There is heaven above, and Suzhou and Hangzhou below.

This sentence, which everyone is familiar with, highly summarizes the prosperity and splendor of Suzhou and Hangzhou, attracting people all over the world to yearn for it.

Hangzhou was the temporary capital of the Song Dynasty, and Suzhou was Pingjiang Prefecture.

Pingjiang Fucheng has always been an important city in the Jiangnan region and was known as the "Southeast City". However, in the third year of Jianyan's reign, like Wujiang County, it was burned, looted and destroyed by the Jin soldiers.

In the early days of the southern crossing, Zhao Jiumei once intended to make Pingjiang Prefecture the capital, so it was rebuilt in accordance with the requirements of the capital at that time.

"The overlapping rivers and mountains are strong, and the flat wells are wide."

The rebuilt Pingjiang City has long city walls and towering towers, with a circumference of about thirty-five miles, nine miles long from north to south, and seven miles wide from east to west. It is generally a rectangle, with a five-mile circumference at the center of the city.

The city's main waterways, three horizontally and four vertically, and hundreds of tributaries are intertwined vertically and horizontally, and cleverly combined with the lane streets to form a double chessboard pattern of "water and land adjacent, rivers and streets parallel", weaving a unique water city charm.

There are sixty-five private squares, with whitewashed walls and black tiled houses standing in rows. Most of them are built near the water, with front streets and back rivers, small bridges, flowing water and people's houses, creating a vivid and vivid poetic picture.

Refined and refined, the temples with double eaves resting on the mountain, the majestic government offices, the magnificent private gardens, the bustling shops and workshops, and the buildings of various styles are all scattered in the city.

Everywhere complements each other and complements each other, truly like a paradise on earth.

However, the "heaven" at this time is filled with anxiety and panic, and countless people are worrying about filling their stomachs.

The northwest corner of Zicheng is the commercial district of the city, which contains various shops, fish shops, recommendation shops, rice markets, fruit markets, etc. as well as various shops, hotels, teahouses, and restaurants.

Early in the morning, when the sun shines brightly, the streets here are crowded with people. They stare eagerly at the shops selling food, anxiously waiting for them to open for business. Especially in front of the grain and rice shops, there are huge crowds of people.

Although the Pingjiang Prefecture area has been known as the "Land of Fish and Rice" since ancient times, the 7 to 8 million people in the city are basically non-agricultural people, and they usually need to buy rice for food.

As a high-yielding rice area, the local food supply is naturally sufficient during normal seasons. People in the city buy what they eat and do not have the habit of hoarding large amounts of food. In addition, summer food should be on the market, so food prices will definitely fall.

There is no reason to stock up on food.

Unexpectedly, a flood ruined the summer grain supply and left it in decline. The next three or four months would have to rely on old grain supplies from previous years, so the people had to try their best to reserve grain.

However, at this time, grain dealers are more reluctant to sell and limit sales, gradually pushing up grain prices, forcing people to rush to buy every day.

During the long wait, the crowd could not help but sigh and complain.

"Hey, they all say, 'If Suhu is ripe, the world will have enough.' Who would have thought that people in Gusu City would also have difficulty buying food..."

"God is blind, the Dragon King is losing his temper, what can be done about it?"

"In the past, rice here was only ten cents per liter. Yesterday it increased to twenty-five cents. I don't know if it will rise again today."

"Even if the price goes to the sky, you still have to buy everything. You can't skip eating, right? You'd better find a way to buy more as soon as possible..."

"By the way, there was a flood last year, and it was much worse than this year. However, the price of rice only rose to 20 cents, which was still as high as it was in October. Why did it rise so sharply at the beginning of this year?"

"Last year's flood occurred after the summer harvest, and most of the harvest was saved. Moreover, in previous disaster years, the owner of our weaving shop was worried that we would be hungry because we had no one to work, so he gave us rice grains at a discounted price to pay wages.

You don’t have to worry too much about food, but that’s not a good thing this year, and I don’t know what’s going on.”

"Hey! Our boss is saying that business is getting harder and harder. The price of rice is so high this year that he can't afford it..."

