Chapter 36: Keeping a long line to catch big fish
Lin Qingyun met with misfortune in the court, but he did not blame himself, nor did he dare to blame the emperor. After all, the emperor was someone who could not be provoked.
So Lin Qingyun blamed everything on her biological daughter Lin Qianqian.
That girl is a clever girl. It is not so easy to drive her out of the capital now. It is easy to invite a god but difficult to send him away.
The best way is to get rid of her and make sure that this person no longer exists in the world.
"Ever since that girl came to Beijing, I have been unlucky every day. I have not had a single peaceful day. Lin Fugui, follow that girl and see what she does every day."
"yes."
Although Lin Fugui's name sounds very rustic, he is the most shrewd and capable one of Lin Qingyun's subordinates and is trusted by Lin Qingyun.
He was discovered by Lin Qianqian on the day he was following her.
Ah Da: "Girl, there is a middle-aged man sneaking around Jiang's house recently."
"Find out where he goes after he finishes his work every day. That way we will know who he belongs to."
On the second day, Ah Da reported: "Miss, that man's name is Lin Fugui, and he is Lin Qingyun's subordinate."
"Well, let's keep Lin Fugui for now. Cat catching mouse is too easy and boring. Let's keep the long line to catch the big fish."
Lin Fugui followed for a few days and returned to the Lin Mansion to report to Lin Qingyun.
"Master, Lin Qianqian has recently acquired a lot of warehouses at the Beijing-Tianjin docks."
As a result, within two days, the warehouse at the Beijing-Tianjin Port suddenly became popular.
The imperial court issued a notice that military rations would never be purchased from grain merchants in the capital, but only from the Beijing-Tianjin docks, and the grain must be transported from the fishing and rice-producing areas in the south of the Yangtze River.
Military rations are a big business.
There are 200,000 soldiers guarding the northern border. Assuming each person is given half a pound of food per day, they can only eat until they are 70% full. This means that the daily food consumption is at least 100,000 pounds.
That’s 3 million kilograms a month, which is an astonishing number.
If they purchased grain from grain shops in the capital, the price would be pushed very high and ordinary people would have no way to survive.
So after the imperial notice was issued, merchants were eager to move and all flocked to the Beijing-Tianjin docks.
Even the wealthy families in Beijing wanted to get a piece of the pie.
After a large amount of grain arrived at the Beijing-Tianjin Port by water transportation, a large number of warehouses were needed to store the grain, so the price of warehouses at the Beijing-Tianjin Port rose sharply.
The father watched the price of the warehouse in his daughter's hands double, and he was as anxious as an ant on hot pan.
Lin Qingyun said to Wang: "The prices of the dock warehouses will continue to rise. I heard that your sister-in-law likes to do business. You can discuss with her and see if you can make some money together."
When Wang heard that there was money to be made, she was even more enthusiastic than Lin Qingyun. She immediately returned to her parents' home to discuss the partnership with her sister-in-law, Lu.
Lu was born into a merchant family and had a good eye for business. "The price of warehouses at the Beijing-Tianjin docks has more than doubled and will surely rise further. We must hurry up, as time is running out."
Wang made up his mind and decided to invest all the cash he had into the partnership business.
I have lost a lot of money recently. Seven thousand taels were taken away from me in a blackmail letter, and Baozhu was cheated out of another four thousand three hundred taels by Lin Qianqian. Add to that all the other expenses, and the money is spent like water.
I have to earn more to make up for it.
Unfortunately, Wang was still slow in raising the money. The delay was only two days. By the time Wang had raised a large sum of money to buy the warehouse at the Beijing-Tianjin Wharf, the price had already tripled.
Lu was a little hesitant, but Wang was very persistent.
So Wang and Lu spent 30,000 taels of silver together, acquired several warehouses, and just waited to raise the price.
The other two also invested in the grain transportation business.
Lin Qianqian has already sold out the warehouse.
She met Emperor Yan in the teahouse that day and learned about the purchase of military rations in advance, so she was able to make arrangements in advance.
When she asked A Da to purchase the warehouse, the price was still the original price. Now she directly cleared it all out at three times the price and made a small profit of a large sum of money, with a profit of as much as 30,000 taels.
Those who can make big money are always those who get insider information in advance.
Lin Qianqian asked Ada to use all the money he earned to start the grain transportation business.
"When it comes to transporting food, the most important thing is speed."
Ah Da: "Got it, girl, I'll arrange for someone right away."
All those involved in the grain transportation business to the south at the Beijing and Tianjin ports must register with the Purchasing Department.
Xu Bingliang, the head of the Purchasing Department, is usually very popular, but this time the Emperor of Yan is keeping a close eye on the military rations, so he dared not make any small moves for fear of losing his head.
What made it most difficult for him was that the first batch of grain merchants who shipped grain collectively raised their prices.
The grain originally cost twelve cents per pound, but these grain merchants united to demand a unified price of fifteen cents.
Although the price difference of three cents per pound is not too much, the problem is that the amount of military rations is large.
In fact, the cost of transporting grain to the south of the Yangtze River is only about ten cents, so it is still profitable to sell it at twelve cents.
Xu Bingliang remembered that Emperor Yan seemed to be in a bad mood recently. He always caught Minister Lin in the court and scolded him in various ways. If he did not do a good job in purchasing military rations, would Minister Lin be released and then it would be his turn to be scolded.
In this matter, I guess only the powerful Taoist Tianji can help.
Taoist Tianji is a god. He can predict which prince will ascend the throne, and that prince will indeed ascend the throne.
Xu Bingliang went to Qingfeng Temple, hoping to ask Taoist Tianji for help in fortune-telling and a solution to the problem.
As a result, Taoist Tianji went into seclusion.
Xu Bingliang could only return to the Purchasing Department with his head down.
There was a long queue in the purchasing department. As soon as Ah Da entered the purchasing department, Xiaoyaozi came.
"Brother, I finally found someone."
Xiaoyaozi had already been to Jiang's house, but it was closed. Hearing that Miss Lin had gone out, he wanted to find out where Miss Lin had gone, but the gatekeeper didn't tell him at all.
Then he saw a carriage coming out of the side door of Jiang's house, so he followed it, only to find that the person sitting inside was not Lin Qianqian, but A'da.
Xiaoyaozi knew Ada and knew that Ada had a high status in front of Miss Lin.
"Brother Ada, I want to find your girl."
Xu Bingliang, the head of the Purchasing Department, recognized Xiaoyaozi at a glance. He was the beloved disciple of Taoist Tianji.
Today he went to Qingfeng Temple and saw that the person in charge of Qingfeng Temple was none other than Xiaoyaozi.
Once you get to know Taoist Tianji’s beloved disciple, you will be not far from Taoist Tianji.
Xu Bingliang immediately handed the registration matter over to others and greeted Xiaoyaozi with a smile.
"What wind brings Taoist Xiaoyaozi here? Please follow me to the inner room for some tea." The most important thing is to talk about when Taoist Tianji will come out of retreat. It seems that it is too late to help him avoid disaster.
Xiaoyaozi waved his hands, showing no interest in drinking tea. "Alas, I don't have time to drink tea today. I'm looking for someone."
Xiaoyaozi said, pulling Ada's sleeve affectionately, "Brother Ada, my master said he has a new understanding, and he wants to try with your daughter. Maybe he can really help your daughter with fortune-telling this time."
Xu Bingliang was so surprised that he couldn't be more surprised: How many dignitaries lined up in Qingyun Temple to have their fortune told, but none of them got their turn. Who was this strong man's daughter? Taoist Tianji actually asked her to have her fortune told?
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