"What's the trouble? It's just a price increase, more than doubled! ”

Yongchun, Fujian, just entered the county seat, was blocked by a large number of people on the street, Yan Jing asked casually, and a man shouted angrily. 【1】

"Thirty wen a pound of salt!?"

After understanding the matter, Yan Jing took a sharp breath.

"Daddy, let's go."

Yan Sanniang drooped her head, and the official salt shop on the street was surrounded by hundreds of people, shouting and shouting, and the noise was overwhelming, but she didn't seem to be eye-catching at all. Look at her empty eyes, nothing should get into her eyes.

A terrible howl finally woke her up and scared everyone on the street. I saw a group of errand officers wearing "patrol" uniforms, dragging a man through the street, who was naked, and the skin on his chest and back had been whipped to shreds, leaving a scarlet blood mark on the ground.

"This is the smuggler caught by the salt patrol......"

There was a lot of discussion among the people around, Yan Jing seemed to have some associations, and his face suddenly became not very good-looking.

"I'm not selling smuggled salt! I was just...... It's just that I bought too much to eat for myself! ”

The man on the ground still had the strength to cry out and plead.

"You're buying private salt! If you buy it and pay back 20 catties, isn't it ready to sell? Sin after sin! And ignore you! ”

A salt patrol leader spat at the man, and with a crackling sound of his arm, the whip fell on the man again, splashing a drop of blood, and the surrounding spectators suddenly exclaimed in surprise and hurriedly retreated.

"Sanniang, let's go......"

Yan Sanniang's frozen heart suddenly ignited a flame, and she was clenching her eyebrows into fists, her father's whispers sounded, and she had to grit her teeth and turn her head to avoid this bloody scene.

"Your brother's family is also in the salt business, this is ...... It's inevitable every year. ”

Yan Jing sighed helplessly.

"This ...... Is it home? ”

After more than ten years of separation, Yan Sanniang no longer recognizes the scene of her hometown. As far as the eye could see, in addition to the scarlet just now, there were also dirty streets, ragged pedestrians all over the ground, and the errands who passed by from time to time cast cold and greedy glances at her, all of which slashed the little homesickness in her heart, but what she subconsciously thought of was another place.

Naturally looking to the west, Yan Sanniang whispered to herself: "That's really a paradise." ”

Yingde Li Zhuang listened to Taolou and listened to Li Shi's statement, Guan Fengsheng jumped up first.

"This is not a paradise, we have to stock up on food!"

Maybe it was because the previous experience of being hungry was too profound, Tian Dayou and the others nodded one after another, feeling that this was the first priority.

"In this matter, the fourth brother is thinking about making a lot of money."

Peng Xianzhong's soul is deeply impressed with the label of "businessman", and he expresses Li Xian's intentions in one sentence.

"Not only is it a big profit, but this is also a wave, as long as we stand on the cusp of the wave, we can rush into the city of Guangzhou."

Li Shi's words were full of confidence, and this was the perfect opportunity he could grasp.

"Fourth brother, it's hard to say about this, are you really sure that the price of grain in the whole of Guangdong will rise sharply!?"

Lin Dashu was questioning Li Shi.

"Food prices fluctuate every year, and often one county goes up and that one goes down. Just like last year, our grain in northern Guangdong has risen, but the area in Guangzhou is still falling, because Guangxi has more rice. ”

Lin Dashu's words, Peng Xianzhong also nodded again and again.

"The grain and rice business has fixed contacts, such as Hunan and Jiangxi rice, which are scattered everywhere every year, Jiangnan also goes, Guangdong and Fujian also go, and the rice merchants are all looking at a certain prefecture and a county, doing long-term business. Before Jiangnan rice was shipped by Zhang Yuanlong, the price of Jiangnan rice rose sharply, and the government moved to close the rice and did not press it, or rely on Hunan Jiangxi rice to solve the problem, but that was after two or three months, no one dared to have such a big heart before, and it is expected that the price of Jiangnan rice will not be able to go down. ”

Peng Xianzhong's words overturned Li Xian's impression of those reasonable surnames in the novel, which can be used to indulge in the price of rice at every turn. Then Peng Xianzhong said that the key was that this massive amount of grain and rice could not be controlled by a few rice merchants. The traveling merchants in the county and countryside collect rice from the farmers, and then gather in the big cities and even the provincial capitals, and then the rice merchants take over and sell it to other markets. There are no less than a dozen rice merchants in a city, and hundreds of rice merchants in a province, and the rice market is a fragmented market gathered, and it is difficult to move it by relying on a few merchants. Similarly, changes in rice prices, except for natural disasters [***], are difficult to predict and have an overall impact.

At present, not only Guangdong has not seen any major disasters, but Guangxi, Hunan, and Jiangxi have not seen any movement, and it seems to be as usual.

