Blackstone Code Chapter 1260: Shortage
On the first day of December, snowflakes began to fall over the imperial capital of the Gafra Empire.
In fact, it should have snowed here long ago, but although the air was very wet and cold some time ago, there was a lack of opportunity for snow.
No clouds, no snowflakes!
This time the snowflakes finally fell down, and on the front page header of the newspaper by the corner of the table, it was written that the temperature in the imperial capital today was minus eight degrees below zero!
This climate is rare in Gavra. In previous years, it would only be this cold until about the end of December, but now it is only the beginning of December.
Since last winter, things have been a little different.
Summer can heat people to death, and winter can freeze people to death.
An ordinary worker put on thick winter clothes and prepared to leave after kissing his wife and daughter. When his wife sent him away, he hoped that he would stop by the supermarket after get off work in the evening and bring some food back .
The man glanced at the newspaper in the corner of the table, and on the front page of the newsletter, he noticed the newsletter "Make every effort to ensure food supply".
He nods yes and leaves the comfort of his home.
As soon as he went out, the cold wind outside the door was like a knife slashing his face.
He bowed his head and walked against the cold wind.
Actually, his mood was not as bad as the weather. The white snowflakes made the whole world look extraordinarily clean.
Each foot on the snow will leave a series of footprints in addition to making a "squeak" sound.
He glanced back and saw that the footprints in the distance had been covered with new snowflakes, and only the close-up ones were still slightly clear.
Most of the pedestrians on the road are like this, and the cars on the road have also slowed down. The heavy snow is like pressing the slow down button of the world.
A group of motorcades passed by him, looking at the two frozen flags above the headlights of the lead car, there was no doubt that this was the motorcade of the nobles.
The man tilted his head and looked into the car. Behind the transparent glass were two nobles wearing very "thin" clothes. They were not affected by the cold of this world at all, and they chatted relaxedly with smiles on their faces.
"This is an aristocrat!", the man sighed and watched the convoy go away.
Actually, he doesn't need to complain. Life is better now than in the past. It is said that after seeing nobles, as long as they are commoners, they must stop their workstations and bow their heads on the side of the road.
He won't be asked to do that now, and he can still not say hello to the nobles, which has changed a lot.
He walked for about forty minutes and finally came to the factory.
Actually, he can take a car, but... Recently, the prices of various materials have risen rapidly. There is not much money in the car. It may save a little, and it is not a bad thing after all.
And walking is good for your health and can also make your body warmer. Doctors recommend people to be more active...
He found a suitable reason for himself not to take a car. Everyone has magnificent dreams, but it is a pity that poverty is always a ruthless fist that shatters dreams.
He came to the factory and started to work. The factory does not provide heating. The reason is that there is ventilation everywhere in the workshop, and the heating cannot effectively heat up, so they still work in thick winter clothes.
The man finally had a smile on his face. He would chat with his co-workers while working, but happy times were always short-lived.
After talking about some fresh topics, everyone started to work in silence as if they had agreed.
There was no smile on his face, just numbness, he couldn't even feel his own face!
At 1 noon, everyone gets a thirty-minute break, they can eat lunch, then take a break and get back into their busy work.
Actually, half an hour of rest is not enough. The workers in Gafra have made trouble several times, but in the end, nothing can be changed.
The fact that they fired the capitalists' workers did cause a lot of trouble for the capitalists, but that was just trouble.
You must know that the capitalists also serve the nobles. When the nobles feel unhappy, the police will arrest the workers or organizations who lead the strike.
This is not a federation, there is no free soil, so everyone abides by a rule of not crossing the line.
I had a cold lunch at noon. The factory provided it for free. The taste is not good or bad, but it is edible.
The work in the afternoon was still heavy. The man worked until about 6:45 in the evening, and the roar of the machines in the workshop gradually stopped.
People start to pack up and leave.
Thinking about what his wife had asked him to do, he said goodbye at a street corner with several co-workers who often went home together and went to the supermarket alone.
There were still not many people on the road. It was a little after seven o'clock, and it was already dark. He speeded up, and when he approached the supermarket with his head down, he found that today's supermarket was extraordinarily lively.
Many people, very many people, he was a little dazed and followed the gathering crowd into the supermarket.
Then he saw the food counter and there was a long queue.
