The price of grain in Taizhou Mansion was raised from 500 wen yuan per quintal to 640 wen yuan per quintal in just less than a month

It is said that after the autumn harvest every year is the cheapest time for grain, ordinary people will store the grain for a year at this time, and in July and August of the next year, when the price of rice is the most expensive, whoever will buy less if they are short of grain

Less than a month after the autumn harvest this year, the price of grain is higher than the most expensive in previous years, the price of this grain has increased, and the price of selling grain naturally has to be raised, for a while, whether it is a large household or an ordinary family, they are busy stockpiling grain, one is afraid that the price of grain will rise in the future, if you buy it late, the price may be more expensive, and the other is that you can make some money by selling it when the price is high in the future, and the rice store has also reduced the amount of grain put in every day, in case the price rises, you can earn more

The grain markets of the provinces of Zhejiang have also been affected by the Taizhou government, the farmers have grain in their hands, but the money is less, and the grain merchants want to receive the grain can only raise the price of grain, if they can't receive the grain, they can't make a profit from it, this has become a vicious circle, expensive to buy and expensive to sell, the big families with more fields can naturally earn a lot of money, but the bitterness is bitter, those families with less land and more people want to survive, they can only spend high prices to buy the grain they need

And in the country Yufeng City Servant Lang Wen'an Mansion held a banquet, invited to come to the Criminal Department of the Lang Ji Fang - Ministry of Shangshu Xu Kai - Household Department Yuan Wailang Wu Cheng - Military Department Waiter Jia Ze - Shaoqing Zhang Wenzheng, after enjoying a wonderful song and dance, Wen An clapped his hands and motioned for the musicians and singers to retreat

Wen An gave the invited adults a glass of wine: Today, all the adults can be invited to come Wen Mou Thank you here, this glass of wine Wen Mou did it first as a respect

With that, he drank all the wine in the cup, and then swept the empty glass towards the people present, and the adults present also dried the wine in the cup as a sign of courtesy

Wen'an: Have you all heard, my lords, that this year's grain prices have exceeded the highest level in previous years in just one month

Xu Kai: I've heard about it, and I'm also wondering why food prices have risen so fast this year

Wu Cheng: How do you hear about the increase in food prices for adults, what is your inside story?

Wen An smiled bitterly, "Alas, I don't have any inside information, but a friend of mine should know what's going on, if you adults are interested, I'll let me invite him over."

Ji Fang: Then we might as well listen to it and help the wine by the way

Wen An called a subordinate: You go and invite the money shopkeeper over

Soon the money shopkeeper was invited to the banquet, this money shopkeeper is about 43-4 years old, his eyes are bright, he has a goatee, he wears a golden jade hairpin, wears an earthy yellow silk robe, and hangs a piece of round jade around his waist

He hugged his fist and bowed to the adults at the banquet: Qian Yiping, the big shopkeeper of the villain Fuhong Chamber of Commerce, has seen all the adults

Jia Ze: It turns out that he is the money shopkeeper of the Fuhong Chamber of Commerce

Wen An was a little surprised when he heard this: Why do you know this money shopkeeper, Lord Jia

Jia Ze: The Fuhong Chamber of Commerce is the richest businessman in Yufeng City, how could I not know this God of Wealth

Qian Yiping: My lord, you are serious, the villains are all small business and mixed food

Jia Ze: The money shopkeeper is too modest

Wen An asked people to bring up a table of wine and food and a seat, and stretched out his hand to make a gesture of invitation to invite the money shopkeeper to the banquet: Money shopkeeper, tell us why the food suddenly rose so much

Money shopkeeper: My lord, the soaring grain prices in Zhejiang are related to the soaring grain prices in Taizhou Prefecture, and it takes 500 yuan to collect grain at this time in previous years, but this year's price is not the same as the grain that can not be received, and if you want to receive the grain, you can only follow the price increase

Xu Kai: I can't understand why there are still people stockpiling grain when the price of grain is so high

Money shopkeeper: There are no more than two kinds of people who store grain, the first is to wait for the price to rise and earn some difference from it, and the second is to be afraid that the price of grain will rise in the future, and even if you buy it early, you can earn it

Xu Kai: "Oh" turned out to be like this

Wu Cheng: Money shopkeeper, do you think the price of food will rise?

