On August 25, Liaodong County Taishou Mansion

Gongsun Du sat at the top, Gongsun Kang stood behind him, and below sat several guests, the youngest of whom had to be in his fifties, led by an old man about ten years old, who looked very majestic.

This person is Tian Shao, the head of the Tian clan, the first wealthy family in Liaodong, and the rest of the people are also the patriarchs of the family in Xiangping City.

The room was silent for a long time, and all the patriarchs sitting below were drinking tea idly, but Gongsun Du, who was at the top, frowned, and finally couldn't help but say: "Everyone, now the price of grain in Xiangping City has increased fivefold, and if it continues like this, something will happen!" Other firewood, rice, oil, and salt have also risen sharply, do you plan to watch Liaodong collapse and starve everywhere? ”

Tian Shaoran took a sip of tea and said slowly: "Lord Taishou, we can't do anything!" Last year's and this year's spring ploughing season was delayed by Wuhuan, and there was no grain in the field, so I couldn't wait! As the saying goes, it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice! We are just a cloth cloth, where can we compare to the Taishou Lord who worries about the country and the people, this is not our duty to stabilize prices! It's better not to be strong! ”

"I'll ask you one last time, don't you really plan to open a warehouse to release grain?"

"Lord Taishou, we are powerless! Now that the price of grain is high, the profits are very large, if there is food, we should not hurry up and take the opportunity to make money! ”

"Humph! Since you don't plan to give my grandson face, then don't blame Ben for being too stubborn and unsympathetic! Someone, send off! ”

The group came out of the Taishou Mansion, Tian Shao was still calm, but the other family heads were a little worried, and asked one after another: "Brother Tian, do we really want to deal with Gongsun Du?" What's in it for us? In case he turns against us, we will be the ones who will suffer! Brother Tian, don't forget about Gongsun Zhao! Back then, he just humiliated Gongsun Du, but as a result, Gongsun Du was sucked to death as soon as he took office! ”

Tian Shao frowned: "My Tian someone wants to let Gongsun Du know this time, this Xiangping City is not his Gongsun Du alone, we are not soft persimmons, we have more than 10,000 people in our hands, if he dares to turn his face, we will break the net!" Besides, the defenders in Xiangping City are complicated, and they don't all listen to his grandson! ”

"Brother Tian, it is well known how many of Gongsun Du's subordinates can fight, and the 10,000 people in our hands are not opponents at all! Besides, if the fire really rises, those generals who have dealings with each other on weekdays will watch the fire from the other side! ”

"Alright, all of you come to my house! Let's talk in detail! ”

An hour later, all the heads of the family came out of Tian Shao's mansion with red faces and went home.

The next day, the grain market was still the same.

…………

On the night of August 27, Zhuang Shaoyou received a summons from Gongsun Du to transport grain to Xiangping!

Zhuang Shaoyou received a summons and summoned Zhou Tian to discuss with Wu Liang and others all night.

In the early morning of the next day, the county was in motion, and all the mills were started, grinding coarse wheat into flour and loading it on ships.

On the first day of the first month, Xiangping City Grain Market

Zhou Tian and Wu Liang led hundreds of soldiers to guard the grain shop under the plate, and bags of grain and rice were transported into the shop.

…………

In Tian Shao's house, Tian Shao was idly drinking tea and reading books in the study.

Suddenly, someone from outside came to report: "Master, a new grain shop has opened in the grain market, and the price of grain sold is two percent lower than ours!" The people flocked to buy his food, but they didn't come to our shop to buy it! ”

"How much stock do they have? Have you found out? ”

"Back to the master, they were transported down from a big ship on the dock in the north of the city early in the morning, and there were about 5,000 Hu transported to the store in the morning, and it is not clear how many are on board!"

When Tian Shao heard this, his brows couldn't help frowning, and he pondered for a long time before saying, "Don't care about him first, see if he can make trouble for a few days!" ”

"Yes! Master! ”

…………

Zhou Tian and Wu Liang sat in the inner room of the grain store, listening to the noise outside, drinking tea idly, and chatting with each other.

"Brother Zhantian, they really didn't move much today, and they sold 10,000 Hu a day today! There are really a lot of people in Xiangping City! It would be nice when we could have such a scene! ”

"Hehe, Brother Decai, the landlord of Xiangping City is really dark! A liter of fine grain can be sold for forty! That's two thousand! That's twice as much as ours! Brother Decai is right! This is just the beginning, and the show hasn't started yet! Today we are here to test the depth of the water, and tomorrow I will add fire to them! ”

…………

On the morning of the second day of the first lunar month, Tian Shao's mansion was on

"Master, another grain shop opened in Dongshi this morning, and the price of grain is the same as yesterday's, and it is also two percent lower than ours! The grain was unloaded from the same boat, it is estimated that it is an owner, and yesterday day, that shop sold 3,000 yuan of coarse grain and 7,000 yuan of fine grain! There will definitely be more today, and the person I sent said that he began to unload grain from the ship before dawn this morning, and more than 20,000 hus were unloaded! ”

Tian Shao frowned slightly: "This guy is really in a hurry, and he dares to come to the bad old thing!" Hum! You send more people to their store to make trouble for me! hard! Something happened, sir, I'll take it for you! ”

"Yes! Master! You're good to go! ”

Xiangping Dongcheng Grain Market, Zhou Tian and Wu Liang were sitting in the shop drinking tea and chatting, suddenly, there was a commotion outside, the two frowned, turned to look at each other and smiled, and went out to check.