"What happened?", he walked to the back of the team, looked at the person in front of him who was almost dressed like him, and asked kindly.
The man in front seems to know something, "Those things are available in limited quantities now, and there is a limit to what everyone can buy."
The man was a little surprised, "Why do this?"
The man standing in front of him was silent for a while, "Probably because there are not enough things!"
The man who had thought that he would go back first if it really didn't work, gave up the idea.
More than half an hour later, it was his turn.
"Each person can only buy two pounds of wheat flour, two pounds of bread, five pounds of potatoes, and one pound of beef. What do you want?", the tall teller asked the man.
Of course it's not his status, it's not his tone, it's just that he does stand in a higher position, which is designed for the convenience of the teller.
When people need something, they just move it to their feet and someone outside the counter can get it.
If they are standing at the same height as the customer outside the counter, constantly lifting heavy things, it will quickly make them unable to continue working.
The man doesn't understand, "Is there an unlimited supply of vegetables?"
He was going to buy some vegetables, the teller shook his head, "We don't serve vegetables..."
The weather is too cold, and the growth cycle of vegetables has become particularly slow, and it is easy to freeze to death at night.
The few vegetables are used to supply the nobles, and the prices are so high that ordinary people can't afford them, so it is better not to supply them.
The man spent money to buy everything he could. In fact, the food was not enough to support his family's meals for three days, and the price of these things increased by about 10% compared with the previous month, which made him very uncomfortable. 's concerns.
Because while queuing in the supermarket, he heard people say that prices may continue to rise.
After returning home, he told his wife about these things, and instructed her to reduce the family's supply.
The wife was a little embarrassed, but finally agreed.
During dinner, the daughter was greedy looking at the few pieces of beef on her father's plate.
She looked eagerly at her mother, who could only pretend not to see.
Outside the window, the cold wind is still blowing, the entire imperial capital, the entire Gevra, and many families are like this.
Suddenly it seemed as if there was not enough food in the world to eat, and Gefra, who had never been in such a situation before, left many people wondering what to do.
"Not enough food?"
"Not enough food!"
The Prime Minister's head hurts because there is not enough food to eat.
In fact, after the weather suddenly became extremely cold last winter, he realized that he needed to store more food this winter, and he did the same, importing a lot of food.
Gavra is an island country with limited land for farming and animal husbandry. In the early years, the nobles enclosed land everywhere. Many of the land that was obviously suitable for farming was the private territory of the nobles.
The nobility will definitely not cultivate and grazing. These lands are deserted. Even if the winter is not as cold as it is now, Gafra's food mainly depends on imports.
It's just that there are more imports now, but I don't know where it came from, Gavra ran out of food, so people started looting.
Some grain merchants have also started raising prices. The price hikes don't seem to be very impressive. The highest price is only 15%, but this is grain!
It's nothing else, it's not an expensive luxury, and a fifteen percent increase is enough to starve many families!
The Prime Minister interviewed a group of grain merchants, and a limited supply emerged.
They no longer let go of the supply to the public, but began to limit the supply, and limited the supply under the premise that the price increase does not exceed 10%.
This makes those rumors more and more dire!
Someone has restrained the food bag, which means that the current food supply has become a problem, and the Prime Minister must solve this problem.
Otherwise he was left with two options.
First, people are always living in an environment of food shortage, which is likely to cause more terrible social problems and phenomena, unless the Prime Minister compromises with these people and allows food prices to float freely.
The second option, once he agrees to the free floating of food prices, more people will not be able to afford food!
When many people are faced with these harsh problems, they often choose to go hungry, which will only make the country worse ~IndoMTL.com~ Now the best way is to use the emergency budget of the state treasury to buy from outside A batch of food, first solve the current problem, and then start thinking about the follow-up things.
He wasn't alone in the room, there were others.
The official in charge of agriculture and animal husbandry was talking softly to himself at this time, and also said something like a reminder.
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, if you don't solve those nobles, the price of food will never come down!"
A lot of things in the power-based Gevra have rules, at least the capitalists can't use money to interfere in politics on this island.
Those nobles are much richer than the capitalists, especially those big nobles. They are definitely not comparable to a young man who has entered the stock market with a hundred yuan and suddenly became rich. !
The nobles do not agree to increase the price of grain, and the capitalists dare not let the price of grain increase.
Behind this incident, the nobles are still at work!