I

Li Banghua's influence among local scholars is amazing.

Once he made his position clear, many scholars and young students who did not want to be thieves also stepped forward to follow him.

Anyway, Li Banghua is so famous that if the sky falls, he will hold up!

Within a few days, the grain bank team was formed, mainly composed of Li Banghua and local scholars. Of course, Fei Chun also participated in the whole process, mainly to follow and learn, and at the same time he was responsible for supervising the accounts.

Leaving such an important matter to a group of local scholars is really a helpless move due to the shortage of talents.

When Zhao Han trains his own people, he can go on a killing spree. The specific number of kills depends entirely on Li Banghua's restraint and how many people have the courage to act like a leopard.

"Oh, Mr. Meng An's visit really makes the humble house shine." Xiao Wanquan greeted with a big smile.

Li Banghua cupped his fists and said, "My friend Xiao is too praised. I am nothing more than an old man."

"Where, where, Mr. Meng An, please come in quickly." Xiao Wanquan said with a smile.

Compared with before, Xiao Wan's family was very deserted, with only a few maids and wives left. Not only did the entire employment contract need to be re-signed, but the salary also had to be raised, because the previous salary was too low.

The two exchanged a few words, and Li Banghua explained his intention.

Xiao Wanquan said: "May I ask, what is the annual profit for storing grain in this grain store?"

"One cent profit." Li Banghua said.

"Only one cent?" Xiao Wanquan was quite disappointed. He used to lend grain to tenants and it was done on a compound basis.

Li Banghua said: "It's good to have interest. The Grain Bank stores grain for you, and the storage fee will be confiscated for all kinds of losses."

"That's it, that's it," Xiao Wanquan asked again, "If the grain bank lends grain to tenants, what's the interest rate?"

Li Banghua said with a smile: "One point and two centimeters."

Xiao Wanquan was extremely surprised and said, "Isn't the grain store going to lose money?"

Li Banghua said: "Zongzong Zhao opened a grain store not to make money, but to leave a way for ordinary people in Shengdou to survive."

"Mr. Zhao's benevolence and righteousness are..." Xiao Wan hesitated.

Li Banghua stood up and held up his hands: "Since friend Xiao is in trouble, I won't bother you anymore. Farewell!"

Xiao Wanquan stood up suddenly and said quickly: "It's not difficult, it's not difficult."

"Friend Xiao is indeed a smart man." Li Banghua smiled.

Xiao Wanquan thought too much. He knew that Zhao Han was short of food, and he was afraid that Zhao Han would become desperate, so he would kill people to grab food.

No matter how well-behaved a rebel is, he is still a rebel in the final analysis!

The more indifferent Li Banghua acted, the more scared Xiao Wanquan became, fearing that he would lure a snake out of its hole and have him stabbed.

Xiao Wanquan was willing to borrow food simply because Zhao Han held the handle of the knife.

And having Li Banghua come forward in person is nothing more than reassuring the landlords that the grain will not be borrowed without repayment, and Comrade Li is still very trustworthy.

Li Banghua visited several villages in succession, and most of them were willing to borrow food.

Then, Lao Li’s sexy moves came...

Since the grain store's warehouse is not enough, it will be temporarily left at the landlord's house.

In any town where people are short of food, the household department of that town will contact the grain bank personnel and go to the landlord's house together. As much as you need to borrow, you get it from the landlord's house. Taking the grain borrowing day as the starting date, you will issue food deposit stamps to the landlord, and issue grain borrowing stamps to the farmers at the same time.

The grain store is like a wolf with nothing, there is no warehouse, and it only has staff, so it is left to the right, and it makes a two percent interest difference in vain.

However, this middleman is very important.

If the landlord borrows grain directly, how can the annual interest be only one cent or two cents? A monthly interest rate of three cents is a benevolent price. A monthly interest rate of five cents or seven cents is possible!

Why were there money and grain shops in every village and town in the late Ming Dynasty?

One is for loan sharking.

The second is to exchange money for farmers. One Whip Method only accepts money, from which huge profits can be made.

Of course, the one-whip law was not strictly enforced, and miscellaneous taxes in many places still collected grain directly from farmers. This is also one of the important ways for officials to make profits.

The landowners were so angry at what Li Banghua did to them that they would no longer think about lending money at usury in the future.

