high official

Chapter 69
During the meal, a group of grain merchants arrived, and Du Ziteng relayed Wang Xian's request to them.

The grain merchants thought they were doomed, but now they have the opportunity to pay for grain to relieve the disaster, and they can continue to sell high-priced grain in the future, so they are naturally overjoyed.It's just that I heard that within a month, it is difficult to make up six thousand shi of grain.

Just as Wang Xian expected, due to the convenient transportation in the south of the Yangtze River and the lack of long-term storage of grain, grain merchants have not always stored much grain. Most of them buy grain and sell it on a monthly basis. , and only [-] stones...

This amount of grain cannot be used yet, because it is the ration of the people in Fuyang.The end of the year is approaching, and a rich and stable atmosphere is needed. Wei Zhixian definitely disagrees, and there is a shortage of food in the county.

"It's not that we didn't try our best, it's really beyond our power, my lord." Zhou Yang Zhou's grain merchant hissed: "It would be okay if it was just the autumn harvest, but now it's the twelfth lunar month. When it's cold, the food can be stored , Grain merchants are hoarding grain and waiting for the price to rise in the spring.”

"Then where does your food come from?" Wang Xian asked.

"It's all long-term business. Like me, I'm on the line with grain merchants in several counties in Jiaxing. They sell me [-] shi of grain every month for twelve months, but this is already the upper limit. When grain is cheap, I No, they won’t give you food when it’s expensive.” Zhou Yang sighed and said, “Anyway, in the twelfth lunar month, even if you have money, you can’t buy six thousand shi of grain.” This is hypocritical, and you can still buy it if you have money, as long as you are willing to spend a lot Price.

"Yes, my lord, can you give me some grace?" The other two grain merchants also nodded and said, "Give us half a year. When the summer grain comes down, we will sell the pot and sell the iron, and we will make up for the six thousand shi of grain!" Six thousand shi For grain, if they waited until the summer harvest, their purchase price would be 4000 taels of silver. The three grain merchants plus Du Ziteng and Li Sheng would share 800 taels among the five, basically two years of work for nothing.

But if we go to buy now, 1 taels of silver is not enough, they must go bankrupt...

Seeing that Wang Xian didn't speak, several people exchanged glances, and Zhou Yang, who still had friendship with him, said in a low voice, "Of course I won't let my lord suffer. It's almost Chinese New Year, and our grain merchants have to pay tribute to households as usual. This time I will give you an extra 100 taels for adults. In addition, we will add [-]% to the four-season routine that was originally given to adults. We only ask you to be flexible for a few months, and I promise that you will not dare to play tricks on the grain in the future."

Obviously, they had discussed it on the way here.Several grain merchants agreed that the reason why they suffered this was probably because they did not pay tribute to Wang Xian in time...

"..." This condition is not unreasonable, and it makes Wang Xian feel itchy, but he is cautious in his profession, not afraid of ten thousand, just in case, what if there is a famine next spring?The people's disaster relief food can't wait until the summer harvest.If there is a big trouble, it will be useless to spend as much money as you earn.

Having made up his mind, he faced everyone's begging gazes, slowly shook his head and said, "No, no matter what difficulty we have to overcome, at the latest by the end of the first lunar month, six thousand shi of grain must be put into storage."

"No matter how hard your lord pushes us, it's useless if we can't get food." The grain merchants said helplessly: "In the end, even if we kill us, we won't be able to finish it."

"Since you say that those grain merchants from other counties store up grain to sell at a high price." Wang Xian said indifferently: "Then you can just buy it at the price during the spring famine. They can get their money back a few months earlier, which is definitely what they wish for. "

"This..." Zhou Yang said with a wry smile, "How can there be so much money? We don't have enough money."

"Hehe..." Wang Xian said with a teasing smile: "It is said that businessmen are cunning, why are you so stubborn?" After a pause, he said: "Whoever said that if you charge a high price, you have to spend a lot of money?"

"What do you mean?" the grain merchants asked in a daze.

Wang Xian smiled and said, "I'll give you an idea. It won't cost you much money to keep it, and you can complete the task."

"I'm all ears." The grain merchants said with wide eyes.

"One needs to learn to think in reverse. The so-called scarcity is expensive, and the abundance is cheap..." Wang Xian whispered a strategy, "In this way, the seller's market becomes a buyer's market, and the price will naturally come down."

All the grain merchants were dumbfounded when they heard this, this Wang Xian is simply a profiteer among profiteers...

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Without further ado, in the afternoon of the same day, Zhou Yang and his three immediately wrote to grain merchants in the neighboring counties of Haining, Yuhang, Lin'an, Xincheng, Changhua, Jiande, Tonglu, Chun'an, Shouchang, etc., announcing a shocking news to them ——Because the new county lord suddenly became stricter, the grain merchants in Fuyang County sold to Chang Pingcang were judged to be old grain. Kill them all!
In order to save their lives, the three grain merchants in Fuyang County had to spend a lot of money and announced that they would buy this year's new rice at the price of three taels of silver and one stone!

The grain merchants who heard the news were all stunned. Such a price would not have been possible even during the spring famine!

At present, the general price of grain in all counties is eight renminbi a stone of grain. Of course, when selling to grain merchants who buy from other counties, the price will increase as a rule.Especially this kind of temporary emergency food purchase, it is natural to be ruthless.But if it goes up again, it will be doubled at most, that is, one tael or six yuan per stone grain.