"We have been short of grain in Guangdong all year round, and we import no less than 100,000 stones of rice from Guangxi every year, if Guangxi can be stable, the price of rice in Guangdong will not rise to the sky."

Peng Xianzhong made up his mind, but Li Xi still shook his head, he was sure that the price of rice in Guangdong would not only rise sharply, but also in the whole province.

"Fourth brother...... Why are you so sure? ”

Seeing Li Xian shaking his head, Guan Tian and the others no longer doubted it, they were all used to Li Xian's "clever calculations", but Peng Xianzhong had just entered the decision-making circle and had not yet had a deep feeling for Li Xian's "ability".

"Because I'm sure there are two big people in Guangdong who are going to suffer."

Li Xi is talking about Zhao Hongcan, the governor of Liangguang, and Man Pi, the governor of Guangdong, before Guan Xuan mentioned the price of rice, which made him wake up, and then fought with the big and small immortals in Guangzhou City mentioned by Liu Xingchun, and a certain piece of information in his previous life jumped out of the memory bank.

Zhao Hongcan, the governor of Liangguang, he has never had much impression, although he is the son of Zhao Liangdong, a famous general of the Pingsan Domain, and the elder brother of Zhao Hongxie, a major minister of Kangxi, he did not leave any glorious deeds in history, but in this year, he and the governor of Guangdong were impeached, dismissed from the ministry, and finally Kangxi was gracious, but he was demoted to five levels.

What have they sinned in? The matter was very small, because they did not report the price of rice to Kangxi, and then they were participated in by Guan Yuanzhong, the general of Guangzhou. As for the reason for not reporting the price of rice, whether it was negligence or not daring to report, Li Xi felt that it should be the latter.

In the fifty-second year of Kangxi, the price of rice in Guangdong was "expensive". According to public information, it has risen to two taels per stone, but the governor does not dare to report it, believing that the real price of rice is far more than this number.

The reason why Li Xi had an impression of this matter was that when he first looked at "Kangxi Dynasty Records", he was very interested in the unknown background of this article, and he was wondering if these two buddies deliberately did not report it. Because the price of rice is too high, a governor and a governor must give a reason, and this reason is probably their taboo, it is better to simply pretend to be negligent in their work and be punished for a misdemeanor.

When Li Xi picked up this piece of information, he also thought for a while, although he couldn't think of why the price of rice would soar this year, but at least he could be sure that his little butterfly should not have anything to do with this historical process, so he decided that this should happen in the future.

Seeing Li Xian's confident look, Peng Xianzhong muttered in his stomach, but he no longer continued to chase and fight this issue, but turned to the level of the matter.

"What is the specific plan of the fourth brother?"

Li Xi nodded, and he had a preliminary idea.

"Hunan rice, from now on, hoarding Hunan rice, the trade route of Xunhuan is transparent to us."

As soon as he heard the word "hoarding", Peng Xianzhong's eyes began to flutter, and he knew what it meant.

"There is no 100,000 stone rice or more, but it can't affect the price of grain in Guangdong, fourth brother, let's ...... Can you get that much silver now? ”

Selling rice from Hunan, counting the freight, costs seven or eight dollars of silver per stone of rice, and the bottom limit is seventy or eighty thousand taels of silver.

"I can't take it out, and the Peng family shouldn't be able to take it out, but there are still people in Hunan, and there are other ......"

Li Xian thought far away, and his eyes were a little fluttering.

"Maybe it's killing two birds with one stone...... No, the matter of the three birds. ”

He pointed to the north.

"There are people there who have a lot of money in their hands and are thinking about how to make more money."

On the edge of Yongchun County, in the courtyard of a single family, Yan Sanniang looked around, trying to find her childhood memories, but found that she was always covered by a thick layer of fog, and the small garden in the backyard could vaguely pull up the laughter of two immature children.

"Daddy, my old relationship is still there, and in the future, relying on the tea leaves from Yungui, I can also earn a lot of silver, and I should be able to change."

Yan Jing is looking forward to the future.

"The guy who rectified me died two years ago, and he shared the spoils unevenly with his peers. The official behind him also left here four or five years ago. This yard was originally sold to someone else, but relatives pooled money to redeem it. Sanniang, we owe too much to our family. ”

As he spoke, he fell into memories, caressing the brick walls of the courtyard, and sighed with emotion.

"The house has been redeemed, but the mother will never come back."

Yan Sanniang sighed, and the fog in her heart also faded a little.

Sitting on the swing in the garden, Yan Sanniang's heart was rolling in the wind and mist, and her thoughts were drifting like a kite with a broken line, so she heard the voice of people in front of the hospital, and her father's voice "Liang Siye" made her heart jump suddenly, this "four" is really very kind, but unfortunately it is the "fourth master" not the "fourth brother...... "Is it my brother...... Here it comes? ”

Thinking of this, her heart beat even more flustered.

