Chapter 224: Reconciled Bandits

2,000 dans of grain was being used as 20,00 dans. What else could he expect?

Liu She asked, “It is not a bad idea… to have a purchase limit everyday… However, what if there are some civilians who purchase several days in a row repeatedly?”

The gist of Jiang Pengji’s movement was to suppress the grain price––which meant that when the other grain stores marked up the price of their grain, as long as she maintained the usual price or even a bit higher, it would still be way lower than her competitors. Naturally, the civilians would choose to purchase from her.

Most civilians would save every penny they could and they were meticulously particular about their budgets with their daily life expenses. Nobody was a reckless spendthrift in the current era.

They were not going to starve to death. Most of the people were willing to wait a couple more days if postponing could help them buy cheaper food.

Jiang Pengji gave him a gentle smile and answered, “We need to stealthily publicize that the whole point of this grain store is for the sake of our people’s welfare. We only insist on increasing the price a tiny bit every time when everyone else asks an exorbitant price. With the condition of a limited purchase, if someone comes in for food on consecutive days, then there would be a big portion of other people who won’t be able to get any… As a result, the civilians would understand our intentions of trying to do the right thing. And there will be less stress for us, too.”

Liu She was flabbergasted by her theory.

He never doubted that his baby girl was just naive and unsophisticated and she had no clue about the real world. He thought that was why she had the idea of suppressing the grain price with only 2,000 dans of grain.

Her theory flipped his impression of her. She was unsophisticated, for sure; however, she was exceptionally astute and she knew how to draw inferences about other cases from one instance. He could simply point out the drawbacks of her theory and she could rectify it immediately… Her flexibility and wisdom was worthy of admiration and appreciation, not to mention her other merits.

If her plan went well, it would probably result in them they selling several thousands dans of grain and, at the same time, they would earn the civilians’ hearts in He Jian County. They would obtain a good reputation while they were making profits.

The other grain stores would not challenge or raise their prices, considering the impact of the public voice.

The grain price would automatically decline as long as they could sustain the situation until the harvest season. The civilians wouldn’t have to worry about the famine.

However…

“…But if it is so, we won’t be able to make the profits we expected.” Jiang Pengji shook her head, disappointed. She planned to sell the 2,000 dans of grain for the price equal to 10,000 dans so she could trick the gentry clans in Hejian County. It seemed like she could only bail on attempting the idea for now. She did not own enough chips to participate in the gamble.

Liu She would be speechless if he happened to know exactly what she was thinking in her head.

Just the plan alone would make her start a feud with a number of people in Hejian County. She clearly would lose her sanity if she wanted to drag the gentry clans into the mess.

There was no difference between cutting off the source of someone’s wealth and murdering their parents.

The clans schemed to clear out the grain stock in the granary and make a good profit with the perfect opportunity.

With Jiang Pengji messed around with it, the share of the grain market for the coming month would be taken by her in Hejian County. That would be just shameless.

Liu She was dumbfounded, but she was confident in Jiang Pengji and her capability.

People with real skills could always achieve an unimaginably high level that an ordinary person couldn’t compete with, no matter what an appalling situation they started with.

Without a doubt, his baby girl was that type of person.

Liu She grinned at her. “We make the money out of the Mengs’ possessions, which are better than nothing.”

She wore a hidden smile on her lips and asked in a gentle, drawled tone, “Are they really going to dispatch an extra thousand dans of grain?”

It didn’t matter much to her, but it would still be amazing if they would be that “generous” for an additional thousand dans of grain.

“We shall just wait for the moment.” Liu She laughed with her. “I am not too lame to bet on the wrong horse even if I don’t have sharp eyes like yours.”

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The father and the “son” were tacit with each other and chose to ignore the Mengs’ possible reaction when they delivered the grain but only found Meng Liang’s dead body.

It must have been absolutely fabulous.

The reality would slap the Mengs’ hard in the face if they still believed that they were using their own generosity to smash Meng Hun’s ego.

Meng Hun was a hypocrite?

No, he was not!

He was a true man with a brain. He deceived the Mengs’ for several thousand dans of grain and slaughtered their baby boy for getting revenge on his wife and daughter.

The Mengs’ attempted to trample on Meng Hun’s dignity, so Jiang Pengji would make the whole family live in hell.

Everything went smoothly with the troops. Jiang Pengji got rid of the troublesome soldiers who easily created disturbances long ago. The remaining soldiers would not be bold enough to cause trouble with Meng Hun and Xu Ke’s supervision. Instead, they assimilated their life with the troops and they were getting used to it.

What good was it to be bandits?

They didn’t reckon being bandits was something fancy and they shared the same attitude and ideas with people in the rest of the world. Being someone who made a living by committing crimes and making other people suffer was despicable.

Who would choose to be a contemptible bandit member other than a normal, well-behaved civilian if you had ample food supply and decent clothes?

The bandit members were sneering at the pity paycheck that the soldiers received at the beginning of every month. What could they do with that deficient money?

It would be gone with just two meals… How long could one keep it in their hands?

But their minds changed when they learned that every single troop member was distributed seasonal clothes every season and their accommodations were completely covered by the master. The troop members had free will to manage their own paycheck and occasionally there would be some rewards… The only downside of being in the troop was the toilsome training, but it was still much better than doing farm work.

It was definitely superior to being a bandit member and having an unstable life and fluctuating paycheck.

And they were tempted, envious, and furious because they found out the reward was almost entirely confiscated from their stockade!

As bandit members, they barely had any savings. All their wealth was basically dominated by the upper echelon members.

“Bah, we were the ones holding the blades and sacrificing our lives for hard earned money, but the money all went to the upper echelon boss’s pockets. And these people sell their lives for their master just like us––only they get paid for it. But we can only watch them get rich. What the heck is up with that?”

They both gave their lives away. The only difference was the other troop members did it legitimately and they didn’t. Of course they were being treated differently.

“So what do you want to do? You truly want to risk your life for this master?”

The bandit members gathered together and struggled to find their way out.

After a while, the one who started all the complaints said, “I’m too afraid to be hungry again… It doesn’t matter who I work for, as long as I can be fed, get paid, and eventually be able to marry someone and have my own kids… We watched those bosses luxuriate all year long and we were left out to put our lives in peril. We have done so many bad things against our good consciences and the result of it was that I didn’t even see a female animal.”

He began to feel uncertain, which caused those who weren’t very secure about their minds to feel even less secure.

“I don’t want to starve again… And the master of the family treats his people really well. They have steamed bread with every meal and sometimes they are served with scallion bread…”

“They did mention that we would be sold to the slave traders…” one of them said while trembling. “We all know how nasty those slave traders are… We may as well strive to be chosen to be in the troop by the master.”

Right, what was the point of being bandits?

They were already cast aside by society, and so were their kids and following generations. They would be menials forever. It could all change if they subjected themselves to the family and could change their identities to become good civilians. There was also a chance for them to be top dogs if they performed heroically and made contributions.