Chapter 612: Chapter 612

After the reshuffle of the Chamber of Commerce, Fengyu held the power to speak and could essentially monopolize certain core industries in the Capital City. Lin Helin and Zhang Boju were very worried about this. It meant that Fengyu had the pricing power, and how to set the price was entirely up to her whim. For some livelihood goods, pricing power is extremely important, and it is taboo for one person to dominate.

If Fengyu were a profiteer, raising prices, the people would surely suffer, but Fengyu had always controlled the prices in the Capital City. With wars in Jiangnan and Zhongzhou, prices of various commodities have surged recently. Fengyu’s swift reorganization of merchants cut off the wealthy families who aimed to profit from the war. They always capitalized on natural disasters and wars to make money. During special times, the prices of grain and cloth would rise to terrifying levels, affecting up to two or three years. After Xie Xun went on an expedition, Fengyu’s focus was to stabilize the prices of people’s livelihood commodities, trying to keep the people’s lives at pre-war levels.

What Lin Helin and Zhang Boju worried about did not happen, and the prices of grain gradually stabilized.

In early September, news of Xie Xun’s great victory in Zhongzhou came.

Xie Xun captured six cities in Zhongzhou one after another, occupying one-third of Zhongzhou’s cities. Xie Xun fought bravely, liked to take risky maneuvers, and strike directly at the enemy’s weak points. Although the troops in Zhongzhou were also elite, they were not as courageous and skilled as the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry. Xie Xun often won with a smaller force, the most famous battle being where five thousand troops repelled General Gao’s forty thousand army. They were defeated and fled, abandoning the city.

The greater the victory, the more stable the morale, and the higher the spirits. Riding on the success, the recapture of Zhongzhou was just a matter of time. With the victory in Beining, the people’s lives stabilized, and under such circumstances, Fengyu’s reorganization of merchants and suppression of clans and powerful families became more forceful.

After the Zhang and Lin clans cooperated with the new policy, the clan elders of the Zhou and Fang families, seeing the tide turning, gradually let go of their obsessions and fully cooperated with the new policy, making the atmosphere in the Capital City better than when Xie Xun left.

The willingness of the Zhou and Fang families to cooperate with the new policy mainly depended on their merchants renegotiating with their clan elders under Fengyu’s suggestion, with benefits redistributed.

Fengyu’s tactics were always a mix of firmness and flexibility, never solely suppressing and intimidating.

Yet some were determined to cause trouble for her.

After the war crisis intensified, the grain prices in the Capital City remained high. Now, grain and fodder were urgently dispatched to Jiangnan and the army sent to Zhongzhou, with people across the regions scrimping and saving. After Xie Xun left the Capital City, Fengyu had been trying to suppress the grain prices, but in the past few days, they began to rise again. The stocks in the major granaries were running out, and prices naturally rose with the market.

The Su Family’s Trading House also had no stock in their granaries. The grain Fengyu stored a month ago was for relief and couldn’t be touched for the time being. After summoning Manager Wang and several grain merchants to inquire, she learned that the grain crisis was due to recent interruptions in water routes and difficulties in land transportation. Grain couldn’t be brought in, and the transportation lines for grain were controlled by the Li and Ms. Cai families.

These two families had a very close marital relationship and always controlled the major transportation lines in Jiangnan and the Capital City, not only for grain but also for economic crops and other goods.

Unless absolutely necessary, the Li and Ms. Cai families did not want to take risky moves. This was a strategy of "killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred" that also damaged their reputation.

The objective of Fengyu to disperse the financial power of clans was too obvious and her methods were forceful. If they didn’t rise in resistance, they could only sit and wait for death. If Fengyu truly cared about people’s livelihood in the Capital City, she would certainly negotiate with them. As long as Fengyu was willing to initiate negotiations, there was room for maneuver.

Fengyu gathered several grain merchants to discuss countermeasures.

"Third Miss, besides the grain supplied from the suburbs of the Capital City, there are the nearby cities. We do not usually rely so heavily on the Li and Ms. Cai families. Now it’s wartime; the emperor had retrieved the suburban grain before expediting it to the frontline after the autumn harvest. We are currently consuming the grain stored from previous years, all of which should be transported from outside the region, passing through key points fully controlled by the Li and Ms. Cai families. If they intentionally delay midway, grain gets withheld. A day’s delay means a day of grain shortage in the Capital City. For seven consecutive days, the Capital City faces a crisis."

"Besides them seizing grain carts, the major granaries in the Capital City are owned by the Li and Ms. Cai families. If they deliberately hoard in warehouses, elevating prices, we have no alternatives."

"Last year was a good harvest, and this year’s autumn harvest also fared well. Despite the wartime setting, there is no shortage of grain in the Beining region. It’s just certain people are intentionally withholding and hoarding."

Listening to their grievances, Fengyu lightly furrowed her brow and asked softly, "Are there any solutions? What if others replace their people midway?"

"Miss, the Li family has been deeply entrenched in major grain transport lines for many years. Even sending someone to mediate has little effect. Unless you make a bold move to set an example, replacing them from top to bottom entirely, this affects many industries. One wrong move affects the whole situation. It’s not good to resolve violently. If violence triggers public outcry, the consequences are dire."

"Exactly. They are just trying to force you to negotiate, which is too despicable."

With a solemn expression, Fengyu knew she had to manage the people’s livelihood in the Capital City closely. During the war, the populace must remain calm.

"Send men overnight to Shun City and Lian City to transfer grain from Yiling Village to temporarily alleviate the crisis in the Capital City while I think of a solution." The Su Family controlled grain mainly in Jiangnan, but over the past three years, after Yuwen Jing took control, the industries in Jiangnan scattered, with Jiangnan merchants divided Su Family’s industry.

These merchants mostly relied on the Li and Ms. Cai families, who were loyal to Yuwen Jing, which was also Yuwen Jing’s return for their loyalty.

The Ministry of Revenue had already requisitioned the military grain to be sent to Zhongzhou next month. That grain must not be moved. The Li and Ms. Cai families insisted on raising grain prices, and it was the ordinary people who suffered.

Fengyu also made two preparations. She called Nuanyang, asking him to lead a team of the Forbidden Army and people from the Su Family Escort Agency to Jiangnan, bringing in the grain that the Li family detained midway.

After receiving the order, Nuanyang led five thousand Forbidden Army and people from the Su Family Escort Agency out of the Capital City overnight.

Zhang Boju murmured, "Our new Empress is truly bold. At this critical juncture, she dares to send the Forbidden Army out of the Capital City without keeping a guard. Isn’t she afraid that tricks in Zhongzhou could lead to a surprise attack on the Capital City?"

Xie Xun didn’t leave many troops, only keeping ten thousand Ningzhou Iron Cavalry, with the rest being the Forbidden Army and Jinyi Guard. This was the time with the least defense preparedness in the Capital City, practically a city of civilians without military defense.

Lin Helin said plainly, "She trusts Xie Xun. The Li family intends to use grain to coerce her into negotiations. Their hopes are likely dashed. The Empress and the Emperor have similar temperaments. They do not tolerate blackmail." Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel※fire.net

Zhang Boju mumbled to himself, "This complicates things."