The sixth prince rarely had the opportunity to go out of the palace, Jinling City, the lively market, for him everywhere a sense of freshness.
The dress and tone of conversation of the men, women, and children in the market were very slightly different from that of the common people of the capital.
The vendors' voices also sounded oddly funny, saying something like, "Sweet, sweet, sweet."
The eunuch explained to the Sixth Prince in the capital's language: the vendor boasted that his oranges were so sweet that he lost his soul.
The Sixth Prince was amused by the peddler's shameless bragging, and planned to buy a few oranges to witness how sweet they were.
Pedestrian cars and sedans are congested, disguised eunuchs and guards are afraid of the prince to be disturbed, are surrounded, carefully blocking the crowd.
However, the Sixth Prince could not wait any longer, passing between the two attendants and walking quickly towards the vendor's stall.
Only three or two steps short of the time, ears suddenly heard an old man's cry of alarm, the Sixth Prince turned his head and saw a cart full of sacks, towards his own crash over!
"Your Highness ......" The eunuchs nearly shrieked out in shock.
Fortunately, the Sixth Prince reacted quickly and dodged with a spin before that cart hit him.
"Young master! Are you not hurt, young master!" The eunuch rushed forward to protect his master and turned to the old man and cursed, "You stupid fool are blind! You're in a hurry to get reincarnated! You can't even afford to pay for the lives of your entire family if you've offended our young master!"
The old man pushing the cart put down the cart, jogged up and slapped himself hard: "Little old man should be damned! Damn!"
"Eh! Old man quickly stop." The Sixth Prince hurriedly stopped the old man's palm and comforted: "It's not a big deal, it's good that I didn't bump into anyone, seeing that you have a foreign accent, are you coming all the way to Jinling to do business?"
The old man nodded and hailed back: "Your Excellency is joking, how can we talk about the sale of land, but this year's harvest is good, the family has surplus grain, so I picked the best rice, came to Jinling and sold it at a low price to the big boss of the grain store, in exchange for a few pounds of meat to go back to marinate on!"
The Sixth Prince looked curiously at his cart, and seeing dozens of sacks placed horizontally and vertically inside, he asked, "Are these all rice? How much can I get from selling it to the grain store?"
The old man said back, "I can't get a few dollars, this rice, the grain store will sell it for more than 600 wen a stone, I'll sell it to the grain store for only 500 wen!"
The Sixth Prince was puzzled, "At such a fair price, why don't you set up a stall on the street and sell it to the city folk?"
The old man said, "I've sold a lot of them along the way. The remaining so, to sell out at least seven or eight days, the city food is expensive, and there is no place to land, can only be sold at a low price to the grain store master."
Sixth Prince's eyes lit up, walked over to the cart and looked at the sack, "Open the bag and I'll see, if it's good rice, I'll take it all in and spare you the trouble of pushing the cart to catch up."
The old man was stunned, and immediately thanked him profusely for untying the sack and showing the color of the rice to the Sixth Prince: "There is nothing wrong with our family's rice! It's possible for the boss to sell it as top quality rice, look at the color!"
Sixth prince cupped a handful, take a closer look, indeed crystal clear, think this price is the grain store's price of entry, is bound to be the lowest grain price, then joyfully ordered the eunuch: "Settle with him, this car of rice and grain, I'll take it all."
*
Xue Yao had already cold-faced with the procurement eunuch and stood at the corner of the grain store, speaking in a low voice: "Since His Highness sent me and the eunuch to explore the road together, we both can't unilaterally make the decision, if you insist on not wanting the 50,000 stones of grain, we'll go back to find His Highness the Crown Prince to make a decision."
Eunuch Liu's face didn't look good anymore either, he had nearly twenty years of purchasing experience, where would he have misjudged the price of grain?
In his heart, he felt that this kid Xue Yao was too shallow, seeing a bit of cheapness, he became anxious like this, I really don't know how he could curry favor with Consort Shi and the Seventh Prince!
This trip to collect grain is a private matter of the Royal Family, otherwise it would have been directly from the grain depot to transfer grain.
