Chapter 1584: People's hearts are rising

Cao Wendao stroked his chin and pondered. That ghost-faced monkey was too ugly; ordinary people wouldn't want to look at it twice, so they would probably ignore the fact that its body proportions weren't actually very coordinated—its hind limbs were a bit longer than its peers', and the toes on its feet were one less than normal apes. These were extremely subtle characteristics that only a demon puppet master like Cao Wendao could see at a glance; ordinary people might not discover them even if they stared at the Ghost Ape for a quarter of an hour.

Was this a congenital disability or an acquired modification?

Because it was just a hurried glance with the beetles, Cao Wendao found it difficult to judge for a moment.

Hmm, further observation was needed; it would be best to provoke it.

As for that sharp-mouthed bat, it didn't look like an ordinary demon either; the beetles were very unwilling to get close to it, which was a natural opposition.

He muttered: "Seven percent."

The disciples didn't hear clearly: "What did you say?"

Cao Wendao didn't make a sound. He was 70% sure that the ape and the bat were demon puppets, and Wei Yishan was a demon puppet master.

"Conversely, if Wei Yishan really is a demon puppet master—" his eyes flickered, "—besides us, how many demon puppet masters are there in this Flash Gold Plain?"

The disciples said: "Never heard of any."

They had followed their master to the Flash Gold Plain and had never seen any other demon puppet masters; there shouldn't have been any in this land originally.

But Cao Wendao, as the Master of Red Cottage, had always suspected that there was a demon puppet master in the Nine Nether Great Emperor's Black Armor Army; otherwise, how could they have taken away his Hinge-Tailed Tiger and Woodlouse Porcupine, and transported them to the Yao Nation without anyone knowing?

Demon puppet masters were such a rare profession; they hadn't been seen for ten years, and suddenly two popped up within a year, both in the middle of the Flash Gold Plain—was that possible? Could it be? Cao Wendao couldn't help but stand up and pace back and forth.

If one were to present facts and reason, this thought didn't have a shred of evidence to support it.

However, if Wei Yishan really was a demon puppet master in the Black Armor Army, he was the last person to see Xiao An! Demon puppet bodies are unstable and have short lifespans. Calculating from the time, Xiao An was either dead or in a dying state by now. One of the most important tasks Cao Wendao had on hand was to record the entire process from her life to her death.

Could he obtain this precious data from Wei Yishan?

Thinking of this, he became restless.

￥￥￥￥￥

The undercurrents in the folk finally transmitted the waves to the upper echelons of the Yao Nation.

After grain prices rose, officials reported it, but the King of Yao was busy with the new expansion of Heaven Water City and didn't take it too seriously, only signing an opinion of "officials at all levels of the Ministry of Revenue to assist" and distributing it.

Which year didn't have a few ups and downs in grain prices? Besides, the official granaries exchanging grain in large quantities would naturally cause some fluctuations in grain prices; it was the same in previous years.

Other countries in the Flash Gold Plain collected land tax directly in grain. But the transportation and storage of grain were inconvenient, and some farmers lived in the distant suburbs, making collection particularly troublesome.

The Yao Nation's economy was developed, and it held several large silver mines itself, so it had long implemented land tax conversion to silver, meaning the land tax of the people could be paid in current silver. The official side received silver and bought whatever they needed—silk, grain, weapons...

Although this practice greatly simplified the intermediate links and was convenient for both the official side and the people, it also derived a problem: what the official side received directly wasn't grain.

To get grain, they had to take silver and buy it from specialized grain merchants and landlords. In previous years, this chain was very smooth.

Of course, the Yao Nation also had public fields, but the quantity was limited, and the grain grown wouldn't circulate in the market and wouldn't end up on the tables of ordinary people.

The problem caused by this was that now the grain in the public granaries wasn't enough either!

Don't forget, autumn was the season for public granaries to exchange grain. According to regulations, they had to sell old grain while buying new grain.

But since it was mentioned as "according to regulations," the result was mostly not following regulations.

The grain in the public granaries was mostly sold a step early, so as not to be suppressed in price when the new grain hit the market. Where the profits in between went, He Lingchuan naturally knew clearly—

He was one of the participants.

But this wouldn't be reflected in the report. According to the reports in the hands of the Yao King's Court, the quantity of grain in the public granaries hadn't changed much, so the King of Yao wasn't panicked.

It wasn't until reports came from all over that the local authorities couldn't collect grain that the Yao King's Court sensed something was wrong. It was clearly a season of bumper harvest, so why couldn't the granaries collect grain?

Investigate! Upon investigation, eh, some forces were purchasing grain in large quantities, buying so much and so fiercely, it was just like a bottomless pit. Grain merchants and landlords had just collected grain from the farmers, and turned around to sell it to these forces at a higher price.

The official side was more than one step slow.

By the time the local authorities offered a price, sorry, the landlord's family had no surplus grain either, and they couldn't collect much.

Actually, this matter had to be blamed on the King of Yao himself. In the past, when the Yao Nation collected grain, they would set a base number with grain firms and merchants half a year in advance, with fixed prices and quantities, called "base grain." Once the bumper harvest season arrived, grain merchants and firms had to hand over enough base grain to the official side according to the agreement, and only then could the surplus grain be sold in the market.

Doing so prioritized ensuring sufficient grain in the public granaries, but it also brought a problem: setting the grain price half a year in advance meant the price was too far from the market.

