"Your Excellency, the price of grain in the market has dropped to 1,800 coins per stone!"

Less than half an hour after the Shaanxi grain merchants lowered their prices, the Jinyiwei informed Cao Huachun of the news.

"Hurry, let them use the copper coins to buy food! Those who spend money quickly will be rewarded, and those who spend money slowly will be fined!" Cao Huachun issued a very interesting and challenging task.

After the order was issued.

Jinyiwei, the companies that cooperated with Jinyiwei, the local garrison, and the government officials were all dispatched...

In order to spend the copper coins in their hands as quickly as possible, the Jinyiwei even hired people to buy food in groups.

In just a few days.

Most of the grain reserves of Xi'an grain merchants have been bought out!

At first they were complacent, thinking the price cut had worked.

But after learning the truth, they were no longer happy.

Because they had already guessed Cao Huachun's next plan.

Cao Huachun’s next plan was simple.

The 400,000 shi of grain that had been used to stabilize grain prices had almost been sold, and the grain bought with copper coins was transformed into official grain and continued to be used to stabilize grain prices.

In other words...

In order to cope with the plummeting grain prices, merchants sold grain for cash.

As a result, the grain was bought by Cao Huachun, who used the purchased grain to continue to lower the price of grain.

Grain merchants used their own grain to "help" Cao Huachun lower grain prices.

You're definitely shooting yourself in the foot!

By the time the grain merchants reacted, Cao Huachun had already bought enough grain as quickly as possible.

"Notify Lord Lu and tell him that the quality of the grain purchased from the grain merchants is average and the price needs to be lowered again!" Cao Huachun looked at the mountains of grain in the warehouse and gave the order again.

Of course Lu Daqi was more than happy to do so and he conveyed the price reduction notice very happily.

"Today's grain price is one tael and eight cents of silver or one thousand eight hundred coins per stone. Those who want to buy should line up behind the head of the village. Each household is limited to buying two stones per month. You have to pay the money with one hand and the grain with the other!"

After the news came out, Shaanxi grain merchants cried!

"The imperial court is too bullying. They bought our grain for 1,800 wen, and then sold it to the people for 1,800 wen. The people only recognize the grain from the imperial court, not ours."

"The people can't be blamed for this. After all, the first batch of government grain that stabilized grain prices was of such high quality that the people were eager to buy it!"

"That's true, but the reality is that the imperial court's grain sells for 1,800 wen, and our grain can only be sold for 1,750 wen at most!"

"If you want to sell grain, you have to lower the price. Should we lower it or not?"

"If you ask me, we won't surrender! Once the imperial court's grain is sold out, we can sell our grain for whatever price we want!" someone suggested.

"Don't dream. Do you know how much grain the court has now?"

"How many?"

"According to the officials of the government office, the imperial court has stockpiled at least 800,000 dan of grain! At the current rate of grain sales, it can be sold out until the summer grain is available."

"this...."

The merchants were speechless.

If that is the case, when the new grain comes on the market, the old grain in their hands will depreciate further.

The losses will also be further exacerbated!

The grain merchants were suffering, but the gentry who hoarded grain were suffering even more.

The original intention of the gentry to hoard grain was to exchange silver for grain in order to cope with the depreciation of silver against copper coins.

Now it's good...

The rate at which grain depreciated compared to silver was not only very fast, but also very large.

In just less than a month.

The price of the same stone of grain has dropped from the highest point of 3 taels to 1 tael and 8 taels!

In other words, the food they stockpiled not only did not appreciate in value, but instead shrunk by 40%.

If they continue to watch food prices fall, the losses they will suffer can only be described as unprecedented.

Forced by the situation, the gentry who stored grain gathered together to discuss countermeasures.

"Everyone," a gentry said through gritted teeth, "The court is deliberately using low-priced official grain to suppress the grain price in Shaanxi. We have to think of a way!"

"There are only two solutions," said another gentry. "First, follow the price drop and exchange the grain for money as quickly as possible. No matter how low the grain price falls, it will have nothing to do with us."

"Second, if the price doesn't drop, we will continue to fight and wait for the price of grain to rebound."

"Food prices rebounded?" The other gentry laughed.

Grain is not an antique.

The longer antiques are kept, the more valuable they become.

The longer the grain is stored, the greater the chance of it going bad. Coupled with the impact of new grain coming onto the market, old grain will only become less and less valuable.

After the laughter, the gentry became depressed.

When food prices fall, it's right in front of them and they have to face it.

"Gentlemen," the gentleman who had spoken first spoke again, "I have a plan."

"What is the solution?"

"Wait another ten days or half a month."

"Why?"

"The grain price in Shaanxi has now dropped to 1.8 taels per dan. The imperial court has achieved its goal of stabilizing grain prices. Previously, the imperial court paid a huge price to stabilize grain prices. If nothing unexpected happens, it will definitely find ways to make back its investment."

"Huh?" The gentlemen present were all startled.

This theory is not only novel, but also very convincing.

In their view, the imperial court would not go into a losing business without making any money.

It was easy for the imperial court to make money, all it had to do was slightly raise the price of official grain.

The price increases by two cents per stone, so one million stones can be sold for an extra 200,000 taels of silver!

As long as the price of official grain rises, they can follow suit, thereby reducing losses or even making a profit.

“That makes sense!”

"Everyone wait a little longer."

"Yes, wait a little longer!"

However, Cao Huachun did not give them time to breathe.

Three days later.

Cao Huachun lowered the price of grain again on the grounds that it was inconvenient to store and there were not enough people to look after the grain.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!