Chapter 177 It Didn’t Fall from the Sky
Yun Zhan’s idea was better and safer, so Yun Zhen agreed immediately.

Yun Jin, the ancestor who has always been protective of his people and especially kind to his little grandson who came from hundreds of years later, of course had no objection.

He immediately selected two people from the Yun family’s secret guard team, Yun Ba and Yun Jiu.

The two changed their identities to the public, using the aliases Qiao Fa and Qiao Jiu, and then were specifically responsible for the task of running the shop.

Many wealthy families in Yuzhou City fled to escape the famine.

There are many shops for sale in the dental clinic.

Qiao Fa and Qiao Jiu quickly bought two large shops in the city center, spending less than 300 taels of silver.

Of the two large shops, one sold food grains and the other sold groceries such as vegetables and meat.

The grain shop only sells five kinds of products: crushed polished rice and brown rice, flour, and shrunken mung beans and soybeans.

Mung beans and soybeans can be used to grow bean sprouts, providing a source of food for the people of Yuzhou who are facing a shortage of vegetables.

If you want to plant it, it is also a very high-quality bean variety.

There are three types of items sold in grocery stores.

The giant version has fresh cabbage and fresh pork, all cut into 1 cm square pieces, and then the shop assistants will make secondary cuts based on the customer’s purchasing needs.

The smaller vegetables include white radish, carrot, cucumber, ginger, leek and garlic.

There are also large-sized dried vegetables that are durable and sold by the kilogram.

The prices of goods are normal prices during good years, which ensures that most people can afford them.

The day the rice shop and grocery store opened, the whole Yuzhou city was in a sensation.

Long queues soon formed in front of the two shops. Most of them were pale and thin ordinary people who could barely move.

The shops have implemented purchase restrictions, and buyers need to bring their household registration books.

According to the number of people in the family, each person can only buy 3 kilograms, and the total purchase amount cannot exceed the limit.

Food can be purchased once every half a month, and groceries such as vegetables and meat can be purchased once every seven days.

Qiao Fa and Qiao Jiu hired literate employees to register. If anyone was found deliberately hoarding goods, buying at low prices and selling at high prices, their purchasing qualifications would be permanently revoked.

For the convenience of record keeping, you will not need to bring your household registration card except for the first time.

The store will issue a fixed-amount voucher to first-time customers.

The certificate records the name of the head of the household and the number of family members, and the remaining blank space is filled with small squares.

With each purchase, the shop assistant would stamp the box once and write the corresponding date.

One voucher can be used for about one year, and its function is equivalent to the “Urban Residents Grain and Oil Supply Certificate” which is very common in the time plane, which is commonly known as the “grain book” among the people.

The ancient plane was in the midst of a famine, and selling grain at a low price was already very conspicuous.

The purchase restrictions are meant to appear more normal so as not to arouse doubts about where the endless supply of supplies comes from.

Yun Zhen was not sure whether this cover-up method would work, but it was definitely much better than exporting supplies unscrupulously.

It was quite shocking to see two such shops in the impoverished and war-torn city of Yuzhou.

Especially when the first group of people actually bought the supplies and took them home, the news quickly spread throughout the city.

Even the villages and towns around Yuzhou learned about this within three days.

At the home of the Yuzhou prefect.

A servant brought the newly bought rice, vegetables and pork and presented them to the master of the house to report.

The prefect Luo Kangcheng was very surprised and asked him quickly: “Where did you buy these things?”

The servant bowed and replied, “They are two newly opened shops in the city, one is Qiaoji Rice Shop, and the other is Qiaoji Grocery Shop. The supply of goods is very fresh, but there is a rule that they can only buy in limited quantities.”

“The shop’s requirements are quite strict, and I had to ask someone for help to buy it.” The servant was a member of a lowly class, and his household registration was not in his own hands, so it was impossible for him to get the master’s household registration book.

He spent some money and asked a tenant for help, and finally he bought what he wanted.

There were 3 kilograms of rice, 3 kilograms of vegetables and 1 kilogram of pork on the table, which was exactly the upper limit of what one person could buy.

Luo Kangcheng grabbed a handful of rice and examined it carefully.

“It’s crystal white and of high quality, but it looks like it has been broken, and the size and shape of each one are not uniform.”

He put the rice down and turned his eyes to the vegetables cut into squares.

I tore off a small piece and put it in my mouth and chewed it raw without washing it.

“It’s just ordinary Chinese cabbage, but it’s so juicy and rich, it’s obviously from a fertile land with plenty of water.”

The remaining 1 pound of pork is also in square shapes, half fat and half lean. The meat is of very good quality and has no fishy smell.

Luo Kangcheng was very excited. He quickly went into the house to get his household registration, and then asked the servant to lead the way for him.

The prefect’s family has a large population.

There are about 30 masters and servants in the whole mansion.

He wanted to see if he could buy the maximum amount of supplies at one time, so he brought all the household registrations with him, as well as the housekeeper and others who helped with chores and moving goods.

When a group of more than a dozen people arrived at the rice shop, they found that Yun Jin, the border guard marshal, was also there.

Luo Kangcheng took the initiative to step forward and greeted him, and learned that Yun Jin was here to sign a supply contract with the shop owner.

He was a little surprised: “I heard that the Yun family army received a large amount of food and fodder some time ago. Do they still need supplies now?”

It is normal for some news to leak out of an army of 50,000 people.

Yun Jin looked at him and said with a relaxed expression:
“Food and grass didn’t fall from the sky. They were previously supplied by Qiao Ji’s boss.”

“Since we can’t get food and fodder from the capital, it’s the same if we buy it locally.”

In fact, food and supplies fell from the sky.

But it is impossible to tell the truth to everyone.

Everything requires “procedural legality” and there must be a proof to fool others.

So this time we just sign the supply contract as a token of our appreciation, and the materials in the future will still be delivered directly by Yunzhen.

Luo Kangcheng didn’t know whether to believe it or not, but he didn’t want to care about whether it was true or not.

It is a good thing that the border guards have sufficient food and fodder, so that Yuzhou City will be safer.

He exchanged a few words with Yun Jin, then hurried into the rice shop.

As soon as I came in, I found that the situation in the shop was the same as what the servant described.

Although there are not many types of food, the quality is very good.

The whole shop is filled with bags of goods, which makes people feel at ease just by looking at them.

Luo Kangcheng approached the shopkeeper of the rice shop and asked him with concern:

“How is the food inventory? If I want to buy rations for 30 people, can I get them?”

“Except for the troops guarding the border, there are about 20,000 people left in Yuzhou City. If the people in the surrounding towns find out, I’m afraid they will flock here soon. Can you provide for so many people?”

The shopkeeper nodded confidently, “Don’t worry, Prefect! The rice shop has sufficient stock and can supply for a long time.”

“The boss has taken the situation you mentioned into consideration and is busy transferring food here recently.”

Luo Kangcheng was very happy to hear this and immediately told the shopkeeper:
“If you encounter any problems, or if someone with bad intentions comes to cause trouble, just report it to the government office, and I will do my best to help solve it.”