One million taels are taken from the internal treasury, which is the emperor's own treasury, not linked to the state treasury, if you buy a loss, there is no place to reimburse.
Therefore, the emperor sent the inner supervisor experienced procurement eunuchs, support the crown prince, is afraid of the crown prince to buy expensive, bi this Xue Yao here to add to the chaos.
Fifty thousand stones of grain, five hundred and seventy Wen price acquisition, according to Eunuch Liu's budget, this has to be a loss of 20,000 to 30,000 silver, who can afford it?
Eunuch Liu was the Emperor's man, and Xue Yao was considered the Crown Prince's man.
Saying that they were both working for the Crown Prince, in actuality Xue Yao's voice was quite a bit less powerful than his.
Therefore, Eunuch Liu also lost patience at this moment, coldly smiled: "If you insist on buying, you will pay out of your own pocket! This price is too high, I have to go to other grain houses to explore the price, big business naturally try to do with a family, get more benefits, not here to collect a little there to collect a little reason!"
Xue Yao didn't want to bullshit him either, as long as he wasn't bent on making the refusal for the Crown Prince.
The two men split up at this point.
Xue Yao turned back and chatted with the shopkeeper for a while longer, apologizing for Eunuch Liu's abrupt and arrogant attitude and assuring him that he would convince his lordship to acquire the grain.
The shopkeeper's heart was a bit surprised, so he couldn't help but open his mouth and say, "I offer five hundred and seventy Wen, medium grain plus 20% of the top grade grain, which is almost the cost price, and to put it mildly, I intend to make friends with all of you and have frequent dealings with you in the future."
"I understand." Xue Yao knew that he was telling the truth, there really weren't many earners at this price, not to mention the fact that people were able to sell it loose at a high price.
The shopkeeper came closer and asked, "The master of the party seemed to really think the price was too high, may I ask how much grain your master is going to charge?"
Xue Yao looked at the shopkeeper and spoke seriously, "If you are sincere in making me a friend, I won't talk to you about falsehoods. The grain that our master wants to collect is estimated to be enough for two years of your bank's reserves. And it's not a one-time business, but will be collected every fall in the future. If the master sees your family's sincerity, he may designate your family's grain bank as an exclusive supplier for long-term cooperation."
The shopkeeper's eyes instantly widened!
Xue Yao smiled and took a sip of his tea.
It took a long time for the shopkeeper to come back to his senses, and after looking down for a while, he nervously looked at Xue Yao: "Thank you for revealing such a business opportunity, and I'd like to ask you to do me a favor: don't go to other grain stores to get the word out about it, I'll go to the proprietor in the morning and carefully discuss the matter! This 50,000 stone grain, the price can be discussed, we can not earn a penny to let you! I only hope that if your master collects grain next year, he will transfer more than 30% of it from our grain bank."
*
The Prince has found a suitable Jiangnan courtyard to rent.
When Xue Yao went back to report, he found that Eunuch Liu had spoken to the Crown Prince about the situation first.
After splitting up with Xue Yao, Eunuch Liu went to two grain houses.
Learning that neither family had any surplus grain in stock, Eunuch Liu returned and suggested that the Crown Prince leave for Zhejiang on the same day.
Xue Yao had wanted the Crown Prince to detach Eunuch Liu and report the emergency alone.
Nay, Eunuch Liu was the Emperor's man, and it was inconvenient for the Crown Prince to deliberately guard against it, so Xue Yao had to talk about the situation to his face.
"The Zheshang merchants rushed to collect the grain before us, most likely to inflate the price of the grain, I'm afraid that some treacherous person has stabbed out the news that we need to collect a large amount of grain." Xue Yao honestly stated his guess.
Prince heard the news after the face is not different, apparently from Eunuch Liu got the news in advance.
Sure enough, Eunuch Liu immediately laughed and said, "Your Highness, look, this little son of a gun gave a fright, in the future for Your Highness to do things, he still need to be more honed and honed ah."
Xue Yao guessed that he must have said something to the Crown Prince, so he asked, "What the eunuch means is that it's irrelevant for Zhe merchants to inflate grain prices?"
