On April 13th, 10% will be added to the Daqian land tax, commercial tax, labor tax, Ding tax, and silver tax.

On April 14, grain prices in Bianjing rose by 10%, rose by 30% at noon, and nearly doubled by market close.

On April 15th, the imperial court ordered to limit grain prices, and major grain stores were out of stock.

On April 16th, the official rations were released and the fire dragon burned the warehouse.

By the end of May, food prices had doubled to their original levels, the imperial court imposed taxes and more than 10,000 households had fled, riots continued in villages and towns in Qianjing County, and hundreds of households in Bianjing went bankrupt, fled, sold themselves, or joined the army. .

It happened that the army was marching out to drive away the Tartars, which required a large number of civilians to do hard work. Many people went to the military camp with their heads sharpened just to eat.

The tooth market is crowded with people selling their bodies for sex.

The old one-armed man with an old face like dead tree bark also showed a little smile. His main business is selling slaves. The more people who sell their bodies, the more money he will make. In the past few days, he has spent almost all the money in the accounting room to buy people. Yes, I invested more than ten thousand taels, and sold it at least thirty thousand taels.

At this time, a big man walked over quickly and whispered in his ear. His smile stopped suddenly and his face turned pale.

"What did you say?"

"Sir, the Longqiao side said they would accept it at a 50% discount."

Fifty percent?

The old one-armed man's eyes froze, and his breathing became rapid. His remaining right arm clenched his fist, and his muscles bulged beyond normal. The veins were like broken tree roots. His arm was actually bigger, and his shoulders were already close to his ears. flat.

Seeing this strange scene, the black market thug swallowed and did not dare to say a word.

There have been rumors in the black market that the old one-armed man can eat people without blinking an eye. Isn't this a metaphor, but a physical one?

Old One-arm took a deep breath to adjust his breath. He thought he had calmed down, but he asked angrily: "What's going on?"

His main business was the buying and selling of slaves, and his biggest business was selling women to brothels. The highest bidder among them was the Longqiao brothel, which could often sell for three times higher prices than elsewhere.

If it were to be reduced by 50%, then he would not make any profit from the women he had recently purchased at low prices, and all the profits would be given to Longqiao.

"My subordinates don't know, but those brothels seem to have made an agreement. They all asked for a 50% price reduction, and some brothels didn't want to give 30% off."

"all?"

"Yes, even the lowest-grade brothel in Longqiao doesn't want it."

"How brave! These merchants dare to unite to eat us."

The old one-armed man's eyes were filled with chills. He knew that he was being treated as a fat sheep and put on the table.

In every disaster year, the government takes advantage of the big households, and the big households take advantage of the small people.

There are also differences between large households. Longqiao merchants are the largest large households after Bianjing scholars, and Yashi is the smallest large households because they are not visible to the public.

It's just that after so many years in Bianjing, the old one-armed man was put on a table for the first time, which made him feel extremely insulted.

"Go and find out who is in charge."

"yes."

The men left in response and hurried back in the evening, bringing a piece of news that made the old one-armed man somewhat silent.

"A few days ago, Marquis Wen of Longqiao hosted a banquet for the shopkeepers of various brothels at Jiangyue Tower."

Any alliance between big merchants must be led by a prestigious person, and Marquis Wen is one of them. And he is the biggest one. Even he knows that a Marquis has emerged from Longqiao in recent years.

The various countermeasures that Old One-Armed has thought of, if it were just the brothels leading the way, he would have the means to deal with them. But if it was Gu Wen, most of his means would be useless, because the other party is a predator on the white road, and he is just a sewer.

The poisonous snake inside.

How can a poisonous snake kill a crocodile?

After thinking for a long time, he ordered: "Find someone to find out if Marquis Wen has any family members."

"yes."

The men left again.

The old one-armed man came to the door of the courtyard house, bowed his head and knelt down, saying: "Master."

I saw the oil lamp in the house was on, and along with the sound of coughing, I heard: "What's going on?"

"I want to kill someone."

"who?"

"Gu Wen, a businessman from Longqiao. Without knowing what he is doing, he dares to unite with the brothels and regard you as their meal. Even the girls he has acquired as slaves cannot be sold."

"You can kill a merchant if you want."

The sounds in the room were understated, and a human life was like an ant, as if it could be easily crushed to death.

The old one-armed man said: "He is the retainer of the ninth son of the Zhao family."

This was his only concern. Gu Wen was just a businessman, while Zhao Feng was a prince.

"The Zhao family... I remember that the nine sons of the Zhao family received the heavenly daughter of the Sanqing Dao Sect some time ago."

