Rise From the Humble

A group of large and small grain merchants in Jingnan County discussed for a long time in the Jingnan County office room. Under the leadership and encouragement of the three largest grain merchants, they reached a consensus and swore an oath over tea instead of wine: the grain merchants in the county are firmly united and unanimously open to the outside world. Don’t lower the price! Anyone who lowers prices privately is the public enemy of the entire county’s grain dealers! Fight until death!

Shopkeepers Tai and Lu were no exception, and they also swore an oath along with everyone else. First of all, they were unwilling to lower prices. At first, they were just afraid of being the show-off and warning the monkeys. Now, the whole county's grain dealers have sworn an oath and reached a consensus. They think that they are just small grain dealers and they want to raise prices. Only big grain merchants are qualified to act as leaders and to scare monkeys and chickens. They are safe. Secondly, the entire county’s grain merchants have sworn that if they do not participate, they will become the enemies of the entire county’s grain merchants. No need to If the county official takes action, these grain merchants can tear them alive.

I don't know if it was intentional or not, but after the grain merchants reached a consensus and swore an oath, Zhu Ping'an arrived late.

"I've met the county magistrate."

"I've met the magistrate."

Seeing Zhu Pingan push the door open, a group of grain merchants came forward to pay their respects to Zhu Pingan.

Zhu Pingan glanced at everyone with a smile, waved his hands to them, and said warmly: "No courtesy, no courtesy. I am busy with official duties and did not pay attention to the time. I have kept you all waiting for a long time."

"How dare you, how dare you, the county magistrate has defeated us. The county magistrate asks for orders for the people, takes care of everything every day, and is responsible for hundreds of thousands of people in the county. We should wait any longer."

A group of grain merchants said one after another that when they noticed Zhu Pingan scanning them, many grain merchants felt guilty and did not dare to look at Zhu Pingan. After all, they had just completed their oath.

"Everyone, please take a seat. I invite you here this time. I think you all know why. I don't want to talk in circles anymore. I invite you here this time just for the price of food."

Zhu Ping'an sat on the main seat and spoke to the grain merchants straight to the point without going around in circles.

Sure enough, it’s for the price of food!

The grain merchants looked at each other and were not surprised. They knew what was going on.

Zhu Pingan glanced at the grain merchants one by one, and then said: "It is said that food is the most important thing for the people. Now that there are floods in the south of the Yangtze River, food is the top priority, and food prices are the first to bear the burden. If food prices are unstable, Jingnan will not be able to survive." Therefore, I intend to define the grain price in Jingnan. However, the definition of grain price is related to the people's livelihood and stability of Jingnan County, and it affects the whole body. I dare not make a decision easily without authorization. Everyone, I, Jingnan, have a good reputation. I am a grain merchant who knows a lot about grain. I would like to hear your thoughts. You don’t need to worry. If you have any ideas, tell me truthfully. I promise that you will not be punished for your words."

"What?! Define Jingnan grain prices?!"

When all the grain merchants heard this, they were extremely shocked, with expressions of shock on their faces. Many grain merchants exclaimed out of control.

Define Jingnan grain prices!

This is a big deal for grain merchants. What does defining grain prices mean? It means fixing grain prices! Once the price of food is defined, they are not allowed to raise it anymore!

Now the food prices in various places in Jiangnan are rising three times a day. If the county magistrate defines the food prices in Jingnan, then the food prices in Jingnan cannot rise any further, and their losses will be immeasurable!

They originally thought that Zhu Ping'an wanted them to lower the market price of grain, which increased three times a day. For example, the market price in the morning was 1,350 Wen per stone of grain, and the price of grain in Jingnan was 1,340 Wen; at noon, the market price was 1,355 Wen, and the price of grain in Jingnan was 1,345 Wen. Wen; the market price in the evening is 1,360 Wen, and the price of grain in Jingnan is 1,350 Wen. Even with such a price reduction, they can't accept it, let alone defining the price of food in Jingnan, and they are not allowed to increase the price from now on!

ruthless!

The county official is so cruel!

The grain merchants never expected that Zhu Pingan would be so ruthless! He even tried to define Jingnan grain prices!

Yang Zhen, the shopkeeper of Yangji Food Store, maintained his identity and winked at the young shopkeeper beside him.

This young shopkeeper relied heavily on Yang Ji Grain Store for his business. After receiving Yang Zhen's hint, he stood up and clasped his fists towards Zhu Ping'an: "Your Majesty, it's not because we don't want to, but now most of Jiangnan After the floods, the former land of plenty and the world's granary became a land of food shortages. Grain merchants like us in the south of the Yangtze River were unable to harvest grain. We had to go to Bashu in the west and Shandong in the north to collect grain. Not to mention the long journey. , the food supply in Bashu and Shandong is also rising. The local food price used to be 410 Wen per stone. Last time our shop steward went to Shandong to collect grain and offered 500 Wen per stone, but the locals ignored it. Not to mention that people ate horse chews along the way. Hiring nursing homes, etc., it is getting harder and harder to harvest this food, and our costs are getting higher and higher. Please ask the county magistrate to think twice and give us a way to survive."

After someone started, all the grain merchants also complained to Zhu Ping'an.

"It's a matter of course, Lord County. Even if we collect grain from Bashu and Shandong, it's not easy to transport it to Jingnan. Not to mention the bandits and bandits along the way, but there are floods in the south of the Yangtze River and there are countless refugees and victims. When they see the grain, they Like a hungry wolf seeing meat. Once our grain truck enters the border of Jiangnan, we are always in danger of refugees and disaster victims gathering to rob it..."

"County Lord, we are all fellow villagers. We also want to sell food to you at low prices, but our costs are there. We are old and young, and our whole family is waiting for us to feed us. We It is impossible to sell grain at a loss. If we lose money, our whole family will have no choice but to drink from the northwest wind, and then we will have no choice but to close down."

"Your Majesty, we got up early to discredit ourselves. We worked so hard just to make ends meet for our family. Please forgive us, Your Majesty. Besides, we didn't set the price of food. We just follow the market... Please think twice, Your Majesty." .”

…

For a time, the class room seemed to be a grievance meeting of grain merchants, with constant complaints and grievances.

Right, that is it. The law does not punish everyone. As long as we stick together as a group, we are not afraid of Zhu Ping'an.

Shopkeeper Yang from Yangji Grain Store was very satisfied with everyone's performance. He couldn't help but curl up his lips. He glanced at Zhu Ping'an out of the corner of his eye. Shopkeeper Yang couldn't help but be startled when he glanced at him.

He was surprised to see Zhu Ping'an listening patiently to people's complaints. He nodded a little while listening, without any displeasure on his face. He listened patiently all the time without interrupting anyone.

No...it shouldn't be. Shouldn't the county official be angry if we are like this? !

horrible!

terrible! The county magistrate is young and has done a lot of work in cultivating Qi! Such people are terrible.

Shopkeeper Yang couldn't figure it out, so he had to attribute all this to Zhu Ping'an's deep Qi-nurturing skills and the depth of the city.

Suddenly, shopkeeper Yang couldn't help but be wary of Zhu Ping'an. Unless his own huge interests were involved, Shopkeeper Yang was really unwilling to have a grudge against someone who had such a deep knowledge of Qi cultivation and a deep city.