Chapter 525: Business problems are solved by commercial means

Because of the improvement of the imperial examination, the provincial examination in the 15th year of Chongzhen and the imperial examination that should have been in February this year were both postponed by Zhu Youjian in the name of improvement. The provincial examination added knowledge of agriculture and mathematics, and the provisions were as follows: Five new questions about agriculture were added, and those who answered three questions correctly could only win the examination. Two new questions about arithmetics were added, and only one question could be corrected can be won. The improvement of the imperial examination was further improved. Six questions about agriculture must be corrected, five new questions about arithmetics were added, and three questions should be corrected to pass. The content of the other imperial examinations remained unchanged, and the eight-legged essays still accounted for the majority. The questions for the provincial examination were drafted by each province themselves, and Zhu Youjian naturally came to the examination in person.

The new contents include agricultural topics from "Four Seasons Compilation", "Farmers, Sects, and Food, and Clothing", "Civil Records of the World", "Qimin Essence and Minds", "Chen Yan's Book of Agriculture", and the questions of arithmetic come from the newly compiled book "Arithmetic". Considering that students in the world may not find these books, the court specially sent 5,000 copies to each province. It can be said that the court thought very carefully. The new books began to be transported to various provinces at the beginning of the year. Considering that the provincial examination was in autumn, each province was required to choose only one agricultural book as the source for the question, which caused unfair phenomena to occur due to insufficient time. In other words, when the book was issued, each province should tell the scholars who took the exam, which one should you have to read specifically. This year, the contents in this subject will be tested, and you will not have such good luck in the next subject.

The imperial examination has added contents of agronomical and math, but the rebound caused is not too big. Many scholars may not be able to do agricultural science, but math is not too bad. Why? Not every scholar can pass the exam. Many people have no hope of the imperial examination and are forced to do an accountant or a master's job.

The farewell is over at the end of the ten-mile long pavilion. The team that saw Chen Xie off was a terrible sight. Among the civil officials, there were only three people who gave him a face. Lu Xiangsheng, Yang Tinglin, and Shi Kefa. What was surprising was Shi Kefa. This famous diehard actually came to see Chen Xie off. What is certain is that it was not because Chen Xie recommended him that this guy was not such a person. It can only be said that he was moved by some of Chen Xie's actions. The only army that truly saved the people from water and fire was Dengzhou Camp. Those who could build such an army would always be respected by people like Shi Kefa.

"Okay, don't send it, just leave it here." Chen Xie tried to save the house, waved his hand and turned over and turned over to catch up with the brigade.

The three people who stayed there had different expressions. Lu Xiangsheng had a very complicated expression, and he could not speak of a confidant, nor could he even liked him. Lu Xiangsheng, who had traditional thinking deeply in the bones, would be good if he could appear in this team of farewell. Yang Tinglin felt a little regretful. He hoped that Chen Xie could stay in the capital, so that many things would be easier to do. Shi Kefa's expression was expressionless, as if he was sending farewell to the air.

"Chen Sihua, he is eccentric in his behavior. He can't help but be distorted." Lu Xiangsheng sighed and said this.

Yang Tinglin waved at Chen Xie's back and said lightly: "As long as he doesn't become Cao Mengde, he will be Yang's close friend and confidant."

Shi Kefa did not speak, and turned around silently to leave, but Yang Tinglin stopped and said, "Shi Xianzhi, why don't you speak?"

Shi Kefa stopped and said without looking back: "Can you tell me two ordinary people. Isn't it worthy of our respect?" When the two were stunned, Shi Kefa said again: "Isn't it just a great rule for us to become an official? If the Ming Dynasty achieved great rule for the world in Chen Sihua's hands, why not do it? Moral articles are important, but can they still be more important than the people's food? As long as Chen Sihua can make the people of the world rich and well-dressed, isn't they considered a saint in the world?"

These words brought a huge impact on these two people, and Yang Tinglin almost exclaimed: "Shi Xianzhi, don't talk nonsense."

Shi Kefa turned around and smiled faintly, "You will know when you go to Henan to take a look. I don't count." When it comes to Henan, both of them were stunned, and they began to read the recent memorials from Henan. The most common content last year was that local officials impeached Dengzhou Camp. The Dengzhou Camp said that Dengzhou Camp had the most memorials against the government. This was not related to Shi Kefa's words.

Fortunately, Shi Kefa continued: "When hundreds of thousands of bandits besieged Kaifeng, where were the officials who impeached Dengzhou camp? When Luoyang fell, where were those officials? When the thieves were rampant in Henan, where were they? After Chengemen pacified the chaos in Henan, they were lively and more likely to say and write. I dare not say anything else, the chaos in Henan, the officials, gentry and princes who enjoy privileges all put in their efforts."

After saying this, Shi Kefa left with great strides, without any intention of pausing. These two people stood there and felt that things were mysterious. Who was Shi Kefa? When he was serving as the Censor of Jiangnan, he impeached Chen Xie. Why did he change someone after being thrown home by His Majesty and then take office? In fact, these two people could guess the reason, but they always felt that this repetition was too big. What did Dengzhou Camp do in Henan?

