PDLP Chapter 1429 3 Shi of Grain Exposed
Chapter 1429 3 Shi of Grain Exposed
The morning court session has ended.
Grand Tutor Yuan Wei and Wang Jing, the head of the Wang family, walked with gloomy faces on the way out of the palace.
"Who did this?" Wang Jing's voice was filled with suppressed rage. "How could all our men be dead overnight?"
"How would I know?" Yuan Wei replied irritably.
He's furious right now.
Among those shopkeepers who died, there were seven or eight who were all trusted confidants of the Yuan family.
Is it easy to cultivate a trustworthy source of wealth?
Now, it's gone just like that.
This is practically tearing his heart out!
"Could it be... that little girl did it?" A hint of surprise and uncertainty flashed in Wang Jing's eyes.
"Impossible." Yuan Wei shook his head without hesitation, "Although she hates us to the bone, she would never dare to deal with us in this way at this time."
“She knew very well that doing this would only enrage us and make us fight her to the death.”
"With her fairly intelligent mind, she would never do something so stupid that would harm others without benefiting herself."
"Then tell me, who could it be?" Wang Jing's voice carried a hint of annoyance.
“I suspect…” Yuan Wei’s brows furrowed tightly, forming a deep frown, and a calculating glint flashed in his cloudy old eyes, “It’s that Lin Zhen.”
"Him?" Wang Jing was taken aback. "He has that ability?"
“Don’t underestimate him.” A solemn expression appeared on Yuan Wei’s face. “This man is far more terrifying than we imagined.”
"I always felt that behind his lazy and casual eyes lay a terrifying power that could make the whole world tremble."
"So what should we do now?" Wang Jing's heart sank.
"Let's wait and see." Yuan Wei took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "He killed our people, so his next step will definitely be to take our food supplies."
"Have our men gather all the grain and transport it to that abandoned royal hunting ground outside the city."
"The terrain there is open and easy to defend, and we have long secretly stationed nearly five thousand private soldiers there."
“Even if Lin Zhen has extraordinary abilities, it’s impossible for him to steal the grain right under our noses.”
"As long as we have the grain in our hands, we will be invincible!"
“Great! Let’s do it this way!” Wang Jing’s eyes lit up upon hearing this.
……
Just as Yuan Wei had predicted.
The day after those grain merchants died suddenly.
Lin Zhen, in the name of the imperial court, issued an order that shocked everyone.
He wanted to buy up all the stored grain in the capital at a price of ten taels of silver per shi (a unit of dry measure).
When this news came out, the entire capital city went crazy!
You should know that the imperial court used to sell grain at a low price of only 500 coins per shi!
It has increased twentyfold in just a few days?
This... isn't this blatant robbery?
However, what they didn't expect was...
Surprisingly, both the Yuan and Wang families readily agreed.
They sold back the nearly two million shi of grain that they had purchased from the imperial court to the court at a price of ten taels of silver per shi.
In this round trip, they made a net profit of nearly 20 million taels of silver, an astronomical sum!
This figure is enough to cripple the treasury of any country.
Everyone thought that the imperial court was really going to go bankrupt this time.
However, while the Yuan and Wang families were still basking in their own "flawless" plan,
What they don't know is.
Lin Zhen's knife had already been silently placed against their necks.
……
Outside the capital, in the royal hunting grounds.
This place was once the hunting and recreational area for the emperors of the Great Qian Dynasty.
It covers an area of tens of thousands of acres.
However, after Murong Yan ascended the throne, he completely abandoned this place under the pretext of allowing the people to rest.
Today, this place is overgrown with weeds and desolate.
However, what no one knew was...
Beneath this seemingly desolate hunting ground lies the greatest trump card of the Yuan and Wang families.
That was a massive stockpile of nearly 30 million shi of grain, plundered from Jiangnan and even from all over the country!
They hid the grain in the huge underground palace left over from the previous dynasty, beneath the hunting grounds.
Furthermore, they dispatched nearly five thousand private soldiers to guard the area day and night.
It could be said that this place is their last resort.
They were also the ones who dared to challenge Murong Yan, and that gave them the greatest confidence.
This day, at night.
Inside a makeshift tent within the hunting grounds.
The people in charge of guarding this place, Yuan Fu, the head steward of the Yuan family, and Wang An, the head manager of the Wang family, were sitting around a brazier, drinking wine and eating roasted meat, enjoying themselves immensely.
"Brother Wang, do you think our patriarch is being a little too cautious?" Yuan Fu took a swig of wine, a dismissive expression on his face. "It's just a few useless money bags who died. Is it really necessary to transfer us all to this godforsaken place?"
“Yes,” Wang An nodded in agreement. “Even if Lin Zhen had three heads and six arms, there’s no way he could have found this place, right?”
"Who says it's not..."
However, he hadn't finished speaking yet.
Suddenly, a shrill scream came from outside the tent!
"Enemy attack——!"
"what?!"
Yuan Fu and Wang An suddenly stood up from their seats, instantly sobering up considerably!
They exchanged a glance, and both saw a hint of horror in each other's eyes!
They grabbed the weapons hanging on the tent and rushed out!
When they rushed out of their tents and saw the hellish scene before them...
They were completely dumbfounded.
Inside their camp, a raging fire had suddenly broken out!
Countless Daqian soldiers clad in black armor, like demons descending from the sky, were frantically slaughtering their subordinates within their camp!
And at the very top of that firelight.
A man dressed in black casual clothes was standing there quietly.
He wore a cold, smirking smile, like a cat playing with a mouse.
It's him!
Lin Zhen!
"How...how could he be here?!"
Yuan Fu looked at the man who had appeared in their camp like a ghost. His face, which was always full of flattery and lewdness, was now ashen.
How did he find this place, which is so secluded?
And where did he get so many troops from?
"Heh, I really have to thank you. If you hadn't mobilized the grain and made such a big commotion by gathering all the grain together, I wouldn't have known that you actually had thirty million shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain," Lin Zhen sneered.