Chapter 1156 A Shocking Gamble

"The imperial court will not intervene in the fields that the guild is good at, such as medicine, equipment, inns, etc.; it will only provide services for players in basic industries such as food and iron ore that the guild is unwilling to enter or is not good at."

Ouyang Shuo's statement completely warmed the hearts of everyone present.

Compared with the immediate benefits, Ouyang Shuo valued the player's recognition of Daxia more, which made the player feel a sense of belonging. After all, those who can participate in the siege of the monster's lair are elite combat players.

Furthermore, although the imperial court does not compete with the guilds for food, it can generate stable income only by renting shops and commercial taxes, covering the expenses of building camps, and may even generate profits.

That being the case, how could Ouyang Shuo care about everything.

After finalizing the camp, the next step is to discuss specific defense issues.

What Ouyang Shuo meant was to delineate a general combat area for each guild, with the province as the boundary, and try to make sure that each province has a stable combat team.

"no problem!"

Because of the sweetness given just now, the leader of the guild naturally knows how to reciprocate.

After finalizing several important matters, Ouyang Shuo took advantage of the situation to end the meeting. The specific deployment matters would naturally be negotiated by the Privy Council and the guilds one by one.

…………

On January 17th of the sixth year of Gaia, Shanhai City.

With less than a month left until the Spring Festival, Ouyang Shuo started the mode of intensively interviewing the ministers again, trying to make arrangements for the next year's affairs in advance before the yamen rests.

In the imperial study room, the person who was being summoned by Ouyang Shuo was Jia Sixie, the Director of Agriculture.

Food is the paramount necessity of the people.

The status of agriculture in the dynasty is naturally beyond doubt. Daxia's agricultural technology is in a leading position in the world, but after the founding of the dynasty and the establishment of the country, it has not been noticed by Ouyang Shuo.

This time to summon Jia Sixie, the situation has naturally changed.

In the fourth system update, Gaia activated the natural disaster mode. Even though Daxia is protected by the gods and the weather is generally smooth, the grain production will inevitably be affected.

In addition, in the past year, a large number of refugees have emerged, and the population has grown rapidly; there have been several large-scale wars during the year, and the consumption of food and grass is also very alarming.

Even with the grain output of Daxia, it is somewhat stretched.

As tens of millions of players immigrated to Daxia, a very sudden population surge was ushered in, and the crisis of food shortages had gradually emerged.

The attack of the beast tide became the last straw that crushed Daxia's granary.

Not to mention the destruction of a large amount of farmland, in order to provide disaster relief, the imperial court had to open the granary to relieve the victims. The food consumed every day was calculated in millions of units.

If it weren't for the fact that Daxia's grain reserve strategy was relatively in place, I'm afraid it would have been overwhelmed.

Jia Sixie was undoubtedly very keen. When the food crisis first appeared, he had already caught it and played it quickly, which later attracted Ouyang Shuo's attention.

Because other territories do not have the trouble of population explosion, they are not aware of the approaching crisis for the time being.

Jia Sixie said: "In the past half a month, the Agriculture Department has sent officials to various provinces to check the stockpiles of the local granaries. It is generally good, but there are also granaries that have not stocked enough relief food as required."

Ouyang Shuo's face darkened, "It is the basic duty of the local officials to store disaster relief food, and someone dares to perfunctory the court in this respect, it's a shame."

Jia Sixie didn't dare to argue, knowing that the king was angry.

"The Agricultural Department will transfer the investigation to the Internal Affairs Council for disposal." Although Ouyang Shuo revealed it lightly, but with the intervention of the Internal Affairs Council, it will definitely cause a big storm in the government and the public.

"promise!"

"Will the grain reserve last until the next season's grain harvest?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

Jia Sixie didn't dare to boast indiscriminately, and said hesitantly, "According to the current situation, there must be some food shortages. I am even more worried that merchants will sniff out the business opportunities and take advantage of this opportunity to hoard food; farmers will also subconsciously refuse to sell. Reserved rations, which in turn fueled further food shortages.”

Ouyang Shuo nodded, Jia Sixie's worry was not unreasonable.

Daxia has always adhered to a relatively open and relaxed business environment. Merchants hoard food. As long as they are not rare goods to live in, the Yamen can't do much with them.

After thinking for a while, Ouyang Shuo said, "After we come down, the Agricultural Department and the Commercial Department will work together to find a way to eliminate this hidden danger in advance."

Great Xia has plenty of opportunities to make money, and with the involvement of the Commerce Department, the number of chambers of commerce that would take risks in the future should be reduced a lot. After all, the chamber of commerce wants to survive in Great Xia, so offending the imperial court is always not a good thing.

"clear!"

Jia Sixie nodded in response, and things would be much easier if the king spoke in person. Otherwise, the Department of Commerce would not take the request of the Department of Agriculture seriously, and it would be a big trouble.

In the case of food shortage, internal control can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.

Ouyang Shuo was going to notify the Finance Department, taking advantage of the fact that TUP had just been established and had not yet formally operated, and took advantage of the convenience of ocean trade to purchase a large amount of grain in Southeast Asia.

