"Father, you don't know, I heard, half a month ago, before Yang Peng's recital was disclosed, Yang Peng had secretly started to collect grain, he bought 300,000 stone rice noodles in Beizhili, 500,000 stone rice in Zhejiang, and 300,000 stone in Fujian. The grain merchant in the market has not yet reacted and still sold it to him at a flat price. ”

"But such a large purchase volume can't be hidden, and the news came out quickly." "In the past few days, news has come from the capital, and Yang Peng's reply to the official's recital has been revealed. From then on, everyone in the world knew that Yang Peng was going to buy 10 million stones, and he wanted to buy short the southern provinces. Which gentleman with grain does not sit on the ground and raise the price, and make it difficult for him ruthlessly? In addition, he reported to his family and said in the newspaper that he had more than 30 million taels of silver, and I am afraid that no gentleman would let him go. ”

Zhang Keli thought for a long time, nodded and said, "Our family can't do this." I'll go to Zheng Gong's place to have a look and see what everyone's attitude is. Zhang Keli changed his clothes and walked to Zheng Gong's mansion in a sedan chair. As soon as he arrived at the door of Zheng's house, the doorman of Zheng's Mansion smiled and said: "Zhang Gong is also here, so the characters of Suzhou Mansion are all together!" ”

Zhang Keli was stunned and walked into the second hall with the man. When I walked into the second hall, I found that including the prefect of Suzhou, the famous gentry of Suzhou Mansion had gathered, and they were all drinking tea there with smiles on their faces.

Zhang Keli pondered for a while, sat on the chair, and heard Zheng Gong say loudly: "This time, Yang Peng was smart and advertised in the newspaper that he had 30 million silver, can we let him go?" The gentry on the Jinling side had already organized themselves, and not only did not let out a grain of their own rice, but also went all out to buy surplus grain from small grain merchants in the market. This time, we want to speculate the grain price of Nanzhili to five taels and one stone, so that Yang Peng will have nothing to lose. ”

On the sixth day of the seventh month, in the courtyard of the Shen family in the capital of Qingzhou Prefecture, Shandong, Shen Congdao, the head of the Shen family, held a note from the prefect of Qingzhou Mansion, but felt that the note was so important that he could barely hold it.

The Shen family has hoarded food this month, and it has reached the point of exhausting the family's wealth. The Shen family has more than 6,000 acres of land and more than 100 tenant farmers. These lands brought him an annual rent of more than seven thousand taels of silver. Shen Congdao, as a talented student, of course does not pay Tian Fu. However, the Shen family has a big business and a large overhead, plus the silver from the prefect and the county every year, the Shen family has more than 30,000 taels of silver in more than ten years.

Of the more than 30,000 taels of silver, Shen Congdao used almost all of them to hoard rice and noodles. The granary in the backyard of the Shen family is full of warehouses of rice and noodles. Last month, Yang Peng published an article in the newspaper, saying that he had more than 30 million taels of silver and wanted to buy more than 10 million stones of silver in the coastal provinces. At this moment, the gentry of several coastal provinces were all active. Under the organization of famous officials and eunuchs, the gentry bought grain on a large scale and hoarded it, preparing to sell it to Yang Peng at a high price when the time came.

In the southern provinces, the gentry still had some reservations, and only speculated on large deals. I heard that in Nanzhili, the people went to the gentry's grain store to buy more than a dozen catties of rice for their own use, and the gentry still sold it at the price of three taels and one stone, that is, one cent, six cents of silver, one catty of rice. But if it is a large transaction of more than 5,000 catties, the price will be bought and sold at the price of five taels and one stone.

This is a naked price inversion, that is, the wholesale price is higher than the retail price, which is to make it clear that Yang Peng is pitted. Most of the accumulated grain was in the gentry granary, and as long as the gentry unified their thinking and did not sell it, they soon raised the price of grain in large transactions. The limited surplus grain available on the market in the southern provinces was bought up by the gentry. The gentry set up a dragon gate array, waiting for Li Zhi to blackmail Li Zhi when he came to buy grain.

