Chapter 109: Strategic Planning that Saved Yue Yining
Jiang Chiyin did not expect He Chan to suddenly return to camp, and now the situation has completely reversed.
The tall woman glared at Jiang Chiyin: "Have you made enough of a scene?! I clearly said I didn't agree to kill her! What are you trying to do? Act first and ask permission later while I'm not around?!"
He Chan spoke sharply and sternly, but Jiang Chiyin remained calm and fearless.
She stared intently at her, then sneered, "If you wanted me to do it, why would I bother with all this?"
"Jiang Chiyin! Can you even understand human language?!"
The two engaged in a heated exchange, neither willing to back down, their shouts deafening.
Taking advantage of the standoff between the two, Yue Yining tried to exert her strength, but her body was still weak and powerless.
A fragrant breeze swept past, and a figure rushed over, throwing himself at her bedside and embracing her shoulders, his breath quick and tinged with fear.
Yue Yining was caught off guard by the hug and was stunned for a moment.
Xie Qingyu quickly released her grip, looking at her with tense and flustered eyes, her voice trembling slightly: "Miss! Are you alright? What did she do to you? Did she hurt you?"
Yue Yining could still speak, but she couldn't move her body. She quickly said, "I'm fine, she didn't have time to hurt me."
"She drugged me, it's probably some kind of 'muscle-strengthening powder' poison. I can't move or exert any strength now, but otherwise I'm fine—"
Before Yue Yining could finish speaking, she saw a fleeting glimpse of cold hatred in Xie Qingyu's eyes, and her voice fell silent, too shocked to speak.
"I will never let her go...!" Xie Qingyu said, her voice trembling slightly, "If I had come back any later, you would have been... by her..."
When Yue Yining saw him turn his head to look at Jiang Chiyin, the hatred that had been suppressed in his eyes poured out unrestrainedly. He seemed to be about to stand up and walk over, and Yue Yining's heart skipped a beat. She subconsciously reached out and tugged at his sleeve.
She thought she wouldn't be able to lift her arms, but surprisingly, she could move her body.
She used too much force, and couldn't control her momentum, so she fell straight forward.
Xie Qingyu felt his sleeve being tugged, and he paused. He turned around and saw Yue Yining falling towards him. He quickly bent down and reached out to hug her.
Yue Yining fell into his arms, and the originally faint scent of pine resin instantly became strong.
Xie Qingyu froze abruptly. Yue Yining clung to his hand, inhaling the cool fragrance emanating from him, feeling her senses clear up considerably.
Seeing that he didn't move for a moment, Yue Yining hurriedly said, "Don't go over there!"
"I'm fine now," Yue Yining said, glancing at his expression with a hint of caution. "Could you help me detoxify first? The 'soft bone powder' she used might be strychnine. If so, I probably know how to cure it."
He Chan and Jiang Chiyin had a huge fight, and He Chan was so angry that her bones ached. "Fine! I can't control what you think, but you'd better stay put right now!"
"He Chan, don't talk like you trust me so much, okay?" Jiang Chiyin sneered. "Isn't it because you suspected I might do something that you ended your meeting with Huang Zhuo early and rushed back to the camp?"
He Chan frowned, looking at her with a helpless expression: "I didn't doubt you, okay? I received a message from an informant in the city, which is why I rushed back."
"News from the city?" Jiang Chiyin's expression was strange, and her tone was disapproving. "What news could possibly make you abandon everything and rush back like this?"
He Chan didn't explain further. She simply turned around quietly and looked at Yue Yining, who was sitting by the couch and had just taken the herbs with water.
She whispered, "...Of course, it's news that's worth doing."
After drinking the water infused with the herb Pixu, Yue Yining's limp arms and legs finally began to regain their strength. She leaned on Xie Qingyu's arm, slowly propping herself up to sit upright, and met the gaze of He Chan as she walked towards them.
He Chan looked at her and suddenly said in a deep voice, "Three days ago, the price of rice in Qinghuai City began to fall rapidly. This morning, our informant brought back the latest news that the price of rice in Qinghuai City has now fallen below eighty wen per dou."
He Chan and Yue Yining both knew what these words meant.
Yue Yining's eyes lit up, while Jiang Chiyin was completely baffled: "What are you talking about?"
He Chan glanced at Jiang Chiyin and slowly said, "I interrogated her once before, and she confessed a secret to me."
He Chan once questioned Yue Yining about the reason for raising rice prices. Yue Yining gave his explanation and also explained in detail the plans they had devised for disaster relief.
