Wei Zaode thought for a long time and then asked: "How much white rice can I buy in Huguang with five million taels?"

Chen Rui thought for a while and said: "It's hard to say... In the past years, the price of rice in Huguang was very low. Five million taels can buy at least five million stone white rice. If this amount of rice can really be transported to the southeast, it will be

The price of rice can be stabilized a little. However, Huguang is in chaos this year. I am afraid that the price of rice will also rise, and it will be difficult to purchase so much rice."

Wu Xiang snorted softly when he heard this: "Why can't we receive it? If we don't receive it, send troops to the countryside... Millions of stones must be obtained, otherwise the southeast can be stable? Southeast is

Fundamentally, if the southeast is uneasy, how can the Ming Dynasty be revived?"

Huangshang Susheng waved his hands repeatedly: "I'm afraid it's too late... How can it be so easy to go to the countryside to harvest rice? Every year, Huguang exports 10 to 20 million stone white rice to Jiangnan. There are at least tens of thousands of people in Huguang.

We are busy together. It is hard to say whether these tens of thousands of people are still alive now!

Without them, would we be able to receive rice just by sending troops? The Lord Protector wouldn’t want the new troops to go to the countryside to grab rice, would he?”

Before he finished speaking, Deputy Military Advisor Cao Youyi said: "How do you say it? That's called levy, levying rice! Can the officers and soldiers who asked the people for rice according to the imperial court's order be considered robbery?"

Su Sheng was retorted by Cao Youyi and had nothing to say. Although he, the emperor's businessman, had the trust of Prince Zhu, he was a businessman after all, not an official... Moreover, could robbing rice from the emperor's family be called robbing? The whole world

It's from the emperor's family!

Yingtian Prefecture Yin Li Mingrui snorted: "What about the Longjiang Rice Alley? Now the rice merchants in Nanjing City are afraid to open... Who can give me some advice? The rice shops in Nanjing City must always be closed.

There are millions of mouths!”

The reason why Mipu was closed was firstly because he was afraid of being robbed, and secondly because he was protesting against the imperial court for shielding northern refugees!

Although Li Mingrui was a hero in overcoming difficulties, he was from Jiangxi and a big landowner, so his butt was naturally on the side of the rice merchants.

However, this matter is indeed the fault of the Xiaoling Guards New Army. Why did they start fighting with the Yamen of Tianfu?

Wu Xiang snorted coldly: "There are tens of thousands of Northern troops inside and outside Nanjing! If there is a military rebellion..."

The government officials in Yingtian Mansion were not good either. They were too harsh in Longjiang Mixiang and beat a group of Northern refugees and military family members with bloody wounds. How could the Northerners in the new Xiaoling Guard Army not be angry?

Wu Xiang didn't dare to pursue this matter. If it really caused a big fuss, wouldn't the inside and outside of Nanjing be turned into a battlefield?

Wei Zaode snorted coldly. The questions raised by Li Mingrui and Wu Xiang are all damn reasonable! He, the prime minister who looks like Zhuge Liang, can't help it... Who makes him, Zhuge Liang, a Xibei guy? There are all ways.

If the prince wants it, he will be responsible for taking the blame and leaving his name in history.

When he was sighing, Wu Nong's soft words from Chen Zilong, a doctor in the Cabinet Office, suddenly came from outside the nave: "Chief Assistant, urgent report from Jiangbei."

What happened in Jiangbei again?

"Come in quickly!" Wei Zaode quickly called Chen Zilong in.

Chen Zilong is in his thirties, with a white face, a long beard, a Chinese character face, and a burly figure. He does not look like a Wuyue person at all, let alone a poet (he was a famous poet and great talent at that time), but he looks like he came from the north.

The brave warrior.

Wei Zaode asked: "My dear, what happened?"

"The first assistant, the governor of Jiangbei Road, reported to Yangzhou that there was a rice shortage in Huai'an. The price of rice had risen to 5 cents. Hundreds of thousands of refugees had difficulty in food and clothing. There was almost a civil commotion. He wanted to ask the military station division to open a warehouse to release grain."

"No, no!" Wu Xiang shook his head repeatedly, "The Army Corps does not have much rice left. If they are all released, what will the soldiers eat?"

"Chief Assistant," Li Mingrui said, "Governor Lu wouldn't have made such a move if he didn't really have no choice!"

Lu Zhenfei was a native of Quzhou County, North Zhili, and one of the leaders of civil servants in the North and Central China. He and Wei Zaode were in the same party. Although there are still signs of the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party, the theme of party struggle in the Ming Dynasty has been

It’s not the Donglin gentleman fighting against the eunuch villain. It’s the fight between the North and the South!

