Sui Dynasty: I, Yang Guang, am both scrupulous and stable

Chapter 146 King Jin asks for food
The prince's expedition was such a big event, but it didn't seem to cause any splash. There were little changes in Chang'an City, and the price of food became more and more intense.

After Li Dong entered the market with money from the barbarians, he swept up a large number of grains on the market and stored them in the warehouse. In the past two days, the price of grains has skyrocketed. It has been more than five times the original price. When Li Dong entered the market, it was only about three times. It looked like I was making a lot of money at first glance, but the higher the price went up, the less willing I was to sell.

When Yang Guang came to Daxing City, Yu Wenkai began to complain: "Your Highness, the price of food in the city has risen sharply recently. There are many farmers in Daxing City, and they all have to eat well before they have the strength to work. Now the expenses in Daxing City are getting bigger and bigger. Just Food alone is several times higher than before, and if this continues, the original budget may not be enough."

"I should make quite a lot of money from selling the house."

"Yes, but it may be difficult to continue like this. It is unlikely that food prices will fall back in a day or two."

"Don't worry about this. Who should I buy food from now?"

"Wei Chen asked the officer in charge of supplies to speak to you."

Yang Guang chatted with the officials in charge of supplies and found out where they were getting the goods from. He also found out that the shopkeeper of these grain shops was named Li Dong. One of the powerful grain merchants.

Yang Guang came up with a plan and said to Wang Yi: "Let's go, send me a message to this Li Dong, and tell him that I will go to see him tomorrow."

"Your Highness, with your status, you have to go out of your way to deliver a message to meet him? He is just a small grain merchant."

Yang Guang smiled slightly: "This will make him feel that I am also short of food now, so I have to beg him."

……

Li Dong was shocked when he suddenly received a greeting card from Prince Jin's residence at his residence. The person who spent money to deliver the letter found out the news and said that Prince Jin supervised the construction of Daxing City. Now the workers in Daxing City were short of food, so Prince Jin prepared Door-to-door visits.

After receiving the news, Li Dong burst into laughter, and his concubine lay tenderly in his chest: "Why is the master so happy today?"

"His Royal Highness Prince Jin will come to visit me tomorrow. The majestic prince has officially sent me a greeting card. It seems that there will be unexpected gains this time, hahahaha."

Li Dong said, "Those traders have always looked at the official's face to eat. He has made a lot of money and wants to buy an official, but there has never been a chance. This time when King Jin comes, it seems that the opportunity will come." .

"The house has been well prepared. Everything has been cleaned for me. Good tea and wine have been prepared. Our house has never entertained such high-level guests. We must make all the arrangements for me. If anyone messes with me, If His Highness the King of Jin is displeased, I will definitely not spare him."

The next day, Li Dong's mansion was decorated particularly grandly. Yang Guang didn't bring many people with him today. The carriage stopped at the door of Li Dong's mansion. When he got out of the car, Li Dong hurriedly greeted him.

"Li Dong, a common man, comes to see His Highness the King of Jin."

"Shopkeeper Li, I often hear people say that Shopkeeper Li was a rare Confucian businessman in the Sui Dynasty. He could read and write poems. This is the first time we met. Please give me some advice."

Hearing this, Li Dong nodded quickly and bowed: "Hey, Your Highness, Prince of Jin, has given you too much praise. Li Dong and I are just a small businessman running errands. I am truly lucky to be acquainted with His Highness. Please come to me, Your Highness."

Li Dong invited Yang Guang in, and the surrounding neighbors looked at the carriage of Prince Jin's Mansion. Many of them watched the excitement, and started talking.

"Whose carriage is that? It's so luxurious."

"That's the regulation of the palace, right? How can a guy like Li Dong, who gave birth to a son without eyesight, reach such a high position?"

"Li Dong is really unethical. Now all the grain in the city has been hoarded by several grain shop owners. We can't even buy rice to cook."

"Who says otherwise? Food prices were also high during the period before His Majesty ascended the throne. Even the food he hoarded caused many people to starve to death in winter."

"That's not all. It is said that there was a fire in his shop and someone died. He set the fire himself and burned his wife to death. Now he has several wives and is happily alive."

"Tsk, tsk, it's really killing people and setting fires to get promoted and make a fortune."

……

Yang Guang entered Li Dong's mansion. The courtyard was not big, but very elegant. Yang Guang praised: "Shopkeeper Li, your courtyard is very elegantly decorated. Even ordinary officials' mansions are not as good as yours. You can tell that Li Dong's courtyard is very elegant." The shopkeeper is an elegant man."

"People don't know what elegance is. I just like calligraphy and painting. I went to the auction house to auction Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy. I originally left money to shoot the preface to Wang Xizhi's Orchid Pavilion, but I didn't expect that it was interrupted by someone. There was no fate."

"No wonder people say that Shopkeeper Li is a Confucian businessman, elegant and elegant."

"Your Highness, please come here. I've prepared a small amount of wine at my house, and I would like to invite Your Highness to enjoy it."

As soon as Yang Guang received a table of dishes from the door, someone quickly ran into the kitchen to tell him to start cooking. The two of them chatted all the way and were already cooking. It was guaranteed that Yang Guang would eat the freshest and hottest dishes. .

