There are people who are born in Rome, and there are people who are just born as cows and horses.
An ox weighing nearly 1,000 kilograms is worth tens of thousands of dollars. In Taiping years, the price of an ox could be worth the annual output of ten or twenty acres of good land.
Duke Ji Guo Duan's consort wanted to entertain guests. As a result, the cow got into a fight and hit a tree, breaking its neck.
Huaiyu took his friends back to the Huaiyuanfang house, preparing to cook sizzling beef, stir-fried beef, stewed beef bones, etc. However, as soon as he entered the hospital, he found Zhao Yi waiting for him.
Seeing him coming, I was looking forward to but hesitant.
"If you have anything to say, just tell me." Huaiyu said with a smile.
"Today, the grain stores in Chang'an and Chang'an were only open for half an hour, and grain prices have risen again."
Zhao Yi rubbed his hands and said, "The official price is four hundred dou rice."
Huaiyu understood the meaning behind his words, "Where's the market price?"
"A dou of millet costs 500 yuan. It has a price but no market. Some people secretly sell it in the black market in the south of the city. A dou of rice costs 1,000 yuan."
The price of millet is generally 60% of the price of rice. If rice sells for a thousand yuan, the millet must be sold for at least 600 yuan. The official price of rice is 400 yuan. No one will sell it at this time.
Even though the government has been strongly interfering, opening Changping warehouses to release grain, and cracking down on high prices, last year's war in Hedong, and this summer's massive Turkic invasion, the result is that last year there was no food in Hedong.
A lot of grain was transferred to Hedong.
Immediately after the battle between Longyou and Hexi Shuofang, the food entering Beijing was greatly reduced, and food had to be withdrawn from the border.
The autumn grain has not yet been confiscated, and it is the time when there is no harvest.
In addition, 100,000 Turkic cavalry entered the Guanzhong Plain and approached the city of Chang'an, which made the people of Chang'an even more panicked and tried every means to grab food.
A few years ago, when the Tang Dynasty besieged Wang Shichong's Luoyang, Luoyang paid three thousand dollars for rice, but still could not buy grain. The nobles and rich people in Luoyang City could only exchange gold for grain.
Li Tang was finally able to take Luoyang, not because he captured it, but because the city ran out of food, and Hebei Dou Jiande's reinforcements were defeated at Hulao Pass. In the end, Zheng Jun surrendered in despair.
"Don't we still have some food in Qianjin Hall?" Huaiyu asked.
Zhao Yi nodded, "Fortunately, Alang, you were prepared beforehand. We bought a lot of grain in advance and shipped a lot of grain from Sanyuan. Now we don't have to go everywhere to grab grain."
Qianjintang now has some food, and the clerks and apprentices have always had food to eat.
"It's like this. The doctors, pharmacists, clerks, and apprentices in our Qianjin Hall now have two meals a day and a porridge at noon. Everyone is very grateful to A Lang. However, many people in our Qianjin Hall are also
Chang'an people, now that food prices are high and cannot be bought, everyone's family is in trouble, and some have not opened the pot for several days..."
Huaiyu saw his embarrassed look and understood the reason.
Zhao Yi was Zhao Xin's sworn brother, and he was the one who brought him to Qianjintang. After he went to Longyou, he took over as the shopkeeper of Qianjintang.
He is in charge of Qianjintang, which now has more than a hundred people.
Many people in the house are in trouble at home, and when they come to visit us, it is difficult for everyone to work with peace of mind, but they have to borrow food from their employers. At this time, everyone knows how valuable food is, and it is difficult to borrow money.
Especially for those clerks and apprentices, they are only responsible for food, accommodation, clothing and shoes. They don't get wages during their apprenticeship, and they can't pay back even if they borrow it.
But unless we borrow it from our employer, we have no other choice.
Only Zhao Yi can open this mouth.
"Let's go and talk to the courtyard first."
Huaiyu neither refused nor agreed immediately. Instead, he took Zhao Yi into the hospital first, where he arranged for the two men to cut beef and cook rice.
In the front yard, everyone working was busy with their hands, but their ears were pricked up and they were paying attention to the shopkeeper Zhao Yi and his boss Huaiyu.
Everyone is full of expectations.
