The generals guarding the northern border pass of Zhejiang have written several times to urge the country to allocate military rations, and the remaining military rations in the northern border passes can last less than half a month at most, once the border passes are cut off, the tens of thousands of border soldiers can only rely on digging wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger, and the ministers in the palace have discussed for two days and have not come up with a countermeasure, Jiaxing Mansion - Huzhou Mansion - Hangzhou Mansion and Yanzhou Mansion have also been on the grain excerpt, and even the Shaoxing Mansion and Ningbo Mansion with sufficient food have also joined up the excitement, and the border pass and several state capitals need as much as 800,000 quintals of grain plus a pieceYou must know that the current price of grain is 800,000 silver for every tael of silver to raise these military rations, and this huge expenditure undoubtedly makes the already poor Zhejiang country even worse

Jia Ze, the squire of the Ministry of War, Xu Kai, the servant of the Ministry of Officials, Wu Cheng, the waiter of the Criminal Department, Ji Fang, and Wen An, the servant of the Ministry of Officials, had already laid out a situation for this, and the Ministry of War originally planned to purchase 500,000 quintals of military rations this year, but now there are 300,000 quintals more, which means that these ministers can earn an extra amount of silver

As soon as it was said that it would cost money, the first thing that came to mind of the king of Zhejiang Lei Tai was the household department, so Lei Tai asked the household servant Bai Sheng to liquidate how much silver the country could use, and only by knowing how much silver could be used could the Manchu Dynasty civil and military affairs discuss specific countermeasures, Bai Sheng and a few colleagues lit the lamp and boiled the oil overnight, and the silver that the national capital can use now is less than 400,000 taels

When Lei Tai learned that there was still a shortage of 400,000 taels of silver, he was not only a little disappointed, but he was also thinking that the treasury could have some surplus this year, but this time the silver was emptied, and what made Lei Tai really worried was what to do if he lacked the 400,000 taels of silver

Bai Sheng saw the sad look of the king of Zhejiang, and knew that he was worried about the silver, so he gave him an idea, that is, to divide the 400,000 taels of silver that the national capital lacked to the provinces, there are 11 state capitals under the rule of Zhejiang, so that each state capital will also share more than 30,000 taels of silver, Lei Tai was overjoyed when he heard this, this is a good way, so Bai Sheng drafted a will overnight, ordering each government to raise and transport the silver to the national capital within five days, if there is a disobedience to the order, the dismissal and investigation

And these days, the grain sold by the Alan firm is still not cared for, even if someone stops in front of the rice stall, they just look at it casually and turn around and leave without even asking the price, it is said that it should not be, although the price of grain has risen to one or two silver per load, but I still have 500 yuan per load, even if the business is sluggish, there is no one to ask

So Li Song changed into the plain clothes that people usually wear and went to the market to hang out, and when he passed by a rice shop, he saw that there were 5-6 people queuing up at the door to buy rice, so he also lined up with the people in front of him, "Man, how do you sell this rice?"

Man: The guest officer rice is still a tael of silver per load

Li Song: Why did it rise so much all at once?

Man: I don't know about this, but when the other rice shops went up, we followed suit

Although there are not many people who buy grain, he is also patronized by others, which makes Li Song a little puzzled why people sell one or two pieces of silver and a load of people to buy, and the Alan firm only needs 500 yuan per load of grain, which is half of them, and no one cares, Li Song inquired about several rice shops in a row, and no one could say what caused the price of grain to rise

As soon as Li Song returned to the store, Li Yang asked: What did the second child know?

Li Song sighed on the chair: Don't mention it, boss, none of these grain merchants in the city know what is going on, they all watch others increase their prices, and they only follow the price increase, and it is strange that someone still buys a load of grain for a tael of silver, you are looking at our 500 yuan and a load of money, and there is no one who even asks

Li Yang: Are there many people who come to them to buy food?

Li Song: It's not much, so I wonder how much grain these grain merchants sell a lot of in a day, and they can hold on

Li Yang: Then what's not going to be up, now you have to sell 10 taels of grain to make money, and the wealth of the grain merchants has increased several times at once, and the price of grain will not fall for a while and a half

Li Song: Boss, should we follow the price increase or continue to sell at the original price?

