Even though there is clearly enough food, why are there still so many people who are hoarding and speculating on food? They still go their own way and do not listen to advice at all. They just want to hoard and speculate on food and make this ill-gotten wealth?
And towards the end of the dynasty.
The more times of chaos come, the more serious this hoarding phenomenon becomes, and the main material targeted is food.
Why does this happen?
How can we solve this problem? Can a large number of killings be prevented by using force?
In fact, the most fundamental reason is that there are too many wealthy people in the private sector, and there is too much idle capital. Capital has a natural desire to increase, and food is a necessity for everyone. The risk of speculating on food is very low, but the profits are very good.
The principle is the same as in modern society, people are keen on speculating in real estate and stocks, because they have a lot of spare money and want to increase profits. As a result, they will speculate on whatever the price rises, or if there is a shortage, or they will actively create heat and speculate.
Raise the price of something to achieve the purpose of arbitrage.
The speculative behavior of ‘speculation’ has existed since ancient times.
The most fundamental reason why there are so many businessmen, nobles, gentry, vassals, etc. in the Ming Dynasty who enjoy it year after year, speculating and hoarding grain year after year, is that they have too much free gold and silver on hand, rather than hiding it in the cellar to mold.
, it is better to store grain at a low price and sell it at a high price. The profit of at least 30% to 50% every year is simply a joy to make, and the family wealth will continue to grow like a snowball.
This simple and crude model is very effective, and the closer to the end of the dynasty, the more huge profits can be made. It is like entering the final harvest period, like a game of wealth is about to determine the winner. In theory, as long as the poor do not rebel
, their end is to be harvested cleanly and completely eliminated.
This is not determined by a person's moral level, but by the nature of the money game.
Xu Yuan read the data obtained by some experts after research and gave some research conclusions that seemed to be very contrary to common sense.
For example, during the most affluent period of the Song Dynasty, the per capita consumption level was roughly equivalent to 30,000 yuan in modern society.
The private gold reserves of the Ming Dynasty may have exceeded 8,000 tons, accounting for 80% of the world's gold reserves.
Before the Opium War of 1840 in our Qing Dynasty, GDP indeed accounted for 40% of the world, and it has been growing at a negative rate of -1.5% per year for nearly a hundred years. It was not until around 2020 that China finally caught up with the wealth level of 1840 - not talking about living standards.
, calculated based on property value only.
It can be seen from this that the ancient Chinese dynasties were extremely developed and wealthy when they were at their peak, which may far exceed the imagination of modern people. Most ordinary people may not necessarily live in poverty and misery. The history of thousands of years is extremely dark, etc.
, this conclusion is not necessarily correct.
But no matter what, at least before 1840, the land of China was a land of countless wealth.
Because the price is equal to the same weight of gold, silk has been sold for thousands of years.
Expensive tea, which is only available in the East, has been sold for hundreds of years.
There are also exquisite ceramics and other products that are not found anywhere else in the world and can be sold at sky-high prices.
For example, many Chinese people in modern society are pursuing Western brand-name bags, clothing, luxury cars and other products, which contribute trillions of sales every year. These people who like Western luxury goods will not realize that their ancestors are the
Experts who sold luxury goods to Westerners, and sold them for hundreds or even thousands of years, earned countless gold and silver from the West. However, future generations failed to live up to expectations, and most of this wealth was lost, and countless others were robbed.
Treasures and cultural relics, and in turn, they buy Western luxuries and look down on domestic products. If our ancestors knew about it, they would be angry to death.
Of course, for Xu Yuan, there is no doubt that the Ming Empire in the eight years of Chongzhen is still a place where countless people have accumulated wealth. This accumulation is not just the accumulation of the two hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, but the accumulation of the past thousands of years!
Even though Xu Yuan has earned more than 200 tons of gold and 1 billion silver dollars in profits over the years by selling glass mirrors, mechanical watches, soaps, bicycles and other products, is this the only amount of wealth among the people of the Ming Dynasty?
A conservative estimate is that there are at least one thousand tons of gold and more than three billion silver dollars of wealth that have not fallen into Xu Yuan's hands.
One-tenth of this wealth is enough to buy 300 million shi of food.
This is why those who hoard and speculate on grain are all confident that they will make a fortune this time. If the people of the middle and lower classes in the Ming Dynasty want to avoid starving to death, they may have to spend all their money to buy grain at sky-high prices.
On the way.
As for Xujiazhuang, they are completely ignored by them and do not think that Xujiazhuang can hinder their plans to make a fortune. Even if Xujiazhuang puts low-priced grain on the market, they will eat as much as they put in it. They will never allow the price of grain to drop anyway.
Go down.
…
So starting from August 20th.
Let’s take the price of shelled wheat in Beijing as a reference.
Millions of people in the capital discovered that on the 20th, the price of wheat was the lowest, only 35 cents per pound.
On the 21st, the price rose to 40 Wen/jin.
On the 22nd, the price skyrocketed to 50 Wen/jin.
Then there was only an increase, but no decrease, which caused countless people to complain.
At this time, under the appeal of many people, Xujiazhuang, like a savior, announced a grain release to curb grain prices, and expressed his position in the "Oriental Times" that grain prices would not be allowed to continue to rise.
Therefore, on the 23rd, Xujiazhuang released 45,000 shi of wheat at a price of 35 Wen/jin, and it was immediately sold out.
On the 24th, 30,000 shi of wheat was released, priced at 40 Wen/jin, and it was still sold out in a short period of time.
Then, they released 30,000 shi per day and kept the price at about 40 Wen/jin. However, even if measures such as limited purchases were taken, they were all quickly sold out.
And this is just the capital city.