"Brother, this Mr. Li is really amazing," Fei Chun said happily, "I'm still having a headache, where can I find a warehouse to store the grain? Hey, as soon as Mr. Li took action, he directly deposited the grain in the landlord's house. I don't need so much. Secondly, there is no loss of grain storage, and thirdly, we save a lot of interest on grain storage.”

Li Banghua reorganized the Tianjin New Army, and then reorganized the Beijing camp troops. Although he offended countless powerful people, he managed to keep everyone in compliance.

What do a few rural landowners mean?

It's just killing a chicken with a knife.

"Mr. Li does have the means," Zhao Han praised, and immediately added, "But this is just a stopgap measure. When free in the future, we will still have to build our own granary and money bank. Otherwise, the resentment of the landlords will deepen, and we will also be in our hands." No money or food.”

Fei Chun sighed with emotion: "It would be nice to have an expedient solution. I almost died of worry a few days ago!"

Zhao Han took out a few letters and said, "It's time to hire people. I didn't want you to go, but I don't feel comfortable sending others to do things. Give this letter to Mr. Jishui Li's family, and you can take the other letters back with you." Over at Qianshan Mountain, help me and Ruhe go back to visit."

"That's great." Fei Chun also missed his parents a little.

Fei Chun took a few followers and took a boat straight to Jishui.

Fei Ruhe and Huang Yao also led their troops and set off by boat, going south and north to borrow grain from the government.

In order to facilitate dealing with the county magistrate, Zuo Xiaoliang followed him to Taihe County, and Xiao Huan followed him to Anfu County.

…

The magistrate of Taihe County is called Liu Taiyuan, who was a third-ranked Jinshi in the fourth year of Chongzhen.

This official was not bought, but was officially appointed by the court, so there was no need to rush to repay the loan for buying the official.

Generally speaking, Liu Taiyuan's official reputation is not bad. He only embezzled a few people and did not exploit the people crazily.

Unexpectedly, there were rebels in Luling County, and the governor went to clean them up, forcing the rebels south of Heshui into rogue bandits, and they rushed into Taihe County to plunder.

These guys killed landlords, occupied their mansions, and robbed them of money and food. They seemed to be on the verge of becoming bandits.

"The county magistrates, gentry and village elders jointly requested to recruit village warriors to exterminate the bandits." County Magistrate Zhang Huainan said.

As a novice county magistrate, Liu Taiyuan didn't even invite a master. He complained endlessly: "The governor was defeated and killed when he suppressed the bandits. How can I suppress the bandits? Let's wait until the new governor arrives."

Zhang Huainan reminded: "Your Majesty, as long as you have money and food, the rebels can be suppressed."

Liu Taiyuan asked in surprise: "Could it be that Brother Zhang is actually a man who knows the military?"

Zhang Huainan felt very tired. The novice county magistrate did not have enough experience, so he had to explain the matter clearly: "County Lord, you can collect the money and food first, and you can practice your country bravery first. As for suppressing thieves, you can wait for the opportunity. In case a new governor is appointed, He is also capable of suppressing thieves. The county magistrate has made preparations in advance, and he can be appreciated by the governor."

Liu Taiyuan was stunned and suddenly realized: "That's it. Thank you Brother Zhang for reminding me!"

After studying hard for ten years, I became a county magistrate, and then encountered rebels and bandits for the first time. I really need to accumulate experience.

Money making experience!

"County Lord, it's not good, the rebels are coming!" The old official came to report in a panic.

Liu Taiyuan was so frightened that he trembled all over and asked quickly: "Have the rebels arrived outside the city?"

The old official replied: "He came by boat and was still soaking in the Gan River. He sent a rogue official to call the city."

Liu Taiyuan quickly ran to the city tower. Sure enough, there was only one scholar outside the city, and there was only one rebel boat on the river.

"Hang him up!" Liu Taiyuan ordered.

Zuo Xiaoliang climbed to the city seated on a basket, bowed his hands and said, "Zuo Xiaoliang was born late, and I pay my respects to the county magistrate."

Liu Taiyuan cupped his hands and said, "Are you also a scholar?"

Zuo Xiaoliang's family didn't have many people, so he simply used his real name to become a thief. He said, "I'm ashamed that I was born late and was just a scholar."

Liu Taiyuan said sadly: "Since you are a scholar, why would you become a thief?"

Zuo Xiaoliang said: "I can't have enough to eat."

"Uh..." Liu Taiyuan didn't know what to say. This reason for becoming a thief was too nonsense, and at the same time, it was too justified.

