Great Tang Idyll Volume 02 Chapter 57
Shout out to Dan for commissioning chapters 53-57!
Volume 02 Chapter 57: Fighting Back And Forth In The War of Grains
Wang Juan looked back at the few grain collectors as she walked, and she clicked her mouth a couple of times. In the end, she didn't say anything. She could only secretly reflect in her mind, these people don't know any better. There was an etching of the Ox-head and Horse-face1 on the handrailing of the Little Bridge. She was the one who made the etching. The etching was a bit faint, so it was not noticeable if the person wasn’t looking closely.
The etching was there to tell the people who wanted to target the Zhang and Wang manors to not cross the bridge no matter what. This was a line between heaven and hell. How many people sank into here? Do they really think an international conman was just a decorative title? Sigh, who knows how things will turn out this time? The ones who collected soybeans last time were still squatting in prison right now.
As soon as Zhang Xiao'bao returned to the yard, he got Housekeeper Zhang to come over, and he gave him some brief orders on how to sell the grains. Once Housekeeper Zhang left, he called over Song Jing’gong, who was resting in the yard, and he also gave him some instructions. He finally felt relieved after Song Jing’gong left to make the arrangements.
"Juan’juan, let’s go to the Between The Water And Clouds Restaurant to eat some good food. Help me carry some MSG and thirteen spices mix. I thought about it already. When the autumn harvest is over, or nearing its end, we will organize an event at the Little Luo’shui. We’ll get the scholars to have a walk around the fields and enjoy the pastoral sceneries and the colors of autumn."
After Zhang Xiao'bao was done giving out orders, he took out two big bags from the room. He handed one bag to Wang Juan, and spoke to her.
"What evil idea do you have in mind?" Wang Juan didn't believe Zhang Xiao'bao was so kind.
"I’m not planning to harm anyone this time. I’m just organizing an event. The autumn harvest is complete, so what’s wrong with celebrating together?" Zhang Xiao'bao felt that Wang Juan didn't quite understand him, and he felt wronged.
Wang Juan looked at Zhang Xiao'bao carefully, "Yes, I would believe it if someone else said it like this. But you? Not unless the sun rises from the west."
"What's wrong with the west side? If you go to the polar circles during the summer solstice, the sun will not set for the entire day. I calculated the days already; there will be a full moon that day. I thought about it already. We will use the saying, ‘the moon is round at home; which place has plentiful grains?’ Whether it is a local scholar or someone from the outside, a lot of emotions will be evoked within their hearts."
Zhang Xiao'bao even made use of the autumn harvest; it seems that he would not forgo anything that was usable.
Wang Juan nodded when she heard this suggestion, and then asked, "Where prizes will there be? You’re getting people to join the event, so you must give them some decent gift when they write some poems, right?"
"Does this need to be asked? Of course it is the seeds we have here. They can eat it or plant it or do whatever they want with it. As long as the person writes a poem, no matter what he writes, he can get ten catties of seeds. They can plant them or eat them or store them away. Oh right, I just thought of something fun to do."
"What is it?"
"Seeds. Rice seeds can be planted, and it’s the same for grass seeds. I remember back then there was someone who sold a particular kind of doll that contained sawdust and grass seeds. If they were watered, green sprouts would grow."
When Zhang Xiao'bao talked about seeds, he thought of this idea. It was inexpensive and many people were willing to buy it just to watch the seeds grow day by day. People took good care of them because of hope, just like why adults took care of their children.
When walking, they saw there were children in the front learning how to run and they had to give way to them. This was not just a matter of the strong and weak, but also giving them a similar type of hope to the children. Adults would be angry if they were hit by a ball that was kicked by a person in their twenties. However, if the ball was kicked by a toddler, you would not feel the slightest anger. In fact, you would even pick up the ball and give it back to them.
Of course, those who deliberately drive fast in school zones, or those that can’t fight adults so they stabbed children with knives were exceptions. Or, it can be said that those people weren’t even humans.
