Zhurou

Shopkeeper Li only smiled, and said what he wanted first, then looked at the two Yuanwai Han behind him and said, "This is the two Yuanwai I just mentioned."

The smile on the officer's face immediately disappeared, and he said: "I can only be polite when outsiders come, since you brought them here, I will treat myself as my own, and I don't need to talk about those scenes, let's just say it—— I have to personally intervene in this matter, and there is absolutely no way to turn it around."

He turned around and went to the back to get a booklet, turned to a certain page, and asked the names of the two people in front of him again.

After redoing and confirming, the officer looked even colder, and shook his head: "You two transported more than [-] shi of grain, and the other transported more than [-] shi of grain. The movement was so loud, and the carriages were blocked for half a day in full view—if it wasn't for You are too eye-catching, this matter is not so urgent."

He said again: "Just now the military patrol came here to explain, and told me to use a few as an example to kill chickens and monkeys, and ordered Han and Deng's family to come out alone-it is your two families."

Hearing this, the Han member's face gradually turned pale, but he managed to maintain his composure, but the other person was already in a panic. He hurriedly looked at Shopkeeper Li, stumbled and said, "This...how can this be done!"

The officer's face became a little impatient: "Didn't I just say that whether it is sold or redeemed, it is up to you to act on your own. You only said to capture it as a model, but you didn't say you should be embarrassing. You just act according to the law."

The Deng family dared to say no more, so they had to retreat in embarrassment.

Out of the camp, Manager Li cupped his hands and said, "You two, it's not that I don't want to help. If the gate of the city is still decided by the government of the capital, based on our past friendship, I might be able to have a few words with the two officials here. At this time, the city defense army has been changed..."

He paused, and then said: "This road is impassable, but I will go to the camp to answer an errand, if you can trust me, I will try to find someone I know."

Although Han and Deng may not believe it all, they have no other choice. Fortunately, they can do it because they can save face. They quickly thanked them and said that they believed so much, but they didn't want to leave, they just waited where they were.

Shopkeeper Li went there for a long time, and it took more than an hour before he came out of the inner camp. This time he brought good news, and said: "I heard that His Highness has already heard about this, saying that it is a refugee or a peasant or a farmer. It is the people, merchants are generally people, and they said that they would do things like this, so I am afraid that you will feel dissatisfied, so you will give a sum of money to use as a subsidy."

"Let's see where your grain is sold. There are two other ways. One is to take out the deed, and she will send someone to buy the grain and fodder to send it on her behalf. The grain withheld will be used in the city. This way If you change it, you won't break your promise, and it's cheap for both sides.

The second is to buy it from the imperial court. There are two options here. One is to sell it to the imperial court at the price you saw just now. Come back, the original one hundred stones, give fifty stones more..."

After Shopkeeper Li finished speaking, his tone became more meaningful. He looked at Han and Deng and said, "Your Highness is so benevolent and righteous. If you can do this, you don't think there will be any difficult choices?"

After hearing this, the two people on the opposite side showed extremely forced expressions, they could only squeeze out a smile, said yes again and again, and left in a hurry without another word.

The grain merchants transported grain out of the city, but the grain was withheld at the gate of the city, and the chariots and horses formed a long queue and were dragged away one by one. Naturally, it was impossible to hide such a thing.

As soon as Han and Deng returned to the city, they went to the place where the Dexing Mission was located and asked people to search around. After searching for a long time, they found at the outer gate that the morning yamen had sent a document, because there were occasional government orders in the former yamen, and there was nothing wrong with them. It's important, the concierge took it easy and put it away first, who would have missed a big deal because of this.

If they had seen this document earlier, the two of them would not have sent food out of the city at such a sensitive moment, at least they would have read it for a while and asked someone to explore the way first.

Because he was afraid that the imperial court would do something brutal, he finally sent people into the warehouse by force to force his family to donate food. Who knew that it was a chicken that laid its eggs in the weasel's mouth and let it bite its butt!
The two of them were very dissatisfied in their hearts, and it was useless to scold the concierge, they hurriedly called each other to get close to the food store, and then relayed what the shopkeeper Li said, and were about to provoke a few words, when a person who just came said: "Is the price offered by the Yamen too low?"

He said again: "If the current situation is maintained, it will take less than half a month for the price of grain in the city to rise to the sky. The current price is simply unattractive..."

"That's exactly what you said!" The rest of the people echoed repeatedly, "At this time, who doesn't want to save more grain for backup, but the current rally has stopped for a while, and when Di Bing goes south, there will be even more skyrocketing days ahead. Why give it to the imperial court, the little profit earned is not enough to fill the gaps between the teeth!"

Some people also said: "It's not difficult to compile a contract book now, and it's not difficult to get people to show their acknowledgment of the purchase letter, but it still needs to be reported in three places, who dares to publish it?"

Another person turned his head and said: "Mr. Han, why don't you send a letter to Caizhou..."

Han Yuanwai coughed and said, "Let's not talk about the thousands of miles away, it's beyond reach, and it will take ten months to go back and forth, and even if it can be delivered, there is no one in Caizhou to deliver..."

Everyone was dissatisfied.

"At this point, Han Yuanwai is the leader of the line. In the past, he only had to speak, and no one should respond? Now that something has happened, why is he unwilling to do anything? Who doesn't know that Uncle Guo and you... ..."

Han Yuanwai immediately stopped him: "This is really outrageous! I run my own business, so what does it have to do with the uncle of the country, besides, the emperor is going north today, the so-called uncle of the country is not the old uncle of the country..."

