Anti-Qing: Starting from the Reincarnation of the Ming Dynasty

The plump Zhou Kang looked at the court announcement in the newspaper in front of him, and his fat face turned red instantly.

"What does the imperial court mean?"

"What does it mean that the price increase of materials related to people's livelihood should not exceed 20% of the original price?"

"We have to control even the price increases for those of us doing business. Isn't the court's control too lenient?!"

Mr. Liu Min, the accountant on the side, couldn't help but asked with a guilty conscience when he saw this.

"Shopkeeper, what should we do? Do we want to listen to the court's price reduction?"

When Zhou Kang heard this, he immediately jumped up like a cat whose tail was stepped on and spoke.

"Price reduction? What price reduction?"

"When we do business, we buy low and sell high, chasing the rise and killing the fall. Isn't that the right thing to do? Why should the price be lowered when the court says it should?"

"Since ancient times, I have never heard of any court that cares about whether the price of business increases or not."

"No, this price can never be lowered!"

Zhou Kang couldn't help but complain in his heart that the Ming Dynasty was worse than the Qing Dynasty.

At the very least, during the Qing Dynasty, the court would not care whether the price of their business increased or not.

When Liu Min heard this, he spoke with some fear.

"Shopkeeper, if we don't lower the price, what if the court comes after you in the future?"

When Zhou Kang heard this, his original show of teeth and claws disappeared in an instant.

As a businessman who grew up in this era when feudal imperial power was prevalent, Zhou Kang was born with awe of the imperial power.

Speaking of the imperial court, he couldn't help but feel timid.

However, greed finally defeated fear, Zhou Kangyi gritted his teeth and said.

"Are you afraid of a bird? There have been so many grain merchants raising the price of grain recently. How can the imperial court cut them all off?"

"The law does not punish everyone!"

"Besides, even if the court pursues the case, it will be me, the shopkeeper, who is responsible for it, and I won't be able to blame you."

Seeing this, Liu Min could only nod his head to express his understanding, and then turned around and continued to do his work.

Seeing Liu Min leaving, Zhou Kang touched his chin and fell into deep thought.

Although he said he was not afraid, he was really unsure in his heart.

Gritting his teeth, Zhou Kang took a pen and paper from the table and was about to write a letter to ask several grain merchants he knew well to see how they were going to respond to the imperial court's official document asking them to reduce the price of grain.

Strive for everyone to hold together to keep warm.

……

Xiang He stood in line among the crowd, looking at the team that was about to take his turn, and his expression was inevitably a little excited.

However, at this moment, someone from behind the team suddenly shouted.

"Stop queuing here and go to the train station outside the city."

"The imperial court sells grain at a low price at the train station. It's all this year's new rice. A bushel of white rice only costs 200 yuan. It's much cheaper than the rice prices of these unscrupulous profiteers..."

The noise attracted the attention of Xiang He and others, and they subconsciously looked back.

I saw that the long queue of black crows dispersed instantly, and a group of people ran towards the train station outside the city.

Xiang He glanced at the crowd that was almost gone, then looked back at the Zhou family grain store, which suddenly became deserted. He gritted his teeth and simply ran out of the city with the flow of people.

When several clerks in the grain store saw this scene, they couldn't help but look at each other for a while.

I tried my best to retain the guests, but the guests ran away faster.

There's nothing these guys can do about it!

After all, if the customer doesn’t want to buy, they can’t forcefully buy or sell, right?
A group of people could only report the news to Shopkeeper Zhou.

When Zhou Kang heard this, he said with a dark face.

"It's okay, don't worry, those people have run away now, and they will have to come back sooner or later and wait in line."

"It's true that the imperial court distributes grain at a fair price, but there is no certainty as to how much it can distribute. I don't believe that the grain in the imperial court's hands can really meet the needs of millions of people in the capital?"

When he said this, Zhou Kang's tone was extremely determined.

Because this was the result of discussions between him and several other shopkeepers.

After finishing speaking, Zhou Kang gritted his teeth and said.

"Go and give me the price on the price tag. Whether it's white rice or white flour, it will increase by ten cents per bucket."

After hearing this, several clerks could only do as they were told.

……

Subsequently, things developed exactly as those grain merchants had imagined.

It is true that the imperial court sold grain at a reasonable price to the people of the capital at the train station, but the amount of grain was not much.

That’s about twenty to thirty thousand stone per day.

It is simply not enough to meet the needs of the people in the capital.

For several days in a row, people in the capital failed to buy grain from the imperial court every day, and in the end they had to go back to the grain merchants to continue queuing up to buy high-priced grain.

However, when the people returned to the grain merchants and lined up to buy grain, what they got was the bad news that grain prices had increased again.

Because of this, the anger in people's hearts is constantly building up.

