Alien King

Chapter 454 Soaring Food Prices

But Lin Qiyu could also see that the subjects in Yekaterinburg did not have a good impression of her, a foreigner from the south.

It is easier to attack a city than it is to defend it, the true meaning of which, Lin Qiyu now has some personal experience.

After walking forward for a while, Lin Qiyu suddenly saw a large group of people surrounded by the road directly ahead.At this time, he was facing a shop on the side of the road, pointing and talking.

Lin Qiyu quickly walked to the periphery of the crowd with her own soldiers.

At this time, Lin Qiyu saw again that everyone was gathered in front of a shop named "Chifeng Granary", and were loudly questioning the manager of the granary.

A well-dressed middle-aged man was standing in front of the gate of the granary. He looked like the shopkeeper of the granary. At this moment, he said, "It's not that I don't want to lower the price. It was shipped from the Tiangong Empire and the French Empire, and the capital required was seven hundred Wen. I added three hundred Wen and sold it for a tael of silver, which is not too much. I still have to pay rent for this shop. The guy still has to pay his salary, a bag of rice or a bag of noodles is sold for one tael of silver, and this is the best of my benevolence.”

As soon as the shopkeeper's voice fell, the people below started arguing again.

"A few days ago, the price of food was only [-] taels of silver. How come it has risen to a tael of silver since yesterday. I think you are raising the price maliciously."

"How could all the food be shipped from the Tiangong Empire and the Faran Empire? Doesn't the Eka Empire produce food?"

The shopkeeper looked anxious, and said anxiously: "It's not like you don't know that our Ekaterinburg lost the war with the Tiangong Empire, and our Yekaterinburg is now occupied by the Tiangong Empire. Today There was some drought in spring, and it didn’t matter at first, but when the war broke out, some farmers heard that the Tiangong Empire’s army had entered the country, and fearing that they would be affected by the war, they left the land and fled. In May, the drought became more severe, and the country’s harvest was in short supply. I'm not going to hide it from you, we are all neighbors in the same city, and I'm telling you guys from the bottom of my heart that this year's food shortage is bound to be severe, everyone should hurry up and find a way to store food, once autumn and winter come, I'm afraid Many people died of starvation."

As soon as this sentence was spoken, the people below fell silent.

Everyone knows in their hearts that the Eka Empire is located in the cold north. Tens of thousands of years ago, the Eka people were just a nomadic people who did not do production. After thousands of years of reproduction, they gradually developed into the country with the largest land area. vast country.However, due to the climate, the grain production has been at a low level. Whenever the whole country suffers from bad harvests, they can only rely on importing grain from the Tiangong Empire or the French Empire in the Western Continent to tide over the difficulties.

A few days ago, a large-scale war broke out between the Eka Empire and the Tiangong Empire. Several major legions of the Eka Empire were wiped out. The Tiangong Empire army has entered the country. At this time, Yekaterinburg has been occupied, resulting in insufficient food. Production is even worse.

The words of the shopkeeper of Chifeng Granary are probably true.

Thinking of this, those who have a little bit of money don't say anything more, just take out the money and want to buy food.But more poor people can only look at the hundreds of Wen in their hands, but they can't afford food.

At this time, some women and children from poor families couldn't help crying.

Lin Qiyu frowned, she couldn't stand it anymore.Then he raised his foot, squeezed through the crowd, came to the shopkeeper of Chifeng Granary, and said, "If there is no food, those poor people may not be able to survive. Couldn't the shopkeeper show mercy and help these poor people?" Is it?"

The shopkeeper put on a bitter face, spread his hands and said, "I show mercy to others, so who will show mercy to me? I paid 600 taels of silver in advance for this horse, and then it was transported back from the Farland Empire all the way. I also borrowed the 600 taels of silver from others, and I still paid interest. If I don’t sell the grain as soon as possible, exchange the money back, and pay off their debts, they still don’t know that they will demolish my shop and smoke me. What about the muscles?"

Lin Qiyu frowned again, and asked, "Who did you borrow the 600 taels of silver from?"

"Of course it's Baron Wood," said the shopkeeper.

Lin Qiyu's heart moved, and then she thought that this Baron Wood seemed to be a nobleman in Yekaterinburg, and he seemed to be a distant relative with the former governor of Yekaterinburg, Van der King.

After thinking for a while, Lin Qiyu nodded, then took out 600 taels of silver notes from her pocket, and handed them to the shopkeeper of the granary.

The shopkeeper was stunned, looked at Lin Qiyu suspiciously, and asked, "Miss, what are you doing?"

Lin Qiyu said: "The 600 taels of silver are calculated based on your bag of rice noodles and one tael of silver. There are at least [-] bags of rice noodles. Please distribute them to these common people."

The shopkeeper took the silver in Lin Qiyu's hand, looked back and forth, and confirmed that it was a common bank note recognized by both Tiangong and Russia and Kazakhstan, then squinted his eyes, smiled, and said: "Since the lady is so generous, I I would like to thank the neighbors here.”

Lin Qiyu nodded, then turned around and left quickly with the soldiers.

Although Lin Qiyu did not report her name, some people in the crowd recognized Lin Qiyu's identity.

Some whispers began to spread among the crowd.