Wei Zaode, Lu Zhenfei, and Hou Xun were the three leaders of the Northern Party. Opposite to them were Qian Qianyi, Chen Rui, and Lin Zengzhi, the three southern cabinet ministers.

Qian Qianyi, the leader of the Southern People's Party, sighed, "It's better to ask for an order! I'm afraid only the prince can solve the current trouble."

Li Mingrui said: "What should we do if the rice shops in Nanjing don't open?"

Qian Qianyi glanced at Wei Zaode and said with a smile: "This matter is easy to handle. First, declare martial law... and mobilize the new troops from Jiangbei Camp to the city to maintain order; second, let Shopkeeper Su and the Haishang Company

Mr. Chen came forward to talk to the rice merchants and asked them to open for business."

Su Sheng is now the general manager of Salt Merchant Bank, and the CEO of Maritime Merchant Bank, Chen Ding, is Chen Yonghua's father.

In today's southeastern business world, these two are the most powerful below Zheng Zhilong. The rice merchants in Jinling also need to borrow money and exchange money, and they cannot do without the support of the two banks.

In addition, Qian Qianyi will also go to say hello secretly... The "market strike" is a matter of meaning, but don't really offend the prince, as it will not bring good results!

When Zhu Cihong received a memorial from the Cabinet Office and the Generalissimo's Office jointly asking him to return to the imperial court, he had already returned to the Wuchang Palace. He was busy finishing and dealing with the aftermath of the Huguang War, and at the same time he had to worry about the Sichuan issue.

His military advisor Li Yan has been recalled from the front line. The Huguang battlefield is now divided into the northern front and the western front. Among them, the northern front is mainly responsible for the attack, and the western front is temporarily responsible for the defense.

Zhu Cixiang planned to concentrate his efforts to capture Xiangyang and Nanyang first - if Zhu Cixiang did not capture these two mansions, Dorgon might capture them.

Therefore, Zhu Cixi ordered Wu Sanfu to unified command the northern front war, dispatched two new military divisions plus Tang and Tibetan guards to attack Xiangyang and Nanyang with all his strength.

The western front was left to Wu Guoyong to deal with. In addition to guarding against the Dashun Army in the west of Jingzhou Prefecture, one of his divisions also had to be responsible for recovering the eastern part of Jingzhou Prefecture and the west of Chengtian Prefecture. The task was also quite heavy.

Zhu Cixiang himself returned to Wuchang Prefecture with his Guards Division and the troops of He Tengjiao, Chang Yanling, Jin Shenghuan, Zhang Yong, Qiu Lei and others.

"Robbing rice, going on strike, food shortage..."

Zhu Cixiang's fingers lightly tapped the memorial on the table, and his eyes swept over the faces of Li Yan and He Tengjiao, as if seeking their opinions.

"Your Highness, order the Ministry of War to release food..." Li Yan said, "Huguang is generally stable now, and we can always find ways to get some food. There must be no chaos in the southeast!"

He Tengjiao frowned: "Autumn grain won't be available until September at the earliest... It's only May, there are still four months left! How can one million dan last for so long? Your Highness, the Southeast Fortress

It’s chaos!”

"It can't be chaotic!" Zhu Cihong said, "People come up with solutions... there will always be a solution!" He turned to look at Qiu Yu, Fang Yuegong and Liu Kongzhao, "Send merchants to the countryside to collect rice.

Has the matter begun?"

"It's already started..."

"But progress is slow!"

“Many rice merchants here in Wuchang have no capital!”

Zhu Cixi smiled: "Then pay them a deposit! The two banks in Wuchang have several million in silver, which is enough to support the market... The Jiangdu Left-behind Department will sign a contract with them and pay a deposit."

.With the contract, they can borrow money from the two banks."

The five million taels of silver stored in the branches of the Maritime Commercial Bank and the Yan Commercial Bank in Wuchang were not entirely used to reward the army and support the Sichuan campaign - it would not cost that much to reward the army, and even five million taels spent to defeat Sichuan would not be enough.

.

These five million taels are actually used to build a financial system - a system with two major banks as the core.

Zhu Cixi knew that banks sell credit, and the core of a bank-centered financial system is credit. Five million taels of silver placed in the bank vaults of two banks in Wuchang Prefecture is enough for the two banks to operate in the cash-short Huguang (Money Capital).

Robbed by Li Zicheng) established credibility.

With the credit support of the two banks, there is no need to give out these five million. Huguang's commercial system can operate solely with the bank notes issued by the bank.

What? Country people don’t know banknotes? Country people don’t need silver! What they need are handicrafts, cloth, farm tools, daily necessities, and maybe some cattle. As long as the merchants who sell these things are willing to believe in the two big
Chapter completed!