Li Yang: Let's sell it at the original price for a while, if we are following the price increase, there will really be people who can't eat

Li Song: That's okay

In the early morning, the wind on the sea was very strong, and dozens of big ships docked on the shoals near Xilan Village, this was the last batch of grain transported from the south, and Li Yang didn't expect that it was Ma Nan who also came, and as soon as the two met, they ran quickly towards each other and hugged each other, but this time Ma Nan also brought a person, this person, I saw it when I went to the Nanjiang Chamber of Commerce before, it was Ma Nande's brother

When Ma Nan saw that I was focusing my attention behind him: Brother Xian, this is my second brother Ma Nanfeng

Out of politeness, I bowed to Ma Nanfeng: I've seen Brother Ma

Ma Nanfeng saluted me back: Lucky to be - fortunate to be happy

I prepared a table of banquets for Ma Nan and Ma Nanfeng in Song's noodle restaurant to show the friendship of the landlord, I was afraid that Ma Nanfeng would think that I was stingy and invited them to dinner, so I found a noodle restaurant, I specially explained: Brother Ma, don't look at this noodle restaurant, the façade is not big, but this is our best restaurant, and the dishes in this area will never be inferior to those big restaurants in the city

Ma Nan: Second brother, he is right, I have been here before, and this dish is really delicious

Ma Nanfeng: This virtuous brother, you are too polite, as long as you can eat a bowl of coarse tea and light rice, you must know how many people in this world can't even eat a package of rice

Although Ma Nanfeng's words sounded a little out of place, but it did make Li Yang increase his favor with him, and indeed compared with those who can't eat enough, we can eat whatever we want, and we are lucky, during the chat, Ma Nan asked me how much grain shipped from the south is now sold, and I told him about the current grain market in Zhejiang and the current situation

Ma Nan: We have encountered the situation you are facing now, Brother Xian, before

Li Yang: Brother Ma, how did you deal with it?

Ma Nan: The price has increased

When Li Yang heard this, he was a little blindsided, and thought to himself: Now there are fewer people who come to me to buy grain, and if the price increases, won't there be fewer people?

Ma Nan: Sometimes people who buy cheaply will think that you have something that is not good, so it is cheap, and in the situation you are encountering now, the price increase can make people have a sense of urgency, if you don't buy it, maybe it will rise in the future

Li Yang: Brother Ma, how much should the price increase?

Ma Nan: Then set a middle price of 700 wen yuan and give 600 wen yuan to sell it, and leave 100 wen yuan for the people who come to you to buy food, so that they will feel that they are taking advantage of you to buy rice

Li Song: Boss, I think we can try this method that Brother Ma said

Ma Nan: Brother Xian, you help me and my brother prepare two caravans, I will take one to Jiaxing-Huzhou-Hengzhou to sell grain, and my brother will take the other to the national capital Yufengcheng-Shaoxing and Ningbo to sell grain, so that the people of Zhejiang will know that Taizhou has cheap and high-quality grain, and it is about to be the season of sowing, so there will definitely be no shortage of people who come to you to buy grain

For this reason, Li Yang took three battalions of Xiangyong from the militia group to temporarily form three caravans, Ma Nan took a caravan to several state capitals in northern Zhejiang to sell grain, Ma Nanfeng took a caravan to the national capital Yufeng City-Shaoxing Mansion-Ningbo Mansion to sell grain, and Li Song took the last caravan to several state capitals in southern Zhejiang to sell grain, and 1,500 Xiangyong and 500 temporarily recruited men drove out of Alan County with more than 2,000 horse-drawn carts and ox carts

And Li Yang took care of the business at home according to the method Ma Nan said, and at the beginning of the store in the morning, the guys hung the wooden sign of the grain price increase at the door, and asked about the price, and there were indeed a lot more people than before, and there were still few people to buy, seeing this scene, Li Yang decided to give the guys a sample to see how I fooled

When a pedestrian carrying a flat shoulder stopped in front of the rice stall, Li Yang hurriedly greeted him: Guest officer, these are all new arrivals in our store, and the quality and quantity are absolutely guaranteed

Pedestrian: Didn't the price go up yesterday and sell it for 500 yuan?

Li Yang: The store's previous grain store was sold out, and now the grain purchase price is expensive, and if I sell it at the previous price, I will lose money, but my price is still cheap compared to the other rice shop

Pedestrian: If it's 500 cents a load, you can load two loads for me

Li Yang pretended to look around mysteriously, then leaned over to the pedestrian and muttered in a low voice: Guest officer, I see that you are our old master, so don't tell others if I give you 600 yuan for each burden

Pedestrian: If 600 yuan is not enough, 500 yuan will be paid

Li Yang looked at this person who just wanted to buy grain, or he wouldn't bargain with you, now 500 yuan wants to buy grain in Taizhou, only I dare to sell it like this, but I can't sell it, if it is sold, then it will be at this price in the future, and the business will be defeated, so he smiled with a three-point smile: Guest officer, why don't you go to other rice shops to take a look

"Okay, I'll take a look elsewhere," the pedestrian left the rice stall and walked a few steps, he turned around and turned back: 600 Wen is 600 Wen, I really don't want to go

Li Yang hurriedly asked the guy to weigh two loads of grain for this man: Guest officer, don't tell anyone that you bought grain at this price, otherwise I won't be able to do this small business

