Chapter 377 Internal Instability
Nanyang
On this day, Ji Wuyin and Zhang Xian met and signed an agreement, which was kept secret from Zuo Anmin.
After receiving the secret letter from Liaodong County, Zhang Xian did not take no action.
He had sent a secret letter back to Chang'an and signed a military order with the emperor, stating that he would be responsible for restoring the people's livelihood in Nanyang, thereby obtaining full power to make decisions in Nanyang.
After both parties signed the agreement, Zhang Xian politely said, "Next, I'll have to trouble Ji Daxiu."
"Okay, let's encourage each other." Ji Wuyin looked at Zhang Xian friendly. They were all one of his own.
Xuchang
The atmosphere in the Yuzhou Grain Merchants Association was cold.
I can’t imagine what they went through in these seven days.
Starting with Luoyang's low-priced grain sales, Runan followed suit the next day. Each day, they unilaterally sold 10,000 dan more grain than the day before. For example, Luoyang sold 10,000 dan on the first day, 20,000 dan on the second, and 30,000 dan on the third. Runan followed suit the next day, selling the same amount of grain as Luoyang did the day before.
On the fourth day, Luoyang seemed to notice that their intake was slowing down, so they stopped increasing the amount of supply, maintaining the daily supply of 30,000 dan. Meanwhile, Runan, keeping pace with Luoyang, also set the daily supply at 20,000 dan.
They were happy at first, thinking that the other side didn't have much food left.
They soon realized they were wrong.
Because starting from the fourth day, Luoyang released 30,000 dan of grain every day, and Runan released 20,000 dan. A steady 50,000 dan of grain was released every day, on time and in the right quantity, for four consecutive days. How could it be that there was not enough grain?
People clearly sympathize with them and are afraid that if too much is thrown at them at once, they won't be able to cope.
In just seven days, they consumed 180,000 shi of grain thrown out by Luoyang and 110,000 shi thrown out by Runan, totaling 290,000 shi of grain, spending nearly 700,000 taels!
Currently, the entire Grain Merchants Association only has 100,000 taels of silver left.
In order to reap more profits from the subsequent land-snatching operations, they had already exchanged the silver in their hands for more food, and they did not have much cash to begin with.
I thought eight hundred thousand taels of emergency funds were enough. But eight hundred thousand taels for half a month, isn't that enough?
If they had experienced the future, they would know that Luoyang's move was to crash the market.
You push up the price, I push it down.
At the beginning, the Yuzhou Grain Merchants Association thought they held a large number of chips and wanted to push the price up to the upper limit, and then sell them to the people of Nanyang at a high price.
But they were sniped and someone was constantly dumping the stock.
If there is a market crash, they no longer have the final say on the price, so they can only keep buying chips.
The other party continued to sell goods to them, squeezing out their existing positions.
Once their positions are full and they have no active funds left, they will be in a passive position.
At this moment, Che Jiuming's face was gloomy. He had clearly determined from the beginning that the relief food Zhang Xian brought was insufficient, and the court had other concerns, so subsequent support had basically stopped. That was why he decided to take action. Now, who was trying to ruin his plan?
But no matter who it is, the current situation is very unfavorable to the entire Grain Merchants Association.
Che Jiuming looked around and said, "Everyone can see that the current situation is very unfavorable to us."
The members of the Grain Merchants Association looked at each other in confusion.
"But I believe that the enemy must be at the end of their strength. Where would they get so much food, right?"
"This time, as long as we work together and everyone contributes some money, we can continue to consume the grain in Luoyang and Runan. We will definitely be able to drain them out and achieve our goal of controlling the grain prices in Nanyang."
The prospects are good, but the response is sparse.
"The president is right. Now is the darkest hour before dawn. We just need to get through this. We should all work together to overcome this difficult time. And this time, with so many of us forming the Grain Merchants Association to take joint action, if we fail, will you be embarrassed?"
Others followed suit, "Yes, yes, everyone has to contribute this time."
"Mei Zishan, Shan Tianxing, Zhou Beicheng, what do you think? How much money can you come up with?" Che Jiu Ming pointed at a few silent members.
Mei Zishan wailed and cried poorly, "President, I'm just a small grain merchant. I really can't come up with the money right now."
Although Che Jiu Ming speaks so well of the prospects, is it really so?
Shan Tianxing: "Yes, President, my entire fortune is now gone."
Che Jiu Ming had a gloomy face and was furious. They were really a group of cowards who were not worth dealing with!
But on the surface, he gave them advice in a very gentle manner, "You all have friends and relatives, right? You have good connections with the big banks, right? Can't you borrow some for emergencies?"
Mei Zishan said reluctantly, "I'll try my best."
Che Jiuming said earnestly, "You must think carefully. The money you invest now will be doubled back in the future."
The members of the Grain Merchants Association present had different thoughts. Should they be asked to contribute more funds to buy grain? Those whose names were mentioned shook their heads inwardly like rattles.
Now, they have nothing but food in their hands and not even a tael of cash, and they are panicking.
The key is that they don’t know how much food the other side has!
If the other side has plenty of food, and the food only comes in but not out, they will be stuffed to death.
Furthermore, grain doesn't last long. If not properly stored, it will become moldy and infested with insects. A more realistic scenario is that by the next year, this year's new grain will have become stale and unsellable.
The risk of continuing to invest is too great! As businessmen, business is business. If you lose money this time, you can make it back next time. They don't want to put their entire fortune on the line.
Now, they are not going to back down or want to withdraw, but at least they are not willing to invest any more money. As for what to do next, they need to wait and see. Maybe the chairman Che Jiuming can turn the tide?
Finally, Che Jiu Ming said, "Everyone go back and think about it, we are just one step away from victory. Think about it, all the efforts we have made for so long, we can't let it go to waste, right?" Then he let them disperse.
Che Jiu Ming had no choice, they were now in a difficult situation.
Next, it’s a matter of who is stronger.
Mei Zishan and Zhou Beicheng were going the same way, so they walked together.
Mei Zishan arrived home first. As soon as his carriage stopped, Zhou Beicheng also stopped.
Seeing him like this, Mei Zishan knew that he had something to say, so he invited him in.
After the two entered the Mei family teahouse and dismissed the servants, Zhou Beicheng asked directly, "Brother Mei, what do you think about Chairman Che asking us to raise funds again?"
The two men had a good relationship, so Mei Zishan's answer was quite frank. "The enemy is coming with great force. The waters of Nanyang are too deep. I don't want to go any deeper into this muddy water."
Zhou Beicheng understood, what it meant was that he would not take out any more money.
He was not surprised by this. Mei Zishan was a timid person with a weak determination. He would run faster than a rabbit at the slightest sign of trouble.
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