Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

At the beginning of the lanterns, the capital is still prosperous.

In the British Duke's Mansion, the martial arts veterans of the older generation gathered here one after another.

Although this is not his residence, the Marquis of Xiangcheng Li Jin seemed particularly excited tonight, frequently raising his glass to drink with everyone, like a proud groom.

Ever since the imperial court cracked down on the most profitable loan sharking business of the Wuxun Group, and squeezed their profits through extravagant taxes, life for these nobles has become increasingly "difficult."

This time, under the guidance of Li Jin, the Marquis of Xiangcheng, each family chose to stay together and raise hundreds of thousands of taels of silver for speculation.

They took advantage of the imperial government's opportunity to control the river and the advance knowledge of the arrival of the locust plague, but they began to hoard rice grains in the spring to speculate and make money.

It is similar to the way Internet companies of later generations slowly made their way into the food basket. As long as they can strangle the necks of ordinary people, it will be easy for them to make money.

Facing the excited Marquis of Xiangcheng, Wu'an Marquis Zheng Heng looked worried and asked: "Marquis of Xiangcheng, will there be any hidden dangers if we do this?"

As soon as these words came out, Yong Anbo and other Wu Xun turned to look at Li Jin.

In fact, there were not only members of the Wuxun Group present, but also representatives of relatives and officials and gentry. Because Zhu Youtang forced them to "unprofitable", this group of powerful people from different attributes slowly came together.

Although they have no intention of rebellion, they are all upper-class people who are accustomed to living a life of luxury and fine food. Naturally, they cannot just sit back and have nothing, so joining forces to make money is the best way out.

If it were the past dynasties, they would not have to worry about the emperor on the throne at all. It would be easy for them to restrain or deceive an emperor with their power.

It's just that although Zhu Youtang is a tyrant now, he is indeed an extremely shrewd emperor, so there is no guarantee that the tyrant Zhu Youtang will take advantage of this to cause trouble for all of them.

Since Hongzhi ascended the throne, not to mention the two princely mansions that were abolished and the two princely mansions that were confiscated, countless dignitaries have been pushed to the guillotine.

"If we don't steal or rob this time, what hidden dangers could there be?" Li Jin, the Marquis of Xiangcheng, didn't take the profiteering of rice prices seriously at all, and drank with disapproval.

Wu'an Marquis Zheng Heng nodded slightly and said with sincerity: "That's true! It's just that we are hoarding after all, and your Majesty may be blamed!"

Although they all hate Zhu Youtang, they also have fear in their hearts. Once Zhu Youtang is investigated, it is a question whether they can escape unscathed, not to mention making a lot of money.

Yong Anbo and others also had this thought. At this moment, they have regarded the Marquis of Xiangcheng as their backbone, but they all look forward to Li Jin coming up with a solution.

"Don't forget! When the imperial court levied the extravagance tax, it had clearly stipulated that normal transactions in the market should be respected. At that time, a house worth ten thousand taels of gold was used as an example! Now we only sell a pound of rice for tens of pennies. He has There is no reason to care about this place. The most you can do is pay the extravagant tax to the court!" Li Jin didn't have a good impression of Zhu Youtang, but he used his own excuse.

"You really don't need to worry about the emperor pursuing you!"

"If we have to pay the luxury tax then, we will have to think of a way!"

"In the end, he got the biggest benefit. It's really a travesty!"

…

The worries of everyone present about the matter disappeared. Although they were preparing for the worst, some Wu Xun felt as if a needle had been stabbed in their hearts.

They had worked hard and planned for so long to control the rice grain and make huge profits. However, the emperor did nothing and took 30 to 40% of the profits just because of the extravagant tax.

"In fact, none of you have noticed one thing. The emperor has the most rice, and he is the biggest winner of the skyrocketing rice prices!" Li Jin hesitated, then pointed out an obscure thing.

But I don’t know why the emperor was so fond of rice grains. He had actually been accumulating rice grains over the years.

Not only were all the rice grown in the 280,000 hectares of imperial estate hoarded, but the imperial shop seemed to be paranoid about rice, and a large amount of polished rice was purchased with silver.

Others would naturally have to worry about storage issues, but the royal granary in the Forbidden City is a naturally large warehouse, and each royal rice store has large and small granaries, so the amount of rice stored is actually amazing.

Fortunately, the rice stockpiled by the royal family did not go in and out, but was "sold" through the issuance of large-scale rice stamps, and the rice stamps were used as military pay and distributed to the Beijing army.

