Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 244 0239 [Fooling the Elderly]

Xiangyang is the capital of Jingxi South Road. The spring drought here is not serious, and it is relatively close to Jinzhou. It is a very suitable place to buy grain.

Qian Chen wanted to try, so he stopped and did not move forward.

After two days of inquiring in Xiangyang, Qian Chen went to visit a big local grain merchant.

Halfway on the way, Zhang Tong asked doubts in his heart: "Yesterday, according to the investigation, the largest grain merchant near Xiangyang is the Pi family. Why don't you go to visit the Wei family today?"

Qian Chen explained: "There are three grain merchants in the world, one is sitting, the other is walking, and the third is teething."

"Pi's is a merchant. They transport grain to other places to sell, so it is impossible to return empty, and they have to buy other goods. They do business twice, and they don't just rely on grain to make money. The bigger the field Disasters, the happier they are. There will be a shortage of food in the north this year, and the eunuchs can tell, don't those grain merchants know?"

"The Wei family is a tooth merchant. They go to the countryside to collect grain, store it in warehouses, and wait for foreign merchants to buy it. Although the price will increase this year, it is definitely not as fierce as that of the merchants. Moreover, the tooth merchants are often still merchants. , must be the strongest in the local area, and the amount of grain collected in the countryside is the most stable.”

Zhang Tong said convincingly: "Unexpectedly, there are so many ways to deal with merchants. It's no wonder that Xianggong entrusts you with money and don't drive to buy grain."

The Wei family does not live in Xiangyang, but in Dengcheng, more than ten miles northwest of Xiangyang, where Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army.

The official ship was still berthing in Xiangyang, Qian Chen and Zhang Tong took a few people with them, and they drove to Dengcheng that day.

Staying at the inn, and inquiring about the news from the clerk, he knew that the Wei family had a manor in the suburbs, and a mansion in the city.The person in charge of the business lives in the city, but the head of the Wei family lives in the suburbs.

Zhang Tong asked: "Don't you want to go to the suburbs to meet the head of the Wei clan?"

"Of course," Qian Chen said with a smile, "when you go to visit in the city, you can only talk about business, and the price can't be lowered. When you go to visit in the suburbs, you can talk about other things. I'm not very knowledgeable, but the prefect is quite talented. Maybe the patriarch of the Wei clan will save some face."

That night, Qian Chen asked the clerk to bring hot water to soak his feet, and took the opportunity to ask, "Mr. Xishang from the Wei family, do you know what kind of person he is?"

The clerk smiled and said: "Being old is disrespectful, and he likes to tease people. He doesn't like it, so he beats and scolds at every turn. Two years ago, he beat the county magistrate with a cane, and the county magistrate could only dodge with his head in his arms. Gentlemen are often beaten and scolded by him, and anyone who sees him will walk around."

Qian Chen focused on the key point: "It's just beating and scolding the county magistrate and gentry, didn't it harm the common people?"

"That's not true. Old Mr. Wei is very lofty, and he doesn't usually deal with mud legs," the man began to gossip, "His temper is much more restrained now than when he was young. I heard from the old man in the market that he failed the exam several times. He was so angry that he beat the examiner to death on the spot."

It wasn't a beating to half-death, but almost beating the examiner to death!

Since then, I no longer take part in the imperial examination, but my friends are all the best: Wang Anshi, Wang Anguo, Zhang Dun, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu...

By the way, he also has a brother-in-law named Zeng Bu, and his sister and Li Qingzhao are also known as the two major poetesses of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Qian Chen asked again, and when he learned that this person was proficient in poetry, he suddenly became concerned.Immediately took out a pen and paper, and silently wrote all of Ju Ming's poems.

Why can Qian Chen silently write Ju Ming's poems?

Of course, it is necessary to study and figure out the boss!
……

Wei Tai is in his sixties this year, witty and eloquent, harsh in speech, ruthless and courageous, and good at rhetoric.

