Why did Li Su choose to hide Wang Bixue, claiming to the outside world that Wang Bi has been "influenced" by him, and remorse and sincerely surrender to the court, and push Xue Ti, who Cao Cao sent to contact Wang Bi, out?

In fact, it is easy to understand this point after a little thought: Wang must know that he was rebel and that he did not surrender to Li Su. If Wang must be pushed out, he may have to bear humiliation first, and once he has the opportunity to speak to the public or other princes, he will bite his back and reveal the truth.

For example, in history, if a city is surrounded, and reinforcements will arrive outside the city, first send an envoy to break through the city and boost morale, tell them that the reinforcements are coming soon and hold on for a while, and victory will be in front of you... And in this case, if the messenger who breaks through is captured by the besieged troops, the besieged troops will hope to threaten with death penalty and force the secret envoy to shout under the city, saying that "reinforcements will not come", they will often overturn and be called out with the opposite effect before the other party dies.

Whether in the history of China or Japan, there are countless examples of this - of course, they all happened after the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Han Dynasty, and it seems that they have not yet gone forward.

But Li Su had to be on guard. How good is he to learn from historical lessons, how could he fail here?

Therefore, the safest choice for Xue Ti, who didn't know that he had been exploited by the counter-espionage, was to interrogate him.

But since Li Su's plan needs to show that "the king will be influenced by him and will be effective", it is not a solution to keep being locked up. It is definitely necessary to have a final solution.

But this seems not difficult. At that time, Wang Bi will be assassinated by the assassin sent to retaliate by Cao Cao because he broke Cao Cao's plan."

...

Xue Ti's arrest and Wang Bi's control were not announced to the Guanzhong family as soon as possible, so until the first group of merchants in the area occupied by Yuan Shu arrived in Chang'an with food, the local aristocratic families in Guanzhong did not know that something happened to Wang Bi.

Therefore, Wei Kang and Wei Ji were still taking advantage of this wave of surge in grain prices, hiding safely in the crowd and spreading rumors, blaming Li Su's harsh governance for the main factor of the rise in grain prices, and acting according to the plan they had discussed with Wang Bi before.

On the second day of July, outside the south gate of Chang'an City, a convoy of hundreds of ox carts transported dozens of stones of grain and rice each, totaling 20,000 to 30,000 stones, and slowly lined up to enter the city.

These caravans did not go through mountain and land routes from Wuguan to the whole journey, because there is a tributary on the north side of the Han River, called Danshui, which flows out of the Wuguan Road valley and flows into the Han River in Nanxiang County, Nanyang County. Therefore, the grain team can travel 350 miles in front of the Danshui River to Shangluo.

The ox cart must be replaced only after going north from Shangluo to Lantian for more than 200 miles. This is also the reason why the cost of transporting grain on Wuguan Road is lower than that of Chencang Road. Otherwise, if the 600-mile mountain road is at least twice as expensive.

The leader of this caravan was named Du, named Du Lan, and was a Nanyang Haoshang. The convoy also brought several scholars with the same surname to accompany him, who also had surnames Du, but they were not a family. The leader was named Du Ji, who came from the Du family of Jingzhao.

The ancestor of the Du family in Nanyang was one of the childhood friends when Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu raised his army. Du Mao and Du Mao ranked twenty among the "Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai" that revived the Eastern Han Dynasty. In theory, they should be the gate of nobles.

However, Du Mao's descendants were demoted for crimes. By the generation of his grandson Du Feng, only the hereditary marquis remained, and they lost their official position. So they returned to their hometown in Nanyang, became a landlord and a wealthy merchant, and no longer took office. For nearly a hundred years, Du Lan's generation was still a great merchant in Jingbei.

Du Ji is a branch of the Du family of Jingzhao. Three years ago, due to the Dong Zhuo Rebellion, Guanzhong was at risk of being ruled by terror. The family spent some money and food to let Du Ji explore the way and move to Nanyang to check the front station to see if life would be better in the Yuan Shu ruling area in Nanyang.

If Yuan Shu had implemented the benevolent government, the Du family of Jingzhao planned to sell most of the land around Duling and raised money to buy a house in Nanyang. When Du Ji first arrived in Wancheng, he wanted to find a big businessman, a big man and a strong man to buy a house. He met Du Lan, who was also surnamed Du, among the wealthy merchants. The two gradually became familiar with each other and cooperated more.

Unfortunately, Yuan Shu occupied Nanyang for three years and did not implement any kindness. Even the densely populated and rich imperial villages like Nanyang were once invaded by the remnants of the Yellow Turban Army in Yingchuan and Runan, and the people were declining. Du Ji saw that Yuan Shu was not like a capable person, so he wrote a letter to advise his clansmen not to act rashly.

After all, migration is very harmful. If you want to sell real estate in your hometown at a low price, then buy from other places at a high price. If you ask for something inhumane, it is better to do less than something more. Of course, you have to be sure of one step.

