Chapter 20

The intention was too obvious.

But she was also somewhat worried that Gao Yang's idea of lowering grain prices today would likely fall through.

Lin Lao bowed, neither humble nor arrogant. "Censor Gao may not know, but Jiangcheng has been hit by heavy rains, destroying all the fertile fields, leading to refugees everywhere and commoners with no grain to eat. We are truly heartbroken."

"During this period, we have been distributing porridge continuously and have even taken out large sums of silver for disaster relief. Now, we are already operating at a loss!"

Seeing Lin Lao speak, the other three family heads echoed him repeatedly. "Da Qian has suffered continuous natural disasters these past few years, and the commoners are living in misery. As local wealthy gentry, loved by the commoners of this region, how could we sit idly by? But after being so generous, we are already running out of grain!"

"With Censor Gao's arrival, our pressure has lessened quite a bit!"

These words made Du Jiang want to flick his sleeves and leave.

Too shameless!

The residences of these major families were extremely prosperous, not even inferior to the Duke Prefecture in Changancheng, and they kept hundreds of people in their households. If they had just taken out the grain they were hoarding, the commoners of Jiangcheng would not be without grain to eat!

Shameless!

These merchants were truly damnable!

Du Jiang was about to explode with anger.

But Gao Yang did not show the slightest anger.

He just said faintly, "The four family heads have noble character and compassionate hearts; Gao Yang admires you!"

"It is just that I have been appointed by the Empress to take over all affairs in Jiangcheng, large and small."

Lin Lao realized something and looked at the other three, taking the lead to say, "Since the Censor has arrived in Jiangcheng, our Lin family must show sincerity. We are willing to lower the price by five wen and sell grain at a loss!"

"The Qian family as well!"

"The Zhao family as well!"

"The Han family as well!"

The few of them wore expressions of gritting their teeth, as if they had suffered a huge loss.

Du Jiang was not surprised at all; no one knew the faces of these wealthy merchants better than he did.

Gao Yang shook his head.

"Lowering it by five wen?"

Lin Lao's expression was ugly; he had not expected Gao Yang's appetite to be so large.

Lowering the price of grain by five wen per dou meant tens of thousands of taels of silver down the drain!

"Eight wen!"

"What does the Censor think?"

Lin Lao said in a deep voice.

Gao Yang continued to shake his head.

Hiss!

The expressions of the four major grain merchants turned extremely ugly!

This Gao Yang was forcing them to tear off their masks!

Du Jiang looked at Gao Yang with a cold sneer; this was not much different from what he had expected!

He wanted to see what Gao Yang would do!

Just as Lin Lao was about to flick his sleeves and leave, Gao Yang said coldly, "I want the grain in your hands to be raised to one hundred and fifty wen per dou. Only higher is allowed, not lower. Whoever dares to sell grain for less than one hundred and fifty wen per dou, I will behead them!" ===== CHAPTER 22 =====