Starting in Saarhu, it is a bit difficult to make a comeback.

Chapter 222 The Revenge of the Jiangnan Gentry (please subscribe for monthly tickets)

Nanjing's Longjiang Pier is lined with thousands of sails, and large galenic sailing ships are moored beside the pier.

On the trestle were Nanjing officials and dignitaries who came to see Li Xianzhong off.

Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiangnan who had just arrived, said: "The eight hundred thousand shi of grain have been shipped, which is enough for the 100,000-strong army going on this expedition for half a year."

Li Xianzhong said: "Governor Hong has worked hard. Now Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian have also submitted a letter to express their submission to the imperial court. I have written to Your Majesty to appoint Governor Hong as the Grand Scholar of the Southern Governor-General, responsible for the implementation of the 'Hongguang New Deal' in the entire south."

"If anyone dares to obstruct the New Deal, or violates the rule of law, he will be killed without mercy!"

When Li Xianzhong said the three words "kill without mercy", he specially prolonged his tone!

Wei Guogong Xu Hongji, Ma Shiying and others on the side lowered their heads subconsciously.

On the surface, these three words Li Xianzhong are talking about the affairs of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. It is obviously a warning to everyone who stayed in Nanjing that if anyone dares to cause trouble after he leaves, Li Xianzhong will never show mercy.

Hong Chengchou said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, my governor will actively implement the new policy and provide stable supplies for Your Majesty!"

"Congratulations to Your Majesty for your victory and the destruction of Zhang Xianzhong!"

Li Xianzhong also said loudly at this time: "The Xian bandits are entrenched in Huguang, Sichuan and other places. These places have high mountains and long roads. My king's western expedition can take as little as half a year, or as slowly as more than a year. The supply of food and grass is extremely important, so I will help you all!" "

Although the officials seeing him off on the trestle had their own thoughts, they all said in unison: "We sincerely wish the prince a victory and destroy Zhang Xianzhong!"

After that, the warship began to raise anchor and sail and slowly sailed out of Longjiang port.

Li Xianzhong put too much pressure on the nobles. After he left Nanjing, everyone felt more relaxed.

Go straight to the heaven and earth beside the Qinhuai River and start to let yourself go!

Like the distinguished circle in the capital, the distinguished circle in Nanjing also likes to gather in heaven and on earth.

After all, this kind of comprehensive entertainment club covers a full range of services such as catering and entertainment. Its unique membership system blocks ordinary wealthy people and greatly increases the privacy of the club.

The nobles in Nanjing are headed by Wei Guogong Xu Hongji (descendant of Zhongshan King Xu Da), and its main members include Baoguo Gong Zhu Guobi (descendant of Funing Bo Zhu Yong during the Chenghua period), Lingbi Marquis Tang Guozuo (descendant of Eastern European Wang Tanghe) et al.

Lingbi Hou Tang Guozuo said: "This Li Xianzhong is also one of our nobles, why is he so harsh on us?"

"Forget it about collecting land taxes and commercial taxes, we won't even be allowed to eat the free wages of the Nanjing garrison! Of the 5 garrison guards in various places in Nanjing, only 1 people were left. They must be real. This is not to break everyone's Way to make money?"

Xu Hongji said: "The Li family in Liaodong started their career through military exploits. Li Xianzhong is different from the nobles in our two capitals. He does not make money by eating empty wages."

"The 5-strong garrison in Nanjing is nothing. Didn't you see that there are only 17 people left out of the -strong establishment of the three major battalions in the capital!"

Zhu Guobi, the protector of the country, said: "Can they tolerate this British prince?"

Xu Hongji sighed and said: "What can I do if I can't bear it? We still have a hereditary title and a lot of industry!"

"Paying taxes will only make you less money. If you resist, I'm afraid there will be nothing left!"

"I heard that the boss behind the East Ryukyu Company is Li Xianzhong. Not to mention they are gentry in the north, they even dare to kill the feudal king!"

"Kong Yinzhi, Duke Yansheng, was forced to death by Li Xianzhong. The Kong family in Qufu paid a lot of land, money and food to survive. Li Xianzhong was already polite to us!"

After hearing these words, all the nobles present took a deep breath!

Think of King Heng who died tragically in Baoding and King Tongde of Lu who only had 10,000 acres of farmland left.

Compared with them, these nobles in Nanjing are indeed lucky.

Although they also paid 500 million taels of silver, there were so many noble gentry in Jiangnan that the amount paid to each person was only tens of thousands taels, as long as they expressed their position and attitude.

And currently, their industries are still in their own hands.

Zhu Guobi, the protector of the country, said unwillingly: "Li Xianzhong's western expedition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He transferred all the 100,000 troops he went south to."

Zhu Guobi's words quickly aroused the response of Tang Guozuo, the Marquis of Lingbi.

He said: "Li Xianzhong was too cruel to us. I, Lao Tang, can't swallow this bad breath!"

