There was silence in the living room of the Dangui Judan suite. The inn maid came over to refill the sandalwood and brew some fragrant tea. He Qizhou and the three of them sat around the round table, looking at the water vapor rising from the mouth of the teapot without saying a word.
.Looking at Qi Zhou and Lin Chuan who were looking sad and bitter, it was Xu Mu who spoke first, "You don't have to wait any longer. Go quickly. I'll be there by myself. There won't be more than half."
The ship will leave in an hour. If you miss this ship, you really won’t be able to check in on time!"
When He Qizhou heard this, he put away his grimace and said firmly: "No, after all, I am the 'relative' of the Liu family. I can never leave. If Chen Yan gets suspicious, he would rather pay than cover his hands."
If we don’t have enough food in there, won’t we fall short? I’ve calculated that if we take the land route and set off early tomorrow morning, we can reach Jinling in two days at the earliest.”
Xu Mu said: "No, if you take the land route, you must pass through the Qimen Mountains, where banditry is raging. I heard that Long Yin even sent officers and soldiers to suppress the bandits. Any accidents such as officers and soldiers blocking the road or the mountain road collapsing will be a disaster."
It is much slower than the waterway, not to mention the risk of life if you encounter bandits."
Lin Chuan interjected: "We stay and take the land route tomorrow. The officers and soldiers are not afraid, but are we afraid of those farmers?"
Qi Zhou said: "Yes, many of the bandits are probably ordinary people who have no food to eat. We have nothing to offer, and we are not afraid of them coming to rob us. But if there is a queen who covets our heroic appearance and wants to drag us to suppress the stronghold, then
It’s really a bit of a headache.”
Xu Mu forcibly swallowed a mouthful of tea, made a vomiting gesture, rolled his eyes, and said: "Then it's up to you. If it doesn't work, I will let two Jinling sect disciples go with you tomorrow, and I will pick the two ugliest ones. As long as the female queen doesn't
If you are blind, you will only choose the two of them, and you will be safe."
He Qizhou said: "Thank you. The two of us used to hunt in the mountains. We are used to walking on mountain roads. We can run as fast as we want. I kindly accept it. Don't bother those two ugly brothers." Suddenly he heard Xu Mu.
The implication behind the words was that he widened his eyes, breathed heavily, and said angrily: "Xu, what do you mean? We are so handsome but we can't compare to the ugliest disciple of your Jinling sect? All of you Jinling sect are Pan An!"
"
Xu Mu laughed, shook his head and said: "I have never seen anyone as thick-skinned as you. I say, if your mouth is hairless, don't blow your beard. If your eyes are like slits, don't stare. Then you agree not to leave today.
Are you here? What if they really can't come over?"
He Qizhou actually had no idea in his heart, but he said: "I don't think so. They spent nearly one hundred thousand taels before and after, right? They didn't get a penny of benefit, and they always wanted to get some back. After all, they should do it.
Right? But Cao Cao has been talking about it for so long, why haven’t we seen a ghost yet?"
Lin Chuan said: "Yes, it seems that waiting is not an option. Master, how about we go to the Xiang family to find them?"
He Qizhou said: "We can't go. They won't be able to charge a high price if we go." Then he looked at Xu Mu hesitantly and said, "The navy can't wait much longer, or should we come to the door?"
Xu Mu gritted his teeth and said: "The navy will not leave until they get the food. We should wait, uh... wait for another stick of incense."
"Mr. Cheng, an old man named Xiang is here to see you. Do you think you want to bring them over?" The waiter's voice came from outside the door. The three of them breathed a sigh of relief almost at the same time. Just as He Qizhou was about to speak, Xu Mu
He rushed to say: "Wait for half a stick of incense and then bring it here. We will tidy up the entire room."
He Qizhou gave Xu Mu a thumbs-up and chuckled: "You are a traitor!"
After a while, the waiter led the two of them into the living room. He Qizhou was surprised to find that in addition to Xiang Chen, Chen Yan was also the visitor. Fortunately, the three of them were all covered up, so they didn't look unnatural.
He Qizhou asked the two of them to sit down after saying polite words. As soon as Xiang Chenfu sat down, he introduced the people around him to Xu Mu and Qi Zhou, saying: "Mr. Zhang, Mr. Cheng, this is Mr. Chen, a fellow magistrate of Jiangling Prefecture. He is old and old.
, my eyes are dim, I bought grain from the navy the day before yesterday, hoping to make a small profit to help the people, but according to the current market situation, I will lose all my money. I didn't have the shame to come here, but I really can't explain to my employer, so I have to beg the two of you again with an old face.
Think of a remedy."
Qi Zhou and the other three hurriedly stood up and bowed to Chen Yan. Qi Zhou said, "I don't know that Mr. Chen is coming here, but I am not welcomed at a distance. I hope you can forgive me."
Chen Yan also stood up hurriedly, motioned for everyone to sit down, and said: "You are a small official with the size of a sesame seed, why should you be so polite? Sit down, sit down."
He Qizhou said: "Mr. Xiang, we have heard a little bit about the price of food in the city. It seems that you are really going to have to pay for it. We will not be rewarded for our efforts. We just thought of going to the house and returning our share to the old man.
Fu, go to the room and bring the silver. These eight thousand taels will be returned to you now. Mr. Chen, are you...?"
Chen Yan was wearing casual clothes and said: "Mr. Xiang is the big boss of the Yangzhou Chen family's industry in Jiangling. If there is too much loss, it will be difficult for him to explain it, so I would like to invite my official to come and discuss it with you two. I feel ashamed to say that.
