Three days later, the Zoroastrian Temple was opened.
Sabao Kang Zongchang was sitting in the main seat, looking at the Zouzhengs with the nine surnames of Zhaowu in the hall, and said with a smile: "In the past few days, the number of hungry people in Liangzhou City has increased in number of riots. It won't take long.
, there will be chaos in the city. At that time, we will first put all the blame on Wang Zhongsi, and then sell the grain while putting it away. In this way, the tax will not be changed, the money will be made, and the people's hearts will be lifted."
A Sogdian patriarch said worriedly: "The hungry people may riot and target the merchants in the city. Will our property and safety be threatened?"
Kang Zongchang: "What are you afraid of? Are the retainers and tribesmen we usually support just for show? Before collecting the grain, I asked you to store grain in a centralized manner in order to deal with the riots in the city. We can do this by gathering heavy troops to guard the warehouses and houses.
It’s foolproof.”
At this point, Kang Zongchang sighed while caressing his beard: "It's a pity. Three days ago, hungry people gathered to help the warehouse. If they had tried harder and had a conflict with the government, and some people died, it would have been a long time ago.
Already."
When mentioning this matter, someone said: "I heard that an eighth-grade official named Zhou Jun invited grain merchants from neighboring countries and assured the hungry people that they would be able to transport it to Liangzhou City within three days."
Kang Zongchang sneered and said: "All the trade routes in Liangzhou City are guarded by our people and set up checkpoints. How can we transport them in? The boy surnamed Zhou is just delaying the time to wait for food aid."
When everyone heard what he said, they felt it made sense and nodded in agreement.
Kang Zongchang glanced at the sky outside the door and said: "I got up this morning and had to report. Near the state capital, the fastest food aid convoy will take more than half a month to arrive. If we use more time on the way,
Trip, it’s not difficult to delay it for a month.”
Someone said: "Today is the last day of the three-day agreement. Since early morning, there have been hungry people waiting in front of the gate of the relief warehouse. Zhou Jun had made an agreement before. If the food aid was not available today, he would
Open the granaries to release grain and save the people."
When Kang Zongchang heard this, he seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. He slapped his legs and laughed and said: "There must be no food aid, but if Zhou Jun wants to open a warehouse, just let him open it. When the relief warehouse is opened,
I really want to see those hungry people and the expression on Zhou Jun’s face!”
When everyone heard this, except for a few who knew the secret, the others looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what was going on.
At the same time, Liangzhou City, relief warehouse.
Zhou Jun stood on the temporary wooden platform and looked far into the distance.
Looking at the several streets near the warehouse, there are people everywhere, and every corner is tightly blocked by the hungry people of Liangzhou City.
Men, women, old and young, everyone held a container in their hands and looked eagerly in the direction of the relief warehouse.
Cang Ling and Xiaowei, who were standing behind Zhou Jun, lowered their voices and asked: "Zhou Jiancheng, will grain merchants really enter the city today?"
Zhou Jun calculated the journey time again in his mind, nodded and said: "80% of it is possible."
Both Cang Ling and the school captain were stunned: "Eighty percent? What about the remaining 20%?"
Zhou Jun looked back at the grain storehouse inside the warehouse and said quietly: "If you win the remaining 20%, then you can only open the warehouse to store grain."
There was faint sweat dripping down the foreheads of Cang Ling and the captain, but they stopped talking.
Zhou Jun glanced at them and said, "If we are held accountable afterwards, Jun alone will bear the consequences."
After saying this, Zhou Jun thought of what happened a few days ago.
Zhou Jun persuaded An Bozhu, the head of the An family, to take out some of the An family's stored grains and secretly send them to the relief warehouse during the night curfew to fill a single warehouse first.
If the three days are up and the Jin family's caravan fails to return on time, then he plans to open the warehouses containing grain in front of everyone, release grain in limited quantities to each household, and delay for a few days.
.
In this way, on the one hand, it can alleviate the food shortage in the city, on the other hand, it will not expose the fact that the relief grain has been misappropriated, giving people the illusion of sufficient food, thus leaving some hope for the hungry people, and preventing riots in the city.
Seeing that the sun was rising high, Zhou Jun kept looking towards the north of the city.
Every moment that passed, his heart sank a little deeper.
Finally, someone among the hungry people shouted: "Where is the food? Why hasn't the food come yet?"
These words were like a spark that started a prairie fire, instantly igniting the emotions of the crowd.
After a while, cries, questions, and curses began one after another.
Many people's hopes were shattered and they began to crowd forward, trying to rush into the relief warehouse to grab food.
