Chapter 223 – Born Merchant
The “father-and-son” duo had already opened up, and their relationship subtly grew closer.
For certain matters, they no longer needed to avoid each other.
After hearing Jiang Pengji’s plan, Liu Zhi pondered for a moment and said blankly, “I know Meng Zhan well; he’s prideful to the extreme, convinced of his own superiority. If you use Meng Liang as a hostage to demand rice from him, not only will he comply, but he might even throw in some extra.”
“Wouldn’t he resort to trickery? Like mixing real rice with fake rice to confuse us? Or maybe setting up an ambush with the grain convoy?”
Jiang Pengji was slightly bewildered; she felt Meng Zhan’s way of thinking was something an ordinary person couldn’t comprehend.
Liu Zhi shook his head, “Two thousand stones of grain is a hefty sum for the common people, even a typical gentleman wouldn’t have that much. But for a family like the Meng Clan, it might not even be considered a drop in the bucket. The Meng Clan has held Cangzhou for years; their resources are beyond your imagination.”
Seeing Jiang Pengji deep in thought, Liu Zhi seized the opportunity, “Cangzhou is vast and populous. Leaving aside the Meng Clan during the Xia Dynasty, just considering the decades after the establishment of Dongqing, the Meng Clan monopolized Cangzhou, siphoning off silver and grain every year, enough to supply an army of a hundred thousand.”
So, two thousand stones of grain? Meng Zhan wouldn’t care at all.
Based on Liu Zhi’s understanding of him, he might even generously add another thousand stones, delivering a total of three thousand.
“If you kidnap Meng Liang in Meng Hunyun’s name, Meng Zhan will be highly unlikely to tamper with the grain. He might even send the finest new grain,” Liu Zhi scoffed. Though Meng Zhan was muddled when it came to personal matters, he was formidable in public affairs.
With Liu Zhi’s words, Jiang Pengji completely grasped the situation.
“What you mean is… Meng Zhan wouldn’t tamper with the grain; instead, he’d deliver it openly to show that he’s being benevolent, while framing Meng Hunyun as a hypocrite who can overlook the tragic deaths of his wife and daughter for a bit of grain?”
“Indeed, based on what I know, he would most likely act this way. His ability to annoy others is not weak.”
The one who knows you best may be your opponent.
Liu Zhi and Meng Zhan had already severed their ties; the two families seldom interacted and had plenty of private friction. Liu Zhi understood that man thoroughly.
Meng Zhan was outrageously proud; he wouldn’t lower himself to deal with someone like Meng Hunyun and really couldn’t be bothered.
Jiang Pengji quietly snickered, “If that’s the case, it’s downright disgusting. If Meng Liang were still alive, using two thousand stones or a bit more to safely ransom him back would definitely make Meng Hunyun the laughingstock of the world, his reputation ruined.”
However, Meng Liang was already dead. If the Meng Clan dared to use this method to annoy her, she’d show them what truly annoying was!
That aside, she hadn’t expected the Meng Clan to be so wealthy, with reserves so impressive it was enviable.
“If I had known they were this rich, I should have asked for thirty or fifty thousand stones instead. Requesting this meager two thousand is just asking for ridicule.”
Jiang Pengji added with some annoyance, “The Meng Clan is so generous; I bet they can hand over several tens of thousands of stones without even raising an eyebrow.”
Liu Zhi nearly choked on his own spittle; was his daughter inadvertently channeling a bandit spirit from her past life?
“Two thousand stones is about right. Any more and you’d have trouble managing it,” Liu Zhi stated blankly. “And don’t treat the Meng Clan as gullible. They won’t bother with small change, but if you push too hard, they might really get angry.”
Could two thousand stones equate to twenty thousand?
In Liu Zhi’s view, this sentiment fit his daughter perfectly.
Who would go out of their way to provoke the Meng Clan?
She hadn’t just provoked them; she had outright killed Meng Liang and conveniently captured Meng Hunyun, who had enmity with the Meng Clan.
What a vendetta!
But then, pondering what Amin had said, he was beginning to understand.
Maybe this was fate; his daughter was destined to be fundamentally incompatible with the Meng Clan.
Jiang Pengji thought for a moment and asked, “If two thousand stones is small change for the Meng Clan… what about other families?”
Liu Zhi was perplexed and prompted, “What do you mean?”
She explained, “I originally intended to use this grain to suppress the rising grain prices temporarily. Father should know the rumors about the civil unrest in the Meng Realm of Cangzhou haven’t spread widely yet; only a few know about it. Once the chaos is common knowledge, I worry Hejian will be affected.”
Hejian County was just half a month’s travel from Cangzhou Meng Realm!
Once the news of the Meng Realm chaos spread, the common people would surely become anxious, resulting in skyrocketing grain prices.
“There will definitely be an impact. But two thousand stones… If you want to profit from it, it’s a good opportunity! You could easily triple or quintuple your gains, especially since it’s being given freely by the Meng Clan—it’s all profit… But if you aim to suppress the grain prices, it’s absolutely insufficient.”
Given that he was the governor of Hujun and a person of this era, his predictions were naturally more accurate than Xu Ke and Jiang Pengji’s.
Not enough, really?
Jiang Pengji was slightly stunned. A stone weighs about fifty kilograms, so that’s a hundred jin, enough for an average family of four to eat for forty to fifty days—plenty to fill them! Many households save up year after year, combining grain with other foods, they could last even longer.
Hejian County isn’t that big; excluding the aristocracy, the number of common people is only about twenty to thirty thousand.
How could it be insufficient?
Liu Zhi thought for a moment and realized where Jiang Pengji had miscalculated.
“Most common folks are easily swayed; to put it bluntly, they believe what they hear. The reason I say two thousand stones isn’t enough is because wealthier families with spare cash might buy grain in bulk for the entire year or even more. Your calculations, however, are based on how much each person eats over a month or even half a month… With meticulous budgeting, two thousand stones is indeed enough.”
Liu Zhi sighed and continued, “You know that each household only needs to buy a month or two’s worth of grain to last until the autumn harvest, and even if the civil unrest in Cangzhou Meng Realm is severe, it wouldn’t truly affect the common people. But they won’t consider this.”
If Jiang Pengji wanted to use two thousand stones of grain to make a killing, it would be a piece of cake.
But if she hoped to suppress prices, forget about it—two thousand stones wouldn’t even cut it, not even ten thousand stones would be sufficient.
Jiang Pengji furrowed her brow, seriously considering Liu Zhi’s words.
Knowing her limits, Jiang Pengji didn’t feel embarrassed at Liu Zhi’s dismissal of her plan; he understood this era far better than she did. As a native of the land, Liu Zhi had more experience and insight.
“What if… we implement purchase limits?”
Liu Zhi was puzzled, “Purchase limits?”
Jiang Pengji thought a bit and explained, “In the face of civil unrest rumors, the common people will panic and definitely cause a rush to stockpile. So if the granary suddenly offers five hundred or a thousand stones of grain, it would create an illusion of abundance, calming public anxiety. Then, we could limit purchases to a hundred stones per buyer daily, creating a delay of a month!”
Jiang Pengji pondered and found this plan makes sense, thus sought Liu Zhi’s input.
“What does Father think?”
Liu Zhi: “…”
His daughter, a born merchant!
