27: Chapter 21: A Yellow Dragon in the Well 27: Chapter 21: A Yellow Dragon in the Well April 13, Daqian’s land tax, business tax, labor service tax, and adult tax, including the silver money tax, increased by ten percent.
April 14, the price of grain in Bianjing rose by ten percent in the morning, thirty percent by noon, and nearly doubled by the close of market.
April 15, the imperial court issued an order to restrict grain prices; all major grain shops ran out of stock.
April 16, official grains were made available, but the Fire Dragon burned down the warehouses.
By the end of May, the price of food had doubled from its original price, taxation by the imperial court led to over ten thousand households fleeing, continuous outbreaks of riots in the villages and towns of Qianjing County, and hundreds of households in Bianjing city either went bankrupt, fled, or sold themselves into servitude, or enlisted in the army.
Coincidentally, the Grand Army set out to expel the invading nomads, requiring a large number of civilians to perform hard labor; many people sharpened their wits to squeeze into the military camps just for a bite to eat.
The slave market was cramd with people selling themselves with grass plugs in their hair.
Old One-Arm, a man whose face resembled dead tree bark, also showed a hint of a smile.
His main business was trading slaves, and the more people sold themselves, the more money he naturally made.
In the past few days, he had almost taken all the silver from his accounting room to buy people, investing more than ten thousand silver taels, and having sold at least thirty thousand taels worth.
Just then, a strong man walked briskly up to him and whispered a few words in his ear; his smile abruptly ceased, his complexion turned pale.
“What did you say?”
“Sir, they said they will only buy from us if we lower our prices by fifty percent.”
Fifty percent?
Old One-Arm’s gaze froze, his breathing beca labored, and he clenched his remaining right fist so hard that the muscles bulged unnaturally, while veins erged like roots breaking through the soil, making his arm swell in size, his shoulders now level with his ears.
Seeing this eerie scene, a black market enforcer swallowed hard, not daring to make a sound.
There had always been rumors in the black market that Old One-Arm would take a life without blinking an eye.
Could this be literal rather than figurative?
Old One-Arm took a deep breath to steady himself, and though he thought he had cald down, when he spoke, his voice was full of anger, “What exactly is going on?”
His main business was the trade of slaves, and the largest part of his trade was selling won to brothels.
Among these, the brothels on Dragon Bridge would pay the highest prices, often three tis higher than anywhere else.
If he had to lower prices by fifty percent, then all the won he recently acquired at low cost would yield no profit, and the benefit would all go to Dragon Bridge.
“I don’t know, Sir.
It seems like those brothels have reached an agreent; they all demand a fifty percent lower price, not even taking those we offer at a thirty percent discount.”
“All of them?”
“Yes, even the brothels of the lowest class on Dragon Bridge don’t want them.”
“They’ve got so nerve!
These rchants dare to join forces against us.”
The cold look in Old One-Arm’s eyes intensified, as he realized that he was being sized up as a fat sheep ready for the slaughter.
In years of disaster, officials prey on the rich, and the rich prey on the common folk.
And among the rich, there are distinctions; the Longqiao rchants are the largest of the rich households in Bianjing after the scholars, while the slave market is the smallest of the rich, because it cannot withstand scrutiny.
However, Old One-Arm had been powerful in Bianjing for many years, and this was the first ti he had been made to feel like prey, which was a great insult to him.
“Go and find out who is leading this.”
“Yes.”
His subordinate left promptly and returned in a hurry by evening with news that left Old One-Arm sowhat silent.
“A few days ago, Marquis Wen hosted a feast for the brothel owners at Jiangyue Building on Dragon Bridge.”
For big businesses to unite, there certainly needed to be a prestigious figure leading the charge, and Marquis Wen was one of them.
Even Old One-Arm knew that a Marquis had risen from Dragon Bridge in recent years.
Old One-Arm had thought of various responses.
If the brothels were leading the affair, he had thods to handle them.
But if Gu Wen was involved, most of these thods would be futile, for his opponent was a big fish in the light, while he was but a venomous snake in the gutter.
After all, how could a venomous snake kill a big fish?
After thinking it over for a while, he gave another order, “Find out if this Marquis Wen has any family or relatives.”
“Yes.”
The subordinate left once more.
Old One-Arm went to the front of a building in the yard, knelt down, and said, “Master.”
The light of an oil lamp ca on in the room, followed by a voice accompanied by a cough, “What is it?”
“I wish to kill soone.”
“Who?”
“Gu Wen, a rchant from Dragon Bridge.
He’s ignorant and dares to collude with brothels, treating you like a al on a plate.
I can’t sell any of the girls I’ve collected.”
“A rchant you wish to kill, you kill.”
The voice inside the house was casual, as if a human life were rely an ant that could be crushed with a flick of the fingers.
The one-ard elder spoke, “He is a retainer of the Zhao family’s ninth son.”
This was his only concern; Gu Wen may just be a rchant, but Zhao Feng was a prince,
“The Zhao family…
I rember that so ti ago, the ninth son of the Zhao family brought over a Heavenly Girl from the Sanqing Taoist Sect.”
