"Ahem, there are a lot of post-disaster reconstruction matters, and I'll make a long story short. Do you really think that the lower the price of food, the better? If we Jingnan, like Taizhou Fucheng and Taiping County, forcibly control the price of grain at 500 wen per stone by means of thunderbolts, what will happen in the future? Zhu Ping'an rubbed his head and said to everyone in the hall tiredly.

"Naturally, the lower the grain price, the better, and the lower the grain price, the more benefits the people can get."

"If we Jingnan also use thunderous means to control the price of grain at 500 wen per stone, it will naturally be a great joy, and the whole world will celebrate together, and it will naturally get better and better in the future. The price of food has dropped, and the common people can afford to buy food. If the people have food in their hands and do not panic, then the flood will naturally pass. ”

"That is, if the price of food is lowered and stabilized, the hearts of the people will be put down, and the society will be stable.

Everyone in the hall said one after another, and when it came to lowering food prices, everyone's faces were full of yearning and longing.

Everyone thinks that the lower the price of food, the better, and in their opinion, after people have suffered a flood and their property is damaged, it is natural that the lower the price of food, the better, and when the price of food is low, everyone can afford to buy food, and the flood will naturally pass. If no one thinks that the price of food is lowered, there will be nothing bad about it.

It's really a group of simple people, Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head when he heard this.

"What, isn't it? County Zun, although we don't read much, we are not so easy to deceive. ”

"Yes, even a nine-year-old child understands the truth that the lower the price of food, the better."

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

"Ladies and gentlemen, our Jiangnan is the famous granary of the Ming Dynasty, and now Jiangnan has suffered floods, more than eighty percent of the grain has been destroyed, and there are only about two percent of the surviving grain in our Jiangnan. Relying on this little grain in Jiangnan alone cannot feed tens of millions of people in Jiangnan at all. If we want to survive the crisis of food shortage in this flood, we can only alleviate the food shortage by transporting a large amount of grain from Sichuan, Shu, Shandong, and other places.

There are two main ways to transport a large amount of grain from Sichuan, Shu, Shandong and other places thousands of miles away.

One is the organization of the imperial court, and the other is the spontaneous transportation of grain by the people.

After the flood, I sent a letter to the Taizhou government every day to ask for relief and rescue from the imperial court, but there was no news until four days ago, and the reply letter only made our counties save themselves, which I have already called you to talk about once. At present, because of the frequent disasters in recent years and the huge consumption of the treasury, our Ming court is unable to organize relief and rescue us in Jiangnan in a short period of time, so the way for the imperial court to organize grain transportation cannot be counted on in a short period of time. Then there is only one kind of private grain transportation left.

The non-governmental transportation of grain is mainly through large and small grain merchants in various places. Now we have a grain shortage in the south of the Yangtze River, not only the price of grain in Jingnan has risen, but also the price of grain in Sichuan, Shu and Shandong has also risen one after another, although it is lower than the price of grain in our south of the Yangtze River, but it is not much different, and the price of grain per stone in the local area is also close to 500 Wen.

Grain merchants go to other places to purchase grain, the purchase price is close to 500 Wen, the distance is thousands of miles, all the way people eat horses and chew, but also to hire work, nursing homes, each of which is a big expenditure, on the road also face bandits, bandits and even disaster victims and other risks, so all combined, the cost of grain merchants to go to other places to transport grain is much higher than 500 Wen per stone......

If we Jingnan are also like Fucheng and other counties, we will forcibly reduce the price of grain to 500 wen by thunderous means. Then the grain merchants will have no profit, no money to make, and even have to pay upside down, so will the grain merchants still work hard and risk thousands of miles to transport grain from other places to Jingnan to sell?!

As the saying goes, no business is not treacherous, no profit is not early, if they do not make money, or even pay money to transport grain, do you think it is possible?

Put yourself in your shoes, if it were you, there would be no profit, no money to make, and even money would be reversed, would you work hard and take the risk of transporting grain to other places? !

If I Jingnan also used thunderous means like other places to forcibly reduce the price of grain to 500 wen per stone! I am sure that our grain merchants in Jingnan will never have such a noble character, and they will never take the trouble and risk to transport grain to other places again! The little food they had that survived the flood would be sold out in less than three days! After that, the people of Jingnan couldn't buy a single grain even with silver. What does it mean to not be able to buy food, I don't need to say more, mourning is all over the wilderness, thousands of miles of red land, cannibalism, and white bones...... These tragic scenes will reappear in Jingnan, China. What is the use of such a grain price if there is a price but there is no market, and if there is a price but there is no grain?! Is this what you're looking for?! Is this kind of grain price really good for the people of Jingnan?! ”

Zhu Ping'an said and spoke, the more he talked, the more excited he became, the more emotional he became, and he couldn't help but slap the table at the end.

