serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 355 Food Crisis
In the blink of an eye, it was mid-June of the lunar calendar, and the capital city entered the hottest dog days. For ten days in a row, there was not a breath of wind. Even at night, the willow tops of the moat did not move.

Because it was a dog day, and because it was noon, the scorching sun was shining brightly, and even the leaves on the trees were wilted.

At this time in previous years, the post roads outside the city would have been deserted.

However, at this time, the post road was crowded with carriages and mule carts filled with grain and rice.

A small stream flows by the road, it is crystal clear. A servant and a soldier escorting the official rations are taking off their sweat clothes and wiping their bodies with the stream water to dispel the heat.

Cheng Ying and Ma Zerui stood side by side under the willow tree next to the post road to enjoy the shade. In the blink of an eye, a year passed. Both of them were promoted. Now they are both members of the Ministry of Revenue. The grain purchased from large households in Baoding and other places was escorted to Beijing.

Mazerui pulled open his collar, unfolded the folding fan and started fanning desperately: "This god, I really want to heat people to death!"

Cheng Ying gently shook the folding fan and smiled lightly: "What year is it not so hot that it kills people and makes a fuss about it?"

Mazerui: "I can't say anything about you. Hey, I heard that those dog officials are impeaching the prince again. I just can't understand that the prince just sells ice cubes to the people at a low price so that they can have ice cubes to cool down and survive. How come this Futian has become an invitation to buy people's hearts, with ulterior motives?"

Cheng Ying glanced at him sideways, closed her fan, and touched the official robe on his body: "You and I are wearing this official robe now, so don't open your mouth and shut up, you idiots. Those who are trying to impeach the prince are either the Mei Party or the Royal Party. . Needless to say, people from the Mei Party, both sides have enmity. As for the royalist party, it was just Ma Ruifang who wanted to divert the internal conflicts of the royalist party. This Zhang Guangru is also a fool with stupid luck, and he accidentally won Zhang Qingtian. His nickname has attracted a large number of young officials with ideals and ambitions."

As he spoke, his eyes swept over the cart containing grain and rice, and he asked Mazerui: "How long has it been since Uncle Ma received a letter?"

"It's been more than three months."

Mazerui hesitated for a moment and whispered: "Do you think something happened to the caravan?"

Hearing this, Cheng Ying frowned and said, "Don't think blindly. The ships of the Chamber of Commerce are all standard sea ships and are equipped with artillery. Besides, the Guangdong Navy has been patrolling the sea, so there is no chance of anything happening."

Mazerui: "But the Chamber of Commerce's ship should have docked at Tianjin Pier a month ago."

Cheng Ying's eyes were a little dazed. Not only did the Jia Chamber of Commerce's ship fail to arrive at the Tianjin pier on time, but so did the fleets of other companies.

These fleets would arrive at the Tianjin dock every time fully loaded with rice from Nanyang.

It was precisely because of the support of these Nanyang rice that the imperial court was able to start wars on several battlefields at the same time.

At this time, a rapid sound of horse hooves came over, and the two of them looked at it.

A postman galloped towards them on horseback, stopped in front of the two of them, dismounted, took out a letter from his arms and presented it with both hands.

Cheng Ying took the letter and tore it open to read. His face immediately darkened. Then he clenched the letter and said to the postman: "Go back and tell Minister Liu to reassure them that this batch of grain will be transported to Beijing before noon tomorrow."

The postman: "Yes!" After replying, he got on his horse and galloped towards the capital.

Mazerui: "What's wrong?"

Cheng Ying sighed: "The news that the imperial court is short of food has leaked, and the capital is in chaos."

Mazerui: "."

Cheng Ying collected the letter, waved her hand, and shouted: "Good luck!"

Soon, the horse whips were waved, and the carts drove towards the capital.
At this time, the capital city was in chaos. As soon as the people opened their eyes, they were shocked by the news. The granaries inside and outside the city were all empty, and the capital city had no food!
The people panicked instantly, and regardless of whether it was true or not, they took their money and pockets and rushed into the nearest rice store. There were even whole families who joined the battle.

There were a lot of people, people waiting to buy rice lined up tightly under the scorching sun. The rice store was so frightened that the door was closed, leaving only a crack. The queue reached the corner of the street. The people in front stuffed money into it and then opened it. The waiter in the rice shop poured rice into his pocket through the crack in the door.

It was a sweltering day, the weather was sultry, and my heart was hot. There were all kinds of pushing and swearing. A few old ladies fought in the street because they cut in line, and they couldn't pull each other away.

A Shuntian Prefecture official came over with sweat on his face, holding a gong in his hand. When he saw the people on the street, he beat the gong and shouted: "Master Fu Yin has something to say, there is food in the capital, and the people don't need to panic."

