Chapter 281 The fox is frightened and the rabbit is frightened
"Prices are rising day by day. Ten cents for grains are worth three cents, and a bucket of coarse grains is forty cents."
"What did you say? Yizhou grain has arrived?" In a house in Chang'an, an old man in his early years still didn't believe it. He stared at Cangtou who was kneeling on the ground: "Did you see it with your own eyes?"
The Cangtou kowtowed to the ground repeatedly and said hurriedly: "How dare you hide it! That fleet of grain ships was transported from Fengshui River to Kunming Pond for storage, and then from Kunming Pond into the Wei River and transported to the north gate of Chang'an. The goods were unloaded by the Wei Bridge
, all the way directly to the East and West Markets. When the farmers and refugees along the way met, they all said that they were saved this year, and they cheered long live, their voices even more fervent than when Thief Dong died! "
The old man temporarily lived near the East and West City. Naturally, he heard the "Long Live" sound in the northwest of the city. Otherwise, he would not have hurriedly called his servants to inquire for him in the past two days. Although the facts were conclusive, he finally confirmed it.
: "Did the grain ships really come from Fengshui River? I remember that Taicang's canal also connected to Fengshui River. I can't guarantee that it wasn't transported from Taicang, using the name of grain shipped from Shu to appease people."
This old man's surname was Luo and his given name was Boyan. He was a powerful man in Xiagui County, Jingzhao. When he was young, he studied under the great scholar Liu Kuan and served as the county magistrate of Hedong County for several years. Later, he was dismissed from office because of a crime and had to return to his hometown.
Concentrate on running the family business. Last year, relying on his past relationships among some scholars, he finally found out the news behind the imperial court's policy of purchasing surplus grain and overhauling water conservancy that there might be drought locusts this year. So Luo Boyan made a prompt decision and, like several other pieces of news,
The well-informed powerful people used their family wealth to follow the policies and compete with the court to buy surplus grain from the people, even at high prices.
Because he was well prepared, the Luo family did not suffer any losses when the drought occurred this year. After his wealth was protected, Luo Boyan quickly came up with other ideas. He not only took advantage of the disaster year to acquire a large number of fields at low prices, but also wanted to rely on
He used the stored surplus grain to make a fortune in the East and West markets. For this reason, he did not hesitate to use his old age to go to Chang'an in person to conspire with other powerful men who had the same intention to drive up grain prices. He believed that as long as this matter was completed, he, Jing Zhaoluo
The strength of the Feng Yiluo family will definitely surpass that of the Feng Yiluo family, which comes from the same family but has now separated.
Although the Jingzhao Du family, Dong family and other families quit one after another, either because they earned enough or because they heard some rumors, they still did not let Luo Boyan and others have any scruples. Instead, they took this opportunity to seize the share. On weekdays, one or two hundred dollars,
Even wheat worth dozens of dollars per stone now costs thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. With nearly a hundred times the profit ahead, who can give it up easily? Last I heard, not long after, Du Shi, who quit midway, seemed to have sent someone back.
The market secretly sold grain. Luo Boyan was still keeping in mind his foresight, but unexpectedly he encountered a change at this time.
"Lord Ruijian, I think so too." Cang Tou flattered him, still kneeling on the ground, and continued: "It's just that Kunming Pond is in Shanglin Garden, and I can't get in, so I went along Fengshui River with others.
Nan rode on horseback for a long time, and when he was about to reach Ziwu Valley, he saw a large number of grain trucks being transported from the south to the bank of Fengshui River, and then moved onto boats." He secretly took a peek at the old man's ugly expression, and added in a low voice: "Little
I prepared to get closer to inquire, but was chased away by the leader before I could get close, but from their accents, it seemed that they were indeed from Hanzhong."
Ziwu Valley is the closest road from Hanzhong to Chang'an. I heard that the imperial court only fought a few key tough battles to conquer Yizhou, and it had minimal negative impact on rich places such as Shu County and Guanghan. Especially Hanzhong.
