Chapter 112 Human nature in the food price war

As time goes by, the Xunyang disaster has been treated in time, and most of the victims have been reasonably resettled, but the grain storage in Lujiang County's treasury is about to bottom out.

Tens of thousands of people eat and drink every day, and no one can stand it.

Zhong Yao, who had no food in his hands, looked sad.

"The food is only enough for three days at most... Please don't reveal the secret!"

In the county government office, all the officials, big and small, couldn't help but feel anxious. If they ran out of food in three days, they would be in big trouble!

Liu Bei knew very well that once there was a shortage of food, the 20,000 surrendered sin slaves and the tens of thousands of people in Xunyang would definitely riot again.

The most important thing in managing disasters is the officials who manage the disaster areas. They are on the front line of disaster relief and control the lives and deaths of the victims.

Therefore, Liu Bei was not in a hurry and decided to put the food issue aside to see who would jump out.

"I have reported to the imperial court to allocate rice and grain from other places, so you don't need to panic."

Zhong Yao was stunned. It would take at least six or seven days for the official document to be sent to the court, and the food would be allocated after at least half a month after deliberation and approval...

Why can’t I understand it?

But with Jinwu’s words and everyone’s mouths shut, this matter can only wait.

Soon, rumors spread in Xunyang City that there would be a shortage of food.

Later, the large and small rice shops in the east and west cities were crowded with residents waving money.

It doesn’t matter what kind of rice or grain he has, it’s true that he grabs it.

In the blink of an eye, Xiaomi stores were sold out, and large and medium-sized grain stores immediately introduced new prices, which increased by 20%.

However, in the face of the influx of buyers, medium-sized rice stores sold out quickly, and by evening, large-scale rice stores raised their prices again, continuing to rise by 30%.

By evening, the price of grain in Xunyang soared to 150 yuan per 100 kilograms, and depending on the situation, the price of grain will rise even more when the market opens tomorrow.

Zhong Yao was shocked three times a day, and he hated the shameless behavior of unscrupulous profiteers raising prices due to the leak of the news.

After taking a look at Liu Bei, Dong Zhong, and Zhang Xun, Zhong Yao believed that the county government must take decisive action to stabilize food prices.

"Zhi Jinwu, tomorrow, when rice merchants purchase goods, they must promise that the selling price will not be higher than one cent and three cents, so as to eliminate the residents' panic of food shortage. Anyone who dares to raise prices should be charged with hoarding!"

Liu Bei nodded, indicating that there was no problem.

Dong Zhong and Zhang Xun looked at each other and immediately agreed.

After being recognized by his colleagues, Zhong Yao felt a little relieved. As long as the people could afford to eat, there would be no trouble.

However, the next day, Zhong Yao suffered a critical attack.

The county government delivered 50,000 kilograms of grain to large and small rice shops. Each rice shop indeed sold a kilogram of rice at a maximum price of 1 penny and three cents. However, in less than half an hour, all the rice shops were sold out.

This is nothing, but what is annoying is that most of the rice grains are in the hands of black market gangsters, making it difficult for ordinary residents to buy them.

On the white market, there is no price, but on the black market, the price has reached as high as three cents a pound.

"Bold! Arrogant!"

No need to ask, the grain dealer must have arranged the manpower to buy all the low-priced rice and grain, and then sold it at a high price through the black market.

A relatively clumsy deception method cannot hide Zhong Yao at all.

"Zhi Jinwu, these rice merchants are lawless and they are all looking for money. They are sucking the blood of the victims. If they don't kill them, the people will not be angry!"

Dong Chong glanced at Zhang Xun, who immediately questioned: "Isn't this inappropriate? The rice merchants are selling according to the regulations of the county government. Beheading would be innocent."

Liu Bei nodded and said: "What Zhang Lieutenant said is reasonable. There is no proof or evidence. He must not kill people."

Zhong Yao immediately said: "The price of rice on the black market is so high that they sent people to control it secretly."

Dong Zhong said: "In charge of Jinwu, it would be safer to arrest the black market grain sellers first, and then interrogate the rice merchant association after obtaining a confession."

What appears on the black market are only small shrimps. By the time you catch them layer by layer, the day lily will be cold.

Liu Bei was still unfazed, nodded and approved Dong Chong's proposal, and let the rice merchant go again.

Zhong Yao was a little discouraged.

"People in Xunyang can't buy rice. If this continues, there will be big trouble!"

Now, Zhong Yao can use less than 100,000 catties of grain. It is estimated that if he continues to distribute it, it will be gone in less than half a day.

Liu Bei asked: "Yuan Chang thinks, how can we reverse the situation?"

