Chapter 49: The Right to Buy and Sell Wheat

The six food merchants were taken to the gallows, and the executioner noosed them around their necks.

The food merchants' faces were extremely pale. No one knew what happened to them last night. They were so terrified of the stuff they went through last night that they actually felt relieved by the rope on their necks. They would rather die than to go through the torture again.

There were three kinds of torture in this world: hanging, burning, and beheading.

Hanging and beheading were obvious from their names. Execution by burning was tying a person to a cross and burn them alive.

"Ptui! To think that you black hearted merchants will have today! You deserve this!"

"That's right! To think that you dared to go ahead and try to murder Lord City Lord! You deserve to die!"

The citizens all shouted at them angrily. Some of the bolder citizens that were willing to spare some money even started to throw their shoes at them.

Liu Feng would not have killed the food merchants if the only thing they did was sell wheat at high prices. After all, they were the ones that have wheat, and no one regulated the prices. Whoever had wheat had the right to set the price.

What really killed them was their greed. Liu Feng would have killed them even if they hadn't tried to murder him. It was just a coincidence that they had done so before he even did anything.

Niu Ben took out a roll of sheepskin, which was only used for major announcements like today. Most of the other times, paper was used.

"According to Lord Liu Fen's judgement, these six people are charged with the crimes of: 1, disrupting the order of the market, 2, attempting to murder a noble, 3..., and 4.... According to these charges, they are hereby sentenced to death through hanging."

This was basically the other world version of a public judicial verdict. Of course, if the food merchant's mouth hadn't been stuffed, it wouldn't have been so quiet. Their eyes were filled with fear, and tears flowed from their eyes like a stream.

Why is this happening? I don't want to die!¹ the food merchants shouted in their hearts. My joy filled life had just began! Why is this happening?

The food merchants looked at Liu Feng with eyes full of hatred. This is all because of this crazy noble, they thought. If it wasn't because of him, I won't have to die. Lord Baron Omar will avenge us! All of this wheat is his! He won't let this Liu Feng go!

"Kill them!"

"Kill them!!"

"Kill them!!!"

There were shouts of "kill them", with each one being louder than the previous shout. After the shouts, the foods merchants were all hanged.

Liu Feng looked at the six corpses calmly. He waved his hand and a few people immediately came to take the bodies away to be cremated. He had read the eyes of the food merchants. Baron Omar? Come at me, I'm not afraid of you. It'd actually be perfect if you come after me. Your horse thieves will serve as good training for my soldiers and slaves in my mines.

The death of the food merchants put fear in some of the citizens, and they looked at Liu Feng in awe.

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This was the effect that Liu Feng wanted. He stepped forward and shouted, "Everyone, in order to avoid more incidents of overpriced wheat, I, as the city lord, announce that the right to buy and sell wheat now belongs to the City Lord's Mansion.

"This means that, if, after the autumn harvest, you have more than enough wheat and you fear that it will rot due to improper storage, and you want to sell the wheat, you can only sell it to the City Lord's Mansion.

"It is forbidden to sell or buy wheat privately. The City Lord's mansion will buy everyone's wheat at market price, and it will also sell wheat to everyone at the same price."

That was Liu Feng's main focus today. As long as the right to buy and sell wheat was vested in the City Lord's Mansion, the order of the market would be in his hands. Next time, there were no longer be problems like overpriced wheat.

More importantly, he would be the one that holds the lifeline of the people. In this era, the ability to eat is a luxury for commoners. As such, Liu Feng, who held the majority of the food, is the one that has the most right to speak.

"Lord City Lord, so how many copper coins does it cost for a catty of wheat?" some people from the crowd who were bold enough asked.

The civilians all looked at Liu Feng expectantly. They were scared by how expensive the wheat was. If Liu Feng hadn't paid their salary with wheat, they might have already left Xi Yang City in hopes of finding a way to live.

"Since the market price of wheat a few days ago was two copper coins per catty, the City Lord's Mansion will also sell wheat for two copper coins per catty," Liu Feng said, smiling.

Hearing that, everyone became silent. Some people were even so excited that they had tears in their eyes. In the next second, cheers erupted.

"Long live Lord City Lord! Long live Lord City Lord!"

"Long live Lord Liu Feng! Long live Lord City Lord!"

The shouts made the corner of Liu Feng's mouth twitched. Why does this scene resemble an emperor and his subjects so much?

Niu Ben's eyes subconsciously swept the people in the crowd. He saw several familiar faces that were shouting "love live" as hard as they could. These people were the ones he had deliberately placed in the crowd after he heard about Liu Feng's plan. After all, most nobles use this trick all the time to sway the commoners' opinions.

Mina was the one who had taught him about the words "long live". According to Mina, those words were used to describe great people, in hopes that they will live for a long time.

With this, the second step of Liu Feng's plan was complete, and only the last, and most dangerous step was left. Niu Ben looked at Liu Feng worriedly, and Mina stood close to Liu Feng's side and took out 5 military knives.

 

¹ And just a moment ago author wrote that they would rather die. What a hypocrite >.>

 

Translator note:

I know I said I was going to try and do two chapters but there's only going to be one this weekend since I was busy l̶o̶o̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶n̶o̶v̶e̶l̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶,̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶n̶o̶v̶e̶l̶s̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶w̶a̶t̶c̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶n̶i̶m̶e̶ studying, doing homework, and fixing previous chapters. Anyways, 3 chapters left.

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