At this moment, the grain merchants finally lost their composure.
Before going to the banquet tonight, everyone had actually expected that it might be a Hongmen Banquet, and they were ready to break up with Li Qinzai.
However, they did not expect that Li Qinzai would turn against him so quickly, which caught people off guard.
Even if you break up, you are too straightforward, so why don't you lay the groundwork in advance?
After a deathly silence, all the grain merchants looked at each other, and their eyes fell on an older middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man was not afraid and stood up under the gaze of everyone. He bowed politely to Li Qinzai and then said slowly: "Li Qinzai's words are serious, let the villain express his feelings."
Li Qinzai smiled and said, "You say."
"The price of grain in Bingzhou is not driven up by us, but when we purchase grain from various places, the price is sky-high. Everyone knows about the drought this year, and outside of Bingzhou, grain merchants and landowners everywhere are not stupid."
"The price of grain is actually driven up by them. We are almost selling at a loss. Most of the grain merchants here have done nothing this year. I really can't accept Li Cishi's accusation. Please ask Li Cishi for a clear warning."
Li Qinzai suddenly realized: "It turns out that the purchase price was already sky-high. It's really hard for everyone..."
The grain merchants were worried.
The governor was very arrogant and obviously didn't believe what they said. It seemed like he was going to have a hard time today.
Li Qinzai slowly took out a confession from his arms and said lazily: "Logically speaking, I should believe what you are saying. However, after Zhang Cunjin was taken into custody by me yesterday, he accidentally let it slip. You guess he
What did you say?"
The faces of the grain merchants suddenly changed, but they remained calm.
The middle-aged grain merchant smiled noncommittally and said: "Zhang Cunjin has nothing to do with us. It doesn't matter what he said. Even if he was deliberately trying to frame the blame, we wouldn't admit it. Presumably Governor Li knew everything and wouldn't believe it."
His nonsense."
Everyone agreed and showed innocent expressions. Anyway, I refused to admit it.
Li Qinzai smiled: "Your shameless expressions make me feel very friendly. If it weren't for the differences between officials and businessmen, we might be the same kind of people..."
The middle-aged grain merchant's face suddenly turned pale, but due to Li Qinzai's status, it was inconvenient for him to have an attack, so he had to swallow his anger.
Li Qinzai added: "Well, actually Zhang Cunjin's confession doesn't mean anything. I won't take his words too seriously."
"I am actually a person who is easy to get along with, and my personality is very tolerant and kind. How about this, no matter what evil things you have done in Bingzhou in the past, I will not pursue them anymore?"
The middle-aged grain merchant said hurriedly: "Li Shi, we are honest businessmen and we never dare to do anything harmful to nature..."
Li Qinzai waved his hand and interrupted him, saying: "Okay, okay, one shameless expression is enough. You are quite old. Pretending to be innocent anymore will be a bit disgusting."
The grain merchants were stunned for a moment, and suddenly they felt very blocked.
The Korean lady looked on and wanted to laugh, but she could only hold back.
Li Qinzai continued: "I will not pursue the past matters, but you should also give me face..."
As he spoke, Li Qinzai's expression gradually became serious. He looked around the crowd and said word by word: "From now on, the price of food in Bingzhou must drop. The price of food in previous years will be the same this year. It is not allowed to increase by a penny. Can it be done?
?”
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then there was an uproar in the front hall.
"Li Qishi Mingjian, the price of grain will never come down. The villain just said that the grain we purchased this year is already at a sky-high price, and many of our colleagues are losing money. If the price of grain drops again like in previous years, we will have no choice but to go bankrupt."
"If Li Qishi insists on forcing us to lower the price of food, the villain's family of twelve will have no choice but to kill them at the very least, without any hope of survival."
"Please be kind to Governor Li. I have lost all my property in this year's grain, and my family has borrowed a lot of foreign debt. If the price of food drops, my family will really have no way to survive!"
There was a cry of begging and wailing in the hall, and many people even knelt down and kowtowed directly to Li Qinzai.
Li Qinzai's expression was indifferent. If he hadn't heard and seen it with his own eyes, he might have been fooled by the acting skills of this group of people.
Fortunately, he had not been idle in the past few days since he took office in Bingzhou. He had inquired and visited inside and outside the city, and he already knew very well the virtues of these grain merchants in Bingzhou.
The Korean lady looked at Li Qinzai's face quietly.
She wanted to know how Li Qinzai would handle the situation at hand.
No one knows better than her that these grain merchants are not just grain merchants, they are also chess pieces, and the hands holding the chess pieces are hidden in the invisible darkness.
The reason why they dared to quibble, contradict and behave in front of Li Qinzai was not because they were not afraid of death, but because they were confident.
What about the governor sent by the emperor?
In the land of Bingzhou, it is not the turn of an outsider to decide whether food prices will rise or fall, not even the governor.
Amid the wailing and crying, Li Qinzai smiled.
Wallowing around in front of a notorious bastard? Are you afraid that lard has deceived you?
"So, the price of food in Bingzhou really can't come down?" Li Qinzai asked in embarrassment.
All the grain merchants nodded hurriedly.
Li Qinzai touched his chin and thought: "I'm afraid it's because you are under too little pressure. As a human being, if you don't push yourself, you will never know how much you can handle..."
Everyone was stunned and didn't understand why.
Li Qinzai showed a smile as warm as the spring breeze: "Don't you understand? Let me explain to you. It means that if I beat you up, maybe you can't bear it, so I agreed to reduce the price. We might as well give it a try? Just right.
The life on the street yesterday was also reckoned with."
All the grain merchants were shocked, and one grain merchant trembled: "Does Governor Li want to punish us? You...even if you beat us to death, there is no way that the price of grain will drop!"
Li Qinzai gently advised: "Try it. You have to try everything before you know the result. What if you just follow it..."
Without waiting for anyone to react, Li Qinzai suddenly raised his voice: "Here comes someone!"
Liu Asi appeared outside the front hall in response, and behind him stood more than a hundred people, as if they had been waiting for a long time, all clasping their fists and saluting.
Li Qinzai waved his hand and said with a smile: "Please respectfully invite these shopkeepers out. Each of them can warm up with twenty military sticks to help rejuvenate their blood vessels."
Liu Asi responded solemnly, with a murderous look in his eyes. Then with a wave of his hand, the tribesmen rushed forward and rushed into the front hall. Without saying a word, they picked up more than 20 grain merchants and dragged them out.
Until now, the grain merchants still couldn't believe that Li Qinzai really dared to take action.
Many people had their arms held up by Bu Qu and were still struggling. However, after all, they were no match for the burly and powerful Bu Qu and were soon pinned down neatly in the center of the yard.
The soldiers showed off more than twenty black and red water and fire sticks. Seeing the military sticks raised high, the grain merchants realized in despair that the young governor was serious and this evil beast really dared to
Beat them.
The middle-aged grain merchant was among them. When he saw that Li Qinzai was serious about it, he couldn't help but shouted: "Prince Li, please think twice. It's not a pity to die if the military stick falls, but the price of grain in Bingzhou City and the four counties under its jurisdiction will be uncontrollable!"
"
Liu Asi stood in the courtyard with a cold face and turned to look at Li Qinzai's face in the hall.
Li Qinzai nodded slowly.
Liu Asi immediately waved his arms heavily and shouted: "Hit!"