Before dawn, Liu Jing got up quietly. Although he was very careful, he still woke up his wife beside him.

"Husband, when is it time?"

Tao Zhan has been pregnant for more than seven months and is heavy and unable to get up. Liu Jing quickly held her hand and smiled, "It's past the fifth day, but it's still early. It's not dawn yet, so you can continue to sleep!"

"Are you going to the military camp when you get up so early?"

"No, I'm going to Xiakou today, I seem to have told you."

"Look at my memory!"

Tao Zhan apologized: "I prepared your luggage last night, but I forgot now."

She quickly shouted: "Bao Niang!"

Bao Niang is a little Baozi. She officially became Liu Jing's concubine at the beginning of the year. This is because Tao Zhan was pregnant and could not have sex. In order to solve her husband's physiological needs, she asked Liu Jing to take Liu Jing as her concubine.

As a wife, Tao Zhan’s extremely important responsibility is to continue her husband’s offenders. Since the premature death rate of children in the Han Dynasty was extremely high, even Cao Cao could not die. In this case, only having more children is an effective response.

Especially for Liu Jing, he has no brothers and sisters and his status is extraordinary, so his continuation of his offspring is even more important.

Therefore, Tao Zhan considered taking a concubine for her husband very early. Xiao Baozi was the concubine she had long taken a fancy to, not just because Xiao Baozi served Liu Jing for six years. Of course, this is also the main reason.

But the more important reason is that Xiao Baozi's Wang Zixiang is very thin, but her hips are big and round, and her breasts are also very large, which ensures that she has enough milk.

This is a typical appearance of a strong son. It is the daughter-in-law that many people dream of. Tao Zhan also had already decided to be her husband's concubine, and did not allow her husband to marry her to a guard officer.

Xiao Baozi lives in the side room, so the concubine sometimes calls it a side room or side room. She immediately put on her clothes and came over, "Madam, is the young master going to set off?"

"Well! Go and clean up! Help the young master wash, and you must take good care of the young master on the way."

"I see!"

Xiao Baozi didn't dare to look at Liu Jing, so he turned around and ran out. Liu Jing was helpless and smiled at Tao Zhan, "I don't have to take her there, let her stay and take care of you, I feel more at ease."

Tao Zhan pursed his lips and smiled, "I know you, let her go! There are so many servants at home, it doesn't matter if she is missing her, and I'm relieved to take care of your daily life."

At this time, Tao Zhan's two close maids also came in, helped Tao Zhan get up, and Liu Jing turned around and went out to wash.

As soon as Liu Jing entered the living room, Xiao Baozi's plump and warm body got into his arms, hugged his neck and asked, "Don't you want to take me there?"

With a deeper relationship, the two of them became closer. Liu Jing kissed her red lips. Seeing that there was no one beside her, he reached into her skirt from behind, squeezed her round buttocks with force, and whispered in her ear with a smile: "Unless you promised what happened last time, I will take you there."

The little bun turned red and nodded in a slight manner, "Okay then!"

Liu Jing sat down, Xiao Baozi combed his hair behind him and asked, "Young Master, I heard that a big war is going to be fought, is that true?"

"Who did you hear?"

"Everyone says this in the city, everyone is panic, every household is storing grain, and the rice price has risen to eighty dollars."

Liu Jing frowned. He asked a few days ago, why did the rice dumplings double in just a few days?

"Is it true that the rice is eighty dollars?"

"What did I lie to you? My mother told me yesterday afternoon."

Liu Jing was a little unable to sit still. Before the war began, he had to mess up his way first. This was not possible. He had to talk to Xu Shu and the others. Originally, Liu Jing was going to set off early in the morning, but now he has changed his mind.

"Little Baozi, let's leave at noon. I'll send soldiers to pick you up on the boat."

"That's all you have to agree to, don't be dependent on the debt!"

The little bun was holding a comb and wanted to knock it down. She often saw her mistress knocking Liu Jing on the head with a smile, but after hesitating, she still didn't dare. My mother told her a truth yesterday that there were some things her wife could do, but her concubine couldn't do them.

