Jia Cong and his wife hid in the yard and guessed that behind the Changfeng Tower was probably the Mei family in the capital, but they were not blind. Jia Cong felt reassured: It was the outsiders who were at fault. It would be a headache if there was a traitor in their nest. The two of them were at ease.
After having lunch, I thought about taking a nap. Someone came outside. Su Tao sent a confidant to invite Jia Cong over. Jia Cong was slightly startled. Su Tao is a thin-skinned guy, and he usually is.
He went to help on his own, but he never came to shout. Jia Cong was easily sleepy, and it was difficult to keep his eyes open at this moment, so he drank a cup of tea with his neck raised and went to the Yamen.
When I arrived at Su Tao's study, I saw three or four newly recruited pawnbrokers standing on the ground floor. There were a pile of account books spread out on the desk. The prefect's face was as dark as ink. He asked why. When his master saw it,
Jia Cong breathed a sigh of relief, bowed and explained the reason in a low voice.
It turned out that a grain press officer of the Yan Army came yesterday. Most of the Yan troops who suppressed bandits opened warehouses to collect military rations. Due to years of banditry in Jiangxi, many public warehouses were empty, so they came to Su Tao to ask for food. Su Tao first arrived.
When he took office, all the six clerks in the original government office were gone, and there was no manpower or time to check the granary. In the past few times, when people came to ask for military rations, Su Tao only temporarily ordered his master to take them to open the granary to get the grain.
A brief account. This morning, Su Tao ordered the new pian to go to the granary to get grain. When he got there, he took out all the remaining grain in one granary. Because there was not enough grain, he opened a new granary. The new granary was actually empty.
. Talking about grain, there is not even chaff. After that, more than a dozen granaries were opened, but they were all empty. When I asked the man who kept the granaries, the man said in a nonchalant manner: "Those granaries in the back have been empty for many years."
, only the first few seats are just showing off.”
Jia Cong thought for a while: "Since Xie Jing was in office like that, it is normal for the official warehouse to be empty. How urgent are they for food? Jiangxi is originally a grain-producing area, so it is not difficult to get food."
Su Tao said: "Now is the time for spring plowing, and people don't have much food left in their homes."
Jia Cong smiled and said: "Common people don't have it, but rich families still have it. Senior brother, after all, we are not short of money now, so what are we afraid of?"
A clerk hurriedly said: "Mr. Jia made a mistake? The warehouse is empty and full of false accounts, and there is nothing!"
"Who says there isn't?" Jia Cong said, "Aren't the more than 40 shops that were sealed up on Zhuzi Street a few days ago money?"
The master laughed when he heard this: "Mr. Jia said yes!"
Jia Cong spread his hands and said: "Money is not everything, but at least eight thousand is."
Su Tao hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth and said: "Well, that's the only way! Otherwise, we can't get the food tax money at the moment." He ordered to post a notice. One is to auction the shops on Zhuzi Street later, and the other is to
Folks were buying grain. Jia Cong caught a glimpse of the young master who couldn't help but turn up the corners of his mouth. He guessed that this wooden senior brother had probably committed some deception, and quietly looked at the sky and twitched the corners of his mouth.
In the afternoon, Jia Cong and Chen Ruijin surrounded Lao Hutou for half a day, but the old guy refused to speak. Jia Cong was irritable, so he went out. Just thinking of taking a walk to calm down, Yang Guotai came over.
Jia Cong greeted him with a smile. Yang Guotai said: "Third Master..."
Jia Cong hurriedly said: "No! General Shi is my grandmother's nephew. Don't be so polite. By the way, have you met my uncle?"
Yang Guotai hurriedly said: "That old gentleman? He's like a dragon, but I've never met him."
Jia Cong touched his nose: "I know he is in this government office, I don't know where he is hiding. His surname is also Shi, and he is the uncle of General Shi. After all, we are either relatives or friends. This fate
hey-hey……"
Yang Guotai said happily: "Seriously?"
"Seriously! And his only daughter is my sister-in-law. Ouch~~ Now Bao Er's sister-in-law has more support."
Yang Guotai's face suddenly darkened: "Is your brother treating our general's daughter badly?"
"How is that possible!" Jia Cong explained, "Our Shenying waiter is the best to women."
Yang Guotai just relaxed his eyebrows after hearing the first half of the sentence, and then frowned after hearing the second half: "What's best for women? What's best for the women next to you?"
"Well...it's not as good as you thought."
Yang Guotai's face turned cold: "Which one is better?"
"It's better to be more equal... Oh, I don't understand. Anyway, he doesn't have a wife at home and he doesn't have a concubine outside." Jia Cong quickly changed the topic, "By the way, what do you want to say to me?"
Yang Guotai was stunned for a moment, then glared at him and said, "You are talking nonsense, I almost forgot something important!"
Jia Cong whispered: "I'm not talking nonsense, I'm telling the truth..."
