Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

In the Forbidden City, Zhu Youjian soon learned the news after the fleet arrived in Tianjin.

Especially after learning from Zheng Cai about Zheng Zhihu and Li Guozhu's plans, he breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the price of grain in the capital could be stabilized.

The only problem was that Zheng Zhihu and Li Guozhu were transporting rice, and it seemed like he was at a disadvantage to give them the price of one stone and seven cents.

After all, after the rice is husked, its weight is usually three or four cents less. At the price of seven cents per stone of rice, the price of rice is more than one tael of silver per stone.

Zheng Cai specifically pointed this out in his secret report and suggested lowering the price. As long as the price was not lowered below five cents, they would not suffer any loss.

Zhu Youjian was very satisfied with his secret report, but he did not intend to lower the price. At least for this batch, it should be calculated at one stone and seven coins.

After all, it was they who opened up the route for transporting grain from the south to the north. These people took risks and should be rewarded.

But the next batch of paddy must be at the normal price. I can't let myself spend the price of rice to buy unhusked paddy.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian called Zhang Pu and ordered:

"Take your people to Tianjin to see how the rice that's shipped by sea is graded."

"We need to spread the word in the newspapers so that people know that food has been shipped in from overseas!"

Some time ago, Zhang Pu, following the emperor's instructions, proposed scientific concepts such as bulk density. These days, he continues to refine them and proposes to classify grain grades based on bulk density, impurities, moisture, particles, etc.

When the capital was hit by drought and food prices were soaring, his views attracted a lot of attention.

Now, after hearing that the emperor had asked him to grade overseas rice, Zhang Pu suppressed his excitement and said:

"Your Majesty, rest assured that I will do a good job on this matter."

"Would you like to invite the officials from the Taifu Temple to accompany me?"

The Taifu Temple Food Bureau was the agency specifically responsible for food. After Zhang Pu's theory was adopted by the emperor, he immediately wanted to promote it to the court.

Zhu Youjian did not agree and said:
"Taifu Temple originated from Taicang, and the relationship is complicated."

"The grain shipped from overseas is related to the stability of grain prices in the capital, so don't notify them for the time being."

"For these grains, I will have the Sihai Bank set up the Sihai Grain Store, which will mainly distribute them to the border troops, and the surplus will be sold."

"What you need to do is to lead the scholars who accept science to classify the grain. Let the people in the capital know that grain is being shipped in from overseas."

Zhang Pu nodded when he heard this, thinking about something in his heart. He knew that the emperor did not trust the Taifu Temple, so he let him, a person without an official position, go.

As a genius in public opinion, he had already figured out what to do and was building up momentum in the capital.

However, even so, Zhang Pu still underestimated the difficulty of this trip. On the way to Tianjin by boat, he received several invitations to belittle the quality of overseas grain and even to publicize in newspapers that overseas grain was inedible.

If he had not been accompanied by eunuchs and the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and if Zhang Pu had not invited many scholars from the capital to go, he would not have been able to withstand the pressure alone and might even have been in danger.

After arriving in Tianjin, Zhang Pu frowned and asked, looking at the grain that had been unloaded from the ships but had not yet been transported to the capital:

"Why not transport it to the capital?"

“It’s been piled up here!”

Yu Zigao smiled bitterly and said:

"I thought too simply. I thought that grain, like other goods, could be transported to the capital via the canal."

"I didn't expect the Cao Gang to be so powerful. No one helped us transport it."

"Even if we want to transfer ships, the transport office won't allow it."

"Now these grains are stuck in Tianjin!"

Talking about the difficulties encountered in the past few days, Yu Zigao shook his head repeatedly.

He really didn't expect that the grain could not be transported to the nearby capital city after arriving in Tianjin.

What was even more unexpected was that the Canal Transport Office, which had previously kept to itself, suddenly turned hostile, causing great difficulties for the work of the Navy Office. Zhang Pu listened to his complaints and felt that things were not that simple. It was impossible for the Canal Transport Office to ban the export of grain overseas and risk being punished by the emperor.

The scholars from the capital who accompanied him to Tianjin were filled with righteous indignation when they heard about this. Most of these people often published articles in newspapers, and some even had certificates issued by the Jinyiwei, knowing that they had the right to supervise public opinion.

When they heard that the Grain Transport Office was doing such a perverse thing and not allowing grain to enter the capital, their sense of justice as civilian censors suddenly surged in their hearts.

These people gathered together and went to the Caoyun Yamen in Tianjin to demand an explanation.

The Tianjin Canal Transport Office initially refused to see him, but after realizing that he was a man from the capital who they couldn't afford to offend, they could only send an official to explain:
"Everyone, it's not that we don't want to transport the grain, it's that the Cao Gang doesn't allow us to transport the grain!"

"They rely on grain transported by sea for food. The more grain shipped by sea, the less food they can eat. Do you think they will be happy?"

“So the food from overseas is just piled up in Tianjin!”

A scholar from the capital said:
"Don't talk nonsense. Can't you, the Canal Transport Office, control the Canal Gang?"

"Let the official in charge come out and see if he dares to say that."

Of course, the clerk didn't dare to call the officials as he asked, so he could only beg them to spare him.

In order to get these gentlemen to leave quickly, he even revealed some things and whispered:
"Ever since the removal of the Grand Canal Transport Commander, the Canal Army has been in a state of decline."

"The Cao Gang is very powerful now. Don't say that Shangguan has no intention of transporting grain from the sea. Even if he does, he can't force the Cao Gang to do it!"

"The Canal Transport Office really can't handle this matter. You should think of another way!"

No matter what the persuasion was, these scholars from the capital were not allowed to enter the grain transport office.

These scholars had no choice. They couldn't force their way in. After discussing, they said:
"The Canal Transport Office is useless, let's go directly to the Canal Gang!"

Some people also suggested to find the Governor of Tianjin and let the Governor's Office solve the problem.

However, they were met with resistance both from the Cao Gang and from the Governor's Office.

The Cao Gang members did not openly oppose them, but simply made excuses that they were busy and short of manpower and did not plan to transport the sea grain.

The Tianjin Governor's Office also did not dare to force it because it had to supervise the military expenditure for Liaodong and relied heavily on the Cao Gang.

This really made the scholars in the capital angry and they felt the difficulty of the situation. Someone said angrily:
"I don't believe there is no other way except shipping."

"The capital is not far from Tianjin. Let's transport the grain by land."

His words received some responses, but were met with more doubts.

Although the capital and Tianjin are close, they are still more than 200 miles apart, and traveling this distance by land would result in considerable losses.

The consumption of water transportation is extremely small, but we still have to rely on canal transportation.

Zhang Pu followed these scholars to various government offices and had already found out the whole story. He knew that the root of the matter was still the so-called Cao Gang.

But why did the Cao Gang resolutely resist the sea grain? They were low-level people, and they shouldn't have heard the news so quickly.

Therefore, Zhang Pu believed that there must be grain merchants in the capital who tipped them off or even supported them secretly.

To break this situation, we must transport grain to the capital at all costs.

Thinking of the highway planned by the emperor, Zhang Pu said loudly:
"Let's transport some of the grain to the capital first, so that the people in the capital know that there is grain from overseas to eat."

"If the Cao Gang still doesn't transport it, we will organize the people in the capital to make a living on the canal."

"He even petitioned the imperial court to build the Beijing-Tianjin Highway!"

This method received a lot of responses.

After hearing his plan, Yu Zigao organized some people to escort some grain and these scholars to the capital. (End of this chapter)