I am related to the Chen family in Yangzhou, so it is really inconvenient for me to shirk it."
He Qizhou said: "Oh, Master Chen, tell me, if you have any solution that will make everyone happy, I am all ears."
Chen Yan waved his hands and said: "There is no way to make everyone happy. It's just my humble opinion. I would like to ask you two for help. As Mr. Xiang said before, the Chen family has a small profit in Jiangling City, and they wanted to use food
The price was high, so I could earn some price difference from rich households and subsidize a little more to help the victims. But I didn't expect that the prefect was so smart that he actually borrowed the official grain and sold it at a low price in the city. In addition, after a few Japanese
Autumn rice from the ground and wheat from Huaibei will be on the market soon, and the price of food will only get lower and lower. Mr. Cheng, it is not convenient for us to go to the navy directly. I don’t think it is convenient for you to return the eight thousand stones to the navy. Please excuse me.
If they take them to the north and sell them, they should be able to get a good price?"
Mr. Cheng showed displeasure and said: "Mr. Chen, you are a bit pushy. The deal has been completed. No matter how much Mr. Xiang makes, the Navy will not come back to get a share of the pie. In the same way, if he loses, he should not ask for it again."
To compensate for the loss, in business, I am embarrassed to say this to them. Besides, we will return the bonus of one tael per stone to Mr. Xiang, which can be regarded as making up for the loss. To me, it is a clear conscience.
."
Chen Yandao: "That's true, so I'm here to discuss it with you. I might as well break the news to you. In the past two days, the government has never received an approval document from the province instructing the government to borrow official rations, let alone an imperial edict.
It is a big taboo for teachers to lend a large amount of official rations privately. I think they would be willing to buy back some more to make up for the shortfall. Moreover, they first sold the entrained rations at a high price and then lent out the official rations without any scruples.
, it seems a bit unethical to suppress food prices. Mr. Cheng, don’t worry, we have no intention of taking back the eight thousand taels you have here, but as long as the navy can help and bring the truth, I think they will make concessions.
of."
Mr. Cheng glanced at Mr. Zhang, hesitated and said, "That's it. I can ask the navy later."
Chen Yan said: "The navy will set off in an hour. Please hurry up, Master. I also have a suggestion that will be of some benefit to you and my family. I wonder if Master Cheng is interested?"
"Please speak," Mr. Cheng said.
"In addition to the eight thousand kilograms of grain, I have some contacts in Jiangling Mansion and can raise some grain. If you adults are really willing to donate this year's harvest, I can lend you grain first and wait for you to collect the grain.
How about giving it back to me later? Except for Jiangling City, Jiangling Prefecture is now short of food. If the relief is given now, it will be a timely help. I will definitely report to the court with Magistrate Zhang to praise Mr. Liu's good deeds.
."
He Qizhou said: "Okay, it is my Lord's original intention to help Jiangling Mansion buy the ship's food for the victims. Tell me how to borrow it? How much food can you raise?"
"I can raise fifteen thousand dan within three days. Please give me back 20,000 dan within a month. The eight thousand taels of silver will be considered as compensation. What do you two think?"
Xu Mu interjected: "I wonder how much of the fifteen thousand stones is new rice and how much is old rice?"
Chen Yandao: "Most of them are Chen rice, which is estimated to be around 10,000 shi. Just now, the price of rice in the city has dropped from 50 fen to around 30 fen. It is estimated that it will fall to less than 20 fen in a month. This exchange should be fair, right?"
."
Xu Mu said: "Mr. Chen is so calculating. In the past two days, all the rice sold in the city was new rice from Huguang. The sudden price drop was mainly because someone started to sell old rice, so that the price of new rice fell to less than 30 cents. Twenty-five cents are all."
Some people are selling it, and the old rice can only be sold for 20 cents at most. I think after the new grain comes on the market, even if the price of old rice is higher than in previous years, it will only be 13, 4 cents per catty, 1, 2, 56, 1 stone, and new rice counts as 2
Ten coins per catty, that is two liang and four shi. You are equivalent to using 10,000 shi of old rice and 8,000 taels of silver to exchange my family for 15,000 shi of new rice. If converted into silver taels, my family still seems to be at a loss of more than 10,000 taels.
ah."
Chen Yandao: "Mr. Zhang's calculation is good, but I just said that now is the time of food shortage. How can the price of food be the same as it was a month later? Didn't the price of food hit more than 100 yuan a few days ago?"
, you asked the navy to sell grain to the Chen family at such a high price, didn’t you also think that the price of grain would be high? Besides, borrowing first and then taking it out doesn’t count as taking advantage.”
Xu Mu pondered for a moment and said: "If it was two days ago, I would have agreed, but now it seems that the food shortage is not that bad. I am worried that the head of the family may change the owner and not donate all the food. I have some food left at home. Besides, this year
If God is not kind to us, the harvest of 20,000 stones is just an estimate, and it may not be enough. If it is not achieved by then, won’t it damage the reputation of the family head?"
Chen Yandao: "Master Liu has always been trustworthy and true to his word. How can he go back on what he promised? As for whether there will be a shortage of food, that is inevitable. Hundreds of thousands of people in this province were affected by the disaster and tens of thousands of houses were destroyed. Even if the flood recedes,
If we start farming again, we will still have to rely on subsidies for most of the year, and there will only be a shortage of food. Speaking of whether your house can have a harvest of 20,000 dan, what do you think? If it exceeds 20,000 dan, I will only take 20,000 dan.
When you get the amount, you can pay me back as much as you charge."