He didn't finish speaking, just paused, and then said: "I will write to Caizhou myself, and ask my old friend to help me with the conversation, but after all, the distance is too far, every time I go back and forth, maybe all the food here will be imported. The stomachs of those refugees——Although the princess came forward today, I think it was just to make a public face, but behind the scenes, the court wanted to slaughter us grain merchants."

"With a knife on the head, cutting off people's wealth is like killing their parents. Don't hide it, everyone. Someone is coming out, and there is a way to find the way. While the food is still in Beiying and has not been distributed, hurry up..."

Han Yuan was only halfway through speaking, but there was a "bang", and the door was almost kicked open.

Only then did someone want to speak out and scold, and they could see the ugly expression on the person's face, but they immediately shut up and asked one after another: "What's wrong?"

The person who just came in said angrily: "What's going on outside, you're still drinking tea behind closed doors!"

A person beside him also said: "It has been spread everywhere, only that the yamen wants to collect grain at a high price..."

The man wiped the sweat off his brow, and explained the conditions of the yamen's grain collection.

It turned out that the yamen not only paid a redemption price for the seized grain, but also quoted the price for the other grain merchants, giving them a chance to sell.

"Those village folks in the streets and alleys obviously don't understand anything, and they are still coaxing around. They all say that the grain merchants have no conscience. The court has already given so much money and the opportunity to buy the land, but they still refuse. They all scold them. We have a clear heart, and we can't see Da Jin is good!"

As soon as the words fell, most of the hall stood up in shock.

"How can this be nonsense!"

Whoever dares to respond to such a heart-breaking theory, if one is not careful, it will be a crime of copying one's home.

"You can't let them talk nonsense. Three people become tigers. The yamen is waiting to find faults. The eggs are seamless and there are cracks. It's really a big mess, and we must suffer again!"

"Everyone is saying, how do you stop? Can you tear their mouths apart??"

"Send something else..."

"In the past, we could think of other ways, but now everyone is worried that there will be no rice for the pot in the future, and they are afraid of people coming from the north, so they may not have the time to pay attention to those."

"Then what should we do? We can't..."

Before the man finished speaking, he saw a few more people coming from outside, and asked anxiously after entering the door: "Have you heard that the government government posted a notice outside to recruit laborers to cultivate the land and build the city, and to distribute grain and pay money every day?" .”

It's just a common way of relief, nothing special, so that the people in the hall are a little confused.

"What's this?"

However, those who responded quickly had already noticed something was wrong.

Han Yuanwai even put the teacup in his hand aside, and asked anxiously, "Who said that the daily rations will be given to Yin?"

"It's clearly written on the list." The man seemed to think that no one would believe him, and he was anxious and angry, and said, "I had hired more than a hundred people, but who knew that the carriages, horses, grain and grain were suddenly seized, so I had to ask people to forgive me." They are all on standby, and those who work hard don't need to work hard, so naturally they don't need to count money."

"It was fine at first, but only the people from the Cao Gang had a lot of opinions and refused to listen to the errands at any time. The rest of the people made a fuss for a while, and finally they were all honest. As a result, at night, one or two came to me, saying that they had other errands. Next, every family is waiting for the rice to go into the pot, and it’s not good to wait for orders.”

"I thought I was just here to sniff out the news, and I didn't want to be manipulated by the high price. I had to answer them one by one. When I saw something was wrong, I would send someone to ask. Only then did I know that not only the posters were posted everywhere, but also the officers and soldiers from the western camp came to the door alone. To find various groups, you can pay money and food first, and ask each family to recruit people."

After hearing this person's explanation, most of the people in the hall changed their countenance, and they all asked loudly, "How much money do you give?"

The man said the price.

For a while, no one made a sound.

The opening is actually not high, but now it is difficult to buy grain and grain everywhere, and the yamen is willing to pay by the day, and there is grain and rice in it.

Someone said worryingly: "I hope only one or two families are willing to take up this errand, otherwise even if the yamen releases the seized grain, no one will deliver it..."

"When is it released? It's not too late for you to worry about it again!" Someone replied mockingly.

Seeing that everyone's focus has been misplaced, Han Yuanwai said displeasedly: "What does this matter have to do with the government office? But half of the people in the government office can play a role in this matter, and everything is withheld Did we know?!"

He said again: "Look for some time! If you want to detain it, you can detain it, if you say it, you can detain it. This pair of bastards is a fake, and I know it must be a monster made by the Western Army."

He didn't want to talk too much, so he hurriedly summoned his followers to make assignments.

At this time, people of all kinds came in from outside, and after finding their master's house, they hurriedly approached to talk.

Almost all those who got the news changed their faces immediately, and they all whispered to each other. Sure enough, they all came to send letters to inform each family that they had hired to transport food all to resign.

In fact, such a follow-up is not surprising. The grain shop does not sell grain, but everyone needs to eat.

While making people wait and not paying, while not talking about the future, not talking about the amount, and not even worrying about credit issues——If you don’t trust the court again, at least this time you paid the money first, and you made it clear Paid by the day.

The conditions of the two sides are so different that any fool knows how to choose.

Someone suggested: "If you really can't hire coolies from outside, why don't you find some short-term hires, take the rest of the servants in the shop and the mansion, and each family gathers together, as long as the grain can be transported out of the capital, isn't it? Afraid of not being able to hire people on the road?"

However, this method was quickly rejected by the others: "In addition to the labor for transportation, there are short-term employees in the mansion and in the shop who resign, saying that they want to go out to find food."

At this time, unless the silver and money are raised, there is almost no way out.

How much should it go up?
The rise is much higher, who is willing to agree?
If you pay less, who will care about you?