"Your Majesty's response strategy is to stabilize prices. As long as the prices of cloth, grain and salt are stabilized, there will be no civil unrest in Shaanxi!" Cao Huachun said seriously.
Lu Daqi thought about it and couldn't help but secretly admire Chongzhen.
The daily life of ordinary people is nothing more than clothing, food, housing and transportation.
The hoarding behavior of gentry and merchants mainly affected the people's clothing and food, and had little impact on their housing and transportation in the short term.
The main thing related to clothes is cloth. At that time, there were almost no ready-made clothes. You had to buy cloth yourself or ask a tailor to make them.
Related to food are grain and salt.
Apart from that, nothing else matters.
"But..." Lu Daqi had a new question, "How to stabilize prices?"
"Mobilize grain, salt and cloth from other provinces!" Cao Huachun replied.
"Salt and cloth are fine. They can be transported from Northern Zhili and Shandong. But what about food? Food is not very abundant in Shanxi and Northern Zhili, which are adjacent to Shaanxi. Otherwise, the court would not have to spend money and effort to buy food for the border troops from the south." Lu Daqi was a little worried.
"Don't worry, Lord Lu, these questions are not problems, no need to ask more!"
"If you don't tell me, I won't be sure!"
"Oh," Cao Huachun smiled, "Not to mention you, Lord Lu, even the cabinet and the six ministries are unaware of this matter."
"What?" Lü Daqi exclaimed, "Lord Cao means... such a big thing, the six ministries and the cabinet didn't even know about it?"
"Yes," Cao Huachun nodded gently, "Shaanxi's currency reform affects the interests of too many people. If the cabinet and the six ministries knew about it in advance, we would be passive in everything we do. So this matter needs to be kept secret until the moment the supplies arrive in Shaanxi!"
Lu Daqi frowned and shook his head.
In his opinion, it was impossible to transport large amounts of grain and fodder to Shanxi by bypassing the cabinet and the six ministries.
First of all, most of the grain transported to Shaanxi was supplied to the border troops. All the materials related to the army were military supplies and required a travel permit from the Ministry of War.
Secondly, even if the Ministry of War was bypassed, transporting so much grain would attract the attention of the prefectures and counties along the way, and they would be reported to the Six Ministries and the Cabinet.
Cao Huachun did not explain, but continued: "Before the grain arrives in Shaanxi, Lord Lu needs to do one more thing."
"What's up?"
"When grain prices rise to a certain level, Lord Lu needs to sell the grain in the government warehouse to the people at a low price!"
"Don't worry, Lord Cao. The government warehouses in Shaanxi's seven prefectures, nineteen states, and eighty-three counties are all full of grain. As long as the price of grain exceeds two and a half taels, the local government warehouses will immediately open their warehouses and sell grain at a low price to stabilize the price of grain."
"That's good!" Cao Huachun said goodbye and left.
Lu Daqi didn't notice that Cao Huachun had an intriguing smile on his face when he said goodbye and left.
With the arrival of mid-December, the tax collection work in Shaanxi is nearing completion.
Lu Daqi gave the collected copper coins to Cao Huachun in exchange for silver, part of which was handed over to the court and part was kept in the Xi'an treasury to pay salaries and wages to officials and soldiers.
The end of the year is approaching, which should be a time for family reunions and celebrations, but Lu Daqi just can't be happy.
Because since the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, local prices in Shaanxi have started to soar.
Especially the price of grain, the price per stone of grain has increased from the original one tael and eight cents to two and a half taels!
While selling grain from the government warehouse to the people at low prices, he also sent people to urge Cao Huachun to quickly bring in grain from other provinces.
At noon on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, Lu Daqi met his personal soldiers who came to report.
Lu Daqi asked, "Is there any news from Cao Huachun?"
"I...didn't see Eunuch Cao."
"What?" Lu Daqi had a bad feeling. "Where are the people from the bank? They must know where Cao Huachun is going."
"People from the bank..." The guard hesitated to speak.
Lu Daqi was furious, pointing at the soldier's nose and scolding: "You have been with me for many years, don't you know the rules of saying whatever you want?"
"Yes, sir!" The guard replied while scratching his head, "The people at the bank are nice and polite, but... they don't know anything!"
"What?" Lu Daqi fell from the sky with great expectation and fell directly into the eighteenth level of hell.
"It's bad..." His back felt cold, his forehead felt tight, and his whole body began to lose temperature.
If his prediction is correct, he was most likely tricked by Cao Huachun.
In other words...there is no such thing as food from other provinces.
This is a complete scam!
Although he was not sure about Cao Huachun's purpose in deceiving him, Lu Daqi no longer had the heart to think about it.
He wanted to report to the court immediately and ask for help.
Thinking of this, he quickly walked to the table, took out paper and pen and began to write official documents.
After finishing the official document, Lu Daqi was still unsure, so he took out a piece of paper and began to write a letter to the Governor of Shanxi, intending to borrow grain from him!
On the evening of the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, the messenger hurried to Taiyuan Prefecture in Shanxi with the letter.
"I am a messenger sent by the Governor-General of the Three Borders of Shaanxi, requesting to see His Excellency Fang, the Governor-General of Shanxi." The messenger whispered as he stood beside the back door of the government office.
The Governor of Shanxi was named Fang Kongzhao. Although he was a scholar, he was very good at commanding troops. Especially during his tenure as Governor of Huguang, he won eight battles in a row against the aggressive Zhang Xianzhong, forcing Zhang Xianzhong to dare not confront him head-on!
He himself is not very famous in history, but he has a very famous son named Fang Yizhi...
Shanxi Governor Fang Kongzhao cordially received the messenger.
After reading Lü Daqi's letter, Fang Kongzhao said to the messenger, "Go back and tell Lord Lü that I'm really sorry. The court has to train troops on the grasslands, and all the food in Shanxi has been transported to the border troops. There is no food to borrow at the moment!"
The messenger had no choice but to bow and leave.
As soon as the messenger left, Cao Huachun appeared from behind.
He bowed deeply to Fang Kongzhao and said, "Thank you, Lord Fang, for your cooperation."
Fang Kongzhao asked worriedly, "Will this push Lu Daqi into a dead end?"
"We must push him into a desperate situation!" Cao Huachun looked determined.
"Why?"
"Because someone around him leaked the news. If the grain in Shaanxi's treasury is not emptied, the corrupt merchants and evil gentry in Shaanxi will not reveal their true colors!"
Fang Kongzhao was stunned for a moment, and there was a hint of awe in his eyes when he looked at Cao Huachun.
After receiving the news, Lu Daqi almost fainted and wrote letters to all his good colleagues.
The content of the letter was only one: borrow food!
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