Abnormal Three Kingdoms

Chapter 384 Silent Victory

It was another unremarkable morning, and Xuchang was still like a pool of stagnant water as always. People who were hungry and crazy, some went crazy to grab grain from the grain shop that had grain, but were soon beaten to death.

This kind of hands-on looting is naturally illegal, and it is unreasonable to report it to the government office. Moreover, this kind of thing happens every day these days, and it is common for people who can't survive to take risks.

If no one is killed, the government office will not take care of it.

The whole city is now filled with hostility.

However, with the passage of time, some changes are taking place quietly. The big merchants control the price of food so that it will not let it fall, but some small traders from all over the world are not in this circle. People will take care of it.

Some officials of the Ministry of Households actually wanted to limit the price reduction of these small traders, but there was no way for Chu Nan not to nod. Who would dare to do such a thing openly?

Although there are many small traders, the proportion is not high. Once the price is reduced, the food will be sold out quickly, and then with the money earned, they will quickly go back to buy food and supplies, and then bring more supplies to Xuchang to sell.

Strange to say, prices in Xuchang skyrocketed, but other places were not affected. Instead, a large number of cheap goods appeared, allowing these small traders to make a lot of money, buy here at a cheap price, and then go to Xuchang as quickly as possible to sell.

Although the top price is not easy to sell, as long as you are willing to lower the price, you can sell it quickly.

In this way, there are more and more people doing this business. In Xuchang City, although the government office can't distribute food, the household department has started a lot of repair projects, and the salary paid is more than ten times that of the past.

As winter was approaching, many people felt something different. There were more and more small vendors selling grain in the city, and they brought more and more grain.

Other supplies are fine, but where do we get so much food! ?

This is everyone's doubts. Even if Chu Nan secretly supports it, although Xuzhou had a bumper harvest last year, but after successive battles, the food and clothing of hundreds of thousands of troops can be used for one year's bumper harvest. Not bad, how can there be spare energy to make such a large layout?

Most of the confiscated property is financial, and although there is a lot of food, but in the second half of this year, all places are recruiting. In addition to the troops left by Cao Cao, the Ministry of War has issued a quota of [-], which means that [-] troops will be recruited. Well, most of these grains will be consumed by conscription alone. How can there be spare energy to do this?

If next year, when there is another bumper harvest of Xuzhou's four-season grain, and there is no major war, Chu Nan will still need to have a surplus, but this year will definitely not work, that is to say, these grains are not produced by Chu Nan, and these small traders Where does the food in your hand come from?

no one knows.

And as the money in the hands of these small traders increased, the second batch of grain entered the city, and these small traders began to quickly sell it in the city at half the previous price.

The rich merchants couldn't sit still anymore. These small traders were not wealthy merchants, and they were not in their circle. Originally, the little capital in their hands was nothing, and it couldn't affect the overall situation.

However, Chu Nan's large-scale allocation of money gave the common people more coins. These small traders sold food at a reduced price, even if it was half of the previous price, it was still more than ten times the profit in terms of the purchase price.

And after they sold the grain, they quickly went back for the third and fourth times, like a snowball, these small traders who were inconspicuous in the eyes of the rich merchants brought more and more grain, and the two families also dropped from half to half again. Less than forty percent.

For these small traders, it is still huge profits. When the small traders come in with a large amount of supplies at the end of autumn and early winter, it will be enough to impact the monopoly established by the wealthy merchants.

Some people can't sit still, some secretly threaten these small traders, while some want to suppress them through official means.

The House of Ministers of the Household Department, last time, was invited by Chu Nan, but this time it was the rich merchants who came to visit on their own initiative.

"Suppress merchants?" Chu Nan glanced at this person like a fool, and asked with a smile, "Your name is..."

"I'm Qin Yong, from Chengdu." Qin Yong's attitude is very low. The Qin family in Sichuan and Shu used to be a wealthy businessman alongside the Mi family in the East China Sea and the Zhen family in Zhongshan.

"I said that I will not use violent means to interfere with your normal business transactions in Xuchang. This sentence is also applicable to ordinary traders. They have not violated the law. Please give me a reason, why should I help you deal with competitors? "Chu Nan got up, looked at everyone and said with a smile: "However, you also reminded me that the laws of the Han Dynasty are not perfect in some respects. In the future, it is necessary to expressly prohibit collusion between officials and businessmen, and to suppress or help traders in the name of the government office without reason. prohibit!"

In fact, it is difficult to absolutely prohibit the collusion between officials and businessmen. The law does not allow direct help.

There is also the need to suppress the vendors, I don’t know why, but I suspect that there is something wrong with the things you sell, so I come here every now and then to check, this is in accordance with the rules, and there is no need to use other dirty methods. If you continue to check, you will be able to Business can't go on.