And in Shandong, the destination of this disaster relief, the gentry were even more ferocious. The gentry of Shandong are 10,000 who do not want to see Yang Peng's disaster relief successfully enter Shandong. The famine in Shandong was a small matter, and the deaths were also poor peasants who had no grain reserves. If Yang Peng is allowed to successfully provide disaster relief and enter Shandong, as soon as he collects the land in a few years, the gentry will be completely finished.

The gentry in Shandong all contributed money and efforts to raise the price of grain. Everyone expected that there would be no harvest in Shandong in the coming year, and the grain in the Shandong market was already very tight, so grain prices flew up as soon as they were instigated. At first, the Shandong gentry were still a little frightened, afraid that King Yan would suddenly put a butcher's knife on the neck of the gentry who were hoarding grain. But seeing that the price is rising little by little, the tiger master in Jinan has not moved at all. The gentry of Shandong gradually became bolder.

The gentry in Shandong not only stopped supplying grain to the market, but also purchased grain from the market at a high price, and the price of grain rushed to six taels and one stone. The farmers who ploughed the fields were fine, and the farmers ate their own grain. Although it was confiscated this year, last year's harvest has not yet been eaten, and the province can hold out until August and September. But the townspeople were unlucky, and had to buy grain at two or three times the price. The monthly money from the work is not enough to buy rice, and the family's savings are about to be exhausted.

Shandong's prefectures, prefectures and counties are full of complaints. The townspeople hated the gentry who hoarded grain, and some even wrote songs about King Yan on both sides of the streets. The two lines of black characters frightened the gentry to search the city, and finally caught a twelve-year-old Meng Tong and whipped him.

The savings of the citizens were passing rapidly, and the life of the gentry was also somewhat unsustainable. The price of grain, which was expected to be easily controlled, was constantly hit at the end of June, and it was almost unbearable - I don't know who sold grain on a large scale in the market and dumped it at the gentry who took over at a high price.

For example, in Qingzhou Mansion, there is a mysterious force that has transported more than 300,000 stone of grain and kept selling it. Although every time a southern merchant with a different identity shipped rice to sell, Shen Congdao knew that it was definitely a group of people. The gang sold grain on a large scale at a lower price than the gentry grain stores. If the Qingzhou gentry don't buy them all, the price of grain that has been raised with great difficulty will collapse.

The gentry of Qingzhou Mansion were all scared of this mysterious seller's smashing of the plate, and no one took the initiative to take the offer. In the past few days, the gentry have been running to the prefect's yamen every day, and the prefect will distribute a share of the grain sold in the market.

However, the gentry understood that the price of grain was high throughout the country, and this selling force could not be sustained. As long as you eat these grains and survive the next famine, not to mention six taels of silver, it is ten taels of silver and one stone to sell grain, and those people can only smash pots and sell iron to buy money.

So every time the prefect assigned the gentry to take over, the gentry gritted their teeth and paid to take it. The mysterious businessman threw a huge amount of grain in Qingzhou City, but the price of grain in Qingzhou has always remained at six taels and one stone. But that mysterious merchant seems to be testing the ability of the Qingzhou gentry to bear it, almost as much as you take, they will ship it to you.

Today, Shen Congdao received a note from the prefect again, and in order to avoid people's eyes, only two big characters "eight hundred" were written on the note. The prefect asked Shen Congdao to go to the market to pick up 800 stone of grain. Eight hundred stones, that is, more than four thousand taels of silver, Shen Congdao looked at this note, and his head was full of fine sweat. The Shen family's money has been used up. In addition to the seven thousand stone grain in the granary, Shen Congdao only had the house deed and the title deed left. What did Shen Congdao buy with these 800 stone grains?

But Shen Congdao knew that this plate should be next. Nowadays, the gentry in Qingzhou are piled up with grain bought at a high price. If the price of grain cannot support it, then the gentry in Qingzhou will lose a large amount of property. Who is this mysterious businessman, and why is he so ruthless? This is against the gentry of Qingzhou.

Next to Shen Congdao, the Shen family's bookkeeper took a breath and said, "Master, hold on, you must hold on!" As long as they hold on for another month, the peasants' families will run out of food. At that time, Yang Peng will have to buy grain at a high price for disaster relief, and all the money we spend will fly back obediently. ”

"Not only that, but we're going to make a lot of money. All the grain we bought for five taels and five dollars was sold to Yang Peng for six or seven taels of stone. Shen Congdao wiped the fine sweat on his forehead and nodded. He was thinking about where to borrow the more than 4,000 taels, but he saw the servant Shen San running in sweaty.