However, there is nothing that can be done.

It is an objective fact that the capital is short of food now. No matter how angry people are, they still have to eat!
Xianghe was lucky. He bought cheap grain from the court on the first day and went home to give his wife and children a full meal.

But after a few days, when the food at home was gone, he went to buy food again, but he couldn't buy it.

For several days in a row, before it was his turn, the court's affordable grain supplies were all sold out.

Of course, the reason why the court's cheap grains were snapped up so quickly was not because the court prepared very little grain.

Instead, there were many grain merchants who played tricks on them, hiring people to queue up at the court to buy grain at a low price, then transporting it back to their own shops, mixing it with old rice and grains, and then selling it at a high price...

The reason why Xiang He knew this was because he had long heard that Shopkeeper Zhou of the Zhou Family Grain Store did this.

With no choice, he could only queue up outside the Zhou family grain store again with a grimace.

The thick crowd outside the grain store was like dark clouds floating in the sky.

The atmosphere is depressing and solemn!
Because, today, the price of food in Zhou's grain store has increased again, and a bucket of white rice has risen to 450 yuan...

And looking at this trend, prices may rise again in the future.

Just as there was a long queue outside the grain store, accompanied by the sound of horse hooves, a group of soldiers appeared on the street corner.

Everyone in this group of soldiers is wearing neat and clean military uniforms, flying saucer helmets, and brand-new cloth shoes with white soles and black sides on their feet. Bayonets and ammunition pouches are hung on the belts around their waists, and muskets are slung on their shoulders. They look majestic. .

After this group of soldiers appeared, they went straight to the Zhou family's grain store.

Seeing this scene, everyone who was queuing couldn't help but look at each other with a hint of fear in their eyes.

After this group of soldiers appeared, everyone subconsciously retreated, wanting to stay as far away from these soldiers as possible.

These days, the nature of soldiers and bandits is almost the same.

As the saying goes, banditry is like a comb, and soldiers are like a grate.

Although the military discipline of the Ming army is strict at present, soldiers are strictly prohibited from burning, killing, looting, disturbing the people and harming the people.

But the Ming army was still essentially a feudal army.

Their allegiance was to the emperor, not the people.

A feudal army, how friendly do you expect them to be to the people?
It is normal for people to be afraid.

This group of soldiers arrived in front of Zhou's grain store, and an officer led by them got off his horse.

The shiny leather boots are very eye-catching, and the figure is tall and tall, looking high-spirited.

A clerk from the grain store took the initiative to greet him and said.

"Master Jun, your great presence will make the shop full of glory."

"Quickly, please invite some military masters."

But when the leading officer heard this, he pushed the man away and said very rudely. "Didn't you receive the announcement from the imperial court requesting grain stores in the capital to reduce prices and help the imperial court protect people's livelihood in the capital?"

When several of the waiters heard this, their hearts trembled, and they realized that these soldiers might have come to investigate.

Cold sweat broke out on several people's foreheads instantly.

But in the end it was Mr. Liu, the accountant, who mustered up the courage to stand up and speak out.

"If you go back to Master Jun, we've received it."

Hearing this, the officer stared at Liu Min with a cold face and said in a cold tone.

"Since we received the announcement, why didn't we lower the price? Instead, we continued to increase the price?"

"Are you contemptuous of the imperial court?"

As he spoke, the officer had already drawn the saber from his waist.

The sharp blade reflected a frightening cold light under the sunlight.

When Liu Min saw this, his legs softened and he knelt on the ground with a thud.

Beside him, several grain store clerks also knelt down with a thud.

Even though they showed off their power in front of the people buying food, they immediately softened after facing Qiu Ba who had a killing weapon in his hand.

Liu Min knelt on the ground and said with a trembling voice.

"Little...little people don't dare, little people don't dare..."

"I...I'm just...just a clerk in the store. Whether or not to increase the price is not...it's not our decision."

"We...we are just following the shopkeeper's instructions..."

When the officer heard this, his expression improved slightly, but he still said with a cold face.

"Go and call your shopkeeper!"

When Liu Min heard this, he was about to get up from the ground and call his shopkeeper.

But as soon as he got up, he saw Zhou Kang, who was as fat as a ball, trotting down from the second floor, then trotting to the outside of the grain store, nodding and bowing to the officer.

"Hey, the villain said why there were magpies chirping on the branches when I woke up early today. It turns out that the military master is here."

"Quickly, the military master is here to invite you. I will order someone to prepare tea for the military master."

As he spoke, he wanted to come up and hold the officer's hand, and take the opportunity to stuff money into the officer's hand.

However, what Zhou Kang didn't expect was that the young officer waved his hand, and while shaking Zhou Kang away, he also threw the few silver coins that Zhou Kang had put into his hand to the ground.

