Daming: Lend the system to Emperor Hongwu at the beginning

Chapter 177 Food War 【Pursuit】

Jiajing 49 years.

A once-in-a-century spectacle appeared in the disaster-stricken areas of Henan and Shanxi.

In previous years, a stone would cost two taels of silver, and in disaster years, rice could rise to five taels or six taels of silver. In this catastrophe year, it only costs one tael or three taels of silver.

And this rice is available to everyone, whoever wants to sell it can buy it without any restrictions.

Naturally, the happiest people with such a policy are the disaster victims, because at least they can survive this disaster year without having to sell their children or daughters.

Also happy are those gentry who are secretly connected.

In a private club in Nanjing, more than 20 local gentry gathered at the moment.

What they were talking about was the issue of food relief in Henan and Shanxi.

"I've never seen rice that costs one, two, three, and one stone since I was born. I really don't know if those policy-making officials in the imperial court are out of their minds to sell grain at such a low price."

"Haha, people are concerned about the country and the people. Seeing that the common people don't have enough to eat, so they sell food at a low price, but it has nothing to do with you and me."

"Hmph, did he say it's okay if it's okay?"

"The old man bought grain with real money, so why can't he sell it to me?" A gentry said with a displeased expression.

"Hey, he can't do anything if he doesn't sell it. Let's let the servant change into coarse clothes, can he still recognize it?"

Many gentry burst out laughing when they heard the words, obviously they all felt very comfortable.

"Everyone, this old man will tell you another good way!"

"You all know the Royal Central Bank of the imperial court, right?"

"As long as you hold the land deed or the house as collateral, you can borrow a lot of money or silver at low interest rates, and even if you can repay the silver within half a year, all the interest will be reduced."

"If you don't have enough money on hand, you can go there and have a look."

"Hey, let's use the court's money to earn the court's money, isn't that very relieved?"

When everyone heard the words, their eyes could not help but light up. Obviously, this method is very suitable for everyone.

They don't have to worry about repaying their loans after a few months for a business that is sure to make money like reselling grain.

These days, the bold and the timid have always been starved to death.

And their family can have a huge family business, and even dare to secretly oppose the court, so there is no one who is not fat.

The initiator of this meeting, a big gentry with more than [-] mu of land in the south of the Yangtze River, saw that the negotiation was almost done, so he said: "Everyone, it's settled, everyone will split up to raise money, and go to Henan and Shanxi as much as possible." Buy food."

"We only need to stockpile these grains for a few months, and we don't even need to stockpile them. It's a huge profit to sell them directly back to Nanzhili. If you don't make money, you'd be a fool..."

"Besides, this is also related to the direction of the imperial court's major policies. As long as it is done this time, and the imperial court begs us to release grain, we can negotiate terms with the imperial court and abolish the policy of paying grain for officials and gentry."

"I think everyone understands this point, so I don't need to say more..."

Secret talks like this have been held many times in the whole of Ming Dynasty in the past few days. The opinions of these gentry are very unified. They raised money to buy grain. until it doesn't come out.

At that time, millions of disaster victims in Henan and Shanxi provinces will be starving for food. If the imperial court does not want to cause civil unrest, it will definitely compromise with them.

And the changes of these gentry cannot escape Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes at all.

A month later, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was in the city of Beijing, received a report from Jin Yiwei about the abnormal situation in Henan and Shanxi, and the speed at which the relief food was consumed obviously began to accelerate.

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered at this.

"Let them just buy and see whether we go bankrupt or they go bankrupt!"

Soon, court officials in this direction saw the unparalleled resource management ability of the early Ming Dynasty.

Countless grains were imported from the early Ming Dynasty, and then flowed continuously to Shanxi, Henan, and even South Zhili, Zhejiang and other places.

The convoy passing through the space channel seems to have no end, and it has been continuous for several days and nights.

"This... how much food is there in that world!"

