Survival countdown

Kyoto Prefecture, Du Prefecture.

The servant led Chen Shidao, who was visiting, to Du Gongxian's study, stood at the door and said respectfully, "Master, Chen Shangshu has arrived."

Not long ago, Chen Shidao was promoted to be a minister.

As soon as the words fell, Du Gongxian came out in a hurry, bowed his hands to Chen Shidao and said, "Mr. Chen is here at the mansion, and I feel welcome from afar. Please come in quickly."

"You're welcome, Lord Du, you're welcome."

The two entered the study room, the servant girl brought in the brewed tea, put it down and exited.

Du Gongxian: "Mr. Chen came to visit late at night, why?"

Chen Shidao: "I'm here for Liangjiang."

"Oh?" Du Gong first made a surprised look: "Recently, there have been frequent incidents in Liangjiang, one wave of unrest and another wave. First, it was lucky to find out the huge smuggled salt, and then it was Tian Yingzhuo, who was dispatched by the Southeast Sixth Road, who used the public to benefit his own interests and embezzled a lot of money. Suicide in fear of crime... Well, I was an official in the same dynasty, and I was also saddened to hear that he ended up like this."

Chen Shidao drank tea without changing his face when he was talking, and immediately changed his face after he finished speaking, and put on an expression mixed with melancholy and anger: "Who said it was not? Ten years of hard study, and once he was selected as the emperor's disciple How many people can be expected to be an official, enjoy wealth, and be a second-rank official? But Tian Yingzhuo did not cherish His Majesty's grace, used power for personal gain, and committed suicide at the end of the day. I said, the death of a person like Tian Yingzhuo is not a pity, he should be hacked into pieces!"

Hitting the table suddenly, Du Gongxian's heart trembled, he glanced at Chen Shidao's angry face, and suddenly remembered that his childhood mentor was so impassioned and frightening when he taught others a lesson.

"Cough, Mr. Chen is excited. It's not worth it. It is said that the ills of Liangjiang were exposed by Mr. Chen's favorite disciple. Mr. Zhao lives up to the name of Qingtian, he is upright, quick-witted, and intelligent. While Du admires him, he is also often ashamed of himself." Furu...by the way, I wonder why Mr. Chen came here for something in Liangjiang?"

Chen Shidao opened his eyelids to look at him, and said abruptly: "Two days ago, Your Majesty suddenly said that Mr. Du tried his best to recommend Chen's students to Liangjiang at the beginning of the year?"

Du Gong twisted his beard guiltily, "At that time, I thought Mr. Zhao was outstanding. As for the person who can control the two rivers, who else is better?"

Chen Shidao calmed down: "Isn't it because he is a good knife?"

Du Gongxian: "Hey, how can you compare Master Zhao to a cold-blooded weapon?"

Chen Shi said to him, the latter looked back, and after a while, the two old foxes changed the topic tacitly.

Du Gongxian: "Master Xiao Zhao is the pillar of the country and has the talent of a prime minister. He has achieved this achievement in Liangjiang less than half a year, which is enough to prove that I am not mistaken about him. However, Liangjiang is dangerous and is afraid of accidents. If you need Du's help place, but it doesn't matter."

He lamented in his heart, there was a small county king in the front, and the elders of the three dynasties in the back, and none of the old and the young were easy to mess with.

Chen Shidao declined a few sentences and went straight to the point: "Baiyu's movements in Liangjiang are indeed clean and neat, very beautiful, but too impatient."

Hearing this, Du Gong nodded first: "It is indeed a little anxious."

"Well, but no matter how eager he is, he is not a little bit stronger than some thousand-year-old monsters who push young people out to take over the throne."

Du Gongxian, who was connoted: "..." It's all about agreeing, aren't you happy?

Chen Shidao snorted coldly in his heart, he said forget it, Du Gongxian, an outsider, really climbed up to scold his favorite student?

"All in all, he did break the two rivers, but he also opened up a big basket for himself. The crisis there is full of dangers. People were originally divided, but now the government and businessmen are twisted together, waiting to cheat my students to death."