Just like this, although Zhu Youtang has the highest polished rice in the capital, most of the polished rice has actually been owned by the ticket holders, so the polished rice he owns has not reached a terrifying level.

The reason why Li Jin was so confident in manipulating rice prices in the capital was because he saw that Zhu Youtang had the most polished rice, so it was impossible for him to suppress the rise in rice prices, and he would even contribute to it behind the scenes.

Zheng Heng, the Marquis of Wu'an, understood the logic and said in agreement: "The Marquis of Xiangyang's analysis is reasonable! Since the price fluctuations in the market are allowed to fluctuate, and the court wants to impose a luxury tax, the emperor has no reason to blame us for this!"

"Let's drink this cup together! We must make a lot of money this time to make up for our losses in recent years!" Li Jin raised the wine glass in his hand and said loudly with high fighting spirit.

Since they ushered in the Hongzhi era, it can be said that his life has become worse and worse.

At first, they were able to get a share of the profit, but under Zhu Youtang's iron-fisted methods, the Kaizhong method from the Taizu period was revitalized.

Then, their most important income from loan sharking, Zhu Youtang used almost bloodbath to rectify the financial system, leaving no room for the current loan sharks to survive.

Next, they have been participating in the speculation of houses in the capital. Originally, with their financial advantage and the fact that the imperial court made it clear that they would not build the outer city of Beijing, they easily promoted houses in the capital, but they encountered the luxury tax.

But now it is finally clear. This time, he has controlled the price of rice in the capital through hoarding, and is about to make huge profits from it.

This night, the British government palace seemed very lively.

Li Jin, the Marquis of Xiangyang, was indeed drunk, and seemed to express his feelings: "The emperor's calamity, the second queen, Zhang Siqin, always start anew! Haha... God's will, everything is God's will, it is really very satisfying!"

this……

Wu'an Marquis Zheng Heng and others knew that Li Jin was drunk, but upon hearing such treacherous words, they couldn't help but look at each other in shock.

Fortunately, he was surrounded by people who knew everything about him, especially many Wu Xun who had already married each other, so their relationship was very close.

On the other hand, the British Duke Zhang Mao seemed particularly quiet, but as if he suddenly thought of something, he looked thoughtfully at Li Jin.

In July in Beijing, the temperature has slowly dropped from its peak, but it still seems very muggy.

It’s just that the people in the capital no longer have the mind to pay attention to the general environment. They pray that the search for locusts can be successfully completed this time, and that the locust plague will not affect their crops.

As for the lower-class residents living in Beijing, although they hope that rice prices can come down, they have completely lost their right to speak.

"A pound of polished rice costs eighty cents?"

The price of rice in Beijing continues to skyrocket, making people doubt their life.

Originally, people in the capital would never worry about not being able to buy rice, but as if all the rice statues in the city suddenly disappeared overnight, there was a panic buying in the capital.

Not to mention in this era of limited information, even in later generations, people are still grabbing masks and grabbing Shuanghuanglian. In their childhood, the sea water has just been drained and they are grabbing more salt than they can eat in hundreds of years.

"I want a thousand pounds!"

"Aren't you just a family of two?"

"Who knows, hold on tight now!"

…

As long as someone starts panic buying, there will be a large number of followers, and they do not consider the actual situation at all, but they join in this rush to buy and buy without thinking.

This is the habit of Chinese people. Once there is a situation where they can't buy something even if they have money, in order to have peace of mind, they can buy it at a sky-high price.

During this period, some people discovered good things.

When the Yellow River burst its banks, the imperial court also issued large-scale rice stamps to the victims in the process of evacuating millions of victims in Henan. These rice tickets do not require identity verification. As long as you take the rice tickets, you can go to the Royal Rice Store and other places to exchange for corresponding rice grains.

Although most of the rice stamps had already been taken back by the court after being cashed, there were also many rice stamps that were not exchanged and remained among the people.

Not only this batch of rice stamps, but earlier female employees of the Royal Weaving Factory received some rice stamps as year-end bonuses, and soldiers in the Beijing camp could also choose rice stamps for their monthly salary.

Once upon a time, when cloth tickets and silver were popular, rice tickets also occupied a place.

"Rice tickets are indeed a good thing!"

"Hehe... I really got the face value of polished rice!"

"I told you earlier that rice tickets are cheaper than those silver coins, but you don't believe it!"

…

Just when the price of rice in Beijing was soaring, many people were surprised to find that the rice coupons in their hands could be easily exchanged for rice grains, but they felt more secure than silver.

