A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 607
In the lobby of the General’s Mansion, Xie Xiuniang sat quietly, watching everyone talking, sometimes listening, sometimes nodding slowly, after years of recuperation, and wearing a formal attire and a golden crown on her head, she exuded a faint sense of grace. gas.

Listen more, talk less, and speak slowly. This is Xie Xiuniang's experience in making friends with outsiders summed up over the years, but it also gives people a gentle and quiet feeling.

In Wang Dou's absence, Wang Dou's mother asked his daughter-in-law to come forward. As Wang Dou's wife, the most distinguished person in Donglu, everyone in the shogunate had to report their affairs to Xie Xiuniang. This is the dignity and etiquette at this time.

However, Xie Xiuniang is a sensible person, and she will not participate in the decision-making of specific affairs of the shogunate without authorization. She just listens quietly, and all the members of the shogunate also report to Xie Xiuniang politely.

It was okay when they faced Wang Dou, Zhang Gui, Qi Tianliang and others occasionally joked a few words, but when facing Mrs. Hou, they all behaved well and behaved sternly.

"...Hmph, the Secretary of Civil Affairs decided to print another batch of food stamps to alleviate the shortage of food stamps in various cities and forts, and also let those profiteers hoarding food stamps bleed again."

Looking at everyone, Zhang Gui said angrily, his short beard like steel needles stretched out, and when facing Xie Xiuniang, he quickly put on a gentle expression.

Although the methods of the Eight Great Families are simple, they are not so easy to deal with.

They used various means to hoard and buy a large number of East Road food coupons a long time ago.

It is impossible for managers to notice the reduction of food stamps in the market so easily, and because of the reduction of food stamps at this time, the value of the tickets will be higher, and the purchasing power will be stronger.

And taking advantage of this opportunity, profiteers took the opportunity to use the food stamps on hand to vigorously buy grain or other commodities, resulting in a shortage of goods in the market. You can't buy it, or you can buy goods that are much worse than before, and their value has depreciated.

Credit is a thing that is difficult to maintain and very easy to destroy. Human psychology is also to buy up and not buy down.

Some soldiers and civilians on the East Road began to doubt these food stamps, and some even resumed using copper coins. At this time, various profiteers began to use silver or other means to exchange a large amount of money from the soldiers and civilians. Food stamps.

At this time, the Department of Civil Affairs reacted. It is no wonder that they reacted slowly. After all, everyone is a big family with a century of business operations. Armed support may not necessarily defeat them.

Fortunately, Donglu has a stable system at this time, and it responds relatively quickly. If it is replaced by Daming, the manager may still be at a loss at this time, and even if he dies, he doesn't know what happened.

The United Finance Department and the Department of Civil Affairs threw a batch of commercial goods into the market, which slightly stabilized the situation, but soon, a large number of commercial products were bought by people using a large number of food stamps, and the prices were rising sharply. It is suspected that the profiteers used various means to exchange a large amount of food coupons from the military and civilians again.

So many times, and as the input of external commodities decreases, the prices of commodities are getting higher and higher, especially the prices of salt and tea.

That is, sometimes the Department of Civil Affairs throws out commercial goods, and some people have no food stamps in their hands, so they have to resume using silver or copper coins.

Seeing that the food stamps in their hands are getting cheaper, it is inevitable that the militia will panic. At this time, there are faint rumors in the East Road, saying that the grain stamps are like the treasures of the Ming Dynasty. The issuance of tickets, the resumption of the use of silver, everyone hurried to exchange the food stamps for grain rice noodles.

One word awakened the dreamer. All these years, people on the East Road have long used food coupons as silver, and have forgotten that they are equivalent to food.

The concept of running has disappeared from the minds of many people. Yes, when I held food stamps, I also exchanged them with hard-earned food or saved money. Naturally, before it becomes waste paper , Get your money back.

In some places, a wave of running on grain and rice began to appear, because the Secretary of Finance kept transporting grain and rice from the grain depot to the grain stores, and they still exchanged them in full, and many soldiers and civilians came to their senses again.

In addition, Xie Xiuniang patrolled the East Road and calmed people's hearts, and the hearts of the soldiers and civilians became more peaceful.

But anyone can see that this is just the calm before the storm.

With the current situation on the East Road, the number of food stamps on the market has decreased, and the suspicion of food stamps has increased. Many people dare not use them, but just wait and see in their hands. There are also fewer and fewer commercial goods. Any disturbance will cause panic.

"...My old Zhang has worked so hard to get food stamps, is it easy?"

Zhang Gui was angry.

He shouted: "If you want to crush the things I have exhausted my efforts, unless I die!"

Slightly behind him, sat Ye Xizhi, who was nearly forty years old, of medium build, with a round white face, a short beard under his chin, and looked around in high spirits. He was not only working in the Department of Civil Affairs, but also in the Department of Education and Culture.

In recent years, he has also been highly valued by Zhang Gui. In addition, he is Wang Zheng's teacher, so his status is quite detached. He can enter the general's mansion with Zhang Gui to discuss matters and have a chair to sit on.

Like his good friend Qin Yi, the two of them, one army and one civilian, are slowly revealing their value in different fields.

He proudly said: "Students see it, profiteers have two tricks."

