Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 62

Before Song Jing'gong sent his men, he ordered them to catch those rumor spreaders and bring them to the Magistrate. As for what crime they would be convicted with at the end, it depended on how much Prince Li Cheng'yi cared about his prefecture. It was not hard to guess that Boss Mi would not have a good outcome.

The surroundings suddenly became chaotic. Song Jing'gong immediately signalled with a glance to the person who was still counting the money. The person nodded and shouted, "The amount of money is exact."

"Boss Mi, there is no discrepancy in the amount. Let's take a look at the old grains I collected. If you think it is good, then it can be loaded onto the ship and transported away." Song Jing'gong smiled with satisfaction. He stepped forward, and spoke to Boss Mi.

At this moment, Boss Mi noticed that the surrounding situation was a bit off, but he did not want to stall, because he was afraid that with longer nights, there will be more dreams1. His goal was to get the old grains and earn a fortune while causing the Zhang family to suffer a big loss. The most important thing was to tell other people to not be afraid of the Zhang Manor and that they could join hands to lower prices.

While listening to the commotion all around, he ordered people to go to confirm that the product was grain. Nine thousand picul of grains, which was more than 400 tonnes, was not packed into sacks. It would look more tidy if it was packed into sacks. One sack could hold 100 kilogram. However, Zhang Xiao'bao was unwilling to give out nearly five thousand sacks.

Someone brought over a ladder and he climbed up and had a look around. He didn't find anything wrong, and he nodded to the Boss Mi below.

Boss Mi finally relieved his mind. As for the surrounding situation, he could only try to think of another way. He found the brokerage company's broker, who was standing on the side supervising, to get the paperworks, and he pressed his fingerprint onto it.

While waiting for Song Jing'gong to press his fingerprint, before Boss Mi had the chance to say something diplomatic sounding, Song Jing'gong asked loudly, "I wonder what Boss Mi plans to do with this much old and damaged grain? Could it be that you plan to mix it in with new grains and sell it? I advise that Boss Mi should not go down this route. Otherwise, people might die from eating it and you would not be able to afford to pay the compensation."

"Why do you care about what I plan to do?" Boss Mi did actually plan to do this. He felt angered and irritated now that Song Jing'gong said this aloud. After he said this, he could sense that the gaze the surrounding people used to look at him was abnormal. He quickly said, "Of course I won't do something like that. I genuinely want to help the commoners."

"If you say so. However, I'm still a little confused as to why Boss Mi didn't go to the various farmers' houses to collect the old grain, but instead you waited for us to buy new grain from elsewhere so that we can exchange them for old grain before you inflated the prices of new grains?" Song Jing'gong was not planning to let him go easily this time.

Boss Mi didn't expect to be questioned after buying the grains, so he didn't want to answer, but he looked at the people around him who looked at him with unkind eyes, and he was really worried about whether he could leave this place alive. He smiled forcibly.

"I'm unsure about this myself. I have been staying at the Between The Water And Clouds the entire time for the past few days. It must be that my subordinates did not get things done correctly. After I return, I will not easily spare those people. Mister Song, do you have anything else to say?"

Song Jing'gong shook his head slightly. The person that was once standing next to him was now standing on the top floor of a restaurant. He was holding a tube made of iron sheet in his hand, and the tube had one big end and one small end. The small end was placed in front of his mouth and he shouted,

After this person shouted this out, many people started yelling. Some said that the Zhang Manor was black-hearted, and some said that they lost money after buying it. At this time, the people arranged by Song Jing'gong played a role again. While standing in the crowd, they said since the prices of grains have gone up, how could money be lost once the seeds are purchased? If they wanted to hold someone accountable, then they should go find Boss Mi since he was the one who raised the price of grains.

When everyone heard this, they agreed. Zhang Manor bought new grains at such a high price, so why can't the price of seeds go up too? Damned Boss Mi, he does not deserve a pleasant death.

The commoners did nothing more than yell out a few curse words since they might not even buy the seeds. Those people from other grain shops were different from the commoners; they were so angered that their jaws hurt from gritting their teeth. They didn't know if they should hate the Zhang and Wang manors or hate Boss Mi.

If they hated the Zhang and Wang manors, they felt like this hatred was a bit illogical.They didn't buy it when the price did not increase because they wanted to watch drama unfold between the Zhang manor and Boss Mi. They were looking forward to Boss Mi tricking the Zhang manor so that they could suppress the cost of grains. However, the Zhang Manor's reasoning was right; the prices of grains went up, so the prices of seeds should go up too.

If they investigated further, it was Boss Mi who deliberately drove up grain prices. Given that this was the time of the disaster, what intentions do they harbor for doubling the price? On the other hand, the Zhang and Wang manors exchanged their new grains for old grains at a low price.

However, they also felt that the reason for hating Boss Mi was still too weak. They secretly supported him. When the Zhang and Wang families' people went to their grain shops here, they ordered everyone to declare that there were no more grains in the shops. It was already really good if the Zhang and Wang manors didn't hate them. Look, now the price has risen, and it was raised because of them.

"Boss Jin, do you see it now? That manor is not easy to deal with. The more you pressure them, the more they resist. In just one go, the price increased by half." A person from a grain shop said to Boss Jin. The others regretted a little and nodded one after another.

Boss Jin thought for a while, then he sneered and said, "There's nothing to be afraid of. This is already their last resort. If they want to die while standing upright, then let them. We can join hands and choose not to ship grains here. There are many civilians here. I don't believe they would be willing to turn seeds into food, would they?"

