diymy Chapter 53: The Top-Ranked Brother Gives Away Perks!
Chapter 53: The Top-Ranked Brother Gives Away Perks!
This is like a windfall!
When this order was issued, merchants all over the land went crazy.
What's the most valuable thing these days?
Food!
Especially in the north, where natural disasters are frequent.
Food is hard currency, even more effective than gold!
Is Qingzhou now giving away grain for free?
What are we waiting for? Let's go!
For a time, caravans were constantly coming and going on the official road leading to Qingzhou.
Merchants from Jingzhou, Yizhou, Yangzhou, and even the Western Regions and Liaodong.
They pulled carts loaded with pig iron, furs, and medicinal herbs, and drove herds of warhorses and oxen.
They surged towards Linzi like a tide.
Mi Zhu, a major grain merchant from Jingzhou, also arrived.
He originally came to Qingzhou hoping to make a fortune.
He heard that Qingzhou was short of grain, so he specially bought a large amount of old grain from Jingzhou at a low price, intending to transport it to Qingzhou and sell it at a high price.
They ruthlessly fleeced Li Zhao.
However, he was dumbfounded as soon as his caravan entered Qingzhou territory.
The post stations along the official road were surprisingly serving hot white rice porridge and large white steamed buns for free!
Eat as much as you want! All you can eat!
His men, who had brought him, were all eating with gusto and didn't want to leave.
Mi Zhu's heart skipped a beat.
It seems that Qingzhou has no shortage of food?
When he arrived in Linzi, he entered that magnificent grain trading center.
He was utterly desperate.
The huge trading hall was bustling with noise.
On several large blackboards, someone was constantly updating today's grain prices.
A peck of rice... ten coins!
Mi Zhu rubbed his eyes, thinking he had misread it.
Ten coins?
In Jingzhou, you can't even buy a bushel of chaff!
You can actually buy top-quality white rice here?
He walked up to a stall, grabbed a handful of rice, and looked at it.
The grains are plump, crystal clear, and free of any impurities.
Absolutely the best of the best!
"How much is this rice?" Mi Zhu asked, unwilling to give up.
The stall owner was a warm-hearted woman from Qingzhou.
"Ten coins per bushel! How much do you want, sir? The more you buy, the cheaper it gets!"
Mi Zhu felt a sudden dizziness.
It’s over.
The truckloads of old grain he brought won't even cover the transportation costs.
Just then, on the high platform in the center of the hall.
Li Zhao emerged, surrounded by a group of officials.
He was dressed in a brocade robe and had an extraordinary bearing.
He looked at the dumbfounded out-of-town businessmen below the stage and a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Dear customers, you have come from afar. Thank you for your hard work."
Li Zhao's voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly throughout the entire venue.
"I know that many of you come to Qingzhou to make your fortune."
"That's good. Qingzhou welcomes all law-abiding merchants."
He pointed to the mountains of grain samples piled up around him.
"I also know that many of you brought food with you."
"I want to sell it for a good price in Qingzhou."
"However, I regret to inform you."
Li Zhao paused for a moment, his tone carrying a hint of Versailles-like helplessness.
"In my Qingzhou."
"Food is the cheapest thing."
The audience erupted in uproar.
Is grain the least valuable commodity?
Only Li Zhao would dare to say such a thing.
If it were any other feudal lord, they would probably be drowned in spittle.
But in Qingzhou, that's the reality.
Mi Zhu looked at the young prime minister on the stage, his heart filled with bitterness.
He knew that he was completely finished this time.
This is hardly a grain trading center!
This is practically Li Zhao's center for flaunting his wealth!
Li Zhao's move into "grain foreign trade" had a huge chain reaction.
First, the price system in the surrounding states and counties completely collapsed.
Large quantities of grain flowed out of Qingzhou at low prices.
It impacted the grain markets in Yanzhou, Jizhou, Xuzhou and other places.
Those grain merchants who hoarded and speculated on grain went bankrupt instantly.
With grain prices plummeting, people are finally able to have enough to eat.
