Rise From the Humble

  Chapter 1249 Explaining Doubts and Misunderstandings (Part 2)

"Ahem, there are a lot of post-disaster reconstruction tasks. Let me make a long story short and make it simple. Do you really think that the lower the price of food, the better? If we Jingnan, like Taizhou Fucheng, Taiping County and other counties, use thunderbolt methods, Forcibly control the price of food at 500 Wen per shi, so what will happen in the future?" Zhu Pingan rubbed his forehead and said to everyone in the hall with exhaustion.

   "The lower the food price, the better. The lower the food price, the more benefits the common people can get."

"If we in Jingnan also control the price of food at 500 yuan per shi by means of thunder, it will be a great joy, and the whole world will celebrate it. It will naturally get better and better in the future. The price of food has dropped, and the common people can afford it. The common people If you have food in hand and don’t panic in your heart, then the flood will naturally pass.”

   "That is, when the price of food has dropped and stabilized, the hearts of the people will be relieved, and the society will be stable. In the future, Jingnan will naturally get better and better."

  Everyone in the hall said one after another that when it comes to reducing food prices, everyone's face is full of longing and longing.

Everyone thinks that the lower the food price, the better. From their point of view, after people suffer from floods and their property is damaged, it is natural that the lower the food price, the better. The lower the food price, everyone can afford it. Food, the flood will naturally pass. No one thinks that there will be any harm if the price of food is lowered.

   They really are a group of innocent people. Hearing this, Zhu Pingan couldn't help but shook his head with a wry smile.

   "Why, isn't it? County Lord, although we don't study much, we are not so easy to deceive."

   "That's right, even a nine-year-old child understands the principle that the lower the food price, the better."

  Everyone in the hall didn't realize that what they said was wrong, and when they saw Zhu Ping'an's expression, they couldn't help but twitched the corners of their mouths.

"Everyone, our Jiangnan is a famous granary in Ming Dynasty. Now that Jiangnan has been hit by a flood, more than 80% of the grain has been destroyed. The surviving grain in our Jiangnan is less than 20%. It is impossible to feed on the grain in Jiangnan alone. There are tens of millions of people in the south of the Yangtze River. If we want to survive the flood and food shortage crisis, we can only alleviate the food shortage by transporting a large amount of food from other places such as Sichuan, Shu, and Shandong.

   There are two main ways to transport large amounts of grain from places thousands of miles away such as Sichuan, Shu, and Shandong.

  One is organized by the imperial court, and the other is spontaneously transported food by the people.

After the flood, I sent letters to the Taizhou government every day to ask for relief and rescue from the imperial court. There was no news until four days later. You have said it once. At present, due to the frequent disasters in recent years and the huge consumption of the government treasury, the Ming court is unable to organize relief and rescue us in the south of the Yangtze River in a short period of time. Therefore, the way the court organizes food transportation cannot be counted on in a short period of time. Then there is only one kind of private grain transportation.

  As for private grain transportation, it is mainly through large and small grain merchants in various places. Now there is a food shortage in Jiangnan, not only the price of grain in Jingnan has risen, but also the price of grain in Sichuan, Sichuan and Shandong has continued to rise. Although the price of grain in Jiangnan is lower than ours, the difference is not too big. They are also close to 500 texts.

Grain merchants go to other places to purchase grain, the purchase price is close to 500 renminbi, and the journey is thousands of miles. People eat horse chews along the way, and they also need to hire work and nurses. Each item is a big expense. Risks such as bandits and even disaster victims looting, etc., combined in this way, the cost for grain merchants to transport grain to other places is much higher than 500 renminbi per stone...

  If we in Jingnan are like Fucheng and other counties and counties, we will forcibly lower the food price to 500 Wen through thunderous means. Then the grain merchants have no profit, no money to make, and even pay back money. In this case, will the grain merchants still work hard and take the risk of transporting grain from other places to Jingnan for sale? !

   As the saying goes, there is no business, no fraud, no profit, no early life, do you think it is possible for them to not make money or even pay for food transportation?

  Think about it in your shoes. If it were you, there would be no profit, no money to make, and even money back. Would you work hard and risk thousands of miles to transport food to other places? !

  If I, Jingnan, use thunderous methods like other places to forcibly lower the price of grain to 500 Wen per stone! I'm sure that our grain merchants in Jingnan will never have such a noble character, and they will never work hard to transport grain to other places if they are not profitable! The little food they had survived the flood would be sold out within three days! After that, the people in Jingnan couldn't buy a grain of grain even with money. What does it mean to not be able to buy food, I don’t need to say more, the mourning is everywhere, the red land is thousands of miles away, the children are eating each other, and the bones are everywhere... These tragic scenes will reappear in my Jingnan. There is a price but no market, and there is a price but no food. What is the use of such a food price? ! Is this kind of food price what you are after? ! Is such a food price really good for the people in Jingnan? ! "

  As Zhu Pingan talked, the more he talked, the more excited he became, and the more he talked, the more emotional he became. At the end, he couldn't help but patted the table.

  Boom!

  Zhu Ping'an's words were like a thunderstorm, and the "boom" sounded in the minds of everyone in the hall.

