Chapter 199: Global Food Crisis (3)

"Our country needs 600,000 tons of grain, and if it is 120 million yuan at this price, even if we can collect a year of tax revenue, it will not be enough for a fraction of this." "Siam is a small country that simply doesn't have the financial resources to buy so much food.

Gao Qiong asked, "Then how much money can His Majesty the King come up with?" ”

Brinan I glanced at the treasurer, who immediately replied, "Your Majesty, our treasury still has 30 million Lanfang coins in foreign exchange reserves. In addition......" He glanced at Gao Qiong and said with some hesitation: "In addition, we still have two hundred tons of gold reserves, but without this gold, our monetary system will collapse, and if so, the harm will not only be hungry." ”

Brinan I asked tentatively: "I don't know if the noble leader of Lu Dao will accept it......" Gao Qiong understood as soon as he heard his words, and naturally wanted to pay the bill in the currency of Siam, but Fang Xiaoyu had told him before that he would never accept it, joking that he would never accept it if he wanted to exchange it for food with a pile of waste paper printed with ink, and even Fang Xiaoyu, the currency of other countries, did not want to accept it, he did not have the habit of paying seigniorage to other countries.

As soon as Brinan I was halfway through his speech, Gao Qiong interrupted him and said: "Your Majesty, our noble lord has already explained to me before leaving, our Chinese leadership is weak, and the economy is weak and cannot withstand any major turmoil, so we only accept hard currency such as gold and silver for the sale of grain this time, or Lanfang coins, and nothing else." ”

After listening to Gao Qiong's words, Brinan I pondered for a long time and said: "We can only take out a hundred tons of gold and 30 million Lanfang coins of foreign exchange reserves, I don't know how much grain the Chinese Collar is willing to provide?" ”

Gao Qiong said: "According to the market price, one ton of gold can be exchanged for 200,000 Lanfang coins, 100 tons is 20 million, plus your country's foreign exchange reserves are 50 million Lanfang coins, we can exchange 250,000 tons of grain for your country." "Gao Qiong is a completely international standard price, and there is no discount at all. Hearing Gao Qiong's words, Brinan I hesitated, emptying the treasury but only able to buy less than half of the grain, which was not very cost-effective.

Seeing that the monarchs and ministers of Siam began to be silent, Gao Qiong smiled and said: "I have a proposal, if Your Majesty agrees, we are willing to give your country another 350,000 tons of grain as a price. ”

Brinand I, who was worried, raised his head in surprise and said, "What kind of proposal is so expensive?" ”

Gao Qiong smiled and said something that made the faces of the monarchs and ministers of Siam change greatly: "Land for food." ”

Brinan I said with a little anger: "What? Let me trade my land for food? How can this be? ”

Gao Qiong smiled: "It's not the first time that your country has ceded territory, didn't you cede Tamsui Port and Sumen Island to the Saar Empire and the Nantes Empire last time?" Listening to Gao Qiong's words, there was a commotion among the officials standing on both sides, and they all glared at Gao Qiong, but it was not easy to attack because of the presence of Brinan I. This is a great shame for Siam, and he was so directly lifted out.

Listening to Gao Qiong's words, Brinan I rarely did not reprimand angrily, but lowered his head and muttered for a long time, sighed and said: "Yes, if you can get enough food by giving up a land, I am willing to accept it, but I don't know which land your country wants?" ”

"Sulu Islands." Gao Qiong smiled: "As long as your country hands over the Sulu Islands to us, we are willing to send grain to Siam immediately." ”

"The Sulu Islands?" The King of Siam looked at Gao Qiong in surprise, the Sulu Islands are a barren land, there is no human population and there are no resources that have been explored, if only such a piece of chicken rib land is exchanged for so much grain, the King of Siam is very willing, those Siamese officials who wanted to reprimand Gao Qiong just now breathed a sigh of relief, and the expressions on their faces were also much relaxed.

"Deal." The King of Siam did not discuss with the ministers at all, and immediately agreed to Gao Qiong's proposal, which was as fast as if he was afraid that Gao Qiong would regret it. Hearing that the Chinese Territory wanted the land, the officials were also overjoyed, and they thought that it was too valuable to exchange such a piece of waste land for grain worth tens of millions of Lanfang coins.

The news that the Kingdom of Siam exchanged 600,000 tons of grain for the Sulu Islands and foreign exchange stocks soon spread throughout the world, and all countries began to focus on this place where there was plenty of food, and the governments of various countries sent important officials to the Chinese consulate to contact the purchase of grain, and the first to contact Fang Xiaoyu was the representative of the royal family of the Lanfang Empire, Cheng Wei, the head of the household department in charge of finance.

This year's Lanfang Empire is also almost non-harvested, and the only thing that has not been affected is the major farms of the Fang family that have been specially cared for by Fang Xiaoyu and sprayed with pesticides.

However, the Fang family started their business in business, and there were not many farms, which was only 10 million mu when it was full, even if they used the seeds with a yield of 700 kilograms per mu provided by Fang Xiaoyu, they only harvested 7 million tons of grain.

