She picked up the young prime minister while fleeing famine

Seeing that the village head and the others had finally arrived, they all silently exchanged glances and soon gathered in an empty alley.

Yao Daniu spoke first.

“Uncle Village Head, Young Master, I have already found out that there are four grain shops in Li County, one of which is in the south of the city and specializes in serving the wealthy.”

"The remaining three are all in the west of the city. Two are on the main street in the west of the city, and the other is on the small street behind it."

"Everyone says that the grain shop on the east side of the main street has the fairest prices," Yao Daniu excitedly shared the information he had gathered.

Yao Lizheng had made arrangements in advance. The first few groups to enter the city were assigned different tasks, such as finding out the location and prices of various shops.

So after Yao Daniu started, the others also shared the information they had gathered.

In Li County, there were four large grain shops, seven or eight general stores of various sizes, three cloth shops, three blacksmith shops, two pawnshops, and so on.

There's a morning market every day in the alley at the very back of West Street, where villagers from the surrounding area sell their agricultural products, including livestock.

Of all this information, Banxia was most concerned about pawnshops, salt prices, and iron shops.

The Great Xia Dynasty is now falling apart, and salt merchants dare not travel around in order to save their lives. If salt merchants from outside don't come, the local salt price will rise.

Firstly, businessmen are driven by profit, and profiting from national crises is probably their favorite pastime.

Secondly, it was naturally permitted by the local government. Not only did they raise prices, but they also limited the quantity. This was to control the consumption of salt and prevent people from hoarding large amounts of salt, which would lead to a shortage of salt on the market.

Of course, besides salt, there was also grain, but the grain restrictions were not so severe. If you only bought coarse grains, each person could buy fifty catties a month, which took into account the consumption of a family.

If there isn't enough food for the month, then we can ask other family members to buy it.

Unlike salt, which a household can only buy two jin (1 kg) per month, there's no more.

However, there are loopholes to exploit.

Lian Chengmo immediately instructed everyone to split into groups and go to each shop to buy grain and salt. They were to buy grain from the shop with the lowest price first, and each person was to buy fifty catties.

If it's still not enough, then go to the more expensive store and buy more.

Salt is different; regardless of whether it's expensive or cheap, every household buys it.

If they only bought them based on household registration, Lian Chengmo was afraid that the final quantity would still not be enough, so Banxia saw him distribute fake household registrations again, almost one for each person.

Once inside the city, there were far fewer restrictions. Shopkeepers would just glance at the household registration and register the items casually before selling them, unlike at the city gate where they would ask a few questions.

If someone were to investigate and discover something was amiss, they would have already vanished.

Banxia was completely baffled. So when exactly did this person start making these fake household registrations?

After obtaining their household registration, everyone went to buy grain in batches according to Lian Chengmo's arrangement, visiting one store at a time to avoid arousing suspicion.

Banxia's group went straight to the morning market to pick out big yellow cattle.

Although Lian Chengmo really wanted to buy a carriage to ride in, he had to admit that in the days to come, the ox would be much more useful than a horse.

It can not only plow the fields and do farm work, but also pull carts, although it is a bit slow.

Although Lian Chengmo had a considerable sum of money, he still had many expenses to cover, so he was willing to save as much as possible and wouldn't buy a carriage just for his own comfort.

Horse-drawn carriages and oxcarts are not even in the same league.

When she arrived at the morning market, Banxia looked around at the various stalls with curiosity. She found that this so-called morning market was actually quite similar to a vegetable market.

There were vendors selling vegetables, poultry and various eggs, and fish sold from two buckets, and so on.

They walked all the way to the end before they saw the cattle and horses for sale. Once they arrived, Banxia understood why they were at the very back.

This smell is really awful!

Waving her hand, Banxia tried her best to look away from the piles of poop and followed behind Lian Chengmo excitedly to watch him buy cattle.

Lian Chengmo was once a county magistrate, and the area under his jurisdiction gradually became wealthy from poverty. He was very skilled at selecting cattle.

For the people of Yaoli Village, cattle are a luxury, so Yao Lizheng didn't know how to tell them apart and could only stand aside and listen with Banxia and her daughter-in-law Lin Chun.

"These cattle are divided into calves that are about to reach adulthood, young and strong cattle that are over three years old, and old yellow cattle that are over seven years old. It mainly depends on..." Lian Chengmo saw that Banxia was very curious, so he explained a few sentences to her as he looked at each one.

Yao Lizheng and the other man listened attentively, intending to learn a thing or two. Although they couldn't afford cattle now, who knew if they would be able to in the future?

"Brother, your kid knows a lot!" The owner of the ox nodded in agreement.

He had raised oxen for so many years, so of course he knew how to tell them apart. He just didn't expect a ten-year-old boy to be so rude to the oxen.

“We used to have some at home, so we know a little about it.”

"This kid just loves to show off in front of his sister. He's really something today. I'd like to see if he can stand up to her." Yao Lizheng chuckled and casually made a few remarks, pretending to know a lot.

Then, it was only natural to give the right to choose the cattle to Lian Chengmo, since it would be strange to let a child make the decision about buying cattle for their group.

After Yao Lizheng said that, everyone understood and watched to see how the child would "fool" his sister.

"Hey kid, come take a look at my cow. If you can tell me its age, I'll give you a discount of a few coins, how about that?" The owner of another cow chimed in.

"You old bastard Li, are you trying to steal my business right in front of me?" The owner of the cattle herder was annoyed.

"Your one-year-old calf is nowhere near as good as my young and strong ox. Kid, take a look at mine. I guarantee it'll be excellent at pulling and plowing." Boss Li invited Lian Chengmo with a smile.

Lian Chengmo looked around and actually went to see Old Li's cow, which made the cow owner so angry that he almost pointed at him and cursed.

These days, raising a cow isn't easy; it basically takes a lot of manpower to herd the cow or cut grass for it every day.

The owner of the calf also felt sorry for his grandchildren and wanted to sell the calf as soon as possible to ease the burden on his children and also to earn some extra income.

These days, not many families can afford to buy cattle, so it's hard to sell them. If you finally find one that you really want to buy, and someone else snatches it away, how can you not be angry?

"Uncle, don't be angry. We're not just buying one. If your calves are good, my brother Mo will definitely come back to buy them." Banxia quickly pulled the shopkeeper back and whispered when she saw him trying to pull Lian Chengmo away in a fit of anger.

"Young lady, are you serious?" The boss was delighted and looked at Banxia expectantly, wondering if the young lady was just trying to fool him.

"I'm just a kid, how could a kid lie?" Banxia blinked and said with a smile, then skipped off to chase after Lian Chengmo.

While she was pulling people away, Yao Lizheng and the other man caught up with Lian Chengmo.