Originally, it should’ve been impossible for Shi Wuduan and his people to secretly raise the price of grain.
The reason was, regardless of whether it was stolen or redistributed from somewhere else, part of the grain in the northwest markets didn’t belong to private grain merchants, but the court. The first thing General Zhang did after taking up his post was to order officials of every rank to strictly control the price of grain and behead anyone who dared to try raising its price without permission.
For the sake of the people, General Zhang, even though people mocked that he was a “robber general,” still vigilantly secured Huanghu Ridge. But not everyone was working for the sake of the people.
In Puqing’s reign, before the court’s grain reached the people’s hands, it would first pass through layers and layers of officials, such as “trough officials,” who were responsible for transporting grain, as well as the registrar of the local granary, who was responsible for checking and securing the grain, and usually held concurrent post as a local official. How to set the price, how to control it, the court managed it all — no one could go against General Zhang’s order.
Though, just because their superiors ordered it… didn’t mean the subordinates had to follow it.
The northwest wasn’t a cash cow, but it was still possible to squeeze a drop of oil from a soybean. It was very simple to use the court’s registrars against Zhang Zhixian — they’d add things into the grains. It wasn’t obvious from outside, but if one took a scoop, they’d find that there was sand and gravel mixed in. There was a trick to knowing how much to mix in; it was proportional to the private merchants’ price hikes. At any rate, no one was getting off lightly.
Zhang Zhixian didn’t know any of this was going on. He had never done this kind of work, and thus didn’t have the necessary acuity or experience. His colleague Zou Yanlai was still going at it with the Redscarf Army down at the Min River, and his senior, Yan Zhen, had his own problems to worry about. None of his underlings would help him out — after all, the bureaucrats looked out for each other. Everyone was benefiting from it, so who would go and smash anyone else’s rice bowl?
Xia Duanfang was busy spreading rumors all over, hiring carts all around the city, sending people to ask around the city about the storehouses that the rich merchant had rented at the last minute… at any rate, everyone was scurrying about, kicking up a ruckus. Even he himself almost thought the rumors were true. It was like a signal to those rich merchants, so fat they’d drip oil when they jiggled — flies were always attracted by putrid smells, as long as they shat their bullshit the right way, they’d take the bait for sure.
Sometimes, he’d ponder on a matter, and think he was very reasonable.
How difficult was rebellion, really?
The smallest breeze could become a gale; only when a dynasty was on the verge of collapse, would heroes of all backgrounds emerge. These people were merely farmers, butchers, yet the court had generations worth of prodigious scholars and warriors, each one of them elegant and debonair, skilled and capable.
How had they won against them?
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
At first, Xia Duanfang thought that it was because the court was rotten from the roots, that all those nobles and ministers were just spineless bums. But later, he learned of Yan Zhen, learned of Zou Yanlai. He’d personally faced off against Puqing’s generals, even the elites of the great sects, and found that in truth, their spines were sturdy indeed. Even their own Shi Wuduan also counted as having a “lofty” background — the last disciple of the Xuan Sect’s previous sect leader. If his shifu was still alive, then it was really up in the air, which bench Shi Wuduan’s buttocks would be sitting on.
Rbk, Wlj Gejcojcu ecvfgrabbv. Pa kjr yfmjerf jii atfrf gfyfir tjv oegs lc atflg tfjgar; cba atf xlcv bo oegs atja wjvf bcf rtjxf atflg olra jcv gbjg ja atf tfjnfcr, yea atf xlcv bo oegs atja, ecvfg ibcu sfjgr bo qgfrregf, tjv rffqfv lcab atflg yibbv jcv ybcfr. Pa wjvf fjmt bcf bo atfw gfjmt bea jcv tbbx jgwr klat atflg mbwqjaglbar, wjgmtlcu obgkjgv ecab vfjat klat bcf jcbatfg.
As for their enemy, though they had heaps of prodigies, every one of them was trying to trip each other up.
When the eleventh month came, Shi Wuduan sent people to inform Xia Duanfang that it was about time to make their move — the brick had already been raised high into the air, now all that was left was to watch it crash into the ground.
On the fifteenth of the eleventh month, the court’s registrars found, to their horror, that those private merchants seemed to have gone insane; they were selling off vast quantities of grain. The previous rumors were instantly discredited, but the grain prices that’d been pushed up by the frenzied hoarding hadn’t lowered.
The price of grain had already reached its peak. Winter came early in the northwest. As if they’d planned it out beforehand, all the merchants began publicly decrying the court for mixing sand into their grains, ignoring the plight of the common people. The private merchants announced that, to sell their grain, they’d keep the market open for three days, so that everyone could buy enough to tide them over the winter.
It worked out like this — before Shi Wuduan and his people had infiltrated this place, one stone of grain was worth one tael and four coins, just in Longju. After they’d peddled grain to themselves for a month or two, stirring up the market, the price of private grain became two taels and one coin per stone. But after Xia Duanfang had pretended to get people to rent storehouses and prepare carts, because all the merchants, and the court’s registrars, had been hoarding grain, the price soared to four taels per stone; and there wasn’t even any quality grain left on the market.
On the fifteenth of the eleventh month, Shi Wuduan ordered people to tank the market. When the market opened, the starting price of grain was suppressed to three taels and two coins per stone. The commoners rushed about, telling others of the news. By that night, the price had already fallen back to two taels and eight coins. The next day, the court’s registrars realized what was going on, and that something bad was about to happen, but they hadn’t any way to stop it.
On the surface, the amount of grain going in and out had to be reported to Zhang Zhixian. He could secretly store a bit of grain and maybe push the price up slightly, be the one thing he couldn’t do was match the price of private merchants and eat the losses.
