12dz Chapter 773 The Fate of the Four Great Families
Chapter 773 The Fate of the Four Great Families
"How much...how many do you want?" Song Ye stammered.
Seeing Jia Zhenzhen's serious expression, he also began to panic.
If the other party can supply unlimited quantities of food and sell it at low prices, then the food they recently bought will depreciate in value.
“Although my surname is Jia, my given name is Zhenzhen, so naturally I would not lie.” Jia Zhenzhen nodded and shouted loudly, “Those who want to buy grain, line up and come one by one.”
This news was truly heartening, and the merchants who were desperately worried about the grain tax hurriedly lined up in order.
In addition to an unlimited supply of food, Jia Zhenzhen dispatched over a hundred servants to help with the arrangements, which clearly exceeded the capacity of a grain store.
"So, if I want to buy 20,000 shi of grain, is that also possible?" Song Ye asked, somewhat flustered, mustering his courage.
"Big Dog, take Young Master Song to the granary to get the grain," Jia Zhenzhen shouted.
"No, no, no, I was just joking. Ten thousand shi is enough." Song Ye quickly waved his hand.
He wasn't stupid; he had already seen through Jia Zhenzhen's confidence.
The days of guaranteed profits from buying grain are over; buying too much grain will only result in losses.
Anyway, the four major families don't know about the Song family, and the other three families also need to exert their influence.
This was Fan Li's order, and they dared not disobey it. Even knowing they would lose money, they had to test Jia Zhenzhen's abilities.
As a result, each of the four major families purchased 10,000 shi of grain.
Watching the gleaming silver slip through their fingers, their hearts bled and tears streamed down their faces.
He dispatched several trusted men to the granary. These four men watched Jia Zhenzhen with trepidation, hoping he would shut down the business.
"Boss Jia, it's getting late. Why don't we sell it tomorrow?" Jiang Weichen said with a fawning smile, practically offering the money directly.
"Is it late?" Jia Zhenzhen looked at the blazing sun overhead with a puzzled expression, frowned, and replied tactlessly, "Young Master Jiang, are you out of your mind? It's not even noon yet, it's still early. I can still sell 100,000 shi."
"What? 100,000 shi?" Gu Chenyu gasped, feeling dizzy and collapsing to the ground, seemingly unconscious.
This is... playing dead, isn't it?
The others were no pushovers either; their acting skills were all on point, and they each fainted in different ways.
Song Ye fainted in the most direct way, knocking himself unconscious with a punch.
After fainting, they were unable to continue the tasks assigned by Fan Li.
The name Jia Zhenzhen isn't just for show; if they keep buying, they'll definitely go bankrupt.
"Quickly send the four young masters back to the manor; they can't die here," Jia Zhenzhen hurriedly ordered, unwilling to let them die.
The task Lin Ping assigned had only just begun and needed to be completed before dark. It was proving difficult, so he had to work even harder.
Before long, the shopkeeper who always offered high prices bought one hundred bushels of grain, which was the first transaction outside of the four major families.
Where there is one, there will be two; where there are two, there will be three. More and more wealthy merchants were able to buy grain.
Moreover, Jia Zhenzhen also launched a direct tax and grain delivery service.
They can deliver tax grain to the Ministry of Revenue for wealthy merchants free of charge.
Hiring people to transport grain was a considerable expense, so the wealthy merchant was naturally willing to let Jia Zhenzhen do it.
Half an hour later, the Ministry of Revenue welcomed the first batch of wealthy merchants who came to pay their taxes, quickly crowding the office.
"Go and inform the Minister immediately that the situation has changed." The Vice Minister of Revenue, under immense pressure, did not begin counting the tax grain.
Inside the palace, Fan Li, holding his official robes in both hands, rushed towards the main hall without regard for his image.
"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! Bai Tiantian is about to rebel!" Before even stepping onto the stairs, Fan Li's voice echoed throughout the hall.
These words struck like a bolt from the blue, shocking all the civil and military officials in the court, and even the emperor was somewhat flustered.
Who is Bai Tiantian? She is a Grand General of the current dynasty, wielding considerable military power and commanding the terrifying private army, the Black Iron Guard.
"Minister Fan, what exactly is going on?" the Emperor asked anxiously. He needed to find out the situation immediately and take precautions as soon as possible.
"Your Majesty, at dawn today, tens of thousands of rebels appeared outside the city. The soldiers defending the city were about to fight to the death when Bai Tiantian stopped them. He personally went out of the city to meet the rebels, and they are probably on their way to attack the palace right now," Fan Li said urgently.
He secretly observed the emperor's expression and, seeing the murderous look in his eyes, felt a surge of joy.
"You, Bai Tiantian! I trusted you so much, yet you dare to rebel! You are utterly audacious! Do you think I'm a paper tiger? Embroidered Uniform Guard, listen to my command! Mobilize all forces and defend the capital to the death!" the Emperor said through gritted teeth.
"Your humble servant obeys!" The commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard retreated from behind the emperor and quickly went to arrange the defenses within the imperial city.
With the city walls nearly seven zhang high, the Imperial Guards were confident they could hold off Bai Tiantian's tens of thousands of troops.
Once the hundreds of thousands of people outside the city receive the news, the rebels can be easily wiped out.
After the Imperial Guards were on high alert, they found no trace of the enemy. They waited for half an hour without finding anything unusual, which made them somewhat suspicious.
Bai Tiantian is a war goddess, how could she not understand the principle that speed is of the essence in war?
Logically speaking, he could have even entered the palace before Fan Li, giving the Embroidered Uniform Guard no chance to prepare.
In the imperial court, civil and military officials looked at each other in silence.
The generals who belonged to Bai Tiantian's camp were initially in a panic, but they gradually calmed down.
"Lord Fan, why haven't the General's rebel army arrived yet?" a military officer asked impatiently.
This wasn't because he wanted the rebels to appear quickly, but because he questioned Fan Li's intelligence.
"Lu Mu, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, requests an audience," a palace attendant outside the door announced loudly.
"Announce it, announce it quickly!" the emperor said somewhat urgently.
Lu Mu burst in, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and knelt on one knee. "Your Majesty, this humble subject has not found any trace of the rebels, but..."
Upon hearing that there were no rebels, the emperor breathed a sigh of relief and continued to ask, "Then what is it?"
"We did find a large number of horse-drawn carts loaded with grain emerging at the entrance of the Ministry of Revenue," the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard replied.
"Wagons loaded with grain? What's going on?" the emperor continued to ask.
"From what I've observed, they are likely merchants paying their taxes, but they're being blocked at the Ministry of Revenue's entrance," Lu Mu continued in his reply.
"What's going on?" The Emperor narrowed his eyes and glanced at the Minister of Revenue.
In recent days, he has only received five thousand shi of tax grain from the Meng family, and the emperor still thought that the merchants really had no grain to pay.
It now appears that it wasn't that the merchants were refusing to pay taxes, but rather that someone was deliberately manipulating the matter behind the scenes.
The Minister of Revenue broke out in a cold sweat and replied tremblingly, "Your Majesty, I will investigate immediately."
Having said that, the Minister of Revenue hurriedly returned to the Ministry of Revenue, and could only squeeze through the crowd.
"Your Excellency, you're finally back! I've already kept all these merchants out of the store," the Vice Minister of Revenue said, as if seeking credit.
"Go to hell!" The Minister of Revenue, who had received higher education, cursed in the street, using even more vulgar language than ordinary people.
Not only that, he slapped the Vice Minister of Revenue across the face and spat out a mouthful of phlegm, saying, "You're going to get me killed!"