The Tyrant's Cannon Fodder Queen[Transmigration Book]

The days of leaving Beijing are getting more and more difficult. In addition to worrying about the little chubby cub's sense of security value dropping from time to time, he also has to worry about the safety of the rabbits kept in the imperial dining room.

The prince didn't let them go out to check the price of grain for three days in a row.

Later that day, the father-in-law who was serving the prince came to the side courtyard to invite Xue Yao to discuss matters in the study.

Before Xue Yao came, he never expected to be valued by the prince, so he quickly regained his spirit and went to the study with his father-in-law.

Also participating in the discussion were several reform advisers and two purchasing eunuchs.

The two guards sent by the prince to investigate told everyone the information they got.

The two guards split up and lurked in the inner courtyards of the two largest grain stores in Hangzhou City for three days, but they didn't find out that the manager of the grain store had received Beijing merchants.

The merchants who entered and exited the grain store were all ordinary grain merchants from the surrounding areas, and the so-called Beijing merchants had probably gone into hiding before the prince came to raise grain.

The two guards observed secretly for three days, and finally seized the handle of a shop assistant's unclean hands and feet, threatened them, and bribed some money, and forced out some things about Jingshang from the shop assistant.

According to the store clerk: there is not just one Beijing businessman, but two groups of people, all of whom have a capital accent and are very stylish.

Among them, a group of Beijing merchants behaved like civil servants, while the other Beijing merchants who rode horses and wore swords looked like military generals.

The official, Nabo Jingshang, came to Hangzhou first, visited the eight major grain stores, and almost took over the entire granary in Zhejiang.

They lowered the price of grain to five hundred and three shiwen, but it has not yet been finalized, and they want the grain merchants to drop it to five hundred and one shiwen.

And on the fifth day of the stalemate between the two sides, a group of people who looked like military generals also came to Hangzhou. On the first day, they sent people to call all the owners of the eight major grain companies to the restaurant, and sat down to discuss business.

It also needs a large amount of grain, and the general-looking Jingshang also wants to use five hundred cash to collect grain, but knowing that there are already a group of people negotiating the price, and the inventory is not enough for the two merchants to share equally, the military general Nabo Jingshang directly made a decision, willing 550 papers were issued, and 140 million stone grains and rice were won.

Zhejiang merchants were overjoyed and prepared to sort out their inventory and deliver the goods.

And the Beijing merchants of the official master also inquired about the news, and in a hurry, they increased the price to 560 Wen!

No one knows the specific background of these two groups of merchants, but for some unknown reason, it seems that they are in urgent need of purchasing this batch of grain.

The merchants of the generals were rather impatient. In the second negotiation, they directly raised the price to 590 renminbi. On the day of the negotiation, they took out 8 taels of vain silver as a deposit and demanded a deal with the Zhejiang merchants on the spot.

The owners of the eight major grain companies in Hangzhou were all red-eyed, hoping that another merchant would raise the price again, so they made excuses and confiscated the deposit.

Sure enough, Mr. Guan's group of businessmen lived up to expectations and raised the price to six hundred Wen.

In this way, the two groups of Beijing merchants competed in the air. In the end, the price of grain was settled by the general-looking batch of Beijing merchants at 640 renminbi.

The actual purchase price of Jingshang was 640 renminbi. Although it was 20 renminbi lower than the falsely reported price of the grain store owner, it was still a sky-high price.

Because the merchants of the military general didn't expect the price to be raised so high, and they didn't bring enough bank notes, so they paid the deposit first and sent people back to Beijing to raise money, so they didn't show up recently.

And the group of merchants who looked like lord officials also left Hangzhou to search for food elsewhere.

After hearing the information obtained by the two guards, Eunuch Liu turned pale.

I didn't expect that there would be such a tricked Beijing businessman, and there were more than one of them. It wasn't a cover made up by Zhejiang grain merchants to drive up grain prices.

"Things are similar to Xue Yao's expectations." The prince said: "The first batch of merchants negotiated to lower the price, and the second batch of merchants directly placed an order with 10 taels of silver. Both groups of people showed great sincerity. Zhejiang merchants did not expect them The fraudulent motives, naturally think that the transaction has been completed, and after receiving the deposit, they will use a higher price to dissuade us, and we don't want to cause any more trouble."

