After a full cup of tea, Wei Zheng, who was sitting in front of the two, did not have the slightest intention of relenting.

Seeing this, Zhou Shuyuan, as a military advisor, had to retreat and said: "General, if we continue to release the exiles into Datong Mansion, then we must raise at least one million quintals of grain in a short period of time in order to hold out until next year's autumn harvest." Otherwise, we have only one option to establish a blockade at the border. ”

Wei Zheng's eyes lit up, and he shook his head and replied, "No, you don't need a million quintals at all." ”

"100,000 quintals of grain, we only need 100,000 quintals of grain to cross the first two months, and we can buy the rest of the grain from Jiangnan in a steady stream."

"However, there is one thing that the military advisor is right. In order to buy food, we must spend a lot of money. Therefore, from now on, we must not only engage in grain, but also find ways to engage in silver......"

Wang Peng, who was born in the county order, frowned and after a short period of contemplation, he affirmed to Zhou Shuyuan and Wei Zheng: "Lord Zhou, what Lord General Bing said is right....as long as there are 100,000 loads of grain, we can save two months." And two months is enough time for us to buy grain from Jiangnan and bring it back......"

After listening to what Wang Peng said, Wei Zheng's solemn facial expression immediately relaxed.

However, Wang Peng's words are obviously not finished.

Facing Wang Peng, who seemed to be a little unfinished in front of him, Zhou Shuyuan asked: "Lord Wang, if you have anything to say, say it... At this critical juncture, we must take all factors and issues into account. ”

"Lord Zhou, I understand..."Wang Peng nodded. Under the gaze of the two. Continue to speak.

"100,000 loads of grain. On the surface, it doesn't look like much. However, if you really want to buy it, it will cost a lot of silver....In recent years, because of the annual drought, the price of grain in our Datong Province has risen to four taels of silver per load. Of course, this is still the price when grain merchants do not raise prices. If you let the grain merchants and gentry and landlords in Datong know that our Datong General Military Mansion has no grain and needs to buy a large amount of grain... Xia Guan can be sure. In two days at most, the price of grain in Datong will rise to five taels of silver, or even six taels of silver per load..."

"That is to say, just to buy 100,000 quintals of grain, the general military government will have to come up with almost 500,000 taels of silver."

"Five hundred thousand taels..."Wei Zheng and Zhou Shuyuan exclaimed almost simultaneously......

Because, since the establishment of the Tiger and Leopard Army, all kinds of food and salary needed have either been looted from the hands of the Tartars, or donated by the officials and gentry of Datong Mansion after coming to Datong Mansion. So. Neither of them knew much about the price of food, which had little to do with them.

Now I suddenly heard that the price of food had risen to such a high level, and the soldiers' salaries for a month. to be able to buy once the grain. This had to surprise Wei Zheng.

Surprised, Wei Zheng's head did not rest, and asked Wang Peng: "Lord Wang, 100,000 quintals of grain will cost 500,000 taels of silver, so the 1 million taels of grain that we insist on harvesting until next autumn will not cost a full 5 million taels of silver..."

After speaking, Wei Zheng directly asked Zhou Shuyuan, who was also shocked: "Military Division, how much silver does our General Military Mansion have to buy food..."

Zhou Shuyuan replied without even thinking about it: "After deducting the soldiers' half-year military salaries, the silver that can be used to buy grain is only 800,000 taels at most. Of course, in addition to this silver, we have about seventy-five thousand taels of gold at our disposal. ”

Wei Zheng shook his head and said, "It's too little, even if you add gold, it's less than two million taels... Now it seems that we have to find a way to make money, and some plans to make money must be carried out in advance..."

Seeing the expression on Wei Zheng's face that appeared again, Wang Peng hurriedly opened his mouth and comforted: "Lord Commander, in fact, the account is not your account. Although the two planes in our Datong Mansion are very high, the price of grain in Jiangnan is very low, and at most one or two or five dollars of silver can buy a load of grain. ”

"Even if all this grain is transported to our Datong Mansion, the cost of a load of grain will only be two taels of silver..."

"Therefore, my idea is that in addition to the emergency 100,000 quintals of grain to be purchased and raised on the spot in Datong Prefecture, the remaining 900,000 quintals of grain can be purchased from Jiangnan little by little."

"In this way, a maximum of 1.8 million silver can meet the needs of all the displaced people and troops in Datong Province for a year."

While Wei Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, he said with an appreciative look at Wang Bian: "Lord Wang, now it seems that you are not only a qualified Xuanfu envoy, but also a qualified chief butler..."

"If you buy food the way you do, you can save at least half of it...... In this case, the pressure on me, the chief soldier, will be much less..."

"In that case, then we will do what you say...... In addition, Lord Wang, you are familiar with this kind of thing, so I will leave the matter of buying grain to you, and you should work hard..."

