The daily life of Dali Siqing

Chapter 136 Grain Merchant Speculation
Maintaining normal order in Pingshan County is the major prerequisite for disaster relief. As long as the order in Pingshan County is not chaotic, Yang Qingyuan can last for a while with the three thousand stones of grain in the city.

The imperial court’s grain has already gone northward from the tributary of the Yellow River, but after arriving in Jizhou, many sections of the river have been frozen, and they can only be diverted to be transported by land to the counties and counties, and the efficiency of grain transportation has suddenly dropped.

Originally, a ship of grain ranged from hundreds of stones to thousands of stones.

After it's time to go overland, it can only be transported slowly by grain trucks.

"Zhao Juncheng, how much food has the court brought in so far?"

"My lord! How can there be any food, except for the first batch of 150 shi of corn shipped in, there is no more food for assistance!"

Speaking of this matter, Zhao Juncheng's tone was full of sadness.

Yang Qingyuan's original gaze suddenly became solemn. According to normal calculations, the first batch of more than 150 shi of grain shipped to Jizhou should have arrived, but only [-] shi of grain arrived in Pingshan County after such a long time. Jizhou governor Wang Jing It's not a mediocre official, there must be something wrong with it.

"Can the grain merchants in the city sell any grain?"

"The grain and rice shops in the city still have grain in stock, but the price can't be restrained! Now these grain merchants are charging [-] yuan for a bucket of rice!"

When this matter was brought up, the county magistrate was furious. These grain merchants huddled together to fight against the government, driving up prices at the time of the catastrophe, and making a fortune for the country, but there was nothing they could do about it.

"Six hundred words?!" Yang Qingyuan's originally calm face couldn't help being surprised.

Food prices in Pingshan County have risen tenfold. After Liu Chang fell ill, no one can stop these profiteers.

In the face of a catastrophe, the most terrifying thing is not a natural disaster, but the human heart.

"Is this after Master Liu fell ill?"

Jun Cheng shook his head, "Food prices started to soar before Mr. Liu fell ill! The leader of them is Chen Bing, a wealthy man from Pingshan County. This person joined forces with the rest of the grain merchants in the county to raise the price of grain to fight against the government. "

"So all grain merchants are involved?"

Juncheng shook his head, "There are also a few conscientious families who are unwilling to make a fortune in the face of national crisis, but Chen Bing sent people to buy all the food from these people at a low price! Then sell it at a high price!"

"Master Liu brought his old body to discuss with Chen Bing, but Chen Bing deliberately took Master Liu to a gazebo and sat there for an entire hour under the pretext of negotiating. Master Liu is old and weak, so he was infected I can’t afford to get sick from the wind and cold.”

Jun Cheng was furious when he thought of Chen Bing.

"A merchant, Jia An, dares to do such a rampage?!" Yang Qingyuan was really scheming when he heard about this person's behavior.

Jun Cheng added: "Not only that, this Chen Bing is even more ruthless and decisive. Seeing that the negotiation was fruitless, Mr. Liu wanted to send messengers to seal up his granary. Unexpectedly, this man was so mad that he burned fifty shi of grain in one go, and Threatened that if Mr. Liu forcefully grabs the food, he would rather set fire to destroy the people's food and die, and never let the lawless officials rob the food."

"Furthermore, this person is also in contact with high-ranking officials in Beijing, and he threatened to go to Beijing to sue Mr. Liu for breaking the law and abusing his private power!"

There was coldness in Yang Qingyuan's eyes, "Is this person famous?"

Merchants alone should not have such courage. Scholars, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen are at the bottom. Most of them can become a huge fortune. Other gentry divided up the property.

"This person is the Juren of the first year of Yong'an."

Yang Qingyuan nodded, this is normal, if ordinary people are the ruled class, and scholars are trying their best to get closer to the ruling class, then Juren is the proper ruling class.

Although Juren cannot directly serve, he has become a reserve official, similar to a county magistrate, county lieutenant, or academic officer. If he has a better relationship background, he may even serve as a county magistrate.

Once people who understand the law and knowledge do evil, the destructiveness is far greater than that of ordinary robbers.

If we really want to do a good job in disaster relief work, we must deal with this villain who understands the law.

Want to be an outlaw fanatic in front of Dali Temple?nonexistent! !

But before moving this evil businessman, Yang Qingyuan still needs to do some preparatory work.

"Prince Zhao, where is the city defense force of Pingshan County?"

"My lord, the city defense army of Pingshan County is led by the school lieutenant Hu Cheng, and a junior officer is not qualified to intervene in military affairs."

Yang Qingyuan nodded, agreeing with Juncheng's statement that only a county magistrate has the power to mobilize the city defense army.

After waiting for the yamen servants in the mansion to eat their fill, Yang Qingyuan took the prefect Zhao Jianfeng, Shen Bao Xiao Tao, Xiao Yang Guo and a group of yamen servants to the barracks.

In order to establish order in this catastrophe, it is necessary to have the power to maintain order. This power cannot be relied on by Yang Qingyuan and Yacha, and the city defense army must be added.

A group of people came to the city defense camp in the west of the city.

There are five hundred city defense troops stationed here.

Originally, according to the scale of Pingshan County, there should be 500 city defense troops, but at this time, King Zhao of Yancheng is already ready to move, and the city defense troops of all counties in Jizhou have been transferred to Shanggu Camp. Part of the main force of the army has also gone south to guard against King Zhao.

"Zhao Juncheng!" Although the two sides did not interfere with each other, the guards knew Zhao Jianfeng.

"This is the new Pingshan County prefect, Mr. Yang!"

The sergeant in charge of guarding the gate immediately gave a military salute to Yang Qingyuan.

Although Zhao Jianfeng, the county magistrate, was a high official, he was not their superior, but Yang Qingyuan, the prefect, was different. He could intervene in the military and political affairs of Pingshan County.

Under the leadership of the guard at the gate, Yang Qingyuan and his party entered the camp.

After entering the camp, Yang Qingyuan sensed that the atmosphere was not right.

According to the etiquette, Pingshan school lieutenant Hu Cheng should stand up to greet the Pingshan prefect, after all, his official position is much higher than him and he has the right to supervise.

But Hu Cheng still sat firmly in the chief seat, unmoved.

"Lieutenant Hu, this is the new Governor of Pingshan County, Mr. Yang!"

Seeing this, Zhao Jianfeng immediately spoke.

Hu Cheng got up slowly, and said, "Zhao Juncheng, you can't make a mistake!? Mr. Liu is still in office, how could there be a new prefect?"

Liu Chang, the former prefect of Pingshan County, was old and rarely intervened in the management of the city defense army, so Hu Cheng could almost cover the sky with one hand in the city defense army, and lived a happy life.

Now that Yang Qingyuan is here, such a newly appointed prefect must control the military power, which has touched Hu Cheng's interests.

Although the prefect can mobilize the city defense army when necessary, the immediate superior of the captain of the city defense army is the state Sima or other state military chiefs, and there is no direct master-slave relationship between the two parties.

Even Hu Cheng is not very afraid of Yang Qingyuan.

"Lieutenant Hu must not speak in vain, I have already passed Lord Yang's imperial edict, and there is no fallacy."

"Oh?!"

Hu Cheng got off his seat, came to Yang Qingyuan's side, looked at him for a while, and then reluctantly bowed his hands in salute.

(End of this chapter)