"It's really hard to imagine how rich a country is to have so much food!" As the food receiving and dispatching officer, Gao Gong stood in front of the space passage, and the shocked expression on his face never dissipated. .

He had been to the early Ming Dynasty, but only once, and it was only a glimpse. His only impression of that world was that it was clean. The streets of Nanjing City over there were almost cleaner than his house.

Other than that, he had no impression.

But now the impression of the early Ming Dynasty has gradually become three-dimensional. If it can be expressed in one word, it is a tyrant, a local tyrant.

At least in terms of food, His Majesty said before that the food reserves at the beginning could supply the people of Ming Dynasty for ten years. He thought it was an exaggeration, but now it seems that this may really be true...

"The gentry hoarding grain will suffer." Gao Gong looked at the grain carts, gloating.

As Gao Gong said.

Two months later, the expressions on the faces of the gentry from all over the country who hoarded a large number of grains began to look ugly.

They spent almost all the silver in the family to buy grain, but the grain store directly operated by the imperial court did not run out of grain, and the price was even lower than the previous price by one penny.

This is so outrageous. I went to grandma's house.

"Where did the imperial court get so much food?" This was the common doubt in the minds of all the gentry.

"We've already bought hundreds of boats of grain, and the imperial court's grain reserves will soon be exhausted no matter how much they have!"

"Don't panic, keep buying. If you don't have enough money, go to the bank for a loan."

"It's like fighting a war. Now is the most critical stage of fierce battle. It is difficult for us, and it is even more difficult for the court. It depends on who can survive to the end."

"Since everyone has entered the gambling table, stick to it until the end. As long as we win, we can take all the winners and win everything." Some gentry passionately uttered bold words in a private party.

Lan Yu and Zhu Xiongying, who did not know how to sneak into this private gathering, silently watched this man's impassioned speech.

The expressions on the faces of both of them were very exciting, and they wanted to laugh a little, but the occasion was not right, so they could only hold back.

When the rally was over, the two walked on the street in silence.

"Is this person the dark son invited by the emperor?" Zhu Xiongying couldn't help asking curiously.

"As far as I know, no!" Sapphire shook her head.

"Then he...is really a talent comparable to crouching dragon and phoenix chick!" Zhu Xiongying sighed.

The two looked at each other, couldn't help it anymore, and laughed together.

In the blink of an eye, another two months passed.

In the eager anticipation of many gentry, the grain in the directly-operated grain stores in Shanxi and Henan not only failed to sell, but dropped by two renminbi.

Now the market price has dropped to one tael of silver for one stone of rice.

This almost made those gentlemen break their defenses on the spot.

And the most important thing is that after nearly half a year of low-priced grain sales, the disaster situation in Henan and Shanxi provinces has basically passed smoothly.

In another month, the people will be able to harvest the new season's grain, and by then there will be no shortage of grain.

This suddenly made the gentry who were holding a lot of food in their hands a little bit overwhelmed.

And many of their loans at the Royal Central Bank will soon be due.

"I can't do it, everyone, I can't hold on anymore, I can only put some food out!" A gentry spoke first.

With a leader, many gentry immediately began to commotion.

After all, judging from the huge grain reserves in their hands, if they sell them in large quantities, it will definitely cause market turmoil, and further reduction in grain prices is inevitable. If they sell early, the price can be higher and they will pay less. If they sell late, they will lose their money. No return.

But when they flocked to the grain merchants to inquire about the price, they were told that the imperial court had already sold them a large amount of grain at a low price. The price was so low that all the gentry were scared, and the grain merchants would not need to buy any more grain in the next year up.

This immediately made all the gentry completely dumbfounded.

And what followed was that the whole body was exhausted and the body was cold.

Many gentry understand that they are completely finished with this blow.

"The heat is almost ready, then reduce the price of grain by two cents, and then keep it at this price!" Zhu Yuanzhang received a report from Jin Yiwei's monitoring of these gentry, and directly ordered.

Hearing the words, many great scholars nearby could not help but glance at each other, and a trace of worry flashed in their eyes.

