Zhu Men Ji Shi

Chapter 139
Ruan Xiping and Zhu Yuanlan were startled when they heard the words. Ruan Linluo was surprisingly calm and steady at the moment, which made people unable to adapt for a while. Such a calm tone, such sharp eyes, and such arrogance were nothing like before. That well-behaved and docile daughter, is this person still their daughter?

The granary on the outskirts of Zhujiacheng suddenly caught fire, killing five people and destroying thousands of catties of grain, which can be described as a heavy loss.

The fire was so fierce that people were caught off guard. The food is flammable, but when it meets the flames, it will burst into flames in an instant. Even watering it will not help.It is difficult to get water in winter, and the watchmen in the granary alone cannot put out such a big fire.

When Zhu Jintang hurried over, there was only a large piece of charred ashes left on the ground, which was scattered all over the ground accompanied by fine pieces of fire.Thick smoke billowed up in the night sky, drifting farther and farther away with the biting cold wind.

Zhu Jintang looked at the mess in the place, frowned, threw the whip in his hand heavily on the ground, and lightly reprimanded: "Where's the person in charge?"

The accompanying servant immediately raised his voice: "Old man Geng, you don't know how to live or die, why don't you hurry up and answer?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a farmer covered in black staggered over and kowtowed to make amends: "Young ones should die, young ones should die."

The person guarding the granary, whose surname is Geng Zhi, is 46 years old and has been working as a long-term worker in Zhu's family since he was a child.

His face was blackened by the smoke, and Zhu Jintang didn't recognize him for a while, but he knew it when he heard his voice.

Geng Zhi knew that he had caused a catastrophe, so he didn't dare to beg for mercy, he just kowtowed and said: "Eldest young master, the small one is wrong, the small one is wrong, the small one deserves death."

Zhu Jintang let out a breath of white air, and said sharply, "Do you know how much these grains are worth? Tell me! What's going on?"

With a face full of shame, Geng Zhi fell on the ground and said: "Eldest young master, I heard water running in the middle of the night, and when I came out, I saw that the grain pile had been lifted, and I couldn't save it..."

The granary has never been exposed to water or fire, and the stove is not even heated outside. Only the concierge can light a fire, and usually cook and cook, boil water and make tea.

Honesty has been doing things for decades, and the rules here are the clearest, but this fire came quite strangely.

Seeing that he couldn't say anything, Zhu Jintang shook his sleeves angrily and said, "Check it out for me, check it out carefully, you must give me an explanation before dawn."

After a while, the servants brought out several black and charred corpses from the burnt house. They were all watchmen of the granary, and four shifts a day took turns to guard and patrol to ensure safety.

Only one of the six watchmen escaped, and the other five were all burned to death.

When Zhu Jintang saw the corpse, he was even more furious. After thinking about it, this happened so suddenly, there must be something wrong with it.

Because of the fire in the granary, everyone in Zhu's family was alarmed. Mr. Zhu was so angry that he dropped three tea bowls, pointed at Zhu Feng's face and cursed.

"People were killed in the first month, and you have to suffer bad luck throughout the year. How is your family run? How are things managed? The granaries in the western suburbs are the most important. By the beginning of next spring, all the granaries will be closed. It depends on its supply. The granary is gone, what does our Zhu family do business with?"

Zhu Feng was also a bit old, and he couldn't help but feel a little helpless after being scolded so severely by his father.

With Li Shi beside him, she couldn't help persuading softly: "Why is the master so angry? The people below are not careful, and we have nothing to do."

Old Master Zhu's face was flushed with anger: "The things left by the ancestors must not be thrown away! Boss, you should hurry up and make this matter clear and clear to me."

Zhu Feng was so stuffy that he couldn't vent his anger on his wife Li Shi when he went back with a serious face, so he had to call Zhu Rong over and cursed at him, venting his anger.

Zhu Rong is also a confused lawsuit at the moment. He has been busy running around all morning, and his mind is buzzing.

Shen Yuechen heard the news from Shi Li, and couldn't help being slightly startled, a little unbelievable.

Without careful calculation, the Zhu family lost at least tens of thousands of taels of silver this time.

The year before last and last year were famine years. The grain harvest in Dezhou was bleak. Many farmers lost money and land, and even had to sell their sons and daughters in exchange for one year's rations.

When Shen Yuechen bought the land, it was also at this time, so he was able to lower the price a little.

The Zhu family controls the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the people in Dezhou, the most important of which is food.

The granary in the western suburbs of Zhu's family has three years' worth of grain stockpiles. These grains are not only the property of Zhu's family, but also the hope of the people of Dezhou.

The more grain the Zhu family has in stock, the more stable the price of grain on the market will be. Once something happens to the Zhu family, those grain merchants from other places will sit on the ground and raise prices, disrupt all the prices, and then profit from it.

Shen Yuechen has been paying attention to the news outside, and after waiting for a long time, he finally waited for a reliable news.

The fire last night was not an accident, but a man-made disaster. It seemed that the Zhu family had offended someone and was plotted against.

It was already dark when Zhu Jintang came back.

Mr. Zhu was straightforward and asked him the ins and outs of the matter.

Zhu Jintang said in a deep voice: "The loss of the granary is not small. Nearly [-]% of the grain has been burned. Five watchmen died and one was disabled."

After hearing this, everyone's face sank.