This young officer had just graduated from the Imperial Military Academy of the Ming Dynasty and enlisted in the army. It was the time when the young man was full of enthusiasm.

Such young people still have ideals and goals in their hearts.

The resistance to monetary bribes is far greater than that of those who have been around for a long time.

The order he received this time was to cooperate with the Beijing Price Management Bureau to stabilize food prices in the capital to protect the people's livelihood in the capital.

In his heart, this mission is of great significance!

The bribe given to him by Zhou Kang, the owner of the grain store, was regarded by him as an insult to himself.

"Are you the shopkeeper?"

The young officer asked with a cold face.

Zhou Kang looked at the few silver coins thrown on the ground, forced a very reluctant smile on his face, and continued to nod and bow.

"Yes, yes, the shopkeeper of Zhou's grain store is a villain."

"Commander, please come in quickly. I have ordered some tea to be prepared for the military masters..."

But before Zhou Kang finished speaking, he felt a tightness in his chest and was kicked over by the young officer in front of him.

The young officer shouted loudly after kicking Zhou Kang over.

"Zhou Kang, the shopkeeper of the Zhou Family Grain Store, violated the imperial ban, drove up grain prices, destroyed the market, endangered people's livelihood, bribed officials, and collaborated with the enemy and betrayed the country. This is an unpardonable crime!"

"Come here, take it down and behead it in public to set the record straight!"

After he finished speaking, several Ming soldiers stepped forward and tied Zhou Kang up.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Kang shouted with fear in his voice.

"It's unjust, I'm unjust!"

"Why are you arresting me? Why are you arresting me? I want to report to the official..."

The young officer continued to speak coldly.

"Report to the official?"

"Haha, I'm sorry, I'm the official."

After saying this, he asked several of his men to pin Zhou Kang to the ground, while he raised the saber in his hand and swung it down hard.

There was only a pop, a human head fell to the ground, and blood spurted out from Lao Gao.

Zhou Kang's head rolled to the side, his eyes still moving slightly due to nervous reaction.

The young officer wiped the blood on Zhou Kang's knife, turned around with a smile on his face, and said to an official behind him.

"Master Xu, I'll leave this to you. I will take my brothers to the next target."

This Master Xu is an official of the Price Administration Bureau. After the soldier kills people simply and crudely, he is responsible for the aftermath.

Master Xu nodded to express his understanding.

Seeing this, the young officer got on his horse and led his men towards the next target.

After the army left, Master Xu had a breathtaking smile on his face, and turned to the clerks at Zhou's grain store.

"Zhou Kang, the shopkeeper of the Zhou Family Grain Shop, is driving up prices, collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country, making it difficult for the country to make money. As his accomplices, you should be guilty of the same crime according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty."

"However, today I am willing to give you a chance to make a difference. I hope you can seize it."

When he said this, Lord Xu glanced at Zhou Kang's headless corpse with his peripheral vision, and the threatening intention in his words was extremely obvious.

The moment Liu Min and others saw Zhou Kang being beheaded, they almost peeed with fright. After hearing Master Xu's words, they seemed to have grabbed a life-saving straw.

One by one, they expressed their opinions hurriedly.

"Young man is willing to give up his merits at the expense of his crime. I am willing to take my merits at the expense of his crime. I hope you will have mercy on me."

"If you need anything, sir, please feel free to give us your orders. We will not dare to refuse..."

"..."

Mr. Xu still had a gentle face.

"First, wash the ground."

Master Xu pointed at the headless corpse on the ground and said.

"Secondly, if the Zhou family grain store continues to open, it will still be run by you and others."

"It's just that the price of food must be based on the guide price stipulated by the imperial court in order to help the imperial court stabilize food prices and protect the livelihood of the people in the capital."

"any questions?"

Seeing this, several people nodded hurriedly to express that there was no problem.

He was afraid that if he spoke slowly, he would be beheaded like Zhou Kang.

Seeing this, Mr. Xu nodded with satisfaction, turned around and said to the surrounding crowd.

"Common people, there is no need to panic. The imperial court is not killing innocent people indiscriminately this time, but is severely punishing unscrupulous profiteers and cracking down on grain merchants like Zhou Kang who wantonly jack up grain prices and make a huge fortune for the country."

"In order to stabilize the price of food in the capital, everyone in the capital can eat affordable food."

"From today on, the price of grain in the capital will be uniformly limited to 220 cents per dou for white rice and 200 cents per dou for white flour..."

When the people around him heard this, they first looked at each other, and then burst into deafening cheers.

"Long live, long live the Ming Dynasty!"

"Long live the Ming Dynasty, long live your Majesty."

"..." (End of this chapter)