Chapter 84: Making a Move

Through the explanation of that Mr. Idiot, a Vice Bureau Director of the Ministry of Revenue surnamed Chen was bribed by the Shanxi merchants, and inadvertently told them about the grain transport matters, receiving several hundred taels as payment.

The Eight Great Shanxi merchant families had long been colluding with the Jianzhou barbarians, secretly passing intelligence, so without any hesitation they transmitted this important information to the Qing army.

At the same time the information was sent out, the Eight Great Shanxi merchants' grain shops in the capital began large-scale purchasing of grain, because they knew that once the Qing army intercepted over a million dan of tribute grain, grain in the capital would become scarce and prices would inevitably skyrocket.

With all the grain hoarded by them, grain in the capital grew scarce, outside grain could not easily enter, and grain prices naturally became theirs to set — wouldn't they rake in money hand over fist? This was what they called profiting from national calamity!

"I never expected that old fool Wen Tiren, useless as he is, has such a vicious eye — he saw through the hidden secrets here at a single glance that day." Zhu Cilang actually felt a bit of admiration for that old fool Wen Tiren's political instincts.

With everything now clear, Zhu Cilang began to prepare for action.

On this day, in the capital that had been under martial law, the gates of Yongding Gate and Chaoyang Gate were thrown wide open. Several thousand horse-drawn carts loaded with grain streamed continuously from the new city toward the capital, with the Yongwei Camp and the New Camp's force of over ten thousand troops all dispatched to protect the grain carts along the way.

Several thousand grain carts filled several of the capital's main streets. Such a shocking spectacle sent the entire city into a frenzy once more. The Eight Great Shanxi merchants still used their old trick, claiming that these were actually sand, not grain.

However, to their embarrassment, when the soldiers transporting the grain unloaded it before the eyes of the many commoners, they repeatedly "accidentally" tore open the grain sacks, and suddenly white rice spilled out everywhere.

Seeing this, the capital's commoners finally fully believed that those sacks piled up like small mountains truly contained grain!

On the same day, the Crown Prince issued an edict stating that the Zhang Family Grain Shop was an honest merchant of the Great Ming, and that this batch of grain would be sold exclusively through all of the Zhang Family Grain Shop's stores in the capital, with grain prices remaining unchanged.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang personally inscribed a plaque reading "Zhang Family Grain Shop" and bestowed it upon the establishment.

The commoners could finally rest easy, and they spread the news to one another as they hurried about. The panicked city of Beijing quickly stabilized, and people stopped their panic buying.

Zhu Cilang, in his capacity as Crown Prince, issued another edict: organized by the government, the grain merchants in the capital were to establish a Grain Merchants Association to regulate and rectify the grain shops in the capital, preventing vicious competition and arbitrary price gouging.

Zhang Dabiao unquestionably took the seat of chairman of the Grain Merchants Association. Some Huizhou merchants he had contacted beforehand joined the association first, and seeing this, other grain merchants also joined one after another — only the Eight Great Shanxi merchants refused.

Zhang Dabiao, chairman of the Grain Merchants Association, took the lead in throwing open all of his own grain warehouses, continuing large-scale sales at the previous low prices. Under his persuasion and encouragement, some Huizhou merchants responded to the Crown Prince's call and brought out their own stored grain to sell at the usual low prices.

Seeing this, the other third-party grain merchants hesitated, looking toward the Shanxi merchants.

Several Shanxi merchant families tried to take advantage of the moment to buy up the Huizhou merchants' grain at low prices, but they were watched closely by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Li Tingbiao even secretly caused trouble, having people organize commoners to blockade the Shanxi merchants' grain shops, and quietly setting fire to several of their grain warehouses.

Seeing this, the third-party grain merchants could only follow along and sell as well. Since the court had stepped in to organize the association, apart from those unlucky Shanxi merchants, few opposed it — and if they did oppose it, they feared their family grain warehouses would not be safe.

Seeing grain prices gradually falling, the Eight Great Shanxi merchants grew frantic, scattering money everywhere to find beggars to spread rumors — but after searching for a long while, they found that there was not a single beggar left in the entire capital!!

Since Zhu Cilang had mastered the full situation and had witnessed the methods of the Eight Great Shanxi merchants once, this time he had also staked all the grain and fodder seized from Liangxiang, and naturally would not permit any mishap.

He had long since issued an edict for the Shuntian Prefecture and the Five Wards Troops and Horses Office to round up and detain all the beggars in the capital, and under the banner of eliminating vice and evil, carried out a great purge of the various hoodlums throughout the city.

Zhu Cilang felt some regret — the Imperial Ming Times was still being printed and would not officially launch for a few more days. If it could be published now, he wouldn't have to go through so much trouble; he could simply blast these traitorous dogs in the newspaper!