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As the sky gradually became brighter, the Luoqiaokou in Wuchang City was already very lively. Luoqiao is the first bridge to enter the city of Caohe. This area is several miles away and is named after this bridge. It is called Luoqiaokou.

Luoqiaokou is the cargo distribution center in Wuchang City, and even the entire Jiangxia and even Jingzhou. There is a two-mile dock, thousands of shops, and countless warehouses. A large number of goods come in and out of here, and tens of thousands of people are seeking life in Luoqiaokou every day.

These days, due to the influence of war rumors, many people came to queue up before dawn. In front of more than a dozen rice shops, they sent long queues, and each of them held various pockets in their hands.

At this time, a team of cavalry arrived surrounded by several carriages, and five or six high-ranking officials came down from the carriage. Many people recognized the young man in the lead, who was their Jingzhou governor.

Most of the other high-ranking official next to him also knew him. It was the chief secretary Xu Shu, who made way for them.

In addition to Liu Jing and Xu Shu, there were also Jiangxia County Magistrate Yiji, Wuchang County Magistrate Dong Yun, and Chief Secretary Jiang Wan. They accompanied Liu Jing to the market to deal with grain prices on site.

In fact, the officials knew very well what the problem was? But some things were hard to say, and Liu Jing had to come and understand them himself, so he knew what the problem was.

Everyone walked to a rice shop. The sign of the shop said "Wang Ji Rice Shop". A bluestone slab hung above the door of the shop, and the price of today's grain was written in a charcoal pen. Rice is 85 cents per bucket and wheat is 70 cents per bucket. It was told by small buns that each 80 cents per bucket increased by another five cents. In normal times, rice was only 20 cents, but now it has increased by four times.

The owner of the rice shop is a middle-aged man, black and fat. He had already come out and knelt down to greet him, "Little Min Wang Shi pays homage to Lord Zhou Mu!"

"I have a few words to ask you."

Liu Jing glanced at the rice buyer behind him and said, "Go inside and talk!"

Wang Dongzhu hurriedly invited Liu Jing and several senior officials into the inner hall, and ordered the guy to serve tea. After working for a long time, he stood in front of Liu Jing with his hands down. Liu Jing asked lightly: "I want to know why the rice price has increased four times in just half a month? Tell me the reason."

Wang Dongzhu's lips moved, and he didn't know what to say. After a while, he carefully replied: "It was because of the rumor that war was coming, so he started to panic, and the rice price naturally rose."

"Is that true?" Liu Jing asked with a sneer: "Is it because your store is insufficient in food storage? Or do you think everyone sells for high prices, and if you sell for low prices, it will become a heretic, or do you think you are a fool if you don't make money?"

Liu Jing's tone was very stern. Wang Dongzhu was so scared that he knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly, "Report to Lord Zhou Mu, this is not the case."

"What's going on?"

"It's because our purchase price is too high. The purchase price of a dou of rice was originally fifteen cents, so it was sold for twenty cents. Now the purchase price is sixty cents and seventy cents, so it can only be sold for a high price. If Lord Zhou Mu doesn't believe it, you can check my account book."

Liu Jing then realized that the price at the source had risen. He nodded and his tone was slightly relaxed: "Who controlled the price of rice? I'm asking, who sold rice to you."

"The villain dares not say it." Master Wang lowered his head and whispered timidly.

"Say!" Liu Jing slapped the table hard and shouted sternly.

Lord Wang was so scared that he shivered, and finally lowered his head and said, "It's the Dow Business."

When Liu Jing was stunned, thousands of clues gathered together, and finally he realized, "It turned out to be the Tao family!"

He suddenly turned around and looked at Xu Shu and others sternly. They had known what was going on, but they refused to tell him directly.

Facing Liu Jing's stern gaze, Xu Shu shook his head helplessly.

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"Xu Changshi, you know what's going on, why don't you stop it, why don't you let the Tao family raise the price!"

In the carriage, Liu Jing was extremely dissatisfied and asked Xu Shu directly: "Is it because the Tao family is my wife's family?"

