Chapter 1243: Defining Grain Prices
A group of large and small grain merchants in Jingnan County discussed for a long time in the Jingnan County Yamen Room. Under the leadership and encouragement of the three largest grain merchants, they reached a consensus and made an oath of alliance with tea instead of wine. : Grain merchants across the county are firmly united and united to the outside world and will not lower prices! Anyone who lowers prices privately is the public enemy of the entire county’s grain dealers! Fight until death!
Shopkeepers Tai and Lu were no exception. They also swore an oath with everyone. First of all, they were unwilling to lower prices. At first, they were just afraid of being the show-off and warning the monkeys. Now, the whole county's grain dealers have sworn an oath and reached a consensus. They think that they are just small grain dealers and they want to raise prices. Be the leader, To warn the monkeys and chickens, they have the qualifications to have big grain merchants, and they are safe; secondly, the entire county's grain merchants have sworn that if they do not participate, they will become the enemies of the entire county's grain merchants, and there is no need for the county magistrate to take action. These grain merchants could tear them apart alive.
I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but after they and the grain merchants reached a consensus and swore an oath, Zhu Ping’an arrived belatedly.
“I have met the county magistrate.”
"I have met the magistrate."
Seeing Zhu Pingan push the door open, a group of grain merchants came forward to pay their respects to Zhu Pingan.
Zhu Pingan glanced at everyone with a smile, waved to them, and said warmly: "No courtesy, no courtesy. I am busy with official duties and did not pay attention to the time. I have kept you waiting for a long time."
"How dare you, how dare you, the county magistrate has defeated us, the county magistrate asked for orders for the people, We have a lot of things to do every day and are responsible for hundreds of thousands of people in the whole county. We should wait any longer."
A group of grain merchants said one after another, when they noticed that Zhu Pingan glanced at them, there was a lot of grain. Shang felt guilty and did not dare to look at Zhu Ping'an. After all, they had just completed their oath.
"Everyone, please take a seat. I invite you here this time. I think you all know why. I don't want to talk in circles anymore. I invite you here this time just for the price of food."
Zhu Ping'an sat on the main seat and spoke to the grain merchants straight to the point without going around in circles.
It’s really about the price of food!
The grain merchants looked at each other and were not surprised. They knew what was going on.
Zhu Ping'an glanced at the grain merchants one by one, and then said: "It is said that food is the most important thing for the people. Now that there are floods in the south of the Yangtze River, food is the first priority, and food prices are the first to bear the burden. Food prices are not high. If it is stable, Jingnan will be unstable, so I intend to define grain prices in Jingnan. However, defining grain prices is related to the people's livelihood in Jingnan County. To stabilize the overall situation, one move can affect the whole body. I don’t dare to make rash decisions without authorization. You are all well-known grain merchants in Jingnan. You know a lot about grain. I want to hear your thoughts. , if you have any ideas, tell me truthfully, and I promise not to be punished for my words.”
"What?! Define Jingnan grain prices?!"
When the grain merchants heard this, they were extremely shocked, with expressions of shock on their faces. Many grain merchants exclaimed out of control.
Defining Jingnan grain prices!
For their grain merchants, this is a big deal. What does defining grain prices mean? That is fixing grain prices! Once the price of food is defined, they are not allowed to raise it anymore!
Now the food prices in various places in Jiangnan are rising three times a day. If the county magistrate defines the food prices in Jingnan, then the food prices in Jingnan cannot rise any further, and their losses will be immeasurable. Got it!
They originally thought that Zhu Ping'an wanted them to lower the market price of grain, which increased three times a day. For example, the market price in the morning was 1,350 Wen per stone of grain, and the price of grain in Jingnan was 1,340 Wen; at noon, the market price was 1,355 Wen, and the price of grain in Jingnan was 1,345 Wen. Wen; the market price in the evening is 1,360 Wen, and the price of grain in Jingnan is 1,350 Wen. Even with such a price reduction, they can't accept it, let alone defining the price of food in Jingnan, and they are not allowed to increase the price from now on!
Ruthless!
The county official is so cruel!
The grain merchants never expected that Zhu Pingan would be so ruthless! He even tried to define Jingnan grain prices!
The shopkeeper Yang Zhen of Yangji Food Store maintained his identity and winked at a young shopkeeper beside him.
This young shopkeeper relied heavily on Yang Ji Grain Store for his business. After receiving Yang Zhen's hint, he stood up and clasped his fists towards Zhu Ping'an: "Your Majesty, it's not because we don't want to, but now most of Jiangnan Suffered a flood, the old The land of fish and rice and the granary of the world has become a land of food shortages. Grain merchants like us in the south of the Yangtze River cannot harvest grain. We can only go to Bashu in the west and Shandong in the north to collect grain. Not to mention the long distance, the people in Bashu and Shandong are Food too A rising tide lifts all boats. The local food price used to be 410 yuan per shi. Last time our shop steward went to Shandong to collect grain and offered 500 qian yuan, but the local people ignored it, not to mention that people ate horse chews, hired nurses, etc. along the way. It’s getting harder and harder to collect, and our costs are getting bigger and bigger. Please think twice and give us a way to survive.”
After someone started, all the grain merchants were confused. He vomited his bitterness to Zhu Ping'an.
"It's a matter of honor, county magistrate. Even if we collect food from Bashu and Shandong, it will not be easy to transport it to Jingnan. Not to mention the bandits and bandits along the way, but the current floods in the south of the Yangtze River have caused countless refugees. , when they see grain, they are like hungry wolves It looks like meat. As soon as our grain truck enters the border of Jiangnan, we are always in danger of refugees and victims gathering to rob us..."
"My lord, we are all from the countryside, and we also want to sell them at low prices. We sell food to everyone, but we The cost is there. We are old and young. We have a whole family waiting for us to feed us. We can't sell grain at a loss. If we lose money, our whole family will have to drink from the northwest wind. Then we will only We can close our doors.”
"Your Majesty, we got up early and worked hard to make a living for our family. Please forgive me. Besides, we didn't set the price of food. We just follow the market... Please forgive me." Please think twice.”
...
For a time, the class room seemed to have become a grievance meeting of grain merchants, with constant complaints and grievances.
Yes, that’s it. The law does not punish everyone. As long as we stick together as a group, we are not afraid of Zhu Ping'an.
Shopkeeper Yang from Yangji Grain Store was very satisfied with everyone's performance. He couldn't help but curl up his mouth. He glanced at Zhu Ping'an out of the corner of his eye. Shopkeeper Yang couldn't help but be startled at the glance.
He was surprised to see Zhu Pingan listening patiently to people's complaints. He nodded a little while listening, without any discomfort on his face. He listened patiently all the time without interrupting anyone.
No...it shouldn't be. Shouldn't the county official be angry if we are like this? !
Terrible!
It’s terrible! The county magistrate is young and has done a lot of work in cultivating Qi! Such people are terrible.
Shopkeeper Yang couldn't figure it out, so he had to attribute all this to Zhu Ping'an's deep Qi-nurturing skills and the depth of the city.
Suddenly, shopkeeper Yang couldn't help but be wary of Zhu Ping'an. Unless his own huge interests are involved, Shopkeeper Yang is really unwilling to have a grudge with someone who has such a deep knowledge of Qi cultivation and a deep city. (End of chapter)