Speaking of this, Wei Zheng directly ordered Zhou Shuyuan: "Military Division, after you go down, you will immediately transfer 500,000 taels of silver from the treasury of the General Military Mansion to Lord Wang, and let Lord Wang buy food..."

"As for the gold we hoard in the treasury, unless it is a matter of life and death. Otherwise, it must not be used..."

Just when Wei Zheng thought that the matter had been resolved and began to think about the money-making plan in his heart. Wang Peng, who was standing in front of him, did not receive the order, but continued with a worried face.

"Lord Commander, in addition to the silver, the subordinate has a second concern..."

"The grain in the hands of all the grain merchants and gentry and landlords in Datong Mansion is definitely far more than 100,000 quintals. However, the lower officials are worried that even if we take the silver to buy grain, they will not sell it to us..."

Wei Zheng's brows furrowed again, and he asked with puzzlement: "Not surprisingly, the grain in the hands of these grain merchants is all bought from Jiangnan. In other words, the cost of the grain in their hands is only two taels of silver, and if we take five taels of silver to buy them a load of grain, they can already get a very big profit, so why not sell it......"

Wang Peng explained with a look of embarrassment: "Lord General Soldier, hundreds of thousands of displaced people have poured into Datong Mansion in just one month, and it is a person who will know that the arrival of these displaced people will definitely cause the price of grain in the entire Datong Mansion to skyrocket, not to mention those discerning businessmen and gentry and landlords. ”

"Therefore, Xia Guan is worried that these grain merchants will not only not sell us grain, but will deliberately stop the market, hoard all the grain in their hands, and sell it after the grain price rises to a certain height..."

Hearing this, Wei Zheng's clenched fist slammed directly on the table in front of him out of anger.

said to himself: "Now I finally know what it means to 'Zhumen wine and meat stinky road with frozen bones'...... In the face of hundreds of thousands of displaced people who are about to freeze to death and starve to death, these businessmen do not want to provide relief, but have to raise prices and make money on a large scale...

Anger is anger, and the problem that should be solved still needs to be solved.

After venting, Wei Zheng, who was in a much calmer mood, directly asked Wang Pengpeng the most critical question: "Lord Wang, you tell you the truth, after I give you the silver, how much grain can you buy from Datong Mansion..."

After a short period of contemplation, Wang Peng replied cautiously: "My lord, there are still many conscientious grain merchants in Datong Mansion. Not surprisingly, we can buy a total of 30,000 quintals of grain from these grain merchants...."

"As for whether the remaining grain merchants and gentry landlords are willing to sell us grain, the lower officials are not clear...."

Hearing this, Wei Zheng fell directly into deep thought and stopped talking.

Wang Peng, who was standing in front of him, looked at Wei Zheng quietly, waiting for Wei Zheng to make a decision.

As for Zhou Shuyuan next to him, after seeing Wei Zheng's changing facial expressions, he was very familiar with Wei Zheng, and a trace of bad premonition rose in his heart. Because he had already felt that a trace of murderous aura full of coldness was slowly emanating from Wei Zheng's body.

Sure enough, when Wei Zheng's forced eyes quickly shot out two rays of fine light, a sneer that was unique to Wei Zheng before the killing quickly flashed away from Wei Zheng's face.

Under the gaze of the two of them with different expressions, he directly opened his mouth and ordered: "Lord Wang, after you go down, you will immediately visit those grain merchants. For those grain merchants who have a conscience and are willing to sell us grain at a low price, we must not only not let them suffer, but also let them make a lot of money..."

"Won't we want 900,000 quintals of grain in the future, after you go down, you divide the 900,000 quintals of grain into several portions and hand them over to those grain merchants with a conscience....tell them to help my Tiger and Par Army transport back 10,000 quintals of grain, and I will give him 10,000 taels of silver."

"As for the profiteers who plan to hoard food and drive up prices, I plan to clean them up in two steps."

"The first step, summed up in a few words, deterrence and intimidation..."

"After the completion of the first round of acquisitions, Lord Wang immediately passed down a few words in the name of the General Military Office: When the General Military Office is unable to provide relief to the victims, the General Military Government does not dare to guarantee that the hungry and red-eyed displaced people will not directly riot, rush into their good suffering, kill people and steal food......

As soon as Wei Zheng finished speaking, Zhou Shuyuan reacted and asked Wei Zheng: "General, are you going to deal with these grain merchants in the same way that you used to deal with the land-hoarding gentry..."

Wei Zheng nodded and replied: "It depends on whether these grain merchants know the current affairs....if they know the current affairs, the General Military Mansion will only pass on some words, and there will be no action....but ......"

At this time, not only Zhou Shuyuan, but even Wang Peng, who was born as a civil official, clearly felt the strong murderous aura exuded by Wei Zheng. (To be continued......)