On August 11, in Qingzhou Mansion, Shen Congdao was sitting on the Grand Master's chair in the second hall of Shen's residence, with a gloomy face. His wife and two concubines were sitting on the chairs next to them, crying profusely.
The rice seller "from the south" has notified the Shen family to move out, and the Shen family compound will be taken away soon.
Last month, Shen Congdao thought that Li Zhi wanted to purchase a large amount of grain, so he worked with the Qingzhou prefect to raise the price of rice in Qingzhou to six taels and one stone. In fact, there was not much idle grain on the market, and most of the grain in stock was in the homes of the gentry. Everyone thought that the gentry in Qingzhou would work together and stabilize grain prices at a high level without spending much money. Who knew that they would encounter a large-scale grain sell-off.
The gentry did not know what was going on at that time, thinking that stabilizing grain prices would trap Li Zhi, so they desperately bought the high-priced grain sold by others. In Qingzhou Prefecture alone, the gentry bought thirty grains at a high price of more than five taels. Thousands of stones of food.
Later, the gentry were a little afraid to take action. The Qingzhou prefect stepped forward to coordinate and allocate shares to each gentry family to purchase the grain that was sold off in the market. Shen Congdao was favored by the prefect and was given more quotas. In the end, even his own family The houses were mortgaged to rice merchants.
At that time, when the rice seller said that the house could be used as a mortgage, Shen Congdao felt inexplicably bad. Unexpectedly, he ended up falling for it.
Last month, Xiaoliuqiu disaster relief sweet potatoes began to arrive in Shandong in large quantities. "Shandong Daily" said that the food needed for this disaster relief has been solved, and there is no need to buy food on the market.
At the beginning, the gentry did not believe it, thinking that the Duke of Jin could not bear the price of food, so he began to lie to lower the price of food. But when the food in the homes of ordinary people in Shandong was exhausted this month, and all the porridge shacks provided by the Duke of Jin were opened, Only then did the gentry of Shandong realize that Duke Jin had not lied at all. The sweet potatoes from Xiaoliuqiu could indeed save 10 million Shandong people suffering from drought.
The Duke of Jin no longer needs to buy food for disaster relief. The victims have the relief from the Duke of Jin, and they no longer need to sell iron to buy life-saving food. The food hoarded by the gentry suddenly becomes useless. Not to mention that the gentry originally There was a lot of accumulated grain. Just the more than 200 shi of grain from other provinces that Li Zhi sold in Shandong was a huge blow to the Shandong gentry. The granaries of the Shandong gentry were filled with rice, flour and rice.
As a result, almost within a few days, the price of grain in Shandong plummeted. From the sky-high price of six liang and one stone, it fell to the floor price of two hundred and one stone. At this price, the grain is still affordable and has no market. If it is sold in large quantities, it will not be sold at all. stay home.
When Li Zhi was selling grain, he played a trick and allowed the gentry who were hoarding grain to use their houses as mortgages to buy on credit. At that time, the gentry only thought that if they persisted for a month, Li Zhi would definitely come to collect the grain at a high price, and it would not be a big problem to mortgage their houses to grain merchants. As a result, now When the mortgage time limit came up, the price of grain was so low that at least seven or eight grain-hoarding gentry families in Qingzhou Prefecture had to have their houses repossessed. In order to raise money to redeem their mortgaged houses, these gentry desperately sold rice on the market, reducing their already low prices. Food prices have been pushed even lower.
However, if grain is sold at this time, who will take over? There are only selling orders but no buying orders in the market. The price of grain in Shandong is getting lower day by day.
The mortgage period for Shen Congdao's house expired the day before yesterday. The southern grain merchants who sold rice to Shen Congdao said that if they don't repay the two thousand taels of silver they bought on credit today, they will drive the Shen family out of the house. However, no one bought the rice that Shen Congdao sold at low prices in his own grain store. The people in Shandong had no harvest last year and were very strapped for money. The porridge shed of Lord Jin was guaranteed, and the citizens were unwilling to give up the last Use some emergency money to buy rice.
Shen Congdao sat on a chair, sighed helplessly and said, "That's it, just move to the countryside. This house can't be saved."
Shen Congdao's wife took her ten-year-old daughter to wipe her tears, sniffed and said, "Master, when I married you, I brought a two thousand tael gift. Did you also lose all of it? "
Shen Congdao's face turned red, he slapped the table and shouted: "How did I know that the situation would be like this? Now your betrothal gifts have become rice and noodles that no one buys, and they are all in the granary in the countryside. If you want, go to the granary to move them That’s it!”
When the principal heard this, he fell forward and began to cry loudly.
Shen Congdao's second wife sat on the chair and gritted his teeth and said: "Master, we moved to the city from the countryside beating gongs and drums. At that time, many farmers were optimistic about the master and brought their fields to donate. Now we move in despair. When we go back to the countryside, those small farmers will probably look down on us and make trouble if they don't even dare."
Shen Congdao sighed, curled up in his chair and was speechless. He was no longer as paternalistic as before.
He hoarded food and obstructed the disaster relief work of the Duke of Tianjin. If he said this, he would be criticized by thousands of people. Now that he has lost his mansion and returned to the countryside, he is dejected. Will there be angry people looking for trouble?
Shen Congdao sighed.
The second roommate said: "Sir, why do we give up our house to those grain merchants so easily? If those grain merchants want to litigate, it will take him several months, and maybe grain prices will rise again by then."
Shen Congdao gave a wry smile and said: "The sweet potatoes from Xiaoliuqiu are being shipped continuously, and the price of grain may not rise. Stop talking and move. "Shandong Daily" said that the businessmen who sell grain to us are all The people of the Duke of Jin can't twist their thighs with their arms, so how can we fight against the Duke of Jin? When the time comes, we will be arrested and beaten to death."
After hearing this, Shen Congdao's first wife stared and said, "You're going to move as soon as you say? You were so grand when you moved to the city, and now you're moving back in such a dejected mood? I don't have the shame to live in the country! I want to go back to the country. go by yourself!"
Shen Congdao was stunned and asked, "If you don't go to live in the country, where will you go?"
The principal wife rolled her eyes, but couldn't think of a place to go. She fell to the ground and started crying again, shouting: "I'm not alive anymore!"
The second roommate thought about it and started to cry. He wiped his tears and said, "Master, can't you borrow a few thousand taels of silver?"
Shen Congdao said with a sad face: "I don't know how much money the Qingzhou Prefecture gentry has deposited in the grain storage this time. No one has any extra money. At this time, where do you want me to borrow it?"
"That's all, don't say any more, go to the countryside! If you take the opportunity to cause trouble, we will be patient and retreat! Now no one can stop Li Zhizhi from Shandong. We will have a hard life. It’s still to come! What does this little pain mean?”
When the second room heard this, he burst into tears and sat on the chair unable to say a word.
The Shen family was crying there when they heard footsteps coming from outside. The "grain merchant" who "came from the south" and sold grain to Shen Congdao walked into the Shen family yard with ten soldiers from the Huben Division and shouted loudly: "Shen Congdao, you still haven't handed over the apartment? Do you want to be slapped by the Tianjin Public Court?"