Qian Yiping: Adults and villains think that food prices will rise

Wu Cheng: Then I won't sell the 30,000 quintals of grain I harvest in the countryside for now, and I can earn a little more when the price rises in the future

Ji Fang: If you want to say that, I won't sell my 40,000 quintals first

Jia Ze: I have to hurry up and buy the 500,000 quintals of military rations that the military department lacks this year, and if the price rises in the future, it will cost a lot of money

Qian Yiping: Adults and villains think that in the future, the price of grain will rise to one or two taels of silver per load, and it will be too late for you to sell grain at that time

As soon as this remark came out, everyone present was surprised, since the founding of the country, this year's grain prices have been considered high, but he said that the price of grain will rise to one or two taels of silver per load, which makes people a little unbelievable

Wen An: Money shopkeeper, how do you know that the price of grain will rise to one or two silver in the future?

Qian Yiping: The reason for this, the villain is inconvenient to say, but please believe the villain's words, expensive buying and selling are profitable no matter when it comes, this is the way of doing business

If this is said by others, no one will believe it, but Qian Yiping is the richest businessman in Zhejiang after all, and his words can be imagined, and the adults in front of him began to make their own calculations

Xu Kai, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, and Jia Jia, the squire of the Ministry of War, joked: Lord Jia, the food in Xu's hands will depend on your brother at that time

Jifang, the waiter of the Criminal Department: Master Jia, the Ministry of War buys everyone's grain, so simply the food of these people present today can be covered by your Ministry of War

Wu Cheng followed and coaxed: Master Ji is right

It looks like a joke but it really means, the Ministry of Officials is specially in charge of the appointment and dismissal of officials, promotion, transfer and award, and there are a few people who don't want to have a good career in the office, whether Jia Ze wants to or not, he can't offend this, don't you say the old saying, you can not do the work in the officialdom, but you must not offend people

And Jia, who has been in the officialdom for many years, said something that no one should offend: If it can really rise to one tael of silver per load of grain, then the military department will buy the same for everyone

Wen An: Then let's find a way to make the grain rise to one or two silver, didn't the money shopkeeper just say that it is expensive to buy and sell

Qian Yiping: My lord also has a thorny problem, that is, nearly one million quintals of grain are sold to Zhejiang every year

Wu Cheng: You don't have to worry about the money shopkeeper, we will draw up an excerpt to persuade the prince to raise the tariff on grain to 30% on the grounds of preventing the outflow of money from Zhejiang, and then the grain flowing into Zhejiang will naturally be less

Xu Kai: My lords, our Zhejiang country is already poor, and if the price of grain rises to one or two pieces of silver, the life of the people will be even more difficult

Ji Fang: Lord Xu's words are wrong, I think this is a multi-pronged thing, you think that when the price of grain rises, whether it is tariffs or commercial taxes, the tax and silver will increase, and the current emptiness of the treasury is just to enrich the treasury, and the price of grain will rise, and the income of the people will also increase

Wen An: That's what Master Ji said

Xu Kai: The autumn harvest is only a month, if the price is raised to one or two silver now, it is too obvious, I think it will be a good year and wait for the beginning of spring next year

Qian Yiping: Lord Xu is reasonable, and the villain has to arrange it first

Wu Cheng: Then we should first raise tariffs to prevent the grain from the south from flowing into Zhejiang in a big way

Wen An: Okay, then it's decided, let's all earn it together if we have money

Wu Cheng: Master Jia, then we will rely on you

Jia Ze: It's good to say - it's good to say, the military department needs a few grains this year, and the rest will be handed over to the money manager

When Qian Yiping heard this, he quickly got up and thanked him: Thank you, villain, Lord Jia

Wen An lifted the wine glass: Come and drink - it's rare for everyone to be so happy today

After the banquet, Wen An sent the adults away, leaving Qian Yiping and Wen An, and Qian Yiping helped Wen An, who was a little drunk: Lord Wen, you have done Hua Ye a great favor this time

Wen An woke up half of the wine as soon as he heard the word Hua Ye, and he hurriedly made a shushing gesture with his hand: It's not too early for the money shopkeeper, so you should go back early

Qian Yiping bowed: The villain will retire first

In the past two days, Li Yang felt bored at home, so he went to the study to find a few books to pass the time, he came to the yard and lay down on the rocking chair to see what books he was holding, one of which was the thirty-six plans, and the seventh plan in the book, "making something out of nothing" and the seventeenth plan, "throwing bricks and attracting jade", made him suddenly, so he asked people to invite the two brothers Guanshan Daochang and Li Long-Li Hu

As soon as the Guanshan Daoist came, Li Yang asked him to sit on the chair opposite him, and when Li Long and Li Hu came, he gestured with his hand and asked him to sit under the pavilion beside him

Li Yang: How is the investigation of the fire in Li Long's granary?