He even said that he could instruct the Chamber of Commerce to go to Java to purchase food. As long as it is profitable, there will naturally be businessmen who will take risks and engage in food smuggling behind their backs.

As long as it works properly, this food crisis may turn into an opportunity.

Thinking of this, Ouyang Shuo said, "Come here!"

"exist!"

"Call the Minister of Finance, Fan Li, to come over."

"promise!"

Soon, Fan Li hurried over.

"Jia Qing, tell Lord Fan about the situation." Ouyang Shuo said.

"promise!"

Jia Sixie did not expect that the king acted so swiftly and directly called the Minister of Finance to discuss it face to face, without daring to neglect at all, and described the court's food crisis in detail.

How shrewd was Fan Li, he immediately caught the king's intentions and said, "The king wants to use the commercial office to make a large-scale grain purchase?"

"clever!"

Ouyang Shuo smiled slightly and said, "Crisis is an opportunity. We have no way of judging how the beast tide will rampage in the first half of next year, whether it will intensify or slow down; we also have no way of judging whether natural disasters will continue to fall in the wilderness in the first half of next year. But Now that I smell an opportunity, I naturally don’t mind taking a gamble.”

"How much money can the court use to purchase grain?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

Fan Li's eyes narrowed. He realized that the king was going to make a big deal. After thinking about it for a while, he replied, "It's approaching the end of the new year, and all expenditures have been settled one by one. Excluding the funds reserved for next year, For emergency funds, at least 8 million to 10 million gold coins can be used on the books."

Daxia is really rich and powerful.

Several wars at the end of the year, coupled with the expansion of the army, cost millions or even tens of millions of gold coins each time. Even so, the imperial court could still spend tens of millions of gold coins.

According to the current grain price, the grain purchased by 10 million gold coins can fully support the consumption of Daxia for five months. If the food is piled together, it may be equivalent to the size of Shanhai City.

Fan Li's spirit is not insignificant.

Jia Sixie at the side listened, his eyes brightened.

This time, Jia Sixie could finally swallow his worries. When the imperial court purchases such a batch of grain, the crisis is resolved, and the merchants naturally have no conditions to hoard grain.

All crises will cease to exist.

Unexpectedly, Ouyang Shuo shook his head and said, "Not enough!"

"Your Majesty, please clarify!" Fan Li didn't understand.

Ouyang Shuo said: "If it's just to solve your own danger, then it's enough. But if the two disasters that are expected to occur in the first half of next year are concentrated, what will happen?"

"..."

Fan Li and Jia Sixie looked at each other, and they both saw the seriousness in each other's eyes.

Right now, there is not enough food. The reason why everyone has not realized that the crisis is coming is that they have a stable expectation for the food production in the first half of next year, so they don't take it seriously.

If expectations fail, the wilderness will be in chaos.

It is even said that if one is bad, it will cause the suffering of people's lives.

Fan Li thought for a while, and then said: "With all due respect, the two disasters are very uncertain. Is it inappropriate to put the treasure here?"

A positive and steady policy is the right way to govern the dynasty.

Fan Li's words are really words from the heart.

Ouyang Shuo smiled gratifiedly, "Aiqing is loyal to the country, this king is very gratified."

"Don't dare to be praised by the king!"

"It's just." Ouyang Shuo restrained his smile, his eyes seemed to penetrate the void, and he saw the unknown place, and said leisurely: "Based on my intuition and judgment, this is definitely not a gamble in the pure sense. If the prediction is good, There is at least a 50 percent chance that the worst-case scenario will occur.”

Ouyang Shuo can figure out a thing or two about Gaia's thoughts now.

In the past five years, Gaia was just a small test, and the test of the player was not really ruthless. As long as you deal with it properly, the lord can still do a job with ease in the wilderness.

Gaia's six years will definitely be a watershed.

The upcoming test will only become more and more cruel, and there is no room for maneuver.

Whether it is the Silver Hand, the Azure Badge, or the Great Xia Dynasty, it is impossible to say that they can keep their own small calculations in peace and stability, and continue to attack the city.

In that case, what's the point? !

What Gaia wants is a strong person who can survive the extremely harsh environment of Planet Hope, not an oligarch who constantly bullies the weak by relying on his own strength.

Based on this, Ouyang Shuo made the above judgment.

In Gaia's six years, there will definitely be a wave of crises, causing big troubles for the territory.

After hearing this, Fan Li took a deep breath, nodded and said, "If you're 50% sure, it's really worth a shot."

In the face of such a great benefit, let alone 50% certainty, it is 40% certainty, or even 30% certainty. Fan Li is willing to accompany the king and fight together.

Fan Li firmly believed in the king's judgment. Most of the kings have a vision that ordinary people don't have. The development of Daxia has proved that the king is the kind of person who is far-sighted.

After successfully persuading Fan Li, Ouyang Shuo smiled slightly, "If that's the case, let's borrow 10 million from the Universal Bank and start a big grain purchase."

With the current size of Universal Bank, there is no risk in borrowing funds.

"promise!"

Fan Li was faintly agitated, this was a remarkable and generous effort.