Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1010 Rice from China

"I heard that we have opened a new rice shop in Edo City. There are rice shipped from China, and some other grains!"

"It can be considered that there is food! The remaining grains of other rice shops in Edo City are almost sold. If there is no more food, how many days can we eat with the little rice at home?"

The people in Edo City knew that there was a new rice shop in the city, and they couldn't help being overjoyed. They gathered here one after another, wanting to see if there was any food sold here, and what the price of the food was.

"Genuine Liaodong high-quality rice, as well as sweet potatoes, potatoes, and flour, are sold at only 100% of the market price! Each person can only buy up to [-] catties at a time!" the hired shop assistant shouted vigorously.

"Eighty percent of the market price?!" The people of Edo City heard that there was only [-]% of the market price of grain, and soon began to snap up the grain that came across the sea!

This batch of grain was directly pulled from Yokohama Port to Edo Castle for sale by train, which promptly curbed the panic spreading in Edo Castle because of the grain.Residents of Edo Castle were pleasantly surprised when they found that besides local rice, they could also buy rice shipped from China at a lower price.

"This food came in a really timely manner. Did it really come from across the sea?" Many residents of Edo City who lined up to buy food asked.

"It's true. I saw with my own eyes that they brought food from the ship and brought it to Edo City by train. If it didn't come from the mainland across the sea, where could it have come from?" Xiaoer Dian said.

"The grain was transported from thousands of miles, and the price is not higher, but it is only [-]% of the market price. Is there really such a good thing? Is there something wrong with this batch of grain?" Residents of Edo City don't think about the sky. The good thing about falling pies can't help but be skeptical about food.

"When you get to the front of the queue, you won't say that when you see the quality of the rice. They are all high-quality varieties, much better than our local rice!" the waiter said confidently.

Soon, the residents of Edo Castle who were at the top of the queue bought food.

"Hey, open the grain bag and show the big guys the quality of the rice!" The residents of Edo Castle who were behind the line booed.

"I've seen it, and it's all good-quality rice!" The resident who bought the rice in advance opened the cloth bag, and it turned out to be full-quality rice, which in the eyes of ordinary people imagined like grains of crystal-clear diamonds.

This bag of good-looking rice seemed to give the residents of Edo Castle a bloodbath, making them even more crazy. The queue of residents who had just tried it out started to commotion.The residents at the bottom of the queue are afraid that they will not be able to buy food, so they want to squeeze to the front.And there are other residents in the city who also flocked to the city after hearing that the high-quality and cheap food was sold!

"Please pay attention to the order, those who do not line up in accordance with the order will be disqualified from buying Huaxia food! Our rice shop will sell imported rice for a long time!" Soldiers from the Beiyang Fleet are responsible for maintaining order, and they are also afraid that the residents of Edo Castle will The looting of the rice shop caused huge losses to the rice shop.

The first businessman who got the grain sales license could not help but be a little happy when he saw the grain he brought was snapped up, but at the same time, he did not understand the government's restrictions on the sale of grain in Dongying, and it also stipulated that only the market price could be used. Bacheng sells grain.

"With the current price of grain in Japan and the tense situation, people will definitely buy it even if it is sold at a price [-]% higher than the market price. Why does the government insist on selling it at a price lower than the market price? Could it be to buy people's hearts?" The first person to obtain grain The businessman who sells the license looks at the long queue of buyers and mutters in his heart.

He knew that if there was no government control, all Chinese rice merchants would flock to it, and the price of rice would probably drop to [-]% or even lower than the current market price.But since the government has monopolized grain imports through the "grain sales license", manipulating grain prices at this time will be very promising.However, the government did not raise the price, but lowered it instead. Apart from buying people's hearts, he couldn't figure out why he would do this.

The shogunate ministers saw the fact that the Chinese businessmen joined hands to open a rice shop in Edo City, and they had long been targeted by Tadakatsu Sakai, who had already stepped down, and the new leader of the reformist group, Tadaaki Abe, and others.

"Damn it, Dongfang Company is really cunning. It actually lowered the price of grain by issuing grain sales licenses. As a result, the entire Edo city now knows that the Huaxia merchants sell high-quality and cheap grain. Even if we want to sell their grain It has also become impossible to impose additional tariffs, which will cause resistance from the people of Edo Castle." Abe Tadaaki's tone was full of distress.

"I also hope that they will raise the price, so that their rice shop can be closed down on the charge of driving up the price of grain. They cannot be allowed to continue to win people's hearts with low-priced grain. They need to transport grain from nearby rural areas to lower the price of grain, otherwise the people will We all know that there are Chinese merchants and there is no our shogunate. The war is about to start, and Edo Castle is our base camp, so there must be no losses." Tadakatsu Sakai suggested.

"I immediately organized people to go to various villages to buy food. Once the food for war is too important, it is really a headache to consider whether the rear residents can have enough food when ensuring the army food. If there is no threat from the Kyushu Army , We didn’t have to be so cautious when we fought in the past, so what if a group of civilians starved to death?” Abe Tadaaki wondered.

In the past, when the shogunate went to war, they called together samurai and civilians from all over the place, asked them to prepare their own armor and food, and then prepared a batch of surplus food reserves by themselves. They didn't care too much about the life and death of the residents in the city.But with the intervention of the Kyushu Army, the shogunate still has to perform the functions of the government and take care of the emotions of ordinary people, otherwise the people's hearts will be biased towards outsiders.

"Will anyone buy the war bonds issued by the Edo Bank? How much money can be raised for the war?" Sakai Tadakatsu asked.

"About 100 million taels of silver can be used to purchase military supplies. These bonds will be repaid after one year at the latest, and up to five years. There is no need to worry about being run on. After defeating the rebels, you can use the spoils of war to pay. Interest, if the war is lost, there is no need to repay it, and the crisis of our shogunate does not care about more debts." Tadaaki Abe is still full of confidence in the issue of war bonds.

"The Tokyo Branch will not block war bonds again, right? We must be cautious about these new financial means." Said Tadakatsu Sakai.

"Because of suppressing the rebellion of the feudal lords in the northeast and launching offensives against the rebels year after year, the shogunate exhausted its treasury and could no longer spend extra money to launch a general offensive," Abe Tadaaki said helplessly.

(End of this chapter)