In the eighth year of Chongzhen, it was mid-August.
It’s the agricultural harvest season again.
South Zhili, within Fengyang Prefecture.
Businessman Zheng Shiqi appeared on the edge of a wheat field outside a village called Dingzhuang in the north of Suzhou City. He looked at the patches of golden wheat that were growing well and about to mature. The breeze blew the waves of wheat, which made him feel relaxed and happy.
Look at the long, plump ears of wheat.
This year will definitely be a bumper harvest.
The yield per mu will not be less than 1,000 catties.
And when Zheng Shiqi came here from Yangzhou, all he saw were rice fields and golden wheat fields. Some of them had been harvested, and the yields were very impressive. There were very few with an yield of less than 500 kilograms per mu.
In fact, the weather this year is still not good.
The drought continues in the north and rainfall is still severely lacking, but it is only slightly better than last year.
As for Henan, the hardest-hit area, many places are now uninhabited for 500 miles or 800 miles. The court in many counties has not sent officials there. Firstly, there are no people, and secondly, they cannot survive, so they can only give up temporarily.
Suzhou is not far from Henan, and is actually troubled by drought. Under normal circumstances, grain production will be reduced by 30 to 50%, but with the drought-resistant wheat from Xujiazhuang and the Dragon King water pump, if it doesn't work, you can get a loan from Tianxiatong Bank and dig a hole or two.
Deep wells draw water from deep underground.
By adopting various methods, we had a good harvest in front of us, and a scene completely different from that in Henan two hundred miles away.
So the wheat is about to mature, what is the purpose of businessman Zheng Shiqi coming here?
Naturally, it is necessary to purchase these wheat.
The price of grain in the north is very high. After purchasing the wheat, whether it is sold to Beizhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi, or Henan, it can be sold at a high price, and there is a very good profit margin, even if you have to hire a transport caravan.
Carrying grain across thousands of miles.
But for the wheat in these fields, the villagers of Dingzhuang have all signed an agreement with Xujiazhuang. After harvesting, they will all be sold to Xujiazhuang, because the improved seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation are all solved by Xujiazhuang. The World Bank
It also provided loans with almost zero interest. The only requirement was that the grain should be sold to Xujiazhuang after harvesting and the purchase price should be no less than 3 cents per catty.
Now Zheng Shiqi wants to come over and intercept Hu. Is this possible? Is he a match for the behemoth Xujiazhuang?
Zheng Shiqi smiled slightly, he would not do anything he was not sure about, and the rules of the mall were that the one with the highest price got it, and interests were above all else. As long as enough benefits were given to the villagers, there would always be those who could not withstand the temptation and broke the contract and sold the grain to
other's.
What's more, Zheng Shiqi has a way to persuade the villagers, and he is quite sure of it.
So after looking at the wheat fields, he went to the patriarch of Dingzhuang and the villagers and said that he was a grain merchant and wanted to buy wheat from their fields.
Not surprisingly, he was rejected by the villagers:
"If you don't want to sell it, don't sell it. These grains have been agreed to be sold to Xujiazhuang and will not be sold to other grain merchants."
“No matter how high the price is, I won’t sell it!”
"Without Xujiazhuang, how could we grow so much food in our fields? We must not be ungrateful."
"I sold grain to you at a high price this year. What if Xujiazhuang doesn't cooperate with us next year? Without improved seeds, pesticides, and an output of two to three hundred kilograms per acre, how can we feed a family of people? Just to make more this year, next year and the year after that.
Are you having a hard time?"
"..."
After hearing these words from the villagers.
Zheng Shiqi felt quite pleased. Who said farmers were short-sighted? At least these villagers in Dingzhuang were all very aware, even honest and honest.
"Dear villagers and uncles, in fact, I am not an ordinary grain merchant, but a grain merchant who has a cooperative relationship with Xujiazhuang. It can be said that I am also from Xujiazhuang."
Zheng Shiqi looked mysterious and lowered his voice to these villagers: "I can guarantee that as long as the grain is sold to Zheng, Xujiazhuang will never cause you trouble or cancel the cooperation. If there is a problem, you can always help
Come to me...this is my name."
Handing over his name card with his home address written on it, Zheng Shiqi added: "Xujiazhuang promises to buy your grain. The price is 3 Wen per catty, and the maximum will not exceed 4 Wen. But I will pay 5 Wen to buy your grain.
The yield of wheat per acre is about 1,000 kilograms. The price difference of one penny is one silver dollar per acre, and the difference of two pence is two silver dollars. And you have more or less borrowed loans from Tianxiatong Bank, and you still have government taxes to pay.
You have to leave enough food for the whole family, and you have worked hard to cultivate more than ten acres of land. How much money will you have left in the end?"
"If you sell grain to me, you can repay the bank loan, pay taxes, keep enough grain, and one acre of wheat land, at least two silver dollars can be saved. With this money, you can buy two more clothes for your children and buy more for the New Year.
With five pounds of meat and three pounds of sugar, when your family is building a house, they can build one or two more rooms - life will obviously be much easier, so why don't you agree to sell the grain to me?"
After hearing these words.
The villagers were moved, and most of them were shaken.
Because the price of 5 Wen per pound is indeed much higher than 3 Wen per pound.
Moreover, this person said that he had a cooperative relationship with Xujiazhuang. In fact, it was a one-sided relationship and would not lead to a breach of contract. This made the villagers doubtful. If this was true, they could sell the grain to this person; if it was false, it would not be impossible.
Sell.
A villager with a shrewd look in his eyes said: "If Xujiazhuang wants to blame us, we will say that we were deceived and it was an unintentional mistake. We did not sell the grain to others on purpose. It is all the fault of profiteers. We are also victims."
