Emperor Ming Dynasty

Fuzhou.

The bustling grain shop street was already crowded with people. A large number of people carrying bags and baskets formed a long queue.

They looked around and shouted from time to time. The smell of sweat and foot smell mixed together, seeming to have soaked the entire street.

"By the way, how much is the price of food?"

"One hundred and fifty coins!"

"My dear, I was only eighty years ago!"

The people in commoners, long robes, or short robes all had serious faces, and they were talking incessantly, and their expressions were more ugly than the others.

Suddenly, a clerk from a grain store beat a gong and wrote another word on the blackboard: "One hundred and sixty cents for a bucket of rice——"

This time, it was no less than pouring cold water into a frying pan, it really exploded.

"What does this sound like?"

"Yes, there is no more royal method, who can afford it!"

But the shop assistant ignored him and kept shouting, but the writing on the blackboard was still written a month ago: Eighty Dou Mi.

Immediately, it seemed that this was contagious, and the grain shops were banging gongs one by one to change the prices, making the people more and more agitated.

Their hungry bellies seemed to tell them that there was not much food.

Outside the street, pedestrians were running around, all looking nervous, as if they were afraid of not being able to grab food.

A certain scholar couldn't help but exclaimed: "Didn't the imperial court set a price limit?"

"This famine cannot be controlled, who is still following this?" The companion on the side said angrily: "Behind this grain store, there is either the chief envoy, the prefect, or the great emperor's merchant, otherwise how could he be so wanton?"

The February sunshine splashed down, making the street feel a bit like summer.

Backstage at the Ande Grain Shop, the young shop owner Zhong Zheng was sipping tea. Hearing the distant noise, he felt a little sleepy for a while. It was a great help to sleep.

"What's the price of food?"

"Boss, the amount of rice is 180!" The shopkeeper smiled broadly: "Compared to previous years, the amount has almost tripled!"

"Very good!" Zhong Zheng said leisurely: "We are making some money this year due to the disaster. The Nanyang grain ship will arrive in half a month. It's really great!"

"My boss, it's more than that!" the shopkeeper said with a smile: "In previous years, Nanyang grain arrived in Fujian in April. I heard that there was a strong wind at sea, so I guess it will be a few days later!"

"It's rare!" Zhong Zheng took a sip of tea and showed a proud smile: "Who asked our Fujian Province to be poor in food? This business can last for three years!"

Fujian Province has very little arable land and a growing population, so imported food is naturally the mainstream. Disasters and delays in adding grain ships can be said to be a huge boost to food prices.

Well-informed people will naturally understand that the food will arrive in a short time, but they can't stand it for ordinary people.

The grain merchants made a lot of money by following the wind and spreading rumors.

People in Fujian are also anxious for food.

“If this continues, I don’t know how many people will starve to death!”

The governor gritted his teeth and said angrily: "Grain merchants are pushing up grain prices. How can you, the chief envoy, take care of that?"

The chief envoy spread his hands helplessly: "Futai is either an imperial businessman or a distinguished person. The sign says eighty, but the actual price is one hundred and eighty. We can't control it!"

"How much is left in the reserve?" The governor calmed down. He had a strong background as a grain merchant. The Marquis of Nan'an alone, now the minister of the Zheng family in the cabinet, was enough for him to drink a pot.

"There are still three hundred thousand more!"

"Go to Zhejiang and Taiwan to buy food!"

"But they are also short of food!" The chief envoy was stunned: "The food will be more expensive when it comes to Fujian."

"I can't worry about that anymore. As soon as the food arrives, the price will naturally drop. It doesn't matter if I lose tens of thousands of yuan!"

Suddenly, a follower hurriedly ran in: "Master, the grain ship at the dock has arrived. It's ten big ships and has 20,000 dan..." "What?"

For a moment, the two big shots were shocked:

"Where did the food come from?"

At the pier, the languid men carrying bags were carrying bags of food with great energy for a moment. Already piled up like a mountain.

A large number of people gathered at the dock and looked at the accumulation of food. They were stunned for a while, and they felt inexplicably much calmer.

Several businessmen stood at the pier, looking at such a scene, and couldn't help but sigh: "My faces look hungry. If it's just a few days later, I don't know how many people will starve to death!"

One person said proudly: "We buy food from Borneo, and I don't know how many villagers we have saved!"

"Borneo is earlier, so it is naturally more secure!"

Qin State had two crops a year, which was great, but Borneo had three crops a year, so there was really a lot of food, and the harvest date was also much earlier.

Sure enough, as soon as the grain ship arrived, the price of rice fell immediately.

The governor of Fujian was overjoyed and personally received the group of businessmen.

"We are villagers. When we heard that there was a drought in our hometown, we were so anxious that we immediately bought food from Borneo and headed north!"

The governor praised a few words and then asked about Borneo: "In the past, food came from Qin. I haven't heard anything about Borneo. How is the situation?"

Several people began to introduce things about Borneo.

The Three Kingdoms opened up wasteland, farmed and caught slaves, which was hard work.

But it's all worth it. The wide variety of products, especially the climate with three crops a year, allow the people to have no worries about food and drink.

However, they harvested less than half a month ahead of schedule, so they could go north to help the victims.

"It seems that Fujian only relies on Qin for food, and many vassal states in Southeast Asia can also feed the Ming Dynasty. It's great! It's great!"

The governor was filled with emotion.

In the following days, rice from Southeast Asia continued to flood into the market, forcing the price of grain to drop to a hundred cents per bucket.

When Qin's grain arrived, the price of grain dropped a lot.

Coincidentally, the drought in southern provinces has been widely implicated. In Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangzhou and other provinces, food prices have also risen sharply.

Although grains from Northeast China and Southeast Asia are continuously imported, grain prices still rise by several percent.

The imperial court also realized the usefulness of many vassal states in Nanyang. At this time, the cabinet also did not hesitate to praise the emperor's foresight.

Without the input of grain from the Nanyang vassal states, the south would be hit hard.

Zheng Sen even lamented: "The number of living people in Fujian Province is only one million, thanks to His Majesty Hongfu..."

Zhu Yixi was confused about this.

The Nanyang vassal kingdom was a granary from the beginning, but now it shows its power.

Zheng Sen was particularly excited and couldn't wait to say: "As far as I know, if Siam and the like are two Qin countries, their annual exports can reach three million shi. Guangdong, Fujian and other places depend on it for food. It is said that in Guangdong alone, there are three Millions of people lived on Siamese food..."

"What do you mean?" Zhu Yixi raised an eyebrow.

"I think that I can send people to surrender my country and let the prince's vassal establish another granary in Nanyang."

"What do you mean?"

The elderly chief minister Yan Yingyuan glanced at Zheng Sen and sighed: "Nanyang vassal country, with the exception of Siam, I am willing to support a prince to become a vassal and build our Ming Dynasty granary."

"It's rare!" Zhu Yixi glanced at the crowd and sighed: "In the past, I worked hard to build a vassal, but now it's the other way around. Okay, great!"

Passive and active are completely different.

The cabinet even prepared a million dollars for the conquest of Siam, which was extremely generous.

(End of this chapter)