This time the imperial court purchased grain, and the Ministry of Household Affairs allocated a total of 300,000 taels of silver, of which about 50,000 taels were allocated to Jiangdu.
According to the original market price in Jiangdu, 50,000 taels of silver can buy about 200,000 shi of grain. However, since the government is stepping in, it will not just buy so much. According to the price given by the prefect's Yamen, Jiangdu's grain merchants still have to pay this time.
Two hundred thousand shi of grain, but the government could only provide 30,000 taels of silver.
If you calculate carefully, it's about one penny per kilogram of food.
Grain merchants cannot accept this price, because their costs are also higher than this.
However, these grain merchants have a big business. Even if they lose some money in this business, it will not be to the point of breaking their bones. Take the Ma family, the largest grain merchant in Jiangdu, for example. The Ma family wants to spend 200,000 shi of grain.
It may be a bit difficult, but if the Ma family pays 50,000 taels of silver, there is absolutely no problem.
Chen Yu was a practical prefect, and he knew very well the family backgrounds of these wealthy merchants in Jiangdu, so he teamed up with Mr. Zhao from the capital to directly pay 40% of the money from the Ministry of Household Affairs and buy it with the local grain merchant at a price of 60%.
grain.
Because he knew very well that Jiangdu grain merchants were very fat. To them, just killing them with a knife would just wipe off a layer of oily skin.
However, as a businessman, he naturally did not want to lose money at all, so in the afternoon of that day, these ten or so grain merchants came together to discuss such a countermeasure. They first spread the news of the court's "grain requisition", and then collectively raised prices.
I want to pass the losses suffered this time onto the people of Jiangdu.
This is a very routine operation.
Because this time, it was the Jiangdu prefect’s Yamen who took advantage, and the prefect’s Yamen was in the wrong. These grain merchants used the excuse of the government’s grain requisition to raise prices, and the prefect’s Yamen could not say much.
As long as no trouble occurs, the prefect's Yamen will turn a blind eye at this time and will not ask about the doubling of food prices overnight.
Anyway, there are only a few months until the autumn harvest. As long as we wait until the autumn harvest, the food price turmoil in Jiangdu will subside, and it will not have any impact on the official reputation of Magistrate Chen. At most...
At most, it only brings hardship to the common people.
This kind of thing is very common everywhere. After all, the government does not have to bear the bad reputation. If you do evil things, you will get benefits in the end, so why not do it?
As a result, due to the collusion between officials and businessmen, the price of food in Jiangdu soared about three times in just three days, from the original two cents per catty to six cents, and even seven cents per pound.
catty!
What's interesting is that in the case of collusion between officials and businessmen, there is still room for blame between the two sides. The grain merchants said that the government was requisitioning grain and there was a shortage of food, but they had nothing to do.
But if you really ask the government, they will say that they are not requisitioning grain, but buying grain.
But no matter what, it is an undeniable fact that the price of food in Jiangdu has skyrocketed. The seller of such urgently needed things only has four words.
Like to buy or not.
But I had to buy this kind of thing, so there was a long queue at the door of the food store.
I don’t know if it’s “hunger marketing” or because the imperial court really bought most of the food. The food stores in Jiangdu City only sell food until noon every day. After noon, a “sold out” sign is hung on the door in the afternoon.
, no longer selling food.
And during this process, a young scholar has been watching with cold eyes.
Now, he has no ability to change the current situation in Jiangdu City, no ability to lower the price of food in Jiangdu City, and no ability to bring food from other places to rescue the market, but...
As long as there is a suitable enough opportunity, he can take advantage of this food price crisis to accomplish what he wants to do.
On this day, Shen Yi stayed in the city all morning, drinking tea at a teahouse near Majia Grain Store and watching the "long queue" of people buying grain at the entrance of the grain store.
It was not until the afternoon that the grain store closed, and Shen Yi got up and left. Then he walked around Jiangdu City, chatting with the vendors and "bosses" in Jiangdu City in authentic Jiangdu dialect.