This food sounds like a lot, but the population of the Lanfang Empire is also large. Excluding the current population of nearly 60 million in the Chinese Empire and the 30 million population in the territory of the other three major lords, the entire Lanfang Empire also has 300 million people to feed.

With so many people living until the next grain harvest season, 36 million tons of grain will be needed for these four months, and even if the Fang family uses all the grain, there is still a very big gap.

This time, Xiahou Ying not only collected all the grain of the Fang family with half levy and half purchase, but even the Cheng family, which had a lot of grain in stock, also sold it to the state at a low price of two million tons while ensuring the grain in their own territory, and with the country's own inventory, there was still a shortage of 15 million tons of grain. With so much food shortage, even a big country like the Lanfang Empire can't afford it at market prices.

The territory is different from the big families in the country, the territory is a semi-independent institution within the country, except for the normal contribution to the government, the emperor cannot directly expropriate or force the purchase at a low price, so Cheng Wei, the head of the household sent by Xiahou Ying, found Fang Xiaoyu, hoping to buy some grain.

Fang Xiaoyu of the Cheng family is quite uninterested, the hatred between the two families has been quite deep, almost to the extent of being the same, but Cheng Wei is here on behalf of the emperor, and Fang Xiaoyu can't save face on the other side.

Therefore, Fang Xiaoyu's answer was very simple, the grain must be sold, as much as it wants, but it needs to be traded in cash, according to the market price, 15 million tons of grain will cost 3 billion Lanfang coins.

Fang Xiaoyu also put forward harsh conditions in order not to be overshadowed by Cheng Jiayin, because the Lanfang currency is the currency of the Lanfang Empire, in order to prevent the country from maliciously devaluing the currency after paying, Fang Xiaoyu also asked half of it to be paid in gold.

Such a requirement is a bit too harsh, if the gold is paid to Fang Xiaoyu, let alone whether there is so much gold in the household treasury, even if there is one given to him, the Lanfang coins will become waste paper.

After receiving Fang Xiaoyu's conditions, Xiahou Ying was a little angry with Fang Xiaoyu's attitude, but they were completely supplied according to the market price, and there was no fault at all, so Xiahou Ying specially sent Marshal Xiahou Feng, who had some friendship with Fang Xiaoyu, to reduce some food prices.

Marshal Xiahou Feng was a person who made Fang Xiaoyu very favorable, and he had helped Fang Xiaoyu many times, so as soon as he arrived in the Chinese Territory, he was warmly received by Fang Xiaoyu.

Seeing Fang Xiaoyu, Marshal Xiahou Feng still smiled without a smile: "Xiaoyu, you really have you, I haven't seen you for a few years, you have reached such an achievement, even I, the marshal, have to beg you in a low voice." ”

Fang Xiaoyu hurriedly said politely: "Where is the marshal, how dare I work for your master, my marshal is very respectful." I am also very clear about the marshal's intentions, but I also have some difficulties. ”

Listening to Fang Xiaoyu's words, Marshal Xiahou Feng was surprised: "Oh? What's the problem with so much grain harvested in your territory? ”

Fang Xiaoyu said: "Here's the thing, my territory is different from other territories, although the cultivated land is the property of the lord, the lord only collects thirty percent of the grain output, and the rest of the grain is owned by the farmers themselves. ”

Marshal Xiahou Feng suddenly said: "I have heard some news about the abolition of slavery in your territory, but I don't know that you have done so thoroughly and given such a generous policy to those civilians, no wonder the poor people in the country are rushing to come to China to develop." ”

Fang Xiaoyu said again: "And our territory also stipulates that each non-peasant subject can receive a certain amount of grain every day, so most of the grain I collected was distributed again." ”

"How can there be such a good thing? This is a policy that no country dares to undertake. Xiahou Feng pouted in surprise, and his eyes were full of admiration as he looked at Fang Xiaoyu.

Fang Xiaoyu said with a smile: "My food has always been enough, but I don't have much surplus." Therefore, if the emperor wants to buy grain from me, I can only buy it from the people. This purchase is all about real money, and we also buy it at international prices, so we can make no profit at all for the emperor's grain, and in addition, we have to take the freight. ”

Fang Xiaoyu worked hard to create a favorable opportunity, but he didn't want the royal family to take advantage, but he couldn't openly confront the royal family, which would make trouble for his future, so he fooled Xiahou Feng so half-truthfully and said: "This batch of grain is too large, even if all the financial income of our Chinese collar is taken up, it will not be enough to buy so much grain, you say that I can't let myself go bankrupt in order to provide food for the emperor." ”

Fang Xiaoyu pretended to have a helpless expression, as if if if the price of grain was reduced, he, the lord, would go bankrupt tomorrow. After listening to Fang Xiaoyu's words, Xiahou Feng also felt reasonable, and he immediately nodded and said, "Of course not, but if you pay all the Lanfang coins, will it work?" ”