“Young Master…” Chen Qingsheng laid bare the truth to Bai Qingqi. “Young Master Fengnian’s business in Xiliang has been so smooth precisely because of his inseparable relationship with Xiliang’s eight great families. When Young Master Fengnian first invited the eight great families to participate in this business, he said that jade brocade, furs, and paper would share profits with the eight great families. But most importantly, they would wait until Xiliang’s farmland went uncultivated… and after the people’s demand for grain became urgent, the eight great families could sell their hoarded grain at high prices. Thus, the silver that Xiliang people earned from jade brocade, furs, and paper would effortlessly flow into the pockets of the eight great families – it’s as if all the busy work of Xiliang people now is just earning silver for the eight great families!”

“So the eight great families all have grain reserves, and in considerable quantities. If we start raising grain prices, the eight great families will certainly begin selling grain too. If they price it just a bit lower than ours, no one will buy our grain.”

“If that’s the case, we’ll continue doubling grain prices, and the eight great families, being profit-driven… will certainly follow suit! Raising grain prices is to show the Xiliang Empress the cost of arresting Fengnian, thereby forcing the Xiliang Empress to release Fengnian to stabilize grain prices…” Bai Qingqi spoke at a measured pace. “Our purpose is to rescue Young Master Fengnian and have him return to Da Zhou.”

“Yes!” Chen Qingsheng quickly stood and bowed. “This humble one will immediately go give orders and make arrangements!”

Bai Qingqi stood up, picking up the teacup from the small table beside her, her voice cold and stern: “Don’t rush. Send some people… to deliver news to Great Yan that Xiliang lacks grain, grain prices are soaring, Da Zhou’s border garrison generals have received orders to detain grain shipments to Xiliang starting immediately, and that after a month or so when Xiliang’s domestic grain is nearly exhausted, Da Zhou will raise troops to attack Xiliang.”

Bai Qingqi lowered her eyes and sipped her tea, then covered the cup with its lid, her gaze turning toward the bright sunshine outside the window…

The eight great families were all profit-driven; otherwise, they wouldn’t have “colluded” with Cui Fengnian, using this method that nearly pushed Xiliang people to a dead end to accumulate wealth.

Profit-driven people were mostly greedy, and Bai Qingqi was also greedy…

Though this trip was primarily to rescue Jintong, and in her view, Jintong’s imprisonment was dangerous, it was also an opportunity. What she wanted was to use this chance to drag Great Yan into the water.

Sending this news to Great Yan would result in one of two outcomes: either Yan Kingdom’s merchants weren’t greedy… and would seize this opportunity to transport grain over, selling it to Xiliang people at Xiliang’s daily rising market prices for profit.

Or else, the Yan people were greedy and prepared to hoard grain, waiting until Xiliang was out of ammunition and food before selling to Xiliang at high prices.

However, Bai Qingqi guessed that Great Yan’s Ninth Prince would supply grain to Xiliang, even at high prices…

Because Great Yan had signed an alliance with the Rong Di first and couldn’t break the treaty, yet couldn’t stand by and watch Da Zhou and the Rong Di destroy Xiliang, as this would make Da Zhou even stronger, making it harder for the Yan Kingdom to unify the realm in the future.

Therefore, Great Yan would certainly help Xiliang weather the crisis and would allow Yan Kingdom merchants to transport grain to Xiliang, selling it to Xiliang at high prices…

By then, when Yan Kingdom’s grain prices soared greatly, as long as Da Zhou sent merchants to Yan Kingdom to buy grain at slightly higher prices, the common people struggling for their livelihood would be moved by profit and sell grain. Yan Kingdom merchants, seeing profit to be made, would certainly follow the trend – buying grain at high prices in Yan Kingdom and selling it to Xiliang at even higher prices for profit.

Thus, Great Yan would provide large quantities of grain to Xiliang while obtaining substantial wealth from Xiliang to weaken Xiliang, keeping Xiliang hanging on by a thread intermittently – unable to let Xiliang recover, yet not allowing Da Zhou to strangle Xiliang’s throat with grain.

Because what Great Yan most wanted was for Xiliang to survive the three-year alliance between Yan Kingdom and the Rong Di, after which they could divide Xiliang together with the Rong Di and Da Zhou.

Once this succeeded, the strategy toward Yan would need to change.

Da Zhou would ally with the Rong Di, control Xiliang’s grain supply, and assist the Rong Di while dispatching small forces to attack Xiliang together with them. This way, Xiliang people would be even more unable to farm with peace of mind, fearing their labor would be in vain and they’d be growing grain for enemy forces. Whether for profit or to enable Xiliang to barely survive, the Yan Kingdom would certainly continue sending grain to Xiliang continuously.

When Great Yan had sent most of its grain to Xiliang and new grain hadn’t yet been connected, Da Zhou would turn to attack Yan. Then, grain and supplies… would be Yan Kingdom’s greatest weakness.

At that time, the Rong Di and Da Zhou would be allies, and the Rong Di themselves lacked grain, so when Da Zhou attacked Yan, they certainly couldn’t provide grain to Great Yan. Thus, this hardest bone to gnaw – Yan Kingdom – would be within Da Zhou’s reach to conquer.

Bai Qingqi had spent two years in the Yan army. Though she hadn’t participated in the battle to recover Southern Yan, she had participated in the war to destroy Wei…

She knew that Yan Kingdom’s grain supply had always been insufficient, only improving somewhat after destroying Wei Kingdom. Every time Yan Kingdom captured a city, the first thing they checked was the granaries.

Within three years, Great Yan first suffered disasters, then was in the midst of warfare. It could be said that only after expanding territory and gaining Wei Kingdom’s cities, population, and stored grain did they recover. But most of Wei Kingdom’s former granaries had grain that was old and rotted beyond consumption due to layer upon layer of accumulation.

This was mainly because the Wei Kingdom’s geographical position at that time was truly advantageous, with few military conflicts and people living in peace and contentment, so the stored grain had rarely been touched.

Yan Kingdom’s war to destroy Wei only concluded in April of this year. With Yan Kingdom’s people in panic and very few engaged in farming, Yan Kingdom happened to catch Wei Kingdom’s harvest in May and June. But… using Wei Kingdom’s grain to feed all of Great Yan, plus providing grain to Xiliang – once Da Zhou turned to attack Yan Kingdom, Yan Kingdom’s grain… would become tight.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, even if Da Zhou couldn’t destroy Great Yan… they had to cripple Great Yan! Beat Great Yan until it no longer could contend with Da Zhou, making the path to unification much easier.

After Bai Qingqi made her decision, she quickly wrote a letter and instructed her hidden guards to deliver it back to the capital to Bai Qingyan.

On the first day of Bai Qingqi’s arrival, the grain prices at all of Xiliang’s Yunjing Cui family grain shops suddenly tripled. Upon hearing this news, the people all turned to other shops to buy grain. Fellow merchants, hearing that Cui family shops had suddenly tripled their grain prices, were also panicked and uneasy for a time, wondering if the Cui family shops had learned some important news they didn’t know about. Seeing more and more Xiliang people coming to buy grain in increasingly large numbers, some grain shops simply hung up signs and closed for a day, while others simply followed suit and also tripled their grain prices.

With grain shops collectively raising prices and closing, the people became panicked upon hearing this… At this time, someone spread word that grain prices would double again tomorrow.

For a moment, people with little grain stored at home became anxious and uneasy, hurriedly rushing to queue up outside grain shops to buy grain.