A once-in-a-century spectacle appeared in the disaster areas of Henan and Shanxi.
In previous years, one stone cost two taels of silver, and in disaster years it could even rise to five or six taels of silver. In this current disaster year, rice only costs one, two, or three taels of silver.
Third, these rice are available to everyone. Anyone who wants to sell can just buy it without any restrictions.
Naturally, the happiest people with such a policy are the disaster victims, because at least they can survive this disaster year without having to sell their children.
Equally happy were the gentry who secretly connected with each other.
In a private club in Nanjing, more than twenty local gentry gathered at the moment.
What they were talking about was the issue of disaster relief food in Henan and Shanxi.
"I have never seen rice worth one, two, three, or one stone since I was born. I really wonder if those officials in the imperial court who formulate policies are out of their minds and sell grain at such a low price."
"Haha, they are worried about the country and the people. They see that the people don't have enough to eat, so they sell grain at low prices. But it has nothing to do with you or me."
"Humph, does it mean it doesn't matter if he says it doesn't matter?"
"I brought real money and silver to buy grain. How can I not sell it to me?" A gentleman said with an unhappy look on his face.
"Hey, there's nothing he can do if he doesn't sell it. Let's ask the servant to change into coarse clothes. Can he still recognize it?"
Many gentry burst out laughing when they heard this, and they all obviously felt particularly comfortable.
"Everyone, I will tell you another good way!"
"You all know about the Royal Central Bank of the imperial court, right?"
"As long as you hold the land deed or the house as a mortgage, you can borrow a large amount of treasure notes or silver from there at low interest rates. Even if the money can be repaid within six months, all interest will be exempted."
"If you don't have enough money on hand, you can go there and have a look."
"Hey, let's use the imperial court's money to make the imperial court's money. Wouldn't it be a relief?"
Everyone's eyes couldn't help but light up when they heard this. It was obvious that this method was in line with everyone's wishes.
In a business like reselling grain, which is a sure profit, they don't have to worry about not being able to repay the loan in a few months. These days, the bold ones have always been starved to death, and the timid ones have been starved to death.
And if their families have such a huge fortune and even dare to secretly oppose the imperial court, they are very courageous.
The initiator of this gathering, a big gentleman with more than 100,000 acres of land in the south of the Yangtze River, saw that the discussion was almost done, so he said: "Everyone, it's settled. Let's go separately to raise money and go to Henan and Shanxi as much as possible.
Buy food."
"We only need to farm this grain for a few months, and we don't even need to farm it. We can make a lot of money by selling it directly back to Nanzhili. If you don't make money when you have money, you would be a fool."
"Besides, this is also related to the direction of the imperial government. As long as it is done this time, the imperial court will beg us for food.
Only then can we negotiate terms with the court and abolish the policy of paying grain to both officials and gentry."
“Everyone must understand this, so I don’t need to say more.”
Secret talks like this were held many times throughout the Ming Dynasty in the past few days. These gentry were very unified in their opinions. They raised money to buy grain. They would buy as much grain as the court provided for disaster relief. They would not give up even a grain of grain if they bought it.
Until it comes out.
By then, there will be millions of victims in Henan and Shanxi provinces waiting for food. If the imperial court does not want to cause civil unrest, it will definitely compromise with them.
The unusual movements of these gentry could not escape Zhu Yuanzhang's discernment.
A month later, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was in Beijing, received reports from Jin Yiwei about the abnormal situation in Henan and Shanxi. The consumption of disaster relief grains obviously began to accelerate.
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled disdainfully.
"Let them just buy, and we will go bankrupt or they will go bankrupt in the end!"
Soon, court officials in this area saw the unparalleled resource dispatching capabilities of the early Ming Dynasty.
Countless amounts of grain were transferred from the early Ming Dynasty, and then flowed continuously to Shanxi, Henan, and even southern Zhili, Zhejiang and other places.
The convoy passing through the space channel seemed to have no end, and it continued for days and nights.
"This...how much food is there in that world!"
“It’s really hard to imagine how wealthy a country must be to have so much food!”
