Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 791
In Nanjing City, the temporary Chu Palace, Wang Yan hurried into the lobby, dropped his whip, and sat down angrily.

Wang Fuzhi and others hurriedly followed in, and then stood there waiting for Wang Yan to finish his anger.

After a while, Wang Yan calmed down a little. This time he saw the virtues of the southeast gentry.

As soon as the Qing soldiers were beaten away, they immediately began to fight for power and profit, and they were uneasy about the rules, and they were greedy.

"Looking at the current situation, they have spent a huge amount of money this time. They have almost sold out all the grain in Zhezhi. The price of grain in Nanjing has risen to three taels yesterday." Seeing that Wang Yan was calmer, Wang Fuzhi said.

"Your Highness, in my opinion, they were copied directly, and all these evil gentry were imprisoned." Liu Shun said loudly, holding his saber.

Chen Bangyan shook his head, "This time there are many officials from the Zhejiang Party involved, and we are not Manchurians. It is a big taboo to raid homes without evidence. Besides, you copied others without evidence today. Next time someone else will be able to copy you without any evidence, this can’t be done.”

"They are hoarding, harming the common people, and slandering His Highness's reputation. Why can't they copy?" Liu Shun couldn't understand the thinking of these scholars.

"Except for that Wang Gui who was just imprisoned, what evidence do you have for pulling out Xie Sanbin?" Chen Bangyan said in a deep voice, "This group of people hid their grain on the island in eastern Zhejiang, and Jin Yiwei didn't even know why they hoarded it. Earth, how do you catch it?"

"Mother, according to my anger~" Liu Shun jumped his feet angrily, but after all, he is also a man who has just become a duke. Just to see those people doing such evil, so that the hungry people can't even eat?"

At this time, Wang Yan said: "Of course we can't let them succeed!"

When everyone listened to Wang Yan's words, they all looked at him.

Wang Yan stood up, his anger still undiminished, "The gentry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang haven't woken up from the period when Donglin was in power, and they are still accustomed to the previous thinking. I don't know that Daming has changed masters! Now it's my Chu Party In power, I will teach them how to behave this time, and let them know the rules of our Chu Party!"

Wang Yan paused, then looked at Wang Fuzhi, "How long can Nanjing's food last?"

Wang Fuzhi was stunned for a moment, and replied hastily: "Some disaster relief counties have shipped some. Except for the official warehouses in the city, which sell cheap rice to the people in the city, the other grain stores have already increased to three or two! Now the official warehouses There is already a long line outside, and I am afraid that it will not last for ten days."

Wang Yan's face darkened, "The people in the city must limit their purchases, lest those evil gentry send people to snap up the cheap grain in the official warehouse. In addition, the grain stores in the city are all supervised by the government."

"Ying Tianfu is prepared for this. Every household has issued food stamps. Only with the food stamps can they buy cheap food. The food numbers in the city have long been monitored by the government!"

"Xia Xiaoyin's idea is good." Wang Yan nodded, and then ordered: "I have three more points to say, and you should do it immediately. The first is to let Jin Yiwei investigate the evil gentry and officials involved in the hoarding, and find out where they hid the food. Which island. The second is that the autumn harvest in Huguang should also be over. You immediately send someone to urge Li Suiqiu to squeeze out a batch of grain and send it to Nanjing. The third is grain. Send someone to Guangnan. Tell Chen Zilong, Chen Yonghua, let them think of a way in Guangnan, and send a batch of food by the end of October."

Everyone in the hall hurriedly bowed to accept orders, but Chen Bangyan said: "Your Highness, no matter whether it is Huguang or Guangnan, the food will not arrive in a short while. The current food storage in Nanjing may not be able to last the food of the two places." Come."

Wang Yan was silent for a while, "It has been four years since the collapse of Donglin, and now the gentry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are not monolithic. I will go with you to borrow from those big households. Whatever you borrow will be repaid by me and the court!"

After Wang Yan finished speaking, he went out, and all the guards hurriedly followed, several people in the hall discussed a few words, each divided several big households, then picked up the black gauze hat, and followed outside.

A group of people went out of Chu Palace, and went their separate ways. For a while, they were like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each showing their magical powers. Like Wang Fuzhi, they first talked about Confucianism, then Wangmen Xinxue, and finally talked about the political ambitions of the Chu party. Do you want to join the Chu Party faction? If so, please borrow some money!Those with deep connections in Jiangsu and Zhejiang like Fang Fengnian are naturally familiar, but the one who borrows the most from them is Liu Shun, and his method is also the simplest. Street, door to door hammering door by door, needless to say, almost every household can borrow some rice.

When Wang Yan went out, he also chose a family, which was officially the residence of Qian Qianyi, the leader of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

During the offensive and defensive war in Nanjing, when the Qing soldiers retreated from Nancheng, Hong Chengchou ordered him to be placed under house arrest in the government school, and all the officials and nobles who were inclined to restore the Ming Dynasty were hacked and killed. After some fighting, the army persisted until the Ming army entered the city, but my brother was unlucky and was seriously injured by the Qing soldiers.

Qian Qianyi and his wife are kind to Wang Yan, and of course this kindness is mainly due to Liu Rushi.

Wang Yan originally wanted to come to thank him, but Qian Qianyi was seriously injured in bed, and Wang Yan and Liu Rushi were a little ambiguous, even if Qian Qianyi had a big heart, Wang Yan still wanted to avoid suspicion.

While Wang Yan and the officials of the Chu Party were running around the city to borrow food, a person hurriedly climbed up the mountaintop in the Xitian Temple of Yuhuatai in the south of Nanjing, and came to the east wing of the temple.

He informed the inside of his name before the door opened, and then stepped into the room.

Among the few people seated inside, apart from Xie Sanbin, there are also seven or eight people including Song Zhipu, all of whom are dressed in high-quality Su weaves, and they are definitely wealthy people.

Most of these people are wealthy families in the southeast, and the soaring food prices this time were manipulated by these wealthy families.

Seeing the visitor come in, Xie Sanbin asked, "How's the situation?"

The person who came was Zhang Gongri, Marquis of Longping, who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty together with Zhao Zhilong, but he had better luck, because when Tulai captured Wang Yan in Nanjing, the Qing soldiers broke into his home and raped his daughter, so the Qing army later He was always worried about him, and during the siege, he was assigned to the nobles who had the tendency to recover and put him under house arrest, allowing him to escape the liquidation after entering the city.

"The king of Chu in the city is borrowing grain everywhere." Zhang Gongri said, "The grain in the city probably won't last long. Are we going to buy fields and sell grain at a high price?"

Xie Sanbin smiled when he heard this, "No hurry, Wang Yan copied 100 taels in Nanjing, hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile land. These are our blood and sweat. I think the price of grain can be copied higher, at least per shi Six taels of silver, we can make up for our losses over the years."

Song Zhipu felt that Xie Sanbin was playing a bit too much, and worried: "Huguang's grain has also been harvested. If Wang Yan comes from Huguang to adjust the grain, let's not throw the grain in our hands! I think it's better to throw it away! Don't let Chu The king will not come down!"

Xie Sanbin shook his head, "How many hungry people are there in Nanzhi, and how much grain can Wang Yan adjust. Don't worry, I have contacted more than a dozen big households to buy grain in Huguang, and the price of grain in Huguang has also been raised."

He paused, and then said earnestly: "This time is an opportunity to attack Wang Yan's prestige. When Wang Yan falls, when King Lu becomes regent, won't the world belong to our Zhejiang?"

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(End of this chapter)