Xujiazhuang also set up cheap grain sales points in more than 40 cities such as Tianjin, Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Harbor City. An average of 1.5 million shi of grain was thrown out every day, but all of them were snapped up by various forces, even if grain prices were temporarily suppressed.
It continues, but will rebound again in the afternoon, making it difficult to suppress it for a long time.
In cities and areas where cheap grain sales points are not covered, grain prices have soared to 70, 80 or even 100 yuan per catty, causing the purchasing power of one silver dollar to drop from thirty to fifty catties of rice and noodles to just one.
I can buy ten kilograms.
It also led to the increase of basic livelihood commodities such as grains, sugar, cotton, coal, etc., which made countless people miserable and resentful. They cursed profiteers and unscrupulous traders every day. However, Xujiazhuang, which insisted on not significantly increasing the prices of most livelihood commodities, won the
Countless word of mouth and compliments.
It's just that Xujiazhuang's foundation is in Yangzhou, and its influence reaches as far as South Zhili. It can only stabilize prices in this area. Beyond South Zhili, it is difficult to control. Even if prices in some areas rise to the sky, Xujiazhuang can't do anything.
.
Time has entered September.
Xujiazhuang increased its efforts to throw grain.
In early September, an average of 3 million shi of grain was thrown every day.
In mid-September, grain arrived from the south, and an average of 5 million shi of grain was thrown out every day, finally suppressing the high grain price to about 20 Wen/jin.
But this momentum could not be maintained for long. By late September, the intensity of grain throwing dropped to 3 million shi per day, and grain prices rebounded significantly again.
This time.
The surplus grain reserves in Xujiazhuang have been reduced to less than 200 million shi. According to the current intensity of grain distribution, it is estimated that they will not be able to last for seventy days, and at most they will last until the end of the year.
This forced Xujiazhuang to reduce the intensity of grain throwing to about two million dan per day. In addition, he published many articles in the "Oriental Times" calling on people to reduce grain consumption, and issued initiatives such as these -
[It is enough for each person to eat four or two meals a day. For the rest, you can eat more meat, fish and milk to ensure the diversity of food sources]
[You should eat about six taels of vegetables every day, plus one tael of oil, which can also save food consumption]
[Have you eaten sugar today? Sugar is a high-energy food. Eat some snacks such as peanuts, melon seeds, dried dates, preserved fruits, etc., and you will feel full as if you have eaten.]
[Calling! Consumers who enter restaurants in Harbor City should eat more food and drink more, eat less as much as possible, and save food for people in food-deficient areas]
After the above news reports came out.
Nanjing, Wei Guogong Mansion.
The nobles gathered together laughed heartily at this moment.
"Hahaha, I only eat four taels of rice a day, and the rest I eat fish, meat, and milk. Xujiazhuang can actually say things like 'why not eat minced meat'!"
"It seems that Xujiazhuang has nothing to do. We can only use this method to squeeze some food out from between our teeth. But will it work? How much food can we save?"
"Xujiazhuang is at the end of its rope."
"If we persist for a hundred days at most, Xujiazhuang will have no extra food in hand. They can only watch us getting rich. Even if they gnash their teeth with hatred, they can only do nothing. Unless they are hungry and don't eat, they have to squeeze out food to share with us.
Be against."
"Haha, how much food can Xujiazhuang squeeze out? If we release 100 million shi, we will eat 100 million shi. If we release 300 million shi, we will eat 300 million shi! Unless Xujiazhuang can produce more grain, it will be able to feed all the food shortages.
People, please hold on until next summer's harvest. The question is, with so much grain in Xujiazhuang, can we hold on for such a long time?"
"It is a fool's dream to go against the merchants, gentry, and nobles of the world and try to defeat us in terms of food!"
"Yes, Xujiazhuang has no idea how strong we are. We have never lost. Xujiazhuang's cheap food cannot be delivered to the mouths of most people. Only we can, but the price must be increased several times. We have control
If most of the grain sellers don’t buy our grain, they will starve to death!”
…
Henan, Luoyang City, Prince Fu's Mansion.
"Your Majesty, the cheap grain selling point in Xujiazhuang has grain again today. The quantity has been reduced to 10,000 shi, and the price is 30 Wen/catty. How much is suitable for our Prince Fu's Mansion to send someone to buy?" The housekeeper stood in front of the obese Prince Fu Zhu Changxun.
Ask in front of you.
"30 yuan per pound? Eat as much as you can! Try not to be overtaken by the mud-legged people." Zhu Changxun, who was sitting on a recliner and was so fat that it was difficult to sit up, said.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"By the way, how much surplus grain reserves does Xujiazhuang have and how long can it be stored?"
"It's less than 200 million taels. We can hold on for about three months at most. Your Majesty, why don't we collect less food? There are less than one million taels of silver left in the house." The housekeeper suggested.
"Continue to collect until all the money is spent! You can't eat the money, but you can eat the grain, and you can sell it at a higher price. It doesn't matter if you keep it in the granary for a year or two. Henan suffers from drought every year, so you don't have to worry about not being able to dispose of the grain."
The blessed path of business acumen.
"It's the prince!" The butler nodded.
Similar scenes also occurred in the palaces of vassal princes such as the Zhou Palace in Kaifeng, the De Palace in Jinan, and the Jin Palace in Taiyuan.
Including the majority of gentry landowners, businessmen behind officials, etc., after they learned that the surplus grain in Xujiazhuang could not last long, they all bought in large quantities, even if the price was 3 to 5 silver dollars/stone, they all bought like crazy.
When Xujiazhuang runs out of ammunition and is unable to support low food prices, it will reap at least double the harvest from the vast number of Ming people!
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