Yang Guotai said seriously: "I just saw someone posted a notice outside, Mr. Su wants to buy food?"
Jia Cong nodded: "The price is higher than the market price, so as not to disturb the people's daily food purchase. I want to buy it directly from the homes of wealthy households."
Yang Guotai shook his head and said, "I'm afraid I'm going to make a miscalculation."
"ah?"
"Third Master, think about it, since the rice and grain store can be sold to the government or sold at a high price, how can it be sold to the common people? Besides, these wealthy households in Nanchang Prefecture are all on good terms with or have connections with the Xie family. It is common.
None of the merchants can be called 'rich'. Mr. Su's rectification of the Xie family has also damaged their property. I'm afraid they are already discussing how to deal with Mr. Su at this moment."
Jia Cong asked curiously: "Can they deal with the government? How?"
Yang Guotai hummed: "I'm just saying the same thing. Nowadays, the several large weaving workshops in Nanchang Prefecture are all run by the grandma's family in Dingcheng Hou Mansion. Others are either closed or very small. Whenever their family stops work, all
All the cloth shops in the city had to close down, and the weavers they hired had no food to eat.”
Jia Cong opened his mouth: "Then...so Wu Buyanbu and other things have not entered the Jiangxi market?"
"Not much. Anyway, everything Xie Jing has the final say on is his in-law's family's cloth."
Jia Cong bared his teeth and smiled: "He was the first to establish a commercial monopoly before anyone else! He was at the forefront of the times. In this case, he sent people to Wu to buy cloth, and at the same time sealed up his in-law's workshop. I can think of it with my toes.
You know, there’s no telling how far a workshop like this can evade taxes.”
"Not only cloth, but also many industries are in the hands of Master Xie and his relatives and friends." Yang Guotai said, "Master Su was very cold-shouldered when he first came here. Later Master Su rearranged the house to make it extremely wealthy and luxurious.
If you can do something about it, it will be better."
"No wonder the old man is willing to use tapestry and satin to hang the door curtain." Jia Cong thought, "It doesn't matter. Once these industries don't have Xie Jing to rely on, they can be eliminated from the market in the blink of an eye."
Yang Guotai frowned: "How can it be as fast as the blink of an eye? At least it will take a year and a half. In this year and a half?"
Jia Cong touched his chin: "That's right..." He raised his eyes and glanced at Yang Guotai, "General Yang, you are not only good at fighting!"
Yang Guotai glared at him and said, "Let's talk about serious business. Let Mr. Su take down the notice quickly, otherwise the price of rice on the street will skyrocket immediately."
"I understand, I understand!" Jia Cong said, "You can't take down the notice now, otherwise you will fall into a trap? If you want to take it off, you have to wait. Let me think about it... they actually still have a lot of people, right?"
"good."
"Then we can only compete with who has the loudest voice. Thanks for reminding me!"
Jia Cong ran to the lobby of the government office with his arms on his back, and Su Tao began to ask questions again. Jia Cong waved to the government servant with a loud and loud voice. The government servant knew that he was an uncle from Beijing, and he was happy
He jumped over happily and said, "Mr. Jia, what can I do for you?"
Jia Cong said: "I've sent you a errand. It will take you a few days of hard work. I will give you a big reward after the job is done!"
The yamen servant smiled and said, "You just give me orders, and you don't want to ask for any rewards."
Jia Cong snorted: "Stop telling lies! Who doesn't like money?" Then he pulled him and talked like this for a long time.
The officer was shocked: "That's it!"
Jia Cong said: "If you don't have enough manpower, you can hire it yourself. Money is not a problem. This is a big project for our family, and it can make a lot of money. I don't care about the reward of a few workers." As he said that, he left the job casually.
He took five taels of silver from his pocket to reward him.
The yamen servant suddenly smiled and his eyebrows and eyes curled up: "Don't worry, Mr. Jia! I will take care of it for you!"
"Also." Jia Cong whispered, "When you go out this time, someone must ask you who Mr. Su is."
The yamen servant immediately recited as if he were singing: "Master Su is a rare and upright official in heaven and earth who is rare to be reincarnated by Bao Zheng and Hai Rui!"
"Shut up!" Jia Cong rolled his eyes, "Hai Rui is a big idiot! What's the use of being honest? Can being honest help people live a good life?"
The yamen servant hurriedly bent down and said, "You say it, you say it, I will listen."
"Just say that Mr. Su is very ambitious and is planning to make Jiangxi as wealthy as Guangdong and Guangxi within three years. At the moment, he is thinking of ways to make ordinary people rich. If someone asks you Mr. Su
But incorruptible, just say -" Jia Cong shook his head, "Master Su himself is richer than ordinary princes, so why does he need to be greedy? How much money did Mr. Xie get from being greedy for so many years?"
The yamen officer's eyes widened in shock: "Master Su, is he so rich?"
Jia Cong said calmly: "Have you ever heard of tapestry brocade? One inch of tapestry is one inch of gold. People like Su use that to hang door curtains."