This undoubtedly won over the hearts and minds of the people.
Everyone says that Prefect Li of Qingzhou is a living bodhisattva who came to save people from suffering.
Secondly, Qingzhou absorbed a massive amount of strategic materials.
Merchants, eager to double their profits, frantically transported pig iron, warhorses, oxen, furs, and other goods from various regions to Qingzhou.
In just a few months.
In Qingzhou's treasury, pig iron was piled up like mountains, enough to forge equipment for an army of 100,000.
In the horse farm, warhorses gallop, and the cavalry force can be doubled at any time.
In the fields, oxen are everywhere, greatly improving agricultural productivity.
Qingzhou's overall national strength has reached a new level without anyone realizing it.
more importantly.
Li Zhao established a financial system based on grain by issuing "grain coupons".
Because Qingzhou grain has a very high credibility, backed by more than five million shi of stored grain, its credibility is quite high.
Grain coupons quickly became a common form of hard currency in various prefectures and counties in the north.
People even preferred to hold food stamps rather than heavy copper coins.
Because grain coupons could be exchanged for real grain in Qingzhou at any time.
This means that Li Zhao has control over the issuance of currency in the north!
He can use this system to reap wealth from all over the world at will.
Although Yuan Shao and Cao Cao saw through the trick, they were helpless.
They can't possibly forbid merchants from doing business in Qingzhou, can they?
That would only make their economy more depressed.
Moreover, they were secretly exchanging supplies for food in Qingzhou.
After all, the army needs to eat!
……
Li Zhao's "grain trade war" caused Yuan Shao and Cao Cao great distress.
Especially Yuan Shao.
The economy of Jizhou was already sluggish, and the impact of low-priced grain from Qingzhou made things even worse.
Many local grain merchants went bankrupt, and people flocked to exchange their belongings for grain coupons in Qingzhou.
A "cash shortage" has unexpectedly appeared in the markets of Jizhou.
Meanwhile, Yuan Shao's army was also facing a crisis of running out of food.
In order to maintain the army's expenses, Yuan Shao had no choice but to increase taxes again and even condone his generals to plunder the people.
In Jizhou, the people were living in misery.
This day.
Chunyu Qiong was a general under Yuan Shao.
He was ordered to lead 5,000 troops to garrison on the border of Qinghai and Hebei.
His mission was to defend against an attack by the Qingzhou army.
However, his troops had been without food for three days.
The soldiers were so hungry their eyes were practically glowing green, and their morale was low.
Chunyu Qiong himself was so hungry that his stomach was practically sticking to his back.
He looked at the busy Qingzhou Straight Road not far away.
Caravans laden with goods were shuttling back and forth above.
Those caravans must have had grain!
A glint of greedy malice flashed in Chunyu Qiong's eyes.
"Damn it! A living person can't be killed by holding their pee!"
Chunyu Qiong cursed.
"Brothers! Cheer up!"
"There's food up ahead! Let's go rob the hell out of there!"
"We've looted the food! We're eating meat tonight!"
The starving soldiers perked up immediately upon hearing that there was food.
They roared and followed Chunyu Qiong down the hillside.
They headed straight for a caravan that was on its way.
This caravan was an official caravan from Qingzhou.
They had just purchased a batch of pig iron from Jizhou and were preparing to transport it back to Linzi.
He was accompanied by only a little over a hundred guards.
Facing five thousand fierce Yuan troops.
The guards were completely unable to resist.
Soon, the caravan was completely looted.
Pig iron was thrown everywhere.
The caravan's provisions and valuables were all robbed by Yuan's army.
Even the mules and horses pulling the carts were slaughtered on the spot and became delicacies for Yuan's army.
Chunyu Qiong sat on a large cart, gnawing on a half-cooked horse leg, looking quite pleased with himself.
"Haha! That felt great!"
"Qingzhou is really lucrative!"
"Pass down the order! We're setting up camp here!"
"Let's keep grabbing them tomorrow!"
He felt that he had found a way to make money.