They must be so eager to make money that they are hallucinating.
Four taels of silver cannot be regarded as food. It is no different from gold.
Even grain merchants like them would never dare to sell grain at such a high price.
Of course, in a particularly severe famine year, the price of food is actually even more exaggerated than this.
However, that is what they, the merchants, sell secretly.
But no court has ever directly ordered food at this price.
In recent years, Ming Dynasty's grain output has been increasing year by year because of the grain seeds produced by the British king.
However, because the Ming Dynasty has been fighting foreign wars, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the national calendar has become more and more stable, and the people's income has also been increasing.
The price of food has actually been slowly increasing.
In the early days of Hongwu, one stone of food shortage was only four coins of silver.
It has now risen to almost one tael of silver.
But even so, the people don't realize how expensive food is.
Now, it has risen to four taels of silver, and it is still the price in the disaster area.
If you include the price they pay for harvesting grain...
Eight times or even ten times the profit.
Precisely because the price given by Zhu Han was too exaggerated, all the businessmen present suspected that they had heard wrongly.
Zhou Ziliang couldn't help but asked in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty... are you talking about four... four coins of silver?"
Based on past food prices and the situation in the disaster areas, Zhou Ziliang felt that his speculation should be relatively accurate.
After all, no matter how good the court is, they will not let people like them lose money to sell food.
Although this price is low, for grain merchants like them, it is not a loss.
But the next moment, Zhu Han's voice made their hearts almost stop beating.
"What four taels of silver? What I am talking about is four taels. From now on, all grains in Datong Prefecture will be sold at a minimum price. Each stone cannot be lower than four taels of grain silver. Do you hear it clearly now?"
In the hall, there was a constant sound of air-conditioning pumping.
Everyone was blinded by the price.
The reason why they were so shocked was not because of anything else, but because this was the official price. They could sell at this price with confidence, without having to worry about official inspections.
In the past, when they encountered disasters and famines, it was also a time for them to make a fortune.
But the government will not just watch them raise prices.
At least on the surface, the price of food must not be too high.
On the one hand, they have to do a superficial job, but on the other hand, if they have food in their hands, they can only release it bit by bit through the black market.
Although there is money to be made, the money earned is hard-earned money and risky money.
If you are not careful, if the government catches you, you may end up being executed.
And even if they make money, the money is not theirs.
Everything upstream and downstream needs to be managed well, and there can be no mistakes.
Just when the grain merchants were excited, Zhu Han smiled faintly and said: "But..."
The grain merchants couldn't help but feel nervous, thinking that there would be no pie in the sky.
It is impossible for His Royal Highness the King of England to suddenly promise such a huge benefit without any conditions.
His Royal Highness is also ruthless.
They have seen many businessmen who have made it difficult for the country to make a fortune.
It is not unheard of for officials to find it difficult to make money for the country.
But people like Zhu Han, the founding prince of the Ming Dynasty, actually took advantage of the drought to enrich the country.
And it’s so obvious…
Zhu Han is not afraid that the people of the world will poke his back?
But no matter what, it has nothing to do with them.
As long as they can make money, they don't care at all even if Zhu Han is a demon from hell.
The grain merchants are only worried about one thing now, which is what kind of conditions Zhu Han will have for promising such huge benefits.
Zhu Han smiled slightly and said: "The disaster in Datong is urgent, and the imperial court cannot allocate too much food in a short period of time."
"So, the imperial court decided to select ten powerful grain merchants as agents."
"All the people in Datong only recognize the food from these ten famous families."
"By the way, there are currently three companies whose names have been confirmed, so we still need to select seven more companies."
As soon as Zhu Han said these words, the grain merchants in Yanjing immediately became anxious.
Feng Xueyi said anxiously: "Your Majesty, how is it possible that there is a grain merchant stronger than us in Yanjing City?"
They also understood that those so-called business houses must be His Royal Highness's "own people".
There is nothing surprising about this kind of thing, but the benefits this time are so huge that people are jealous, and they don’t want to give up so easily...
A mere businessman dared to question the prince face to face, and Zhu Han was not angry at all.
