Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 506 Buy Cheap and Sell High
In the next few days, Guan Zhong and Feng Ji intensively paid homage to Xianyang's nobles, great merchants, and aristocratic families.

The abnormal actions of Guan Zhong and Feng Ji, the two major grain merchants, caught the attention of Heibingtai, and they reported it to Chen Ping. However, Chen Ping didn't arouse his vigilance. Sometimes people's fixed thinking can really kill people. Chen Ping thought that Guan Zhong and Feng Ji came to Guanzhong to sell grain, and he didn't believe that they would buy it in reverse.

Moreover, seeing Guan Zhong and Feng Ji walking around the residences of relatives, aristocratic families, wealthy families, and merchants hoarding food, but they never saw any movement from each family, Chen Ping became more certain of his judgment, thinking that this was just a The two major grain merchants teamed up with the Guanzhong hoarding merchants to play a small trick. Isn't their purpose to drive up grain prices?
However, out of caution, Chen Ping still passed the news to Bai Mo.

Bai Mo's judgment was exactly the same as Chen Ping's, and he didn't arouse his vigilance.

In fact, this is not to blame for Bai Mo and Chen Ping's carelessness, because for the ancients at this time, economic warfare was a completely unknown field, and common sense that is very simple in the eyes of later generations may be unknown in this era, such as war Isn't theory gradually perfected after hundreds of years of development?

You must know that in the Spring and Autumn Period, the so-called war was actually just a game between the nobles. On the battlefield, there was even a thing of saluting first and then fighting. After the publication of the masterpieces of military strategists, Wu Qi, Sun Bin and other great military strategists came out.

Therefore, it is completely reasonable for Bai Mo and Chen Ping to have a half-knowledge about economic warfare.

However, only five days later, a huge fleet went up the Weishui River and arrived in Xianyang.

Accompanying this fleet arrived in Xianyang, there were tens of millions of five baht coins, so Xianyang's relatives, nobles, wealthy merchants, and aristocratic families organized carts of cattle and horses, and began to transport grain to the wharf continuously. At this point, even an idiot can see that they are serious.

Seeing that the situation was wrong, Chen Ping quickly dispatched Yulin Jun to set up a checkpoint in the Weishui River, stopped the fleet, and hurriedly dispatched flying cavalry to Longxi to report to Baimo.

Upon hearing the news, Bai Mo quickly canceled his trip to visit Longxi, and drove back on a fast horse day and night.

Back in Xianyang, Bai Mo didn't even bother to go back to Xiangfu, so he followed Chen Ping straight to Sanjiangkou Water Village.

Xianyang City is located between Jingshui and Weishui. It is adjacent to the river in the north and south. The Jingshui and Weishui are directly used as moats, and ditches are dug in the east-west direction, and the Jingshui is poured back to form an artificial moat. There are two water gates for entry and exit. Powerful, in order to resist the Chu State's navy, the Han State set up more than a dozen river-blocking water villages on the rivers and Weishui. The Sanjiangkou Water Village is one of them, and it is the last water barrier to protect Xianyang.

While urging the horse to gallop, Bai Mo asked Chen Ping, "Master, have you verified the origin of this fleet?"

It is impossible for Bai Mo not to doubt whether this fleet has the background of Chu State?As Zhao and Han grain merchants, Guan Zhong and Feng Ji sell grain, which is understandable, but buying grain in bulk is puzzling. Zhao and Han had a bumper harvest last year, and there was no shortage of grain at all. They bought so much grain to go back What are you doing?Is it moldy or what?
On the contrary, the bad neighbor Chu State in the south is experiencing a food shortage because of the relocation of the capital.

Of course, Chen Ping knew what Bai Mo was suspicious of, and he had already asked Heibingtai to investigate, but the result of the verification was not what he thought, so he immediately replied to Bai Mo: "Prime Minister, the old man has asked Heibingtai to secretly After checking, this fleet came from Puban, and it is indeed Feng's fleet."

"That's weird." Bai Mo frowned, "Why did the Feng family buy so much food?"

"Used to make wine." Chen Ping said in a deep voice, "It is said that the Feng family has acquired the craft of brewing baijiu."

"What else?" Bai Mo said in astonishment, "Chu State's protection of the liquor brewing process is extremely strict, and the Black Ice Terrace failed at a great cost, yet the Feng family managed to get it? Is this possible?"

Chen Ping said in a deep voice: "The old man has asked Heibingtai to investigate."

After a pause, Chen Ping said again: "Leaving this aside, Feng and Guan have already bought out the grain of each family. Now Xianyang's treasury is empty with one hundred million yuan, but there is not a single grain in Taicang. The grain, and the grain borrowed from Han and Zhao are about to expire, and the grain will not be delivered by then, what should I do?"

Bai Mo asked in disbelief: "The food eaten by each family is 250 million shi, is it sold out?"

"That's right, they're all sold out." Chen Ping nodded, and said in a deep voice, "Feng and Guan have eaten them all."

Bai Mo's face suddenly became a little gloomy. Feng and Guan's family would reach out at their own time. After months of hard work, they let them pick up a fallen peach, and said in a bad tone: "Even making wine doesn't need so much food, right? Do, their eating looks are too ugly, right?"

Chen Ping said worriedly: "Prime Minister, you could be..."

Chen Ping is really worried that Bai Mo will take coercive measures in a hurry. He needs to know that Guan and Feng have official backgrounds in Zhao and South Korea, especially Feng Ji, who is the brother of Han Wang's favorite concubine. If he uses force, it is inevitable. If it hurts the harmony between Han, Han, and Zhao, once the Lianheng alliance collapses, it will be more harm than good.

