General Zheng sneered: "There's no reason why they don't want to. If someone is causing trouble, just kill a few of them."
The understatement revealed the coldness and bloodiness.
Zheng Xuanqing stayed in the military camp for a long time and did not take it seriously. He said in a low voice: "The largest grain merchant in Beihai County is the Huo family. Whether the Huo family and Commander Xie are related by marriage depends on whether Commander Xie can get his hands on it."
General Zheng didn't want to say more and said, "Don't worry about me, I'll take care of my own errands."
Zheng Xuanqing responded and left quickly.
General Zheng personally patrolled the city gates, and when he encountered wounded soldiers, he personally comforted them and said inspiring words from time to time.
When it gets dark, the bandits retreat like the tide.
The soldiers guarding the city each breathed a sigh of relief. Another day passed safely.
The seriously injured soldiers were carried away for treatment, and those with minor injuries were sprinkled with some powder to stop the bleeding and bandaged. The blood on their legs was still wet, so they walked on the ground with two red buns and ate them slowly.
At this time, the county governor's mansion was brightly lit.
There are more than a dozen grain merchants in Beihai County, large and small, all in the County Sheriff's Mansion.
Sheriff Xie announced the order of Prince Beihai with a straight face. After hearing this, the grain merchants immediately exploded.
"Master Sheriff, do they have some grain in their homes? No, they bought it with money. Now the prince has given an order to confiscate their grain. Then I will beg for their lives!"
"Please ask the governor to give them a way to survive."
Some grain merchants also went to ask Huo Hengwen: "Brother Huo, let me tell you something, are the county governor and I related by marriage? The county governor will always give me some face."
Huo Hengwen's brows almost knitted into knots, and he sighed in a low voice: "Your Majesty is determined to pick their bones and cut their flesh, but it's useless to say anything now."
Sure enough, after hearing the complaints from the grain merchants, Sheriff Xie was unmoved at all and said with a serious face: "Your Majesty, don't you agree to confiscate our grain from Honghong, and buy it at a price of three coins per dou of grain, and then sell it at a fair price?"
To the people.”
The purchase price of a dou of grain was only two cents of silver. Taking into account freight and losses, the cost was about three cents. The king of Beihai paid three cents of silver a dou, which was enough to cover the cost.
As a result, their idea of collecting large quantities of grain and taking advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune came to naught.
I want to know, after Beihai County closed the city gate, the price of grain has skyrocketed in the past half month, and a bucket of grain has been sold for one, two, and three dollars. The price of grain is the same every month. In a few months, it will rise to more than two dozen silver per bucket.
Yes. Can it be eight to ten times the profit?
As a grain merchant, aren’t you just looking forward to that day?
They would never agree to that.
The grain merchants quickly became excited, and each of them expressed their impassioned attitude that they would never accept this matter.
Huo Hengwen, after weighing it up, sighed: "Everyone, please listen to what he has to say. Now that Donghai County is suffering from bandits, they should also do their part. Since the prince has given the order,
The Huo family didn't say anything, so they handed over all the food they had in their homes."
Then, he said a number that was neither too big nor too small.
The grain merchants were all quick-witted and understood immediately. They quickly changed their tune and declared that they did not have much grain left at home and were willing to do their best.
Xie County Governor was not a civil servant and was not proficient in general affairs. He was quite pleased to see the grain merchants bow their heads. After the grain merchants left, he specifically left Dong Huo Hengwen: "I did something wrong about Mingyue. Now there is a banditry in Beihai County.
The most important thing is to stabilize the hearts of the people and defend Beihai County. I have taken a good lead. When he goes to see the prince tomorrow, he will definitely speak well for me in front of the prince."
Huo Hengwen went to say thank you with a smile: "Thank you, Lord Sheriff."
After leaving Xie's Mansion and getting into his carriage, the smile on Huo Hengwen's face suddenly disappeared and he snorted vaguely.
After returning to Huo's house, Huo Hengwen immediately summoned all the big shopkeepers and whispered to the east: "People from the Mingyue Palace come to collect grain, and each shop will give out 10% of the grain."
A big shopkeeper asked carefully: "What should we do with the rest of the grain? It will be difficult to open the door to sell grain in the future?"
Huo Hengwen sneered: "When the people from the palace take away the food, we will immediately close the door of the food shop and say they have no food."
"The rest of the grain shops will also be closed. He asked to see how long the grain collected by the palace will be enough to meet the needs. In short, the Huo family has no grain left."
The big shopkeepers responded one after another. The first big shopkeeper who spoke was a little worried and bravely said: "If you do that, once the prince and County Sheriff Xie notice it, I'm afraid it will cause trouble."
Huo Hengwen didn't take it seriously: "Whether the Huo family is related to the Xie family or not, County Sheriff Xie will not wrong the Huo family. Now that the bandits are besieging Beihai County, the prince has been worrying about how to save his life for a whole month. How can he be in the mood to take care of them."
"For so many years in Beihai County, the prince has done nothing but eat, drink and have fun. There is nothing to be afraid of."
The big shopkeepers then nodded in unison.
…
The next month, when the steward of the palace came to buy grain, it was very smooth. The Huo family was the leader of each grain store. Seeing that the Huo family sold the grain happily, the other grain stores also came up with one-tenth of the grain. Then they closed their doors.
Enter the grain store door.
Hoarding grain in a strange way will deny grain merchants an opportunity to make a fortune during times of great turmoil or war.
After the steward bought the grain, he brought the account book to King Beihai.
The King of Beihai carefully looked through the account books, suddenly smiled, and then called his soldiers to lead him over: "Those grain merchants can just make a fortune in peace and confinement, but then they will really want to stock up on grain and sell it at a high price.
It’s all completely black.”
"I will go to the governor's house first and convey the king's words to Commander Xie. Even the matter of buying grain is not my king's idea. The matter of bringing people from the east is also not my king's idea. Commander Xie does not need to interfere."
Those words reached Commander Xie's ears half an hour later.
Sheriff Xie was frightened when he heard this, and blurted out: "What do you want, Your Majesty?"
The commander of the soldiers said in a flat voice: "Young people don't know."
Sheriff Xie hit a soft nail and had to shut up.
Within three months, Governor Xie knew what Beihai Wangqiu was doing.
Sixteen grain merchants were all "invited" to the Beihai Palace. Whoever had grain to sell to the prince could leave the palace.
Some small grain merchants could not resist the pressure and handed over all the grain they had stored. Now, the price of grain has dropped from three cents to two cents.
By May, only five of the sixteen grain merchants were left. The price of grain in those months was even lower, from two cents to one cent.
The five people who persisted for eight days without relenting were all the largest grain merchants in Beihai County. Huo Hengwen was also among them.
Huo Hengwen's eyes were red from the boil and he insisted that there was no food at home.
The other four grain merchants also gritted their teeth and attacked and retreated with Huo Hengwen.
The King of the North Sea, Mingyue, who had not shown his face until now, finally showed his face, glanced at the faces of the five grain merchants, and asked lightly: "This king will give us one last chance. Is there really no grain left in our house?"
