Chapter 381 Surprised and Pretending to Be Fool
Gu Erzhu was not surprised to hear that Zhang Yuanwai from the southern county seat sent a steward to the workshop to inquire about whether wheat could be harvested.
No different than his old son or his daughter-in-law, he knew which family it was as soon as he heard about Zhang Yuanwai in the southern county town.
To his surprise, his old son, who was well versed in the law, and his clever old daughter-in-law seemed not to know that the grain merchants had to supply a batch of new grain to the local granary every year.
Otherwise, everyone knows that new grain will be more valuable when sold later, and they choose silver to pay "summer tax" and "autumn grain". Wouldn't the imperial granary be empty?
The imperial court allocated a large portion of the rice, wheat, etc. that the common people paid in physical taxes, which were insufficient, to the grain merchants, so that the common people could benefit.
Of course, Emperor Taizu's original intention was good. He probably thought that the people could pay the land tax at a discount, so as to prevent the tax collectors below from taking the opportunity to oppress the people.
But rules are dead and people's hearts are greedy.
Like corvee.
According to the law, the court provides food and drink, and the people contribute their efforts, and even get some wages. But in fact, the people go to do corvee labor, let alone wages. They don’t eat well and sleep well, and the work is heavy. If you are a little slow, you will be punished. Beaten and humiliate him, sue him and see who will pay attention.
Therefore, every time a family with a decent family background was required to do corvee service, they had to borrow money to avoid the service, otherwise they would have to shed their skin even if they could not die.
This is why the price of grain is the lowest when it comes to paying the "summer tax" and "autumn grain". The common people are not stupid, and the grain merchants are more cunning.
If grain prices are not suppressed, big families will not be short of money to work with, and the grain will be covered. Where will the new grain that grain merchants supply to local granaries come from every year?
As far as he knew, Zhang Yuanwai belonged to a landlord's family with neither support nor fame, and happened to be a family that grain merchants could easily handle.
People just come to borrow tiger skins.
The picture is not only that the workshop never made any objections and settled the matter on the spot, not even deliberately erasing the change, but also that the grain dealer did not dare to provoke it.
After all, regardless of Mr. Zhou and Gao Fu, Mr. Zhao often sends people to the workshop to pull goods. Mr. Zhao is not a Linxian grain merchant who dares to offend easily.
"...Besides, you are also a small Sanyuan, and you are not going to harvest all the wheat in Linxian County. Zhang Yuanwai's farm is next to our county, so it doesn't matter.
However, once a grain merchant asks someone to come to their door as a lobbyist, he or she may not offer a high price, but it is better to avoid it, so as not to offend someone unintentionally in order to collect more grain. ”
Gu Wenxuan nodded hurriedly, "Sanya and I have the same idea. We will buy them in batches separately. If the quantity is too large at once, I will definitely ask you to make a decision.
Dad, my uncle and his father-in-law's boss own a grain shop in the town. He doesn't seem to be a grain merchant. I haven't heard that his family supplies a batch of new grain every year? ”
"Actually, anyone who opens a grain shop is considered a grain merchant. It's just that there are a few big grain merchants in the city in front of them. The Yamen will not look for them in years when people are starving to death.
Similarly, for example, if our county granary needs new grain, the excess old grain will not be sold to small grain merchants. This can be regarded as a gain and a loss.
Large grain merchants have to supply new grain according to the grain price ordered by the court every year. Here, there is a clear loss, and they rely on whether they have excess old grain to offset part of the loss.
Therefore, if grain merchants do not overly suppress grain prices to collect grain, the yamen will turn a blind eye, just like grain merchants raising the price of rice. If it is not against the law, no one will meddle in other people's business.
I can’t afford rice, flour, fine grains, and corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes and other coarse grains. That’s so good. It’s as if the price of fine grains has increased while coarse grains have not gone up..." After all, it is the common people who are actually paying the bill, Gu Wenxuan said quietly After listening to this, I felt the same way and confirmed again that Zhang Yuanwai accepted it?
Gu Erzhu still meant that.
No matter who it is, they can harvest this year’s crops first, and then no one can ask acquaintances to act as lobbyists, and they can continue to harvest crops next year.
But according to his estimate, he doesn't have to wait until next year, but within a few months, a big grain merchant will definitely come to visit his house for negotiation the first year of the year.
After all, apart from the three farms in Sanya's hands, the land deeds of a large pile of farms included in the dowry list were also registered in the Yamen.
If people don't look for you, who should they look for?
Not to mention that your husband has retired, but he is still an official in the court. It is obvious that a big grain merchant wants to supply grain for the granary. Why don't you have the nerve to eat Lumi and not cooperate?
"This is really uncooperative. Those farms are not like these three farms where all payments are made in cash. Those who pay half in kind and half in cash."
Gu Erzhu didn't think carefully when he heard the words, and nodded slowly, "That's okay. With these three villagers, there shouldn't be any big grain dealers rushing to our house. No, why don't you cooperate? Let you and the young couple know the grain early." Shang has to replenish the vacancies in the granary every year? You let me talk so much nonsense?”
Gu Wenxuan shook his head categorically, "No way, we only know how much land there is in one place and cannot all be paid in cash.
If you don't say that grain merchants have to fill the vacancies in the granaries with new grain every year, let alone that Sanya grew up in the backyard of Shenzhen, even I don't know what's going on here.
I thought that the grain merchants were in a bad year, or there was a disaster somewhere, there was a war at the border, and the court ordered to donate grain, so I got the qualification to be a grain merchant.
When I was a kid, there was a time in the town where my uncle and his father-in-law’s boss’s rivals came from different surnames. If they didn’t donate food, they would be closed down and imprisoned, and the family would be ruined. ”
Gu Erzhu laughed dumbly, "I've offended someone, silly son, it's not the same thing at all, so Sanya is worried that your uncle will open a shop with his in-laws' family in partnership. Dad said that Sanya is thoughtful and can't make much money if he's not evil-hearted." If you offend someone, you don’t know when you will be killed.
It’s not that your father underestimates your aunt and her natal family. What’s the use of having an eldest brother who works as a cadre in the county government?
It's okay if nothing happens. His fair-weather friends are here to support him. If anything happens, someone will help him. That Lin Xiucai is still Huang County Lieutenant's brother-in-law, so he was pushed out to block the knife.
Lin Xiucai still has a great reputation, but his big head is nothing. At most, he is a distant niece-in-law who catches the head. Even Bai Juren can casually stop his job.
Otherwise, it would take the past two years to think about opening a grain store. He is the old owner of the grain store. It is not easy to open a grain store. He just doesn't dare to start a business without a backer.
This was the year before last. Wu Cathead was the distant cousin of Fang Datou's wife. He was promoted to Catcher the year before last. Only then did Fang Datou start thinking about opening a grain store in the county town.
His family can't hide anything from you, Uncle Yun. I heard that Mr. Wu's wife agreed to join the gang, but later she was so frightened by Lin Xiucai's incident that she stopped doing anything.
It happened that some time later, Sanya was buying land and a shop, and Fang Datou probably got wind of it, and that's when he wanted to win your uncle into a partnership.
Don't listen to your old uncle's nonsense. His brother-in-law had already mentioned to him that he wanted to open a grain store in partnership. It's true that his brother-in-law never wanted to partner with him from the beginning, but he wanted to promote him to be the shopkeeper.
He is very ambitious, but there is no sign of it yet. His wife has long discussed with Wu Captou's wife to open two grain stores in the east and west of the city. Your uncle is just the material to be the shopkeeper. ”