Li Long: According to the report from the checkpoint leading to Taizhou City, I sent someone to spy on them, and found that three of these people frequented gambling houses and brothels, and also bought a mansion in the city

Hearing this, Li Yang closed the book in his hand: The eight achievements are the three of them, are these three people the old people in Alan County or the victims who were resettled later

Lee Long: It's not that the three of them are from Daehan Village

Li Hu: Master, I'll take someone to arrest the three of them for you

Li Yang thought for a while: Li Hu is not in a hurry, don't alarm the three of them first, and the other people who have been competing with us have you found out

Li Long: Young master, the Deyi Chamber of Commerce has been competing with us, and all the grain that was sold before has been transported to the Deyi Chamber of Commerce

Li Yang: Those three people should have been bought by the Deyi Chamber of Commerce

Guanshan Dao Chief: If the owner and the Deyi Chamber of Commerce continue to suffer such a loss, but we will not be able to raise military rations as long as the Deyi Chamber of Commerce raises the price of grain

Li Yang: What do you think we should do next?

Guanshan: Poor Dao thought that he had to make farmers feel that grain prices would rise in the future, and then let the Deyi Chamber of Commerce feel that we had already raised all the grain

Li Yang: Then it's not easy for us to collect grain?

Guanshan: The price of grain is so high now, and the more we collect, the more we will lose, and if we want to raise all the military rations, we have to lure the snake out of the hole

Li Yang: How to lead the snake out of the hole

Guanshan: The east's military rations are the bait

The conversation of several people made the originally vague thinking clearer, Li Yang raised the price of grain collection by 660 yuan per quintal, and the news soon spread throughout Taizhou Mansion, which made the rice shop that had been deserted for several days become lively again, and there were more people who came to sell grain, many of them were from other places, and as soon as this person was bored, several people got together and chatted

"Alas, I said, do you know why food prices are so high this year?"

"I also wonder how food prices are suddenly so high this year"

"It is the Deyi Chamber of Commerce that is competing with the Li family in Alan County for military business, and the Li family has the lowest bid, and the Taizhou government handed over the errand of raising military supplies to the Li family, but the Deyi Chamber of Commerce is still not dead on the affairs of military business, and wants to monopolize the grain so that the Li family cannot make the difference, then the military businessman must be the Deyi Chamber of Commerce.

"So that's the case, so how do you know?"

"Hey, my cousin is on an errand in the government, I heard about him, if I wasn't in a hurry to use the money, I wouldn't be in a hurry to sell this grain."

"What he said is true, we people in Alan County know about this matter, the granary in the county caught fire a while ago, and the Li family lost a lot of grain."

"Now the price of this grain is a price for a few days, and when it was 600 wen yuan a load, I felt that it was already a high price, and I sold 5 wen yuan, who would have thought that it had risen to 660 wen yuan in just over 20 days, and I would be able to earn an extra 300 wen yuan if I sold it a few days late."

"Then why are you still here to sell grain, maybe it can go up while waiting"

"Hey, I don't want to buy two pigs, and I don't have to wait for a tael of silver, if you have more food in your hands, don't be in a hurry to sell it, listen to me, it will definitely go up in the future."

"If the family is not in a hurry to use the money, just wait and see"

"I see that there are still a lot of people in front of me before they can get to us, forget it, I still have a lot of work to do at home."

The people who came to sell in such a way did go a lot, how would they know that the people at the front were all from the three families, looking at the people who were busy chattering all day, in fact, it was the grain in their own hands that was turned over and over again, and the people who were mixed with the news in the crowd actually couldn't collect much grain even if the price of grain increased, and Li Yang's purpose was to confuse his opponent

The shopkeeper has been staying in his own shop, and I don't know what happened in the past two days, and there are fewer and fewer people selling rice at his house, occasionally someone stops in front of the door, but as soon as he sees the price of the grain, he pushes the cart and leaves with the grain, and the shopkeeper is also a good person, he hurriedly came to the store and shouted softly: I collect grain at a high price, if you want to sell grain, please inside

And that person didn't bother to pay attention to him, he just continued to hurry, which made the face of the shopkeeper a little unbearable, and a wave of anger instantly surged into his heart, Dong Qing came out of nowhere, and when he saw his shopkeeper, he hurriedly ran over: Master, why did you come out

The anger in the shopkeeper's heart was worried that there was no place to spread it, and when he saw Dong Qing's anger, he just vented it all on him: Where did you run this day, I have to come out to greet me in person for so many things in the store

Dong Qing: Sir, I'm going to inquire about the news from the Li family

Shopkeeper: What did you know?

