Chapter 1576: People's Desire for Prosperity

Cao Wendao stroked his chin, lost in thought. That ghoul-faced monkey was so ugly that most people wouldn't bother to look at it closely, likely missing its disproportionate body. Its hind limbs were slightly longer than those of other monkeys, and its feet had one less toe than a typical ape.

These were extremely subtle characteristics that only a demon puppeteer like Cao Wendao could spot at a glance. An ordinary person could stare at the ghoul-ape for fifteen minutes and still not notice them.

Was this a natural deformity or a result of later modification?

Since it was only a fleeting glimpse through his beetles, Cao Wendao found it hard to determine immediately.

Hmm, further observation is needed. Ideally, it should be provoked.

As for the sharp-mouthed bat, it also didn't appear to be an ordinary demon. The beetles were very reluctant to approach it, suggesting a natural antagonism.

He murmured, "Seventy percent."

His disciples didn't hear clearly. "What did you say?" they asked.

Cao Wendao remained silent. He was seventy percent certain that the ape and the bat were demon puppets, and that Wei Yishan was a demon puppeteer.

"Conversely, if Wei Yishan really is a demon puppeteer," his eyes flickered, "how many other demon puppeteers are there on the Shanjing Plain, besides us?"

"We've never heard of any," his disciples replied.

They had accompanied their master to the Shanjing Plain and had never encountered another demon puppeteer. Originally, there shouldn't have been any on this land.

However, Cao Wendao, as the master of Red Lodge, had always suspected a demon puppeteer within Emperor Jiuyou's Black Armored Army. How else could his Scissor-tailed Tiger and Pill Bug Porcupine have been taken and transported silently and secretly into Yaoguo territory?

Demon puppeteers were such a rare profession, having been absent for the past decade. Was it possible for two to suddenly appear within a single year, both in the central Shanjing Plain?

Could it be...?

Cao Wendao couldn't help but stand up and pace back and forth.

Logically speaking, this idea had no factual evidence to support it.

However, if Wei Yishan truly was the demon puppeteer within the Black Armored Army, then he was the last person to see Xiao An!

Demon puppet bodies are unstable and short-lived. Given the time elapsed, even if Xiao An isn't dead yet, she would be in a dying state. One of Cao Wendao's most crucial tasks was to document her entire process from life to death.

Could he obtain this valuable data from Wei Yishan?

This thought made him restless.

The surging undercurrents among the populace finally reached the upper echelons of Yaoguo.

After grain prices rose, officials reported it to their superiors. However, the King of Yao was preoccupied with the new expansion of the capital, Tianshui, and didn't take the matter seriously. He merely issued a directive for "all levels of officials in the Ministry of Revenue to assist" and had it circulated.

When had grain prices not fluctuated several times a year? Besides, large-scale grain exchanges by public granaries naturally caused some price volatility; it had been the same in previous years.

Other states on the Shanjing Plain collected land taxes directly in grain. However, grain was inconvenient to transport and store, and with some farmers living in distant suburbs, collection was particularly troublesome.

Yaoguo had a developed economy and controlled several large silver mines. For this reason, it had long implemented a system where land taxes were paid in silver. This meant households could simply pay their land tax in cash. The government would receive the silver and then purchase whatever it needed: silk, grain, weapons, and so on.

While this approach greatly simplified the process, benefiting both the government and the households, it also created a problem: the government did not directly collect grain.

To obtain grain, they had to use silver to purchase it from specialized grain merchants and landlords. In previous years, this supply chain had been very smooth.

Of course, Yaoguo also had public lands, but their quantity was limited. The grain produced from these lands did not circulate in the market and was not consumed by ordinary people.

The problem resulting from this was that the public granaries now lacked sufficient grain!

It's important to remember that autumn was the season for public granaries to exchange grain. According to regulations, they were supposed to sell old grain while simultaneously purchasing new grain.

However, when "according to regulations" is mentioned, the reality is often that these regulations are not followed.

Most of the grain in the public granaries was likely sold off earlier to avoid being undersold when new grain entered the market. He Lingchuan, of course, knew exactly where the profits from this went—

He was, in fact, one of the participants.

Yet, this wouldn't be reflected in the official reports. According to the reports held by the Yaoguo royal court, the amount of grain in the public granaries showed almost no change, so the King of Yao wasn't particularly concerned.

It wasn't until reports from various regions indicated a failure to collect grain from the fields that the Yaoguo royal court sensed something was amiss. It was clearly a harvest season, so why couldn't the granaries acquire grain?

Upon investigation, it was discovered that certain influential groups were buying grain in massive quantities, so aggressively that it was like a bottomless pit. Grain merchants and landlords would barely collect grain from farmers before turning around and selling it at inflated prices to these groups.

The government was more than a step behind.

By the time local officials made their offers, the landlords claimed they had no surplus grain, and very little could be collected.

In truth, this situation was also the King of Yao's own doing. Previously, Yaoguo's grain collection involved setting a fixed base amount with grain stores and merchants six months in advance, at a fixed price and quantity, known as "base grain." Once harvest season arrived, grain merchants and stores were required to deliver the agreed "base grain" to the government first, before selling any surplus on the market.

While this method prioritized ensuring sufficient grain in public granaries, it also presented a problem:

Setting grain prices six months in advance meant the prices were too far removed from the market.

Given the large volume of government purchases, if prices were set too high, the national treasury would incur substantial losses.

