big song poppi

Chapter 372 0368 [Shuo Shu, Shuo Shu! 】

Summer rainstorms come and go quickly.

In less than half an hour, the heavy rain gradually stopped.

Sun Fu set off immediately. After leaving the imperial city, he went straight to Changpingcang in the city.

There are many granaries in Beijing, which can be roughly divided into three categories, each with its own role.

Among them, Changpingcang is the most important.

Changpingcang is headed by the general of Sinong Temple and is the largest. Its main responsibility is to stabilize food prices and provide disaster relief.

In other words, Changpingcang is the real heritage of Tokyo city, and it will only be used in years of great disaster and famine.

When passing by a rice shop, Sun Fu suddenly ordered: "Stop!"

The coachman immediately tightened the reins and stopped the carriage steadily.

Sun Fu lifted the curtain and stepped out of the carriage with the help of the driver.

He stepped on the muddy road and walked into Mipu.

At this time, the business in Mipu was very good, and people were constantly coming in and out.

When he saw Mr. Sun, the shopkeeper immediately came forward and said with a smile on his face: "I have seen Mr. Sun. Why do you need to come in person to buy rice? Just let me know and the waiter will deliver it to your residence."

Mr. Sun didn't waste any time and asked straight to the point: "What's the price of rice today?"

The shopkeeper said with a lot of treasures: "My dearest husband knows that a bushel of rice in the south costs 820 coins, a bushel of japonica rice in the north costs 660 coins, and a bushel of corn costs 410 coins..."

"So expensive?"

Sun Fu frowned.

You know, although the price of rice increased a lot during the Huizong period, for example, rice in the south basically remained at about 300 wen a dou.

Now that there is a military disaster, it is normal for the price of rice to rise a little, but he never expected that it would more than double.

Even corn costs as much as 410 yuan. How can the people afford it?

Seeing this, the shopkeeper immediately shouted: "Ms. Sun, it's not that we deliberately raised the price of rice, but there isn't much food in the store. Nowadays, there is a shortage of food in the city, and many rice shops are closed."

Sun Fu asked again: "How much food is left in the store?"

The shopkeeper replied: "Not much left, only three to five hundred stones left."

Sun Fu nodded and stepped out of the rice shop.

Watching him leave, a trace of ridicule flashed in the shopkeeper's eyes.

Then, Sun Fu walked around other rice shops in the city.

Returning to the carriage, he looked gloomy.

As expected, most of the rice shops in the city were closed.

How could Master Sun not know that these grain merchants were not out of grain, but in search of rare goods?

After a while, sell it at a price three to four times or even ten times higher to make huge profits.

These are common methods used by grain merchants and are not surprising.

In troubled times, food is life.

Taking a deep breath, Sun Fu ordered: "Go to Changpingcang!"

……

At this time, Si Dingzhou was drinking in the public house.

Yu Cao, his subordinate, was collecting grain.

"Seven years old, eight hundred and thirty-five bags."

"Five years old, one thousand three hundred and twenty bags."

Picking up a piece of pork head meat with chopsticks and putting it into his mouth, Ding Zhou couldn't help but marveled: "The chef at Zhuolou is really amazing, he can cook the cheap meat so deliciously."

Pick up the wine glass and drink it all in one gulp.

A mouthful of food and a sip of wine, so satisfying.

Putting down his chopsticks, Ding Zhou warned a Cao official who was keeping accounts: "Be careful and make sure you don't make any mistakes. Although the abacus is small, it is bigger than my head!"

The Cao official was over fifty years old and had a long beard. He said confidently: "Ding Geng Festival, please be at ease. I have been serving official food for more than thirty years, but I haven't knocked out an old tooth yet."

"Be careful in everything, you can't make mistakes!"

Ding Zhou gave him a lesson, then picked up a piece of roasted mutton and stuffed it into his mouth.

The Sun Wang family's Zhizi barbecue is also outstanding. It's charred on the outside and tender on the inside, not inferior to Zhuolou's stewed meat.

After taking a sip of the fruit wine, Ding Zhou looked like he was enjoying himself and memorized "Poems to Encourage Learning" while shaking his head.

