Nanshan Temple, the front yard is quiet and quiet, and the back yard is lively.

When they learned that the price of rice in Lianzhou City had finally reached four taels and one stone, the dozen or so squires who stayed here immediately celebrated, and everyone's faces were piled up with bright smiles.

In essence, when the news of a strong wind in Leizhou Mansion came, they guessed that there would be such a day. Now the long-awaited goal has finally been achieved, and they have been blessed by God, which has also increased their confidence.

From the past seven coins and one stone to four taels and one stone, the profit gap is too exciting. In particular, this disaster is long-lasting, as long as they can reach an offensive and defensive alliance, they can grab the most huge profits from the hundreds of thousands of people in western Guangdong.

"Haha...... It's finally here! ”

Zheng Menfu laughed out loud with joy, because he had a hoarding of rice grain of 3,000 stone in his hand, and if he released it now, it would be more than 10,000 taels of silver.

Not only that, as long as he released this batch of grain, Jiang Yuanwai would also send him 10,000 stone of grain, so he didn't have to worry about having no grain to sell in Gaozhou City.

Of course, they also have to pay a certain price, that is, to let their land be wasted, exacerbating the atmosphere of food shortage.

It's just that where the food comes from is undoubtedly the biggest question.

The answer is actually very simple, the rice comes from overseas. It's no secret that many Cantonese traders know that Siamese rice is cheap, more than half as cheap as it is here.

In recent years, this import channel has been abruptly interrupted, and it is difficult to see Siammy in the market again.

There are three main reasons for this: first, the tightening of the maritime ban policy and the opening up of officials headed by Wang Bai, the deputy envoy of the Guangdong Patrol Route, which requires huge investment; Second, piracy was rampant on the western route of the South Seas, and the risk of transportation was greatly increased, and the ships that came and went were often looted, so that they lost all their money; The third is that the rice merchants are usually controlled by local forces, and they do not allow this cheap Siamese rice to seize the market.

It is the combination of these reasons that has caused the flow of Siam rice into Guangdong to be blocked, and many people have even forgotten about Siam.

However, all these problems have been solved by the vast number of Jiang Yuanwai.

At present, Jiang Yuanwai has a large amount of high-quality and cheap Siamese rice, and as long as the rice market in Guangdong can maintain a relatively high price, he will be able to make a considerable profit at that time.

Nowadays, Jiang Yuanwai is equivalent to the general dealer, and they are sub-dealers, in the face of this demanding, lucrative and lucrative market, how can they not be ecstatic?

Jiang Yuan sat on the first seat outside, with a subtle smile on his face, sipping tea and looking at the squires celebrating on both sides. Obviously, he's the one who really wins.

As long as the plan goes smoothly and the rice grain in his hand can be successfully realized, then he will be able to grab a profit of 200,000 yuan, not to mention 200,000 yuan, and he will become the richest man in Liangguang.

"Get the rice out!"

With an order, these squires who had been staying in Nanshan Temple and waiting for an opportunity finally made a move. They went home repairing books one after another, and ordered their families to sell the hoarded rice and grain, and all of them were fixed at a sky-high price of one stone and four taels.

On this day, with Huazhou as the center, a large number of rice hoards immediately appeared in the surrounding counties, state towns and prefecture towns. It's just that the price of hanging is intimidating, and it even makes people have the urge to smash the store.

This "slap to a date" is the crystallization of Huaxia's wisdom, although they hang the high price of "four taels and one stone", but it is clear that the price will not rise again.

The price of rice and grain will not rise again, which can indeed calm the emotions of some people and give some small families with relatively solid backgrounds hope to survive.

The people of this era are indeed very simple, they don't talk about freedom and quality of life, as long as they can live, this is enough to meet their needs.

More than a dozen people led by Jiang Yuanwai are all squires and strong, and they all have a certain foundation in the local area. Taking Shicheng County as an example, these squires are the overlords of one side, and they can easily call hundreds of people, how can it be that a small county can control it?

It is precisely in this way that under the situation of the inability of the imperial court to provide disaster relief and the weakness of the government, the price of rice in various places gradually lost its control, and these squires squeezed the wealth of the local people through high-priced rice.

As for the imperial court, they prefer to look at the overall situation and like to adopt the strategy of "grasping the big and letting go of the small". As long as there is no rebellion and disturbance among the displaced people in western Guangdong, the imperial court or the yamen of the Guangdong political secretary will not care whether the people eat high-priced grain or not.

