Imperial County Magistrate

Chapter 378 The arrival of grain merchants from other places
"Third brother, this should be it, right?"

A man wiped the sweat from his face and came from his mother's Liangzhou. He was very tired on the way.

"That's it. I told your mother to study hard and you have to follow the farming. Qingzhou City is so big and you can't see it?" The man called Third Brother rolled his eyes.

The man chuckled: "I'm not a student. Third brother heard that the food sold here is very valuable. Is it true? Don't let others fool you!"

"It can't be fake. Didn't you see along the way that this place has been hit by a disaster and is short of food."

"Let's go, go to the city quickly, sell the grain, and let's have fun for a few days!"

Everyone pulled the carriage into Qingzhou City with a roar. When the people squatting at the city gate saw this, they immediately trotted back to Wu's house to report.

Zhao Kang, who was still lying on the rocking chair, immediately sat up when he heard that grain merchants from other places came to Qingzhou City.

"How many are here!"

"There are about a hundred people pulling hundreds of carriages. Judging from the goods they are pulling, they must be grains, and one cart will not be less than [-] kilograms!" the person who came back to report the news said quickly.

Zhao Kang laughed and said, "We're finally here. These guys made me wait so long!"

Wu Xinyi on the side was moved in her heart: "Mr. Zhao, let's go take a look?"

"Go around and ask them how many people are here."

Zhao Kang threw away the fan in his hand and strode out. After a while, he found the group of men pulling the carriage wandering on the street.

"My lord, they are them," said the person who led the way.

These words startled the people from Liangzhou, and they all looked at Zhao Kang and others warily.

Zhao Kang smiled and walked forward: "A grain seller?"

The man nodded cautiously, and Zhao Kang asked again: "What kind of food are they?"

"There are rice, millet, wheat..." Seeing that Zhao Kang seemed to be here to buy food, the man relaxed his guard.

"There are so many varieties. Where did you get them, brother?" Zhao Kang suppressed the joy in his heart.

The man grinned: "Liangzhou."

"Oh, it's not close! It takes ten days to ride a horse from Liangzhou to Qingzhou." Zhao Kang was happy. The farther away these people's hometowns are, the better.

The man scratched his head: "We came here because we heard that food is expensive here. We have been gone for almost a month."

Zhao Kang's eyes lit up: "How many people from Liangzhou are here?"

Hanzi's third brother said coldly: "There are a lot of people coming, and some of them are coming from Tongzhou."

"A grain merchant is also coming to Tongzhou?" Zhao Kang couldn't help but raise the corner of his mouth.

The third brother hummed: "Many people said that food is expensive here, and news of the disaster here has spread, so we came here. Sir, do you want to buy food?"

"Buy! I want all the food you have!" Zhao Kang said immediately.

A group of people were startled.

"We have [-] kilograms of grain here. Do you want it all?"

"I want them all!" Zhao Kang nodded affirmatively.

The man's third brother's eyes immediately became intense: "This is all new rice. It costs twenty cents per catty, and fifteen cents for wheat..."

Zhao Kang didn't wait for him to finish his report: "Okay, okay, take your food and follow me. I'll give you every penny of the money!"

It wasn't until the evening that the Wu family's accountant finally figured out that the 700 kilograms of grain brought by this group of men from Liangzhou was worth more than [-] taels.This price was obviously far beyond the normal price of food, but Zhao Kang didn't care and took out eight hundred-tael silver notes from his pocket without letting Wu Xinyi pay.

As a grown man, he still had some money, so he put the banknote in the third brother's hand.

Zhao Kang laughed and said, "I'll give you eight hundred, but you have to do me a favor! When I go back, I will tell you that the merchants in Liangzhou who want to sell grain say that our Qingzhou is short of food now!"

"We need as much food as there is!"

"Hey, okay, sir!"

The third brother was very happy: "We still have a lot of food, I will bring it to you all when the time comes!"

"The more, the better!" Zhao Kang smiled.

Seeing this group of Liangzhou men who had made a fortune leave, Zhao Kang sneered.

Wu Xinyi behind her said softly: "Thirty thousand kilograms of grain, according to the normal price in the past, could be bought for 300 taels of silver, but now it costs more than 700 taels. It's incredible."

"In the event of a disaster, price increases are foreseeable."

Zhao Kang turned back and said with a smile: "But now that they are all here, in a few days, the entire Qingzhou will be filled with grain merchants from other places. Master Qi, it is time for you to come forward."

Qi Yunshan nodded respectfully and asked, "Is it right that we will only collect grain from these foreign merchants?"

Zhao Kang nodded: "Yes, we will charge you at the normal market price, which is fifteen cents per pound of new rice."

"What if they don't sell it?" Qi Yunshan asked curiously.

"Not for sale?"

Zhao Kang chuckled and looked up at the sky: "The temperature in Qingzhou is humid and it is the autumn harvest season. They transported the grain. Without warehouse storage, how many days can it be kept? They have no choice but to sell it because of the human and material transportation costs."

"I understand." Qi Yunshan sighed secretly.

Zhao Kang smiled again and said, "How are my Brother Qin and Brother Ma doing during this period?"

Qi Yunshan had already sent people to keep an eye on them, and the news about the two of them was very clear: "The Qin family and the Ma family jointly collected grain, and during this period alone, thirteen grain stores were short-sold."

"Preliminary estimates suggest that the combined grain reserves of the two companies scattered throughout Qingzhou may exceed [-] dan."

Zhao Kang grinned: "It cost a lot of money, right?"

When Jiangzhou's grain prices rose, Yuanjiang County supported Jiangzhou by emptying out ten granaries and flooding Jiangzhou with tens of millions of kilograms of grain, directly crushing the newly emerged high-priced grains in Jiangzhou.

I didn't expect that Qin Yang and Mashan were really capable. They had obtained [-] shi of grain in such a short time.

These grains, plus grain merchants from other places, are almost enough for the people of Qingzhou.

Qi Yunshan said softly: "According to the news from our people, the grain purchased by Qinyang and Mashan these days are from some grain stores in Qingzhou. They bought a full 25 shi of grain at a price of 7 Wen per catty and put it into their own homes." Grain depot. A total of nearly [-] taels of silver was spent."

Zhao Kang grinned: "This is not enough."

Qi Yunshan nodded lightly.

Nowadays, it is not that there is no food in the entire Qingzhou, it is just that the food is in the hands of grain merchants, especially the Qin family and the Ma family. Their warehouses alone now have millions of kilograms of grain.

It sounds like a large number, but you must know that the entire Qingzhou is affected by this disaster, with millions of people in the entire Qingzhou.

How much food do you eat in a day?
The main purpose of this disaster relief is to bring food prices back to normal so that the people of Qingzhou can survive this year until the autumn harvest next year.

So this food is far from enough, but what Qi Yunshan doesn't know is that Zhao Kang said it is not enough.

It’s because they dislike the Qin family and Mashan for not harvesting enough food!
(End of this chapter)