Unspoken rules, at least for now, cannot be banned, but the key to promulgating laws is to let everyone know that there are such rules, and they can be gradually improved in the future.

The complexions of all the wealthy merchants turned pale, so they naturally didn’t dare to offend Chu Nan. Before Chu Nan asked them for something, they didn’t dare to make faces to Chu Nan. Now the relationship between supply and demand is reversed. What kind of family and reputation should they use at this time? To suppress Chu Nan, it is probably too long.

"Everyone knows that I am also a merchant. What this merchant pays attention to is profit and fairness. I can't say that before you sold goods at a high price and wanted to stop me from intervening. Now someone is willing to sell at a low price, but they come to ask me to sanction them. The benefits are all good. Belonging to you? It is a crime for others to make money? There is no such reason in this world." Chu Nan smiled gently, his smile was like a spring breeze, but at the moment all the people present felt only the bitter cold wind.

"That's right." Chu Nan looked at the crowd and said, "Normal competition is supported by the government office, but if you use any means to break the rules, don't blame this official for breaking the rules. There are righteous merchants and profiteers, and this official Naturally, I hope that everyone is a righteous merchant. Since the rules are in place, you must abide by them. The five thousand shi rice grains you gave me last time... are mostly old rice. Counting it, the rice grains you brought will not be short. , you can’t just shoddy it.”

This is also what everyone is worried about. Their food prices are too high, and their shipments are naturally small. If the large amount of food accumulated is not handled properly, it is likely to go bad, but proper storage also has costs.

If it goes on like this, I'm afraid it will rot in my own hands.

"Lingjun, I will take my leave first!" Qiao Rui stood up suddenly, bowed to Chu Nan, turned and left.

Others also know that if they continue to stay here with Chu Nan, they will not get any good results. Although there is no clear evidence, the current scene in Xuchang is obviously related to this person in front of them, but even if they know this, they still don't know how Chu Nan is doing. operational.

It is unlikely that Chu Nan arranged for those small merchants and hawkers to come from all over the place.

How did he mobilize these people?

After Qiao Rui went back, he immediately arranged for people to sell the materials he brought at a reduced price. He sold them as old grain at [-]% of the previous highest price, which was cheaper than those of small vendors on the market. It is much higher, but it is already within the acceptable range of the people.

Especially the people who have experienced high food prices before, worried that the price of food will rise again, and immediately came to buy. However, within three days, the price of food in Qiaorui, which was the first to reduce the price, has been sold out.

Then, the major merchants also began to cut prices one after another, and the grain price in Xuchang began to collapse, and within less than ten days, it dropped back to normal levels.

Although there is no huge profit, those small traders have already established a foothold in Xuchang. They came from all over the country and found that Xuchang's prospects are not bad. Therefore, many people took advantage of this opportunity to make a lot of money and establish a foothold in Xuchang.

The renovation project of the government office was also announced to be completed on the day of winter, and many shops were also recruiting people. Although there were not as many as the government office, the victory was stable. Many people who had nothing to do for the time being started to help these people Traders work.

After the winter, those people who were waiting to see Chu Nan's jokes found that this matter was inexplicably resolved, and Xuchang returned to its former prosperity, even worse than before.

On this day, Lu Bu and Chu Nan came to attend the court meeting on a rare occasion. Chu Nan looked at the officials with gloomy faces, and the smile on his face never stopped.

The most important thing this time is not how much who earns and who loses. In fact, those wealthy merchants finally sold off the goods in their hands, which seemed to be at a loss, but the previous high price has already made them a lot of money, not to mention making a lot of money , but there are small profits, and they will not lose money.

And Chu Nan did not end up participating in this matter from the beginning to the end, so naturally he cannot say that he lost or gained.

What really depresses the princes of the court is the thing behind this incident.

For example, the re-establishment of the supply chain, those small traders who took this opportunity to get rich are not attached to the family, but relatively independent. In the current environment of the Central Plains, it is... difficult for these people to rely on them.

If suddenly one or several companies replace the original luxury merchants and become Xuchang's new supply chain, they can also try to crush or win over the other party by various means.

But here lies the problem. The supply chain re-established this time is different from the previous ones. It was established by countless vendors, large and small. Each of them is inconspicuous, but the power of these people gathered together is terrifying. .

As for Chu Nan, the Minister of the Household Department who seemed to have done nothing from the beginning to the end, after this incident, he completely controlled the finances, and what the gentry lost... was the entire supply chain of Xuchang. This is not a matter of Xuchang alone!
Instead, the entire supply chain has been dismantled, forming a new network from top to bottom, which is composed of countless networks. The wealthy merchants are still there, but their influence has been replaced by these small vendors. Another bargaining chip for Chu Nan's arm wrestling was lost!
This is the reason why the entire court meeting of the princes of the Manchu Dynasty is sinking like water. Their most important things are being gradually disintegrated in a silent way!

(End of this chapter)