Chapter 55
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Thanks to the oil and grain, thanks to Liu Yan’s blessings, in the short term, the Jiashen Association indeed did not notice any rise in local grain prices.
The grain ration for five thousand soldiers wasn’t much, and Xu Xiongyuan hadn’t felt any pressure so far.
He secretly coveted the mines in the hands of the local powerful families, especially the glittering gold mines, and really wanted to snatch them away. But, he couldn’t shake off Liu Yan’s words. Even if Jianghu South had natural barriers, if the local powerful families united, coupled with the deployment of surrounding garrisons, his five thousand soldiers wouldn’t be enough.
Xu Xiongyuan could only temporarily suppress his restless feelings and patiently wait for news from the capital. And in this waiting process, Liu Yan gradually gained his favor.
Zhao Zhou, however, felt that something was wrong. He occasionally asked Liu Yan, “Is the court’s anti-corruption campaign really so intense?”
Liu Yan snorted, a mix of hatred and anger in his voice, “On the surface, it looks like an anti-corruption campaign, but it’s just using power to force people! The higher-ups speak, the lower-downs just perfunctorily respond, and in the end, they only catch a few scapegoats, that’s enough!”
Those corrupt officials in Great Heng were just like this, perfunctorily responding to the emperor!
Liu Yan was genuinely angry. His demeanor, seen by Zhao Zhou, made Zhao Zhou feel uneasy. He thought it might be because Jianghu South was too chaotic, either the anti-corruption personnel hadn’t arrived yet, or the local officials had already brushed them off, so there hadn’t been any major disturbances.
Although this reasoning seemed reasonable, he still had a bad feeling. His right eyelid had been twitching constantly, and he didn’t know what would happen.
A few days later, the people sent out to assassinate the emperor returned.
These people were in a sorry state, collapsing as soon as they returned to the Jiashen Association. Xu Xiongyuan was anxious, unable to maintain his facade anymore. He stood beside the assassin and urged, “How was it? Was the assassination successful? Is that wretched emperor dead? How come there are only a few of you left?”
The leader of the assassins gasped for breath, and after catching his breath, he laughed heartily, “We shot that wretched emperor, hahaha! He’s probably not going to last long!”
Xu Xiongyuan was overjoyed, patting the assassin leader’s shoulder and laughing heartily to the sky, “Well done! Heaven is helping me, Xu!”
Xu Xiongyuan laughed coldly, now, perhaps the court would no longer care about the opposition forces. The gold mine could be seized, and who could stop them?
He quickly had his men help the assassins up to rest, instructed them to prepare a sumptuous meal, and planned to celebrate.
At the banquet, everyone was enjoying themselves. After a few drinks, Zhao Zhou heard two guests nearby complaining that they couldn’t afford food today.
Zhao Zhou frowned, and Liu Yan, sitting next to him, glanced at him, poured himself a drink, and asked with concern, “Why the worried look, Brother Zhao?”
Zhao Zhou sighed, “Brother Liu, you don’t know, the grain you brought back recently is almost gone. Once the military funds run out, the soldiers will panic. I sent people to buy grain a few days ago, only to find out that the price of grain in the city has actually risen.”
Liu Yan smirked slightly, asking calmly, “How much has it risen?”
Zhao Zhou replied, “It’s risen by thirty percent.”
Liu Yan shook his head with a slight smile, “Brother Zhao, since your family doesn’t engage in these businesses, you probably don’t know that this price increase is within the normal range.”
Zhao Zhou asked in confusion, “Even if it has risen by thirty percent, is that still considered normal?”
“Of course,” Liu Yan nodded thoughtfully, then said after some thought, “With recent news about the abundance of minerals in Jianghu South spreading, these people who come from Jiangnan to open grain shops inevitably think that the entire Jianghu South has made a lot of money. Merchants are naturally profit-oriented.”
Zhao Zhou sighed, feeling anxious, “Let’s hope so.”
When Liu Yan first came to the Jiashen Association, he brought with him two hundred new members of the Supervision Bureau.
The emperor was short on personnel, so the people in the Supervision Bureau worked diligently and tirelessly. Over time, the Supervision Bureau grew larger and larger in secret. Individuals like Sun Xiaoshan emerged from the Supervision Bureau, using their feet to traverse the entire territory of the Great Heng on behalf of the emperor.
Alongside the Supervision Bureau were five hundred elite soldiers of the Donglingwei, always ready to follow the Supervision Bureau’s commands. Each of these five hundred men was formidable, capable of taking on ten opponents, and every one of them was a fierce warrior.
The leader of the Supervision Bureau is named Jiang Jin.
Jiang Jin led his men to Jiangnan and first disrupted the communication between Jinghunan and Jiangnan to prevent Jiangnan’s information from leaking out and alerting Jinghunan prematurely.
After completing this task, Jiang Jin began to purchase grain on a large scale in Jiangnan according to the emperor’s orders.
The grain warehouses in Jiangnan had long been emptied by Gu Yuanbai’s men, and the merchants in the major grain shops had also closed their shops. These people were the ones Gu Yuanbai had planted in Jiangnan before. After they closed their shops, the remaining grain in the shops was secretly transported to the Supervision Bureau.
