Xingyuan 1525 January 1 New Year's Day is the first day of the new year is also the third year that I came to this space, according to the convention at this time of the year Taizhou officials of all sizes will bring some gifts to visit Lord Sun, one is to increase the relationship between superiors and subordinates, the second is to see if there is a chance for promotion this year, the third is to report the expenses and urgent needs to solve the needs of the counties this year, such as what road construction - diversion canal irrigation field - drainage ditch - cleaning the river - dredging - flood control - storm prevention - blizzard, etc. Mr. Sun will work out the direction of this year's work with officials at all levels

And this day is also the most lively day of the year in the state capital yamen, at noon officials at all levels will have a New Year's dinner with the prefect - Taizhou Shou will have a New Year's dinner together in the state capital yamen, Han Ju is the youngest of the seven county orders of Taizhou government and the most outstanding political achievements, and several other counties have dozens of hundreds of years of county history Kealan County has only been established for a year

Although the wealth of the people is not as good as theirs, but in terms of profits and taxes, Alan County does rank among the top three, only last year, Alan County paid 110,000 taels of grain, paid 18,000 taels of silver, and diverted water to irrigate more than 100,000 acres of fields

More than 20 officials walked in, each of them had a wooden plate covered with red cloth, and the silver on these wooden plates was the dividends that Lord Sun distributed to officials of all sizes this year, you must know that in the past few years, the officials could only receive half of the money, and it was several years in a row, and even some officials had reached the point where they had to borrow money from everywhere to make a living, but last year the officials not only received all the money, but also received dividends for the New Year, and the dividends were distributed according to the rank of officials, more than 100 taels, and as little as dozens of taels. Even the small officials who do not enter the stream can get a few taels of silver to get a happy New Year

On the first day of the new year, Li Yang naturally would not pull down this kind of opportunity, he had been waiting for Lord Sun in the back hall for a long time, but when the banquet would end, no one could say what he was doing here, and he didn't know what to do, so he looked around, anyway, there was no one, I squinted first, if someone came, I could hear the footsteps, so he put his body back in a chair, put his hands on his shoulders, and fell asleep, and when he was woken up by the cold, it was already afternoon, and seeing that Lord Sun hadn't come back yet, he was around the house, flipping through the book for a while, and watering the bonsai for a while. When he saw a large piece of white paper on the copy, there was a brush next to it, he walked over and picked up the brush and gestured on the paper to put it away

It just so happened that Lord Sun came back at this time, and as soon as he saw me, he coughed lightly, so I was embarrassed and a little overwhelmed put the brush back, "Adults and students are rude", it is said that he moved other people's things in private, which is a very indecent thing, but Lord Sun really didn't care at all, "How Hongting, you also like calligraphy"

Li Yang: If you like it, you like it, but you can't write it well

Master Sun: The words have to be practiced slowly, and the more you write, the more you will naturally write well, and the calligraphy is about an elegant, the more anxious you are, the more it will backfire

Li Yang: The student wrote it down

Master Sun: You've been waiting for this house for a while

Li Yang: It's been a while, and it's been really boring, so I brewed it a few times

Master Sun: Haha is out of the way - officials at all levels have had a few more drinks with them in the mansion today, how is your shop business in Taizhou City still passable?

Li Yang: Business is not bad, and I can see some surplus every month

Master Sun: That's good - the Chinese New Year is coming up in a little more than a month, and your Alan Chamber of Commerce must control prices well, and don't raise prices as soon as the New Year arrives like some businesses

Li Yang: Your Excellency, please rest assured that the Alan Chamber of Commerce has a price for rice, salt, oil, and sea fish, which guarantee a life all year round, and we have also put 250,000 quintals of coal on the market to ensure heating, and the price of coal was 60 quintals per quintal has now dropped to 40 cents, and 150,000 quintals of coal have been reserved in Da Doosan for emergencies

After hearing this, Lord Sun nodded with relief: Hongting, these are not enough, the supply of meat, the Alan Chamber of Commerce also has to ensure that the old folks in Taizhou have a good year, and if you need help from the government, you can tell the government

