Chapter 167: The Rice from Changying Granary

To procure fifty thousand shi of rice from the Southern Zhili region was not something an ordinary merchant could accomplish. Shen Tingyang said he would also try to find a way. Wuhu on the Yangtze River was a large grain distribution center, and he might be able to procure a considerable amount of grain there, aiming to gather it within a month. When Zhao Yigong returned to the Qiwei Shanghai branch, he summoned Mao Sansheng to discuss this matter.

Since Mao Sansheng arrived in Shanghai, although Qiwei mainly dealt with logistics, he had gained a lot of knowledge from handling various goods.

“It’s probably impossible to buy rice in bulk recently,” Mao Sansheng said. “We have business dealings with merchants from several rice markets. The price of bulk rice has risen sharply recently, and everyone is hoarding it. The amounts released for bulk purchase are only a few dozen or a few hundred shi. It’s difficult to buy one or two thousand shi at once.”

Qiwei Inn mainly dealt with warehousing and logistics and had the most dealings with bulk cargo merchants like rice firms. Mao Sansheng’s words were naturally reliable.

“I need to procure fifty thousand shi of rice now, and I need it within a month.”

Mao Sansheng gasped, “Master, this is a bit difficult.”

“If we put our minds to it, how much can we buy?”

“If we go to every household and rely on past relationships, we can probably gather more than ten thousand shi. But the price is hard to say.” Mao Sansheng said that the final average price would probably exceed three taels of silver.

“So expensive!” Zhao Yigong was a little unwilling.

“If we can buy the rice at this price, I would already consider it a great blessing.”

“Alright, you go and arrange for it first. Buy as much as you can. All the rice bought should be transported to Shanghai.”

Ten thousand shi of rice was still far from the target. Although Zhao Yigong felt that there were many difficulties, he could only force himself to stay in Shanghai and coordinate the rice purchase.

Although the Southern Zhili region had suffered from continuous natural disasters, it was one of the few places under the Ming Dynasty that could still be called “stable.” The social order was generally normal, so the grain supply was still sufficient. Although the price of coarse rice had risen and the rice merchants were hoarding it, as long as one was willing to pay, rice could still be bought.

The price of rice was already rising at this time. The large-scale procurement by Shen Tingyang and Zhao Yigong caused the price of rice to rise continuously. Originally, the price of rice in the Southern Zhili and Anhui regions was relatively low and could flow to Zhejiang, which was severely short of grain this year, to supplement the deficiency. However, as the procurement volume continued to increase, a large amount of grain began to flow to Shanghai, where the transportation conditions were more convenient.

Last year, the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou area, which had suffered from floods and droughts, had seen a slight drop in rice prices, benefiting from the distribution of relief grain and the sale of grain at fair prices by the Famine Relief Bureau. At this time, however, the price of rice began to rise, quietly breaking through the three-mace-per-dou mark. It continued to rise for fifteen consecutive days, and by mid-June, the price of rice in Hangzhou had risen to three mace and six fen, close to the famine price of four mace.

Far away in Shanghai, Zhao Yigong was completely unaware of this change.

Although he received weekly social and economic intelligence reports from various places, he was busy with the procurement of grain and coordinating the commercial contract with the Liaohai Firm, and he had no time to pay attention to it.

Although both Zhao Yigong and Shen Tingyang had put in a lot of effort, they had only bought more than twenty thousand shi of rice in half a month. At this rate, they would probably not be able to gather the full fifty thousand shi by the latest departure time in July.

Zhao Yigong was worried about this every day and had been considering whether to send a distress telegram to Lingao. Although with the current situation, it was still possible for Lingao to transport twenty thousand shi of coarse rice for him, it would seriously affect his image.

Just as he was in a dilemma, things took a turn for the better. Wu Zhixiang suddenly came to visit him.

After Wu Zhixiang came to Jiangnan, he had successfully joined the Fushe by currying favor with several key members of the Fushe in Hangzhou, such as Zhang Dai. With his active enthusiasm for the society’s affairs, he soon became a relatively well-known member of the Fushe in Hangzhou Prefecture. Because he knew that it was extremely difficult for him to advance through the imperial examinations, even the Fushe was unwilling to arrange for an unlearned dandy like him to pass the provincial examination. So he spent money to donate for the title of an imperial college student and was now waiting for an opportunity to get a recommendation from the Fushe and get an official position through the connections of the Donglin grandees.

Wu Zhixiang had established a relationship with Zhao Yigong through Zhang Dai and others long ago. Based on his experience of dealing with Guo Daguanren in Guangzhou, he was convinced that Zhao Yigong was also a “Kun thief,” but he did not expose this layer. Zhao Yigong knew his background and also intended to win him over, so the two of them began to interact with a tacit understanding.

The matter of Shen Tingyang undertaking the transport of grain and provisions to Liaodong was already known within the Fushe. This matter had indeed been successful with the support of the Fushe and Donglin. Therefore, it was no secret that the China Merchants’ Bureau was also involved. In the eyes of the Fushe, although Zhao Yigong was not a member of the Fushe and had a suspicious “Kun thief” background, he was a fellow traveler of the Fushe on the issue of abolishing the canal transport and switching to sea transport. Because of his Catholic faith and his close relationship with Xu Guangqi and others, he was also an important ally for the Donglin-Fushe group, which urgently needed the support of the grand secretaries of the cabinet.