County Magistrate Zhang Huainan suddenly asked: "Since you are a rebel, who is the leader? And why did you come to Taihe County?"

"My lord Zhao Yan." Zuo Xiaoliang said.

"Zhao Thief?"

The county officials were shocked.

That was a giant bandit who captured the city, killed dozens of officials, and even defeated the governor!

Liu Taiyuan felt his throat was dry, swallowed his saliva and asked, "Zhao thief...what did Zhao Yan send you to do?"

Zuo Xiaoliang cupped his hands and said, "My lord heard that there are refugees in Taihe County. It's freezing cold today, and I can't bear for them to freeze to death and starve to death, so I want to take these refugees away and resettle them."

Liu Taiyuan and Zhang Huainan looked at each other, neither of them clear about the situation.

Is there such a sensible rebel?

Liu Taiyuan couldn't help but ask: "Is this true?"

"Seriously," Zuo Xiaoliang said, "It's just that my lord is short of food. In order to appease the refugees, I asked the county magistrate to borrow 200,000 dan of food."

"How can I lend you two hundred thousand stones?" Liu Taiyuan looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Zuo Xiaoliang smiled and said: "When it comes to business, ask the sky to ask for the price, and pay back when you land."

Not only Liu Taiyuan was angry, but even Zhang Huainan found it incredible.

Zhang Huainan was born as a scholar, and worked as a master for many years. He relied on his benefactor's relationship to buy an official position at a discount, and finally got the position of county magistrate. He has traveled extensively and has seen a lot, but this is the first time he has encountered such a rare thing. The rebels are short of food and come to the county magistrate to borrow it, and they can negotiate for how much they borrow.

But it seems that this deal can be done!

Zhang Huainan said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, there are many people here and we should go to the county government and talk about it slowly."

"That's fine." Liu Taiyuan was still confused.

Therefore, the rebel Zuo Xiaoliang became a guest of the magistrate.

The two parties bargained for a while, and Liu Taiyuan was only willing to lend 30,000 shi of grain, and he would only pay after Zuo Xiaoliang took away the bandits.

In the end, 50,000 shi was sold, and the advance payment was 5,000 shi!

Of course it was impossible for the county magistrate to provide food, everything had to be provided by the gentry and landlords.

First send people to spread the news, saying that the bandits in the county are short of food and may rob other wealthy families at any time.

Immediately afterwards, Fei Ruhe traveled day and night, leading 500 soldiers to kill the landlords and steal grain. This target was provided by the county magistrate. He belongs to the kind of rich man who can kill without any trouble.

He robbed two landowners in a row, and the other landowners were scared to death.

Liu Taiyuan immediately called a meeting of the squires and said that he could use food to persuade the bandits to return. As long as the gentry gathers five thousand stones, they can send the bandits to the border of Taihe County. By then, if we collect 50,000 dan, the bandits can return to their hometowns to farm.

These squires can only give it a try. Five thousand dan is not much anyway, so it is easy for each family to collect a little.

Fei Ruhe took the advance payment and immediately went to the bandit's territory to recruit people.

Hearing that "Mr. Zhao" was going to preside over the division of land, ordinary bandits broke out of camp and fled, and several bandit leaders couldn't stop them.

In just a few days, Fei Ruhe recruited more than 8,000 people, leaving more than 300 stubborn bandits.

Fei Ruhe immediately launched an attack, killing the disobedient guy and grabbing 20,000 shi of food. More than 8,000 refugees helped transport food and slowly headed north, stopping at the junction of Taihe County and Luling County, waiting for the magistrate to deliver the balance.

While waiting, more than two thousand people came to seek refuge with their families.

Moreover, they are all local tenants in Taihe County. When they heard that "Mr. Zhao" next door was going to divide their fields, they gathered their friends and gathered their belongings and came here.

I continued to wait for several days, but still no final payment.

Fei Ruhe was furious and killed two more landlords to steal grain. He threatened to kill all the landowners in Taihe County if they didn't give them grain. Immediately, he led the troops for a walk outside the county seat and circled the county seat several times.

The magistrate was shocked and angry, and the gentry was frightened.

Another half month later, the final payment arrived and the transaction was completed.

Although the gentry only scraped together 50,000 shi of food for this trip, Fei Ruhe brought back a full 110,000 shi, and the rest came from robbing landowners and bandits.

By the way, they also brought back more than 11,000 people.

The food problem is actually easy to solve.

(Asking for a guaranteed monthly pass.)