The rice shops in the capital usually have small fronts, but they are quite deep to facilitate the storage of grain. At the façade, a wooden sign is hung on one side, which reads the current price of grain. At the same time, a price card will also be inserted on the sample that is displayed. The tradition of clearly marking prices, which is rare in commercial houses, makes customers not enter the door, but can see the current market at a glance.

However, this tradition is often painful for the guests who come through the door. The price of 130 meters marked with red lacquer is hung high in the most eye-catching position, and the red is not only dazzling, but also sad. The men, women and children who were about to buy rice and go home came to the rice store, raised their eyes and looked at the wooden sign with the price, all shaking their heads, but they walked into the store helplessly.

Originally, people came to the rice store to buy rice, noodles, or other grains, and basically bought one bucket at a time. A special rice basket that is usually carried in the crook of the arm can hold exactly one bucket of rice at a time. Only now, when people come out of the rice shop, their baskets are usually only half full. Officials and wealthy households, who often let rice and noodles be delivered to their homes for a few or a dozen stones at a time, now order much less than in the past – only a small part of the reason they can't afford to buy them, and more because the grain stores hoard and don't want to sell them.

The soaring price of food has led to a simultaneous rise in other commodities. The price of meat, mainly mutton, pork, chicken and duck, has also doubled, and vegetables, vegetables, and snacks have all risen again and again along with food prices. At the same time, the price of daily necessities also flew to the sky in a panic. From October of the sixth year of Xining to the present two months, the cost of living for ordinary people has almost doubled.

And it's not just commodities that are related to people's lives that have risen in price. The cost of renting a horse and renting a car in the city, under the coordination of the carriage and horse dealers, in the name of a sharp rise in forage, has risen by 30%. As for restaurants, restaurants, and brothels, they have risen sharply without exception.

Seventy-two main stores, 3,000-foot shops, and most of the dry restaurants in Kaifeng Mansion have become crowded, and even many of them have taken their annual leave early, saving them from losing a day when they open. In today's increasingly depressed market, even some large restaurants that insist on opening, seeing a customer coming in is as courteous as seeing a relative visit. And those old customers who still come and go often put them on the door of their heads and worship them as ancestors.

"In the past, how could Yan Si take out Wu Lou's Jin Yebai with so many escorts at one time?"

Gao Yang shook the wine glass in his hand, and lit up the clear wine in the glass to the drinking friends sitting opposite. One of the nine leaders of the Tokyo Grain Bank, and the culprit who is now driving the city's prices soaring, is smiling at the plight of the people today.

"People always have to eat." Jin Ping, who is also the head of the grain bank, replied with a colder smile.

Gao Yang's family can almost change their surname to Zhao. His own mother is the county lord; The Hun family is his cousin, and of course he is also the county lord; And the daughter-in-law he was married by his son was still the county lord. In addition, there is a brother-in-law who is a jinshi, although the official position is not high, but after all, he is still a jinshi, and now he is also a Beijing official. And the situation of the Jinping family is similar, the same is the son-in-law of the Zhao family - in Tokyo City, the heads of the larger guilds, do not climb with the clan, and get mixed with an official body, and don't even want to sit firmly in the position of the head of the line.

"In the past two months, there have been many complaints in and around Tokyo!" Gao Yang smiled leisurely, "The eighteen generations of Wang Xianggong have been scolded from generation to generation!" ”

"No matter how capable Wang Xianggong is, he can't do it steadily. Not to mention making such a big joke in the Yellow River. Jin Ping's expression was ruthless, "The day before yesterday, my Hun family entered the palace to greet him as usual, and I have already told the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager about the current situation. After coming back, he said that the two palaces were worried when they heard it, and the queen mother even scolded Wang Anshi. If today's internal and external difficulties are in place, Wang Xianggong will not be able to sit in the political hall for a few days. ”

Gao Yang nodded slightly. In the past few years, their group of people has been crushed by the new law, and almost every decree is cutting their flesh. In order to make money for the treasury, Wang Anshi made up his mind on them businessmen. The in-laws with the clan, Wang Anshi didn't care at all. The law of equal loss and the law of market change, these two laws are like two axes, one left and one right, one before and one after the other, and they cut off the old bottom of their wealthy businessmen, regardless of the feelings of the heavenly family.

Fortunately, Wang Anshi's perverse behavior is now even beyond God's eyes, and last year's landslide and this year's locust drought will only make the disaster worse next year. Even if the new party led by Wang Anshi has the ability, it will be difficult to cook without rice.