To put it into Qiao Zhou’s words: Why is it a shame to be humiliated again?

This time, the family members wrote a letter saying that Li Jue from Guanzhong had been destroyed, and the other Xiliang warlords also ran away and died, and at most occupied Longxi, so they could not harm Guanzhong anymore. So they wrote a letter to Du Ji and asked him to come back to take a look, discussing the question of "whether Du of Jingzhao should completely invest in Liu Bei or completely invest in Yuan Shu, or continue to keep betting separately and leave a branch of tribesmen on the territory of the two families."

Du Ji came to Chang'an with the mentality of "inspection team" with Du Lan, who was selling grain.

After Du Ji entered the city, he immediately confirmed the price of grain and thought to himself: "It is said that Liu Bei implemented benevolent government and respected the emperor, but seeing the decline of the people's livelihood in Chang'an City is even more serious than Wancheng.

Under Yuan Shu's rule, Runan was starving all year round, and other counties could barely survive. However, the food prices in Wancheng were rarely more than 2,000 yuan. Even if the food was out of large amounts this year, it was less than 1,000 yuan."

It is not surprising that Du Ji had such a first impression, mainly because he has not distinguished the current situation. Is it Liu Bei’s fault or Li Jue’s previous disaster? Now that the mess has been taken over by Liu Bei.

Du Ji became very careful and followed Du Lan to sell grain while observing carefully.

The process of selling grain was very smooth, but there was no trick of lowering the price, deducting the price, and replacing the small ones. These details made Du Ji feel that Liu Bei's camp is still very administrative in accordance with the law.

There were hundreds of ox carts, and the other party only took a quarter of an hour to inspect the goods and issued the receipt. The caravan must settle some of the goods in cash, and can also give copper coins - but almost no caravan did this.

Because the futures settlement price, Shu brocade, porcelain, salt and iron given by Jingzhao Yin are very cost-effective, if you take all the copper coins, you may not get so much good goods after you go back. Therefore, as long as the businessmen who trust the credit of Liu Bei's camp are willing to take a little try.

"White rice is 10,000 stones, 4,000 coins per stone, 40 million yuan. Now, this is a 5,700-plus wide Shu brocade note. When you return to Zhuyang, Nanxiang can pick up the goods according to this bill of lading, a total of 57 pieces, each of which is 100 pieces. After collecting it, Jingzhao Yin's seal cannot be broken."

"The rough valley has 12,000 stones, 8,500 stones of white rice, 34 million yuan, and half of the porcelain and well salt each? Yes..."

"Four thousand stones of white flour, 3,500 qian per stone, 7,000 qian of raw wheat, 5,000 qian of white flour... New wheat and new rice are not dried, and an additional 30% discount is given."

When the accounts were settled, Du Lan, the head of the caravan, and the manager of another caravan waiting to settle the bill, seemed to have ambiguity about the purchase price previously promoted, and he couldn't help but scream:

"What's going on? I heard from General Qiao that one stone can earn three thousand yuan. The price of grain in Chang'an here is three thousand yuan more expensive than completion. Why is only white rice and white flour? The raw wheat and rough valley only increase by less than two thousand yuan?"

The officials who collected the grain did not give in and the accounts refuted clearly:

"Our notice is clearly posted, and it is posted at the gate of Chang'an City. Everyone knows that you are not saying it yourself, right? Did Qiao Rui casually say, "You can earn three thousand yuan in one stone in Chang'an?" You don't ask clearly? The cost is so expensive because the shipping fee is expensive, so of course we have to collect it according to the most efficient method.

You transport so many coarse materials that you have to process and lose, and you will lose 30% after grinding them. Why don’t you transport them in Nanyang? The court still has to pay for the freight of 30% of your waste? As for the new rice and new wheat that is cut off and sold, the court also pays one stone, two or three thousand yuan for the little moisture inside?

It’s like if you eat a fruit, usually cheap fruit only costs one, good fruit costs two. But the freight costs ten yuan for this fruit from Nanzhong to Liaodong. At this time, the difference fruit becomes eleven yuan, and good fruit twelve yuan. Who can buy the difference fruit eleven yuan?"

No matter how you say this topic, it is the Jingzhao Yin government's rule. Li Su also stipulates these prices very carefully. It is probably because the merchants spread it from word to word.

Later generations sold imported fruits, due to the transportation costs, the original high-quality and inferior products that were several times different, may be only 10% or 20% when they arrived at the user end, resulting in the merchants who transported from a long distance that would not sell inferior products at all. This is a truth that elementary school students basically understand.

In the early years, when Li Su was in charge of Sichuan, he tried to develop various jerky meat and other foods with high energy density to subsidize military rations, so that the same transportation weight is more efficient.

However, other foreign merchants who have not been tortured in the difficulty of logistics hell in Shu have not been tight enough in their minds, and occasionally they even fantasize about using inferior products as good products to mix up with the poor.