"Isn't your boss the old Zhang family? His family owns property and a farm. Even the rice shop in front of him belongs to his family. Why can't he afford it?"

"Who knows, anyway, this year is quite strange. By the way, I heard someone said yesterday that the price of rice in Wujiang County is only 12 cents, which is about the same as usual. I don't know whether it is true or not."

"This is indeed true. It is said that King Yan collected all the rice from the Wujiang gentry and sold it to the government for public sale. Unfortunately, we have to work every day and cannot go to Wujiang to buy rice."

"Hey, His Royal Highness King Yan is really kind, but why doesn't he come to Fucheng to do this? It's really a bit unfair..."

"Hehe... I heard that King Yan has taken a fancy to a young lady named Jiang from Wujiang County. He wants to be Wujiang's son-in-law, but he is not allowed to sell her to the local area, okay?"

"That's what I said! There are so many good-looking ladies in our city in Gusu. As long as Prince Yan comes down, why don't we let him choose?...Ah, the doors are finally open. I need to buy more today."

Zhang Ji Grain Store removed a door panel, and a waiter popped his head out. He looked at the crowd of people outside the door warily and nervously and shouted.

"Everyone, step back! ... But don't squeeze! ... The boss has made new rules. You can only come in one by one today. If anyone messes around, don't blame us for not selling to you!"

Now, the people who were waiting to buy rice stopped and started making noise.

"Buy one by one, how long will it take?"

"That's right, we are still waiting to finish buying rice and go to work early!"

"How can anyone do this kind of business? In the past, didn't the door always open to let people in?"

"What's going on!? Are all the people who run grain stores adults? Do we have to beg for money to buy things?"

The crowd was passionate and expressed their dissatisfaction. Then the waiter was not at all hypocritical and yelled, "If you like it, buy it or not. If you don't buy it, I will be thrown away! If you don't want to abide by this rule today, this rice will really not be sold!"

"

Helpless, the situation was stronger than the others. In order to have rice for cooking at home, everyone had to endure it and squeezed back with difficulty to give three or four feet of space to the entrance of the grain store.

After seeing this situation, the waiter showed a satisfied look, then removed another door panel, revealing a door crack that was only large enough for one person to pass through, and then hung up a cover.

"The price of rice today is 40 cents per liter, and each person is limited to buying three liters."

The crowd exploded again, "You little bitch, you were only twenty-five yesterday, and you are forty today?... There is no way to increase the price!... I can only buy three liters. There are seven people in my family, and this is all

Not enough food for one day!”

The clerk blocked the crack in the door and shouted impatiently, "It's the same thing, buy it or not!"

"Damn it, I still don't believe it. It's not just your house that sells grain. I'll go buy it from another house..." Someone turned around and squeezed out of the crowd, rushing to another rice shop.

"Hey, let's just bear with the price. Can we sell more? It's really not enough to eat." Someone begged.

"It's too expensive, and the sales are limited. In this case, it's better to go to the official store to try your luck..."

There are also people who really don't have much money, and official shops have been selling rice for only fifteen cents, but the purchase has been restricted for a long time. One person can only buy one liter at a time, and there are so many people that it is difficult to squeeze in.

The rice shop clerk waved his hand nonchalantly, "Go ahead, go ahead. If you don't want to buy it, get out. If you want to buy it, just follow the rules!"

Rich people all wear the same pants. The owners of all the grain stores in the city have jointly negotiated to raise prices and limit sales at the same time. The official stores are supposed to be responsible for stabilizing grain prices, but now they are just doing it for a show.

No one in the world can sell a hundred shi of grain.

After arguing for a while, there was still no result, nothing could be changed, and the remaining people could only obey.

Immediately, the rice shop clerk stood in front of the door and said proudly, "Next, no fighting or grabbing is allowed. Whoever I click on can enter!"

This job was obtained by the clerk because he was the shopkeeper's brother-in-law. With this power, people who wanted to buy rice had to give the clerk some 'tips'. It was easy to get a few bucks in a day.