Seeing that no one was paying attention, the guard walked down the street with a grimace.

Someone was walking back excitedly carrying a bag of rice, and someone else was pushing a cart with rice noodles piled high on the cart. The whole family was guarding them, watching the surroundings with wide eyes.

The crowd on the street was noisy.

In front of a rice store, a notice was posted: "Closed when sold out."

Some rice buyers knocked on the shop door.The waiter stuck his head out and said, "Don't knock, don't knock. It's really all sold out! If you want to buy rice, go to the government office and find an official." With that, he closed the door with a bang.

Cabinet value
Li Shouzhong stood beside the big case, slowly turned around and looked at Wang Hetang.

The desk is piled with official documents, and Wang Hetang is processing them with his hands.

Shi Guangzhu was sitting leisurely on the chair under the window.

At this time, the door was pushed open with a "snap".

"Crazy, crazy!"

Zhao Zixun rushed in like a gust of wind, wiped the sweat on his forehead with his sleeves, and gasped: "Everyone is going crazy. It is estimated that about half of the rice has been sold out and suspended from the market."

Li Shouzhong: "Is it really sold out?"

Zhao Zixun took the tea handed by Shi Guangzhu, drank it in several sips, and then said: "That's right. They all got the news and knew that the imperial court was going to sell the old grain accumulated in the official warehouse at a low price, so they took this opportunity to sell them All the grain was sold, and the price didn’t even increase.”

Li Shouzhong smiled bitterly: "If they knew that the imperial court could not purchase grain and rice from Nanyang, it would be a different story!"

Zhao Zixun nodded.

They released the news that the court was short of food, in order to let the people rush to buy food and reserve a certain amount of food.

In order to make these grain merchants willing to sell grain to the common people, they also spread a rumor that grain and rice from Nanyang were coming to Beijing, and the imperial court was preparing to sell all the old grain in the official warehouses to the common people at low prices.

Sure enough, in order to avoid losses, grain merchants took the opportunity to sell grain and rice.

Wang Hetang spoke: "The problem in the capital has been solved. The northwest army's grain and grass are also allocated by Gansu, Shaanxi and Henan provinces. The pressure on the Ministry of Revenue is much less, as long as the autumn grain is put into the warehouse."

Before he could finish his words, Song Jing ran in, sweating profusely, panting: "Something happened, something happened. News spread that the Nanyang countries refused to sell grain and rice to merchants in the Zhou Dynasty. Now all the rice shops are closed!"

Zhao Zixun's expression changed: "Didn't the Director of Ceremonies say that everyone was detained at Tianjin Pier? How did this news spread?"

Song Jing shook his head: "I don't know. But the news came from Dongshi."

Shi Guangzhu hit the coffee table with his palm, shaking the tea bowl: "It's Dongshi again! The last time the news of the capture of Nan'an County King also came from there, and the mastermind behind it has not been found yet. Now again I don't believe in this evil plan anymore! I'll go to the infantry yamen to mobilize troops and find this bastard!" After saying that, he stood up and wanted to walk out.

Li Shouzhong quickly stopped, "Calm down, calm down! The most important thing right now is to resolve the possible panic." As he said that, he looked at Wang Hetang.

Zhao Zixun and Shi Guangzhu also looked at Wang Hetang.

Wang Hetang looked at Song Jing: "Are all those rice shops closed?"

Song Jing nodded.

With a cold snort, Wang Hetang turned to Zhao Zixun and said, "I'd like to ask Mr. Zhao Ge to go and ask people from the Ministry of Household Affairs to purchase the grain stocks from various rice shops."

Zhao Zixun: "What price? Market price, they will definitely not agree."

Wang Hetang's eyes turned cold: "Just the market price. Now there are two steps. The first step is for the Ministry of Household Affairs to purchase their grain reserves and then uniformly distribute them to the people who are short of food. But if they are unwilling to cooperate, huh, just give in to the Infantry Army Yamen The stores were closed and people were taken away, and all stored food was confiscated."

Zhao Zixun took a breath of air: "I'm afraid this is not good."

Wang Hetang waved his hand: "Since it's shameless, slap them in the face hard so that they wake up and know what they are. This is what I did when I promoted the New Deal in Jiangsu. I hit them hard. Kill a few and they will be better behaved than the common people!"

Li Shouzhong continued: "In the past two years, they have purchased grain from the Jiajia Chamber of Commerce at low prices, and then sold it to the people at market prices. They have made a lot of money, and it is time to contribute some to the court."

Shi Guangzhu: "That's right. They have made too much money in the past two years, and the people have long been dissatisfied. Letting them spit out some of it can also quell public anger."

Zhao Zixun smiled bitterly: "I understand." After saying that, he led Song Jing out.

Wang Hetang stood up: "Let's go to the study."

(End of this chapter)