Lady Wan Guan

Chapter 106: Picking up money for nothing
After Jiang Wan Ning left, Qin Bochong had to go into the palace to meet the Holy Emperor. Only Qin Siyue, mother and daughter, were left in the room.

"Mom, how much spare money do you have on hand?"

Mrs. Zhang said warily: "Why are you asking this?"

"Do you know about Prince Suhe?"

"I know!"

"Now everyone is saying that Dayuan and Daqi may start a war soon. The price of food in the city has begun to rise, one price every hour. Do you think that when the news reaches the northern border, then the northern border will not be in chaos? And I heard that the harvest in the north this year is not good, and there will definitely be a shortage of food. Most merchants will not dare to transport food to the north. If chaos breaks out, they will not be able to make money, and they may not be able to save their lives."

Mrs. Zhang frowned: "What exactly do you want to say?"

Qin Siyue's eyes brightened: "Mom, don't you think this is a good opportunity to make money? Others don't dare to transport grain to the north, so we don't need to be afraid. Lu Shanshan came to see me this morning. She is planning to transport [-] dans. When the grain came over, he asked me if he wanted to come with him. Now the price of grain in Dengzhou and Yunzhou is about two liang and one stone, and it may rise several times by then. As long as the grain is transported there, it will be like picking up silver for free."

Zhang was quite excited, even if it only doubled, it would still be impressive.

Seeing his mother's move, Qin Siyue kept up his efforts: "Mom, this trip is worth the rent we collected for several years. I don't have much spare money on hand, and it would be a pity to waste this opportunity, so I came to ask you, You need to make a decision as soon as possible, otherwise the price of food here will skyrocket and there will be no profit in transporting it to the north."

Qin Siyue really didn't have much money, and Xiao Wang didn't have much money either, so she was going to borrow money and had raised 3 taels so far.

"Are you sure this business is safe and reliable?"

"Mom, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Territory is Uncle Lu now. Lu Shanshan said that when the food is transported, Uncle Lu will send troops to protect it. It couldn't be safer."

Mrs. Zhang gritted her teeth and said, "I'll raise 1 taels for you. I'll ask your aunt to see how much she can raise."

"Mom, why don't you just ask your aunt to borrow it? Calculate more interest and give it to her then." If you make money by yourself, your aunt won't lose either.

When Zhang thought about it, it was right, that is, he could borrow it for a few days.

By night, Qin Siyue finally collected 5 taels of silver and handed it over to Lu Shanshan.

Repeatedly warned: "You must ensure that you can make money, I have spent all my mother's private money."

Lu Shanshan patted her chest to confirm: "Don't worry, it's just a matter of making more money and less money. Unfortunately, I found out too late, and so did the prince. The earlier I revealed the news to you, the sooner we acted, we would have made a lot of money."

Qin Siyue felt resentful in her heart. How could Xiao Wang tell her about such a big thing? Let alone big things, Xiao Wang would not tell her even small things. Although they were husband and wife, they were very estranged. They really respect each other like ice.

"It's a matter of confidentiality. How can the prince reveal at will what the price of food in the capital is now?"

Lu Shanshan said gloomily: "This morning it was only one tael and five cents per dan. I heard that someone was harvesting a large amount of grain, so the price of food was raised. Now it is almost three taels and one dan."

"But don't worry, even if it's three liang or one stone, you can make double the profit once it's shipped to the north."

Seeing Lu Shanshan's vows, Qin Siyue felt hot in his heart, as if he had seen his little treasury becoming full.

In the evening, Wen Liu came to report.

"My dear lady, the food will be collected tomorrow. We can't raise so much food in the capital. I'll send people to the surrounding towns to collect it. When the food is ready tomorrow, I will set off immediately."

"Uncle Wen, thank you for your hard work. Take Zhou Li and Zhu Sheng with you this time. It's not safe there. Bring more people. Safety is the top priority in everything. Money is only external possessions."

Uncle Wen smiled and said: "Don't worry, little lady, Lao Yang and I have traveled all over the world. We have seen all kinds of battles. I can handle it." Jiang Wanning smiled and gave Uncle Wen a tip: "When you encounter difficulties, , Uncle Wen can take a look."

Just as he was talking, Qingxing came to report: "Madam, Master Gu is here."

Wen Liu greeted Gu Zhou and left first. Jiang Wan Ning asked Gu Zhou to sit down and asked him if he had had dinner?

Gu Zhouting didn't say anything and his face didn't look good.

Jiang Wan Ning asked with concern: "What kind of difficulties have you encountered, sir?"

Gu Zhouting looked at her sideways and said hesitantly: "Your people are collecting grain?"

"Yes." Jiang Wanning admitted frankly.

"People in the capital are already panic-stricken. You are so aggressive in harvesting grain, which has caused more and more panic. The price of grain has doubled today, and we don't know how high it will rise tomorrow."

Jiang Wan Ning smiled: "If the price of grain in the capital rises again, it is under the control of the emperor after all. It is easy to control, and the grain in the capital is enough to cope with the grain shortage. But the situation in the north is different. Those big households have deep backgrounds. Who can learn from them?" Picking grain out of your hands? As far as I know, several of the larger grain merchants in the north are from large households. Are they so kind to sell grain at a fair price?"

I remember that a few years ago, the imperial court was unable to pay military pay. There was a shortage of food in the army. The soldiers were hungry to guard the border and to fight against the Dayuan people.

My father had no choice but to borrow grain from the big families in the north, but they all refused to lend him a grain of grain.

In the end, she thought of a way to bring the children of these wealthy families together to create conflicts and make them fight.Then he arrested them all and wanted to take them back and redeem them with food.

Only then did the urgent need be solved.

"The war may not be fought, but if the news spreads, there will definitely be chaos in the north. I heard that the harvest in the north will not be good this year. I wonder how many people will starve to death by then?"

Gu Zhou stopped and said, "So, when you buy grain here, you want to transport it to the north to relieve the grain shortage there?"

"Yes, there are already [-] loads of grain on the road, and tomorrow there will be another [-] loads heading north. I also sent a message to Brother San, who is about to arrive in the capital, asking him to raise grain locally. As much as he can raise, or less. It’s better to starve to death.”

Gu Zhouting originally thought that she wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune. After all, she was a businessman now.Unexpectedly, she was thinking about how to help the people in the north.

It is he who is narrow-minded.

Gu Zhouting pursed his dry lips and said, "Actually, the imperial court has already considered this. People will be sent there to stabilize the situation. If there is a shortage of food, the imperial court will also distribute relief food."

Jiang Wanning sighed silently. She knew the situation in the north best. The people sent by the court would not work, so there was no hope for disaster relief food.When did the imperial court allocate all the food and money for disaster relief to the people?After layer upon layer of exploitation, it would be good if [-]% could be used on ordinary people.

"The imperial court will not allocate relief food until a large number of people starve to death." Jiang Wanning said.

Gu Zhou was speechless and had to admit that what she said was the truth.

Unless the country is starving and the situation is serious enough to provoke a civil uprising, the ministers in the court will not agree to allocate relief funds. What's more, the national treasury is empty now, and the annual tribute to Dayuan is already a heavy burden.

"The imperial court has its own methods, and the merchants have their own connections. If it doesn't work, I will go to the north myself." Jiang Wanning said.

(End of this chapter)