Chapter 73

Listen.

Across from the Zhou family grain shop, there was a restaurant that served breakfast. It had two floors; the lower floor was equipped with long benches and tables, a place where the common people who worked in nearby workshops came to eat. It was already past the hour of the Rabbit, and the workers had all finished their meals and gone to work, leaving the lower floor empty.

The upper floor was more refined, with Eight Immortals tables and Mandarin hats chairs, and paintings hung on the walls to add a touch of elegance. It was a place for the wealthy. At this moment, there were still a few tables of guests. Among them, a young man in a dark brown robe, wearing a silk-lined jacket, was leisurely eating congee with sausages at a table by the street.

To his left sat a large, fat man, who, despite the table full of breakfast, was peering out nervously. To his right was a bearded man with a square face, who was chewing and swallowing noisily.

At the table next to them, there were seven or eight plain-clothed attendants, always paying attention to the movements of their respective masters.

"Oh no," the fat man, supporting himself on the table, exclaimed in alarm, "It's not good, they've started to smash the shop!" He turned to the bearded man and said, "Captain Hu, quickly get someone to stop them!" The fat man was Du Ziteng, and Zhou Yang was his brother-in-law. He had a stake in this shop.

"Ah, the donkey meat buns are really fragrant, but they get stuck in my teeth," Captain Hu said, patting his satisfied belly. "Don't worry, I'm just here for a free meal. Brother Wang said that as long as no one dies, I won't intervene."

"Ah," Du Ziteng looked at Wang Xian with a pained expression, "Brother, you can't just stand by and do nothing." Although he was an official, he was quite weak in front of Hu Yandui and Wang Xian, who were a clerk and a minor official.

"Old Du, you're being foolish. Brother Wang not letting me intervene is for your own good," Captain Hu said, lifting a bowl of wonton noodles and slurping it down. He wiped his oily beard and said, "If I were to intervene, it would be simple. I could find an excuse to search for illegal salt and seize all their ships. Then I could manipulate them as I please."

"But if I did that, they would immediately realize it was a trap, and no one would do business with you in the future," he paused and grinned at Du Ziteng, "We don't care, but as long as you can bear it, I can get the inspection office to issue a warrant right away!"

"No, no, absolutely not..." Du Ziteng waved his hands, "If we only think short-term and offend the grain merchants from all the counties, how will Zhou Yang and the others get their supplies in the future?"

"Actually, it's not a big deal," the young man, naturally Wang Xian, had finished eating and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, folding it and putting it back in his sleeve. He said calmly, "These are people who only care about money, not personal relationships. Your purchase price is already half higher than their retail price. In the future, if they don't sell, there will be others willing to sell, so they will eventually sell."

He paused and sipped some ginger tea to clear his mouth, "Actually, it's the same this time. Everyone complains about the grain shop's delays and excuses, saying 'we won't sell,' but no one is willing to go home empty-handed for the New Year."

"Because they are worried that if they leave, they will be helping others," Hu Buliu stroked his beard and laughed, "Lord Wang is already very shrewd, but I didn't expect you to be even more so. Li Sheng losing to you is not a waste!"

Actually, he wanted to say "very devious," but he was afraid of offending Wang Xian. Not only was Wang Erlang now the financial god of the county, but his ability to manipulate people without any consequences made Hu Buliu dare not act rashly.

"Li Sheng brought it upon himself, it has nothing to do with me," Wang Xian felt that he had recently been labeled as a schemer, which made him quite depressed. He tried to distance himself, "He dared to touch the public treasury, grain taxes, and warehouse salaries. He was bound to fail sooner or later."

"Ha ha..." Seeing that he didn't like this evaluation, Hu Buliu didn't say anything more, but he thought to himself, "Even if Li Sheng brought it upon himself, how do you explain Zhang Hua and Xun Sancai?"

Seeing that the two were off-topic, Du Ziteng quickly reminded them, "They really won't fight inside?"

"No problem, my two sons are downstairs watching," Hu Buliu said with a contemptuous smile, "Merchants are the most cowardly. If they really start a fight, they won't want to go home for the New Year."

"I wonder how their negotiations are going," Du Ziteng felt like his heart was being scratched by a cat.

"Be patient. The longer they wait, the more they will be in a difficult position," Wang Xian said calmly, "Don't just watch the show. How is your money collection going?" He paused and said, "If you still can't gather enough, we'll have to get Captain Hu to act." After all, Wang Xian was only helping them buy grain at a reasonable price, not to punish the grain merchants.

"It's already gathered," Du Ziteng said with a pained expression, "According to your instructions, one thousand taels per family, we four families borrowed and lent to finally gather four thousand taels." He said dejectedly, "We've given up the profits of four or five years..."

"Consider it a lesson," Wang Xian said coldly, "Did Li Sheng give the money?"

"He said he has no money and can only give half," Du Ziteng said.

"That old man is being unreasonable again," Hu Buliu laughed, "I'll go and talk to him later."

