"Two thousand seven hundred and ten stones, seven against five." Du Ziteng replied without thinking.
"So much?" Wang Xian frowned and said, "There are only more than 9,000 shi of grain in the library."
"There is no way," Du Ziteng pouted his plump lips and said, "It rains all day here in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the food becomes damp easily." He said with a proud face, "Brothers, you can ask, the whole Zhejiang Province is damaged by mold.
Those who are less than 30% can be counted on one hand."
"I didn't expect that you are still a master." Wang Xian responded with a smile.
"I don't dare." Du Ziteng said seriously: "Brothers are humble and dare not forget about the country's worries." It's just that fat face, it seems difficult to relate to the word 'righteousness'.
"What kind of food is being processed?" Wang Xian changed the subject and asked.
"Old grain, moldy grain, and grain that rats have peed on." Du Ziteng said, "Brother, come with me and take a look." Then he led Wang Xian to the Ding Ziku. As soon as he opened the door, the pungent musty smell was almost overwhelming.
Push someone over the head.
Wang Xian quickly covered his nose, but Du Ziteng seemed to be used to it. He took out a handful of grain and sprinkled it on the ground. He stepped on it and turned it into powder. "This is moldy and dried grain. Not even mice will eat it."
"Have people eaten it?" Shuai Hui asked curiously.
"It will kill people." Du Ziteng said: "So it must be dealt with."
"Yes." Wang Xian nodded. The wind passed through the warehouse and the musty smell was gone. He walked in and walked around, then came out and asked, "Is this all the food?"
"Absolutely." Du Ziteng nodded and said, "According to the rules, there are pigs in the barn, and anything the pigs don't eat must be disposed of."
"Then..." Wang Xianzhuangruo asked casually, "What about the rest of the food?"
"The rest of the grain is divided into two types, new grain and old grain." Du Ziteng said: "The old grain is last year's autumn grain, and the new grain is this year's autumn grain. Because this year's autumn tax was delayed, most of the warehouse is old grain."
"Is it the same in Jiazikuli?" Wang Xian coughed twice.
"That's not true," Du Ziteng said: "That's the spring famine grain returned by the common people. However, we Fuyang people are generally rich, so we don't borrow much grain in the spring, and we pay back less in the autumn... There is only one warehouse of new grain in Jiaziku.
." The common people borrowed rice with husks, but when they turned back they had to return white rice. You didn't reason with the government at all. "After the old grain is disposed of, you can buy new grain. The new grain and old grain will cost 40 to 60 cents.
It’s considered in compliance with regulations.”
"How much is it in other counties?" Shuai Hui asked again.
"Grain-producing counties are open to 64%, and counties like ours are usually 50% to 50%." Du Ziteng held his fat belly and laughed: "That's because they waste too much, so they have to buy more new grain every year.
!”
"Your Excellency is indeed a master." Wang Xian smiled slightly and said: "Your Excellency has introduced the general situation, so let's start taking inventory?"
"Pan...Panku?" Du Ziteng's plump lips trembled. Isn't this just going through the motions?
"What's the problem?" Wang Xian glanced at him lightly. Although his gaze was not sharp, it made Du Ziteng's body tremble. He shook his head and said, "What's the problem..." He looked at the sky and said, "It's just like this.
It’s time, I’m sure we won’t be able to finish all the dishes, why don’t we come back early tomorrow morning…”
"Let's take the calculation as much as we can." Wang Xian clapped his hands, and Shuai Hui went out and brought in a group of bookkeepers and minzhuang.
Only then did Du Ziteng realize that the other party was a night owl entering the house - good people don't come! He took out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat in the middle of winter and said, "Let them do it. Let's have tea in the brother's house?"
"My lord, just go and drink." Wang Xian, who was wearing a green shirt and upright, shook his head slightly and said, "I'm not thirsty."
.
In the Yongfeng Cangxu font library.
A big stone of dendrobium with the word "official" written on it in big black letters was placed next to the grain troughs.
Next to each grain trough, stood a clerk in a white shirt, holding a brush and an account book in his hand. Wang Xian brought buckets of Minzhuang and Yongfeng warehouses, shoveling the grain into the grain with a big wooden shovel. After a while,
There was so much dust in the warehouse that it was so choking that people couldn't open their eyes.
Wang Xian and Du Ziteng were sitting outside drinking tea. Listening to the coughing inside, he said with a smile: "There is a lot of ashes in the food."
"There's no way, Chen Liang is like this, just get used to it." Du Ziteng said with an awkward smile.
"I hope so." Wang Xian squinted and looked at the setting red sun and said, "Master Du, when will the food in this warehouse be used except for lending during the spring famine?"
"The other thing is to stabilize food prices and provide food for disaster relief." Du Ziteng said.
"What's the use of stabilizing grain prices?" Wang Xian asked strangely: "In other counties, grains cost one tael of silver and two shi of grain, but in our county it was almost twice as expensive. During the spring famine, grains even cost 2 taels of silver and one shi of grain.
.”
"There is no way. Who said that our county has 'eight mountains, half water and half fields', and the people have money?" Du Ziteng said with a wry smile: "Most of the people rely on buying grain to eat and pay taxes. How can the price of grain not be high?"
"Fuyang is not far from Hangzhou and Shaoxing, and the transportation is convenient. Shouldn't it be so different?" Wang Xian asked curiously: "Is there someone causing trouble in there?"