A thief-eyed man held a basket containing several liters of coarse grains in his hand, and shouted: "Folks! This grain store is black-hearted! Yesterday evening, I bought five liters of wheat here and went back, only to find that when I got home, I found that there was so much sand in this grain. It's all yellow smoked, I didn't look at it carefully at the time, so I took it home, this is not a pit person! ”

As he spoke, the man poured the grain in the basket to the ground, and there was indeed a lot of yellow sand in it, slightly lighter in color than wheat, and the people immediately began to talk about it.

Zhou Tian stepped forward with a smile and said, "This guest, your rice was bought home, and then you got it back, this time is very long, this sand can't be put by yourself, right?" ”

After Zhou Tian finished speaking, he immediately raised his head and said to everyone: "Fellow villagers, how is the grain sold in my Zhouji grain shop, you may not know very well, but you might as well inquire and ask those neighbors who bought grain to see if there is any sand, this guest said that my grain has sand, I want to ask, where do you live?" What do you do? Do you have a neighbor to testify? ”

The crowd suddenly stirred, yes, I heard from my neighbors last night that there was cheap food here, so I came, I haven't heard of sand!

Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted: "This guy is Liu Er, a ruffian from Xicheng!" Why did you come to our East City? ”

The people queuing up behind rushed up to see the excitement, and Liu Er glared at Zhou Tian hatefully when he saw this, and then pulled out the crowd and fled.

Zhou Tian smiled: "All the villagers and elders have seen it, this is definitely someone with ulterior motives, seeing that the price of food in the small shop is low, hindering the eyes of some people, so they came to make trouble, they are not only so that everyone can eat cheap food!" I, Zhou, am here to take the oath on behalf of Zhou Ji Grain Shop! Definitely not going with them! And starting today, the price of food will be reduced by another percent! Twenty-two liters of coarse grains, thirty-one liters of fine grains! ”

The surrounding people immediately cheered and rushed forward to thank Zhou Tian, who hurriedly shouted: "Everyone, please queue up to buy grain?" Don't rob, don't worry, our Zhouji grain shop has transported 100,000 pieces of grain this time! Guaranteed for everyone! ”

…………

"What?! 100,000 Hu! Where did they get so much food? Isn't the entire Liao level under our control? ”

"Sir! I heard that a lot of fertile land has been cultivated in the south of the county in the past two years, but I haven't paid much attention to it, and there are not many fields around it! The only idle place is southeast Liao, which belongs to Beifeng County and Xi'an Pingguan, not to the city! And every year Goguryeo goes there to rob, who would dare to grow grain there? ”

Tian Shao frowned and thought about it carefully, but he couldn't think of why, and said for a long time: "Go, find out if that ship is coming, and send someone to find out the news to see how much grain they have received this year!" Send someone to the southeast of Liaoning to check if there are any signs of Xintian being reclaimed! ”

"Yes! Lord"

After the guy went out, Tian Shao thought about it for a long time, and suddenly said loudly: "Someone!" Prepare the carriage, sir, I'm going to the East Market! ”

……

Xiangping East City, Zhou Tian sat in the shop, calculating the situation of today's grain sales, Wu Liang had already returned to the ship, and suddenly, the outside hand reported that a guest had visited.

Zhou Tian stopped things and walked out of the shop, and saw an old man about ten years old, with eagle eyes and a strong momentum.

"Who are you, this guest?"

Tian Shao stepped forward and arched his hand casually: "In Xia Tian Shao, I came today to talk about business with Shopkeeper Zhou." ”

Zhou Tian rolled his eyes, and instantly understood: "Master Tian, please!" ”

Tian Shao was not polite, so he walked inside, and Zhou Tian hurriedly followed.

The two sat down, and the next person served tea, and Zhou Tian asked, "I don't know what business Master Tian has to talk to?" ”

Tian Shao smiled slightly: "Shopkeeper Zhou is in the grain business, so naturally he is talking about food, I, Tian Mouming, don't say secret words, I want all the 100,000 grains on your ship!" ”

Zhou Tian's heart is overjoyed, here! However, there was a puzzled expression on his face and asked: "Don't hide it from Master Tian, there are still 170,000 grains on the boat!" ”

"What? Isn't it 100,000 Hu? ”

"Hehe, Master Tian, how can what you said on the street that day be taken seriously, and those people don't care whether it is 100,000 Hu or 200,000 Hu, I was just perfunctory to them at the time, this time a boatload of grain was transported a total of 200,000 Hu, 100,000 coarse grain and 100,000 fine grains, this fertile land was sold for nearly 30,000 Hu, and there are 170,000 Hu left!"

Tian Shao pondered for a moment and said, "I'll give you 12 million dollars to buy all your grain, how about it?" ”

Zhou Tian smiled: "Master Tian, I really want to agree, but the owner said that it is forbidden to charge five baht for all large transactions, and it must be real money!" Besides, I have 70,000 yuan of coarse grain and 100,000 yuan of fine grain, and it won't take too much time to sell it in Xiangping, and I have to earn more! ”

"You! Don't be insatiable, 120,000 is already more than double the price you bought! ”

"Master Tian's words are wrong, this time our owner sent me to sell grain because of the high price of grain here, we urgently purchased a ticket, and the cost of the purchase is naturally not low, 12 million money is definitely not good!"

"Good! Count you ruthless! I gave out 1,000 catties of gold, plus 2 million coins, this is the highest price! Don't go too far! ”

"Hehe, okay, then I'll make my own decisions and give Master Tian a face!"

"Humph! Take your money and leave! Don't come to Xiangping again in the future! ”

"As you wish!"