Tibet

In the blink of an eye, in late December, two consecutive snowstorms hit, and the entire Helong and Shuofang turned into a snowy world. The Yellow River was covered with ice, heavy snow blocked the road, and the postal route was blocked. Longyou and Chang'an were also temporarily lost. Contacted.

It can be said that this period of time was a time when every household in Longyou lived behind closed doors.

After hard work and adequate preparations, the refugee camp in Shuofang entered winter safely without any tragic deaths from freezing or starvation.

Most of the officials had returned from Shuofang. After getting on the right track, there was no need for so many officials. In the end, only 170 officials and 10,000 soldiers were left to take care of 1.5 million refugees.

This morning, Li Ye came to Dongshi as usual. Although it was snowy outside the city and the roads were blocked by heavy snow, the city was still steaming and full of life.

As the New Year approaches, Li Ye is of course most concerned about the price of rice. The price of rice is the basis of all prices. As long as the price of rice rises, except for wages, everything else will skyrocket.

He heard his housekeeper say at dinner last night that food prices in Jincheng County had risen, so he took this matter to his heart.

Since last year, the price of rice in Jincheng County has remained between 30 and 40 cents per bucket of rice. Of course, this rice does not refer to rice but to corn. The price of shelled flour is also the same. If it is wheat, it will be cheaper.

It's not that Li Ye suddenly came here today to check the prices, but he received a letter from Dugu Ming two days ago, which said, "Mi is expensive in Chang'an, and a bucket of rice costs three hundred cents." ’

The price of rice in Chang'an has been around fifty or sixty cents, and by the end of the year it suddenly increased five or six times, indicating that there was another food crisis in Guanzhong.

Because Guanzhong has little arable land, a large population, and is the capital, all food is transported from outside. If transportation is smooth, there will be prosperous times. For example, in the Kaiyuan flourishing period, it was because of smooth water transportation that a large amount of extremely cheap Jiangnan grain materials were transported to Chang'an, making Chang'an unprecedented. It was prosperous, so it was called the Kaiyuan Age.

However, once transportation is not smooth and traffic is blocked, famine will occur in Chang'an. For example, after the Anshi Rebellion, vassal and town separatism emerged, which seriously hindered transportation. Famine broke out in Chang'an at every turn, and the price of food rose to a thousand dollars per dou of rice.

Xu Shuji's surrender caused serious consequences. Shi Siming's army was overwhelming and reached Jianghuai. Immediately afterwards, internal strife broke out within the Tang army. Liu Zhan, the commander of the Jianghuai capital, rebelled and proclaimed himself king. Although he did not surrender to Shi Siming, the entire north of the Huaihe River and west of Xuzhou Fall.

Jianghuai's external grain shipments dropped sharply by 70%. It was originally supposed to transport three million shi of grain to Chang'an, but in the end only 1 million shi was shipped. How could there not be a food shortage in Chang'an and even Guanzhong.

It is against this background that Li Ye pays special attention to the grain fluctuations in Jincheng County, which will definitely be affected. Selling grain in Guanzhong is profitable, and grain merchants will definitely hoard grain and wait for opportunities to sell it to Guanzhong. Once grain merchants collect grain, the market will As the food supply decreases, food prices in Longyou will rise.

After entering the East Market, Li Ye went directly to the small grain shop where he asked about the price last year. It was still the middle-aged shop owner with an honest look. He recognized Li Ye who walked into the shop at the first sight, and his legs suddenly became weak, " Your Majesty!" Just as he was about to kneel down, a soldier grabbed his arm and prevented him from kneeling down. Li Ye waved his hand and said with a smile: "You don't have to be afraid. I just asked about food. Just tell the truth. I don't know. It will embarrass you."

The shopkeeper nodded repeatedly, "I understand, little man!"

Li Ye took a look at the food in the store and smiled: "Why is it still the same as last year? There are not many varieties."

The shop owner smiled bitterly and said: "The villain has always been a small business, selling only a few of the most important grains. Other types of small shops do not have such strong capital."

Li Ye grabbed a handful of bright yellow corn. The sign said seventy cents per bucket of rice. Sure enough, the price had increased.

