"Osaka Castle is already in war, and the grain prices in Edo Castle are also getting higher and higher. I don't know how long it will take for the rise to grain prices to last." The rice shop opened by Chinese merchants in Edo Castle every day will be frantically bought by residents in Edo Castle, creating a situation of supply and demand.

No matter how much the market price is, the rice shops of Chinese merchants are priced at 80% of that, becoming cheap rice in the eyes of Edo Castle residents.

"Why is the rice sold out before noon today?" The rice-buying residents said anxiously when they saw the empty rice shop.

"We transported rice across the sea. The speed of rice supply is not that fast. Please forgive me." The rice shopkeeper said to everyone.

"It's really a pity. It would be great if you had more food." said the Edo Castle resident who came to buy rice.

"I'll ask you to take care of me in the future." said the owner of the rice shop.

He saw the Edo Castle residents who could not buy cheap food in the back of the queue and left disappointedly. He knew in his heart that there were still a large number of rice ships stranded in Yokohama Port, but Oriental Company provided limited supply, making the Edo Castle residents even more crazy for cheap and high-quality rice.

Because of the outbreak of the war, the shogunate collected a large amount of food to supply to the front line, and the supply of rice among the people became tense, especially cities that usually rely on surrounding villages to supply food were facing a food shortage crisis.

The emergence of this crisis made people in Edo Castle panic, and no one knew when the food would be completely out of stock. The rice shop set up by Chinese merchants had stable grain for sale every day, which received widespread praise in Edo Castle. Every morning, residents lined up to buy food.

"Our goods and grain have gained a foothold in Edo Castle, and the residents of Edo Castle have a better and better impression of us. I heard among the people that the residents of Edo Castle complain about the shogunate and praise our rice shops. Not only is our price 80% of the market price, but the most important thing is that they sell grain on time every day, giving them hope. Overseas grain will not be affected by their civil war." In the Tokyo branch, the branch employees have been paying attention to the situation of rice shops and found that the rice shops opened by Chinese merchants are very popular.

"Now the food price in Edo Castle has risen three times higher than usual. Everyone has to keep a short meal to survive this cold winter, especially the poor here. The food price has risen so terriblely, it will probably rise to five times or even ten times soon." said President Qian of the Tokyo Branch.

"President, what should we staff members in Edo Castle do? We can't even afford cabbage these days. The rise in rice prices and vegetable prices in Edo Castle also has an impact on our employees. We spend our monthly wages on rice and vegetables, but we don't have any savings." The employees complained.

"The above has allocated a batch of grain to us as a subsidy. This batch of grain is enough for our daily expenses, so don't complain. You have to work hard, do you know?" Governor Qian announced a relatively important news.

"Really? It seems that we are really considerate and can actually consider our current situation!" The employees were overjoyed when they heard that there was free food.

In this era, most of the people's expenses are on food, clothing, housing and transportation, and the rise in grain prices has made them living in poverty.

"Shopkeeper Qian, there is news coming from the capital."

A staff member of the Edo Castle Telegram Station walked into the Tokyo branch and said directly to President Qian.

"Telecom from Beijing? Come on, please come in." President Qian led the man to the backstage.

"Confidential telegram from the Ministry of Revenue in Beijing." The staff of the Edo Telegram Station handed over a translated telegram to President Qian.

The telegrams of the government use the ciphertext transmission method, and then the telegram is translated after decoding by the receiver.

In fact, no hostile force in this era can intercept the telegrams from the Jiuzhou Army... because no force except the Jiuzhou Army knows what "electricity" is, let alone intercepting intelligence through "wires".

However, in order to accelerate the progress of cryptography, Chu Yun still fought with the air to fight wits and courage, and everything was as meticulous as possible. The official telegrams were written in cipher text.

"The Ministry of Revenue requires our Tokyo branch to eat a lot of war bonds issued by the shogunate? What is this?" It is really hard to understand when President Qian saw the secret letter sent in the name of the Ministry of Revenue.

"This is an order sent by the Ministry of Revenue. I am just a telegrapher, responsible for decoding the telegraph, and I am not very clear about the intention of the Ministry of Revenue. I also found it very strange when decoding. The total value of war bonds issued by the shogunate was one million taels of silver, and were purchased by civilians, samurai and merchants in Japan. If the shogunate was defeated, these war bonds may be a pile of blank paper at that time. Why did the Ministry of Revenue let your Tokyo Branch eat a lot of war bonds?" It was also difficult for the telegrapher to understand when he translated this order.

"The grammar of this type of word use is likely to be an order sent by Da Yuer in the name of the Ministry of Revenue." When President Qian saw the word use sentences in the telegram, he thought of Da Yuer, who had worked in the Tokyo branch before. She was an official of the Ministry of Revenue, and it was reasonable to send instructions in the name of the Ministry of Revenue.

"Hasn't she been removed from her post?" asked the telegrapher.

"Don't think too much. She is now in office on a committee of the Ministry of Revenue. The removal of her post here does not mean that she will not be activated. In fact, although the committee of the Ministry of Revenue does not have much real power, they see it more clearly than us at the macro level. Their opinions can determine the policy of a country." President Qian said, "Since it is the order of the Ministry of Revenue, our Tokyo branch will find a way to eat the war bonds issued by the shogunate. And there will be further instructions in the capital."

"Is the branch's silver enough to acquire a large amount of war bonds among the people? That's the total amount of one million taels of silver..." The Tokyo branch's chief accountant asked in surprise.

"It is not necessary to use real money and silver to eat into war bonds in large quantities. We still have this," President Qian said, pointing to a bundle of bank bonds. "Our bank bonds can be exchanged for gold and silver freely, and even printed on them with any amount we want. But they are no different from a piece of white paper for our cost. The war bonds issued by the shogunate are essentially white paper. Isn't it just right to use white paper to buy white paper?"

"War bonds are now among the people, how should we buy in large quantities?" asked the chief accountant again.

"The instructions from the telegram allow us to secretly acquire private war bonds at high prices on our behalf by the Japanese comprador merchants who defected to us, pushing their prices to a higher price," said President Qian.
Chapter completed!