Zhou Jun shouted loudly, and just as he was about to ask the military guards to maintain order, a fast horse rushed towards him from the direction of the city gate.
The military guards on horseback beat the gongs and drums and shouted loudly: "The food is coming! The food is coming!"
The originally angry hungry people were first surprised, then pleasantly surprised, and finally they all ran towards the city gate.
Seeing this, Zhou Jun sat on the ground, breathed a long sigh of relief, and said to the school captain and guards behind him: "Go and help maintain order and prevent others from fighting and stealing."
On the other side, the Sogdians in the Zoroastrian Temple's Great Alms Hall were still waiting for news of the mob's attack on the government.
Suddenly, a servant rushed into the hall and shouted: "A grain merchant has entered the city!"
Kang Zongchang, who was originally the old god, heard this and jumped up in shock and shouted: "Nonsense! All the trade routes in Liangzhou City are guarded, how can there be grain merchants entering the city?!"
The servant said with a sad face: "Sabao, a grain merchant has really entered the city! It's from the north!"
Kang Zongchang was even more angry when he heard this: "To the north of Liangcheng, there is a vast desert thousands of miles away. Where do the grain merchants come from?!"
Servant: "I don't know either. I only saw that the leader of the grain merchant was a Uighur. There were countless cattle and horses in the caravan, as well as cheese, leek cakes and other items."
Kang Zongchang stood there blankly and murmured to himself: "Huihe people?"
An Bozhu, the head of the An family who was sitting nearby, asked the servant: "Where is the Huihe grain merchant now?"
Servant: "We have entered the city and are slaughtering cattle and sheep in the street. We are also selling milk, cakes and other items."
Anbo’s note: “What’s the selling price?”
Servant: "There is almost no difference from the market price at the beginning of the year. Each household buys in limited quantities based on their status. I heard those Huihe people say that this is just a caravan at the forefront, and the tribes in Mobei are behind, all carrying food requirements.
Sold in the Tang Dynasty."
Kang Zongchang slowly came to his senses and shouted loudly: "Lies! Mobei is far away from Liangzhou, and there is a desert in between. How can the Mobei tribe be willing to go south to sell grain? It can be seen that this caravan was just a deliberate arrangement.
That’s it! I predict that after this, there will never be any more grain teams entering the city!"
Seeing that the Sogdians around him were dubious, Kang Zongchang shouted again: "The more times this happens, the more we should unite! If the Uighur caravan is willing to sell grain at a fair price, just let them sell it. I want to see it.
Besides them, who else would bring food in!"
Just when everyone was hesitant, An Bozhu asked slowly: "Sa Bao, are you 100% sure that this Huihe caravan will enter the city if there is no more food?"
Kang Zongchang glared at An Bozhu and said: "I have been in business for many years, of course I am sure!"
An Bo noted: "Well, since Sabao has made the decision not to allow other tribesmen to release grain, then if another grain team enters the city and sells grain in large quantities, causing the price of grain in Liangzhou to fall again and again, the losses caused in this process will be lost to Sabao
Are you willing to use the Kang family's property to subsidize the people here?"
When he heard that the Kang family's property was to be used to make up for the losses, Kang Zongchang was stunned for a moment, then hesitated.
An Bozhu caught Kang Zongchang's hesitation and said: "Sa Bao does not allow others to release grain, but is unwilling to make up for the loss. This is a good plan."
Hearing An Bozhu's words, other Sogdians who loved money as much as their lives were immediately unhappy and stood up to accuse Kang Zongchang.
An Bo's note: "In another half a month, food aid from neighboring prefectures will arrive one after another; in another month, Wang Zhongsi's army may be able to return to Liangzhou; in two months, the summer food supplies from Liangzhou's fields will arrive
Then there will be a good harvest in the warehouse. At that time, the grain collected by us Sogdians will probably rot in our hands, and we will not even be able to get back the cost."
An Bozhu walked to the entrance of Dashi Hall, turned around and said to Kang Zongchang: "Sa Bao, the entry of Huihe grain merchants into the city means that our plan has failed. The most important thing right now is how to reduce the loss as soon as possible. The An family will decide tomorrow
Let’s start selling grain. As for everyone here, please do as you please.”
After saying that, An Bo poured out of Dashi Hall.
Seeing this situation, shortly after An Bozhu left, many other clan heads, including the Shi family, the Mi family, the Cao family, and the Huo Xun family, stood up to say goodbye and rushed home to prepare to sell grain.
Seeing that there were fewer and fewer people in the Dashi Hall, Kang Zongchang was so angry that he could not stand steadily and fell to the ground, his face turning blue. He beat the ground with his hands and roared in the sky.