"It's not easy for Jingzhao Yin to govern Chang'an. Any treasury official can tell these principles of being good at math. The new civilian government officials, from the imperial court to the provincial governors, must be very good at planning and dispatching.

Moreover, although the food prices on the market are expensive, their purchase prices are so expensive, and they do not exploit the profits at both ends. The cost is too high, and there is no way to do it."

Du Ji saw Du Lan's defeat and made a lot of money. When he observed him, he saw that Li Su was in good order in governing Chang'an.

In short, the entire process of selling grain always reveals a model of efficient administration - at least for other civil affairs officials in the late Han Dynasty.

After selling the food, Du Ji returned to his house to visit a few relatives, and then walked around the streets to find some tea shops to understand the people's conditions. Seeing other guests eating and drinking, Du Ji came over to chat with him and asked them what they think about the current price of grain in Chang'an.

Several guests couldn't help but complain: "It's hard to live. It's already a waste of time. I'm still spreading Jingzhao Yin, who can afford to eat white rice that costs 5,000 yuan per stone. It's better to eat beans worth more than 1,000 yuan and taro worth more than 800 yuan. I heard that Li Su didn't know how much he had robbed while taking advantage of the situation.

We ate taro for three or five days last month. Later, we lost all the taro and could only eat beans. My stomach was so bloated. Anyway, if you can avoid rice and noodles, you won’t eat rice and noodles, but you won’t let him make money. Now restaurants are mainly selling beans and soybeans, and white rice and flour are rarely seen.”

After hearing this, Du Ji felt that public opinion seemed unreliable. After all, the people did not know the purchase price, but only knew the selling price. Du Ji had just sold a large amount of grain with someone. He knew the cost and couldn't help but say something to Li Su:

"However, there are beans, beans, taros and other foods that can be eaten, and the price is still OK, which has increased less than twice as much as in previous years. This means that the government does not want to exploit them? White rice and white flour are expensive, so you can't eat them.

I see that the government has not made much difference, and I am afraid that people will starve to death to raise prices in advance. All kinds of pricing strategies are all to lure merchants to transport more dry goods and good goods come over."

Du Ji, a foreigner, could see through the truth. Of course, ordinary Chang'an citizens would not sell their accounts. They immediately sneered and were too lazy to talk to him anymore.

However, his remarks made another guest in the restaurant feel appreciated: "This brother is very knowledgeable, has a profound vision, no more than a fool, he can see the profoundness of it. I would like to invite you to have a drink."

Du Ji hurriedly bowed: "In Xia Du Ji, the Du Ling family."

The young man also bowed: "Hongnong Yang Xiu, lucky to meet."

Even if people from aristocratic families go out to consume, they have their own habits. Some restaurants are particularly attractive to some families and specialize in their business. Yang Xiu and Du Ji are both children of the Guanzhong clan, so it is not surprising that they meet in restaurants.

After the two of them saw the ceremony, Du Ji was curious and wanted to inquire about the local situation, so he asked: "Brother Yu was worried about seeing Jingzhao Yin having dinner for the people. Why didn't he declare the capital to the people in exchange for the people's recognition?"

Yang Xiu twisted his beard and smiled: "Although Yang has not been given a real position in the court, he can still guess it - the above must be looking for those who spread rumors, waiting for them to be rampant, and they will be arrested and exposed their sins if they have the chance."

Twenty-year-old Yang Xiu likes to show off his IQ more than later. Before Li Su formally entrusted his mission, he has already begun to show off his vision in front of other aristocratic families.

Li Su did not tell Yang Xiu anything. He was indeed guessing these things himself, although he did not guess the specific insider information and principles.

"So that's it? That's really aware of the bride..." Du Ji looked up and down, still a little unbelievable.

However, since Yang Xiu was from Hongnong Yang family, Du Ji was happy to treat guests to make friends. At that time, Du Ji paid the money and the two had a good meal.

The drinks were held until evening, and there was actually a news coming out.

"Wei Kang, the second son of Wei Duan, the governor of Liangzhou, was arrested! I heard that it was Jingzhao Hu Cao who was engaged in the king's sin and offered him the money! Recently, he spread rumors that the court made a difference in the price difference from disaster relief grains was all instructed!"

If it were just such news, Du Ji would not be shocked, because it was also possible that it was framed.

But not long after, just that night, some other follow-up rumors spread.

For example, Wei Kang's cousin Wei Huang drew a clear line with him and made a headline to prove the friendship between Wang Bi and the Wei family.

Wei Kang's old father Wei Duan and second brother Wei Dan also said that they drew a clear line with Wei Kang.

At the same time, the Du family of Jingzhao and the Yang family of Hongnong also An An said that her emotions were stable and that Wei Kang's affairs had nothing to do with them.

This means that the attack surface has not been expanded.

The sentiment of the gentry has been temporarily stabilized, but the people have not yet. The main reason is that the people have little experience. At least in a few months, they will only truly know Li Su's benefits when they see poor people in Duling County and several other counties under Yuan Shu.
Chapter completed!