At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Page 481

Liu Yi grieved and said: "Young master, the amount of grain produced locally in Liaodong is very small now. I have heard people say that there are not many people growing grain locally, and all of them are shipped from the Central Plains for sale. Whether the price is high or low, the Central Plains Business Travel has the final say, and they can control the price of food at will."

Gongsun Kang frowned.

"It's been so many years, and the price of grain has been very stable without any fluctuations. We use materials to exchange a lot of five baht for grain, and use part of it to buy food, and the remaining five baht can be used to buy other things. Isn’t it true that people are getting better and better, rather than poorer and poorer?”

Liu Yi shook his head again and again.

"That's not the case, son, do you know that in the Central Plains, five baht coins are directly traded with grain. The amount of grain that can be exchanged for a five baht coin is fixed. Food is the most important thing. Without food, five baht Can money be used to feed one's hunger?"

Gongsun Kang blinked, but didn't understand.

"Liu Gong, what do you want to say?"

"I want to say that food is the most important thing. It is wrong to give up growing food in order to earn more five baht coins. It is meaningless to blindly earn five baht coins. The reason why five baht coins can be used The reason for the transaction is that it can buy food, if it can’t buy food, what’s the point of five baht?”

Gongsun Kang doesn't understand economics at all, and it's hard for him to understand what Liu Yi said.

Liu Yi understands a little bit, but not too much. This is what he heard from a businessman in the Central Plains, and he himself has only a half-knowledge. His specialty is military affairs, not economics.

The same is true for Yang Yi, which belongs to the category of knowing what it is but not knowing why it is so, thinking it makes sense, but not being able to tell the inner problem.

Therefore, although what they say is correct, it cannot move people's hearts.

What's the point of using some unreasonable words to make everyone stop making money?

Gongsun Kang is still quite clear-headed, and he can probably understand that Liu Yi and Yang Yi are worried about not having enough food, so there is a food crisis in Liaodong.

In this regard, Gongsun Kang felt that there was nothing worthy of attention.

"The Central Plains needs our medicinal materials and livestock, and we need five baht coins and food from the Central Plains. It is mutually beneficial and beneficial to both parties. This is fair. My father thinks such a thing is okay. Liugong and Yanggong still don't want it." Too worried."

Gongsun Kang smiled: "I still have to take care of my father, Duke Liu and Duke Yang please do what you want."

After finishing speaking, Gongsun Kang left here to take care of Gongsun Du, leaving Liu Yi and Yang Yi looking at each other.

"I'm really worried."

"Me too."

The two looked at each other helplessly, and smiled helplessly together.

Their worries are worries, but they can't produce evidence to prove their worries. They are just empty words, which is really hard to believe.

The immediate interests are the future crisis, how many people can pay more attention to the latter than the former?

People are chasing profit.

Later, Liu Yi returned to his residence.

He is Gongsundu's confidant, mainly engaged in military work.

However, the boundaries of military and political work in the classical anti-Japanese era were not so clear. Liu Yi could not only engage in military work and lead troops to fight, but he could also do some administrative work himself.

He followed Gongsun Du very early on in the South and North Wars to create a foundation. It has been almost 20 years now, and his qualifications are very profound.

However, like Gongsun Du, he did not understand that as a separatist regime, a Chinese separatist regime, if it does not want to unify, it will inevitably be unified.

In this respect, luck is not to be desired.

But there are many people who have a fluke mentality. Ordinary people are fine, but it is about themselves. If the high officials and dignitaries are like this, it is not just themselves who have been harmed.

In fact, Liu Yi can be regarded as a person with a relatively sense of urgency. In the early years, he discussed with Gongsun Du to cross the sea and capture Qingzhou as a base for plotting the Central Plains. Unfortunately, Qingzhou was quickly occupied by Guo Peng. The yellow turbans were swept away.

Guo Peng had the reputation of being a famous general at that time, and he had a great reputation in Youzhou. Gongsun Du was very afraid, so he had to give up his plan and turn to expand his sphere of influence eastward and northward.

Now more than ten years have passed, and Guo Peng is about to rule the country. He has proclaimed himself emperor, and Liaodong must be his goal, but Gongsun Du still has that fluke mentality, which makes Liu Yi feel very uneasy.

After returning home and taking off his official uniform, Liu Yi was about to have dinner with his family, but suddenly he heard someone from the mansion commenting that the price of food outside had risen recently, and the increase was not small.

"What are you talking about? The food price in Xiangping has risen?"