The yamen officer's eyes opened even wider: "Then...where did Mr. Su come from...that...hehe, it's nothing."
Jia Cong glanced at him and said, "What are you thinking about? Does Cocoa Tea know?"
"I know, I know! We can't even smell what the nobles eat."
"The Su family holds the supply of cocoa tea from Malay countries in Southeast Asia, which Westerners call brown gold. Half of the cocoa tea merchants in the country get their goods from the Su family, and the other half of the Javanese supply comes from the Wang family in Lingnan.
Here." Jia Cong smiled and said, "Otherwise, why would he care about Lingnan so much? He really wants to make Jiangxi as prosperous as Lingnan?"
The yamen servant suddenly understood. After a while, sparks popped up in his eyes: "Mr. Jia is saying... our master is in charge of half of the supply of cocoa tea?"
Jia Cong snorted: "Oh, now I've become 'your master'?" Nai turned around and said, "It's better to follow your master than to follow that vampire Xie Jing. Not only can I make you rich, but you can also make a fortune openly.
Isn’t it better to make a clean fortune with him than to make a dark fortune with Xie Jing?”
He walked all the way out, and the yamen servant shouted from behind: "Thank you, Mr. Jia, for your advice! I will remember it!"
"Go quickly!"
"I obey, little man!" After a while, the yamen officer led a few brothers, pulled out two gongs from the corners of his head, and set off on the road showing off his power.
At this moment, there are many idle people chatting in the streets and alleys. They say that all the official warehouses are empty. King Yan's soldiers and horses have come to ask for military rations. Lord Su can't get them, so he has to buy them at a high price to make up for the shortage. At this moment, there is a sign at the gate of the yamen
Here's the notice. After receiving the news, rice shops all over the street began to close and no longer sold rice. After hearing this, ordinary people were afraid that the government would buy all the rice, so they lined up in rice shops to buy rice. It only took half an afternoon.
, rice prices have plummeted.
Suddenly I saw a group of government servants walking down the street, all with their chests and bellies raised. The leader beat the gong and shouted: "Dear fellow villagers - Mr. Su, the prefect, has recently bought a steam mill, which can grind one stone and rice at a time - the next machine will
It will be delivered to you in the next month - please come and see it at that time - if this grinding machine is cheap and easy to use, Mr. Su will buy nineteen more in the future - rent it to the people at a very low price - grind it in the future
Rice doesn’t require people or animals—it will save effort to grind rice from now on—”
An idle man said loudly: "Are you still grinding rice? Aren't the granaries all empty and you can't get out the army rations?"
The yamen servant said: "How can such a thing happen? When did the granary become empty? This grinding machine was bought by our master himself and has nothing to do with the government. Our master is a man who does big things and refused to use the government's rice testing machine. That's why the price is so high
To buy rice.”
Another idle man sneered: "Why bother telling such lies? If there is no rice, there is no rice. If there is rice, why bother to post a notice to buy it?"
The officer's lips crooked, his nose twisted, he put his chin on his hips and looked at the man, saying: "You poor fool, how can you know what the master is thinking! Even if there is no rice, Wu State has a lot of rice, so you can just buy it with money.
?Do you know that the processing industry is more advanced than agriculture?" This was said by Jia Cong. He had a good memory and read it out smoothly.
The idle man was stunned for a moment and said: "That's easy to say. Mr. Su is an upright official, where does he get the money?"
The yamen servant was about to lift his chin and look at the sky: "The door curtain of Master Su's house is made of tapestry brocade! Do you know what tapestry brocade is? Every inch of tapestry is gold! Much richer than that local leopard Xie Jing."
A little brother following behind him asked: "Brother, what is Kesi brocade?"
How does this person know? "It's just satin made of gold."
A young man who looked like a businessman pushed through the crowd and walked in. He bowed his hand to the government servant and said, "Sir, Mr. Su, did you say that Mr. Su bought a steam grinding machine?"
The yamen officer nodded: "Not bad."
"When will it arrive?"
The yamen officer rolled his eyes at him: "Didn't I just tell you next month? Are you deaf?"
The young man was not annoyed at all, and said again: "I am from the capital city, and my family is a rice merchant. I came to Jiangxi to buy rice, and happened to hear what the official said. As far as I know, the steam grinding machine is not only expensive, but also expensive."
It's scary, and it's extremely difficult to buy. If Mr. Su can tell me the source of the steam grinding machine, I'm willing to pay 20% below the market price..." He thought for a while, stretched out three fingers, "30% of the price will be Su's.
Sell him the rice that your Excellency needs. Anyway, Mr. Su is not asking for rice right now, I will definitely deliver it all before the end of the month."
The yamen officer looked at him: "Thirty percent?"
The young man smiled and said, "I know that the Su family is rich and does not care about the mere 30% profit. This 30% is just a slight show of sincerity." After saying this, he bowed to the Yamen servant.