In one afternoon, Shen Yi roughly understood some of the current situation in Jiangdu City.
Because of the increase in food prices, other industries have also started to increase prices. The catering industry has been directly affected. After all, opening a restaurant requires buying a large amount of rice.
Other industries have also been affected to some extent.
After all, although these industries have nothing to do with food, sellers still need to buy food for food.
In this way, he wandered around Jiangdu City for most of the day. In the afternoon, he left the city from the east gate of Jiangdu and prepared to leave for the academy.
As soon as he reached the East City Gate, he saw horse-drawn carriages entering the city from the East City Gate. They were so majestic that they almost blocked the East City Gate.
Shen Yi stood on the side of the road, looking at these carriages with some curiosity, and asked an old man next to him: "Old man, what kind of carriages are these? There are so many of them?"
There were probably as many as forty or fifty of these carriages in total, and it was almost impossible to see the end at a glance.
"It's just a grain truck, what else could it be?"
The old man answered casually at first. When he turned around and saw Shen Yi dressed as a scholar, he coughed and said in a more polite tone: "Young Master may not know that the imperial court recently transported a large amount of grain from our Jiangdu. Some people said that the grain was being requisitioned.
, someone said to buy food, but there is a shortage of food in the city now anyway."
The old man said "Hey" and continued: "Scholars like you may not know this well. Now the price of food in the city has tripled. The price of rice at Chen's Rice Store in the west of the city has reached 80% this morning.
A kilogram of money can cost a person's life."
Having said this, the old man took a look at the vast grain team at the city gate and sighed slightly: "These grain trucks should be grain bought from other places by members of several grain shops in the city. I hope these grains will be imported into the city."
The city can bring down the price of rice in Jiangdu."
The old man's complexion was dark and bronze, and he obviously came from a working background. The price of food in the city has soared in the past few days. Although it has not reached the point where his family cannot afford to eat, it has already made him feel a little struggling.
Shen Yi thanked the old man, then looked up at the grain truck in front of him and sneered in his heart.
"It seems that these grain merchants not only don't want to lose money, but also want to make another profit!"
The officials in the imperial court are not fools, especially the officials in the Ministry of Revenue. They probably know how much food is available in each place. They also have an approximate amount when they collect food from various places.
Take Jiangdu as an example. They collect grain from Jiangdu and pre-order the amount. The premise is that this amount will not affect the local people's livelihood in Jiangdu.
In other words, Jiangdu is definitely not short of food now to the point where it needs to buy food from other places!
The previous rumors of the imperial court's grain requisition and the current mighty grain transport convoys were mostly tricks deliberately created by the grain merchants. The purpose was naturally to tell the people of Jiangdu that the grain stores in Jiangdu were out of grain, so as to make the people
They rush to the grain store to buy grain and drive up the price of grain.
Shen Yi did not leave, but silently watched these grain trucks enter the city. After the grain trucks had finished, it was already dusk. At this time, Shen Yi left the city from the city gate that was about to close, and walked all the way back to Ganquan Academy.
The academy is not far outside Jiangdu City, and it only takes one stick of incense to walk there. However, it was getting dark at this time, so Shen Yi quickened his pace and hurried back to the academy.
After all, the public security in this era is not very good, and you might encounter some thieves blocking your way.
Fortunately, the journey was safe, and Shen Yi returned to the gate of the academy smoothly. Just as he was about to return to the academy, a carriage also stopped at the gate of the academy.
After the carriage stopped, two people jumped out of the carriage.
One is tall and thin, the other is short and fat.
It just so happened that Shen Yi recognized both of these two people.
The tall and thin one is Fan Dongcheng, and the short and fat one is Ma Jun.
After the two got off the carriage, Ma Jun walked behind Fan Dongcheng and said with a smile: "I have been locked up by my father for half a month. If Mr. Fan had not come to my house today, I might not have been able to come out."
"Your Mr. Ma is too cautious."
Fan Dongcheng put his hands behind his back and said calmly: "The matter was over at that time. There was no storm in the first place, so why should we avoid the limelight?"