One hundred and sixty-ninth section of the people's rice official's rice
Shopkeeper Liu saw that something was not good and shouted: "Brothers, come to the door!" As he said this, he had already grabbed a whistle stick.
The guys picked up the sticks together and beat them out with all their strength - they were both guys and thugs, and they had rich fighting experience. Now everyone knew that they were encountering a huge crisis, and they all cheered up.
Beating people outside to drive away the crowd.
The people were even more furious. They seemed to have forgotten why they were here. The anger and sorrow they had felt for many days erupted like a torrent. The people who were knocked down got up, and despite being beaten with sticks and bloody heads, they fought for their lives.
He rushed forward, held a stick with his hand, and started fighting with the guys. He was so hungry that his face was yellow and his muscles were thin, and he was dying. He didn't know where he could find such strength, and he knocked down several guys in a row.
As soon as the guys fell down, they were immediately submerged in the crowd, punched and kicked, and their screams were soon drowned in the roar of the crowd.
Shopkeeper Liu saw his men being knocked down one by one, his men retreating step by step, and more and more people gathering outside. He was extremely panicked, knowing that he had aroused public anger today.
In the past, he would have run away without taking advantage of the current losses, but here is a family fortune that he finally managed to acquire. In the rice bank at the back alone, there are seven to eight hundred kilograms of rice, and more than a thousand taels.
Silver and a lot of valuables. Once you run away, you will lose everything!
He gritted his teeth, pulled out a Burmese knife from the secret compartment under the counter, and shouted loudly: "Brothers, Liang Qingzi! Get on shoulder to shoulder—"
Before he finished speaking, several lime bags were suddenly thrown into the crowd, and Shopkeeper Liu received a solid hit on his face. The shop was suddenly filled with white dust, and the guys who were hit by the lime could no longer care about the "real guys".
. Covering his face and howling, he stumbled back and ran away.
The commotion of the crowd was like water breaking through a dike, and instantly broke through the rice shop's door. The crowd rushed in like mercury pouring down the ground. Some people chased the escaping clerk with sticks, and some pushed the rice bin down and put it in their pockets.
Rice, hoards of white rice were pushed to the ground, and the white rice flowed like water. People jumped into this white "rice river" and fished to their heart's content. Some people brought cloth bags, and some took off their clothes directly.
Bag, the people in the inner circle were grabbing the rice, and the people outside were trying their best to get in. A strong young man directly picked up a straw bag worth one stone and ran out.
Some of them did not grab the rice, but rushed directly to the backyard to intercept shopkeeper Liu. Others smashed open the cash box and quickly poured the silver and copper coins in the cash box into the prepared sacks. Anyone who came close
Anyone who wanted to take advantage of the chaos was immediately beaten out.
Hao Yuan ignored the cash box and didn't want the rice. He jumped up to the counter in three steps and shouted loudly: "Folks, if you want to make a mess, take it one by one. Don't waste it in vain! All the rice here is
It belongs to us people!”
His voice was loud and resonant. Even in this noisy environment, it instantly overwhelmed the noise in the store. The people inside and outside the store stopped commotion for a while and turned their attention to this person.
"There is a lot of rice here, and there is more in the rice bank behind! Don't waste all the rice! There are still many poor people who have no food to eat outside. After everyone has taken the rice, go out and tell the people nearby to come and get it! This
It’s all the blood and sweat of our people!”
Suddenly there was a shout of applause from below. Hao Yuan jumped off the counter and hurried to the back. There were seven or eight rice shop clerks lying in the yard, some were still humming, and some had already straightened up and were motionless.
.
Shopkeeper Liu's face was covered with gray. He was pushed down under the eaves of the corridor and screamed unwillingly. His face was already bloody. His hands and body were all bloody.
"Did you tell me?"
"Here you go." One of the young men smiled contemptuously, "Shopkeeper Liu also claims that he is not afraid of killing people with hob meat. He said everything before cutting off five fingers."
As he said this, several people had already brought out several small boxes from the back room, and they were all heavy and it was obvious that they were all money.
"Send Shopkeeper Liu on his way." Hao Yuan ordered, "No blood!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a strong man standing behind Shopkeeper Liu swung a stick and hit him hard on the back of the head. Shopkeeper Liu didn't even scream, but his mouth and nose were bleeding and he collapsed.
"Don't worry about the rice in the shop. Now everyone is occupying the entrance of Miku. No one is allowed to take the rice casually. They line up to get rice per head! Regardless of adults or children, everyone will be given a bucket!" Hao Yuan ordered.
Outside, people who got the news flocked in. Although there were seven or eight "policemen" in the town who "helped" in the yamen, they were good at bullying the people on weekdays. It was impossible to go out and face the mob.
In order to cause a "civilian uprising", not to mention speaking out to maintain order, they didn't even dare to show their faces. Only a few people rushed all the way to Lin'an County to report to the official.
When the people in the town and neighboring villages heard the news, they came one after another with baskets of rice bags. Hao Yuan and his men pressed rice on people's heads in front of the rice store. In less than half a day, all the rice in the rice store was distributed.