This price is already far lower than the normal level of grain prices in previous years. If this price is maintained in the future, some places will lose money in farming.

This will directly cause many gentry to abandon their land.

Not to mention paying taxes for farming, and the food grown is not enough for the capital, so no one will do this kind of business that pays for a year.

"Your Majesty, the cheapness of the grain hurts the peasants, it's too much!"

"If the food price is too low, not only the gentry can't bear it, but even ordinary people can't bear it. After all, a whipping law is being implemented now, and all taxes have been changed to using precious notes."

"The reduction in food prices means that the people have to pay more taxes." Xu Jie reminded.

"Of course we understand this truth!"

"But we want to liberate the people from the bondage of the land!"

"Now there are countless workshops in the entire Ming Dynasty, and the railways and roads under construction require a large number of workers to work. If the people don't benefit from farming, they will naturally turn to the workshops to work and earn money."

"As for those big landlords, the land can't provide them with benefits, and their eyes will naturally shift to other places, such as overseas, where there are mountains of gold and silver everywhere!"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the great Confucians in front of him with a smile and continued: "Now, isn't the problem of Xu Da's lack of Confucian and Taoist superhumans also solved together?"

Xu Jie and the others stopped talking immediately after hearing the words.

The reasons given by Zhu Yuanzhang made it impossible for them to refute.

And they really didn't expect that Zhu Yuanzhang would play so many tricks in this food war.

"This Emperor Hongwu not only has clever means, but also has a great empire behind him to support him. Zhu Yuanzhang solved the big problem that was difficult to solve in their eyes, and it was solved without any hidden danger."

"Who can fight such a person!" Xu Jie sighed secretly, and the last little thought in his heart was completely extinguished.

He has already decided that when the court falls this time, he will write a letter to his family to ask those unworthy descendants of the family to respond to the court's call and leave a few hundred acres of the family's land for their own use, and donate the rest to the court at a low price or even free of charge. Then let all the students in the family who have entered the Confucianism and Taoism grades go out of Daming and go to the army to serve Daming. "

"From today onwards, he, Xu, will be a good official who truly serves Daming and the people wholeheartedly." Xu Jie couldn't help but feel emotional.

Soon Xu Jie's actions spread to Xiyuan.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and threw the news that Jin Yiwei had found to Emperor Jiajing next to him.

"have a look!"

"We said that whether it's the traitorous minister Yan Song or the traitorous and loyal Xu Jie, we have a way to turn them into loyal ministers who truly serve our Daming. Isn't this realized?"

Emperor Jiajing carefully read it several times, and it was still unbelievable until an hour later.

"Xu Jie actually donated his family's land to the imperial court at a low price, it's unbelievable!"

"Didn't those gentry always regard the land as their lifeblood?" Emperor Jiajing sighed.

"This is the general trend."

"We have the ability to dump grain and even silk to this side all the time, making the land here completely worthless."

"Xu Jie and the others saw this, so they naturally understand that they are not qualified to bargain with us. They might as well just donate the land and sell it to us!"

"Look, with Xu Jie as an example, those smart people will soon follow suit." Zhu Yuanzhang laughed.

"Then what if some people don't sell the land after being killed?" Emperor Jiajing asked curiously.

"Hehe, the general trend is rolling forward, and those who are unwilling to bow their heads have no choice but to be crushed to death by the times."

"In the face of the will of the country, those who want to fight have never ended well."

Having said this, Zhu Yuanzhang stood up and said domineeringly: "Besides, we are going to take the giant ship of Ming Dynasty soaring above the nine heavens. We can say with certainty that as long as they can keep up with our footsteps, everyone will be rewarded." income."

"As long as a smart person will understand what is the right choice and what to do to ride the wind."

Looking at the imposing Zhu Yuanzhang in front of him, Emperor Jiajing fell into deep thought for the first time.

"Perhaps he should also think about his position in the future Ming Dynasty."

(End of this chapter)