"A rich family does not need to buy fertile land, there are thousands of bells of millet in the books. There is no need to build a high hall to live in peace, there is a golden house in the books..."

Suddenly, a burst of footsteps came.

Ding Zhou, who was disturbed, felt unhappy and frowned.

At the first glance, his whole body suddenly became excited, and he quickly stood up and bowed: "I have met Sun Shangshu."

Glancing at the food and wine on the table, Master Sun just frowned slightly and didn't say much.

It's not a big deal for officials to drink.

Ding Zhou asked cautiously: "I wonder what brought Sun Shangshu here?"

Sun Fulang said loudly: "There is little food in the city now, and grain merchants have joined forces to raise the price of grain. Some even choose to close rice shops, leaving little room for rare goods. It is really hateful. I came to Changpingcang this time, intending to open the warehouse to stock up on grain, and stabilize the situation." Food prices!”

Ding Zhou's heart skipped a beat and he thought to himself that it was not good.

Sun Fu asked: "I would like to ask you, how much grain is there in Changping Granary now?"

Ding Zhouqi said: "This... is still under audit."

"Hmph! As the Chang Ping Secretary, you don't even know the amount of grain in the warehouse. It's simply ridiculous!"

Sun Fu snorted coldly, quickly came to the Cao official, grabbed the account and opened it.

After looking through it for a while, he asked: "The accounts record that there are 230,000 stones and 8,000 buckets in the warehouse, is that correct?"

Beads of sweat appeared on Ding Zhou's forehead: "There may be some discrepancies, but it's generally not bad."

Throwing the account book on the table, Master Sun strode into the granary.

Seeing this, Ding Zhou became anxious and quickly tried to dissuade him: "Sun Shangshu, Sun Shangshu, there is a lot of dust in the warehouse..."

However, Sun Fu ignored him and strode into the granary.

Looking at the bags of grain, he ordered: "I want to inspect the grain!"

Upon hearing this, Ding Zhou immediately winked at a Cao official.

The official Cao immediately understood and opened the bag of grain after moving it.

"Wait a minute." Sun Fu stopped Cao Li's movements and said coldly: "Bring me a bamboo stick and let me test it myself!"

For a moment, all the Cao officials stopped and looked at Ding Zhou with unnatural expressions.

But he saw Ding Zhou lifting up the wide sleeves of his official robe, wiping the sweat on his forehead, and said with a smile: "How can I bother Sun Shangshu with such rough work? Just let the officials do it."

Sun Fu's expression changed, an ominous premonition arose in his heart, and he angrily shouted: "Why are you still standing there? Get the bamboo sticks!"

The officials were frightened by this angry shout and rushed to get the bamboo sticks.

After taking the bamboo stick and copper plate, Sun Fu walked to a pile of grain, holding the bamboo stick in his hand, and inserted it into the sack.

Pull out the bamboo stick, and the yellow rice immediately pours out from the gap and falls on the copper plate, making a crisp sound.

call!

Ding Zhou let out a sigh of relief and felt happy.

But Sun Fu didn't stop there. He continued walking inside, randomly selected a bag of grain, and inserted the bamboo skewer into it again.

After pulling it out, the yellow particles tilted down.

However, what came out this time was not rice, but yellow sand!

Finished!

Ding Zhou's legs gave way and he fell to the ground, his face pale.

Master Sun's face was livid, and he smiled angrily: "Okay, okay, Changpingcang is the foundation of the country, and you dare to take advantage of it!"

Ding Zhou's lips moved a few times, and he said calmly: "Sun Shangshu, for the sake of King Yun, please don't go into details."

Sun Fu's tone was cold, with murderous intent: "Don't talk about King Yun, no one can save your life today. Ding Zhou, tell the truth, most of the Changping warehouse is yellow sand, who did you collude with to exchange it?" Food, maybe I can keep your whole body!"

He knew that Ding Zhou had some relationship with King Yun Kai, but let alone King Yun now, he couldn't protect him even if the Supreme Emperor came.

Ding Zhou broke the jar and sneered: "Master Sun, I am an official of the imperial court. You dare to kill me?"