"Is there any protection?"

"It can be considered as a precautionary measure... In the letter two days ago, I mentioned a policy related to grain purchase, let me see if it is feasible. I have read it a dozen times, and I have considered every aspect. Although there are some small flaws, it is a good policy that is beneficial to people's livelihood. .”

Du Gong was stunned for a while, "Preventing Liangjiang from being framed by officials and businessmen...can it be linked to policies that benefit the people's livelihood?" It was the first time I heard that the way to prevent myself from being persecuted by officials was a policy: "Tell me and listen."

Chen Shidao said two words: "Purchase."

Du Gong pondered first: "The key point is the word 'convenience', which is convenient for buying grain? Where is it?"

"The general Hebuy process is to buy a large amount of folk grain and grass at the market price. Both the money and the goods are settled on the spot. For the government and the southeast merchants, it is a good thing for mutual benefit. But for the north, especially for Shaanxi Province , not only Hebuy, but even ordinary goods transactions are extremely troublesome."

The circulation of coins and the sale of goods all involve taxation, which is within the scope of Du Gongxian's duties. Needless to say, he nodded repeatedly.

It is impossible for the government to buy rice from door to door. Out of convenience, it will choose to buy rice from merchants first, and the grain and grass in the hands of merchants are purchased from ordinary people.

Du Gongxian: "Most merchants travel long distances to sell goods in different places. They transport tea, salt, spices, etc. from the southeast to the north for sale. In order to reduce the cost of water transportation, they will return the goods to the southeast for sale. Goods to return to Kyoto and the South to make money. Especially in Shaanxi Province, there are still iron coins. Copper and iron are mixed, but iron coins cannot be used when they leave Shaanxi. They must be exchanged for copper coins. It is really difficult to exchange iron for copper, especially copper and iron. "

Although it is possible to deposit money in a bank, but a businessman travels from south to north, what if his destination does not have a bank branch?

"There is no way to transfer profits back to the southeast. The risk is too great and the benefits are too small. Over time, few businessmen come to the north, and the exchanges between the north and the south are decreasing. There are many poor provinces and governments in the north. Let alone taxes, the annual grain purchases can be paid. Qi, I am Amitabha."

When it comes to buying grain in the north, no one understands the pain better than Du Gong, the governor of the third division. Every year, he has a headache just urging several poor provinces and governments in the north to pay the annual grain purchase quota.

"How can the country be better in the long run?"

Du Gongxian frowned, and suddenly asked: "Master Zhao's method you mentioned, could it be possible to solve this problem?" After asking, he couldn't help shaking his head and said: "This problem has existed since ancient times, and it has not been completely solved at all. way."

It was whimsical.

But I still have some expectations in my heart, Zhao Baiyu is indeed talented, but I don't know if his method is to solve the temporary problem, or to solve it from the root cause.

Chen Shidao took out the letter: "Look for yourself."

Du Gong opened the letter and read it at a glance. His eyes widened and he turned the pages again, rubbing his fingers from time to time, and murmured in ecstasy: "Wonderful, it's really a good strategy! Is it an idea derived from Jiaozi's journey? Guaranteed by the government, the sale of public certificates of "exchange quotations". Any merchant who sells goods in different places can exchange copper coins and iron coins for grain and grass, and then sell the grain and grass to the government on credit in exchange for exchange quotations of the same value issued by the government. , you can go to the government office of any destination to register and convert it into coins or tea or salt of the same value."

Similar to the role of the imperial court as a state-owned bank, anyone can come in to do business, and the imperial court only needs to establish a credit mechanism.

"In this way, the economy in the north can be developed, the problems of the merchants in the southeast can be solved, and the profits can flow back, and the merchants in the government can sell grain and grass without spending a lot of manpower every year to purchase from the private sector, or being monopolized by local leading firms to maliciously raise the price of grain. The price, you can easily buy grain and grass!"

Especially the last one, does Zhao Baiyu know how much money he saved for the third division?