And so, after several days of this commotion, the chaos in the capital was gradually pacified, and grain prices returned to their previous levels — even Zhu Cilang hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

Lately in the capital, people at their leisure over tea and meals all expressed admiration for the Crown Prince.

When the Chongzhen Emperor learned of this, he was overjoyed and repeatedly praised Zhu Cilang for his wisdom in sharing his father's burdens.

The Minister of Revenue Hou Xun and other ministers were even more full of praise for the Crown Prince. Seeing the Crown Prince gaining such influence, some court officials began to slowly gravitate toward him, hoping to claim merit for supporting the future sovereign.

Zhu Cilang knew this matter was far from resolved. The several hundred thousand dan of grain transported from the new city would not last long, after all — the capital's population numbered nearly a million.

The crisis in the capital's outskirts was not yet over. The grain routes into the capital could be cut off by the Qing army at any moment; only by completely driving out the Qing army could the capital's crisis be resolved.

Every time the Qing army entered the passes, they plundered for as little as one or two months, or as long as ten. This time, having intercepted a million dan of tribute grain, their logistics were even more secure.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang immediately ordered the entire Tengxiang Night Scouts to deploy and reconnoiter the movements of all Qing troops in the capital's outskirts, especially those around Tianjin, requiring them to coordinate with Zhang Fengyi's main army to seize back the Qing army's grain and cut off their supply lines.

Military operations were full of variables, and Zhu Cilang did not hold high hopes for Zhang Fengyi, so he began to prepare a second plan. His gaze first fell upon the Eight Great Shanxi merchants' stored grain in the capital.

His own grain and the Huizhou merchants' grain were insufficient, but the Shanxi merchants' hoarded grain was piled up ridiculously high. They had purchased so much grain earlier, originally planning to profiteer from the national calamity — never expecting the Huizhou merchants to ruin their scheme.

Storing up so much grain and not using it — wasn't that wasteful? Waste was shameful! Comrade Zhu Cilang had always been frugal and abhorred such shameful behavior. Therefore, he decided to confiscate the Eight Great Shanxi merchants' grain warehouses in the capital and donate the assets to the nation!

Zhu Cilang began scheming against this group of Shanxi merchants. He specially set aside time to have a talk with the Emperor his father, laying out the matter of the Eight Great Shanxi merchants colluding with the Jianzhou barbarians.

According to Zhu Cilang's plan, they would publicize the Eight Great Shanxi merchants' treasonous behavior, then use this opportunity to confiscate all their grain warehouses in the capital, and then march into Shanxi to wipe out the eight great traitor families to the last man.

After hearing this, Chongzhen's expression turned grim. He had never imagined that these merchants would collude with the enemy and betray their country! No wonder the Great Ming's economic blockade against the Jianzhou barbarians had been ineffective all these years.

At the same time, Chongzhen hesitated. He knew somewhat of the Shanxi merchants' power. If they moved against them and something went wrong, it might provoke a backlash from the entire Great Ming's landlord and merchant classes, and the consequences would be incalculable.

After thinking for a long while, the Chongzhen Emperor finally said: How about we quietly dispose of these traitors? As he spoke, he made a cutting gesture across his throat with his hand.

Zhu Cilang was speechless. What the hell was this? The Emperor was teaching the Crown Prince to carry out assassinations!

Zhu Cilang shook his head like a rattle-drum, repeatedly saying no, that wasn't his style.

Seeing Chongzhen looking at him with a strange gaze, Zhu Cilang had no choice but to back down and explain that he was actually worried that if they killed the men, the grain wouldn't end up in the state treasury.

What Zhu Cilang wanted was not just the heads on those traitors' shoulders, but also their money and grain — using that grain to completely resolve the capital's grain shortage.

The Chongzhen Emperor looked at Zhu Cilang anew, discovering that he had severely underestimated this Crown Prince of his — at such a young age, was he even craftier than his own father?

The two of them deliberated for a long while more. Chongzhen firmly refused to agree to eliminating the Eight Great Shanxi merchants at this time, reasoning that the risk was too great — no one knew how powerful their influence in Shanxi truly was.

Zhu Cilang thought this made sense too. Even the Datong Regional Commander Wang Pu came from the Wang family of the Eight Great Shanxi merchants, and who knew how many Guard Commanders, Mobile Corps Commanders, and other officers in Shanxi's various garrisons were members of the eight families. Indeed, they could not act too rashly.

When Zhu Cilang guaranteed that he could confiscate a million dan of grain, Chongzhen wavered. The two discussed further and finally settled on a result: uproot the Eight Great Shanxi merchants' power in the capital, keep the matter contained within the capital, not involve the Shanxi merchants, and not implicate too many court officials.