Chapter 587: Standing Out
Qi Haoran wanted to borrow some money in case of emergencies, but in fact, Mu Yangling’s expenses for opening this grain store were not high.
Because she had her own farmstead.
Since her farmstead could provide all the grains to be sold, pretty much the only money needed was that used to buy the shop. As for corn seeds, the expenditure was not big. She only gave the trade caravan in the north 2,000 taels of silver and that was sufficient.
They would continue to send large quantities of corn seeds south.
Meanwhile, Uncle Liu Ting also wrote a letter to tell her good news that they had made progress in their development of the dry rice seeds. This year, the Mu family had already begun planting crops in areas with low moisture and drought. Currently, it seemed to be growing well. He would get someone to send some seeds over and let her do experimental cultivation in the south.
If Dry Rice No. 1 succeeded in the north, the grain production in the north would increase by at least 5% in the future. This increase might not sound like much, but one could imagine the impact if it was implemented in all the northern lands.
The northern lands were vast and sparsely populated. If the grain production was stable, the price of grains would definitely fall. Therefore, Mu Yangling planned to transport the grains produced by the Mu family to the south. Just the harvest of the dozens of hectares they had rented was enough for her grain store.
Not everyone was willing to let Mu Yangling interfere in the grain store business, though. Not long after Mu Yangling’s trade caravan set off, everyone knew that Mu Yangling wanted to sell the northern corn seeds to the south. The families that currently had a monopoly on corn started to take action.
Half of the courtiers complained to Qi Xiuyuan. They felt that by competing with the commoners, Mu Yangling was lowering her status and embarrassing the royal family. They hoped that Qi Xiuyuan could get Qi Haoran to restrain her.
In private, some people approached Zhu Liang and the others and expressed their willingness to prosper alongside Mu Yangling. They only hoped that Mu Yangling would not open a grain store.
This action not only angered Mu Yangling, but also Qi Xiuyuan.
He did not expect so many officials in the court to object. Those officials were simply blinded by greed and completely disregarded the benefits of the country.
The corn seeds in the north were promoted by Qi Xiuyuan. No one knew better than him about the production yield of corn and its importance to the commoners’ livelihood. Just as Emperor Shizong had said, if this thing could be planted well, the people could be free from hunger even in famine years.
That’s right. He was the one who prevented the corn seeds in the north from going to the south. But back then, he was the general of the West Camp who wanted to rebel. Now, he was the Emperor of Great Qi. Mu Yangling had obtained his permission to transport the seeds to the south. Did they think that he would be as stupid as Emperor Jingyan and let the gentry control the corn seeds and let the people suffer during a famine?
Qi Xiuyuan was furious and wanted to take the initiative to send the seeds over. Rong Xuan quickly stopped him. “General, this is not appropriate. By doing this, you will be going against those southern aristocratic families who have the seeds. Moreover, it will mess up Ah Ling’s plan.”
Rong Xuan added, “Doesn’t Ah Ling want to use this matter to make her grain store famous? Why don’t you help her, General? By doing so, you’ll also temporarily avoid being attacked by those aristocratic families.”
Seeing that Qi Xiuyuan’s expression was still dark, he knew that he was angry at the selfishness of the officials. He said in a low voice, “General, these officials are mostly left behind from the previous dynasty. Emperor Jingyan only cared about himself, so the officials below will naturally follow suit. When you ascend the throne, you can hold the Imperial Examination and appoint a new batch of officials to slowly replace them.”
Since Qi Xiuyuan had yet to ascend the throne and his position was not very stable, he had to endure where he should.
Qi Xiuyuan put away the anger on his face and said, “Tell the people along the way to be careful and ensure the safety of Ah Ling’s trade caravan.” Qi Xiuyuan snorted. “I want to see who dares to interfere.”
Rong Xuan said with a smile, “Don’t worry, General. Haoran has already given the order.”