If Zhao Baiyu was at the scene, Du Gongxian would definitely jump up and hug him excitedly, and regret that such a good son-in-law was ruined by the king of Lin'an County, otherwise it would be fine to ask him to marry Zhao Baiyu.

As long as Zhao Baiyu can help save money.

Chen Shidao got up and moved to the window, away from the overexcited Du Gongxian, his eyes were full of disgust, if this was his student... Forget it, even if it was his student, he didn't want to admit it.

Du Gongxian was still unsatisfied: "It is indeed a good policy that benefits the people's livelihood in the world. Why didn't Mr. Chen play it to show His Majesty?"

Chen Shidao: "I want this good policy to be implemented before the end of the year."

Du Gong was stunned for the first time, the end of the year was approaching, such a good policy with huge changes would definitely have to be discussed by hundreds of officials, and it would be possible to implement it only if all aspects were meticulous, and it would not be possible to implement it until the middle of next year at the earliest.

"It's very difficult."

Chen Shidao: "Otherwise I will come to you?"

"..." It turned out that Mr. Chen was more than just outspoken in front of His Majesty. "You and I alone, I'm afraid it won't work."

"Before I came, the old man found the Deputy Envoy of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Envoy of Salt and Iron, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Gao Tongzhi and others."

They are all people who appreciate Zhao Baiyu very much.

Du Gong understood first: "Why am I the last one?"

Chen Shidao glanced at Du Gongxian, "Do you want me to tell the truth?"

"Since the time is tight, let's implement it in several northern provinces first to see the effect." Du Gong changed the subject wisely.

Chen Shidao: "The old man picked Shaanxi, Hebei, Hedong and the four provinces in the northeast of Beijing - shillings exchanged to replace Huainan's official salt, which can also encourage Huainan salt merchants to go to the north. There are also two Zhejiang provinces. Injuries and low morale can also encourage salt merchants from Zhejiang and Zhejiang to go to the north to do business.”

Du Gongxian wisely thought that someone might have reminded him of this calculation. He thought hard, but couldn't figure out Zhao Baiyu's plan, so he couldn't help shaking his head.

I'm ashamed of myself.

***

The palace, during the retreat period.

Zhao Boyong walked in the front, nodding his head from time to time to respond to the colleagues who passed by him and bowed to him, some of them deliberately chatted, but they were all dismissed by a few words.

After halfway through the palace road, Zhao Boyong caught a glimpse of the figure of the East Palace and quickened his pace, pretending not to see anyone.

The prince glanced at Zhao Boyong's back as if fleeing and couldn't help but sigh, but he just wanted to hear about Dian Shilang from Zhao Zaizhi, and he really didn't intend to do anything else.

In order to prepare for the next provincial and imperial examinations, Shiro was detained at home to study hard in the imperial examination. It has been a long time since Shiro called his friends to visit the capital.

"Second brother?"

The prince turned around and saw that it was the sixth prince, he retreated a bit in a good mood but greeted him with a smile on his face.

At this time Zhao Boyong walked through the gate of the palace, and caught a glimpse of Chen Shidao, Gao Tongzhi and others discussing fiercely in front of him, and he could hear what they were discussing when he got closer.

It was indeed a good strategy, and even he couldn't help but sigh with emotion after hearing it. The person who came up with this good strategy not only knows the world's business affairs well, but also has a heart to protect the world's common people, so he is very curious who offered the good strategy.

It's a pity that as soon as he got close, Chen Shidao had a strange, sarcastic appearance, and Zhao Boyong respected his name as a veteran of the three dynasties, so he had to back away.

Hearing them mentioning convenience purchases now, Zhao Boyong subconsciously slowed down.

"...Why can't the two Zhejiang provinces cooperate with the four northern provinces?"

"The salt smuggling case in the two Zhejiang provinces has not yet been settled, so let it be diverted to the four northern provinces, wouldn't it add to the chaos?"

"I think you are prejudiced, afraid that the old man's students will use power for personal gain!"

