On March 25, the 22nd year of Chongzhen, Lu Daqi came to the Shaanxi branch of Daming Money House in casual clothes.

After entering the room and sitting down, Lu Daqi bowed to Cao Huachun and said, "Master Cao, how are you these days?"

"Okay," Cao Huachun nodded as he asked someone to serve tea to Lu Daqi. "You and I are both sensible people. If you have something to say, just say it. There's no need to hide it!"

"Hey, you..." Lu Daqi straightened his neck, "I saw that you are old and you are busy day and night to stabilize the grain price, so I came to express my condolences on behalf of the people of Shaanxi."

"Oh..." Cao Huachun smiled faintly: "I have lived for so long, but this is the first time I have met someone who came to express his condolences empty-handed."

Lu Daqi's whole body froze, and he subconsciously put his hands behind his back, "I came here in a hurry and forgot about it!"

"Lord Lu is an honest official. I, Cao, don't care about these things. Come and have some tea!"

After the two of them had a cup of tea, Lu Daqi got down to business. "Master Cao, I came here to discuss grain prices."

"Lord Lu wants to continue lowering the price of grain?" Cao Huachun put down his teacup and looked up and asked.

“No, no, no,” Lu Daqi waved his hands hastily, “The price of grain can’t go any lower. If it goes any lower, all the grain merchants in Shaanxi will go bankrupt.”

"What does it have to do with me whether they live or die? Besides, they deserve to die for hoarding goods, and I am doing this to eliminate harm to the people!"

"Ah!" Lu Daqi sighed, "I don't want to care about their lives! But the trade in Guanzhong is already declining. If we kill them, the trade in Guanzhong will be even worse!"

"Without the participation of merchants, the circulation of goods will slow down, and the prices in Guanzhong, which is already poor, can be imagined."

"If you want to govern a place well, you can't use a one-size-fits-all policy. That will only make the place dead. You need to take the strengths of each family and then distribute the benefits reasonably..."

Cao Huachun drank his tea slowly, listened carefully to Lu Daqi's analysis of the pros and cons, and nodded in cooperation from time to time.

After Lü Daqi finished speaking, Cao Huachun asked, "Master Lü has been laying the groundwork for so long, what exactly do you want to do?"

"Ahem," Lü Daqi coughed to cover up his embarrassment, "The gentry and merchants in Guanzhong want to host a banquet for you and me, and asked me to ask about your attitude."

"Banquet?" Cao Huachun's eyes lit up. "When will we eat? Where will we eat?"

Lu Daqi thought he had heard wrongly, and asked subconsciously: "You...you agreed?"

"Of course, it would be a waste if I didn't eat it! Since I came to Shaanxi, no one has ever invited me to dinner."

Lu Daqi's face turned red, "Don't blame me, Lord Cao. I was so busy with official duties that I forgot about it."

"Yes, yes, the governors of the three borders of Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty are busier than anyone else!" Cao Huachun said sarcastically.

Lu Daqi's face turned even redder. "I will do it some other day, for sure!"

After drinking tea for a while, Lu Daqi said goodbye.

Three days later at noon.

Lu Daqi, Cao Huachun, and other famous local gentry and businessmen in Shaanxi gathered in the largest restaurant in Xi'an Prefecture.

In order to entertain the two of them, the gentry and businessmen simply chose to book the entire place as a sign of respect.

Amid the greetings, everyone took their seats.

As the food and drinks were served, everyone began to drink happily.

After drinking for a while, the gentleman Li Pu raised his glass to Cao Huachun and said, "I toast to Lord Cao."

Cao Huachun nodded and drank half the glass of wine.

After drinking for a while, the impatient Cao Huachun couldn't help it anymore.

He coughed lightly and said, "Everyone, would you mind listening to me for a few words?"

"Please speak, Lord Cao. We are all ears!" The gentry and businessmen present put down their wine glasses and looked at Cao Huachun with pious eyes.

"Let's not beat around the bush," Lu Daqi got straight to the point. "You all must have something to ask of me and Lord Lu by inviting us to a banquet. Now that we've had our meal and drinks, it's time to get down to business."

"Nothing! It's just a simple banquet!"

"Yes, it's just a banquet, nothing extra." The gentry and businessmen responded perfunctorily.

Cao Huachun stood up suddenly and said, "Since everything is fine, I, Cao, will leave first. I'm busy in the bank!"

Seeing that Cao Huachun was about to leave, the gentry and businessmen became upset and stood up to try to keep him.

Cao Huachun refused to listen and insisted on leaving.

Upon seeing this, the gentleman Zhao Ling coughed and said, "Master Cao, please stay. We do have a favor to ask of you!"

Cao Huachun turned around. Although his face showed no expression, he was very happy in his heart. "Go ahead, I'm listening."

"It's about the price of grain!" As soon as Zhao Ling finished speaking, the whole room fell silent.

"Go on!" Cao Huachun waved his hand.

"It's like this," the gentleman Zhao Ling took a deep breath, "We would like to ask Lord Cao to show some mercy and give the people of Guanzhong a chance to survive."

"What do you mean?"

"Low grain prices hurt farmers!" Zhao Ling immediately put a big accusation on Cao Huachun.

Low grain prices hurt farmers means that excessively low grain prices will reduce farmers' enthusiasm for farming, thus leading to a decrease in grain production.

Although Cao Huachun was a eunuch, he had been literate in the palace since childhood and was no worse than ordinary scholars.

He smiled faintly: "Cheap grain prices do hurt farmers, but Lord Ouyang Wenzhong also said that expensive grain prices will starve farmers!"

The superficial meaning of "high grain prices lead to hungry farmers" is that due to high grain prices, farmers will sell as much grain as possible, which will lead to starvation.

A deeper meaning is that when grain prices are high, other prices are also high. The increase in other prices often exceeds the increase in grain prices, which makes farmers' lives difficult.

Gentleman Zhao Ling opened his mouth, not knowing how to recover.

He originally wanted to use his knowledge to put a big hat on Cao Huachun, but not only did he fail to do so, he was also retorted and looked very unhappy.

Seeing this, Lu Daqi stood up to smooth things over: "Haha, everyone here knows that low grain prices hurt farmers, while high grain prices starve farmers, so it's best that the grain price is neither too high nor too low!"

"Yes, yes, Lord Lu is right!" The grain merchants echoed

"Lord Lu's words are profound. This is exactly what we mean." The gentry expressed their agreement.

Cao Huachun nodded first, then said loudly: "I know what you mean, don't you just want me to raise the price of official grain?"

The gentry and merchants present looked at Cao Huachun quietly, not daring to make any sound.

In front of everyone, Cao Huachun took out a Ming Dynasty round coin from his arms and put it on the table and said, "I can raise the price of official grain, but there is a prerequisite!"