By the time Xiao Ruxun had finished dealing with those troublesome matters, it was already dusk, and the snow had yet to stop.
The temperature plummeted. Even though he was wearing winter clothes and a fur coat, he could still feel the chill. The sky was getting darker and darker, and it was probably not far from nightfall. Xiao Ruxun immediately ordered the soldiers to gather firewood and prepare to set up camp for the night.
The Northern Barbarians had left behind a lot of food. Xiao Ruxun roughly calculated that it was enough for the tens of thousands of refugees who had lost their houses in Taiyuan City to eat two or three meals of porridge. He would first get through tonight and tomorrow morning, then think of other ways.
As for the gold and silver, Xiao Ruxun knew very well that their owners were no longer around, and Liu Yong could be the proof of that.
"So that's how it is. You are a survivor of the Liu Clan in the city."
Xiao Ruxun called Liu Yong over to his side and talked to him alone. Liu Yong also knew that he could not hide his identity. After all, his way of talking was really different from ordinary people. He had not even changed his clothes, so it was very easy to tell that he was an educated person. Daming, there were definitely not many educated people, so he could only reveal everything.
"When this lowly one went out to drink with friends, the Northern Barbarians broke into the city. This lowly one's entire family was killed by the Northern Barbarians, and my ancestral property was burned to the ground. Right now, only a few distant relatives are still in the south. This lowly one's main family is here, and once the main family is gone, my distant relatives will not be able to withstand the methods of the other large merchants, and the Liu Clan will be finished."
Liu Yong explained honestly.
Xiao Ruxun reached out and picked up some firewood to make the fire burn more vigorously.
"This is really what they mean by 'after surviving a great disaster, you are bound to have good fortune later on'. Inciting the commoners to surround the imperial army is considered a rebellion by others, and they will definitely kill you as soon as possible. Fortunately, you met this Supervisor, and this Supervisor understood everything before coming. Liu Yong, for you, this is a great fortune in misfortune."
Liu Yong smiled bitterly.
"You must be joking, Admiral. What luck is there to speak of when one's family is ruined and one's family is dead? But now, I don't know how long I can live. Even if the admiral doesn't kill me, I might starve to death, freeze to death, or be beaten to death by someone. In times of chaos, human life is the least valuable. I've seen too many despicable people. "
Xiao Ruxun used the wooden stick in his hand to knock on a bag of rice grains beside him.
"I've asked someone to knock it. The wheat inside is at least five years old. In recent years, the harvest in the north has been bad, and people are generally short of food. Every year, many people come to Myanmar from Shanxi. Everyone cries to me that their land can't be farmed, so they can only sell it cheaply and come to Myanmar to make a living.
I don't believe that land can be divided into the rich and the poor. The poor can't plant grain on their land, but the rich can plant grain on their land. It doesn't make sense. But there's one thing I'm sure of. It's impossible for the poor to have more than two years' worth of grain.
They only have a few dozen mu of land at most, and it's hard enough to feed their family. Every year, they have to save on food to survive. Other than seeds, they can't keep anything for the next year. Therefore, they can only rely on the weather.
Only the rich can have more than five years' worth of grain. Moreover, they have to hoard food wantonly. Liu Yong, tell me, do you Jin merchants like to hoard food? Or do you like to give money to your enemies? "
"Give money to your enemies?"
Liu Yong's eyes widened, and he turned pale with fright. "Admiral, please understand. Although we have the habit of hoarding food, it's to avoid unexpected needs. Why would we give money to our enemies? Furthermore, giving money to our enemies wouldn't have allowed the Northern Barbarians to conquer Taiyuan and exterminate my entire tribe. How is that possible? "
"Could it be the work of your family's nemesis? Jin merchants like you often go to the plains to trade salt and iron with the Northern Barbarians. It's easy to build a relationship with them. When you meet with competitors, you can't stand it, so you spend money to hire Northern Barbarians to help you get rid of your competitors. This is a common practice, right? "
Liu Yong's heart skipped a beat.
He hadn't done it before, but he knew that it was common for Jin merchants to compete with each other. In the early years, it was quite intense. In recent years, in order to gain a foothold, more and more magnates began to pursue standardized management. This was also to ensure that their positions wouldn't be shaken.
Therefore, the magnates worked together to set up many competitive rules among Jin merchants. They also formulated strategies to expand their territory. As a result, local Jin merchants rarely competed with each other. Most of the time, they competed with foreigners. Otherwise, all the merchants in the country wouldn't hate Jin merchants so much.
If they were to give money to their enemies, it wouldn't be done by Jin merchants. Instead, it could be done by their enemies.
"Admiral, Jin merchants have established many rules throughout their history. Even when competing with each other, they have to follow the rules. Whoever breaks the rules will face the wrath of the entire Jin merchants. It's impossible for anyone to go against the entire Shanxi province. That would be courting death!"
Xiao Ruxun understood what he meant.
"Are you trying to say that the one leading the invasion of the North Invaders to the south is the sworn enemy of the Jin Shang? Is it Liaodong, Shandong, or Jiangnan? "
"All of them are possible. Admiral, they've been dissatisfied with Jin merchants for a long time. They resent us for competing with them. That's why they're using these dirty methods to deal with us. Admiral, you have to be clear about this!"
Xiao Ruxun burst into laughter as if he had heard a joke.
Liu Yong looked at the laughing Xiao Ruxun with some surprise.
"Admiral, you …"
"Don't mind me. I just heard something funny. Your Jin merchants have formed factions to go against the imperial court. You're doing salt and iron business with the Northern Barbarians. You've openly violated the imperial court's ban to earn money that will ruin your family line. How dare you say that other merchants are using dirty methods? Hahaha, what a joke!"
Liu Yong was instantly rendered speechless.
"Liu Yong, you'd better think about it carefully! This can't be done by other merchants. They can't take out such a huge amount of old wheat. Someone must've used the stored grain to help the Northern Barbarians go south. They're trying to clean up the mess or seize the market share. Don't tell me that the Jin merchants are united. That's impossible. "
Liu Yong's face turned pale.
"Tell me everything you know. Your family has already been destroyed. Without my protection, you won't be able to live until tomorrow morning. Think about it carefully. The Liu family no longer exists. If you want to live, what should you do?"
Xiao Ruxun gave him a psychological blow.
Liu Yong thought about it and finally sighed.
"Admiral, unless there's a traitor, the Northern Barbarians won't be able to find our grain storage cave. They won't be able to find so much grain either. The grain can only be in the grain storage cave. However, there are less than ten people in the entire family who know the exact location of the grain storage cave."
"Grain storage cave?"
Xiao Ruxun frowned.
"Yes, the Admiral might not know, but the local officials, as long as they have some rank, know that this is actually an open secret. Many people know of the existence of the grain storage cave, but they don't know the specific location. In order to deal with unexpected needs, our ancestors chose well-ventilated places in the mountain ranges of Shanxi and Datong to dig caves or choose natural caves to store the surplus grain accumulated every year and seal it up.
These grain storage caves are very effective. Usually, they can store grain for more than ten years. Wheat is easy to store, so our ancestors did this to leave some savings for their descendants. However, later on, some people discovered that they could use grain storage to tighten the market and control the grain price.
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