When he was young, he beat the examiner to ruin his official career, and when he was old, he was arrogant for a while.At that time, brother-in-law Zeng Bu was in power, and Wei Tai was also arrogant. He didn't give face to anyone, and often made people feel embarrassed.When it comes to literati's writing, it is like taking advantage of the power of brother-in-law to run rampant in the countryside.

In fact, he was very lonely. All his close friends in his youth had passed away, and there was not even one who could speak.

Now I do three things every day, one is raising geese; the other is fishing by the stream, calling myself my father-in-law on the stream;

What Zhang Shizheng, Mei Yaochen and the like have been dead for decades, and some more works have been published out of nowhere, all of which were written by Wei Tai to deceive people for fun.

After hanging up the bait, Wei Tai threw his pole into the stream without looking at the buoys, and just leaned back on the chair to eat wine.

The weather is not hot, and there are shades of trees, which is quite pleasant.

Drowsy and about to fall asleep, his grandson Wei Ying rushed over quickly: "Grandfather, grandfather... Weng Weng!"

"Ok?"

Wei Tai opened his eyes, picked up the rod casually, and found that the bait had been eaten up, so he hung up the bait again and threw it out: "Why do you come looking for me instead of studying at home?"

Wei Yingshi said: "My grandfather once praised Zhu Chenggong's poems, and my grandson saw some excellent works today."

Someone from Dengcheng County went to the imperial examination and copied back Ju Ming's poems. Wei Tai liked the song "Linjiang Immortal Rolling Yangtze River East Passing Water" the most.

"Take a look." Wei Tai finally regained his energy.

There are only three new works, one was given to Li Shishi, one was written when he left Beijing for his post, and the other was written in Kuiqiu.

Wei Tai read it carefully, and found that the rhythm of the poem copied from Wang Guowei was wrong, but it seemed to be done on purpose. He couldn't understand what he was expressing for the time being.Wei Tai didn't like the farewell poems written when he left Beijing.Only the poem about mourning Kuiqiu was quite to Wei Tai's liking.

"Where did it come from?" Wei Tai asked his grandson.

Wei Yingshi said: "Jinzhou don't drive by here and come to see you with Zhu Chenggong's poem."

"Don't drive to Jinzhou..." Wei Tai muttered twice, stood up on crutches and prepared to go home.

He completely missed the point because don't use this position, it is usually given to those who have been relegated or retired, Wei Tai thought it was some old friend who came to visit.

Although all of his close friends are dead, he had a wide range of acquaintances back then, and many casual acquaintances are still alive.

Seeing a fat young man at home, Wei Tai was a little dumbfounded, and asked, "Which old man are you from?"

Qian Chen replied: "No. It's just that I admire Mr.'s name, so I came here specially to visit."

Wei Tai asked again: "When did you become a Jinshi?"

Qian Chen said: "The junior did not pass the Jinshi examination."

If you don't pass the Jinshi exam, but you can do a good job, that is to donate an official. Wei Tai said angrily: "You are a white body, but you come to entertain the old man, go as far as you can!"

"The younger generation is the envoy sent by Zhu Taishou!" Qian Chen said hastily.

Wei Yingshi explained: "The prefect of Jinzhou is Zhu Chenggong."

Wei Tai's anger subsided slightly: "I don't know him before, why did you send an envoy here?"

Qian Chen said: "Mr. Zhu Taishou has long admired Mr. Shu's name, and respected Shu Wang (Wang Anshi) and Zeng Wensu Gong (Zeng Bu)'s ambition to reform. He often lamented that he was born several decades late, and he could not appreciate the heroic demeanor of you in person. Now the treacherous minister In power, Cai Jing pretended to promote the new law to enrich the country under the pretense of King Shu, but actually collected money and harmed the people. Hearing that Mr. Deng lived in seclusion in Dengcheng, he specially sent his younger generation to visit him."

"He's interested, sit down." Wei Tai stroked his beard and smiled.

Wei Tai's brother-in-law, Zeng Bu, was expelled from the court by Cai Jing, and even beat Zeng Bu as a member of the Yuanyou Party.

No matter who scolds Cai Jing, Wei Tai likes it.

