It is said that the King of Yan ordered General Li Guopei to wipe out the bandits in Jiangxi. A grain officer came to Nanchang Mansion to collect grain, but found that the official warehouse was empty. He had no choice but to wait for a while, and the prefect Su Tao ordered people to go to the Wu State next door to buy grain. Although he was free,
Waiting for a while, General Qi, the food guard, also heard some rumors, saying that the prices of rice shops in the city had increased tenfold today. Although General Qi ordered his soldiers to practice honestly, he could not help but be curious in his heart.
It happened that someone came to report at this moment. An official and a scholar who had recently been recruited by Su Tao arrived, and they also brought a group of government officials. General Qi hurriedly went out to greet him. He recognized the official, and they met each other. The official
Pointing at the scholar, he said: "This is Mr. Jia, our uncle's junior brother."
Jia Cong greeted General Qi with a smile and clasped his fists: "General Qi, my senior brother has something to ask General Qi for help with, which is about military rations."
General Qi saw him talking and laughing, and knew it was a good thing. He said happily: "Please give me your orders, Mr. Su." Then he led the two of them into the big tent.
When Jia Cong saw the three of them remaining in the tent, he shouted: "General Qi must also know that the former magistrate Xie Jing turned the entire Nanchang Mansion into a back garden for their relatives and friends, and now he is exerting all his strength.
I want to sideline Mr. Su. I don’t blame him, who is willing to spend so much money? It’s just that no matter how capable he is, he can’t eat all the rice shops in the city. In fact, he has taken advantage of other people’s shortcomings. There are many people who have a good eye for price.
Secretly approached my senior brother to surrender. Originally, my senior brother was still thinking that for the sake of the Dingcheng Hou Mansion, he would not kill them all. Who knew what happened today...General Qi, you also saw it, the price of rice has soared tenfold.
Ah!" Jia Cong crossed his fingers to make a sign, looking at General Qi earnestly, "But their family will kill my senior brother first?"
"Yes, yes!" General Qi was overjoyed. He had never seen such a good show during the New Year! "Master Xie, it's really too much. We are officials in the same dynasty, why should we do this?"
Jia Cong cleared his throat and cupped his hands and said: "General Qi testified. This matter was originally caused by his unkindness, not my senior brother's unrighteousness. In the future, both the government and the public will have a public opinion."
General Qi nodded repeatedly: "It's all Mr. Xie's fault. The general can see clearly." The general has to trouble Mr. Su to provide food and fodder.
Jia Cong chuckled: "In Nanchang City, all the big-minded rice shop owners have quietly come to seek surrender from my senior brother. But they really don't dare to offend Xie Jing and want to get amnesty or something. My senior brother is a gentleman, how can I
Are you willing to give it? What if they have done something heinous?"
General Qi hurriedly asked: "How are Master Su going to deal with it?"
Jia Cong whispered: "Mr. Su really doesn't have many government officials at his disposal, so he has to ask General Qi for a favor. Several big households secretly sell grain to the government and don't dare to let anyone know. Please ask General Qi for help."
He led his soldiers to change into military uniforms and pretended to be ordinary cooks. They only said that the general and I were merchants who came to buy grain from other places, and went to the warehouses of several large grain merchants to transport grain to the official warehouse. We also pretended to be guests.
The merchant gave them banknotes, and they received both money and food."
General Qi immediately smiled and said: "It's easy to talk! I don't have any other abilities, I just have great strength!"
Jia Cong sighed: "Even if this is the case, my senior brother is still unhappy. He said it was an honest matter, but he did it secretly. I said he was pedantic. People have to bow their heads under the low eaves, right? He is an official for one parent.
, after all, the people are the most important thing. Now that the people can’t eat, why are they still worrying about what to do? Isn’t that right? From the morning of persuading to now, the Youshi hour is coming, and seeing that the people have been eating high-priced rice for a day, he reluctantly agreed. "
General Qi sighed: "Mr. Jia, I can't blame Mr. Su. Since he knew clearly that those rice traders had done illegal things, but he couldn't punish them, and now he still wants them to help the government tide over the difficulties, it's like he owes them a favor. I won't see him again in the future.
If you want to enforce the law impartially, you will inevitably get the reputation of being a 'white-eyed wolf'."
Jia Cong sneered: "How can this be help? It's clearly blackmail. Do you need to treat fraudsters with favors? Who should you treat with when you don't have rice to cook?"
General Qi thought for a while, nodded and said: "Mr. Jia's words make sense. In that case, I will order the soldiers to bury the pots and make rice. When they are full, they will change into civilian clothes and transport the food?"
Jia Cong cupped his hands and said, "Please. There's just a lot of food, so I'm afraid we'll have to work all night. Please work harder. Don't worry, we'll give you a subsidy of five hundred yuan per person."