Although he was promoted to the Changping Division as a seventh-rank minor official, he was still a civil servant who had entered the rank. According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, at most he would be demoted to a commoner and sent to a remote state capital.

Sun Fu ignored him and ordered Cao officials to check the grain bags one by one.

From evening until late at night, I finally checked the entire Changpingcang.

But as a result, Sun Fu felt like he had fallen into an ice cellar, and his hands and feet were cold.

The entire Changpingcang actually had less than 30,000 shi of food!

Even Changpingcang is like this, so what about other granaries?

Thinking of this, Sun Fu felt that the sky was spinning and the earth was about to collapse.

"Sun Shangshu!"

Cao Li quickly supported him.

At this moment, Li Gang, who was informed, hurriedly walked into the granary: "What happened?"

"Shuo Shu, Shuo Shu!"

Sun Fu looked up to the sky and sighed.

Li Gang's expression changed drastically and he asked: "How much food is left in Changpingcang?"

Sun Fu smiled bitterly: "Less than 30,000 dan!"

"Ding Zhou, you deserve to die!"

Li Gang was furious and ordered: "Come here, capture him and send him to the Kaifeng government office and hand him over to Nie Shan for interrogation!"

Ding Zhou was dragged away in despair.

Sun Fu had calmed down at this time and said seriously: "The top priority is to immediately check other granaries and block the news at the same time. Otherwise, once the news of the lack of food in the granaries spreads, it will definitely cause a civil uprising!"

"Ok!"

Li Gang nodded solemnly.

The two of them worked separately until the afternoon of the next day, when they inspected all the granaries.

The total of the thirty-eight granaries in Tokyo is less than 200,000 koku.

The rest were replaced by yellow sand and grass.

It is self-evident where this food goes.

Two hundred thousand stones may sound like a lot, but you must know that there are more than 1.8 million people in the city, as well as an army of 100,000.

If the soldiers don't even have enough to eat, how can they fight against the enemy?

Li Gang asked: "Is there any progress in Kaifeng Mansion?"

Sun Fu shook his head and said with a livid face: "Ding Zhou and others are very tough-mouthed. It was his subordinate Cao Li who killed him in one bite. He didn't know it, so he can only punish them for dereliction of duty."

"Crime of dereliction of duty?"

Li Gang gritted his teeth and said, "Tell Nie Shan to torture him!"

At this moment, a Cao official from the Kaifeng government came to report: "The two husbands are in trouble. I don't know who leaked the news that the granary was out of food. People in the city flocked to rice shops to buy food, causing riots. There were several rice shops. Wanting to take the opportunity to raise prices, the shopkeeper and shop assistants were accidentally beaten to death by the people, the food in the store was also looted, and hundreds of people were trampled to death."

"what?"

Li Gang stood up suddenly and said angrily: "Who leaked the news? I will chop off his head!"

Sun Fu said: "Don't worry about these trivial matters now. The first thing is to appease the people. Otherwise, it will be troublesome if it triggers a civil uprising."

Li Gang ordered: "Take my official decree and go to the imperial army to mobilize troops and disperse the people."

……

At this time, the entire city of Tokyo was in chaos.

The inner city is slightly better. After all, the people living in the inner city are rich or noble, and they have a lot of food stored in their homes.

But it was different in the outer city. Tens of thousands of people rushed to rice shops everywhere.

When they entered the store, they robbed them. If the waiter dared to interfere, he hit them with a stick, then picked up a bag of rice and ran away.

And those rice shops that had been closed long ago and were looking for rare goods were also surrounded by people, who were pounding on the doors with hoes.

"The officers and soldiers are here, run!"

Suddenly a shout came from the crowd, and the people immediately dispersed.

A young man dressed as a boy ran into the alley with his head down, twisting and turning along the alley, and finally got into a small courtyard.

Not long after, several more people came in.

After closing the courtyard door, one of them cupped his hands and said, "Qiu Dutou, the people in the city already know that the granary is out of food."

Qiu Niu nodded with satisfaction and ordered: "Let's rest for two days, and then I will have errands for you."

"I humbly accept my order!"

Everyone responded with their hands raised.

(End of this chapter)