Heshen slammed the account book on the ground and roared, "Zhang Liang and Yang Guofu, you two old bastards, you deserve to die!"

A group of grain merchants sat in his mansion, their faces also gloomy.

In the past two days, they have invested three million taels of silver in succession, and finally managed to buy out all of Anping Marquis's grain. As a result, hundreds of grain stores suddenly appeared all over the capital.

Every household was selling grain at half price, catching them completely off guard.

The two old guys, Zhang Liang and Yang Guofu, own the most shops.

He owns more than a dozen shops, located in several surrounding counties.

No wonder they sold grain to Marquis Anping; it turns out they were all in cahoots.

The old servant stood to one side, looking at the account book at his feet, and couldn't help but ask a question.

"What do we do now, sir? Should we stop?"

His words directly angered Heshen.

"Smack!"

He slapped the old servant across the face and pointed to the ground, saying, "Pick up the account book! Pick up the account book!"

"Stop? Things have come to this point, how can we possibly stop? Now we have no choice but to fight to the death."

"Three million taels of silver have been invested. Is it too late to back out? Are you really willing to hand over this silver to others?"

Upon hearing this, a grain merchant couldn't help but stand up: "But judging from Marquis Anping's generosity, the amount of grain released this time might be enormous. Are we really going to consume it all?"

"Even if he eats it, can you guarantee that he won't take out more food?"

Other grain merchants also hesitated before standing up and echoing, "Yes, yes, why don't we just let him sell at half price? We can sell them all and then we can sell them ourselves. Anyway, everyone can make a profit."

"Why don't we all eat together? We can eat after he's full, it's the same thing."

Heshen looked at everyone present and said with exasperation, "Naive! We must eat this grain."

"If we let this batch of grain be released and allowed the people to buy it, then they will have enough grain to eat for more than a month."

"Will they still come out to buy then? Will our grain prices still be able to rise?"

"Moreover, I have now discovered that this grain is the last of Marquis Anping's possessions."

“He borrowed this grain from the palace and from Confucian scholars. The reason he sold it on such a large scale was to frighten us and break our bottom line.”

"So that we dare not buy his grain, he can lower the price little by little, causing panic among everyone, and then everyone will release their grain, and the price of grain will naturally drop again and again."

"At that time, the grain in everyone's hands will become worthless. If we raise prices again then, it will be like the butcher's knife is coming at us immediately. The people will not object because they have stored grain and are not afraid that we will not sell it."

"Don't worry, this time we'll go all out and sell off all his grain. He'll be helpless then."

"Otherwise, why doesn't he lift the restrictions on grain purchases? Why does he stipulate that each person can only buy twenty catties of grain?"

These words made the grain merchants hesitate.

Seeing their expressions, Heshen pressed on, saying, "Gentlemen, as you all know, I come from a prominent family in Jiangnan. Later, I served as an official in Fujian. There, a master named Lin Bei told me..."

"Some fishermen in Fujian like to go out to sea during the season with strong winds and big waves. Do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because the bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish."

Heshen raised his teacup and said to all the grain merchants, "Only fish caught in strong winds and waves can fetch a good price."

"Everyone has already spent three million taels of silver, so why are you afraid of adding a few million more?"

"And this rain is supposed to last for the second half of the year, but it's only been raining for less than half a month now. Does everyone want to withdraw?"

"Lin Sanxiao, a famous businessman from Fujian, once said, 'We spend a little money now so that we can make more money in the future.'"

"Don't worry about these details. You need to have a big picture perspective, a big picture perspective."

The grain merchants looked at each other, moved by his words. One of them asked, "But what if the Marquis of Anping turns his back on us after we've bought up all the grain?"

Upon hearing this, Heshen laughed loudly and said, "What's there to be afraid of? The grain in the capital is all transported from Jiangnan. If this Marquis of Anping gets angry and prepares to take action..."

"After that, who would dare to transport grain here to sell, and who would dare to do business in the capital?"

"Then he won't be facing just us anymore; he'll be facing all the merchants of Jiangnan."

"Moreover, it's not just us who are hoarding grain now; almost all the officials and some ordinary people are doing it. He can't just kill us all, can he?"

"In this situation, is there any law left? Is there any justice left?"

All the grain merchants laughed when they heard this. They didn't notice that Heshen's hands were trembling slightly as he spoke.

He was also afraid that this would happen, after all, this disciple of the immortal could act without following the rules.

But he had no choice; the White Lotus Sect had given a death order to drive down grain prices in the capital.

He's just going through the motions anyway, since he's doomed either way, so he might as well take a gamble.

I'm betting that Li Chang'an has run out of food.

Heshen raised his teacup and said to them, "As long as we unite as one, never abandon or give up, we will control the grain market."

"From now on, let's all strive for harmony and prosperity, and value peace above all else!"

The grain merchants all stood up, agreeing with his point, and began to speak.

"Peace is of paramount importance!"