In early July of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Boss Du from Wubaocheng Grain Store came with a distant relative, surnamed Huang, who was said to be a wealthy senator in Dongchang Prefecture, Shandong. Because he offended the princes and nobles of Dongchang Prefecture, he had to sell his property and move his family to the family.

Without land, Mr. Huang didn't know how to make a living. He was in chaos and did not dare to buy a large amount of land. He simply went to Wubao City to find his relative Boss Du to learn business.

When I arrived at Wubao Stone City, I saw that the mountains and fields were full of hungry people wandering everywhere. When I looked at the north, a large piece of land in the imperial court had just been occupied by the rebels surnamed Qin, and many of the wealthy gentry had lost all the land in the northern part of Yansui.

What a good guy, the people are all going to be hungry people, no one is farming anymore, and a lot of land for the rich gentry are gone, so the price of grain should not soar?

So, Boss Huang, who had just sold his property and had too much money in his pocket, waved his hand: collect the grain.

Several strong guys in the Jingtou Grain Store couldn't hold on.

The grain store owner Du couldn't persuade him, so he had to let him go.

The enthusiastic boss Huang quickly recruited a young man and immediately sent people to Xiazhou, Suidezhou, Yan'an Prefecture, Qingyang Prefecture, Guanzhong Plain and even Pingyang Prefecture in southern Shanxi to buy grain everywhere under the name of Wubao Boss Du.

Moreover, Boss Huang is rich and generous. After adding the freight rate, the grain price is 20% higher than the market price, which costs as much as possible.

Grain merchants in central, northern, southern Shanxi and other places were immediately in an uproar.

You know, the autumn harvest will be coming in two months.

Grain merchants will collect grain at a low price during the autumn harvest. At this time, grain prices are the lowest, and grain merchants can hardly collect them. After winter, they will start to slowly release warehouses, and grain prices will also slowly rise. As the Chinese New Year approaches, grain prices will often be extremely high. In April and May, some areas will have spring harvests, and grain prices will fall a little, and then they will start to rise slowly. By July and August, grain prices will reach the highest point.

Because, in July and August every year, many people in the northern region have no surplus food at home.

At this time, grain merchants began to put their warehouses, one was to make a big profit while the price was high, and the other was to take advantage of the old grain during this period and free up the warehouse to prepare for the autumn harvest.

It is July now, the highest grain price point, and it is also the time when grain merchants open warehouses.

The road to Wubao was not peaceful, mainly because there were many refugees and many bandits. In the past, many grain merchants were not willing to transport grain there, but under the temptation of 20% higher grain prices, grain merchants began to be moved.

Moreover, Boss Huang was not only rich but also generous. He immediately paid 30% of the deposit when he negotiated a deal, and the remaining 70% of the grain was paid on the same day after he entered the warehouse in Wubao.

The first grain merchants in Suidezhou were the first to eat grapes. Because Suide was less than two days away from Wubao, the Suide grain merchants tried to transport 500 stones of grain to Wubao, and Boss Huang generously paid off all the remaining 70% of the grain payment, all of which were full of silver.

With the first one, there was a second one. Yan'an, Xiazhou, Qingyang and other grain merchants in northern Shaanxi successively transported grain and returned happily with a large amount of white silver.

Now, grain merchants in the Guanzhong Plain, Pingyang Prefecture, and even Fenzhou areas could no longer sit still.

The grain prices in northern Shaanxi have always been much higher than those in Guanzhong and southern Shanxi. Boss Huang can eat the grain, and even more so in Guanzhong and Jinzhong.

The first move was Ruilin Pavilion, a famous big shop in Guanzhong. In just three days, hundreds of large and small ships were assembled, carrying 5,000 stones of grain, leaving Guanzhong along the Wei River, entering the Yellow River, heading north to Wubao.

The head of Ruilin Pavilion is Wang Helun, Gaoling County, Xi'an Prefecture. He has always been famous for his courage. When the rebel Qinchuan made a Loufan iron pot, the wealthy businessmen in Guanzhong and southern Shanxi were hesitant, for fear of being related to the rebels, and for fear of being rumored to be kidnapped and extorted by the rumored rebels who were kidnapped and blackmailed. Only Wang Helun was not afraid and went to Loufan himself.

After that trip, he became the general agent of the Guanzhong area of ​​Loufan Tieguotou.

At that time, people did not understand what the word general agent meant. It was not until some wealthy businessmen in Guanzhong went to Loufan to buy iron pots, but were told that the businessmen in Guanzhong could only buy from Ruilin Pavilion that people knew what the word meant.