Li Yang: The student thanked you

Sun Yuanwu not only snorted, Li Yang saw that Sun Daren was tired and retired first, due to the closure of Zhejiang, the grain that should have been sold from the south to Zhejiang was stranded for millions of quintals, and the grain merchants in the south of the country were lamented and said that it is not easy to find a way to sell such food, the road is far away, counting the freight and having to eat, drink and sell along the way, no one has to buy and sell less, and you have to lose money, but how much grain is sold in a year in the nearby places is counted, and there will not be much difference, But now there are millions of extra loads of grain at once, which has created a situation of oversupply

This is more than a month to the New Year, the grain merchants also have to return the funds to pave the way for this year's business, as for the Zhejiang border when to open and close the trade, no one can be sure, the large grain merchants can still stand up, but most of the small and medium-sized grain merchants they can't stand it, now they have only one idea, that is, as soon as possible to sell the grain in their hands, as long as they don't lose money, so these days to the Governor's Mansion to run the relationship with the grain merchants who complain is endless, The governor of Nantian attached great importance to the unsalable grain, because these grains could bring more than 100,000 taels of silver to the southern country to get tariffs

So the Nantian Governor invited several famous wealthy businessmen from Nantianfu to the Governor's Mansion, and planned to discuss with them to see if there was a way to solve the unsalable grain, including Ma Nanjiang, the big shopkeeper of the Nanjiang Chamber of Commerce, but after discussing for a day, he did not discuss a solution to the unsalable grain, in fact, the rich businessmen have their own monopoly business, and no one wants to wade into this muddy water, and finally the Nantian Governor insisted on sharing these millions of loads of grain to the rich merchants, as for how you sell and sell it to where it is your business, But if anyone can't sell it, then don't blame me for turning my face and not recognizing people, the rich businessmen have no choice but to deal with this matter head-on, who makes people hold military power in their hands and can't afford to offend

As soon as Ma Nanjiang returned to the Nanjiang Chamber of Commerce, he called his three sons over, although Ma Nanjiang was the big shopkeeper of the Nanjiang Chamber of Commerce, but the business over the years was indeed taken care of by the three sons, and he told the three sons what happened in the Governor's Mansion during the day to see if the three sons had a solution, which happened to be a test for them

The eldest son, Ma Nanfei, asked first: "How many loads of grain did Lord Daddy Nadu give you equally?"

Ma Nanjiang: He gave me an equal share of 2 million quintals of grain

Second son Ma Nanfeng: Daddy Sichuan Country and Yun Country have less arable land, and grain should be able to sell at a good price there, but it may take several months to go back and forth

Ma Nanfei: Dad might as well sell these grains to the Xian Zhenren outside the Northern Xinjiang Pass, which is closer to Yunguo and Sichuan than it takes less than two months, where you can exchange the grain with the Xianzhen for fur and sell it at a good price

Ma Nanfeng: Big brother Xianzhen has always been brutal, and it is too risky to go to do business with them outside the Northern Xinjiang Pass

Ma Nanjiang: The second child is right, it is indeed too risky to go outside the northern Xinjiang Pass, and the imperial army has been fighting with Xianzhen all these years, and selling grain to Xianzhen will bring us a lot of unnecessary trouble

Ma Nan: Dad, I want to try to sell this grain to Zhejiang

Ma Nanfeng: The three old Zhejiang countries have been closed, how can you sell grain to Zhejiang?

Ma Nan: Second brother, do you remember my friend in Zhejiang?

Ma Nanjiang: Is that the one you helped him get food a while ago?

Ma Nan: Yes, Dad, he is now a military merchant in Zhejiang, maybe he will have a way to help us sell this grain, and if he is still near the sea, 2 million quintals of grain can be transported to Zhejiang in just three months

Ma Nanfei: Dad, if what the third child said really works, I think I can give it a try

Ma Nanjiang: San'er, then you can try it, it is more than ten days to go back and forth to Zhejiang, if it doesn't work, we are thinking of another way

Ma Nan: Then I'll go pack my things later, and I'll leave for Zhejiang early tomorrow morning

Winter is a season of leisure, people are not as busy as summer all day long, from morning to night, people will put the heat of the kang at home, we are widely called cat winter, diligent people will form a team to go up the mountain to hunt, so that the family can improve their lives, fur can also be made into coats and hats, not to go to the city to exchange copper money, even the militia of the villagers are half a month off and half a month to work two shifts, but Li Yang is not idle at all, but more tired than usual

