Infrastructure masters in the red building

Two days later, another batch of [-] shi "gold and silver rice" arrived in Beijing.

As expected, the grain store in Beijing almost fought over this batch of grain.But in the end, everyone reached a gentleman's agreement. Each of the five major grain companies distributed 140 shi, and the unit price of gold and silver rice rose directly from the [-] renminbi recovered on the Internet to [-] renminbi.

As for ordinary grain, each family failed to negotiate a price reduction, but each family made its own decision and lowered the price a little bit on the original basis. Rice vacated the warehouse.

Although the reduction rate of each company is not large, and it looks like a few or ten yuan per bucket, the unbreakable price alliance between the grain companies earlier has been completely broken.

But even so, the number of people in the capital who are willing to patronize the grain store has not increased.On the contrary, the big families who have always spent a lot of money, such as the mansions of the four princes and eight princes, made a lot of money during this period and purchased a lot of food at reduced prices.

In the Beijing Palace, Lin Ruhai sat in the Sifang Pavilion and thought about the future: "In a few days, I will transport another [-] shi of 'gold and silver rice' to Beijing. Will these grain merchants regret that they won the bid today? Two hundred texts, too enthusiastic?"

"It's not impossible." Shui Xian laughed, "But there's nothing you can do if you regret it. Last time, only the five major grain stores bought grain. This time, those small grain merchants will definitely come to compete. The big grain stores will also continue Take action to maintain this food price, otherwise the stored food in their warehouse will lose money immediately?"

"Zi Fang, what are you giggling about?" Lin Ruhai noticed that Jia Fang's expression on the side was cute.

"It's nothing." Jia Fang actually remembered that he used to have an assistant in the office, and he would speculate in stocks after work.As long as the market fluctuates, this assistant is chasing ups and downs every day, always worried that he will miss the opportunity and "step into the void".This mentality is exactly the same as the mentality of these big food companies in front of them.

"Large grain stores are afraid of losing money, and small grain shops are afraid of missing opportunities, so this time the price of [-] shi will be maintained at [-] yuan a bucket. Next time, we will not have [-] shi, and the next batch of grain will only be [-] shi. Moreover, there are rumors that Jiangnan's inventory is about to be sold out."

"By that time, the price of 'gold and silver rice' will hit a new high, and it should be around 220 by then."

Shui Xian predicted with confidence, and Jia Fang felt that this prediction was well versed in the psychology of major grain merchants, and it sounded reasonable.

"We just send gold and silver rice into the city for [-] shi and [-] shi, so as to whet the appetite of the grain dealers. The prices of other grains are expected to come down soon."

"This gold and silver rice is just because of everyone's expectations, so the price cannot fall. Unless we reveal the matter, saying that this gold and silver rice is actually a mixture of new millet and old millet."

The so-called "gold and silver rice" is made by mixing new rice and old rice.If the truth of Shui Xian is spread, the price in the world will drop sharply immediately, because the price of new rice is only 130 cash, and the price of old rice is even cheaper.At that time, the big grain banks that have hoarded a large amount of "gold and silver rice" will suffer huge losses.

"It's just... I don't want to use this trick unless it's absolutely necessary." Shui Xian fiddled with the two cold pieces on the chessboard with his fingers, "This will definitely hurt a good person. I pulled him into the water, and now I'm cheating him , is really not righteous enough.”

At this moment, footsteps sounded in Shuixian's garden.Both Jia Fang and Lin Ruhai looked surprised: they have come to the Beijing Palace to discuss matters more often, and they know that the Taoist boy of Shui Xian only appears at a fixed time, and his actions are silent, which will not affect the elegance of their group.

But now it was clear that something special had happened.

Sure enough, a man in charge of the palace hurried in and handed a letter to Shui Xian.

When Shui Xian unsealed it and looked at it, his eyebrows immediately twisted up, forming a pimple.

"In Beijing, the price of grain that has already dropped is about to rise back—this time we are going to fight all the grain businesses."

Jia Fang: Why is this happening?

Shui Xian threw the letter paper on the chessboard in front of him, and the white paper landed among a group of black and white pieces.He still frowned, with a hint of anger in his eyes: "His Royal Highness didn't make a move sooner or later, but now that the situation in Beijing is getting better, he made a move."