Xu Shu seemed to know that Liu Jing would ask this, and he was not afraid, and still answered calmly: "We do know that the sharp rise in grain prices was manipulation of the Tao family. In fact, the Tao family also asked us in advance. This was our collective decision. Allowing the Tao family to raise prices has nothing to do with the Tao family's status."

"Why?" Liu Jing gradually calmed down. Since it was the government's decision, he had to know what the reason was.

"War requires military expenses, and everyone needs to bear the military expenses of the war, rather than paying all the money by the Tao family. This is unfair to the Tao family. In fact, a large part of the money that everyone spends high prices to buy rice has become war military expenses. I think this is not a bad thing."

At first, Liu Jing thought that the Tao family used his relationship to raise the price of grain and get a lot of money, which made him very angry. However, the feedback now was that the government deliberately indulged in the purpose of raising military funds in disguise, which made Liu Jing's anger subsided.

"Is the military expenditure insufficient now?" Liu Jing asked after a while.

Xu Shu smiled bitterly. Over the past six months, Liu Jing has only focused on the strength of the army, only on the training of soldiers, only on combat readiness, but rarely on Jiangxia's money and grain expenditure. Originally, it was already very difficult to support the 60,000 troops by Jiangxia, Changsha and Anlu. Although he had Xiangyang again, it was useless.

After more than half a year of war preparations, Jiangxia's official warehouse had already been empty. If Jiangxia had not been unable to bear the military expenditure of this war, he would not have made such a bad decision. He used the method of raising grain prices to raise military expenditures. As long as they controlled the upper limit of grain prices, the impact would not be great.

Xu Shu nodded silently and sighed: "Military rations can last for half a year, but the money is gone."

Of course, Liu Jing knew that when soldiers were trained, they only needed to ensure food and did not consume military pay. But once war started, there would be military pay expenses, pensions for casualties and rewards for meritorious soldiers. All of these required money. After all, the war was all about logistics and financial resources.

Liu Jing had no choice but to say, "Then let's mint your own money! Although Jingzhou does not have a large copper mine like Dexing County, Jiangdong, there are also ancient mines in Lutongshan in Xisai, which can smel up copper coins. Originally, these mines were Jiangxia's reserve wealth, and they didn't want to use it easily, so now they don't care."

Xu Shu looked puzzled, "We also thought of mining and copper smelting, but we were suffering from insufficient labor. It would have been a good idea if more than 10,000 Cao's prisoners of war were used to mine. It would be a pity..."

"This matter has passed, and it's useless to say it!"

Liu Jing interrupted Xu Shu with a little unhappy and said, "Since there is insufficient labor in mining, we will mobilize wealthy families to donate bronze ware. Among Huang Zu's treasures, I remember that there is a batch of bronze ware, all of which are used to mint coins, and the rest of Huang Zu's wealth is also sold. These wealthy and noble things are the time for them to come into play."

"I understand, and I will do my best!"

At this time, Liu Jing whispered again: "There are many families in Jingzhou. You might as well think of a way to make them bleed. For example, a new Yellow Turban bandit appeared in Jiangxia, but it is just necessary to do it as secretly as possible and not to disclose it."

Xu Shu was a little embarrassed, "Qi Bingzhou Mu, it is difficult to hide such things. If you can, try not to use them! My subordinates will try to persuade them."

"Hmph!" Liu Jing sneered, "Most of these aristocratic families are fence-bearers. It's too late to flatter Cao Cao at this time, so how could he help us?"

But Xu Shu never accepted Liu Jing's plan, and he advised: "But if the provincial governor wants to firmly sit in Jingzhou, he has to rely on their support. It is best to make them willing to pay. I think as long as they visit each family, he will definitely take out some of the money."

Liu Jing felt Xu Shu's stubbornness and had no choice but to let go, "Since that's the case, you can consider the decision by yourself, so I won't care. In addition, I want to explain that the upper limit of the grain price is eighty dollars, and it's not enough to increase a ounce."
Chapter completed!