Chapter 1812 Ren Zijuan discusses interests and creates trouble in the court

"Chengfeng, it's not unreasonable for Mingqi and Daofu to talk too much. The imperial court neglected preparations in this area in the early stage, so it seems to be a little stretched now." Ye Xianggao's eyes looked more like asking for opinions, " But the reality before us is so grim. Shuntian Prefecture has also reported that the refugees from Shanxi have passed Baoding Prefecture and entered Zhuozhou and Fangshan. This is the first wave, and there will be several more waves in the future. The pressure It will get bigger and bigger..."

Qi Yongtai remained silent. How could anyone who could sit in Wenyuan Pavilion and discuss matters not understand the whole story? He could taste the flavor of the following sentences in one sentence.

He knows the situation in Dagu better than everyone here, and even some preparations in Yongping Mansion, including Feng Ziying, Wei Guangwei, and Lian Guo, have been reported to him successively.

For example, the granary at Yuepo Port and Liujiadun, the dredging of Hulu River, the granary at Dagukou and the transfer warehouse in Dinggu, and the dredging of Wei River, which were done by Shuntian Prefecture and Yongping Prefecture officials , which ones are made by sea traders, and which ones are made by grain merchants themselves. The ingredients here are very complicated and do not belong to any one company.

If we talk about the proportion, I am afraid that the government only accounts for about 20%, and the remaining 80% are built by sea traders and grain merchants. However, it is true that these were all built under the promotion of Feng Ziying.

Leaving aside Li Sancai's situation, this guy only focused on ensuring the army's food supply, while Huang Ruliang needed to coordinate the food security of the entire Zhou Dynasty, or the entire Gyeonggi region. He had to seriously consider the issues raised by the other party.

 It's just possible that Huang Ruliang just listened to the reports from the people below and didn't know the specific situation here. Seeing that Shuntian Prefecture seemed to be making unified arrangements, he thought that everything from the facilities to the internal grain storage belonged to Shuntian Prefecture.

I don’t even think about it, how could Shuntian Prefecture have so much financial resources to build so many granaries and store so much grain?

 This was originally the work of the Ministry of Revenue, and the Shuntian Prefecture was at most a cooperating and assisting one. Now the Ministry of Revenue not only does not do it itself, but is also thinking of taking it directly from the Shuntian Prefecture. This is a bit embarrassing.

 “Brother Jinqing, the grain storage in the granary over in Dagu is not owned by Shuntian Mansion.” Qi Yongtai responded lightly.

"Well, I know that part of Shuntian Mansion belongs to the merchants, but as far as I know, these merchants were reluctant before. It was Ziying's foresight and exhaustion of various methods that made it possible for these merchants to do so. Building a warehouse, especially some sea trade merchants, were originally reluctant to build a granary, thinking that it was a matter for the grain merchants, but Ziying patiently persuaded her before reluctantly agreeing, and now it suddenly comes into play."

Ye Xianggao also had to praise Feng Ziying, because she did a good job.

As the Prime Minister of Shuntian, not only did the government make adequate preparations for the incident, but he also encouraged the merchants to cooperate. Without this step, the court would have been really in trouble.

Shanxi merchants and grain merchants all have backgrounds, and it is not easy to let you arrange it. To build a granary or store grain in advance, you have to invest real money. I don’t know how Feng Ziying can do this. Act according to his plan.

Whether it's inducement or coercion, you have to have some ability to do it, but Feng Ziying, a Shuntian Fucheng who just took office less than a year ago, did it.

Fang Congzhe also understood the rules here. Ye Xianggao wanted to smooth things over for Huang Ruliang, but it was easy to do so. There had to be a strategy for the next step. If Qi Yongtai refused to agree, it would be difficult.

"Chengfeng, the court is in a difficult situation right now. There are also constant troubles in Hejian Mansion. Sun Shaozu's cavalry has been harassing Jingzhou, Fucheng, and Dongguang areas. You Shilu's Jizhen Army has just had time to move south from Tianjin Wei. Before they passed Qingxian County, people began to make noises about the need to quickly replenish food and grass. However, Su Shengdu's Shanxi Army was moving in and out. They had not yet left Shanxi Province and were still more than 200 miles away from the well. The same was true. They are talking about the issue of money and food..." Fang Congzhe looked tired, "The people over there are also racking their brains to find ways to raise money and food from tomorrow, but now they are too pressed for time..."

Ye Xianggao's tone was more tactful. After all, he was the first assistant, and Fang Congzhe was the second assistant and was in charge of finance. He had to talk about money and food in all aspects, so he could only complain.

Qi Yongtai was both angry and funny. As for what happened, for the sake of Shuntian Prefecture’s small amount of food, the first and second assistants, as well as ministers from the Ministry of Finance, all came to the stage to perform in order to bring back the Dagukou granary and food.

 Fortunately, Qi Yongtai had talked with Feng Ziying before and was very pleased with Feng Ziying's generosity.

Feng Ziying's attitude is very calm. There is nothing to say if the court needs it. However, the grain used by Shuntian Mansion for relief must be set aside. What he can do is to let the sea trade merchants and grain merchants sell the grain to the Ministry of Household Affairs at a fair price. , the price is even 10% cheaper than the current market price in Jingshi City.