They are actually very satisfied with their work at Qianjintang. The conditions provided by Qianjintang are good, and they are not harsh on the clerks and apprentices. Although they do not do good things, the shopkeeper and the master will beat and scold them, but this is the case everywhere.
It’s really not a bad thing to eat this piece of food. It’s two dry meals and one thin meal a day. It’s more thin meal than other people’s at noon. From time to time, you can still see a bit of meat and fish. There were even red ones twice before. The boss also gave rewards to the apprentices.
, no matter how much, this is very rare.
In this day and age, where can you find such a job?
Huaiyu took Zhao Yi to the front hall, and specially called Runniang, who was in charge of the accounts. The eldest sister Yu'e had been helping Runniang during this period, so she also called over, and also called the person in charge of money and food in the warehouse.
Lao Liu.
After briefly looking through the account books, Qianjintang has indeed been very busy recently. The business is very good and the profits are very high. Runniang's accounting is good, and Lao Liu is responsible for managing the money and food in the warehouse, and is relatively reliable. He is the leader of Fatty Wu's wife's natal family.
The family that came here was a slave, and the money and food were kept without any mistakes.
Huaiyu had already explained before that after the Qianjintang account had income, in addition to part of it being used to purchase medicinal materials and pay wages, the rest would be used to buy grain and reserve it.
At that time, everyone did not know that the situation would be as severe as it is now, which would allow the Turks to attack Chang'an. They also thought that the price of grain was so high and they continued to buy it. When the autumn grain was harvested, they would lose it.
Now looking at the rice, flour, wheat, millet, millet, beans and other grains in the warehouse, everyone really feels that the owner has good taste.
Huaiyu made a simple calculation. Based on the current grain reserves, it is enough to sustain the current employees of Qianjintang until next year's summer harvest. Lao Wu also transported a lot of grain from Sanyuan, both from the Wu family's own grain and from rent collection.
There are also some grains that Huaiyu asked Lao Wu to collect from the countryside.
My family is not short of food for the time being, and is even quite rich.
"Since everyone's family conditions are difficult and the current situation is difficult, we should work together to help each other and stay together."
Huaiyu closed the account book and expressed his position.
"A doctor can borrow a stone of grain, a pharmacist can borrow eight buckets of food.
"A clerk can borrow five dou, and an apprentice can borrow three dou. If he is usually diligent and practical in the shop, he can borrow one more dou. If he usually performs poorly in the shop and is sneaky, he can borrow one less dou."
Zhao Yi was relieved after hearing this.
"Then how can I borrow this grain and how much profit will it make?"
Chen Runniang said from the side: "Alang, now the price of rice in the capital has increased sharply. There is no market price, and the price of food keeps changing every day. I don't know when the Turks will come over. It is estimated that it will rise sharply."
“It’s impossible to buy food outside now, let alone borrow it.”
Huaiyu said: "We are all people in our own shop. If we can help at this time, we must help. As for interest,"
He originally wanted to say no interest, but then he thought that doing so would undoubtedly be a bad behavior.
"What's the interest rate for borrowing food from outside now?"
Old Liu continued: "Under normal circumstances, when borrowing grain, you borrow it for half a year, and you borrow it in the spring and pay it back in the autumn, or you borrow it in the autumn and pay it back in the spring. When the government borrows grain in disaster years, it usually costs one cent interest, but ordinary people cannot borrow this kind of grain.
, not much can be borrowed. Generally speaking, if you borrow food except during times of famine, you will get at least five cents of interest, and more times double the interest.
If there is a famine, it is often the case that one measure is borrowed in the spring and three measures are returned in the autumn."
From borrowing one stone with interest of one dou, to borrowing one stone with interest of five dou, then borrowing one stone with interest of one dou, and then borrowing two stones with interest of three dou, these are very common.
Borrowing a stone only charges an interest rate of one dou. This is generally a superficial statement made by the government and is not universal, unless it is a clan warehouse within a big family, lending it to the orphans, widows and disabled people in the family, with the nature of intra-clan relief, or even food.
Because everyone donates money on a regular basis, it is possible to receive only 10% interest.
Even if you borrow grain from those big temples, it is at least one dou in spring and autumn, and you have to repay the principal and interest in two dou in autumn, and if you repay three dou, it is double the interest.
The court usually lends public money, with a capital of 50,000 yuan, and an interest of 4,000 yuan a month.
