The final transaction price was set at two hundred cents per bucket, which was ten cents lower than Chu Qing's price.

According to Chu Qing's prediction, grain production will definitely decrease this year, which will cause another panic among the people during the summer harvest. Therefore, even if grain prices are suppressed, they will still be higher than two months ago.

But in fact, Chu Qing still didn’t understand the market well enough.

When the convoys transporting grain moved through the streets and alleys due to road construction, the people saw a large amount of grain being transported into Yibin Mansion. They thought it was the government office that had collected the grain, so they all felt relieved.

Those who can't afford food will naturally not buy it, but those who can afford it will stop and wait to see how prices change.

This caused the local grain stores in Yibin Prefecture to suffer from a sudden loss of sales.

While waiting for the expansion of their warehouses, grain merchants from other places inspected the sales situation of local grain stores all day long. They found that the sales situation of grain stores was low, and seeing that the summer harvest was not far away, they were very anxious.

The anxiety in the past few days has been lingering in the hearts of the grain merchants, and has even intensified, so much so that they made more concessions when negotiating prices with Baijiaxing.

Several grain merchants from the six prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River came out of the "temporary reception room" of the lumberyard. Everyone waiting outside looked at their expressions carefully.

Several businessmen sent by the Kozhifu who were not even qualified to enter were holding their breaths and concentrating, hoping to get a glimpse of something from the calm faces of these people.

Baijiaxing felt that these people were so good at pretending. How long could they keep the price of 200 yuan a secret for so long? What was the use?

So while Baijiaxing said "Let's go", he said with consideration for the other party: "Although we sincerely hope to buy all the grain you brought, if you are pressed for time, I have another way. You

Do you think it will work?"

When he said this, everyone had almost reached the gate, so the people waiting outside also heard it, and everyone focused their attention on Baijiaxing.

Baijiaxing said: "It is not easy to transport it. You can go to the surrounding counties along the road. This is the time when the people are most short of food. Two hundred coins per dou should be easy to sell, but it may be difficult to sell it in bulk."

More troublesome;

However, I can also help you get some letters of introduction from my adults. My adults visited various counties and townships at the beginning of the year and dealt with various government agencies;

By having the government organize the sale and purchase, you can reduce trouble and settle the payment as quickly as possible. What do you think?"

"Two hundred coins!" Now I knew everything.

Baijiaxing seemed to see himself waving his hand, and all the bubbles called "hope" floating above these people's heads were wiped out.

Several major Jiangnan grain merchants glared at Baijiaxing with condemnation.

Bai Jiaxing smiled brightly and cursed in his heart: A group of people who are struggling to make a fortune, what kind of kindness should I tell you?

However, Bai Jiaxing is right. Instead of selling food scattered across counties and villages, it is better to directly negotiate with local government agencies and let them organize people to purchase grain together.

To let the government organize it, someone really needs to write a letter of introduction.

Watching the crowd gradually disperse, Deputy Wang Qianhu tugged on his fake beard and said, "I had little contact with you before, so I didn't see anything. But I have had more contact with you these days, and I find that each of you is worse than the last from top to bottom!"

"Where are you now!" Bai Jiaxing smiled and made a "please" gesture, asking Deputy Wang Qianhu to go back to the reception room and sit down.

"What do you mean?" Deputy Wang Qianhu was puzzled: "Could it be that you are weak and bad and look down on you?"

Bai Jiaxing: "...It's so embarrassing! But that's what it means."

Deputy Wang Qianhu: "..."

Deputy Wang Qianhu asked: "I thought you wouldn't accept their grain, so why did you accept it in the end?"

Baijiaxing poured hot tea for Deputy Wang Qianhu again and explained: "Half of Shopkeeper Li's goods are last year's summer grain. They are not bad. They can be stored and are worth collecting!"

"Why do you need so much food? Do you want to make a fortune for the country?" Deputy Wang Qianhu felt that Chu Qing's patriotic feelings should be re-examined.

