Yun Chu, Wen Wen, and Di Renjie should have found it unbearable just because they couldn't eat meat every day.
The residents of Chang'an City now only think about buying enough coarse grains from Fangzheng every day to feed their family.
Before dawn, I would queue up with my food bag to buy cheap food.
"A dou of millet costs four cents, a dou of sorghum costs three cents, and beans cost six cents." Liu Yi told the villagers who asked about the price of today's grain over and over again.
"No increase?"
"It hasn't gone up, and it won't go up in the future. It's just this price. The government doesn't want to make money from our hard work. Besides, can this money still be used as money?"
"I see, if the prices in the cafeteria were the same as before, we could go to the cafeteria to eat every day."
"That's right. When we go to the construction site now, we no longer want copper coins, but food instead. A handful of copper coins can't be exchanged for a biscuit, so we might as well not eat out of sight, hahaha."
When the housekeeper Liu Yi heard this, he laughed a few times. It sounded like he was laughing, but in fact, his heart was so bitter that it almost tasted like Huanglian.
The head of Jinchangfang is now Liu Ke, Liu Yi's son. However, Liu Yi did not allow his son Liu Ke to interfere when selling cheap grain.
The bucket for selling grain is a bucket set by the government. Every time he digs grain, he will use a long ruler to smooth the grain in the bucket along the surface of the bucket, fill in the missing parts, and scrape off the excess.
Because the role of copper coins in Chang'an City is getting weaker and weaker, it is actually a big profit to buy this year's grain at the price of previous years.
The people of Jinchangfang are not actually as poor as they appear. The poor people saving food during the Taiping years will almost always be a memory of Chang'an people.
And their grain reserves are basically stored on an annual basis.
It was only because I was frightened by hunger that I cherished the food stored at home even more at this time, and then became very interested in the affordable food issued by the government, because no one knew whether food prices would remain at a high level forever.
That's why Chang'an City seemed so quiet under the violent storm caused by Cui Mian and others.
This is the real achievement of Yunchu's ten years of governance in Wannian County, which has enabled the people in the city to survive one or more disasters.
Everyone thinks that as long as there is more food after the autumn grain arrives, the price of food in Chang'an may not be so high.
Only Liu Yi, who distributed food to the villagers, knew that no matter how much food Guanzhong produced, it would not be enough for those people to buy.
I heard the county official said that at this point, it is no longer a matter of who makes money or not.
It's a matter of who dies and who lives.
If Chang'an City survives, the future will be bright. If it cannot survive, it will just wait to make a living under the crotch of those wealthy men.
Looking at the copper coins thrown into the bamboo basket by the villagers, Liu Yi picked up a handful, glanced at the new coins with imitated handwriting, and threw them back into the bamboo basket. These days, there are more and more new coins on the market.
.
His heart sank a little bit, and then he shook his head and shouted at the invisible team: "They are all there, they are all there, don't worry, there is plenty of food at the county magistrate's place."
I don't know if the residents have confidence in Liu Yi, the steward of the Yun family, or in Yun Chu, the county official. Everyone answered very simply, but unfortunately, the sad look on their faces could not fade away.
.
Yunchu got up very early. When he left, he took a look at the breakfast at home and felt that he had no appetite.
"Wait, go to the Yamen after dinner."
Being stopped by Yu Xiurong, Yunchu had no choice but to sit at the dinner table, frowning and drinking porridge, steamed buns, pickles and pickles with the whole family.
After eating a few mouthfuls, Yun Chu groaned and said to Yu Xiurong: "Our family doesn't have this need, right?
It is summer at this time, and there is no shortage of all kinds of vegetables. Even if there is no meat, what about fish? These things are everywhere in Chang'an. Even frying some small fish is better than eating pickles. Sometimes I pretend to put myself in it.
of."
Seeing that the whole family was looking at her with great desire, Yu Xiurong hummed and said: "At this time, the whole city is eating rice buns. If our family is a big fish and meat, how will people think of you, the county official?"