"Look where did you go? Zhao Xiaoyou went to Liangjiang. Even if he wants to use power for personal gain, he has to be in Liangjiang. Look at you, the heart of a villain is the heart of a gentleman."

"You mean old man and villain?"

"Who should say whom."

Seeing that Chen Shidao was about to roll up his sleeves and fight Fan Wenming, the upright servant of the Ministry of Industry, at the gate of the palace, Gao Tongzhi, who had been watching the play, hurried out to smooth things over.

"Everyone, everyone! Since we are all colleagues and are working for the well-being of the people, why do we need to go to war? In my opinion, the private salt case in Zhejiang and Zhejiang is indeed a bit messy, but it is a big salt-producing province and a land of fish and rice. If anyone Besides Huainan, there are only two Zhejiang provinces that can help the four northern provinces to implement the good strategy. Why don’t you listen to me, the two Zhejiang provinces are also on sale, but the quantity is limited, let’s see what happens first, how about it?”

With a few words to the point, both sides were helped, and the two groups of people who had different opinions stopped.

Gao Tongzhi leisurely changed the subject: "Speaking of which, Zhao Xiaoyou had just performed the weak crown ceremony at the beginning of the year. Who of you went?"

Most people went to Zhao Silang's weak crown ceremony due to their feelings, but those who admired Zhao Baiyu carefully selected the weak crown ceremony in private and sent it to the Prince's Mansion of Lin'an County, and their intentions were no worse than Zhao Yuzheng's.

Fan Wenming sighed: "I went, and I was in the crowd." He shook his head straight: "How can Zhao Xiaoyou's words be taken by the king of the small county? It should be Mr. Chen."

Chen Shidao nodded repeatedly, regretting his mistake.

Gao Tongzhi smiled and comforted: "Xiaoyou Zhao doesn't have an alias yet, right? You can also get an alias from friends and elders, it's no worse than a character."

Chen Shidao's expression was stiff.

Gao Tongzhi was a little surprised: "Do you have another name?"

Chen Shidao was expressionless: "Do you remember Mr. Mu Gui?"

Mr. Mu Gui who proposed the good policy of opening up the night market is also Zhao Xiaoyou?

This is strange.

The group of people drifted away, passing Zhao Boyong who deliberately slowed down, but Zhao Boyong stopped unknowingly, and the shock that could not be concealed appeared in his eyes.

Zhao Baiyu?How could it be him? !

How could he be Mr. Mu Gui?Is he still the one who offers a good strategy?

For the first time, Zhao Boyong, who is the ruler of the court and above ten thousand people, is so self-confident that he feels a little at a loss. The hermit he admires the most is the same person as Zhao Baiyu, the only person he hates?

... Is Zhao Baiyu really disrespectful to his mother, is he really a gentleman who keeps his word and deeds?

***

At the entrance of the Ganshang Guild Hall, an ordinary-looking carriage was parked outside, and a woman wearing a fence and an old man wearing a bamboo hat and a little hunchback came out of it and entered the hall one after the other.

The people below detected the two of them, and immediately rushed into the hall to inform: "Master Chen, the people from the Princess Mansion are here."

All the businessmen in the room stood up in shock, Chen Luowu said: "Please come in quickly."

The two soon appeared at the door of the house, and the people below hurriedly moved out two stools for them to sit on, but the two did not sit or drink tea.

"You don't need to be busy." The woman opened the fence, and she was the female official next to Princess Changping. She was expressionless, with arrogance hidden in her eyes: "I am speaking for Princess Changping, not chatting with you...President Chen, I want to come You also don't like wasting time on unnecessary politeness, let's go straight to the point—"

She looked around at the people present, "You all gathered here today for the same purpose as me, to teach Zhao Baiyu, who disturbed Liangjiang's officialdom and cut off our financial resources, an unforgettable lesson! , Shrink your head and be a man!"

"That's right! Not only do you want Zhao Baiyu, who meddles in other people's business, to behave himself from now on, but you also want him to kneel down and apologize to Gan Shang and His Highness!"