The treasury contains countless grains, grass, gold and silver that Zhang Lu collected over the years. However, this year's drought only occurred in Guanzhong, Yongzhou, Liangzhou and other places. Yizhou, which is separated by the Qinling Mountains, was not affected at all, so there are sufficient reserves.
Dispatch to go north. If it is the full support of Yizhou Grain, coupled with the existing grain storage in Taicang, grain prices will inevitably fall into the dust and fail to flap. Then won't they have to pay for the surplus grain they spent high prices to buy with the government last year?
"Hanzhong..." Luo Boyan murmured to himself, as if he couldn't believe the current situation. He felt like waking up from a dream again, and tried to comfort him: "No, no, the ancients traveled thousands of miles to carry food and pay, and then arrived in more than ten minutes.
For one stone. Even if there are millions of grain and grass in Shu, how many percent can be transported out due to the dangerous mountains? This must be a false pretense to deceive the common people!"
The Cangtou then raised his head and looked at Luo Boyan, as if he was about to speak but hesitated.
"If you have anything else to say, just say it." Luo Boyan waved his sleeves angrily.
Cang Tou didn't dare to hide it, and hurriedly lowered his head and said, "I saw that the cart they were transporting grain was very strange. It looked like an ordinary deer cart, but it was much lighter in style. The amount of grain loaded on it was faster than the army's baggage.
It’s a car, and it only requires two people working from the front and back to pull it.”
The baggage carts used in the army can carry twenty-five stones of grain, but they require the combined efforts of humans and donkeys, horses, oxen and other livestock to drive them, and they are also bulky and bulky. Ordinary one-wheeled deer carts cannot carry such a load at all.
, even if it is to pretend to be ten stones, it is not easy. Luo Boyan was dubious. The news was mixed with truth and false, and it was difficult to tell whether it was true or not. He couldn't make up his mind for a while, so he had to go and inquire in person.
So he traveled lightly and simply. Luo Boyan soon arrived at the home of Shi Hou Wen, the imperial censor, but found that several family members had already come to the door. After Luo Boyan entered, he greeted several people, and they all came from Feng Yi, Fufeng and other places.
Although the friendship between those who came here is average, there are interests at stake at this moment, and everyone is smiling with each other.
In the past few days, Shi Houwen, the imperial censor, had used various methods to seize a lot of grain while presiding over the relief work. However, because of his sensitive status, he could not come forward in person, so he sold it to Luo Boyan and others at a high price. They were in sympathy with each other.
, mutual benefit and reciprocity, and finally got what the official wanted. Seeing Luo Boyan and others running to his house as if they had made an appointment, Hou Wen's face sank a little unhappily, and he said: "The current situation is uneasy.
You all come to my house together, are you afraid that others won't see anything?"
"Hou Jun, please be patient." A middle-aged man with a broad face and big ears smiled. The weather was hot, and no matter how he wiped his face, there seemed to be a layer of oil on his face, which made people feel tired when he looked at it: "The following is
He came on foot, with one or two house slaves accompanying him to ensure that no one noticed."
The others also talked about how low-key they were when they arrived, so Hou Wen felt relieved when he saw that they all dressed up deliberately.
"You can't blame me for being careless. Ever since Jia Xu came back from his filial piety, those people from Pingzhun Prison have been everywhere, spying all the time, making it difficult for me to provide food for relief. Not to mention Pingzhun, Taicang,
Junshu and the three officials have joined forces to stabilize prices. Now I can only distribute the grain stored in the Jingzhao treasury, and I can't even reach Taicang." Hou Wen paused, picked up the tea bowl and was about to drink it, when he stopped halfway
Stopping, he suddenly frowned and said, "There is also Jingzhao Yin Hu Miao, and Chang'an Commander Wang Ling's attitude has been very strange recently..."
Luo Boyan raised his upper body, and now any slight disturbance affected his mind. He asked, "May I ask what is so weird?"
"I can't tell..." Hou Wen blurted out, but suddenly stopped mid-sentence, thinking that it seemed that he had lost his authority. He coughed lightly, abruptly turned away from the topic, and said: "Don't tell me.
This, you guys, come here, do you know if you can get some advice?"