In other words, in addition to the western part of Guangdong, there are many places in Guangxi and Guangxi that have taken advantage of the opportunity to grab the disaster money, and they hoard rice grain to push up the price of rice to grab profits.

It's just that there is an exception to everything.

Chen Dazhu was a rice merchant in Leizhou City, and he was about to sell the hoarded rice grain at the price of four taels and one stone, but as soon as the sign was hung out, the official of the government immediately came to the door and closed the shop on the spot to take people.

"Why are you arresting people?"

"Daming's law stipulates that my rice can't be sold for one stone or four taels?"

"You let me go, I'm going to sue you, I'm going to sue you!"

……

Although Chen Dazhu was forcibly taken away by the official, he shouted unwillingly, and shouted with great resentment.

"Gagged him and escorted him away!"

It's just that no matter how much he yelled, even if he moved out of the patrol, it didn't change his fate of being sent to prison, and the iron catcher gave a cold order.

For this kind of action of inflating the price of rice, the Leizhou government has made clear regulations, and it must be severely punished. At least in Leizhou City, no one is qualified to challenge Lin Leigong's authority.

"Well caught! This merchant is really black-hearted! ”

"This kind of person really deserves to be beheaded, four taels and one stone is to kill us!"

"Hey! Now that there are more and more victims, I'm afraid that our Leizhou City won't be able to support it for long! ”

"Isn't it? If it continues to be consumed like this, even if the rice and grain in the warehouse are piled up, they will have to be eaten empty! ”

……

The onlookers applauded Chen Tiezhu who was captured, but they were also worried, after all, there were too many refugees pouring into Leizhou City.

In order to maintain low-priced grain, the government has always relied on the support of the government and the county government to close the position, except for the thousands of stone grain of the United Rice Bank, but those treacherous rice merchants have been reluctant to sell.

In the same way, the government's rice grain is slowly decreasing, if it weren't for the continuous supply of fish from Leizhou Bay to Tuleizhou City, I'm afraid the rice grain would have been exhausted long ago.

Although Leizhou still maintains a very low price of rice and grain, worries are slowly spreading, and everyone is no longer optimistic about the future.

Leizhou Mansion, Haikang County, in the ya-signed detention room.

Wei Guozhong, the magistrate of the county, and Dai Beihe, who had just been promoted to the general judge, sat around the table, and both of them had sad faces on their faces. In particular, Wei Guozhong's official uniform in Haikangzhi County has lost its original luster, the corners have been seriously worn, and even become black and sloppy, the whole person looks thin and tired, his eyes are full of bloodshots, his lips are dry, and his face is a little sickly.

Over the past few days, he has been conscientiously handling the affairs of the entire county government.

Since the beginning of this disaster, he has not slept well for a few days, while settling a large number of refugees who have poured into Leizhou City, and on the other hand, helping the people of Haikang to resume production as soon as possible.

When the situation gradually improved, it suddenly encountered this strong wind. A large number of houses in Haikang County were destroyed, and official roads were also blocked, so he had to be busy day and night.

Just now, he went outside the city to check on the damage to the villagers' houses, and he really couldn't spare a moment.

It's just that he understands that the worst has not yet come. As more and more refugees poured into Leizhou City, the food in the prefecture and county warehouses was slowly depleted, and the most difficult moment would eventually come.

"Dai Tongju, how many days can the grain last now?" Wei Guozhong's mouth was dry, and he asked while pouring tea.

After Dai Beihe had been promoted from the Tongzhi of Leizhou Mansion to the general judge, he was in charge of the grain affairs, first sighed, and then replied bitterly: "There are probably four or five days!" ”

"Before you leave, what do you have to say? What should we do when this rice is exhausted, but what are the regulations? Wei Guozhong took a sip of tea and asked seriously.

Things were worse than he imagined, he had just returned from outside the city, but he was told that Lord Fuzun had left Leizhou City. The sudden departure of this main backbone made Wei Guozhong's pressure rise sharply, and his heart was suddenly bottomless.

When Lin Haoran was there before, he felt that everything happened with this Lin Lei Gong, but now it seems that everything is pressed on him.

Dai Beihe shook his head slowly, and then said seriously: "He said that no matter what method is taken, he must appease the people, put the interests of the people first, and he will find a way to deal with the matter of rice and grain!" ”

"There is a shortage of food in the whole of Guangdong, and even Leizhouwei is not enough to eat, where else can I get food?" Wei Guozhong was stunned in his heart, and immediately said the worry in his heart.