When he was at a loss, a person had already entered the garden, and far away, there was a low call: "Sanniang......"

Turning his head to look, he was a handsome young man with a long body and a jade body, his face was like a crown and his eyes were like a star, and as he looked back, his eyes suddenly brightened, and he was stunned.

"I ...... Brother Bo Li. ”

Yan Sanniang bowed her head and greeted, this is Liang Boyan, the son of the Liang family who has been married to her since childhood, she still felt cordial when she didn't see her, but when she saw it, she felt that a strange mood pushed her away, so that she subconsciously stopped calling her "Brother Yan". I haven't seen her for more than ten years, and the little urchin has become a handsome son, but there is no ripple in her heart, let alone a surprise.

"Three...... Sanniang, you are really ...... Almost unrecognizable. ”

Liang Boyan was shocked by the girl's stunning face, and it took a long time to wake up, and the girl's reaction, he only regarded it as the shyness of his daughter's family.

"That's it, I think at the beginning, we were still here to fight with the martial arts senior, and I couldn't beat you at that time."

Liang Boyan whispered, sentence by word, gradually removing the fog in Yan Sanniang's heart, and began to be able to have words back and forth with Liang Boyan.

"Recently, business is booming, brother, I can also help more, don't worry about the silver, from Nacai to the door, my Liang family has all the bags!"

The bold tone in the front yard sounded, it was Liang Boyu's father talking about marriage, Yan Sanniang only felt a sudden pain in her heart, but then she thought of something.

"Brother Bo, when my father and I came back, we saw that the price of salt in the county had risen sharply, what was going on?"

She no longer avoided Liang Boyu's gaze, but looked straight at him.

"At this time of year, the price of grain in the county will rise somewhat, and then the people in the county will go around camping and selling illicit salt in order to save salt money. So this year, the salt merchants have joined forces and increased their efforts to suppress this private salt business, Sanniang, why do you care about this? Don't worry, the rest of our Liang family doesn't dare to say it, but the salt ...... Hehe...... Will you still ask Sanniang to go out to buy salt? ”

Liang Boyu explained with a smile that in front of such a fiancée, he knew everything.

"Yes...... Isn't this bitter to other people? ”

Yan Sanniang's question was still a little expectant.

"Sanniang, you...... It still hasn't changed, it's just a bodhisattva's heart. But this is also a helpless thing, last year the private salt was too rampant, and the salt merchants lost too much, so they had to make up for a few points. Our Liang family didn't want to make such a big deal, but Sanniang, you also know that if you do an official salt business and don't speak out with others, that's it...... Big trouble. ”

Liang Boyu explained patiently.

"But that's what it is...... This is also aiding and abetting! ”

Yan Sanniang finally couldn't hold back anymore and reprimanded in a deep voice.

"Sanniang!"

Yan Jing appeared, suppressing her words with a straight face.

"Sanniang, it's really a female college with eighteen changes, born so handsome. Xu has been outside with you for a long time, and I am not used to how to live an life, don't care, hehe. ”

Liang's father persuaded on the side.

"Sanniang, the world is like this, it's good if we can take care of ourselves. Things that hurt nature and reason, if you can avoid it, you can't avoid it, and you also have a little guilt in your heart, which is always for the sake of your family, not intentionally. ”

Liang Boyan sighed lowly, Yan Sanniang's words were not untouched by him.

"Our Liang family is also giving porridge and giving money, don't mix me, my father and those people."

Liang Boyan said sincerely, Yan Sanniang closed her eyes, and her heart was full of mixed feelings.

The father and son of the Liang family left, the relatives came to the door again, the seven aunts and eight sisters-in-law laughed, and the words were inseparable from how the bride should dress up.

"Sanniang, let's settle down, the Liang family is about to come to the door, and after Nacai, I will pick you up and pass the door. In order not to let our family toss and not let you get tired, the Liang family deliberately did not do it in Quanzhou, but in Zhuangzi here in Yongchun, so you should be ready. ”

Yan Jing explained to his daughter, and seeing that his daughter looked uncertain, he added another sentence.

"Our grandfather, it is not easy to return to the hometown, no longer wandering, the past, whether it is bitter or something else, let it pass, it is like rice and salt, after all, it is not a dream thing, you have to eat it in one bite."

Yan Sanniang nodded slowly: "Daddy, don't worry, my daughter knows." ”

In the corner of the garden, the soil was dug up, and Yan Sanniang put in the wooden box with flowers and birds painted on the surface.

"That's it, that dream, it's time to wake up."

The girl bit her lip and pushed her hands forward, and the dirt covered the box, and in that moment, tears slid down her cheeks and dripped into the dirt.

(To be continued)