Chen Xie, who was heading south, did not walk on the sea this time. When he arrived in Tongzhou, he boarded the boat on the canal and walked south all the way. Along the way, all the officials who should have hated Chen Xie came to greet him. Chen Xie naturally never came to the shore if he was alive. Some officials came to greet him, standing on the bow of the boat and saying a few words. If the gifts he brought were worthless local specialties, then take them back. This rule soon spread along the canal.

The journey was very smooth. Five hundred cavalrymen escorted the way along the official road beside the canal, and there were really no one who was blind. I was bored by boat, so Chen Xie went ashore and rode a horse. Traveling in spring should have been a pleasant thing, but unfortunately Chen Xie's good mood soon disappeared. The reason was that the water level in the canal was very low and he could barely run the boat. Some areas had to be pulled by boat, and the bottom of the boat was scraped with mud.

In the spring of the 16th year, the drought in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty still showed no sign of relief, and the grain prices in the capital were about to rise. This was not a trivial matter. As soon as he arrived in Tianjin, Chen Xie got off the ship and went ashore, took a hundred cavalry and headed to the Tianjin Wharf.

There were sails in the Baihe River. Chen Xie felt relieved when he saw this scene. There was no such 500-food cargo ship with hard sails except Dengzhou. He ordered a soldier to see what the food was on the wharf. The soldiers in Dengzhou camp uniforms quickly brought back the answers to Chen Xie, all of which were from Nanyang. These foods were sent to Dengzhou by foreigners and then replaced directly on the wharf and sold to Beizhili or Liaodong. Some grain ships were also from Goryeo and Japan.

Speaking of Japan and Korea, the people of their own people were not as full as they were, and they even had grain transported to the Ming Dynasty for sale. It can be seen that the merchants were all a group of people. With these merchants, they were not afraid of the high prices of grain in the capital. The only thing they needed to be vigilant was monopoly. Thinking of this, Chen Xie turned around and returned to the canal dock, wrote a letter to Zhu Youjian, and asked someone to send it back to the capital.

Zhu Youjian didn't believe anything about competing for profit with the people. Chen Xie directly told Zhu Youjian that the drought in northern Zhili was severe, the water level of the canal was low, and food shortage was inevitable. The price of grain had risen by 10% before the New Year, and in the first month, the rise in grain prices in February was likely to usher in one. In order to avoid the occurrence of this phenomenon, Zhu Youjian directly sent people from Jinyiwei and Dongchang to Tianjin in the name of the royal family to buy these grains and bring them to the capital to lower the price of grain. He repeatedly emphasized that commercial problems should be solved by commercial means. Didn't grain merchants in the capital hoard grain and prepare to sell them for high prices? Then use massive amounts of grain to destroy their confidence. No one would do anything that was unprofitable.

For a city like the capital, the panic caused by grain prices is very serious. Zhu Youjian received Chen Xie's letter and immediately attracted attention. The normal procedure must have brought the cabinet ministers to discuss it, but after reading Chen Xie's letter, Zhu Youjian sneered. It's good to teach those profiteers a lesson.

On February 2, on the day when Chen Xie arrived in Jinan, a convoy under the banner of Dongchang drove into the capital. Two hundred four-wheeled carriages were covered with canvas, and no one knew what they were transported. Wu Zhi, the eunuch of Dongchang, stood at the gate, looking at the carriage parked at the door, showing a gloomy smirk. This deal, that is, he and Wang Chengen knew, Cao Huachun was old and was about to retire, and Wu Zhi was eyeing the position of the Silijian. Since that was the case, he had to do what Emperor Longsheng had assigned to do, and it would be a little more beautiful.

Trucks of grain were transported to the newly opened shops in the city overnight. It was so easy for the Dongchang to do some royal transactions. After planning this matter for a while, everything was indeed as Chen Xie expected. On the first day of February, the price of grain in the capital began to rise, and the price increase amount had doubled as before the New Year. It was really a group of unscrupulous merchants who didn't know how to die. A bucket of rice would dare to buy 400 cigars and a bucket of wheat for 500 cigars. It was really a black heart, black intestines, and black ass!

After the price increase, it really caused panic. Some citizens who had little savings were scared when they saw this situation. They got up early and lined up at the entrance of the grain store. The city gates were not open now, and it was still dark.

On the early morning of the third day of the second month, he began in a grief and anger in a queue to buy food. On this day, Shi Kefa also got up early. He also got the idea of ​​the price of grain in the capital and even submitted a memorial, but His Majesty did not reply.

An old man led a donkey. On the way to court, Shi Kefa saw a long dragon in front of the grain shop, he couldn't help frowning and made up his mind to pull the emperor to explain the matter early. (To be continued, please search for astronomy, novels are better and faster!
Chapter completed!