"It seems that everyone knows about the food shortage in the city..."
Hu Shinan leaned on the window sill of the restaurant, looking down at the Shidan Grain Shop across the street.
The crowds crowded in front of the store had blocked the street, including both wealthy households and ordinary people. Even if these people don’t know the real inside story, rising food prices is a fact. Anyone who does not have a large amount of food surplus at home will worry about what to do if they cannot buy food.
Therefore, while there are still people selling them, even if the price is a little higher, gritting your teeth and buying some to stockpile is a normal thought for ordinary people.
"As expected of an expert, you can get immediate results as soon as you make a move." Another young man sitting at the dining table raised his glass to him and said, "Mr. Hu, let me toast you."
"Where are you going!" Hu Shinan laughed loudly and walked back to the table to clink glasses with the young man. Although the other person was younger than him, he didn't dare to show off about his age.
Just because this person comes from the Privy Council.
He calls himself Pelican and is a explorer.
Of course Hu Shinan knows what a pelican is - it is a bird that can often be seen on the banks of Jiangnan Lake. It is shaped like a goose, but has a huge jaw. It can swallow fish larger than its neck in one bite, and sometimes even They will catch birds such as pigeons and free-range chickens. They are ugly and greedy.
"Actually... I didn't do anything." Hu Shinan said politely, "You provided the money and the plan. I just helped implement it."
"Mr. Hu, you are too polite." Pelican smiled disapprovingly, "There is no shortage of ideas in this world, but there is a shortage of people who do practical things. You are the president of Liuzhou Grain Bank, and you have extraordinary knowledge, connections, and channels. , and these are the keys to turning ideas into reality.”
Speaking of this, Hu Shinan couldn't help but feel a little secretly proud.
Indeed, it is necessary to coordinate the grain merchants in Liuzhou and Qingzhou to reach an agreement, and at the same time, without leaving any trace, let the large and small grain stores in Shenzhou start to increase prices in unison. This is definitely not possible unless someone has been immersed in this industry for decades. So smooth.
He also saw the benefits in working for the Privy Council.
Once the price of food in Shenzhou soars, the first place to put out the fire must be the two neighboring states. In fact, twice the price now is enough to make a small profit.
But according to Pelican's wishes, the Privy Council will obviously not be satisfied with this result.
What they want is "the collapse of the entire Shenzhou area."
In other words, it will continue to rise until someone dies unable to afford food.
How many times that? ten times? Twenty times
The reason why Hu Shinan became the leader of Liuzhou Grain Company was because of the soaring grain prices caused by a flood more than ten years ago.
Now this opportunity seems to be happening again.
"But it would be a pity to burn the purchased grain directly..." Hu Shinan tilted his head and looked into the distance - outside the rows of streets and alleys, gray-black smoke was billowing and rising. That was the rice and flour purchased by the Privy Council burning. Whether it was whole grains or flour, they were thrown into the fire pit without blinking an eye.
It's all money...
Especially after food prices rose, Hu Shinan felt even more regretful.
"Because we don't have time to transport the food back to Liuzhou. You should know better than me what is the key to triggering looting of food." Pelican said unmoved.
There is no doubt that the answer is the "supply and demand gap."
"The gap in the market is not equal to the actual gap." He picked up a piece of pork belly with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. "If you put too much food on yourself, you will easily become a sinner. In this case, why not simply Set it on fire?"
Because there won't even be a way back.
Hu Shinan opened his mouth and then took it back.
—All businessmen want is to make money, and the Privy Council's goals in this regard are not the same as theirs.
What they want to do is to pour money into the water and create a food shortage in Shenzhou with the power of one country.
I am afraid that the scale and impact of this famine will far exceed any previous natural disaster.
"Fellow folks, please don't panic! The central government is aware of the food problem and will never let everyone go hungry!" At this time, an uncoordinated sound came from the window into the side room.
"Huh?" The two of them stood up and walked to the window at the same time. Several men and women squeezed into the crowd and shouted. They kept repeating these slogans. This move gradually attracted the attention of the crowd.
"Are they...?" President Hu frowned.
"The White River City Branch of the Jinxia City Affairs Bureau," Pelican smiled, "It's a very complicated name, right? You should understand it as an independent government office set up by the third princess."
"The government can only rely on shouting?" Hu Shinan expressed confusion. He didn't care much about Princess Guangping's situation before, "Besides... Jinxia City is in the easternmost part of Shenzhou, right? How could they be aware of the situation here now?"
"I guess they are using the name of the general bureau to build up their momentum. Who knows, the branch has just been established." Pelican waved, called a subordinate, and whispered a few words in his ear, "Go and do it. "
"yes."
After a while, someone blended into the crowd and shouted at the people in the branch, "You are lying, I came from Jinxia City! There is not enough food there, all because Her Royal Highness the Princess has taken in overseas people. Hundreds of thousands of mouths were spoken!"
"Folks, don't believe these people's nonsense! There is only so much food in total, and suddenly there are more than 100,000 people. How can we divide it?"
These words were immediately echoed by some people.
"I think I've heard people say before that the refugees coming from Leizhou were indeed taken in by Jinxia."
"The issue of overseas people... wasn't it mentioned in the weekly newspaper?"
"How many people should there be in these two waves combined? There can't be hundreds of thousands, right?"
The people in the Affairs Bureau obviously did not expect such a situation to occur, and were a little stuck for a moment, "But the General Administration made it clear that there is no shortage of Jinxia—"
"Of course there is no shortage of words! Otherwise, how can we scare everyone?" Someone immediately interrupted him and said, "Folks, if you believe it, you will put your life in the hands of others!"
"I said... have you people had their consciences eaten by dogs? I never thought that if Jinxia is really short of food, you are killing people by doing this!"
"Yes, it's murder!"
"Get out of here, murderer!"
With the help of Pelican's men, the situation at the scene became chaotic. Faced with everyone's suspicious eyes and occasional denunciations, several people from the affairs branch showed a hint of fear. They moved back, trying to get away from the crowd.
At this moment, Hu Shinan clearly saw a person taking advantage of the chaos to get behind a woman and take out a dagger.
In the eyes of outsiders, it might be just a collision in the crowd, but the woman from the affairs branch clutched her waist and collapsed, her face completely pale.
"It's... there's a life!" someone exclaimed.
There was an uproar at the scene, and the crowd quickly dispersed around, leaving a blank circle around the stabbed woman.
Many people were squeezed down in the process, and there was a constant stream of yelling, crying, and calls for help.
The chaos could no longer be controlled.
The people in the affairs branch had no time to care about anything else at the moment. They hurriedly carried the woman on their backs and left, not even noticing that the other party's shoes had fallen off.
All that was left on the ground was a pool of blood stained with muddy water.
The pelican raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
A branch office worker was assassinated, causing casualties. Who should be blamed for this? What is really terrible is not the lack of food or famine, but the hostility, fear, rejection and suspicion between people.
The human heart is the source of turmoil.
He has aroused the wildfire in these people's hearts. As long as it is fueled, this fire will definitely burn down the city.