  In an instant, everyone in the hall was blown into pieces of wood by the thunder, and they all opened their mouths wide. They couldn't help but panic in their hearts, and the hairs all over their bodies stood up coldly as if they had been electrified!

  Zhu Ping'an's voice fell behind, and the entire lobby was so silent that everyone could only hear their heartbeats.

   After a while, someone shook his head with a pale face, his eyes were blank and out of focus, and his lips trembled and murmured: "No, no, how did it become like this...I don't believe it..."

The Housekeeper Liu Fuzi, the Official Housekeeper Zhang Tongsheng, the Criminal Housekeeper Han Cheng, the Ritual Housekeeper Liu Laotou and others who just bid farewell to Zhu Ping'an, their faces are paler than others at this moment, they are scholars, They are much more experienced and knowledgeable than the illiterate guards. Zhu Ping'an's words were so deafening that they figured it out immediately as if they were enlightened. Just because they figured it out, their faces turned so pale, they didn't dare to look up into Zhu Pingan's eyes, feeling ashamed.

  Short-sighted, short-sighted, we are talking about. Compared with Xian Zun, our vision is too short-sighted.

   "It's just that, the county lord, even if you want to lure the grain merchants to purchase grain with profit, there is no need to set the grain price so high, right?"

  Old man Liu's face was pale, and his tone was much weaker than when he asked Zhu Pingan to resign in the room.

"high?"

Zhu Pingan twitched his lips and shook his head when he heard the words, "Not high. In this period and under such circumstances, the grain price of 2,500 cash per shi is not high at all. Only this grain price can drive Jingnan Grain merchants and other grain merchants from all over the world have brought grain from all over the Ming Dynasty to Jingnan in an endless stream to meet the needs of the people in Jingnan. Compared with the lives of more than 100,000 people in Jingnan, the price of grain is high ?"

  Old man Liu fell silent when he heard the words. Everyone was also silent, and only then did they understand why Zhu Pingan asked them which was more important, money or life.

"Right now you feel that grain prices in Jingnan are high. After a while, at least a month, and at most three to five months, you will find that our grain prices in Jingnan will be the lowest in Taizhou. "

  Zhu Ping'an looked into the distance, and said confidently to everyone in the hall, his eyes were deep and distant, as if he could see through time at a glance.

"what?"

  Everyone was surprised and unbelievable.

"Don't believe me? You'll know after a while." Zhu Pingan didn't say much. The economics, sociology and other principles behind it can't be explained to them in a while. Even if the explanation is finished, they probably won't be able to hear it. Understand.

"Xianzun, although I don't understand what you said, I think what you said is very reasonable. If the price of food is lowered, things will probably become like that. It's just that the price of food is too high. Even though the grain merchants are profitable and transporting grain crazily, so that Jingnan has enough grain, I am afraid that there are still many poor people who cannot afford grain. They cannot afford grain, so they can only starve to death." Han Cheng, the judge of the punishment room, clasped his fists Said.

   "Dadao, go get the donation book." Zhu Pingan said to Liu Dadao.

  Under the incomprehensible eyes of everyone, Liu Dadao took the order and turned to leave, and soon came back holding a booklet in both hands.

   "Dadao, hand over the brochure to Dianli Han, and please circulate it." Zhu Pingan said to Liu Dadao.

  Liu Dadao took the order and handed the brochure to Han Cheng, but when he handed it over to him, he snorted unhappily.

"Didn't you all say that I, Zhu Pingan, accepted bribes from grain merchants?! That's right, this "Jingnan County Flood Disaster Donation Book" is the 'evidence' of Zhu Pingan's 'accepting bribes'. There are 38 large and small grain merchants in Jingnan. People donated a total of 46,000 taels of silver, and I, Zhu Pingan, accepted them all and recorded them one by one! From now on, at the end of each month, if they don’t come, I will send people to various grain shops to collect donations! From now on, every When a foreign grain merchant comes to Jingnan, I will also send someone to go there in the name of my official! What are these money for!? The poor people in Jingnan who cannot afford to buy grain, this is their money to buy grain! Starting today , I will send someone to count the poor people in Jingnan who cannot afford to buy food, and distribute silver taels regularly! I will use the head of this item as a guarantee to ensure that no one will starve to death in Jingnan! If someone dies of starvation, you can take my coin 'Corrupt officials', 'dog officials', and 'treacherous officials' have dog heads on their necks!"

   When Zhu Ping'an was circulating the donation book in the hall, he pointed to his head and said to everyone with red eyes.

   "We are wrong!"

  After looking through the donation book, Han Cheng, the official of the punishment room, couldn't control it anymore, and fell to his knees with tears streaming down his face.

  For the sake of the people of Jingnan, Xian Zun did not hesitate to defile himself. We even gave up our reputation and morals, and we returned it.

   "Xianzun, we were wrong."

  Plop, plop. The whole hall fell to their knees like cutting wheat, and there was no one left standing.

   It is everyone's responsibility to prevent and control the epidemic. Book friends, please cooperate with the national prevention and control work, do not go out if you can not go out, and you must wear a mask when you go out. When the epidemic is over and the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming, let the waves go, and sing while walking.

  (end of this chapter)