"Hmm, Boss Jin is right. No matter what, they completely lost to Boss Mi this time. They don't seem very competent anyways. We shouldn't be scared of them." The other person added in.

The merchants nodded in agreement again, but before they finished nodding their heads, loud crashing noises were heard from the grain piles over there. One pile crashed down. To be precise, someone slashed the straw mats that were holding up the piles, and the piles splattered outwards.

"Mister Song, what are you doing?" Boss Mi and the surrounding commoners were taken aback. Fortunately, earlier before, people stopped them from getting close to the grains.

Song Jing'gong explained in a loud voice with an innocent look on his face. Boss Mi almost didn't vomit blood. How much money is a mat worth? Your manor lost money because of the grains, but is this wharf just a decoration? How many ships are going in and out every day?

"You, you, you. Good, very good. Ha. Ha. Besides being able to do this, what else can you do to recover your losses?" Boss Mi was shaking with anger. Wisdom-bank Liu calmed him with a few words, and he finally eased down a bit. The grains were just sullied with dirt and sand. This was perfect. They could weigh it with the grains when they sold it later.

He pointed to Song Jing'gong with his finger as he spoke. Boss Mi then planned to get people to find sacks for the grains.

Song Jing'gong spoke up again at this time, "Boss Mi, I did lose a lot. I felt distressed when I exchanged with others for old grains. It was hard to believe that such good new grains were exchanged for nearly eight thousand piculs of moldy grains. However, all is good now since Boss Mi bought all of the old grains from me. After all of the grains are placed into sacks, I'll treat Boss Mi to dinner at The First Near Water. Don't be polite."

"What? What eight thousand picul? Moldy?" Boss Mi was stunned by this and he asked puzzledly.

Wisdom-bank Liu, who was standing next to him, changed his complexion. He hurried to the scattered pile of grains, and he climbed to the place where it should be in the middle of the pile. He vigorously dug with his hands. After digging around for a bit, he was shocked senseless. He ran to the next one and dug around for a while. He turned his head and shouted at Song Jing'gong,

"Song Jing'gong, how could you do something like this? This grain is moldy already. Pay us back. Where's the documents? Where's the broker? The grains that Song Jing'gong sold to us are moldy."

While speaking, he ran towards Boss Mi. The documents were still with Boss Mi.

Song Jing'gong frowned. "What are you shouting for? It says in the document, old damaged grain'. You don't know what damaged' means? It was never good grains to begin with. How could you expect this grain to be the same as new grain? Why else would my manor exchange new grains for the commoners' old grains then?"

As Song Jing'gong said this, he was laughing secretly in his heart. The Young Master was too amazing. He got to people to sprinkle wine onto the grain just when the old grains were obtained. The days were so hot, so it would be weird if the piles of grains didn't grow mouldy. Only the amount collected on the last day was placed on the outside of the piles. In order to make the grains grow moldy faster, they also found a lot of rotten grass roots. You want to buy it? This is what you get for buying it.

At this time, Wisdom-bank Liu had opened the document and looked at it. It really was old damaged grains. The broker also came over and explained to Wisdom-bank Liu and Boss Mi that the Zhang family's document was correct. It didn't say good old grains. Otherwise, why would they exchange it?

Those grain merchants who were thinking of teaming up against the Zhang and Wang manors suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. The Zhang and Wang manors were really too harsh, weren't they? They also knew how to make grains moldy, but they did not expect that they would use this method this time.

Boss Jin swallowed back down two mouthfuls of saliva. He blinked his eyes again, looked around, and said, "It's better to wait. Everyone, let's wait. Let's go to the Zhang Manor to ask and discuss the price. Isn't this better?"

Everyone nodded together. They were frightened by the Zhang family's fierce and harsh tactics. Boss Mi won't be able to earn enough money from the grains to even cover the cost of shipping the grains away. Looking at the eyes of the surrounding ship owners, it was obvious that no discounts would be given.

At this moment, a few people stepped out from the crowd. One of them was wearing brocade clothes and embroidered trousers. He said to Boss Mi, "Boss Mi doesn't need to be like this. I have a grudge against the Zhang manor. It's better if you sell me these old grains. I'll give you a hundred taels of silver. I'll save your pride by telling others I bought it for a thousand taels. When the time comes, I'll give you a hundred taels. Later, we will discuss how to fight the Zhang Manor together."

"Re---really? You're willing to buy things that you can't even earn enough to pay for shipping?" Boss Mi seemed to have found hope. Indeed, as this person said, his pride would be saved.

"Yeah. I won't spare the Zhang Manor." Only Song Jing'gong and Magistrate Cheng knew this person. He was a person beside Zhou Xi'hu's uncle. He spoke confidently while appearing to gnash his teeth.

Song Jing'gong turned his head quickly to prevent people from seeing that he was holding back a smile.

Translator's Notes

1. With longer nights, there will be more dreams

This means that when a situation is prolonged, there's a higher chance that unfavorable problems would arise.

2. Brokerage company's broker

The concept of brokerage company'( ya'kuai) existed since the Western Zhou Dynasty (~1046-771 BCE). Brokers must be approved by the government and they are responsible for acting as the middleman for business transactions. Responsibilities include representing their customers to pay the taxes involved in business sales, negotiate with potential buyers, store and ship products, and many more.