In the quiet garden, the major families gathered together again, and in the past month, these dozen or so people have commanded and manipulated tens of millions of silver, dispatched the resources of the provinces south of the Yangtze River, turned the clouds and rain, did whatever they wanted, and increased the price of grain by fifteen times. At one time, they thought that they were the masters, the gods of the sky, what bullshit Emperor Zhu, what the victorious Pingliao Gong, all of them had to bow down to the power of silver!

But now, self-confidence is disappearing little by little.

Gao Guifang was still sitting on the main seat, but his face was completely devoid of Zhizhu's bearing, and his face was extremely stinky. Ye Yongxin and the others also lowered their heads and said nothing.

Zhou Zhi, the representative of the Zhou family who sat at the end, stood up, hesitated for a while, and said: "Gao Gong, our Zhou family has taken out 800,000 taels in the past few days, and just now we have spent another 500,000 taels, adding up to 1.3 million taels ......."

"What, a lot? Our Gao family took more than 3 million taels! Gao Guifang said angrily.

"Mr. Gao, your family has a thick foundation, but our Zhou family can't do it, Zhou Shunchang was arrested, the silk workshop was also seized, and the silver has been emptied of the family's foundation, if so, if it is ......"

"What do you want?"

Zhou Zhi gritted his teeth and said: "Zhoujiashan is exhausted, I will not accompany you!" ”

Syllable!

Gao Guifang slapped the table suddenly, his brows furrowed, and sneered: "Want to quit? What did you say when you first drank blood wine? Don't forget, the matter is caused by your Zhou family, you have to quit, ask the big guy if you agree! ”

The two of them blew their beards and glared, Ye Yongxin hurriedly stood up and persuaded: "The two of you are your own people, don't mess with yourself." ”

After finishing speaking, he looked at Gao Guifang again and said with a smile: "Gao Gong, I thought that we really had to think about what happened." From today onwards, there is suddenly a lot of food, and the silver in our hands is like running water, which is more than the sum of the previous time, which is really a bit strange, isn't it ......"

didn't continue, but everyone understood that the situation in front of them was a trap set by Zhang Ke, in order to lure them into being fooled and digging a pit by themselves.

Everyone frowned. To tell the truth, they have all done hoarding things, but with such a large-scale price hike, they are still the first time that the eldest girl has been in a sedan chair.

Even if Zhang Ke knows how to fight again, he is not a god, he can play with them in applause, and no one will believe them if he says that he will die!

"I see!" Ye Yongxin suddenly slammed his thighs and shouted, "Everyone." Do you think it can be Bao Shiqing, this kid gives Zhang Ke advice! ”

Bao Shiqing!

Only then did everyone remember that the Bao family, as an upstart in the southeast, was indeed on Zhang Ke's side. But does Bao Shiqing have such a great ability? Equally suspicious.

Gao Guifang sat in the middle and kept rubbing his hands, and said for a while: "The big guy's worries are justified, and now we have smashed more than fifteen million taels of silver, and there are still a lot of arrears. If it goes on like this, I'm afraid that if Zhang Ke doesn't drive it away, we will collapse first. I think so. While maintaining food prices, we secretly ship goods. ”

"Shipment? Isn't it all buying these days? ”

"Well, it's a shipment! At the current price of grain, as long as we throw out the grain, we can earn at least 10 million taels, and even if we discount it in half, 500 taels is not a decimal number. ”

Ye Yongxin nodded first, and arched his hand and said, "That's right, just accept it when you see it!" However, the southeast has become like this, and there must be many people involved in Zhang Ke, and he can't last long in Jiangnan. ”

Everyone was indeed frightened by the price increase, weighed it again and again, and nodded one after another.

Just as they turned around, suddenly Cheng Shun ran in in a panic from outside. He was covered in mud and water, his head was broken, and his face was covered in blood, as if he had been bitten by a dog.

Gao Guifang's eyes suddenly widened, and he scolded angrily: "What kind of system! ”

Cheng Shun didn't care about scolding, he knelt on the ground, and his snot and tears were left.

"Donggong, we've been fooled!"

Rumble!

A thunderbolt exploded in the midst of everyone, and everyone's heads were dizzy. Gao Guifang's body shook and hurriedly stood up.

"Say, what the hell is going on?"

"Yes!"

Cheng Shun trembled, took out a handful of rice from his arms, and held it above his head.

"Donggong, please see, this is rice bought from Su Quanshan, a merchant in Huguang."

Everyone came over, took the rice in their hands, looked at it carefully, put it in their mouths and bit it, there was nothing special!

"What, isn't the rice bad?"

Cheng Shun cried to the ground, and explained with red eyes: "Please look carefully, these rice grains are longer and finer, and the fragrance is strong, not japonica rice from Jiangnan, nor rice from Huguang!" ”

Many people may not have noticed that although it is rice, the shape of rice grains varies from place to place and from variety to variety. None of the people present had ever been in the kitchen, so they couldn't see it, Cheng Shunyi reminded everyone, and everyone paid attention.

"Sure enough, it's different from the rice you usually eat, this, where is this?"

"The owner, the small one doesn't know, but the small one dares to conclude that Zhang Ke has got a new source of food, a source that we don't know."