Dong Qing: The old man Li family raised the price of grain to 660 wen yuan a load, and the sales queue to them was outside the county

The shopkeeper frowned: No wonder we can't receive food in the past few days, 660 wen yuan a load of the Li family, that kid is going to fight with us

Dong Qing: Master, the Li family's family background is too thick, why have I never heard anyone mention this Li family before

Shopkeeper Bao: We underestimated him before, but he was a little tender when he called our Deyi Chamber of Commerce, and Dong Qing told the guys to mention the price of the grain to me 700 yuan

Dong Qing suddenly broke out in a sweat: Master, the price of grain in Zhejiang has never been so high, if the price of grain is raised to 700 yuan, even if we rob the military businessmen, it will be a money-losing business

Bao shopkeeper: I can't bear the child to catch the wolf, the Li family raised the price of grain in order to raise military food as soon as possible so that the official family can pay the difference, as long as we become a military businessman, we can earn back the money we lose this year, I want to see how much money the Li family can have to fight with us

The price of 700 yuan per load of grain once it was put out to the Deyi Chamber of Commerce to sell grain and there were more people at once, the whole street was blocked by the crowd and the cart full of grain, the shopkeeper was a little complacent when he saw this scene, he thought that as long as he came to him to sell more food, Li Yang would not be able to raise all the military rations, then the military businessman's business would still have a chance, even if he lost some money in front of him, it didn't matter, as long as he became a military businessman, the money could still be earned

The battle between the Deyi Chamber of Commerce and the Li family made Sun Yuanwu, who was the prefect of Taizhou, feel uncomfortable, the people take food as the sky, food is related to the stability of a country and the livelihood of the people, but under his nose, the price of grain was raised to 700 wen yuan a load, which will cause rich people to dump grain to seek violence, and the poor people can only go hungry and wait until the desperate situation They can only sell their fields and even their children in exchange for a bite of food, he absolutely does not allow such a thing to happen in Taizhou

And in the past few days, Li Yang has been living happily, either taking the two ladies to the sea to watch the scenery or going to the city to listen to the play. In short, it was the fun and beautiful piece that he led the ladies to play, but today he took the two ladies to the city to listen to the play as usual, and as soon as he arrived at the gate of the theater, he was stopped by two state cavalry

I have met these two people before, and Master Sun has sent them to my house several times to spread the word: why are these two brothers?

The cavalry replied respectfully: Lord Sun, the head of the Li family, will be here soon to ask you to wait for him

Li Yang not only sneered: I just entered the city, how did Lord Sun know that I was coming here

The cavalry did not make a sound and waited for a while, Sun Yuanwu appeared in my sight wearing a relatively ordinary cloth suit, if you don't know, you tell him that this is the prefect of Taizhou, and no one will believe it, Li Yang hurriedly greeted him and hugged his fists and bowed: Student

Before I could finish speaking, he helped me up: I came to listen to the play today, and I don't want others to know my identity

When I entered the opera garden, I asked Song Shiting and Hengyan to go upstairs to find a private room, while Master Sun and I found a corner of Bi Jing, and when Xiao Er passed by, I ordered a pot of tea - a plate of peanuts and a plate of dates, and soon the famous singer appeared on the stage, and the gongs and drums also beat up

As soon as I saw Master Sun coming here to listen to the play, there must be something looking for me, but I can't guess what the specific thing is, Sun Yuanwu grabbed a handful of jujubes on the table and looked at me: The recent grain market can make you and the shopkeeper of Bao mess up, this mansion has been an official for 20 years and has never seen such a high price of rice, you can't do things that harm others for your own selfish interests

Li Yang: My lord, you also know that the students' granaries caught fire and lost 100,000 quintals of grain, and in order to raise military rations as soon as possible, the students could only collect grain at a high price, but I don't know who it was, and as soon as I made a bid, he was higher than me

Sun Yuanwu told me about what he was worried about, hey, I didn't expect the chain reaction caused by the situation: adults and students thought that it was inevitable to break the monopoly and fight for it, and your teachings and students have never forgotten

Sun Yuanwu: That's good, how much food is missing now?

Li Yang: I have collected all the grain, and now I am going to the state to operate

Sun Yuanwu put on an unbelievable look: Then how can the price of rice be so high when you have gathered all the military rations

Li Yang shook his head: Then I don't know, but please rest assured, as long as the students are there, nothing that worries you will happen