"The food we brought here is just for show. It's not much. Our family said it would be shipped back to Jizhou to support the disaster there." Baijiaxing replied.

"Oh... what about the new ones?" Deputy Wang Qianhu asked again.

"Can I use some of it to cooperate with you?" Bai Jiaxing's smile was really wilting.

Come on, come on! Deputy Wang Qianhu felt that the other party was going to "bribe" him.

As a deputy Wang Qianhu who has no background or background and has reached this point solely by his loyalty, all so-called "cooperation" is a trap.

"Hmph!" Deputy Wang Qianhu said in a bad tone: "There must be a reason why leather pants are worn over cotton pants. Either the cotton pants are too thin, or the leather pants are hairless! Tell me, why do you want to cooperate?"

Deputy Wang Qianhu did not ask about the content of the cooperation, but asked about the reasons for the cooperation, which seemed to suggest that he would fall out at any time.

"My elder said, have you tasted several kinds of insects?" Bai Jiaxing asked.

Deputy Wang Qianhu: "Uh...yeah, what?"

Why don't you put it another way? I'm not a chicken or duck, and I still eat bugs! That's called vegetables!

"My lord would like to place part of the grain with you, and exchange one pound of grain for two pounds of locusts with the people in the name of the Yibin Mansion Council," Baijiaxing said.

"What?!" Deputy Wang Qianhu was dumbfounded now. Why did he feel like he didn't understand?

Bai Jiaxing chuckled: "Sir, didn't you just say that there must be a reason for wearing leather trousers over cotton trousers? You are right, there is indeed a reason;

My elders have said that even if the price of food is suppressed, there will still be people who cannot afford food and can catch locusts in exchange for food."

Deputy Wang Qianhu: "What do you want the locusts for?"

Baijiaxing: "Eat!"

Deputy Wang Qianhu imagined Chu Qing holding a locust in his mouth, stir-frying a large pot of locusts in his hand, and a tank of locusts beside him, and he shuddered!

Deputy Wang Qianhu: "Why don't you just give porridge? Anyway, it's free food!"

Baijiaxing: "Giving porridge is free, but exchanging locusts is not free! Moreover, in the name of the directorate, the Secret Investigation Department also has to contribute to the people. It just has to trouble adults to help transport locusts every day."

Deputy Wang Qianhu agreed: "Although I don't understand what your master wants to do, I think she is very powerful."

In the name of the board of directors, the Yibin Mansion Board of Directors is responsible for itself, so why not take the honor that is given to you in vain? Your goodwill will be rewarded soon!

The area near Yibinfu ferry is bustling again.

The place where stalls were originally used to sell goods has become very neat, because the road near the ferry is paved with flat blue bricks, and "isolation zones" are paved with dark blue bricks on both sides of the road.

It looks a lot like a modern "bicycle path" from a distance.

The purpose of these two "isolation strips" is to set up stalls so that they look neat. Coupled with the smooth roads, even the sellers can consciously maintain hygiene.

The "isolation zone" on one side has a uniform small stove, small tables, chairs and oil lamps, arranged in a row at equal intervals, which is very spectacular.

There is a sign on the side near the ferry channel: "Food Street".

Because the grain harvested this time was relatively fresh, Chu Qing took out the old grain that had been stored in the warehouse for more than two years to make snacks.

Although the taste of steamed buns and rice is not very good, it is very good for making grilled steamed bun slices, pancakes, lard fried rice or jujube rice cakes, etc.

There is also a new snack added: grilled locust skewers.

Compared with mutton skewers and chicken skewers, the cheap locust skewers are quite popular. They cost one penny per skewer and there are ten locusts on each skewer. They are grilled fragrantly and sprinkled with salt.

If you eat fried locust skewers, it only costs five cents for two skewers, which is very cheap.

Of course, the porters can't afford to eat, these are all prepared for the passengers coming and going.


Chapter completed!