Qi Xiuyuan nodded in satisfaction. Stubborn and hot-tempered, Ah Ling had always been amenable to coaxing but not coercion. Also, she had always been empathetic towards the suffering of the people. He wanted to see what those aristocratic families would do in response.
As for the Imperial Court, with him standing on Mu Yangling’s side, Qi Xiuyuan was not worried at all. Needless to say, his uxorious younger brother also sided with his wife.
All the soldiers who came from the north were extremely respectful to Mu Yangling. Those civil officials who wanted to shake Mu Yangling’s status were simply overestimating themselves.
Just as Qi Xiuyuan planned to leave this matter for the time being and deal with other matters, Qi Haoran rushed into the palace angrily.
Qi Xiuyuan planned to support Mu Yangling secretly and leave the matter alone on the surface, but Qi Haoran did not want his wife to suffer. Hence, when Mu Yangling was attacked in the morning, he ran into the palace in the afternoon.
Just as Qi Xiuyuan was about to comfort him, he heard Qi Haoran say, “Big Brother, didn’t you want to deal with the aristocratic families and strip them of their wealth? Leave this to me. I’ll personally bring people over.”
“Nonsense.” Qi Xiuyuan’s face darkened. “I’ve already handed this matter to Jiang Ze. You don’t have to worry about it.”
“Then when will Jiang Ze make a move?”
Qi Xiuyuan looked at him suspiciously. “What do you want?”
“Nothing. I just want to bite them and see if they still dare to keep their eyes on Ah Ling. What’s wrong with her opening a grain store when their grain stores have already monopolized the entire Jiangnan and the price of grain is rising like crazy? They’re not pleased to see my Ah Ling feel sorry for the people and lower the price of grains?”
Qi Xiuyuan rubbed his forehead and said, “Don’t worry, with us here, no one can bully your wife.”
Seeing that Big Brother was unwilling to tell him the exact time, Qi Haoran bit his lip and left like the wind.
Rong Xuan was worried. “Will Haoran cause trouble?”
Qi Xiuyuan was very assured. “He has grown up a lot in the past two years. He will know his limits.”
Qi Haoran, who supposedly knew his limits, barged into Zhang Cheng’s house and asked him for his excess grain stipend. Qi Haoran said, “Lord Zhang, since you have to sell your excess grain stipend to the grain stores anyway, why don’t you sell it to my wife’s grain store? In addition to offering you the same price, our assistant shopkeepers will come to collect the grain from you. How about that?”
The Great Zhou Dynasty gave three types of salaries to officials. The first type was silver, which took up a relatively small proportion. The second was grain stipend, and the third was stipend land. For high-ranking officials like the Minister of Revenue, Zhang Cheng, the amount of silver they received was small, but they did receive plenty of grain stipend and stipend land. Coupled with the grains produced in their farmstead, they had a large store of grains.
Not every official would choose to open a grain store. Most of them would sell the excess portion to grain stores, and they would most definitely sell the grain stipend they received as salary from the government. There was no need to ask why—would they eat the grains given by the government?
The government only gave them low-grade or medium-grade rice which they would definitely sell.
Generally speaking, such a family would have a grain store that they were cooperating with. The Zhang family was no exception. Hence, Zhang Cheng was a little frantic when faced with Qi Haoran’s request.
Unfortunately, he was accosted by Qi Haoran when he came back for lunch. He still had to go to the palace later to deal with plenty of matters.
Zhang Cheng knew that many people were against Mu Yangling selling corn seeds to the poor. Zhang Cheng scoffed at their actions.
He was also a member of the monopoly, but he was not stupid. He knew that Mu Yangling was backed by the future Emperor. This was not Emperor Jingyan, who could be fooled by them. Qi Xiuyuan obviously wanted to make some achievements, so he would not let this situation continue. Hence, he knew that in the future, the corn cultivation situation in the south would be the same as in the north. The poor people would be the main force.
Source: NovelFull.com, updated on N𝘰vgo.co