Chapter 335: Old Grain
No matter what the matter is, the ministers will suffer. Okay! Zhao Xiaofei was speechless after being told this by his brother-in-law, the emperor.
My brother-in-law is indeed too poor. Although he is much richer than Chongzhen, he has a lot of messes now!
Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shaanxi are still waiting for central government funding! And there's also the training of the new army, which is a force that eats money.
The imperial court would never allow the Kenan Army to expand any further. The new army would be used as the central army and would undergo extensive expansion training.
This is a deal made between the cabinet and Zhao Xiaofei. If the Kenan Army is short of manpower, it can recruit traitorous troops and rebels.
Zhao Xiaofei knew he was overreaching, and the court needed to maintain balance. Why did his brother-in-law, the emperor, trust him so much? It wasn't just his affection for him, but also his dedication and concessions that gave him such confidence. Otherwise, both sides would suffer.
Zhao Xiaofei didn't want to see this, Zhu Cijiong didn't want to see this, Kunxing didn't want to see this, and Ni Yuanlu didn't want to see this either. So all four sides were willing to take a step back, and Zhao Xiaofei controlled his power. The court seized the opportunity to train new troops and sent officials to restore local tax revenue.
Li Zichu now returned to the court and became the commander of the Jinyiwei again.
Zhao Xiaofei returned to his cabin, and Li Sihong asked, "What did you talk about with the emperor?"
"He asked me for these good things and refused to pay a penny!" Zhao Xiaofei pointed to the mattress and some modern supplies in the room.
"He is the emperor, how could he do this? Our family's money didn't come from the wind!" said Li Sihong.
Zhao Xiaofei thought to himself: What’s the difference between this and the wind blowing in?
"He is the emperor and I am his subject. Besides, he has given a lot of reasons, how can I win against him? He has grown up now, and we can't treat him as the child he used to be. He has a brain!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"Husband, when will the world be pacified?" Li Sihong didn't want to talk about this anymore. Their family didn't plan to become emperor, so she changed the subject.
"I guess there will be no problem within Shanhaiguan next year," said Zhao Xiaofei.
"Although the Kenan Army is powerful, its number is still too small. Can it unify the interior of the country next year?" Li Sihong asked.
"Ni Yuanlu and I have discussed that the Kenan Army cannot be expanded any further. At most, the surrendered traitorous troops and rebels can be given to me," said Zhao Xiaofei.
"What combat power do the rebels and traitors have? Even training will take a lot of time!" said Li Sihong.
"Those traitorous armies and rebel forces are no worse than our Conquering the Narrowness Army. I have already made plans, so there is no need to worry." Zhao Xiaofei said.
Many troops have surrendered recently, and Zhao Xiaofei has sent letters to various cities in Tianjin and Beijing. They are accepting all the surrendered troops, and those who were originally scheduled to be liquidated have also stopped.
Because Zhao Xiaokun was able to produce methamphetamine in his laboratory in the Ming Dynasty. You may not know what it is when you hear this name, it is also called ice.
That's right! Zhao Xiaofei planned to feed this stuff to the surrendered troops. It would drive them crazy on the battlefield and make them fight for him. As for whether they would become addicted or sick in the future, Zhao Xiaofei didn't bother to worry. I'd read in the past that the Japanese used to eat this before going to war, and it was very effective.
He also contacted a classmate of his named Wang Jialin, who now works in the grain system, specializing in grain procurement and storage.
His biggest headache now is how to deal with stale and substandard grain.
It is currently not enough to rely solely on Zheng Zhilong to transport grain from Southeast Asia, especially as his and the court's territories become larger and larger, more grain is needed.
So Zhao Xiaofei had to think of other ways, and as a result, at a class reunion, he discovered Wang Jialin, who was from the grain system.
Zhao Xiaofei quickly stepped forward to try to get close to him. Zhao Xiaofei was now considered a well-known figure. When Wang Jialin saw that he was trying to get close to him, he took the initiative to talk to him.
"Brother! Do you know someone in the grain system who is in charge of grain? I want to buy some old grain!" Zhao Xiaofei said.
"Brother, is this all I care about? What are you going to do with the old grain?" Wang Jialin asked.
"Eat! What else can you do?" Zhao Xiaofei said.
"I thought you were in the feed business! These old grains are sold to people for consumption. Although they won't harm people, their nutritional value is not as high as before. Others buy them to use as raw materials for feed," said Wang Jialin.
"Hey! It doesn't matter. I won't sell it to Chinese people anyway!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"Okay, 50 yuan per meal. I can make the decision on this matter!" said Wang Jialin.
"Okay! Let's start with 2 million tons, but you have to deliver it to the designated location!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"No problem!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
After the capital was recovered, people were starving everywhere. They were lucky to have something to eat, so who cared whether it was stale grain or not!
Although Wang Jialin had sold a lot of old grain, he still looked worried. Zhao Xiaofei noticed this and asked, "I bought so much at once, which should have helped you solve a lot of problems. Why are you still so worried?"
"Old grain is easy to sell in our system, but no one wants grain that is more than four years old," said Wang Jialin.
"Does that old grain have excessive levels of aflatoxin?" Zhao Xiaofei asked. Having studied medicine, he knew that grain older than four years is essentially inedible. Aflatoxins are highly toxic acutely and also have significant chronic toxicity. Ingesting large doses of aflatoxin can cause acute liver cell necrosis, bile duct epithelial cell hyperplasia, fatty infiltration of the liver, and hepatic effusion. Early symptoms include fever, vomiting, anorexia, and jaundice, followed by ascites, lower extremity edema, and death.
People who eat rice containing a large amount of aflatoxin for a long time will gradually become poisoned, and their fighting power will decline.
Zhao Xiaofei came up with the idea of passing the rice to the eight traitorous merchants in Shanxi to poison the enemy.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xiaofei said, "Sell me those old grains too!"
"What? What do you want it for? Don't tell me you want to sell it to foreigners! I don't believe it!" Wang Jialin said.
"Haha, don't worry! Once these rice enter my warehouse, they will never appear in people's homes again. I mainly want to use it to make alcohol!" Zhao Xiaofei made up a lie and said.
"This thing cannot leave the country without the necessary documents!" said Wang Jialin.
"Don't worry about that. How much food are there?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"We have as much as you want. This one is 5 yuan per ton. How about it?" said Wang Jialin.
"It's not free?" Zhao Xiaofei asked in confusion.
"I'll charge the shipping fee now, and then I'll deliver these things to the designated place!" said Wang Jialin.
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