Qian Chen also said: "The younger generation came to Dengcheng, and heard someone criticize you, and said that you were running rampant in the village. However, the younger generation didn't believe it, and after inquiring carefully, I found out that the gentleman did not harm the people. He also treated the people kindly, my lord." All the people speak well of Mr.

The second half of the sentence is nonsense. Although the Wei family has no common people, they don't treat them well.

But Wei Tai likes to hear it. He feels that his family is very good, and he should be respected by the people, so he nodded immediately: "I said that most of the people who run amok in the village have been beaten, scolded and teased by me. You come from other places and can tell right from wrong. It's not easy either."

Qian Chen continued to put on a high hat: "King Shu is dedicated to the public, so he is a man who loves the people. Mr. Shu is a close friend of King Shu, and he must have a heart for the people, and he does not want to see the people suffer."

Wei Tai has a bad temper and a straight temper, and he can't change it even with his age.

This kind of person has to be smooth, as long as it makes him happy, he can talk about anything.If it made him unhappy, hehe, he could rush into the Tribute Academy to beat the chief examiner, just because he suspected that the examiner deliberately sentenced him to fail.

Wei Tai was soothed by a few words, and said: "I think that Zhu Chenggong pays homage to Kuiqiu's work, and he is also a person who cares about the people of the country."

Qian Chen said: "Prefect Zhu went to Puzhou and saw that Yaoling was harming the people, so he violated the order and redefined the restricted area..."

Qian Chen was like a treasured family, telling all kinds of stories about Zhu Ming in Puzhou in detail.Adding oil and vinegar, it tells that Zhu Ming was envied by the Cai party, and the emperor bewitched him to transfer Zhu Ming to Jinzhou, a place where no shit.

Besides, even though Zhu Ming is in a barren land, he still loves the people.Before he took office, he saw the traitor party enslaving the people to pan for gold, and immediately fell out with the judge and sent the people home to farm.He also said that Zhu Ming retried the unjust case, which made up a lot of ups and downs.

When it came to Ju Ming's forcible ban on Shi Yi Wu, and a fight with Tong San, Wei Tai clapped his hands and praised: "Good fight, you'll classify me!"

Zhang Tong rolled his eyes when he heard that, the prefect was obviously not there when the Shi Yiwu was banned, so how could he fight Tongpan?

But Qian Chen said: "Sir, I don't know. Before taking the Jinshi examination, Taishou Zhu took archers to suppress bandits, and each of them killed dozens of bandits with a sword. How can Li Daochong be compared with the prefect? ​​He just met each other. He was beaten until his nose bleeds profusely. Then he kicked him over, kicked him to the ground, grabbed Li Tongpan's lapel and asked, "Are you still not convinced? Although Li Tongpan felt resentful, he was afraid of being beaten to death. Lian said: I am convinced, I am convinced!"

Wei Tai laughed loudly: "Interesting, interesting, you are really in my generation!"

After talking nonsense again, Qian Chen suddenly sighed: "Alas, the spring drought is severe this year, and the eunuch cannot bear the suffering of the common people. He sent me to Xiangyang to pre-purchase summer grain, but I asked many grain merchants, and they all hoarded it and refused to sell it."

"It's easy to talk about," Wei Tai told his grandson, "Call your uncle back."

Wei Tai's eldest son, Wei Qun, lives in the city and is in charge of the Wei family's business.

After waiting for about an hour, Qian Chen never stopped talking, picking up what the old man liked to say from the beginning to the end.

Wei Qun hurried back to the ancestral house, naturally he would not be fooled by a few words, and asked directly: "How much grain does the prefect Zhu want to buy?"

"Ten thousand stones." Qian Chen opened his mouth and said.

A stone in the Song Dynasty was not 120 catties, but 92.5 Song catties, which is 59.2 kilograms in conversion.

Ten thousand stones, or 592 tons.

Wei Qun said: "I only sell five thousand stones, and if there are too many, I can't be sure to take them back."

"Five thousand stones are also acceptable, please make an offer." Qian Chen said.