In the north of the city, Rizhongfang.

There is the Beihaizi water system here, and there is a house not far from the lake.

Although the house seemed large, the moss and cracks at the door proved that the house had fallen into decline. Inside, there were two women arguing and a young man wearing a shabby gown opened the door and walked out.

Li He's ancestors can be traced back to the Yuan Dynasty, but Naihe is now in ruins. Although there is a beautiful concubine, the huge house no longer even has servants.

Now that there was no rice to cook, he remembered that he still had a rice ticket for five buckets of rice in his hand.

The year before last, he took in a poor relative from Henan. The poor relative originally stayed at his house, but he learned that the imperial court was dividing land in Jianzhou, so he decided to go outside Shanhaiguan to make a living.

Before leaving, the relative thanked him for the hospitality and gave him his last five buckets of rice stamps.

Originally, he didn't take this rice ticket seriously. After all, he still had many valuable items at home at the time, so he didn't have to worry about food and drink at all.

He just sat there and had nothing to do, and now he is obsessed with marrying a concubine who is flirtatious. As a result, the most treasured Song porcelain was broken, and now he has nothing to eat.

Li He thought that he had ruined all his family fortune, but he wanted to beat himself to death. However, when his fingers touched his face and he was afraid of the pain, he stopped with a sigh.

Royal Rice Store has many branches in the capital, including one on the most welcoming street of Rizhongfang.

Since his servant ran away with his previous concubine with money, he had to take care of his own livelihood, and the burden of buying rice for his family fell on him.

Although he knew that the Royal Rice Store was here, the store's facade was too grand and had the word "royal" on it, so he had the same mentality as many people. But I don’t want to come here to buy rice.

But the situation was different now. The rice coupons in his hand could only be redeemed at the designated Royal Rice Bank, so he bravely walked towards Royal Rice.

"Sir, are you going to the Royal Rice Store to exchange rice?" A young man with a mole on his eyebrow suddenly came up to him and asked very enthusiastically.

Li He nervously clenched the rice coupons in his sleeves, and immediately said warily: "Yes, what do you mean? It's rare that the Royal Rice Bank cannot exchange rice?"

"Royal Rice is a good boy, so it's natural to exchange it, but can you give me a step first?" The young man with a mole made a gesture of invitation.

Li He hesitated for a moment, but when he saw that the other party was pointing to the tea stall next to him, he nodded reluctantly.

"A piece of fried liver!" the young man with the mole greeted.

Li He picked up the tea and took a sip, then asked curiously: "What's the matter?"

"We charge rice tickets, so please give us your love!" The young man with the mole said straight to the point.

Li He frowned slightly and asked calmly: "How do you accept it?"

"How about you give me your rice stamps and I'll give you silver?" The young man with the mole said, his eyes shining slightly as he was sure that he had rice stamps back then.

Li He put down the tea bowl and said directly: "Don't think I'm easy to deceive. Who doesn't know that the price of rice has soared now? It has already reached 60 cents per pound!"

"I can give you sixty-five cents per pound!" The young man with the mole thought the deal would fall through, but he directly increased the price with a smile.

Li He looked at the young man in front of him up and down, but said incomprehensibly: "This is strange, who doesn't love silver and rice!"

"As long as you take some silver to buy rice at a nearby rice store, you can earn 10% of silver. You won't suffer any loss from this transaction?" the young man with the mole said seductively.

Li He found that he was really not at a disadvantage, and could even make a fortune, so he nodded and said: "Okay! If you dare to lie to me, I will call the patrol immediately. You should know that the current Shuntian Prefect is Song Qingtian !”

"Don't worry, you can test the money first, and then give me the rice coupons!" The young man with the mole had no intention of cheating at all, and he stated his position very happily.

Li He had never been a mother-in-law person. Seeing that it was profitable now, after checking that the other party's money was correct, he happily gave the rice ticket to the other party.

"In the future, if you have rice tickets, you can come to me here. It is guaranteed to be more expensive than the market price!" The young man with a mole said enthusiastically when he saw the transaction completed.

Li He nodded pretending to be unfathomable, but he knew that it was impossible for him to get any more rice tickets. The reason why he chose to trade was just to get more rice.

But when he hurried back to the rice shop he had just been selling, the sign that said sixty cents per catty had not changed, but had been replaced by the store owner with seventy cents per catty.

Who would have thought that the price of rice, which was still sixty cents when passing by, would rise to seventy cents when he came back. It was simply a robbery. (End of chapter)