People also know that Wang Helun is making a fortune.

Loufan iron pots were in short supply in Guanzhong. From princes and nobles to the people, they all wanted to buy a good pot and let the wife and aunts go to fiddle with them.

After all, this pot is not only firm, but also very thin, with fast heating and sufficient heat, which is both durable and can save a lot of firewood.

The price of iron pots continued to rise. Although the court quickly blocked the Loufan Business Road, Wang Helun made a lot of money in just one year, and made Ruilin Pavilion one of the four major business names in Guanzhong.

Now, Wang Helun has taken action again.

The grain merchants in the Guanzhong Plain immediately followed closely, and ships of all sizes emerged from Xingping, Xianyang, Wugong, Weinan and other places. The Yixiang and Wanhe Chamber of Commerce of the four major merchants also quickly mobilized ships and transported 5,000 stones of grain to Wubao.

Soon, grain merchant ships in Pingyang Prefecture, southern Shanxi also sailed into the Yellow River. For a time, the Yellow River was filled with sailing ships, and grain transport ships of all sizes stretched for hundreds of miles. The boatmen on several torrents along the west bank of the river were happy at first, and soon they were exhausted, so hungry people from far and near rushed to pull ropes and make a living, which temporarily supported a large group of people.

The territory of Qinchuan River east of the Yellow River is east of the Sanchuan River. There are imperial troops stationed on the south bank of the Sanchuan River. A large number of warships from the imperial army were gathered at the intersection of the two rivers. The grain merchants were still at ease. However, the Yellow River waterway from the intersection of the two rivers to Wubao made them nervous. They sailed carefully along the west bank but were in a hurry, for fear that the terrifying thief on the other side would suddenly cross the river and rob the grain.

Fortunately, the major grain merchants provided some guidance to the leading generals of the court, and the general ordered his warships to patrol back and forth on this waterway of less than ten miles to protect the grain ships. The troops on the shore also made an attacking attitude on the Sanchuan River to restrain the Guandi army.

The number of Guandi Army in Qinglong Ferry Fort and Jun Ferry Fort does not seem to be large. They only care about guarding against the attack of the imperial army and have no time to cross the river to rob grain. Perhaps it is because Qin Chuan is not here, and the generals of Guandi Army dare not make a decision without authorization.

In this way, ships loaded with grain sailed into Wubao Wharf.

At first, when he heard that Boss Huang was going to collect grain, Zeng Jinkui was furious and immediately led his troops to the grain store to force Boss Huang to stop purchasing grain, so as not to prevent the huge number of hungry people in northern Shaanxi from hearing that there was food in Wubao and rushed to Wubao.

At that time, the more than a thousand soldiers under his command would probably be too busy to turn around and even chop people's heads. If a hungry person takes advantage of the chaos to grab grain ships and cross the other side, he will be in trouble. If a bandit even gets involved in the chaos to attack Wubao City, his head will not be enough.

But Boss Huang is a stubborn duck and refuses to stop collecting food when he dies. The two argue. When Zeng Jinkui draws his sword in anger, Jian Guoning arrives at the right time.

Under Jian Guoning's persuasion, Boss Huang decided to take out some of the food and set up a porridge shed twenty miles north of Wubao to prevent hungry people from pouring into Wubao. Zeng Jinkui needed to send troops to maintain order in the porridge shed and not kill innocent people indiscriminately.

Zeng Jinkui agreed because Boss Huang gave him five hundred taels of silver when he borrowed Jian Guoning to facilitate it.

After the matter was decided, when Boss Huang received two batches of grain, he took out 300 stones and sent people to transport them to a porridge shed twenty miles north of Wubao. Zeng Jinkui sent 300 troops to escort the porridge shed there to maintain order.

In just two days, the porridge shed gathered tens of thousands of hungry people, and a large number of hungry people were still gathered from all directions.

The three hundred stones of grain were only enough to cook porridge for less than ten days for hungry people. After a few days, Boss Huang generously transported five hundred stones of grain over.

Sure enough, there was not a single hungry man in Wubao.

When grain ships from Guanzhong and southern Shanxi drove into Wubao Wharf one after another, Zeng Jinkui enthusiastically sent five hundred soldiers to the wharf to maintain order, and even helped Boss Huang transport the grain into the city.

Then, Zeng Jinkui found Boss Huang and said that his big-headed soldier was working hard and he had to express his feelings.

Boss Huang was very generous and gave him another 300 taels of silver.
Chapter completed!