In Yanjing City, the giant businessman Ma's side has been very high-profile recently. One reason is that his "brother-in-law" Yelu Yixin was really promoted to the Privy Councilor of the Southern Court. He just waited for Yelu Yixin to take the official position as a safe one. All the troops in the 16 prefectures of Yanyun had to supply food to Ma's side.

Secondly, because Ma Yifang made a huge sum of nearly 400,000 in just over two months.

There are these two things. It is difficult for Ma Yifang to be low-key, and his strength does not allow him to be low-key at all. The position of Yelu Yixin is equivalent to the previous King of the South Court. How can he be low-key at the King of the South Court?

In the past, Ma Yifang made money by making money, but after all, he provided food to the army and had no shortage of business, but the profit was actually not that high. If he earned 700 yuan per stone of grain, he would earn twenty or thirty more money by one stone. Ma Yifang had to be intimidated and treasonable.

After all, this money was paid by the Liao court, and the Liao court was also a poor court, which was not much better than the Song court. I won’t say that the payment for the goods was arrears. If I still disliked his high food price, he would have to explain it in every way. Fortunately, he had the cheap brother-in-law Yelu Yixin, who was guarding him, otherwise the business would have been stolen long ago.

Is Ma Yifang really rich? It's not true, because he has not made a fortune for a long time. If his sister had not become a very favored concubine in Yelu Yixin's house, he would have been a servant himself.

So when he became rich, he was particularly concerned about his outfit, with rubies embedded in the crown and hat, and the jade belt at his waist should be inlaid with gold. The two night pearls that could still shine at night were never missing in his hands.

Whenever he is in front of others, Ma Yifang is extremely generous, because he has just entered the circle of wealth and honor. Only by making generous can he quickly bring face to him and show that his Ma Yifang is extraordinary.

Now that his cheap brother-in-law has become the Privy Councilor of the South Court, he even brags about what amazing things his sister has sent home from the Privy Councilor's mansion recently.

Now, there are also a large group of people around Ma Yifang, including the destitute nobles of the Liao Kingdom, the upstarts of the Han people, the Xi people and the Bohai people who came to Yanjing to find a way.

However, when Ma Yifang went to Han Derong's grandson's house outside the city, he was still kind and thoughtful. The Han family was the real top noble in Yanyun. Although he did not show up in Yanjing City, there were thousands of hectares of fertile land outside the city. The key was that among the Han nobles of the Liao Kingdom, nine out of ten of them made their fortunes from Han Derong's subordinates in the past. Now, no matter whether the friendship is true or false, they still have to sell the Han family for a little face.

Mr. Han Caiqing was dazzled. When he saw Ma Yifang coming to the door, he was a little polite. He looked at him and knew who the Privy Council of the South Court is now.

"Come on? Look at the tea and sit down." Han Caiqing said hello to Ma Yifang.

Ma Yifang first treated him, then sat down, and said, "Grandpa Han, Xiaoma is still here to buy food."

"There is still some food, it depends on the price you offer."

"I knew you still have food here, but you are really not an ordinary person." Ma Yifang flattered him, but he felt bitter in his heart.

“What price?”

"Grandpa Han, you are good. My warehouse is empty. This time, it is the army's supply of grain. Xiaoma dares not ask for the court for random price. He also asks Grandpa Han to give high prices." This is the pain in Ma Yifang's heart. The brother Liu is willing to buy the price at no cost. Not only did he buy his own granary for the time being, but he also asked him to buy grain everywhere. Turning around, the army's supply of grain, and this business has to be done, but the court doesn't care about so much you.

If the price increases, it will make sense if it increases by about a hundred or ten yuan, and explain it with a face. If it suddenly doubles, even if it has ten courage, it will not dare to do this long-term business.

"Okay, Xiaoma, don't be careless with me. Who is the Privy Councilor of the South Court? Don't you know if I'm old? The market price has always been around for seven hundred coins per stone. Could it be that you still want to sell grain of 700 coins per stone?" Han Caiqing was clear in his heart.

Ma Yifang immediately cried and said, "Grandpa Han, you only have the most grains near Yanjing. No one else can compare to you. If I sell all the grains I always have to eat, I will be in trouble. Even if my brother-in-law knows, I will not have any good results. It's impossible that I will more than double the military food as soon as he took office as Privy Councilor, right? At that time, I'm afraid my brother-in-law will be held in the conversation..."

Ma Yifang is not stupid. Even if the price is to increase, it cannot increase at such a critical moment. At least Yelu Yixin has to make it clear about the Nanshumi Courtyard. Otherwise, it would be really harmful to Yelu Yixin.

"Then you just pay for money yourself. First, post it for two or three months. There are only tens of thousands of soldiers in Yanjing. I have heard of it this time. You collect grain everywhere and hold the price in your hand. You must have made a lot of money in big business. If you post it for two months, you won't lose much."

"Grandpa Han, I have only earned tens of thousands of pounds of money. Isn't it a waste of work to pay for two months of military rations?" Ma Yifang said half-truth and half-fake.

"Bariff, one word, no. If you give money, the grain will be transported away." Han Caiqing didn't believe that he was Ma Yifang, so he couldn't care so much, so he would give money and grain.