Zhu Jintang continued: "I checked the granary for a day, and found many flaws. The watchmen must have been drugged, so they were bored together in the granary. Moreover, the cause of the fire should be the oil lamp."

Mr. Zhu was furious at first, but when he heard this, his face regained his composure. He clasped his palms in front of him, and began to guess in his heart who was responsible for it.

On the surface, the Zhu family does not have any real enemies, but colleagues are like enemies, face is face, and inside is inside.

"It's been a long time since anyone made such a big commotion. It seems that this person has a lot of rift with our Zhu family." Mr. Zhu pondered slightly.

Zhu Feng frowned and said: "With such a sinister move, the market will definitely not be peaceful tomorrow."

Zhu Jintang interjected: "Our family's food supply is less than [-]%, and we can barely cope with it for a few months. At that time, I will just think of a way to make money."

Mr. Zhu shook his head: "Even dare to move our family's granary, this enemy will never let it go, we have to guard against it."

Knowing that his grandfather was experienced, Zhu Jintang said, "Then what should we do according to your opinion?"

Mr. Zhu said indifferently: "Put a sign and close the store. Instead of being chased and beaten, it's better to see the situation clearly first."

The story of the fire in the granary will spread throughout the city of Dezhou in a few days, and the common people will definitely flock here, busy fighting for food. The more they fight, the higher the price of food will be, and there will definitely be chaos.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Zhu's shop was already open for business.This time, the door will be closed suddenly, I am afraid it will cause quite a commotion.

Zhu Jintang understood what Grandpa meant, and ordered all shopkeepers overnight to close the shop tomorrow for rest.

Everyone rested for one night, and in the early morning of the next day, the common people in Dezhou City crowded outside the door of Zhu's grain store, knocking and beating to buy grain.

If someone wants to buy, someone will naturally want to sell.However, after half a day's work, the price of food doubled, rising again and again.

Many small merchants and small households in the city earned a lot of money by relying on the food stored at home, and they were secretly happy.

After being oppressed by the Zhu family for so many years, it can be regarded as a chance to stand out. The big fish can't swim, and the small fish and shrimp can show their faces and breathe.

The price of food in Dezhou City has risen higher and higher, attracting a large number of small businessmen from other places to join in the fun, and the city is full of chaos. As a parent official, Liu Fu Yin couldn't help but make a difficult trip, so he had to visit the door in person and invite Mr. Zhu Come forward to mediate and mediate, don't make people panic.

Mr. Zhu Zhouxuan said: "My lord, the Zhu family's vitality has been seriously injured this time, not to mention helping others, even self-protection is difficult. My lord, it's not that we don't open the market, we really have no food to sell."

Liu Fu Yin sighed: "Mr. Zhu, what you said is so chilling! We have been friends for decades, and we are friends even if we are not confidants. Mr. Zhu, how rich is the family background of the Zhu family? We all know that your old man should take it as a way to save face, and don't let those villains with evil intentions take advantage of it."

Hearing this, Mr. Zhu immediately stood up and saluted, and said tremblingly, "I'm just a commoner, how dare I talk about friendship with my lord? Please, my lord, don't let me down."

Liu Fuyin knew that Zhu's family was a big family with royal relatives and relatives, so they should not be offended easily, and they could not force it, they could only persuade them softly.

Liu Fuyin personally helped Mr. Zhu up, sighed again and said: "Mr., don't you embarrass me by saying that?"

Mr. Zhu accepted it as soon as he saw it, and grabbed Master Liu's hand: "My lord, you are the master of Qingtian, how dare I make things difficult for you? I am still pointing at you to be the master of my family!"

Knowing that he was preoccupied with the fire in the granary, Mr. Liu said in a slightly thoughtful way: "I have been sending people to investigate the matter of the granary in the western suburbs, but the person on duty is either dead or disabled. It is not easy to investigate... ..."

Cases where there is no proof of death are the most difficult cases.

Mr. Zhu hurriedly said: "Human life is at stake, my lord."

Liu Fuyin showed distress, "Old man, as long as you can help me stabilize the food price, I will give you an explanation."

After hearing the words, Mr. Zhu had confidence and nodded: "With your lord's words, I can rest assured. My lord can rest assured that I will do my best to calm this matter down."

Both get what they want from the other.What Liu Fuyin wanted was a good political performance, but what the Zhu family wanted was a face, so that those who secretly made trouble behind their backs would know that offending the Zhu family was offending the government, and they ended up walking around.

Three days later, when the price of grain tripled, the Zhu family opened a store to sell grain at half the market price. Moreover, Zhu Jintang personally assured everyone that the Zhu family had plenty of grain, which reassured people.

As a result, the dispute over grain prices that lasted for more than ten days finally came to an end, and the people in the city stopped hoarding grain frantically, and everything returned to normal.

Seeing that Zhu's family believed what they said, Liu Fu Yin stepped up his efforts to find the real culprit, but the result of the investigation surprised everyone.

It turned out that the person who set the fire was Wang Yue, the eldest son of the Wang family, who Zhu Rong had released the prince's debts earlier.Because of his gambling debts, he borrowed money to repay the debts, tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall, but was forced to a dead end by Zhu Rong.

Zhu Rong took the IOU he signed, went to the palace, and showed it to Mr. Wang himself. The old man was so angry that he passed out on the spot and almost had a stroke.

(End of this chapter)