Gao Yang raised his glass to drink with Jin Ping, wiped his mouth with a silk scarf after taking a sip, and said: "This morning, Fang 15 proposed that the price of grain should be raised a little more, if it can be raised to 150 Wen, Wang Xianggong is afraid that it will not be able to delay next January." ”

"Don't worry, let the wind out first, and our side will tighten up a little more. There is still half a month before the New Year's Festival, and the price will increase after the twenty-third day of the lunar month is sent to the god of the stove, and the effect will be better. First of all, he must be forced to use the usual closing position to come out. Jin Ping said viciously: "Now that Chang Ping has not moved, there are still people outside who fantasize that Wang Xianggong still has confidence." As soon as the position is opened, it is a person who should know that Wang Anshi's side can no longer support it. If the disaster continues next year, who can expect Chang Ping to take out food for disaster relief? Millions of soldiers and civilians in Tokyo are in turmoil, and food prices will rise a little higher next year. ”

"It's still thoughtful!" Gao Yang clapped his hands and praised, stood up and poured wine for Jinping diligently, "This matter is complete, I don't know how many people want to thank my brother!" ”

Jin Ping smiled conceitedly when he heard this, and said: "Even if you can save the sores in front of you, but by next year, your whole body will rot." Let's see what other tricks Wang Xianggong has! ”

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the problem in Tokyo today is not a food shortage. The disasters in Gyeonggi and Hebei were after the summer harvest, and the drought in Zhejiang and Zhejiang did not affect the six million stone transports that supplied the capital from the south.

It's just that the drought that continues in autumn and winter has disturbed people's hearts, so that Gao Yang and Jinping, the dry grain merchants, can take the opportunity to get their hands on it. And there are grievances, Gao Yang and Jinping don't have to worry about their safety at all.

Looking down from the railing, it is the southern gate of Tokyo City, Minami Kaoru Gate.

The South Kaoru Gate is opposite to Ouchi, and a north-south royal street leads directly to the inner city. When the palace hall was newly started, Taizu Zhao Kuangyin asked people to open all the palace doors and stand at the Xuande Gate, where you can always see the royal couch in the Daqing Palace. Emperor Taizu said from this: 'This is like my heart, there are few evil songs, and everyone can see it. And the Nanxun Gate of the outer city is on the same straight line as the Suzaku Gate of the Inner City and the Xuande Gate of the Imperial City, in fact, if the eyesight is like an eagle, you can also see the Daqing Hall from the Nanxun Gate.

It is precisely because of this gate that it leads directly to the palace city, and for the sake of taboo, ordinary funeral vehicles are not allowed to enter and exit from the Nanxun Gate. But there is a funny place, the coffin with bad luck is not allowed to go, but the dirtier pig can go. I don't know when the old story was left, the pig used by the people - the palace only eats sheep, not pigs and cattle - must enter the capital from this gate, and must not go through other city gates. Thousands of pigs enter Beijing every day.

The sound of humming and chirping came from the street below, and hundreds of pigs were driven by the pig herdsmen all the way down the road to the city. The pigs were cut outside the castle and are now sent to butchers in the city to be slaughtered at butchers in Tokyo, and then sent from the butchers to thousands of households.

"The business of the butcher shop has also faded, and last year, we sat here for all this time, and finally passed seven or eight herds of pigs."

"Xu Zhongzheng has been having a hard time lately. The prices of wheat bran and rice bran are rising, and it will be interesting to see who will eat pigs next year. ”

Gao Yang and Jin Ping glanced at each other, and a gloating smile spread from the bottom of their eyes to their faces, and they looked up together and laughed.

The sound of laughter echoed in the empty and silent restaurant, and Yan Si, the shopkeeper who was sitting bored at the counter, glanced up, and then spat on the ground fiercely. The old patron wants to flatter, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't know who is raising the price of food so high today.

Gao Yang, Jin Ping, and other leaders of the grain store often came to his restaurant for small gatherings. Half a year ago, they still sighed, and from time to time they scolded Wang Anshi in the box, but in the past two months, the smugness on their faces has become stronger and stronger, which has also made Yan Si look at them more and more unpleasantly.

Everyone in the grain bank builds happiness on others, Yan Si doesn't care, at most he sighs, and turns his head to make his own money. But if it is built on his own body, Yan Si does not have the good temper of the Buddha.

'It's no fart to have a son. Eye! ''Get in the oil pot after you die!'' ''Crushed to death by a bag of rice!'' ’

In the humble smile of welcoming guests, the stomach of the shopkeeper of Wu Lou was full of vicious curses.

A hurried sound of horses' hooves came from outside the door and stopped in front of the door. Yan Si immediately raised his head in surprise, but as soon as the visitor entered the door, he hung his head weakly. The shopkeeper of Wu Lou knew that the person who came was a person in the grain store and a cronie of Gao Yang's subordinates.

Without waiting for him to ask, Yan Si pointed to Lu Shang and said, "It's all in the old position, let's go up directly!" ”

Gao Yang's cronies didn't even speak, they didn't even give up, and strode upstairs. Gao Yang's family is also a big family that marries with the clan, and he has many requirements for his subordinates, so he will not be so rude on weekdays. Yan Si looked at Xinqi, and he didn't know where something had happened, so he was so anxious.

A moment later, there was a sound of kicking on the stairs, and the two big heads of Gao Yang and Jin Pin came down from the stairs in a panic, and the smugness on their faces was gone. Gao Yang, who invited the guest, said to Yan Si, "I'll meet the money in two days", and ran out of the house like this.

Seeing their backs disappear at the door, Yan Si was furrowed for a while, "What happened?" ”