During this time, Heng Yan has been teaching Li Yang knife techniques, the best way to teach is to practice drills, which can be said to be vividly reflected in Li Yang, every time Heng Yan teaches him a move, the two of them will have a real combat duel, so he can always hear his screams in the manor on this day, I don't know who spread this matter, Gao Yuan and Yuan Kui, a few of them ran over all day to see the excitement, and finally a few of them even thought that I and Heng Yan could live a few tricks to start a gambling game, hey, don't mention these days, I was beaten by Heng Yan is covered in bruises, In order not to be beaten by Hengyan, I practiced until late at night every day, and when my martial arts surpassed you, I saw how I cleaned up you, a loser

On this day, he was practicing knife skills in the courtyard, and a family member came to the courtyard: A person who called himself Ma Nan came outside the young master and wanted to see you

As soon as Li Yang heard that it was Ma Nan, he hurriedly followed his family to pick him up outside the manor, and as soon as he met, Li Yang enthusiastically invited Ma Nan to the main room: Brother Ma, I was still thinking in my heart a few days ago, Brother Ma, I didn't expect you to come today, Brother Ma, come back to me, you stay for a few more days, and I will take you to see the thousands of miles of snow in Zhejiang

Ma Nan: Brother Xian is here this time because I want to ask you for help

Li Yang: Brother Ma, your business is my business, as long as I can help, I will do my best

Ma Nan: The Nanjiang Chamber of Commerce now has 2 million quintals of grain stranded in Nanguo, and you can see if you can help Brother Wei sell this grain to Zhejiang

Li Yang: Brother Ma, isn't it over to transport the grain directly from the border gate?

Ma Nan: Brother Xian, don't you know, as early as July and August last year, the northern border of Zhejiang was closed, and the 2 million quintals of grain were originally sold to Zhejiang, but because of the closure, the grain could not be transported

Li Yang: Brother Ma, how can I help you?

Ma Nan: Brother Wei wants to send this grain to you from the sea, as long as I can close the capital, how much money I earn is yours

Li Yang: There's no problem with Brother Ma's grain being shipped to me, but I don't have so much money to buy it

Ma Nan: You don't need to take the money, you just need to help me sell it

Li Yang: Brother Xingma, when are you going to transport these grains?

Ma Nan: When spring begins, as soon as the ice on the sea melts, I'll bring this grain over

Li Yang: Okay, then I'll build a warehouse for storing grain first

Ma Nan: Brother Xian won't be forgiven if he is a brother

Li Yang: Brother Ma is playing here for two days and walking

Ma Nan: I can't wait for the letter at home

When it came to Chinese New Year's Eve, people were busy pasting couplets and window grilles every day, and the entire Alan County was quiet in this joyful atmosphere, rows of festive lanterns hung on the street from the joint to the end, and the vendors turned the street into a market, and people from these ten miles and eight villages would come to the county to buy New Year goods, as early as more than half a month ago, Han Juzheng made the hunters prepare to ensure the supply of meat during the New Year, Whether it is venison, robe meat, pork, mutton, sea fish, etc., all of them are 10 yuan a catty, which also set the lowest price in recent years, and the price of grain and flour is also controlled at 5 yuan per catty

Every year's Chinese New Year's Eve is also a day to distribute dividends to everyone, everyone in the council hall is while sipping melon seeds and peanuts while chatting and joking, until the family Ding carried up more than ten wooden boxes The group quieted down, Li Zhuo waved his hand and opened the box Yiyi, which was full of white flowers and silver

Li Yang took out the account book and looked at it: The total dividend this year is 16,000 taels, the Gao family is 2,000 taels of silver - the Yuan family is 2,000 taels of silver - Li Long and Li Hu are 1,000 taels of silver - the two brothers of Da Niu and Niu are 1,000 taels of silver - Han Juzheng is 1,000 taels of silver - Hengqi is 1,000 taels of silver - Guanshan Daochang is 500 taels of silver - the leader of the militia is 100 taels of silver - the militia group Xiangyong is each divided into 1 tael of silver

Yuan Kui: Xiang Yong, why do we pay them and give them dividends

Li Yang: The Yuankui militia is the capital of our brothers to gain a foothold in the north, and the situation within the militia is also more complicated, Brother Long-Lord Sun and the national capital have eyeliner in the militia, if our brothers want to win the hearts of the people, they have to be willing to spend money, we have to give them a price they can't give, so that people will be desperate to give us their lives

Gao Yuan: It's nothing to give some money to the brothers, but just give a few eyeliners money, will the meat buns beat the dogs and never return?