"Thank you, Uncle Hu," Wang Xian now had a messy way of addressing people in the government. Except for Wang Ziyao, no one dared to act old and experienced, but he also didn't feel comfortable calling them old brothers, so there was this chaotic situation of different generations.

.

Inside the Zhou family grain shop.

The grain merchants outside finally broke the door and rushed in. Despite the efforts of the people inside to block them, they were pushed aside.

"Why are you closing the door in broad daylight!" the latecomers angrily demanded, "What are you doing that you can't show your face?"

"It's not to block you!" Zhang Laogezhang, seeing the situation was bad, quickly defended himself, "There are too many people buying rice, it's chaotic, so..."

The latecomers didn't believe him at all. They looked past the blockers and saw the incomplete contracts on the counter, which made them even angrier, "So you're afraid we'll take your business!"

"You old scoundrel, didn't you say we would come together last night!" a young boss who had drunk with Zhang Laogezhang the night before shouted, "We even went to find you specially, but you left us behind and ate alone!"

Zhang Laogezhang was speechless, but the latecomers didn't let up. They started to attack the shopkeeper Han:

"What do you mean, Old Han? I was here early in the morning, don't you follow the rule of first come, first served?"

"Exactly, you said with a straight face that you would give us a plan, but your plan is to leave us behind!"

"Tell us, how much did they give you to do this to us?"

Han was so flustered that he said, "This is just an intention, it's not binding..."

"So that's it..." the latecomers were delighted.

"How is it not binding?" the earlycomers were not satisfied, "We've already paid the deposit!"

"They haven't signed the contract yet, what deposit?" the latecomers firmly opposed, and the two sides started arguing in the crowded front hall, their voices almost tearing the roof off. Some of the more hot-tempered ones even started pushing and shoving.

Fortunately, at this moment, two constables came in and shouted, "What are you doing? Gathering to fight?"

This immediately frightened the grain merchants. Although they were rich, their status was low, and they were in another county. Who dared to act rashly? They all shook their heads, "Nothing's happening!"

"If nothing's happening, why are you arguing?" the constables said with a stern face.

Han quickly came forward, took out a stack of banknotes, and slipped them into the constables' sleeves, smiling, "Sir, we're just doing business."

"Good, if you're doing business, do it properly, don't shout," the constable's face improved, and he warned, "The county magistrate heard that a large number of merchants have gathered in our county recently, and he ordered us to strengthen our vigilance. Anyone who causes trouble in Fuyang County will end up in the county jail for the New Year's Eve dinner!"

"Yes, yes, yes," Han agreed, sent the constables away, and turned to the grain merchants, smiling bitterly, "Everyone, stop arguing. Calm down and discuss what to do. I'll go see what the other two shops are doing."

"Fine!" The grain merchants either sat or stood, clearly divided, and began a difficult negotiation. However, the differences between the two sides were too great, and the atmosphere became increasingly tense, with a sense of confrontation.

Finally, someone suggested, "Why not lower the price? Wouldn't that solve everything?"

"Ah!" Zhang Laogezhang's worst fear, "cutthroat competition," had come true. At this moment, what was needed was someone who could command respect to stabilize the situation and prevent everyone from lowering their prices.

But there were over twenty grain merchants from thirteen different counties, and they didn't even know each other's names, let alone be familiar with each other. And there were no major grain merchants from Hangzhou or Shaoxing, so where could they find someone to command respect?

Originally, he could have acted old and experienced, but because of a momentary mistake, he left the young men behind yesterday, and was now being scolded and humiliated. How could he have the face to speak?

Indeed, many of the grain merchants showed signs of being swayed, thinking that even with a price reduction, they would still make a huge profit. Why should they be stuck here, unable to move forward or backward?

Seeing this, Zhang Laogezhang couldn't hold back any longer and shouted, "Everyone, besides lowering the price, there are other ways!"

"What ways?" the crowd asked, hoping to avoid lowering the price.

"We each sell half of our rice to them, and take the other half back. It's still better than lowering the price!" Zhang Laogezhang had completely lost his principles.

But the grain merchants who had scolded him had a strong prejudice against him and said, "The old man is being devious again. He said he only had one ship yesterday, but today we found out he brought eight ships! Half of eight ships is still 160 shi, more than all of our rice combined!"

"Exactly, he's trying to make a profit! Besides, it's not just us who have rice. Other grain shops are also crowded with merchants, and more are coming. If they lower their prices first, who will buy from us?" Prejudice was truly harmful. Zhang Laogezhang's most reasonable suggestion was immediately drowned out by a chorus of opposition.

But lowering the price still hurt...

However, soon, they felt not just hurt, but a sense of urgency. A servant reported that the new grain merchants who arrived today had already lowered their price to 2.5 taels, and the Qian family grain shop had already agreed to buy the rice.

Then another servant reported that the earlycomers had lowered their price by another 0.1 tael, to 2.4 taels!

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