"You can do it, sell me some food." The old man cried and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his sleeve, and looked pitifully at the guy who was installing the door panel.

Now the price of grain in Huzhou has risen three times a day, in the past, a stone of grain only cost six or seven dollars of silver, but now a bucket costs two taels, and the price of grain has risen tenfold!

The common people endured it, eating and drinking bran every day, thinking about the autumn harvest, but this rainstorm, everything was over.

Most of the harvest in the fields is missing, the government taxes or the rent of the lord's family still have to be paid, and there are still some mouths to eat in the house.

But these frantic grain merchants sell so much grain every day, and once they sell out, they will immediately close the shop, so that they will not care about the life and death of the people.

"The grain store does not have much grain in stock, and the owner is also trying to raise grain." The shopkeeper of the rice store came out to stop the surging crowd and sighed: "The owner also has the concerns of the owner, if it is sold out in one day, the food will be gone in the future, and it will be difficult for the government to explain it."

"But you can't just watch your neighbors starve to death."

The shopkeeper shook his head and said: "Natural disasters in Huzhou and other places, the government has already written the imperial court, I think it won't be long before there will be a will, and when the time comes, the government warehouse will provide relief, and everyone will have a bite to eat."

The shopkeeper can't remember how many times he has said these words, and he almost believes what he said......

"Now the people of Huzhou are angry, and they are only afraid that the price of food will rise again, and there will be unpredictable changes." Zhang Qifu's voice was not without worry, Fengsheng Rice Bank is also one of the top three grain stores in Huzhou, but it is much worse than Changjia, who opened rice stores all over Zhejiang.

It can be said that Chang Zhengyang is the leader of the grain store in Huzhou Prefecture, and the grain price set by Chang Zhengyang can only be complied with by each rice bank, otherwise there is no possibility of mixing in the rice bank.

As long as they don't want to be excluded and don't want to be cut off in the future, they can only look forward to Chang Zhengyang.

But Zhang Qifu already smelled a hint of danger.

"Unfathomable change? Where has changed? Chang Zhengyang sneered: "Huzhou Mansion is still waiting for the will of the imperial court, the imperial court has not released grain for disaster relief to Huzhou for a day, who dares to open a warehouse?" And even if the warehouse is opened, how long can it be relieved, if you want to survive this catastrophe, the government relies on our grain merchants, and what is the reason why the government turns a blind eye to our higher grain prices and limited supply? It is because the officials are not fools, they know that at this time, the whole government of Huzhou will face the risk of running out of food at any time, once the food is out of food, the whole Huzhou does not know how many people will starve to death, and at that time, the official master will not consider his own hat, but whether his head can be saved. ”

"But there will be a time for the catastrophe to pass......

"Is Zhang Dongjia afraid that the government will trouble us afterwards?"

Zhang Qifu is also depressed, the Chang family has someone in the court, Chang Zhengyang naturally doesn't have to worry about finding fault with the Huzhou Mansion, but he has no foundation in the officialdom, although filial piety is indispensable in the past, but the official government really wants to find trouble for him, then his trouble is definitely not small.

If nothing else, let's just say that if the prefect asks him to go to the government and then orders him to sell grain at a lower price, what will he do?

It is good to say that the limit can be used as a prevarication due to the lack of stocks, but the price of grain has now risen tenfold, and the people are already complaining, which is definitely not a good thing for the local government.

At that time, the pressure from the government and Chang Zhengyang's side will be angry, and neither side will be pleased.

"Zhang Dongjia, Zou Dongjia, Liu Dongjia, your concerns are often very clear." Chang Zhengyang smiled: "The situation you are facing now and the pressure from the government are actually very simple, you must know that the more times like this, the more the government does not dare to force me to wait too much, why?" Because it's not a strike!

The grain in your respective rice banks and the grain that can be mobilized to Huzhou will not be less than 100,000 stones, if the government forces it, you will have no way to deal with it? If there is no food in the market, will the people be able to eat even if they have more silver? Therefore, Chang Mou expected that even if the government wanted to manage this matter, it would not be managed, and it would not dare to manage it, let alone manage it! ”

"Is there a problem with the government?" Zhu Houwei listened to the report and said in surprise.

Tang Yin said helplessly: "I went to the government office, Lord Feng said, this is because the private businessmen have lost their conscience to pursue profits, and the government government cannot come forward, otherwise once the major grain stores are closed, I am afraid that the situation will get out of control."

"Out of control?" Zhu Houwei said coldly: "If you are afraid of losing control, you can ignore the life and death of the people?" Looking at how many victims have poured into Huzhou Mansion these days, if this situation continues, Feng Rui is not afraid of provoking a civil uprising? ”

"Governor Feng's term of office is about to expire, and he doesn't want to make trouble at this juncture." Tang Yin sighed, in the past half a month, more than 5,000 people have fled in Huzhou Mansion, although the government has lobbied the big families to open a few porridge sheds, but after all, they can only survive the hunger for a while, and in the long run, if the disaster surges again, once they are instigated by someone with a heart, the consequences are simply unpredictable.

Once the people revolt, the people who are stimulated and red-eyed will be the first to impact the big households and the government, but I am afraid that the Yongwang Mansion may not be spared!

Of course, the Yongwang Mansion has the wings of the Yongwang Guard, even if the victims lose their minds and attack the palace, they will inevitably be killed in the end!

But it is obvious that King Yong, who has always been known for his wisdom, if King Yongwei is allowed to cause this murder, King Yong's reputation will basically be ruined by half.

The current situation either depends on the imperial court or the local grain merchants, and there is no third way to solve it, even if the Yongwang Mansion opens a porridge shed like other big families with a conscience, it will not solve the fundamental problem.

But the problem is that the imperial court has not heard from him!

This is the weirdest place, as many as twenty or thirty prefectures were affected by this catastrophe, but Huzhou must be one of the heaviest, because Huzhou is on the edge of Taihu Lake, and the continuous heavy rain has caused the water level of Taihu Lake to skyrocket, and the overflowing lake water directly completely submerged more than 30% of Huzhou's fields.

In other words, as long as the imperial court comes up with a will, then it should save Huzhou first, not to mention that the fief of the Son of Heaven's younger brother Yongwang is still in Huzhou, but this is not the case at all.

The disaster relief officials sent by the imperial court went to Suzhou first and then to Hangzhou......

Suzhou and Hangzhou are indeed first-class wealthy places, but the disaster situation is far less serious than Huzhou, so why not give relief to Huzhou first, it is obvious that the imperial court is to protect the wealth of Jiangnan and not to be too badly damaged.

As for the excerpt of King Yong, nine times out of ten, he was suppressed by the cabinet, or the Son of Heaven was also deceived by the cabinet, and he didn't know that the officials sent down had not come to Huzhou until today!