"Oh my God, these grain merchants are so dark-hearted!"
Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao hadn't spoken yet. Sun Xin on the side couldn't help shouting when he heard the price.
Coming from the lowest level of society, he knows very well what this price means. You must know that in this era, you may not be able to earn 30 cents a day after hard work. A formal worker in Xishan Coal Industry can only earn 100 cents a day.
Duowen can earn two taels of silver in a month, which is considered a high income in this era.
When ordinary people go out to work, their wages are usually around forty or fifty cents. Sometimes, when someone is very hard on the money, they may not even get thirty cents.
Especially during slack seasons or in times of famine like now, many times you have to work for others for nothing, as long as you have something to eat.
Now the price of grain has risen to 30 cents per catty, which means that after a hard day's work, you can only get less than two catties of grain. Two catties of grain is not enough to feed a family. It is difficult to feed a labor force.
In an era when meat was scarce, people who worked hard and worked hard could eat a pound of rice in one meal if they ate with an open stomach.
"It's really dark!"
Liu Jin also nodded solemnly.
Although Liu Jin feels that he is also very black, compared with these grain merchants, he seems to be a little too young. He is only black because he is rich. Everyone is voluntary, even if he sells glass products
The price is high, but those who buy it experience a whole new level of enjoyment.
As for these grain merchants, they are now taking advantage of the famine to raise prices. The price of grain has increased several times. In this time of famine, grain is the most important. If the price of grain can remain stable, natural disasters can be dealt with relatively easily.
past.
But since ancient times, natural disasters have inevitably been accompanied by man-made disasters.
Taking advantage of famines to deliberately hoard food and raise food prices has been a common practice for grain merchants since ancient times.
There are many ways for unscrupulous grain merchants to get rich, such as mixing grain with sand and soil, weighing half a pound, using old grain as new grain, etc. There are all kinds of ways, but these are all considered routine operations.
The real way to get rich overnight is like now. Taking advantage of a famine, they deliberately source food and join forces to drive up the price of food. Often after a famine, everyone with these grains will make a lot of money.
After all, filling your stomach is the most important thing at any time. When there is no food, even if you have a wealth of gold, silver and jewelry, it is useless. Gold and silver cannot be eaten after all.
"Thirty cents per pound, is that high?"
Zhu Houzhao on the side looked at Sun Xin, then at Liu Jin, then at Tong Yuan, thought for a while and touched his nose and said.
"Your Highness, the price of thirty cents per catty of food has reached sky-high prices. You should know that it usually only costs a few cents per catty."
Tong Yuan quickly replied.
"How many pennies do you usually pay per pound?"
Zhu Houzhao had some doubts in his little eyes. He grew up in a deep palace and naturally had no worries about food and clothing. He never cared about the price of food.
"Your Highness, if you want to know whether the price of this food is high, you can probably go to the food store in the city and take a look in person, and you will be able to understand."
Liu Jin looked at Zhu Houzhao. This prince didn't even know the price of food. If he became emperor in the future, he would be like Emperor Hui of Jin and make jokes about why not eat minced meat.
"We now recruit several thousand people, and we consume tens of thousands of catties of food every day. We can't do this without food. We have to buy and eat thirty cents per catty. At most, we have to spend a little more money."
Then Liu Jin turned to look at the cement workshop construction area. Thousands of people were busy here, and some prototypes of a huge building complex could already be seen.
If you don’t have food, no one will work for you, so even if the price of food rises, you still have to buy and eat.
"Teacher, the key now is that these grain merchants are already stocking up and are unwilling to sell in large quantities. I asked several stores, and they all gave me the same answer. They will no longer sell grain to us in large quantities."
"They are sure that this famine will continue. The winter wheat they planted last year almost failed due to the cold winter. This means that in the next few months, before the spring wheat is on the market, their food will be exhausted.
It can be hung up and sold.”
After hearing this, Tong Yuan also shook his head and said.
"Huh~huh!"
At this time, Zhu Houzhao on the side couldn't help but snorted coldly: "If they dare not sell grain to us, let's see if I don't destroy their grain shop."
“It’s okay to hoard food and drive up food prices, but now there’s still food that’s not for sale.”
"Liu Jin, you go back and lead people to arrest all the grain merchants in Tianjin. I will punish them one by one until they kneel down and deliver the grain."
"yes."
When Liu Jin heard this, he couldn't help but become excited. He seemed to like doing such things, and he quickly replied.
"I think this matter is not as simple as we thought. These grain dealers know that we have His Highness the Crown Prince here and that it is His Highness the Crown Prince's property. They raised prices during the famine years, but now they have started to impose restrictions on us.
I guess someone wants to target us deliberately."
"Perhaps someone saw His Highness the Crown Prince making some money in the Gujin Building in the capital and became jealous, so now he is taking the opportunity to deliberately cut off our flesh."
Liu Jin frowned and thought carefully. He always felt that there was a sense of conspiracy in it. After thinking about it carefully, he felt that something was unusual.
"Let's do this, Tong Yuan, you immediately send people to the capital, the south, and various places in Shandong to buy grain to see if they can buy grain. If they can't buy grain, or the price of grain is very expensive, I can conclude that it is inevitable.
There will be a conspiracy."
After thinking about it, Liu Jin also told Tong Yuan that since he couldn't buy food here in Tianjin, he could go to other places to buy food. But if someone deliberately targets the prince or himself, he will definitely let Liu Jin buy it here.
No food available.
"Someone is deliberately targeting me?"
"Are you jealous of the sale of our Gujin Building?"
When Zhu Houzhao heard this, not only was he not afraid at all, but he became excited and happy.
"Very good, very good. Now I'm suddenly interested. I want to see who is behind this."
"Your Highness, this is just a guess on my part. The matter has not been confirmed yet, so we cannot draw a conclusion yet. However, the sale of our ancient and modern building in the capital has indeed made countless people jealous. It is possible that someone will take the opportunity to deliberately target us.
"
Liu Jin was a little confused about this Zhu Houzhao, but after thinking about it, he was relieved that the other person was the prince. He was the prince, the only son of Emperor Hongzhi, which meant that no matter what, he was the prince.
invincible position.
But I am different. Although I am following the prince, the prince can be fine. People who follow the prince have often died miserably since ancient times.
So this is also the reason why Liu Jin speculated in the direction of the conspiracy, because it was related to his own worth and life, so he had to deal with it carefully.
"Your Highness, I think no matter whether there is a conspiracy or not, we should make preparations as soon as possible and find ways to raise food. Of course, if there is a conspiracy, we should also find a way to teach the other party a painful lesson and let them know.
We are not easy to mess with."
After thinking about it, Liu Jin already had a way to deal with it, and he also said to Zhu Houzhao.
"Old Liu, you have a lot of ideas. Can you tell me what good ideas you have?"
When Zhu Houzhao heard this, he immediately narrowed his eyes, and his listless look disappeared immediately.
"The solution is very simple. This economic war must of course be solved through economics!"