Liu Yi leaned over and asked quickly.

Chapter 866 .870 Six I am in Liaodong, if you want to be king, you will be king

The two servants were just chatting, but they didn't take this matter too seriously.

But seeing the head of the family coming to ask, the two servants who were discussing in private quickly lowered their heads.

"Yes, sir, the food price in Xiangping has risen."

They responded quickly.

"How much has it increased?"

Liu Yi was a little anxious.

"It has risen by more than [-]%, and it seems to be almost [-]%."

"Almost [-]%?"

Liu Yi felt something was wrong.

The price of grain in Liaodong has been very stable for several years. Under Guo Peng's rule, the Central Plains has also survived several natural disasters without any danger. The grain output has not decreased, and the grain price in Liaodong will naturally not fluctuate.

And now the sudden rise, could it be that there was a natural disaster in the Central Plains?

flood?drought?Plague of locusts?

Liu Yi was very worried, and immediately asked the housekeeper who was in charge of purchasing at home to inquire about it.

After careful questioning, Liu Yi learned that the price of food in Xiangping City was indeed on the rise recently, by almost [-]%, but the housekeeper felt that the increase was not a big deal, so he didn't care.

"A rise of almost [-]% is not too much?"

Liu Yi was very angry: "Then how much do you think the increase is too much? Times?"

"No, sir, in recent years, our family's income and expenditure are actually quite ample, not to mention our family, even the farmers who grow medicinal materials outside have a lot of five baht in their hands. This increase is really not enough. No matter what, no one talks about it."

The housekeeper looked nervous and said quickly.

"It doesn't matter if no one talks about it. Food is fundamental. How can you not care about it? It has risen by [-]% for no reason. Is there a famine or disaster in the Central Plains?"

"That's not what I heard."

The butler shook his head.

Liu Yi felt that something was wrong, so he said, "Go out and investigate this matter immediately. How can the price of food increase for no reason? After you find out, come back and tell me."

"Yes."

The housekeeper had no choice but to go out and find out what was going on.

After inquiring for a few days, the steward got some definite news that a grain store in Xiangping City was closed.

The reason for the closure of this shop was that an old man in the grain merchant behind the shop passed away. He had to return home for the funeral, and he planned to return to the Central Plains to take care of his remaining elders and family members. He did not want to continue doing business in Liaodong.

Seven days ago, the grain merchant went back to Qingzhou by boat.

It is said that there will be other grain merchants to replace this one, so people don't feel worried and live as usual.

Liu Yi thought about it for a while, and felt that he might have been worrying too much about this matter. People are born, old, sick and die. There is no way to predict this matter. If it really happens, there is no way.

So he relaxed a little and didn't pay too much attention to it.

In mid-July, the Wei Empire suddenly came to envoy, saying that they would read the imperial edict of Wei Tianzi. Wei Tianzi made Gongsun Du the Marquis of Yan, Pingzhou Shepherd, [-] households in Shiyi, and the rank of General Hussars.

The implication is that I hope that Gongsundu will surrender to the Wei Empire, accept the bestowal of the Wei Empire, and stop being stubborn.

The previous reward was still in the name of Emperor Han, and the content of the reward in the name of the Wei Empire was ignored by Gongsundu. This time, Guo Peng came to reward again.

Gongsun Du, who was sick, laughed when he heard about this, and his condition was relieved a lot.

"Guo Zifeng is still afraid of the might of my Liaodong army, and wants to be gentle with me. Hmph, I've already done this in Liaodong. Is he still missing a Marquis of Yan?"

Gongsundu talked and laughed happily in front of the courtiers who came to visit him, trying his best to mock Guo Peng's weakness and his weakness after annexing Jingzhou and Yizhou in one go.

Then, Gongsundu thought for a while and came up with a bold idea.

"I'm in Liaodong. If you want to be king, you will be king. I don't care about him, the Marquis of Yan. Now that Guo Zifeng is the emperor, he must give me a king of Yan, and allow me to establish a state. Only in this way can I be regarded as worthy of my status." !

As far as what he gave me now, Han has already given it to me, and I already have it, so do I need to change the court?I won't accept this reward, unless Guo Zifeng confers me King Yan, maybe I can still think about it. "

Gongsundu laughed arrogantly, and then asked people to drive Wei envoy away.

Guo Peng's intention to win over Gongsundu is obvious, and it also exposed his sense of powerlessness after practicing Jingzhou and Yizhou.