On Eunuch Liu's smiling face like a messiah, he revealed mockery and disdain, and cleared his throat to explain: "We have just asked other grain houses, and there is more than one Zheshang who has come to collect grain, there are at least seven of them. Even if they want to inflate the price of grain, it has to be sold out ah! Jiangnan is not as dry as the north, food more than a year to put it a few percent mold, Zheshang swallowed so much food, want to get out of the heart than we can be much more urgent, as long as they dry them out, not to mention the price of food, loss of money they have to go out!"
When Xue Yao heard this, sweat broke out on his brain.
Eunuch Liu's words were very reasonable, and he was indeed experienced.
If Xue Yao hadn't read the original, he would have believed him, no wonder the Crown Prince was fooled.
When it comes to purchasing pressure, the crown prince is completely inexperienced, the emperor sent him this eunuch is loyal and knows the doorway, so naturally he can win the trust of the crown prince.
"Things are definitely not that simple." Xue Yao raised his hand to wipe off the sweat on his forehead and looked at the Crown Prince worriedly, "Your Highness, even if the Zhejiang merchants can't inflate the price of grain, it's impossible for us to purchase medium grain at a price lower than 500 Wen, Ming Fang Grain Bank's 20% of top-grade rice and 80% of medium rice, and its willingness to give us 540 Wen is almost like not earning a single cent, so it's definitely not a loss to buy it."
"Five hundred and forty wen?" The Crown Prince turned his head to look at Eunuch Liu.
Eunuch Liu laughed and asked Xue Yao, "How did it become 540 Wen? It's another 30 cents less? See, we told you that the grain merchants would compete to make a profit, and before he was even consumed, he lowered himself by thirty wen, so if Mr. Xue is a little patient, sooner or later he'll be able to get it down to five hundred wen."
Xue Yao looked at the fat eunuch in anger: "Eunuch, this price was negotiated with the shopkeeper in good faith, not because he was trying to steal business. You've been to other grain stores, and know that the grain stores in Jinling have been emptied by Zheshang, and their stocks are just enough to sell them until next year, so who would be willing to give us 50,000 stones of grain at cost? The price they sell to the Zhejiang merchants is more expensive than this by 20 cents! Do you think that the Zhejiang merchants who stocked grain at a high price will be willing to sell it to us at a loss? Besides, whether those Zhejiang merchants or the victims can afford it! Do we have the strength to fight them?"
"You ......" Eunuch Liu was bluffed by his sentence, blushing and unable to speak.
"Well said." The Crown Prince stood up, his pair of danfeng eyes slightly smiling as he looked at Xue Yao: "You are young, but your thinking is very thoughtful, I believe in your judgment, go and collect the silver, and bring someone to fetch the 50,000 stones of grain."
Eunuch Liu unwillingly tried to dissuade, "Your Highness ......"
"Thank you, Your Highness, for your trust!" Xue Yao bowed to receive the order, and just as he turned around, he saw the Sixth Prince rushing into the hall with a delighted face.
"Big brother! Big brother! Look what I've bought!" The Sixth Prince turned around and beckoned sharply for his attendants to bring in the low-priced grain he had bought, and told the Crown Prince joyfully, "There are a total of thirty bags of medium-grade rice here, which sells for six hundred and fifty wen in the marketplace, and you guess how much I only spent?"
Prince which look on the district 30 bags of rice, but also do not want to spoil the sixth brother interest, so pretend to be curious with: "How much?"
"Take a guess!" The Sixth Prince was smug.
The Prince smiled helplessly and casually said, "Six hundred wen?"
"More!" The Sixth Prince was so happy he was about to shake his little tail.
"More?" The Crown Prince became impressed with his sixth brother's ability to pay back the price, "Five hundred and eighty wen?"
It couldn't be lower than the price Xue Yao had managed to negotiate, could it?
The Sixth Prince couldn't wait to reveal the truth: "Just five hundred wen!"
The hall was silent at the words.
The Crown Prince didn't expect Sixth Brother to buy grain at a lower price than Xue Yao.
Due to etiquette and manners, the Crown Prince did not bother to look at Xue Yao's complexion.