"She said she was doing this to raise funds for disaster relief. I was skeptical at the time. I thought what she said was too unrealistic and unbelievable, and more like she was just stalling for time. But she was unusually certain and promised me repeatedly, so I agreed to keep an eye on the situation in the city for her and personally verify whether what she said was true or false."
He Chan gestured for Yue Yining to speak up: "You tell me, what was your original plan?"
Yue Yining nodded: "Okay."
Yue Yining grew up eating food from many families and witnessed firsthand the various hardships of ordinary people, so he was well aware of the problems with the government.
She never even considered collecting grain taxes from wealthy households. She knew that doing so would only harm the poor peasants under those landlords. The collected tax grain would be stained with human blood and might even be switched and embezzled by Magistrate Che.
With no grain available in the Taiping Granary and local officials corrupt and filthy, they were left with only one option: to use the disaster relief funds allocated by the imperial court to purchase grain from the market for disaster relief purposes.
The problem is that the price of rice in the market is extremely high, and their purchase volume is very large. For every 10% increase in the price of rice, they have to spend several times more silver. The disaster relief funds allocated by the imperial court are not much and cannot withstand such extravagance.
So, Yue Yining came up with a solution.
She deliberately ordered an increase in rice prices in Qinghuai City, raising grain prices to an unbelievable level.
Merchants are all driven by profit. Yue Yining sent people to spread the news that the price of rice in Qinghuai was unusually high. When rice merchants from neighboring cities heard this, they all felt that it would be more profitable to trade in Qinghuai, and they all brought their grain to Qinghuai.
The amount of grain flooding into the Qinghuai market has reached its peak capacity.
At this moment, Jin Lingxi arrived with her caravan.
Xie Qingyu sat on the edge of the couch. He was the only one who could follow Yue Yining's train of thought from beginning to end. From the moment she spoke her first sentence, he understood the whole picture of Yue Yining's plan.
The more abundant the same commodity is in a regional market, the lower its price will be; this is determined by supply and demand. As long as more grain merchants gather in Qinghuai City, the price of rice will gradually decline.
However, it's not without its drawbacks. The decline is slow and may not be effective; disaster relief is urgent, and they can't afford to gamble or wait.
Therefore, Yue Yining sent an urgent letter and found Jin Lingxi as an assistant.
Jin Lingxi arrived, but she didn't bring rice. What she brought was a kind of grain called "konjac".
“I happen to have a friend who does business in Suyang. I know she has been stockpiling a crop called konjac. She intends to use it to make flour. If she succeeds, this flour will be cheaper than rice flour, and the market potential is immeasurable,” Yue Yining said. “I asked her to bring this ‘konjac flour’ to Qinghuai and sell it openly in the city.”
The konjac powder brought by Jin Lingxi and Jiang Hairong was the crucial catalyst for that injection.
"I instructed her to make a big show of it when she came, so that the grain merchants in the city would think she was bringing a huge amount of grain and was ready to make a big profit. But in reality, most of the boxes in her caravan were empty. They had only made a preliminary breakthrough and had not yet expanded production. They only brought a few hundred catties," Yue Yining said with a smile. "However, even if it's only a few hundred catties, it's enough."
Konjac flour, like rice flour, can fill you up. And because no one has ever seen it before, it is not subject to the price of rice in Qinghuai City. The production cost is also low, and the price is exceptionally cheap, only fifty coins per catty.
After the sale began, people who still had money to buy grain flocked to the market, and the grain was sold out in no time.
Jin Lingxi did not try to cover it up; instead, she publicized the matter extensively. Some grain merchants, envious, deliberately complained to the authorities, only to receive news that the rice price control order had been revoked by Lord Shen from the capital.
As the days went by, the small grain merchants who had traveled from afar to the city hoping to make money became restless and began to lower their prices to sell their grain. The successive fluctuations in rice prices in the market also gradually shook the large grain merchants.
Panic swept in like a torrential downpour.
Once market panic sets in, grain traders, out of fear, will lower prices in an attempt to sell their goods as quickly as possible. The more people in the market, the more chaotic the information becomes, making it harder to distinguish between truth and falsehood. This gradually evolves into a price-cutting race, with each price drop leading to a larger drop, ultimately resulting in a panic sell-off.
After the stampede, the price of rice will drop significantly. Currently, rice in Qinghuai City costs only 80 wen per dou, which is much cheaper than the 130 wen per dou when Yue Yining ordered the price increase, and it is still trending downwards.
Xie Qingyu watched Yue Yining explain things to them in detail, and gradually became lost in thought, her eyes gazing at her absentmindedly.
For Xie Qingyu, this plan was not complicated and not hard to come up with. After all, he had lived two lives, was well-versed in history, and had the mindset and perspective of a modern person.