This made the pedestrian very happy, because he felt that he had taken advantage of this: don't worry, if someone asks me to tell you more

After the man weighed the rice, Li Yang helped hang the rice on the flat shoulder: Guest officer, if you have relatives and friends who want to buy food, you have to think of ordering a small shop

Pedestrian: If a pedestrian wants to buy grain, I will bring it to you, and our village is just going to buy seeds for planting in the past few days, so we need to use 1,008 loads of grain

Li Yang respectfully bowed his hand: Then you will have to worry about it

The pedestrian is also a cheerful person: you are busy with me going back

Li Yang: Then you're good to go

Li Yang taught the guys, although the toad is small, but the skin is also meat, don't underestimate the business of one or two loads, countless small businesses plus one piece is equivalent to a big business, the guys follow the cat and the tiger according to Li Yang's routine just now, and the number of people who buy food in daily necessities has increased suddenly, which also drives the sales of other goods, in order to attract repeat customers, the guys will also send some refined salt or some gadgets to those who buy one or two loads of grain

In the afternoon, the pedestrian brought in more than a dozen people, all of them were driving horse-drawn carts and ox-carts, and before they could enter the door, I heard the pedestrian chatting with them: "I bought the rice I bought today, and the shopkeeper is also a real person."

Li Yang hurriedly greeted him and greeted him warmly: Guest officer, you are here

Pedestrian: The shopkeeper asked your man to load us with 2,000 loads of grain

Li Yang waved his hand at the store: The brothers have come to work to load 2,000 loads of grain for these guest officers

As soon as the guys heard it, they quickly put on a posture and used the relay method to carry the grain, such a big battle around the nerd sold more people at once, it is strange to say that there is no one when there is no business, when there is a business, the busier you are to buy things and win people, the more he is, after a busy afternoon, Li Yang's voice is hoarse, seeing that the sun is about to go down, the guys have only finished loading the 2,000 quintals of grain, and after the store closes, the guys have sold 5,000 quintals of grain today, In the evening, Li Yang deliberately took the guys to a nearby restaurant to celebrate

When the general Lei Cai learned that the provinces raised silver in order to purchase 800,000 loads of military rations, he led the troops to fight with the enemy all the year round and trained him to have a keen sense of smell, when the price of food skyrocketed, he also wondered that it was only a few days that the grain had risen to one or two silver per load, and now the national capital was going to buy 800,000 yuan, but the price of military food and grain rose before and after, which made him smell a trace of 800,000 taels of silver, which is undoubtedly a huge amount of money for the current Zhejiang, So the general Lei rode his horse Sha Lifei and rushed to Yufeng City, the national capital, overnight

Speaking of this Shali Fei, it is a horse that can travel 1,500 miles a day, the dust it splashes when it runs with all its strength, it looks like it is flying in the distance, so it is named Shali Fei, there is a folk rumor that this Shali Fei has the ability to cross mountains and rivers across rivers, and there are only two horses in the entire Zhejiang Shali Fei, and the other horse is in the northern border army commander General Wang Benna

As soon as Lei Qi returned to Yufeng City, he didn't even bother to change his clothes and put on a suit of armor and entered the palace, and when he arrived at the apse of the palace, Zuo Yushi Yu Tianlu and Zuo Zhengshi Yang Qian were also there, and Lei Qi knelt on the ground as soon as he saw Lei Tai: the minister saw Brother Wang

Lei Tai quickly stepped forward and stretched out his hands to help Lei Qi up from the ground: Come brother, let Brother Wang take a good look at you, why is your face so much darker than before, and you have lost a lot of weight

Lei Qi: Brother Wang, this is a soldier training at the border pass

Leitai: Brother Wang, you have suffered

Lei Qi: Can share the worries of the royal brother and go to the soup to fight the fire and never give up

Lei Qi glanced at Yu Tianlu and Yang Gan, and the two hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: I have seen the general

Lei Qi: Yu Zuoshi and Yang Zuoshi are also there

Lei Tai: Brother, you came back just in time, Brother Wang, I have encountered a difficult matter, you can help me get an idea

Lei Qi: Please also show Brother Wang

Lei Tai: The northern border passes and several state capitals want to purchase 800,000 quintals of military rations, but why is this year's grain so expensive, it costs one tael of silver, and 800,000 taels of silver is almost enough to catch up with half of our Zhejiang's taxes

Lei Qi: Brother Wang's ministers came back for this matter

Lei Tai: Coincidentally, Yu Zuoshi and Yang Zuoshi also came for this matter, Yu Zuoshi, you tell him what is going on with the rise in grain prices

Yu Tianlu: As far as the minister knows, the sharp rise in grain prices is related to the merchants of the southern country, and since August and September last year, the grain merchants of the southern country have suddenly stopped trading grain with Zhejiang, and the grain circulating in the market is less than before, and now they are catching up with farming, which has led to the sharp rise in grain prices

Lei Qi: How much grain does Yu Zuoshi buy from the south every year?