"She is the commander of the Shenji Battalion of the Tiangong Empire. I heard that she is the youngest daughter of Minister of Military Affairs Lin Chengzhou. Her name is Lin Qiyu."

People did not reject Lin Qiyu's 600 taels of silver in exchange for food, but the eyes they looked at Lin Qiyu's back were very complicated.

Lin Qiyu naturally knew this too, and she didn't expect to subdue the hearts of the people in this city in a short time.

Liaodong County has been separated from Tiangong Empire for decades.It would be impossible for the people of the Eka Empire to recognize the rule of the Tiangong Empire from the bottom of their hearts without a few hundred years.

Walking on the street, Lin Qiyu sighed deeply, it is easy to capture a city but difficult to defend it.

At this moment, Lin Qiyu suddenly noticed that at the door of another shop on the outskirts of the crowd, a young guy in his 20s was looking at Lin Qiyu walking by, but he was hesitant to speak. .

Lin Qiyu only took a glance, and then she could see the appearance of this young man clearly.Obviously, this young man is not from the Eka, his appearance is more like that of the Central Plains, and he is probably from the Tiangong Empire.

Thinking of this, Lin Qiyu whispered a few words to the soldier beside him, and after the soldier got the order, he left the team of Lin Qiyu and his group, turned around and went to the shop where the young man was.

When she returned to Xiangsheli Palace, Lin Qiyu was still thinking about what happened just now.

The food issue is related to people's livelihood and is the bottom line of ordinary people.If a city, a county, a province, or a country fails to solve the food problem, it will inevitably face challenges from the people at the bottom.

Peasant uprisings and common people riots in history all have the same reason, that is, there is no food and they cannot survive.

But Lin Qiyu also knew in her heart that the reason behind Yekaterinburg's soaring grain prices might not be that simple.Thinking back to what the Chifeng granary shopkeeper said just now, although most of them are true, Yekaterinburg's grain import channels, as well as the grain storage in the city, are definitely not so small, which can actually triple the grain price.

Thinking of this, Lin Qiyu's heart moved, and she thought of the political system and social structure of the Eka Empire.The Eka Empire is a typical three-level system, the first level is the royal family, the second level is the nobles, and the third level is the common people.

The royal family was actually selected after many nobles reached a consensus.So the royal family and the nobility are actually the same thing.The whole Eka Empire, from top to bottom, has only two classes, nobles and commoners.

Just now, the shopkeeper of Chifeng granary said that he borrowed the money for transporting grain from Baron Wood.This Baron Wood is a well-known nobleman in Yekaterinburg.

In addition, according to the roster that Lin Qiyu had read when she entered Yekaterinburg and handed over matters related to the governor with Van Delkin, there are at least 20 hereditary nobles in Yekaterinburg.

The reason why Van Delkin was able to sit on the position of governor of Yebao was that these more than 20 hereditary nobles elected him.

Therefore, the status of these nobles is very important.

Thinking of this, Lin Qiyu suddenly had a feeling that the soaring food prices in Yekaterinburg could be caused by the alliance of these nobles?
They are using the lives of the people in Yebao as chips and bets, and use bloodless methods to force her, an outsider, to leave here as soon as possible.

Lin Qiyu frowned, feeling the seriousness of the matter more and more.

At this moment, the sound of a soldier's report came from outside the door.

"My lord, I have brought this young man."

Lin Qiyu said, "Come in."

The young man was obviously a little cautious, and after entering Lin Qiyu's palace, he was a little at a loss.

Lin Qiyu smiled and said, "Looking at your appearance, you don't look like a Eka person. Are you from the Central Plains?"

The young man bowed, and replied nervously, "I dare not hide it from your lord, I am a citizen of the Tiangong Empire."

Lin Qiyu nodded with a smile, and said, "Is the family doing business in Yekaterinburg?"

The young man nodded and said, "Father has been doing fur business here for many years, so he opened a shop here."

"Just now, I saw you were looking at me, and seemed to have something to say." Lin Qiyu said.

Hearing Lin Qiyu's words, the young man raised his head, looked around, and seemed to be a little worried.

Lin Qiyu continued: "You should know that the entire Yekaterinburg has been occupied by us. And, you probably have heard that we are the army directly under the Imperial Household Department of the Tiangong Empire, the Shenji Battalion. This is mine. There are no outsiders in the temporary palace, so you don't have to worry about it, if you have anything to say, you can speak freely."

The young man nodded, and said: "I also heard from my father that the 27 nobles in the city had a secret meeting last night in the Governor's mansion to negotiate a collective hoarding of grain and artificially raise the price of grain, forcing the city to of the people against the riots."

The initial guess was verified, Lin Qiyu frowned, and said: "Then according to your idea, is there any good solution to this matter?"

The young man shrugged his shoulders and said, "These nobles are hoarding grain and raising the price of grain. The natural means are hidden and difficult to verify. Without evidence, how can adults frame it at will."

Lin Qiyu narrowed her eyes slightly, and said: "I have strong soldiers in hand, at worst, I will lead people to raid the homes of these nobles, take out the hoarded food, and distribute it to the people of the whole city, what is so difficult about it. "

The young man shrugged again, and continued: "My lord obviously doesn't know much about the Eka people. For the common people of Eka, these nobles are almost their beliefs, and the common people basically trust these nobles unconditionally."

(End of this chapter)