Chapter 65 Grain

Actually, Qin Jian did not want to hand over the silver from that tiger to Zhao Mu right at this moment. After all, as the old saying goes, a wise man hides his wealth.

Now that everyone was gathered around the city gates, many observant eyes would surely notice Zhao Mu coming into possession of this silver.

Moreover, the area was crowded with guards on duty at the gates.

And among these guards, there were very few decent men.

Apart from a few exceptions, calling the rest seasoned scoundrels would be entirely accurate.

However, since the head of the Liu family had already given Zhao Mu one hundred taels of silver, Qin Jian figured it no longer mattered.

Besides, he would soon help Zhao Mu spend every last piece of that silver!

After handing the silver over to Zhao Mu, Qin Jian immediately introduced the others, saying, "Brother, these gentlemen here are the owners with granaries outside the city. You can discuss the grain matter with them."

Zhao Mu cupped his fists in greeting to the group and asked, "May I ask how much grain you gentlemen have stored outside?"

Initially, these men had looked down upon Zhao Mu as well, but out of respect for Qin Jian, they had forced themselves to rise early.

Yet, upon catching sight of the silver notes in Zhao Mu's hands, they promptly cast aside their contempt.

Counting the silver given by Qin Jian, Zhao Mu now possessed over two hundred taels of silver.

While this sum was neither overwhelmingly large nor insignificantly small, it was enough to purchase a considerable amount of grain.

Of course, this assumed prices remained at normal, baseline levels.

With natural disasters striking everywhere, grain prices had long since multiplied manifold.

The men cupped their fists in return, and one of them spoke up: "We have quite a substantial amount of grain outside the city. You alone would never be able to buy it all."

Although the others remained silent, their expressions conveyed the exact same sentiment.

Amidst the current man-made and natural calamities, the price of grain had soared to exorbitant heights!

Zhao Mu smiled faintly and replied, "Gentlemen, what I wish to make with you is not a one-time transaction, but a long-term partnership. Besides, if you do not sell your grain to me, I fear it will simply end up benefiting those refugees."

At these words, the men furrowed their brows.

The primary reason they had arrived so early at the city gates was twofold: to show respect to Qin Jian, and with the mindset of making whatever profit they could.

Grain had long since reached astronomical prices, yet their supplies remained trapped outside the city walls, unable to be brought in. It was no different from sitting atop a mountain of treasure without being able to cash it in.

Worse still, bandit trouble had already broken out near their grain storage locations.

If they waited any longer, their stocks would either fall into the hands of the refugees or be plundered by bandits.

In the end, they would be left with absolutely nothing.

That being the case, it would be far better to sell it cheaply to Zhao Mu and at least secure some silver in return.

Seeing the subtle shifts in the expressions of the group, the corners of Zhao Mu's lips curved upward. "Though I do not know where you gentlemen have hidden your grain, I imagine it is located in places difficult to transport from, and the surrounding areas are likely entirely occupied by refugees!"

When he had previously arrived at Taiping County, the villages and towns in the southern region still maintained a normal way of life.

It was only the further north one went that human habitation became increasingly scarce.

In the immediate vicinity of Taiping County, apart from the refugees, hardly any living souls could be seen.

Zhao Mu deduced that the locations where these people stored their grain must be situated near those southern towns.

And while the majority of the refugees had gathered outside the walls of Taiping County in hopes of receiving government relief, many others who had lost all hope had drifted back toward the south.

At the very least, in those southern towns, they did not have to worry about being barred from entering the city gates.

Over time, numerous refugees had also gathered around the southern towns.

Some had even begun to emulate the behavior seen outside the walls of Gaozhou City.

Since survival had become impossible anyway, they might as well turn to banditry in the mountains—at least they could die with a full stomach.

Consequently, many merchants who had set up warehouses in the southern towns were now as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

Although these refugees were destined to amount to nothing major, they could sever trade routes and completely loot the stored goods.

Grain merchants, in particular, found grain to be exceptionally precious amid these disasters.

Hearing Zhao Mu's words, the grain merchants realized they would not be able to extract any significant advantage from him.

Yet, unwilling to reveal their anxious state of mind, they could only ask, "Young Master Zhao, how much grain do you intend to buy?"

Zhao Mu smiled gently. "May I ask how much grain you gentlemen collectively possess?"

The grain merchants exchanged glances, and one of them answered, "The five of us together have at least one hundred carts!"

Zhao Mu was momentarily stunned and turned to look at Qin Jian.

Qin Jian explained, "One cart of grain is roughly five stone."

Zhao Mu now had a clearer understanding. When ancients spoke of grain, they rarely used catties, relying instead on units like *sheng*, *dou*, and *shi*.

However, the exact volume of these units varied slightly across different dynasties.

In the Daqi Dynasty, one *shi* of grain weighed approximately one hundred catties.

At five *shi* per cart, a single cart carried about five hundred catties.

One hundred carts amounted to fifty thousand catties.

In reality, such a quantity of grain was far from sufficient to feed the entire population of Taiping County.

Even if distributed entirely to the refugees, it would sustain them for a month at most.

At current market rates, even coarse grains cost around one tael of silver per *shi*.

Converted to catties, that came out to ten copper cash per catty.

In prosperous times, a catty of fine rice cost only about seven or eight copper cash.

Yet now, the price of coarse grain vastly exceeded the historical price of fine rice.

He currently held a little over two hundred taels of silver in total; even if he bought exclusively coarse grain, it would only purchase two hundred *shi*.

Calculated out, that was enough to buy only forty carts of coarse grain.

His primary motivation for purchasing grain, aside from selling fish, was to pioneer an entirely new business venture for himself.

He wanted to test whether the brewing techniques he had learned in his past life, combined with distillation, could produce a type of high-proof liquor that would sweep this world by storm.

Much like many dynasties in his former life, the Daqi Dynasty possessed various fine wines, but their alcohol content was invariably low.

Furthermore, they contained numerous impurities.

Much like the lines in Lu You's poetry—"Do not mock the farmhouse's turbid year-end wine"—the alcohol of this era was far from as clear as the distilled spirits Zhao Mu had consumed in his past life.

There was also Bai Juyi's "newly brewed green-ant wine," where the term "green ants" referred to the tiny, ant-like green bubbles floating atop the freshly fermented rice wine.

Having once visited a distillery in his past life, Zhao Mu roughly understood how to brew a clear, distilled spirit.

Because of this, he was eager to give it a try.

Noticing Zhao Mu deep in thought, the grain merchants could not help but grow anxious.

If they failed to convert that grain into silver, there was a high probability the refugees would plunder it, leaving them with nothing.

Selling it to Zhao Mu, on the other hand, would at least net them some silver and recover a portion of their losses.

At the same time, they were reluctant to let Zhao Mu see how desperate they were to offload the grain at rock-bottom prices, causing them to momentarily lose their composure and flounder.

Qin Jian looked back and forth between them, nudged Zhao Mu, and asked, "Brother, are you perhaps worried that the grain has already been plundered by refugees, and that the silver you spend will go down the drain?"