For half a year, borrowing one and paying back three was really life-threatening.
Even if you borrow one and pay back two, it is amazing, but considering that it is life-saving in times of food famine, there is nothing you can do.
Even those greedy landowners or monks who borrowed grain would give out a small amount of money when they lent it out, but used a big amount of money when they took it back, secretly adding interest.
"Borrow one and pay back two, borrow in autumn and pay back in spring. If you are willing, you can lend it at this interest rate."
This interest rate is indeed not particularly high at the moment, but the burden is not light either. After all, this is only a half-year loan. The shorter the loan period, the higher the burden.
"Erlang, apart from doctors and pharmacists, most of the people in our shop are clerks and apprentices. We have nothing to pledge as collateral."
"My family, tell me what to do with this. When you write the IOU, write down a note. If you cannot repay it when it is due, you can work to repay it."
After saying that, Huaiyu added: "I brought back a leg of beef today, which weighs seventy or eighty kilograms with the bones. You ask my brother to cut ten kilograms of meat for you, then take the bones and stew it in a pot of beef."
Bone broth, everyone has been working hard every day lately, and it’s been really hard.”
"For the next two days tomorrow, everyone will be working in two shifts. After borrowing the food, we will send it home as soon as possible."
"If you still have difficulties in life in the future, remember to tell your boss at any time. We will definitely help if we can find a solution."
Huaiyu acted very grandly. Although he felt in his heart that borrowing one for two was even worse than Huang Shiren, it was even worse for someone to borrow one for three. They even had to compound the profits after the expiration. It was not even a small fight that resulted in a big one.
Doujin.
I have to say that people who have the means of production in this era are really nourishing. Money can produce money and food, and the offspring of the doubling of the world are doubled. But the ordinary people are the real poor leeks, who will be harvested at any time.
"Thank you Alang, I'll tell everyone right away." Zhao Yi thanked him profusely and went out. After a while, everyone cheered in the courtyard outside, and then everyone came to the door to thank him. There were even many young apprentices who knelt down and kowtowed.
Thanks.
At this time, I could still lend them three measures of food to these young apprentices, which was really a life-saving grace. Not only one of them was alive, but their whole family.
When there is really no other way, sometimes a bowl of millet can be used to sell children, daughters or even wives and houses.
Huaiyu couldn't bear to see it.
He worked overtime every day, and the apprentices didn't even get paid, so they worked only two and a half a day. They lived in Datongpu and worked all day long without even a day off for a month. Moreover, the apprentices had to work like this for several days.
Years. Even if you become a clerk, you still have to wait for a few more years.
"Zhao Yi, ask my brother to cut ten more kilograms of meat. With so many people, even one person can't get two pieces out of the ten kilograms of meat cooking pot. Add ten kilograms more."
Walking to the backyard, Huaiyi and Cheng Chumoniu saw Wu and the others cutting beef. The fat man Wu Junya came again. They just laughed and said a few words to Huaiyu's generosity. In their eyes, this was just Huaiyu.
After all, the Mihara samurai family cannot compare with those wealthy noble families in terms of their methods of winning people's hearts. They lack the foundation and have to be gentler in their actions.
Huaiyi handed him a piece of beef, "This piece is about ten pounds."
"what?"
"Aren't you going to send it to Madam Fan? She forgot about it as soon as she came back. The eldest sister said that she had been here during the day and brought many things, including silk brocade and brocade, chickens and ducks, and two sheep.
"
"Go quickly."
Although Wu Huaiyi was very surprised when he first learned about Aunt Fan's identity in Longyou Army, and even disapproved of him getting involved with her, after experiencing Longyou's experience, he accepted the two of them. When they first divided the beef, he even
I can also think of giving a share to the Fan family for Huaiyu.
"Auntie came here dressed as a woman during the day? How did Aniang, eldest sister, Runniang and others react?"
"I didn't know. If you ask them later, you'd better tell my mother-in-law about this matter earlier. Since we are all together like this, don't delay it."
"Isn't it true that General Fan is now in Binzhou? My mother-in-law is gone long ago. Even if I come to propose marriage, I can't find the person who is in charge of the family."
"That's your business, go ahead."
Huaiyu smiled and took the beef and went. After a while, he actually brought Fan Xuanfu back to the yard.