"My Grandpa Han, I'm begging you." Ma Yifang would rather ask for help than spit out some of the money he had eaten.

"Ah...what did you say? I can't hear..." Han Caiqing, with blurred eyes and ears, it was true.

"I said, Grandpa Han, please reduce the price!"

"What? Speak louder..."

"Oh... Forget it, Grandpa Han, you are busy, I'll go for a walk in another house." Ma Yifang had no choice but to find someone else.

Han Caiqing nodded: "Oh, okay, come back as soon as possible, but many people come to find me."

Ma Yifang said goodbye and left. As soon as he left, he actually met an acquaintance.

"Ma Zhangkeeper, I'm lucky to be happy to buy food?"

"Shopkeeper Mo, your warehouse has no food either?"

"Didn't you buy it by the boss Ma in front of you? You have to come and ask Mr. Han to sell it more, otherwise it will be out of stock."

Ma Yifang sighed again, got up and left, and had to go to another house to ask. Old Han is a thousand-year-old fox, and he can't get any benefits here. He has to go to a remote place in the countryside to find some big-name people to ask. The people there are slow news, and maybe they can get some benefits.

In Yanjing City, there is a gate of the road grain shop, with many people crowded. The women in the neighborhood next door, the men who get off work in the government office, and the small vendors who walk around the streets...

It's noisy.

"Ma Yifang is a heartless person. The 75-cent pound of grain is really sold for 200 yuan. Where is this reason in the world?"

"Do you want someone to live?"

"When he lived next door to my house, there was no food at home, so I helped him, but now I'm fine, and I don't even give him a way out."

"I'm working in the yamen every day, and it's only a month long. How can I support a family of people now at the price of grain?"

A shopkeeper bowed and explained, "Neighbors, it's not like our family. You go to Yanjing City to ask more questions. It's all the price. Now that the grain comes in from outside the city, it's always a stone. If you don't believe it, please walk out of a mile and ask..."

"Are you grain merchants who killed thousands of swords together to raise the price? Are you ready to force us to death?"

The shopkeeper said again: "Don't say that those who are immortal, who have not saved up yet? Who has not ordered any money to exchange for money? Maybe in the past two or three months, after being beaten, after enduring, it will be over."

"Ma Yifang has no conscience and will not buy it from his house in the future. Let's go and change the place and ask. I still don't believe it. There is no major disaster or a wasteland. Why should the food price rise?"

"Let's go, go west to the city, and take a look."

...

Many people slowly dispersed, and at this time Ma Yifang looked unhappy and came back.

"Can you buy food?"

Ma Yifang shook his head and cursed: "Every household has food, but no one is easy to talk to. Now they have tasted the sweetness and think that the strange goods are very affordable. If my brother Liu doesn't buy it in the future, see if their food will rot in the granary."

It is obviously unrealistic for Ganqi to buy all the food rations of six or seven million people. Market prices seem to be a relationship between demand and supply, but things are often not that simple. Speculating on prices is related to supply and demand, but if you really want to speculate, the supply and demand relationship is not that important.

When everyone knows that the goods in their hands are easy to live in, the supply market will naturally shrink. It is not that there is no supply, but that they are reluctant to offer them out, and they are even reluctant to give them out at a lower price.

The scheming Han Caiqing is obviously a representative of this kind of psychology. People who really have a lot of food in their hands are neither farmers nor grain merchants, but landlords. The class of landlords, no matter how big or small, is not easy to bully. The reason why their families can accumulate a lot of land is because they are upper classes, and they have no relationship as an official in their family, and they don’t even have the qualifications of a local owner.

Merchants are far behind landlords.

Now this price is no longer something that merchants can decide, but something that landlords decide.

Ma Yifang was indescribable. He had to buy this grain, but it was impossible not to buy it because tens of thousands of soldiers were waiting to eat. There was no way, so he could only pay tens of thousands of guan from his pocket and put it on. Fortunately, he earned nearly 400,000 guan from his brother Liu. He gritted his teeth and held on for a while.

Things are fermenting, just as the shopkeeper of Youdao Grain Store said, most families have not saved up or have little money, and although the price of grain has more than doubled, most families can still hold on for the time being.

As for the more beggars on the street, no one cares.

The horse party was also supplying the army's grain. Although the purchase price of the imperial court also increased a little, the horse party had to put a few hundred dollars in a stone of grain into it, and it would have to put a 30,000 to 40,000 jin in a month.

But the landlords really won’t cut the price anymore. Only Ma Yifang regrets it. He regrets that he was stupid before. No matter how anxious he is to ask for food, he shouldn’t buy it at a price. He would rather let Liu Xiandi wait for one or two more months than wave his hand and say that he will deliver it to Wuqing within ten days.

Two months passed, and there were more and more people begging for food on the street, and there were even more people complaining.

Just when Ma Yifang was at a loss, Brother Liu came again.

Before Liu Xiandi could speak up, Ma Yifang said directly: "Brother Liu Xiandi, I can't buy food for you this time, otherwise the price of this grain will rise?"

"What's wrong?" Gan Qi pretended to be innocent.