The official procurement volume was large, and if the price was set too high, the national treasury would suffer a huge loss.

The Yao Nation had had bumper harvests for many years in a row, and every time the bumper harvest season arrived, grain prices were cheaper day by day, but the public granaries had to purchase at the price set half a year ago, which was much higher than the market price. Until He Lingchuan offered advice to the King of Yao, the national treasury was in a state of loss, and they had to buy high-priced grain every year, which made the King of Yao unhappy.

Moreover, if the grain procurement plan was advanced, there was a lot of room for operation, and many people profited from it.

And if the price was set too low, the grain merchants were unhappy after suffering a loss, clearly so much grain could be sold in the market for more profit, so naturally, some people went to lobby the King of Yao.

So the King of Yao personally changed the grain collection system, only setting a base price. In a bumper year, if the market grain price was lower than the base price, it would be collected at the market price; if the market grain price was higher than the base price, it would be collected at the base price.

The quantity of grain collected depended on the needs of the public granaries.

In a lean year, they would still collect grain according to the old system, with fixed quantities and prices.

This sounded unreasonable, but the Yao Nation had bumper harvests year after year, and grain was abundant; the collection volume of the public granaries was almost fixed, only for normal new-old rotation. Even if the base price was a bit lower than the market price, grain merchants still had surplus grain to make a fortune.

But this set of methods could work, established on one foundation: abundance.

When grain was abundant, playing like this was fine, and it could also save money for the national treasury.

But if grain prices suddenly rose, and rose quite fiercely, how could grain merchants still be willing to sell grain to the public granaries at the base price?

This year was another bumper harvest year, but when the official side went to buy, the answer was always that there was no grain.

Where was the grain?

It had long been bought up by others. Who told you not to set the purchase in advance? Just at this time, the entire King's Court's mind, the entire Heaven Water City's mind, was placed on the vigorous expansion of the capital, on the constantly rising New City residential land, on how to get a share of it, missing the best intervention period.

By the time people reacted, they discovered that it wasn't just grain, even vinegar, wine, and spices had risen in price! Vinegar and wine were brewed from grain; if the raw materials rose, could they not follow? As for the spice market, it had always been supplied stably, but this time, for some reason, common spices were also rising in price day by day.

The Yao Nation was a country of spices; commoners couldn't swallow their food without this stuff, and their happiness plummeted.

Grain and seasonings rose in price, could labor not follow? If labor rose, and ingredients rose, could the prices in restaurants not rise? Within a short half-month, prices were rising everywhere in Heaven Water City.

And the trend of rising prices also spread rapidly from Heaven Water City to other regions of the Yao Nation.

The Yao King's Court made two responses: first, investigate where the grain had gone.

Second, activate the leveling granaries in the public granaries to release grain to the market.

Leveling granaries were equivalent to the Ever-Normal Granaries He Lingchuan was familiar with; collecting grain in bumper years to avoid low grain prices hurting farmers, and releasing grain in lean years to avoid high grain prices hurting the people; logically, they had a regulatory effect on grain prices in the market.

This was another "logically," because interested people all knew that now, there was probably no grain in the leveling granaries either! Although there was He Lingchuan's contribution here, the grain purchased by the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce from the Yao Nation was limited after all, far less than the few forces that were frantically acquiring materials in secret.

But relying on these few forces alone, it wasn't enough to buy up all the grain in the market. After all, the Yao Nation had had bumper harvests for several years in a row.

Only when the Yao people all entered the game would this evolve into an unprecedentedly fierce crisis!

When Fan Shuang arrived, it happened to be mealtime at Spring Gushing Shanzhuang, and He Lingchuan immediately invited him to eat together.

The rice, flour, and oil used by Spring Gushing Shanzhuang were the best, and the vegetables and fruits were fresh. As soon as Fan Shuang scooped up a mouthful of rice, he said: "Huo, this good rice you're eating is now 50 wen a jin outside!"

"Is it enough at home?" He Lingchuan was always generous to friends. "I have plenty here; I'll have someone bring you a hundred jin."

The Fan family had few people, so a hundred jin was enough to eat for a while.

"Enough, enough. My family happened to buy more from the farm a few days ago." Fan Shuang was puzzled. "Strange thing, this year was clearly a bumper harvest, but grain prices have been rising instead of falling from the beginning, and I don't know why."

"Someone is taking the lead in speculation." He Lingchuan cut a piece of braised mutton with a small knife to eat. "You heard that grain prices were going to rise a few days ago, right?"

Such a dish used a full eleven kinds of spices, fresh, tender, and juicy, unforgettable, yet without overshadowing the original taste of the mutton. The Yao Nation's use of spices formed a system of its own and couldn't be eaten outside the Flash Gold Plain.

"Ah, yes, it's been spreading for a while."

"If they say it can rise, it can rise; this trend has already been whipped up." He Lingchuan didn't raise his head. "The most intuitive example is the Heaven Water City expansion; the higher-ups said it could rise, and it really rose. It shows that people's hearts are rising."

The trend was brought bad by him. Everyone already knew that as long as they planned properly, some things could rise to the sky.

Whose mind wasn't active?

"Now there are rumors that grain can rise; what do you think grain merchants and grain shops will do?"

"Hoarding grain and refusing to sell?"

"Regardless of whether it's true or false, hoard it first." He Lingchuan laughed. "Everyone hoards, and what wasn't rising before is now rising, and it will rise higher and higher!" ===== CHAPTER 1585 =====