As the food reception and dispatching officer, Gao Gong stood in front of the space passage, the shocked expression on his face never dissipated.
He had been to the early Ming Dynasty, but only once, and it was just a glimpse. His only impression of the world there was that it was clean. The streets of Nanjing there were cleaner than his house.
Other than that, he had no other impression.
But now the impression of the early Ming Dynasty is gradually becoming more and more solid. If I use one word to express it, it is tycoon, the tycoon of local tyrants.
At least in terms of food, His Majesty previously said that the food reserves in the early days could feed the people of the Ming Dynasty for ten years. He thought it was an exaggeration, but now it seems that this may really be the truth...
"Now those gentry who hoarded grain will suffer." Gao Gong looked at these grain carts and gloated.
Just as Gao Gong said.
Two months later, the expressions on the faces of the gentry from various places who were hoarding grain in large numbers began to look ugly.
They spent almost all their money on buying grain. However, the grain store directly operated by the imperial court did not run out of food, and the price was even one penny lower than the previous price.
This is so outrageous that I went to my grandma’s house.
"Where on earth did the imperial court get so much food?" This was a common question lingering in the minds of all the gentry.
"We have already bought hundreds of boatloads of grain. No matter how much the imperial court's grain reserves are, they will soon be exhausted!"
"Don't panic, everyone, keep buying. If you don't have enough money, go to the bank for a loan."
"This is like a war. Now is the most critical stage of fierce fighting. It's difficult for us, but it's even more difficult for the court. It all depends on who can survive to the end."
"Since you are on the gambling table, then stick to it. As long as we win, we can win all.
Everyone is alive." A gentleman made a passionate statement in a private gathering.
Lan Yu and Zhu Xiongying, who didn't know how to sneak into this private gathering, silently watched this man's passionate speech.
The expressions on both of their faces were very wonderful, and they wanted to laugh a little bit, but the situation was not right, so they had to hold it in.
After the rally ended, the two of them walked down the street in silence.
"Is this person hired by Grandpa Huang?" Zhu Xiongying couldn't help but asked curiously.
"As far as I know, no!" Lan Yu shook her head.
"Then he...is really as talented as a crouching dragon and a phoenix chick!" Zhu Xiongying sighed with emotion.
The two looked at each other, couldn't help it anymore, and laughed together.
In the blink of an eye, another two months have passed.
Amid the anxious expectations of many gentry, the grain in the directly-operated grain stores in Shanxi and Henan not only failed to sell,
Instead, another two denarii were dropped.
Now the market price has dropped to one tael of silver and one stone of rice.
This almost caused those gentry to break the defense on the spot.
And the most important thing is that after nearly half a year of low-priced grain sales, the disaster situation in Henan and Shanxi provinces has basically passed smoothly.
In one month, the people will be able to harvest the new season's food, and then there will be no more food shortages.
This suddenly made the gentry who held a large amount of food in their hands unable to hold on.
Moreover, many of their loans from the Royal Central Bank are about to expire.
"No, everyone, I can't hold on any longer, so I can only put some of the food out first!" A gentleman spoke first.
With someone taking the lead, many gentry suddenly began to stir up a commotion.
After all, judging from the huge grain reserves in their hands now, if they sell in large quantities, it will definitely cause market turmoil. A further drop in grain prices is inevitable. If you sell it early, the price can be higher and you will lose less. If you sell it late, you will really lose your money.
No return.
But when they all flocked to the grain merchants to inquire about the price, they were told that the imperial court had already sold them a large amount of grain at a low price. This price was so low that all the gentry were frightened. The grain merchants did not need to buy any more grain in the next year.
.
This immediately made all the gentry completely dumbfounded.
What followed was exhaustion and a cold body.
Many gentry knew that they were completely doomed at this time.
"The heat is almost over, lower the price of food by two cents, and then keep it at this price!" Zhu Yuanzhang directly gave the order after receiving the report from the Jin Yiwei monitoring these gentry.
