"I tried my best to make a plan. The soldiers carry six dou of rice, and the soldiers carry five days of dry food. They pay one soldier, and they can go for eighteen days." [Mengxi Bi Tan·Marching and Transporting Food]
The setting sun was shining slantingly, and the two of them were sitting in the open car. There was no obstruction except for the waist-high barrier. At this time, there were no people on the street. Jia Xu and Mi Zhu looked at the bright and shining road on their left.
, Caoqu, which was gradually separated from the parallel street, fell into silence for a while.
Jia Xu hits the key points in every sentence. Indeed, Mi Zhu has been doing business for many years, and the Mi family in the East China Sea is rich in Xuzhou. Although he has taken great pains to create an image of a scholar for himself, being generous to others and willing to do good, but in the orthodox Confucian classics family,
In his eyes, Mi Zhu was still a low-ranking businessman. During the period of Emperor Xiaowu, there were businessmen, jailers, and other non-Confucian scholars, and professional talents from all walks of life came to the court enthusiastically. However, with the prosperity of Confucianism, court officials and ministers began to
As famous Confucian scholars began to appear in large numbers, the targets and criteria for selecting officials became increasingly narrow. Gradually, only scholars who had read the Confucian classics were valued, while those who were not proficient in the Confucian classics but had expertise were ignored.
'Trading business is a small way after all. If you want to become an official in the court and pass on the family business, the only way is to learn the scriptures and become a scholar!'
"In the past hundred years, even though the family was poor, he still did not forget to study hard, and finally got a good job with a good reputation. Are there still few people who founded the family?"
'If my family doesn't have two thousand dan, how long can I keep this huge wealth?'
When Mi Zhu came back to his senses, a bunch of gold coins hidden in his sleeves suddenly fell into his palm as the carriage and horses jolted. Those five firm and neat coins were earned by his Mi family ancestors when they were doing business.
The first piece of gold was melted and cast, which has always been the family legacy of the Mi family. It was once the pride of the Mi family, but in the eyes of the wealthy family who regard scriptures as their family heirloom, it is such a ridiculous thing.
People like Sang Hongyang and Kong Yu who entered official careers as merchants have almost never appeared since Emperor Xiaowu. Due to such a social atmosphere, Sang Hongyang's glorious deeds cannot be copied by future generations.
No matter how much he has an idea in his heart, Mi Zhu can only follow the mainstream and try to integrate himself into the scholar class. Although this is not Mi Zhu's original intention, only in this way can he, the Mi family, transform wealth into power and even move toward the gentry.
The direction goes further.
But now Jia Xu's words made him see a new way out. The emperor's appointment of Mi Zhu was obviously based on his status as a merchant. Otherwise, why would he deliberately reset a Junshu prison closely related to business and economy for him to manage?
Mi Zhu had some suspicions in his mind at the beginning, and now it has been fully confirmed by Jia Xu, the emperor's most trusted minister.
The emperor regarded him as Sang Hongyang, not as an ordinary scholar.
If he is an ordinary scholar, Mi Zhu thinks that his ability cannot be compared with that of Liu Yu, Wang Yi and other local officials. But if he joins the officialdom as a businessman, in the field he is most familiar with, Mi Zhu can't boast of being the best.
Will lose to anyone.
From the initial verbal exploration to the heart-to-heart talk between the two, the opportunity was already in front of them. Mi Zhu suppressed the excitement, still with a polite and gentle smile on his face, and said in a solemn voice: "What Mr. Jia said is
, I have received great love from the country, and since I took office, I have been lamenting day and night. I have often thought about how I can serve my purpose. Now is the right time, and my meager talent will eventually be put to use."
This is an opportunity to achieve his ideals. Mi Zhu wants everyone to know that he is by no means a mediocre person who rose to power by relying on the power of the Wang family.
Jia Xu nodded and continued: "This time the Chang'an merchants did not listen to good advice. It was the so-called 'first courtesy' that was useless. Then they had to 'move in the army'. According to the temper of the country, all those profiteers should be executed."