Because even during the spring famine, the price of grain sold to grain merchants in Fuyang County did not exceed two taels of silver per stone.After all, there are still a few months before the spring famine, at least we have to give people a [-]% discount!
Therefore, in the eyes of grain merchants in various counties, the price of one or two or six dollars is a huge profit.Now, the grain merchants in Fuyang County are actually collecting grain at the price of three taels of silver, which is simply huge profits!
You know, at the price of their harvested grain, including the loss, it is only six renminbi a stone of rice.This is five times the profit, enough to make anyone crazy!

Although the other party requested that the seller deliver the grain to Fuyang, what is a little shipping cost in the face of huge profits at such a short distance?
It is conceivable that the grain merchants will treat this big deal with enthusiasm.

But it is a pity that the guys who came to deliver the letter were from the grain store, and they had no right to sign a contract with them. They only said that their boss asked for help from grain merchants in many counties at the same time, and hurried to the next one to deliver the letter.

But under the temptation of huge profits, everything is not a problem.The grain merchants figured that it was not far from Fuyang anyway, so it would be a waste of time to make a trip, but they could make a lot of money and have a good new year!

As a result, bags of grain were moved out of the warehouses of grain merchants in various counties, loaded onto ships, and transported to Fuyang County along the waterway...

In just a few days, all the ports in Fuyang County were filled with fully loaded grain ships.After the boat docked, the grain merchants or their shopkeepers went ashore to the three grain stores and informed them that the grain had arrived, so hurry up to inspect the goods and put them in the warehouse, and everyone was still rushing home to celebrate the New Year.

The shopkeeper of the grain store said with a smile, we can't decide this matter.Ladies and gentlemen, wait a moment, we will go to the prison to discuss with the owner, and we will tell you as soon as we have the regulations.

Hearing that the owner was still locked up in prison, the grain merchant and shopkeeper didn't have much to say, so he ordered the men to guard the boat, and went to the tavern and teahouse in the county to inquire about the news.

From morning to night on this day, there was an endless stream of grain ships arriving in Fuyang.Later, the boss and shopkeeper became nervous when they saw grain ships next to each other on the pier.As soon as the ship docked, I hurried to the grain store to inquire, and the answer I got was without exception, please wait a night, and we will talk about it after we ask the owner.

The grain merchants were unhappy, but now that there were more wolves and less meat, everyone was afraid of offending the benefactor, so not only did they dare not say a bad word, they had to show magnanimity:

"It should be, it should be, no one has any difficulties."

"Don't worry, don't worry, let's talk after you understand..."

The grain merchants left the grain store. Seeing that it was getting late, who would want to go back to the boat and huddle with a group of hired workers?So I went to a brothel tavern to have a drink and have fun.

In Fuyang County, there are only a few decent brothels and taverns in total. No matter where the grain merchants go, they will meet a bunch of colleagues.As soon as everyone met, they were naturally very cordial. In almost every restaurant, such a scene was staged:
"I didn't expect Brother Zhang to come in person, and my younger brother wishes you an early year!"

"Oh, brother Liu Xian, you are here too, long time no see, long time no see..."

"Man, add a chair quickly! Brother, let me introduce you, this is the owner and shopkeeper of the other three grain stores in our county..."

"Long admiration, long admiration!" Although I have never seen it before, I have to show intimacy even more.

"Long admiration, please take a seat!"

"Please take your seat!"

After some pretense, everyone sat down again and opened the banquet. After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, it was natural to talk and chat.Everyone is in the same business, and they came here for the same purpose, going around and around, and the topic will eventually return to the grain harvesting of Fuyang grain merchants this time.

"Brother, how much food did you bring this time?" Liu Xiandi asked.

"Not much, just a few dozen stones." The old brother Zhang said with a twist of his beard: "The root of the year is coming, and no one is rich. It's just that Zhou Yang and the others are in prison. As colleagues, we can help as much as we can." Who wants that little money?" In fact, he brought several boats, and he had to add a zero after dozens of stones...

"Yeah, no one wants that little money." Everyone nodded, feeling that they were so noble.

"However, I walked around this afternoon and looked at several docks. There are at least [-] grain ships, and their drafts must be loaded with more than [-] stone." Liu Xiandi said again.

"That's not four thousand shi?" The crowd gasped and said, "Do they need so much food?"

"It's definitely not necessary." Liu Xiandi frowned and said, "I've inquired about it. The Yongfeng warehouse in Fuyang County only bought [-] shi of grain this year."

"Oh my god!" The faces of the grain merchants changed, "Only for those of us who arrived the day before, there are [-]% of them who have to make a trip for nothing!"

"Yes, there will definitely be more tomorrow." Liu Xiandi said with a bitter face, "Unexpectedly, the movements are so fast, and the food can't be harvested immediately here, what should I do?"

"Yes, what should I do?" All the grain merchants asked worriedly.

"Don't care about others, we came first." Brother Zhang had an idea at the critical moment: "Tomorrow morning, everyone will go to Zhou Yang's store and wait. Let's take his first share!"

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　The next update will be at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning, please recommend tickets, dear friends!
　　


(End of this chapter)