Lin'an County received the news, and the county magistrate quickly sent Dian Shi and Ma Bu to suppress the situation. Unexpectedly, they found that the bridge was burned on the way. They had to take a detour. When they arrived, the entire rice store had been smashed.
, except for catching a few unlucky guys who were wandering in the empty shop, hoping to find something, nothing was left - not even dustpans, baskets, reed mats, and even door panels were left.
Robbery everything.
Stealing rice is like eating from a wealthy family. It is not uncommon in years with frequent famines. However, several people died this time. Lin'an County did not dare to neglect and reported the situation quickly.
However, the rice turmoil spread like a plague throughout northern Zhejiang.
At this time, the dissatisfaction of the people in several prefectures in northern Zhejiang was like dry firewood poured with oil. The rice grabbing operation in Dongguan Town undoubtedly lit a fire on it. In the next ten days or so, Hangzhou in northern Zhejiang,
People in Huzhou, Jiaxing counties and Wujiang in Suzhou Prefecture in the south rioted and destroyed or looted more than 200 rice shops. The entire Jiangnan region was shocked.
The China Merchants Bureau's ship to Liaodong had already set sail at the end of July: Wu Zhixiang shipped 30,000 shi of rice as promised, which made Zhao Yingong look at him with admiration. On this day, he specially hosted a banquet for him in the Shanghai headquarters, in the name of settling accounts with him.
In fact, he was further tested for his intention to cooperate.
The food and drinks are naturally Wu Zhixiang's favorite "Australian flavor" and Cantonese flavor, including the famous Wuzhou dish "paper-wrapped chicken" - of course, paper-wrapped chicken does not exist in Wuzhou. Let this person live in Jiangnan
After more than half a year, Master Wu has developed an appetite.
When he was half drunk, Zhao Yingong asked him how to settle the payment for the goods. Should he give him one note all at once, or split it into several notes.
"I have a list here," Wu Zhixiang took out a piece of paper from her arms. On it were written several "hall numbers" of a certain hall. Under each "hall number" were different numbers written in Suzhou code. There are
There are as few as three hundred and as many as ten thousand.
Zhao Yingong knew that this must be the list of officials from the Ministry of Revenue who participated in the reselling of grain. At a glance, there were about twenty people. If they had a lot of money, they would probably be senior officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs. If they had a little money, they would be at least one from Qingjiangpu.
Officials like Ambassador Cang.
"Okay, do you want to pay Delong or..."
"All of them were marked as Delong's notes. Delong's notes are exquisite and beautiful - much better than the rotten paper from Shanxi House." Wu Zhixiang was very happy after completing the "big thing", "and prepare another thousand taels of cash.
"
"Okay." Zhao Yingong immediately called a master who specialized in handling money and finance, and issued invoices one by one according to the list. Then he ordered someone to pick up a thousand taels of silver and put them in a box and bring them over together.
After all the bills were issued, and the cash was only 50,000 taels, Zhao Yingong was a little puzzled and asked:
"What do you think of the remaining silver? Do I prepare cash or..."
"The remaining silver is considered my capital." Wu Zhixiang smiled and said, "China Merchants Bank counts me a share."
Zhao Yingong nodded: "It's easy to say! It's just your father's side..."
"It doesn't matter." Wu Zhixiang shook his head and said, "I have the final say on this matter." He said jokingly: "You can't buy purple stocks now, so it's only natural that the China Merchants Group let me buy a share.
"
Zhao Yingong laughed a few times and did not answer. Although he knew that his identity would not be a secret for someone like Wu Zhixiang who had been dealing with Guangzhou Station for a long time, it would be too rash to say it to his face like this.
However, it was acceptable for the other party to take a shareholding - China Merchants Group's money is very tight now, and it would be a good thing to pay 10,000 taels less. At that time, he expressed his willingness to accept the shareholding.
Wu Zhixiang was in a good mood. He drank a few more drinks and became less cautious when speaking. He smiled and said:
"Speaking of which, Brother Zhao is able to raise so much food this time, thanks to a certain big boss."
Zhao Yingong's heart moved, and he knew that this conversation must contain some important information, so he didn't say much and just drank with a smile.
As expected, Wu Zhixiang rambled on and said many things. It turned out that the purchase and sale of this batch of grain went so smoothly not only because officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs and Water Transport were dividing the fertilizer, but also because the Nanjing Chief Secretary's Yamen was also involved.
——The fact that the China Merchants Bureau is trying to get enough rice was specifically revealed to them by someone from the Chief Secretary’s Yamen in Nanjing.
"Otherwise, brother, I'm not Zhuge Liang. How could I have expected that your brother would purchase so much rice?"
Zhao Yingong was secretly shocked: This is simply the rhythm of eating the plaintiff and eating the defendant! While he is stuck in the neck and refuses to give rice, he must give him a discount, while at the same time he has people come forward to contact the black market rice to be shipped at high prices... These officials are really trying to make money.
Cruel!
Needless to say, a considerable part of the rice shipped by Wu Zhixiang probably came from the vassal treasury in Nanjing - the grain that should have been allocated to Guan Ning.