A counselor suddenly stood up with a face full of shock and anger: "These two groups of people are clearly singing double reeds! They didn't hesitate to spend 10 taels of silver as a deposit to hold up the grain depots in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, just to delay the trial implementation of our new law!"

Another counselor with a half-white beard was sitting in an armchair and said in a low voice: "This is going to be difficult. We won't be able to find out the identities of those two groups of people in the short term. They used the excuse of going to the capital to raise money and coming back in a month or two." It’s not uncommon, Zheshang holds a deposit of 10 taels of silver in his hand, it’s impossible to suspect that those people won’t come back, and we can’t even afford to spend it for half a month!”

After hearing the real situation, Xue Yao's heart turned cold.

No wonder the prince received 120 million shi of grain at the market price in the original book.

It turned out that the prince was slaughtered not because he couldn't bargain, but because he was cheated by an unknown enemy with a big background at a huge price.

Xue Yao was about to collapse. The original book simplifies the problem of Goldbach's conjecture level into addition, subtraction, multiplication and division within ten, making Xue Yao mistakenly think that he can handle it easily.

The reality is too cruel!

On the brink of collapse, Xue Yao suddenly heard the prince's call——

"Xue Yao, what do you think?"

Xue Yao came back to his senses, and looked at the prince flattered.

It's not easy for a young man like him to attend the reading in such a council. I didn't expect the crown prince to ask him for his opinion by name.

The prince saw what he was thinking, and explained with a light smile: "It's very strange, Gu always thinks that you are surprisingly keen on the matter of harvesting grain."

"Your Highness is ridiculous!" Xue Yao forced a smile on his face, but he was crying in his heart.

Keen because he knows the ending of the general direction!

Now that he knows that the problem he has to face is so hopeless, he can only watch helplessly as he follows the ship of the prince and sinks into the sea.

But at this moment, the eyes of everyone in the room were on him, so Xue Yao could only bite the bullet and say casually: "Is it possible to find out the identities and whereabouts of those two batches of Beijing merchants as soon as possible?"

As soon as the words came out, I felt that I had asked nonsense.

Since the two groups of people arranged this scene of driving up food prices so seamlessly, how could they leak their real identities to the Zhejiang merchants? They must have forged perfect fake identities.

The prince replied honestly: "Don't say that we can't find out in a short period of time. The enemy is in the dark and we are in the open. They can take out 10 taels of silver to set up a trap. The depth of the water behind it is immeasurable. I am afraid that they may not be able to find out the truth in the long run."

A middle-aged counselor immediately stood up and said, "It's foolish to think..."

The prince immediately raised his hand to interrupt him: "You have to have evidence before you can 'think', this is not a place for random speculation."

The middle-aged counselor immediately understood, the prince had obviously guessed several possible identities of the mastermind, but he just didn't want to discuss this matter in front of the inner court eunuch.

"What should I do..." The purchasing eunuch surnamed Fang turned pale with fright.

The emperor paid 100 million taels of silver out of his own pocket, which is equivalent to one-eighth of the annual military expenditure of the [-] troops along the coast. Now that he is losing one-fifth of it in one breath, the prince's new policy of benefiting the people may not be able to make up such a large gap. hole.

When the time comes to calculate the accounts, it must be blamed on the matter of raising food. The crown prince will receive a few reprimands at most, and their full-time purchasing slaves, even if they have a hundred heads, are not enough to pay for the crime.

At this moment, Eunuch Liu understood how serious the problem was, and was so frightened that he kept swallowing his saliva, and wanted to ask the crown prince to try the new law again next year.

But how could he, a buying eunuch, interfere with this kind of thing?I could only stare at my eyes and wipe away the sweat.

After thinking about it, he looked hopefully at Xue Yao——

"Mr. Xue! If you can get 540 renmin grains from Jinling grain merchants, then please go to a few more stores and talk about all the large and small grain stores in Jinling and Hangzhou. Each store will collect 100 shi, and you can raise at least [-] million shi , even if it’s low-grade food! Let’s get over the disaster-stricken counties in Shanxi first!”

