How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

Get off the carriage?

Suddenly surrounded by government soldiers, who would dare to get off the carriage? What if they got into trouble?

The shop owners sitting in the carriage did not dare to respond. They only dared to lift a corner of the curtain and secretly observe the situation outside.

Why did Liang Wanda surround them? Was he planning to force a sale or rob them outright?

The merchants were silent, and Liang Wanda was silent too. The atmosphere between the two sides was deadlocked for a while before Liang Wanda cleared his throat and said, "Boss, are you dissatisfied with my late arrival? I'm really sorry, I went out of town to do something urgent, and I just came back to see you."

"Prefect Liang is the head of the state. We are just a few merchants with little influence. How dare we look down on Prefect Liang? We should wait." A northern merchant owner's voice came out in the convoy, "But I think there are already many merchants here. I'm afraid that Lord Liang doesn't need our little food. It's better to leave as soon as possible."

They were willing to come here only because they saw the opportunity to make huge profits, and by the way, they were entrusted by others to see if they could use this opportunity to open up a trade route between the north and the south.

But they were not from Yizhou, nor did they often deal with southern merchants. The strength behind them that brought so many grain carts from afar to Yizhou was naturally not to be underestimated, so they were not afraid of Liang Wanda's power. Not to mention that Yizhou was short of food now, as the saying goes, whoever feeds you is your mother, even if Liang Wanda was the prefect, he was just a poor man begging for food in front of them.

If you want to show off your official status in front of them, then you are making a wrong calculation.

"Hahahaha, bosses, don't worry. We have a lot of people in Yizhou, so we can eat any amount of grain!" Liang Wanda smiled very openly and cheerfully, and said, "Instead of worrying about these, why don't we unload the goods right now? We can take this opportunity to discuss the price of grain, how about that?"

"Unload the goods on the spot?" Another merchant owner couldn't help but stick his head out of the carriage, "Are you kidding, sir?"

"Is there any problem?" Liang Wanda had a surprised and innocent expression on his face.

The merchant boss was also speechless about Liang Wanda's reaction. He patiently said, "Sir Liang, we heard that the county magistrates of the disaster-stricken counties in Yizhou have gathered in Jiangdu City, and you plan to assign us to various counties to sell grain, so we gathered all the way here."

"But now you want us to unload the goods outside the city. What does that mean?"

After unloading the goods, we will have to load them back onto the truck and transport them to other counties. Why bother?

Liang Wanda raised his sleeves and smiled, "What are you talking about, bosses? Aren't we in Jiangdu City now? Jiangdu City is right under your feet!"

He pointed to the city gate behind him and said meaningfully, "Those outside the city gate are refugees."

Dear business owners: ???

No, what nonsense are you talking about? How come I can understand each word individually, but not when you put them together?

"Hahaha, you bosses, you may not know that in recent days, many refugees from disaster-stricken counties have fled to Jiangdu County. I was afraid that they would lose their minds due to hunger and linger here and rob your grain carts, so I deliberately opened the city gates to let them in and temporarily blocked them off..."

Liang Wanda pointed to the ground under his feet, then pointed to the city gate, and explained with a smile, "Now, this is inside the city, and that is outside the city."

Business owners: Oh~oh!!!

So that's how it is!

This Magistrate Liang has a very humorous way of speaking!

But in this case, did Governor Liang protect their grain carts? If they had not been delayed at the Yizhou Pass for a few days, they might have really run into this group of hungry refugees.

If these refugees start looting, they will probably lose everything they have!

"It turns out that we misunderstood Lord Liang!" The business owners hurriedly got off the car and gathered together again, especially those merchants from the north, who asked their servants to take out the gifts they had prepared long ago.

Although these merchants from other places are not afraid of Liang Wanda's official power, since there may be a trade route between the two places in the future, it would be better to have a good relationship with them, so they still have to express some things.

Liang Wanda didn't hesitate and accepted all the orders.

One of them remembered something and asked, "Master Liang, where are the other county magistrates now? Didn't they say that the county magistrates of the affected counties would come here?"

Liang Wanda paused, then sighed seriously and said, "Unfortunately, the bandits I met on the way here were hacked to death. I thought it would be inappropriate to move their bodies to see you as promised, so I didn't move them here."

Business owners:?

WTF? ? ?

Seeing everyone's faces full of shock and confusion, Liang Wanda silently wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead that seemed to be caused by the heat.

Of course, those county magistrates were not dead, but in the eyes of Lord Shen and the Second Prince, they were no different from the dead.

The rhetoric he just used was also specially taught to him by the Second Prince in order to cover up the lie and reassure the business owners.

I have to say, this kind of outrageous and sick nonsense is much more exciting than the words he used when he was an official to flatter his superiors and bully his subordinates~!

"Don't panic, bosses," Liang Wanda cleared his throat and kindly consoled them, "Although the county magistrate is dead, the refugees are still alive! Aren't they all waiting outside the city for food distribution? Now there's no need for you to go to other counties, just sell the food to me here!"

After saying that, he clapped his hands, and Shen Yuan, who was watching from the side, stepped forward and opened the small wooden box in his hand.

The merchants came forward to take a look and were immediately shocked.

This small wooden box was actually filled with silver bills. The top one had a face value of ten thousand taels. Judging from the thickness of the stack of silver bills, there must be more than one million taels!

How come Magistrate Liang is so rich?

Could this be relief money from the imperial court? When did the imperial court become so rich?

"This money is not just for buying relief grain, but also for..." Liang Wanda hesitated, with an expression of unspeakable meaning on his face.

The astute business owners immediately smelled something.

It's not just the money to buy relief grain, what else can it buy? Is there any big project to be built in Yizhou?

Are they going to build a river embankment?

No, no, no. The business owners in Li and Yu states all shook their heads. According to their experience, building a river embankment would not require such a large amount of effort.

What exactly could it be, and what business opportunities can they find in it?

The shop owners were scratching their heads anxiously. One of them asked impatiently, "What does your Excellency mean?"

Liang Wanda smiled slightly, "I won't keep you in suspense. You can't ask for too high a price for the grain. Of course, I also know how difficult it is for you to transport the grain all the way here. You must make money, so I am willing to buy your rice at a price higher than the market price."

"It's just that..." Liang Wanda paused, and in the eyes of everyone eager to learn, he said lightly, "We will soon have a major project to start in Yizhou, but now many counties have been hit by mountain torrents, and the city is extremely short of supplies. Most of the supplies can only be purchased from foreign merchants. If you are willing to lower the price of grain and sell it to me, the customs duties for transportation and taxes for selling goods in the future..."

He glanced at the business owners meaningfully, "With my government's approval, the tax rate will naturally be greatly reduced, and even a few years of tax exemption will not be a problem."

The shop owners' eyes widened immediately: !!!

what did you just say?

Lowering the government's quota for customs duties and taxes?!