Chapter 57 Food prices are rising wildly
Hearing Mrs. Feng muttering, Xiao Nuobao came over in big cotton shoes and tugged at her mother's big hand.
"Don't wait for the big pot, it's so cold outside~." She raised her little face and urged her mother to go into the house in a baby voice.
Big brother hasn't come back for so long.
Most likely he is busy with those sacks, nothing will happen.
As soon as the girl spoke, Mrs. Feng felt relieved, so she took her home and prepared to chop chicken food.
Xiao Nuobao was still young and still a little sleepy.
In the afternoon, she and Chun Ge'er lay on a small mattress, picked up a few tributes casually, and fell asleep with their heads tilted back.
Li Qiqiao looked after the two children, her lips raised with satisfaction, her hands were full of needle and thread, she wanted to sew a tiger-head hat for each of them.
Feng Jing packed his school bag, preparing to go back to the private school tomorrow.
Feng Miao hid behind the door, wanting to take a break at home.
But Feng grabbed his ear and dragged him to the school.
In order to watch these kids, the village school only has one day off for every seven days of study. Yesterday, Zhang Xiucai had an extra day off to warm up the pot for the Jiang family.
Now he had to go no matter what.
Feng Miao was small, so Feng chose a seat in the front row for him. He was so sleepy that he cried all afternoon, but he didn't dare to fall asleep under Zhang Xiucai's eyes.
After an unknown amount of time, the sun was about to set, Feng Miao came back from school, and Li Qiqiao had to go to the fields to cook.
Jiang Fengnian finally opened the door and entered the yard in the cold wind.
Hearing the sound, Sun Chunxue was about to go out to greet him when she saw several large bags piled up behind the donkey cart.
She opened one and grabbed a handful, and it was full of white flour mixed with wheat husks.
"Boss, what are you buying grain for?" Sun Chunxue was surprised: "We can't finish all the food in our cellar."
Jiang Fengnian's face looked a little ugly: "Unload the white flour first, and we'll go into the house later."
After closing the cellar door, Jiang Fengnian returned to the kang.
He took off his outer shirt which was torn in a piece and handed it to his wife: "There was a riot in the city, and I was squeezed and fell. My clothes are torn. You take them and sew them for me."
Feng, who had just finished feeding the chickens and ducks, came into the house and said in surprise: "Boss, what are you talking about? What happened in Yuncheng?"
Jiang Fengnian shook his head and sighed.
"Don't mention it, mother. Now the people in the city are scrambling for food. Yesterday morning, the price of food increased by half. By noon today... the price of food has doubled."
Thinking of the panic scene, he couldn't help but clench his fists: "... Many people are crowded in front of the grain store, trying to buy some food, their heads are about to burst." As
soon as these words came out, everyone in the Jiang family immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at the eldest son.
"Why did the price of food increase so quickly?" Feng asked in disbelief.
It doubled in two days?
Isn't this going to be a big deal!
Jiang Fengnian punched the kang with a worried look, but he quickly stopped because he was afraid of scaring the two children.
He said uncomfortably: "It is said that the war in the south can never be won, and the military rations are too scarce. The prefectures and people there can no longer provide them, so...so the court sent people to transfer 90% of our Yuncheng granary. Now the granary in the city is almost empty!"
Feng's eyes were shocked.
What?
You know, in the current famine, the grain production is insufficient, but Yuncheng can still be kept in order, all thanks to the granary.
The Nanji Kingdom implemented the policy of equal purchase.
That is, in the drought years, the granaries of various prefectures were opened to release the grain stored in previous years to ensure that the major granaries have rice to sell in the disaster year.
And the selling price cannot be more than 20% higher than the price set by the prefecture.
Because of this, even if there was a drought for three years, the people in the city could still fill their stomachs and not die of hunger.
"The granary is the guarantee of our Yuncheng. If so much food is transferred away, how can people survive?" Sun Chunxue exclaimed anxiously.
Feng frowned and asked, "What about Xiacheng, which is not far from us, and Yuanshancheng? They belong to the same prefecture as Yuncheng. If our Yuncheng has no food, they should borrow some for emergency use."
Jiang Fengnian thought of what he saw in the city, and bloodshot eyes appeared.
"They are also in need. This time the court has transferred the granaries of two prefectures, involving seven or eight cities in total. Our northern granaries are now empty, and no one can help anyone."
Upon hearing this, Feng's heart suddenly turned cold.
"This is bad. With only the rice and flour currently available on the market, plus the scramble, I'm afraid we may not be able to survive for even half a month."
Jiang Fengnian nodded.
"That's right. Now everyone in the city is worried about their own safety. They are all afraid that the price of grain will rise again, and they are even more afraid that they will not be able to buy grain even if they have money in the future. Just now, two men, in order to queue up to buy grain, actually drew knives at the door of the rice shop, and blood came out."
Li Qiqiao and the others all shuddered.
Isn't this going to change the world?
Feng then remembered to ask: "By the way, big brother, where did you get those bags of flour you brought back?"
In fact, Jiang Fengnian had not thought of buying flour.
But after coming out of the woodworking workshop, he saw the grain bags behind the donkey cart and realized that it must be his sister who reminded him.
There is enough rice and millet at home, but there is not much flour. If he doesn't buy it now, he may not be able to eat it even if he has money in the future.
Jiang Fengnian glanced at his sister who was still sleeping soundly, and said with relief: "Flour is the most popular in the city now. It is not easy to buy in the grain store. Fortunately, I remembered that there are several villages on the outskirts of the city that grow spring wheat, so I went there to buy some aged flour and gave them three times the price before."
Jiang Fengnian didn't dare to buy too much, so as not to attract attention.
So they only collected one or two bags from each village, which was not eye-catching.
Although the flour ground in each village was not fine and the wheat husks were not picked out, it was better than having nothing to eat.
Feng nodded slowly. She remembered that when Han Shang sent food, he also specifically reminded her of the importance of food.
I'm afraid he knew that the court would come to transfer food in order to win the border war...
"Boss, you did the right thing." Feng felt a little relieved: "With this white flour, our family will not be short of food."
She turned her head to look at the crookedly sleeping little Nuobao, and felt relieved.
Fortunately, this child is here.
But the villagers were afraid that they didn't know about this, so Feng asked Jiang Fengnian to inform the village chief.
"Boss, go to the village chief's house and ask him to tell every household that if anyone doesn't have enough grain, they must buy it as soon as possible, otherwise it will be too late!"
If it were previous years, their farmers would definitely keep enough food for a year.
There is nothing to be afraid of.
But since the drought, the harvest has been poor, and many families only keep enough for spring planting and part of their food. The rest are exchanged for silver when the grain price is the best in the autumn harvest.
Then wait until later, and use the silver to buy cheaper miscellaneous rice and bean flour to eat.
Many villagers will not have enough food to eat until the spring, let alone the autumn harvest next year.
Jiang Fengnian heard that he could not even afford to wear a jacket, so he hurried to find the village chief.
Once winter came, the villagers rarely went to the city.
If Jiang Fengnian had not informed him, the village chief would not have known that the city had changed.
"It's bad. Our Yuncheng granary has not been empty for more than 50 years. The grain price will definitely go up again. Not to mention doubling, I'm afraid it will increase tenfold in the end." The village chief was an experienced person, and his heart was immediately shocked.
He hurried to put on his shoes, took Jiang Fengnian and Yang Tianmei, and took the copper gong to inform every household about this matter.
Following the advice of the village chief, many villagers who had insufficient food in their stores rushed to the city to buy food.
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