Eunuch Liu, however, "snorted" a laugh, quietly mocked: "It seems, Zhejiang side of the price, but also have to our Sixth Prince of His Highness to negotiate the price!"
Xue Yao's face turned blue in disbelief as he went up to ask the Sixth Prince, "Where did Your Highness buy such low-priced grain from?"
Sixth prince can't help but open his mouth with joy: "It's also my good luck, walking in the market, a cart froze and crashed into me, good thing I avoided it. Haha, guess what, this cart is loaded with rice, foreign farmers rushed to Jinling, intending to sell rice at a low price to the grain store. I think since he sold to the grain store, it must be cheaper than the price of the grain store resale, simply hijacked the road to take it all!"
"Aiya!" Eunuch Liu clapped his hands and exclaimed, "His Highness the Sixth Prince is indeed blessed! The price of five hundred Wen is indeed the most suitable!"
Xue Yao had a dizzy spell before his eyes, looking at the Sixth Prince, then at the Crown Prince, and finally sweeping his gaze towards the grain that the Sixth Prince had bought back.
The Prince was just about to open his mouth to speak, when Xue Yao suddenly rushed over to the grain side and squatted down, undoing the sack ties, grabbing a handful of rice in the bag, and taking a closer look at it in the light.
Eunuch Liu knew that he was skeptical about the quality of the rice, and immediately went up to look at it together, while later triumphantly saying, "It's really medium rice!"
The Sixth Prince smiled at Xue Yao, "Don't worry, I just decided to buy them all after inspecting them!"
Xue Yao didn't reply, and as if he was crazy, he frantically barraged the rice in the bag, and then suddenly stood up again, anxiously looking around as if he was searching for something.
"Ah Yao?" The Sixth Prince saw that his face didn't look right and suspiciously walked forward with concern, "What's wrong with you?"
Xue Yao waved his hand, holding a breath in his chest, unable to speak, turned around and grabbed a tea bowl on the coffee table, "clang" fell to the ground.
"What are you going to do!" Eunuch Liu was stunned by him.
The guards standing outside the hall immediately gripped their sabers and stood on alert.
Xue Yao also ignored the crown prince and sixth prince who were full of shock, bent down and picked up a piece of broken porcelain, turned around and went to bar the bottom of a bag of rice and scratched it open.
"There was a loud clatter and all the rice leaked out of the end of the bag.
The Prince looked down and actually realized that the rice flowing out of the bottom of the rice bag was completely different from the rice that had just been held out at the top.
Surprisingly, it was all blackened and moldy worm rice!
Xue Yao's chest breath finally smooth out, a butt sitting on the ground, tilted his head tired to the Sixth Prince laughed: "Your Highness, foreign farmers to transport grain to Jinling, the cost of coils do not know how many, it is impossible to have such a great bargain for us to covet, that treacherous farmers must be to see your extraordinary temperament and expensive clothing, deliberately swindling you."
The Sixth Prince instantly turned red in the face and quickly walked over, taking the porcelain piece in Xue Yao's hand and slashing the bottom of the other several bags of rice.
Sure enough, all the rice at the bottom of the sack is mixed with stone and soil insect rice moldy rice.
The Sixth Prince knew that he had been fooled, his eyes reddened with nervousness, and he turned his head to look at the Crown Prince helplessly, "Big brother ...... I ......"
"You what you? This is called all checked?" The prince at this moment but does not show the usual strict expression, jokingly raised his hand to point the sixth brother: "Whoever's words are believed, with the same as when I was a child. Fortunately did not leave you much silver, thirty bags of rice only, half of which is good, can not lose a few words, are credited to the lone account. You don't feel uncomfortable for this matter, just learn from your mistakes."
Eunuch Liu was hit in the face by Xue Yao like this, and was too embarrassed to be proud of himself, lowered his head and walked away, greeting people to carry the rice out,.
I really didn't expect that this Xue Yao really had two tricks up his sleeve, and when he heard the Sixth Prince say it, he guessed that there was a fraud in it, and he made a prompt decision to scratch the bottom of the bag.
There was really some pep in his step, not at all like a pampered seventeen year old male.