Jinghai County.

After the prefect Lu Sheng received the order from his superiors, he left immediately. In the prefect's yamen, Fusang merchants, Chu merchants, and Goguryeo merchants were summoned.

inside the house.

Lu Sheng sat on the main seat with official authority, and below him were businessmen sitting separately. The businessmen who could come to sit with him were all large merchants with good backgrounds.

Now Wu Nian had to rely on merchants to purchase grain. Lu Sheng was very polite to these merchants and asked them to make tea.

Of course, Lu Sheng would not directly say that Wu Nian was planning to take precautions and prepare for possible food shortages next year.

"Everyone, I know that the business at sea is not mainly about food. This business is not easy to do. But I, the General of the Fu Han Dynasty, do have a shortage of food."

"This time the general ordered me to purchase grain. I promise that as long as you bring the grain here, I will not treat you badly."

"Give me money in real money."

Lu Sheng was very angry and said directly.

The merchants were divided into three groups. The familiar people looked at each other and saw the excitement in each other's eyes. Maritime trade mainly consisted of porcelain, silk, and tea, and the rest included valuables.

The grain business is not easy to do.

This grain business has low profit margins, and the sea is very rough. If not stored properly, the grain will become moldy and become worthless.

Now in the sea area of ​​​​Liaodong, although the pirates are afraid of Wu Nian's troops and dare not go ashore, there are still pirates operating at sea.

In short, the profits are thin and the risks are high.

But now that Lu Sheng has spoken, the profits must be high. If the profits are high, you can do business.

"May I ask Magistrate Lu, what price does General Fu Han offer?!" A Fusang businessman boldly asked Lu Sheng with his hand raised.

"Sky-high price." Lu Sheng said firmly.

Soon, the businessmen left the magistrate's office in a hurry with red faces, and went back to prepare.

As long as there is 100% profit, businessmen will dare to trample on any law. As long as Wu Nian can afford the price, businessmen will even dare to sell their own ancestral tombs.

The news spread quickly, and the entire Jinghai County was alarmed. Other small businessmen, like sharks smelling the smell of blood, began to enter the market.

...........

Jiang County.

As the New Year is approaching, there is a lot of New Year flavor in the city. People from every household are buying New Year goods, buying couplets and so on.

Under the control of Liu Xiang and Wu, General Fuhan's Mansion was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations early in preparation for the New Year.

Wu Nian had nothing to do, practicing martial arts in the backyard. Suddenly, a soldier came to report that it was Kitahara Sosuke, Kyogoku Yuki's retainer, asking to see him.

Wu Nian was surprised, and first asked his soldiers to ask Kitahara Sosuke to wait in the study. After he tidied up his appearance a little, he left the backyard and came to the study in the front yard.

"General."

Kitahara Sosuke is sitting on the imperial chair on the right, with an upright posture and a low eyebrow. There is a maidservant and a domestic slave waiting on him.

Seeing Wu Nian come in, he quickly stood up and bowed.

"No gifts. Sit down." Wu Nian doesn't have a good impression of the Fuso people, but he has a good impression of the Kyogoku family. The main reason is that the copper and silver business between the two parties is like a gold mine, with continuous output. Wu Nian

Can't refuse.

This is a big financier.

"Mr. Beihara came to see me, what's the matter?" Wu Nian looked up and asked after sitting down.

"I heard that the general is short of food. Our Kyogoku family is also willing to contribute." Kitahara Sosuke sat back meticulously and said seriously.

"Oh. Your Kyogoku family is still in the grain business?" Wu Nian said in surprise after hearing this.

"The Kyogoku family doesn't often do food business, but they can get food." Kitahara Sosuke answered truthfully. Not to mention that now that the news has spread, the profit of transporting food to Wu Nian is large enough.

Even if they wanted to maintain a close relationship with Wu Nian, even if they didn't do the grain business, even if they didn't make a penny, they still had to help.

"I understand. Thank you Kyogoku family for your kindness. You go and talk to Lu Sheng, the prefect of Guangchuan. But there is one thing. You don't have to worry. Even if you don't deliver food to me, it will not affect our copper and silver.

Business. Business. If everyone can make money, it will last. If you are worried about the copper and silver business and lose money to transport food to me, there is no need."

"I can't possibly exploit you."

After Wu Nian heard this, he said very straightforwardly.

When facing well-behaved people, Wu Nian would also be well-behaved. He would not be too reckless.

Kitahara Sosuke was also emotional when he heard this. The Kyogoku family had been doing business in Chu for many years and met countless officials.

Those officials are either stupid in reading and look down on businessmen. Or they are just insects, their eyes light up when they see businessmen, and they want to exploit them all.

There are very few officials like Wu Nian.

"Yes." Kithara Sosuke nodded and bowed in response. Soon, he left.

"It's not bad. The grain business is not easy to do. But as soon as I went up to the top, so many merchants came to deliver grain to me. This proves that I have a good reputation."

Wu Nian smiled and thought to himself.

It was the same as last year. This year, Wu was very fat. Needless to say, he had enough food and clothing to live in. He had a lot of wives and concubines, and seven children, the oldest of whom could make soy sauce.

Guarding this big house, my wife and children are on the hot bed. I am really happy.

However, after the Lantern Festival passed, the trend changed. Whether it was Wu Nian or the officials in the Fuhan General's Mansion, as well as farmers and scholars, they all felt that something was wrong.

After this Chinese New Year, there has not been a drop of rain or snow in the entire Jiang County.

The drought is severe.

The sixteenth day of the first lunar month.

In the hall in front of General Fu Han, Wu Nian is sitting on the main seat, Liu Zhixing, Li Yong, Wang Youxiao and Zhang Hai are sitting in two rows.

Everyone's expressions were serious.

"General, all counties have reported it. Not only is there not a drop of rain or a single snowfall in Jiang County, but the same is true for the entire Yingqing Prefecture, Guangchuan Prefecture, and possibly the entire Liaodong."

"It is really possible that this year will be a drought, and the land will be thousands of miles away."

Not only did Liu Zhixing's face look solemn, his tone was also extremely solemn.

Regardless of whether you are farming or nomadic, droughts are extremely terrifying. Although Yingqing Prefecture and Guangchuan Prefecture have bumper harvests every year, Wu has expanded its troops every year, and there is not much food in the government granaries.

If it were really a thousand miles away.

That would be bad.

"Build water conservancy projects immediately and retain as much water as possible. Let captains from various places send troops to help. Next, we must put the people first."

"There is also the news spread by Lu Sheng years ago. Those merchants should be transporting grain to Goguryeo, Fusang, and Chu State. It's hard to say what happens next. But we must get this batch of grain from the maritime merchants.

Eat it all. Don’t make any mistakes.”

Wu Nian nodded and said in a deep voice.

"yes."

The four people responded loudly, stood up, and then got down immediately.

"I hope we are worrying too much. Maybe it will suddenly rain tomorrow?" Wu Nian took a long breath, came to the gate, and looked up at the sky.

The sky is clear and it's such a sunny day.
Chapter completed!