Therefore, Gongsun Du and a group of Liaodong civil and military felt that Guo Peng would not attack Liaodong in a short time.

Even so, Liu Yi was still a little worried.

"Why don't you just take over the appointment, so that Liaodong will be completely safe, and Guo Zifeng will have no excuse to attack Liaodong. Guo Zifeng himself ascended to the throne through the king of Wei. Now that the monarch is going to be the king of Yan, I guess it will make Guo Zifeng unhappy. "

"So what if he's unhappy?"

Gongsun Du curled his lips: "He did it himself, and still won't let anyone tell him? He is clearly a traitor! He is despicable and shameless and presumptuously proclaims himself emperor, even if he proclaims himself emperor, he actually wants to whitewash himself in the end?

snort!It doesn't matter if you are King Yan or not, I just want to embarrass him!Let's see how he responds to me!If he is angry, why not send troops to attack me directly, I want to see if he can attack me! "

Gongsun Du thought that he had seen through Guo Peng's current weakness, and felt that if he didn't take advantage of this opportunity to get some benefits, it would be difficult to get any benefits later.

If you don't get what you want at this time, it will be bad when Guo Peng recovers and has time to clean up Liaodong.

This is taking advantage of the fire.

Although Liu Yi felt it was inappropriate, he also felt that what Gongsun Du said was reasonable, and he didn't know what to say to dissuade Gongsun Du, so he let it go.

The time has come for Liu Zhang to arrive in Luoyang to formally surrender to Guo Peng.

On a very special occasion, Liu Yi suddenly asked the steward about the recent food price in Xiangping City, and was surprised to learn that the price of food has been rising all the way, from less than [-]% before to more than [-]% now, and there is still There is an upward trend.

"Thirty?"

Liu Yi was surprised: "What's going on? How come the price of food has risen so much?"

"It seems that a plague was created somewhere in the Central Plains. The hometowns of several merchants in the Central Plains were hit by disasters. They couldn't continue to do business in Liaodong. They all went back, so the price of food has risen again."

"What's going on? Why didn't such a thing happen before, but now?"

Liu Yi felt very angry and surprised, and immediately asked the housekeeper to investigate the matter again.

After returning from the investigation, Liu Yi felt that the matter was more serious, so he sent his servants to various counties to investigate the local food prices.

At the beginning of August, after Liu Yi collected the food prices in various counties from his subordinates, he was surprised to find that it was not just Xiangping, but all the counties whose food prices had risen to varying degrees.

The lowest is more than [-]%, and the highest is more than [-]%, which is completely different from previous years.

Feeling bad about this, Liu Yi immediately took this data to find Gongsundu, only to learn that Gongsundu's condition was relapsed and he needed to rest and see no one. Liu Yi had no choice but to go to Gongsunkang.

Gongsun Kang took over some power from Gongsun Du and began to handle the government affairs of Liaodong. After reading Liu Yi's report, he also felt that there was indeed a problem.

"In the past years, the price of food in various places occasionally varies due to the time of delivery, but it generally rises by [-]% to [-]%... Is this... a disaster for Wei?"

Gongsun Kang asked.

"According to some rumors, it is said that there is a plague in some places in Qingzhou. It may be because of these incidents that many merchants from their hometowns in Qingzhou have returned, but..."

"This should be the reason?"

After hearing what Liu Yi said, Gongsun Kang interrupted Liu Yi's worry: "Grand Liu, you don't have to worry too much about some things. If it is caused by the plague, then such things are really normal, and we don't have to worry about them. When the plague is over, it will naturally be over."

"But after all, we didn't see it with our own eyes."

Liu Yi shook his head: "My lord, I suggest that we send someone to investigate and see if this matter is true, I always feel uneasy.

And if it is true, whether the scope of the plague is large and whether it will last for a long time are all things we need to know. If it lasts for a long time, our food prices may not be stable here. "

Gongsun Kang thought about it for a while, and felt that it made sense. At the same time, for the first time, he came up with the idea of ​​"Isn't it wrong for everyone to grow medicinal materials instead of food?".

Chapter 867 870 Qi Liu Yi suddenly felt that something terrible was happening

In recent years, the Central Plains merchants have entered Liaodong to do business on a large scale, basically controlling the business of Liaodong.

Liaodong people can buy what they need locally, so basically no Liaodong people will leave Liaodong to go to other places.

Even if there was, it was "inadvertently" informed by the Central Plains business traveler that the Central Plains had been pacified and life had returned to stability.