"Sir, the merchant who sold grain to the market said that they would also accept the deed. We can use the deed as silver to buy them food. "Do you want a house too? These businessmen want the life of the Shen family. Shen Congdao seemed to hear a bad news, his face turned pale, and he sat down heavily in his chair.

On the ninth day of the seventh month, Yang Peng and his generals and officials sat happily in the "Shouzheng Palace" of the Yanwang Mansion, discussing disaster relief matters. Taking advantage of the east wind of this disaster relief, Yang Peng put together the gentry who were against him everywhere, and now he has won a complete victory. The gentry have no public morality, knowing that the drought in Shandong will raise the price of grain, and they want to make Yang Peng bankrupt through this despicable means and make Yang Peng's disaster relief fail. As a result, they all fell into the trap set by Yang Peng.

At the end of May, when Yang Peng had not yet replied to the official family that he had decided to provide disaster relief, he bought 1 million stone of grain at a cheap price from the southern provinces and transported it back to Cangzhou by steamer. At that time, the gentry of the world did not know that Yang Peng wanted disaster relief, and Yang Peng was scattered in many provinces, so the purchase price of these grains was very cheap, with an average of only two taels and five yuan and one stone.

Of course, Yang Peng not only has this million stone grain in his hands. Yang Peng also grabbed 350,000 stone of grain in Liu Xianglong's Beigang and Dinghai City. In addition, last year, Hsinchu's land rent was transported to Tianjing New Town, and there were also more than 1.4 million stone of rice. So at that time, Yang Peng had 2.8 million stone of grain in his hands.

After having enough food in his hand as a bargaining chip, Yang Peng replied to the official family, promising that the official family would take on the responsibility of disaster relief in Shandong. Soon, this letter was disclosed after being approved by the official family, and the gentry of the world knew that Yang Peng wanted disaster relief, and they all knew that Yang Peng wanted to buy food.

A mere piece of music was not enough to convince the gentry that they would do what they said they would do, and Yang Peng even used announcements to publicize his ability to provide disaster relief, boasting that he had 30 million silver. Privately, Yang Peng spread the news through Han Jinxin's secret guards, letting the gentry know that they had begun to purchase grain.

With a multi-pronged approach, the gentry of the coastal provinces were all set. The gentry felt that as long as the price of grain was raised, Yang Peng could only obediently buy grain at a high price. Otherwise, how can we provide disaster relief? Qiu Kou Yang Peng's 30 million taels of silver, there is no reason not to make money. The gentry frantically flocked to the grain market to raise the price of grain, fantasizing about earning Yang Peng's silver.

In Shandong, the gentry directly raised the price of grain to six taels and one stone, and it was not unruly to attack. However, Yang Peng is not prepared to rely on the grain purchased in the market. Yang Peng pinned his disaster relief efforts on the output of Hsinchu, Taiwan. So when the gentry raised the price of grain to the highest, Yang Peng began to ship. 2.8 million stone of grain was thrown into the market, especially in Shandong, where grain prices are the highest.

The gentry fantasized about blackmailing Yang Peng from sitting on the ground, resisting stubbornly under Yang Peng's selling pressure, and took the initiative to "take over" for Yang Peng. Some of the gentry in Shandong even mortgaged the mansions they lived in, smashed pots and sold iron and hoarded grain. As a result, Yang Peng's 2.8 million stone grain was sold at a high price to these "market-making" gentry.

Because of greed and shamelessness, these gentry did not hesitate to fall into Yang Peng's trap. Gao Ligong, the "ambassador of the Shogunate's Overseas Agency," was busy buying and selling grain in the north and south of the river in accordance with Yang Peng's order, and it was the most arduous. His already thin body lost a few pounds. However, after the complete victory in this "food price war", he was in good spirits. He took a sip of tea and said loudly:

"Lord, most of our grain was dumped in Shandong this time, some sold for five taels and five taels, and some sold for five taels, and the average selling price was about five taels or three cents. At the cost price of 25 taels, our 280 stone grain earned 7,800,000 taels of silver. ”

Hearing Gao Ligong's words, everyone in the main hall was brightened. Seven million and 8,800,000 taels of silver, which is a huge amount of money that has never been seen in Cangzhou. Even if he defeated Liu Xianglong, Yang Peng only grabbed more than 6.2 million taels of silver. Unexpectedly, a trap was set up for the gentry to drill, and the gentry sent Yang Peng 7.8 million taels of silver.