Wang Juan didn't know that Zhang Xiao'bao had thought about so much in a short while. She felt that this proposal was good, and asked, "Is this another way to earn money?"
"Nope. The money will not be earned by us. It is easy for others to copy the idea, and the profit margin is not that big. I’m going to give this opportunity to the people who will cause us trouble in the future, especially those with relatively influential families. If we give them a money making opportunity, we can reduce their level of resistance towards us. We just need to vaguely mention it to them. Help me remember this. It would be useful during critical times."
"Oh. It seems that development is not easy. We always have to leave others with something. This shows that the legal system is incomplete. "
"Regardless of which day and age, there will always be a privileged class. Wealth influences one’s heart. Think about it, are there any powerful figures in the world that would keep all of their stocks or shares in their own hands? There are none. Anyone who does that is a sitting duck. People will keep attacking them until their power weakens or is demolished."
Zhang Xiao'bao talked about the nature of the world, or the circle of human existence.
Wang Juan thought for a while and said in agreement, "Indeed, whether you are an official or a merchant, as long as you are in contact with people, you must know when to take and when to give. Let’s go to the restaurant to see. It seems that there’s a new dish coming out today: grilled duck liver. There were so many poultries when they left in the beginning, but there were fewer when they came back. Some of them died not too long after coming back because they couldn’t acclimate to the travelling conditions.”
"Yeah. We could eat this duck liver. It's not taken from gavaged geese with liver disease. Some of the chickens also died too, right? It wasn’t due to some infectious disease, so we can take the chicken livers out, braise them and feed them to the manor’s children. It’s nutritious."
As Zhang Xiao'bao spoke, he put the package on his shoulder and walked outside first.
Wang Juan followed behind him while thinking about what Zhang Xiao'bao said just now. She asked, "Xiao'bao, didn't you say that they belong to the first realm? Then you must know what their next step is, right?"
"What else could they do? Collect old grains and get new grains from other places, and then exchange them with our farmers for grains that could be used as seeds. The exchange rate would be two to one or three to one, which is several times cheaper than buying a catty of seeds for one hundred coins. Or they might spread news that this year’s high-yield grains cannot be eaten because eating high-yield grains during the time of natural disasters disrupts the harmony of nature. At least, if it was me, I would immediately come up with these two methods."
In autumn, grains were the same as gold and thin streams of water were the same as silk thread. Loudly proclaiming there were tens of thousands of piculs of old grains in possession, not fearing that the road of collecting grains was long.
Housekeeper Zhang got in touch with those grain collectors and told them that his master’s household had a lot of old grains, but he insisted on raising the price by one coin before selling it.
After a lot of bargaining, the other party said that they would not budge. Housekeeper Zhang had no choice but to tell Zhang Xiao'bao about the matter.
When Housekeeper Zhang found Zhang Xiao'bao, Song Jing'gong was already there talking next to him. After hearing what each person had to say, Zhang Xiao'bao laughed.
"What are you laughing at? It seems that something is wrong. Mister Song went out to collect old grain at a price that was half a coin lower than the prices those people offered. Could it be that there is a connection between the two?"
When Wang Juan heard what the two said, she felt that something was wrong.
"Remember the soybean collector? This is an amazing person. It would be hard to make judgments when they don’t make a move, but once they do, we can tell how capable they are. They’re digging a trapping pit for us to jump into. Hmm, I really underestimated them. They have a capable person supporting them from the back. Mister Song, you don’t need to go to the surrounding grain shops to collect old grains for the time being.
Ask around at various local farmers’ homes and tell them that we are willing to use new grains to exchange with their old grains at an exchange rate of two to three. Take three portions of old grains from them, and give them two portions of new grains. Arrange for someone to buy new grains. Disregard the inflation in prices--- as long as the price is less than double, buy it all. "
Zhang Xiao'bao touched his face with his finger. He gave Song Jing'gong instructions again, and then he said to Housekeeper Zhang, "Housekeeper Zhang, transport all of these old grains that we traded for to the Little Luo’shui, and sell them according to their pricings. If they want to play big, then we’ll play with them this time. For now, let’s not sell the seeds. We’ll see if it will rain in the next few days. If it rains, we will harvest the crops ourselves. At most, it would just delay the work on the mountain. If it doesn’t fall, we will let the crops remain in the field."