The voices in the room became hesitant and unable to make a decision for a long time. The old one-armed man became a little anxious and said, "He's just a businessman."

He knew that it was impossible to defeat the merchants of Longqiao with ordinary means. In business, there were all predators who would eat people without spitting out their bones. If Daqian built his country based on business, then Longqiao would definitely become the center of the world.

In order to make a fortune, the old one-armed man almost invested all his belongings. His master did not lack, but if he lacked, he might still suffer losses.

The silver tael in the Immortal Land can be called yearly money, which affects all the people in the world, and the cause and effect is as important as the mountains. The major immortal sects have already spent a lot of money to enter, so how can they send yellow and white things in, so the money can only be earned by those who have entered the world.

Some sects have already laid out their plans, and some sects have many ways to make money.

He has no shortage of masters, but he is in short supply, not to mention that he will most likely lose money this time. Nowadays, the girls he buys cost money to eat and drink. In order to sell them at a good price, they usually keep them for a period of time so that they will not become dry.

The old one-armed man spent ten thousand taels of silver. With this money, he could drive the people in Linchuan thousands of miles away to go into the mountains to collect all kinds of elixirs for him.

"Yinzi's external possessions are useful in the land of immortality, but they are not omnipotent. Don't cause too many troubles."

------------------

The next day, in the evening.

Every sunrise and sunset, Gu Wen would come to the water house and collect water from a well to replenish the imperial slurry.

[Emperor's Milk for a Year]

After accumulating for a month, I finally have a unit of quantity. Although I don’t know what its use is yet, in the end, I need to collect the Ten Thousand Years Emperor Serum to become an immortal.

Gu Wen had some guesses about the source of the imperial pulp. The heavenly marrow came from medicinal fruits, and the medicine that exists on the surface of the earth absorbs the essence of the sun and the moon. The imperial pulp comes from well water, and the well water is connected to the underground river.

Tianmui and Emperorjing are just like their names.

Jiang Fugui came over and said in a low voice: "Sir, those rats in Yashi are asking for news about you."

"Um."

Gu Wen just nodded slightly and didn't pay too much attention. Instead, he reminded: "Have your family members been settled?"

"They have all been brought into the house."

"That's good."

Gu Wen was not surprised that Ya Shi was asking for information about him or trying to threaten him with his relatives, but he felt it was a bit cliche. He had seen too many in the past few years in Longqiao, and the most high-end business wars often involved the use of knives.

Just like war is an extension of politics, if an agreement cannot be reached at the negotiation table, the knife will eventually be used. It can be to physically solve the opponent, to gain leverage through intimidation, or to make the other party retreat.

He, a rat in the gutter, dares to attack a big taxpayer in the eyes of the government, just like a dog who bites someone and must be killed.

Gu Wen stopped paying attention to the tooth market as soon as his thoughts changed, and asked: "Have you found any other channels regarding the medicinal fruits?"

"I've found three of them, but none of them can afford the ten thousand taels. Indeed, even Old One-Armed Man can't do it, so he keeps raising the price for you, hoping to use the remaining money to eat up all your money."

Jiang Fugui replied that he had been traveling everywhere in the past few days. It was not difficult to inquire about noble supplements such as medicine and fruit, but it was difficult to obtain them.

"But I found another source. The Dragon Tiger Pill rumored in Fengyue Tower is made from medicinal fruits as auxiliary medicine. If you want it, ten thousand taels may be fine, but you can't completely hide your identity."

Fengyue Tower is a brothel, and Longhu Pill is naturally an aphrodisiac.

The brothels in Longqiao all have this kind of business, otherwise many elderly men would not be able to play with women. At the same time, this is also why there are so many clients who die on women's bellies. It is not because the fairies in the brothels are too charming, but because of the aphrodisiacs.

Too strong.

It can force people to do something even if they can't do it.

Jiang Fugui has been in close contact with brothels recently, and accidentally learned about it from the shopkeepers of these brothels.

"Buy some Dragon Tiger Pills and bring them back."

Gu Wen thought for a moment and then made a decision.

There is no airtight wall in the world. If you can buy a large amount of medicinal fruits, a certain risk is worth it. And I don’t know how long Bianjing can be peaceful, so it is better to squeeze out the benefits as much as possible.

All the treasures in the world are gathered here, and they won't have this blessing when the war breaks out.

At night, when Gu Wen was about to leave the water house, an old waterman came to him with a nervous expression and said, "Master Wen, I have something to report to you."

"What's up?"
Chapter completed!