Wei Qun said, "This year is different from the past. There is a spring drought in the north, and we don't know the price of grain. Your Excellency will come back in May, and then we will negotiate the price based on the actual situation."

Qian Chen turned around directly and bowed to Wei Tai: "Unexpectedly, the Wei family is just like other grain merchants, only thinking about hoarding, not caring about the life and death of the people at all. That's all, I'll go to the south to have a look."

Wei Tai couldn't hold back his face, and he had already realized that Qian Chen was flattering him just now, just to trick him into selling food.But when it comes to this matter, where will he save his face when it gets out?Immediately said to his son: "The price can be discussed first."

Wei Qun didn't dare to disobey his father's order, so the lion opened his mouth and said, "Wheat costs 1500 wen per stone!"

In the Northern Song Dynasty, grain prices fluctuated greatly.

In terms of the national average rice price, in the first year of Dazhong Xiangfu, it was only 80 Wen per stone.

Only 30 years later, at the time of Fan Zhongyan, the price rose to 300 Wen per Shimi.

Another 40 years later, due to the opening of Hehuang, the price per shimi soared to 700 Wen.

Since then, it has fluctuated between 300 wen and 700 wen, and in some areas, the harvest can drop below 150 wen.

Until Song Huizong succeeded to the throne, various conflicts broke out, and the price of rice was higher than 600 Wen for a long time.In the past two years of fighting with Xixia, disasters have occurred frequently in various places, coupled with the excessive issuance of large amounts of copper coins, the soaring amount has exceeded 1000 coins. (After the Fangla Uprising, each Shimi was between 2500 and 3000 Wen.)
The wheat in Xiangyang once rose to 1200 wen per stone because of the war in the early years of Huizong's reign.Later, it also dropped to 600 articles, but last year it rose to more than 900 articles.

The south of Jingxi South Road and the north of Jinghu North Road, that is, the main area of ​​Hubei Province in later generations, belonged to the place with the lowest grain price in the country in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Because Hubei is sparsely populated!

Affected by the wars of the Five Dynasties, the population has always been scarce.With the imperial court's policy of encouraging immigration and land reclamation, the population of Hubei gradually increased and reached its peak (90 households) during the Yuanfeng period.

Since then, the exploitation by the imperial court has become more and more serious, and the population has not increased but decreased. A large number of farmers have flocked to the cities or fled into the mountains, or even fled to other roads all the way.

During the reign of Song Huizong and Chongning, the number of households dropped to 77, and the household registration of Jiangling Mansion (under Jinghu North Road) was directly halved.

A large amount of land was abandoned, and even if the landlord wanted to cultivate it, he could not recruit so many tenants.

"Wheat of 1500 Wen, has the old man seen it?" Qian Chen looked at Wei Tai with a smile.

Wei Tai really lost his face, and scolded his son, "Don't ask for prices!"

Wei Qun said, "Father, the war in the northwest is not over, and there is a spring drought in the north. This year's wheat must have risen to more than 1500 renminbi! The child's price is already lowered."

Wei Tai said, "Surrender again."

Wei Qun thought for a while: "1450 Wen."

Qian Chen said: "One price, 1200 Wen! I have inquired, the wheat price here in Xiangyang, the highest over the years is only 1200 Wen."

"Daydreaming!" Wei Qun was too lazy to bother.

Wei Tai said, "Just sign the contract immediately for 1200 Wen!"

"Father, you are confused." Wei Qun was speechless.

It felt like the old father was fooled by unscrupulous salesmen and took out all the family savings to buy health care products.

Wei Tai's violent temper exploded again, and he picked up his crutches and said, "The old man is very sober. A stone of wheat costs 1200 Wen, and my Wei family can also make money. It can help the people, so what if I earn less? If you dare to say more, I will kill you." An unfilial son!"

With a serious expression on his face, Qian Chen bowed to Wei Taichang: "The old man cares about the common people, and the younger generation admires him so much!"

If this high hat is thrown out, Wei Qun has to sell it if he doesn't sell it, otherwise he will be unfilial.Either be beaten to death by his father, or pissed off by his father.

(End of this chapter)