I embezzled 100,000 taels at the beginning, and the empress begged me to be more greedy

"Donate money?"

Liu Sheng's expression changed, but in the blink of an eye, he smiled again and said, "Of course, I am also quite kind and generous. Just tell me how much you want me to donate."

Since he said so, Jiang Zuo was naturally not polite and said, "One million taels."

Liu Sheng frowned and sneered in his heart: "A mere governor, how can you have such a big appetite?"

He showed an embarrassed look on his face and said, "Your Excellency, even if I sell all my property, I can't raise one million taels."

"Jizhou is suffering from a disaster right now, and we really need you wealthy businessmen to show your kindness. One million taels, isn't that too much?"

Jiang Zuo deliberately made things difficult.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that. Please be more lenient with me, sir." Liu Sheng remained respectful.

"Then I can't do anything about it. If that doesn't work, you can ask the Thousand Cavalry Division for help yourself." Jiang Zuo waved his hand and turned to leave.

It is not an easy task to get a penny from these unscrupulous businessmen.

Liu Sheng seems gentle, but he is actually a dagger hiding behind his smile.

As an important figure in the Liu family, a prominent family in the south of the Yangtze River, how could he be so humble and ask others to do things for him?

Jiangzuo knows everything clearly.

This person must have other purposes for coming here.

"Then I will go back and think of a solution and will not disturb you anymore." Liu Sheng bowed and left.

"Wait." Jiang Zuo suddenly called him.

"What's the matter, sir?"

"Move all these things away." Jiang Zuo ordered, then entered the inner hall without looking back.

Liu Sheng stared at Jiang Zuo's back, and his originally gentle face suddenly became more fierce.

"General Governor of Zhenbei, Jiangzuo? If you don't accept my toast, I'll have you drink the wine for punishment..."

After Jiang Zuo returned to the inner hall, he wrote another letter and sent it to Anding County.

This letter was written to Mr. Zhao, who lived in Anding County and was from the Zhao family, a prominent family in the south of the Yangtze River.

This person has close ties with Jiangzuo and has a lot of business dealings with it.

Jiang Zuo's letter was a request for help.

The Zhao family is not just Zhao Zhenyi's family, all members of the extended family are wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan.

As long as Zhao Zhen also donates, most of his family members will follow suit.

Jiangzuo needs a large amount of money for this disaster relief.

The Zhao family in Jiangnan is willing to donate money, and the Jiangzuo Association will agree to them and work together to deal with the Li and Liu families in Jiangnan.

Although the Jiangnan families were both wealthy local merchants and gentry, the Li and Liu families often conspired to suppress the other two families and seize each other's business.

The Huang family was severely damaged by the Yuzhou case and is no longer a match for the Li and Liu families. Now only the Zhao family is left, becoming the target of suppression by the Li and Liu families.

Jiang Zuo was not sure whether the Zhao family would donate money, so what he had to do now was to continue collecting food.

As the number of disaster victims increased, food was consumed faster and faster. If we wanted to alleviate the urgent need, we could only use local materials.

The price of grain in Yecheng was so high that even if all the disaster relief money allocated by the imperial court was used up, it would not be able to buy much.

How to do it?

What Jiang Zuo needs to do next is to lower the grain prices in Yecheng and return them to normal levels.

The simplest way to stabilize prices is for official punishment.

Now that the Thousand Cavalry Division is in Yecheng, it would be most appropriate for them to come forward.

Jiang Zuo instructed Ma Hengwei on this matter, and told him to act decisively and get it done quickly, but not to be too extreme.

Yecheng can no longer be delayed any longer.

The Qianqi Division was indeed efficient. Within one day, they forced all grain stores in Yecheng to lower their prices to reasonable levels.

The effect was remarkable on the first day of implementation, and Jiangzuo took the opportunity to purchase a large amount of grain.

But by the next day, almost all the shops in Yecheng hung up wooden signs saying "No surplus food", obviously intending to continue hoarding goods.

"Master Jiang, why don't you just forcibly collect the food from these profiteers and distribute it to the victims?"

Ma Hengwei is upright and his ideas are quite simple.

Jiang Zuo shook his head and said, "We can't collect the grain. They always find ways to hide the grain. They would rather burn it than give it away for free. If we collect the grain too radically, it will cause unrest, which will only cause more trouble."

These merchants in Yecheng are greedy for profit and forget their principles. It is obviously impossible to ask them to make sacrifices.

Jiang Zuo fell into deep thought and remembered something in his mind.

He said to Master Guo: "Sell 10,000 dan of grain to Yecheng. As for the price, each dan should be one tael of silver higher."

Hearing Jiang Zuo's order, Master Guo was quite puzzled and said, "Master Jiang, although our grain reserves are not large, there are so many disaster victims that they can only last for ten days. We don't even have enough food, so why should we sell it?"

Ma Hengwei had the same question in his mind, and even suspected that Jiang Zuo also wanted to take the opportunity to make money.

But Jiang Zuo has lost his appetite these days and has been busy with disaster relief. He is obviously not that kind of person.

Jiang Zuo did not explain much and just told Master Guo to do it.

Soon, the grain sold at special prices by the government entered the market in Yecheng.

In less than an hour, they were sold out.

Moreover, most of these buyers purchase in large quantities.

Jiang Zuo was not in a hurry and ordered again to sell another 10,000 stones.

This time, it was sold out again in less than half an hour.

"Sir, they will buy as much grain as we release. If this continues, they will buy up all the grain!"

Ma Hengwei was extremely anxious and did not understand Jiang Zuo's actions at all.

This time, the Jiangnan families clearly wanted to make a fortune from the national crisis. They bought up all the grain circulating on the market, thereby driving up the price of grain.

This group of immoral profiteers would not distribute the grain to the victims even if they stored it in warehouses and it became moldy and rotten.

"Don't panic, put in another 10,000 dan, 1 dan 15 liang."

Jiang Zuo said slowly.

"Still putting it out? Fifteen taels? Will they buy it?"

Ma Hengwei asked questions one after another and was quite confused.

"If they don't buy it, someone else will."

Sure enough, these grains were bought up immediately after they were sold.

Today, the price of rice in Yecheng is still high and has not changed much.

"Sir, we can't do this any longer. We must deliver the food to the victims. If we continue to fight those profiteers, we will be the only ones who lose."

Ma Hengwei gave some advice.

Jiang Zuo remained silent, staring at the account book in his hand, then turned around and asked, "Master Guo, has the grain from Anding County been delivered?"

Master Guo replied, "Your Excellency, we have arrived. I have also followed your instructions and purchased grain from various places in Daizhou at high prices and transported it to Yecheng."

"Soon, keep selling. This time, we'll sell 20,000 stones."

Jiang Zuo ordered again.

"We can't sell any more! No matter how much we sell, those merchants will still have plenty of money to buy them, and the disaster victims inside and outside the city really have nothing to eat. Please think twice, sir!"

Ma Hengwei said excitedly.

In his eyes, Jiang Zuo's efforts had been in vain.

Compared with this time, Ma Hengwei is more inclined to take direct action against this group of unscrupulous businessmen.

However, without His Majesty's order, Ma Hengwei did not dare to act on his own.

Jiang Zuo glanced at the anxious Ma Hengwei and said calmly, "Keep selling."

Ma Hengwei sighed helplessly, slammed the door and left.

The next day.

The price of grain remains at twenty taels per stone, and has not changed.