OBS Chapter 337 The Importance of Food
Chapter 337 The Importance of Food
By the time everyone got back home, it was already dark. The old ladies were in charge of cooking. The dishes were braised pork offal and cucumber mixed with steamed cake. The cucumbers were sent by several old ladies from Tangjia Village, because today these families had people from all clans to help dig sweet potatoes.
In fact, according to the old ladies' idea, it would be fine to collect more sweet potatoes. If you can't afford dry food, you can eat sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes can be dried and ground into powder to make porridge or dry food.
Although the grain prices in grain stores may ease after the autumn harvest, they are definitely not cheap.
In ancient times, grain merchants colluded with each other, hoarded grain, and thus drove up prices and made huge profits.
But "food is the first necessity of the people".
In an agricultural society with relatively low productivity, food has undoubtedly become the most vital commodity.
This grain is very different from other handicraft products. It is not something that can be produced stably every day, but a product with obvious seasonal characteristics.
In a year, there is the season of sowing and farming, as well as the stage of harvest.
Because grain is a special commodity with completely different supply in different seasons, grain prices will fluctuate with the change of seasons. This should be a natural economic phenomenon.
However, when those profit-seeking businessmen are in the market, they only think about maximizing their own interests.
To this end, these cunning businessmen do not hesitate to use all their tricks and use various means to make money crazily.
Especially when we encounter a difficult season or a year of famine, the food supply is far from meeting people's needs.
At this time, merchants will take advantage of the situation and sell grain at staggeringly high prices, thereby making a fortune from the national crisis.
But every harvest season, food prices fall due to sufficient food supply.
Grain traders will try their best to lower the price of purchasing grain.
Also, no matter in ancient or modern times, in China or abroad, no matter what kind of society, as long as there is a commodity economy, there will be a gap between the rich and the poor.
Most of the land and grain are in the hands of those powerful people. Needless to say, the lives of ordinary people are hard. The grain they grow is not only needed to feed their family, but also to pay taxes. There is not much left, and the money from selling the grain is also used to maintain daily expenses.
Tangjia Village is better off. Maybe it's because they are near the capital, or because they have connections, their conditions are more or less good. Some of them have a lot of land, some raise pigs, chickens and ducks, and some make tofu and soy sauce.
But in most villages, whether it is to marry off their children or to buy something for the family, they have to wait for the money from selling grain after the autumn harvest.
Therefore, they could not store grain in granaries like the wealthy merchants and big households and not sell it.
Wait until the food is almost eaten up and new food has not yet arrived, or when there is a disaster in some place and the price of food soars, then sell it.
It's just like when there was a disaster in Shen Zhiqiu's place, the price of grain doubled after they entered the city. If it wasn't for the approaching grain harvest season, the price would probably have increased even higher.
However, Shen Zhiqiu asked Tang Guangzheng about this issue, and Tang Guangzheng told him: "It's not that the grain merchants don't want to increase the price, but the court suppressed it, and the court still has certain subsidies for you refugees."
Shen Zhiqiu was stunned at the time: "He really hasn't heard of this."
Then Jia Zheng said, "But people like you from Shuntian Prefecture don't get that subsidy."
When Master Shen heard this, he exclaimed: "Isn't this partiality?"
Tang Wenzheng said: "It's not about favoritism. This subsidy is not really a subsidy. It's for building bridges and roads. When the time comes, the court will provide food rations to those who go there.
It's not that the imperial court doesn't care about Shuntian Prefecture, it's that no one goes there. Why didn't I tell you about this at the beginning? Wasn't it because I knew you wouldn't go?"
They were just building a house at the time, and took a short break after lunch. Quite a few people from the Nine Tribes heard this.
Many people murmured in their hearts: "We are not the kind of people who don't need help, but we are lucky that there is a capable young man like Shen Zhiqiu in the village. Otherwise, we would probably fight for the jobs of doing hard labor to earn food."
Therefore, due to a series of measures taken by the imperial court, the influx of disaster victims into the city did not cause much fluctuation in food prices.
Even though Shen Zhiqiu complained about the high cost of grain more than once, he himself knew that the price of grain would triple and this was not uncommon in history.
This is why most ancient dynasties "emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce" and "respected the roots and suppressed the details."
After dinner, Shen Zhiqiu said, "Tomorrow, some people will continue to help the villagers of Tangjia Village harvest sweet potatoes. Find a few skilled people to go to the surrounding villages and tell them about the sweet potato harvest in Tangjia Village. If there are grain merchants who are in trouble, they should focus on protecting themselves first."
Shen Mazi yelled, "Afraid of him? Today, when I went there, a man who looked like a servant stopped me and said, "Don't offend someone you shouldn't offend." He was just a servant, but he looked so arrogant. I thought he was someone like Ah Chi."
Shen Zhiqiu said: "It's hard to say. Maybe his master has a strong backer. Even if he's not from the Duke's Mansion, he could be a minister, earl, marquis, or even a servant of a noble family.
We should try to avoid direct conflict. In the first year, the amount of sweet potatoes we purchased was limited, so it would not have a big impact on them, nor would it cause them to have too much backlash. "
Shen Mazi didn't understand: "What rebound?"
Shen Zhiqiu explained: "We just have limited money, so it won't have much impact on them. They won't have much ambition to take action against us. When you spread the news, just say that we don't have much money left.
We can only collect more sweet potatoes and soybeans to eat, these two kinds of food are cheap, don't forget to add a sentence, first come first served, when the money in hand is used up, we will stop collecting. "
Shen Youyou came over at this time. She came to the cafeteria so late because she was waiting for the plastic soles to be demolded.
She was dressed in grey linen, with a simple high ponytail on her head, and holding a large package in her hand.
Shen Daya saw it and quickly stepped forward to help her carry it, saying, "Yoyo, even if you are in a hurry, don't stay in the room all day. Our grandma has been circling outside your door for several times, but she didn't dare to say anything for fear of disturbing you."
Shen Youyou chuckled and said, you know what, she didn't feel hungry when she had work to do, but now she felt a little too hungry.
She let her sister hold the bag for her and went to her grandmother. In fact, her grandmother had already seen her and was a little angry that the child did not take things seriously: "What is it that must be done in one day? Can't you finish your meal first?"
Shen Youyou's eyes rolled and she took out two shoe soles from her bag. "Grandma, see that I made these shoe soles with flowers for you, so I made two pairs, one pair each for you and my mother."