Inside a private residence in Xi'an.
Wang Zhong, a captain of the Imperial Guard, raised his glass high and gestured to the dozen or so businessmen present: "Thank you all for your hospitality. I am very grateful!"
"Captain Wang, you are too polite. This is what we should do."
"Captain Wang is a favorite of the Emperor. It is our honor to welcome you!"
"Let's toast to Mr. Wang!"
Wang Zhong drank one cup after another.
Soon, Wang Zhong drank too much.
His eyes were blurry and his face was as red as a monkey's butt.
His words were unclear, sometimes singing loudly, sometimes whispering, and if you didn't listen carefully you would think he was talking to himself.
Every time he picked up the glass to drink, his body shook uncontrollably, as if he would crawl under the table at any time.
The businessmen who served the drinks were not much better, all of them had red faces and were drunk.
Not everyone is like this.
Although several of the businessmen who could drink a lot looked drunk, they were still very sober.
They stared at Wang Zhong out of the corner of their eyes for a while and knew that the opportunity to find out information had come.
After exchanging glances, one of the merchants raised his glass and asked Wang Zhong: "Captain Wang, Shaanxi is thousands of miles away from the capital. You must be exhausted from running here all the time!"
"Alas," Wang Zhong sighed, "There is no way... I have to make a living like this. This time... it's even worse. I have to spend the Lantern Festival on the road."
"It must be something important, right?"
"It's... not a big deal, just a pile of broken grains." Wang Zhong drank a sip of wine alone.
food?
Hearing these two words, the drunken businessmen immediately pricked up their ears.
Everyone present participated in hoarding food.
Except for a small number of people who participated in hoarding grain at the request of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, most of the rest hoarded grain spontaneously.
There are two purposes for hoarding grain: one, to protect assets from shrinking; two, to hoard and make a profit from the price difference.
With the tacit manipulation of everyone, the grain prices in Shaanxi Province are getting higher day by day, and they are earning more and more.
As the beneficiaries of grain storage, they certainly did not want the court to transport grain to Shaanxi, and they did not want the price of grain to fall.
"Captain Wang...is the imperial court going to transport grain to Shaanxi?" a businessman asked doubtfully.
According to the information they had just received, the imperial court had no plans to transfer grain to Shaanxi.
Is the news wrong? Or is Wang Zhong lying to them?
"It's not the court... it's your Majesty!" Wang Zhong corrected drunkenly, "Your Majesty heard that the high grain prices in Shaanxi... caused the people to live in hardship, and he was very sad. So he squeezed out 200,000 dan of grain from the border troops, and prepared to transport it to Shaanxi to sell to the people at a low price."
I see!
After hearing Wang Zhong's explanation, the businessmen dispelled their doubts.
After all, Wang Zhong had no need to lie to them, and he couldn't create food out of thin air.
After understanding this principle, businessmen began to think about another thing.
Two hundred thousand shi is not too much, but not too little either.
If the grain is put on the market at a low price at this time, the grain price in Shaanxi will definitely show a downward trend.
As for how much it will decline, no one has an idea.
This is not the most important thing.
What is the most important thing?
The momentum of rising food prices has been curbed!
How do businessmen make money?
Buy low and sell high!
The ideal situation is to sell all the food at the highest price point!
But no one knows what the highest point will be.
In addition, the gentry and merchants who hoarded grain were not a monolithic group.
Most of them work on their own.
Once grain prices show a downward trend, many small and medium-sized grain traders will engage in panic selling!
Because they cannot predict whether food prices will rise or fall in the future.
The safest way is to sell!
Under their leadership, all grain traders in Shaanxi will start selling off their grain!
By then, the price of food will plummet!
Shaanxi has a population of millions and consumes huge amounts of grain every day. Why did Chongzhen dare to stabilize the grain price by only preparing 600,000 shi of grain?
In Chongzhen's view, speculating in grain and speculating in stocks are the same thing!
Buy when it’s high and don’t buy when it’s low.
People who hoard grain want to sell it at a high point.
He wanted to artificially create high grain prices to force those who hoarded grain to sell it.
Even if the other party does not fall into the trap, 600,000 shi of grain will be enough for the food-deficient people to survive the spring.
When summer crops mature in May and June, this farce of hoarding grain will come to an end.
The highest level of business warfare does not necessarily mean fighting to the death in business, but also involves a psychological warfare.
As long as you understand the other party's psychology, you can win this war without gunpowder.
The savvy businessmen at the scene quickly thought of this and they would not allow food prices to rise too high.
A merchant asked, "How does Captain Wang plan to sell all this grain?"
"This..." Wang Zhong deliberately showed embarrassment, "Oh, I have no idea!"
"Captain Wang," another merchant rolled his eyes, "As for selling grain...it doesn't matter who you give it to, why not give it to us? What do you think, Captain Wang?"
"You?" Wang Zhong narrowed his eyes. "Everyone knows that you are selling grain at a high price. If I sell grain to you, I will not only be accused of aiding and abetting the tyrant, but also violate the will of His Majesty."
"Not right, not right!"
"Your Excellency is wrong!" the merchant said, "Of course we will sell the grain at a low price according to your Majesty's order."
"really?"
"Take it seriously! If there is any falsehood, I will deal with you as you wish!"
Wang Zhong shook his head and said, "This matter is of great importance. I... don't trust you!"
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