Chapter 485: Using Public Resources for Personal Purposes

There were indeed a few runners from Jiangding Village collecting grain there. As the county magistrate of Luojiang County, Yang Heshu did not bring many servants with him, but he had many people who could be used.

Since the yamen was closed during the holidays anyway, he simply used public property for personal gain, took out some of the reward money, and directly requisitioned the officials in the yamen.

He even pulled out the county's chief clerk, secretary, and others to go to the countryside to collect grain.

As for where the county government got so much money, of course he paid it in advance.

Yes, these grains were purchased in the name of the county government, because as the magistrate of Luojiang County, according to the laws of the court, he was not allowed to do such business in Luojiang County.

Of course, if he just picked a servant and registered the business under his name, there would be no problem. In fact, many officials did this.

So when Yang Heshu took out a lot of money and asked them to buy grain, the chief clerk and gentry of Luojiang County thought that Yang Heshu was misusing public resources for personal gain.

The chief clerk and his men helped without complaint, because according to official conventions, not only those who saw the incident had a share, but those who participated also had a share.

Didn’t you see that the county magistrate had already taken out the reward money?

Someone offered a higher price for the grain, and the villagers were not stupid, so they naturally sold the grain to the county government.

The grain merchants waiting to collect grain in various large villages were confused. Isn't this... competing with the people for profits?

Even though the former County Magistrate Fu had been in Luojiang County for many years, he was not so domineering as to directly snatch food from them.

You have to know that no matter how greedy County Magistrate Fu was, the most he dared to do was to ask them to get a share of the profits.

The local grain merchants in Luojiang County were stunned.

Then they couldn't help but get angry, but this was their own county magistrate after all, and of course they couldn't just tear their faces with him without asking any questions, so several grain merchants discussed privately and decided to treat Yang Heshu to a meal.

Of course, before that, I have to sound out the county magistrate and the chief clerk.

As a result, the county magistrate came to find them in person after finding out the truth.

Yang Heshu said earnestly that he did not want to compete with the people for profit, he just did not want the low grain prices to hurt the people. If they insisted on a low price, then the price of the grain sold would have to be lowered accordingly.

Yang Heshu wrote: "There is no reason to buy grain from farmers at a low price and then sell it at a high price."

The grain merchants said: "...Sir, isn't business all about buying low and selling high? There's nothing wrong with us buying low and selling high."

Yang Heshu's smile faded, and he said, "Of course there's nothing wrong with buying low and selling high, but if the low is too low or the high is too high, then there's a problem."

He said, "No matter what happens elsewhere in this county, I will not allow such a thing to happen within its jurisdiction."

Grain merchants: ...

The two sides finally parted ways unhappily.

Although Yang Heshu was the county magistrate, he had only been in office for half a year. Apart from the incident of buying cattle on credit, he had not done anything out of the ordinary, and he was still very young.

Even though he is an official, everyone always subconsciously thinks that this young man with little experience in talking is unreliable.

Therefore, his power in Luojiang County is really not as great as that of County Magistrate Fu who had just arrived that year.

The grain merchants did not take Yang Heshu seriously. After discussing it at home, they also sent people to collect grain. After a round of collection, they found that it was difficult to collect grain at a price below eight cents.

Because Yang Heshu was narrow-minded and was angered by them, he asked the runners to call the heads of each village as soon as he returned to the county government office, and asked them to beat drums and gongs to inform the villagers that the county government was buying millet at ten cents a dou and wheat at fifteen cents a dou.

Not all village heads would listen to Yang Heshu. After all, some of them had good relationships with grain merchants.

They may even be related, or even family members.

But even if there was no notification here, people next door would know about it as soon as they beat drums and gongs. So within two days, all the villages in Luojiang County, even the remote village like Qili Village, knew about it, not to mention other places.

As a result, grain merchants could no longer collect grain.

They were not in a hurry. After waiting for two days, they found that Yang Heshu had withdrawn half of his staff to collect taxes, while the other half continued to purchase grain outside.

Moreover, this time, Yang Heshu also spent money to hire a lot of people. These people were the thugs who used to collect protection fees everywhere in the county.

I don't know when they actually listened to Yang Heshu, and now they are directly hired to guard, move and transport grain.

Grain merchants: ...

Seeing that the county government was about to collect all the surplus grain from the villages this year, they couldn't help but buy it up.

One family couldn't bear it any longer, so the other families had to rush in and raised the price to ten cents in one go.

But for some unknown reason, the villagers are still unwilling to sell their grain to grain merchants, and prefer to sell it to the county government.

There was no other way, so the grain merchants gritted their teeth and raised the price of grain by one more cent, which was exactly one cent more than what the county government offered.

Only then did someone sell the food they had to them.

Yang Heshu looked at them with a smile and said to the farmers who still insisted on selling grain to him, "How can you not make money? You can also transport grain to sell to them. If they dare to lower the price, you can sell it back to me. An extra penny per bushel is not a small amount."

When everyone heard this, they all took their grain and lined up at the grain purchasing points of various grain merchants.

Of course, the grain merchants would not suffer the loss in vain. The purchase price was raised here, and the price of grain in the grain shops also increased, directly increasing by five cents per dou.

Yang Heshu was furious after hearing this and said to Wan Tian, ​​"See? I told you they were profiteers, didn't I? The grain price has only gone up by two cents, and the price sold out has gone up by five cents. And it's gone up across the grain shops, from the county seat down to the townships... They've definitely decided that this county can't do anything to them."

"Master, what can you do with them?"

"I can't," Yang Heshu sneered, "This county won't use public resources for personal gain, nor will it use public resources for personal gain."

The chief clerk who came to report with the account book could not help but pause and thought to himself: You asked us to help you buy grain, isn't this misusing public resources for personal gain?

"Sir," the chief clerk pretended not to hear what the master and servant had said, and walked in with the account book, saying, "This is the account book for the grain purchase this time."

Yang Heshu opened it and looked at it, then nodded. "Very good. Have someone clear out the small guardhouse next to the county office, open a small door on the wall facing the street, and spread the word that the county office wants to sell grain. The price is twelve cents per dou of millet and eighteen cents per dou of wheat. Each person is limited to one dou per day."

The chief clerk widened his eyes.

Yang Heshu continued, "Choose a few veteran officials to personally oversee the county. There won't be anyone in the county town they don't know. Remember, anyone who buys once won't be allowed to buy again within a day."

The chief clerk had only one thought in his mind: County Magistrate Yang was indeed a powerful backer. Not only could he use public resources for personal gain to get everyone to buy grain for him, he even used the county government office and had the people there sell grain to him!

(End of this chapter)