What Wu Zhixiang brought was exactly what Shen Tingyang and Zhao Yigong had been dreaming of: rice, plenty of rice. Not only was it more than enough to make up for the thirty thousand shi shortfall, but even if they wanted more, it would not be a problem. It was just that the rice was not in Jiangnan, but it was not far away. The key was that it was not difficult to transport it to Shanghai. As long as the two parties agreed on the terms, the delivery could be made soon.

As for the price, it was not expensive. The cost of transporting it to Shanghai was only two taels of silver per shi. Even if it was not transported to Liaodong and sold locally, they could still make a profit.

Although Zhao Yigong was happy in his heart, he was also very suspicious. There was no such thing as a free lunch. He really couldn’t think of where in the Ming Dynasty they could easily get tens of thousands of shi of cheap rice.

If he didn’t know Wu Zhixiang’s background and his “performance” in Guangzhou, he would probably have considered him a swindler.

“Where is the rice?” Zhao Yigong pressed.

“Qingjiangpu.”

Zhao Yigong cursed himself inwardly for having forgotten this place!

Qingjiangpu was under the jurisdiction of Shanyang County, Huai’an Prefecture. Although it was only a town, since Chen Xuan opened the port in the early Ming Dynasty and the tribute grain transport was changed from sea to river, this place had become a transportation hub for north-south water and land transport.

When Chen Xuan was in charge of the tribute grain administration in the early Ming Dynasty, he created the “branch transport” system for tribute grain. That is, in the major towns along the canal such as Huai’an, Xuzhou, and Linqing, transit granaries were built to receive the tribute grain sent by civilian boats from designated areas. The Changying Granary was located in Qingjiangpu. One and a half million shi of grain from Jiangxi, Huguang, and Zhejiang were transshipped and stored here, and the annual grain reserve was over one million shi.

Since there was a large granary, there were inevitably countless large and small “rats.” Around this large warehouse, there were countless people who fed on the tribute grain, from the transporters and warehouse keepers to the chief official of the Ministry of Revenue in charge of the warehouse affairs, the granary coolies who moved the grain, and the boatmen who transported the tribute grain. The transportation costs and losses for the four million shi of tribute grain transported to the capital each year amounted to as much as eight million shi. Qingjiangpu was one of the largest blood-sucking pipes along the way. It was not surprising that a large amount of warehouse rice was deposited here for sale.

Wu Zhixiang was certainly not a “rat,” but his father was currently serving in the Ministry of Revenue. He had a share of the benefits from the Changying Granary in Qingjiangpu.

The “benefits” hoarded in Qingjiangpu had to be turned into silver before they could be spent. From the minister down to the clerks in the Ministry of Revenue, everyone who could get benefits from the Changying Granary had this problem of converting them to cash.

In the past, this little benefit was not a big deal, and there were special people to handle it. But this time, the amount of grain to be converted to cash was very large. It was not just Wu Zhixiang’s father’s benefit, but also the accumulated savings of many people in the Ministry of Revenue. Ordinary merchants did not have this kind of strength. Wu Zhixiang thought of this Master Zhao with a Kun thief background. When he was in Guangzhou, he knew that the Kun thieves had a very strong demand for grain, basically only importing and not exporting. It was impossible for Master Zhao not to be interested in this.

The two parties quickly reached a relevant agreement: Wu Zhixiang should transport at least thirty thousand shi of coarse rice to Shanghai before mid-July, with no limit on the excess. The China Merchants’ Bureau would purchase it at a landed price of two taels of silver per shi.

“Is there any problem with transporting thirty thousand shi of rice on time?” Zhao Yigong was a little worried. In an era with backward transportation and communication, long-distance transportation of bulk goods was calculated in months. To transport so much rice from Qingjiangpu to Shanghai, even with a month’s time, was not an easy matter.

“Master Zhao can rest assured. It is now the time for the tribute grain boats that wintered in the north to return south. There are plenty of empty tribute grain boats in Qingjiangpu, and those boatmen are all willing to carry goods on their return trip to earn some extra money.”

“Good, then I will wait for the good news,” Zhao Yigong nodded. “It’s a deal.”

“It’s a deal.” Wu Zhixiang’s face flushed with excitement. This was the first time he had made such a big deal! The thought of how his father and brothers would look at him made him feel ecstatic. For so many years, he had been a dandy. Although his family had not disciplined him much and let him muddle along in Guangzhou, he was still looked down upon by his family. He himself also felt inferior.

Zhao Yigong also instructed him that if there were any problems with the transportation, he must notify him as soon as possible, and he would arrange for the Qiwei Inn to take over.

“No problem, I can definitely handle this matter,” Wu Zhixiang promised with all his might.

“Good, then it all depends on you, brother.” Although Zhao Yigong was not very relieved, his promise was payment on delivery. Even if something unexpected happened to this dandy’s grain transport process, it had little to do with him. In the end, it was just that the cheap grain would not be delivered, and he would make less profit. If the rice was traded at a landed price of six taels per shi, the income of one hundred and twenty thousand taels would be enough to pay the military salaries of Guanning and all the miscellaneous expenses along the way. The transportation fee paid by the court would be the net profit of the China Merchants’ Bureau.

This Young Master Wu had been very close to the Guangzhou station from the beginning and was a youth who had been deeply “poisoned by the decadent Australian culture.” Moreover, his family was a native of Guangxi and had always been listed as a potential cooperation partner for the Fanhaijin. Now was a good opportunity to see how capable Young Master Wu was and whether he was qualified to be a future “cooperator” of the Fanhaijin.