Bai Shan then smiled slightly, and asked: "Selling a large amount of old grain at this time can indeed take advantage of the situation to lower the price of new grain, but the world is interconnected, and it's not that the grain in Longzhou can't get out, and there are other grain merchants coming in. Grain prices are only temporarily suppressed by dumping old grains to the common people, so why do local grain merchants choose the worst path?"
The scribes were stunned for a moment, then they were silent for a while and then said, "Maybe it's drinking poison to quench thirst?"
"No matter what it is, in this way, the people who are hurting will still be the farmers." Another scribe sighed, "Well, it's the farmers who get hurt when the grain harvest is bad, and it's the farmers who get hurt when the grain harvest is good."
"Brother Tai is too pessimistic," Bai Shan said with a smile, "A bumper harvest is much better than a poor harvest. Although the money sold for each bucket of grain is less than before, the grain harvested by each household has increased, and we could not be full before. People who have been eating can now have a full stomach, and those who used to eat gruel can now eat white rice, and everything is going in a good direction, so why be pessimistic?"
Zhou Man nodded, "Besides, the low food price also has its advantages. Ordinary people can spend less money to feed their hunger, and the remaining money can be used for other purposes, such as medical treatment, reading, tasting food..."
"That's true, but now that grain shops are lowering prices, farmers still suffer."
Bai Shan nodded, "That's right, you can suggest the governor's office and the county government to purchase grain to stabilize prices."
The three scribes: "... I and others speak lightly, I'm afraid they won't accept it."
Bai Shan looked them up and down, and asked, "Are you students from the prefectural school or the county school?"
"We are students of the government school."
Bai Shan smiled and said: "That's easy, the students of prefectural and county schools have the right to complain to the governor and county magistrate."
There is such a regulation, but few actually do it. The three scribes looked at each other without saying a word.
Bai Shan also just gave a suggestion, it depends on them how to do it.
After eating and buying some small things, the group returned to the inn where they were staying. The child was already sleepy, so Bai Shan and the others handed the child over to his servants to take him down to wash up, while he found a table in the lobby below and sat down. .
"It's okay to have low food prices, but it's not good to have cheap food." Yin Ru turned to ask Bai Shan, "Are you planning to take care of this matter?"
Bai Shandao: "I will ask the Ministry of Households to order all localities to build warehouses to purchase grain at a discount, so as to stabilize prices."
He paused and then said: "Since the founding of the Jin Dynasty, granaries everywhere have purchased grain to stabilize prices, but there are not many new ones. Now that the treasury is full and the grain production is high, then more granaries can be built. Not only can prices be stabilized, but also Deal with disaster."
Yin Yudao: "Actually, I was thinking all the way, why did we not get on the boat until we got to Qizhou? Ordinarily there is Weishui in Chang'an, and the rivers are connected. If the Jialing River can pass through, why can't the Weishui?"
Bai Shan raised his eyebrows, "You mean water transportation?"
Yin nodded, "If the water transportation can be smooth, the food prices in various places will be more stable, and the probability of things like Longzhou will be smaller."
Bai Erlang said: "I saw it when I was in the Imperial Academy. The water transportation of this dynasty basically inherited the previous dynasty, but except for the waterway of the Grand Canal, the water transportation of other waterways is basically stagnant. No one manages the river, the waterway If it is blocked, the water transportation will not open at all.”
"That's it," Zhou Man said, "Water is everywhere, and our Dajin water network is densely covered. If the water transportation flourishes and connects the entire Dajin with rivers, then if we go to other places in the future, won't we be able to From Qizhou to Yongzhou, three to five hundred miles a day?"
Bai Shan was thoughtful, "In places where the water is deep and fast, it is possible to travel thousands of miles in one day."
"Yeah, yeah, we can go to faraway places to play when we have a longer vacation." We can take the opportunity to dig a little more.
"Then this notebook has to be written carefully, should it be one or two?"
Bai Erlang: "Such a big matter, can't I write an excerpt?"
Bai Shan frowned, "I'm afraid it would be too eye-catching if I put two folds in a row, and I'm on vacation right now."
He looked at Bai Erlang.
Zhou Man and Yin Ru also looked at Bai Erlang.
Bai Erlang slowly moved behind Ming Da, Ming Da moved away, and said to him: "You should also make meritorious service for my great Jin."
"... Then which one should I write?"
"Water transport the letter," Bai Shan said, "Didn't you see the relevant records in the Imperial Academy?"
"But I just read it when I was looking for information for my colleagues, and I can't remember much at all."
"It's okay, you can make a rough outline first. The Ministry of Industry must take the lead in the specific discussion and implementation," Bai Shan said, "I didn't ask you to take charge, but I just asked you to start."
Bai Erlang breathed a sigh of relief, but after a moment of silence, he said again: "But I haven't written a notebook for a long time, how can I write such a big thing?"
Zhou Man said: "Let Bai Shan give you a reference."
Bai Erlang can only be driven to the shelves.
The next day they returned to Mianzhou from Longzhou. The distance was not far, and they could get there in one day. They stayed in Mianzhou overnight and then went back to Qili Village.
In one day, Bai Shan wrote all the instructions for purchasing grain and stabilizing prices, and Bai Erlang made a start.
Bai Shan felt that he didn't have the energy and time to write when he returned to Qili Village, so he could only hold him in the carriage to discuss with him in depth, and asked him to write down the main points and said: "When I get home and write overnight, it will take about an hour or so. Finished."
Bai Erlang repeatedly nodded in response, but the actual situation is that this is impossible.
The Bai family asked the servants to go home in advance to notify them, so as soon as the group arrived at the entrance of the village, Master Bai's family and Zhou Dalang Zhou Zhoulang led the people from the village to come up. Then he knelt on the ground with a huff, but his neck was stretched out, and he raised his face and asked, "Where is the princess, what is the princess, what does the princess look like?"
The villagers knelt down suddenly, Master Bai couldn't react, his knees were bent, and he hesitated for a moment between kneeling or not.
Bai Erlang had already jumped out of the car, quickly ran forward to stop him, and pulled the village chief and the others along the way, "Don't kneel, don't kneel, the princess doesn't pay attention to such vain etiquette."
Ming Da helped the maid's hand to get out of the car, hurriedly raised his hand and said: "Excuse me, please get up quickly."
Everyone just stood up and saw the princess in amazement, "This is the princess, she looks so handsome."
"It's so white, it's as white as Man Bao from the old Zhou's family, but it's a little thinner, not as round and beautiful as Man Bao."
"I think the princess looks better, like a fairy."
Zhou Man and Bai Shan took the child down and also came forward, "Brother Village Chief, why are you all stuck here?"
"Oh, this is Man Bao!"
"It's Man Bao, has it grown so big?"
"This is the young master of the Bai family, he has grown up and is even more handsome!"
"The last time I saw them was young, they just got engaged, ten years have passed in the blink of an eye, aren't they old?"
"Man Bao, where's your father?"
The villagers crowded around, everyone had a lot of questions, Zhou Man suddenly lost his voice, not knowing who to answer first.