Opposite the Zhoujia Liang Store, there is a restaurant that serves breakfast. It has two floors. The lower floor is equipped with long tables and chairs. It is a place for people who work in the nearby workshops to eat. It is already past midnight, and the workers have all eaten and gone to work.
Yes, the downstairs is empty.
The layout upstairs is more refined, with the Eight Immortals table, official hat chairs, and arty paintings hanging on the walls. It is a place for rich people. There are three or five tables of guests at the moment, including a table facing the street.
, sitting there was a young man wearing a brown robe and a silk jacket, eating sausage porridge slowly.
On his left sat a fat man, facing a table of breakfast, but looking out. On his right, a fat man with a thick beard was chewing and devouring.
On the table next to the three people, seven or eight attendants in casual clothes were sitting, always paying attention to the movements of their respective persons.
"Oops," the fat man exclaimed, holding the table with both hands, "Oh no, they're starting to smash up the store!" Then he turned back to the bearded man and said, "Captain Hu, hurry up and get someone to take care of it!"
It's Du Ziteng, Zhou Yang is his wife's brother, and he has shares in this store.
"Donkey meat tastes so good when burned, and it's just like stuffing teeth." Hu Captou patted his belly with satisfaction and said, "I'm just here to have a meal because I'm in a hurry. Brother Wang said that as long as no one is killed, I won't show up.
"
"Ah." Du Ziteng looked at Wang Xian with a bitter face, "Brother, don't wait until death to save him." Although he was an official, he was very weak in front of subordinates such as Hu Yandui and Wang Xian.
"Old Du must be confused. Brother Wang didn't let me show up because he protects you." Hu Captou picked up a bowl of wonton noodles, drank it huffily, wiped his beard that was stained with oil and water, and said: "Really
How easy would it be for me to come forward, find an excuse to investigate illegal salt, seize all their ships, and not just mess with them at will?"
"But then people will know it's a trap. Who will deal with you in the future?" After a pause, he grinned at Du Ziteng and said: "We don't care, as long as you can bear it, I will find someone from the laboratory.
bill!"
"No, no, please don't..." Du Ziteng hurriedly waved his hands and said, "If this patronage offends all the grain merchants in the counties, how will Zhou Yang and the others purchase goods in the future?"
"Actually, it doesn't matter." The young man was naturally Wang Xian. He had already finished eating. He wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, folded it and put it back in his sleeve, and said lightly: "These are all people who recognize money but not people. They remember eating but not remembering."
You're the boss. Your purchase price is already half higher than their retail price, but they won't sell it in the future, but some are willing to sell it, so they will still sell it in the end."
After a pause, Wang Xian took a sip of ginger tea to clear his mouth and said, "Actually, it's the same this time. They all feel that the grain store is procrastinating, pushing back and forth, and saying 'no longer for sale' one by one, but no one is willing to go home empty-handed to celebrate the New Year."
"Because they are worried that as soon as they leave, they will help others." Hu Bulu smiled and said, "Master Wang is smart enough. I didn't expect that you are a step above your father. Li Sheng lost at your hands."
Come on, no injustice!"
In fact, he wanted to say it was "yin enough", but he was just afraid of making Wang Xian unhappy. Not to mention that Wang Erlang was now the God of Wealth in the county, just this scheme of "not paying for one's life" made him dare not make mistakes.
"Li Sheng committed suicide by himself, and it has nothing to do with me." Wang Xian also felt that he had been labeled as a conspirator recently, which made him quite depressed. He tried his best to clarify: "Public grain tax, warehouse salary, without him
Those who dare not get involved will be doomed sooner or later."
"Haha..." Seeing that he didn't like this comment, Hu Buliu stopped talking, but sneered in his heart, even if Li Sheng wanted to die, how could Zhang Hua and Xun Sancai explain it?
Seeing that the two of them were off topic, Du Ziteng hurriedly reminded: "You really don't know how to fight inside?"
"It doesn't matter, I have two children watching downstairs." Hu Buliu said with a scornful smile: "Businessmen are the most timid. Are you really going to start a fight and not want to go home to celebrate the New Year?"
"I don't know how their conversation went," Du Ziteng felt like a cat scratching his head.
"Wait patiently. If we rely on you for another day, they will be more and more stuck." Wang Xian said calmly: "Don't just watch the excitement. How are you collecting the money?" After a pause, he said: "If you still can't raise enough, you can only
Let Mr. Hu take action." After all, Wang Xian was only helping them buy grain at a reasonable price, not punishing the grain merchants.
"It's already been made up," Du Ziteng said with a bitter face: "According to your wishes, one thousand taels per family, the four of us borrowed from here and there, and finally made up four thousand taels." He said depressedly: "Four or five years ago.
All the harvest was spat out..."
"Just treat it as a lesson." Wang Xian said coldly: "Did Li Sheng give it to you?"
"He said he had no money and was only willing to give half of it," Du Ziteng said.
"The old boy can't think anymore." Hu Buliu chuckled and said, "I'll enlighten you later."
"Excuse me, Uncle Hu." Wang Xian and a group of people in the yamen now have a very confusing title. Except for Wang Ziyao, no one dares to rely on his old age, but he is also embarrassed to call others "old man", so this kind of various situations appear.