When Xu Hongji saw that these two men were going to take the lead, he quickly said: "You two, please don't be impulsive. Li Xianzhong's southern expedition army has left, but Hong Chengchou also brought 30,000 Yulin battalions."

Zhu Guobi said: "Hong Chengchou's 30,000 people are distributed across the three provinces of Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and South Zhili; and in order to guard against Li Zicheng, his main force is currently in Fengyang and Luzhou in the north of the Yangtze River. The entire Nanjing only has 5,000 people. Nothing to fear!”

Xu Hongji said: "Mr. Bao Guo, you are playing with fire. Let me not mention that Hong Chengchou's troops in Yangzhou, Nanchang, and Hangzhou will soon be able to support Nanjing. Even if Li Xianzhong returns from Wuchang to aid, the Yangtze River will not flow down the river. It’s just ten days.”

Zhu Guobi smiled and said: "Where did Duke Wei Guo go? If he directly raises troops, he is looking for death."

"But this is Jiangnan. Since he can collect a large amount of business tax and land tax from us, we can naturally make him spit it out with profits!"

Then he whispered a few words next to Xu Hongji.

After hearing this, Xu Hongji looked heavy and hesitated for a while before saying, "Are you sure about this?"

Zhu Guobi said: "The businessmen in Suzhou have been prepared for a long time, and everything is foolproof."

Xu Hongji said: "Don't forget, those Huizhou merchants also support Li Xianzhong, they will not stand idly by!"

Zhu Guobi smiled and said: "Hui merchants do have a lot of money, but this time they are fighting for food, and money alone is not enough. We don't need to take action directly, we just need to cooperate with them."

Xu Hongji finally said calmly: "Everything must be done cleanly, and no one can get a handle on it!"

The Wusong River originates from Guajingkou of Taihu Lake, passes through Wujiang, Suzhou, Kunshan and other places and merges into the Huangpu River and the sea.

Here, Suzhou's golden waterway, a large number of goods flowed through the Wusong River to Wusongkou and were finally transported to Chongming Island and sold to the Dongliuqiu Company.

It is also an important flood discharge channel in the Taihu Lake area.

During heavy rains, the Wusong River is also responsible for carrying excess water from the upstream Taihu Lake area to the East China Sea.

Jiangnan has entered the rainy season in April, and several consecutive days of heavy rain have caused the water level of the Taihu Lake system around Suzhou to rise.

At this time, there was a human head drive along the Wusong River. Many people wearing bamboo hats and raincoats were waiting nearby with hoes.

Shen Zhengzong, a big businessman in Wujiang, Xi Qiming, the largest grain merchant in Suzhou City, Liu Wenqing, a silk and satin merchant, and others were looking anxiously into the distance.

Finally, a yamen servant came to several people despite the heavy rain. The yamen servant said: "Nanjing has agreed to cooperate with us. Prefect Ding asked you to implement it according to the original plan!"

Xi Qiming said excitedly: "Brother Shen, the matter is done, let's get started quickly!"

Following Shen Zhengzong's order, the people on standby quickly picked up their hoes and dug out the channel of the Wusong River.

The original fertile farmland was instantly submerged in a vast ocean. The seedlings in the rice fields were washed away by mud and water, and the green fields became a mess.

Soon after, Hong Chengchou received a report from Ding Yunyuan, the prefect of Suzhou. Heavy rains caused many executions in the Wusong River. Floods submerged large areas of fertile farmland, and many displaced people poured into Suzhou City.

Suzhou government requested to open warehouses for disaster relief.

Initially, Hong Chengchou didn't pay much attention to this. After all, it was common for rivers to break dams due to heavy rains in the Jiangnan area.

However, a few days later, the Baimao River in Changzhou Prefecture also burst its banks.

Changzhou also began to release grain for disaster relief.

Then the price of food in Nanjing began to rise, from the original 6 coins per stone to 8 coins.

Moreover, rumors began to circulate in the market that Li Xianzhong, the king of Liaodong County, went on an expedition and took away 80 shi of grain, which led to a shortage of food in Nanjing. In addition, Suzhou, Changzhou and other places suffered successive floods, and this year's summer grain production was greatly reduced.

Food prices are about to skyrocket, so there is a rush to buy food on the streets of Nanjing.

Regardless of whether there is food at home or not, everyone starts to join in the fun and line up to grab food!

The price of food quickly rose from 8 silver dollars per stone to 1 tael of silver!

Hong Chengchou keenly sensed something was wrong.

This year's heavy rains will indeed cause a reduction in summer grain production, but not so many fields have been flooded. The soaring grain prices are definitely not normal.

In addition, rumors spread, pointing the finger at Li Xianzhong's military rations for the expedition.

He judged that some profiteers took the opportunity to create tension and drive up food prices!

If other places encountered a major disaster and Li Xianzhong's expedition, there might indeed be a food shortage.

