The grain prices in Jiangning County are basically relatively stable, and rice is mainly sold here, three coins of silver and one stone, as for maize and sweet potatoes, they are not very common, and there are not many farmers who plant them, and the price is lower than that of rice, about two dollars and five cents of silver and one stone, and the real price fluctuations are mainly in two seasons, one is the autumn harvest, the grain price generally falls, and the other is when the green and yellow are not received, the grain price generally rises.

The reason for this is also very simple, every autumn harvest, it is also the time when the government collects the field tax, since the implementation of a whip law, the government collects the field tax, are converted into silver calculation, no one buys grain, of course, there is a cat in it, the peasants must hand over the field tax, can only sell the grain at a low price, the businessman can take the opportunity to hoard grain, and then sell it after the price rises.

For example, when the harvest is scarce, raising the price of grain will naturally make a lot of money.

This is supposed to be the role of the market, but it is the peasants who suffer.

This year, the situation in Jiangning County has changed, and it is a significant change.

Finally, God blessed, in one year, there were not too many disasters, this is a rare situation, it may be Su Tiancheng's good luck, plus 20,000 hectares of official land, renovated and transformed, so the grain harvest.

Moreover, the policy of exempting land from taxation was announced at the beginning of the year, and the peasants' enthusiasm for farming was particularly high, and the government even made a guarantee that the purchase of grain at market prices would be completely a matter of making money, so to speak.

At the end of the autumn harvest, the county government began to purchase grain on a large scale.

The treasury of the county government is definitely not enough, and it is very simple to build the treasury. The old way, the county government paid the money and found the peasants to build it, and the construction of the treasury was not a difficult thing above, and the progress was very fast.

Farmers in Jiangning County. Including those peasants who have already gone to Jiangning County to make a living, they saw the notices posted by the county government, enthusiastically went to the county government to sign up, and soon gathered 10,000 people, the government treasury was in full swing, the county government's houses and grain houses were already busy, and a large number of farmers began to sell grain to the county government.

Peasants of this era. It's very simple indeed.

They were dismissed from the field endowment, and the county government tried a way to let them earn money, and the situation of the family slowly improved, which was completely different from the previous situation, so it said. There is no need for the lieutenant chief and the first head to organize, they took the initiative to come to the county office. Sell all the grain that is ready to be sold to the county government, even if the price is lower, they are willing.

The first to come to the county government were the tenants who rented official land, and half of them were tenants. They are all military households in the Jiangning battalion, they have long been accustomed to handing over food, and their own men in the Jiangnan battalion have five taels of silver every month, which is distributed on time. There is no need to worry about life, and they can eat meat from time to time, and this autumn harvest, the men also went home to help, so after the autumn harvest is over, they first come to the county government and hand in the grain.

The purchase prices of rice, maize and sweet potatoes have not come out for a long time, which is also because the opinions within the county government are somewhat inconsistent, and they have not been able to be completely unified.

According to the usual practice, in the autumn harvest season, the purchase price of rice is generally in the price of two to two cents of silver and two cents of silver, which is far lower than the usual purchase price of two and five cents of silver, as for maize and sweet potato, most of them are around one and six cents of silver, Su Pingyang and Lu Tianming discussed, and decided to buy rice at the price of two coins and two cents of silver, and at the price of one dollar and six cents of silver, to purchase maize and sweet potato.

But Su Tiancheng disagrees with such a price, he believes that such a price makes farmers suffer.

This time, Su Pingyang and Lu Tianming both insisted on their opinions, they believed that this year's grain harvest was not as good as in previous years, the grain in the whole county of Jiangning County was estimated to be more than 3 million stones, after deducting the rations left behind, as well as a large amount of grain left by some gentry and wealthy households, the county government estimated that the grain that could be purchased exceeded 1 million stones. It is estimated that it is about 300,000 taels of silver, which is a huge expense, and the county government can hardly bear it.

Second, this year's grain harvest is bumper, and there will inevitably be businessmen who buy grain, and if the price of grain purchased by the county government is set too high, the businessmen will definitely not be satisfied, and maybe they will make trouble.

Su Pingyang and Lu Tianming's opinions still aroused Su Tiancheng's attention, about how much silver the county government consumed, Su Tiancheng did not consider, it is said that this bit of silver, the county government can still bear it, the annual donation of silver by the businessmen is more than two million taels of silver, this bit of silver, can be squeezed out, but it can affect the acquisition of the merchants, this is a problem that must be seriously considered.