The voice inside the room beca hesitant, unable to make a decision for a long ti.
The one-ard elder beca a little anxious and added, “He’s just a rchant, after all.”
He knew that ordinary ans would never be able to compete with the Longqiao rchants; the business world was full of big fish that devoured others whole.
If Daqian was to be established on comrce, then Longqiao would certainly beco the center of the world.
And for the sake of profiting from disaster, the one-ard elder had almost invested all his wealth.
His master certainly lacked for nothing, but he himself did, and he might even suffer a loss.
The Silver Tael from Immortal Land was considered annual inco, impacting millions of people, and the cause and effect were as heavy as mountains.
The major Immortal Sects had already spent large sums to enter, so how could they bring mundane riches with them?
Hence, money had to be earned by those who partook in worldly affairs.
So sects had long made preparations, and others were not lacking in thods to generate wealth.
His master might not lack for anything, but he himself was in desperate need, particularly since he was likely to lose money this ti.
Nowadays, the girls he bought needed money for food and drink; to sell them at a good price, they had to be nourished for so ti so they wouldn’t just be skin and bones.
The one-ard elder had spent ten thousand Silver Taels, an annual inco that could motivate the common folk of Lin Chuan thousands of miles away to search the mountains for various Spiritual dicines for him.
“Silver is expendable; it has its uses in Immortal Land, but it’s not omnipotent.
Don’t stir up unnecessary trouble.”
—————–
The next day, in the evening.
Every sunrise and sunset, Gu Wen would go to the Water House and scoop up a ladle of well water to replenish the elixir.
[A Year’s Worth of Elixir]
After accumulating for a month, he finally had a asurable quantity.
Although he still didn’t know its use, in the end, one needed to collect ten thousand years’ worth of Elixir to beco an Immortal.
Gu Wen had so guesses about the source of the Elixir; Heavenly Marrow ca from herbal fruits, from dicines on the surface of the earth, rather mysteriously absorbing the essence of the sun and moon.
And the Elixir ca from well water, which was connected to the underground rivers.
Heavenly Marrow and Elixir, just as their nas suggested.
Jiang Fugui approached, speaking in a low voice, “Mr.
Wen, those rats from the teeth market are inquiring about you.”
“Hmm.”
Gu Wen simply nodded slightly without much concern.
Instead, he reminded, “Have your family mbers been settled in?”
“They’ve all been brought into the manor.”
“That’s good.”
As for the teeth market inquiring about him or attempting to threaten him with his family, Gu Wen was not surprised; in fact, he found it rather hackneyed.
In his years at Dragon Bridge, he had seen too much of this; the highest level of comrcial warfare often involved knives.
Just as war is an extension of politics, those who can’t co to an agreent across the negotiation table eventually turn to knives.
It could an physically taking care of the opponent, using intimidation to gain bargaining chips, or forcing the other party to back down.
A re rat skulking in the gutters daring to threaten him, a major taxpayer in the eyes of the officials, was as foolish as a dog biting a man and needing to be killed.
Gu Wen’s thoughts shifted and he paid no more attention to the teeth market, then asked, “About the dicinal fruits, have you found any other channels?”
“I’ve found three, but none can take on an order of ten thousand Silver Taels.
Indeed, the one-ard elder can’t handle it either; that’s why he’s been raising the price on you, trying to consu all your silver in one go.”
Jiang Fugui answered.
He had been visiting around these past few days, and such tonics for the elite were not hard to inquire about, but they were difficult to get one’s hands on.
“However, I’ve learned of another channel.
Rumor has it that the Dragon Tiger Pills sold at Fengyue Building are refined using dicinal fruits as an auxiliary ingredient.
If you want, ten thousand Silver Taels might be doable, though we can’t fully hide your identity.”
Fengyue Building was a brothel, and naturally, Dragon Tiger Pills were aphrodisiacs.
The brothels of Dragon Bridge all conducted this type of business; otherwise, many older gentlen wouldn’t be able to entertain won.
It was also why so many guests died on won’s bellies, not because the won of the brothels were too enchanting, but because the aphrodisiacs were too strong.
Strong enough to make a man perform without the natural ans.
Lately, Jiang Fugui had frequent contact with brothels and inadvertently learned this from the mouths of the brothel keepers.
“Buy so Dragon Tiger Pills.”
After a brief consideration, Gu Wen made a decision.
There are no walls in the world through which the wind does not blow; if he could acquire a large number of dicinal fruits, the associated risks were worth taking.
Moreover, he was uncertain how much longer Bianjing would remain peaceful; it made sense to extract benefits as much as possible.
All the treasures of the world gathered here, which wouldn’t be available during tis of war.
At night, just as Gu Wen was about to leave the Water House, an old water worker approached him, looking tense and said, “Mr.
Wen, I have sothing to report.”
“What is it?”
“Last night, I saw…
I saw a yellow dragon in the Dragon Spring Well.”
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