But this is Nanjing, the core area of ​​the entire Jiangnan, and Nanjing City has a large amount of food reserves.

Hong Chengchou knew very well that there were now 120 million shi of grain in the official warehouse in Nanjing.

Even excluding the 20 shi of grain that he had previously ordered to be transferred to Suzhou and Changzhou, there was still 100 million shi.

So Hong Chengchou decided to intervene to curb the skyrocketing food prices!

He took out 20 shi of grain to sell on the market, and contacted grain merchants in Nanjing city to ask them to provide grain, and not to take the opportunity to drive up grain prices!

Under Hong Chengchou's intervention, the price of food in Nanjing finally began to fall, from one to two to five cents at its peak to one to one tael.

Although this grain price is still significantly higher than the normal 5-6 yuan per stone, considering that we are in a period of drought and the disaster has occurred, it is still within the acceptable range.

Hong Chengchou was woken up not even an hour after he fell asleep.

I saw his master Xie Sanbin running over in a hurry and saying, "Dong Weng, something bad has happened. The granary near Jubaomen is on fire!"

As soon as Hong Chengchou left the house, he saw flames rising into the sky in the direction of Jubao Gate.

Nanjing is full of ordinary people who go out to watch the excitement!

At this time, someone shouted: "All the grain stored in Jubaomen has been burned. There is no grain in Nanjing. Everyone, hurry up and line up in front of the grain store overnight to buy grain."

“You won’t be able to buy food if it’s too late!”

After such a reminder, these people were no longer in the mood to watch the excitement, and hurried to their homes to pick up grain bags and queue up to buy grain.

In just a quarter of an hour, the entrances of major grain stores in Nanjing were crowded with people buying grain!

When Hong Chengchou rushed to Jubaomen, the fire in the granary was so intense that it was impossible to put out the fire.

Hong Chengchou said angrily: "Someone must have set the fire deliberately. Let me investigate it carefully!"

Hong Chengchou soon got the answer. Liu Yijun, a doctor in the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs, and Song Yuancheng, the owner of the granary, resold grain. Coupled with mildew, less than half of the grain remaining in the granary was reduced.

Nowadays, the grain in the granary is constantly being used. They know that this matter will soon be exposed, so they staged this "Fire Dragon Burning the Granary"!

Both of them committed suicide out of fear of crime and left suicide notes!

Hong Chengchou knew that someone was deliberately trying to embarrass himself.

Their purpose should be to disrupt the entire Jiangnan economy and the credibility of the government, and even affect the logistics supplies of the expeditionary army, while seeking huge profits!

Hong Chengchou knew the seriousness of the matter. While mobilizing grain from warehouses in Yangzhou, he also borrowed grain from Hui merchants in Yangzhou.

However, at this moment, the price of food in Nanjing has exceeded two taels of silver.

Not only Nanjing, but also Suzhou and Changzhou’s food prices even exceed those in Nanjing.

With the war intensifying, grain from Jiangxi has been transferred to Huguang, and even grain from Jiaxing and Huzhou, the grain producing areas, has been purchased in large quantities.

Fortunately, Huizhou merchants headed by Wang Shiming still supported Hong Chengchou. At the beginning of the year, they donated 100 million shi of grain to Li Xianzhong. At this time, they had no grain in hand.

However, Wang Shiming still used Huizhou merchants' connections to raise 50 shi of grain and sent it to Nanjing for sale.

In the private room in the heaven and earth, Lord Baoguo Zhu Guobi said proudly: "The current price of food in Nanjing is only two taels of silver. The price of food in Suzhou and Changzhou has exceeded four taels!"

"But the grain sent by those Anhui merchants won't last long. As long as we clear out all the grain stocks on the market tomorrow, the price of grain in Nanjing will definitely double!"

"Ten taels of silver and one stone is not impossible!"

Xu Hongji said: "I think it's better to let it go when it's good. Li Xianzhong is not someone to be trifled with."

Zhu Guobi said: "Although Wei Guogong is relaxed, we have not directly come forward to collect and distribute grain. Li Xianzhong can't find us?"

Xu Hongji said: "I hope so!"

Shen Zhengzong and others took advantage of man-made disasters to purchase grains in Suzhou, Changzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Nanjing and other places, causing prices to skyrocket!

Due to the efforts of Hong Chengchou in Nanjing, the price of food has never exceeded three liang.

However, as Huizhou merchants ran out of food, Nanjing's food prices finally collapsed!

Not only did the grain on the market in Nanjing rise to 5 taels of silver, but there was also very little grain put in.

Shen Zhengzong and others only released a small amount of grain every day and gradually increased the price of grain.

Hong Chengchou was at his wits' end, and now the granaries in all the prefectures in southern Zhili were empty.

The price of food in Jiangnan remained high, and he was simply unable to raise food for the next batch of troops.

At this moment, a familiar figure appeared in front of Hong Chengchou.

It’s actually Zheng Zhilong!

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(End of this chapter)