That night, Zhang San called Qian Tong. After Yu Mingsheng and Xu Changliang came back, Zhang San said to everyone: "Now there are many grain merchants gathered in the city, and more grain merchants are coming to Xuzhou. I think it's almost...
It's time to start planning the next step.
Several people were very excited when they heard what Zhang San said, especially Qian Tong. They had asked Zhang San several times in the past two days, openly and secretly, for fear that Zhang San would forget about it. Now many people are dissatisfied with the government's refusal to take action.
There are widespread complaints about the policy to control food prices.
Qian Tong had resisted the pressure from his boss. Now that he heard what Zhang San said, he immediately felt relieved.
"I have a few points to say. First of all, this price reduction cannot be achieved in one step. It must be gradual. The interval between the first and second adjustment of grain prices is about three days. First, we will see the reaction of grain merchants, and then we will change it every day.
Until the price is brought down to normal grain price levels.
Secondly, Mr. Qian must start with the local grain merchants in Xuzhou, not to create regional differentiation, and to treat everyone equally."
"Don't worry, I will handle this well and make it absolutely fair and just." Qian Tong replied.
"In addition, we must be prepared for grain merchants to cause trouble. We must not suppress it with force. We must reason with the grain merchants, talk to each other, and appease the grain merchants' emotions. Don't let other merchants be wary of Xuzhou, which will affect Xuzhou's future investment.
Attract investment." Zhang San continued.
"Uncle Zhang has a far-sighted vision, which is admired by the lower officials." Qian Tong said with sincere admiration.
"Master Qian is so complimentary. We will start working hard tomorrow with Xu Yushi assisting Qian as governor. We must achieve our set goal." Zhang San said to Xu Changliang.
"Okay, no problem. With Uncle Zhang's foreshadowing, we will definitely be able to complete this matter beautifully." Xu Changliang replied confidently.
"Okay, Ambassador Yu, you still need to continue to work hard to lead people to survey the water system, dig wells, divert water for irrigation, and strive to plant more food. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the victims to return to normal life next year. We will provide the necessary seeds, materials, etc.
Let’s find a solution together.” Zhang San said to Yu Mingsheng.
"Okay, now we are uniting with the local counties, townships, li, and bao to start dividing the work into areas. With the help of the local gentry, the progress is relatively fast." Yu Mingsheng replied.
"That's good, we have to fulfill our promise and list the wealthy businessmen, gentry and landlords who have contributed to the disaster relief, and ask the emperor to build monuments of merit for them, so that they can work harder," Zhang San said.
.
"No problem, I've sorted out the list here. Take a look, I've ranked them in order according to the size of their investment." Qian Tong took out the list that had been prepared.
Several people circulated it one after another, and after confirming that it was correct, they all signed it. With the joint signatures of Qian Tong and others, the chance of success is greater.
"Do you have anything else to add?" Zhang San asked.
"there is none left."
The three of them answered one after another.
"Okay, let's go as planned. I'll ask Governor Qian to arrange for this list to be sent to the capital!" Zhang San said.
After the arrangements were made, Zhang San returned to the house and called the members of the escort team who came to inquire about the news.
"Have you discovered anything? Are there any abnormalities in the resettlement site for the victims?"
"Back to Sir, I found nothing unusual here," Laishun said.
"Neither do I have it here. They followed the practices of Xuzhou City and carried out corresponding measures, but the effect was not satisfactory, but the victims were guaranteed to have a bowl of gruel every day." Qiangzi also explained the situation on his side.
"Zhang Qi and Liu Zi went to Xiao County and haven't come back yet. I guess they will bring the news back tomorrow," Zhang Fu said.
"Okay, you don't need to go out tomorrow, rest for two days and wait at the inn." Zhang San said to several people.
"Genzi and Erwazi, you continue to sneak into the grain merchants' team tomorrow and find out about the grain merchants, just in case." Zhang San ordered.
"Okay, sir."