Rumble!

Zhu Ping'an's words were like thunder in the nine heavens, and the "boom" exploded in the minds of everyone in the hall.

Everyone in the hall was blown into half-pieces of wood by the thunder in an instant, and their mouths opened wide one by one, and they couldn't help but feel a burst of horror in their hearts, and the hair on their whole bodies stood up as cold as if they had been overpowered!

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

After a long while, someone shook his head again and again with a pale face, his eyes were blank and out of focus, and he trembled his lips and muttered, "No, no, how could it be like this...... I don't believe ......"

Liu Fuzi, the warden of the household, Zhang Tongsheng, the warden of the prison, Han Cheng, the warden of the torture room, and the old man Liu of the ceremonial room, their faces are paler than others at this moment, they are scholars, and they are much more knowledgeable than the illiterate servants. It was precisely because they figured it out that their faces became so pale, and they didn't dare to look up into Zhu Ping'an's eyes, feeling ashamed.

The eyes of the rats are light, the eyes of the rats are light, and we are talking about it. Compared to the county honor, we are too short-sighted.

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

Old Man Liu's heart was pale, and his tone was much weaker than when he asked Zhu Ping'an to resign in the room.

"High?"

Zhu Ping'an pulled the corners of his mouth when he heard this, and shook his head, "It's not high, in this period, in this case, the price of grain of 2,500 wen per stone is not high at all." Only this grain price can drive the grain merchants in Jingnan and other grain merchants from other places who have heard the news to bring 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, is this grain price high? ”

When Old Man Liu heard this, he was silent. Everyone was also silent, and at this time they understood why Zhu Ping'an asked them just now, which was more important, silver or life.

"Now you feel that the grain price in Jingnan is high, and after a period of time, at least more than a month, or at most three or five months, you will find that the grain price in Jingnan will be the lowest in Taizhou Prefecture."

Zhu Ping'an looked into the distance and said to everyone in the hall with a confident face, his eyes were deep and distant, as if he had seen through time at a glance.

"Huh?"

The crowd was amazed and incredulous.

"Don't believe me? Wait a while and you'll find out. Zhu Ping'an didn't say much, the economics, sociology and other principles behind this couldn't be explained to them for a while, and even if they did, it was estimated that they wouldn't understand.

"County Zun, although I don't understand what you said, I think what you said is very reasonable, if you lower the price of grain, I'm afraid that things will become like that. It's just that the price of grain is too high, even if the grain merchants are profitable and frantically transport grain, so that there is enough grain in Jingnan, I am afraid that there are still many poor people who cannot afford to buy grain. They can't afford to buy food, so they have to starve to death. Han Cheng, the warden of the torture room, said with his fists clenched.

"Big knife, go get the donation book." Zhu Ping'an said to Liu Dadao.

In the incomprehensible gaze of everyone, Liu Dadao turned around and left, and soon came back with a booklet in both hands.

"Dadao, hand over the booklet to Han Dian, and ask everyone to circulate it." Zhu Ping'an said to Liu Dadao.

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

"Didn't you say that I, Zhu Ping'an, accepted bribes from grain merchants?! That's right, this "Jingnan County Flood Donation Book" is the "criminal evidence" of my Zhu Ping'an's 'bribery'. A total of 38 grain merchants in Jingnan donated a total of 46,000 taels of silver, and I Zhu Ping accepted them safely, and recorded them one by one! In the future, at the end of each month, if they don't come, I will also send people to the grain stores to raise donations! In the future, every grain merchant from other places will come to Jingnan, and I will also send someone to go in the name of my own official! What is this silver for!? The poor people in Jingnan who can't afford to buy grain, this is their money to buy grain! From today onwards, I will send people to count the poor people in Jingnan who cannot afford to buy grain, and distribute silver taels regularly! This official uses this head as a guarantee to ensure that Jingnan will not starve to death! If one person starves to death, you can take my dog's head as a 'corrupt official', 'dog official', and 'traitorous official'! ”

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

"County ...... Prefectural ...... We were wrong! ”

After Han Cheng, the warden of the torture room, flipped through the donation book, he couldn't control it anymore, and fell to the ground with tears in his eyes.

For the sake of the people of Jingnan, the county respected himself at the expense of self-defilement, and even his reputation and temperament were gone...... We even ......

"County Honor, we were wrong."

Puff, puff...... The hall fell to its knees like wheat, and no one stood again.