Yang Guang looked at a table of dishes and said, "Thank you, shopkeeper Li, for taking the trouble. The dishes on this table are no worse than those at Xinghualou." Li Dong hurriedly tried to please him: "The chef in my house is mediocre and can't cook delicate dishes. He went here specially for His Highness." Xinghualou hired the best chef to cook it."

"I have a heart, I have a heart."

Yang Guang sat down and Li Dong clapped his hands and filed in. Several beautiful women came to serve the banquet, and Yang Guang accepted it happily.

Li Dong only maintained a relationship with Yang Guang and didn't say a word about other matters. Of course, Yang Guang had to speak first about this matter.

Yang Guang ate something and after chatting for a while, he spoke: "Shopkeeper Li's people are saying that your family has enough food. Today it turned out to be true."

"Your Highness, we have a small business and we don't dare to say much."

"Shopkeeper Li is a real person, and I will not lie. I am here today to buy food."

"Your Highness is just polite if you say you want to buy it. Your Highness needs it at home. I can just send it to Your Highness in regular and rationed quantities every day. Why bother Your Highness to come here in person?"

Yang Guang shook his head: "Shopkeeper Li, the food I want is not for the house, but for the workers of Daxing City. I supervise the construction of Daxing City, and it is a sign for the farmers to build the city. If you don't have enough food, you will have no strength, and you will not have enough food." If you have the strength to delay the work, I will not be able to explain to my father that the price of food has risen sharply, so I came here to buy food."

Li Dong rolled his eyes. One hundred thousand workers in Daxing City would require a huge amount of grain. If he could buy all the grain from Yang Guang from top to bottom, he would definitely make a profit.

He hurriedly said: "Daxing City is so majestic, and His Highness the King of Jin has to work so hard to buy food for them. It really makes the common people feel emotional when they see it. Your Highness is really a considerate and considerate person for the people."

The skill of pretending is not bad.

"Now the price of food in the city has risen sharply. I heard that Shopkeeper Li has stocked a lot of food. I hope Shopkeeper Li will give up part of the food to protect the farmers in Daxing City. Of course, I won't let you suffer. I will buy everything at today's current price."

The purchase price was already very high based on today's price, but Li Dong smiled and did not answer Yang Guang's question directly.

"Your Highness, the food in Daxing City is on holiday every day. If Your Highness wants to buy it, I will naturally give him this face. But in the next two days, the price of the food I buy from outside will probably be higher than the current selling price. Your Highness, I will lose money if you do this. .”

"Then what can you do?"

"Let me tell you a story first. In the past, grassroots people were engaged in lumber and supplied goods to a yard. The owner of the goods asked me to ship a quantity of eleven, but the actual supply quantity was nine. The shipment price was eleven, and the actual supply price was nine. Every time we go back and forth, there is an extra [-]% of the actual cost, and this [-]% is what he and I share. As we go back and forth, we do more and more business.”

This is not telling a story, this is just telling Yang Guang a plan.

Yang Guang sighed: "Now that food prices are high, I'm afraid I won't be able to afford it."

"Your Highness, the common people remember that when I was a child, I always had one meal in the morning and one in the evening, two meals a day, a large meal in the morning and a small meal in the evening. Since the Jin Dynasty, officials have gradually had the custom of eating three meals a day. After the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Chang'an In the city, everyone, rich and poor, has three meals a day. It is a complete waste for those workers to have another meal at noon. Why feed the cattle and horses more? Only when they are six cents full can they work the hardest. Everyone can eat enough and there is no need to work. tried."

Looking at Li Dong's smiling face, Yang Guang felt that this guy was complimenting him by calling him a capitalist. He was a slave owner.

He wanted Yang Guang to deduct food from the workers in Daxing City, cooperate with him, and everyone would share the accounts together. Of course, the [-]-[-] split he said left room for Yang Guang to bargain.

"The tasks in Daxing City are heavy. If we don't have enough to eat, we might miss the time. If someone dies, it will be very troublesome."

"Your Highness, you don't understand these people. The nicer you treat them, the lazier they become, and the harder they fight, the harder they work. Common people know this best from dealing with these people since they were young, and if they starve to death, just give them a sign and squeeze them out." Only when oil and water are produced can it be turned into money and food."

Yang Guang began to curse in his heart, but he still smiled: "For now, let's purchase according to the current price, but shopkeeper Li must ensure the quantity I need."

Seeing that Yang Guang was holding back, Li Dong wanted to say something, but Yang Guang stood up and was about to leave, so Li Dong naturally did not dare to stop him.

After seeing Yang Guang off, Li Dong was still excited. At least the people in Daxing City asked him to purchase food. He hurriedly ordered the people below: "Continue to clean up all the food stocks. Now that we have this big export, we still have to worry about the food stocks." Really? Hahaha, my wife died last year, but this year I will really have great luck."

After finishing speaking, he said with a slight disdain: "This Prince Jin is young and too timid. He still hesitates to do this. He makes so much money without making any money, and he still tries to come and go, but it's okay." When our relationship gets better, they will trust me. As long as I climb this big tree, I will rise to the top. By then, I will also follow the example of Baoguo and open a porridge shop to help the poor, and gain some fame. Maybe I can really do it. Become an official."

The concubine next to me said softly: "Master, you can definitely become an official. It's a pity that you don't."

"How do you know I should be an official?"

"You are greedy, you are greedier than them all."

"Nonsense, I'm just a Confucian businessman, the Confucian businessman who knows the most rules and respects them the most."

(End of this chapter)