"One, hit my East Road food stamps, severely damage our district's management, and let outsiders see that although the Jingbian army is good at fighting, it depends on them for business and people's livelihood. If this plan is successful, the general will be stationed in the town. The profit from food stamps has also come to naught, so we have to resume the use of silver money in the future. But if we use silver money, in the future, the thieves can make Xuan Town's management panic boil."

Everyone nodded, that's true. In fact, at the beginning, the East Road also used food stamps and silver together, but the cash stamps remained the same, while the silver fluctuated. Especially when there was a catastrophe, the benefits of food stamps were even more prominent.

In Donglu, even after food stamps were issued for general use, there was never a rule that silver could not be used. Just because the price of food stamps was higher and the exchange for grain was stable, silver gradually withdrew from the circulation market unknowingly.

Foreign merchants also had to exchange for silver bills. The exchange rate has been rising all the way. Even soldiers returning from battles need food stamps instead of silver. Of course, meritorious service is more popular than food stamps now.

"Second, profiteers are hoarding and collecting food stamps. They also have the idea of ​​making a profit and making a lot of money."

Ye Xizhi stroked the short beard under his chin, and said: "Right now, there is a shortage of goods on the East Road. The higher the price, the higher the price, they will definitely sell the goods and kidnap the people on the road. They have accumulated money for many years. At the same time, They went to various grain shops to sell food stamps, causing panic again, and at the same time, they seized a large amount of grain and rice, and returned with full loot, which can be described as sinister intentions!"

There was a chill in everyone's heart, it really is a profiteer, that is, a treacherous evil, if after such a blow, how can there be vitality in Donglu?
Lin Daofu, the ambassador of the Military Training Division, was the first to react: "An announcement should be issued to prohibit the public from running on food coupons. At the same time, the collapsed warehouses of profiteers everywhere and the dens of profiteers on the road must be known by the Intelligence Department, right?"

"No!"

Zhong Rong, Zhang Gui, and Qi Tianliang said at the same time.

Zhang Guidao: "If people are prohibited from running on food stamps, why don't we confess to the outside world, are my food stamps really worthless?"

Zhong Rong said: "The general has issued an order to engage in business wars with treacherous merchants, and to publicize to outsiders that I am not only good at martial arts, but also good at martial arts. Now the world is watching, and countless pairs of eyes are watching, so this risky strategy is not feasible."

Lin Daofu shook his head, he was completely blank about business, so it's better to talk less and concentrate on training.

"Even if we want to check, we have to wait until after the war."

Qi Tianliang was still so skinny, and he was quite moved by the wealth of profiteers, so he said this.

With a cold light in his eyes, he said again: "However, Lao Qi is a little confused. During the business war, it was so easy for the profiteers of everyone to buy a large number of East Road food coupons. After that, the business war is also quite strange. , isn't it a little weird here?"

He said: "You know, in the past, in order to guard against spies, all merchants on the East Road, every prefecture and every city were guarded against Xiaoshun Township Fort, and the merchant city registration system was implemented, and the market was only allowed to open after registration and verification. Foreign merchants want to settle in East Road. To operate, there must be a local person with an innocent net worth as a guarantor, and the practice of sitting together, those merchants have accidents, and the guarantors are guilty together, so strict, and..."

Zhang Gui shouted loudly: "There must be thieves inside, there must be some wolf-hearted things in the road, and they are fornicating those thieves!"

The hall became quiet, and all eyes were on Liu Benshen, the head of internal affairs of the Intelligence Department. Everyone was extremely angry. Only Feng Dachang, the head of copywriting, was still sitting upright, maintaining a good demeanor.

Liu Benshen sat with a blank expression on his face, and he said: "I have already reported this matter to the General, and when the General returns, the truth will naturally come to light."

Xie Xiuniang said: "The matter of the internal thieves will be discussed after the general returns."

With a worried look on her face, she asked Zhang Gui, "Ambassador Zhang, profiteers are pressing on every step of the way. Does the Department of Civil Affairs have a way to deal with it?"

Zhang Gui hurriedly said: "Madam, please don't worry, my subordinates have drawn up a detailed plan earlier, and they will definitely let those treacherous people pay back their money."

He reported in detail for a while, the key point is to ask for the full support of the Financial Secretary.

Xie Xiuniang looked at Zhong Rong: "Mr. Zhong, are there enough grain merchants in the warehouses?"

Zhong Rong gave a salute and said respectfully: "Mrs. Hui, the autumn grain has already been put into the warehouse, plus the purchase of surplus grain from various military households, there is a lot of grain in the warehouse."

"Military merchants outside the Great Wall have already gathered in various places, but they did not publicize it to the outside world. They brought back countless goods, and the caravans that went out to buy goods also returned one after another. The money and grain reserves in the treasury were also There are all kinds of goods, and they will be very rich."

"Those traitors, who treat my East Road as an ordinary place, will definitely suffer the consequences!"

Zhang Gui laughed loudly: "That's right, just when those profiteers thought they could sell their goods, we supplied a large amount of goods to various cities, forcing them to lose money and sell them at a low price... Don't worry about the grain depot. They run... Haha, I'm looking forward to seeing how they die!"

Xie Xiuniang felt relieved, and said: "The general is not here, so I will trouble you gentlemen for the internal affairs."

Everyone hurriedly got up together, saluted and said: "Ma'am, you are serious, this is the job of the subordinates, you should do your best."

(End of this chapter)