CH 41

Chapter 41: 上原州的糧價

The Grain Price in Shang Yuanzhou

Cao Zhong Quan thought for a moment and said, “Starting tomorrow, the wooden plaque of Niang Niang in the Cold Palace will also be hung up!”

“Niang Niang in the Cold Palace’s?” Eunuch Lǚ’s doubts grew even greater. She has been banished to the cold palace, can her name plate still be turned over?

At that moment, just in time, Ji Wu Jue came out from inside.

He gave Cao Zhong Quan a sidelong glance, “What? How much money did she give you and now you’re going to work for her?”

Cao Zhong Quan was so scared that he immediately knelt down, “Your Majesty make a fair judgement, this old servant dare not…”

After he had handed in the record of the conversation between Prince Chen and that Niang Niang, the Emperor crumpled the paper into a ball on the spot.

Although his face was gloomy and cold, he did not say anything.

He thought that at that time he had get through a crisis. 

He didn’t expect that the emperor would still remember it. 

Cao Zhong Quan could not say what he felt (having unspeakable bitter suffering) ah. 

Ji Wu Jue didn’t give him a hard time anymore, instead, he gave a glance to Eunuch Lu from the respectful service room, “Put down the tray and follow Zhen (me) to the Liu Yun Palace.”

As for this Cao Zhong Quan, just let him kneel down ba. 

He naturally would not believe that this Cao Zhong Quan would take Lu Yunluo’s money. That woman is full of lies.

However, since she had said it like that. It must be that this Cao Zhong Quan had upset her in some way and wanted to punish Cao Zhong Quan properly in a while. 

He didn’t mind helping her. He is even willing to do so.

Eunuch Lǚ was overjoyed in his heart, is he going to take Eunuch Cao’s place?

That’s the position of the head of eunuch ah!

At once, he put the wooden tray in his hand into Cao Eunuch’s hand and then followed His Majesty with great strides.

It’s been a busy couple of days in Shang Yuanzhou

Two days ago, when he received a letter from Little Prince Rui from the capital that was being sent overnight at top speed, Zhou Ming, the governor of Shang Yuanzhou, aka Lord Zhou, had not slept for two days.

In the letter, Little Prince Rui said that he should post an official document stating that there would be no limit on the amount of grain that could be sold by the grain mercant within the area inside the borders of Shang Yuanzhou, and that the price could be set by themselves.

He took the letter and checked it over and over again to make sure that it was indeed from Little Prince Rui’s handwriting.

The current price of grain in Shang Yuanzhou at the moment is already almost the highest in Dong Lan Kingdom and in order to prevent the price of grain from rising maliciously in nearby states, they have already set an upper limit. If they posted such an unlimited price of an official document at this moment, then it would be a blatant encouragement to those unscrupulous merchants to raise prices. He’s afraid that the price of food will go extremely high then there will be chaos ah!

Lord Zhou really does not understand the reason why the little Prince Rui is doing this.

The letter also said that it was the Emperor’s wish. Futhermore, it can’t be delay so that the matter must be dealt with as soon as the letter was received.

Lord Zhou sat in the prefecture official residence until dawn and had no choice but to follow the instructions in the letter.

As a matter of fact, when the official letter came out, cries of complaint fill all around the common people and cursed him (poured the dog blood on him) as the governor.

He was accused of colluding with the grain merchants to raise the price of grain and to make a fortune out of the national calamity.

However, after half a day had passed, things took a turn for better. 

All the grain merchants from nearby states and counties came to Shang Yuanzhou with a large amount of grain.

Shang Yuanzhou at the moment, the price of grain has risen to a staggering ten taels of silver. All the grain merchants in the vicinity are secretly observing the attitude of the state government in Shang Yuanzhou. They have also made two preparations in advance: if the state government was firm in suppressing the price of grain, they would wait a little longer; yet if the state government was not so firm, they would go to Shang Yuan Prefecture at any time and make a fortune.

The fact that there is no cap on the price of grain in Shang Yuanzhou is a rare opportunity that occurs only once in a thousand years for the grain merchants who are already eyeing it like a tiger eyeing its prey.

The news hadn’t been out for long and already a large number of grain merchants had arrived in Shang Yuanzhou.