Feng Ziying knew very well how to bargain with the court in this situation. Not only would she not be able to make a good impression, she would also have to hand over the food obediently in the end, especially in the end, she was afraid that she would be penalized by the court. In this case Express your attitude openly and openly. It meets the needs of the court and can make huge profits. Why not?

These businessmen would have been laughing from ear to ear. As for the fact that the price of food is 10% cheaper than the current price in the capital, what does it matter?

When they bought from Jiangnan, the price was actually less than 30% of the current grain price, which was more than twice the price. They gave some profit, recovered the cost and profit, and could continue to transport grain from the south to the north. , why not?

"Zhonghan, please don't complain like this. I'm not someone who doesn't understand justice and doesn't care about the overall situation. I will negotiate with Ziying, but both Jinqing and Zhonghan should know that the granary from Dagukou to Dingzigu None of the stored grain is owned by the Shuntian Mansion family. When it comes to merchants’ grain, the court can only purchase it, and the price still needs to be negotiated..."

Before Qi Yongtai finished speaking, Huang Ruliang had already answered: "Brother Chengfeng, the price is easy to say, but you also know the difficulties of the Ministry of Revenue now. There is definitely no problem with this amount, but in the future, the Ministry of Revenue may have to purchase a considerable amount of grain. Just in case something unexpected happens, you might just..."

Qi Yongtai frowned: "Doesn't the Ministry of Household Affairs have no countermeasures? Are Haitong Bank and this raid and sale not enough to meet the needs of the Ministry of Household Affairs?"

"Brother Chengfeng, if there were not this series of military operations, the household department would be more than enough to deal with it, but you also know that the 120,000 elite troops of the Northwest Army are marching eastward, the war is imminent, and the daily expenses are huge, which makes me sleepless at night. Now Youshi The Luji Town Army and Su Shengdu's Shanxi Army have not yet gathered in place, but various demands have been listed in the Ministry of War. A group of people from the Ministry of War come to the Ministry of Household Affairs to block the door every day. Now refugees are coming west and north in large numbers. You have said it , Shuntian Mansion needs to purchase grain. The price of grain is so high now. If we can buy it at a price equal to the grain price a year ago, then it will not be a big problem, and..."

Huang Ruliang spread his hands. Everyone knew that it was impossible. It was almost the same as robbery. It would definitely cause a backlash from the merchants. Not to mention the influence of Shanxi merchants, just considering using their transportation and purchasing in the south. It is impossible to do this if the network is used to meet the needs of Gyeonggi after the water transportation is interrupted.

"And what?" Qi Yongtai asked. Ye Xianggao and Fang Congzhe were also very concerned about Huang Ruliang, who looked sad.

"And the originally expected sales situation may be very pessimistic." Huang Ruliang said thoughtfully.

"Oh?" Ye Xianggao couldn't help but frown, this was bad news, and asked in a deep voice: "This shouldn't be the case. Didn't Long Jinwei, the Criminal Department, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate all say that the inspection went smoothly? The Niu family of Zhenguo, the late uncle Wang family of Du Taiwei, the Wang Shui family of Beijing County, the Tao family of Nan'an County, the Jia family of Ningrong Ergong, the Liu family of Li Guogong and a large number of Wu Xun were all implicated. So many families were searched Come down, aren’t you still optimistic?”

Huang Ruliang smiled bitterly, "Niu Jizong and Wang Ziteng have already prepared for entering Qing Gong. Basically, apart from the mansion, there is basically not much to gain. Niu Jixun's family is fine, but there is also the relationship between Princess Yongning, so now we are temporarily counting and sealing it. , whether to confiscate it and sell it, we still have to ask the court to come up with a strategy. Niu Jixun keeps saying that he knows nothing about his brother, so should we just forget it?"

“How is that possible?” Fang Congzhe and Qi Yongtai both said in unison.

"Then the court will have to give an explanation." Huang Ruliang continued: "The Shui family and the Tao family confiscated only 200,000 taels of cash, of which the Shui family only had only 20,000 taels. Obviously Shuirong had already made preparations, and the Tao Qian family There was a slight profit, but it was not as good as imagined. The Jia family of Ning Rong's second son was doing well. His family didn't have much, only tens of thousands of taels of cash, but many of his subordinates had enriched their own pockets, and there were insiders. After reporting the report, we found over a hundred thousand taels of gold and silver, and the rest were not satisfactory. Added up over the years, the gold and silver amount was only five to six hundred thousand taels, which was far lower than the two million taels we originally expected..."

 Everyone in Wenyuan Pavilion couldn't help but look at each other.

Initially, everyone expected that the minimum bottom line should be 1.5 million taels of cash, because the Jingtong Second Warehouse case was earlier, and this time the scale was much larger, and all the people involved were well-known characters. Everyone felt that they all knew it. , Two million taels of silver should be the minimum standard. To be more optimistic, it should be four million taels, or even five million taels. Unexpectedly, it is only one-tenth. This is so unexpected.

Seeing that all the people looked very ugly, Huang Ruliang quickly added: "This is just cash. Of course, there are also many other dead objects and miscellaneous items. Since it is difficult to estimate, I invited many antique shops and pawnshop shopkeepers in the capital city to help. The evaluation should take some time, but again, we are not optimistic..."

 “Why do you say that?” Li Sancai couldn’t help but ask.

 (End of this chapter)