Xue Yao smiled helplessly: "Elder-in-law is a fool who can't be a grain merchant. The current situation, 540 yuan, is equivalent to letting the grain merchant make no money, and giving it to me for free. If the market price is calculated, it will lose tens of thousands of taels Baiyin. If such a good thing happened to me, I would not beg my father-in-law not to reject the sincerity of the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper sincerely wants to do long-term business with us. There is a little movement between the grain merchants, and we all know each other. How can such a one-on-one agreement attract a second company to participate? With a second company, our exclusive cooperation is worthless."

When mentioning that he insisted on rejecting the [-] shi grain deal that day, Eunuch Liu hastily lowered his head and shut his mouth, fearing that the crown prince would think he was short-sighted.

"There is no turning back when you open the bow." The prince set the tone: "Father's trust is hard-won. We can only do our best to convince the grain merchants in Zhejiang that the two groups of Beijing merchants are just a cover, and they will not come back to get the deposit. It is up to us to work together and do our best to buy the backlog of grain from Zhejiang merchants at a low price.”

The worst result was 640 Wen received grain.

The prince has cash, so it is not difficult for the Zhejiang businessman to find an excuse to return the deposit and accept the cash.

The cost was so high that the prince lent grain to the farmers at the original interest rate. After the disaster year, he could still make a little profit in the coming year and not lose money.

Therefore, the matter of harvesting food continued to be discussed. Before the meeting ended, the prince smiled at Xue Yao again: "The sixth younger brother even praised Gu Gu about your eloquence yesterday. I hope you can let Zhejiang merchants experience it."

Xue Yao was named by the crown prince, and a little fanboy's heart was beating wildly wanting to spin around, clasping his fists with both hands and nodding his head, he said, "I will do my best in the future, and do my best for His Highness!"

On the same day, Xue Yao asked two master guards to go to the Eight Great Grain Shops, inquired about some information, and made all preparations to fight for the prince.

The price of 640 texts is too high. I remember that in the original book, when the crown prince was questioned, he mentioned the matter of borrowing grain for the first time. It seems that the profit and loss evened out.

It is reasonable to say that the prince is willing to collect grain at this price, it should be that there is still a lot of profit in the plan, but after a year, some unexpected situation may have happened, maybe it was once again shady by the dark gang, causing part of the prince If the loan is not recovered, the result is that there is no loss on the book.

This made the prince's new law a joke, 100 million taels of silver, let the household department operate, and transport the silk tea overseas, and at least a few 10 taels can be earned by going back and forth.

However, after trying out the new method for a year without earning any money, it is actually a depreciation loss.

Early the next morning, Xue Yao took his two father-in-laws and a few guards to the largest food store.

"When we get to the place in a while, according to what I said, let the news out and pretend to be a little bit." Xue Yao went to pay for food and reminded the two father-in-laws again.

The expressions on the faces of the two father-in-laws were almost crying.

Eunuch Liu no longer had the face to refute Xue Yao's idea, so he could only wink at Eunuch Fang sideways.

Eunuch Fang bowed his head and asked, "Master Xue, are you really going to spread such rumors? Wouldn't that make the grain merchants charge even higher prices? At that time, we may not be willing to sell seven hundred coins to us."

Xue Yao turned his head to look at him sternly: "Elder-in-law, I have already said before going out that if my method raises the price of food, I will bear the responsibility myself, but if you don't cooperate, I can only go back and report the truth to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." .”

"Cooperate! Of course we have to cooperate with Master Xue! You are the reincarnated Zhuge, and your idea is absolutely right!" Eunuch Fang hurriedly flattered.

There was no other way, Eunuch Liu had no choice but to bite the bullet and accompany Xue Yao into the food store.

In the hall of the grain store, all the big merchants who bought grain from other places pulled the staff of the grain store and talked anxiously.

"We come to your bank every year to get food and rice. According to the market, it's okay to raise it by dozens of renminbi every year. Why did it go up so much this year? Everyone is a land dealer, and there is no reason to rip off customers like this!"

"Oh, Boss Chen, I've told you ten thousand times. This year, merchants from other places have transferred a large amount of grain. Our stock will not be enough for bulk sales until the end of the year. At this price, you will lose ten cents for every stone extra. For the sake of you, an old customer, there is really no other way!"

When Eunuch Liu heard this conversation, his heart sank.

Food has been in short supply to such an extent, I can't figure it out, why does Xue Yao want him to spread such rumors?

Could it be that he wanted to mess up the prince's big business and let them, eunuchs, take the blame?