But this plan was devised by Yue Yining.
Ancient people did not have the concept of "economy," but Yue Yining had already fully grasped the laws of market changes and knew how to use the market economy mechanism to defeat his enemies. His strategies were intricately linked and perfectly executed.
This is the person he deeply admires, possessing extraordinary courage, pioneering spirit, and vision that transcends the times.
He met Yue Yining, gradually got to know her, witnessed her life, and finally understood why she was an unparalleled strategist.
Yue Yining said softly, "Eighty coins per dou of grain is not considered high, but I originally estimated that the lowest price we could get was sixty coins per dou. At that time, the government will allocate a sum of money to buy low-priced grain in the market. At that price, the disaster relief funds we have on hand can buy at least 15,000 shi of grain, which can be used as disaster relief grain for the remaining month of disaster relief. That will be enough."
"Before leaving Qinghuai, I had given detailed instructions to my female officials. I think they know what to do."
“Yes.” He Chan gave her a deep look. “Yingying went to the city this morning. She said that the porridge distributed to the disaster victims in the relief tents no longer contains moldy rice; it’s all good rice now.”
This indicates that Shen Liude and Qiu Yuebai have begun purchasing low-priced grains from the market in batches, and the first batch of disaster relief grains has arrived. The condition of the disaster relief tents also shows that the two of them have regained control, and even without Yue Yining, they can steadily and orderly arrange personnel, supervise grain management, and implement disaster relief.
After being battered by storms, Qinghuai finally landed safely and returned to normal.
Upon hearing this news, even someone as meticulous as Yue Yining could finally put her mind at ease.
She couldn't help but smile, her gentle and bright eyes sparkling.
“Everything is as you say. You have kept all your promises to me. Your companions have testified to this; you are indeed a good official who sincerely serves the people.” He Chan looked at her smiling face and said, “I always keep my word. In that case, I will let you leave.”
"Feiyan will escort you to the outskirts of the city. You can set off down the mountain tomorrow."
Yue Yining was taken aback and was about to say something when Jiang Chiyin interrupted her.
Jiang Chiyin sneered, "He Chan, are you out of your mind? You actually intend to let her go? How can you be so foolishly kind?!"
He Chan sat with her back hunched and her arms resting on her knees, looking like a majestic mountain even in her casual sitting posture.
She said in a deep voice, "The Yue people promised me that she wouldn't tell anyone about our affair, and I trust her."
"Fine, even if Yue Yining agrees to keep quiet about us, how can you guarantee that the people around her won't? How can you guarantee that those officials from Yanjing won't trace us back to us?" Jiang Chiyin said coolly. "Didn't Huang Zhuo just tell you? These officials from Beijing came on orders from the imperial court, and some of them are tasked with suppressing bandits. Guess who the bandits are? Are you letting them go because you want the imperial court to wipe us all out?!"
Seeing Jiang Chiyin's distorted expression, He Chan shook her head disapprovingly: "Jiang Chiyin, these are two different things. The people who want us dead are Che Zilong and Dong Qi. Yue Yining is not one of them, which is why we can't kill her."
"It's because there are too many parasites like Che Zilong in the court that we were forced to leave Qinghuai and become bandits," He Chan said, enunciating each word clearly. "I would never hesitate for a second to kill a parasite like Che Zilong! But Yue Yining is not him, nor is she a corrupt official who does evil. She is an honest official who genuinely works for the people! If we kill her, wouldn't that be playing into Che Zilong's hands? What would that mean?!"
“If the court were full of officials like her, instead of corrupt ones, the people would suffer less. Isn’t that what we want to see?” He Chan said. “Jiang Chiyin, do you understand? I can’t kill people indiscriminately. That would be no different from aiding and abetting evil.”
Jiang Chiyin smiled strangely, "After all you've said, I finally understand. So you still have some hope for this court?"
"I thought you were already prepared to kill all the officials, after all, you agreed to Huang Zhuo's request and talked with him so many times." Jiang Chiyin smiled gently, but her voice was chillingly cold. "You didn't know that Huang Zhuo was planning a rebellion, did you?"
The moment the word "uprising" was uttered, everyone present was shocked!
He Chan never expected Jiang Chiyin to reveal this, and she immediately retorted angrily, "Jiang Chiyin! Are you crazy?!"
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Author's Note: Our Ningning is the best! [Rabbit head with upright ears]
I didn't post much today, I'll post another chapter tomorrow. And while I'm at it, I'm crawling on the floor begging my readers for some nutrient solution! [Pleading emoji]
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