Otherwise, how would he explain it to the court?!
Registrars from all across the region hurriedly gathered together so that they could figure out a way to present the incident in a more pleasing light to General Zhang, who was still at the Huangpu Ridge. But when the market opened the next day, prices started to become chaotic. When the second day began, it was two taels and three coins per stone, but the buyers bought like they didn’t care about money. By the third day, part of the grains that’d been in Shi Wuduan’s hands had been snapped up by dumb registrars who’d planned to hoard it and sell it at a higher price; the rest of it had already been sold. At that moment, the price had already returned to one tael and nine coins per stone.
Shi Wuduan was like a falcon circling overhead, waiting for the moment to swoop down and hunt its prey. Any move he made was sure to strip a bloody chunk of flesh off his enemies.
Making that outrageous fortune hadn’t cost them anything at all. Shi Wuduan knew it wouldn’t remain unnoticed for much longer. Zhang Zhixian would know of it within three days, thus he quickly dispersed the money in his hands. There was a long mountain range forty li away from Longju. After Shi Wuduan had passed Huanghu Ridge in disguise, he’d not only schemed after the grain market, he’d bought off all the bandits along the way as well.
The term bandit wasn’t always appropriate. There were quite a lot of people who’d been ordinary farmers or hunters who had no choice but to take over a mountain every so often if they wanted to survive in these dangerous times. This time, the gold that’d fallen on them from out of the sky nearly knocked them silly. They instantly came to an agreement with Shi Wuduan, put on a red scarf, and cooperated with the forces in Huaizhou.
Of course — Shi Wuduan didn’t trust them.
Anyone, once they had power and people, would be so overcome by greed that they’d forget their surname. They wouldn’t even remember how many eyes or nostrils their stupid “benefactor” had.
He was merely using them to light a fire under Zhang Zhixian’s ass — once that rabble had burned up all their silver, it would be about time for that fire to die down and retreat to the shadows.
He executed his plan calmly and surely, finishing it off quickly and cleanly. The next day, he and his people disappeared from Longju city without anyone the wiser, scattering without a trace and slipping through Zhang Zhixian’s fingers.
That day, Lanre saw Shi Wuduan take out a strange map. Thin lines crisscrossed all over it, tracing out some kind of indecipherable seven-point web. When she delivered medicine for the rabbit, she saw Shi Wuduan drawing a circle around one of the points.
Shi Wuduan wasn’t afraid of her looking. After several months of gloominess, he finally smiled at her, and even spoke, “This is the first lantern. It’s already been lighted.”
Lanre was confused, but too afraid to ask. She only thought distractedly, Lord Sixth looks really good when he smiles.
However, when Shi Wuduan glanced at her, the smile faded, then vanished. He waved her off, “Tomorrow, you’ll be going along with Surveillance Commissioner Xia. No need to mind me anymore.”
In shock, Lanre blurted, “You won’t be traveling with us, Lord Sixth?”
Shi Wuduan replied, “No. You needn’t worry. I’ll bring a few people along with me. If eldest brother or Si-niang ask, don’t panic; Surveillance Commissioner Xia knows how to answer.”
Lanre stared blankly for a while, then mustered up the courage to ask, “If… if I’m not there, who’ll take look after you, Lord Sixth?”
Shi Wuduan seemed to smile in her direction, but the expression didn’t quite seem sincere. He hugged the rabbit, and after a silence, said, “I’m not a delicate person, I’m used to roughing it. All those years when there wasn’t anyone taking care of me, I got along just fine. You… you’re a good girl. Go back and follow Si-niang, she’ll arrange some good prospects for you.”
Anxious, Lanre asked, “Have I done anything wrong, Lord Sixth, to have earned your ire?”
Her eyes were red and puffy as she spoke those words, the color making her slightly upward-slanting eyes even more vibrant. As if burned by her gaze, Shi Wuduan unconsciously looked away, but ended up meeting his dying rabbit’s mysterious gaze.
A long while later, he made a gesture, but didn’t explain. He merely said, “You’re a fine young woman. You can leave.”
Then he picked up his teacup and began perusing the documents on his desk in a clear sign of dismissal.
With tears in her eyes, Lanre turned away, burying her face in her hands as she fled.
The next morning, Shi Wuduan went his separate way, accompanied by a few bodyguards. He wasn’t heading south, but east, brazenly walking right past Zhang Zhixian. He passed Changping Pass and the Wutu grasslands, stopping at the feet of Bodhi Mountain in the far north.
Bodhi Mountain — the base of the Dasheng Sect.
Despite all the medicine he fed it, his rabbit’s condition was still rapidly declining. Standing amongst the thick grass at the base of Bodhi Mountain, he cast his gaze outward and found that he couldn’t see a thing — aside from snow, there was only more snow; aside from mountains, there were only more mountains. Only when the sun alighted on Bodhi Mountain’s snowy peak did it seem so coldly and inhumanly sacred.
He sighed and placed the rabbit on the ground, hoping that the withered, ankle-length grass might wake it.
But it didn’t move. It faced east, looking at something only it could see.
No one knew that perhaps at that moment, a person clothed head to toe in snowy white, standing on a small island far out in the eastern seas, would seem to sense something, gaze towards the northwest, and hear the sound of his own heartbeat.
Translator-nim……😭😭😭… I’m terrified to read next chap as it’s the last of your updates!🤧…
That poor rabbit 🐇
💙💙💙
YOU KNOW WHAT IDC ANYMORE JUST SAVE THE RABBIT FFS IM SO SAD…. NOT THE RABBIT.