At this time, when the whole city is united, we eat coarse food for a few days, even if others look at it, we will look good.
Besides, these people in my family have never experienced hardship, so we just take this opportunity to eat something bad and let them know what hard life is."
Hearing what Yu Xiurong said, Naha and the others immediately understood that it was impossible to eat delicious food, so they lowered their heads and drank the porridge with a slurping sound, especially Li, who had just been scolded.
Thinking about it, I am about to slap the porridge bowl on my face.
Cui Mian stood up from a pink tent, looked back at Cui Zhuan, a book boy who was still sleeping soundly, and played with Cui Zhuan's pink lips with his index finger. Then, Cui Zhuan skillfully took his index finger into his mouth.
Cui Mian looked at the puppy-like Cui Zhuan tenderly and whispered: "If I die, will you follow me?"
Cui Zhuan fell into Cui Mian's arms, opened Cui Mian's clothes, leaned his head on Cui Mian's jade-white chest and said, "If you die, where can I go?"
Cui Mian looked at the bright window and said with a smile: "I thought last night was the day of my death, but I didn't expect Yun Chu to be so tolerant."
Cui Zhuan said in confusion: "Since we know there will be assassins, why don't we arrange more nursing homes?"
Cui Mian shook his head and said: "No matter how many dogs there are, they can't stop a tiger that wants to eat people. Yun Chu is a tiger that eats people, and he is the most ferocious of these tigers."
Cui Zhuan said: "Why don't we go back to Zhuojun? Why should we stay in such a dangerous place as Chang'an?"
Cui Mian smiled and said: "When we leave Zhuojun this time, we have no intention of going back, and we can't go back."
After saying that, he reached out and patted Cui Zhuan's pretty face, then straightened his underwear. A moment later, a richly dressed nobleman appeared in the lobby of Cui's residence in the capital.
Cui Zhuan bit his fingers and watched Cui Mian leave. Immediately, a look of pain appeared in his dark eyes. Finally, he slowly changed his clothes, dragging a white gauze dress and holding a jade pot.
Just walked into the lobby.
"Three hundred and sixteen thousand three hundred and fifty-eight tons of grain is already 70% of Chang'an City's grain reserves. Yun Chu still has a large amount of grain in his hands to supply the people of Chang'an. I suspect that he has used it and sold it to us.
The grain in the thirty-six charity warehouses, sir, by doing this, he obviously did not take into account the grain delivery period in four months and was prepared to cheat."
After a bearded shopkeeper completed the calculation, he reported the information he summarized to Cui Mian.
Cui Mian raised his hand and said: "None of this matters. If he fails to hand over the grain purchased through the Qujiang Liushui Pai in November, it will be the Qujiang Liushui Pai that collapses, not us."
The shopkeeper said anxiously: "The loss for us is too great. This time, the young master comes to Chang'an with the honor of a noble family in the world. Even if he can't make money, he can't lose so much. Once those people lose confidence in the young master,
I'm afraid the young master will die without a burial place."
Cui Mian waved his hand and said: "Destroying the flowing water cards in Qujiang is worth it even if the loss is more.
Besides, we have a large amount of food in our hands. Even if we lose it, we will only lose the food in the seventy-two charity warehouses in Chang'an and Chang'an counties for ten thousand years.
Now I'm just waiting for Yunchu to use off-board tricks to deal with us. If we don't destroy the flowing water cards in Qujiang, our flowing water cards won't be able to stand up.
Go and tell Mr. Liu that our offer for the houses on both sides of Zhuque Street is only 8,000 yuan.
If he continues not to agree, I will transport all the grains collected and not leave any grain to Chang'an."
The shopkeeper's teeth chattered and he said after a long time: "It's one thing to threaten Yun Chu with food. If the people of Chang'an really starve to death, the emperor will not let us go."
Cui Mian smiled and said: "Actually, it was just for the emperor to see. The Cui family has been relegated to a third-class family. The emperor is also planning to rewrite the "Chronicles of the Clan". When they complete the compilation this time, the Cui family will become unknown.