"I support it! Ever since Zhao Baiyu came to Liangjiang, we haven't had a peaceful day, and we are anxious day and night. If we don't teach him a lesson, I have to jump into the Ganjiang River!"

There was a lot of noise, and the crowd was furious. It could be seen that they hated Zhao Baiyu so much.

The female officer calmly looked at the indignant Gan merchant, until Chen Luowu scolded: "Shut up, everyone! What does it look like to be noisy?" Then she cupped her hands at the female officer: "I wonder if Your Highness has anything to say?"

"Your Highness said that since the two sides have a common goal and can work together, the current predicament will be resolved. The beginning of spring is approaching, and every February and March is the time when the imperial court purchases grain. , at the end of March, the grain and grass selected from the purchase were sent to the shipping department... The so-called warehouse is solid and the world is safe. Since ancient times, the purchase of official grain has been the top priority. The official grain collected by Jiangxi Province accounts for [-]% of the total amount of official grain in Dajing every year. As the saying goes, "If there is no Gan grain ship for three days, there will be famine in the market." When Cao Si buys grain, he has to buy it from merchants!" The female officer raised her voice and said passionately: "If Zhao Baiyu can't buy a grain of rice, if The grain merchant is on strike, let's see what happens to him!"

Chen Luowu restrained his emotions. Sure enough, Princess Changping, like the third master, chose to buy grain from here.

"In the former dynasty, Chang'an Wei used the government to buy goods, maliciously suppressed the market price, and bought the goods in the hands of the merchants at a low price, causing the merchants to lose all their money and their families. There was even a grain merchant who committed suicide because he could not hand over the five hundred catties of glutinous rice required by the government, which aroused public outrage. , the merchants of the whole city jointly went on strike, forcing Emperor Longwu of the previous dynasty to execute Captain Chang'an and revise the law of government procurement."

Hearing the words, the Gan merchants were already gearing up and couldn't hide their excitement.

The female officer covered her lips with her sleeve: "Everyone, it's still waiting for the spring, and the show will start."

***

The holiday from New Year's Eve to Lantern Festival is fleeting. During Zhao Baiyu's rest period, he did not forget to communicate with the capital. When the second dragon raised his head in February, the news from the capital was that the good plan had been implemented, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

At the same time, the amount of grain purchased by the imperial court to Jiangxi Caosi envoy this year has also come down.

Last year's bumper grain harvest, coupled with the burden of sharing the tax exemption in Huainan, has increased by 70 shi this year compared to last year, making a total of 190 million shi of official grain.

Dou Zumao asked about this matter: "Do you have anything to add?"

Zhao Baiyu: "Same as in previous years, just leave it to the province's various governments to purchase."

Dou Zumao nodded, and took the order to go on an errand. In the past, it was enough to buy official food directly from the merchants in the mansion. There was no need to visit the door in person. Once the gate of the Cao Si Yamen was opened, the merchants took the initiative to come to the door.

But this year the Caosi yamen opened wide, and there were so few people there that they couldn't even see a ghost. This happened for two or three consecutive days. Dou Zumao panicked and hurried to visit Yan Sanwan, the largest grain merchant in Hongzhou Prefecture.

Knocking on the door of Yan Sanwan's mansion, but unable to pry open his iron door, Dou Zumao was as anxious as an ant in a hot pot, and asked in a low voice: "Master Yan, you have been doing business with our Caosi mansion for more than ten years, and you have never been short of money. You don’t raise the price of grain, and the quality of the official grain you send is the best. For this integrity, Cao Si’s government will give priority to buying the grain and grass in your hand every year, even if you increase it by one and a half cents every year, you won’t say anything. What. But you suddenly changed your mind this year and didn’t sell rice, what does that mean?”

Yan Sanwan didn't raise his eyelids: "A businessman, open the door to do business, how can there be any reason to push money outside? It's just that the harvest this year is not good, and the food is hard to harvest..."

It was supposed to raise the price.

Dou Zumao softened his face: "Let's be honest, how much is it going to go up?"

Yan Sanwan slowly made a gesture, and Dou Zumao was still very calm at this time: "Seventy cash per stone?"

