Chapter 405: If I dare to let my son play, would I be afraid that someone will snatch it away?
Other villagers from Chenjia Village also joined the long queue at the town entrance.
After the old woman of the Chen family helped Chen De leave in disgrace, she immediately told the people around her about the Chen family's affairs.
Firstly, they really couldn't stand the old woman Chen's face. Secondly, they were all receiving favors from the Su family and they remembered the kindness in their hearts. Naturally, they would spare no effort to clear Su Xiuer's name.
When they returned to Chenjia Village, what happened at the town entrance was known to the whole village. For a time, the Chen family was at the bottom of the contempt chain.
Apart from this little episode, Ningshui Town and its surrounding areas were in turmoil and confusion. However, the Su family's free porridge and medicine effectively appeased the people, and people's hearts gradually calmed down again.
Any thugs who tried to rob and cause trouble, or security guards of wealthy families, would be crushed as soon as they appeared and would never dare to cause trouble again.
After the first round of resistance, the people were like people who had drunk too much chicken blood in the following days. When they went out to get porridge, they always carried a stick in their hands, ready to fight at any time to defend their life-saving food.
Ningshui Town belongs to Xizhong County.
Creek Chamber of Commerce.
A group of well-dressed and fat grain merchants gathered for a tea party, chatting and laughing.
"I don't know where this wealthy man came from, but he cleared out all the rice and flour in my shop in just two days, hahaha! I'm really short on stock right now. If any of you have extra rice or grain, please give me some! I'm sure you won't get a bad price!"
"Mr. Zhang, you must have made a fortune this time, right? I heard that all the grain in the rice shops in Ningshui Town has been taken away. It seems to be true, otherwise you wouldn't come to us to transfer goods."
"Oh, don't say that. It's not my family that earned the money. We just happened to encounter this situation, right? Yuzhou is suffering from disasters everywhere. Seeing the people have no food to eat, Zhang, as a grain merchant, feels very sorry. However, my small business doesn't make much profit, and I have a whole family to support. I really can't give away rice and grain for free. Fortunately, there is a kind-hearted person! He bought grain and gave it to the people to eat, so that they can survive. I feel relieved!"
"Look how happy you are, hahaha! But you can't ask us for more food, we've almost sold out the remaining food!"
"I calculated the grain held by grain merchants across Xizhong County, and it adds up to at least 50,000 dan. Adding in what's being shipped from 'that place,' the total is over 150,000 dan! Those people were able to buy it all... Ugh! What kind of financial resources do they have? I can't even count three people in Daiyue who can spend money like that. Who are they?"
"I've asked people about it. They're from Dahuai Village in Ningshui Town, a farming family named Su. Sixteen years ago, they were exiled to Yongzhou, but later, a general amnesty allowed them to return to good citizenship. As for what business they're in that earned them so much money, I don't know."
"Exiled to Yongzhou? I heard there's a Fengyun City in that exile area, but it's not peaceful! Is the money the Su family earns legitimate?"
"It doesn't matter whether they're legitimate or not. We sell grain, they buy it, and it's a cash-and-delivery deal. Anyway, we're doing legitimate business, so other things don't concern us."
"That's true, but now someone is buying up grain in bulk, causing grain merchants to have less and less grain in stock. Scarcity makes things valuable, and prices are also rising... What about the imperial court?"
"Don't worry about the imperial court. We pay the government taxes every year without missing a cent. Not only the county magistrate, but even the prefectural government will give us some face. We are all in this together. Besides, Changjing is very far away from Yuzhou. I'm afraid the news hasn't reached us yet!"
Everyone present knew the implication.
In order to take advantage of the disaster to make money, they had already colluded with the government. It would take at least until the twelfth month for the news here to reach the emperor.
Before that, it is enough for them to continue earning.
After a round of conversation, everyone toasted each other and was in high spirits.
At this time, Bai Kui, the old man Bai, who was far away in the exile city of Fengyun City, was sitting on a carved armchair in the hall of the Bai Mansion, holding his chest and almost unable to breathe.
The man covered his heart with one hand and asked the housekeeper with a last glimmer of hope, "Is it because you are old and hard of hearing that you heard it wrong?"
The old butler was unconvinced. "Master, I may be old, but I'm definitely not hard of hearing. What the silver shop manager said is true: the Bai Mansion has a major expenditure and has already taken away 700,000 taels of silver."
Bai Kui's back slumped, and he leaned against the back of the chair. His hand, clutching his heart, drooped limply, like a wandering soul. "What big deal has the young master done?"
"Young Master bought up all the rice in the county in Yuzhou."
"How many?"
"About 150,000 koku."
Bai Kui panted heavily, then slowly sat up straight after a moment, raised an eyebrow, and slowly smiled again, "Big grain merchants control small grain merchants, and they are all in the same pond. With the current national strength of Dai Yue, the total grain reserves held by all grain merchants in a county would not exceed 50,000 dan at most. Yet Yu'er bought 150,000 dan of grain, and the only source of the remaining 100,000 dan is the government granary... Hahaha!"
The old housekeeper watched with his own eyes as his master went from being on the verge of death to laughing like a madman, and was frightened, "Master?"
Did the Patriarch go crazy because of the Young Master?!
Bai Kui stopped laughing and waved his hand, "Alright, let him play."
The old butler's mouth twitched, and after a moment's hesitation, he added, "Master, wouldn't this be too conspicuous? The Emperor's personal treasury only has two or three hundred thousand taels of silver available. If the young master reveals his wealth like this, it might attract attention."
"Family assets? You mean the 700,000? That's too much of an underestimation of me, Bai Kui." The man snorted disdainfully, patted the armrest of his chair, stood up, and left the hall with his hands behind his back, his back proud and proud. "My Bai family is rich enough to rival a country! I dare let my son play around with money. Am I afraid of being robbed? Hahahaha!"
The old housekeeper silently looked at the master's elegant back, rolled his eyes and snorted.
Very grand.
You shouldn't have looked so confused just now. You were trying to scare me.
In Ningshui, Yuzhou, Tianbao and others continued to buy food.
Just buy it from the county grain merchants.
If they are sold out today, new goods will be delivered tomorrow. The prices of rice and flour also change every two days, rising steadily.
Young Master Bai, who held the Bai family token, was very arrogant. He would accept any price no matter what it was and never bargain. Even if the other party offered to round off the price, he would worry that the other party would suffer a loss, so he would pay the full amount.
The account books in Su Wen's hands became thicker and thicker, clearly recording the month and day when grain was purchased from which grain shop, through whom, at what price, and in total, how much silver.
The accounts are detailed and accurate to the cents.
Half of October has passed in a flash, and the temperature in Yuzhou is getting colder day by day.
Although the affected people had enough porridge and water to barely fill their stomachs, their lives were still getting more difficult day by day.
The government still did not take any reasonable and effective measures. The amount of rice and grain it took out for disaster relief every day was decreasing. In the end, they just put out a few bags of grain as a pretense.
October 28th.
The Yuzhou government office suddenly received news that the emperor had come to Yuzhou in person and was already at the gate of the government office.
Yuzhou prefect Xu Jin crawled to welcome the emperor.
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