This disaster is not only here in Leizhou, but also in the entire western Guangdong and even Liangguang, where there is a shortage of food everywhere. Now the imperial court has no food relief at all, and the chief secretary has no measures, so they have no hope of closing the point.

When he thought of the food, he sighed heavily, and his whole person seemed to be several years older.

Although Dai Beihe knew this reason, he maintained trust in Lin Haoran, and said in a steady tone: "Lord Fuzun is Wen Kuijun, and he is a rare talent in our Ming Dynasty for a hundred years, and he can't be measured by common sense. Maybe he can really come up with a way, let's find a way to stabilize the people of Leizhou City first! ”

"I hope so!" Wei Guozhong nodded lightly, and then said seriously: "As long as there is food, it is not difficult to stabilize the people!" I'm afraid that if the food runs out and the people can't eat enough, then something big will happen! ”

The problem is that the core of everything is ultimately food.

But at this time, a scribe ran in in a panic and reported: "Lord Qiyu, Liu Baihu has just sent someone to report, and Lord Yushi has arrived at Chaotianmen!" ”

Hearing the news, the two immediately looked at each other, and there was a faint sense of foreboding.

This patrol took Zhao Yong out of prison according to the imperial history, and the spearhead was obviously directed at Lin Haoran. Now that Lin Haoran has just left, he will immediately arrive in Leizhou City, and this matter is full of a smell of conspiracy.

The military system of the Ming Dynasty adopted the leadership model of eunuchs and civil officials, among which the town guards and eunuchs were respected.

In the first year of Hongxi in the Ming Dynasty, Wang An was the eunuch of Gansu Town, which opened the prelude to the eunuch town. In the orthodox years, all provinces and towns had town guards and eunuchs, whose control was limited to the military, and then pushed to the local administration, and the rights and interests were heavy.

After the establishment of the general army of the town guard, because all the princes, marquis, uncles, and governors were full, not only did they have a wide range of power, but also their status was respected, which made it easy for the general army to get out of control of the central government. In order to control the power of the general army, the Ming court sent supervision forces to the localities, and the ministers were one of them, but the eunuchs had to bribe the buyer with about 50,000 taels of silver in order to win out of the town.

Here in Guangdong, the system of eunuchs in the general town, the governor of Liangguang, and the chief military officer of the town guarding Liangguang lasted for a long time. Among them, the eunuch of the general town is the head, and sits in the center during the deliberations of the general government, and the governor and the chief military officer sit on the left and right.

Guangdong's annual tribute to the imperial court is increasing, all of which are handled by the eunuchs of the two towns and Guangzhou. The tributes include: honey fried fruits, rattan silk, carved lacquer vessels, seafood, cloth, medicinal materials, silver boxes, wine vessels and other "more than 80 products". The various evils caused by tribute exceeded those of the previous dynasties of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that in this dynasty, Jiajing was rejected by the eunuchs and was removed at the instigation of the civil officials.

In the leap June of the 10th year of Jiajing, Guangdong abolished the eunuchs of Liangguang and other towns. Although the eunuchs of the Liangguang General Town were once re-established (from September of the 17th year of Jiajing to the 7th month of the 18th year of Jiajing), they were abolished in less than a year, and the military affairs of the Liangguang were mostly coordinated by the Governor of Liangguang.

In some places, such as Haibei Bingbei Road and Qiongzhou Bingbei Road, they have become relatively independent entities. Although it is only a one-guard or two-guard force, it has a strong autonomy and is the supreme commander of a troop unit.

It is precisely because of this that the Ming Dynasty's emphasis on civil affairs over military force is not an empty phrase, and the actual commander of the army is often a civilian official. Many military generals actually have to obey the dispatch of civilian officials, and they are often commanded by civilian officials, and the greatest fame is often also civilian officials.

Lin Haoran is the prefect of Leizhou and concurrently serves as the military preparation of Haibei, and is undoubtedly a civilian official who suppresses the military generals, and has the right to command the army, but he is under the command of the governor of Liangguang and the control of Wang Fang, the governor of Liangguang.

This disaster undoubtedly brought a very negative impact, and Yaomin was ready to act again, but he didn't know whether he saw an opportunity or was involved in high-priced rice. They also came out of the stockade, and they actually wanted to capture Gaozhou City.

In the same way, Lin Haoran suddenly received an order from the Liangguang Governor's Mansion, asking him, a Haibei soldier, to rush to the aid of Gaozhou Mansion. Although he faintly felt a taste of conspiracy, he had to be ordered to go and go north with Lei Zhouwei's fine tax.