Lin Ruhai looked at Shui Xian's expression, quietly took out the letterhead, read it again, but showed a look of great joy: "His Royal Highness ordered the establishment of a private camp on the East Road, and ordered His Royal Highness to go and preside over it personally. The Duke assists from the side..."

Lin Ruhai was thinking about it, and suddenly felt that something was wrong, and the joy on his face suddenly disappeared.

"In this way, those big grain stores will definitely not want to lower their prices any more!"

Jia Fang also nodded at the side: "It must be up in response!" In his heart, he felt that the prince may have done something bad with good intentions, and the timing of ordering the East Road to build a private camp was not right.

Since the East Road needs to build refugee camps to accommodate as many refugees as the West Road, it is necessary to store a sufficient amount of food.

Earlier, most of Shuixian’s grain reserves were used to support the refugee camps on the West Road; the grain transported by Jia Fang from Taoyuan Village, plus some newly raised by Shuixian, had already been brought together with the new rice that Lin Ruhai had just arrived in the capital from Jiangnan. , and became the "gold and silver rice" that is popular in Beijing.

At this moment, no one has the spare energy to support the Liumin camp on the East Road, but the crown prince issued such an edict.This time, these grain stores in Beijing will definitely turn around and kill the original high prices, and will never let go.

Even the "gold and silver rice", whose price has risen, will be used as an excuse by these grain banks.

The prince's move seems to have placed the heavy responsibility of disaster relief on the shoulders of the fourth prince and Rong Guogong who have just made achievements, but in fact it has pushed them into danger.

Just imagine, the East Road gathered refugees who couldn't get relief from the government. If the fourth prince built a refugee camp but had no food in hand, the hungry refugees would easily turn into mobs, and their anger would inevitably be vented on Chengzhao's fourth prince and On Rong Guogong.

Shui Xian was obviously out of breath.He simply stood up, paced back and forth in the Sifang Pavilion with his hands behind his back, and murmured: "The second brother's action is really too much... If the third child does not back down, it is equivalent to forcing the fourth child to death. If the third child voluntarily backs down and the fourth child is allowed to save the people, it is also because the second child has strategized and commanded well."

"This is really a good strategy, a good strategy!" Shui Xian was so angry that he couldn't help raising his head and laughing loudly.His laughter echoed everywhere in the silent garden, and the laughter was full of anger.

Jia Fang didn't understand the words of "Second, Old, Third, and Fourth" at first, but Lin Ruhai kept winking at the side, and then he realized that Shui Xian was talking about the turbulent undercurrent between these princes.

As soon as the edict came out, the prince could sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight. Anyway, even if something happened, it would be his brother who was unlucky, as well as hundreds of thousands of people in the capital and Jingji East Road.But the prince can sit firmly in the East Palace and reap the benefits.

Jia Fang is not stupid, but he is a student of engineering after all, and these intricate power struggles are subjects he is least good at, so it is a bit difficult to understand.But once he understood, Jia Fang's position was extremely firm.

He bowed deeply to Shui Xian, and said: "It's not too late. It's already an extraordinary time. Sister She once said that extraordinary things should be done in extraordinary times. Brother Ziheng, a decision must be made now."

But Lin Ruhai let out a "huh" and asked in surprise: "Sister Ling... How do I remember that it was Brother Ling who spoke in the Wanqing Building that day..." Lin Ruhai seemed to understand something extraordinary.

Jia Fang completely ignored the fate between his future brother-in-law and sister, he just kept staring at Shui Xian.

"When I came out of the refugee camp in De'an County and bid farewell to His Royal Highness the Fourth Prince, he once confessed that he said yes, and hoped that I would be a person who can save all people."

"We must act now to squeeze out the positions of the major grain companies in Beijing and China as soon as possible. We can even take extraordinary measures, such as directly seizing the grain stocks of one or two major grain companies and killing the chickens to scare the monkeys, so that the Beijing-China grain companies will give up hoarding. The power to save the people from fire and water. Otherwise, all previous efforts will be wasted, and in the end only those who play tricks and regard the world's life and people as worthless people will grab the greatest benefits."