Just smiled slightly: "Everyone, please be patient, the merchant I selected previously will be here soon."
"And among all of you, I have already selected a strong company, so now there are only six places left."
"The imperial court will select the remaining business names based on your strength and usual reputation."
The grain merchants present could no longer listen to Zhu Han's words.
The only thing they could hear was that Zhu Han had already chosen a business name.
Who could it be?
Is it Zhou Ziliang or Feng Xueyi?
Most of the people present believed that if Zhu Han really chose a candidate, it would definitely be one of the two of them.
Because, among all the grain merchants, they are the two most powerful.
Even Zhou Ziliang and Feng Xueyi think so.
The two of them looked at each other warily, cursing secretly in their hearts.
"Good guy, it turns out you have been in contact with the King of England for a long time."
"I can't tell that you are very smart. You have laid out the plan in advance."
Just when the smell of gunpowder between the two people became stronger and stronger.
Zhu Han smiled faintly and said: "The person I selected is Liu Ping'an and Liu Dongjia of Ping'an Company."
What?
Everyone was stunned. They never expected that the one chosen by Zhu Han would be Liu Ping'an.
Among all the grain merchants in Yanjing, Liu Pingan was definitely not the strongest.
Not to mention the strongest, Liu Pingan is not even ranked in the middle.
As a result, in this business of gold and silver, His Royal Highness actually chose Liu Ping'an?
Is there something wrong with their ears, or is there something wrong with His Royal Highness's head?
Liu Ping'an was stupid on that night. He threw wealth and wealth at him and hit him on the head, completely blinding him.
what is going on?
He didn't have any special relationship with His Royal Highness before?
Why does His Majesty the King of England like him so much?
He felt the unkind looks from the people around him. Liu Ping'an, who was usually cautious and cautious, could not care about it at this time.
He strode out directly, knelt on the ground and his voice was trembling with excitement: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your appreciation. I will definitely not let you down, nor the court."
"Even if we lose everything, we will still help the court to assist the people in the disaster area."
Shameless!
The grain merchants around them all cursed in their hearts.
As long as the grain is shipped to Datong, the profit will be at least seven or eight times greater.
Such a voice actually has the nerve to say that he is bankrupt.
Can we not be so shameless as a human being?
Liu Ping'an first settled this matter.
No matter if there is any problem here or there is some inside story.
Anyway, this business is a guaranteed profit. As for other dangers, that is something that needs to be considered later.
As a businessman, if you don't even have this kind of decision, how can you do business?
However, after all the dust settled, Liu Ping'an was still a little uneasy and asked the doubts in his heart: "Your Majesty, I dare to ask, why did the prince... choose my Ping An firm?"
My family knows their own affairs.
Among all the grain merchants in Yanjing, he is really not the most powerful.
The only advantage is that the family has a certain degree of influence in Datong.
If it was said that Zhu Han chose him because of the Liu family's power in Datong, Liu Ping'an would not believe it first.
Zhu Han smiled slightly: "The reason why I chose Boss Liu is naturally because of Boss Liu's strength."
Just when the grain merchants were extremely confused, Zhu Han explained seemingly casually.
"I just heard that people in Datong were affected by the disaster. Only shopkeeper Liu was the most generous. He not only donated money and food, but also mobilized the family's strength to donate more food."
"From this aspect, we can see how powerful the Liu family is."
"What the court needs is powerful businessmen like you."
…
The grain merchants were all confused for more than ten seconds.
Can you still say that?
As businessmen, they also pride themselves on being thick-skinned.
But they didn't find out until today.
Compared with King Zhu Han of England, they are simply pure little white flowers.
Zhu Han's words sounded like there was no problem.
But if you think about it carefully, you can understand the subtext behind the words.
What bullshit strength.
The King of England almost told them directly.
If you want to become a merchant officially authorized by the imperial court, you can donate money and food to merchants in the disaster-stricken area of Datong who sell grain at high prices.
To put it bluntly, you spend money to buy a quota. The more money you spend, the more powerful you are...
After instantly understanding what Zhu Han meant, a truly qualified businessman had no interest in condemning Zhu Han.