The emperor does not allow us to marry or elect officials, and Yunchu is preventing us from moving to Chang'an.
Among these three, only in Chang'an we still have some room to struggle. If we do it, if we win, I will die. If we don't do it, or if we lose, the family will be separated.
Stop talking and tell Mr. Liu, either kill me or agree to the conditions I proposed."
Cui Mian's words made the shopkeeper sweat profusely, and the fear of being beheaded made him not know how to face the crazy Mr. Cui in front of him.
When Cui Zhuan came to the lobby with the jade pot, he brought a cup of bright red grape wine to Cui Mian's mouth. Cui Mian drank it all in one gulp, but there was still some left at the corner of his mouth, which was the color of human blood.
The shopkeeper of the Cui family left. Cui Zhuan held Cui Mian's hand and said, "Young Master is feeling very bitter."
Cui Mian nodded and said: "The current situation is not what I want."
Cui Zhuan said: "The current situation is like a year for Yunchu."
Cui Mian smiled bitterly and said: "Actually, when Chief Liu told me that I could win the No. 2 Courtyard on Zhuque Street for one hundred thousand guan, I should have agreed.
In the end, the old thief Lu Ting took the lead. This old thief seemed to be acting as a peacemaker. In fact, the Lu family, who wanted to ruin him, let the emperor see their loyalty in this dispute.
The traitor.
I wish I could eat this old thief’s flesh.”
Cui Zhuan also wanted to persuade Cui Mian, but when he saw that he was going crazy, he carefully kept his mouth shut. He knew that if he said one more word, he would be severely punished.
"Follow me to the Qingyun Tower, call the most famous singer in Chang'an City, and we will swagger through the city."
Cui Mian gave the order and took Cui Zhuan out of Cui's mansion.
Just when Cui Mian was having sex early in the morning at Qingyun Tower, the largest brothel in Chang'an City, Yun Chu just learned something from Di Renjie's mouth.
It turns out that Cui Mian planned to destroy the flowing water sign in Qujiang and build another one in a different way.
"All our income now comes from the Liushui brand. Logically speaking, the interest rate is not that big. Why would Cui Mian invest so much for this thing?"
Yun Chu looked at Di Renjie's fat face and said, "Being a vegetarian for such a long time has not made you lose weight."
Di Renjie said irritably: "Most vegetarians are fat, so don't use this to make fun of me. Answer my question quickly."
Yunchu spread his hands and said: "I originally planned to select five places in the east, west, south, and west of the Tang Dynasty to create five joint water brands.
Once these five flowing water signs are built, all bulk goods in Datang will enter and exit through these five flowing water signs.
At that time, the landowners of the aristocratic families will no longer be able to harm the world, because there is only one channel for the goods, money and food in their hands, and that is the Liushui brand, which has become controllable.
I didn’t expect that this guy Cui Mian has very vicious eyes, and he actually saw through my arrangement.”
Di Renjie nodded and said: "So, they are now waiting for you to use off-the-table tricks to deal with him. Whether it is burning down the empty granary or killing Cui Mian, they have something to say. They can even use the excuse that we like to cheat and re-establish a flow of water."
Brand, take our place instead.
Speaking of which, the credibility we have finally established in Chang'an cannot withstand the scrutiny of aristocratic families.
When it comes to reputation, their reputation for hundreds or even thousands of years is much better than ours. Now I wonder why they don’t build a new one to compete with us, and they have to destroy us before they can rest assured.”
Yun Chu smiled and said: "Just like the house in Chang'an, people are just unwilling to accept our blackmail, unwilling to suffer losses, let alone follow us and learn from us. This is a shame to them."
Di Renjie took out half a millet steamed bun from his pocket and took a bite and said, "Everyone is in pain now. We just got the news that Cui Mian is making a fool of himself in Qingyun Tower to give you a chance to kill him."