back, and they didn't know what kind of face they would be in when they went back...... Just as everyone was worried, the door suddenly opened, and they all trembled together. After seeing the people clearly, they not only did not feel relieved, but trembled even more.

I saw a handsome young man who came in, wearing a plain white spring shirt and a richly decorated sword at his waist. I saw that he had a smile on his face, but the corners of his mouth were tightly pursed. Holding a folding fan in one hand and pressing the scabbard on his waist with the other, he was leisurely and slaughtering, but he was kind but frightening.

It was Lu Ji Lu Ziyu.

As soon as they saw him come in, everyone stood up, only his nominal uncle Lu Ding, who couldn't hold his face and didn't get up, but his face became very strange, and he didn't know what kind of feelings he wanted to express.

Lu Jiqing's cold gaze swept over everyone, and said with a faint smile: "I just heard from you that you can't get off the thief ship, that's right." As he spoke, he opened the folding fan and shook it gently: "Such a delicate moment should be more harmonious, if anyone wants to leave everyone behind and escape, it is the enemy of my Pinghu Lu family, and the enemy of our group!" ”

He shook the folding fan gently, there was almost no wind, but everyone shuddered, including Lu Ding, all looked at him with some fear.

Lu Ji was in a very good mood, he was always deflated by that Shen Shuyan, and almost forgot that he was still a powerful person, he adjusted his mood, sat down on the main seat without concessions, and said: "You guessed right, Shen Mo did buy the grain of the Cao Gang, the amount was about 200,000 stones, but we successfully knocked out his attempt to buy another 200,000 stones." "What does it mean to slap a swollen face and become fat? That's it, too.

"200,000 stones, which can only last for one month." Lu Ji stretched out his fists and said: "So the situation is still in our hands, and in a month, Suzhou City will run out of food again!" ”

Everyone nodded indifferently, and all of them groaned in their hearts: "I have to be here for a month." ’

"So what now?" Lu Ding asked Lu Jidao, only this time, he became a pure inquirer...... Although they are both surnamed Lu, the difference in power between the two is too big. The former can only be regarded as the number one person in Suzhou, but the latter can be the king and hegemon in Jiangnan.

"What should I do?" Lu Ji said with a smile on his face: "You are all old people, and you all know that the government is short of food, don't you need to ask what to do?" ”

Of course, everyone knew that in this case, they should be hoarding Juqi, but they also had concerns: "If he continues to hoard food stamps, won't he send a lot of silver money to Shen Mo's hands, what if he uses this money to buy grain elsewhere?" ”

"He can buy it, but he can't bring it in." Lu Ji laughed and said: "Now we have mobilized strong connections to let all the prefectures and counties adjacent to Suzhou City strictly check the ships heading to Suzhou to prevent another grain from flowing in." Saying that, he looked at everyone and said, "What are you not worried about about the strength of our nine families?" ”

When I think of those illustrious surnames, the big families in Suzhou are indeed only worthy of carrying shoes for others, and since he said that there is no food to come in, there must be none.

Then he said without doubt: "This is indeed a good time to eat!" ”

"That's right." Lu Ji finally raised the hand on the hilt of the sword, waved it and said: "Eat the grain while eating the food and eat the food stamps on the other, let their tricks be revealed as soon as possible, let the price of the food stamps go up, we will sell the food stamps, make a big profit, and then leave!" ”

"Actually, it's enough to just buy food." Lu Ding Lao Cheng said: "We have hoarded enough tickets, which has far exceeded the number of deposits, and the risk is already very large." ”

"What's at stake?" Lu Ji disagreed: "Once this battle is over, Suzhou City is ours, what you want to let more and what you want to make less, what you want to make expensive, what you want to make cheap, all at our mercy, how much money can't you earn back?" Of course, he wouldn't say that in fact, it was because he had bought rice at a very high price, which exceeded the budget too much, and he had to fill the hole as soon as possible, so he encouraged them to buy both grain and food stamps.

"Then the coupons of other industries, do you throw some out first in exchange for some cash?" Pan Tuo also asked, after such a long period of money lending, his bank treasury was already about to bottom out, which made Pan Tuo, who had always adhered to the 'conservative' ancestral precept to run the money bank, feel extremely uneasy.

"If you want to throw it away, sell it to me." Lu Ji said angrily: "Don't you know that after frying the grain, the next step is to hold something else??" ”

Now everything has risen in price, and the prices of the original tickets of average value have all doubled, and even doubled several times, Pan Tuo is really reluctant, so Lu Ji said this, so he stopped mentioning it.

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Lu Ji got up and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, the war situation has reached this point, it is not possible not to fight, now give an order to your own family, the more you buy, the sooner the government will show the stuffing, what are you waiting for?" ”

So, on the second day, the number of people who bought grain was much larger, but Shen Mo had the foresight to use those wooden railings to plan the path to buy grain, which actually limited the number and quantity of people who bought grain, so that his grain could last for a few more days.

But on the other hand, the supply of food stamps has been released, and no matter what the price is, every ration is quickly snapped up!

(To be continued)