Poor family mother and son

The disaster spread from south to north, affecting more than half of the Daxuan Kingdom, which is not insignificant.

Not only the continuous torrential rain in the south, but also the weather in the north with strong winds, cooling and snowfall. Some people in the north who make a living by fishing and hunting have no way of life.

Hubu Shangshu said that this is a "national disaster", which is worse than worse.

Disaster relief and relief have become top priorities.

We all know how important the Chinese New Year is in the hearts of the people. As the saying goes: "After Laba is the New Year", starting from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, it is the time for people to prepare New Year's goods, clean houses, and prepare for sacrifices.

Now that it is the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, it has become the top priority of disaster relief to let the people "smoothly pass the New Year's Eve".

The most important thing is food.

The emperor can drive donations, but there must be a range, not everyone can afford a month's salary.

The rent of many low-level officials in Kyoto is almost their biggest expense and the biggest burden. Even with "double salary", if one month's post salary is donated, the remaining level salary is not enough to maintain their living expenses.

Especially at this time when food prices are soaring.

Therefore, this fundraising is limited to officials of rank six and above.

Therefore, the food raised in this way is not much, and it can only be said to set an example for other parts of the country.

The intention is to mobilize non-governmental forces to help the imperial court share the burden of disaster relief. This is called "persuading the distribution" in Daxuan, which means persuading the people to help each other.

However, the granaries in various places were severely damaged, and the country's grain reserves were not enough to maintain such a large-scale relief, so grain had to be collected from the people.

This kind of "collection" is not free, but the state buys food from people who have food at a certain price. This price is usually a slight increase on the basis of parity, which is also called "persuasion".

During the disaster, food was comparable to gold. In just a few days, [-] renminbi for a bucket of rice has soared to [-] renminbi. Who would sell it at a low price?If there is really cheap food, the food merchants will fight for it!

Under such circumstances, when the emperor heard that Yushihe material was also sold for 200 million taels of silver, he had to put aside his worries about this "offensive" behavior for the time being.

Because food prices are really difficult to control, more money can buy more food.

If at this time, tough measures are used to attack unscrupulous grain merchants to control grain prices, it is very easy to cause turmoil, and even cause Voss to take advantage of others' danger and make trouble.

Since the method cannot be "fast, ruthless and accurate", then more money has to be paid. In this way, the fourth prince turned thirty carts of stones into 400 million taels of silver, which can be said to have relieved the urgent need.

What is the concept of 400 million taels of silver in Daxuan?
Calculated based on the current price of 1000 yuan for a bucket of rice, it is [-] million buckets of rice; one bucket is about [-] catties. If you don’t have enough to eat and just want to not starve to death in the cold winter, then about one bucket of rice per person per month is enough.

That is to say, 400 million taels of silver is enough to feed tens of millions of people for a month at the current price of rice.

Coupled with the adjustment of national grain reserves, the grain demand in the hardest-hit areas can be guaranteed.

Of course, only one month's rations are far from enough for disaster relief, because people can't live only for this month, but at least, this year can be considered to be able to survive.

Therefore, the first thing the imperial court should do at present is to buy grain while restraining grain merchants and controlling grain prices.

But the contradiction is also here. Since the country of Vos, who is worried about the feud, will not let go and severely punish the unscrupulous grain merchants, then the efforts to control grain prices will not be enough.

It is already a great effort to keep it from rising.

At the same time, in order to guard against civil strife in the disaster-stricken area and Voss taking advantage of the fire to loot, the imperial court ordered the troops stationed in various places to strictly guard against death, and the border guards should intensify border patrols.

But in this way, the army's food and grass needs have also become a big gap.

The result is that those who have food in their hands will not sell it. Who knows if the price of food will be normal again?
"Persuading points" and "persuading Tiao" are not working well, so the imperial court intends to forcibly allocate apportionments to "groups with spare capacity".

*************
"What? Ask us for food?" A businessman's voice suddenly increased. He was the second owner of a pawnshop in Xicheng.

In a private room on the second floor of the Qingwatai, four people who looked like businessmen gathered here, and one of them was Qin Erye.

"I've heard that too." Qin Erye gestured to several people with a wine glass, but unfortunately no one responded, they were surprised by the news brought by Qin Erye.

Qin Erye said: "Today I went to the 'Jin Yu Man Tang', and asked the craftsmen to help untie the few pieces of jade ore I bought, but there were too many people, and they all waited in line;

Then I heard someone say that the imperial court is about to collect grain from our merchants, and each family should not be less than [-] shi;

When we sell rice, the imperial court collects it at [-] Wen per shi; if the money is paid but the grain is not paid, it is handed over at [-] Wen per shi;

It is also said that each family should not be less than [-] shi. If they run a farm, they will be charged according to "ten taxes and one". It is not yet known whether the news is true or not. "

"Jin Yu Man Tang" is Mrs. Hong's shop, and now it is the largest jewelry store in Kyoto, which has long replaced the former "Yong Xing Sheng".

The dowry shop "Yongxingsheng" of Wu Jichang's daughter-in-law has already become the Kyoto branch of "Sanshun Escort Bureau" under Zheng Xiaorou's operation.

The second owner of the pawn shop was furious: "Is there still an end?!"

The owner of the tea shop is obviously more interested in stones, and he is the first to care about the results of Qin Erye's cleavage of stones: "Has Master Qin made meat-filled ones?"

Second Master Qin smiled wryly: "I'm a foreigner with a small business. How can you be rich and powerful? If you choose big ones to buy, you will naturally have the opportunity to sell meaty ones;
I bought three small ones, which weighed over 50 kilograms together, and only one stone was removed. There was nothing, just a stone. "

The owner of the tea shop: "Why only one piece?"

Qin Erye: "There are so many people waiting to unravel the stone in 'Gold and Jade Mantang', I can't afford to wait;
Later, the clerk in their shop said that the shop on the side of the street called "Xiaoxuezhuomo" specialized in jewelry cutting and polishing, and their tools were good, so I went there;

But there were quite a lot of people queuing up there. I untied one piece, which was a broken stone. I spent so much money in vain, and I was in a bad mood. "

Hearing Qin Erye say "Broken Stone", several bosses looked at each other.

Qin Erye then asked: "How about everyone? Have you solved the good jade?"

The owner of the tea shop said: "How much did you spend for the two remaining stones, I will buy yours for the same price, okay?"

Qin Erye: "Why? Those two stones look similar to the one I untied. They are probably broken stones. Why do you still want to buy them?"

The owner of the tea shop: "To tell you the truth, my family bought a lot of stones this time, but none of them had material. I was at a big loss;
The few of us plan to collect the remaining unopened stones and pick cheap ones together. After the new year, we will go to the south to make a pass and get our money back. "

Qin Erye: "That's it...it's also a solution, thank you for taking care of me as a foreigner, otherwise I won't be able to live comfortably in the New Year;
However, you guys are really rich and powerful, and you still have to spend money to collect stones at this time? "

The owner of the tea shop: "What does Master Qin mean by that?"

Qin Erye said: "If the imperial court really wants to levy food, isn't it more than spending?" Affordable;
It’s just that I’m a small family and I can’t make it. I’ve paid the grain now, and I’m afraid that there won’t be enough food for the next year, and the price of grain will not be fixed at that time. "