Yuan Kui: I think those boys are white-eyed wolves who can't be fed, and the militia and our northern affairs need to be on guard against them

Li Yang: I can't see those people at the moment, people's hearts are flesh, let's take a look, we can't everyone share the silver, just a few of them don't have it, isn't that a handle given to people, and if it spreads, it will make people laugh, and it will not be bad for those hundreds of taels of silver, don't you talk about it, you would rather offend the gentleman than the villain

Gao Yuan: Just spend some money to send the little ghosts, the brothers of the militia have dividends, so why don't the brothers in the mountain camp and the fire camp have to be treated equally without you

Yuan Kui: Yes, I just wanted to say that this matter is here, if there is, the brothers will have it, so that the brothers will be happy

Li Yang: The second brother will go to the silver treasury and take out 3,000 taels of silver, give them to Gao Yuan and Yuankui, and let him send them to the brothers, and send 2,000 taels to the Haiphong camp

After distributing the money, everyone left the conference hall happily, and Li Song sat down next to me when he saw that everyone was gone: The boss's 3,000 taels of silver was taken out from the Chamber of Commerce

Li Yang: Second child, you remember to wait for a while, and I'll return the money to you

In the blink of an eye, it was March, 50,000 sets of weapons and armor were delivered to the state camp as scheduled, this business made Li Yang earn 10,000 taels of silver, and returned 3,000 taels to Li Song, he still had 7,000 taels of silver left, he was thinking about what else to make money at home, when the manor did suddenly come to a few officials, saying that Lord Sun had something urgent to summon me, so I followed them to the state yamen, as soon as I entered the main hall, I saw Lord Sun in that gloomy face, and even looked at me with a slightly angry look

Just when I was still wondering what was going on, he asked me what was going on with the current food prices

After hearing this, Li Yang was even more puzzled: What happened to the price of adult food

Sun Yuan slapped the table angrily: The price of grain has now risen to 1 tael of silver

Li Yang: No, I have always sold grain for 500 yuan a load, even if the price rises, it is impossible to rise to one or two silver in a few days, will the adults make a mistake in Zhejiang, the price of grain in Zhejiang has never been so high

Originally, Sun Yuanwu thought that Li Yang and the grain merchants in Taizhou had colluded to coax the grain family to make huge profits, but when he saw that Li Yang did not know about the rise in grain prices, Sun Yuanwu's anger in his heart had subsided: yes, now the grain on the market has risen to one or two taels of silver per load, and many rice shops have no rice to sell

Li Yang: No, why is there such a shortage of food all of a sudden, and the price of food has skyrocketed, and the supply is in short supply, is it that Zhejiang has suffered another disaster

Sun Yuanwu thought for a moment: there is no disaster in Zhejiang at the moment

Li Yang: Ai, that's weird

Sun Yuanwu: How much grain do you still have in your hands?

Li Yang: About 20,000 quintals

Sun Yuanwu: If you control the price of these 20,000 quintals of grain, you will top it first, and the government will find a way to transfer some grain from other prefectures to come over for emergency purposes

Li Yang: My lord, maybe it will be fine in a few days

Sun Yuanwu sighed: I hope

Li Yang did not tell Master Sun about the shipment of a batch of grain from the Southern Congress, because he felt that the fewer people who knew about this matter, the safer he would be, after all, this batch of grain was privately transported by Brother Ma from the South, and the Lord was a member of the government, but fortunately, if I didn't agree, then I would kill Brother Ma, the first batch of 200,000 taels of grain was transported to Alan County, and Li Yang immediately put these grains on the market, even though the current grain has risen to 1 tael of silver per load, but he is still selling it at a price of 500 cents per load

At the same time, Li Song also organized several caravans to sell grain in other places, and for a while, the grain of the Alan firm could be said to be in short supply, and the place where it went would be swept away, which made the local grain merchants feel dissatisfied, so these people released a rumor in the market, that is, the cheap grain was so moldy that it looked like it had been cleaned with water, and even this kind of message appeared on the streets of Taizhou, which made the grain that was originally in short supply of the Alan firm become unwanted