As soon as these words came out, everyone present fell into horror, they dared to raise prices, that is, they could control all food sources.

But if Zhang Ke had a backhand, wouldn't their hard work become a joke!

"If Zhang Ke had other food sources, it means that he would have been able to suppress the price of food a long time ago, but he didn't make a move! What the hell was he thinking......"

Ye Yongxin muttered to himself, suddenly his little face turned pale, and in the blink of an eye, his lips were bruised, and a terrible thought rose.

"Could it be that Zhang Ke deliberately lured us into being fooled and wanted to annihilate us in one fell swoop?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone was stupid, although everyone thought it was ridiculous, but the thoughts of fear were irrepressibly crazy, and in an instant, they finally realized the rush of the people these days......

"Gao Gong, forgive me for losing my company, and I will leave!"

Zhou Zhi turned around and ran, who didn't understand that he was rushing to sell the grain, and the others all had solemn faces and wanted to run away.

Gao Guifang stopped everyone suddenly, and said loudly: "Princess, there may be something strange about this matter, if Zhang Ke casually gets some strange rice, he will deceive us, aren't you afraid of being embarrassed?" ”

"This ......" Ye Yongxin sighed: "Soldiers are not tired of cheating. Zhang Ke can do it. ”

"Hmm!" Gao Guifang's face was a little better, and he said: "Everyone listen to Gao Mou's words, don't be in a hurry to sell first, wait for the situation!" ”

Wait, wait until when!

Everyone hesitated for a long time, and they couldn't decide on their ideas, so they could only reluctantly nod their heads, and the party broke up unhappily.

……

The sun illuminated the world again, and the people of Suzhou habitually looked at the grain tank, and then shook their heads. grabbed the rice bag and ran to the cheap grain sales point again.

The restriction lasted for a month, from the initial ten-day ration, to seven days, then to five, and now only a pitiful three days......

Many families don't dare to eat dry, and they rely on gruel every day to get by, and the children are hungry and screaming, but what can be done! One can only pray that the ghost days will end soon. Don't be patient!

The black crowd crowded in front of the grain sales point, which used to be guarded by a large number of soldiers, but today there was nothing, and the wooden cabinet in front of it was empty!

Everyone was stupefied. The most terrible thing has finally happened, is there no food in the imperial court!

The sky fell apart, and the world went dark in an instant.

In the vast darkness, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared. Someone was holding a big red sign and pasting it on the wooden sign.

"Recently, there are millions of stones of grain, which have arrived in Suzhou one after another. Please go home and wait in peace, and soon there will be food for sale......"

"Hooray!"

The suppressed feelings broke out instantly, and everyone stared at the notice over and over again, for fear of reading a wrong word.

"Grain, there is food!"

People in their forties and fifties wept tears of joy like children, and everyone jumped and jumped and came back to life. They rushed to their homes and hurriedly told them the good news......

The land temple in the west of the city is the largest black market in Suzhou, these days there are constantly people selling grain here, and there are also cows, ghosts, snakes and gods from all sides, quietly buying the grain.

Since last night, the Land Temple has staged a wonderful drama.

Two businessmen from Guangdong took the lead in selling grain, first 5,000 stones, then 10,000 stones, 10,000 stones, at first the merchants in Suzhou did not hesitate, immediately took over, everyone only saw a box of boxes is no longer silver, but silver tickets! Spend it quickly like running water.

In the second half of the night, it was even more exciting, and several merchants from the capital and Sichuan came one after another, and they were all here to sell grain, and the amount was so large that it surpassed the former.

At dawn, the price of grain in Suzhou finally reached its highest point, and the grain of more than 5,000 stone in the black market reached 18 taels of silver, and the retail price also exceeded 30 taels, reaching 31 taels and 55 yuan!

History will remember this number, Suzhou, and even the highest food price in the history of the Ming Dynasty!

Even at dawn, the news that a large amount of grain was transported into Suzhou came out, and the price of grain fell in response, reaching 25 taels in an instant, and then some people said that it was fake news released by the government, and the price of grain rose again, to 28 taels.

But there was no one to buy food, and they were all hesitating, and near noon, a huge fleet of ships appeared on the canal, piled up with grain, and carried it to the city in full view of the people.

Twenty-five taels

Twenty taels

Eighteen taels

Twelve taels

Eight taels

Five taels

……

In less than a day, the price of grain in Suzhou City plummeted, just like the crazy speculation at the beginning, and the price reduction was even more crazy. Even if there is no food at home, bear with it first, and wait for the price of food to be lower.

"It's finally over!"

Tang Guang and Fang Chongwen stretched their waists, their bones crackling, in the past half a month, they had slept less than two hours a day at most, and they had worked hard day and night. When the price of food fell, they fell asleep on the table.

With a smile, Zhang Ke walked out of the gloomy study, and when he looked up, the sun was abundant.

"Hahaha, what a taste of victory!"

Zhang Ke turned around and went to the bedroom, and someone behind him shouted loudly: "Grandpa Guo, the representatives of the eleven big families in Jiangnan ask to see you." ”

"Let them go on their knees, Benjue will get a good night's sleep!" (To be continued......)