With this silver, Yang Peng will earn back at least half of the cost of disaster relief in Shandong. Everyone looked at each other for a while and burst out laughing. Gao Ligong looked at everyone with a smile, and said, "This is just what we earned. In order to stabilize the price of grain, the gentry in the south spent silver to buy the grain of the small people at a high price, and spent at least a few million taels of silver. All this silver flowed from the gentry's treasury to the pockets of the small people. ”

"The prince's strategy has not only allowed us to earn money this time, but also to do a good deed for the benefit of the people." Everyone looked at each other, their eyes full of smiles. These bottomless gentry have shamelessly lost a lot of money because of their greed. Ya Yu Guanyin snorted and said loudly: "Big brother! Now we are waiting for Taiwan's sweet potatoes to arrive and smash the grain price down. The gentry who were crazy about hoarding grain went bankrupt. When these gentry who are ready to make a fortune know that we can solve the food for disaster relief by ourselves, it is estimated that they will have the heart to hang themselves! ”

Yang Peng looked at the scenery outside the hall and nodded with a smile. On the dock in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Zheng Hui looked at batches of sweet potatoes loaded on the ship, and he was full of spirit.

I have been working in Taiwan for four years according to the arrangement of King Yan, and now it is finally harvest time. Zheng Hui was originally an account office in a tavern, barely making ends meet. But after following Yang Peng, he was promoted by Yang Peng all the way and rose to prominence. In the past few years, Zheng Hui has been a commander and a general, which can be described as a prominent person.

Because of Zheng Hui's outstandingness, Yang Peng promoted Zheng Hui's brothers and sisters. Now Zheng Hui's relatives are all holding important positions that they did not dare to expect before following Yang Peng, and they are all expensive. Zheng Hui was very grateful to Yang Peng, the king of Yan. But compared with the high lord Houlu given to him by King Yan, it still makes Zheng Hui feel more accomplished by contributing to King Yan's career. Since the beginning of June, all 15,000 hectares of fertile land in Taiwan have been planted with sweet potatoes. After the harvest of summer potatoes in this season, it will provide ammunition for disaster relief in Shandong and lay a solid foundation for Yanwang to enter Shandong.

Sweet potatoes are not popular in Jiangnan and have low yields in the north. However, in the red soil of Fujian and Taiwan, sweet potatoes have a yield per mu that is far better than that of rice. "Originally planted in Zhangjun, gradually to Quanzhou, and gradually to Pu (Tian)". Its vines spread and stretched, covering the entire southern Fujian laterite belt. A note of the contemporaries recorded: "It is planted everywhere, there are many things and the price is cheap, and the three meals are eaten as meals, and the small people rely on them."

Of course, sweet potatoes are very low in sugar. One pound of five taels of sweet potatoes provides only five taels of calories equivalent to five taels of rice. Therefore, although the sweet potatoes in Hsinchu produce 1,500 catties per mu of summer potatoes in one season, they are only equivalent to 500 catties of rice. It is pure nonsense to say that the yield of sweet potatoes per mu in the 20th century was only more than 1,000 catties a year. More than 1,000 catties of sweet potatoes are only equivalent to a few hundred catties of rice, if the yield is so low, who will grow such a crop with abdominal discomfort after eating?

One season of spring potatoes and one season of summer potatoes, one acre of sweet potato field in Hsinchu can harvest 4,000 catties, which is equivalent to more than 1,000 catties of rice, and the calories it provides are far better than planting rice. Summer potatoes planted in June do not ripen until September. The people of Shandong may run out of food in August, and there is a one-month time difference in between. However, fortunately, Hsinchu planted hundreds of thousands of acres of sweet potatoes a few years ago, and there are more than 2 million stone of sweet potato stocks, which can help the victims of the disaster in Shandong survive August.