The most important thing now is the quota. No matter how much money they spend, they must win this quota.
Zhou Ziliang hurriedly pretended to be surprised: "Your Majesty, I was just negligent. The people of Datong suffered from this natural disaster, and we businessmen are really saddened."
"As people of the Ming Dynasty, we really cannot stand idly by. The Master said: "I am an old man and I am a man's old man, and a young man is my young man and I am a man's young man."
"For the sake of the people in the disaster area, I am willing to donate one... no, fifty thousand taels of silver!"
For this quota, Zhou Ziliang was willing to risk everything.
Although fifty thousand taels is not a small amount of money, as long as you can get this quota, you can still make money after all.
But if he misses this opportunity, he will definitely regret it for the rest of his life.
Feng Xueyi also immediately said: "Your Majesty, what Brother Zhou said makes sense. Businessmen like us can't bear to see the people's lives in ruins. Our company is also willing to donate 50,000 taels, plus 10,000 shi of food."
When Zhou Ziliang heard this, he cursed in his heart, "How dare you, Feng Xueyi, stab me in the back."
Not to be outdone, Zhou Ziliang also hurriedly said: "We are also willing to donate 10,000 dan of food."
At this time, food is money.
Although it has not been sold yet, the price of food has already increased.
Ten thousand shi of grain is equivalent to more than 40,000 taels of silver.
Zhou Ziliang's heart was bleeding.
But he knew that at times like this, he couldn't be stingy.
After the two of them took action, other businessmen did not dare to show weakness.
You have 30,000 taels, he has 20,000 taels, and they all started to donate money and materials.
However, after a few of the most powerful grain merchants took action, other relatively less powerful grain merchants stopped.
There are only so many places, and it is impossible for them to risk their wealth to fight for a place.
The most important thing is that although grain can only be sold at a high price of four taels of silver in Datong.
But as news of the disaster spreads, food prices will inevitably rise.
And the closer you get to Datong, the higher the price of food will be.
Although they couldn't eat meat, they still had no problem running around Datong and drinking soup.
After the quota was confirmed, the merchants Zhu Han had previously ordered to provide food also came.
There were actually many people present, and they all guessed who those places were.
One of them is naturally the famous richest man in the Ming Dynasty, Shen Wansan.
The other one is Zhou Gushan, who is as famous as Shen Wansan.
The third person is a bit surprising.
It turned out to be Zhang Fengnian, a newly emerging businessman in the Yanjing business community.
Compared with the previous two, Zhang Fengnian is really just a little shrimp.
Even many of the grain merchants sitting here are infinitely more powerful than Zhang Fengnian.
But there was nothing he could do, Zhang Fengnian embraced the British King Zhu Han.
What's the benefit? If the King of England directly supports him, he can make a lot of money.
Others cannot be envious even if they want to.
"Everyone! The disaster in Datong is urgent. I don't care what method you use. All you have to do is to use all means to transport as much food to Datong as quickly as possible."
"Of course, I don't think you guys need me to give you instructions."
A joking smile appeared on Zhu Han's face: "Because food is money, isn't it?"
Zhu Han had just sent the grain merchants away when he saw a man with hair and beard standing in front of him.
This man's eyes were red, as if he wanted to bite Zhu Han to death.
"Your Highness, the King of England." Liu Song said word by word: "Wei Chen hopes that the prince can give Wei Chen an explanation for what happened today."
"Master Liu, I am also planning to tell you about this matter." Zhu Han greeted Liu Song enthusiastically: "Come with me, let's talk slowly."
After telling the price, Zhu Han knew that Liu Song would definitely come to him. If he didn't come, he would no longer be Liu Song.
In the study room of the palace, Liu Song's face was still as dark as the bottom of a pot: "My lord, do you know that during a disaster, the most important thing is to stabilize food prices?"
"Instead of instructing local officials to strictly control grain prices, you allowed profiteers to drive up grain prices."
"In this case, how can people in the disaster area afford food?"
"Do you know how many people in Datong will starve to death as a result?"
The more Liu Song talked, the more excited he became.
"Please, Your Majesty, take back your life, otherwise, I would rather die in front of you!"