"In the past one month, I helped you buy grain three times in succession. Now the price of grain in Yanjing City has more than doubled. If you continue to purchase it, my brother can't afford the military rations. In two months, I will pay 70,000 yuan for my brother." Ma Yifang has learned to be smart. No matter what the Japanese disaster starves people to death, he can't bear to pay for money like this every day.

Gan Qi didn't feel any surprise. This time he was prepared and could not let Ma Yifang get into the trap. He spoke directly: "Do you want to get rich, brother?"

Ma Yifan nodded: "Who doesn't want to get rich yet? But if you still have to collect grain to save Japan, then your brother really can't help you now. At least it will have to wait a few more months before the price of the food comes down."

"I have a way to make my brother rich," said Gan Qi.

"What's the solution?"

"Brother, think about it, why did the food price rise?"

"Of course it's because, brother, you bought 400,000 stone of grain in Yanyun in more than a month. How can you not increase the price?"

"Have you ever thought about taking this opportunity to make a big profit?"

"Oh... Brother, it's good if I don't lose money outside, how can I make a big profit!" Ma Yifang said.

"Soon buy, then raise the price of grain and buy it. My brother will make a fortune this year."

"You can't buy it anymore, you can't buy it anymore. If you want food, you have to wait..." Ma Yifang waved his hands repeatedly.

"Brother, didn't you lose 70,000 yuan in military rations? As long as you listen to my plan, you can earn 70,000 yuan, not to mention 700,000 yuan!"

"There is still such a thing?"

"Brother, please listen to me and tell me in detail..."

"You said you said, I'm listening..."

"Now my brother has no much food in his hands, and the food is all in the hands of those landlords, but my brother has money in his hands. Hoarding goods is the way to make money, but now the goods are all in the hands of the landlords. My brother has raised the price, but the landlords make money. Isn't that a pity?"

"I'm just regretting it. Nowadays, those landlords all look at the price of food and don't sell a penny less, and they think they are really angry."

"If my brother bought it according to their food price, would they sell it?"

"Then it will naturally be sold. Everyone knows that I have to supply military rations, so they are waiting for me to go."

"Isn't that right? Then go and buy it, sign a contract according to the current price, keep buying it, buy it as much as you have. If you don't have money, you have to buy it even if you have no money, you have to borrow money."

Ma Yifang heard Gan Qi's words, scratched his head and asked, "Why is this? I still buy it, so how much is it? The price of grain cannot fly to the sky?"

"Yes, it's just let the price of grain fly to the sky." Gan Qi reminded.

"Then I... I'm not going to lose money... Oh... Yes... I'll buy it at the current price, let the price of grain fly to the sky, and I'll sell it again... Brother, what do you mean?"

"I mean this. My brother is really smart. Before I could say it, my brother thought of it. This time, my brother should go everywhere to buy grain and raise money to buy it. As much as I can buy it. The higher the price of grain, the more my brother will earn, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and I can easily get it."

Ma Yifang took a deep breath, and couldn't help walking left and right, frowned and thought, and there was still words in his mouth: "My brother woke up the dreamer with one word, and woke up the dreamer with one word! It seems that this food is really something to buy, make a fortune, and make a fortune in one fell swoop. Then, let alone tens of thousands of jin of military rations, hundreds of thousands of jin and millions of jin will be earned back."

"I wish my brother a fortune first! I also want 100,000 shi, and the price is as high as my brother." Gan Qi wants another 100,000 shi.

Ma Yifang seemed very excited: "It's easy to say, as long as my brother goes to buy grain, I will definitely not have any other brother. I will buy more brothers, which is also a helping brother. As long as the price of grain is raised, my brother will really make a fortune this time."

"Brother, things should be done sooner rather than later. The faster you act, the better. Maybe there are others who are also making this idea. You can't let others take the lead." Gan Qi wanted to put some pressure on Ma Yifang.

"That's right, brother is leaving the city now!" The business opportunity is right in front of us, and we must seize it. Ma Yifang left as soon as he said that.

(ps: The inspiration for this plot actually comes from the later demise of the Jin Kingdom. Of course, it was due to the invasion of the Mongols. This was an external cause. But why did Mongolia always surrender to the Jin Kingdom, but suddenly turned around and destroyed the Jin Kingdom? In fact, there were internal reasons within the Jin Kingdom, that is, prices soared, the price system failed, and the society almost collapsed. This is all recorded in history. In the late Jin Kingdom, a soldier had to use a car to pay for the military pay. Some readers think that a person could not destroy a country's price system, but actually underestimated the financial wisdom of later generations. Why was it in Liao?

Financial means in Jin's era will be effective? It is just because commerce has really developed in this era, and the domestic market of countries like Liao is actually very small. This principle is just like why Soros could defeat several countries by his own strength. It is just that the ancients did not understand these modern means. Lao Zhu wrote this to write differently from other authors, so that readers could have some different new experiences. It is completely feasible to use financial means to make the Liao people chaotic. Jin was playing with it by itself, and it is completely reasonable for Liao to let Gan Qi play with it, just as Lao Zhu wrote in his article.)
Chapter completed!