I think that after this time, King Yan will definitely use himself more! Looking at the truckload of sweet potatoes, Zheng Hui was full of ambition.

On July 11, Liu Mengqi stood on a lucky boat full of sweet potatoes and sighed. Liu Mengqi is transporting sweet potatoes for Yang Peng, the king of Yan, the enemy of wealth. After the collapse of Liu Xianglong's power, Liu Mengqi changed from the "prince" of the "King of Fujian" to an unknown minor. Although Yang Peng gave Liu Mengqi 100 taels of silver to do a small business, Liu Mengqi has been nesting in a private house in Quanzhou, getting drunk every day, drunk and dreaming of death.

Although the eldest husband can stretch and bend, Liu Mengqi can't adapt to the reality of the family's decline in such a quick time. Although Liu Mengqi is a showman, it was Liu Mengqi's teacher who communicated with the county magistrate and let Liu Mengqi get it cheaply, Liu Mengqi actually didn't read the book of sages for a few years. What Liu Mengqi desires in her bones is to gallop on the sea like Liu Xianglong and establish a man's career.

But after the Liu family was defeated by Yang Peng, Liu Mengqi's dream was shattered along with the Liu family. It is impossible to make a comeback for the Liu family. If Liu Mengqi becomes a pirate again, or runs away from the sea, it is estimated that he will be killed by Yang Peng mercilessly. Liu Mengqi is unwilling to be a rotten Confucian who shakes his head, nor is he willing to be a small trader who bargains for a few pennies every day. After Liu Xianglong died of illness, he has been depressed and unhappy, buying drunk every day to live. Liu Mengqi's performance disappointed his mother and younger siblings, and these relatives also hoped that Liu Mengqi would cheer up and revive the Liu family.

Until Yang Peng's people found Liu Mengqi and asked Liu Mengqi to contact the ship to transport sweet potatoes for King Yan. Sweet potatoes are low in calories and require a large amount of food to make a living by eating sweet potatoes. This time, Yang Peng wanted to transport more than 30 million stone of sweet potatoes to Shandong, which could not be done by relying on Yang Peng's 63 merchant ships and 10 ironclad ships. Relying on Yang Peng's own merchant ships, Yang Peng could only transport more than 10 million stone of grain in a year.

Relying only on steamship transportation, the people of Shandong would starve to death, and Yang Peng had to hire outside merchant ships. Of course, Yang Peng can contact the sailors of Dengzhou and Shandong, so that hundreds of sailboats can be transferred. However, Yang Peng knew that the officers and men of those sailors were in a dull mood, the ships were in tatters, the boatmen were steady, and the boatmen were rough in technology, and they might make some mistakes when they ran to the open sea.

So Yang Peng thought of Liu Mengqi. Although he did not kill Liu Mengqi's father, Liu Xianglong, Liu Xianglong died because of himself. Moreover, the sailors of the Liu family are all experienced water thieves with excellent skills. If Liu Mengqi is allowed to take the lead and mobilize more than 100 5,000-material Dafu ships to transport sweet potatoes for Yang Peng, the transportation can be guaranteed to be foolproof.

Yang Peng sent Gao Ligong to find Liu Mengqi, who was drunk every day, and told him his thoughts. Yang Peng promised to give each of the boatmen hired by the Liu family two or five yuan of silver per month, and the leader of the boat with three taels and seven yuan a month. This transportation lasted for a year, and Yang Peng also gave each ship 1,500 taels of silver for the "ship fee".

Liu Mengqi heard this proposal without saying a word, threw down the wine bowl, and agreed. After Liu Xianglong's death, the Liu family collapsed, and the sailors of the Liu family were left without food and clothing. If you want to run to the sea, you have no capital, and if you want to be a pirate, you are afraid that Yang Peng will come to exterminate you. Now Yang Peng has given the sailors of the Liu family a way to live, and Liu Mengqi of course has to lead the sailors to do it.