Shui Xian obviously did not expect Jia Fang to make such a decision. He had completely calmed down at this moment, and sat back in front of the chess table in the Sifang Pavilion, picked out a white piece, placed it among the black pieces, and turned it over. Come here and let it blend in with a group of sunspots.

"As you said just now, unless it is absolutely necessary, you will not force the grain store in Beijing into a corner. I am afraid it will hurt a good person." Jia Fang also slowed down his tone at this time, he could understand Shui Xian's hesitation.

If one person is sacrificed, all the people can be saved, whether to sacrifice or not, to save or not to save—this is a moral dilemma that has plagued the human community for thousands of years.

But now is not the time to defuse moral disputes, but to act as quickly as possible.

"At the beginning, the Fourth Prince and my father took the initiative to go to West Lude'an County to build a refugee camp. They did not care about their own safety and risked themselves in order to save a hundred thousand people. I dare not say what the Fourth Highness thinks, but my father did what he did. never put the welfare of one family above all others, including himself."

"To live for one person, or to live for ten thousand people, to put it bluntly, is actually a false proposition about the individual or the collective. Most of the time, there is no inevitable conflict between the fate of the individual and the interests of the collective, but we are just looking for excuses, thinking that the two cannot be balanced... "

Once Jia Fang started talking, no one could understand what he said.Both Lin Ruhai and Shui Xian needed to listen carefully to understand what Jia Fang meant.Both of them felt that his words sounded awkward, unlike the words commonly used by people at the time, but they were far-reaching and intriguing.

"Break the two things apart, and the conclusion is simple: do what must be done, and be prepared to sacrifice."

"That is to say, we do things with no regrets. As for the good man you mentioned - try to help him avoid harm, if it is really impossible, then consider how to compensate him after the harm..."

Shui Xian stretched out his hand, picked up the chess piece, and hit it on the board with a "snap". This is the habit of chess players, and this is how the common saying "playing Go" came about.When he made a move, the original sunspots had been flipped over again and became whites.

"What Zi Fang said is the truth!" Shui Xian's expression at this moment has returned to a calm and breezy expression, even with a little smile on his face.This person has now completely recovered from the previous negative emotions, "How can I be as good as I want, but please be worthy of my heart. Zi Fang, Ru Hai, it is not appropriate to think too much about this matter, just rely on our heart and mind Yes."

As he spoke, he stood up again, turned around and came to the west side of the lotus pond, and unexpectedly invited Jia Fang and Lin Ruhai to admire the lotus: "I didn't expect it, it's only April, and the little lotus has already shown its sharp corners. How long will I be able to enjoy the lotus and drink tea with the breeze in this Wuzhu secluded residence."

At the end of April, it was the time when the green and yellow were not picked up.The new grain has not yet been harvested, and last year's grain reserves are almost exhausted.The rice vats in every household have bottomed out, and they are trying their best to get the last handful of grain out of the rice bags to fill the bottomless mouths at home.

Shopkeeper Shao, who is known as "Baigu Taste", got up early in the morning, stood in front of the counter of his shop, squinted his eyes and looked at the water sign hanging on the wall.

He knew that as soon as the door panels of the shop were lowered, the people would curse again when they saw such a water sign.

The scolding now is not as bad as it was a month or two ago. Now it is really scolding to death, scolding God and scolding Laodi, greeting the eighteen generations of ancestors of the Dong family, of course, it is impossible to let them do things - they They once lowered the price of food by about ten cents. Although it was still expensive, many people saw hope and felt that no matter how hard life was, they could bear it.

And at that time, the common people seemed to prefer to go to a place called "Rouge Square" to buy "rouge gouache".

But then that Yanzhifang was closed down by the government for some reason.It was said that someone from a grain store reported this matter to the government. Yanzhifang originally had no right to operate rice grains. After the government checked it was true, they put a seal on the shop.

After that day, all grain stores in the city returned to the previous high grain prices, and refused to lower them no matter what happened.

Since then, the people in the whole process have hated the people in the grain line.In Shopkeeper Shao's shop, from the cashier to all the staff, everyone has the experience of being pointed at the spine and scolded by people, saying that their grain sellers are all black and white.

Who knows which grain business person surrendered to the government?It wasn't him—but anyway, the whole business was responsible for the blame.