What happened in front of other rice shops was similar to what happened here. The people could only swallow their anger and go in one by one with rice bags to buy rice at high prices. After coming out, they were in a hurry, either rushing to work or going to other grain stores.

Luck, the streets are full of people who are busy running for survival.

In the north of the city, there is a Baoen Temple Tower with nine levels and eight sides, and a height of 25 feet. It is called the "Crown of the Towers of the County". Standing on the top floor, you can have a panoramic view of everything happening in the market.

Four or five people in gorgeous attire were leaning on the railing, looking at all the living beings as tiny as ants with indifferent expressions.

"Cang Si, you see what I said is right. Everything is safe and sound. These ordinary people will never dare to cause trouble. It's good to be able to buy food now. There is no room for them to be picky..."

The speaker is in his fifties, with gray hair, but a rosy face, a rich face, and a very kind smile. His name is Lu Wencai. He is Lu Wende's younger brother and manages the Lu family's property.

Because of Lu Wende's outstanding military exploits, Zhao Guan's family rewarded fertile land several times, with the largest one being as high as 500 hectares. Including several other hectares and private annexations, there were more than 2,000 hectares of farmland in Pingjiang Prefecture alone.

Xietang, the director of Changping Division in Western Zhejiang Province, sighed with his hands behind his back and said, "Speaking of it, Xie started to serve as the General Magistrate of Pingjiang Prefecture twelve years ago. He still has a lot of affection for this city and the people here. This time

I came from Lin'an to do more for the people of Pingjiang, but it's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, and it's hard for the court to do the same, so it can only suffer for the people..."

Lu Wencai showed admiration, "Cang Secretary is really compassionate and kind-hearted. It is a blessing for us, the elders in western Zhejiang, to have you serve. If you want to blame it, it is Liu Xiuren who was corrupt and misappropriated the Changping warehouse. If it weren't for the warehouse

The Secretary is trying to make up for it, how can the people of Pingjiang eat such cheap rice."

"The deceased is the most important person. Although Liu Xiuren did not do it properly, since he is already dead, we can't pursue it too much, right?"

, there was a problem in Changpingcang, and he is also responsible for the poor supervision, so it is necessary to make up for it, and thanks to all the wise men and women who generously helped, otherwise Xie would have no choice but to sit on his hands."

In addition to Lu Wencai, the others were also top wealthy households in Pingjiang Prefecture, with at least thousands of hectares of fertile land. After hearing the words of thanksgiving, they all expressed courtesy and compliments.

"Cang Si is too polite. I heard that after the flood, the saint was worried about us and other people in the disaster area in the palace. He not only worshiped Buddha and prayed for blessings day and night, but also used his own money to help the victims. I can only do my little bit to support the good deeds.

Thank you for your honor."

"It's a pity that King Yan is young and does not recognize our loyalty and filial piety. He is beguiled by traitors and insists on practicing the 'evil laws of the world'. Doesn't this hurt the good heart and make trouble for the people?"

"We have cultivated and studied to inherit the family, and have worked hard for the country. We have been diligent in private business, so that we can save a little family property. However, the King of Yan wants to reduce and seize it for no reason. It really chills the hearts of the country's soldiers and makes our loyal friends cold..."

Xie Tang listened quietly to these complaints and showed a sympathetic expression, "Xie is well aware of the sufferings of all the sages. However, King Yan is the crown prince and the officials are too fond of him. Even the saints dare not say anything. I want to

It's not easy to stop him from doing stupid things, so we can only try to make him retreat."

The saint is Queen Xie Daoqing, and Xie Tang is her nephew. Unlike Xie Huo, Xie Tang has a flexible mind and has some talents. He was appointed as the general magistrate of Pingjiang Prefecture in his early twenties. At this time, he was only a young man.

At thirty-four years old, it can be said that he is young and promising.

The Xie family has been a high-ranking official for several generations, and even has a queen. It is considered a famous family. When Xie Tang was an official in Pingjiang, he also bought a lot of land for his family. King Yan wanted to engage in the economic world, which naturally touched his interests.
Chapter completed!