Rather than talk nicely to each other. I know that although Mr. Mi was once a merchant with them and knew the methods prepared by the court, his heart is not that he can't bear it, but that he is unwilling to do so. It's simply not the time to show off at this time.
, the country also uses this to test Mr. Mi’s intention, and it is still on the right side at the moment. The Taicang Second Department is cooperating with the Supervision Bureau to stabilize prices. Everything is still in time, it depends on how Mr. Mi is prepared to deal with it. "
If this time, according to Jia Xu's statement, the emperor was asked to directly take violent measures and confiscate the property of the unscrupulous businessman Qing Jia in the name of "unkindness for the sake of wealth", then Mi Zhu would have returned without success and lost his face these days.
Mi Zhu understood that the reason why the emperor had not taken action to punish him severely was not only because he was concerned about 'rules' and reputation, but also to give him a chance to show his ability. If he succeeded in stabilizing prices, his future prospects would be promising. If he failed, he would have a bright future.
, the emperor had no choice but to make a last resort, and there might be no need for him to continue to stay in Junshu Prison.
"I understand that the reason why the average price of grain shipped to the prison these days is only slightly lower than the market price is mainly because I am worried about the supply difficulties at the warehouse and that someone will take the opportunity to resell." Mi Zhu quietly held the five coins in his sleeves.
Jin Wuzhu said to Jia Xu in a solemn voice: "Since the merchants won't listen, I will have a new response."
Jia Xu raised his eyebrows and took the initiative to say, "If you need anything, please let me know."
So the Leveling Order and the Junsu Order were discussed in detail in the car. This department, which had complementary functions and once controlled the lifeblood of the world's economy, finally merged again, long after it had been discarded, like the shadows of these two people in the sunset
stand up.
To the north of Taicang is the arsenal of Zhi Jinwu's subordinates, which contains a large number of ready-to-use square shields and broad swords, hooks and halberds, bows, arrows and other weapons. The car shared by Jia Xu and Mi Zhu entered the main road, but they had not arrived yet.
In front of the arsenal, I saw from a distance the neat and orderly Zhijinwu Tiqi who were patrolling around it. The military force near Chang'an, Zhijinwu alone had 200 Tiqi and 520 halberds.
.Only these 720 people on foot and cavalry can easily wipe out all the merchants in Chang'an, not to mention the northern and southern imperial guards who are more elite than the Tiqi.
Mi Zhu silently felt the cold breath that came directly to him as he passed by the arsenal, and suddenly thought in his mind: When Yuan Shu was recruiting military rations in Nanyang, the local wealthy people were stingy and could not provide them. As a result, Yuan Shu ordered the Yellow Turban thieves and his subordinates to openly plunder. This kind of bad thing,
It's just that the court won't do things that greatly disappoint the public. It's not that they can't do it. Those merchants should be lucky to meet an opponent like him who has "peaceful" methods.
On the next day, the official grain, which was originally only a few hundred dollars lower than the market price, suddenly fell sharply and turned into eight hundred dollars per stone for grain and five hundred dollars for beans and wheat. After hearing the news, the people of Chang'an abandoned their private grains that cost thousands of dollars.
The grain shop ignored them and went to the government office to buy grain. Those profiteers were even more delighted and wanted to repeat their old tricks. They sent people to buy up privately with huge sums of money in an attempt to get into the official grain of the imperial court.
Mi Zhu was well prepared. He set detailed rules this time. Based on the daily consumption of six liters for an adult, each person was only allowed to buy one bucket of rice per day. In order to facilitate identification, he would paint it on the wrist of the buyer every day.
Colored paint that is not easy to scrub. After the purchase restriction regulations were put in place, merchants secretly resold and privately bought official rations, which was greatly curbed. Even if their whole family, including domestic slaves, went to battle together, they could not buy more than a few kilos of rice in a day, let alone
Let alone making profits from it.
If it is just a sharp price reduction and purchase restrictions, at most it will make it impossible for those merchants to do business for a while. When more and more disaster-stricken people near Chang'an get wind of the disaster and rush to buy grain, and Taicang rice is not enough, they will still be able to get it at the end.