"It's hard to say." Du Ziteng coughed twice and said, "But there are fewer and fewer grain growers in Zhejiang, and there is no surplus grain in Shaoxing, Hangzhou. What should we do if the grain merchants don't sell to us?"
"That's it..." Wang Xian nodded. At this time, a humanoid object covered in dust came out, coughing and cursing: "It's so wicked. It's just adding sand to the rice, and also adding lime!" Look at the figure!
, listening to the voice, it must be Little Fatty Wu.
"That's to prevent moisture and insects." Du Ziteng explained hurriedly: "Bring the vegetable oil quickly."
Unexpectedly, there was always vegetable oil in the granary. An old Doujie... a servant in the warehouse... quickly brought a basin of vegetable oil over. The man washed his face, and it turned out to be Wu Wei. He bared his teeth at Wang Xian and said:
"Sir, can you tell me...you should take a look at these grains first." He said and brought a big ladle to Wang Xian.
The grain in this storehouse is all indica rice without husks. Even if it is old rice, it should be a light yellow color. However, Wang Xian saw that the miscellaneous ingredients in this gourd... were too much.
"Sift it!" He looked at Du Ziteng expressionlessly and saw that the fat man's face was a little pale.
You Minzhuang immediately brought a sieve and sifted a bucket of rice carefully. When only rice was left in the dustpan, rice husks, dead grass, soil, and white ash had fallen on the large coarse cloth on the ground...
When I measured the rice again, it was already less than seven liters.
Wang Xian grabbed a handful of dark yellow rice and smelled a strong musty smell. He glanced at Du Ziteng coldly and said, "Isn't this rice too old?"
"Haha..." Du Ziteng trembled with his thick cheeks and kept wiping sweat: "With so many warehouses and nearly ten thousand stones of grain, it is inevitable that there will be omissions."
"Yes." Wang Xian nodded and said: "We have to see if it is an oversight or intentional!" He turned to Wu Wei, who had blood-red eyes and said: "Tell the brothers, let's not take stock of the quantity for now, just check the condition of the grain itself.
.”
"Okay." Wu Wei was overjoyed when he heard this. After all his subordinates learned about it, they also cheered, and they were finally free...
Panku is just a cover, this is Wang Xian's real purpose.
Minzhuang people use completely hollow bamboo tubes to insert deeply into the bottom of each grain trough, and then put the obtained grain into a husk with the corresponding trough number written on it.
By the time all the dendrobiums were sealed and gathered in the brightly lit front hall, it was already dark. Wang Xian waved his hand, and the people moved the dendrobiums to the car.
"Master Du, there are a total of twelve dendrobiums and six stones of grain. This is an IOU from the county government." Wang Xian handed an IOU to Du Ziteng.
From just now, Du Ziteng's face was pale, and he was trembling and did not dare to take the IOU, as if it was a red-hot iron plate. He trembled his lips, looked at Wang Xian pitifully, and said in a trembling voice: "Brother, let go
Let me find a way out..."
"Master Du, what you said is wrong," Wang Xian said with a very soft voice, his face as heavy as water, "I just want to save your life." After saying that, he looked at his shiny fat face and said, "Otherwise, if I
During the day, you walked through the market in a swaggering manner, letting all the elders in the county know that their life-saving food has become like a bird. Do you think they will eat you?" He waved his hand and said, "Escort Mr. Du to the county government office!"
The two people Zhuang stepped forward and sandwiched Du Ziteng in the middle. The soldiers in the warehouse wanted to stop him, but were frightened by Wang Xian's fierce eyes!
Under the reflection of the pale light, Wang Xian's eyes flashed fiercely. He glanced at the soldiers and said coldly: "No one is allowed to go home tonight. Keep an eye on the warehouse! If anything goes wrong, they will all die."
No burial place! Get out of the way!"
With a loud shout, the soldiers actually gave way...
Wang Xian was still uneasy, so he asked Wu Wei and others to work in the warehouse tonight, while he returned to the county government office with the grain and Du Ziteng.
The lights in the county government office were brightly lit tonight. County Magistrate Wei had received the news and ordered people to escort Zhou Yang and two other large grain merchants in the county. He was so angry that he summoned Li Sheng and Master Diao to the flower hall.
.
When Du Ziteng and the grain harvesters arrived, how could anyone who had participated in the buying and selling of government grains not know that something had happened?
"I'll treat you all to dinner today." Wei Zhixian said expressionlessly.
"How dare you, how dare you," everyone hurriedly laughed and said, "We have already eaten."
"Let's have it as a midnight snack." After Wei Zhixian finished speaking, he said nothing. The officers set up a pot outside the flower hall and cooked a pot of rice using the rice Wang Xian brought back. Then they asked Zaoli to serve it to each of them.
A bowl.
"This is life-saving food prepared for the 110,000 people in Fuyang!" Wei Zhixian was sitting under the lamp. His expression could not be seen, but just by listening to his voice, you could tell that he was extremely uneasy. "Everyone, please have a meal."
"This..." Everyone looked at the pungent-smelling bowl of rice in front of them, mixed with rice husks and sand... let's call it rice. Just smelling it made them feel sick, let alone putting it in their mouths. All of it.
"Eat!" Wei Yuan slapped the table hard and roared.