Song Jing'gong and Housekeeper Zhang didn't understand why their Young Master did this. According to these plans, it was obvious that the manor would lose money, but when they thought about how calculating their Young Master was, they knew that he wouldn't do something silly like that. Thus, they followed his orders.
After waiting for the two to leave, Wang Juan asked questioningly, "Xiao'bao, what are you thinking of? We will lose money if we do this."
"Who said that? This time, not only will we earn money, but we will also make use of two strategies." Zhang Xiao'bao replied confidently.
"Which strategies?"
"Dispelling wolves and devouring tigers2, and killing people with a borrowed knife3. I want to announce to everyone who wants to challenge the Zhang and Wang families that the Little Bridge is not so easy to cross."
Two days later, the sky was still very clear. Song Jing'gong had bought new grains from outside, and the quantity was quite large. Fortunately, Zhang Xiao'bao was now rich so it wasn’t hard to pay the money. The process of exchanging 6,000 piculs of new grains with the local farmers began, and in the end, they obtained 9,000 piculs of old grains.
Sure enough, the price of the new grains doubled. The grain buyers signed a contract with the Zhang family, and they even hired a middleman.
The autumn harvest was not over yet in other places. The eyes of the heavens were really open this time as it didn’t rain at all this entire time. While enduring the hot temperatures, the farmers rejoiced in their hearts.
Song Jing'gong’s was quick to complete the purchases. After a day passed, more than 5,000 piculs of grain were transported to the Little Luo’shui Wharf. According to the Young Master’s instructions, Housekeeper Zhang did not sell the grains, and continued to wait until all 9,000 piculs of grains arrived.
The boss and the eleven other people stayed at the Between The Water and Clouds. Upon hearing the news, they found a larger room on the second floor and ordered a lot of good dishes to celebrate.
"Brother Liu is really good at calculating. You predicted correctly that they will buy new grains to exchange for the old grains. However, I can't figure out why they would do this?"
The boss smiled as he spoke to his ‘wisdom bank’ beside him.
"Boss, the other party also has capable people. They know that we have our eyes on their seeds. They did that because they want to make it difficult for us to advance and retreat. As long as the price of the seeds is maintained, they will not lose money. Then, the money they spent on buying the new grains can be earned back through selling the seeds, and they would be able to make a ton of profit. But unfortunately, they miscalculated. We still have another trick up our sleeves."
When ‘wisdom bank’ Liu replied to his boss, a confident look appeared on his face.
"Yes, yes, yes. What Older Brother Liu has said is right. Let them know who’s the great one. How dare they not listen to us. Don’t even think of selling a single seed." Lai’zi didn’t know about the specifics of the plan, but he still flattered him.
"Then, when will Brother Liu make your move?" The boss asked again.
"When the old grains are bought." Liu smiled maliciously.
Translator’s Notes
Ox-head and Horse-face 牛头马面
In Chinese mythology, the Ox-head and Horse-face are the two guardians of the underworld. In some stories, the Ox-head and Horse face are responsible for escorting the recently deceased to the underworld.
They have human bodies, but as their name implies, one has the head of an ox and the other has the face of a horse.
Dispelling wolves and devouring tigers 驱狼吞虎
This strategy involves pitting two different enemies against each other so that they can fight amongst themselves, while you can remain as a bystander and reap all of the benefits when the two enemies get injured/die from the fight.
Killing people with a borrowed knife 借刀杀人
This strategy involves getting someone else to help you get rid of your enemy.
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Huuh... What will Zhang Xiabao do? Hopefully it's something good
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