Gu Chengyu sneered, "We Ming people don't tell secrets. I can estimate how much food you have in your hands based on the movements of the past few days. Before coming to Jiangnan, the emperor said that it will never be allowed.
The price of food has increased. The flood in Changtian Mansion is a major disaster. You still want to make such unscrupulous money by relying on rice. Where is your conscience?"
After talking about it later, Gu Chengyu's tone was extremely harsh.
Businessmen value profits, and profiteers have no morality at all.
Do they think they have grasped the lifeline of Hangtian Mansion, and as long as the food is in their hands, they can make money as they please?
This is an attempt to monopolize the rice grains from farmers, buying them at low prices, and then hoarding them all together.
When the price of food rises, if people want to buy food, they have to buy it from them, and they have to pay a high price.
Just like the victims outside the gate of Hangtianfu City before, they were not assigned to work as river workers. They wanted to eat food, but they had to buy it at a high price.
During that time, every day, clerks from the city's rice shops would carry grains to the city gate to sell them. However, these grains were ridiculously expensive, several times the original price.
But at that time, these victims could not enter the city, so they had to spend several times the amount of money to buy from these working people.
After all, people need to eat and drink while they are alive. Even if your heart aches, you still have to buy it.
Until all the money on his body was used up, he started to chew the grass without money.
I'm afraid it was selling grain during that period that gave these people a taste of the sweetness. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to hoard so much rice without hesitation.
"Master Gu, are you exaggerating? We are merchants. If we don't rely on these to earn money, how can we make money? It is normal to hoard more rice grains. The court has not explicitly prohibited the hoarding of rice grains, right?"
Xia Hongji was still resenting the fact that Gu Chengyu asked him to pay one hundred thousand taels of silver just now. He couldn't lose the Xia family's face just now, so he could only suffer the loss of being dumb for the time being.
But even if Gu Chengyu is a court official, he can't care about the affairs between their merchants, right?
Forty taels of silver, isn't that outrageous? He planned to sell it for 180 taels of silver per pound, so he had to make up for the 100,000 taels of silver.
Unless the imperial court issued a ban that did not allow them to raise food prices, he had no intention of giving Gu Chengyu this face.
The owners of several other rice stores also looked bad. They had just donated money, and Mr. Gu hasn't received the money yet! Are you planning to turn your back on him?
"I know that in business, who doesn't like money? But a gentleman loves money in a proper way. The money you earned this time is the flesh and blood of the people. How can you bear it!"
Gu Chengyu sighed and shook his head at everyone.
The owners of some trading houses were actually a little bit intolerant, so they didn't hoard much rice.
Now that Gu Chengyu said this again, they felt even more guilty.
One of them wanted to express his position, but he didn't want his sleeves to be pulled by the person on the side. He subconsciously looked over and saw Xia Hongji's expression of disapproval.
If he responded to Mr. Gu's words at this time, wouldn't it offend many people present? And he would also completely offend Xia Hongji.
Xia Hongji was a member of the Xia clan, and it was not Xia Hongji that they were afraid of, but Xia Shoufu.
"Mr. Gu, you just said that we are talking about business. It is impossible for us to do this business that does not make money. The price of rice has increased because most of the farmland in Changtian Mansion has been submerged. This year's
The food supply will inevitably decrease a lot. If we don't take the opportunity to stock up on more food before the food price rises completely, the cost of purchasing it will probably increase several times in the future! Please forgive us for our difficulties and don't make it difficult for us.
ah!"
Xia Hongji had already thought of his words just now. Anyway, he would definitely make money from the rice and grain.
The clan leader would definitely be furious after hearing about the one hundred thousand taels of silver. But if the matter of hoarding rice grains and selling them at high prices was properly handled, the clan leader might be accommodating.
"Then you only hoard food and don't sell it. Isn't that a little unreasonable? Isn't the purpose of it so that you can sell it again and make a huge profit when the price of food reaches its peak?"
What Gu Chengyu pointed out was exactly right, and everyone suddenly didn't know how to answer the question. If they didn't raise the price of food, they wouldn't be able to make so much money.
This money is like picking it up for free, who can be willing to give it up?
But if the rice grains are now sold at low prices, they will be even less happy.
When Gu Chengyu saw that everyone was silent again, he knew that it would be impossible without using his trump card.
"Everyone! When I came to Jiangnan, the imperial court was discussing the establishment of a chamber of commerce."
Gu Chengyu ordered someone to serve everyone a pot of tea, and then carefully observed everyone's expressions.
After everyone heard what Gu Chengyu said, they began to whisper.
"Isn't your family dependent on that person? Have you heard about this?" One person asked the person next to him.
"No, that person didn't say a word about the Chamber of Commerce."
"Chamber of Commerce? Dare I ask Mr. Gu, what is a Chamber of Commerce?"
Mr. Wang's eyes were gleaming, and he immediately caught an unusual meaning from Gu Chengyu's words.
Hu Maoshen and other officials looked at Gu Chengyu strangely, Chamber of Commerce?
How come they don’t know what chamber of commerce the imperial court is discussing? This is simply unheard of!
Several people looked at each other and after silent communication with their eyes, they were sure that the court had never mentioned this matter at all.
Could it be that the emperor valued Gu Chengyu, so he informed him of this matter? This is not impossible!
Hu Maoshen came back from the shock and couldn't help but snorted in his heart.
Gu Chengyu didn't even let the news out before, but now he caught them off guard.
What chamber of commerce? This matter was not mentioned at all in the court meeting. Is it probably Gu Chengyu who brought it up himself?
I don’t know if Gu Chengyu has discussed it with the emperor, but he just said it so hastily. I’m afraid it’s a little inappropriate, right?
This chamber of commerce must be a troublesome thing. It can't be established in a day or two. Isn't Gu Chengyu asking for trouble with this move?
"May I ask Mr. Gu, what does this chamber of commerce mean?"
Mr. Sun is very interested in this Chamber of Commerce. Just like the tea tax, since it is implemented, it must have its reason.
When there was no tea tax before, tea merchants and tea growers often clashed. The tea growers lost a lot of profits, and the tea merchants did not necessarily take much advantage.
After the tea tax was implemented, although tea merchants lost some profits, their lives were guaranteed and a lot of inconveniences were avoided.
Mr. Sun has always believed that raising food prices and making unintended money is not a long-term solution. The imperial court has sent imperial envoys to provide disaster relief. Will they watch the price of rice and food rise and remain indifferent?
After the victims and people had used up all their savings, could Mi Xing watch them starve to death?
The people had no money to buy rice and were starved to death. The rice from the rice bank could not be sold, and the granaries were piled up. In the end, wouldn't the grain have to be sold at a low price?