Chapter 220: Officials Gather

Zhu Gaoxu chuckled; how could he not know the grain prices in Huangshan Town?

Never mind Huangshan Town, he had heard of the grain prices throughout the entire North.

Generally speaking, the grain price in the South was about seven wen per jin.

By the time it reached the North, it was nearly thirteen or fourteen wen, or even fifteen or sixteen wen per jin.

And ever since Zhu Gaoxu put out the word that he would purchase grain on a massive scale, and at double the price.

Now the grain price in Huangshan Town had risen to thirty wen per jin.

Let's calculate it as one thousand wen to one tael of silver.

One tael of silver could buy over thirty jin of grain; ten thousand taels of silver could buy three hundred thirty or forty thousand jin of grain.

But this was at a price that had doubled.

It was equivalent to saying that because of a single sentence, Zhu Gaoxu ended up with over three hundred thousand jin less grain.

How many disaster victims could this have saved?

However, Zhu Gaoxu did not show much reaction to this.

He waved his hand, signaling Ada to hurry and get it done.

After Ada left, Zhu Gaoxu walked outside the Study, looked up at the sky with his hands behind his back.

"After this, I will completely offend all the grain merchants in the South, and the powers behind them will also be offended by me."

"The merchants in the North should also suffer some losses, though I imagine it won't be too much, since I am letting you eat some meat too, even if it isn't much."

"But it doesn't matter, this Prince will find a way to compensate you; as for the scholars of the South, this Prince can only say he is sorry."

After finishing speaking, Jin Buyi walked around the courtyard with his hands behind his back.

On the other side, the matter of Ada using ten thousand taels of silver to purchase grain had already been spread by people.

And the price was exactly thirty wen per jin.

This time, it had truly poked a hornet's nest; it was lively.

The entire Huangshan Town, and even the various departments and prefectures from Shandong to the North.

All were stirred by this move of Zhu Gaoxu.

Previously, there were still people who did not believe Zhu Gaoxu was truly willing to suffer such a heavy loss.

Now, seeing it, the crowd could not help but believe it.

For a time, all the major grain merchants came running to Huangshan Town to sell grain to Zhu Gaoxu.

And this also drove many displaced people to follow them to Huangshan Town, hoping to scrape together a meal.

For a time, the entire Huangshan Town was exceptionally lively, actually three parts better than before the disaster.

This made Niu Jiang's face flush with excitement; he led a group of officials from other regions, walking and stopping everywhere, and from time to time, he would even straighten his back.

This made the other officials watch with secret envy.

Some officials with higher ranks than Niu Jiang also gave a thumbs up, praising Niu Jiang for his capable governance.

Regarding this, Niu Jiang knew what his own status was, so he dared not easily take the credit, explaining to everyone that everything was Zhu Gaoxu's merit.

Afterward, he led the group toward the Red Rainbow Hall headquarters.

When the group arrived at the Red Rainbow Hall headquarters, Zhu Gaoxu was sipping tea in the front hall.

Seeing a group of officials dressed in official robes arrive, Zhu Gaoxu set down his teacup.

Then, seeing Niu Jiang to the side, Zhu Gaoxu immediately understood the purpose of this group.

Taking a slight look, he saw that there were quite a few people who had come, actually about twenty.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu ordered people to add seats.

But even so, it was clear that not everyone would have a place to sit.

A glance over showed that among these people, there were three Prefects alone, and even six Department Magistrates.

There were also quite a few Prefectural Vice Magistrates and Assistant Magistrates.

There was even a Left Administration Commissioner, which was a high-ranking official of the third rank.

Among them, a fourth-rank Vice Commissioner of the Provincial Surveillance Commission had also come.

There was also a third-rank Regional Military Commander who had come; this was a big shot holding military power.

They were not ordinary people; even Zhu Gaoxu could not easily slight them upon meeting.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu could only sit in the head seat himself, pretending to be calm while sipping tea.

As for who would stand and who would sit in a moment, he would not bother with it; he would let this group of old foxes figure it out themselves.

Needless to say, the third-rank officials all had seats; there were only a few of them in total.

Afterward, the others sat down according to their rank.

It is worth mentioning that, whether by rank or seniority, there certainly would not have been a seat for Niu Jiang.

However, the group, out of respect for Zhu Gaoxu, still gave the last seat to him.

And a fifth-rank Vice Prefect stood to the side.

If even a fifth-rank official only had a spot to stand on the sidelines, there was no need to mention the others.

It could be said that this small front hall gathered two-thirds of the official power of the entire Shandong province.

Aside from the second-rank Governor, the second-rank Left and Right Administration Commissioners, and the third-rank Surveillance Commissioner, basically all the high-ranking officials of the top three ranks were present.

Once everyone found their seats, they all bowed to Zhu Gaoxu in unison.

"We pay our respects to the Prince!"

Zhu Gaoxu nodded, raised his hand to signal everyone to forgo the formalities, and then said with a smile: "Everyone, please sit."

As soon as the words fell, the group thanked him once more before slowly sitting down.

Of course, the officials without seats could only stand honestly.

Although Niu Jiang, who was sitting at the very end, was trembling with fear, there were, after all, many officials of higher rank than him still standing.

Yet deep down he was secretly pleased, thinking to himself that the move of following Zhu Gaoxu first had been the right one.

Zhu Gaoxu, sitting at the head of the table, could not be bothered to concern himself with Niu Jiang's current thoughts.

Picking up his teacup and taking a light sip, Zhu Gaoxu then spoke slowly: "I presume everyone here already knows the reason why this Prince has summoned you all?"

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