Chapter 44: Driving up food prices
Seeing Wang An's insistence, everyone sat down at Chen He's invitation.

Wang Anzhi picked up the bowl and chopsticks, not caring what was on the table, and started eating.

A fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl couldn't help laughing and said, "Your Majesty looks like he hasn't eaten for a few days."

Chen He immediately scolded: "Biyun, don't be rude!"

Then he looked at Wang An and said embarrassedly: "Please forgive me, Your Majesty, for being spoiled since childhood and not knowing etiquette."

The woman pouted when she heard this, but didn't dare to refute.

Wang An smiled and said indifferently: "Girls should be more lively. I don't like those so-called ladies who walk, sit or lie down like wooden figures."

He then looked at the girl named Biyun and said with a smile, "You are right. I haven't eaten well these past few days."

Seeing Wang An's easy-going attitude, everyone chuckled and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became a lot more relaxed.

Wang An ate very quickly, and soon a bowl of porridge went into his stomach. He refused the old servant's kindness to add more rice, looked at Chen He and said, "I asked you to buy food yesterday. How is it going?"

Chen He was embarrassed when he heard this, and said: "The grain merchants in the city can barely supply the grain we need, but the price they ask for is very high..."

Wang An casually asked, "How high? Right now we are in urgent need of food, and those merchants are open for business. It's normal for them to want to make money. As long as it's not excessive, we can talk."

"Of course I understand this principle. The grain merchants have seen that we need grain now, and the original price of one tael of silver per stone has been raised to three taels!"

"Not to mention that the three thousand bandits consume nearly a thousand dan of grain a month, the government office also needs to purchase at least two thousand dan in advance to prepare for famine. So the first batch of grain will need at least three thousand dan, which is nine thousand taels!"

"I have been the chief clerk in Jizhou for more than ten years, and I have never seen grain prices so high. It's just... it's just like..."

Wang An interjected, "It's like they saw that we needed food and deliberately hit us?"

Chen He nodded heavily and said, "Yes, that's right!"

"Even though I offered a high price of two taels, these grain merchants still refused to lower the price. This is simply despicable!"

Wang An nodded and said, "It is indeed abominable."

After thinking for a moment, Wang An skipped the topic and asked, "I will try to deal with the food issue, but now I have a tricky matter that I need Mr. Chen to teach me."

Seeing Wang An's serious words, Chen He immediately bowed and said, "It is my duty to help His Majesty with his worries and difficulties. I don't deserve such courtesy from His Majesty!"

Wang An smiled and didn't dwell on the details. He asked directly, "I have said that I want to build a city wall. I have a plan now. I just need a special master craftsman to oversee this matter! I wonder if Mr. Chen has heard that we have such a talent in Jizhou."

"Master craftsman?"

Chen He stroked his beard and thought for a moment, then said, "We haven't heard of such a talent in Jizhou, but I heard that there is an old official named Gao Lao in the Construction Department of the Ministry of Works in Beijing, and he is now living out his days in his hometown of Qingzhou."

Wang An immediately became interested. The Ministry of Works was responsible for the construction of palaces and city walls, so it was a perfect match for them to build the city wall. After carefully asking for the other party's address in Qingzhou, Wang An stood up and said, "Come on, take me to visit the grain merchants in this city. I'm in a hurry to go to Qingzhou!"

Not long after, Chen He brought Wang An to a large mansion in the south of the city.

While waiting for the servant to report, Wang An looked at the mansion in front of him and sighed: "The people in the city live in such a hard life, most of them live in thatched houses, but these merchants can make money, and the mansions are more magnificent than our government office."

Chen He smiled bitterly and said, "Although Jizhou is only a small place, we are short of everything. As long as it is shipped in from outside, we can often make huge profits, not to mention necessities like food."

Wang An nodded. During the conversation, the door of the mansion opened again. A wealthy middle-aged man, surrounded by a dozen servants, walked out of the mansion and laughed, "Your Highness Prince Xin has come in person. It really makes my humble home glorious!"

Wang An said with a fake smile: "If Mr. Lu's house is also considered a humble abode, then what is my government office?"

"Moreover, even if I came in person, your servants would not let me in, and insisted that I wait outside the mansion for notification. Even some princes and dukes in the capital would not behave so arrogantly!"

Wang An said this not because he was jealous, but because he was indeed a little dissatisfied.

Although Wang An was not well-known in the court and there were even rumors that he was incompetent and cowardly, he was still a prince after all. When he personally visited a merchant, he had to wait outside for the servants to inform the host instead of inviting him into the hall to have tea first.

Or to do so to anyone would be considered seriously disrespectful.

Boss Lu's full name is Lu Guancheng. Hearing this, his smile froze, but he quickly became nonchalant and said with a smile, "The people below are all illiterate and rough. Please forgive me for not knowing the etiquette."

After saying this, he gestured and invited Wang An in.

Wang An sneered, and his remarks about his subordinates not knowing etiquette sounded like perfunctory remarks.

It must be that Lu Guancheng in front of him guessed that he was coming and deliberately asked his servants to give him a warning.

How dare a mere businessman, a short-sighted person who only chooses times to make money during national disasters, be so rude to me!
Wang An sneered and said, "I have something important to attend to. I will visit Boss Lu's mansion another day. Now I just want to ask you one question. What is the lowest price you can sell the grain for?"

Seeing that Wang An seemed to have bad intentions, Lu Guancheng saw a subtle flash of contempt in his eyes. He pretended to think for a while and said, "Originally, I agreed with Lord Chen that each stone would cost three taels of silver, but since His Royal Highness Prince Xin is here in person, the price can be negotiated..."

"How about this, a bloody price! Even if Your Majesty charges two taels and eight cents per stone, how about that?"

Wang An narrowed his eyes, and a chilling light flashed in them.

Wang An personally visited Lu Guancheng as the Prince of Xin and started to negotiate the price, but Lu Guancheng only gave up two cents of silver.

Not to mention that the price Lu Guancheng offered was already seriously inflated, three times the normal market price!
This is no different from directly humiliating Wang An!

Chen He was furious. He stood up and pointed at Lu Guancheng and accused him, "Boss Lu, the normal market price is one tael of silver per stone. Even if the grain is being transported endlessly as you said, and it is a lean period, it is normal for the price to rise."

"But for three taels of silver, you are driving up the price of grain!"

(End of this chapter)