General Qi was shocked: "Five...five hundred dollars? I have three thousand people here!"
Jia Cong smiled and said: "Please divide the work and cooperate. Each of us will deliver the grain from different granaries to the official warehouse in order. My senior brother can still afford one or two thousand silver." He winked, "Generals are naturally different."
General Qi jumped up with joy, his dark face smiled like a chrysanthemum, and he repeatedly held his hands: "It's easy to talk, why should you be so polite, Mr. Su! It's just my army rations..."
"Send it to the official warehouse first. I'll trouble you brothers to make another hard trip and transport it out from the official warehouse later."
The rest of the matter will be easy to handle. General Qi first ordered the soldiers to have a hearty dinner, and then told everyone about today's errands. Finally, he said, "For a hard night, Mr. Su will reward each of you with five hundred coins." The soldiers suddenly felt like hungry wolves.
After the meal, they rested for a while. Seeing the sun go down, they all changed out of their military uniforms and pretended to be ordinary people. The three thousand people were divided into thirty groups, and each centurion led a hundred men, holding
An order was sent, followed by a government official who was leading the way. Mr. Su had prepared a grain truck. Three thousand people held torches high and pushed carts towards many granaries on the outskirts of the city. The grain truck also had the name of a business on it. General Qi took a look.
I'm so happy. The flag says: Zixu County Wushi Rice Shop.
Soldiers from all walks of life followed the yamen servants to various granaries. Everywhere were waiting for two men wearing servant clothes. One had a straight back, a military aura about him, and military boots on his feet; the other was as gentle as a scholar.
Wearing black double-strap shoes, they held a thin wooden board with a square shape for books and a charcoal pencil in their hands. When they saw the yamen leader leading the way, they greeted each other first, which was obviously an agreement. The three of them discussed some totals with the centurion.
How much rice grain, how much should be transported each time, and how many trips will it take to transport it, etc., the soldiers began to carry it. The heavy rice bags got on the car, thinking that they would get a reward of 500 yuan in the morning, everyone was full of sweat
It was all about strength. After two trips, the government servants at the official warehouse prepared fresh rice and boiled water for them. Jia Cong smiled and patrolled around with his arms behind his back, and said to the general: "The warehouse is filling up at a speed visible to the naked eye. Thanks to
General!" General Qi also laughed and said, "Thanks to Mr. Su for the reward." The two laughed in unison.
Before dawn, the official warehouses were filled with rice bags, and the originally full granaries in many places were empty. After the grain transport soldiers left, two "housekeepers" somewhere opened a large granary. There was nothing in it.
The food was left on the ground, and everyone had their hands and feet tied up and their mouths gagged. The soldier-looking servant pulled out his saber and stepped forward to untie everyone's ropes. After everyone was freed, they moved their limbs and took out the food in their mouths.
The cloth towel looked at these two people with wide eyes and panic.
The servant who looked like a scholar said: "It's almost dawn, the city gate will open soon." He took out a letter from his arms, "Here is our boss, the boss of Wushi Rice Shop in Zixu County has the handwriting of Wu Daguan.
The letter is for your employer. Which of you will deliver the letter?"
An old man stood up and said, "I'll go."
The scholar's servant handed the letter to him and said, "Don't worry, it will be delivered in the morning."
The old man's eyes were cloudy and he asked, "Who is your boss?"
The scholar's servant said: "Your boss will know it after reading the letter. Anyway, our boss is the most reasonable. If you buy wholesale things at retail prices, you will get a lot of money. Your boss will only make a profit without losing anything." The old man spat. The two servants
Qi clasped his fists, turned around and left.
The old man held the letter and went out, stumbled into an empty granary, touched the scattered rice particles on the ground, and cried loudly: "Robber, robber--"
A middle-aged man came over and comforted him: "Dad, don't you have a letter? Send it to my employer."
The old man cried: "I have no shame to see my boss..."
Another man said: "Just now I heard the two men talking. The taller one said, why did you give them so much money? The short one said, the boss said, although we are buying and selling by force this time, since we are businessmen, we cannot
Let the family suffer."
The middle-aged man pointed at the letter and said, "Is there money in it?"
The old man lowered his head and looked at the letter in his hand, clenched his fists, and said after a while: "I'll send it to my boss. It's up to my boss to kill or scrape!"
The middle-aged man said: "Our horses are still there, they only transported food."
The old man hid the letter tremblingly in his arms, looked up at the dim light outside the door, turned around and walked out step by step.
When the old man and his son rushed to the city gate, it was not yet time to open the city gate. But they saw seven or eight people waiting there. After careful inspection, many of them were recognized - they were all guards, and their boss's house was in the east of the city.
A granary was set up. When they saw the old man coming, someone said, "Here comes another one!"
The old man hurriedly asked: "Could it be that you were also robbed?"
