The world of counterfeit magistrates competes in the world

Chapter 789 Disturbing the Market
Time soon arrived in July, when the rice harvest in the south had already begun.After Tianhua's hard work for a year, the people in the three southern states were able to farm safely in the spring, and finally got a bumper harvest at this time.This year's grain was exempted by the Tianhua government. That is to say, the people in the three southern states would be able to rely on this harvest and have a surplus until the next harvest season.The government will not start collecting taxes until next year's harvest.

For a while, the people of Sanzhou quickly returned to Tianhua under the tangible benefits, and Sanzhou finally began to integrate into Tianhua.

Looking back at Tianyun, the common people have also reached the harvest season.But everyone began to frown, and the government had sent people to urge them to collect military rations.This one-time collection reached 80%, and nearly half of the grain harvested by each household needs to be paid.As a result, the family will have to live a tight life for the next whole year.What worries them even more is that the [-] army is simply a bottomless pit. It is not impossible to collect the second military ration within a year.

At the same time, some dignitaries began to collude with merchants and drive up prices, making the money in the hands of farmers unable to buy what they needed, and they had to sell grain for money.However, under the operation of powerful merchants, the price of grain and grass has become very low, and the grain sold cannot be exchanged for enough money for shopping.However, farmers who already had little food could not leave items such as salt, so they could only grit their teeth and sell their rations little by little.As for how to spend the next year, they can no longer think so much.

The fluctuation of the market immediately attracted the attention of the court.Bai Yunting was furious, and immediately issued an order, ordering merchants not to drive up prices, and anyone who violated the order will be killed without mercy.

Merchants did not choose to confront the imperial court, and closed their shops one after another, refusing to sell.For a while, the common people could not buy anything with money, and the market suddenly became chaotic.

Bai Yunting did not expect that merchants would be so bold as to defy the imperial court openly.He is about to order the arrest of merchants and kill them as an example to others.But in the end, he was persuaded by Hu Chengjing, because such killings would not stabilize the market at all. After the merchants are threatened again, they are very likely to leave one after another and cut off the supply of Tianyun Market.

After some discussions, Baiyun Court ordered the merchants to open, and the price was slightly relaxed, allowing fluctuations within a certain range.At the same time, the state treasury was used to purchase grain at a price slightly higher than the market price, hoping that a large amount of grain and grass could be collected for military use and the market price of grain could be increased.

Under the coercion and lure of the imperial court, the merchants had to open their stores for business. After a month of maintenance, they suddenly announced one after another that due to Tianhua's blockade, the stock in the store was about to be sold out, and they wanted to buy as soon as possible.

Suddenly, everyone went crazy. Under the high pressure of the court, merchants dared not raise prices.Therefore, the people frantically flocked into the store to buy wildly, hoarding a large amount of daily necessities.The peasants couldn't care less anymore, and immediately took out most of their rations, exchanged them for money from the court, and went to the shops to purchase goods.Those who bought it were overjoyed, and those who didn't get it were downcast, and had to buy some items from others at a high price.

The frantic buying spree set off by the merchants immediately attracted the attention of the imperial court, and officials were sent to inquire immediately.This time, the merchants opened the warehouse confidently and let the officials search.He bluntly said that because of the bad relationship with Tianhua, many goods are no longer available, and the more you buy, the less inventory you have.This is also the reason why they raised prices before, but because of the government order, they had to sell at a low price, so that the inventory was sold out very quickly.

After Bai Yunting received the report, he immediately became furious. He was sure that these merchants did it on purpose. How could there be a shortage of goods in Tianyun? The merchants must have hidden the goods and wanted to blackmail the court.

However, Hu Chengjing told Bai Yunting with a wry smile that before Tianyun and Tianhua turned against each other, the two countries had a lot of trade.Tianyun's products are of high quality and low price, which quickly impacted Tianyun's market, making domestically produced products uncompetitive and gradually losing ground.Today, Tianyun Market is full of goods, most of which are Tianhua's products.What those merchants said was not wrong, since today's cloud and Tianhua are hostile, the trade has indeed been interrupted for several years.However, it is not known whether the merchants really have no stock or are deliberately deceiving.

Bai Yunting leaned weakly on the throne, and asked bitterly: "What should we do now?"

"Your Majesty, it is obvious that someone is secretly manipulating this matter, otherwise those merchants would not have acted so boldly." The old minister thought that the main messenger must be found as soon as possible in order to eradicate this turmoil. "

"I also know about this, but the black hand behind the scenes is very deep, and my black cloud guard has not found out the identity of the other party." Bai Yunting said through gritted teeth, "However, the most urgent thing for us now is how to stabilize the market. If the people's hearts If you are uneasy, you will definitely be used by others, and if you are uneasy at home, how can I deal with foreign enemies?"

"Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that the battle between Tianhua and me cannot be delayed for too long, and it may be the time for his invasion when he harvests in the north." Hu Chengjing said in a deep voice, "It's about the safety of the country, so why don't we learn from it?" Xue Tianhua also adopted national wartime control, banned all transactions, and adopted a rationing system for people's livelihood materials, so as to reduce the waste of materials. During the control period, daily necessities can only be collected from the government for ten days. In this way, But temporarily stabilize the chaotic hearts of the people, as long as there is still a glimmer of life, the people will not easily rebel."

"Will this really work?" The successive blows had already made Bai Yunting a little less confident. "If wartime control is implemented, the imperial court will have to provide a large amount of military supplies to barely maintain the common people for a period of time, but what about after that?"

"Your Majesty, it will last for a while." Hu Chengjing lowered his head and sighed slightly, "As long as we can repel Tianhua, everything will be calmed down. If it doesn't work, we need to make a deal with Eternity in exchange for A batch of supplies. Or contact Tianhua smugglers and smuggle supplies from there."

"Damn it!" Bai Yunting yelled angrily, "My Tianyun has come to this point, I regret it so much. Back then, I might as well kill Tianhua before it grows up."

"Your Majesty, please be patient for a while." Hu Chengjing said bitterly with red eyes, "As long as we block Tianhua's offensive, we can let other countries see our strength. At that time, we can unite Eternal and the southern countries." , Form a mutual protection alliance, resist Tianhua's aggression, and defend Tianyun's foundation."

"I know, I will bear it." Bai Yunting growled darkly.

(End of this chapter)