But who knows that the current price of grain is not something that the shopkeepers of grain stores like them can calculate at all?

Shopkeeper Shao recalled that last night he went to Wanqing Building for a banquet, and the people sitting at the banquet were the owners of several food stores, and several "nobles" he had never seen before.

The extravagance of the dishes at the banquet really hurt shopkeeper Shao's eyes. The so-called "the wine and meat of the wealthy family stinks, and the road is frozen to death", this is probably the case.When shopkeeper Shao was shocked, he almost forgot to answer his boss.

Yu Qinghang has the largest warehouse and the most abundant funds among all the grain stores. The owner of the shop seemed to want to show off, so he specially ordered shopkeeper Shao to report the amount of all the grain in stock.The nobles at the table seemed quite satisfied and nodded frequently.

The people below complimented: "Third Master, we have at least [-]% to [-]% of the grain storage in the capital area. Everyone absolutely obeys your orders. If you point east, we will never dare to go west. You guide us to never dare to fight north..."

The third master nodded and said: "I believe that everyone has recited some bad names recently. I assure you that it will not last long. As long as the current grain price persists for a few more days, there will be chaos in Beijing. It will be everyone When compassion is in the heart and the world is for the people...Of course, before that, there should be a result of the new policy on road tax..."

Shopkeeper Shao doesn't know what the "new policy on road tax" is. Maybe he only knows about food in his whole life, and only understands the quality of rice, wheat, and millet... But even so, he also knows that the current price of food will last for a few more days. I am afraid that central Beijing and the suburbs of Beijing are not "little chaos" but "big chaos".

But the people at the table didn't care, and the shopkeepers sent flattering smiles and flattering words to the nobles at the table, all expressing their gratitude, praising the nobles for being the masters of their merchants, and helping the people to hang on— This sounds really ironic.

While Shopkeeper Shao was alone and embarrassed, Wan Qinglou's "Zhuangyuan fan" came up.This powder is moist and smooth, which is very suitable for the appetite of the nobles at the table.Obviously he liked it very much. After eating one portion, he asked for a second portion. At the same time, he said with a smile, "I claim to be full of poems and books, but I don't know the word 'Zhuangyuan' in this life."

At this time, the wind changed during the banquet, and they began to praise the nobleman's poems and writings, which were second to none in the world.Shopkeeper Shao was secretly ashamed when he heard this.

"By the way, seeing this 'Number One Scholar Powder' reminded me of it. I heard that you were fighting for that 'gold and silver rice' a while ago, but now you can find a solution?"

"There is absolutely no such thing", "There is absolutely no such thing", the shopkeepers waved their hands one after another, expressing that they are very harmonious.

Shopkeeper Shao knew that everyone had almost broken their heads because of the gold and silver rice.But the supply of gold and silver rice is also extremely unstable, [-] shi will be shipped today, and [-] shi will be shipped tomorrow.All food companies dare not relax, for fear of missing out, this rare opportunity to make money will be "empty".

Now all the grain banks have "heavy warehouses" of gold and silver rice. As far as he knows, the largest grain banks have already borrowed short-term positions from familiar banks.But at this juncture, everyone did not dare to sell aggressively, for fear of lowering the price by selling together, and only hoped that the business of a big owner like Wanqinglou would be better and more goods could be purchased from them.

"Shao shopkeeper is known as 'Hundred Grain Tasting'. There is no rice in the world that he doesn't know. When the gold and silver rice came to Beijing, he recognized it. If it weren't for his pair of discerning eyes, we would not be here in Qinglou today." You can't eat such a delicious 'Zhuangyuan powder'."

Yu Qingxing's shopkeeper spoke for Shao's shopkeeper, which attracted many jealous eyes.

But at this time, the third master coughed twice, changed his expression, and said solemnly: "Everyone, I say this because I don't want all of you here to hurt your peace because of this gold and silver rice. Although it is gold and silver rice, But in the end, it’s not as good as real money, is it?”

At the banquet, the shopkeepers of the various food stores agreed, while exchanging ghostly looks.

Seeing this, the third master's face immediately sank completely, and he said word by word: "This king means, everyone, please don't miss this king's business because of this 'gold and silver rice'. When the time comes , none of you can afford this responsibility."