Another economic war

After Zhu Caicai purchased enough grain to last the Youzhou army for three months from three grain merchants in Jinan Prefecture, he hired a large number of young and strong men from Shandong to gradually transport the grain out of Jinan.

However, Youzhou Tai'an Prefecture was blocked, and although Taiping Prefecture was accessible, it was, after all, under the control of Crown Prince Yue Chengqiu! It was obviously not the time for this batch of grain to be exposed to the light of day.

In order to avoid being seen and to paralyze the potential spies of Guannei Hou Yue Wuji in Jinan Prefecture, Zhu Caicai did not choose to go directly north.

Instead, they chose to move eastward and store food near the sea, waiting for the spring when the flowers bloomed and then finding the right time to transport the food by sea.

On the day Shangguan Luoyang entered the house, Zhu Caicai, who had received a letter from Liu Buqi, had secretly organized all the waiters of the Desheng Tavern in Shandong and Yuzhou who were from Youzhou!

He quietly replaced the stored grain with sand and stones bit by bit, and gradually transferred the grain to a remote village not far from Jinan Prefecture.

After Liu Buqi conveyed the news of the launch of the "Prisoner" plan, Zhu Changcai assigned his confidants to use forged customs documents to directly transport a large amount of grain back to Jinan!

And the news spread everywhere that the general of Youzhou Taiping Mansion was purchasing a large amount of grain. This batch of grain was specially transported from the Hunan and Xiang areas for sale, and the profit could be several times higher than usual!

At the same time, they also began to purchase grain from individual grain traders in Jinan at high prices!

After Yue Wuji launched his rebellion and Tai'an Prefecture responded, the large grain merchants in nearby Jinan had already started a round of grain storage, with the Lu family being the most active.

Later, because the purchase price was too high, these merchants gradually withdrew! Unexpectedly, a group of merchants from other places bought the grain at all costs, and said they had a way to sell it to General Taiping and make several times the profit!

Except for the Lu family, the wealthy families waited and watched for a while, and then gradually followed suit and started a new round of stockpiling grain. However, the purpose of stockpiling grain this time was to sell it to the General of Taiping Prefecture who was nearby!

As a result, the price of grain in Jinan began to rise sharply!

Then the Lu family started a series of incredible operations!

On the one hand, they fully participated in the grain collection and purchased the surplus grain from individual households. On the other hand, they took the initiative to contact foreign grain merchants and buy grain from them at a price 10% higher than the market price.

It is said that the reason why foreign grain merchants chose to sell grain was because they had no choice but to do so under the strong suppression of Shandong Governor Shangguan Yan.

The grain merchants in Jinan Prefecture are all waiting and watching. What exactly is the Lu family, the largest grain merchant in Shandong and Yuzhou, up to?

As soon as Zhang Xiruo brought back the news of the Lu family's move, Liu Buqi breathed a sigh of relief!

"This bet is right!"

Ever since she learned that Lu Ren was the one who arranged for Yue Lingxi to marry into the Shangguan family, Liu Buqi was certain that Shangguan Yan was Yue Wuji's spokesperson in Shandong!

The reason is very simple. The only two routes that can allow Yue Lingxi to enter Shandong, come back to worship the ancestors and conclude a marriage contract are Tai'an Prefecture and Taiping Prefecture!

He and his companions were able to come to Shandong by taking the road to Taiping Prefecture. If Shangguan Yan was the prince's man, he would not have been unaware of it.

What's more, Youzhou and the prince are still in the "honeymoon period" and have just agreed to jointly face the Tai'an Prefecture issue. There is no need to take the initiative to establish a marriage.

Only if Shangguan Yan is a man of Guannei Hou Yue Wuji can all this be explained reasonably!

From the Shangguan father and daughter taking the initiative to visit, to Shangguan Luoyang staying directly at the Lu family, it can be seen that Shangguan Yan or Yue Wuji is also taking a two-pronged approach!

On the one hand, it is to use the grain route to strive to control Youzhou, and on the other hand, it is to control Youzhou through marriage!

Because Yue Lingxi is the best breakthrough point at the moment! Although he has no power or influence, he has the title of "Lord of Youzhou"! This is perfect enough for Yue Wuji!

Therefore, Liu Buqi took the risk of getting nothing in return and took a gamble using three months' worth of Youzhou military rations!

The bet is that under the pressure from Shangguan Yan, the Lu family will have no choice but to passively buy back the grain that has been put on the market at a high price!

Because Shangguan Yan or Yue Wuji would never allow the grain to fall into Taiping Prefecture!

Whoever controls enough food is equivalent to controlling the lifeline of the Youzhou army!

Liu Buqi had made the right bet once again! And he had also confirmed something crucial!

The Shandong Commander who holds the military power in Shandong is definitely not Yue Wuji's man! Otherwise, it wouldn't be Shangguan Yan, a civil servant, who came forward to suppress Zhu Caicai, the fake grain merchant!

As Zhu Caicai continued to buy and sell grain at any cost, the Lu family was completely forced to take over, and a large amount of funds were trapped in grain!

Some discerning grain merchants gradually saw the trick. If the Lu family continued to purchase grains like this, they would eventually die!

As a result, a large number of Jinan grain merchants, either coveting the Lu family's status or simply wanting to make a fortune, spontaneously sold the grain they had just purchased!

Zhu Caicai was stunned. He had learned another trick! He had originally thought that Liu Buqi's plan to bankrupt the Lu family with only three months' worth of food was completely impossible!

Unexpectedly, countless retail traders and vendors suddenly appeared! The Lu family probably wouldn't even bother to look at them individually!

But once they gathered together, the Lu family actually needed to raise money to buy food after just a few days!

Lu Ren actually saw the trick, but when he begged Shangguan Yan with a bitter face to postpone the collection of grain, Shangguan Yan, who knew nothing about business, did not realize the hidden crisis at all!

He simply thought that Lü Ren was reluctant to invest more money! In his opinion, Lü Ren was clearly taking advantage of the rising food prices!

The result was that Shangguan Yan not only refused to agree to postpone the grain collection, but also stepped forward to raise money for the Lu family!

Lu Ren had no choice but to swallow this bitter pill!

At this moment, Lu Xin and Lu Li from the merchant Lu started to make trouble!

Guan Jia Lu can give up the Lu family's business assets to win the appreciation of Lord Shangguan!

But once the businessman Lu loses his business, especially the grain industry which is his largest industry, he will completely lose his already limited voice in the Lu family!

Lu Xin and Lu Li found Lu Ren anxiously and told him frankly that if they continued to hoard grain like this, this large amount of grain, which far exceeded the Lu family's digestion capacity, would become a burden!

Moreover, all the funds from the Lu family's other businesses have now been diverted to buy grain, and they are already in a state of collapse! If this continues, the other businesses will definitely be unable to recover.

Once the foreign merchants withdraw and the inflated grain prices fall, the Lu family will lose everything in a flash! By then, it is not certain whether the money raised now can be repaid!

The Lu family's hundreds of years of foundation will fall apart in a short period of time!

The two men's earnest and tearful stories made Lu Yi and Lu Zhi, who were also officials from the Lu family, feel horrified!

Lü Ren had once been the head of the merchant group Lü, so he knew that what Lü Xin and Lü Li said were all mature, prudent, and sincere words. But now he was in a difficult position!

Faced with the no-trusting looks from the other four elders of the family, Lu Ren was helpless and could only choose to reveal his plan in its entirety!

Otherwise, once changes occur within the family and I lose my position as the head of the family, all my plans will be in vain!