It is said that insisting on such a purchase price, there will not be much problem, but the county government purchases grain, is open, Jiangning County farmers, will not think of any strange name, but businessmen are not necessarily, for a simple example, businessmen can buy low-priced grain in other places, and then sell all to the county government, earn the difference in the middle, the county government is responsible for the purchase of grain officials, even Zhilu Dao such a situation, it is not easy to refuse, if such a situation, a large number of occurrences, Jiangning County will really not be able to bear.

And such a situation will definitely appear.

Take a step back, buy grain at the agreed price, and all the situations will not occur.

After hesitating, the peasant households came to the county office, and the dust finally settled, and they still purchased grain according to the previous practice, that is, rice was two cents and two cents of silver per stone, and maize and sweet potatoes were worth one dollar and six cents of silver per stone.

The county government took the initiative to purchase grain, which was the first time in the history of Jiangning County, and it was the first time that it took out the silver for nothing, and did not owe the people a penny of silver.

When the county government first introduced the policy, many businessmen, thinking that they were officials of the county government, thought of other ways to collect some grain, but they saw that the county government did take out the silver and buy the people's grain in accordance with the rules.

Some businessmen began to be anxious, if all the grain was collected by the county government, what kind of business would they do, finally the grain harvest was harvested, thinking of earning some silver from it, if the county government took all the grain, wouldn't they drink the northwest wind.

Seeing a steady stream of farmers going to the county government to sell grain, many businessmen have found Wan Chenggui.

Wan Chenggui is the president of the newly established Chamber of Commerce in Jiangning County, and he can directly talk to Su Tiancheng, the magistrate of the county.

Many businessmen who are engaged in grain trading have revealed the same meaning: it is okay for the county government to purchase grain, and everyone will not oppose it, but it is necessary to clarify the amount of purchase, and it is not possible to buy all of them, but to stay some.

Among them, there are businessmen, and there are also some gentry and wealthy families.

They came up with a point of view that the government cannot compete with the people for profit.

Wan Chenggui found Su Tiancheng.

Entering the third hall, Wan Chenggui wiped the sweat drops from his face, to be honest, he was unwilling to do such an errand, but there was no way, he was the president of the Chamber of Commerce, and he had to report to Su Tiancheng when he saw such a big trouble.

"My lord, the grass people are also helpless, many businessmen have found the grass people and told about the purchase of grain......

It took half an hour for Wan Chenggui to explain the situation clearly.

"President Wan, this is your duty, find the county government and reflect the requirements of many businessmen, this is not a wrong thing above, on the contrary, you must adhere to this practice in the future, this official has long said that in Jiangning County, between the county government and businessmen, it is necessary to achieve a win-win situation, so that it is feasible, if the businessmen are not able to do business, they can't make money, and the county government can't support it."

Wan Chenggui nodded, he didn't expect Su Tiancheng to say this, his heart was much more comfortable.

"However, there is one thing, I don't know if Chairman Lu Daowan has considered it, the cultivated land in this county has 1.4 million mu, and the government can now control it, that is, 900,000 mu, counting all the grain production, including rice, maize, sweet potato, etc., a total of about 3 million stones, and the farmers always have to stay for rations, so that the grain that can be sold is 1.5 million stones, and the county government must buy 1 million stone of grain, and the remaining 500,000 stones will be purchased by many merchants, what do you think."

Wan Chenggui was very surprised, he couldn't imagine such an account, Su Tiancheng, as the magistrate of the county, actually calculated it clearly, of course, Su Tiancheng's words have their meaning, the remaining 500,000 acres of cultivated land, the grain produced, what should I do, these fields are owned by the gentry and wealthy families in the county, should they take out some grain, and let the businessmen who specialize in grain take advantage of some cheapness.

However, Wan Chenggui didn't dare to talk about such a thing, such a thing was too sensitive.

"President Wan, you can go and tell many merchants who deal in grain that the county government will buy one million stone of grain, and let many businessmen buy the remaining part, and you can also talk about it appropriately, let them find the rich gentry in the county, take out some grain, and make money for everyone, the county government is adhering to this point of view, and some gentry and rich households in the county will also change their concepts."

After watching Wan Chenggui leave, a meaningful smile appeared on Su Tiancheng's face, it is estimated that the gentry and wealthy households in Jiangning County will not understand the deep meaning for the time being, and now is not the time to act, the timing is not appropriate, and the fundamental interests of the gentry and rich households must not be shaken. (To be continued.) )