, I can only hand it over to Xujiazhuang for processing next time I encounter such a profiteer."
"But why don't we ask the people in Xujiazhuang in advance if there are some merchants who cooperate with them and can sell grain to these merchants?" asked another villager.
"You are stupid. If we ask in the past and the people in Xujiazhuang say there is no such partner, what should we do? We can only sell grain to Xujiazhuang at a low price? Don't do anything to make more money. Don't you want your family to live a better life?
"said the shrewd villager.
"This...is not good."
"Anyway, my family's grain is sold to this businessman, and you all sell it to him. Do you know that the law does not punish the public? In addition, we have all been deceived by profiteers. Xujiazhuang will not cause trouble for us. The worst is next year.
We can continue to sell the grain to Xujiazhuang and make a profit just once." said the smart villager.
"That makes sense."
After some discussion among the Dingzhuang villagers, the mentality of taking advantage finally prevailed, and they finally agreed to sell the wheat in the field to Zheng Shiqi, Xujiazhuang's 'partner', at a price of 5 Wen/jin.
in this way.
An entire village, thousands of acres of land, and at least 500,000 kilograms of wheat were successfully purchased by Zheng Shiqi.
But he did not stop, and then went to many villages, using the same set of words to buy farmers' grain at increased prices. Some villages succeeded, while others were rejected. In some villages, he met competitors.
He also claimed to be a cooperative grain merchant in Xujiazhuang and bid with him to buy grain. Zheng Shiqi raised his price to 6 cents, and the other party raised his price to 6 and a half cents. Zheng Shiqi raised his price to 7 cents, and the other party increased his price to 7 and a half cents or even 8 cents. Zheng Shiqi had to give up.
…
the other side.
After entering the autumn harvest season.
Xujiazhuang's "Oriental Times" has recently released a lot of information about plans to relax controls on food.
On August 10, a front-page news article stated: This year, floods in the south have been alleviated, and grain production has increased by about 15%. Drought has continued in the north, but many places have stepped up drought-fighting measures and promoted the 'life-saving field' model (that is, the family tried their best to
Serving an acre of sweet potatoes or potato fields ensures that a piece of land can grow food, which is used to save lives). In addition, the population in the north decreases by tens of millions, and the food self-sufficiency rate will increase to 60%!
On the 13th, another editorial was published: Ming Dynasty will not be short of food this year, stop raising food prices! Tianxiatong Bank has officially launched 'overseas development bonds', with a three-year interest rate of 10% and a five-year interest rate of 15%. Purchase
Overseas development bonds are far more profitable than hoarding and speculating on grain.
On the 16th, the headline on the front page was "Southern Zhili achieved an unprecedented bumper harvest. Xujiazhuang's grain stockpile has reached 500 million shi, which basically meets the needs. Cooperating farmers can sell grain freely." That is, farmers who cooperate with Xujiazhuang can sell grain to
Other grain merchants are not considered breach of contract and no punitive measures will be taken against them.
On the 19th, regarding grain, the "Oriental Times" published another report [In order to curb and suppress grain speculation, the Xujiazhuang transportation fleet will transport 80 million shi of grain from the Huguang area and 50 million shi from Guangdong and Guangxi, which is enough to solve the problem of grain shortage in the north.
gap】
After releasing so much information continuously.
Harbor City, White Castle.
High-rise conference room.
"Speaking of which, in the Ming Dynasty, no one dares to hoard and fry grain now, right?"
Xu Yuandao, who sat at the head, said: "I have done my best to them. I told them the grain output of Ming Dynasty this year and provided high-interest investment channels such as 'overseas development bonds'. Moreover, the south also achieved a bumper harvest this year, with hundreds of millions more."
Shi's grain is no longer the only one in Nanzhili. Those profiteers should have given up the idea of making a fortune by speculating in grain, and may they even take the initiative to lower the price?"
"Master, you have overestimated their lower limit. This year they will not only speculate on food and hoard it, but they will also do a big job!"
Li Jin, who is in charge of agricultural work, shook his head repeatedly and said: "Although we have released a lot of information hoping not to speculate on grain, those evildoers did not listen to the advice, and instead found three reasons for the huge increase in grain this year.
"
"First, the animal husbandry industry in the Jiangnan region has developed too fast this year. A large amount of grain has been used for feed. There are almost 100 million pigs, cattle and sheep, and countless chickens, ducks, geese and rabbits. The feed grain consumption has exceeded 600 million shi, resulting in empty space this year.
The amount of grain produced does not exceed 200 million shi, which is even less than last year."
"Secondly, the number of biodiesel production plants in Xujiazhuang Industrial Zone has increased to four, with a daily output of 2,000 tons of diesel. This has also led to an increase in food consumption. There are also grains for winemaking, industrial grains, etc., which consume more than 150 million tons of grain a year.
, which also causes the available surplus grain to continue to decrease."
"Finally, although the food in the south can make up for the gap, it is a long way to go, and there is only 130 million shi. With their financial resources and capital, even 300 million shi of food can be swallowed up, and it only costs 3.5 billion silver dollars.
, hoard it, and sell it at two, three or even four or five times the price. I don’t know how much profit I can make. This is much higher than the 10% interest return on overseas development bonds.”
"So we predict that this time, in terms of food, the merchants, nobles, gentry, landlords, vassals, and other groups in the Ming Dynasty will never let go of this opportunity. They will definitely eat a lot of food and bring the bottom of the Ming Dynasty to the bottom.
The common people squeezed everything out."
Hear this.
Xu Yuan's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he said: "Since they don't listen to good advice and insist on seeking death, then I can only help them. Let's use this wave to take them all away!" This chapter has been completed!