Yu Tianlu: According to the general's tariff calculation, the grain sold to Zhejiang by the south should be about 2 million quintals every year, and the strange thing is that there was no warning at all before the merchants of the southern country terminated the grain trade

Yang Qian: There is one more strange thing than this, yesterday a caravan suddenly came to the national capital, and the grain they brought was only 700 wen yuan a load, but the food brought by this caravan was swept away by the people in the city after a while, and the man also told those who didn't buy food not to worry, they would come to Yufeng City in two days, and how much food they wanted

Leitai: There is such a thing

Yang Qian: I went to inquire with the guy on purpose, only to know that this caravan is from Taizhou, I want to try whether this caravan is really as they said, how much grain there is, so I asked the guy, how much grain do you really want, how much I can buy, the guy looked me up and down and asked how much grain I want to buy, I stretched out five fingers and told him that I want to buy 50,000, but do you have the grain, the guy was not surprised at all, but sneered, the guest officer, don't say 50,000, but even if it is 1.8 million quintals, we can sell it to you

Yu Tianlu: Who has such a big mouth?

Yang Qian: When the caravan was in a hurry to return to Taizhou, the man told me that they were a caravan from the Alan merchant in Taizhou City, and if they wanted to buy rice, they would go to Taizhou City to find them

Leitai: If it were really like what they said, buying these 800,000 quintals of military rations might save a lot of money

When Lei Qi heard Taizhou, he smiled slightly: Brother Wang, let the minister go for a trip

Yu Tianlu: The minister is willing to go to Taizhou with the general, and the minister wants to know what kind of person can have such great ability

Leitai: Exactly

When Lei Qi and Yu Tianlu arrived in Taizhou City, according to what Yang Gan said, they inquired about the real name of Alan and asked about it, and when the two of them came to the daily necessities, before they entered the door, they saw that there was a bamboo sign on the rice stall that said 700 yuan per quintal

Yu Tianlu picked up the bamboo card and asked the guy: Your rice is really 700 yuan a load

As soon as the guy looked at Yu Tianlu's dress, he knew that this was a big family: yes, it was 700 yuan a load

Yu Tianlu: Then how much grain do you have?

Man: We'll have as much as you want, guest officer

Yu Tianlu: Man, go tell your shopkeeper that there is a big business

Man: Ladies and gentlemen, please go upstairs and wait a while, my shopkeeper will be back as soon as he goes shopping on the street

The man led the two upstairs to rest for a while, and prepared tea and some dried fruits for them, Lei Qi and Yu Tianlu sat next to the window, and watched the passers-by downstairs sell their stupidity, and after the two of them sat down, the shop sold more than 100 quintals of grain, and the people who came to the shop to buy things kept coming and going

This scene was clearly seen by Yu Tianlu upstairs: the business of this shop is very good, and more than 100 loads of grain have been sold in such a short time

When Lei Qi looked downstairs, a familiar figure caught his eye, at this time Li Yang didn't know that Lei Qi and Yu Tianlu were coming, he carried four roast chickens in both hands and swayed back to the store, as soon as he entered the door, he handed the three roast chickens to the guy at the door: add a dish to everyone at noon

The guy took the roast chicken: The young master came to the two big households just now, and I will lead them upstairs first

Li Yang: Okay, then you're busy, I'll go up and have a look

Li Yang didn't forget to carry the roast chicken in his hand and went upstairs step by step: the two of you want to buy food

Lei Qi took the teacup and looked at Li Yang: We want to buy food

Li Yang saw that this was not a general, and he knelt on the ground when he heard a pop: Caomin has seen a general

Yu Tianlu was immediately confused by the scene in front of him: You know the general

Lei Qi smiled slightly: He used to be my subordinate, and now he helps me buy some military supplies

Yu Tianlu: That's right

Thunder Rider looked at me: Don't get up on your knees

"General Caomin Xie" and the first thing he did when he got up was to quickly close all the windows

Lei Qi: Do you really have a lot of food?

Li Yang: Dare to ask the general how much food you want

Lei Qi: I want 1 million quintals of you, do you have this?

Li Yang: Yes

As soon as these words came out, Lei Qi and Yu Tianlu were quite surprised, because it was Yu Tianlu who couldn't believe that the young man in front of him would have such food in his hands, you must know that the current yield per mu is only 400 catties, so how much land can grow so much food, 1 million quintals of grain is enough for more than 200,000 soldiers in Zhejiang to eat for a year, and there is still a lot left, even if you use money to collect 1 million quintals of grain, you have to need hundreds of thousands of taels of silver