It’s called everyone’s chaotic seniority situation.
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Inside the Zhoujia Liang store.
The grain merchants outside finally opened the door and rushed in. Although the people inside tried hard to stop them, they were pushed away.
"Why are you closing the door in broad daylight!" The latecomer said angrily: "Why are you doing such a shameful thing!"
"I'm not blocking you!" Brother Zhang saw that something was not going well and quickly argued: "There were too many people buying rice, and it was so chaotic that..."
The newcomers didn't believe it at all. They looked past the blockers and saw the unfinished deeds on the counter. They immediately doubled their anger and said: "It turns out they are afraid that we will steal business!"
"You stinky, shameless old guy, didn't we agree to come together last night?" A young boss who drank with Brother Zhang yesterday said angrily: "We made a special trip to find you, how could we know that you left us alone?"
Eat alone!”
Brother Zhang was scolded until he was speechless. Later, the party did not let them go, and captured Shopkeeper Han again to attack them:
"Old Han, what do you mean? I arrived yesterday morning. Don't we say first come, first served?"
"That's right, yesterday you said with bright lips and white teeth that you would definitely give us a charter. It turns out that your charter is to leave us behind!"
"Tell me, how many benefits have they given you, how dare you be so deceptive!"
Shopkeeper Han was so confused by the scolding that he said: "This is just an intention, there are countless things to do...'
"That's it..." Later, one party was overjoyed when he heard this.
"Why can't we count?" The party that came first gave up: "We have all taken the deposit!"
"Their boss hasn't signed a deposit yet, so what kind of deposit did they get?" Later, one party firmly objected, and the two parties started to quarrel in the crowded front hall. The sound could knock off the roof, and some even had a bad temper, and they started pushing and shoving with their hands and feet.
Fortunately, at this time, two officers came in and shouted: "What are you doing? Are you gathering a crowd to fight?!"
This sound immediately frightened a group of grain merchants. Although merchants in this era were rich, their status was very low, and they were from other counties. Who would dare to make a mistake? They all shook their heads vigorously and said, "No problem!"
"No, what's the fuss about?" the official said with a dark face.
Shopkeeper Han hurried forward, took out a stack of treasure notes, stuffed it into the officer's sleeve, and said with a smile: "Master, we are discussing business."
"Let's talk business properly and don't yell." The officer's face looked much better and he lectured: "The county master heard that a large number of businessmen have gathered in the county recently, and he specifically ordered us to be on guard. Who dares to mess around in Fuyang County?
Let’s have New Year’s Eve dinner in the county prison!”
"Yes, yes, yes." Shopkeeper Han responded repeatedly, sent away the two officials, turned around and smiled bitterly at the grain merchants: "Everyone, please stop arguing, you can calmly discuss what to do first, I will go and see if the other two are the same."
What charter.
"That's fine!" The grain merchants sat or stood in clear distinctions, and began a difficult negotiation. However, the differences between the two sides were too great, and they could not reach an agreement at all. Instead, the smell of gunpowder became stronger and stronger, and there was a tendency of tension.
Finally, someone suggested that we lower the price. Wouldn’t all the problems be solved once the price is lowered?
"Scared!" The 'fratricide' that Brother Zhang least wanted to see has happened. At this time, it is most necessary for someone who can convince the crowd to stand up and stabilize the position and curb everyone's impulse to lower prices!
But there are more than 20 grain merchants in this room, and they come from as many as 13 counties. No one knows each other by name, let alone know each other. And there are no big grain merchants from Hangzhou or Shaoxing. Where can I find them?
Go to those who want to convince the public?
Originally, I could still rely on my old age to show off, but because of a change of thought, I left those young people from yesterday. As a result, I was scolded by them so much that I lost my face. I didn't have the nerve to speak.
As expected, many grain merchants showed signs of change, thinking that lowering prices would still result in huge profits anyway, so why bother being so stuck here?
Seeing this, Brother Zhang couldn't care less and said loudly: "Everyone, besides lowering the price, there are other ways!"
"What method?" everyone asked. It would be best not to surrender.
"We sell half of the rice to each of them, and take the remaining half back, which is more cost-effective than lowering the price!" Brother Zhang completely lost his moral integrity.
Unexpectedly, those grain merchants who scolded him were too prejudiced against him, but they didn't appreciate it: "The old guy is playing tricks again. Yesterday he said he only had one boat, but today I found out that he brought eight boats.
! Half of eight boats is still 160 dan, which is more than all our food!"
"That's right, I want to make a bargain again! Besides, it's not just us who have food, other food stores are also crowded with food dealers, and there are also those who arrived later. What if they lower the price first? Who will buy from us?
"Prejudices really kill people. Brother Zhang's most reasonable suggestion was immediately drowned out by a sea of opposition.
But if the price is reduced, it will feel painful...
But soon, they didn't feel the pain in their flesh, but the flesh tightened. Because the boy who inquired about the news reported that the new grain merchant who arrived today was directly reduced to 2, 2, 5, and the Qian's Grain Store had already agreed to collect grain.
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Then another clerk reported that the grain merchant who had arrived earlier had spared another one, and the price had been reduced to two or four!