For Liu Mengqi, this is a good opportunity to revive the Liu family. Although the Liu family can no longer dominate the sea as before, even if it is dependent on Yang Peng as a transportation brigade, it is much better than the collapse of the entire family, isn't it? Therefore, Liu Mengqi summoned one hundred and forty-six Dafu ships with five thousand materials with contradictory feelings, and summoned twenty-five shipwrights for each ship - Yang Peng did not allow the Liu family's fleet to be armed again, so in addition to the lack of cannons, gunners and sailors on the ship, twenty-five shipwrights were enough to operate the ship.

In fact, most of the ships run with the wind downwind, and they rarely go to sea when the wind direction is unstable, and they cannot run the sea non-stop for 365 days like a steamer. Because when the wind direction is chaotic, it is easy for the fortune ship to be blown away by the turbulent wind outside the channel, and then it will be troublesome to get lost or hit the reef.

Yang Peng's solution was to use the 73 ships as tugboats for later generations, and each ship used a cable to tow two fortune boats forward. The cable pulled out of the steamer was tied to the main mast of a fortune ship, and then to the main mast of a fortune ship behind. With a ship towed in front, the fortune ship can move steadily on the channel like a ship, and the speed can be increased considerably.

Yan Wang Yang Peng proposed, and Liu Mengqi also agreed. He understood that this was what Yang Peng meant for him to forget the past and start anew. Of course, Liu Mengqi still hated Yang Peng in his heart: Yang Peng defeated the Liu family and let him fall from the high clouds into the dirt. But at this time, it was necessary to rely on Yang Peng's snort to let the Liu family have something to eat, and Liu Mengqi had to abandon this hatred. Liu Mengqi remembered her mother's words: "Everyone has their own position, what's the point of hatred? ”

In fact, a few days after joining Yang Peng's fleet, Liu Mengqi learned about Yang Peng's methods of doing things, and even admired Yang Peng, the king of Yan. Liu Mengqi knew that Yang Peng's disaster relief in Shandong was all carried out with private funds. The people of Shandong will eat all the free food provided by Yang Peng, the king of Yan, in the coming year. Yang Peng saved more than 10 million people with the power of one person, how much ability is this? If there is no Yang Peng, what kind of hell will Shandong become?

Before the departure, Liu Mengqi stayed in Hsinchu for a few days and learned a lot about the local situation. Liu Mengqi knew that Yang Peng asked all Hsinchu farmers to plant sweet potatoes this time, and he also had to use private funds to buy sweet potatoes from Hsinchu farmers. Excluding 60 percent of the land rent, 40 percent of the output of the farmers in Hsinchu belongs to the farmers themselves, and Yang Peng bought the red potatoes with the farmers at a price of three dollars and one stone.

In this way, a farmer who grows 20 acres of sweet potatoes for a year will also get the same income as rice planting 50 taels. Although Yang Peng controls Hsinchu, he loves the people like a son and will never let his people suffer. Liu Mengqi has also eaten sweet potatoes and knows that more than 10 million people in Shandong must eat at least 30 million stone sweet potatoes a year to avoid starving to death. At the price of three coins and one stone, Yang Peng's disaster relief will also cost nearly 10 million taels of silver. This money was all paid by Yang Peng himself.

Yang Peng is not only good at using new crops to do things that others can't do, but also is so generous to the people, which makes Liu Mengqi very surprised. To say that Yang Peng is a heroic hero is not enough to describe the greatness of this disaster relief. Liu Mengqi is also a chivalrous person, he thinks that Yang Peng can even be regarded as a hero, a hero who saves the country and the people.

Compared with a hero like Yang Peng, his father Liu Xianglong's background and actions are very dirty. Liu Mengqi sat on the board of the boat in the tail tower, and seemed to forget her hatred for King Yan in a trance, but admired Yang Peng a little.

The steamer in front let out a long whistle and slowly sailed out of Hsinchu Port, dragging two fortune ships towards Shandong. Liu Mengqi's Fu boat raised its hard sails, and with the ship cleaving the waves, it opened a new channel. Liu Mengqi's younger brother Liu Du's eyes were moist, and he grabbed Liu Mengqi's sleeve and said, "Big brother! Our Liu family is alive again! Sighing, Liu Mengqi looked at the Liu family's flag flying high above the fortune boat. Although he was aggrieved, although he was just running the transport team, he let the Liu family survive again anyway.

After all, what happens next, let's see how it will be broken down next time.