"When did the price increase?" Li Ye asked.

The shop owner wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "This. It just went up three days ago. It was originally forty-five cents per meter, but it suddenly increased by half."

"Why the price increase?"

"It's not the little guys who want to raise prices, we all want the big ones."

The shop owner pointed to the Luo's Grain Store opposite, "The main thing is to check his price. I have to check his price every morning. If his price goes up, we must follow suit. Your Highness, I heard it will go up again!"

"Why does his family raise prices? Do you know the reason?"

"Villain. Villain dare not say it!"

"It doesn't matter what you say, it has nothing to do with you!"

The shop owner sighed and said: "Actually, everyone knows that the price of grain in Chang'an has risen sharply, and they are all preparing to make money by transporting grain to Chang'an after the spring. They will definitely not be willing to sell it at the original price, so they will increase it to seventy cents first. , it will definitely increase to one hundred cents before the Chinese New Year."

Li Ye nodded and asked, "Do you have any rules here?"

"What kind of rules are you talking about, Your Highness?"

"For example, if he raises the price to 70 cents, but you still sell it at 45 cents per dou, what will be the consequences?"

The shop owner said with a bitter look on his face: "The consequence will be that Xiaoren will not be able to get the goods next year. No one will tell me the reason, but the supplier will stop supplying to me or increase the price to me alone."

Li Ye was really annoyed, "Isn't this the food tyrant?"

"Your Highness, the big fish eats the small fish in every profession, even the country, let alone businessmen?"

Li Ye nodded. The shopkeeper was right. He visited a few more grain stores and then returned to the government office.

After returning to the government office, Li Ye immediately sent someone to find Liu Yan. After a while, Liu Yan hurried over.

"Liu Sima, are you feeling better?"

Liu Yan fell ill for a while after returning from Shuofang, and he gradually recovered recently.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I have recovered."

Seeing that he looked good, Li Ye waved his hand and said with a smile, "Sima, please sit down!"

Liu Yan sat down, and Li Ye pondered for a moment and said, "I went to Dongshi just now and found that the price of food was abnormal. Does Sima know about it?"

Liu Yan nodded, "It was the head of the Luo family who started raising the price the day before yesterday, from forty-five cents to seventy cents. I talked with the second master Luo Qing. What he meant was that the price of the source has increased, and the price of the source has increased to 70 cents. Sixty cents, he had to increase accordingly.”

"Where is the source?"

"There are more than twenty manors in Longyou and Hexi, including the manors of the Xin family and the Li family. I looked at the Luo family's purchase account books and found that they all have the same price. There should be some connection behind these manors."

Li Ye walked a few steps with his hands behind his hands and asked again: "What's the price of grain sold by farmers in bulk?"

"Beizhi went to the Chengmen Market yesterday morning and saw that there were three farmers selling grain. The prices were all at sixty-five cents per bucket, which was only five cents cheaper than the grain shop. These people also understand the market."

"Then does Sima have any countermeasures?"

"In the past two days, I have also been investigating the market conditions and found that other goods have not increased in price following the increase in grain prices, and there has been no rush to grab rice. This is the most important point.

Although the prices of meat, poultry and eggs have increased, they have increased before the increase in food prices. This is related to the Chinese New Year. This is the case every year. After the Chinese New Year, the prices will go down. I suggest not to interfere immediately for the time being. Observe again, if there is another surge in food prices, Changpingcang will take action. "

Li Ye nodded, "My bottom line is seventy cents per bucket of rice. It cannot exceed this price. The increase in grain prices in Chang'an has nothing to do with us. We have to keep grain prices stable."

Liu Yan sighed, "Your Highness, the food pressure on Shuofang refugees is too great. I hope your Highness can successfully capture Luoyang, otherwise we really can't hold on."

Li Ye nodded silently. Liu Yan rarely complained. He was sighing now, which shows how much pressure the refugees brought.

Although the pressure was great, the harvest was also great. One hundred thousand troops were harvested. Fengzhou also had 200,000 people sign up. Shuofang, Hexi and Longyou also had about 200,000 people each willing to stay, and almost 800,000. The rest wanted to stay and become their own people.