Chapter 398 Grain Merchants
The refugees blocking the city gate were placed in caves and managed accordingly.
Looking at the now empty city gate, Zheng Qinghe let out a long breath. "Finally, I can see some land." When he looked down from the city wall, it was filled with people, with no land to be seen.
The city gate, which was originally somewhat uneven, has been trampled tight by these refugees over the past month.
Gu Jiayue smiled at his childish appearance. "It's just a temporary settlement, but if we run out of water and food, there's a chance riots will break out again."
These refugees are not good people. Who will talk to you about morality when they are about to die?
If they are so hungry that even people can't eat, it's unknown what they will do then.
"Yeah, so where can we find water at this time? I've already had people survey the area within a radius of fifty miles, and there's no water in any of the mountain springs, rivers, or underground streams."
Zheng Qinghe's brows, which had finally relaxed, furrowed again. He felt like he had aged ten years in an instant.
Gu Jiayue stood on tiptoe and patted Zheng Qinghe's shoulder. "Don't worry, I have a way!"
"What can you do? Can you conjure up food and water out of thin air?" Zheng Qinghe teased. "Alright, I'll leave the teaching of the refugees to you, and the food and water supply to me. Let's divide the work and work together to resist this natural disaster!"
He didn't want to add pressure to Gu Jiayue, so he tried to speak in a relaxed and cheerful tone.
Seeing that he didn't believe her, Gu Jiayue didn't continue to explain.
It is better to do than to say.
The water problem is easy to solve: just release water from the three reservoirs every other day. As for why the water in the already empty reservoirs can't be used up no matter how much we use it...
Why explain? What does it have to do with her?
Then all that's left is food.
There is a granary in the county town, which is usually used to store taxes collected every year.
I don’t know if it was God’s blessing, but before the imperial court could send people to take away the grain harvested last year, natural disasters occurred one after another.
Sometimes it's flooding, sometimes it's drought.
So Zheng Qinghe used the food in the granary without authorization to help the victims.
Anyway, his father is the prince's tutor, so he can still be protected in this little matter.
Besides, when the drought is over, he will be rewarded for sheltering the victims, and at that time his merits and demerits will be offset.
So she wasn't afraid at all.
But Annan County was remote and poor, and the annual tax revenue was low. Those five granaries were not even full.
Nowadays, with so many mouths waiting to be fed every day, even if each person has one bowl, the food will not last long.
Therefore, the issue of buying food is also very urgent.
"Yesterday Kangzi sent me another box of banknotes. Those grain merchants should have some grain, right? Let's pay them to buy some first. We don't need too much. The grain stored in previous years will be fine. As long as we have enough to eat, that's enough."
Zheng Qinghe untied the water bag from his waist, opened it, and handed it to Gu Jiayue. After watching her drink the water, he spoke again, "I've contacted them before. They're so ruthless. Originally, you could buy a pound of corn for four cents, but now they've raised the price to twenty cents! How can the average family afford it?"
Is this really the case?
"Aren't they afraid of losing money because the grain won't be sold?"
Zheng Qinghe shook his head. "They won't lose money at all. If you don't buy, there are plenty of people who will. If they can't sell it here, they can sell it somewhere else. There will always be buyers."
Yes, as long as a disaster occurs, food will become hard currency and there will be no worries about not being able to sell it.
In this case, it would be unrealistic to purchase grain from them.
It would be great if he had his own grain shop. That way he wouldn't have to pay high prices to buy grain from those grain merchants. In his system mall, he could buy 500 kilograms of rice with ten points.
Yeah! She suddenly had an idea: she could open her own grocery store!
Because of the drought, business is bad and many shops on the street are empty. If someone takes over at this time, they will definitely get a low price.
As long as she rents a shop, she can buy food from the system mall in the middle of the night and then sell it to Zheng Qinghe at a low price.
However, this plan lacks someone who can help her sell the grain without revealing her secrets!
Her mind fell into the system mall again.
The lifelike robot that helped her deliver rice seedlings last year was quite good. As long as you input the settings for it, it can imitate human speech and behavior 100%.
If you use it, you don't have to worry about your secrets being exposed.
But...it's really expensive!
"System, can't you give me a discount on that simulated robot?"
System: "What kind of simulated robot?"
Gu Jiayue inexplicably pulled up the robot page in the mall. "That's it."
"Oh? The host wants to rent this robot, right?"
The system was jumping happily in Gu Jiayue's mind, as if hinting at something.
Gu Jiayue was suddenly enlightened. "Yes, how much education value is required for renting?"
"Since this is your first time renting, we can give you a 10% discount. We'll also give you a seven-day free trial. If you're not satisfied, you don't have to pay anything. And if you rent for three consecutive months, you can get the product directly."
The system is working very hard to promote this loss-making business.
Seeing that the system seemed to be in such a state of chaos, Gu Jiayue felt warm but also helpless.
What on earth does this damn thief God want to do?
"Okay, confirm the rental!" She couldn't control what the evil God wanted to do, but she had to take care of the residents of Annan County!
The system is very fast and the relevant procedures were completed in just two minutes.
Gu Jiayue returned the water bag to Zheng Qinghe. "That's all for today. I'll go back and see if there's anything that needs improvement in the lesson plan. I'll arrange for someone to come teach tomorrow."
Zheng Qinghe nodded. It was the hottest time of the year, and he was worried that Gu Jiayue would get sunburned. "Then you should go back first. Be careful. Remember to hold an umbrella when you get out of the carriage. Don't try to stay cool just because it's hot."
Gu Jiayue nodded and said goodbye.
After returning to the yard, Gu Jiayue released the simulated robot she had bought.
The system had already set up everything when he bought it, and now he was a complete native of Dagan, with his living habits exactly the same as here.
"Master!" The simulated robot Li Si bowed.
Gu Jiayue didn't waste any time talking to him. "You know what I need you to do, right?"
Li Si nodded. "I know. I'll buy a store to sell grain and then sell it cheaply to the Annan County Magistrate and the residents."
Gu Jiayue silently gave the system a thumbs-up. What a great assistant! This pre-configured setup saved him a lot of trouble. "Well, now that you know, go ahead and get started. This is the start-up capital. Once you find a store, come find me. We'll go put the food in the store together, and you can open it tomorrow."
"But the price of grain can't be too low. I'm afraid the grain merchants will target you. Just raise it by two cents over the normal price, and give more when you weigh it."
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