Gu Yuanbai intentionally drove the remnants of the Lu Feng faction to Jinghunan and Jiangnan, so how could he not take precautions?
When he drove the rebellious army here, he had already made many preparations for today’s scene.
Afterward, from some unknown time, the rumor that “Jiangnan has no grain” began to spread in Jiangnan.
When this rumor first started, many people sneered at it. What kind of place was Jiangnan? It was a prosperous land of plenty! How could such a place be without grain?
But as more and more people talked about it, even those who didn’t believe it began to hesitate.
They walked into the grain shops half-heartedly, only to truly discover that there was not much grain left in the shops.
Many grain shops had even closed down.
The people of Jiangnan were stunned.
After coming to their senses, under inexplicable panic, they rushed into the remaining grain shops with money in hand, desperately trying to snatch the grain. As more people joined the fray, the panic of the grain shortage grew. In the end, even the owners of the grain shops began to feel suspicious. They closed their doors and refused to sell grain anymore.
As this situation escalated in Jiangnan, another rumor began to spread.
An epidemic had broken out in other provinces.
As soon as this rumor spread, coupled with the situation of no grain in the grain shops, everyone panicked. Regardless of whether they had believed it before, everyone was afraid now. Under the epidemic, people’s demand for grain intensified. They had no choice but to go to the government, but the officials in the government had already fled with the grain!
The people forcibly opened the grain warehouses, only to see scanty grains scattered all over the floor inside. Apart from this, there was nothing else.
Jiangnan was so prosperous, and the people of Jiangnan were used to buying various things with money. They had never thought that there would be a day without grain, but when that day truly came, they realized how fragile Jiangnan’s prosperity was.
The grains in the fields were still growing, and the people’s homes only had the remaining grains from the previous harvest. The only ones who had enough grain were the local powerful families.
At this point, not to mention transporting grain to Jinghunan, there wasn’t even enough grain in Jiangnan itself.
Half a month later, the people of Jinghunan finally heard the news passed on from Jiangnan.
Jiangnan had run out of grain.
The people of Jinghunan looked at each other.
Their reaction was the same as Jiangnan’s when they first heard the news—disbelief.
But later, they had no choice but to believe it.
Since Jiangnan had run out of grain, after confirming this fact, the people of Jinghunan fell into confusion. The only province around Jinghunan that could provide grain was the wealthy Jiangnan. Now that Jiangnan had no grain, what were they supposed to do?
The people of Jinghunan were plunged into deep panic.
They took their money from selling minerals and went to buy grain from the grain shops. But without grain, what use was even a lot of money?
In the blink of an eye, both Jinghunan and Jiangnan were left with nothing but money.
Ningyuan County.
People of status in the Jiashen Association gathered together, many of them looking anxious, all talking about the same issue, “General, what are we going to do without grain?”
Xu Xiongyuan’s expression was also grim. He asked the group of advisors, “Do any of you gentlemen have any brilliant ideas?”
The military advisors looked worried, and Zhao Zhou’s heart raced, his eyelids twitching incessantly. “How could the grain suddenly disappear?”
Xu Xiongyuan’s patience diminished, and he impatiently said, “Mr. Zhao, since this matter has already happened, there’s no need to investigate how it happened. What’s most important now is how to get grain! Soldiers cannot go without food, and without military funds, there will be desertion and chaos.”
Zhao Zhou hesitated to speak and eventually remained silent.
Liu Yan gave him a reassuring glance, pondered for a moment, and said, “General, now that rumors of an epidemic in other provinces are spreading everywhere, even small places like Ningyuan County are in a panic. Although it’s unclear whether it’s true or false, the people have already believed it. Now that they can’t buy grain, no one is willing to come out and sell grain.”
Xu Xiongyuan: “I know.”
Liu Yan sighed, lowering his voice, “It just so happens that our people have also injured the emperor. Now that there’s chaos outside, isn’t it time for us to step forward?”
Xu Xiongyuan was startled at first, then became excited, veins bulging on his dark face. Obviously, he was already tempted.
Liu Yan continued in a low voice, “With Jinghunan in such chaos, I believe Jiangnan is the same. In such a situation, we…”
“It’s time for us to step forward,” an advisor exclaimed excitedly. “The people are in such panic, but those powerful families are still sitting tight. General, the grain must be with those powerful families!”
Xu Xiongyuan suddenly remembered the gold mine unearthed by the Chen family half a month ago.
Once the greedy thought emerged, it couldn’t be suppressed anymore.
Zhao Zhou’s thoughts followed Liu Yan’s. Regardless of whether the epidemic outside was true or false, Jinghunan and Jiangnan must be in chaos now.
The emperor was also in danger now. With such an opportunity, who wouldn’t seize it!
If they could take down both Jinghunan and Jiangnan, with natural barriers and the entire Jiangnan region as military funds backing them up, plus the death of the emperor—
Zhao Zhou suddenly stood up, grasping Xu Xiongyuan’s hand excitedly, “General, this is our opportunity to rise again.”
Xu Xiongyuan’s heroic spirit surged up instantly. He said with excitement, “What you said is exactly what I have in mind!”
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