Hearing this, many great scholars nearby couldn't help but glance at each other, and a trace of worry suddenly flashed in their eyes.
This price is already far lower than the normal level of grain prices in previous years. If such prices are maintained in the future, some places will still lose money when farming.
This directly led to many gentry abandoning their land.
Not only do you have to pay taxes on farming, but the food you grow is not enough to cover your capital costs, so no one will do this kind of business of losing money every year.
"Your Majesty, the cheapness of the grain hurts the farmers. Excess is not enough!"
"If the price of food is too low, not only the gentry will be unable to bear it, but also ordinary people will not be able to bear it. After all, a whipping law is being implemented now, and all taxes have been changed to using treasure banknotes."
"The lowering of food prices means that the people have to pay more taxes." Xu Jie reminded.
"Of course we understand this!"
"But we just want to liberate the people from the shackles of the land!"
"Nowadays, countless workshops have been opened throughout the Ming Dynasty, and the railways and roads being built require a large number of workers. People who do not benefit from farming will naturally turn to workshops to earn money."
"As for the big landowners, if the land cannot provide them with benefits, their attention will naturally shift to other places, such as overseas, where there are gold mountains and silver seas everywhere!"
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the great scholars in front of him with a smile and continued: "Now, isn't Xu Da's problem of lacking Confucian and Taoist extraordinary people also solved?"
When Xu Jie and others heard this, they immediately stopped talking.
The reasons given by Zhu Yuanzhang were completely impossible for them to refute.
And they really didn't expect that Zhu Yuanzhang would play so many tricks in this food war.
"The Hongwu Emperor was not only brilliant in his methods, but he also had a great empire behind him to support him. The huge problems that they thought were difficult to solve were easily solved in Zhu Yuanzhang's hands, and he also solved them without any hidden dangers."
"Who can fight with such a person!" Xu Jie sighed secretly in his heart, and the last little thought in his heart was completely extinguished.
He has already decided that when he comes to court this time, he will write a letter to his family to ask the unscrupulous descendants of his family to respond to the court's call and keep a few hundred acres of the family's land for their own use, and donate the rest to the court at a low price or even free of charge.
Then let all the students in the family who have entered the Confucian and Taoist grades leave the Ming Dynasty and go to the army to serve the Ming Dynasty."
"From today on, he, Old Xu, will be a good official who truly serves the Ming Dynasty and the people wholeheartedly."
Xu Jie couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
Soon, news of Xu Jie's actions reached Xiyuan.
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and threw the news found by Jin Yiwei to Emperor Jiajing next to him.
"Let's see!"
"We said that whether it is the treacherous minister Yan Song or the treacherous but loyal Xu Jie, we can make them become loyal ministers who truly serve our Ming Dynasty. Hasn't this come true?"
Emperor Jiajing read it carefully several times, and he still couldn't believe it until an hour later.
"Xu Jie actually donated all his family's land to the court at a low price. This is simply unbelievable!"
"Don't those gentry always regard land as their lifeblood?" Emperor Jiajing sighed.
"This is the general trend."
"We have the ability to keep dumping food and even silk here, making the land here completely worthless."
"When Xu Jie and others saw this, they naturally understood that they were not qualified to bargain with us, so they might as well just donate the land and sell one to us!"
"Just watch, with Xu Jie setting an example, those smart people will soon follow suit." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.
"What if some people refuse to sell their land even to death?" Emperor Jiajing asked curiously.
"Haha, the general trend is moving forward. Those who are unwilling to bow their heads have no other choice but to be crushed to death by the times."
"In the face of the will of the country, those who want to fight will never end well."
When Zhu Yuanzhang said this, he stood up and said domineeringly: "Besides, we are going to take the Ming Dynasty to soar to the nine heavens. We can say with certainty that everyone who can keep up with us will gain
income."
"Anyone who is smart will understand what is the right choice and what to do to ride the wind."
Looking at the impressive Zhu Yuanzhang in front of him, Emperor Jiajing fell into deep thought for the first time.
"Perhaps he should also think about his position in the future Ming Dynasty."