Yaoguo had enjoyed consecutive years of bumper harvests. Every harvest season, grain prices would drop daily, yet the public granaries were still forced to purchase at prices set half a year earlier, which were significantly above market rates. Until He Lingchuan offered his counsel to the King of Yao, the national treasury had been operating at a deficit, forced to buy overpriced grain year after year, much to the King's displeasure.

Moreover, an advanced grain procurement plan allowed for significant manipulation, with many people profiting from it.

Conversely, if prices were set too low, grain merchants would be displeased by their losses, knowing they could earn much more by selling their ample grain on the open market. Consequently, individuals naturally lobbied the King of Yao.

Therefore, the King of Yao personally revised the grain collection system, establishing only a floor price. In years of abundant harvest, if market grain prices fell below the floor price, grain would be purchased at the market rate; if market grain prices exceeded the floor price, it would be purchased at the floor price.

The quantity of grain collected was to be determined by the public granaries' needs.

In years of famine, the old system of collecting grain at fixed quantities and prices would remain in effect.

This might sound illogical, but Yaoguo had enjoyed consecutive years of bumper harvests and ample grain. The volume of grain collected by public granaries was almost constant, serving only for regular rotation of old and new stock. Even if the floor price was slightly lower than the market price, grain merchants still had surplus grain from which they could earn significant profits.

However, this method could only function effectively based on one fundamental premise:

Surplus.

When grain was in surplus, this approach was perfectly sound and could even save the national treasury money.

But what if grain prices suddenly and sharply increased? Would grain merchants still be willing to sell grain to public granaries at the floor price?

This year was another year of bumper harvest, yet when government officials attempted to purchase grain, they were told none was available.

Where was the grain?

It had already been bought up. Why didn't they place advance orders?

At this very moment, the entire royal court and Tianshui City were preoccupied with the ambitious capital expansion, the continuously rising prices of new city residential land, and how to secure their own share of the profits. As a result, they missed the optimal period for intervention.

By the time people realized what was happening, they discovered that not only had grain prices soared, but so had the prices of vinegar, wine, and spices!

Vinegar and wine were both brewed from grain. With the cost of raw materials increasing, it was inevitable that their prices would also rise.

As for the spice market, which had always enjoyed stable supply, this time, for some unknown reason, common spices saw their prices change daily.

Yaoguo was a major spice-producing nation. Without spices, common people found their food unpalatable, and their sense of well-being plummeted.

With grain and condiment prices increasing, could labor costs not also rise?

As labor costs and food ingredient prices climbed, could restaurant prices avoid increasing as well?

Within just half a month, Tianshui City experienced widespread price increases.

The trend of rising prices quickly spread from Tianshui City to other regions of Yaoguo.

The Yaoguo royal court adopted two countermeasures:

First, they began investigating where all the grain had gone.

Second, they activated the "Pingzhun" granaries within the public storehouses to release grain into the market.

The Pingzhun granary was similar to the Ever-Normal Granary that He Lingchuan was familiar with. It was designed to collect grain during bumper years to prevent prices from hurting farmers and release grain during lean years to prevent high prices from harming the populace. Theoretically, it should have a regulating effect on market grain prices.

This was another "theoretically," because those in the know understood that the Pingzhun granaries were likely empty by now!

Although He Lingchuan had a hand in this, the amount of grain purchased by the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce from Yaoguo was ultimately limited, far less than what was secretly and frantically acquired by certain other factions.

However, these few factions alone were actually not enough to buy up all the grain on the market, especially considering Yaoguo had enjoyed several consecutive years of bumper harvests.

Only when everyone in Yaoguo got involved would this escalate into an unprecedentedly severe crisis!

When Fan Shuang arrived, it was mealtime at Yongquan Villa, and He Lingchuan immediately invited him to join.

Yongquan Villa used the finest rice, flour, and oil, and its produce was fresh. Fan Shuang took a bite of rice and exclaimed, "Wow, this excellent rice you're eating now costs fifty wen per catty outside!"

"Is there enough for your family?" He Lingchuan was always generous with his friends. "I have plenty here; I'll send a hundred catties back with you."

The Fan family was small, so a hundred catties would last them for a while.

"Plenty, plenty. My family just bought some extra from a farm a few days ago," Fan Shuang said, puzzled. "It's strange; this year clearly had a bumper harvest, yet grain prices have risen from the start instead of falling. I wonder why."

"Someone is leading a speculative surge," He Lingchuan said, forking a piece of braised lamb and cutting it with a small knife as he ate. "You heard a few days ago that grain prices were going to rise, didn't you?"

This single dish utilized eleven different spices, making it tender, juicy, and memorably flavorful without overpowering the lamb's natural taste. Yaoguo's use of spices was a unique system, and such cuisine could not be found outside the Shanjing Plain.

"Oh, yes, that rumor has been circulating for a while now."

"If they say it will rise, it will rise; that sentiment has already taken hold," He Lingchuan said without lifting his head. "The most direct example is the Tianshui City expansion. The authorities said prices there could rise, and they genuinely did, demonstrating people's eagerness for price increases."

He was the one who initiated this unhealthy trend. Everyone now knew that with proper strategy, certain things could skyrocket in price.

Who wouldn't be looking for opportunities?

"Now there are rumors again that grain prices will rise. What do you think grain merchants and stores will do?"

"Hoard grain and be reluctant to sell?"

"Regardless of whether it's true or not, just hoard it first," He Lingchuan said with a smile. "If everyone hoards, prices that wouldn't have risen will now, and they'll keep climbing higher and higher!"