Zhong Yao gritted his teeth and said: "We can't sell it anymore. All this food is boiled into porridge, which should last for a few more days!"

Liu Bei nodded slightly, and then said: "Let's do this, keep half to cook porridge and half to sell!"

Zhong Yao had no choice but to comply.

Dong Zhong and Zhang Xun shook their heads in unison.

No matter how hard you cook the porridge, it won’t last two days, and food prices will continue to rise.

As of evening, the price of grain in Xunyang has soared to 40 cents per catty, and is still rising. It will definitely exceed 5 cents tomorrow.

That night, worrying news came from the county government: the 200,000 kilograms of grain allocated by Jiujiang County will arrive within three days.

The largest grain merchant in Xunyang City, Liang Xian, is the powerful boss in the black market in Xunyang.

Because there was a secret room in his home, Liang Xian escaped the victims and entered the city, so he suffered little loss of assets and money. During the post-disaster reconstruction process, he received a lot of good land and beautiful houses, which greatly increased his strength.

As the saying goes, the people do not fight with the officials.

Liang Xian originally had no idea of ​​manipulating food prices, but Zhang Xun approached him and suggested that he could manipulate it and make huge profits.

Zhang Xun was a local powerful man, so Liang Xian had no choice but to follow him. Relying on his familiarity with grain management methods, he quickly controlled grain prices.

Knowing that there would no longer be wholesale and retail sales tomorrow, Liang Xian approached Zhang Xun to ask for advice.

Zhang Xun said with a smile: "How many days can tens of thousands of kilograms of grain last? Just raise the price, and we will charge as much as we have for the fields and houses! Don't worry, after the project is completed, you will benefit a lot."

With the guarantee, Liang Xian stepped up his fight to buy and sell in the black market, raising the price of grain step by step.

At the same time, various news were released to expand the panic awareness of food shortage.

Seeing the high food prices, Xunyang residents who had experienced floods and riots were so frightened that they pooled their money to buy food.

Seeing the unscrupulous businessmen amassing money, Zhong Yao was unable to use his thunderous methods and could only sigh.

"Yuan Chang, don't sigh. Now, let's send this notice out."

Zhong Yao took Zhi Jinwu's draft and after reading it, he felt that it was of no use.

It's just porridge twice a day. Two hundred thousand kilograms of grain will arrive in two days. The county government will sell the grain at a low price. Xunyang residents are asked not to blindly stockpile grain.

An announcement is better than nothing.

As expected, this innocuous announcement failed to stop the rumors, and food prices continued to skyrocket.

Two days later, 200,000 kilograms of life-saving food arrived from Jiujiang.

The price of grain in Xunyang has reached eight cents per catty, Liu Bei ordered the wholesale price to be five cents, and rice shops were allowed to sell at seven cents.

The first batch of 100,000 kilograms of grain entered the market, and the price of grain on the black market immediately hit seven cents, and the price increase was curbed.

Zhang Xun immediately found Dong Zhong: "General Hussars, it is a critical moment now, how can we do this?"

Dong Chong collected a lot of land, but it was not enough, so he ordered: "One hundred thousand catties is only 700,000 yuan, buy as much as you can!"

Zhang Xun boarded the pirate ship and could not get on or off, so he had no choice but to obey orders and sell iron to buy grain.

As grain entered Liang Xian's granary, the amount of grain on the market decreased rapidly, and the price of grain on the black market rebounded rapidly, rising to eight cents again.

Before the market closed in the evening, black market grain dealers even arrogantly increased their prices by one cent: nine cents per catty.

Zhong Yao's mood only lasted for a long time before he was defeated by reality.

On the second day, the remaining 100,000 catties of grain were sold at a wholesale price of six cents and eight cents.

Grain dealers took action again, sweeping across rice shops, and grain prices exceeded the ten-cent mark.

The price is ten times higher than the usual price, which is obviously not affordable for ordinary people.

Zhong Yao was filled with righteous indignation: "Jinwu Zhi, it has been verified that Liang Xian is the one who controls the price of food in the black market. He hoards it and should be punished for his crime!"

Liu Bei shook his head. A gentleman bullies others, but Zhong Yao still lacks understanding of human nature. Of course, his response methods are too simple and crude.

Using power to interfere with market competition cannot solve the fundamental problem, and may even cause backlash.

Since Liang Xian and his gang think they are superior in skills, let him be benevolent and be benevolent.

"Well, please post it up Yuanchang."

The second announcement.

The general idea is that in two days, 300,000 kilograms of grain will be shipped from Jiangxia County, so the people of Xunyang should be at peace.

Finally, we also kindly remind the public: Speculating in food is risky, so don’t follow it blindly.

This trick again doesn’t seem to work!

But I posted it anyway.
To be continued...