"I bet your granary is empty!"
When Yan Qing said this, everyone was surprised.
If Liu Mang cannot handle this matter properly, it will definitely cause panic in the city.
Everything I have done before will probably be in vain.
"You will know at a glance whether it is empty or not."
Liu Mang waved his hand and the soldiers guarding the granary moved out of the way.
Yan Qing was nervous, knowing that he would become a benevolent person if this move failed.
But when everyone walked into the granary, he was caught off guard by the neatly arranged grains.
"How can this be……"
Such a large amount of food reserves is the confidence that Liu Mang has been distributing food.
"Alas! The information from you Central Plains merchants is still too lagging behind!"
"My ally Sun Zhongmou has already provided five million stones of food in advance!"
"A steady stream of grain and grass is still being stored at the public security port, just waiting to be transported back to Xiangyang!"
"Saying that I, Jingzhou, are short of food? It's a joke!"
The merchants are desperate. This time they come to Jingzhou, they are destined to lose money!
Looking at it now, it is the difference between losing more and losing less!
"Impossible! This food and grass is obviously sand and gravel!"
"You must be trying to deceive us!"
Seeing Yan Qing's disbelief, Liu Mang threw a dagger over to signal him to help himself.
Yan Qing pierced several sacks one after another, only to find that all that came out were food!
"Everyone, one person has ten big boards!"
"Come here! These Central Plains businessmen are deceiving the public with their lies!"
"You are trying to mess with the hearts of our soldiers and civilians! You can avoid the death penalty, but you cannot escape the punishment of living. Beat me!"
After Liu Mang gave an order, Yan Qing and others were dragged out.
"Your Highness, don't you want to buy their food?"
"Why are we still beating them? Five million stones of food seems like a lot, but for the whole of Jingbei, it is just a drop in the bucket!"
Fu Wei reminded them in a low voice, fearing that Liu Mang would beat them too hard and these Central Plains businessmen would walk away.
"Don't worry, the harder we fight, the more confident we will prove."
"These Central Plains businessmen are all cheap!"
"I'm used to Cao Pi's PUA. If you talk harmoniously to them, you'd think we don't have enough confidence!"
The sound of businessmen being beaten kept coming, but the businessmen decided one thing in their hearts.
We must sell the grain and never listen to Yan Qing's nonsense again!
As Liu Mang expected, the merchants were beaten on the front foot, then passed Yan Qing on the back foot and approached Pang Tong.
"Our army already has no shortage of food and grass, what are you going to sell?"
Pang Tong was overjoyed. Just as his prince expected, these cheap scoundrels came to his door in person!
Nowadays, the market of buyers and sellers has changed, and the pricing power is already in the hands of the buyer!
"Sir, although your army is not short of food and grass, it must be prepared for a rainy day?"
"We transported grain from the Central Plains just to support Jingzhou!"
"We will not increase the price by a penny now and will sell it to your army at the market price."
"Sir, if you can receive this year's new grain, we can solve a worry, so why not!"
The businessmen are very talkative, but unfortunately they are facing Pang Tong.
"No! When you come to transport food, it's not as simple as supporting Jingzhou."
"I want to raise prices. When food prices more than tripled, you were the one behind it!"
"Our army was short of food before and wanted to buy it at a fair price, but you refused!"
"Now that our army is not short of food, why should we buy your food?"
Pang Tong stood up and sneered: "Let your grain be stored in Jingzhou until the weather is hot and it will completely rot!"
"This result can relieve the hatred of our soldiers and people in Jingzhou!"
The merchants' faces were livid, and they had already greeted the eighteenth generation of Yan Qing's ancestors in their hearts!
It was all this idiot's blind command. Now it's better. The food can't be sold and will even rot in Jingzhou!
Excluding the principal cost of the grain and the manpower spent on transporting the grain, it’s all money!
Cao Pi just pointed out a way for these businessmen. As for whether they can make money, it is the businessmen's responsibility.
"Sir! The food I have is only 80% of the market price!"
In desperation, a businessman chose to sell at a reduced price on the spot.
This is completely within Liu Mang's expectation. Businessmen pursue profit. If there is no profit to be made, they will choose to preserve their capital!
"Damn it, you actually lowered the price first? We only need 70%!"
"Sir, don't listen to them, we will sell it for 50%!"
"40%! We will sell it for 40% of the original price!"
Pang Tong smiled jokingly, secretly mocking these businessmen for being cheap.
There was no shortage of money in Jingzhou. After all, with the government's surplus for many years, buying grain at a low price was the best choice at that time.
The only thing Jingzhou lacked was food. It was originally a win-win result, but it was ruined by Cao Pi's smart move.
Of course, this was thanks to the five million stones of grain supported by Cheng Wu.
Otherwise, if Liu Mang wants to survive the difficulties, he will only have to gamble heavily!
Bet these businessmen will lose their composure!
"What does your loss have to do with our army?"
Seeing that Pang Tong still refused to let go, the merchants were anxious.
Sure enough, Feng Chu is not that easy to talk to!
"Sir! Let's have a brief discussion!"
"As long as you are willing to buy our food and grass, we will sell it to your army at 30% of the market price!"
"We are going to lose a lot on this trip, so I hope you will show mercy!"
The businessmen all knelt down and worshiped in front of Pang Tong, which made Feng Chu feel very happy.
Recalling that at the beginning, Pang Tong also discussed with these merchants in a gentle voice and advised them not to increase prices.
It's just that things have changed, and now it's the businessmen's turn to beg him!
"Thirty percent? It's still too expensive!"
"How about two and a half percent! You have too much food!"
"I don't discriminate against businessmen, but I won't tolerate profiteers like you either!"
Seeing Pang Tong agreeing to collect grain, the merchants dared not to say no, so they immediately nodded and agreed to Pang Tong's suggestion.
No one expected that the Han army could buy a large amount of grain in a disaster year at a price that was nearly 80% lower than the market price!
Of course, in order to hide from others, the public security port is still transporting food to Xiangyang City.
But this time the sacks were filled with sand and gravel.
With Yan Qing’s lessons learned, no one will question the authenticity of the food anymore.
"Your Highness, it's really not easy for Jingzhou to survive this difficult time!"
Pang Tong looked happy, "Buying grain at this price is no different from giving it away for free!"
Liu Mang nodded and said with a smile: "Sir, you can't be satisfied with this!"
“If I don’t make any money, it means losing money to me!”
"I wanted to live peacefully with Cao Pi and Sun Quan for a while, but what I got was suspicion and misunderstanding!"
"Why don't you make money from them openly? If you let me know, just tell me that the world's talents share one stone, and I, the great man, owns nine, and the world shares one stone."
"If anyone is unconvinced, you can come to Xiangyang to participate in the poetry competition and make friends with your poems!"
Liu Mang smiled slyly, "Cao Pi is proud of his poetic talent, how can he be convinced? He will definitely send someone to participate!"
“With such a grand event in the literary world, how can there be no shortage of opportunities to make money?”
