As all the grain merchants fled Bingzhou and moved all their grain, the rumors in Bingzhou City became more and more intense.
Although the official warehouses have been stocked with grain, the people are still uneasy. The native people naturally know how many official warehouses there are in Bingzhou City and how much grain is stored, which is enough for the whole city to eat for a few days.
It is precisely because they know that the people feel uneasy.
The official warehouse is only enough to feed the people of the city for more than 20 days, so what will happen after more than 20 days?
This panic, as if life was counting down, spread throughout the city unconsciously.
The first thing to be affected were the more than ten grain shops set up by the governor's office in the city. The grain shops sold grain at a fair price according to Li Qinzai's instructions. People flocked to the grain shops and there were long queues outside each grain shop.
There was a rush to buy grain stores in the city. People spent their life savings, and some even borrowed money and pawned money. After getting the money, they waited outside the grain stores day and night.
Within a few days, the sales of grain increased greatly, and every citizen almost lost all their money to buy grain. More than ten grain stores continued to replenish their supplies every day, but the supply of grain was still in short supply.
Then rumors spread, and the rumors came from unknown sources, exaggerating and amplifying this year's drought.
Various versions of rumors vividly stated that the ground outside the city was full of hungry people and the land was bare for thousands of miles. Farmers from the four counties under the jurisdiction of Bingzhou had already left their homeland with their families and were fleeing towards Bingzhou.
Once tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of refugees arrive outside Bingzhou City, the governor's office will have to take care of the livelihood of the refugees. The food in the official warehouse will definitely be stopped and will be used to provide relief to the refugees.
Therefore, the food in the official warehouse cannot actually last for twenty days, and the people in the city can only watch helplessly as the refugees eat up the food that originally belonged to them.
And if the newly appointed Governor Li cannot quickly replenish the food supply in a short period of time, the food in the official warehouse will not be able to feed the refugees. If the food is exhausted and the refugees have no rice to cook, a civil uprising will inevitably occur.
A civil uprising means attacking cities, looting territory, killing people and setting fires.
The people in Bingzhou City will be regarded as enemies by the refugees and will be killed indiscriminately.
It must be said that those who spread rumors are well versed in human nature. These rumors are well-founded and very close to the facts. If the grain in the official warehouse is exhausted, the consequences will be terrible indeed.
It was natural for the people to believe such a convincing rumor.
As a result, the atmosphere of panic spread throughout the city like a plague.
Early in the morning, Wang Shifu rushed to the governor's office to report that there had been a series of stampedes at the grain stores in the city, and more than thirty civilians had been injured.
There are too many people queuing up to buy food, and when the crowds gather together, stampedes can easily occur.
In addition, the public security in the city has become chaotic. Several groups of bandits have sneaked in from nowhere and deliberately provoked troubles and conflicts while the people gathered to buy food. Fights and even armed fights broke out.
Not only that, several wealthy households in the city were also broken into by bandits, who robbed a lot of money and fled.
In short, Bingzhou City has begun to fall into chaos.
Wang Shifu said with a bitter look on his face: "Li Shi, in the final analysis, the problem is all caused by food. We have to find a solution quickly. If the situation is allowed to develop, the city will be in chaos before Bingzhou's food reserves are exhausted."
Li Qinzai's eyes flashed and he whispered: "Those groups of bandits... have they ever been captured?"
Wang Shifu shook his head: "The security in Bingzhou City has always been good. I have been in Bingzhou for many years and I have never seen bandits dare to rob in the city. It is very unusual."
Li Qinzai smiled: "It just so happened that bandits appeared in the city just when people were panicking. Do you believe it is a coincidence?"
Wang Shifu looked startled and said: "Li Jishi suspects that it was... the group of grain merchants who escaped from the city were instigated?"
"Otherwise? During the Qing Dynasty of the Tang Dynasty, the Ministry of Criminal Justice only sentenced dozens of cases every year. In this era of great governance, when people lived and worked in peace and contentment, how could bandits survive?"
Wang Shifu said with a bitter face: "No matter what the origin is, the bandits are no longer important. Li Governor, the most important thing now is to appease the people."
Li Qinzai thought for a while and said: "You transfer all the officers of the governor's office to the grain store to maintain order. In addition, there are more than a hundred members of the Li family, and they are transferred to help."
Wang Shifu hesitated and said: "Order is a trivial matter, food..."
Li Qinzai smiled and said, "If Wang Biejia holds on for a few more days, someone will send food."
Wang Shifu's eyes lit up: "Li Qishi has made arrangements?"
Li Qinzai said seriously: "No, but I plan to ask the monks to hold a ceremony and pray to God to give me food. As long as I am pious, God will definitely receive the text messages I send and respond to my requests..."
Wang Shifu:???
"Li Qishi, are you...serious?"
Li Qinzai laughed, gave him a push, and said, "Go and get busy, leave the food matter to me."
Seeing Wang Shifu leaving hesitantly, Li Qinzai stood alone in the atrium with a smile.
After a long time, Li Qinzai suddenly said: "Ah Si."
Liu Asi appeared in response.
Li Qinzai pondered for a moment and said slowly: "Send twenty or thirty soldiers, disguised as merchants, to the cities around Bingzhou, and spread the word in those cities..."
"It is said that Bingzhou City is in urgent need of grain storage, and the governor is worried about this, so he collects grain from grain merchants in neighboring cities at a high price. As long as they are willing, the governor will purchase millet at forty cents per liter in the name of the government."
Liu Asi was stunned and said in shock: "Forty coppers? per liter? Wu Shaolang, are you... are you sick?"
"Do you think it's too high?" Li Qinzai said with a smile: "Back then, the grain merchants in Bingzhou sold them for thirty cents per liter, and I gave them a beating. Now I pay forty cents per liter. Do you think I'm going crazy?
Your own face?”
Liu Asi was stunned for a moment and said carefully: "Although it is a bit disrespectful, but... this villain really means that."
"You and I have different brain capacities, and I don't know how to explain it to you. Just do as I say, I have my own plan."
Liu Asi had no choice but to respond.
Li Qinzai added: "In addition, find a few tribesmen to disguise themselves as grain merchants from other places, transfer more than a dozen carts of grain from the official warehouse, quietly leave the city in the dark, and then enter the city again during the day. Then you will come forward to buy it on behalf of the government at a price of forty cents per liter.
Those dozen carts of grain..."
Liu Asi was shocked again: "Why is this happening, Fifth Young Master?"
"Have you heard the allusion of 'a thousand pieces of gold buys a horse's bones'? I have to show it to some thoughtful people in the city, so that they will believe that what I say is true. Remember that money and food must be made public in public
Let some caring people witness the transaction with their own eyes."
Liu Asi's head was buzzing. With his IQ, he really couldn't figure out the intention of Fifth Young Master's operation.
The grain belongs to Guancang, and the money belongs to you. If you use your left hand instead of your right, it is equivalent to being taken advantage of and spending a lot of money to buy the grain from Guancang.
Not to mention publicly spreading the news that grain merchants from other places were brought to Bingzhou and purchased their grain at a high price of 40 cents...
Is it possible to use the army to rob all the grain from foreign grain merchants? That would be a big trouble.
Liu Asi suddenly felt deeply powerless. He really couldn't keep up with the way of thinking of the powerful children. It seemed that he could never hope to cross the class in this life.