"Don't worry about this grand master, the truth is not so unwise." Bai Mo waved his hand, and then said, "But they can't do things too much, even a fraction is fine, the whole number of 200 million shi and they You have to spit it out to the truth, otherwise, the truth can only go to King Han and King Zhao to ask for an explanation."

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Xianyang, Sima Mansion.

As soon as Sima Zhong entered, Sima Ji gleefully said, "Second Brother, have you heard that Chen Ping sent the Imperial Forest Army to detain the Feng family's grain fleet at Sanjiangkou."

For Feng and Guan who took advantage of the fire to rob, Sima Ji didn't have any good impressions.

Because Feng and Guan have kept the price of grain too low, [-] yuan per stone is simply a bloody price. After the sale is finished, the funds obtained are not even enough to redeem the previously mortgaged land. He secretly borrowed tens of thousands of gold from Wumuya, and there is no way to repay it. This is really a big loss, a big loss.

Moreover, their family is not the only one that has lost money, and the situation of all the families participating in the grain hegemony is similar.

But then again, although Feng Guan and his family are gangsters, they only want to take advantage of the fire to loot and get some benefits, unlike Bai Mo, who simply wants their lives.

Sima Zhong gritted his teeth with the same hatred for Feng Guan's family, and said: "It's better to hold it back, let them bite it."

"Brother, this time we really hurt our vitality. Not to mention that the land and real estate have shrunk by more than half, and we owe Wumuya 1 taels of gold. Tell me, what was originally a good thing turned into Is it like this? Can’t figure it out, little brother can’t figure it out anyway.” Sima Ji clapped his hands and smiled wryly.

Sima Zhong said bitterly: "You don't even know, how can you know as a brother?"

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Don't mention Brother Sima, let's talk about Bai Mo, who has already started negotiating with Feng Ji and Guan Zhong.

"What?! Two thousand dollars per stone?!" Zhou Guanfu, who was accompanying him, slapped the table and shouted sharply, "You two, did you hear me right? You need to know that when the price of grain in Xianyang was at its highest, it was only a thousand dollars per stone. It’s good for you, one guy raised the price of grain to two thousand dollars per shi, what do you want to do? Why don’t you go grab it, eh?”

Zhou Guanfu got angry and put on the posture of drawing his sword and slashing people, which is really scary.

"Champion Hou, if you have something to say, don't be angry, don't be angry." Feng Ji smiled.

Guan Zhong also bowed again and again and apologized with a smile: "Yes, yes, harmony makes money, harmony makes money, ha ha."

Bai Mo watched coldly, knowing that the two of them were not afraid of Zhou Guanfu at all, so he said in a dark voice: "Both of you, I really don't want to play businessmen's tricks with you, such as asking for prices and haggling on the ground. I don't have much time to spare. Well, the truth of the round number of 200 million stones will never be given up, let me tell you about your reserve price?"

Feng Ji exchanged glances with Guan Zhong, and said with a smile: "Prime Minister, there is an old saying in the business world, called profit sharing, we know that in the previous food hegemony, the prime minister earned at least this amount!" The ten fingers of both hands means one hundred million yuan.

Bai Mo's face changed slightly, thinking that this Feng Ji deserves to be a big businessman, and he guessed the exact number at once. Bai Mo sold 250 million shi of grain successively, with an average price of about [-] shi, and the total income was almost [-] million.

Guan Zhong went on to say: "Prime Minister, we don't want to make things too extreme. The 50 shi in Xianyang Taicang and the 80 shi you borrowed from Korea and Zhao are not a problem. We can spit them out, but you The huge amount of money earned from being a food hegemony must be used, which is called equal sharing of interests, how about it?"

The implication is that Bai Mo bought 130 million shi of grain with [-] million yuan, and the average price was almost [-] yuan. Compared with the sky-high asking price of [-] yuan per shi, it was indeed a big concession.

"You want to be beautiful!" Zhou Guanfu said angrily, "Then our work is not in vain?"

"It's not just busy work for nothing?" Chen Ping said coldly, "Calculating carefully, we have lost a lot, because in addition to the original 50 shi in Xianyang Taicang and the 80 shi borrowed from abroad, the original Xianyang Ji Market and from various There are still more than 100 million shi of grain allocated by the counties and counties, almost half of which has been lost!"

Feng Ji smiled and said: "Grand Master, it's better to lose half than to lose everything, right?"

"What a joke!" Zhou Guanfu drew his sword loudly, and shouted sharply, "How dare you blackmail us, believe it or not, I will withhold all your food without giving me a penny?"

"I don't believe it." Feng Ji's face suddenly turned cold, "Champion Hou might as well try it."

Zhou Guanfu was furious, and when he was about to order the fleet to be taken back to Xianyang, he was stopped by Bai Mo.

Bai Mo waved his hand to stop Zhou Guanfu, and then said to Feng Ji and Guan Zhong: "You two are so good, the truth is, I will pay 30 million yuan, and buy it together with the grain you sold. Calculated in this way, it is equivalent to the money you sold in Guanzhong. The [-] shi of grain sold at a sky-high price of [-] yuan per shi, you have made a lot of money, haven’t you?”

"Prime Minister, the account is not calculated like you do." Feng Ji shook his head and smiled, "If the Prime Minister was willing to eat our 30 shi of grain at [-] yuan per shi ten days ago, we would be very happy, but It's a pity that the prime minister avoided us at that time, he didn't even want to see us face to face, didn't he?"

After a pause, Feng Ji said again: "The final reserve price is 150 million yuan, [-] million shi!"

(End of this chapter)