Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 797
It was still in the East Wing of Xishan Temple. Everyone was sitting in the wing, their faces were ashen, and even Xie Sanbin's eyes were a little red. "Tell me! How many ships came this time?"

"Two ships, just arrived at the pier." Zhang Gongri was a little depressed.

The first batch of twenty ships, the second batch of thirteen ships, the third batch of eight ships, the fourth batch of five ships, and the fifth batch of two ships, they saw hope again and again, but they were shattered again and again.

Xie Sanbin cheered himself up. He has been under a lot of pressure recently, and his mouth has abscessed sores. When he was about to speak, he pulled the sores and gritted his teeth in pain. When he recovered, he said: "Everyone, calm down. , Fewer and fewer grain ships were sent to Nanjing, and this time only two came, which means we are about to win."

"What if this is Wang Yan's plan to reduce the burden?" Zhang Gongri also had sore tongue.

All the people here are educated people. They know that the stove reduction strategy was in the Warring States period. Sun Bin used the stove reduction strategy to paralyze the Wei army.

"Impossible! You can see that Wang Yan will use such a strategy!" Xie Sanbin immediately denied angrily, "How much grain can Huguang produce? The people sent by King Lu to Nanyang to buy grain have returned empty-handed. This is not a plan to reduce the burden. It’s Wang Yan who has run out of food. As long as he persists, Nanjing will run out of food for at most half a month!”

"Master Xie, my family has thousands of acres of fertile land, [-] silk and satin factories, and four loom workshops. All of them have been mortgaged to others. We can't afford this risk! Throw it away!" At the beginning, I just wanted to annex some land to take advantage of it. I didn't expect it to be so big now that I couldn't get off the boat.

"Will you throw it away? Are you going to throw it back? Or should he throw it away?" Xie Sanbin said angrily, "The food in our hands has already exceeded the needs of the entire Nanzhi! I warn you, at such a critical moment, whoever dares to throw it away Let’s throw it away first, anyone who dares to run away will be the enemy of me, Xie Sanbin, and the enemy of the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang gentry!"

Xie Sanbin glanced at everyone with mournful eyes. At this time, once the grain was thrown out, the gentry holding the grain would inevitably panic, and the price of grain would inevitably fall to the bottom. Then the grain they collected from Huguang in twos and fours would probably not be sold. Offer one or two prices.

At that time, don't say that the assets have been turned over, I am afraid that I will vomit blood if I lose money.

Everyone was afraid of Xie Sanbin's words, and they all fell silent. Xie Sanbin had to soften his tone and said: "This time, two ships will come, and it will only take more than ten days. Nanjing will definitely run out of food. Everyone gritted their teeth to hold on and passed. , everyone can make up for the losses of these years, and through this incident, the prestige of the Chu Party has been hit. The commercial and tax reforms implemented by the Chu Party in the Southwest cannot be pushed to our Zhejiang. This time is not only for the immediate benefit, but also It is related to our future income, do you understand?"

Now at this juncture, I threw it at the bone, and I vomited blood, gritted my teeth and survived, and there was no gain.

Although there is a great risk, everyone still nodded blankly, all complaining and praying in their hearts, "It will take more than ten days to persevere, but please don't have any accidents."

On the other side, in the meeting hall of Prince Chu's Mansion, Wang Yan sat upright with many of his confidantes, and none of them made a sound.

Outside the lobby, two long tables were put together, with more than a dozen abacus masters standing on each side, moving the abacus quickly with their hands, only to hear the sound of the abacus being played like heavy rain falling on the ground, and the "crackling" sound became one slice.

When the abacus master calculated the result, there was a clerk next to him with paper, pen and account book, and quickly recorded it, summarizing and liquidating the IOUs and bills one by one.

Wang Yan sat quietly in the middle hall, the tea and pastries next to him remained untouched, just sitting and waiting for the accountant and clerks to calculate the results.

Half an hour later, the dense abacus sound outside the hall suddenly faded away, and all the officials in the hall closed their eyes and meditated, opened their eyes immediately, and turned their eyes to the door.

After a few breaths, the sound of abacus calculations stopped abruptly, and Chen Yonghua walked into the hall holding a summary of the results.

Seeing this, Wang Yan's eyes lit up, "Have you figured it out?"

Chen Yonghua nodded, and was about to go forward and present the paper recording the results to Wang Yan, but Wang Yan stretched out his hand to stop it, "You should read it, let everyone listen together."

"Yes!" Chen Yonghua bowed slightly, then took the paper, cleared his throat, and said, "Your Highness, my lords, according to preliminary estimates, the gentry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang used a total of more than 100 million taels of cash this time, and mortgaged 50 mu of land. , more than 400 shops, and more than [-] loom workshops, after conversion, the assets used by the gentry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are close to [-] million taels."

Everyone gasped when they heard this, and then they looked happy again. It's crazy, it's more than the annual income of the Ming Dynasty, so it's a big profit now.

Everyone in the hall couldn't help cheering up, the crisis was quelled, and the ruling position of the Chu Party was considered stable. Commercial tax reform, official salary reform, etc. can be implemented, and the most important thing is that the imperial court will become rich and have money.

Wang Yan's eyes sparkled, and he hurriedly asked, "Fufu, how much money do you estimate Xie Sanbin and his gang have in total?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, the gentry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have been hit hard in the past few years. It is estimated that the gentry who participated in the grain copying can only come up with about 500 million taels of silver. Yesterday, many people began to mortgage their houses and borrow from us. It's gone." Chen Yonghua said, clasped his fists to Wang Yan and said: "Your Highness, I think I can close the net!"

Wang Yan nodded, stood up, walked to Chen Yonghua and took the account book, and walked around while looking at it. After a while, Wang Yan stood still, breathed out, handed the account book to Chen Bangyan and others, and said: " What do you think?"

"Your Highness, Nanjing has been short of food for nearly two months, and there are many complaints in the city. If it drags on, I'm afraid it will damage His Highness's prestige." Chen Bangyan didn't look at the account book, put it aside, and said to Wang Yan: "I agree with Fufu's opinion. It's closed."

Wang Yan pondered for a moment. What Chen Bangyan said made sense. The food shortage for several months had already caused a lot of damage to the interior of the Ming Dynasty, and if Xie Sanbin and his gang couldn't hold on and suddenly abandoned it, his plan would be messed up.

"Okay! Then close the net in advance!" Wang Yan clenched his fists decisively, feeling a little happy in his heart, and vomited out the bad breath he had held back for two months, "Is Jin Yiwei ready?"

When Yu Taichu heard Wang Yan's question, he hurriedly came out and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness, it is already under the control of the humble official."

In doing things and being a person, you have to pay attention to propriety and abide by the rules, especially when you are an official. If Xie Sanbin and his gang don't abide by it, then you can't blame anyone.

Wang Yan said in a deep voice: "Then follow the plan, the grain ship can come, and the supply of cheap grain can be released!"

(Thank you for the reward of Sanguanyou at 500, thank you for your subscription, monthly pass, and recommendation, and bring your little friend, the rise of the generals of the ancestors)

(End of this chapter)