An acquaintance said: "Isn't that true? Everyone was robbed by some Wu Shi rice shop in Zixu County last night. What about you?"
The old man shouted: "So are we!"
Another said: "The robbers said they gave money, but I don't know whether it is true or not." There was a lot of discussion.
While they were talking, two more people came. Seeing so many people in trouble, the old man felt inexplicably relieved. After a while, the city gate opened wide and everyone rushed in.
The old man led his son and hurried to his master's house, knocked on the door, and called his concubine out from under the bed, crying and telling her what happened last night. In fact, they didn't know much. But they were suddenly attacked from behind, and they were immediately caught.
Entering an empty granary, most of the servants guarding the granary were captured. The dogs outside started barking. Soon everyone in the granary was tied up. A man who looked like a servant said: "Our boss wants to buy from your boss."
Grain, let's pick up the goods now. Don't worry, buy according to the market price, and it will save you the cost of transporting the rice bags to the shop and the wages of the shop assistants." Then he locked the door. After a long time, he heard the sound of wheels outside.
There was a squeaking sound, the horses' hooves were clattering, and the horses were neighing. It was almost dawn, and the warehouses full of people were let out, and the food was gone.
The boss was so shocked that he couldn't move for a long time. The old man delivered the letter. The boss's right hand was shaking with the letter cutter, and he couldn't open the envelope for a long time. Finally, he ordered a maid next to him to open it for him.
I saw a letter and an apricot-red Xue Tao note inside. The letter said: Today, there is Wushi Rice Shop in Zixu County. I want to buy some rice from you. According to the market price of a pound of rice, the total amount will be a certain amount of silver. Please.
Take the numbered note attached to this letter and the household registration certificate of the owner of the granary, and go to the HSBC Bank on Zhuzi Street to withdraw the money. The signature is: Nothing. Xue Tao wrote five big characters on the note: No. 114.
The boss looked over the letters and notes over a dozen times and laughed loudly. He slapped the table and said, "It turns out that scholars are ruthless, even more ruthless than philistines!"
The old man asked cautiously: "Master, is this Wushi rice good?"
The boss smiled and said: "It's nothing. But they will give you the money. It's just..." After being stunned for a long time, he sighed. Now that he has offended the new prefect, he still doesn't know what will happen in the future.
The boss worked hard to wash up and change clothes, and went to Zhuzi Street with the letter and paper. The sign of a shop that sold antiques had been changed to "HSBC Bank", and a big sign stood at the door. It read: This store
The bank has not officially opened yet. Today we have received a temporary payment transaction. Please bring the withdrawal number plate and identity certificate to the withdrawal window to queue up for withdrawal.
Several owners of Mihang had gathered at the door, and two young men were wiping the lattice door with wooden basin rags. The owner stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, brother, where is the withdrawal window?"
The boy said: "It's inside. It's not yet midnight, and our bank only opens at six o'clock every day. Can you please wait a moment, boss? We also have to clean the house, right?"
A shopkeeper next to me asked anxiously: "Other shops are open for business, and you are cleaning the house just now. What were you doing earlier?"
The boy said: "Our boss likes to sleep in." Everyone was dumbfounded.
Suddenly I heard someone sounding a gong at the other end of Zhuzi Street, and a group of government servants came over in a lively manner. The boys were all in high spirits, and the leader shouted with a loud and bright voice: "Fellow folks, listen to the truth——
Yesterday, the price of rice in the city rose for no reason, hurting the livelihood of ordinary people - the prefect Su was worried about people's livelihood - the official warehouse was opened to release grain - if you want to buy cheap rice, just go to the official warehouse to buy rice - the price and
It’s the same as usual——”
I saw a girl dressed in men's clothing walking out of Chulongzhai at the intersection. She walked slowly to the entrance of HSBC Bank with her arms behind her back. She glanced at all the Mihang bosses jokingly, then turned to leave with a smile. Not long after she left the house,
A young man came out of the Jinxiu Mansion opposite. Someone recognized him as Lao Yanhe, the young master of the Lao family, and followed him step by step. The girl turned around and saw him. She looked at him and smiled sweetly. Lao Yanhe's calf trembled slightly.
.
Lao Yanhe looked up at the signboard of HSBC Bank and said, "Isn't this bank the same bank that was willing to provide loans to buyers at the auction the day before yesterday?"
"That's right." The girl said crisply, "They are the banks that are most in need of money in the world."
Lao Yan and Qidao said, "I wonder how the prefect got the rice?"
"It's just a matter of treating others with their own treatment." The girl said with a smile, "Are we still 'only allowing the common people to set fires, and not allowing state officials to light lamps'?" Then he turned around and looked at all the Mi Xing bosses, and said softly.
, "The government is different from the people. The government has 'soldiers' in its hands."