"That's great. It's not convenient for me to go out right now, so it's perfect that Lord Rongfu can do it. There are 500 guards in the mansion. Leave 50 to guard the mansion, and take the others away. Nanny Tian has prepared some food and winter clothes, so it's perfect to take them all. Let Butler Wu go with you."
"Master knew that the princess would definitely be willing to help, so I took the people and the things and went there. Master said that I would come to see the princess when I came back!"
"Okay, I'm fine here, don't worry about it. Tell your master to be careful too. Don't be careless just because you're good at fighting. Natural disasters don't care about people."
"Yes, I will bring it to you."
Qinglian quickly returned to the mansion with her men. Yandong had already prepared things for dozens of carriages. Together with the thirty carriages she brought with her, they could set off as soon as their master returned.
It's funny to say, Yan Dong went to buy food and winter clothes, and he really encountered an unscrupulous merchant. There were a lot of people gathered outside the grain shop, and the owner of the grain shop had several thugs blocking the door.
"This is the price today. If you don't want to buy, get out of here. If you want to cause trouble, think again. Don't blame me for being ruthless!"
"Swindler, don't you care about people's lives?"
"Yes, we are poor to begin with, and we don't have any extra food at home. If we don't buy food in such weather, how can we bear it with an empty stomach?"
"Yes, but we could have bought thirty catties of silver, but now we can only buy half. How can we survive?"
"How you live is none of my business. This is a natural disaster, you know? If the price doesn't go up now, when will it? I'm telling you, if you don't buy today, it will be even more expensive in two days. The imperial city only has so much food in stock, and if we can't get more from outside, it will be gone sooner or later. If you don't buy, you'll starve to death!"
Yan Dong knew that every time there was a disaster, the price of food would definitely rise, but a huge increase at once was a bit too much.
"Shopkeeper Li, please don't scare these civilians. The Emperor will never allow grain prices to be raised at will. Even if grain from outside can't be brought in for a while, the grain from so many surrounding farms is enough to feed the people of the Imperial City for many days. It's not as serious as you say.
You just want to trick them into buying your high-priced grain and make some dirty money."
Of course there are many Zhuangzis, but it is hard to say how many people are willing to bring them out. They are just brought out to appease the people.
"Hey, isn't this the housekeeper Yan from Lord Rongfu's mansion? How come there is no food stored in the mansion?
Don't throw dirty water on me, saying you're making money by cheating. The store only has so much food in stock. If you don't order too high, it will be gone if it's sold out. We don't know how long it will take to wait for new food to arrive. Our master has a big family and a lot of people to support!"
Now the one who has food is the boss, he is not afraid of anyone coming. Besides, he has a backer, otherwise he would not be so arrogant.
"I'm not here for my own mansion. Our master is going to do disaster relief and wants to prepare more rice and grain for the victims. The Princess's Mansion has also contributed a lot. I'm not asking you to donate, just give it to me at the normal price."
Shopkeeper Li's smile
"I can't make the decision on this. This is the price. If you can afford it, buy it. If not, go look elsewhere."
As soon as the heavy snow came, all the grain shops in the imperial city, whether forced or voluntarily, united to raise prices together and no one was allowed to sell at the same price, otherwise they would be enemies with everyone else.
If the emperor wants to keep the price fair, fine, unless he takes out the grain from the national treasury.
But they knew that the military pay had just been paid to the Ministry of War some time ago, and military rations had been transported to several garrisons before the winter freeze. There was not much left in the imperial city, and it was still a long time before the new grain came in next year. The emperor would not take out all the grain.
In the end, we still have to rely on these grain merchants, so why not take advantage of this opportunity to make more money? Oh, so what if the emperor is unhappy? He can't arrest all the grain merchants.
I dare not do anything to them if they want food.
How could Yan Dong not know what was going on with these people? They had already colluded with each other, so it was unlikely that he could buy food at a fair price. He had been to three grain stores, and they were all the same. They didn't care at all about the civilians outside who were anxious to buy food but couldn't afford enough money.
But my lady said that if anyone dares to raise the price, we will kill him. He came with his men.
Since I really can't explain it and can't buy it, in order to prepare supplies for the master as soon as possible, I have no choice but to copy it.
"Capture Shopkeeper Li for me!"
"yes"
The guards came forward and grabbed his shoulders at the same time.
"Yan, do you still want to rob? Even if you are the Duke's man, there is no reason for you to steal people's food!"
"Whoever said we wanted to rob him, go in, take out half of his granary, and weigh it in front of him."
Then he looked at the people who were waiting outside the door to ask for a price reduction.
"Wait a minute, I'll weigh yours later. No chaos, no fighting, line up!"
"Yan, you want to rebel? Don't you see who my master is?"
When Shopkeeper Li saw that Yan Donglai was really serious, he was so scared that he shouted and tried to threaten him.
Yan Dong obeys his master's orders, and he doesn't need to be afraid of anyone his master says.
"No matter who your master is, we must be reasonable. I didn't steal a single grain of rice from you in this matter. I will give you the silver I should give you, and let your servants do the weighing. I will definitely not take advantage of you. Even if we bring this to Yingtian Prefecture and appear before the emperor, we will not break the law!"
Damn, is that the problem? If he sells the grain in the shop for half the silver, the master will definitely not let him go.
"Stop it! Kick them out! Don't let them in!"
He was unable to break free from the suppression of the palace guards, so he had to shout to the people guarding the shop not to let anyone in.
He had a dozen able-bodied men as thugs, which were enough to deal with the civilians outside, but they were no match for the dozens of palace guards.
So after a while, all the people were knocked down by the palace guards.
"Hurry up, the Duke will be leaving soon, we have to hurry, the more we can take away the better, even an extra pound might save a life."
The people outside knew that they were going to rescue people, so they helped carry the grain bags from the warehouse, weighed them together, and asked Manager Li to watch and count them. Finally, they signed and paid, not a single copper coin less in cash.
The events here attracted a lot of people. When they heard that the grain here was sold at a reasonable price, a lot of people rushed in. People who were waiting outside other shops also ran over when they heard the news.
Shopkeeper Li was completely out of control, but luckily he had a dozen thugs there, so no one dared to rob, but he collected less money.
It’s not that he collects little. Those who come to buy often can count, and those who can’t have others to help them. In the end, he doesn’t need to say anything, and the silver and copper coins are delivered to him.
He didn't dare to return it. If he didn't accept it, it would be given away for free. He felt sad every time he accepted it, and he was so anxious that he sweated in the middle of winter.
Yan Dong didn't dare to leave immediately. He was the one who started the trouble. If some ruffians really took advantage of the chaos to rob the things, he would be held responsible.
So at first, he asked the palace guards to help maintain the situation. Later, when he saw that there was no problem and Manager Li's men could control the situation, he quickly returned to the palace with the food.
In the end, all the grain in the grain shop was sold out, with no coarse grains or fine grains left, and even the flour with the worst bran was sold out.
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