The next few days are the most critical time. If all this batch of grain can be digested, Zhang San and others will have the capital to fight the drought.
After a night of silence, a piece of news came out the next day. Someone went to the grain store to buy grain early this morning and found that the price of grain today was two cents lower than yesterday, back to twenty-three cents a dou. Millets were even lower.
I paid three cents a dou, and now I have nineteen cents a dou.
It is said that this grain store was newly opened a few days ago. Some people speculated that the merchant did this deliberately to build a reputation, but they did not pay attention to it.
However, several local grain merchants in Xuzhou also announced that prices had dropped, which made some foreign grain merchants feel a little uneasy.
In the next two days, grain prices remained at this level, which gave foreign grain merchants some peace of mind. Although grain prices were two cents lower than the day before, grain prices were still at a high level.
Unfortunately, just when everyone thought that the price of grain would not go down, that same grain store posted new prices this morning. Rice and wheat were priced at 20 cents, and millet at 15 cents. As soon as the prices came out,
It immediately caused a commotion in the market.
Many grain merchants from other places came to the new grain store to ask for explanations. However, when these grain merchants saw Qian Tong, the governor of Xuzhou, sitting in the grain store drinking tea, they left in disbelief.
At the same time, everyone felt the smell of some conspiracy. These grain merchants gathered together to discuss countermeasures. Some people suggested that everyone hold on to the grain and not sell it, because the number of disaster victims outside is increasing instead of decreasing, and the demand for grain must be greater.
"No, we don't know if Governor Qian is standing behind that grain store. This will make the government think that we are just raising prices to enrich the country." Some people think it is inappropriate.
"I think so. Besides, we don't know how much food is stored in that food store. You can't spend too much time here, right?" Another person analyzed.
"Then what should we do? We came all the way here because the price of food here is far higher than the market price. I have invested all my wealth in it. I will definitely lose money at this price." Someone complained.
Everyone scoffed at his words and no one took him seriously. However, everyone did not want to follow the price reduction, so the negotiation ended on bad terms.
As a new day comes, more grain merchants come to Xuzhou, but what awaits them is not high grain prices.
"What's going on? Isn't it said that the price of food here is extremely high?" a grain merchant cried sadly.
"Brother, you are late. The price of food was extremely high a few days ago, but now it has dropped again." One of the first grain merchants to come comforted with a bit of gloating, secretly saying that he was smart and came early. This time
But he made a lot of money.
So I didn't go back immediately. I spent a few days in Xuzhou. If I hadn't seen the victims gathering outside the city, I wouldn't have known that Xuzhou was suffering from a drought that hadn't happened in a century.
This man did not argue with the businessman, and quickly thought of selling the grain in his hands, but now all the grain merchants in Xuzhou were selling grain, and the price of grain dropped frequently for a while.
Some businessmen were angry and planned to go to other counties in Xuzhou to try their luck. Unfortunately, they spent a lot of effort and moved to another place. They found that the price of food there was almost the same as that in Xuzhou. Suddenly, a mouthful of old blood spurted out, and they were so angry that they were filled with smoke.
If I had known earlier, I would have made the move when it was only twenty cents, but now the price of grain has been as low as thirteen cents per dou.
Just when various grain merchants were crying and anxious to sell their grain, fearing that grain prices would drop again, a message came from the Xuzhou government office, saying that it was to thank foreign grain merchants for traveling all the way to Xuzhou to do business.
To contribute to the disaster relief effort, Xuzhou Governor Qian Tong ordered the government to recycle a large amount of grain at the price of thirteen cents per catty.
For a time, grain merchants all used their connections to find ways to get rid of the grain as soon as possible. Some grain merchants still refused to give up and were prepared to hold on to death.
But when I saw that that damn grain store once again posted a price of twelve cents per dou, I couldn't help it anymore and hurriedly sold the grain.
Because it is difficult to see anyone on the market who can take over and eat such a large amount of food, so they have to sell it all to the government.