This price increase is not high, and it is completely acceptable.

Yan Sanwan said, "It's seven hundred wen per stone."

"!" Dou Zumao didn't catch his breath, and glared at Yan Sanwan angrily: "Are you crazy? In previous years, it was [-] yuan per stone, and you directly raised it to [-] yuan? You are driving up the market price and disrupting the market. Cao Si has the right to take You are asking!"

"Don't, don't put such a big hat on me. I do business with clearly marked prices. I love buying and buying. In two days, you will offer a high price of [-] Wen per shi. I won't sell it if I don't want to sell it. I Yan Sanwan has no monopoly, and secondly, he didn’t drive up the market price, he just wants to hoard it and eat it slowly, and sell it slowly, is it possible that if I don’t sell it, the government is forcing me to sell it?”

Dou Zumao was furious, "We know the basics, tell me the truth, did the Jiangxi Chamber of Commerce ask you to do this? Are you trying to deal with Zhao Baiyu? I advise you, if you want to make trouble, don't buy food for fun , Jiangxi is a tax-heavy place, and Ganliang supports [-]% of the people in the country, and if there is any trouble, the imperial court will watch it to death."

"Lord Dou, don't scare us little people. Now that Zhao Baiyu doesn't give life to Gan merchants, Gan merchants don't dare to do anything wrong. At most, they don't do business with him. That's all. I, Yan Sanwan, must be willing to sell for the common people's sake. I'm just a cruel official who wants to embarrass us ordinary people... Forget it, we can't afford it, and we can't hide?"

After Yan Sanwan finished speaking, he said directly, "Seeing off the guests."

***

Dou Zumao was stunned for a while at the gate of the grain merchant's house, thinking that there was nothing worse than this, but when he returned to the Caosi yamen, he saw the sad faces of the grain purchase officials from several other prefectures in the province. They said that they couldn't buy food and grass, and came to the door with money, but those merchants refused to sell.

"Unless it goes up to 100 renminbi, isn't this intentionally driving up the price? There is only so much money to buy grain every year. If you raise it to [-] renminbi, I'm afraid that Cao Si will run out of money and still not get [-] million shi!"

"It's the same with me. I found a few grain merchants, but they didn't see them behind closed doors."

"Me too, me too—the grain merchant saw me and sold my grain at the original price, but the people who bought the official grain couldn't, no..."

"Can't be the official?"

Everyone turned their heads and found that it was Zhao Baiyu who suddenly appeared, and hurriedly bowed their hands: "I have seen Mr. Cao Shi."

Dou Zumao hesitated to speak: "My lord..."

Zhao Baiyu: "Jiangxi's grain merchants are in unison and refuse to sell grain and grass to the government, unless they are replaced by Cao Sishi or the purchase price is two or three times higher than previous years?"

Dou Zumao: "The difference is the same."

"Combined to punish me." Zhao Baiyu laughed, and then said: "Does the merchants from various prefectures in the province join forces to raise the price of grain to disturb the market maliciously?"

Dou Zumao said cautiously: "Not counting, the price of the rice shop has not changed."

"Take precautions and prescribe the right medicine." Zhao Baiyu patted Dou Zumao on the shoulder in a good mood and said, "Then you will have people pretend to be businessmen from other places to buy at the rice shop."

Dou Zumao: "The quantity purchased by the rice shop is limited, and the amount is too large, which will also arouse the vigilance of the grain merchants. When the merchant buys rice, he can only make a profit by directly receiving it from the people. Buying from the rice shop has the biggest loss and no profit. Word."

"It's okay, you can do this first." Zhao Baiyu said with a smile: "How dare businessmen really fight against the government? They just want to win more benefits. If so much grain and grass are thrown into their hands, good rice will become stale rice. If they are bankrupted, won't they be crying and begging the government to take care of them?"

Dou Zumao and other officials still wanted to persuade: "But..."

"Don't worry, don't worry. People don't fight with officials, and merchants don't dare to fight with officials. Wait, the grain merchants must be the first to lose."